The Art of Denis Loubet

...and his Social Media effort!

[denisloubet]

Here's a portrait of the late New York Times Bestselling Author -- and roommate for many years -- Aaron Allston that I did for a patron of mine who knew him. I tried to do this piece in the style of artist Drew Struzan, famous for his Star Wars and Indiana Jones movie posters. As a first attempt at that style, I've still got a lot to learn.

In addition to Aaron, you can see Wedge Antilles who figured largely in Aaron's popular Wraith Squadron Star Wars novels. To the right you can see my interpretation of Doc Sidhe, the main character of Aaron's original period urban fantasy series.

Not included as elements in this picture are Aaron's significant contributions to game design, and the massive body of work for various game companies such as Hero Games, Steve Jackson Games, Origin Systems, and many more.

Always willing to share his knowledge and expertise as game designer and author, Aaron held many successful workshops that set young designers and authors on their path. He was also generous to his fans, giving of his time and attention at conventions across the nation.

So this is a work that I should have done on my own without a commission, and I'm grateful to my patron for making it possible to do without going bankrupt in the process.

So let's remember Aaron and the effects he's had on popular culture over the years, as well as each of us personally.

Thanks, Aaron.

[denisloubet]

Here's a lot of what I've been working on lately. It's a portrait of Scott Jones done as a thank you from his fans for all the hard work he did on Shroud of the Avatar. This portrait was funded by a Kickstarter campaign run on Scott's behalf to pay me for the portrait. This is an example of how Kickstarter can be used to facilitate the creation of art. Commissioning a piece of art can be crowdfunded! This kickstarter was run by the inimitable Frank Baxley.

This was ostensibly meant to be inserted into Shroud of the Avatar as an in-game asset. As a portrait that one could hang over their virtual mantle in their digital castle. But being the savvy old-timer in the art biz, I know that someone will inevitably want to print a poster of this, and so I did it at a ridiculous resolution. The image you're looking at here is at 12% of the actual size, so you can only barely see the canvas texture.

Many of my Patrons got to enjoy the full resolution image, and so if you want to check this out -- along with a lot of other work -- you might consider becoming a patron. www.patreon.com/denisloubet

[denisloubet]

Collectors edition cover to Underworld Ascendant, the spiritual successor to Ultima  Underworld. Done in Corel Painter and Adobe Photoshop.

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Everard

Months ago I agreed to do a picture for a family that had lost their son and decided that the thing he loved, gaming, should be his monument. So I present to you Everard the Halfling Paladin, and his trusty steed.

Here's a few words from the family:

It was an interesting challenge interpreting Wyatt as a Halfling and I hope he's recognizable, but it seemed a worthy endeavor and I did my best.

So here's to Wyatt, may he live again and again in the imagination of gamers everywhere.

--Denis

[denisloubet]

What I've Been Up To Recently.

Click on source below to see more!

[denisloubet]

Replacing the old Virtue Collection with these new Medieval / Victorian styled ones. Get your Ultima-themed jewelry here! These things take 3 weeks to get to you, so order now!

https://www.shapeways.com/shops/alternateuniverse?section=The+Virtue+Collection&s=0

[denisloubet]

Hanging out at Dragon’s Lair Comics Austin last night to do character drawings, and these emerged instead.

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Out of the blue, just because I wanted to do something for my patrons, comes the Avatar and Bluehair! These two pictures depict introspective studies of our favorite heroes.

The Avatar is recalling all the creatures that have fallen before him who must have had complex inner lives he was not privy to, and questioning the simplicity of the virtues he is sworn to uphold.

Bluehair is recovering from the adrenaline charged chaos of a dogfight, wondering if he made the right choice to join the navy to defend the Terran Confederation from the depredations of the Kilrathi Empire.

Or not. I'm just guessing what's going on in their heads. You should decide for yourself what their grey matter is contemplating.

Many thanks to the Wing Commander CIC forums for their expertise regarding Bluehair's insignia. (Note that I decided to leave Bluehair's name plaque off his jacket because his name isn't really Bluehair, and his name should really be whatever you gave him when you played the game.)

These are only 30% resolution versions. Consider becoming a Patron to get access to full resolution images, and even full Photoshop files with all layers intact. www.patreon.com/denisloubet

[denisloubet]

New Portrait! This portrait was done for a friend who fiercely engaged in reverse bargaining to drive the price up to where he thought I should be setting it. What a world that has such friends in it. As opposed to Frank Baxley's portrait, his piece fought me every inch of the way. First, I had to work from a series of photographs that all had her smiling, and all had her wearing glasses. This meant I did not know what her face looked like in repose, nor could I tell how big her eyes actually were. (Safety tip doing portraits from photos with the subject wearing glasses: The lenses either shrink or enlarge the eyes so you can't know how big the eyes really are.) I quickly realized that I had had it easy with Frank's portrait. With his I could go for rugged looks, adding years to his face with impunity. That would not work here. Also, Frank was a little...stingy in the hair department, and this subject had rather more! I also had the same problem with having to ignore the photos when doing the sketch, and that was very hard to do. I wanted to depend on the photos so badly, because it's so easy to do, but the many resulting sketches just didn't look like the person I was trying to paint. As a result I had to put the photos away to do the sketch, and depend on directions from the client as to how big, and how prominent, certain features should be. Because the subject was smiling, a somber lighting and background wouldn't do, so I went for bright and cheerful. I solved the hair concern by embracing a highly stylized look that worked. The jewelry was fun to do, and you'll notice the tiara bears a striking similarity to the one worn by Keeper in a Drawmycharacter piece I did for Kenneth Scott a while back! Her outfit was entirely made up, with the only stipulation being the color of the blouse. I thought the high collar gave her an added air of elegance to mirror the simplicity of the embroidery on the neckline and shoulders. I think the background is a successful experiment in making the high-contrast foreground pop against a deliberately blurry and low contrast suggestion of sunlight in trees. If looking at this portrait made you smile in response, then it served its purpose. --Denis

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Achievement Unlocked! I can do portraits now.

https://www.patreon.com/posts/i-now-do-11653340

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This is the only recent Star Wars art I've done.

My clearest memory of the movie when it first came out was at the very beginning when the Star Destroyer was first looming into view overhead. I remember sinking into my seat and thinking "Oh my GOD, they did it RIGHT!" That initial euphoria was easily sustained by the rest of the movie.

I think Star Wars is the best of the films. It has the originality, the energy, and the life, that the other films can't quite match. It effortlessly suggested a larger universe wrapped in mystery. It was a juggernaut, with one desperate harebrained scheme blending seamlessly into the next and it all made enough sense to hang together.

I hadn't seen special effects of such quality since 2001: A Space Odyssey, which I also saw on first release! Seeing a lived-in universe gave the story a sense of history and authenticity that was lacking in other SF at the time. It all worked because it took itself seriously, and seemed to respect its sources.

There were so many great lines, along with so many bad ones, I practically had the dialogue memorized. And the score was phenomenal! There were so many great themes I wore out the album. (On vinyl of course.) I devoured all the media I could find, and did portraits in pencil of the characters for a local student newspaper. I researched the special effects to see how they were done. I marveled at the matt paintings, and collected all the McQuarry art I could find. I paid attention to the sound effects and the editing, something I didn't usually do with other movies.

And look what Star Wars DIDN'T have: Ewoks, Jar-Jars, and other cynical merchandising ploys. It was pure and untarnished from start to finish.

There are several movies I call Perfect Movies. It's a short list. Star Wars: Perfect Space Opera. Raiders of the Lost Ark: Perfect pulp-action adventure. 2001: A Space Odyssey: Perfect hard science fiction. Aliens: Perfect space marines / bug-hunt. Close Encounters: Perfect whatever the hell it was.

I'm still waiting for perfect sword and sorcery, perfect Lovecraft, etc. Hopefully I'll live to see them.

I'm grateful I was around for Star Wars.

[denisloubet]

Not an acronym, but rather the sound a teleporting X-Man makes when disappearing in a puff of brimstone.

Apparently that's also the sound of BAMPH! when she teleports herself and her motorcycle, at high speed, 40 yards down the street completely avoiding a congested intersection.

Yes the character is totally into the disco hairstyle and gymnast physique, as well as rocking local police powers.

I have not drawn many motorcycles in my career, those I did were mostly in service to Car Wars, by Steve Jackson Games. The crotch-rockets now on the road have all sorts of futuristic compound body curves that are actually kind of difficult to interpret from mere photos.

I originally tried to invent my own motorcycle for this picture, but it came out more like a cross between the motorcycles in Akira, and a Vespa. I even built a crude version in 3D to use as a model, but it didn't help. So ultimately I just used a photo of a real cycle to get the proportions right, and made up all the details.

I knew I wanted those wide slicks, and a hub that covered most of the wheel, as well as some huge ridiculous intake on the side. To simplify the handlebar I went all button-happy, and the BAMPH! boob logo is courtesy of the Photoshop Distort transformation tool.

The only thing I'm not satisfied with is the exhaust pipe arrangement. It seems perfunctory and not in keeping with the rest of the vehicle design. Unfortunately I can't go for perfection because it would simply take too long. Like a doctor doing CPR, at some point I gotta call time of death if the patient doesn't wake up.

The things I'm really liking about this are the retro police lights, the suggestion of tire tread, and the red gloss on her hair. It was also fun doing the two-color motorcycle leathers and all the chrome.

I hope you enjoy this latest Drawmycharacter piece. Looks like someone wants a portrait next.

Stay tuned.

--Denis

[denisloubet]

I've been busy lately with a digital painting for the Ultima Dragons 25th Anniversary bash at Disneyland. I will post it after the big reveal at the party itself. I'm also working on a set of Cardboard Heroes for Steve Jackson Games. Seems my career has come full-circle. A lucky Patron won the picture below. Why I drew a screaming skull I have no idea, but it looks cool enough. Vaguely reminiscent of the screaming skull in the comic strip Red Meat. Enjoy! --Denis To see more of my art, visit www.denisloubet.com To become a Patron, visit www.patreon.com/denisloubet For as little as a dollar a month, or less, you can get almost all my art output early!

[denisloubet]

This is the Wing Commander themed card I created for my Patrons.

Enjoy!

( www.patreon.com/denisloubet )

[denisloubet]

I don't know if I've ever done an actual portrait of someone in this style before, but I think this picture of Sir Cabirus turned out okay despite the challenges it presented. First I had to determine the likely size in which it would be presented, and do a version suitable to that scale, in a much higher resolution. (Meaning the lines are all multiple pixels thick.) If I had chosen a high resolution and drawn the picture to that resolution, the lines would have all blended together and looked horrible when reduced to their final size. I also had to realize that photo reference has it's place, but not to depend upon it. When I tried to do the portrait to the proportions of the photo reference, it never looked like the image of Sir Cabirus I had in my head. So after many fruitless hours of arguing with the photos, I finally set them aside and drew the image I had of him in my mind's eye, and voila, I had this picture emerge that I instantly recognized. So there you go, I'm STILL learning my craft. --Denis

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Detail of Christmas card featuring everyone’s favorite Kilrathi, Hobbes!

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Rufus and Keeper

This has been too long in coming. 

Scott asked me to draw a picture of two of his characters, and I dutifully explored the possibilities of an "authentic" looking, stiffly posed, period-esque portrait. But one of the sketches was a more candid moment between the characters, and seemed to grab Scott's attention. So I made it my mission to create a portrait that would contagiously force a smile out of those who saw it. It also means that this is more a picture of a candid photo of them getting ready for a formal portrait than a formal portrait itself.

That mission offered a host of challenges and a number of variations before it was finished. Yeah the expressions could not look stiff or forced, but far more importantly it had to tell a story about the relationship of the characters. I decided on the idea that they're sharing a joke that only they can appreciate, and it creates an intimate  moment between them. I think I managed to capture her impishness and his good humor well enough to make it work.

One of the challenges was making sure the eyes matched the smiles. Forced smiles tend to not involve the eyes, but genuine smiles subtly push up at the eyes and that's notoriously difficult to capture in a drawing.

Another big challenge was the chromyness of the mithril cuirass, and it was the last thing I edited in the picture. I'm still not completely satisfied with it.

You'll note the background incorporates the wallpaper from the 3D roomin an earlier post, and adds elements from the background of one of the illustrations I did for Blade of the Avatar.

So because this is a picture of a relationship, it is far more emotionally compelling and powerful than the usual character illustration. I really like this one, and I thank Scott for the opportunity to do it.

--Denis