Zephyri -The Art of Sam Hogg

Spirit

zephyri — Fri, 04 May 2007 22:53:04 GMT

Spirit

Done as part of the "Past Lives" challenge on Pixelbrush.net, the 2 week challenge was to produce a self portrait from a bygone era. I was torn between Geishas and Indians, but indians won out, simply because I feel a huge spiritual attachment to their beliefs in nature and their simple lifestyle. I'm also very fond of the Disney version of Pocahontas, despite it's gross historical inaccuracies, and this was influenced by the song Colours of the Wind (which is also the title of another piece in this gallery, also a sort of self portrait)

Probably spent something in the range of about 15-20 hours on this, over two weeks.

Avatars in the style of Amano

zephyri — Fri, 04 May 2007 22:49:02 GMT

Avatars in the style of Amano

Done from scratch in PS, this came abot after I got a copy of Coffin, the vampire hunter d artbook from Amano, and I got hugely inspired. The picture is supposed to split into three connected icons, for myself and a couple of friends on dA. They are our characters, Fate, Rubin and Kana.

I'll give you old kiddo...

zephyri — Fri, 04 May 2007 22:45:03 GMT

I'll give you old kiddo...

A speedie fanart for a fellow deviant, this guy belongs to Okina-tyan, and is called Alex. Okina draws some of the most badass old guys out there, so when I found, and delighted in, his gallery, I couldn't help but do a bit of fanart to celebrate. This is Alex, a zombie hunter.

Pencil sketch coloured in PS, background is a massively fiddled with photograph, took about 4 hours in total, including sketch.

The Unforeseen Dangers Of...

zephyri — Fri, 04 May 2007 22:41:43 GMT

The Unforeseen Dangers Of...

My latest ID for deviantART, this is a pencil outline coloured in PSCS2. I have a thing for silver foxes who happen to like leather and spikey things. Helps if they're bent on taking over the world too. *grin*

Disclaimer: my butt isn't that shiny.

Aflame

zephyri — Sat, 13 Jan 2007 07:37:36 GMT

Aflame

There, before her, heaven's brightest flame stood burning, showing her the way to the light

A christmas present for a mutual and dear friend, this piece was a collaboration between myself and another artist, Jessica Douglas, who is repsonsible for the original idea and sketch: http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/45413939/

I'm responsible for the colour and background and have stuck to the original lines of the sketch aside from a few compositional changes. The colour was done in photoshop CS, no refs used aside from for the foot, which still bugs me. But anyhow!
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Merry Xmas Jude. We love ya!
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Rubin (fire angel) is © to Judith Mayer
Artwork © Sam (me) and Jess

Betrayal in the Shallows

zephyri — Sun, 17 Dec 2006 18:55:55 GMT

Betrayal in the Shallows

The harpoon's barbed point still shone as it tore back through tough oceanic skin, drawing the blood with it. Scarlet evaporated into the warm water of the shallows like smoke. Within minutes, the tiger sharks that inhabited the area would be upon his mortally wounded body. He tried to speak, to form words for something his mind hadn't had time to grasp.

Elegantly sinuous, Perscha lashed her iridescent tail furiously, scattering all the nearby shoals of fish into the safety of the reeds. "Enjoy your death, traitor," she sang, her high pitched voice reverberating into the coral.

Lingering a moment more, she watched the rhythmic expulsion of blood from the hole in his chest. A beacon for a predators in the area. The perfect way of disposing of the evidence. Calling to her maid, she beat the water with one powerful arc of her tail and disappeared into the azure depths.

In the sway of the meek tidal pull, the first sleek, predatorial silhouette appeared.

A somewhat longwinded project that finally saw fruition in the most productive six hour stint I think I've ever done digitally. Proof if ever I needed it that sometimes you need to stop thinking about what you're painting and just paint.
This piece originally started life as an experiment in Artrage, just mucking around with brushes, when my mind saw an underwater scene, and thus these particular species of merfolk were born to inhabit it.

Done in Photoshop CS, using all sorts of texture brushes, particulalrly the fantastic set of brushes Linda Tso kindly provides on her website: http://www.stickydoodle.com/ which really seem to suit my way of painting. And a thanks to Steven Stahlberg, whose paintover helped me understand the lighting underwater better. I couldn't tell you how long it's taken me, it's been through so many repaints.

The Royal Fyre

zephyri — Sun, 17 Dec 2006 18:47:31 GMT

The Royal Fyre

My Lord," he spoke in a husky exhalation. "I…"

Kae's resolve broke like the fragile nets of the fisherman before the rush of a wild river. He could not say the words. Could not force those three little words from his throat. Words, thoughts, feelings Kana deserved to hear from him, and no one else. But he couldn't do it. Pride that had been dormant for so long while in the sultry heat of these islands suddenly found its voice. In a flash of blonde hair, the assassin turned on his heel and ran from the throne room, his breath hot in his chest. He fled the royal buildings without daring to look back. If he looked back now, he would never find the conviction to leave the island. As much as he loved the man he had left wide eyed in the throne room, his drive to overthrow his sneering employer was greater. Only he wasn't returning to his home land a champion assassin as he had imagined on the trecherous voyage to the isles over six months ago, he was returning empty handed and guilty of fraternising with the mark. Both things his employer took extremely dim views of. Congrats, Kae, he mused to himself. Once again you've cocked it up good and proper.

In the throne room, a bewildered Prince had just collected his thoughts, and was hastily knocking aside aides and servants in an urgency to make it to Kae's quarters. As he flung the door open, his heart becoming heavier with every passing beat of nature's rhythym, his worst fear came to fruition. Kae, his rock, his champion, his lover, had left. For the first time in living memory of even the Isle's oldest occupants, the skies over the islands darkened.

Deep in the rock of their volcanic home, a god stirred.
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A portrait that had been long in the making, this is the main character of my novel-in-development, Kana, prince to a people and vessel to a god trapped in an island of volcanic activity. This is another important benchmark for me in terms of getting to grips with those ever elusive concepts of light and colour theory. Still a way to go though!

All done in PSCS, with a tablet, and no reference for anything, just to see if I could get something that looked vaguely pleasant. Took in the region of about 15-20 hours.

Beautiful

zephyri — Sun, 17 Dec 2006 18:41:22 GMT

Beautiful

An entry for a contest over on deviantART, to support the work of the photographer Steve Perry (known as Arachnid15, or the Spider on dA, hence the spider theme), whose work had come in for a lot of unwarranted flack simply for having the full frontal male nude. The rules of the contest were simply to use one of his stock images featuring the man himself.

Having browsed both his deviant and personal websites, I was really grabbed not only by the amazing work he does, but also by the man, who put so much of himself into every shot he took. The title is both true and not, as to most people this image would be slightly uncomfortable viewing, but to those who can see past the taboos of society, there is something unfathomable in the eyes of the subject.

All done from scratch in PS, with everything that can be seen on the original photo (found here: http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/26413495/ ) obviously referenced quite closely (but not painted over!), everything else was off the top of the head, aside from looking at a few pictures of spiderwebs.

Hit the Floor - The Usual Suspects

zephyri — Sun, 17 Dec 2006 17:51:57 GMT

Hit the Floor - The Usual Suspects

Allow me to introduce you formally to the main players of my 99% written novel hit.the.floor. And this is something of a style departure for me (which is laughable in itself as I don't really have one), trying something totally new and much rougher, with more of a concept feel to it. I rather like it, but I know it's not to everyone's tastes. So, for those of you interested in the people I'm trying to portray, or if you'd like to decide whether I achieved my goal of putting across the varying personalities, here's a quick left to right run down of who's who:

1). MIGUEL CARRERAS (Mig)- Nick's best friend and constant support, a Spaniard. He's easy going and not at all prone to violence, much preferring negotiating to drawing weapons or fists. He's Toni's only real ally, aside from Steve, at least until Nick finally accepts she's on his side.

2). TONI BUCHANNAN - my main heroine, a feisty, vampish woman with a very sharp mind, not afraid to risk herself, she has real balls. An innocent thrown into the lion's den of criminals thanks to Jay, she seeks to regain her freedom rather than accept fate, whatever the cost. When Mig convinces her to join Nick's plight, she returns to the Polanski's clutches, only to play the actress and retrieve Nick's father's work.

3). NICK TRESTLER - My hero, a character full of shades of grey. He's no angel, has done things in his past that would send him straight to the gates of Hell, but when his father is killed aboard a plane that explodes, his sister is then murdered in front of his eyes and one of his closest allies betrays them, he is left with nothing but grief and a burning desire to continue the legacy his father left him. But he is very much a David against the Goliath might of the far-reaching Polanksi empire, and plagued by paranoia and doubt in himself. He is an uncanny markman with handguns, and favours a SIG 226 limited edition, given to him by his father as an eighteenth birthday present. His gift comes at a price, however, the concentration levels leaving him with crippling headaches and blackouts if things get hectic.

4). JAY POLANSKI - The brawn half of the Polanski brothers, Jay is a charistmatic sexual charmer with a lust for violence and belittling those not deemed worthy to him and his brother. Good looking, he trained in the Navy for a short while, until he was dismissed for beating a fellow cadet to within an inch of his life and then accused of raping two women on shore leave. He loves women who initially fall for his classic good looks, as Toni does, then are repulsed by his predatorial nature, seeking to take them against their will. But he finds a true attraction to Carrie, swayed by her innocence and softness. He's prone to bouts of insane rage, and the only person he truly listens to is his brother, Jake, holding him in a god-like esteem.

5). JAKE POLANKSI - Most definitely the brains of the Polanski enterprise, Jake has an incredible brain for both business and crime. He's methodical, cool and rarely looses his temper. Always to be seen in a well tailored suit, or honing his physique, Jake too has a history in the Navy, where he reached officer status before leaving when his wayward brother was dishonorably discharged. He runs the businesses that their criminal activities run behind. Of all the people in this novel, he's the one you really don't want to cross.

6). CARRIE BLACK - Carrie is neither a heroine, nor a villain. Like Toni, she is an innocent thrown into the fray, but she is much more the submissive of the two women, much more comfortable with doing whatever Jay asks of her to keep herself and her best friends safe. Her innocence and alluring gentleness win Jay's heart, though they can't subdue his carnal desires. She eventually saves Jay from the machinations of Jake's other half, Karen, who is her main nemesis throughout the novel, and in doing so gains the trust of both Jay and his brother.

7). STEVEN CONNOR (Steve) - Steve is Jay's right hand guy. He's a good guy at heart, but revels in the lifestyle that their activies afford them. He's British and has a very sarcastic sense of humour, mixed with a real joker's streak, he's the cheeky guy next door who would get past anyone with a grin and a tall tale. He falls for Toni in a big style, and is her safe port when Jay's violent sexual desires begin to surface. Not averse to violence, but tends to leave most of that to Jay. He's also a label whore, always in the latest designer stuff with the newest tehcnological gadgets in his hands.

8). KARL ROLLINGER - The mercenary who betrays Nick's father and arranges his murder, Karl is the killer without a conscience, but incredibly loyal to those who can afford the price he asks. He's Jake's best guy, an efficient worker who solves pretty much any problem thrown at him. He was born to a Russian mother, but given up for adoption at a very early age, retaining a certain innate degree of coldness of his native country's people. Not a man of many words, he's much more one to let his talents with a hand gun do the talking.
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All done in Photoshop from scratch with very little reference, mostly for the hands.

Colours of the Wind

zephyri — Sun, 17 Dec 2006 17:48:12 GMT

Colours of the Wind

There was once a young woman. She lived in a world gone drab and dead with its own repetetive nature, drowned in its own material ways. She would look at the world around her, and wonder where the life and beauty in her people had gone. Standing alone at the end of every day, she would gaze in wonder at the spectacle of mother nature's cinematic visions of colour as the clouds burned bright with luminous shades of reds and oranges, slashed and smudged across rich blues and turquoises. She would hear the simple song, a wondrous harmony of birds and rustling of trees and leaves, and she would look at the people passing her by in everyday life and puzzle over why their hearts were not filled with the same awe, why their faces were a grey reflection of the concrete and metal jails they condemned themselves to.
The young woman grew older. And with her age, she felt the burden of mortal life weighing her soul down until she too trudged with the masses, part of the same faceless grey, doing the same usless nothing everyday. Only once in a while, would she remember to look up to the sky and see its wonder, and her heart fluttered, seeing the birds diving and swooping in their freedom, dancing in the playful breeze.

Eventually, the woman's mortal life came to and end. Her soul floated free, released of it's morbid, fleshed shackles, and she finally breathed, joining the birds in their fanciful flight. She climbed the graceful peaks of the clouds, and soared far above the earth that had imprisoned her for so long. The birds felt her joy and flocked to her, their calls like a symphony to her ears. She cradled them to her, shared her spirit with them, and they called back with delight. For here was one soul who truly understood them, whose bright essence they had seen so far below, so many years ago. The woman flew for as long as her heart desired, and eventually she came to rest upon the seat of a large cloud. As she lifted her hands to her face, she felt the smooth contours of the wind gracing her soul, taken form in a beautiful mask and glittering wings of light. The birds cried with pleasure, for she was one of them, a playmate of the breeze.

She looked down from her lofty perch, back down at the grey world she had once inhabited. A flat lifeless thing it seemed to her now, but the birds called to her to look closer. So she did. And in that vast expanse of grey, a twinkle caught her eye and she gasped with happiness. It was so small, but the nothingness around it only served to heighten it's beauty. For she knew what she had seen was the colour of a soul, a being who had looked up to the sky and felt its powerful allure and marvelled at its display. So she called her birds to her in joy and swept to the earth, gusting by that bright speck of light.

And in the beauty of a burning sunset, another young being felt his soul soar with the colours of the wind.
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The story was floating round my head as I was painting this, so I thought I would share. This piece is quite revealing as to what kind of person I am, as I intended it to be a portrait of my screen namesake, Zephyri, a play on the word zephyr, or breeze. I'd originally intended that it would be quite dark and stormy, but lo and behold, something much more uplifting and bright seems to have come of it, and I have simply painted as I have felt. Odd...

Anyhoo.. my thanks to all of those who helped me out with the WIP stages of this painting, over in the Anatomy Forums on CGTalk in OFDW 11, and thanks to Hong Ly, whose gorgeous reference material made this picture possible.
Time taken, in total, around 30-40 hours, done in photoshop.

Morning's Glory

zephyri — Sun, 17 Dec 2006 17:44:28 GMT

Morning's Glory

This piece was originally started just for practice in the exceptionally helpful anatomy sub forum, in the 2D WIP forums, run by the very dedicated RebeccaK over on CGTalk.com With the lovely photo reference provided by Hong Ly, it turned into this, a birthday present for a good friend of mine, whose character is depicted here. She is Rubin, the elemental angel of fire, demon hunter and all round protector of heaven, fierce, loyal and very stubborn. But a wonderful character to draw, as this is actually my fifth drawing of her to date.

Done from scratch in Photoshop 7. I had reference for the figure and the wings, everything else is straight off the top of my head, and the patterning on the fabric wasn't drawn by hand, but a pattern manipulated in Photoshop in various manners.
I highly recommend anyone who is wanting to improve on their anatomy and figure drawing to check out the Anatomy forums, they've been an enormous help to me so far.

Gabe

zephyri — Sun, 17 Dec 2006 17:42:23 GMT

Gabe

One of a small series I started but never finished, of characters from an email role play forum I was involved in, this is Gabriel, an angel who serves vengence on the living who commit heinous crimes, and leads the souls of the victims to Heaven. HIs wings are dark, and with a spoken command, become covered in ice and sharp like blades. He also has two blades which he conceals beneath the skin of his forearms, and are painful for him to remove.

Done at a smaller size, I intended originally to build the whole series of characters into one big poster, with each character being represented by a specific colour. This was the first, and definitely the best of the lot, and it was not long after I'd discovered the art of Hyung Tae Kim, which can be seen in colour choices and face style.

Digital Rembrandt Copy

zephyri — Sun, 26 Nov 2006 02:24:41 GMT

Digital Rembrandt Copy

A copy after Rembrandt's Jeremiah Lamenting the Destruction of Jerusalem, this was done as part of the OFD Workshop in the anatomy forums over on CGTalk. This is the original painting: [link]

It proved to be a huge learning experience not only in the techniques of Rembrandt, but in creating textures in photoshop with something other than a normal round brush and the subtleties of light, dark and edges. It was a very worthwhile exercise, and I've already put techniques learned to good practice in other pieces, I would highly recommend it. If you want to improve on your anatomy or figure drawing in general, as well as partake in workshops like this, you must come and join in the Anatomy forums over on CGTalk! You'll find them here: [link]

This was all done in Photoshop CS2, exclusively with the default chalk texture brush at varying sizes, without pressure.

Deepwater Touch

zephyri — Sun, 26 Nov 2006 02:03:52 GMT

Deepwater Touch

Listen to the melody of the ocean, hear it call you like a lover left languishing. Whispering bittersweet promises of an endless forever on cold breath of seaspray, feel the swaying pull of its allure. Its embrace is numb, its rythms hypnotic, its advance slow and unexpected. Go to its arms and feel nothing, drown the pain and sink into its dark depths. Surrender.

Coloured in about 6-7 hours in total, in Photoshop, and I'm pretty happy with it as it stands. I could refine it much more, but I sorta like the unfinished look, and at the time I couldn't justify spending much more time on it.

Tentacles! Yes, I'm a tentacaphile!

Vincent

zephyri — Sun, 26 Nov 2006 01:57:11 GMT

Vincent

Not one to bemoan something and not do something to rectify it if I can, I have created more Vincent Volaju fanart for the world!

Also a practice at speed painting too, this took about 5 hours on and off, done from scratch in Photoshop CS2, using a few screenshots from the movie. I was aiming to make him more realistic, but without loosing any of the style that makes him Vincent.

For those who don't know, this is Vincent, the baddie from Cowboy Bebop, The Movie/Knockin' on Heaven's Door, which I absolutely love to bits and am awaiting payday so I can buy the entirety of the tv series. As a baddie, Vincent scores pretty highly, because
a) he has long floofy hair and face fur
b) he's plotting to destroy the world
c) he has a gun, and he actually shoots people with it and hits them
d) he can kick the good guys butt
e) he doesn't let things like women get in the way of business
f) he has a wonderfully gravelly voice
g) he's not truly bad at heart, just a product of his past.
All of the above make for a fantastic bad guy. And some groovy fanart. The gun in the pic isn't the one he uses in the movie, it's actually a Glock... why? Because Glocks are pretty and easy to find reference for.