- ZUBOROS -

Illustrations and concepts by Tom Laird Mack, some other things occasionally. Artstation: https://www.artstation.com/zuboros

[zuboros]

The Abandoned - Mastercorp Contractors (2026)

I've been working with The Grumpus Studio on an exciting new pitch for a game called 'The Abandoned' and I've been given permission to share a sneak peek of some of the work I've been doing with them recently - much more to hopefully come soon, follow The Grumpus Studio on Facebook or LinkedIn for updates on the project - https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-grumpus-studio/

These are the private army of a shadowy conglomerate called Mastercorp - The Art director wanted a streamlined, professional and mean looking approach grounded in realism and modern technology, with a colour scheme predominantly of dark blue and black.

[conceptartworld]

Visor from Quake III Arena Illustrated by Artist John Mueller

id Software game art

[zuboros]

Demon Sketches (2025) -

13 demon designs for a fantasy setting that evoke identifiable demonic traits and symbolism without directly referencing them. The demons vary in function, purpose and hierarchical standing while sharing design elements that tie them into the same universe stylistically and narratively. Which one stands out most to you?

[zuboros]

Blood Angels Centurion (2025) -

Bit of Horus Heresy era for a change

[zuboros]

Zorn Palette Studies (2025) -

Personal studies focusing on limited colours and values via the Zorn palette. Each render took approx. 3 hours.

Reference photos from Unsplash via - https://unsplash.com/@ganinph https://unsplash.com/@oladimeg https://unsplash.com/@albertdera https://unsplash.com/@ahmed_aarif

[zuboros]

Cyberpunk Sneakers Promo (2025) -

Another preview/update for the #cyberpunk themed project I'm working on - This time it's shoes! A lot of the character designs I'm working on are inspired by streetwear, so it made sense to do a side exploration here for when things get more polished.

[zuboros]

Cyberpunk Rifle Promo (2025) -

Needed a personalised gun design for a big stylised #cyberpunk character project, which will be coming soon. Main inspirations were weapon designs and concept sheets from series such as #borderlands , early #destiny and #apexlegends, which I cross referenced and cohered to Cold War era SMGs, AKs and BRs for some near-futuristic grit.

[zuboros]

Lord, Possessed (2025) -

Decided to test my new surface pen on something quick, it got out of hand. Coloured and polished version of one of the sketches from my Word Bearers Look-Dev studies (https://www.artstation.com/artwork/V28Rmn).

While other warbands and Legions may take a dim view towards the idea of a possessed marine attaining a commanding rank, I imagine Word Bearers would be partial to the prospect. There's scope for the narrative premises as to the nature of the possession. Is the Lord fully in control, a rare individual who bent the Daemon to his will through sheer willpower or the favour of the Gods? Is there a Machiavellian struggle between the two beings for control of the host's body? Maybe the Daemon is fully in control, but it's smart enough to deceive its erstwhile battle brothers through imitation? Also, chain flamberge.

[zuboros]

Xenos Minoris Dossiers - Barghesi Fan Project (2025) -

A selection of the art I contributed towards Xenos Minoris Dossiers - Barghesi, a fan expansion for the Fantasy Flight TTRPG system. The version of the Barghesi portrayed are based on my mock-task work on the species from several years ago (found here: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/58Y4RA). Homebrew dev Rowboat_Girlyman#1005 headed the project and reached out to me. I was already tempted to return to these designs someday so being able to contribute old and new barghesi designs towards this team-effort fan expansion has been a great working experience.

The rest of the designs can be found either in the book itself or on my Artsatation.

The fan expansion book itself is 230 pages long and is downloadable for free here: https://ferrus-manus.itch.io/xenos-minoris-dossiers-barghesi-the-ogres-of-grendl

[zuboros]

Final part of the Marienburg Look-dev, part of a larger body of work for a GW mock task. The aim for this project was to diversify the look of Marienburg units from their Empire counterparts without making them look entirely dissimilar.

To this end, I tried to infuse fashion and styling inspired by the Dutch Golden Age, among other sources. This period is a little bit too advanced (by about 50-100 years) for The Old World's setting, so I tried to retrofit these elements stylistically to make them sit better in-universe. The idea is that a regiment from Marienburg wouldn't necessarily be any more technologically advanced than the Empire, but they would appear well funded and equipped.

This final part focuses on my interpretations of the Cloveniers (or hat-knights if you prefer) and the River Watch.

[zuboros]

Marienburg Armory Look-dev, part of a larger body of work for a GW mock task. The aim for this project was to diversify the look of Marienburg units from their Empire counterparts without making them look entirely dissimilar.

To this end, I tried to infuse fashion and styling inspired by the Dutch Golden Age, among other sources. This period is a little bit too advanced (by about 50-100 years) for The Old World's setting, so I tried to retrofit these elements stylistically to make them sit better in-universe. The idea is that a regiment from Marienburg wouldn't necessarily be any more technologically advanced than the Empire, but they would appear well funded and equipped.

For this area in particular, the main idea was to chonkify or otherwise add a grimdark veneer to interesting IRL weaponry from Burgundy, Flanders, Belgium and Holland, with some German and Italian influences in some pieces.

[zuboros]

Marienburg Command Squad Look-dev (2025) - Part of a larger body of work for a GW mock task. The aim for this project was to diversify the look of Marienburg units from their Empire counterparts without making them look entirely dissimilar.

To this end, I tried to infuse fashion and styling inspired by the Dutch Golden Age, among other sources. This period is a little bit too advanced (by about 50-100 years) for The Old World's setting, so I tried to retrofit these elements stylistically to make them sit better in-universe. The idea is that a regiment from Marienburg wouldn't necessarily be any more technologically advanced than Empire equivalents, but they would appear well funded and equipped.

[zuboros]

Mounted Goblin Bosses (2025) -

Yep, even more Goblin Bosses on a variety of mounts! Part of a larger body of work for a GW mock task, I formatted development by type of Goblin, such as Hill Goblins and Night Goblins (Which my recent Deff-Dodja concept covers). From there I aimed for the body of work to provide a range of work representing well established premises in addition to more leftfield concepts.

[zuboros]

Deff-Dodja, Master Fanatic (2025) -

Character dev for a mounted Goblin hero design based on the premise of the longest lived fanatic, who's so good at spinning and chaos that he makes it look like an artform, twirling around on the back of his huge ball-like armoured squig. Part of a larger body of work for a GW mock task, coming soon.

[zuboros]

Word Bearers Look-Dev (2024) -

Fan exploration of the Word Bearers from Warhammer 40k. I was aiming to distinguish their key visual elements to the extent of more heavily iterated upon legions such as the Death Guard or Thousand Sons, inspired by their core themes of fanaticism and blasphemous iconography.

[zuboros]

Mk. 3 Sonnspere Pistol Concept (2024) -

Concepts exploring the retro-futuristic arms of The Holy Order of the Prism for my Baptisma boardgame project. The aim in this work is to refine designs for a solar powered laser pistol, that in line with other Prism weapons, use sanctified psychically charged quartz called Khorosum to hold and convey solar light when powered by a battery.

[zuboros]

Naadir (2024) -

Commissioned character exploration/key art for a good friend's literary project. Using the writing developed so far for the character, I designed a visual representation of Naadir the necromancer. The core idea was to create someone who could look as menacing as possible while still maintaining a human enough appearance to still be able to enter towns or settlements without much suspicion. The visdev of the undead below was fun too, I don't need many excuses to start drawing zombies.