iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Simon Underwood @lizardbrain-art.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

One of these bad boys, already a decade old when my grandpa gave me his old one in 2004ish. I created many an elaborate MSPaint scene on it, and eventually accumulated enough yard sale CD-ROMs to upgrade to Windows 98 and play Thief: The Dark Project on it, which was formative to my whole deal.

An NEC Versa laptop from the mid-90s. It has an 800x600 screen and weighs somewhere between 14 and 35 pounds

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Simon Underwood @lizardbrain-art.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Hope was genuinely one of the wildest movie experiences I've had in a while. Starts off as Korean Tremors and only gets more insane from there.

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Simon Underwood @lizardbrain-art.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Trying a slightly different thing for a scenario I'm working on for the Liminal Horror Summer Jam. Classic small town doomsday cult cosmic nightmare stuff. More to come!

Ink drawing over photo collage depicting the front of a dive bar with mountains in the background.

Ink drawing over photo collage depicting an autopsied body, skull open, with a decidedly alien-looking organ in place of the brain.

Ink drawing over photo collage depicting two hapless investigators being jumped by a spindly, eldritch arthropod under a bridge.

Ink drawing over photo collage depicting a haunted-looking middle-aged woman at a bar.

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New Edge Sword & Sorcery Magazine @newedgeswordmag.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

🥇THE VERY FIRST BACKER of New Edge Sword & Sorcery Novellas 2026 will receive a physical sketch of Orhan the Snow Leopard as drawn by @lizardbrain-art.bsky.social. 🧑‍🎨 ⏲️The crowdfund goes live at 8am EST Sept 3rd - tomorrow! www.backerkit.com/c/projects/b...

backerkit.com

New Edge Sword & Sorcery Novellas 2026

Get notified when New Edge Sword & Sorcery Novellas 2026 launches on BackerKit!

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Simon Underwood @lizardbrain-art.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

Two extremely different pieces of art you've made. See, it's only MOSTLY fiddly pen and ink stuff around here.

Gouache and ink painting of a fishperson knight and his crustacean companion being ambushed by goblins in the woods, based on D. Jeffrey's Mosschester.

Pen and ink drawing of a car stopped on an empty desert road at night. Its headlights shine on a mysterious, organic winged shape hovering in the road in front of it. The car's door is open, and no driver is visible.

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Ren M @remmukh.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

If you want to read some dark fantasy adventure, the new chapter of my comic "May Thy Hand Not Slip" is finished! In it a monk gets stuck in a pit with a bandit, who put him there, creation myth is told, and a seal on a magic sword gets broken. You can check it out on my itch io store (link in bio).

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Simon Underwood @lizardbrain-art.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

Just watched Knightriders for the first time, and it made me wonder how many movies there are where pretty much everyone except the protagonist is having a blast, and the protagonist probably could too if they'd just chill the fuck out. Twister is a similar scenario

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Julia Gfrörer @thorazos.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

This is something that people without illustration experience tend not to see: every single thing in an image was put there with intention, nothing can be incidental. A writer says "the car," but an illustrator says exactly what model, inside and out, from every angle, and it's not optional.

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Simon Underwood @lizardbrain-art.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

Congratulations to all my European mutuals today who saw the eclipse and got their existential paradigm shift!

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Simon Underwood @lizardbrain-art.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

If you see this, quote the energy you bring to Bluesky

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Simon Underwood @lizardbrain-art.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

Did you know that I wrote and illustrated a full-length Iron Age kaiju fantasy graphic novel? I did! If any of those descriptors sound good to you, take a look at it here. Available in print or as a PDF.

lizardbrainart.bigcartel.com

GARGANTUAN

A great beast has arisen from the sea. It approaches the city of Thrykaea, leaving devastation its wake. Queen Pharseia and her closest allies stand in its way. They must overcome the greatest threat ...

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Simon Underwood @lizardbrain-art.bsky.social · 22/07/2026

Odyssey was fine, the monsters were cool. Seeing some of the reactions to it makes me increasingly convinced that Christopher Nolan's whole deal is making a dumb guy's idea of a smart movie

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Simon Underwood @lizardbrain-art.bsky.social · 19/07/2026

Stuff like this is why "I had to use AI because I couldn't afford to hire an artist" is a horseshit excuse. There's so much incredible work you can use for free and lovely people like this that want to help you do that.

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Simon Underwood @lizardbrain-art.bsky.social · 19/07/2026

It's done! Much like our diminutive heroine, I've reached the end of this particular quest. Shout out to every dungeon synth artist; I must have listened to most of them while working on this.

Ink illustration of a small ruined castle on a mountain spire. A huge, sinuous, dragonlike creature curls around the tower, peering down at a weary warrior approaching up stairs carved into the rock. The sky is full of dark stormclouds, but a sunbeam illuminates the scene.

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Simon Underwood @lizardbrain-art.bsky.social · 17/07/2026

I've got a good one about Argos but there are a lot of eyes on it right now

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Simon Underwood @lizardbrain-art.bsky.social · 17/07/2026

The Matrix. It was 2004, I was a child on an Internet abuzz with Matrix references and goofy Flash parodies, and my dad finally got so fed up with me and my brother quoting a movie we'd never seen that he sat the two of us down and made us watch it. Needless to say we thought it was pretty radical

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Simon Underwood @lizardbrain-art.bsky.social · 17/07/2026

Ruining family craft night with the sculpey Nuckelavee

Small clay sculpture of the Nuckelavee, a nightmarish monster from Orkney folklore that looks like a skinless, cyclopean man merged with an equally skinless horse.

The creature was said to emerge from the sea and poison the land with its caustic breath.

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Colin Smith @colinsmith.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

“Knight and Dragon", by Bernie Wrightson, c.1987.

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Simon Underwood @lizardbrain-art.bsky.social · 13/01/2026

It is #PortfolioDay once more. I'm a traditional illustrator specializing in pen and ink. I've contributed to a number of fiction publications and TTRPG projects, and I am currently looking for more work!

Pen and ink illustration depicting a crater in the middle of a sparse pine forest. A glowing meteor sits in the depression, and facing it, a woman kneels, head upturned towards the starry sky.

Three large, eldritch beasts approach through the trees towards the meteor. The first has many tall, jointed legs and a bony head. The second is serpentine, with a loop-shaped head fronted by tendrils. The third is a dark, six-limbed figure with a featureless bullet-shaped head and glowing eyespots on its chest.

Two adventurers, an elf and a dwarf, traverse the ruins of an ancient underground city while a shoggoth lurks on the cavern roof above.

Pen-and-ink illustration depicting four monsters bursting out of a vintage TV set: the werewolf from An American Werewolf in London, the creature from The Thing, half-human and half nightmarish alien, the dripping Tarman zombie from Return of the Living Dead, and the Creature from the Black Lagoon reaching toward the viewer.

Pen and ink illustration depicting a huge, goatlike demonic warrior against a black background. He holds a flaming sword in one hand and a small imp warrior in the other, kneeling in subservience. Other imps with a variety of appearances and armaments fly around him.

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Simon Underwood @lizardbrain-art.bsky.social · 12/07/2026

The beast begins to emerge...this one is taking weeks so all y'all get is progress pics for now

Close-up of a work in progress ink illustration showing the head of a dragon-like creature looming over a collapsing castle ruin, with thick, dark clouds in the background.

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Simon Underwood @lizardbrain-art.bsky.social · 11/07/2026

Rapidly turning into my album of the year (although I guess it came out last year). Just can't resist music that sounds like it was unearthed from an ancient burial mound youtu.be/A5STP-yU_n4?...

youtu.be

Smote - Songs from the Free House (Full Album 2025)

YouTube video by Underrated Albums

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Simon Underwood @lizardbrain-art.bsky.social · 06/07/2026

When I was planning my middle school DnD campaign 21 years ago, I found a fantasy name "widget" for my iBook that spat out stuff like "the Nomad's Nipple" for a tavern or "Hideous Pants of Karandria" for an artifact and if you need more than that, you're creatively bankrupt

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Simon Underwood @lizardbrain-art.bsky.social · 04/07/2026

Working at this scale kinda makes me feel like I'm building this damn thing stone by stone

Closeup of a work-in-progress ink illustration showing a partially shaded castle ruin with a dragon looming over it.

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Steve Lieber @stevelieberart.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

My studiomate @markmolchan.bsky.social is swinging for the fences on this Elric piece!

The pencil drawing taped to his easel. Elric swinging Stormbringer, at war with the Lords of Chaos, plus many dragons and an incredibly lush landscape.

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Simon Underwood @lizardbrain-art.bsky.social · 26/06/2026

Wishing I had more time for personal work > Personal work doesn't pay the bills > Guess I'd better hunt down some clients > The cycle continues

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Simon Underwood @lizardbrain-art.bsky.social · 24/06/2026

Did someone say it's make a terrible comic day?

A terrible three panel comic about me learning that seaweed is a protist, not a plant.

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Simon Underwood @lizardbrain-art.bsky.social · 20/06/2026

In the early stages of my largest ink illustration to date and it's terrifying/very fun to work this big

Photograph of a large work-in-progress ink illustration featuring a dragon-like creature curled around a ruined castle tower on a clifftop. A small figure wearily carrying a sword approaches the tower from stairs cut into the rock.

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Simon Underwood @lizardbrain-art.bsky.social · 14/06/2026

This is probably the hardest illustration to post on the internet for aspect ratio reasons but it remains one of my favorite compositions I've done. Go read @mollytanzer.bsky.social 's Jirel stories, they're fantastic

Pen and ink illustration of Jirel of Joiry staring down the demon Illuyanka, from "Jirel Meets Death" by Molly Tanzer. Jirel wears an archaic tunic, cloak and sword, and stares defiantly at the tusked, snake-maned, leonine face of the demon, who coils its snakelike body around her and puts a massive paw on her shoulder.

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Simon Underwood @lizardbrain-art.bsky.social · 09/06/2026

Ten-season infinite budget Malazan Book of the Fallen

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Simon Underwood @lizardbrain-art.bsky.social · 05/06/2026

Artists, show what built your style! Alan Lee, Angus McBride, Gustave Dore and Hayao Miyazaki are the big four for sure. More comments in the alt text.

Watercolor illustration of the Amazons from the Iliad, riding into battle. Behind them, divided into a separate image, is a grey river landscape. By Alan Lee.

I had his illustrated LOTR as a kid, but also Black Ships Before Troy, an abridged adaptation of the Iliad he illustrated. I always loved his solemn, ethereal figures and misty landscapes.

Painting of some Celtic or Germanic warriors in the woods by Angus McBride. One presents a severed head to his chieftain.

Looking up historical reference when I was younger, you'd always come across his work, as he was an extremely prolific historical illustrator, but he always brought a fantasy artist's sensibility to the field. His characters weren't just mannequins wearing reproduced historical artifacts like a lot of that kind of work, but always had personality and incredible drip.

19th-century etching by Gustave Dore showing a scene from the Divine Comedy as Dante and Virgil explore Hell.

I can't remember when I first came across Dore but I knew right away I wanted to draw like that. The incredible range of values while technically only using binary black and white is something I'm always striving towards. Much of my style comes from trying to replicate his absurdly precise etching with absurdly imprecise ink pens.

Two panels from Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind by Hayao Miyazaki. A gigantic god-warrior holds Nausicaa up to its face as she stands in its enormous hand, and she gently reaches out to touch its cheek.

Honestly I just stole my whole deal from Miyazaki's work on Nausicaa. I first encountered the manga in middle school after growing up on his movies, right as I started thinking about making comics seriously. I learned so, so much about drawing with ink just poring over those pages and copying technique, and the themes and design sensibilities in that comic have probably bled into my work as well.

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ரமணன் @save.vs.totalpartykill.ca · 03/06/2026

Oh man, John Blanche has passed away. What a legend. RIP.

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Simon Underwood @lizardbrain-art.bsky.social · 31/05/2026

Working on some stuff I can't show yet, so in lieu of that here are some ethereal black metal vibes from my time inside a cloud yesterday

Photograph of a foggy alpine ridge, rocks and scrub fading into the mist.

Photograph of a rocky trail through an alpine meadow, heading into mist-shrouded spruce trees in the distance.

Photograph of a mountain valley just barely visible through the cloud layer

Photograph of lichen-covered rocks on an alpine slope with low clouds and spruce trees in the background

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Matheus Graef @omiosures.bsky.social · 22/05/2026

"The Archlich" For Jetpack7's 'Legendary Undead' I always wanted to paint a proper lich. I think I did liches justice with this one.

Illustration of a lich encased in ice, billowing wizard robes frozen in time. He stands upright, as if floating permanently within his icy sarcophagus. Beneath him, a frozen lake stretches towards the viewer. From within the depths we see skulls floating beneath the thick layer of ice, trapped forever. The image is painted in deep blues and grayish cyans, attributing a cold atmosphere.

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Simon Underwood @lizardbrain-art.bsky.social · 16/05/2026

Old Stone, New Stone, Copper, Bronze, Bronze Collapse, Iron

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THE ART OF SKINNER @theartofskinner.bsky.social · 10/05/2026

Life is just a journey to a destination where you're a gross skeleton in a dirt hole, so don't forget that. Just remember that it all leads to gross skeleton dirt hole times. So just think about that more often.

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Trevor Henderson 🍉 (commissions closed) @slimyswampghost.bsky.social · 24/06/2023

Today’s filmmakers are COWARDS who don’t know the value of a wet monster puppet

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Bob World Builder @bobworldbuilder.bsky.social · 14/04/2026

🧑‍🎨 I've been having a blast making art for my new zine, and this is my favorite piece yet! It's the "dragon" of the dungeon... ULDRUUN THE GREAT BLACK HERON: This immense black bird moves and coils like a serpent on crooked, stilt legs, buzzing gutturally through its lance of a beak.

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Simon Underwood @lizardbrain-art.bsky.social · 05/05/2026

Here's some art! This is Shadowdark module cover for Doomed Zone.

Pen and ink illustration of a mob of medieval villagers standing framed by two buildings. They tentatively hold various makeshift weapons and face away from the viewer towards a windswept hill, where stands the silhouette of a menacing beast. Fog drifts beneath a dark sky in the background.

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Simon Underwood @lizardbrain-art.bsky.social · 05/05/2026

Just had to complete a captcha that was all AI images. This is a level of irony I find it difficult to describe

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Simon Underwood @lizardbrain-art.bsky.social · 30/04/2026

Paint church frescoes until my Jewishness was discovered and then hopefully flee to Al-Andalus and party it up

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Simon Underwood @lizardbrain-art.bsky.social · 27/04/2026

A railroad spike from Auschwitz, given to me by a friend of my in-laws because he'd stolen it when he visited in college, felt bad and tried to return it, but they didn't want it back. He gave it to me because as the only jew he knew he thought I had the right to decide what was done with it. (1/2)

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