With IMMENSE joy, the new edition of "Sorcery: Contested Realm" was published at the beginning of the month; the expansion is entirely dedicated to "Arthurian Legends".

 

Seeing my Sir Perceval become part of the Cover Art of "Arthurian Legends" was a surprise and a unique emotion. I can never stop thanking Erik and the Sorcery Team enough!

All the information, artists, cards and works of art here:

https://sorcerytcg.com/

https://sorcerytcg.com/art

The Cover Art is truly gorgeous! The credit for this marvel for the eyes, decorated with gold leaf motifs, as refined and beautiful as in a luxurious medieval illuminated manuscript, goes to the incredibly talented Elvira Shakirova. Her skill is extraordinary!

The illustration with my "Common Village" for this edition. Unlike the previous villages (which depicted Alpine Walser, or North Frisian, houses), here I have tried to depict a typical late medieval English village. In a summer landscape.

The "Verdant Knight": I love making sunsets, I love landscapes, I love flamboyant and eccentric clothes of the late Middle Ages!😊

This is just a first taste: I have made many illustrations and I will try to show them all!

My painting "Sir Perceval", with the knight in front of the Grail (and the Fisher King) castle

Some illustrations among those published in various issues of the beautiful Swiss Magazine "Lebenslust Emmental Magazin"

The illustration published in the new issue of the Magazine "Lebenslust Emmental" number 65, autumn 2024.

The illustration is for Sandra Rutschi's beautiful new short story "Die Baeume wachsen nicht in den Himmel" ("The trees don't grow into the sky").

The Magazine is always beautiful with wonderful photos: it is impossible not to want to immerse yourself in the wonderful landscapes, villages and woods of the Bernese Emmental!

           A  Bernese Mountain Dog and some illustrations of botanical essences and flowers

Illustration of wildflowers (poppy, dandelion, red clover, plantain, bromes ... among others)

Semolina pudding (Griessbrei), with recipe and ingredients (cinnamon!), for the short story by Sandra Rutschi

The original paintings for the illustrations (always painted in watercolor and gouache on Arches paper) next to the Magazine

Some photos taken in the field looking for the wildflowers for the illustration

Magnificent animated video of the new "Sorcery" series dedicated to the Arthurian Legends. My knight Perceval is there too!

 Arthurian Legends: Sorcery Contested Realm Trailer

Magnificent animated video on YouTube of the new "Sorcery" series dedicated to the Arthurian Legends. 

My knight Perceval is there too!

The Video is simply wonderful: the music, the narrative voice, the atmosphere! I can't wait to see all the illustrated cards.

LOTS of new illustrations are coming!

On the occasion of the publication of the new expansion dedicated to Arthurian Legends here is an interview on the "Sorcery: Contested Realm" website: 

https://sorcerytcg.com/art/andrea-modesti

I sincerely thank Chase for the interview, his great kindness and attention. And ALWAYS a big thank you to Erik and the entire Sorcery Team. 

I also thank the Magic Maze Team who will organize an event for the launch of the new Arthurian Legends; Francesca Baerald will also be there!!

https://sorcerytcg.com/news/landmark-sorcery-event-for-italy-at-magic-maze-october-27th-2024

While waiting for the publication of the new illustrations, a small reminder of some of those already published ;-)

The Knight in progress: first the background, then the figures (initially protected by the liquid maskig fluid for watercolor)

New Interviews and Video Presentation for Collector Arthouse and "Sorcery: Contested Realm"!

 I apologize for the long absence from the blog, but it has been an "intense" period, so to speak, in many aspects.

Among the beautiful, or rather, really WONDERFUL  things, which I am infinitely happy about, is being able to be part of the group of Artists and the Sorcery: Contested Realm project.

Working on these illustrations is a privilege for me, and I put all my soul and effort into it.

Speaking of Sorcery, I would like to point out here the beautiful presentation of the Beta Edition, made by Mike Servati.

It's absolutely not to be missed and with very special moments and Artists with their Artworks : as always thanks to Mike!

And I seem to have glimpsed something familiar in the background ;-)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8nm2Hf23wE

Odin in the guise of Wanderer

The god Odin, in one of his disguises as a wanderer; with him the trusted crows Huginn and Muninn, the infallible spear Gungnir and the Draupnir magic ring.

Welcome autumn!

A centenary oak in an autumn forest. The small fauna that lives around the old tree ... For Campus Natur - Landverlag

Have a good journey, my friend. Save me the seat next to you once again, as you always have. CIAO DANILO.

"I never had any friends later on like the ones I had when I was twelve. Jesus, does anyone?"

("Stand by Me" by Rob Reiner, based on the novel "The Body" by Stephen King)

A book entirely dedicated to the discovery of the nature of the Alps, the woods, their inhabitants and environments. An always valid gift: "BILDUNG BEGINNT IN DER NATUR" - Ein kleiner Tipp für ein schönes Geschenk? Das Buch "Bildung beginnt in der Natur" von Verena Zürcher!

"Bildung beginnt in der Natur" (auf dem Foto das Buch neben einigen meiner Originalillustrationen) kann in den besten physischen und Online-Buchhandlungen in der Schweiz und in Deutschland gefunden oder bestellt werden! Ausführliche Informationen auf der Verlagsseite des Landverlags

https://www.landverlag.ch/

"Bildung beginnt in der Natur - Education begins in nature"(the book in the photo next to some of my original illustrations) can be found or ordered in the best physical and online bookstores in Switzerland and Germany! Detailed information on the publisher's website of the Landverlag

Hier einige der zahlreichen im Buch veröffentlichten Illustrationen: Eine Fuchsfamilie, ein Waldiltis auf einer Bergwiese und ein Detail einer Eule im Mischwald.

Here are some of the numerous illustrations published in the book: A fox family, a polecat in a mountain meadow and a detail of an owl in a mixed forest.

Autumn, red deer bellowing season (Hirschbrunftzeit bei Schloss Trachselwald). Ink sketch

                   It is autumn, a male deer bellows, in front of the beautiful Trachselwald castle.

Summer Fan Art (a little break for fun): Godzilla meets the city of Pavia

 As a child I was completely fascinated (just one step below the primacy of anime) by Japanese monster movies, especially Godzilla: naturally the costumes of the actors who played the kaiju(s) were already noticed as absolutely unlikely, absurd if not ridiculous. 

I think most children love dinosaurs and giant monsters, who knows why (and Godzilla was and is the quintessence of the category: unsurpassed. Thanks Toho). But the thing that actually stuck with me the most was the beauty and care, the verisimilitude of the scale models of Japanese cities that were trampled on by the kaiju on duty. They were of a unique beauty. 

I don't know why I found myself rethinking those scenes set in Pavia, my city.

Now times have changed, cinema has changed, special effects have improved, but I still have a passion for Godzilla, and luckily two films in particular, 

the first "Godzilla" by Gareth Edwards and the second "Godzilla: King of the Monsters” by Michael Dougherty, from Legendary Pictures have updated - wonderfully - the Godzilla myth with two films that are absolutely STUNNING for me. 

Which immediately became my favorite monster movies (“Godzilla King of the Monsters” is REALLY my favorite movie ever!). And so here it is, the drawing I've wanted to do since I was a child, with Legendary Pictures' revisited Godzilla (the DougheGoji, or Michael Dougherty's Godzilla, in Godzilla fan parlance )

https://wikizilla.org/wiki/DougheGoji

 with a touch of "Godzilla: Minus One" , another gem of a film, with its scene of the attack on Tokyo absolutely among the most beautiful ever seen.

This is just fan art, a tribute to the iconic character and his (for me) best representations.

It is summer, the moment to escape into space and time, into the historical / mythological fantasy: here is the -republished- Lindwurm!

The Lindwurm, or lindworm, was a serpentine dragon (and man-eater) of Norse and Central European mythology (Fafnir was also a lindworm). It is at the origin of the legendary foundation of the city of Klagenfurt (among others), of which it is the symbol. 

The preparatory sketch and the pencil drawing 

"Anastasias Geheimnis" (Anastasia's secret), illustrations for the story about Anastasia von Signau (by Verena Zuercher, Landverlag)

The cover of the book project "Anastasias Geheimnis. Eine mittelalterliche Raetselgeschichte", by the author Verena Zuercher, published by Landverlag. A short tale about the young Lady from Signau which leads schoolchildren hikers to the historical places of her story. Lots of black and white ink illustrations. 

On the "variant" cover, Anastasia in front of Burgdorf Castle

One of the color covers among the many black and white ink line drawings...

 One of the line drawings: a medieval gold digger along the river Emme (did you know that already for the Celts and then throughout the Middle Ages the river Emme was very coveted by gold diggers?)

Landverlag.ch

Spring in Bern (and its magnificent surroundings)

I would like to welcome spring with a couple of paintings dedicated to the season and to Bern and its region: a wonderful city and an infinitely beautiful landscape. A place of my heart, which I miss a lot.

A barn swallow (Hirundo rustica, Schwalbe) and a house martin (Delichon urbicum, Mehlschwalbe) sitting on the Nydegg bridge, near the church, in a spring view of Bern. From here you can see the gothic Nydeggkirche and its beautiful medieval quarter, with Nydeggstalden street going down, between seventeenth-century houses, towards the banks of the Aare river

(Hand)Drawing in progress, pencil on Arches watercolour paper, cold pressed, 100% cotton 

Illustration of a riparian wood in spring (with its inhabitants) painted for the Landverlag Publishing house of Langnau in the Emmental

New Christmas Illustration for Sonah Publisher: Frau Holle

 

Among the wonderful things I am grateful for is the new opportunity, which I had again this year, to create the Christmas card for Sonah Publisher.

Many thanks to Mrs. Anika Meyer for her trust. I love the subject :

Frau Holle, seen in the original mythological aspect of an ancient goddess, and I love painting winter landscapes, forests and ancient villages!

Sonah's cards are always beautifully edited and printed! The quality of the print, colors and paper are excellent!

You can find the wonderful Sonah Magazine and see the images and postcards (Christmas and floral) on the site: Sonah Verlag

  And here: 

Grusskarten - Greeting Cards

PLEASE NO USE OF MY ART FOR GENERATIVE AI TRAINING

In this blog I show my illustrations, my paintings, my art, if you can define it that way; whatever way you can define what I love to paint, it's my life: it's everything I have and what helps me in the hardest moments. 

For this and for all the other thousand ethical reasons explained by Artists much better than me, and whom I admire infinitely, such as Karla Ortiz, Mateusz Urbanowicz, Stanley Lau, I confirm my support for their battle against the looting of artists' copyrighted works to train Generative Artificial Intelligences.

So: The copyright and rights of my images on this blog always remain with the Author, the Publisher and/or the person indicated, therefore the artworks cannot be reproduced, used or modified without his written consent.

For no reason is the right of use granted to train artificial intelligence programs.

NO GENERATIVE AI TRAINING USE

New! Floral illustrations for the Publisher Sonah Verlag

   First illustration: wild mallow, cuckoo flower and elderflower (and butterflies)

Second illustration: lily of the valley, forget-me-not, a couple of field herbs (e.g. wild oats), common daisy (and a new couple of butterflies)

Third illustration: field poppy, tansy and marguerite (instead of butterflies, or butterfly and moth, this time a bumblebee). 

An original watercolour illustration alongside the three greeting cards

Here are the new floral-themed  illustrations for the publisher Sonah Verlag. Many thanks as always to Ms. Anika Meyer for her valuable advice and Art Direction!

The illustrations are published on wonderful greeting cards and  represent local floral essences, accompanied by refined captions with their names in the dialect of the Saarland region, and a series of information - on the back of the cards - on each botanical species.

You can see and find them here, on the Sonah website Sonah Verlag and Magazine and Blumengrüße auf Saarländisch – Gruß-/Glückwunschkarte

If I can afford some advice and opinion to friends who live in Germany, I'd say run and buy the Magazine "Sonah Magazin", it's wonderful, don't miss it! ;-)