Paint exercise

Lunch time painting exercise.  Not exactly the same colors from reference but used colors I like.    I really like the neutrals and eggplant colors.  A good portion of Quinacridone Blue Violet, Burnt Umber, Light Blue Violet, tiny percentage of Cad Red Light and Hooker's Green for weight in the darkest shadows.  Don't know how far I will take this. Sketchbook and acrylics

Lion in greys(traditional)

Front and Back:  Dragons were inked in Illustrator with "charcoal" brushes found off the internet to create more of a subtle sketch quality, then brought into Photoshop with the same swirl pattern to relate to the front design.  They are based on some quick thumbnails of dragons that I had drawn here and there.  This concept for the back was a suggestion from my old art director, Sergio Lobato.  Up until then, I had not even considered a back side of the card.  The front will be gloss (to enhance the colors and impact); the back matte. 

I have always loved poster art and this design is like a mini poster, in the tradition of poster art before PS completely took over, and imagination, composition, and color was kicked by the wayside.