Fantasy illustrator: Wizards of the Coast, Orbit Books, Tor Books, Penguin Books, Darrington Press, Baldur's Gate 3, etc. || he/him 🇨🇦 || [email protected]

Ontario, Canada
Joined November 2011
Good morning #PortfolioDay :D I'm Mike, still painting Fantasy Characters doing Fantasy Things (often in Fantasy Places), and having a blast doing it! Last year I got to do my first book covers, and this year I've got some rad stuff in the oven that should be publishing soon 😊
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These Silicon Valley Geniuses Are Changing The Game Once Again By Replacing Good Things That People Like With Stupid Bullshit That Sucks Ass
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Destishire town at night
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Fireball Hello guys, this is one of the illustrations I did for the new D&D player's handbook! It was fun to explore how to paint such strong color harmony. Until next time, guys, enjoy! @Wizards_DnD @DnDBeyond #dungeonsanddragons
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Third species opener that I painted for the new Revised Player's Handbook – Elves!
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AD: Emi Tanji The main focus this time was on the elves' innate magic and their artistic inclinations as a long-lived species – playing music, doing some gardening, painting, or just observing others!
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The idea that younger elves are still figuring out their inborn magical abilities (often by observing others) was something I made sure to sneak in there 😊
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Second illustration I made for the revised PHB – the species entry for Orcs!
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Oh, and a weird little easter egg: When sketching the orc in front, I based the design of their greataxe off of one of my fav old Wayne Reynolds D&D illos (from 3.5's 'Complete Warrior'), which showed half-orcs fighting a hag. Maybe an obscure pull, so I wanted to share :D
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AD: Emi Tanji With Orcs' relatively short lifespan as fantasy races go, I really wanted to emphasize the multi-generational nature of a hunting party – kids and teens learning alongside the older folks. They're hunting with Harris's Hawks, if you're curious :D
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Sharing the first of my illustrations in the new PHB – the species entry for Dwarves!
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AD: Emi Tanji I think I watched about a dozen hours of video on blacksmithing to figure out the processes/tasks/layout of a shop, so now I know those things forever
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One of the book covers I painted earlier this year!😊 [For Tor publishing, AD: Lesley Worrell]
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This whips
Wanted to share this amazing essay from artist Dave Palumbo. Who btw is an incredible artist so he definitely knows what he’s talking about! So well written, and I agree so much with this. Worth a read: muddycolors.com/2024/04/the-…
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If enforcing gender norms requires a constant state of surveillance and censorship then they probably aren't as biological or innate as you think they are
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I've been going back through my 2023 work, with average time per piece spent as follows: Client Management/Emails - 1.6 hours Collecting Reference - 1.7 hours Thumbnails/Comps - 3.4 hours Drawing - 2.6 hours 3D - 0.7 hours (only used for ~35% of pieces) Rendering - 13.9 hours
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That's a total average of just under 24 working hours per finished illustration :D Quickest start-to-finish: 5.5 hours Longest start-to-finish: 69 hours
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TTRPG Rates were also improved from past years, with compensation in the following ranges for my publishing work (much of which will be coming out this year 😊): Quarter Pages - 550-900usd Half Pages - 850-1250usd Character Art (vignetted) - 650-700usd Covers - 2100-3000usd
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on my spare time I've been making cute little isometric maps/tokens to support a mini-D&D-campaign we've been running on Roll20, which has been a fun little departure from full paintings! (new paintings soon though, my long NDA limbo is almost over)
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I draw anniversary cards every year, and this year we got married so I got to draw that :y
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