Hawkmoon, Destiny 1 Exotic hand cannon. 24x18" mixed media on canvas.
Photoshop edits of iPhone 6s preview shots of Hawkmoon painting. Left is untouched, right is filtered with Image > Adjustment commands on individual layer masks.
THE ONE ABOUT PROGRESS ON WORKS TO SHOW AT GUARDIANCON 2019
Last year, I made the decision to take my art to GuardianCon in June, with less than a month until the event was to take place (read my earlier post here).
2019 In Progress: The Last Word | Thunderlord | Hawkmoon (D1) | Polaris Lance (Ikelos Field Tuning) | Ikelos_SR_v1.0.1 | Perfect Paradox | Jotunn | Crown of Tempests
2019 Completed: Thorn | Whisper of the Worm (Between Breaths) | Redrix’s Claymore | Celestial Nighthawk D2 | Celestial Nighthawk D1
BONUS Completed: Celestial Night Hawk Alt 1 | Celestial Nighthawk Alt 2 | PVP
2018 Completed: The Ace of Spades | Sunshot (Red Dwarf) | MIDA Multi-Tool | Jade Rabbit (Jade Jester)/Custom
PROGRESS UPDATE - JUNE 5 2019
ONE MONTH LEFT
Redrix’s Claymore (WIP - May 14 2019)
- background and sketch only
Redrix’s Claymore (Complete)
- background and decoration concept complete
- final definition on arm added
- preview photo (not print ready)
Polaris Lance (Ikelos FT) (WIP - May 14 2019)
- background and sketch only
Polaris Lance (Ikelos FT) (WIP - June 5 2019)
- few layers added
- base layers/colors defined
Ikelos_SR_v1.0.1 (WIP - May 14 2019)
- background and sketch only
Ikelos_SR_v1.0.1 (WIP - June 5 2019)
- few layers added
- base layers/colors defined
Crown of Tempests (WIP - May 14 2019)
- background and sketch only
Crown of Tempests (WIP - June 5 2019)
- few layers added
- base layers/colors defined
Helm of Saint 14 (WIP - May 14 2019)
- background and sketch only
Helm of Saint 14 (Complete)
- background and decoration concept complete
- final definition on armor added
- preview photo (not print ready)
Hawkmoon (D1) (WIP - May 14 2019)
- background and sketch only
Hawkmoon (D1) (WIP - June 5 2019 - CURRENT)
- added background/decoration concept
- 3rd version of arm design/decoration, currently working on wash layering
- see alt progress below
Hawkmoon (D1) (WIP - May 28 2019)
- not pleased with background and overall feel
Hawkmoon (D1) (WIP - June 4 2019)
- progress on background/decoration concept
Hawkmoon (D1) (WIP - June 1 2019)
- not pleased with the execution - too chunky
- hard to work in details
Jotunn (WIP - May 14 2019)
- background and sketch only
Jotunn (WIP - June 5 2019)
- decoration concept added
- overall shape of arm coming together
- it’s got that glow!
Perfect Paradox (WIP - May 14 2019)
- background and sketch only
Perfect Paradox (WIP - June 5 2019)
- SAINT CARRIED A HEFTY CHONKER THOOM THOOM THOOM
The Last Word (WIP - May 14 2019)
- background and sketch only
The Last Word (WIP - June 5 2019) - CURRENT
- new background concept
- removed modeling and sanded for re-work of detailing
The Last Word (WIP - May 28 2019)
- getting chunky… toooooo chunky?
The Last Word (WIP - June 2 2019)
- tried to work with the chunky, and became displeased with the results
- realized the barrel was trending upward in the paint, and need to re-calibrate
Thunderlord (WIP - May 14 2019)
- background and sketch only
Thunderlord (WIP - June 5 2019)
- few layers added
- base layers/colors defined
Celestial Nighthawk (D2) (WIP - May 14 2019)
- background and sketch only
Celestial Nighthawk (D2) (Complete)
- background and sketch only
Celestial Nighthawk (D1) (WIP - May 14 2019)
- background and sketch only
Celestial Nighthawk (D1) (Complete)
- inspired by original concept art posted by Bungie
- dark version, boisterous flaming hawk background/decoration
Celestial Nighthawk (D1) (Complete)
- inspired by original concept art posted by Bungie
- red version, FIRE A GOOD ONE collage background
Celestial Nighthawk (D2) (Complete)
- looks like a bad ass kung fu poster looking thing, right?!
PVP (Complete)
- repurposed this angry looking board piece and put this striking crucible logo on it
“Be Brave” (The Traveler) (WIP - May 14 2019)
- background and sketch only
Sadly… I think this one will have to wait. I have an idea for it at GuardianCon, but it won’t be available as prints or for sale… You’ll see. : )
PROGRESS UPDATE COMPLETE
TWITTER LINKS - AMAZING PEOPLE WHO MADE GUARDIANCON 2018 AMAZING FOR ME
Professor Broman
Destiny Community Podcast
Destiny Community Artists
Yung Khan
KobOne
Dr. Jones
IndulgentHuman
Gammatrap
Naminexnobody
Nerd & Needle
Watermelon Exo
Redrix’s Claymore
30x18” mixed media on canvas
22x13” print
Helm of Saint-14 - 16x24” mixed media on canvas
++13x19” digital print on heavy matte paper
Celestial Nighthawk
12x12” Mixed Media on Wood Panel
Last year, I made the decision to take my art to GuardianCon in June, with less than a month until the event was to take place.
I’d heard Professor Broman on the Destiny Community Podcast episode #89 while I was driving speakers to a friend for a gig. I had left my IT job almost two months before that, and felt aimless. Things had gotten kind of bad with some of my family, and I was feeling crushed by a lack of progress with new work and new creative endeavors.
I finished three paintings before the convention. I made about 30 prints of each. I tried doing some Ghost paintings, but only finished a few successfully. That’s all the Destiny-themed work I had, period.
This year, I have 13 new pieces in progress, and almost two whole months left to work still...
Since signing up for the convention again, I’ve finished two others (and last year, finishing the Jade Rabbit/Jade Jester Custom put me at four completed in 2018).
Here’s the full list of works in progress so far, and works from last year. Prints will be at the convention- though I’m not 100% sure which ones or how many (yet). Previews of the current in-progress views are below. Read past the jump for more on my 2018 GC experience, and thanks for checking things out.
The photos below show mainly the transferred sketches that I did. The next layers will be paint for each of these.
2019 In Progress: The Last Word | Thunderlord | Hawkmoon (D1) | Polaris Lance (Ikelos Field Tuning) | Ikelos_SR_v1.0.1 | Perfect Paradox | Redrix’s Claymore | Jotunn | Celestial Nighthawk (D1) | Celestial Nighthawk (D2) | Crown of Tempests | Helm of Saint 14 | “Be Brave” (The Traveler)
2019 Completed: Thorn | Whisper of the Worm (Between Breaths)
2018 Completed: The Ace of Spades | Sunshot (Red Dwarf) | MIDA Multi-Tool | Jade Rabbit (Jade Jester)/Custom
Polaris Lance (Ikelos Field Tuning) (WIP - May 14 2019)
Perfect Paradox (WIP - May 14 2019)
The Last Word (WIP - May 14 2019)
Thunderlord (WIP - May 14 2019)
Celestial Nighthawk (D2) (WIP - May 14 2019)
Celestial Nighthawk (D1) (WIP - May 14 2019)
Redrix’s Claymore (WIP - May 14 2019)
Jotunn (WIP - May 14 2019)
Hawkmoon (D1) (WIP - May 14 2019)
Ikelos_SR_v1.0.1
Helm of Saint 14 (WIP - May 14 2019)
Crown of Tempests (WIP - May 14 2019)
“Be Brave” (The Traveler) (WIP - May 14 2019)
It’s no secret I’ve been a dedicated fan of Destiny and Destiny 2. After playing nearly 3 years with the same Scout Rifle in Destiny 1, the MIDA Multi-Tool, I just wanted a painting of it to hang on my own wall. The new design in D2 looked even better.
But for some reason (a reason that I’m still trying to track down and understand), between the moment that idea popped into my head and even up until May of 2018, I just couldn’t get the work to spill out of my hands. This Destiny painting wasn’t the only thing to make me feel that way. It wasn’t the only time I’d felt that effect. And I’m sure it won’t be the last time. But that’s a different story…
—— —— ——
So, June rolls around. I’m listening to DCP like any other week, and Broman starts talking about GuardianCon. Unfettered from a regular 9-5 schedule, but now on a very fixed and limited budget, my first thought was “man, I wish I could afford to go to that". Then Broman talks about the Artist’s Alley- a concept I’m super familiar with, but never occurred to me as something that would be at GC. He goes on to talk about how the artists there in 2017 sold out all the works they brought… And it dawned on me. Like a Sunbreaker’s Hammer smacking me in the skull, or the light of a Ghost snapping me from one paracausal step to another.
I had to get there. I had to sell art there. I had to. No matter the cost.
I searched for this info earlier today, and found it easily: I reached out to get my table at GuardianCon on June 25th. For context, the convention happened on July 14th and 15th. In the days between hearing Broman’s chat about GC, and the 25th, I scraped and raised money.
—— —— ——
I finished the MIDA Multi-Tool first. As my all-time favorite scout rifle in D1, and the inspiration for these paintings at all… it was the spark that lit the flame. Then the Ace of Spades, weapon of Cayde-6, the Hunter Vanguard, voiced by one of my favorite sci-fi actors, Nathan Fillion, whose character would die in the September 2018 expansion to Destiny 2, Forsaken. After that, the Sunshot, but not the default one- the dark, retro-future looking “Red Dwarf” ornament, with its stark red and black and white color combination.
I tried my ass off to finish my ‘custom’ rendition of the Jade Rabbit, working from the Jade Jester ornament, which had always tickled my fancy, with its heavy nod to Kaneda’s bike in Akira. But alas, it traveled with me to the convention in an incomplete state, with no prints available for sale.
So too did about 2 dozen paintings and leftover prints from every other art show I’d ever done. I almost only sold prints. I did a raffle for the original Ace of Spades painting- and it was so big it wouldn’t fit in the winner’s car to get it home.
—— —— ——
I learned a ton. Maybe more about what makes me happy with my art than I ever thought possible.
I had to scrape and beg from friends and family, take on commissions and get works done and a trip to Florida figured out in less than a month. I had to drive 12 hours straight from VA to FL by myself. I stayed up driving to Walmart looking for the last of the supplies I needed the night before the convention, in an unfamiliar town. I printed and painted in my hotel room until I crashed before the convention.
I only finished three paintings before the convention. Along with all the other costs, I could afford to make make about 30 prints of each. And for the first time ever as a working artist, I sold art. Lots of art. Enough to eat and pay rent for two months. I talked to fans. I met the 10 or so other community artists who were there last year exhibiting, and the handful that were there, but weren’t.
And it changed things. Completely and utterly. Period. There’s a line, and there are things that exist before it and things that exist after.
If it weren’t for the Destiny Community, if it wasn’t for Destiny… I don’t know where I’d be right now. Maybe still playing (of course I’d still be playing), but I wouldn’t be part of this weird, huge family now. I wouldn’t have met the amazing artists who welcomed me, who celebrated the same love and inspiration from such a wonderful and unique sci fi fantasy world…
And I get to do it all again. And I get to see it grow.
“This is amazing!” - Lord Shaax
TWITTER LINKS - AMAZING PEOPLE WHO MADE GUARDIANCON 2018 AMAZING FOR ME
Professor Broman
Destiny Community Podcast
Destiny Community Artists
Yung Khan
KobOne
Dr. Jones
IndulgentHuman
Gammatrap
Naminexnobody
Nerd & Needle
Watermelon Exo
Whisper of the Worm (Between Breaths) - 36x20” Mixed Media on Canvas
[Exotic Sniper Rifle // Sword Logic: XOL // Rare Sniper Rifle AACHEN-LR2]
>>> IO : VANGUARD PATROL//PUBLIC EVENT//TAKEN ANOMALY
“Old kings. Sharp swords. Epic songs. Take the throne.”
Feb 2020 - Print Version - 13x22” on heavy matte paper
May 2019 - Original Painting - 36x20” mixed media on canvas
Whisper of the Worm
Exotic Sniper Rifle - Power Weapon
36x20x1” Mixed Media on Hand-stretched Canvas
Acrylic, Citadel model kit paint, Daler Rowley FW ink, hand-mixed washes, very old watercolor, graphite, colored pencil, Montana Gold aerosol. Fredrix light-duty stretchers with medium weight canvas.
22x13” Digital Print on Epson Enhanced Matte Paper
Custom cut 22” paper, optimized margins. Photos captured with Canon EOS 50D, optimized in Adobe Photoshop CC. Printed on Epson Stylus Photo 2200 with archival ink.
Started in uh… well… August 2018? When did the Whisper mission drop? Around then. If you count the sketch as the start- which I do, generally. It sat very unfinished as a painting until around March/April, when I started putting things in motion for GuardianCon 2019.
Finished in April/May of 2019. Total work time is probably about 20 hours.
I don’t keep records, but my guess would be that a huge chunk of that was trying to get the watercolor/smoke effects juuuuuust right. I used lots and lots and lots of wash, lots of water, lots of drips. I wanted it to look natural and raw, to match the texture of the chitinous growths, and capture the rawness of the Worm Gods of Destiny.
Whisper of the Worm, Between Breaths, is number 6 in my series of Destiny arms and armor paintings/prints.
Like many of the Legendary and Exotic Weapons in Destiny 2, the model used is an ‘evolved’ version of a lower-tier weapon. The lore of this particular Exotic Sniper rifle actually indicates that it basically would be an Earthly weapon, corrupted* by… well. We know, now, more than ever (see: Shadowkeep and Gardener/Winnower lore entries). But I won’t just drop that info in a quick blog post about a painting. You should listen to the discussion Broman and Byf did, here.
Generally though, [MINOR SPOILER] the Whisper is based on a similar quest/gun from Destiny 1. Actually, two of them. But they were basically the same gun in Destiny 1- one came out before a major update, and then an updated version of it came out as well. The Black Hammer and then the Black Spindle actually both seem to be based on the same model. At the very least, they share some very distinct characteristics.
This particular evolved in-game model is based on the Aachen-LR2.
If it calls to us, the Taken energy hoarsely whispers, in a low and wicked, repeating drone:
”TAKE THE THRONE”
