TYPICALLY WHEN I GET A PROMPT FOR A COMMISSION - PERSONAL OR PROFESSIONAL - THERE'S A CERTAIN PROTOCOL THAT SEEMS TO BE ADHERED TO. USUALLY THIS INVOLVES A BIT OF BACK AND FORTH, HAGGLING ON PRICE, STYLE, ETC. ON TOP OF THAT, THERE ALWAYS SEEMS TO BE A BIG WAIT PERIOD BETWEEN SKETCH TO FINAL. THIS CAN BE BECAUSE OF APPROVAL CHAINS OR PERHAPS THE CUSTOMER IS JUST TAKING A WHILE TO GET BACK. USUALLY THERE'S A TURNAROUND OF AT MINIMUM TWO-WEEKS FOR ANY PROJECT THAT COMES MY WAY. NOW, THIS CAN BE LONGER OR SHORTER DEPENDING ON THE SCOPE OF THE PROJECT AND THE AMOUNT OF PIECES INVOLVED, THE SIZE, MEDIA, ETC. THE ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY APPEARS TO BE NO EXCEPTION, SAVE FOR A SMALL RPG COMPANY NAMED SCHWALB ENTERTAINMENT.


I CAN HONESTLY SAY THAT THESE HAVE BEEN THE MOST FLAWLESS PROJECT OPPORTUNITIES THAT I'VE HAD THE GRACE OF WORKING ON. THERE WAS A VERY SMALL TIME CRUNCH, TO BE SURE, BUT THERE WASN'T A LOT OF PRESSURE - IT WAS MORE SO A FEELING OF, JUST GIVE ME AN IDEA OF WHERE YOU'RE GOING WITH THE PROJECT AND LET'S GET THIS THING DONE! IN THAT REGARD, IT WAS VERY REFRESHING. I GOT TO WORK QUICKLY, BUT IN MY OWN CREATIVE SPACE.

“I HAVE A 1/2V FOR YOU. I NEED IT IN TWO WEEKS AND IT PAYS. HERE’S THE DESCRIPTION. LET ME KNOW ASAP IF YOU CAN DO IT.” — ROBERT SCHWALB

I TYPICALLY ONLY TAKE ON TWO PROJECTS AT ANY ONE GIVEN TIME, TO MAINTAIN QUALITY STANDARDS. THE FIRST COMPANY TO HELP GET MY FOOT IN THE DOOR WITH WORKING FOR RPGS TENDS TO GET A PRECEDENCE FOR A SLOT IN MY QUEUE. NOT ONLY THAT, BUT HE SEEMS TO ALWAYS HAVE GREAT TIMING FOR WHEN A SLOT HAS OPENED UP! AS YOU MIGHT HAVE SEEN FROM MY PREVIOUS POST, I MET ROBERT SCHWALB AT MIDSOUTH CON, AND THROUGH THE SMALL CHAT THAT WE HAD, HE SEEMED VERY INTERESTED IN WORKING WITH ME, AND I HAVE NOT REGRETTED IT ONE BIT!

TYPICALLY THERE'S A MESSAGE VIA SOCIAL MEDIA OR EMAIL THAT CAN BE SIMPLY SUMMED UP AS, "HEY! I HAVE SOME ART THAT NEEDS ARTING, YOU IN?" (OF COURSE THIS ISN'T A DIRECT QUOTE, JUST THE VIBE THAT I GET) IF I RESPOND WITH AN ENTHUSIASTIC, "YES!" THEN I TYPICALLY RECEIVE AN E-MAIL WITHIN TWENTY-FOUR HOURS THAT LISTS THE PROJECT AT HAND. THIS NEWEST PIECE WAS A HALF-PAGE IN THE NEWEST EXPANSION, FORBIDDEN RULES, ENTITLED THE ADEPT.


ULTIMATELY, I HAVE NOTHING BUT GREAT THINGS TO SAY ABOUT MY EXPERIENCES THUS FAR WORKING WITH SCHWALB ENTERTAINMENT. IF YOU HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO CHECK OUT ANYTHING FROM THIS RPG COMPANY, I RECOMMEND IT. SHADOW OF THE DEMON LORD IS THE PERFECT MIX IN MY OPINION OF BOTH DARK FANTASY AND HORROR.

Sometimes, even though you may not think it, silence is a good thing. I haven't had any time these past few months to really post anything because, well, I've been doing NDA work for a few different places. I didn't realize it before Mid-South Con, but we actually have some local-ish companies that do RPG art. Since then, I've been contacted by one of them: Schwalb Entertainment, to do some art that seems right up my alley.

The Role-Playing Game that I was able to be a part of is called Shadow of the Demon Lord, and I was asked to participate in the Uncertain Faith expansion. This is actually my first time to do any sort of RPG work and I can say that the experience was incredible! I honestly want to dive right back into it as soon as possible, but until then I have been throwing around personal and commission pieces that are in the same vein. Below are the two pieces that were assigned to me...




The best part, honestly, was just how flawless it was to work in this method. It felt very natural, and the Art Director for Schwalb Entertainment (Robert Schwalb) was incredibly easy to work with for me. The turn-around was about two weeks for both pieces. As time goes on, I hope that more pieces end up showing up for this as the ideal goal would be doing RPG and CCG art overall. Although, don't get me wrong, I'm all about illustration in general, but book covers and games seem to be where my art is ultimately headed.

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Other than that, I've been doing personal commissions for quite some time.

I was contacted not too long ago by a woman that I met at a convention about doing a fantasy portrait of her sister. The process, overall, was just as smooth and flawless as the two pieces above. Below shows the process of which a typical commission goes through to get to completion.



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Other than that, I've started to do lunch doodles again, with the promise to turn them into fully-rendered pieces as time goes on.