Valley of the Spiders

When the  second party of traveling merchants disappeared, the valley became a concern. When the fifth group vanished, a band of hardy mercenaries were hired to investigate the causes. Only one survived to warn anyone who would listen to stay away from the valley of the spiders.
Happy Halloween!

The Night Raiders

The gnolls attacked like a horde of ravenous hyenas. Once they determined the outpost was weak, they isolated it and went in for the kill.  The howls of there celebrations would be remembered and avenged when news of the slaughter reached those responsible for securing the frontiers.

Blue magic

The energy of blue magic swirled around. The spirits that reside in the rings could not wait to unleash bolts of lightning  at the enemy. Control is the most important part of any magic and discipline and focus are required when dealing with such powerful forces.

Lizardmen

If you think it's safe to wander through the desert valleys without having to pay tribute to the scaled ones you should think again.They decorate themselves with the feathers and claws of there sworn enemies that come from the sky and they hold the high passes against any intruders.

Step by step part 3

This series of posts has been about my digital painting process. Therefore I have decided to show the proverbial " Two steps forward, one step back". While working on this it became apparent that I was losing the freshness and action of the piece by getting bogged down in rendering and adding detail (referring to the bottom image of the three).  The silhouette of the figure had become stiff and lifeless. The major advantage of working digitally is the ability to save and work on any number of versions of a particular piece. At this point it is clear that it is time to go back to an earlier stage and do what can be done to save the energy of the piece and not overwork it into oblivion. The next time you see this it will be the final. I  Promise.