Tristan Elwell (UPDATE 5/11: NEW SITE)

[jfwalls]

Is that for the sequel to Snakes on a Plane? Snakes on a Head.


I like the boat best Tristan. At first I was thinking just a tad more color in the water or BG would look good, but I like the way the boat pops. That'll look nice on a bookrack.

[Snowsfall]

These look a whole lot better in person

[nephilim]

both are great pieces. my only crit is on the boat one.

the boat is painted well, but its a bit bare. Where are the chests, coils of rope, and paraphernalia of sailboats?

love the wave its on


mike

[tou]

awesome paintings tristan, the snake one is fabulous. what was your timeline on these paintings?

[Gilead]

I went to school with a girl who was half gorgon...she was so ugly it made you wanna' get stoned.
That's a great painting, it creeps me out. Kids will love it.

[Brendan N]

Wow, those painting are spectacular!
Awesome job on the waves and the sail in the first, love the rendering on them.
And everything in the second one is just pure eye candy.
How long did these take you?
Thanks for sharing, very inspiring, *****.

- d.

[Jason Manley]

beautiful work sir. thnx for the inspiration.

[TheGnoll]

very nice work indeed.
Sure, no digital effects, no lenzflarez, no real special concepts (they're illos anyway so i guess that ain't the point anyway), but damn, they LOOK good.

Keep sharing!

ciao

[Seedling]

Sweeeet! I would love to see more close-ups like that. . .

[Bowlin]

Wow... I can't believe I've missed every thing in this thread the past year! For me, it's like finding a pot of gold. The thing I like about your pics is they have that "real oil painting" feel to them even when they're reproduced. They usually feel soft with ambient lighting, easy on the eyes, easy to enjoy the subleties.

The lighting in the graveyard scene with the kat is fantastic. The lighting in the boat seems pretty similar. One is calm and the other gives an exciting atmosphere with the waves and the storm. Yet similar lighting used appropriately.

Awesome work, Elwell. Your always an inspiration and I appreciate all the input you give. Your advice is always taken seriously and analzed over and over till i get it. ... heheh.

[vigostar]

that medusa chick is really awesome Tristan... I love her eyes...

[Viridis]

Finally, here's a cover for a YA novel about a girl who hits puberty and has snakes sprout out of her head. Turns out she's half gorgon

I think I read this book. Or possibly a very similar short story. Anyway, excellent job on the picture.

[SBACHAN]

those snakes are great!!

[Konstruktion]

I like that the snakes are young as well. No teeth! But if they were grown up she probably wouldnt be standing there, more like bein eaten or drowning in snakes

[AmontilladoAg]

I know I'm resurrecting a rather out-of-date thread here, but I just ran across it.. and I have to say, this is just phenomenal work

Btw, Elwell, you are in fact one of the reasons I joined CA. Having seen some of your art on the Shannon Assoc. site, I recognized the Black Horse thumbnail up at the top, and I figured ConceptArt must be a pretty cool place if artists of your caliber hang out here.

Any advice for an eager young space cadet who would love to get into book illustration?

[Ellingsworth]

This stuff is superb, Elwell. I swear that horse painting you have on your website, is one of my all time favorite paintings. You have to post more work!

[Shantih]

Firehorse has been living in my inspiration folder for quite a while now. Great work

[Dahami]

Fortunately, most of the snakes on her head are harmless colubrids, and mostly North American species. I wonder what that says about her gorgon ancestry.

[Elwell]

Fortunately, most of the snakes on her head are harmless colubrids, and mostly North American species. I wonder what that says about her gorgon ancestry.

Good catch. They're actually all North American and non-venomous. The specific species are listed in the book.

[Jasonwclark]

These paintings are all excellent, and I'd kill to be able to paint like that.

I wanted to compliment you on something else though. I dig that signature symbol of yours... The Tau Alpha Epsilon.
Pretty straight forward as far as initials go, but the arrangement is classy, and it gives your paintings an even more refined appeal.

Nice work on that

[Chris Noeth]

Amazing to look at your covers.

Best,

Chris

[Jason Rainville]

...In other words, Tristan Elwell.. is the baaalllllllllllls

Seriously though, great stuff... Why haven't I seen this thread until now?

[L. Scott Knight]

Nice work here.


JFWalls: You missed a perfectly good pun. Sheesh. That's "Snakes on a Brain."

[ODISAP]

Great great great

The emotion of fear and andrenaline is masterly captured

[Elwell]

Hey folks, long time, no update. As an apology, here's a bunch of dragons for you. These are for the US paperback editions of Lene Kaaberbol's Shamer series (The Shamer's Daughter, The Shamer's Signet, The Serpent Gift, The Shamer's War).




In other dragony goodness, this is the cover for Dragon Mage, the posthumous collaborative sequel to Andre Norton's Dragon Magic from a few pages back.

[Chris Bennett]

Boy oh boy, so this is what your work looks like! This is the first time I've seen this thread (being a little bit newbie still) and it's a real pleasure to look at. Quiet yet confident, strong but with a sense of humility and all the pieces make their statement without overstatement, generally avoiding melodrama. The 'night cat' and the 'fire horse' are my favourites among the work here, all of which is marvelous to look at.

In a general sense I'm going to pay you the highest compliment I can: Having seen this, I think I would know your work almost anywhere - and what is more, (and rarer), this is not achieved by gimmicks, subject repetition, colour schemes or deliberate quirkiness of intent. It's something deeper, down in the 'DNA' of what's happening and is a product of a heartfelt caring about what you do regardless of doing it for a living - someone who really understands that you cannot bullshit your muse.

Beautiful work.

[cannibalcandy]

the light effects you've added to surround the horse in the upper most piece are so subtle but totally effective. I'm stealin' ur arts.

[Seedling]

OooooOOOooooo! Thank you for sharing! I'm loving the old-school iguana-t-rex dragons! I may have to pick up one of these books now.

[Bill]

Tristan,

I just discovered this whole thread. All of the paintings are great as usual. It's interesting how many of the the crits can be explained by the influence of layout considerations, story considerations, changing input from an AD... etc. that most of us are unaware of as 'parameters' affecting the outcome of the piece. As a non-pro I learned a little in that.

Also, last month I saw for the first time your technique demo. I switched after my Sophmore year, on the fly, from the business school into a finearts program that wasn't showing us anything like that, or much else regarding technique, process, materials, presentation.... Lesson in life: Choosing your art school based on the university's business program is not the best recipe for success. I imagine SVA is pretty fantastic. Anyway, I would have killed to see something like that when I was student and I thought it was very well done and valuable.

One more. Personally, I like your sketches and and studies (as sketches and studies go) almost as much as the finishes. I think you mentioned on the ISpot a few years ago that you don't do much personal work due to time interests but I wonder if there's a sketchbook with more of those somewhere. It's always interesting to see a persons draftsmanship when you're already familiar with thier finishes.

Again, nice stuff,

-Bill

[otsopsanig]

Say, you did the cover for Tooth and Claw, right? I read that book when I was travelling a long while ago and I really loved the cover, but didn't bother to look up who did it... (Eheh... Sorry)

And then I came upon this website.
And saw it was you.

Your work rules!