Zelda! Aviators! Mega Man! Pig! Cat! GO!

Hello there blogglings! Can I call you blogglings? Why not, right? I'll do my best to make this brief but I just wanted to drop this week's random sketches on you guys. I pulled out the stuff I liked the best and seemed to be the most interesting. I hope you guys enjoy my offering!

This week had me continuing my love affair with Nintendo as you'll see above. I don't know what's come over me lately but my mind has been pretty dominated by the big N lately. It's like I'm 10 years old again or something. Still enjoying the crap out of my 3DS XL too. Pokemon sure does look good on that big screen! Speaking of which I should probably pencil in some time for Pokemon doodles as well! Some of these sketches might make their way into more final pieces. I'm particularly fond of some of the things I discovered in last weeks Mario sketches. So stay tuned for more on that front.

I hate to keep rambling about this and that but there are a few things I'd like to say as I part ways with the blog this week. 

The sale on my prints is still going on through Monday evening. You can get one of my prints for $13 shipped! So jump on that if you want some of my work for your very own. Time is a tickin' and a tackin' so get over there and pick one up today!

And the other thing, if you aren't getting fill of me on here, you can follow me on both Facebook and Twitter. I tend to ramble and share more over there as the week goes on. You'll even get little sneak peeks of what the weekends updates will be like. And you can taunt me and how much I probably suck at breeding Pokemon... because I totally do suck at it. So much walking involved.

Anyway... thanks for stopping in guys! Feel free to let me know what you think of my scraps and if there's anything in particular you'd like to see more of! I'm just having a blast lately trying out this and that. Have a great rest of your holiday weekend! Go forth and BE AWESOME, my minions! Ha! Take care!

- Ryan

Labor Day Weekend Sale!

Hey people! I know so many of you are looking forward to this weekend's art post and it's on the way! But I just wanted to let everyone know about a sale that's going on this weekend over at my little shop!

Lets start summer off right with a Labor Day Sale this weekend only on my "Legend of Zelda" and "Hellboy" prints! You can have one of these for your very own! $13 SHIPPED!

Come order a "Legend of Zelda" print or nab a "Hellboy" for your cube wall at work! Maybe you would rather have a piece of original art? I have a few doodles up there at affordable prices including a "Legend of Zelda" original art/print combo for $30!

Check it out, tell your friends and thanks for the support! And stay tuned this weekend for another art post to round out the week! Take care and enjoy your long weekend!

- Ryan

Scribblehood?

Hey internet people! I finally found my way back to my blog and boy have I been busy! 

It's been a pretty crazy/awesome year so far for me. We're finally starting to get settled in after our cross country move from Vegas to Chicago. And while I miss this west coast at times it is really great to live closer to home (St. Louis). It's been especially helpful the last couple weeks after the birth of our baby girl, Callie! We've been so thankful for all of the family and friends who have been around to support us as newbie parents. And as you can see from the photo above we're pretty stinkin' proud of the adorable little thing.

So in between the move, newish job stuff and fatherhood I've had bits of art happening as well. I've gathered some of the scraps here for a post. It's a lot of random stuff but I hope you enjoy browsing my scribbles. I seem to be more and more interested in doodling lately so these are extra doodle-y. I've been trying to focus on just getting my pencil to paper more often and not really caring as much about the results. It shows but I also think it frees me up to really just explore and have fun. What else are sketchbooks good for other then having fun?! I'm hoping this thought process will help me as I move forward and continue to develop as an artist. It really takes the pressure off to try and "make something awesome" every time I start to sketch. Anyway... on to the art!

This is a bit of a rarity for me. I don't usually show stuff from my day job where I create art for slot games. Most of it is just heavy photo manipulated and UI sort of work. But I had a game make it out to casinos recently that does feature more of my painterly work. If you're in a gamblin' mood feel free to check out "Giant's Gold" at your local casino! Ha!

I just wanted to make a note about the next couple Mario sketches. I've been kinda Nintendo obsessed recently due to the new 3DS XL I just upgraded to and the release of New Super Mario Bros. 2. Love both of 'em so far! Nintendo does nostalgia very well and I'm a sucker for it as you'll see in the sketches below! Ha! The digital one is my first attempt at sketching something on a tablet in Sketchbook Pro. I'm terrible at drawing with a tablet sadly. I'm hopeful I'll get a Cintiq sometime in the next year or so but it's fun to try. But it's where my Mario sketchery started this week so I had to share.

Thanks again for stopping in! Hope you liked the sketch dump. Be on the lookout for blog updates from now on each weekend. So stay tuned for more of my scrawls next week! If you can't wait you can always follow me on my Facebook page and Twitter. Go forth and BE AWESOME!

- Ryan

END

As I mentioned a few days ago, I was commissioned by Ghost Legion Studios to do a take on one of their main villains from their new game "End." The character, Obenchain, has a rough/homeless vibe to him and he can summon zombies to do his bidding. No joke and sounds like a pretty amazing skill set!

At any rate, I dove in and provided a few sketches and then took off rendering a pencil sketch of the guy. Above you can see my final pencils along with the finished illustration. I kept everything really loose and rough for the most part. I was only commissioned for the pencil sketch but I figured I'd do a rough pass of color/texture to make things a bit more interesting. Hope you guys like him!

If you're interested in checking the game out then head over to the recently released Kickstarter campaign! Throw a couple bucks their way and lets get this game funded!

Thanks for checking in! Take care!

- Ryan

Things I'm loving right now:

Skyward Sword: After a few months of letting it sit on my back log I've jumped back in. I've finally overcome the slow start and am in the thick of it all! Loving it! The use of color is top notch! I wish I could live in world's this colorful!

July 4th Week: Kinda random but the studio I work for is giving us the entire week off for the 4th this year! I'm looking forward to heading down to St. Louis, MO to visit with family and friends the whole time! Can't freakin' wait! Ha!

Scribble Dump!

Hey people!

Life has been still finding itself falling into place for me lately. Lots of preparations for our new baby girl who's arriving in August! In between that and work you'd find me scribbling and preparing my mind for writing some of my own stories. I'm trying to return myself to the roots of why I started creating artwork in the first place. Communicating tales has always been my first goal and I've veered off course a bit as time has gone on. Hopefully I'll have more info as time goes on regarding this exciting turn! But till then you'll have my scratchy scribbles to gnaw on!

The first one is a work in progress of a character from Ghost Legion Studio's new game, "End." They've asked me to do an illustration of their main baddy and I'm having fun with it. You can see a couple of the concept sketches I did before diving in for it as well just below him. I should have this wrapped this weekends so expect a more finished image soon!

What else? Well, over the last couple days at work I've been rendering animations in After Effects which affords me a little bit of time to doodle. This is what usually happens when you give me a ballpoint pen, paper and an idle mind. Random heads! Ha! Hope you enjoy these goof balls!

And here's a fat Ninja Turtle sketch for good measure. lol

Thanks for taking a look and keeping up with me! I'm still flirting with the possibility of creating a schedule for posting. I know I say that all the time. Ha! But I'd like to have the accountability to make myself more diligent with my own personal work and sketching. We shall see! Ha! Take care, guys n' gals!

- Ryan

Things I'm loving lately:

iPad 3 - Ok, so I upgraded and that retina display is freakin' awesome! Can't get enough of it. Though it makes me worried about what this new Hi-Res display means for my Bluray collection in the near future. :o/

E3 - I wasn't totally blown away but it's always a fun time of the year for those of us who love games. Halo 4 looks so awesome and The Last of Us is something I'm also really looking forward to. E3 is like peeking at all your awesome presents months before Christmas! Ha!

Pirate Owl

Hey blog people!

I've been thinking a lot about pirate owls lately. I have another story kicking around in my head that includes this sort of character. At any rate here's a sketch that I did today in Sketchbook Pro on my iPad.

I've been trying to make better use of my iPad lately and have had a lot of fun sketching on it with the new Wacom Bamboo stylus. It's not completely intuitive but I'm getting better with it! I have lots of little scribbles and stuff that I could post but I figure no one really wants to see that mess.

But I would like to start creating a regular posting schedule. And I'm trying to hash out exactly what I want to do with my personal work. I'm really looking forward to seeing how things progress this year and have some interesting project ideas on the horizon!

Take care and thanks for checking in!

- Ryan

Heroes Call Icons

I haven't had as much time to sketch as one would really like but I'm hoping to dig in more in the next week. The major distraction (besides continuing to get settled in Chicago) is that I've decided to take on a bit of contract work on top of normal full time job. Since we've got a little one on the way and lots of new expenses coming up I figured it'd be nice to have a bit of extra cash on hand.

Recently Australian mobile developer, Defiant Development, approached me about doing some icons for their upcoming iOS and Android game, Heroes Call. It's a really cool looking App that looks like something I'd even be really interested in playing! The game is a fantasy action RPG and sort of has a dungeon crawler-y feel to it. I'm pretty picky about what sort of contact work I pick up on the side but this just seemed to be right up my alley.

I haven't worked on a fantasy video game for a couple years now and it's been even longer since I've designed icons for such a game. But the icons I did for Simutronic's now defunct MMORPG, Hero's Journey, have always sat in my portfolio for several years generating interest. If there's one thing I've learned during my career as a professional artist it's that if you can generate UI (user interface) assets, you will find that you have value to a company.

I get emails nearly weekly from people looking for me to create icons for them. I don't get nearly as many requested for illustrations or concept work. Unemployment doesn't scare me nearly as much as it used to because all of these people seem to need icons all the time! If you can do it then I'd strongly encourage you to put some interface work in your portfolio. Not all illustrators have the greatest design sense but if you're looking for a gig in the industry this skill set could be the thing that gives you the leg up on your competition.

So that's the reason I wanted to post those. I doubt many of you will care too much about the icon work I've done. It's not something I used to take much pride in but I've learned that my skills in this area is invaluable. And it's really been to my advantage to play to those strengths from time to time.

Anyway, hopefully next post will be more sketchy! I was just thinking about this subject as I was painting these little buggers and thought it might be something other artists might like to know!

One other thing before I bolt off into the night. I have ORIGINAL ART up for sale on my store now if you're interested! You can pick up a Ninja Turtle sketch, Samurai Frog sketch or even the pencils from my Legend of Zelda illustration! Head over to my shop by clicking here!

Thanks for stopping by and for supporting my work! Take care!

- Ryan

Things I LOVE right now:

St. Louis, MO: I'm heading back down to my hometown this weekend to visit with some family and friends!  Looking forward to some Imo's pizza during my visit! Ha!

Prometheus: Cannot wait for this movie. I'm so hyped for this thing.

Samurai Frog

Hey guys! I'm back with s'more postage! Can you believe it?!

Last week I started a new blog with some friends from work and we've trying to update it with doodles each week following a sort of story theme. This week was about a frog warrior type character seeking revenge fro his fallen brother. You can view more about it by checking out the blog. But I figured I'd post my process over here as well.

For my contribution this week I bring you... Samurai Frog!

I tried some new things with this image starting with the brush pen. I still feel like I botched it up a lot but I gave it a go. Might try to use it a bit more often in order to make myself draw faster. There's definitely no time to mess around when it comes to brush inks. And even the color work was a bit different that I usually like to work. But I was trying to get something roughed in very quickly. It's a bit saturated now that I'm looking at it again.

The results were kinda lackluster but I learned a bit for next time. That's what counts, eh? Hope you guys like 'em.

- Ryan

Things that I'm loving right now...

   - Wacom 24HD Cintiq: I REALLY WANT ONE. Can't stop thinking about how much it'll improve the ol' work flow.
   - Mass Effect 3: I haven't finished it yet but I'm enjoying it. The multiplayer is even pretty fun to kill some time.
   - Game of Thrones: I'm watching the series, listening to the audiobooks and just can't get enough! Also slowly getting hooked into Mad Men as well. TV eats my life away. :o/

I'm All Shook Up

Much like zombie Elvis up there, I'm hoping I can bring this blog back from the dead! Thanks for sticking with me! We're finally getting settled in Chicago and are wrapping up the unboxing process. I've just about got my work area ready to go! And then I should be back to sketching and posting more regularly. I have some things to post but haven't really had much time recently to do a full post. So you'll have to settle for another mini post until then!

This scribble I did in ballpoint pen in between file saves and lunch at work. I do a lot of crap like this. They're usually fat necked, gross looking dudes. I guess I relate to them. Ha! I don't post a lot of the scribbles like this but I guess I should. This one made me chuckle a bit as a drew him out. I didn't intend for him to be Elvis like at first but he just sort of ended up kinda like that.

Anyway, thanks for sticking around! I should be back to posting more often in the next week or so! The cross country move took a lot out of us. And we're just now starting to wrap our heads around the fact that we'll have a baby with us in the coming months! Lots of life changes. But I need to get my nose back in that sketchbook so stay tuned for more to come! Take care and I hope you're all well!

- Ryan

PS: Baseball season has arrived! Go Cards! ;o)

Takin' a Wee Break

Hey guys!

I wanted to apologize for the disappearing for the last month or so. I wasn't avoiding you intentionally. ;o) I had a few job related decisions come up and that sucked away most of my attention/energy. The sketching slowed down and my relations online just sort of came to a stand still while I deliberated and negotiated my options. BUT... a decision has been made. And by the end of March I should find my little family living in Chicago, IL as my job has transferred me to a new team at our corporate headquarters.

I'm super excited to be closer to my MidWestern homeland as my wife and I are expecting our first this summer. But there are going to be some things I'll really miss about my life on the west coast and Vegas. For starters the weather is freakin' amazing here. Not looking forward to snow returning to my life. California is pretty awesome and I'll miss going to Comic Con and all the awesome times we had over there. And of course I'm gonna miss all my new friends that I've made out here over the last few years. But I'll have to drown out my sorrows with deep dish pizza, baseball games and a city that actually has some culture! Looking forward to new faces and new experiences of living in a big city!

As for art updates, I'm going to try and find some to scribble in between packing and moving across the country. But my art blog updates probably won't be as frequent until I get settled. I imagine I'll probably keep the Twitter and my "Art of Ryan Bowlin" Facebook page updated more often as it's easy to snapshot stuff and post it via those sites. So if you're starving for updates you can check out those pages!

Until then... I'll see ya on the open road! At least, I hope it's open. I hear Chicago traffic is maddening. ;o) Take care and thanks for sticking with me through the month of no updates!

- Ryan

PS: That sketch up there is a sampling of a random scribble from my sketchbook. Probably should have mentioned that somewhere.

"The Penguin" Original Sketch Giveaway

Hey dudes and dudettes! Yea, sorry I said that already. :o/

I should be dropping hot art updates on here but I'm trying to build up more sketchbook pages before I hit you with that stuff. Until then I thought I'd do another original sketch giveaway to try and get more traffic directed to my Facebook page!

This time I'll be giving away the sketch I did of The Penguin that I did not so long ago. You can see a picture of the sketch below or click HERE to view the original post on the blog. How does one acquire said sketch? Well, I'm glad you asked!

EDIT: BREAKING NEWS! On top of the original sketch I'm also going to be giving away to the winner a copy of both of my latest prints! That's right, the winner will also be taking home a Hellboy and Legend of Zelda print!

Basically all you need to do is head on over to my Facebook page titled, "The Art of Ryan Bowlin" and LIKE the page and share the post about "The Penguin" sketch giveaway with your friends on Facebook. That way I can see who shared the post and do a random drawing to see who will win the sketch next weekend!

Sounds easy, right?! It is! Thanks for supporting and sharing my artwork! And good luck!

- Ryan

*Action Figures Not Included. ;o)

UPDATE: Congrats to Brandon Alderman of Las Vegas, NV! Our lucky winner! Don't worry, I'm sure I'll be doing more as time goes on so maybe you'll win next time! Thanks again for all the support! Results courtesy of random.org!

Weekend Scribblefest

I promised you guys more sketches and even though I didn't get much in during the work week I tried to destroy some pages this weekend. Most of the stuff is scribbles/studies from photos I randomly found on the internet. Trying to practice quick drawing figures and get a little more anatomy work in there. I really just want to focus on getting ideas down quickly and trying to waste less time noodling on stuff. I suffer from "reder-itis" a bit. Tried to be more hasty when laying this stuff in though. I hope you guys like 'em!

The unfinished dwarf and the troll with the Corgi puppy were obviously random imagination stuff. The troll sketch is who I like to imagine my dog hangs out with when we're away. ;o) Y'kno how animals sometimes seem to see things that we can't? I used to imagine they could see ghosts or something. Now I think there's an invisible troll that lives in my house and just loves my puppy to pieces. lol

I'm going to do my best to be more proactive in the days to come but I'll probably only update the blog a couple times a week. Not sure which days just yet. Perhaps Sundays and Wednesdays? Regardless, I'm getting back into sketchbook mode and am having a blast! Can't wait to generate more images! Keep checking back for more scribble mayhem! Take care!

- Ryan

PS: Lots of Zelda and Hellboy prints still available! Check out my store by clicking HERE!

Things I Love Right Now:

Money Ball - Just saw the movie tonight and really adored it. Man, do I love baseball. Can't wait for spring! Go Cards!

Moleskine Sketchbooks - They really do make the best notebooks, don't they? Something about 'em just makes me feel inspired when I pull one out to sketch.

Late 80's/Early 90's Cartoons - This week was a blast from the past. I've been feeding my eyeballs episodes of "Batman: The Animated Series", "The Real Ghostbusters" and "TMNT." I'm gonna hit the big 30 this year and it has me feeling nostalgic. Looking forward to more toons this week as well!

M83's "Hurry Up We're Dreaming" - This album has been on repeat all week. Incredible old school vibe. Love it. Check it out!

It's time to LEVEL UP!

My drawing skills have fallen off quite a bit since I started working in games. My paintings have improved but I don't draw nearly as much as I used to during my school days. It's always such a headache for me to work out poses and get my sketches looking lively. But I'm sick of the frustration and it's time to level up!

I'm going to try my best to sketch every day in my sketchbook and watch for improvement. I'm giving myself freedom to do whatever I want. As long as I'm drawing and throwing study sessions in there from time to time. I read recently that if you want to improve you need to complete a sketchbook a month. That's a tall order for me but we'll see how far I can get!

Why am I telling all of you this? Hold me accountable! And be on the look out for a lot more scribble sessions then finished paintings. 2012 is the year of the drawing for me! Ha! And it's seriously time to improve! Here's the first page of my Moleskine to get things started. Something about telling myself how bad I suck makes me want to draw more. lol Hope you like these random scribbles! Look for more soon!

- Ryan

PS: GigaCon was awesome! Thanks to all of those who came out! I hope you guys enjoyed it and took something away from my ramblings. ;o)

Legend of Zelda Limited Edition Prints Now Available

Hey guys! Just wanted to pop in to let you all know that I've just ran off a limited print run of my new "Legend of Zelda" piece! The print is on high quality, matte paper stock and measures 11.8 X 17.7.

And these things look really sharp! The colors in my lame iPhone photos don't do them justice. And I included an image of what the "Hellboy Portrait" print looks like in comparison in terms of size. These guys are quite a bit larger! Still need to find a way to ship them out! Ha!

If you're looking to snap one up you can just head over to my new online shop and fork over $20 dollars plus $5 shipping. They should be arriving on your door steps in a week or two! I think you'll really like 'em! Especially if you're as big of a fan as I am!

What other super, cool stuff is going on? Welp, this weekend (January 13-15) I'll be attending GigaCon in Washington DC as a guest artist! If any of you are going to be in the area you should totally come to the Con! Really looking forward to meeting people and getting my art on with all of the awesome people on the east coast! Ha! I'm sure I've been spoiled by this Vegas winter tho. I'm sure I'm gonna freakin' freeze out there! But if you're in DC come shiver with me while we sketch!

Hope you're enjoying the New Year! I can't wait to see what 2012 has to offer! I think it's gonna be a big one! Take care and thanks for supporting my scribbles. ;o)

- Ryan

The Legend of Zelda 25th Anniversary Tribute

Well, after several days of scraping together time to paint, I finally managed to finish off my Legend of Zelda illustration. I took some chances and varied my approach when it came to this piece. It didn't quite come out how I'd hoped but I still think it's pretty fun and I learned a lot for the next time when I dive into a work like this. And I was painting freakin' Link! So how awesome is that?! Ha!

I hope you guys liked how it turned out and enjoyed watching my progress as I moved along. There's something that I really loved about the original sketch and over the course of the illustration I just lost some of it. But I'm still satisfied and ready to move on to something new. I think I'll be working on more sketchy stuff for a while. Between this piece and work I'm getting a bit tired of working so tightly.

At any rate, I just wanted to get it posted! I was pretty sure I'd do a small print run of this but I want to see how the reception is first before I plop down any cash. I know the feel of it is a little different from some of my other work I've previously posted. Let me know what you think and I'll keep you updated on whether or not I print them off! Thanks for looking and happy Monday! Have a great week, guys!

New Year's Business Cards

Hey guys (and gals),

Work is still under way on the Zelda piece but I took some time to make up some new business cards for the new year! I'll be at a Con this month and just wanted to have something to hand out to all the new, awesome artists I'm hoping to meet!

I couldn't decide on which piece to use so I figured I'd do a print run of both! Maybe in the future I'll do more with other art pieces to make a little set. You could collect them all! Ha! ;o) May there be much more awesome art made in 2012! Happy New Years!

- Ryan

The Legend of Zelda 25th Anniversary Tribute WIP: Part Three

The progress on my Legend of Zelda illustration has been slow going since enduring the holidays and the acquisition of a fiesty, little puppy. Ha! But I'm going to try and find the time to finish it over the next week or two. I haven't said much about it since I've been so busy. But I figured it would probably be good to address it for the sake of continuing to document the process! I still have quite a bit of work to do but it's shaping up a bit since the last time I showed my initial color pass. Hope you guys like where it's going! I'm going to throw my efforts behind this image and hoping to get it done soon so I can get some prints made in time for my trip to GigaCon in mid January. More on that later though!

Thanks for looking through my art messes! Enjoy the rest of your year! Just a couple days left in 2011! Lets rock 2012 with even more awesome artwork! Get scribbling! ;o)

- Ryan

Hoo Hoo Hoo! Merry Christmas!

I hope all of you are enjoying the holidays!

This year my wife and I made our own Christmas cards by hand to send out to a few of our family and friends. In each card I hand drew a unique owl. This is a sampling of some of those owl scribbles! They were a hoot to do (See what I did there? Ha!) and it was neat to see how each one could be a bit different then the next.

I hope you like them and I wish you the best as you continue celebrating into the new year!

- Ryan

Christmas Caroler Scribble

Here's a little pen scribble that I did while in a meeting at work today. Christmas is just a few days away! What's Santa bringing you?!

- Ryan

Ogre Head Sculpt

I swear I'm going to get back to drawing and painting soon! Haven't had as much free time lately so doing these quick little sketch sculpts have been a nice change of pace. This Ogre was another one done in Sculptris and I think he's the best of the three I've done thus far. I gave up on trying to make his hairy chops look believable though. Been having a blast playing with shapes in these! Hope you like him!

- Ryan

Sculptris Head Sketch/Sculpt

So I'm not sure if it's a good idea or not to share these little 3D sketches with you guys. I don't ever envision myself moving completely that direction but it is a fun way to push my art brain around in a different way. I basically have just been exploring these things the same way I do random sketches in a sketchbook. I just start laying in shapes and push and pull it into something. Their a blast! I start all of these with a basic sphere and just go to town on it.

I was a bit let down by the price for ZBrush but my friend (Casey Dockendorf)commented on my last post and alerted me to Pixologic's free gateway drug into ZBrush, Sculptris! It's awesome and just powerful enough to do what I want to with it! Check it out and toss some virtual clay around!

With the new puppy in the house it's been slow for art production. Hopefully the holiday break coming up will help me out. We shall see! Really want to finish that Zelda piece and I might push back the Snow Moose into January. This dog has turned our life upside down. lol Puppies are a LOT of work. Anyway, thanks for lookin' over my scribbles! And take care!

- Ryan

Baby's First ZBrush Sculpt

We're starting Z Brush training at work so I figured I'd show off my first ever sculpt! It's kinda crude and amateurish but I'm quite impressed with how easy it was to grasp some of the basic tools. Might work on this dude a bit more as we keep learning! Just wanted to share! By no means am I a 3D artist but it is fun to mess around with from time to time.

Perhaps I'll have more ZBrush sketches as time goes on. It is a very interesting tool to mess around with. I don't think I'll become a ZBrusher but it's fun to mix it up every once in a while! Just wanted to share!

- Ryan

The Penguin Sketch

Hey blog peoples! Hope you're enjoying your December! I know I am! It's been super busy but I'm trying not to completely abandon my art efforts.

Yesterday I scribbled out this goofy sketch of The Penguin after discussing with some friends how disappointed I was that Bane was going to be the main villain in the newest Batman. I'm just not that fond of him when compared to all the other great villains that Bats has been thrown up against!

So I did a quick scribble and spent about another 15 minutes throwing some layers at him to add a dash of color/texture. Pretty far off from a finished painting but I hope you enjoy it nonetheless! Maybe I'll paint him up proper some other day when I have the time.

I'm still making headway on my Zelda illustration but it might overtake my holiday illustration of the Snow Moose or push him back into January. The big reason is the wife and I have decided to get our first puppy! We've been in preparation mode for the little one and it's been nuts around here. I'll post a pic of her below so you can "ooo" and "awww" with us! Ha! Corgi's FTW!


I know it isn't much but hopefully I'll have more updates as the days spin on. Looking forward to getting some work done over the course of the holiday break too! So keep checking back and thanks for looking! Take care!

Ryan

Things that I love right now:

Christmas! - The music, the movies, the holiday card making, the feeling of being a kid... just all of it! Ha! I'm sure I'm not alone. ;o)

Corgis - We've been falling in love with this breed of pup and can't wait to raise our own. They're quite smart too! YouTube has been a safe haven for all of my Corgi puppy video needs! lol

Zelda 25th Anniversary from OC Remix - It's amazing and on repeat on my Macbook Pro. Check it out! Did I mention it's free?! http://zelda25.ocremix.org/

The Legend of Zelda 25th Anniversary Tribute WIP: Part Two

Started digging into the painting today so I figured I'd upload a small update on the final drawing. I also thought it might be nice for you to see how this image started so I've posted an image of the initial thumbnail where it all began. I try to work really loosely in that portion of the process and really just nail down basic shapes, compositions and poses. I think I have more fun exploring options there then at any other place in the process! So much promise in these little scribbles!

The second image is a rough value pass on the lines for my Zelda illustration. I almost always do this before jumping into a painting. It tends to help ground some of my ideas for me. At times I'll really push this part further and spend a lot more time rendering. Value and lighting is important and if I forget that I usually will loose all of my contrast in a piece. I need to make sure I remind myself of that as I continue since I didn't push it much in this one.

And lastly, I figured I'd toss up my first, initial wash of colors as well. These two phases kind of go hand in hand. After I do a value pass I create wash of the overall colors I want in the image. It's just a color layer with a few overlays and BAM! You've got some color to start working with! It's neat to see how a little color really starts to make the image come alive.

I'm much further along then this now though. So next update should be with a nice coat of paint on everything. I might wait a few days before I do that though. Or I perhaps might wait until it's completely finished. We will see! Hope you guys like it! I'm excited to see where it ends up!

- Ryan

The Legend of Zelda 25th Anniversary Tribute WIP: Part One

Just wanted to share this really quick. Here's a sneak peek at the pencils for my Legend of Zelda 25th Anniversary tribute illustration. I'm a huge fan of the series but I've never created any fan art. Really excited about this one!

Also don't forget to like and share my Facebook page for a chance to win some original Mega Man art and a Hellboy print!

http://www.facebook.com/ryanbowlinart

Thanks again for checking out my stuff and welcome to December! ;o)

- Ryan