Jan 23 2012

O is for Osquip

There were a number of interesting “O” Dungeons & Dragons creature choices for this week’s AlphaBeasts, but once I crossed the osquip in the Fiend Folio my mind was made up. Partially I think it’s because he’s clearly the ancestor of the watery-beer-shilling “Spuds MacKenzie,” commercial icon of the 80s. The osquip is the original original party animal.Also, though, he looks a lot like the signature dogs drawn by one of my favorite New Yorker cartoonists,  George Booth:Anyhoo, here he is:

O is for Osquip

The original art for this is for sale here.

Jan 17 2012

Portrait Night 1/17 (James Honeyman-Scott)

Tonight’s #PortraitNight subject is by request. I received a comment to my earlier drawing of Chrissy Hynde requesting a drawing of the amazing Pretenders guitarist James Honeyman-Scott. Reference-wise, I wound up sort of combining the photo below with another one (that I for some reason can’t re-locate online) of him with a collared shirt and blond hair. Anyway, here’s James Honeyman-Scott:

Jan 16 2012

N is for Neo-Otyugh

I started off not really liking this creature design, but looking at it now, I think this is one of the best AlpahBeast drawings I’ve done.

N is for Neo-Otyugh

The original art for this is for sale here.

 

You can follow the other “N” entries as people post them to Twitter this morning by following the #AlphaBeasts hashtag. View all previous AlphaBeasts entries at the AlphaBeasts Tumblr: http://alphabeasts.tumblr.com/. You can also find some submission guidelines there, as well as links to bestiaries and lists of creatures.

Jan 10 2012

Portrait Night 1/10 (Pete Townshend)

Well, this was kind of an accidental #PortraitNight. I’d selected a picture of Newt Gingrich from the most recent TIME Magazine to draw, but before settling down to drawing I decided to put on a record. Near the top of the stack was Pete Townshend ‘s Empty Glass–and after putting it on I wound up doodling a pic of Townshend instead of Newt. This drawing really is more a doodle than a finished drawing, but I feel like I’ve been laboring these portrait drawings more than I should. Anyhoo… here it is:

And here’s the back cover of the LP I was drawing from:

If you’d like to suggest a #PortraitNight subject, you can do so either via the comments section here, or via my Twitter.

Jan 09 2012

M is for Morkoth

None of the “M” D&D creatures I saw really jumped out at me this week, so I decided I’d select the most abjectly ridiculous creature I could find instead. While I settled on the Morkoth from the original Monster Manual, the Mongrelman from the Fiend Folio was a close runner-up. Mongrelman is one of those dopey “mash up” creatures that has one limb from a different creature:

Throughout the AlphaBeasts project, I vowed not to redesign any of the creatures, but if I’d allowed my self to modify the Mongrelman and give him a celery stalk arm and Patrick Duffy for a leg, like Scuzzlebutt, I’d have drawn the Mongrelman instead. Anyway, I settled on the Morkoth. I’m clearly not the only person to find this creature design pretty silly.

M is for Morkoth

The original art for this is for sale here.

 

For reference, here’s the original Morkoth from the Monster Manual:

You can follow the other “M” entries as people post them to Twitter this morning by following the #AlphaBeasts hashtag. View all previous AlphaBeasts entries at the AlphaBeasts Tumblr: http://alphabeasts.tumblr.com/. You can also find some submission guidelines there, as well as links to bestiaries and lists of creatures.