Dračí Doupě II - Bestiary

What an imaginative title!
I was asked to paint the cover image for the new Bestiary for Dračí Doupě 2. (an RPG I've worked on before)

A bestiary is a book full of beasts. Oh, wait! It's like the Monster Manual. There. Now you know.

The scene was supposed to depict a battle of two ancient creatures - Kostěj the Immortal and the Spideress. Kostěj is a bit like a lich, only Slavic and with his own style. He maintains an illusion of a handsome knight, but if you touch him, or break his spell some other way, you see his true rotting form. He rides a magical steed.
The Spideress is an ancient spider demi-goddess, awoken from her Cthulhu-like slumber, possessing cultists and building a lair in an abandoned underground temple.

And they fight.

You can see the front in a larger version on my DeviantArt here:

http://merlkir.deviantart.com/art/Battle-of-the-Ancients-337716550

And this is what the wrap-around looks like.

As usual it's painted mainly in ArtRage, some bits were added in PS. The cave is inspired heavily by the Macocha chasm:

https://www.google.cz/search?hl=cs&safe=off&q=macocha&bpcl=38626820&ion=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_cp.r_qf.&biw=1680&bih=961&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&ei=36ajUKbtD8TtsgbtkoAw

Draci Doupe 2nd edition with cream, DONE!

Dračí Doupě 2 ("dragon's lair", no relation to the cartoony PC games of old) is finally done and will be properly christened with champaigne (ok, Bohemia sekt is more likely :D) on Saturday.

DrD2 website (Czech only)

Here's a full lineup of art I've done for the book. I'm told the first books arrived from the printers and that they look amazing. You may notice (if you follow me that closely, I should probably consider a restraining order!) I revisited some of the older pieces.

Alchemist - a creator of artificial beings, explosives and miraculous potions.

Fighter - a breaker of bones, a crusher of livers, a jolly good chap all in all.

Wizard - a master of flames and winds, tamer of salamanders.

Druid - a friend to nature, shaper of plants, water and earth.

Ranger - a hunter of monsters, maker of traps, protector of men.

Hrun the Barbarian - wounded and grumpy.

Tumbler - a master of disguise, trickery, juggling and good judge of character.

Hunter - a...ehm, hunter. Hunts stuff, befriends dogs.

Thief - another quite self-explanatory one. ;)

Mage - a master over the minds of feeble mortals, weaver of illusions.

Medicus - a brewer of smelly potions, healer and a negotiator.

Equipment load - three categories of stuff you can carry.

Shaman - a dream world walker, drug user and overall a pretty weird guy.

Warrior - a tactician, horse rider and overall a kick ass dude.

Witcher - what do you call a female witcher? :D (she fights the undead btw)

Conjurer - a wild mage, possessor of talents, sage of the weird and magical.

Zhira - a badass spy lady.

Scout - a horse archer, master of traps, admiral Ackbar's worst nightmare.

And that's all. :) All of these were painted entirely in ArtRage Studio Pro.