Death Mark – Dark Sun Painting

Thursday, November 17th, 2011

-Justin Sweet

This is a painting I did for Wizards of the Coast which was a redo (on my decision) of an earlier one that I felt wasn’t what I was after. It ended up being way too late, so the former made it in. I’m still glad I re- painted it. I had to settle it. I think I painted this one 3 times.. I took some gritty photos of some of the stages. You’ll notice in the early stage that I painted this on a canvas that had a drawing of The White Witch from the Chronicles of Narnia.

Final painting is 45×32.

This painting is currently on display at the Nucleus gallery. http://www.gallerynucleus.com/event/282

Original sketch

Digital study

See the Witch?


Here’s the photo from the gallery, a bit contrasty. Lost some air.

Thanks for looking.

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12 Comments

Jad Saber on November 17, 2011 at 7:56 am

Great painting Justin! I find it quite impressive that when you paint traditionally you get different end results and different marks from when painting digitally. Versatility is a prodigious skill. I was also wondering if you drew directly on the canvas before painting in oils (No transfer)? I've been meaning to get into this and am still wondering what process I should follow.
Will Harris on November 17, 2011 at 7:57 am

Beautiful painting
Sebastien Grenier on November 17, 2011 at 8:41 am

Thanks for sharing!
Long live “real paint”
Nico on November 17, 2011 at 9:11 am

Stunning! Love how the hands are in different positions and how the skull's texture is so gritty and believable. Beautiful head-dress. Would love to see your paintings in real some time.
Dominus on November 17, 2011 at 11:31 am

Dark Sun is one of my favorite D&D settings and this painting is so beautiful!
Jy-Kim on November 17, 2011 at 3:33 pm

thanks for sharing, just awesome!
Anonymous on November 17, 2011 at 4:47 pm

Did you do this in water soluble oils? Have your thoughts changed on them?
Studio Colrouphobia on November 17, 2011 at 5:12 pm

Great work. I love the brown tones of this. Wish I could see it in real to see the nuances and colours as they truly are..
=shane white= on November 17, 2011 at 6:03 pm

This still reminds me of the DRAW TIPPY ads. Start with an oval…then finish.

There's some voodoo magic steps in there I'm not seeing. 🙂

Gorgeous stuff, Justin.

=s=
Anonymous on November 18, 2011 at 2:27 am

Thanks for posting this nice work. I'm wondering what you mean in the last post when you write, “lost some air”.
Anonymous on November 21, 2011 at 3:02 am

Since you were putting the underpainting on as you were painting rather than before hand…was there a particular medium (like English Distilled Turpentine) that you were using at the time that allowed the underpainting to dry so fast?
Kandie on November 21, 2011 at 7:48 pm

You are so gifted, it's sick insane, crazy ridiculous. I've never had this gift, but I've always admired the people who do. Amazing!