Strong and Dangerous Women

Tags

Alan Lee, Battle, Bryan Choi, dangerous woman, Digital art, Erica Carson, Fantasy, Fantasy illustration, fantasy woman, Frank Frazetta, Frazetta, illustration, KeithDraws, Peter A. Jones, post apocalyptic, science fantasy, science Fiction, strong woman, strong women, Todd Lockwood

Bryan Choi and Erica Carson write these kinds of women incredibly well.

Women with complex backgrounds and motivations, who are determined to achieve their goals. Set in an utterly convincing world engaged in wars and power struggles, magical powers and weaponry salvaged from a bygone higher tech age, the tension and excitement of these books is incredible.

Once again you can probably see the influence of Frank Frazetta and Todd Lockwood, as well as Alan Lee and Peter A. Jones.

You can read about the Authors and see more of their work here: http://storygamers.com/about/
Poster and Prints are available here: https://keithdraws.deviantart.com/gallery/

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Vampire Squid – My Interview

Tags

advice, book cover, Bruce Pennington, Chris Achilleos, Chris Foss, Comic, Comic Art, Digital art, Fantasy, Humorous Science Fiction, illustration, Jim Burns, Keith Draws, KeithDraws, Peter A. Jones, Peter Elson, Roger Dean, Sci Fi, science fantasy, science Fiction, Science fiction art, superhero, superhero illustration, superhero woman, Todd Lockwood, Vampire Squid

I meant to post this when it came out, but I got very busy… I hope you enjoy it.

From the Interview:

“A doodler from an extremely young age, encouraged by the freedom to do as he pleased at school, Keith Draws has been an artist at heart for his entire life. Inspired by the sci-fi, fantasy and superheroes that amazed him as a child, he has gone on to create art for bands, books and games.

With a new sci-fi novel series proudly displaying his artwork on the covers and a crowdfunded superhero anthology in the works, Keith is more in demand today than ever before. He has mastered the art of telling a whole story in just a single frame, using shape and colour and detail to create intriguing and captivating pieces that draw you into everything his named is attached to.

We spoke to Keith to find out how he developed his skills and where they will take him next.

---

Kirstie: How did you get into art?

Keith: Drawing and painting is something I always enjoyed but it became something more when I started school. At the time the school were running an experiment (it was in the ‘60’s). The whole infant block was open plan and the idea was that kids could enter and leave any lessons they wanted to at any time. So of course, I would wander off and draw pretty much all the time. It’s all I remember doing for those two years. More…”

“Punishment” by Guerin Zand

Tags

alien, Chris Foss, design, Digital art, Fantasy, fantasy woman, Frank Frazetta, Jim Burns, Keith Draws, Peter A. Jones, Peter Elson, Sci Fi, science fantasy, science Fiction, Science fiction art, science fiction illustration, sexy woman, superhero woman, Todd Lockwood

Following the theme of the first book “Child’s Play“, Guerin asked me to show how the main character (and possibly the whole of Earth) is punished for their bad behavior by the Alien Race, who guide human advancement in the background- Mainly through the actions of Guerin’s Nemesis, Julie of the Bree.  I decided to take the viewpoint of a child being told off by their mother:

Punishment cover art © Keith Draws

The book is on sale here and if you get there quick enough it’s free and it’s a great read.

Once again you can see many of my influences there. My buddy Jim Burns (alien tech and just pure astounding difference) , Chris Foss and Peter Elson (for the sheer massive scale and detail they can imbue in their work), Peter A. Jones ( for the dynamism and the colour), Todd Lockwood (whose painting technique and compositional sense astounding to me) and once again Frank Frazetta (who achieves sexy, and dynamic with sheer class).

Posters are available here: https://keithdraws.deviantart.com/art/Punishment-by-Guerin-Zand-706231250

Child’s Play by Guerin Zand

Tags

Child's Play, Chris Foss, Digital art, Fantasy, Frank Frazetta, Frazetta, Guerin Zand, illustration, Jim Burns, Keith Draws, Peter A. Jones, Sci Fi, science fantasy, science Fiction, Todd Lockwood

When Gurin got in touch with me he told me:

 “I’ve seen your work for E. M. Foner’s Union Station series and I think your style is exactly what I am looking for.
I have the concept for what I want, based on an event in the book, and it does include a beautiful woman which I want to be sexy, innocent, funny but not sexual. That is why I think your work on Union Station is spot on.”

I liked the sound of this and after reading the book the image almost created itself in my mind. It’s an unusual book that tells the tale of a very different alien abduction. The protagonist has a lot of extraordinary experiences to deal with and uses his razor-sharp, yet gentle wit, to carry himself (and the reader) through the journey of a lifetime.
Guerin’s original idea was to have one of the main characters posed as I’ve shown her in front of the shuttle and while I liked this I was afraid it wouldn’t indicate enough  of what the reader would experience so I decided to feature some of the more spectacular scenery from the book too and after I’d worked out a layout, we both agreed this was the way to go.

Child’s Play cover art © Keith Draws

I’m sure if you care to look you’ll see some of the influences there. My buddy Jim Burns (he’s so good at alien tech and aliens in general that I always have to look through his stuff  just try and get into that headspace) , Chris Foss (for the sheer massive scale he can imbue in his work), Peter A. Jones ( for the dynamism and the colour), Todd Lockwood (whose painting technique and compositional sense astounding to me) and I’m of course trying to channel a little Frank Frazetta there (and I feel like maybe I succeeded a little this time).
I have to admit to being very pleased with the end result.

You can pick the book up here:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B071K95PG5

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B071K95PG5

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/729865

and posters are here: http://keithdraws.deviantart.com/

Dragons and Dwarfs-the puzzle.

Tags

A Gathering of Dwarfs, Ben Hammott, book cover, Dwarf, Fantasy, Fantasy Art, Fantasy illustration, golden ratio, Keith Draws, typography

Here is the solution and below is a description of how I came to it:

A Gathering Of Dwarfs cover art © Keith Draws

When I read Ben Hammott’s “Dead Dragon’s Gold Book 1, A Gathering of Dwarfs” I realized I was going to have to take a slightly different approach. The Book begins where the tale of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs left off. The Dwarfs have separated to find their way in the world but other forces are at work to bring them back together; to take on an epic quest.

In this Book we get a deep insight into their individual character and the powers at their disposal, as well as some hints of the powers that have begun to pull their strings; and this was what I decided to show by taking a similar approach to that of the great ‘Drew Struzan’ when he produces movie posters – such as those he created for Blade runner and  Star Wars.

I decided to paint a scene from each of the Dwarf’s stories and tie them all together using images representing the forces that manipulate them in the story (sorry this sounds vague but I don’t want to give spoilers). If you want to know more the book is right here.

For the composition I opted for sacred geometry. Each illustration was designed using Golden Ratio’s and the final composition was laid out using the same method, which though it looks complex actually simplified things for me since I had very specific areas where I could place the images and, because they were designed using sacred geometry, balance was much easier to achieve, and when positioning the images all I really had to consider was the color balance (The object being to draw the eye into the focus and then lead it on into the details,) since the positions and sizes were dictated by the grid.
Here is the image with some of the geometry laid over it (I’ve simplified it somewhat to make it clearer, but hopefully you’ll get the idea).

I feel it turned out well and Ben is very happy so overall it was a good result.