Sarah Stone | Portfolio

Warden and Bard

2010-01-22T00:12:00.006-06:00

I would say more about these, but I've been working for nearly 72 hours straight with about 8 hours of sleep spattered in there, and my brain is about as functional as a ... not functional ... thing. *passes out*

Ranger and Wolf

2010-01-12T12:37:00.002-06:00

For the record - wolves are really hard! I learned a lot with this one, but I still see lots of mistakes. So here's hoping the next one turns out better.

Superprize2009

2009-12-25T11:26:00.004-06:00

Another illustration for Gaia. owo

I had wayy to much fun harassing Ivan with adorable kitties. <3 Merry Christmas guys! Hopefully you can enjoy a small bit of deflation. o_<

Agents and Enemies

2009-12-18T11:17:00.002-06:00

Here are four pieces done for Dungeon Magazine #173!

Overall, I'm still really pleased with these pieces, which is rare for me! I see mistakes and areas of improvement, but I still feel like I pushed myself and learned a lot. The work Wizards of the Coast gives me challenges me in ways that I wouldn't think of on my own, and I'm very honored that they allow me to have this learning experience. :>

Anyways, enough talking - and onto the paintings! I loved this batch because they're all bad guys. >:3 If you wanna learn more about them - check out the article!

Pale Marionette

2009-12-11T14:51:00.003-06:00

Done to accompany the Pale Marionette item over at GaiaOnline. <3 I enjoyed the process of making that item and the characters that came from it. Making people look like their lying down naturally was actually pretty difficult. Hopefully I nailed it.

This is kinda old actually, and I forgot to post it. Drawn sometime in November!

Dragonborn and Invoker

2009-12-11T14:31:00.003-06:00

Some more pieces done for the folks at Wizards of the Coast! Also featured in Dragon magazine.

I would've never thought to try and draw shadow creatures next to fire. It was definitely a challenge and a learning experience! Also, stained glass is fun. :>

Turkey Day Eve

2009-11-25T21:10:00.002-06:00

I had to go to the grocery store today.

This is sort of what it was like.

More Wizards!

2009-11-06T21:01:00.004-06:00

A few more of my pieces were featured with WotC in Dragon articles this week! Also, Jon Schindehette was kind enough to feature them in his blog, Art Order, along with some very kind words. <3 And as usual, I totally encourage you to check out the issue. :D

Dungeon Magazine

2009-10-27T14:44:00.004-05:00

Two of my arts are being featured in Wizards of the Coast's Dungeon Magazine! I encourage you to check out their magazine, they've got some awesome stuff in there!

Hanna Wallpaper

2009-10-03T03:01:00.003-05:00

I offered to help my sister Tessa out with her October wallpaper, and she was awesome enough to let me do it. :D If you're not familiar with her comic, Hanna Is Not A Boy's Name, go check it out now! If you enjoy it and are feeling charitable, you can donate a few bucks to ensure that she has the funds to continuing drawing and printing Hanna. And you'll get to see my painting too!!

Rory

2009-09-28T16:02:00.003-05:00

Ah! This is actually a few weeks old, but I forgot to post it! A birthday gift to my friend, Lyndz. <3 Her character, Rory, who is super cute and I definitely can relate to on certain levels. X)

I did this in ArtRage, which I decided to try out as an alternative to painting in Photoshop. I'm still getting used to it, but I definitely liked it!

LeXBox

2009-09-22T19:42:00.005-05:00

Illustration for Gaia Online for their new RIG, the LexBox! Log in and check it out for the details!

I was able to work on quite a few of the items in this RIG too. OWO I'm sure you can guess which ones are mine.

Apologies!

2009-09-15T13:02:00.003-05:00

Many apologies to those who are currently waiting for commissions or responses from me. I am currently working through two freelance contracts which coincidentally have deadlines within 3 days of each other. HAHA. @ ~@ Always works out like that, huh? I will be back on top of things after this week!

Alister Doll

2009-08-30T02:31:00.002-05:00

I randomly had the urge to draw a pic detailing Alister's clothes, but since he has so many layers, I wanted to be able to figure out how they all overlaid each other. I thought it would be cool to make it to were you could take layers off and see what was underneath. Of course only a certain amount comes off. OWO The pieces also can stand alone on their own, so you can see them without his figure in the way, as shown by the black and white copies.

I also experimented with another painting style, which was more like cell-shading with random gradients and overlays than painting. But definitely much faster, and has a neat look! This project was a lot of fun, and I'm happy with the results. X)

P4 Protagonist

2009-08-28T17:40:00.003-05:00

Protagonist is bored with you. He's also flipping you the bird. WHOOPS.

CS4 Whooo

2009-08-27T20:08:00.005-05:00

I recently got ahold of CS4 and I must say holy shit! Totally worth it!! If for nothing else, the rotating canvas feature. INKING JUST GOT A LOT LESS PAINFUL GUYS.

Which is good because this guy's wings would've been a nightmare without it.

And a few commissions...

And a potato. 8D

nj

2009-08-24T00:41:00.003-05:00

Drew my avvie on Gaia for absolutely no reason whatsoever! :| I like her all androgynous for some reason. I wish I could say I was using this for something, but really I just wanted to draw her with plaid slacks and a tie.

Naoto

2009-08-19T21:40:00.003-05:00

Naoto's such a badass. o_~

THIS ONE GAVE ME SUCH TROUBLE. It didn't help that I had to split it up over several nights between commissions and freelancing things, but jeeeez. :| Not as happy with this one as Kanji's but gotta move on!

Sitting

2009-08-18T23:36:00.002-05:00

I liked drawing people sitting today. These two are sadly very similar in composition. oAo I'm such a hack. I couldn't help it, it just seemed so cute and appropriate for both of these commissions! Plus its so nice and COMPACT, while still being dynamic. It's hard fitting a full figure on an 8.5x11 piece of paper and still have room to put facial detail and stuff, so I have to find creative ways to bend the figure around to fit the amount of detail I want to into them. I discovered the SITTING one today (obviously) and was so pleased with myself I had to use it twice. ; A;

Kanji

2009-08-16T02:56:00.004-05:00

Persona 4 is luv. I want to do REAL fanart someday. Of all of the characters. Or at least... a good portion of them. LOTS OF FANART. But for now this will tide me over while I take care of commissions. =] Kanji's blush is the cutest thing EVAR. Nnngh. <3

Commission

2009-08-16T02:27:00.003-05:00

Another commission. <3 I really enjoyed playing with the values on this one before laying on color. Contrast is fun!

More Commissions

2009-08-11T18:00:00.003-05:00

A few more.

Commissions

2009-08-01T10:51:00.004-05:00

I should post more often, but I forget. Here's some commissions I've been doing.

Commission Rates

2009-07-27T13:29:00.026-05:00

Pathfinder Works

2009-07-20T11:36:00.006-05:00

A pretty big dump of things I haven't put up from the last few Pathfinder books.

Mendels

2009-07-20T11:14:00.004-05:00

A somewhat silly post, of some of the recent art I've done for Mendels, a roleplay game/shop some friends and I run on Gaia. For anyone unfamiliar with them, basically we personify elements from the periodic table. :> It's a fun job!

Antimony

Zirconium

Calcium

Don't Worry, I'm a Doctor

2009-07-14T12:50:00.002-05:00

Scalpel vs Screwdriver! Who will win? XD

What is wrong with me

2009-07-13T00:01:00.003-05:00

I was just drawing limbs going in any which way today. Trying to keep myself to 2 pages in my sketchbook a day to get back in the groove.

Kalle running like an idiot because NOBODY RUNS THAT WAY. Perhaps he's frolicking.

Simon on a..er...girly day? Apparently Simon is the next Monroe.

Some Sketches

2009-07-11T20:48:00.005-05:00

Pathfinder: Other Dimensions

2009-05-13T11:14:00.002-05:00

Another one of my favorites. <3 Painting nebulas was new, but very fun. Had a little help from Open Canvas for the original color blending, but the finished paints were done in Photoshop.

Pathfinder: Keketar

2009-05-12T00:28:00.004-05:00

The Great Beyond is actually on sale now, so I think its safe for me to release some more of the illustration's I've done for it. Here is one of my favorite ones from this batch.

Alister

2009-05-07T11:24:00.004-05:00

It's about damn time I'm able to draw this bastard. I've been bouncing around ideas for his design for a long time now, but never seemed to be able to nail anything down. I wanted him to have assembled his clothes out of lots of varying mix-matching pieces, sewn together haphazardly. I will have more fun with it when I actually get to paint all the different materials and textures in his clothing.

Stretch

2009-05-05T15:11:00.006-05:00

Probably the best posture Ratio ever has.

She looks like she's about to bow down dramatically to a candle-filled altar. Which may not be completely beyond her... as long as it was an altar to some sort of anti-germ god. The God Purell.

Old Work

2009-04-29T15:44:00.004-05:00

Throwing up some older work for my portfolio - two bits of concept art for an unannounced game.

Ratio

2009-04-12T21:09:00.005-05:00

Ratio for During REM. ;) Tried to figure out how she'd dress in public - I think she wears large baggy PJs most of the time, but I don't think they'd let her wear that to class. I wanted to keep her silhouette and figure really spindly though so baggy things weren't going to do. So she lets the school dress her - uniform time! :B So at least now if she's even slightly fashionable, it's totally by accident.

Struggling at what sort of style I want to do all these character portraits in. Fiddled with something watercolory because its... well it's way faster. But I'm not sold yet that it's my strongest painting style. :\ But - SO FAST!! So conflicted.=_=

The Lotus and the Koi

2009-04-09T15:40:00.005-05:00

A VERY very... late birthday present for my long lost friend, Michelle. ;) Who put up with my disappearing ass for many years.

This was a very different and experimental painting for me. I asked her to provide me with a keyword, and from that I tried to paint without over-thinking the subject too much, outside of the overall composition. I just started letting the lines and colors form and tell me where they needed to go. It was a very free-form process which was totally enlightening and different for me (I'm a control freak). I also experimented with Alchemy for the first time to give me a lot of the shapes for the composition, which took me out of my comfort zone quite a bit. The result is somewhat abstract, but has a story.

Overall I like the results, it's very different from my normal works, but I'm not sure I would go COMPLETELY free-form again. Maybe a mix? I could afford to lighten up a bit, it would make my drawings more lively, but I get flustered and uncomfortable when I don't know exactly how the piece is going to come together.

But regardless! Hope she likes the result anyway. <3

RUSTYRUSTY

2009-04-07T10:37:00.006-05:00

Arargh. This whole drawing thing is so high maintenance. Don't draw for a month or so and my chops go to crapola. What's up with that? ;) It took me like 3 hours to do get a sketch that didn't look like I drew it five years ago. Need to keep drawing more frequently. Here is the result of the pained drawing session - and it's not even all that good.

Fetch, Lock!

2009-04-07T10:27:00.008-05:00

True story.

Freelance peek!

2009-03-14T02:33:00.001-05:00

Some of the artwork I've been doing for freelancing has been released in Paizo's blog. Check it out!!

Lock himself

2009-02-20T21:47:00.008-06:00

Lock prides himself in his typing abilities.

Lots of freelance stuff at the moment, which is totally awesome but bad for postings. Moneys is good.

All you get is this.

2009-02-06T17:58:00.004-06:00

I've been working on some freelance illustrations to pay the bills, and I can't post them till the book's printed. So all you get is this crappy comic.

Something different

2009-01-26T14:19:00.003-06:00

Trying to break out of my creative rut. A speedpaint indulging in skintones -- trying something different to jump-start my brain. o_<

Mimic WIP

2009-01-23T11:38:00.005-06:00

Wanted to compete in the GameArtisans 2D challenge to create a mimic. Been trying to think of what object I would want to transform into a mimic. I wanted to something architectural to challenge myself, plus I thought it might be different than most of the entries I've seen so far.

I had an idea for the Great Wall, but am having trouble actually executing on it. A couple hours of rough speed-painting last night left me pretty discouraged. I like the idea but am not really sure how I want the monster to look. How much should it look like a monster, and how much should it look like the Great Wall? Is it a dragon (potentially cliche) or the spine of a big monster (straying too far from mimic). Is it daylight or nighttime?

In other words, I'm majorly stumped.

Eyeshield21 Wallpaper

2009-01-21T03:05:00.004-06:00

Finished up one more ES21 bookmark, to kind of try to get myself back in the groove (and to finally finish this wallpaper set!!). It seemed to work. :) I'm really pleased with how he turned out. Agon's such a asshole, you just love to hate him. In loving memory of his dreads, which I'm sure I'll never get used to being gone.

Personal Stuff

2009-01-13T18:34:00.006-06:00

Picking up drawing on my own has been SLOOWWWWW going. In such a creative rut. I blame WoW!! >_<

Trying to be better though and draw a bit. I honestly WANT to draw more, I just feel creatively constipated. That's attractive, for sure. Resurrecting this blog is a pretty harsh reminder of how little i've improved over two years. Jeez. u_u I really need to get my ass in gear.

Environments

2009-01-13T18:26:00.006-06:00

Still my biggest weakness, next to mechanical things. Don't even mention mechanical backgrounds. XD Work has challenged me to improve though, so hopefully I am taking steps in the right directions. I had a lot of fun with these, and it'll hopefully help me be more comfortable integrating backgrounds into my own stuff.

These images are property of BLT and are copyright © Barking Lizards Technologies.

Pathfinder Chronicles

2009-01-13T16:22:00.010-06:00

Time to resurrect this biznatch. XD

Last summer I did some contract work for Paizo through my awesome friend Andrew Hou. I learned a lot from doing it and got to draw in a style that I don't usually do on my own, so it was pretty fun. It's also my first officially published artwork, so it's a big milestone for me!! <3 Here is the book these drawings were printed in.

Fight Entries

2008-05-23T15:15:00.003-05:00

I've apparently felt rather silly for the past couple weeks.

I has an environment.

2008-05-02T09:28:00.003-05:00

I drew one. Yeh it's crap. I only ended up spending about 2 hours on it. Working on little trinkets for Akon has been holding my tiny attention span captive. <3 I absolutely SUCK at drawing Chibis. :\ Damn midgets.

Musashi progress

2008-04-24T13:56:00.005-05:00

Man, why did my subject have to get picked first, lol. I'm all worried no one will like it. Most of my topic suggestions were more open ended, because I thought Snow White was fun because people could interpret that in so many various ways. So I tried to think of very broad or vague/obscure subjects, that would be fun to do every once in a while between the other more straightforward challenges.... BUT NOT FIRST.

Fuu.

Some WIPs of my entry for this week's challenge~ I want to make a print out of this one so I'm actually going all out...

Snow White

2008-04-18T00:01:00.002-05:00

Man... I wanted this to be so much more. But TIME OMG. :\

Snow white in some weird modern world with DWARVS. Or digger bots. I had fun with those. Muh! o_<

Art dump!

2008-04-14T12:11:00.004-05:00

I need to update my blog too. O_o Been a little slacky slacky!! So here's a dump.

I finished the Cloud I was working on earlier. :) Had fun, but I'm a little burnt on FF art now. :o

Mad Hatter. <3

KART illustration for the pitch. Had to crank this one out FAST, but had a lot of fun with it.

Spy for the TF2 Lizard FIGHT!

And my crappy Indy entry for the Lizard FIGHT challenge...

And sexy Hiruma from Eyeshield21. Done as a birthday gift for my good friend!

Under Lock & Key Rebirth

2008-02-24T11:15:00.003-06:00

I am resurrecting UL&K. <3 Since Tessa does most of the work on Without Void, I'm going to be taking over for a lot of the UL&K stuff. While she used to thumb chapters out for me, she's not going to be doing that anymore. So I'm on my own!! But its ok - coz I can do this!!

This will be an incredible learning experience for me. I rely on Tessa so much for her paneling and comic-ing experience, but hopefully I've learned a thing or two from watching her so many years and working with her. We'll see. Finishing up chapter 4 on my own will tell.

So here's what I have so far.

FF7 Series Start

2008-02-23T00:55:00.004-06:00

Since I'm pretty sure we've got A-Kon tables, I've started working on some serious fanarts for prints. :> And while I was driving home I was struck with inspiration for some FF7 ones.

These would be a series, each character being his own piece. Decided to do my power-team. Cid, Cloud, and Vincent. I love these guys. <3

Here are the thumbs, after much reworking and composition adjustment.

And Cloud... cleaned up. There's something infinitely less awesome about it when I actually drew it though. I still like the thumbnail more... but I'm going to sleep on it and see what I think in the morning.

PANIC TIME

2008-02-21T10:16:00.004-06:00

I only have a little over half a sketchbook filled and this month is almost over. SHIT SHIT SHIT.

On the same token....

HOLY CRAP I filled up half a sketchbook. 8D That's more than I've ever done before!!! <3

I did more...

2008-02-21T10:11:00.003-06:00

...coz I'm a loser and these are fast and fun. X3

Sena

2008-02-15T08:30:00.002-06:00

Fucking last name. I can never remember it. SENA FOLKS.

Yoichi Hiruma

2008-02-14T09:15:00.004-06:00

Hiruma was actually more difficult to capture than I thought he'd be. It's his freakin cheekbones. And his hair. Damn his hair. DAMN HAIR!!

Habashira Rui

2008-02-13T00:02:00.005-06:00

Finished. <3 Yay. This one was fun.

blah blah blah eyeshield blah

2008-02-12T11:13:00.000-06:00

I am way behind on my resolution to fill a sketchbook every two months. :C I need to get my ass kicked on this. I am also out of FUCKING EYESHIELD. I will have to read it once a week like everyone else now. I'm sure my friends want to all punch me in the face coz they're sick of hearing about Eyeshield.

But while we're on the topic of Eyeshield.... 8D

Yesterday Tess and I went to Kinkos to run copies of her comics and cut down her Bristol. And she had these cool 3x17" strips of Bristol left over. And I decided I wanted to draw something cool on them.

...so I'm drawing a series of Eyeshield fanarts. I figure I can sell them at A-kon (if we can ever secure tables) or something. Mostly I'm just indulging. >.> Maybe I could turn them into bookmarks.... or compile them all into a series. DUNNO.

And I drew Rui first... coz I <3 Rui. For reasons I can't explain. He's a badass.

New Years Resolutions

2008-01-03T13:17:00.001-06:00

Yah, I'm hoppin the bandwagon and doing it too. =] I don't see any harm in trying to improve oneself and setting goals. And a new year is always the perfect excuse to. I'm only listing the art related ones, coz... well this is an art blog. Not an LJ. >D

Sketch more. To aid this, I resolve first to fill a sketchbook every two months. I almost resolved to do one every month, which I would like to think I could do, but with all the other stuff I have going on, it'd be really hard. Thank you, Wes, for returning me to sanity.

Finish one series of artworks. Like a theme or something. Maybe a calendar, maybe just some random theme. I want to do at least one though.

Read more. Manga. Books. Anything. I want to become a better writer, but to do so I really need to see what other people are doing more. I have a tendancy to find one series or one book that I really obsess over and then sort of block everything else out for a while. I need to injest a larger volume of material.

Write. I don't really write. Tessa writes. Tessa's a fantastic writer. I've never considered myself a great storyteller or idea-person. I'd love to change that about myself. Perhaps I'm a terrible writer, and I just need to stick with what I'm good at, but I want to find out.

That's all I've come to so far. If I think of anything else, I'll be appending this!

Gorilla Fightaaaaa

2007-12-30T18:51:00.000-06:00

...enters the ring!! XD

DONE FINALLY. Took a while, but I'm happy with the results. I also obviously decided to desaturate and darken when I was done. I like the mood much better. Gorilla's gonna punch your skull in. OH YA. :0

YEAAAHHH

2007-12-29T22:44:00.000-06:00

Still working on it. X_X Gawd, this is takin forever. Though most likely with my old technique I wouldn't be nearly as far along. Finished (mostly) the front dude. Though as I post this WIP now I already see some things I need to fix.

Hope to finish this tomorrowww.

Also, I'm noticing. I kindof wanted this to be a dull, muted piece. Not completely gray, but definitely more dark and desaturated... and it's turning out SO COLORFUL. I apparently can't help myself. Perhaps I'll toy with desaturating it when I'm done. Or maybe I'll decide I like it colorful.

Gorilla Fighter Update

2007-12-29T01:19:00.001-06:00

I'm trying a new method with my digital painting. Something I saw Arnold Tsang walk through in his tutorial in the art book I bought recently. He worked on black and white first and then put on color, so I thought i'd try it out! I can already see the benefits from the method - I'm already more concerned about contrast, layout and the overall placement of light and shadow than I would be if I were starting with color. I get so wrapped up in color and particular pieces, I forget about the big picture.

So even if I don't stick with the method, I'm at least learnin' new stuff.

Here's a "rough" black and white of the image. I got lazy on the girls hands coz... goddamnhands.

And I did a quick QUICK color test before shutting down today to see if it would work with my sort of thick lines style... which I wanted to stick with for this piece but wasn't sure it'd look good with the new process.

Time for sleeeeeep.

Gorilla Fighter Sketch

2007-12-28T22:09:00.000-06:00

The sketch I'm thinking of using for Erik's Gorilla Fighter artbook. I know what you're thinking. WHERE ARE THE GORILLAS. I wanted to maybe try something less literal, and maybe something no one else would do... not that it's incredibly original or anything, but I try.

I'm hoping this is actually somewhat vaguely Gorilla-ish, so Erik doesn't have to find a nice way to say. Sarah, wtf is this shit. Anyways. Gonna let the picture speak for itself naooo.

PS - He does have pants. Imserious.

KAMINAAAA

2007-12-21T17:26:00.000-06:00

The first in a round of many presents.

I'm so behind.

Done with my new COPICS!! <3 <3 <3 <3

*passes out*

Here's the lineart~ which I was rather happy with too. I tried out the movement stuff I love so much about Eyeshield. <3 So much fun.

Moar sketches <3

2007-12-16T19:44:00.000-06:00

Some gift sketches. 8D Not my characters!

And a topless Kalle. >.> Heavily influenced by watching Gurren Lagann. I NEED MOAR WES. 8< I am your crack dealer too. I CONTROL YOUR EYESHIELD.

Nerding Out

2007-12-09T01:48:00.001-06:00

aklsjawkejrawoeiu

Two guys from Udon are now watching me - Arnistotle and Omar. 8 o8 I can't stop nerding out about that.

Holy shit.

Sketch and Design Drama

2007-12-09T01:17:00.000-06:00

I'm so out of practice with anatomy. 8 ^8

Character on the left is my own, Kalle. Guy on the right is a friend's, named Zelmar.

Reading Eyeshield21 has been such an artistic inspiration. I seriously am in love with Yusuke Murata. The way he captures motion is so amazing. I think I'll try to draw an action piece next.

It's also been brought to my attention that Daeger bears a striking resemblance to Blank from FF9. I've not played FF9, but I did remember there being a character with a belt over his face. I figured if that was the only thing they had in common, I'd be okay. Honestly, I could rattle off about a dozen characters with similar covers on their face. BUT somehow I had ommited the fact that he had STITCHES as well from my memory. Stitches.

RARG!! 8<

The belt and stitches combo is a little bit too much similarity for me to feel comfortable, so I'll probably be altering Daeger's design slightly to ease my conscience. Some other type of cover on his face, maybe. I need something covering it, just perhaps not a gigantic belt.

Stupid coincidences.

Daeger

2007-12-07T08:10:00.000-06:00

I drew him.

I am seriously in love with Copics. Kristen gave some flesh tones to Tessa for Christmas, and I borrowed them for a bit to give them a shot. I had always heard that Copics were amazing, but I guess it really takes using them yourself to see the difference. Everything besides fleshtones was done with Trias on this picture, and the Copics blended and went down so easily. I seriously had to fight the Trias to go down as I wanted. The difference was like night and day.

Ok so...

2007-12-05T22:12:00.001-06:00

I really need a post in order to make this crap layout work. I want to actually design my own layout for this biatch, but I'm really sleepy right now. And I don't want it to look like ass in the meantime. So. SKETCHDUMP. <3

Clicky for more images.

This is Daeger. He's a blind crazy demon who prefers firearms as his main choice of weaponry. But instead of being the awesome blind marksman who can nail a man from a mile away by listening, he'd prefer to just pelt the area with bullets until whatever it was stops moving. In fact, his answer to everything is usually, "Shoot it."

"If it's moving? Shoot it. If it's not moving? It's probably trying to trick you - shoot it."

Constructed from pieces and ball joints, Daeger's parts commonly fall or come apart, and he maintains control of them even when they are disconnected. His missing pieces are, well, missing. He's sure they're somewhere, but they're not really the type that can crawl back to him, so he hasn't found them yet.

Useless info you had no desire to know, get.

Alert

2007-12-05T21:54:00.000-06:00

craps, I has a blog to never update now.