Fallout 76 Fan Art - SkyLine Valley

I started this piece when Skyline Valley released back in June last year but I got a little busy with other things and didn’t have much time for personal work. I’m trying to make some changes and regularly update my website in hopes of reaching people without using the usual social media platforms. (really getting tired of the whole social media thing.)

I finished this piece right at the perfect time as Lori decided to surprise me with a Power Armor T60 figuring of Maximus from the Fallout TV series. Perfect art and figurine addition to the new room. :)

Rebelle Featured Artist

I always like to explore different creative tools to improve my artistic abilities. Coming from the days where no one painted on a phone, tablet and computer I tend to look for software that mimic traditional mediums. I started using Rebelle by Escape Motions since the first release, it is currently at version 4 and definitely something you will want to consider as a major addition to your toolset. It's the first software I've used where the more paint you apply it will start to run down your canvas. We're one step closer to where technology is accurately mimicking life.

I have recently been selected as a featured artist for Rebelle and have a spot on their product page showcasing what I've created with their software.

https://www.escapemotions.com/featured-artists/steve-goad

I'm honored for the opportunity as I was part of a small group that were selected out of many talented applicants. Lovely boost and confirmation I need to keep pushing forward.

Official announcement: https://www.escapemotions.com/blog/

Try Rebelle! https://www.escapemotions.com/products/rebelle/download.php

#rebelle4 #escapemotions #rebelleart

Seek the Truth

The things of this world want to convince us that we are free while being blinded, bound and controlled. I used to believe that when you gave your life to the Lord that wonderful things would happen, that you would be blessed beyond measure and you would truly live your best life now. Truth be told, I am, but not by the world's standard. I can honestly say the last 10 years haven't been amazing. We've suffered great loss, affliction, struggle, death of loved ones and persecution. We've experienced more failures than success, we've had moments with zero direction or signs of any change. Yet I have never been closer or happier with who I am in Christ and what I have with Lori. You can have everything in life and yet nothing, you can have absolutely nothing and yet everything.
You can be surrounded by darkness and the truth in you will overcome it.

Maynard Pet Portrait

I delayed on posting this out of respect for this little guy's mom. This is Maynard, he passed away and she wanted to have something to remember him by. She wasn't sure what kind of style she wanted him painted in so I asked her to send me some pics and that I would come up with something nice for her. I love this guy's long whiskers and soul patch. Rest in peace buddy, I have no doubt you were loved and well taken care of by someone special.

I painted this using ArtRage with a new brush pack designed by Sav Scatola, which are pretty amazing because with the new AR6 custom brush engine they mimic oil impasto nicely. Be sure and pick them up here:
http://www.boxy.co.uk/
Scroll down and you will see the ArtRage section.
I also had this reproduced/framed with pigment inks on premium Giclée paper that has a lovely watercolor paper texture from a company called FinerWorks.com. If you're looking for high quality work I can't recommend this company enough as everything I have printed from them has turned out amazing.

ImagineFX Issue 178 ArtRage6 Feature

This has been out for a while now so I think it’s safe to post about it. I was asked to feature the latest version of a program I use quite a bit ,(ArtRage) in issue 178 of ImagineFX magazine. This was and will always be a real honor for me because I remember when I first got into digital art I’d pick up an issue of ImagineFX and admired the talent that was inside. So to go from that to actually being featured inside and on the back cover is something of a milestone for my art career.
The fun part was I picked my own subject matter, so I decided to go with a theme that would give a nod to my Asian background with a Vietnamese style dragon and warrior. They did a 6 page article with two videos of a time lapse of the entire creation of the painting members could download. The video process was pretty new to me so I tried not to fill the entire time lapse with a bunch of chatter. I just touched on important areas here and there, maybe this wasn’t the norm on how to do these but to be honest when I watch video tutorials I don’t like all the extra chatter. I wanted to extend the same courtesy to potential viewers.
I tried to show the power of ArtRage without any additional textures or filters so it was truly just a grab some paint brushes and go. I hope to do more of these in the future and the videos I created for the magazine really pushed me to do more personal tutorials here on my site. I’m in the middle of a couple of projects at the moment but my goal is to start on this when I finish things up.

A big shout out and thank you to the people behind ImagineFX and Ambient Design for such an honor.

You can pick up Issue 178 here:
https://www.myfavouritemagazines.co.uk/design/imaginefx-magazine-back-issues/

And the latest version of ArtRage 6 here:
https://www.artrage.com/artrage/

Spiritual Warfare

Latest piece of the ‘Spiritual Armor’ series I’ve been working on. Sometimes I think displaying my work without explaining it yields a better result, for some reason when I explain the symbolism people will want to pick it apart. No matter what belief a person has in this day and age, everyone senses something is wrong with the world. I’m all for having a positive outlook on life but let’s not kid ourselves, it’s unhealthy to look at a broken world and claim how perfectly fine everything is. Should we be thankful and appreciate each day? Of course. I just don’t think we should bury our heads in the sand and pretend there’s no evil surrounding us. If you pretend there’s no evil in this world, then how will you know what to do when you’re faced with it.
There’s a saying that various military organizations use ‘Si vis pacem, para bellum ‘ which translate to ‘ If you want peace, prepare for war’. I believe this applies to the spiritual realm as well because there are unseen forces in this world that will come against you. It’s why the word tells us to put on the whole armor of God so we can be prepared.

In case you’re wondering what the creature is in this piece, it’s my interpretation of the locusts from the bottomless pit.

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New Look!

I have been wanting to move my site to a cleaner and simplistic design because I felt my old site was just too cluttered and slow, I saw this layout on Squarespace and knew this is what I wanted. I’m sure people visit my page just to look at the art with minimal clicks and without all the extras so I’m hoping this new layout does just that.

You’ll have to excuse the small gallery at the moment as I am currently uploading everything. I’m also working on several projects, some I can show and some I can’t.

I can show this progress shot of a book cover I’m working on though!