This website contains the art of Ty Grenier, including digital and traditional full illustrations, sketches, works in progress, and anything else he deems cool enough to show to everybody.
Undergoing changes, look for updates late 2023
The time has come, Anima Mundi is available for backing! If a simple tabletop strategy game with good art sounds interesting to you, or if you know somebody who would like it, here is the link to the Kickstarter! I’ve already put a lot of time and effort into it because I think it’s a great project, and I’d love the opportunity to finish the rest of the art and see it come to life.
Intro video!
Undergoing changes, updates in late 2023
Asaeil Games and I are gearing up for the Kickstarter for their tabletop game, Anima Mundi! This RTS-reminiscent game is something I am SO excited for! About a third of the game art is done so far, the rest will come after the game is funded. Please take a look through the art and backstory here on my website, and if it intrigues you follow the links to sign up for notification when the Kickstarter goes live! As always, if you know anybody else who may be interested, sharing goes a LONG way to helping this project come to be a reality!
A bit of a commission for Loki in his Ragnarok clothes.
After long hours learning online and tinkering in Blender, I finally have a high-detail model of Drizzt Do’Urden’s sword Icingdeath ready to show! (rotating animation to be added soon)
As usual with something new, this took a while but I learned a LOT and hope to do more in a quicker fashion soon! I suppose I should do this sword’s companion, Twinkle, next. Thoughts?
I know this still isn’t an actual scimitar, but it’s a fantasy story so…historical arms and armor people please don’t @ me
I took what few facts there were from the original description and interpreted them in the most sensible way I could think of.
Just a sneaky easter egg of sorts. The sword was the only thing Drizzt took from the lair of the slain white dragon Ingeloakastimizilian, otherwise known as Icingdeath, which he then named the sword after.
The finished low-poly version with hand-painted textures. World of Warcraft style!
And a handle closeup
Took a step back for a while to look at what I’m creating and what my goals are. Long story short, I’m going to focus on two things: prop design and purely convention stuff.
I think one of my biggest downfalls in the last few years has been trying to stretch over too many markets with the same art. Without having a focused intent for each project, I seem to have missed all of the marks instead of nailing one.
I love concepting props (especially weapons) so I’m going to focus my professional portfolio on that, from 2D concepts to 3D models, including low-poly models with hand-painted textures (Blizzard style) to high-detail photoreal stuff. If I can keep my main focus within those bounds I think I can make a portfolio worthy of a studio.
Convention art will have a lot more thought behind it than my past art, which was basically “here’s a character or an object, and that’s it.” I want to make people smile, or laugh, or think. I want to make things people want on their wall (or stuck on a water bottle or pinned to their clothes, etc).
I always disliked the versions I saw of Drizzt Do’Urden’s scimitars Twinkle and Icingdeath from R. A. Salvatore’s books. I decided they would be a good place to start with my new focus on props and weapons. Here’s the 2D concept…
And here is an early render of the low-poly 3D model. The modeling is pretty close to done, but the painted texture has a long ways to go still.
I’ve got a large project going on, which is a much-appreciated opportunity and a huge step for me personally. It does present a few challenges, and of course several other things in life also lined up at the same time to really pile on the stress.
I do, however, still have a decent amount of art prints lying about. I’ve updated my Etsy shop, slapped a sale on there, and now it’s just up to you lovely people and bit of luck to help me stay afloat until that large project pays some dividends.
Here’s the Etsy Shop
If you can’t afford a print, but like the art, sharing this around does a TON. Every little bit is very much appreciated. <3
Well, it put up a fight but in the end we got it. I’ll be doing much more art in this style for a board game…sharing more details on that soon, but I was so happy with this I wanted to share!
Unnecessary backstory: this lovely lady deserted the alliance of angels/demons in order to go hang out in the forest and live the hippie life. Now the conflict is enveloping everything, and she’ll have to defend her new home.
Created for an art challenge, subject “mecha" (being pretty open about the definition). Robots are difficult! I started over 6 times on this before I set aside two days to JUST learn and sketch and study, then dive back in. In the end, I’m very happy with it.
That’s right, it hasn’t even been 3 weeks since the last piece! Yay for getting faster.
This is technically a failure, since I wasn’t able to pin down the new style I’ve been hunting for. I did like it enough to finish, though. My favorite character from Lilith’s mobile game AFK Arena, the relentless murder machine herself, Lucretia.
Commissioned piece, the holy mech from Vanguard Bandits. For what I assumed would take two days or so, it kicked my butt for four. Approval sketch on the second page.
Covid finally fully reached Alaska. At work, half my coworkers have been out quarantined for having symptoms and testing positive or as a precaution for being around people who tested positive. I’ve been working my butt off, and it’s been cutting hard into my time to make art. This has, however, given me time to step back and think. What do I want to accomplish this next year, and how do I intend to accomplish it?
I’ve decided I want to spend a while developing a new style. I want to have a rendering option I’m comfortable with that is still visually appealing, still my own, but doesn’t take nearly so long. I think this would help with concepting ideas, but more importantly it would give people a cheaper option for commissions.
For anybody reading this, know that I appreciate you just being interested in what I’m doing. I made a little piece of art for the season, for everybody out there. Enjoy! And Aka'Magosh!
And an alt version for you Fel people!
Finished this commission for a friend and all-around great person. He’s getting a unique version, but the rest of the world can see (and soon own, if you want) this version!
Remember the old one I scrapped a while back? This is the fresh start. Went from messy sketchbook sketch to this in a few hours on stream last night! Happy with it so far.
Forgot to post this one. Life is crazy, haven’t made much.
No, I didn’t start on day 1. No, I won’t be doing them every day. And no, I won’t be doing prompt lists (although I will probably pull ideas from several).
I just want to have fun using pens and stuff when I get the chance! Maybe something will turn out decent. Maybe nothing will and it will all be garbage. I’m not even worried.
Here’s day 3, MY day 1, calling back to my childhood with Zelda Ocarina of Time. The best game! That might be the first time I was ever enamored with the art in the video game pamphlets. Microns (or similar, I don’t know), white out correction pen, and metallic silver/gold pens.