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.

Every 36 Hours update

The updates are on pause while the rest of my life resumes. I'm updating all the art done so it's good to go in-game (now re-named 'Relentless Dungeon'). Turns out I DID end up needing cast shadows on the floor for the monsters after all [Evan may now proceed to say, "I told you so"].
Much appreciation to you all reading this right now. Thanks for your interest in me and my work.
You'll see more monsters soon, culminating in the release of Relentless Dungeon.

Cheers,
-Will

Advice

Consider this about advice:
"Advice is a form of nostalgia. Dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it's worth."

I'm open to critique on my art, and other artists should be too because nobody ever reaches perfection. Though every statement has to be taken with a grain of salt.
I see many students and graduates trying to figure out where to go from here.  Some give advice without being asked for it. Some follow advice because they can't make decisions for themselves. Some flounder for too long because someone gave them some bad advice. I'm a supporter of taking time alone to think about what it is you really want and weigh the value of everything else, without any other person's influence. Because it's your life, not theirs.

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...