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New Painting “Story Break”

Red Riding Hood reading with a wolf

It seems like forever since I finished my last acrylic painting, so I am excited to share “Story Break” with you! Having made the transition to a “normal job” (doing toy and product design) my art has kind of fallen back in the realm of a “side thing” or hobby I suppose – at least in the sense of how much time I have to devote to it. I’ve worked on this latest piece off and on for the last couple months and had so much fun painting all the little details – like the mushrooms and the little jars with spirits in them.

“Story Break” is based on a sketch I did last fall (2020) as I was sharing a sketch-a-day for a few months. (Pictured below).

The original is already sold, but prints are available – just click the button below to check them out.

Thanks! 🙂 Justin

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“By Order Of The Queen” Board Game is on Kickstarter

After a full year in the works, our  2-4 player cooperative fantasy board game is finally on Kickstarter! There is a reward level that includes my original inked drawings but those are limited so grab one quick if you are interested. You can find out more about the project by clicking the link below. And if you want to support the project but aren’t able to back it, please share via social media!

Link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/99575233/by-order-of-the-queen

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Daily Sketches Are Starting Up Again! Drawing 1 – 3.

Sketch-A-Day #1
Sketch-A-Day #1

Sketch-A-Day #2
Sketch-A-Day #2

Sketch-A-Day #3
Sketch-A-Day #3

Not-Quite-Daily Sketches Are Starting Up Again

It’s been awhile since I ended my sketch-a-day but I’ve been wanting to start it up again and it is finally happening now! I may post some of my new Daily Sketch feed here in the blog, but the best way to follow them is to follow me on Instagram or Facebook. I’ll most likely be posting 3-5 sketches a week but I’ll try to keep it up.

instagram @impsandmonsters

facebook @impsandmonsterspage

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Goldilocks “Just Right” Timelapse Video

YouTube 3 Bears

Here’s another acrylic painting time-lapse video with voice over – I hope you like it.

YouTube video URL: https://youtu.be/HacZATcShG4

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Two New Miyazaki – Sendak Mash-ups by Justin Hillgrove

Its been a couple years since my last Miyazaki/Sendak crossover and I’d been itching do another these last few months, though I think what really sparked the desire was listening to “Howl’s Moving Castle” again on audiobook (for probably the seventh time). I finally sat down in June and started looking over my worn out copy of “Where The Wild Things Are” (easily my favorite Children’s Book of all time) and started roughing out what new spread I might use. There were two spreads in particular that I could not decide between, and in the end I decided to paint them both.

I started with rough pencil doodles to figure out what Miyazaki characters would best fit the roles they’d be playing, and then I spent three days cleaning up the drawings and inking them while in my booth at the Edmonds Arts Festival in June 2015. Afterwards I picked out a couple canvases (18″ x 36″ is probably my favorite size canvas to paint on) and then spent the next few weeks painting…


Hungry and Homesick

“Hungry And Homesick”

18″ x 36″ acrylics on canvas. 2015.

Another in my tribute series mashing up “Where The Wild Things Are” by Maurice Sendak and some of my favorite Studio Ghibli (Hayao Miyazaki) characters: Kamaji, No Face (Spirited Away), Totoro and San (Princess Mononoke). There are a kodama and some soot sprites in there too.

PRINTS AVAILABLE HERE

Hungry and Homesick


 

Well Eat You Up

“We’ll Eat You Up – We Love You So”

18″ x 36″ acrylics on canvas. 2015.

Another in my tribute series mashing up “Where The Wild Things Are” by Maurice Sendak and some of my favorite Studio Ghibli (Hayao Miyazaki) characters: San (Princess Mononoke), Totoro, No Face (Spirited Away), Ponyo, Turnip Head (Howl’s Moving Castle), Haku (Spirited Away), and an Ohmu (Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind). There are kodama and some soot sprites in there too.

The title is part of the text from the page of “Where The Wild Things Are” that this painting is based on.

PRINTS AVAILABLE HERE

We'll Eat You Up - We Love You SoClose Up

Close up details…

WIP

Work in progress…

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JUNKING ON KICKSTARTER

Designed by David Gerrard • Art by Justin Hillgrove
Design and Layout by Travis Torgerson

Successfully Funded on Kickstarter and Arriving Fall 2015

The Game

JunKing is a 2-4 player strategy card game (UPDATE: 5-6 player expansion now included) set in a corner of artist Justin Hillgrove’s Imp Lands world called the “Junk Lands”. The Junk Lands are a place where old, lost and broken items collect into huge heaps and mounds. Scavenger Imps are the dominant creatures there and they love their home – to them the Junk Lands are full of endless riches and so their days are spent sifting, collecting and guarding their individual junk hoards. Scavenger Imp society is built on this and so those with the best junk hoards rise to the top of their tribe.  That’s what “JunKing” is all about. Each player hoards valuable junk, while keeping an eye out for the most prestigious piece of junk in the Junk Lands… The Crown.

JunKing was designed with three goals in mind: It had to have simple mechanics, take as few as 15 minutes to play, and it had to have strong strategic layers interwoven into it.

During play, everyone draws off the same shuffled deck of cards in the center of play, called the Junkpile. On your turn, you draw a card, place a piece of junk into play from your hand, then activate one of the actions on your junk or use your character’s ability.

All junk is worth something. In the junkpile, there is one card that is the most coveted of items called The Crown. Once a player draws that card, the game is over and everyone adds up the points displayed on the pieces of junk they have found. You also have a Hoard of used junk that increases the value of your collection. The player with the most points wins the current round. The game only takes about 15 minutes to play, and is designed for multiple rounds of play.

 

kickstarter-logo-1

 

Links

Downloadable Rules PDF

Junking On KickStarter

Board Game Geek

Interview with David Gerrard by Inquisitive Meeple

 

 

Animation Footer

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Adventure Time Cover #36

Adventure Time Inside Cover #36

Last year I painted a cover for the Adventure Time comic book (Kaboom Studios / Cartoon Network) and it is finally out in stores. Issue #36 (Main Cover A) can be purchased online direct here: http://www.boom-studios.com/adventure-time-36-cover-a.html or at your local comics shop.

Adventure Time Inside Cover #36

Adventure Time Inside Cover #36

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Sketch #240

Sketch0240_800

Sketch #240 ©2014 Justin Hillgrove.

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Sketch #239

Sketch0239_800

Sketch #239. ©2014 Justin Hillgrove. http://www.impsandmonsters.com

Here is part #2 of yesterday’s sketch as promised. Here’s what they look like next to each other:

DopplegangerLR

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Sketch #238

Sketch0238_800

Sketch #238. ©2014 Justin Hillgrove. http://www.impsandmonsters.com

I took a break from social media and posting for a couple weeks but I am back now (I think). Here’s part 1 of 2 of this sketch. I’ll post the other part (#239) tomorrow.