T'ocs Ihsaw

The final monster of Relentless Dungeon, is Scott Washington, the game's creator.
I was told to draw full plate armor, and I focused on the larger pieces so the layered plates didn't too closely resemble the overlapping scales on the Lizardman. I believe the muscled breastplate is Roman.  Scott's D&D character wears an intimidating skull mask like T'ocs. Though I tried desperately to avoid similarities between my monsters that went beyond common style, I enjoy T'ocs skull mask as a throwback to the Skeleton monster. T'ocs is such a tough SOB that he'd take part of another monster as a trophy/armor.




Influences: Vlad's armor in Bram Stoker's Dracula, glass armor in TES Oblivion, Juggernaut Armor in Dragon Age: Origins, Ned Kelly

Here's T'ocs without the mask, with Scott's face underneath:

Hsa Newo

One of the final bosses to the upcoming game Relentless Dungeon.
Like the previous monster, this one is based on a real person: me. We used 'Ash' as a first name because 'Will' doesn't sound backwards. I'm a big fan of Evil Dead so that's where the 'Ash' comes from, also the sword that looks oddly like a chainsaw and the straps around Hsa's chest. I've made my own chainmail shirt so the dungeon monster version of me wears it. The bandana is a reference to both Metal Gear Solid (my favorite game) and Humans vs Zombies, the game of tag that I brought to Chico State. The bandana led me to add a Ninja Turtles-style belt buckle with my initial on it.

I'm really unhappy with the pose, the face, and pants. But we must keep moving forward.

Nhoj Ra Lio

This is basically my friend John Oilar in hide armor, with his permission. I drew him as his D&D character, Whisp, who is a shaman shifter in 4th edition. In order to keep his features recognizable I had to cut back on the shifter bit, which would've made him hairy and look a bit like a werewolf. Since I made a Gnoll, which is basically a were-hyena, I didn't really want to add a whole lot of body hair. Nhoj Ra Lio spelled backwards is "oiL aR johN" or "Oilar, John."

Influences: 300, Wulfgar from the Drizzt books, Spartacus: Blood and Sand, Conan, Barbarian from the Diablo series.

Dragon

One of the toughest monsters in the upcoming Relentless Dungeon.
Finally I draw a dragon, the monster that must be included in any dungeon crawler. As always, Dungeons and Dragons was a heavy influence. Another influence was Dragon Age.
I put effort into making the dragon look different than the other winged monsters I've drawn for the game, but still trying to keep the same style and feeling.

Demon

Counting down the days to the release of Relentless Dungeon with the final pieces of art for the game.
This is the Demon, references used were traditional representations of a devil and Orcus from D&D.
This is the only monster I drew with classic uplighting which gives a dramatically sinister look. It's a bona fide horror trick but runs the risk of being cliche so I only used the technique for one monster.
Notice the subtle pentagram on his forehead.
Influences: Legend (film), goats, bats, HHH (wrestler), W.O.W., satyr.

Detestation: The Exploding Man

This is a monster drawn for project 'Every 36 Hours' and will be including in the next Scott Washington indie game.  scottwashi.com
This was another monster designed from scratch. I call him simply, 'Mushroom Cloud Man.'
Influences: 'Splosion Man, Human Torch from Fantastic Four, Vecna from D&D.

Hydra

A multi-headed hydra doesn't really have a distinct biology, so I went with an easy-to design amorphous blob body to the point of nearly being Lovecraftian. Having all the heads be identical is visually boring to me, so I made each head a pop culture reference. Except the top two heads which I used to attempt to illustrate the hydra nature of growing two heads out of a cut off stump.
I'm amused by the thought of the heads bickering with each other, and I'd imagine Ghidorah is the most antagonizing of them all.

Oni

I realized all of my monsters were male (or very male-like) and I don't want to be sexist, so here is the first female monster for Scott Washington's upcoming indie game.
Throughout this project I've been focusing on lighting techniques. Here I started with the red rim light from the top/club side, then I rendered the blue key light from the bottom/other side. When not using side light I'll render objects as if there's just a front fill light.
I tried to stay more to the Oni of Japanese folklore more than the D&D or any other demon, even though my version is a woman. The club she's wielding is a kanabo, a japanese club. I just realized I forgot to make the end half iron instead of wood, which I think is okay for readability considering the small size of the art. I hear there's a saying, "like giving a kanabo to an oni," which would kind of be like giving Wolverine from X-Men the ability to shoot lasers out of his eyes.
I've also been trying to put a uni-brow on one of my monsters for a while now.

The Torment

An original monster for Every 36 Hours. I tried to make it more gross than scary, but the boss says he looks too sad. If it could speak instead of try to kill/eat/infect you it would probably say, "Please... *choking sound* ...kill me."
I've been focusing on improving my shading/lighting techniques and this time I started with the rim light, which I normally do last. This made the light follow the contours of the body instead of just outlining the edge of the monster. I also made it a dark green when in the past monsters it has been near white.

 Influences: D&D, Frankenstein, Zalgo

Phantasm

The design was much more loose this time because I wasn't concerned with any preconceived notions of what is a "Phantasm" or it being recognizable by the audience. Instead I just worked with an idea in my mind of a sinister and ominous figure with a ghost-like presence. The result is a bit more cartoon-ish than I'd like, but I need to move on to the next monster as quickly as possible.
If you look closely he's kind of wearing a tie.

Influences: Phantasm, Batman: Mask of the Phantasm, Phantasm from Teen Titans, Candlejack from Freakaz...

Ogre

The ogre enemy for Every 36 Hours, and will be including in Scott Washington's next indie game. 


This one was a bit tricky. Instead of focusing on getting the most ogre-like ogre, I tried to make sure I made all the features different than my other monsters.

I put a little drool on his mouth. My first idea was to have caked layers of dried drool like Jabba the Hutt, but that was too much detail to be readable in-game.

What's more gross than back hair? Neck beard. It's not as visible as I'd like, but the ogre kept pushing me around, the big bully.

The Orc

The latest monster for the upcoming Scott Washington indie game, Relentless Dungeon (formerly Infinite Dungeon, and also MinMax Dungeon).

By far the largest reference folder of all the monsters. Orcs, in my opinion, are the most popular monster in the fantasy genre, so I used many resources versions of what an orc should be. He's pretty bulky like the orcs in Warhammer, but if any monsters took steroids, it'd be the war-obsessed orcs. Chainmail is a chore to draw. I purposefully made him wear the chainmail incorrectly, as an orc might be too stupid to know the rows should lay horizontally to efficiently distribute the impact of a blow. I have been dissatisfied with my lighting for all of the past monsters, so I tried to go about it differently on this one.

Influences: as usual my two most important resources for the monster is Lord of the Rings and Dungeons & Dragons. Secondary to those for the Orc is Warcraft and Warhammer. My personal favorite influence is Stan Nicholls' Orcs novels.
Tolkien orc traits used: long-armed, filthy, bow-legged, and sallow-skinned.

Lizardman

#4 out of 20 monsters for Every 36 Hours. I spent longer than usual on this one as I went through a few iterations of what my lizard-man would look like.

I tried to keep him different from the other monsters. The goblin was a yellow green so I kept the lizardman a bluer-green. The lizardman walks on the soles of his feet as several of my other monsters already walked on toes or were fully digitigrade. I colored the center parts dull grays because yellow is overdone for reptilian monsters, like the Ninja Turtles. I'm not satisfied with my decision to have scales on the lower half and spots on the upper half.


As I describe him to my roommate:
Me: "Half man, half lizard. All danger."
Jason: "But what about when it's cold out?"
Me: "..."

Influences: Argonian from Oblivion, Kobolds and lizardfolk from D&D, Killer Croc from Batman, Gorn from Star Trek.

Bat

#3 in Every 36 Hours. 2 hours in Photoshop (and I know it shows).
My fastest monster yet, a simple bat. Nuthin' fancy. Just wanted to get it done and move onto something [more] exciting.

There's a bit of transparency in the wings. Brown and blue side lights.

Rat

#2 in project Every 36 Hours. 6 hours in Photoshop and a few for research.

I don't think the spikes on the back really do anything for it, though the bubbles next to them I think give a gross look. The hair on the tail is easily confused with the spiky segments which were supposed to be a bit like a xenomorph tail. I would've liked a more battle-ready pose, though this pose is true to it's ratty character.
Rat traits (opposite of mouse): big feet, wide muzzle, small ears, wide head.
Influences: Ratigan from Great Mouse Detective, Pinky and the Brain, Templeton from Charlotte's Web, dire rat from Dungeons and Dragons, Aliens.

Initial sketch development for the rat:

Gnoll

Art asset for Scott Washington's upcoming indie game, Relentless Dungeon. 19 more monsters to go. This is the first entry of my "Every 36 Hours" crunch project where I draw a monster every 36 hours for month.
5 hours spent painting in Photoshop, and a couple hours on research.

A gnoll is a half man half hyena. I wanted to significantly tell a gnoll apart from a werewolf, and so had to research a bit of hyena biology (thanks Wikipedia). My first idea was to emphasize the legs, but that gave a centaur/satyr vibe or silly parachute pants. I made a list of important hyena distinguishing features: spots, 'mohawk' (mane at withers), and a Cheshire cat style grin. Hyenas are primarily feline with canine features, but there were some werewolf traits I wanted to avoid: whites of the eyes, pointy ears, and a long snout. The ears also couldn't be too rounded or it might look like a rat. Other hyena traits I used: back slopes down toward croups with limited movement for the backbone, short hind legs, a thick/short neck, short facial portions, digitigrade (walking on toes, longer middle of foot), claws are short and blunt, fur is coarse and sparse, an additional pair of ribs, biggest teeth are shifted back (especially the uppers). I thought about having a tongue hanging out but decided that was too lovable. I think I need better shadows and I went a bit too overboard with the blue side light in the feet area, but I must move on. It's never perfect.

Initial sketch for the gnoll.

I can't really explain what made this one go so well. I hit a groove with the initial pass and just flew loose and quick. This one was a lot of fun.


Influences: Lion King, Gmork from NeverEnding Story, and the gnolls from D&D and World of Warcraft.

Vampire art

Scott Washington's Relentless Dungeon
Release date TBA

Influences: Bat wings for the cloak, Spawn, D&D Ravenloft Count Strahd von Zarovich, Bela Lugosi and Christopher Lee versions of Dracula. With other monsters I've had to give some thought to combining genre differences for the monster, but Dracula pretty much shouts 'vampire'  for any genre.

Initial sketches for the vampire:

Troll & more work

Started a third project, Kitchen of Terror, which I'm super excited about. It's about anthropomorphized vegetables being cut up and cooked for human consumption.
Also still workin on Scott Washington's Relentless Dungeon, and cranked out another monster art piece today, but still needs a few revisions.

Above is art for the Troll monster. Again I tried to base it on common concept of what a troll is crossed with the fantasy D&D style troll, and ended with a mutated version of one of those troll dolls.
The hair still bothers me, but I need to move on. When it's seen in the game it'll only be 200 pixels so I have to keep myself from putting a lot of effort into each monster.
The face is a bit based off of the trolls from Ernest Scared Stupid, which traumatized me as a kid and is one of the few movies that gives me the willies, even to this day. That made it a bit difficult to work on this piece.
I struggled again with the skin color. Goblins, orcs, trolls and ogres all have green skin in my subconscious for some reason, so I have to force myself to come up with alternative palettes. The goblin was green, so the troll is more blue-green. Trolls in Warcraft are blue, but they're basically elves with tusks. Ogres from oblivion are blue so I'll really have to come up with something else if I paint an ogre. Maybe more flesh colored I suppose. Orcs in D&D are gray, so I'll probably do that if I paint an orc. Maybe brown-green.

Imp

Another monster for the game, Relentless Dungeon. I tried to go for angry cat ears but they ended up looking more like horns. Add that to the stance and it's more of a gargoyle than an imp. But there's so many variations of these fantasy monsters that you can't really define what is what. It's all fiction anyways, so I'm not going to stress too much about it.

I really like the end result of this one. This is my favorite of all the monsters because of its creepy pose and impish expression.

I don't have a sketch version this time as the process went pretty fast. Instead is an alternate version before input from others, along with a thumbnail.

The first version was too bulky. I was hesitant to remove the part of his back above his head, but it gives him a better silhouette. I usually start drawing things very muscle-y so I can get proper anatomy, and is also probably due to drawing superheros as a kid when I was learning to draw. 

Two thumbnails were drawn quickly so I could get a feel for both the bottom and upper portions of the monster without making it too cluttered with dark lines.

Skeleton art asset

 I painted a skeleton in Photoshop for an upcoming indie game called Relentless Dungeon from Scott Washington. http://scottwashi.com/

I'm not a fan of skeletons as monsters because it's too much of a stretch of the imagination for me. How can they move around without muscles and tendons and all those bits? I get so annoyed in horror movies when a skeleton lurches out of a coffin and coughs up dust. How can they cough without lungs or a throat? That's just silly. So when I went to paint a skeleton monster I wanted to draw a complicated transparent glowing magical muscle structure holding the skeleton together.

I realized working at such a small resolution would make it extremely difficult to convey that message to the player. In the end I bit the bullet of artistic mediocrity and did it the way every other skeleton has been done for the sake of readability.

 In a later revision I put the blue glow-y bits back in a much less noticeable way, but still enough to satisfy me and my skepticism of skeletons as enemies.