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The Silly Tale of the Smith Family Commission

I was first approached by Mr. Smith, at the Pittsburgh Witches Ball. He asked me if I was available to do commissions.

That made me ask, “What would you like me to draw for you?” And he said, “I was thinking of getting my family drawn as superheroes. But let me get back to you on that.”

About a month later I was approached by Mrs. Smith.

She asked, “Can you please draw my family and me as super heroes?” To which I said, “Absolutely!”

That resulted in this:

While I was drawing this, Mr. Smith contacted me again. He said, “Hey! Are you still available to do commissions? Because I would really like you to draw my family as superheroes.”

Before I could reply, I contacted Mrs. Smith and said, “Uh…your husband just asked me to make the same thing you asked for. What should I do?”

She laughed.

So I said to Mr. Smith, “Sure I can make the thing!”

And that’s how I drew this:

They were both surprised when the presents were unwrapped.

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The Legend of Jamie Roberts’ Newest Print

Awwww yeah! This print got finished not too long ago to showcase my new upcoming webcomic, The Legend of Jamie Roberts. (Coming online mid- to late-November.)

Illustrated here, from foreground to background, is Jamie Roberts, Ragun Ranki (pronounced Rah-Goon Ra-N-key), and the dragon shape of Ragun Basho (pronounced Rah-Goon Bah-show).

This took a little while to illustrate, especially with the waves of The Way in the background. The Way is the spirit world, where souls rest after death and before birth, and where Ranki was banished after The War of the Leaders 500 years before the start of the Legend.

Here’s some clips of the progress of the piece:

The colors of the background and Ranki were done in Clip Studio Paint to save me some marker ink.

This image will do double-duty as both a print and as the cover art for Chapter 1’s online serialization.

That’s all for now. Thank you for reading!

You. Are. Awesome.

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“I Am The Land,” An Art Piece

i am the land american gods art illustration by kelci crawford

If you’re a fan of Neil Gaiman’s book, American Gods, like I am, then you know why this piece is called “I Am The Land.” If you haven’t read the book (or read the comic, or seen the TV show) yet, you should fix that. Like, ASAP.

American Gods is one of those books that shook me when I first read it. Every time I re-read it, I discover something new about it. It’s dream-like and jarring yet also grounded (in the sense that the god characters act like people and not like high-concept “I am above petty emotions” personalities. Zack Snyder should learn a thing or two from this book).

One of the recurring characters in American Gods is a man with a buffalo head. He doesn’t outright murder anyone in the book. However, when I got the idea for this piece of art, I finished a section of the comic book adaptation of the novel – specifically, the section about Vikings landing in Canada and killing a Native American, and then the Natives killing every Viking in retaliation. Yes, the account is fiction, but there’s an element of truth to it, to the idea that America is a land stained in blood.

That’s why I made this piece.

This was drawn with my trusty mechanical pencil and Pentel Brush Sign Pen, with colors by my Copic markers. The background color was done with a Kuretake Zig Clean Color FB brush pen. It’s dying out a little though, so I’ll need to replace it soon.

Soon this will be a print measuring 11×17 inches. When it’s in the shop, I’ll announce it on the email newsletter first. It’s going to be a limited print run, though, so because of that, it’ll be a little more than just $10.

Thank you for reading!

You. Are. Awesome.

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Chaos Goddess

chaos goddess illustration

I’ve been on a kick lately – I’ve been drawing creepy creatures and masked figures.

Thanks/shout out to Chloe Rose and Alex Peterson for the feedback.

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Wynd the Wise Woman

wynd the wise woman dungeons and dragons

I’ve been meaning to share this sketch and the story of this woman for a while now.

Wynd the Wise Woman is an NPC (Non-Player Character) in a Dungeons & Dragons campaign I ran last year. This woman is actually tied into the origins of the world I designed, but without getting too spoiler-y: she’s the wise woman who lives in a fancy house in the south part of Jopennt, the first town the players enter.

People in Jopennt say to avoid her house, though, because no one knows what kind of magic she does – all they know is that there are little people who work in the house, and things explode all the time. And lately, people have been disappearing when they get close to the property.

Wynd lives with a band of 12 gnomes, and they’re figuring out the magic and science behind gunpowder, weather forecasting, and bags of holding. She’s a treasure-keeper and has ancient armor and weapons, and she only accepts payment in the form of jewels – no copper, gold, silver, or platinum allowed.

Wynd’s house also has unusual features, like a cabinet that remains empty except for whatever object she needs at that moment. In one session the players were helping her make dinner and she said to one player, “Dearie, get into the cabinet and get the salt for me,” and when the cabinet was opened, the shelves were empty except for a single salt shaker. A few minutes later she said, “Oh darnit I forgot the tea. Can you get in the cabinet again and get the tea for me please?” The player opened the same cabinet and all the shelves were empty except for a single hot pot of tea. No burner or flame was present.

One side quest the players can do is solve a mystery – two of Wynd’s gnomes vanished and it’s the players’ job to find them. Poke around enough, and the players find out that on one end of the property there’s a veil that connects to the realm of the faeries. The gnomes (and some towns people) have been vanishing by inadvertently walking through this veil.

That’s just a sampling of what she does in the campaign. Next time I’ll share a sketch of another important NPC from the campaign.

Thanks for reading!

You. Are. Awesome.