GOBLINZ!!!

To start out 2013 on my blog-o'-pencil art I'm going to be posting a whole mess of goblin drawings.  With tongue-in-cheek I often endearingly generalize that my job is "drawing goblins".  It's often easier to tell people that have no clue about the gaming world, the fantasy art world, or the fantasy gaming art world that I draw goblins and dragons all day then to try and describe not only what a collectable card game is or Dungeons & Dragons, but also to describe how my artwork fits in with that.  I'm usually pretty sure that no matter how much I say, the listener only hears "draws goblins and dragons all day" anyway.

*This drawing is my fave - sums up all you need to know about the flavor of the goblin world. A frying pan, a plunger, a board with nails? All viable goblin weapons!

You and I know of course that I draw and paint a whole lot more than just goblins.  HOWEVER, in 2007, an art director at Wizards of the Coast, having just seen my concept work on Lorwyn, called me up wanting me to work on a little online game side project.  The game was all but entirely based around a humorously crazy, chaotic, and extremely volatile society of goblins.  This of course, sounded like loads of fun to me.

*There were many different goblin factions - this one was all anarchists! And the piece at the top is the Brewing Faction.  How fun is that?

I worked feverishly from my home studio for a few months on this project and churned out dozens and dozens of drawings of goblins and their genius-but-dangerously flawed technologies and tools. I never found out how the game was actually going to work or what it would finally look like - it was shelved indefinitely for years.  Just a few months ago I found out that the project was dead.  This was sad to me because I thought there was some great and fun ideas put together by the art director and myself.  I passively inquired whether the rights to the images and ideas could be bumped down to me but Wizards still owns the rights it all (for whatever it is actually worth to them).  I wondered about repurchasing the rights to my stuff but I have enough other stuff going on right now that such a transaction, if even feasible, can wait for now.

BUT, the good news is that I am free to share the drawings as I please!!!  So enjoy the silly goblins - and remember that they're all copyright©Wizards of the Coast.