Category Archives: Sketchbook pages

Pages from my sketchbook.

Fan Art, Fantasy, Science Fiction, Sketchbook pages, Sunken World

Sunken World sketchbook work

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These pages are from my sketchbook started in 2013 of various things I was working on. Firstly I have some doodles and notes, some tinkering of my dimensional alchemist’s helmet/mask and an idea I had for a character for my second sunken world adventuring party. He’s an enemy of the Icthyss (fish-men) and their Thulhid overlords and has a fish-man skull, a weapon or two and scaled skin as trophies. The next page has some jolly Space Ork Freebooters as I felt like drawing them and some ideas for a race of smaller humanoids in the Sunken World. There’s also a fish-themed helmet for a sunken world bounty hunter.

Here we have my thief idea and more of the sea ranger/Icthyss hunter and then some ideas for a Thulhid’s experimental mutants and an elite armoured Icthyss.

Space Ork Freebooters are copyright Games Workshop, this is fan art and not intended to annoy GW.

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Science Fiction, Sketchbook pages

Colony 87 Awakens!

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A new wave of Jon Boyce’s science fiction Colony 87 miniatures are on their way, concept drawings by me and sculpts by the excellent miniature sculptors Mike Anderson and John Pickford. Here’s a link to the Facebook page.
Colony 87 on Facebook

The brief from Jon was to draw a “female, deep space pilot wearing flight suit covered with pockets, cabling, tubing etc. Hard-seal connection at neck, calves and forearms. Helmet is removed and under arm in classic pilot pose. Mature, but attractive – think Helen Mirren. One side of head is shaved.”

My process is to created a reference sheet from all sorts of images I’ve collected from the internet and my own books; ranging from space suit designs by Fred Freeman of ex-Nazi rocket scientist Wernher Von Brown’s First Men to the Moon (1960) book, (Retro-future Space Suit) to actual space suits and movie space suits from science fiction films. Then produce a sketch of my initial ideas to send to the client (in this case Jon Boyce).

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Science Fiction, Sketchbook pages

Space Ork Kommandos

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I quickly sketched these Space Ork Kommandos earlier this year as part of my idea for an improved Shadow War:Armageddon. These are based in part on Mark Bedford’s excellent Forge World Space Ork Kommando conversion kit; I liked them and thought since the Freebooter Flash Gitz have Kustom Shootas maybe the Kommandos’ could have a Kustom Snipa rifle and also a Ghillie suit for camouflage (maybe a Ghillie Squig!). (Ghillie Suit Wikipedia entry)

As always with Games Workshop this is fan art and not intended to infringe their intellectual property.

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Illustrations, Science Fiction

Underhive gang portrait pencils – Part 1

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For completeness (and because I still like them) here are the original A3 pencil sketches for my sequence of Necromunda house gang portraits. I always tend to draw through the borders of the images, especially action scenes so I drew all of them full length. Notice the Orlock ganger’s stripey trousers!





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Science Fiction, Sketchbook pages

Underhive Sketchbook Part Eight

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Here are the last few pages of my Underhive sketchbook.
Some refinement of my human rebels logo, an idea for a Space Marine Chapter symbol and some Necromunda Outlander gang symbol thumbnails:

More Necromunda thumbnails, a Space Marine scout riding a lizard conversion idea and some Chaos Space Marine Renegade logos, avoiding the look of Toy Story’s Zurg of course:

The Redemptionists symbol is about right, still working on the Spyrers and Ratskins symbols with a dessicated Ripperjack as a gruesome option!

And here I’m working on a gladitorial Pit Slave gang symbol:

That’s all from my Underhive Sketchbook, though I have the original pencil character drawings of all the gangers to show.

As allways this is Games Workshop’s intellectual property, just ‘fan art’ and not intended to get up the noses of their legal team.

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Science Fiction, Sketchbook pages

Underhive Sketchbook Part Seven

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Continuing my Underhive sketches and doodles.
An Ash Wastes Nomad portrait and a doodle of a Deathclaw conversion plan (a mutant creature from the Fallout computer game)

My process for creating the symbols for all of the Necromunda gangs are next; font and colour ideas followed by thumbnail sketches.



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Fan Art, Science Fiction, Sketchbook pages

Underhive Sketchbook Part Six

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Over the last couple of months Games Workshop have announced and shown their new version of the classic Necromunda Underhive game (which the Necromunda online community have been keeping alive for almost 20 years!):
Bell of Lost Souls Necromunda Underhive revealed

The miniatures look to be a larger scale than before and I wonder if many of the rest of the 40K range would be compatible. From this first look the game itself seems to be just a flat board game; completely ignoring the main reason people liked the Necromunda game in the first place: A fast competitive skirmish, with each side using under a dozen gangers a side and an vertical element to the gameplay and scenery.
What GW will bring out to support this remains to be seen; the pessismist in me says they will just ask you to buy the Adeptus Mechanicus scenery they brought out for Shadow War Armageddon. What I’d like to have seen is similar to the original set, with the new de-bossed cardboard for the flatter areas (as in the original game) with new plastic bulkheads, ladders and maybe some objectives and with a game-mat for the ground, all for under £150.

On that wishful note here are some more pages from my Necromunda Underhive sketchbook.
These are my first ideas for the symbols for the various house and gangs, with a Catoblepas riding beast conversion idea for a Rogue Trader’s entourage (Catoblepas entry on Wikipedia). There’s also a Scavvy Scaly with his scattergun.

Some ideas for a border for the Underhive website, some scenery and colour options to do for the Redemptionist portrait.

Nomad image plans and Ratskin portrait and weapons designs.

More underhive banner textures and my idea for an Enforcers symbol, with an Art Deco look based on the LAPD shield design.

On these pages I was doodling symbols for the human rebel force I was converting and painting. I wanted a design for humans rebelling against the fascist Imperium which was small enough and simple enough to paint on a 28mm miniature. More of this sketchbook tomorrow!

As always with these images, they’re fan art and not intended to breach Games Workshop’s intellectual property.

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Fan Art, Science Fiction, Sketchbook pages

Armageddon Ork Hunters

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I promised a diversion but it’s really still following the same subject! I had this idea when Games Workshop brought out Shadow War:Armageddon a few months ago. The box contained some OK scenery (though pricey and rather heavy on the skulls and Adeptus Mechanicus symbols!), some Space Marine Scouts and Ork Boyz and the welcome return of the Necromunda rules. Now I suspect not many people bought it for the Scouts and Orks as these were kits that came out years ago, more wanted just the scenery and rules. There was an opportunity missed I feel to show the Imperial Guard (Astra Militarum) and Ork players that they haven’t been forgotten and bring out some plastic Armageddon Ork Hunters for the Imperial Guard and Ork Kommandos for the Orks. Here are my ideas for the Ork Hunters, they could have just been an upgrade sprue with a standard Cadian or Catachan Command sprue with few special characters in the same way they had in Deathwatch Overkill.

I looked at which Guard divisions served on Armageddon and created a motley bunch of expert Ork Hunters, kind of like a Warhammer 40,000 Bad Company (an old strip in 2000AD Bad Company comic on Wikipedia).

Again this is all fan art and not intended to breach Games Workshop intellectual property. Not many people look at this site anyway.

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