Hi! Earlier this year I worked on this giant piece for Wizards of the Coast. It is the artwork for the new 4th edition Dungeon Master’s Screen. This piece is huge, over 40 inches in width (13200×2550 pixels). It was actually a lot of fun to work on, trying to figure out how to make that many characters inhabit the same space in a way that is not TOO contrived (you can be the judge of whether or not I succeeded in that). There were some interesting problems to deal with, such as where the folds hit and which panel would be used as the “cover” when placed on the store shelves. Also, towards the end of the process I had to incorporate a few extra inches on either end to accommodate some last minute dimension changes. This provided an opportunity to add a couple of creatures to each end. I talk a little more about the making of this piece in the forthcoming “100 Ways to Create Fantasy Figures” book.

Howdy world

These are images from the High Moon Studios “Vault” - (http://www.highmoonstudios.com/insiders/vault/index.php), some of the concept art I did while working on the just-released “Bourne Conspiracy” video game.

This is some cover art for the new issue of ImagineFX magazine. I was asked to create some artwork paying homage to the movie Blade Runner and to the design work of Syd Mead. I also put together a step-by-step walkthrough along with the original layered Photoshop file on the included DVD. In case you’re wondering about the curious composition and blank spaces, they are the areas that will be covered or obscured by text and logos on the magazine cover.

I wish I had had a little more time to put into it, but I had about a week’s time in which I was also trying to knock down a few other deadlines. Woulda coulda shoulda.

Anyway I hope you like it!

Here’s a piece from the recently released book “Anauroch: The Empire of Shade” from Wizards of the Coast.

Hey there - sorry for the lack of updates lately. I have been slammed with work, which I know I often complain about (but which I should be thankful for, because as a freelancer that’s the preferable spot to be in!).

A while back some of the concept design work I had done while at High Moon Studios got some nice recognition from the Society of Illustrators in LA for Visual Development: http://www.si-la.org/45/visual.html. I always hate tooting my own horn but I thought I would share. One thing I’ve discovered as a freelancer is that you do in fact need to toot your own horn if you want to keep working.

This piece won the Gold Award for Visual Development.

This piece won the Bronze Award for Visual Development.

And this piece received a Certificate of Merit for Visual Development.

Hi there -

I put together a book of paintings and sketches, a mix of personal work and freelance illustration work (a fair amount of Wizards of the Coast stuff). It’s full color interiors, 159 pages, and is available in hardcover ($48) and paperback ($35). You can order through my storefront page at lulu.com; here is a link:

http://stores.lulu.com/francistsai

The order page at lulu.com has a low resolution preview of several of the pages.

Here’s a drawing from probably about ten years ago, when I was working at Black and Vernooy Architects in Austin, Texas. The original is a giant pencil on vellum drawing, 24″ x 48″ (?) - can’t remember for sure.

A finalized design, finally. Well, probably still time for some tweakage. Wanted to get some of that 70s era, Joe Johnston/Nilo Rodis-Jamero practical model feel for some of these ships and outer space locations. The earlier concept sketch is at the bottom. Originally I had a vertical slit for the main hangar space, but that was not going to be practical for the scenes taking place in there.

Here is a shot of the Planetary Federation outpost from which the rescue mission to retrieve Vitaly Fentonov originates. I’ve placed a few Galactic Imperium troopers in the shot for scale, but story wise they would not be present here.