Tristan Elwell (UPDATE 5/11: NEW SITE)

[Elwell]

lukavi-
Thanks a lot.

Downforit-
Thanks, and sorry .

Something just occured to me on the cat cover with the pentagram, is it possible that the book case is a little too high up? im not really sure but something seems a tiny bit off, especially when i saw your ref. Maybe its my own mind though.

It's entirely possible. If you compare the ref to the painting you can see how I moved stuff around for composiitonal reasons, and rather than rework the perspective I just hoped if it was painted well enough no one would notice .

The new batch are really really nice I like them alot Im curious about where the text goes in them, and if you plan that ahead of time, or if someone else worries about that later?

Generally when I'm doing cover sketches I try to leave the top third or so pretty clear, but if I come up with a compositon that lends itself to a differnt type treatment I'll suggest it. For the Magic series, for instance, the type runs through the center of all the covers. Sometimes the client will give me a cover design using my rough sketch for type placement, and I can take that into account for the final.

glickster-
Thank you.

Great job on the children's faces ; however the pieces of glass (?) tends to be too similar in size, and the way they break lacks a bit of drama.

They're not actually pieces of glass, although I know it could be clearer. In the book the kids discover a puzzle that, when put together into a picture of dragons, transports each of them to a different time and place. So the dragon is supposed to be coming apart into pieces, but not shattering.

Sems-
Thank you.

Carnifex-
I know exactly what you mean.

vctr-
Thanks, and you're welcome.

i think the hand with the spear is a bit to masculine. perhaps its the nails? or the deep texture of the hand like shes been working with hard labour or something.

You're right, the texture of the palm of the hand could have been played down a little.

ah! oils over acrylics. I'v heard of many artists that do this (brom). any reasons why this is such a used method?

The fast drying time of acrylics makes them convenient for underpainting, while the longer open time of oils allows for more refined blending and paint handling.

the kids look like they're from the 90's... 8)

Well, the book was originally published in the seventies, so I was trying for something that could be now, could be then. I guess that averages out to the 90's .

Love that last pic - the sleeve and staff could maybe look wet, but if the person is sinking it makes sense that they're dry.

She is supposed to be rising, but it's the Lady of the Lake, so her magic allows her to come out of the water bone dry . (That's my story, and I'm sticking to it!)

bcarman-
Thank you, and please, feel free to add anything helpful, at any time.

That said, those last crits were rather outrageous nitpicks, and chances are the majority wouldn't notice them, wouldn't agree with me, or wouldn't care

No problem . As I said, I often play fast and loose with perspective for compositional reasons, and hope the piece works well enough that people won't notice/care. Fall of Night actually has a lot of that going on, if you want to look for it.

Jarri-
Thank you.

bdfoster-
Thanks!

[quickreaver]

We're not worthy....we're not worthy....!

[lyon]

Ooh baby, the Fall of Knight painting is one of my favorite of yours so far. Great work. Are you going to be at the Art Out Loud event? I am going to make the trip from Phoenix. I think I am going to try and make a trip to meet Doak at some point. Could be fun.

[VirusArtist]

updates!!! WHOHOO!! awesome pieces!! Keep 'em coming!!!

Cheers,
Etienne

[Jaku]

where!!? where are those five stars???

Love your work Elwell.

I would love to see more wet surfaces on "fall of knight" piece but anyway, excelent.

[Spacetoy]

Beautiful work, especially the Horse jumping over the fire.

I thought I would add a comment especially as you sorted my links out for me on my first post - thanks.

[Elwell]

Hey folks, here's a new cover for a Harry Turtledove book. Oil over acrylic on board, 11"x18"

[Hesse]

sweet !

[Tomato]

wow!!! Love the moustache! ^^ Poor dragon

Its fantastic! I love everything!

[DSillustration]

nice one, tristan!
clean and simple.
i was wondering when you were going to post again.

really good job on getting that leg to come forward, even with the dark areas behind it.
i hope reproduction keeps that subtlety.

[Jabo]

I love his pose and clothing. Great work!

[loomer]

AWwww...did you have to make the dead dragon so cute?

Awesome job - I really like this one

[Lake]

oh MAN elwell - fantastique!

[young paddy1]

beuatifully executed especially the subtle shades in the drapery of the jacket over the thigh. The only thing I could even remotely crit is the angle of the toe of his boot it seems to flatten out more than the rest of the boot whereas the dragon's head doesn't, so it looks like his heel is digging in to the dragon's skull.

cheerio

p.s. love the highlights on all the metal jobbies

[E.M.GIST]

Really nice Tristan.

[le capitan]

looks great, the blood is so so. only main dissapointment and that he doesnt lookm like john cleese. tisk tisk such a pity

[GhostofMacbeth]

Nice one. The cockiness comes through perfectly.

[fell]

haha i love it

i guess i specially like the theme, it's really surreal, a clash of worlds. something Alan Moore would imagine visually

outstanding technic also, overall: awesome work!

[brokk]

I love it! I especially like the little claws on the wings - they remind me of vultures for some reason!

Tremendous work.

[mwillustration]

sweet piece tristan!
my only crit is that the mountains in the bg look a bit too flat and a bit too saturated to me.

great composition and execution!

[magicgoo]

Your brush strokes make it look so easy, and yet I couldn't do nearly this well. Nice work all around.

Even though they'll put text and stuff at the top, I wish there was a hint of something more up there just for balance. Super soft, light clouds, maybe.

[sweetoblivion314]

Awsome stuff man. That dragon looks so sad to be dead.

[poise]

LOL!! awesome Tristen. this is great!! Lots of great things happening in here, like the sky I love, so luminous. The Dragons floppy neck skin, the blood, and the kings smug looking expression with is open nostrils, haha. Great stuff. I'm excited. uh! that sounded bad, but you know what I ment.

[Shamagim]

Hehe, nice!!, poor dragon though

[Interceptor]

FINALLY! A new Elwell painting. This is great, Tristan

[jcaffoe]

beautiful, Tristan, though part of me wishes the dragon's head overlapped the wing on the left, it pops out as much as the head for me.

beautifully composed, though, I'm drawn right to the face of the figure.

[Dutton]

Beautiful palette, love the attitude on that guy's face, and wow, the detail work is beautiful. The mountains have a nice Chinese watercolor feel to it at the moment, especially with the way the mist and fog settles in a little lower, but I feel like the ridge of those mountains could have used just a little more interspersed sfumato blending into the sky to break up that solid contour.... I know you're pretty big on edges so it's probably a matter of preference. To me, the edge is about as hard as the guy's shoulder and much harder than the dragon's back as it recedes, so it's affecting the atmospheric perspective a bit.
Aside from that, I've got nothing but asspats.

[Gory]

Great painting. Although he didn't seem to have a very hard time slaying that dragon. He even managed to keep the dragon's blood off himself.

But seriously, nice painting. I really dig the mountains in the background. They look like they're inspired by some of those Japanese or Chinese paintings you might see.

[Mr. Visions]

Great work again Elwell. That Dragon got owned by.... Stalin!?!?

- Visions

[AleksandarMijajlovic]

Great job.

The guy in the front and the background are beautifully done. From technical side to attitude.

But the dragon is poorly done. His neck is really weak. Also his head. I can’t follow the form. Those parts around his eye look sort “off” to me. His eye looks like that it is at wrong place. At least to me.

But then… This is beautiful.