The Art of Richard H. Fay

What? No art? Gotta post some art, so here we go:


Copyright 2009 Richard H. Fay

This is one of the pieces I created for the Abandoned Towers/Cyberwizard Productions divider/clip art. It is based on a 17th century Icelandic depiction of the "World Serpent" of Scandinavian mythology. However, I left out the front legs shown in the Icelandic original, to give it a more serpentine look.

Entwined Serpents:

Copyright 2009 Richard H. Fay

This piece, one of the first I did for my second batch of Abandoned Towers/Cyberwizard Productions divider art, isn't based on any particular historical design. I just wanted to do something original with a bit of a historical, almost Celtic feel. Plus, since the editor wanted long and narrow designs, I figured serpents would work.

Oh nice work RH. It does indeed have that celtic touch.

Thanks!

Part of me worried that hoping the drawing had a Celtic touch was simply wishful thinking.

Very creative! Man, you come up with the coolest stuff!

Nice, man. You're a great artist! But I think it's more of a Nordic/Viking touch than Celtic. That's just my humble opinion of course.

It reminds me of rope, DNA, licorice and yes a Nordic feel too. Interesting design Richard - would look so good on a bookmark

A legless dragon no less! I am with Night Star on this one - your imagination is a fascinating place to visit Richard. This illustration just proves it

ah our good friend the cosmic serpent

... double helix DNA, intelligence, human consciousness, evolution

Nice work! I want a bookmark!

Celtic, Nordic, medieval, whatever. I think the design is general enough that each individual viewer can apply their own historic or cultural interpretation to the image. I tried to do the serpent's heads like heads I saw in a how-to book of Celtic knotwork, but otherwise the design is not necessarily linked to any one influence.

I actually used to sell bookmarks of my art when I attended the local medieval fair as a vendor. I haven't done that in a while.

This design would look neat on a bookmark. I may have to suggest that to Crystalwizard, and see if she could whip up just such a thing for the Abandoned Towers Zazzle Store.

DNA double helix, eh? I wonder if I was subconsciously influenced by my previous incarnation as a biology lab tech!

I must admit, this design follows the historic illustration pretty closely. I just adapted it slightly for my own uses. The beast already looked pretty monstrous in the original, so I just drew my own version of it.

By the way, some dragons were indeed legless. The Lambton Worm, in some renditions of the tale, is one example:
http://www.mysteriousbritain.co.uk/england/durham/legends/the-lambton-worm-and-penshaw-hill.html

The feathered serpents of mythology are another type of legless dragon.

Other dragons, like the wyvern, have only one pair of legs:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wyvern

And you do this for a job?? Wow, what a great profession. Wandering through myths and legends, drawing inspiration and then translating them into your own words and illustrations. Could it get any better than that?

I could get paid a lot more. I wouldn't say it pays the bills. Not yet, anyway.

Nicely done R.H.

It would also make a great Tatoo.

I really like this. The balance is beautiful. The colours calming with a hint of warmth with the yellow. I love it!!

This one too is great. Being an artist myself, I know how hard it is to make a living doing the art that you love. Keep on trying, you are good.

Humaren wrote:

It would also make a great Tatoo.

Probably.

harmonygirl wrote:

I really like this. The balance is beautiful. The colours calming with a hint of warmth with the yellow. I love it!!

Thanks!

I apparently had impressive compositional skills at an early age, at least according to what some teachers stated. One claimed that, as an artistically precocious seven year old, I understood certain compositional concepts better than many adults! Thankfully those inherent skills have stayed with me over the years.

harmonygirl wrote:

This one too is great. Being an artist myself, I know how hard it is to make a living doing the art that you love. Keep on trying, you are good.

Thanks!

As long as I have steady work, I'm happy. And the publisher/editor Crystalwizard keeps throwing work my way, so I'm in no danger of being bored any time soon.

Humaren wrote:

Nicely done R.H.

Thanks!

Copyright 2009 Richard H. Fay

Celtic Shield and Spears
by Richard H. Fay
Pitt artist's pens on bristol board, digitally manipulated and coloured.

This design combines an ancient Celtic-style shield with two different types of Celtic-style spear. I based the shield design on Celtic-style shields depicted on the Arc de Triomphe, Orange (Vaucluse, France).

In case you were wondering why I state that certain images were digitally manipulated, it's because I've used the wonders of digital image manipulation to duplicate certain details in my art. For instance, instead of drawing two sets of spears, I drew only one and then used the copy, paste, and flip functions to add in the mirror image.

Copyright 2009 Richard H. Fay

Poleaxes and Shield
by Richard H. Fay
Pitt artist's pens on bristol board, digitally manipulated and coloured.

This design combines a medieval heater-shaped shield displaying a tower charge with a pair of late medieval poleaxes.

Copyright 2009 Richard H. Fay


Blobby the Alien
by Richard H. Fay
Pitt artist's pens on bristol board, digitally manipulated and coloured.

When I was a high school kid twenty plus years ago, I used to draw stuff like Blobby all the time. Now I rarely find myself drawing aliens; most of my more recent art features fantastic and surreal scenes, knights and dragons, arms and armour, and creatures and critters from folklore. It was nice to draw wildly weird aliens again.

Blobby is meant to be a sort of "plantimal", a monstrous mixture of plant and animal. And his blobby appearance and name were inspired by the "get all blobby" card in Munchkin Cthulhu. The Munchkin card games may be quite silly, but they can be fun. And the art is a riot!

Of course, Blobby's intertwined tentacles and tendrils were meant to mix in a little medieval with the sci fi. I can't help myself; medieval art is in my blood!

Copyright 2009 Richard H. Fay

Retrorocket
by Richard H. Fay
Pitt artist's pens on bristol board, digitally coloured.



My "Retrorocket" is one of the two science-fiction (or perhaps sci-fi) themed drawings I composed for the Abandoned Towers/Cyberwizard Productions divider/clip art. After creating a bunch of historical and historically-inspired designs, I wanted to do one or two more "futuristic" pieces.

I call this one "Retrorocket" because I feel is has a "retro" look to it (retro with a twist). To me, it looks like a rocket one would see illustrating classic science fiction. And yes, I did deliberately throw in a little "fighter jet" for good measure!

By the way, a lot of people seem to be particularly impressed by the flames in this one. I was worried that intertwined flames might look strange, but I guess I worried over nothing. I tend to do that.