A new direction! I've been messing with photoshop more and more lately, leaving Illustrator behind for now. I have learned a lot about details. and how to care less about them—that's much easier in photoshop. I found this one fun to paint! It's based on a rough concept described to me by my friend at work. He runs a tabletop game and wanted to introduce a crazy, horrifically mutated human. The idea is that a scientist has attempted to modify a programmed genetic virus to infect humans—the virus turns it's victims into bio-weapons; using the genes within the host to convert their bodies into a machine for destruction. In this poor guy's case: the teeth of his mandible have extended to cover most of his face in a protective mask, his tongue has erupted through his throat to extend to grotesque lengths with tendrils at the tip—I'm thinking it's a prehensile limb/poison strike weapon—anyway, his skin has dried, thickened, and hardened to function as a rudimentary armor, and lastly, his arm as bulked up, and the bones from radius & ulna to phalanges have elongated and fused together to form a bone sword. Terrible, but at the very least, this is the darkest and creepiest thing I have ever made, it is also the first thing I have ever painted this way. I didn't even know I was capable of it... I want to do more!