PDF Bundle

For those of you who're interested in my 4 digital books in a bundle, added a package deal, you save almost $15 if you buy the set. Check it out here: https://artofsoulburn.gumroad.com/l/kufndh Maybe a good Christmas treat for yourself :)

Inc and Landis Wandering The Coral Desert

First new artwork post of 2024! After watching Scavenger's Reign on HBO, I forgot how much fun it was to paint Inc and Landis wandering the coral desert in my 2017 book “The Story of Inc”. So I decided to revisit it just for fun.

Emerald City Comicon 2023

Just finished 4 days of manning my booth at Emerald City Comicon it was a huge success. Sold the final copies of my "The Story of Inc" narrative artbook, so now for the first time in like 5 years I don't have a single hardcover book left in my garage. Also sold a ton of prints. So I'm basically out of stock on everything and next year can start fresh with all new projects and not a ton of old merchandise to sell. Thanks to everyone who visited, including a lot of old Monolith buddies, and thanks to the Comicon Islanders who hosted me, had a blast with you all.

ECCC 2023

I'll be attending this year's Emerald City Comicon. Will likely be the last time to get a signed copy of "The Story Of Inc", as I only have about 30 books left. Will also have a bunch of prints including many new "Megastructures" designs. Hope to see you there!

Lightbox Expo is done!

I'm home! Lightbox Expo was a huge success, sold a ton of books and prints, met a lot of new people, and finally got to meet a ton of people who I'd only ever spoken to online. Thanks to all the organizers, had a great time, looking forward to next year!

Visit Me At Lightbox Expo 2022

Come visit my booth #606 at Lightbox Expo 2022 in Pasadena CA Oct 14-16th 2022. https://2022.lightboxexpo.com/ Signed copies of Inc and Megastructures for sale, plus fine art prints. And a special 18"x9" print of the space baroque royal palace makes its debut at the show, my print studio https://www.berkeleygiclee.com/ did a fantastic job with the colors. Come see it in person starting friday!

Fan Made Inc The Robot

Student Natalya Sa'at has made an awesome fan model of my Inc The Robot. Really impressed, check out her work! https://artstation.com/artwork/DA3AOy

"The Story Of Inc" books shipping

Here we go, 103 copies of "The Story of Inc" ready to ship to the people who choose that reward tier for the Megastructure Kickstarter. Expect them to be sent in the next week. When your copy arrives, feel free to post a photo on social media and include my account, love seeing them in the wild!

New Comicon Banner

Just received my second comicon banner, this one dedicated to the Megastructure project, in preparation of the book coming out and being available for physical sale. They did a nice job printing, now I can use either banner or both together.

New Video: Creating An Art Bible For A Fictional Universe

As an Art Director, you have many important jobs, and one of the more important ones in my opinion is creating the Art Bible for a project. So what is an Art Bible? It's a document that, if done right, can be read by anyone on a particular project, and then they will be able to produce a piece of artwork that fits into the project's aesthetic. It is a recipe, it is a formula, it is a guide, it is a rule set which shows the style of the project through text and images. 

So this lesson will show you an example of an Art Bible, specifically the Art Bible I recently completed for the Narrative Artbook "The Story Of Inc" that myself and a team of artists and writers released almost 5 years ago. 

For those of you who want to work on films or videogames in an art department, this may give you a glimpse into how helpful this sort of document can be. Or for those of you who are just scifi fans, you can enjoy this trip into the thoughts and art that make up the Pocket Universe of Inc.

https://youtu.be/X34ykTj7Hbo

Never Before Seen "The Story Of Inc" Artwork

Happy 2022 everyone! Here's a bunch of never before seen "The Story Of Inc" artwork. Only 100 of 1000 books left, so hoping to get them all sold this year! 

http://neilblevins.com/books/inc/inc.htm

Here's the planet where our story takes place. 

A lighting test for Inc book, the same image of the citadel in the desert in 6 different lighting scenarios. Wanted to get a better understanding of how time of day could affects the light and atmosphere on the planet 

A rough thumbnail exploring possible keyframes for the fight between Landis and the first guardian

You can tell a lot about a society from their furniture, the people of the Oasis have to build everything from the scraps of their crash landed generation ship and local animal skins.  

Most weapons didn’t survive the generation ship crash, and so they were fashioned and adapted from the construction equipment that did survive. 

Emerald City Comicon!

Thanks to everyone for visiting me at Emerald City Comicon 2021. It was my most successful comicon yet in terms of sales, and I got to chat with so many cool people, success on all levels! Thanks To Isaac Hannaford, Mark Van Haitsma, Jason Felix, John Giang, Mark Jessup, L0FiTheRobot, and many more for dropping by. Here's a couple of pics and some sketches I did during the convention. Hope to attend the next one August of 2022!

 

Emerald City Comicon 2021

Emerald City Comicon starts tomorrow & I'll have a booth in Artists Alley! Entry requires proof of vax & wearing a mask, if you're in the area hope you get a chance to drop by. As well as Inc books, will have the proofs of the Megastructure book to see in person!

Three Concept Progressions

Here's 3 progressions on 3 concept designs.

 

 

The first is one of my favorite concepts for V1 Interactive's game "Disintegration". First image is a simple 3d blockin to match perspective, the second is all the 3d elements, and the third is after I added the photo elements and hand painting in photoshop. A lot of fun working on this one!

The second, one my Inc The Robot. First is my photobash of the design, then a simple previs quality 3d model, then the untextured final model, then the textured model.

And finally, the Testudo spaceship. We have the silhouette sketch, a simple previs 3d model, a detail drawing, the untextured final model, the textured final model, and then a real life 3d print.

Sketch vs Final from the Inc Book Project

Lightbox Expo Online 2021

I’m excited to share that I will be participating in LightBox Expo Online 2021! https://2021.lightboxexpo.com Sept. 7 to Sept. 12. Get your ticket today, so many great artists participating!

New Video: Using Keywords To Define A Visual Design

While sketches are important when coming up with a visual design, don't under-estimate the power of the written word. For example, if I'm designing a character, writing its bio can be super helpful when it comes time to do those first sketches. But even a full bio can usually be distilled down to a few keywords or "design pillars" that define the look, and may be enough of a springboard to start those initial explorations. When coming up with the final design for "Inc The Robot" from my first book project, I used keywords to help define the most important elements of the character, and whatever new design was going to land needed to have those elements to be successful. So I'm going to discuss those keywords, and then show how they ended up influencing the design exploration of the robot character.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDiEgwYMLhc

Inc Alien Interior 2

An older image from the Inc Book Project, check out the book if you need a last minute Christmas present: http://neilblevins.com/books/inc/inc.htm

Compositional Weight

Just posted this text / video lesson called "Compositional Weight", discussing how to balance your paintings visually using contrast to draw the eye. Hope you find it helpful! 

http://www.neilblevins.com/art_lessons/compositional_weight/compositional_weight.htm

New Photobash Pack from Utah

Added a photobash picture pack from Arches National Park in Utah to Artstation and Gumroad. Great for concept art, matte paintings and general reference. 

http://www.neilblevins.com/art_assets/photobash/Soulburn_PhotobashAssetPack_UtahArchesNationalPark_1.htm

Used these photos extensively for many of my "The Story of Inc" artwork.