http://admemento.cgsociety.org/gallery/ admemento's gallery of images en-us 120 http://admemento.cgsociety.org/gallery/815773

Another painting done for the project I'm working on, and it will be the last one I will be able to show for a while.

The idea for the Guardian came from several sources, adapted to fit what I had in mind:

Ravens have been attributed throughout history with many things, and according to some are the creatures that carry our souls from this world to the next.
There's also a well-known legend surrounding the Ravens of the Tower of London:
Should the Ravens ever leave, "the White Tower will fall, and with it the Empire". To this day, 6 Ravens are kept at the Tower, protected by their Keeper, and if necessary by force.
The katana is another symbol for the soul or spirit, namely of the man carrying it, as it is said to be a vessel of or for the warrior's strength and spirit.

I wanted to keep it simple and also quite loose this time, focussing on the characters and expression rather than any kind of background.

The model is once again Francisco Randez.
The reference photo is courtesy of Patricia Chica.
My thanks to both of them for their support!

I also looked at pictures of ravens to get this one kind of right. It's been a while since I last painted one.

And here are some close-ups:







Thank you for looking! =]]]> Tue, 13 Oct 2009 20:39:47 +0000 http://admemento.cgsociety.org/gallery/813132

A portrait of the lovely Patricia Chica, as well as another painting for a project I am working on with Justin Lassen.

Several concepts were needed (and scrapped) for this one, and originally there were supposed to be a lot more props, but once the details were taking shape, it worked without them.

Reference Photo by Patricia Chica - naturally, used with permission.

The little borders beneath the window openings are photos, everything else is painted.

Here's some close-ups:









Thanks for looking! ]]> Sun, 04 Oct 2009 22:23:05 +0000 http://admemento.cgsociety.org/gallery/800055

"Imagination is more important than knowledge. For while knowledge defines all we currently know and understand, imagination points to all we might yet discover and create."

~ Albert Einstein



For the love of books, and the power of the human mind.

This is one of those paintings that just happened, evolving as I was working on it. What started as a simple sketch of the model became a 150+ hour painting marathon.

156 books are in the background (yes, I counted them...), all detailed one by one over the course of two days. The books in the front are some of my favourite pieces of literature.

The sketches in the open book are of course by Leonardo DaVinci - the Vitruvian Man and arm anatomy studies from one of his journals.


Reference photo courtesy of the amazingly talented Patricia Chica. Used with permission.

Model: Francisco Randez


Here are some close-ups at one third of the original size:











Thank you for looking! =]]]> Wed, 26 Aug 2009 15:12:50 +0000 http://admemento.cgsociety.org/gallery/794192

A portrait of composer and friend Justin Lassen, as part of an ongoing series of images I'm working on in between work for a personal project. This one is actually the first that I've finished, and one of the few I will be showing for the time being.

It will also be the title image for an upcoming article/interview with Justin in 2Dartist magazine.

I've started to get the hang of letting go of precise brush strokes and my obsession with details, and quite frankly, I rather like the results. It works for these images and for what I have in mind with them. And Justin loves it, and that's really all that matters! =D

Anyway, I used a reference for his face that he took specifically for this painting, while the general pose was modelled by my husband. The grain in the painting comes from a photo of storm clouds that I overlayed to get some interesting colour variations rather than anything else. The brush I interestingly used the most here is a custom rectangular one... great for rocks and keeping things sketchy.

And here's some close-ups:







Thanks for looking! =]]]> Sat, 08 Aug 2009 17:06:04 +0000 http://admemento.cgsociety.org/gallery/787998

My wardrobe is like my life: a constant hit and miss...


Quick self-portrait done for an upcoming Custom Brush Tutorial on fabrics, lace and embroidery in 2DArtist Magazine (September issue).

I was too lazy to use my imagination and paint an original character for this. It happens sometimes. Besides, I hadn't painted an actual self-portrait in years, so it kind of worked out.

Reference used for likeness. I really wish I had those clothes...

Close-ups:







Thanks for looking! =]]]> Tue, 21 Jul 2009 14:31:06 +0000 http://admemento.cgsociety.org/gallery/769436

Pal⋅la⋅di⋅um
 /pəˈleɪdiəm/ – noun, plural -di⋅a  /-diə/

1. A statue of Athena, esp. one on the citadel of Troy on which the safety of the city was supposed to depend.
2. Anything believed to provide protection or safety; safeguard.


A personal piece. Interpret at your own leisure. My thoughts are my own...


Close-ups:





Thanks for looking. ]]> Sun, 31 May 2009 09:41:50 +0000 http://admemento.cgsociety.org/gallery/765951

This painting has been lingering on my hard drive for a few months now. It was commissioned by 2DArtist Magazine for the current issue (#41) as part of a workshop.

I've never really done anything on this scale regarding scenery, so it was pretty hard for me. The city in the background is not painted, but a photo I took in Rome several years ago, manipulated and partly painted over to work with the rest of the image, as several different techniques had to be incorporated into the afore mentioned article. It was nice for me to try my hand at something I'd never done before.

And yes, I screwed up the perpective of the archways slightly...

I used lots of custom texture brushes, and a personal reference for the pose. The embroidery on the vest took me quite some time, as it's done by hand, stitch by stitch.

And some close-ups:









Hope you like it, and thanks for looking. =]]]> Wed, 20 May 2009 15:23:46 +0000 http://admemento.cgsociety.org/gallery/761092

"It is a dance, a neverending ballet of Light and Dark, Good and Evil: Not one against the other, but a symbiosis of the two as One..."

Created for Wacom's "Good vs Evil" contest on deviantART.

I didn't want the dragon to be the typical reptile, but a creature suspended between elements, half solid and dark, half air and light, like something imagined that slowly takes on form, yet looms dangerously close to touch.
Also, I rather like old iconic paintings (or Icons, even), so I tried to recreate something of them with this.

Personal references used for the figure, the rest is freehand. I played around with a lot of layers for the lighting, and I think my computer hated me towards the end...

Here are some close-ups:







Thanks for looking! =]]]> Thu, 07 May 2009 12:11:43 +0000 http://admemento.cgsociety.org/gallery/750999

A portrait of Lerato, a 15-year-old girl I live in the same house with here in South Africa.

I really just wanted to get back into painting after an almost two month break, and get used to my new monitor that doesn't seem to want to callibrate properly - or at least that's how it appears to me. So I apologise in advance if the colours seem a bit... weird. It's meant to be deep earthy reds and purples and oranges, but who knows what you see. My laptop says it's all grey. Eh!

Anyway... I rather enjoyed keeping it looser and relatively unrefined in places. It's growing on me. =]

I used a personal reference for her face. The background is inspired by what I see when I stand in the garden...

Here are a couple of close-ups:





Thanks for looking! ]]> Wed, 08 Apr 2009 10:48:10 +0000 http://admemento.cgsociety.org/gallery/732376

A semi-quick portrait of my husband.

Originally this was going to be a much larger and more complex painting, but plans got changed and this ended up unfinished on my hard drive for a few weeks. I didn't really have the time right now to go through with the original idea, so it got cropped and turned into this.

Not my usual style, but somehow, my usual style doesn't suit him. And I rather enjoyed giving my brush strokes more freedom.

Close-up:


And one at 100%


Thanks for looking! ]]> Thu, 19 Feb 2009 20:38:55 +0000 http://admemento.cgsociety.org/gallery/706282

The cover image of 2DArtist Magazine for issue #36, commissioned as the third part of a workshop on painting the human face. =]


Sephira is a potential character from the sequel to Convivium by Andrew E. Maugham, currently being written. So I cannot really say much more about her. You may notice a resemblance to another one of my characters from the book, and it's done on purpose.

Her name is the singular form of Sephiroth, of which there are - according to lore - ten good and ten bad ones. They are "a devine emenation through which God manifested His existence in the creation of the Universe. They are without limits; the infinity of the Beginning, and the infinity of the End..."


I'm aware this is pretty simple compared to what I normally do, but as said, the workshop was focussing on the human face, so that's what I had to do. I used quite a few custom brushes for the skin texture, and those brushes are included in the article in the magazine.

And here are some close-ups:






Thanks for looking! =]]]> Wed, 10 Dec 2008 09:11:11 +0000 http://admemento.cgsociety.org/gallery/654093

This image was commissioned by Advanced Photoshop magazine for a Masterclass Tutorial in issue #46 on painting portraits with focus on fabrics.

I was given a short brief, just telling me to paint a female character from head to hip wearing traditional Japanese dress, while leaving the background quite blank. Everything else was left up to me.

I looked at loads of photos for this one, as I'd never really painted asian facial features, or a proper kimono. Pictures of Tea Ceremonies inspired the pose.

Here are some close-ups:





Thanks for looking! =]]]> Thu, 17 Jul 2008 17:15:20 +0000 http://admemento.cgsociety.org/gallery/627927

"Everything in its entirety will flow through the consciousness and veins of this my beautiful first Son. In his self-imposed torment let him impose the torment of the love upon himself, of those he deems to love above me..."
~ 'Convivium', Andrew E. Maugham


I had some time over the past couple of weeks, so I figured I could give in and paint him again: Lucifer.

He is one of those characters that I don't seem to get tired of. Maybe it's because he's been with me for so long, and for so long I've not dared paint him, that now all those pictures in my mind want to come out all at once.
I kind of wanted to do something that reminds of old paintings, without compromising a modern or maybe even timeless feel. It was odd doing just a portrait after all those complete character paintings, but a nice break nonethless. I do like the simplicity of straight forward portraits...

The one reference used was a heavy silk scarf for the draping, everything else is freehand. The stone shield in the background is three years old, a "recycled" part of a painting I never finished. Back then, I'd looked at some shields and carvings to get an idea for the design, and how to best do it, but didn't reference it from anything in specific.

Here's a pencil sketch of the face, for anyone who's interested. I did that at a friend's house when she was asking me what I was working on... it's so much easier to illustrate it sometimes than to try and explain.

And some close-ups:





Thanks for looking, and have a nice day! ]]> Sun, 04 May 2008 13:39:09 +0000 http://admemento.cgsociety.org/gallery/620935

The fourth in the row of commissioned pieces, based on a story by the client. It's also the last one I will be able to show for the time being:

The Fallen are - as the name suggests - creatures who have fallen from grace. Or maybe they never fell, and have always been nightmares incarnate. No one knows what they really look like, as they can appear as anything they choose to drive their victim into insanity, and thus servitude or, if you're lucky, death...

Again there was no real brief. Neither my client nor I knew how to best depict these creatures. It wasn't until I was sketching for "The Fair" that I had the idea of doing what I did here - to go for a subtle yet obvious counterpart.
Painting it caused me quite a headache at several stages, because there was always something that didn't feel quite right, and then Photoshop decided to ditch several hours of my work at one point - lets just say I wasn't a happy critter. In the end though something clicked, and it all kind of came together.

I used personal references mainly for the hands and angle of the face.

Some close-ups:







Thanks for looking! =]]]> Mon, 14 Apr 2008 22:29:31 +0000 http://admemento.cgsociety.org/gallery/610557

The third in the row of commissioned pieces, based on a story by the client:

The Fair are ethereal creatures - supernatural for the want of a better word - and don't often show themselves. The woods of Otherworld are their domain, but other than that not much is known about them. Some claim they are Angels, others think they are Lucifer's minions appearing as Light to lure people into their realm.

This time there was no real brief. My client and I just exchanged some ideas, rather based on the character of the Fair than their look. Though we both agreed it would be interesting to go with a genderless form.

As always with commissioned worls, I first sketched initial ideas out on paper, then transferred them to digital - manually, as I don't have a scanner.
I then used a personal reference for the pose - to get it just right, sticking closely to the first sketches. Photographic custom brushes came in handy for the tree trunk texture, and lots of custom brushes for the foiliage.

Close-ups:







Enjoy, and thanks for looking! =]]]> Wed, 19 Mar 2008 20:28:37 +0000 http://admemento.cgsociety.org/gallery/594846

Another piece based on a story by the same client who commissioned the Samurai Templar:

The Walker is an assassin, a heretic, worshipped and feared, reluctant leader of an army, and a loner who roams the lands (hence the name). No one seems to be quite sure if he is human, or not, or if in fact he actually exists.

The obelisks are important to the story, as is their unreflective stony and transparent look.

I was again given a great amount of artistic freedom with the character, so his appearance has changed quite a bit since the original concept and brief by the client.

On a side note: The rifle's inscription are Enochian glyphs. It's a language that was devised/transcribed by John Dee and Edward Kelly during the reign of Elizabeth I. It reads "Bagle iabes . de bransg cordziz . a etharzi", which translates as "For God . To guard Man(kind) . In Peace".

I used my own references for the figure (I'd never painted someone walking before), and the client provided a photo of a rifle. The background was changed halfway through painting, which caused me quite a headache, especially the texturing of the road and the general look of the landscape. There are a few things I'd now do differently, however the client was extremely happy with how it turned out, so all is good.

Here are some close-ups:







Enjoy, and thanks for looking! =]]]> Tue, 12 Feb 2008 18:50:18 +0000 http://admemento.cgsociety.org/gallery/594026

A commissioned character portrait based on a story by the client:

Several hundred years after the Crusades, in another world, where the Samurai and the Knights Templar have merged into one peaceful yet powerful Elite Guard...

The original brief described the Samurai Templar wearing the typical white robes of the Templar, with nothing much else to distinguish him also as a Samurai, save the Katana. The client had asked me for my input, and after some preliminary sketches of my ideas, this was the version we ran with.

I used live reference for the Katana and boots, a personal photo reference for the general pose, and looked at quite a few pictures of Civil War Revolvers before settling for a (modified) version of General McClellan's pistol.

Here are some close-ups:








Enjoy, and have a nice day! =]]]> Sun, 10 Feb 2008 18:45:33 +0000 http://admemento.cgsociety.org/gallery/604035

A character portrait of the Angel Gabriel based on the novel "Convivium" by Andrew E. Maugham:

Gabriel is best known as the Angel of Annunciation and Truth, but she's also one of the Angels of Vengeance. Not one to mess with...

Both Gabriel's appearance and the sword are based on the descriptions found in the book, minus the tattoo on her arm, which was a spur-of-the-moment request by the author.

Personal photo reference used for the pose, and my sword was a good help to get the sword right. To get the jewel in the pommel to look so real, I used several layers of custom texture brushes over the basic shape and shading of the stone.

I'm not too keen on the background anymore, but I made a point of never to touch finished paintings again, so it'll stay.

Anyway, here are some close-ups:







Thanks for looking! =]]]> Tue, 04 Mar 2008 18:22:44 +0000 http://admemento.cgsociety.org/gallery/597646

A character portrait of the Fallen Angel Rahab based on the novel "Convivium" by Andrew E. Maugham:

Once Guardian Angel of Egypt and a high-ranking General of Hell's Forces, Rahab is a quiet character with a history of violence. "Nuri" is Egyptian and means "Fire".

This was really the first one in the row of characters from the book that I painted. Rahab is briefly described in the story, but it left a lot to the imagination. The author always told me he imagined him to be "lean and mean", with a menacing presence and a smouldering charm.

I used an editorial photo of JR Gallison as reference for the face, and my winter coat helped with the embroidery of the coat.

And here are some close-ups:





Thanks for looking! =]]]> Tue, 19 Feb 2008 18:08:17 +0000 http://admemento.cgsociety.org/gallery/593576

A character portrait of Lucifer based on the novel Convivium by Andrew E. Maugham.

This picture had been lingering around in my head for a good 6 years, but lack of skill and fear of screwing it up stopped me from actually painting it until recently. Well, that's not quite true. I have painted Lucifer before some two years ago (not counting endless sketches before that), but even though the picture turned out alright, in my mind it still wasn't what I wanted.

Anyhow, this piece depicts a scene from the book, with some minor artistic freedom taken for good measure.

Most of the work went into the fabric; not just painting it, but also putting the brocade pattern together. Was a welcome challange though, as patterned fabric has always been one of my pet-peeves (and probably still is). =D

I used my own references for the fabric and the hand.

And here are some close-ups:





Enjoy! =]]]> Sat, 09 Feb 2008 04:35:50 +0000 http://admemento.cgsociety.org/gallery/593182

"To you I gave my wings, because I have a reason to stay."
"Can these wings make me fly?" he asked.
"No," she said, "but happiness can."

This piece meant alot to me when I painted it over the course of several weeks in 2006/2007. So it was - and probably still is - a very personal one.
I used my own references for the figure, and lots of custom brushes for the rough texture of the stone, as I wanted it to stand in total contrast to the softness of the wings.
That said, this piece certainly was a turning point for me regarding my work, in many ways.

Some close-ups:





Enjoy. =]]]> Thu, 07 Feb 2008 21:26:55 +0000