A Brain Is For Eating- in progress sneak peek

"So remember these rules, and follow the lead of your big zombie brothers when its time for the feed" 

"When hunting for packages just say with a roar, it's braaaaains you are after and you always want mooooore!"

Stay tuned for more underaged undead in the coming weeks.

-S!

The Wreck of NFIP

quick ideas for sad and concerned fish

Rough value sketch, before picking a better fish

Color sketch with type placed

scanned finished paint, pre-photoshop

Finished painting with photoshop finishing touches. 

This was an overnight gig for The Weekly Standard. More of a feat of creating believable atmosphere than anything really clever, but super fun to work on nonetheless.
-S

Corporate Dealmakers

Without fail, if I leave my studio for any extended period of time, I will get a commission that I can't turn down.

On this occasion, I went to Altoona, PA with some artist buddies to check out Illuxcon. I have a not-so-secret interest in fantasy art and this convention is the premiere showcase for original genre paintings.  While drooling over idealized yet heavily armored women and every variety of slimey monster, I received a call to do a cover for Larry Gendron at The Deal.  I went from the dude staring at paintings to the dude sitting in the corner sketching. So it goes.

Lacking a scanner I was forced to take pictures of my thumbnails my ipad, send them to my laptop and work them up in photoshop. Not exactly my ideal creative situation, but it worked.

The topic was the top 100 corporate dealmakers. When I first talked to Larry, he was trying to find reference for the top ten, so I could put them on the cover. Considering the idea of doing ten likenesses while basically scrawling on napkins left me very scared. Lucky me, editors couldn't nail down the names and faces, so instead I got to go a bit more abstract (thank Jebus).

The idea was to show these imposing corporate character as getting ready for, or running into, battle. We agreed that a color scheme based off "300" could be a nice touch. My apologies to loincloth enthusiasts for keeping the characters in suits.

running, standing tough, walking

 We settled on the standing and looking threatening option.

Pretty fun going really atmospheric, pulling out white suit highlights and really saturating the reds.

Thanks for reading!
-S

Character designs for Pendragon Legacy

After the cover, I was asked by Templar UK to create some character designs/ images for promotion and such. This was really fun , and I wish publishers did this with every book. It's really great being able to explore characters that you might not get the chance to illustrate for the cover.

Thanks for stopping in!

-S.

ESPN, Wall Street Journal, Billboard, etc, etc

In between all the books I have done and the current ones I am doing now I get to do some really fun editorial pieces. I love the oasis these jobs represent while working on larger projects. The quick turnarounds and the different themes help give distance when you return to working on the books, and these kind of images are always a joy to work with. Also since you can't really disclose much of the books you are doing until they are out it allows for showing something once in a while.




For the Wall Street Journal, Book review section on the excessive violence of books aimed at teenagers.
For Las Vegas Weekly on the rising fear on communism in the U.S.
For ESPN Fantasy football issue, Ron Landry

For Billboard magazine on the Amazon cloud music service.

Thanks so much to the amazing AD for inviting me on this fun ride.

2 creatures and a microphone...

okay, I lied about the microphone but here's 2 creature designs and a recently released card done for the World of Warcraft TCG  / copyright Blizzard Entertainment.
Thanks for checking it out!
-S.

A spaceboy and a shark zombie go walking into my online store....

I've been really interested in "animating" some illustrations lately, so I took a practice run. It's quite primitive and not all that exciting, but I hope to get better at this. Any tips or good sources I should look at are greatly appreciated.

While I was making the animated GIF file, I decided to throw a quick process of the drawing while I was at it. Hopefully, I'll be returning to these soon with something a bit more ambitious to show:

Secondly, I am very pleased to announce my online store in now open. I'll be adding more items in the near future, and all orders come with a free Eco-Sticker as a little thanks...as long as they last of course.

Here's the sticker : 

The URL is pretty simple and you can also get there from my website:

http://www.scottaltmann.com/store/

Huge thanks to Federico Piatti and Victoria Maderna for getting my webstore together. Not only are they awesome friends they are awesome illustrators too..check them out by clicking their names..do it!

Lastly, I am extremely excited about the release of "Attack of the Shark-Headed Zombie" by the talented , Bill Doyle. I believe it will be released for iPad and ebooks as well, but it can be pre-ordered here: Shark Zombie!!

Here's a sneak peak at some interior art- 17 b/w all together:

Thanks for checking in!

S.

More fun with Grayscale!

I'm lucky enough to have an ongoing gig with the website TheStoryElves.com. They keep a blog with weekly tips for young writers and I get to add a bit o' flair with a drawing. Every so often, one or two of these blogs lends itself to me having a blast with the content.

For instance... "a young writer with a cast of characters patiently awaiting his direction." This, my friends, is what field days are made of.

...plus the added fun of seeing the same characters sent on their way.

And sometimes a simple image like this just works completely out of context.

Also, a high-class tarsier  with a penchant for smoking jackets.

 

-S

myself would like to introduce.....myself

Pleasure to be brought aboard the Illostop with these fine talented folks. I will do my best to update regularly and keep up the high standard of work.

Here's a cover I just finished for Night Shade Books. An obvious spoof of Grant Wood's "American Gothic" painting, mixed with a bit of "Twilight" ....but not too Twilighty or we get sued!

oil/digital mix

sketch

thanks!