Colony 87 – A new hope

October 16, 2021 Will Leave a comment

Finally, after much work, Colony 87 Wave 4 Kickstarter is here and going very well. The image above is of an idea for a more working class Space Family Robinson, I was inspired to create these after watching and enjoying the Lost In Space reboot. The father has an extra augmetic arm to help him dismantle space craft and his daughter is responsible for making the deals with customers and fixers.

Here’s a link to the Kickstarter as well as more of my art work you can see great photos of expertly painted miniatures sculpted by the talented miniature sculptors Andrew May and James Sheriff:

Colony 87 Wave 4 Kickstarter

If you’re interested then do click my Facebook link on the right to look at more of my artwork.

Colony 87 rides again

March 15, 2021 Will 1 Comment

Last year, I sent this page to Karl at Crooked Dice Games as he’d asked for ideas for jetbikes and beasts with their riders. Following this he asked me to work up the guy on the dino-bird (amongst others) at the bottom left.

Here’s the refinment of the designs. I had a good look at ostrich riders in the middle east for the position of the rider and ostriches themselves. I based the riders’ hats a little on the late John Mollo’s costume designs for the Rebels on Hoth from The Empire Strikes Back (1977) and I looked at comics genius Alex Raymond’s Frigia Lancers (from his 1930’s comic Flash Gordon) for inspiration too.

John Mollo on Wikipedia

Alex Raymond on Wikipedia

I worked it up in Manga (Clip) Studio and Painter with a bit of Photoshop as well. The outrider has an option for hands without a his laser rifle (he’s whittling a Chirroc bird from a piece of wood) and there are a few alternative heads.

A link to the post on Crooked Dice Games’ facebook page:

Crooked Dice Games on facebook

Colony 87 Bounty Hunters

November 18, 2020 Will Beck Leave a comment

Late last year Karl from Crooked Dice asked me to draw concepts for a pair of Colony 87 Bounty Hunters that were reminiscent of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Quixote

Above are my initial sketchbook pages; the Don Quixote character would be an aging but still tough bounty hunter and the Sancho Panza equivalent would belong to the Colony 87 squat humanoid race. (Though there’s an Insectoid Alien option here which Karl felt was a bit too monstrous!)

This page is where I refine the Don Quixote look, though I wasn’t quite sure about Sancho Panza and wanted to define the alien/human variant race more.

The pages show me inventing the high-grav worlder bounty hunter and his gear. The ‘Wheel Ships’ I imagined they travel in are built around a super-dense fragment of one of their worlds. I’m adding various high-tech elements to his gear and seeing what works.

You can see more on my Facebook page of the final images – https://www.facebook.com/Will-Beck-Illustration-911094838907212

More News From Colony 87

September 8, 2020 Will Leave a comment

OK that was a long month of May! I’ve been meaning to get more of my artwork online I’ve just been a bit too busy to do it (I’ve loads more Crooked Dice Games’ Colony 87 creations and many other images as well).

Here’s a page of rough sketches of extraterrestrial animals that I drew before the full page here:

This Colony 87 concept page shows an alien menagerie that the Alien Pet Merchant could be selling to those that can afford them. The Eel-lion, Testudo-bird and Varkdog are influenced by creatures in images created by Moebius, the other creatures are my own inventions.

Looking at it again I wasn’t sure about the Eel-lion, I think it should be thinner and slippery like an eel, I shall redraw this some time as I do like the other designs.

Crooked Dice Games – Colony 87 Alien Pets

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Concept art, Fantasy

Panzerfäuste Winter War Part 4

May 1, 2020 Will Beck Leave a comment

I didn’t post anything last month so I’ll make up for that with a few more in May. Here’s another miniatures concept that never made it into 3D.

Another Winter War troll, this time a specialist sniper for the mountain trolls. He’s a rare White Troll, slightly larger and more rotund than your average troll!

As I’ve done before you can see my original sketch on my Facebook page.

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Concept art, Fantasy

Panzerfäuste Winter War Part 3

March 21, 2020 Will Beck Leave a comment

Here are the command units for the Soviet Dark Elves, all have an element of dark elf styling: A senior officer in winter greatcoat and papakha hat, an infantry officer, two Khôven Gralska Baba witches, an army doctor, an assassin (sniper), a remote observer witch, another witch with a sickle, a younger Dark Elf signaller and a Vodka Seller with a Cossack hat and hairstyle.

As before, my sketchbook pages can be seen on my Facebook page.

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Concept art, Fantasy

Panzerfäuste Winter War Part 2

February 28, 2020 Will Beck Leave a comment

Now we have the Soviet Dark Elves, who are invading the lands of the Trolls. The uniforms and weapons are based on those of the early WWII Soviet army with a bit of subtle Dark Elf gothic styling. The sketchbook page I created for Rob as I worked on these concepts can be seen on Facebook. More soon.

Warhammer Gothic Horror Quest

February 15, 2020 Will Beck Leave a comment

Combining my liking for classic British Horror films (such as The Devil Rides Out (1968), The Blood on Satan’s Claw (1971), Witchfinder General that sort of thing) with Warhammer Age of Sigmar seemed a natural choice, especially near Hallowe’en when I had this idea.

I sketched these as there hasn’t been a new zombie kit from Games Workshop for over twenty years! They’ve got ghosts (The Nighthaunt, Ghouls (Flesh-eater Courts) and so on. The technology has moved on from the old characterful Zombies kit so this would be a great way to re-introduce zombies into Warhammer. I’ve sketched a battered Stormcast Relictor, a Lizardman (Seraphon if you like) hero sent on a holy quest by the Slann, a wandering Wood (A)elf Grove Warden (a druidic type wizard with some sprite helpers), a human Vampire hunter at the top and a Kharadron Dwarf lady. On the right side of the page there are some ideas for a Flesh Golem, a mad Vampire bad-guy (on his way to becoming a Varghulf) and a few zombies!

As with all of my Games Workshop related posts this is entirely fan art.

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Concept art, Fantasy

Panzerfäuste Winter War – Part 1

February 10, 2020 Will Beck Leave a comment

These are concepts for miniatures that have never been turned into 3D form, which is a shame as I enjoyed creating these with Rob and Steve from the now-discorporated Hysterical Games.

This was a going to be the first supplement; the Panzerfäuste Winter War between the Vuoritroll Mountain Trolls (with equipment and culture based on early WW2 Finnish) and the Dark Elves (based on early WW2 Soviets).

For these drawings my influences were in no particular order, the Trollhunter film (2010), illustrating genius Paul Bonner’s trolls, pictures of trolls by the Swedish painter John Bauer and amazing illustrations by Ivar Rødningen.

Troll Hunter (2010)

Paul Bonner’s art on Facebook

John Bauer on Wikipedia

Ivar Rødningen’s art website

My sketchbook work for this can be seen on my Facebook page.

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Concept art, Science Fiction

The Rise of Colony 87

February 6, 2020 Will Beck Leave a comment

I realised I haven’t shared all my Colony 87 designs with people who look at my website so now I shall remedy that!

Here we have a pair of socialites. My client Jon Boyce (former owner of Colony 87) after looking at my initial sketchbook pages (which can be seen on my Facebook page) decided he didn’t want the retro 1930’s Blade Runner look and wanted more of a looser, layered look with one of the characters wearing the kind of hat you could see in a Moebius (Jean Giraud) drawing.

When Crooked Dice took over from Jon we resurrected an idea of Jon’s for a Alien Pet merchant. My first sketches were heavily influenced by the sleazy snake-seller in Blade Runner. Returning to this idea I thought he could be wearinge a frame (similar to that on by the Colony 87 water carrier) in which the merchant could carry his creatures. Here’s the final concept:

Crooked Dice Games’ range of Colony 87 miniatures can be found here:

Colony 87 characters and creatures from Crooked Dice Games

willbeck.com

Colony 87 – A new hope

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Colony 87 rides again

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Colony 87 Bounty Hunters

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More News From Colony 87

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Panzerfäuste Winter War Part 4

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Panzerfäuste Winter War Part 3

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Panzerfäuste Winter War Part 2

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Warhammer Gothic Horror Quest

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Panzerfäuste Winter War – Part 1

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The Rise of Colony 87

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SF & Fantasy Art