the work
Update: I’m now putting high resolution versions of some of my work over at my other site, Ward’s Pics. You can easily purchase digital versions, along with getting luscious prints made and shipped directly to your home.
For as long as I can remember I have been sketching in one form or another. It is the one singular listening aid I had growing up; a large portion of notes for classes turned into “doodles.”
recent works
Battle at the Cliff
- year
- 2025
- filed
- artwork
I started playing, off and on again, Magic The Gathering at our local game store, Secret Lair at Chelan. I still find it a bit surreal that our little hamlet has its own gaming store, but here we are and here we are happy. I love trying to give myself projects, and so I thought…
Plains Walker, Wind Rider
- year
- 2018
- filed
- artwork
As often happens, when I’m in longer meetings where I’m mostly listening to others, I will use “doodling” as a way of helping me stayed engaged and listen “more better”. While it’s in argubly strange to some, doodling indeed allows me to listen better, not worse, than if I just straight-up listened.
Kazumichi
- year
- 2024
- filed
- artwork
I recently started an IRL game with folks local to me at a newly opened gaming shop, Secret Lair at Lake Chelan, in our hometown of Manson, Washington. For the past many years we’ve played entirely virtual table-top (aka VTT), and so actually getting together around a physical table to sit down is quite a…
Self-portrait (c. 2022)
- year
- 2022
- filed
- art fundamentals
30 years ago I tried to create a masterpiece. Discover whether I did or not. Or more precisely, learn how I took that “masterpiece” and made it better. And if not better then at least different.
Erel
- year
- 2022
- filed
- artwork
I’m back at playing D&D with a new group of folks, and as such it’s time to create a new portrait for my character. While I considered playing either Stone or Unnis – given this is a more role-play heavy group (versus the min-max tactical approach in my other groups) – I also thought it…
Erel, portrait
- year
- 2022
- filed
- artwork
I’m back at playing D&D with a new group of folks, and as such it’s time to create a new portrait for my character. While I considered playing either Stone or Unnis – given this is a more role-play heavy group (versus the min-max tactical approach in my other groups) – I also thought it…
Indrith, Spring form
- year
- 2022
- filed
- artwork
I created these set of portraits of a Fey Eladrin for a character in an online D&D campaign. Given that these creatures, relatives of elves, change their appearance to one of the four seasons per game session, I thought it would be nice to have the portrait changeable to match the current game session’s season.…
Indrith, Summer form
- year
- 2022
- filed
- artwork
I created these set of portraits of a Fey Eladrin for a character in an online D&D campaign. Given that these creatures, relatives of elves, change their appearance to one of the four seasons per game session, I thought it would be nice to have the portrait changeable to match the current game session’s season.…
Indrith
- year
- 2021
- filed
- artwork
Forgotten Realms’ Eladrin including fey elfs who, after centuries of living in the Feywild, have adopted to their new existence including the ability to change their appearance to fit their mood, assuming characteristics of the season. It’s a great concept, especially as an artist, as it gives me a chance to portray a single character…
Indrith, Winter form
- year
- 2022
- filed
- artwork
I created these set of portraits of a Fey Eladrin for a character in an online D&D campaign. Given that these creatures, relatives of elves, change their appearance to one of the four seasons per game session, I thought it would be nice to have the portrait changeable to match the current game session’s season.…
Viking & Thirsty Buck
- year
- 2021
- filed
- artwork
I’ve been following The Tavern of the Thirsty Buck on Instagram for awhile now. I’ve found a lot of the photo shoots they take are a great place for inspiration and reference. While I do not do fanart per se, I nevertheless thought it would be fun to take one of their photos as foundation…
Kailynn
- year
- 2021
- filed
- artwork
Kailynn is a half-elf who comes from an affluent merchant family only find herself on the road after a devastating loss of both her husband and child whom she has buried both. Now without family, but through her tragedy, she has found a new purpose to find and heal those in need. After consulting with…
Unnis Kilyax
- year
- 2021
- filed
- artwork
As with Stone, I started playing a bit of D&D 5E after supporting Camp D&D Online on Kickstarter. Whereas Stone is a bit of a stretch for me as a melee fighter, Unnis is entirely my jam: magical glass canon. Given that I’ve not played D&D since the 2E, I opted to go with Dragonborn…
Stone
- year
- 2021
- filed
- artwork
I recently started playing D&D 5e on Camp D&D Online after backing it on Kickstarter. I tend to play magic users pretty much any chance I get, so for a change of pace I thought I’d play a melee character. For point of reference, some 35 years ago was the last melee character I played…
Radiance
- year
- 2021
- filed
- artwork
I recently completed this piece, while partly in recognition I sorta suck (technical term for not good) doing horse bodies, largely inspired by my UX design team who have everyone who joins the team draw a unicorn. I love unicorns! I have a site dedicated to them and dragons; even if I do tend to…
Knight & Her amount
- year
- 2021
- filed
- artwork
As it’s a new year, first and foremost let me welcome you to 2021! And given I just completed a piece, I thought it would be a good thing to welcome in the year by writing a bit. In particular, I wanted to go a bit deeper into my digital process as its built upon…
Dragon Doula (c. 2019)
- year
- 2018
- filed
- artwork
I’ve wanted to go back to some of my older pieces and re-do, largely born out of both a dissatisfaction with my treatment of the subject and a desire to see if my skills are sufficiently “leveled up.” Ironically, I keep psyching myself out worried that maybe I have not grown enough to warrant the…
Dragon Warden, Redux (c. 2019)
- year
- 2019
- filed
- artwork
A few months ago I attended Norwescon where I participated in an artist workshop. This is where you can show your work to other artists to get your work, well, critiqued. And you also get to participate in someone else’s workshop. All in all, a lot of fun. This year, in particular, I found it…
Two Great Dan’gons & Their Owner (c. 2020)
- year
- 2020
- filed
- artwork
“Two Great Dan’gons and Their Owner” is a bit of humorous portraiture of our two Great Danes, Kumo and Sora, along with a guest appearance by me, albeit posthumously. Hopefully it’s not too hard to find me tucked away there in the picture. The whole idea for this picture originated, ironically, from a picture I…
Dragon Warden (c. 2018)
- year
- 2018
- filed
- artwork
A few months ago I attended Norwescon where I participated in an artist workshop. This is where you can show your work to other artists to get your work, well, critiqued. And you also get to participate in someone else’s workshop. All in all, a lot of fun. This year, in particular, I found it…
Arrested!
- year
- 2018
- filed
- artwork
One of the great things at Norwescon is in recent years is the addition of an artist workshop, or otherwise a critique of your work by both other artists and folks in the art field such as art directors, collectors, et cetera. I participated last year for the first time, not entirely knowing what to…
Dragon Lady
- year
- 2017
- filed
- artwork
I finally got around to creating a quick, one-minute video of the process to create Dragon Lady from the time I imported a photographed version of the original sketch. Sans the original sketch done with a mechanical piece, all of the video shows timelapse of my work within Procreate app on my iPad Pro using an…
Well Earned Nap
- year
- 2018
- filed
- artwork
Awhile back, seemingly almost two years ago, I happened to be sitting at one of my favorite wineries with my iPad in-hand. As I oft due, especially in crowded spaces, I was engrossed in sketching while trying to ignore the cacophony that is, to my ears, humans in a crowded space.
- year
- 2018
- filed
- artwork
Awhile back, seemingly almost two years ago, I happened to be sitting at one of my favorite wineries with my iPad in-hand. As I oft due, especially in crowded spaces, I was engrossed in sketching while trying to ignore the cacophony that is, to my ears, humans in a crowded space.
Earth & Sea
- year
- 2017
- filed
- artwork
I must admit that I find myself at odds with my art, or more precisely “my art”. If you ask me what kind of art I want to create, I invariably come back with wanting a more painterly approach. However, if you look over the course of my life nearly all my output is more…
WIP (v Mar 4)
- year
- 2018
Terror at Sea
- year
- 2018
- filed
- art fundamentals
I fully admit I have no formal training in art. I certainly appreciate that this is not some declaration of any innate talent; but, more that it is an acknowledgement that I have a great deficit in knowledge that impairs my ability to improve my skills. Ask any artist and you are likely to get…
Sky Dragon
- year
- 2018
- filed
- artwork
The last in the series of dragon concepts I did for C.R. Sandidge wines, I finally spent some time to do a rendering. While a little less painterly, I thought the balance of line and painterly approaches melded well together.
Visitor
- year
- 2018
- filed
- artwork
Art Show Well, I got a lovely surprise this morning when I woke up – someone dropped out of the art show at Norwescon. Well, okay, that’s not lovely news, now is it? Bad Ward! But it did mean that as I was on the waitlist, the show coordinator reached out and asked if…
early works
Musashi (c. 1993, pencil)
- year
- 2014
- filed
- art fundamentals
I thought I would take a moment to share my thoughts that have been percolating for awhile now. In particular, I wanted to address something I’ve heard or otherwise read online around the lines of “what is art?” or “is that legitimate art?” or even “does this constitute cheating in art?” I thought I would…
Sakura (c. 1993, pencil)
- year
- 2014
- filed
- artwork
It is of no particular note that thirty years after James Bond’s “From Russia with Love” premiered in theaters that I found myself in Japan, but there is nonetheless an analog to be found between Kronsteen’s vain attempt to steal a cryptograph, and my own attempts to break the code that is Japan.
Motherhood (c. 2012, pencil)
- year
- 2013
Unigon concept (c. 2015, ink)
- year
- 2014
- filed
- artwork
The site redesign is taking its own sweet time, but I am slowly rounding out some ideas. Since I misplaced the MS Surface pen (again), I went back to what I know best: ink pens. And while I love using Faber-Castell PITT pens, there is nothing like just using a good ole fashioned fountain pen…