Here is a collection of puzzle illustrations I had the good fortune of working on for Spin Master. Creating these was a lot of fun as it afforded me the opportunity to illustrate various locations I'd never drawn before as I sought to create compelling pieces which would make fun puzzles.

As I've mentioned in previous posts, puzzle illustrations are quite unique in that you must have enough detail to make the puzzle solvable (nothing is worse than big spaces of a single color). This means there's room for lots of scenes within the scene - something I always love doing.

Let's dive into some of these pieces to see how they were created!

When I approached the sketch for this piece, I knew I wanted to position the viewer amidst some trees and foliage overlooking a sort of tropical feeling lagoon in this oasis. The trees in the foreground help establish scale, especially when you see those same trees in the middle ground and distance.

Here are a few details so you can see the shapes and textures up close.

This was one of my favorites to work on and I knew exactly what it was going to look like as soon as I read the creative brief - which doesn't always happen, but I enjoy when it does. I knew creating a layered scene like this would allow me to focus on storytelling, lighting, and composition.

I did the sketch for this one in color because the layout was already solved in my mind. I had a very particular look and feel I wanted to hit with the color. To that end, I blocked in all my shapes and then focused on hitting specific shapes with little kisses of light from the sun. Once that was in place, the rest was just a matter of refining shapes, textures, and details.

Speaking of details, here's a handful of shots to see a closeup of the ones on this piece.

This was a fun piece to work with as well as it was a very interesting location to study and conceptualize. Usually when I'm drawing a real place, I like to look at as many photos and videos as I can to get inspiration and a better understanding of the kinds of things you'd see and potentially feel there (videos work amazingly well for this - much more than a static photo). Once I have my mind full of information, I take to sketches...

Sketches for this one were the exact opposite as the sketches I did for San Fran... With the San Fran piece, I knew exactly what it was going to look like before I even touched the canvas. With this piece, however, I had no idea where the piece would go when I started sketching. This meant I had to explore with a handful of different ideas and compositions until I landed on an option that worked.

Here are a few of the details for this one.

I had no idea how much climbing there was in Turkey - but after receiving the brief and watching videos, looking up articles and photos, I was pleasantly surprised to have a better understanding of the climbing community there.

This piece turned out to be one of my favorites as it had lots of opportunities to work in a detailed background, middle ground, and foreground. 

Here is the initial sketch I worked on to get my head around how I would lay out the scene. Showing both height and distance can be difficult when you're also having to show water - but I liked how this one came out.

Here are a handful of the details:

These caves are absolutely stunning! These are one of those hidden treasures in our world that really help show the incredible design and beauty present all around us.

I really wrestled with the composition of this one as there are so many interesting angles to choose from. Inside the cave looking out, outside the cave looking in, looking down, looking up, etc. Ultimately I chose this option as it created a fun narrative and gave me the ability to show the inside and outside of the cave.

Here are a few of the details up close.

Drawing a community of homes with gentle streams and rivers weaving between them which can be used for transportation? I'm in!

Drawing this peaceful community was extremely relaxing. I simply put on some of my favorite music and got to work.

The sketches for this piece were fairly straight forward. I knew I wanted to show a handful of the homes as well as seeing the water channels weaving through the beautifully maintained trees, lawns, and foliage.

Here are a few of the details:

We've all likely seen this spectacular castle, so I knew when I was going to illustrate it, I wanted to amp up the features I found most pleasing. 

Here is the rough sketch for this one. Mountains, castles, lakes and trees? I love drawing all of them.

Here are a few detail shots.

If you've made it all the way down here, you deserve an award! Or perhaps you're studying these pieces to learn more about your craft - in which case, I salute you! I too spend hours studying work from others I find inspiring and it helps me to keep on pushin!

Thank you all for your kind words and support, I sincerely appreciate it!