Welcome to WOC Studios!

Welcome to William O'Connor Studios!

The Art of William O'Connor

 

Author/Illustrator of the best selling Dracopedia book trilogy, as well as illustrator of over 5000 illustrations for the gaming and publishing business, William OConnor's 25 year career has allowed him to work with such companies as Wizards of the Coast, Impact Books, Blizzard Entertainment, Sterling Publishing, Lucas Films, Activision and many more. Winner of over 30 industry awards for artistic excellence including 10 contributions to Spectrum: The Best in Contemporary Fantasy Art and 10 Chesley Nominations. William has taught and lectured around the country about his unique and varied artwork as well as being a regular contributor to the popular art blog Muddy Colors and exhibiting his work at such industry shows as Illuxcon, New York Comic Con and Gen Con. 

William now lives with his family and keeps his studio in New York. 

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Dragonspell Preview

Dragonspell

"Dragonspell", 2017 William O'Connor

Dragonspell-detail

Recently I completed work on a personal painting for the upcoming IX artshow in Reading PA.  Below are a series of work in progress images that show the various stages of development of this large oil painting.

I hope to see many of you at IX where I hope you will stop by to see Dragonspell in person and get to meet old friends and new!

Thanks.

WOC

Dragonspell. Pen on paper 4"x12"

Dragonspell. Color Comp 8"x21" Acrylic

Dragonspell. Stage1

Dragonspell. Stage2

Dragonspell. Stage2

Dragonspell. Stage3 detail

The Legend of the Golden Dragon

"The Legend of The Golden Dragon (Tong Long Huo)"
12"x16" pencil and digital
©William O'Connor












click on images for larger view

The Legend of the Golden Dragon

A new Cover for a project coming out soon by the same name. Thought I would share some of the images and the process work. This was a great deal of fun because I got to play with Asian/Chinese design which I have always loved since my early work on Legend of the Five Rings.

Thumbnails:












Working in a sketchbook on thumbnail designs for the project is always the first step. The narrative was one that entailed great joy and celebration in victory. I wanted to denote this by a grand upward sweep in the composition. Confetti and balloon-like lanterns would give a frenetic and active element to the design to help enhance that sense of movement.

Finished Drawing:

Whether I draw digitally or traditionally is decided from project to project. I have been returning to more traditional techniques over the past year, favoring traditional pencil work.
This graphite on ledger drawing is 11'x14"

After doing some research I realized that the floating lanterns of china are not round but rectangular.




Painting Process:














Right from the start of painting I realized that I didn't like the square lanterns. They did not give the sensation of floating and appeared like bricks, so I changed them back to my original concept sketch with round lanterns. Although the lanterns are tethered, their balloon shape look like jelly fish and the perception of lightness and floating reads better.

The painting progresses in this manner for several days until complete.



Enjoy.

WOC




©2011 William O'Connor Studios. All Rights Reserved.

Dracopedia Wall Calendar from Zazzle.com

Dracopedia Wall Calendar from Zazzle.com



Now available for the Holidays.

WOC

Dragon Song

Sketches for a new private commission. This one's been knocking around the studios for a few months. Since I own these projects I can share the work as I go , where-as with commercial commissioned work, I'm under a NDA and can't share, and at the end of the project will usually toss out all of the sketches.


WOC

Practical Guides

I realized recently that I have worked on three of the "Practical Guide" books from Mirrorstone and have yet to share any of the images. Practical Guide to Fairies, Practical Guide to Vampires, and most recently Practical Guide to Dragon Magic. I'm including one image from each book. I'm interested in showing these because one of the common printing effects of the three books was that they were all printed on a natural colored, course paper stock, and the color and contrast of these images was drastically effected in the process, and one even got flipped horizontally. (C'est la Vie). This will be the first time the public has seen them as I painted them. I hope you enjoy!



















"Dragon Gazing"
8"x10" digital
Practical Guide to Dragon Magic
©2010Wizards of the Coast




















"Olly Olly Oxen Free"
9"x12" digital
Practical Guide to Vampires
©2009 Wizards of the Coast















"Fairy Waltz"
10"x7" digital
Practical Guide to Fairies
©2009 Wizards of the Coast



I really have fun working on books with a younger audience in mind, there is a playfulness that is encouraged, and the work is not so earnest! I've always wished to illustrate a children's book and this has been a wonderful opportunity to explore my children's/YA style. I actually have two children's picture books in development in my free time (which means I haven't worked on them in months), but I hope to be able to put more images together here and on my website.

Thanks.

WOC





©2010 William O'Connor Studios
www.wocstudios.com

DRACOPEDIA

DRACOPEDIA
The Guide to Drawing the Dragons of the World

"A Great Idea, Masterfully Realized, with Stunning Artwork."

ImagineFX Magazine

Dracopedia is now available at Barnes and Noble and Amazon in Hard Cover.
I'm very excited about this book, and all the hard work put into it.
160 full color pages, over 500 illustrations and a full color fold-out poster all about Dragons, their nature, habitat, behavior and a guide to drawing them.
I hope that artists and Dragon enthusiasts alike will enjoy the book.


Thirteen chapters divide the dragons of the world into 13 distinct families, and explain how they live and shows their wide range of forms, colors, environments and species.
Enjoy a brief sneak preview of some of the art, and take a look at the websites for more details and to purchase a HC copy before they're all gone!







Also be sure to follow along at my Dracopedia Project Blog, where I explore many of my dragons and techniques.



Thanks.

William O'Connor
















































©2010 William O'Connor Studios
www.wocstudios.com