Everyone wonders how some artists and illustrators paint grass so well. Okay, not everyone, a few folk do anyway. There’s even guides on how to paint grass (link) for those of us who can’t figure it out (or even do it with a guide). But the truth which all these artist and illustrators who can realistically paint grass don’t tell you is they use a machine. The Elydoric Graminoid Adroitness Contrivance was invented in 1983 by John Howe and he’s kept it hidden for years locked away in his attic…
Read MoreTag: john howe
Lost in Middle Earth
It took a while, but eventually Alatar realized that Pallando had brought the wrong map, and so the two Blue Wizards were never heard of in Middle Earth again….
Read MoreDeath of Smaug
I was sketching dragons again recently, well I often sketch dragons but this time there was a purpose, the theme of the month over at john-howe.com for December was Dragons. As a certain dragon was on my mind with the Desolation of Smaug hitting the silver screen* I ended up wondering how Smaug would look after the black arrow had done its job 😉 This was a fun dragon to work on, well any character from Tolkien is fun to attempt – rather than use traditional medium I worked in…
Read MoreWæterfeallan
I was quite looking forward to my week off work, the veg plot needed clearing out then dug over, and for once the weather was looking promising. So what happened? Well, my mind kept going back to a rough sketch I’d made a while ago, I was thinking about how I would tackle painting it. Not only was I thinking about the technicalities of painting the scene but I was busy thinking about the story that went with it, who loved there, why it was located where it was…. That’s…
Read MoreHere there be…
I had an idea for a map based on the ‘theme of the month’ over on John Howe’s website. However instead of writing the story down I decided it would be good to see what the map looked like… Now I’ve spent so long drawing the map I no longer remember what I was going to write :-/
Read More