goal tender and factory dude

trigger and layouts

More dudes in suits, and some quickish value layouts done a while back.
I like the 4 per page approach, and I think I'll go back and see if I can touch up some a bit.

I'll be going to the upcoming conceptart.org london workshop over the weekend ... which seems their site is down atm.. Anyway! I sure its going to be a blast, I hope to see loads of known and unknown faces there!
I'm a pretty nerdy looking guy, with hair, a beard and glasses so should easy to spot there.

Also check out the trailer for Paul Greengrass's 'Captain Phillips' I did a lot of boards and previs on that one, and have really high hopes. Also I did some boards for Ron Howard's 'Rush' which is looking great too! wroom!

Update! I forgot, but wanted to upload this quickie as well. Space Bonus! 

alien and skulls..

couple of sketcheses and some skullses. Mostly rendering experimentation.

evening orc speedpaint

More experimenting and practice. quick and loose.. not thinking too much. Probably thinking too little...
I liked The Hobbit tho. So I guess it was time for an orc.

Also I keep forgetting, but I really want to mention Faster Than Light, its such a great game. Been out for a while now but I strongly recommend picking it up if you haven't already!

Alien dude doodle

From the planet of the ep121.

Holiday sketches

Hope you guys had a good holiday!

Here are some sketches done over the break.

Wanted to play around with materials a bit more, many years of photoshopping brings weird habits..

I tend to draw quite messy when sketching digitally and undoing as soon as the tiniest thing seems 'not right', but when on paper I can push past this and resist the urge to edit and give the initial drawing a chance to actually happen.

Refreshing if not somewhat scary not having undo to fall back on..
Also it reveals things I need to brush up on...

For those interested, material used are: 21x29,7cm Fafabriano China Felt Grey paper, Copic markers, Copic multiliner and Pilot white ink pen.

Hope you enjoy!

spaceships, aliens, mummies, robots and cars

Here are some of my sketches from the Cappuccini Catacombs in Palermo. One of the strangest places I've ever been to.

These guys where mummified in their best clothes and 'buried' in upright position along the corridors of the catacomb. 8000 of them! Stuffed with hay to keep them posed, children and adults alike dating back to the 1500's.  

Wish we could have spend some more time there.

anndd...back to a bit more usual subject matter.

Hope you enjoy!

Nuthin' But Mech book is OUT!

NBM book is out! Print quality is beautiful and it has a great range of work from some of the very best in the industry imo.
Approx 120 pages of robot goodies from 31 different artist, can be bought from DSP here or Amazon here.

A portion of the proceedings will be donated to www.charitywater.org -a non profit organization bringing clean drinking water to developing nations.

Here are a couple of snaps:

Big thanks to Lorin, NBM crew and Design Studio Press for making it come together!

Special offer on PRINTS! and some sketches, with no special offer.

My print on demand service Society6 has been so kind to offer a promotion for my prints with FREE WORLDWIDE SHIPPING!

From today's date until 12th of August. IF! You use this special link:

http://society6.com/sonobeno?promo=cb70ee

mmmmmm.. free shipping.. mmmm..

Also here are some doodlesketches.

muck bot

Quickish one before bedtime. Messing around with some different techniques, lots of fun! 

Dark Potential Concept Art

Recently released work I did for the Mini Wargaming project 'Dark Potential'.

This is a concept for the basic unit in the 'Salvager' robotic army, the 'Scrapling'. It scavenges and takes samples, to locate further resources.
Hope you enjoy!

Some gadget variations.

Initial brainstorming/thumbnail sheet.

Nuthin' But Mech Book

The robot nerds over at Nuthin' But Mech (more specificly Lorin Wood) have put a book together!
And I'm part of it! Insane.

Most of the other artists in the book are people I've looked up to (and still do) for years.
Its such a great honour to be in it.

You can sneak a peak and pre-order over at Design Studio Press - I recommend checking out the last page in the preview ;)

Also Design Studio Press will be present at this years Comic Con with the book, in case you get the chance to go there.

Here is one piece that I made for the book, unfortunately I exceeded my limit so I had to choose, and it got cut.

Also some sketches I didn't use.
Hope you enjoy!

Prints available! -and some sketches from the Asus ep121 slate

Hey, finally PRINTS available at society6.com/sonobeno! 

If you are interested in a print of an image not in the current selection, send me a mail and I'll see what I can do. 

Its busy times atm and a lot of the work I make is behind closed doors, hopefully I can show some of it soon.

Meanwhile here are some sketches from the ep121, still getting used to it but absolutely loving it! It took a bit of modification, but I'll get back on that in another post with an more in-depth review! 

Hope you enjoy. Now go buy all the prints. Twice. Because your parents walls should have more robots too. 

sketches..sketches

Mostly +30mins doodles, trying to do at least one a day and focus on values.

Easter holiday scribbles

Art Tutorials/tricks&tips and a quick painting

Hey hope you are having a nice Easter break.

I've gotten quite a few mails lately asking me different questions regarding  my technique for painting. Sorry if I didn't reply, I'm sure I intended to, but then something flashed somewhere...

Anyways I don't really have go to methodology, or a tutorial (yet!) but there are a lot of small tricks that I use. Many stems from art tutorials/videos/blogs I've found online, there is so much great stuff out there just waiting to be found.
Here is a small collections of sites/videos I really enjoy and felt I learned from, hope you might find something you can use!

Arne Art Tutorial  
Probably my fav art tutorial, its so simple and to the point. I keep coming back to it.

Temple of the Seven Golden Camels on Composition  
Mark Kennedy's Blog. Can't get around this guy. His entire blog is goldmine -full of diamonds on fire.

Paul Richards on concept art 
Paul shares great insights to concept art, its an awesome read.

Paul Richard's ThumbWar tutorial 
Because you want MORE from this guy!

Rad Sechrist blog on drawing 
Rad is a storyborder at Dreamworks, this blog is not storyboards tho, but has great example drawings that reads so well, its super simple but it explains things way better than most books I've seen.

Matt khors 'Ctrl Paint' videos on photoshop painting  
Tons of great tips on using Photoshop, I think I've learned another little short key, or technique every time I've watched one of his videos.

Feng Zhu draws everything and explains it, at the speed of Feng Zhu 
Massive Archive of videos, so much to learn. I especially enjoyed his videos on mechanical design.


man.. I know I have tons more lying around.. I might update this as I scavenge through my bookmarks!

Also no post without some drawing or painting.

evening speedpaints

Mech Warfare Poster

Here is a commissioned poster I did for Rusty Wrench Robotics/Mech Warfare. Based on design and 3d model by Erik Laughlin.
Mech Warfare is a competition were the contestants build and fight with their own robots in an arena. The pilots are only allowed to navigate and fight using cameras from the robots, making it a proper mech simulation. Check it out.
You can get one of the posters at the events, or by help funding a new arena via Mech Warfare kickstarter.

sketchbook, lunch and evening sketches

And a lunch sketch from ref of a helicopter..

Sketchbook pages and dudes in suits