Enchanted Forest

First painting of the year. Trying out new approaches...

The Wise Man's Fear

A promotional image I did for the portuguese edition of The Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss.

Winter Travellers II

Although I live an area of sunny winters without any snow I've always been fascinated by snow covered mountains. The snow/rock patterns and their value contrasts are something I really love...add a few drops of fantasy and this is what I got to... Happy New Year!

Winter Travellers

Exploration of new techniques can sometimes lead to satisfactory results, although, most of the time, they end up in the garbage folder.
With this one I made heavy use of Photoshop's lasso tool in the initial stages and sticked to only two brushes throughout the entire painting process: a more textured one with opacity set to pressure and a round one with pressure set to size+opacity.

Blue Abyss 2

I wasn't quite satisfied with the outcome of the first Blue Abyss image so I started again from the same initial sketch and this is what I came up with. Even if it didn't improve I wanted to share this second experiment.

Sanctuary...revisited

Based on a painting I did last year that didn't really come out the way I wanted it to, so I decided to revisit it.

Blue Abyss

Practice...this time with a Blade Runner inspiration.

Trackers

Practicing...inspired by the works of Paul Lasaine and Robh Ruppel.

Fantasy Theater

This was done for an ad campaign for imm Sound, a Spanish company developing 3D immersive sound technology for theaters.

Colony Interior

This was the final assignment for James Paick's online masterclass. Had a great time and learned a lot.

Desert Winds

Commissioned painting. Inspired by the given title and "Prince of Persia".

Colony II

Week 7 assignment for James Paick's online masterclass.

Colony I

Here is my assignment for week 6 of James Paick's Environment II class.

Week 5 assignment for James Paick's online Environment II class.

Saboteurs

Based on a small b/w sketch I did in the beginning of 2011. Two small figures sneaking into the heart of a big industrial complex, about to blow the whole thing up.

Assingments for week 3 of James Paick's Environment II class.

Under My Bed

Based on an image I did back in 2006 for a Portuguese cg forum contest titled "Under My Bed". Having grown up with movies like "E.T.", "The Goonies", "Poltergeist" and "Cat's Eye" where kid's rooms were gateways to fantasy worlds, I thought I would come up with my own homage to those wonderful movies.
I struggled somewhat on the latter stages of this painting, as I wanted to really cram the room up with toys. However, as I kept adding things they all looked out of place or seemed to detract from the main focus which were the tentacles. In the end I don't know if the image ended up feeling too "empty".

Endless Streets STEPS

You can find some steps of the painting process HERE.

Endless Streets

Watching my portfolio I can definitely say I'm more of a Lord of the Rings/Dungeons&Dragons kind of guy. However, there are 2 sci-fi movies which had a huge impact on me when I watched them as a kid during the 80s: "Star Wars" (original trilogy) and "Blade Runner". I remember being completely blown away the first time I saw "A New Hope". "Blade Runner", on the other hand, was a bit different. As I watched it over and over again I slowly started to realize the masterpiece it was. What I admire most are the moods...the constant rain and darkness, the blue/green hues, the lonesomeness, the smoke, the juxtaposition of different architectural styles, the soundtrack...everything just brilliant! One might think that some of these aspects would equal discomfort, but they are portrayed in such a romantic way that they become captivating and soothing.
So, concluding...this painting is an homage (another one) to this superb movie.

An-Thonn Gate

Final painting done for James Paick's masterclass. Let me hear your thoughts...