Ancillary documents from the Darklaw Universe. — If you’re curious to understand more about the world of Darklaw, or perhaps an author building your own fantasy world, you may find the following ancillary documents helpful. This is the background I created and review as I write stories in the Darklaw Universe: characters, history, politics, religion, and the…

Detail of the thirteenth cover image for a series of Darklaw Stories — Everything you see has color, tone, and texture. I always found traditional media does color and tone easily, but texture is tough. How do you use line or a color to show fur or metal or a weave? It takes a lot of time and practice with brushes and found…

Detail of the twelfth cover image for a series of Darklaw Stories. — When you’ve worked on a piece, you stop seeing parts of it. One way to gain “new eyes” is to flip the canvas. I do these Darklaw Saga covers in a weekend, but that’s still enough time to lose track of part. When I flipped this canvas, I saw that…

Detail of the eleventh cover image for a series of Darklaw Stories. — I was excited to paint a scene from an entirely different part of the fantasy world, a snowy peak with a temple of disciples. This gave me a different color palette and lighting. …

Detail of the tenth cover image for a series of Darklaw Stories. — Here’s an example of how I use Adobe Photoshop for finishes. I roughed in the whole scene in B&W, then cut and pasted the figure to its own layer. The underimage had dark fuzz. I selected and used the smudge tool to mix the background. …

Detail of the ninth cover image for a series of Darklaw Stories. — Painting naked women is always a good time. Creating atmosphere, especially depth and space, is exciting. I combined both. The complexity this week was lighting. I wanted a dark, night time, warm feel, so I picked reds and yellows. But I feel green is always good to mix with stone.

Detail of the eighth cover image for a series of Darklaw Stories. — I can make many textures with the standard soft brush (like an airbrush), but I have a few specialized ones, too. The down: sable brush. The embroidery & rails: luminance brush. For hair: eyebrows brush. I use the soft brush to rough in the scene and on final skin. I…

Detail of the seventh cover image for a series of Darklaw Stories. Painting separate figures is one thing. Entwining those figure and showing their skin impact is the challenge. Here, Avestine’s lips and fingers clasping Kami’s flesh. Having layers allows working to the edge of each object with smearing. I like the natural skin tones but thought lamplight could add more depth and brighten the image, so I added a layer of yellow.