scene & sundry

Here's one by request from my friend @devinsilvia, who's just a bit of a Superman fan! Prints available at my store, http://gumroad.com/mikemccain - All proceeds go to the ACLU.

The original goal was to generate a bit of extra travel money - but in light of recent events I’ll be donating 100% of any proceeds to the ACLU for as long as the immigration ban stands. (Suspended or no, it still exists...)

Happy 2017!

Just a few quick adjustment layers in Photoshop on these at the end.

The Coast Starlight is a 36-hour sleeper-train journey from Seattle to Los Angeles. Here's some paintings I did along the way! The last stretch along the coast at sunset, in particular, was gorgeous.

Spitpaints from the last week! - Lazy Afternoon, Missile Lock, Wand Test #34, DJ.

An idea for a setting that I've been picking away at for a while now. I wanted to try doing something more illustrative for a change in my free time, which has been a great (though challenging!) learning experience. Still not sure if I'm totally happy with it but it's time to be done. Big thanks to everyone who helped with tips and critique! Better quality on ArtStation: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/DloEy

Getting back to spitpainting after a few months off... sheesh, I feel like that's always the story! Glad to be on the wagon again though. The Black Tome, Isle of Diamonds, Marooned, Watching a Movie.

I’ve never really gone back into something like this before, but it was kind of a fun challenge actually to morph an existing piece into such a different mood.

Digital plein air painting at Greenlake park in Seattle!

Daily spitpaints! Shy, Spaceship v. Monster, Asteroid Field, Panda Knight.

This one's a potential cutscene mockup, showing the Argo on a deceleration-burn to dock with an Invader-class JumpShip.

Spitpaints / speedpaints from the last week! Road Trip, Yard Work, The Oracle, Frost Queen, Tax Office, Prehistoric Jungle, Moon Man.

Getting back into the daily spitpainting habit! Alone by the Sea, Book Club, The Ark, A Hero’s Funeral, Playing by the Creek (spent some more time to finish this one), Cliffside Citadel, Silver Lance (photo study).

Been experimenting with rock formations this weekend, searching for alien shapes and colors. Trying out some workflow techniques @tomscholes demo’ed recently!

And now for something completely different... the sketch lunch topic at work yesterday was “Cutest Dungeon”. Super fun to try some characters like this!

A final set of the many photos I took on a recent trip to northern Taiwan. I’ve been really enjoying street/travel photography lately - it’s a great way to explore, study lighting, people-watch, find the little details hidden in the world, and to practice composition on the fly. You can see more of the photosets I’ve posted in the past two weeks here on my tumblr.