Vampire Batman Changing it Up

Vampire Batman by Sam Flegal

I’ve been doing a lot of oil painting recently, and I’ve been under some tight deadlines. All of that is of course very good, but artistically I found myself wanting to explore. For whatever reason when I’m feeling artistically lost I find myself drawing comic book characters. Comics had a big influence on me and on my art, so it’s really no surprise I still like to draw them.

One piece in particular I’ve wanted to tackle was Vampire Batman. In order to change things up a bit I did the piece in pen and ink and then used colored inks to color it. I had fun doing it, and having it in my originals box has led to more comic commissions at shows, which I also dig.

Here are a few that I’ve done:

Elektra by Sam Flegal, model Leslie Gladney

Spiderman by Sam Flegal

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Painting Orcs

In response to last weeks post Warhammer: A Box Full of Orcs!!! my Dad sent me a batch of photos he took while I was painting Orc Charge. I had forgotten he took these, but thought I would share a few photos of me painting and talk some about my process.

First I do a bunch of doodles. It’s important for me to focus on getting cool poses, so I usually draw each figure individually in my sketchbook until I get something I like. Then I scan those in and use Photoshop to move the figures around until I get a composition I like. I then print that out lightly and do a more clear drawing. I try not to get to attached to anything, because this is when I send it off to the Art Director for approval. In this case Zoë Robinson from Fantasy Flight Games.

Fortunately I got approval with no changes. My next step is to shoot reference and then do a more refined final drawing, working out all the lighting and details. My reference for this piece was me in my back yard, standing shirtless, with a metal cooking pot on my head. Needless to say I will not be posting those photos, but here is the final drawing.

I then mount the drawing on board and get to work. At the point my Dad came over I was working on the final details of the painting.

In this first photo you can see that I’m looking at my drawing as a reference. This is very helpful as a lot of times in oil paint things can get muddy and you can loose the original intent. You can also see just a little sliver of my reference photos.

In this next photo you can see a little wider view of my studio workspace. I use a drawing table with plenty of light. I have a table set up next to me full of paint and brushes. In the background hang my two swords, a small model skeleton, and some art (one is Mike Mignola’s Hellboy, the other is Steven Belledin Perimeter Captain).

In this last photo you can see a close up of me painting with bad posture. This often happens at the detail stage. Also if you’ve been wondering what that long red things is, well it’s called a maulstick and it’s used to rest your hand on so you don’t mess up your painting by setting your hand down on it. (I also think that’s how they came up with Darth Maul and why they gave him a light saber staff. Just sayin’.)

And that pretty much sums it up.

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Warhammer, a Box Full of Orcs!!!

Back at Gen Con I was approached by Zoë Robinson, the Art Director for Fantasy Flight Games, and asked if I knew anything about Warhammer Fantasy. I was floored, this was my nerd moment of truth; of course I knew about Warhammer, I had played the game for years, had numerous armies of painted plastic miniatures! I tried to play it cool… “Yes I knew about Warhammer and I am a fan of the game.”

“Great,” Zoë said, “Based on your Last Battle piece here it looks like you would be good at doing Orcs, are you interested?”

HELL YES!!! … I mean, “Yes I would love to work on an Orc project.”

And that was that. A few weeks later I was contacted, contracts were signed, and all of a sudden I was being paid to paint Orcs! I did my paintings, and they got approved. I moved onto other jobs. Due to the nature of printing and release schedules, I knew that under NDA I would not be able to talk about or show the paintings I did for awhile (sometimes as much as a year or more!)

Well yesterday I was looking around Fantasy Flight’s website and I discovered the following…

… and I flipped out!!! Holy Crap my painting was on the COVER OF THE BOX!!!

I am proud to reveal my first Warhammer painting for the Fantasy Flight card game Warhammer Invasion: Rising Dawn (part of the Bloodquest Cycle expansion). The piece is called Orc Charge (not the name of the card). I hope you enjoy it:

Orc Charge by Sam Flegal, copyright Fantasy Flight Games

The painting was done in oil paint at 18″ x 24″

Keep dreaming, they can come true, and sometimes your dreams end up on the cover!

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Strange News from Sam Flegal

I’m starting up a monthly newsletter to provide information about my art and the conventions I attend. There will also be special deals and discounts from time to time. The first newsletter will be going out in December, so sign up today!
Subscribe to my newsletter

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The Negotiator

Preliminary Drawing for The Negotiator by Sam Flegal

As I was gearing up for Illuxcon this year I looked over my portfolio and realized some of my older images no longer represented my skill set. I’ve been learning so much so quickly that every 6 months to a year I look back on my work and realize how bad it was. This is a good position to be in, because it means I’m learning. However when trying to put together seven to ten of my best pieces, deciding what stays in and what goes can be hard. Coupled with the fact that a lot of my newer paintings are under NDA, which means I have to get permission to show them in my portfolio otherwise I cannot show them until the product they are attached to has been released.

When faced with this situation I also noticed that I had a week and a half that was currently open in my production schedule. So I decided the best way to handle the problem was to make a new painting, just for my portfolio and me.

The criteria I gave myself was:

Fantasy Adventure, leaning towards Dungeons and Dragons

Tells a clear story

Includes a big fat Ogre King

… and so I created The Negotiator

The Negotiator - Oil Painting by Sam Flegal

The Oil Painting is 18 x 24 inches.

I hope you enjoy it, and remember…

… Stay Strange!

Oil Painting Workshop

Contact Jerry’s Artarama in Nashville to reserve your spot!

615-731-5901

Friday, November 18th : 2:00pm – 4:00pm

Sam Flegal will host an oil painting demo.

Free to attendees.

Saturday, November 19th : 10:00am – 5:00pm

Sam Flegal will host an oil painting workshop.
Cost is $50 + cost of 11”x14” Hardbord ($4.01 + tax).

———

If you’ve got a great imagination, but are daunted by the process of oil painting, then this is the class for you! Learn how to take your ideas and bring them to life in rich beautiful oil paint. Learn insider tips and tricks that will turn the mystery of oil painting into easy-to-understand tools and processes that help make every artistic endeavor a delight. 

Join Sam Flegal as he walks you through the process of completing an oil painting. From beginning to end, Sam will show you how to take an idea from thumbnails and sketches, to a refined drawing, and finally to a finished oil painting.

This workshop focuses on oil painting techniques for beginners and novices alike. Though structured with a bent towards sci-fi and fantasy art, those simply desiring to learn effective oil painting techniques for their own uses will also benefit from this workshop.

Each student will need to purchase an 11”x14” Hardbord when signing up for the class. Jerry’s will be collecting the Hardbords for Sam to pick up a couple of days before the class. On the day of the workshop, each student will be given his or her Hardbord, prepped with an original Sam Flegal drawing and ready for oil paint. Students will be able to follow along as Sam completes the painting with
the class.

Students are responsible for bringing their own paints, brushes, and art supplies (see the supply list).

Please feel free to print and distribute the flyer below:

Jerry’s Flyer L lf

Walking Dead

Recently, I was contacted by members of the rigging electric crew that’s working on Walking Dead Season 2. It’s their job to handle all the big lights and wiring for the show. They asked me to design a T-Shirt for them that showed the crew holding up trophies of all the zombies they had killed using cable cord and the rig.

As you can imagine I was stoked, Walking Dead, zombies, this project was right up my alley!

Here is the group shot they sent me:

Walking Dead Rigging Electric Team

Here is a shot of the rig:

Walking Dead Rig

I took all that, combined it and added a little dash of zombie. Here is the final T-Shirt:

Walking Dead Rigging Electric T-Shirt

I even got to use the official Walking Dead logo. Whoo!

I love doing Zombie Portraits, so if you know any Walking Dead fans out there please make sure they check out my site:

http://www.samflegal.com/zombieportraits.html

You too can join the ranks of the Walking Dead!

Serious Work

I was recently hired by a film company that works for the U.S. Military to do a series of illustrations on Prisoners of War. They liked the line quality of my Zombie Portraits and were interested in having me work in a more graphic style.  The subject matter of P.O.W.s was much more serious than my normal fantasy monster routine.

I found it quite challenging to wrap my mind around what these soldiers went through. It was also interesting and challenging to handle real life subject matter. I had to make sure the helicopter looked like a Blackhawk, and the jet was an F-15. I also learned a bit about flight suits and parachutes.

I don’t feel comfortable telling these soldiers stories, so I will let the illustrations speak for themselves. I did them in pen and ink, and then added gray tone digitally.

Reaching Goals and Gen Con

Sam Flegal and a little Customer, Gen Con Booth 2011

Gen Con has been an important marker in my career these last few years. It was at Gen Con 2009 when I realized I could make a living drawing Zombie Portraits. It’s also a time that I get to show my work to a lot of art directors and other artists to get feedback.

The first year I was told how to fix a lot of stuff. Last year I was told I was really close, but that I needed to keep pushing; however, those who saw my portfolio the previous year were surprised by how far I had come. This year I started to get job offers.

I can’t quite put into words how amazing this is for me, but I wanted to share. When I started this blog back in 2008 I made a choice to share my Artist’s Journey with friends, family, and random people on the internet. Fast forward to 2011—after a lot of hard work and a lot of help I’ve reached a new milestone.  Thank You everyone who’s taken the time to review my portfolio, critique my work, taught me how to paint better, shared illustrator career secrets, and babysat my kid.

Gen Con this year was awesome! The art show was right in the middle of the dealer’s room floor (in years past it was off to the side towards the back). Business was booming! I drew many a Zombie Portrait, sold some Evil Penguin shirts, a bunch of prints and guin cards, and an original painting!

James buys Sam Flegal's Last Battle Painting

One of the highlights for my wife and me was seeing our old friend Sarah Frary! Sarah was one of the artists who encouraged me to attend my first Gen Con (Paul Bielaczyc was the other).

Sarah Frary and Loraine Flegal

I got commissioned to do my first Angels vs. Demons Monster Portrait by returning customers, thanks guys!

Sam Flegal's Angels vs Demons

And my knowledge of Blood Bowl came in handy, too!

Sam Flegal - Blood Bowl

All in all it was a great year! Thank you to all the Gen Con staff who made this year’s show so great!

Hel of a Woman

I’ve always been fascinated with Norse Mythology; something about it is just more epic than Greek/Roman myths. In Norse Mythology the goddess of the underworld, where people who die of disease and old age go, is named Hel. She is described as being half alive and half dead. She is commonly depicted with one half of her face being a skeleton or zombie and the other a beautiful woman with cold eyes. She also typically has half black hair and half white.

My interest in Norse Myths flourished in college, where I had access to a number of books on the subject in our school library. During that time I would often sketch the Norse gods and goddess as I imagined them. The image of Hel has always stood out for me. When I read that she was half dead and half alive I imagined that she was split at the waist rather than down the middle. Since that time I’ve wanted to do something with that concept.

O.K. pause there.

I now have to interject with a story from Illuxcon 2009 when I got to meet one of my personal art heroes… BROM. Ever since I was a kid I’ve loved BROM’s work. In particular I was always fascinated with his textured backgrounds offset by a single creepy figure. When I met him at Illuxcon I took the opportunity to ask him how he did that. You see I imagined that he spent hours detailing wall texture with tiny brushes… WRONG! He explained that he used acrylic paint to lay down his basic colors and then took a toothbrush, dipped in water and flicked it at the paint while it was still wet. He then let it dry, and the result created all sorts of interesting organic shapes that look like a textured wall. He then painted in oil to enhance some of the details of the background.

Now we combine the two. Ever since the magic of BROM’s technique was explained to me I’ve wanted to try it. For over a decade I’ve wanted to do a painting of Hel. Well I am pleased to present you with…

… “Hel of a Woman”

Hel of a Woman by Sam Flegal

Just for nostalgia’s sake here is the sketch I did back in 2000.

Sketch from the year 2000

Oh and if you’d like to learn more about Hel or Norse Mythology, just do an internet search or even better head to your local library.

Stay Strange!