2026 Bookplate

Every year since 2012 I do a new Mouse Guard bookplate I make available at conventions and in my online store. The idea is that this mini-print can be pasted/taped into your book(s), you can write your name in to identify it as yours to borrowers, and since the bookplates are signed, it means you now have a signed book. I try and make each year's bookplate art some medium the mice would/could use. I've done stained glass, relief printing, stone & wood carving, mosaic, etc in past years––this year I was inspired to revisit embroidery.

The bookplate debut at Emerald City Comic Con and is in my online store now. Below is the process for making the art for the bookplate.

Back in 2014 I'd done an embroidered bookplate––well, I emulated the look of embroidery I should say. And It was one of the artistically crafted mediums I thought I could go back to and do a better job with this time.

I hoarded image examples of medieval embroidery and tapestry before beginning, and narrowed it down to these two as my main inspirations. I liked the dark background with light/metallic figures (Opus Anglicanum) like the Chasuble in the lower right, but I also really likes seeing the individual stitches and that border pattern on the German embroideries with Allegorical Scenes on the top. It reminded me of a Norwegian snow motif I used on the 2019 Teasel print.

I penciled a simplified pencil drawn version of the mouse from the Teasel print, and a moth (based on an owl moth photo I referenced) scanned them into Photoshop and composed an image using the border pattern of the German embroidery I mentioned earlier. Instead of a dark red velvet, I thought it would be nice to do a muted royal blue (which would echo back to the Teasel palette) 

To fill the space I digitally drew in some teasel silhouettes and blocked in color ideas going more for a cream colored embroidery thread rather than the metallic silver I'd originally assumed I'd use. I have to say that at this point, I still wasn't sure HOW I wanted to execute this––pencil rendering, ink, digital painting, traditional paining?...

Go with what you know, I guess, right? I inked the main image still considering doing some kind of pencil rendering for the cloth texture spaces. The digital composite layout was printed out and taped to the back of a sheet of Strathmore 300 series bristol and on a lightpad I inked the main stitching with a Copic Multiliner SP pen (the 0.7 nib). Then, I used a smaller scrap of bristol to ink a 'stitch texture pattern' I could use digitally to mimic the effect of the final piece being embroidery while also still being my own lineart instead of photo-texture.

Scanning in the inks I was still unsure about this method for emulating embroidery and nearly gave up to restart after I blocked in the color. 

This first step of coloring is called 'fatting' because it's just about dropping in flat color with no shading or texture just to establish the color choices and placement. I also added color holds (areas where I wanted the inklines to be a color other than black) to everything except the outer boarder. 

The worry with at this stage was how to get the embroidered look correctly without it looking like a bad trick or painstaikingly digitally painting over this with individual stitch/weave texture.

That's when the hand inked stitch texture pattern came in handy. I lightened it a great deal and set it to layer mode 'multiply' to get it over everything (I had to tile it several times over since I made it small to save on it's tedious creation). That also made a great guide for me to go in and shade individual areas between the texture lines to highlight as stitches standing proud or with a slightly lighter thread. In the end I also added some subtle gradients to the top and bottom to shade and highlight it to look more like a photograph of a real object instead of a drawing of one.

The bookplate will be available at all my convention appearances this year and also in my online store

--ALSO--

Here are all the past years Bookplates––many of which are available in my online store as a bundle (http://mouseguard.bigcartel.com/product/set-of-mouse-guard-bookplates). Below are the blogposts about the process of making each:

Blogposts:
2012 – Lino Print
2013 – Stained Glass
2014 – Embroidery
2015 – Mosaic
2016 – Pencil Rendering
2017 – Engraving
2018 – Wood Painting
2019 – Gouache Painting
2020 – Wood Carving
2021 – Lino Registration Print
2022 –– Stained Glass
2023 –– Gouache Painting on Canvas

2024 –– Encaustic Tile

2025 –– Stone Relief

Marigold Print

Each Year I create a new limited edition signed and numbered 11" x 11" print. The tradition started many years ago when Julia urged me to create a new print for a convention or event that was 'just pretty'. She thought that we had plenty of images of mice wielding swords and threatening snakes and owls––that the audience, especially women, appreciated when I just drew tender moments, or nature, or flowers.  I followed her advice, and for years now fans have proven her right by anticipating and purchasing the new square print I offer annually.

This year the piece is titled 'Marigold'. Below I'll show the step-by-step of creating the art.

The last few years of botanicals have mostly been in the pinky-purple color range and my first inclination was to do a flower with some yellow or orange warmth, some sunshine for all of us mice. Then picked a Matriarch whose robes/cloak was in the blue range (contrasting color to orange) and saw Laria from the stained glass portraits from the Matriarch chamber in Black Axe as a perfect addition. I drew her on one sheet of copy paper, the marigolds (looking at reference) on another (with the shield),  and then the leaves on yet a third.

These were assembled in Photoshop and I did a fast color blocking to help me visualize the final as well as see the different shapes clearer in the next step.

I printed the digitally assembled layout/pencils and taped them to the back of a sheet of Strathmore 300 series bristol. On my Huion lightpad I was able to see through the surface of the bristol to the printout to use as a guide while I inked with a Copic Multiliner SP 0.7 nib pen.

Line weight in the marigold petals and her robes plated a big part in making the inks work and offsetting the areas where I did more fill-in or texture like on her hood, sleeves, cloak, and the rocks. I'd originally envisioned her hood being ringmail, but then decided to ink it more like it's a coarse knit or crochet texture. But in the end, I think it's still ambiguous. 

The inks were scanned and using the layout color blocking to pick from, I layed in flat colors. This first step of coloring is called 'flatting' for that reason, it's simply about establishing color areas with flat (not shaded, not textured) base colors. 

There were still several tweaks I needed to make to all these base colors in terms of hue, value, and saturation before I got to the flat version you see here. At this stage I also establish color holds (areas where I want the inks to be a color other than black) on her knit/mail, the shield design, the darker areas behind her, and the marigolds going off into the distance.

The last step was to render the colors. I used the dodge and burn tools in Photoshop with a stock textured brush to get all the lights and shadows. In a few placed I painted with the paintbrush tool (something I rarely use) to blend in the marigold buds that have not opened yet to have yellow tops.

The Marigold signed and numbered print debut at ECCC and is 

now available in my online store.

As this is the 15th year I've been doing these, here are the past year's 11x11 limited prints (many of which are available in a bundle in my online store) and links to blogposts for these pieces below

2012 Peacock

2013 Raspberry

2014 Moonflower

2015 Lavender

2016 Juniper

2017 Rose

2018 Elderberry

2019 Teasel

2020 Sharon

2021 Yarrow

2022 Pinecone

2023 Clematis
2024 Foxglove

2025 Belladonna

Magic the Gathering: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

 

Magic the Gathering is releasing a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles set this weekend!

https://magic.wizards.com/en/products/teenage-mutant-ninja-turtles

And I was hired to do the artwork for the packaging on the  TURTLE TEAM UP:

Magic players of all skill levels team up with the TMNT to fight bad guys in this exciting new co-operative strategy format for up to four players!  Equip awesome ninja gear, play with your favorite of the four pre-built 60-card hero decks, then crack open the four included Play Boosters for even more ways to get the drop on the pre-built enemies deck featuring Shredder and his cronies!

 

For the artwork I was asked to include all four turtles as well as Shredder, Rocksteady, Bebop, Baxter, Splinter and Krang all in Dimension X by the Technodrome. Each character was on a separate layer so that depending on packaging variations they could remove certain characters or background elements to suit their needs (seen in two variations below)

But I was able to get permission from Wizards of the Coast to share the full approved art I sent them with all the characters and background:

Magic the Gathering: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is already in pre-release and comes out officially March 6th!

FACTS print

In April I'll be a guest at the FACTS comic convention in Ghent, Belgium (https://www.facts.be/en/). This was an event I'd hoped to attend back in 2020, but the pandemic put that all on hold and we are glad to be able to finally attend this year.

The organizers asked me to do a piece of artwork for the convention that could be used as VIP badge art, a print, and perhaps as part of a banner behind my signing table.

Here you can see the final image, and in this post I'll go through the steps to create it.

FACTS asked specifically for Bardrick from Dawn of the Black Axe (the latest hardcover available now!) and wondered if I could add something in with the word FACTS––they suggested a book with that on the spine. I decided to regionalize it even more by making the backdrop The Gravensteen a medieval castle in the city of Ghent and to make the FACTS text more heraldic.

I drew Bardrick on copy paper and used reference to draw the castle and ribbon banner...these were all scanned into Photoshop and assembled into this layout. Each drawing was tinted a bit differently to help me see the lines and then I blocked in some color on Bardrick to also help me see his overall form.

The layout was printed out at about 12" x 12" and taped to the back of a sheet of Strathmore bristol. On my Huion lightpad I was able to see through the surface of the bristol down to the printout to use as a guide as I inked.

The inking was all done with a Copic Multiliner SP 0.7 nib pen. While inking Bardrick was fairly straight forward, I did have to think about the density of texture and detail on the castle so it didn't become too busy and overbearing. I also looked back at how Gabriel Rodriguez drew the axe itself in Dawn of the Black Axe so I could emulate his inkwork on the weapon for some continuity.

The inks were then scanned and I started the coloring process. This first step in coloring is called 'flatting' because it's only about blocking in all the color areas with flat color––no shading, no texture. Think of it as a professional version of coloring-inside-the-lines. Now I did add a gradient to the sky because I needed to adjust my castle colors to work with the pink to blue transition.

It is also at this step where I establish color holds (areas where I want the lineart to be a color other than black) and I did that for the castle, the banner's details, and the text.

The last step was to render the color adding light, shadow, and texture. I do this mostly using the dodge (lighten) and burn (darken) tools in Photoshop with a stock textured brush––though I did some painting with a brush to get the sky transition more natural.

The final image was sent off to FACTS where it will become a VIP badge and print. Id you will be attending FACTS in Ghent Belgium April 11-12, I look forward to seeing you there!
https://www.facts.be/en/

Also of note––if you are attending FACTS, I have a commission pre-orders open in my online store: https://mouseguard.bigcartel.com/product/facts-brush-pen-commission

Ferret on Foxback

As I work toward a new sketchbook this year, I'll be doing a series of posts about Mouse Guard illustrations I've done that will be included in that new release: 'Past Whereabouts' that will debut at Emerald City Comic Con and be available in my online store soon afterwards.

Sketchbook illustrations are often a chance to explore corners of Mouse Guard that I haven't gotten to yet. Whether it's certain locations, characters, or just ideas or thematic tones. For this illustration it's a ferret riding a fox facing a vulture. In this post I'll break down the steps to creating the illustration

This one started by seeing a photo of a fox and a vulture squaring off. It occurred to me it wouldn't take much change for that to fit into my Mouse Guard world. I referenced the photo to get the fox and vulture (though I drew them separately so I could move them relative to one another for composition. I then added a ferret, wearing a similar crown to King Luthebon (is this one of his ancestors? decendants?) which was drawn on yet another sheet of copy paper

The drawings were all assembled digitally and color blocked (along with the debris and ground)

The digitally assembled pencil layout was printed out and taped to the back of a sheet of Strathmore Bristol and placed on a light pad. With the light shining up, I was able to see through the bristol surface to the printout to use as a guide as I ink the artwork. I used Copic Multiliner SP pens to do the inking (the 0.7 nib mostly)

The inking focus was on those vulture feathers as well as the ground cover and debris being kicked up everywhere. Lots of chaos!

With the inks scanned, the color flatting (painting areas of flat color to establish all the color areas) started I went with realistic base colors for the fox and vulture  and decided this was an intense scene where the sky could be pink or red and tinted the animal base colors a bit accordingly.

It's also at this stage that I established color holds (areas where I wanted the lineart to be a color other than black) on the distant background debris being kicked up.

The last step was to render the colors with dodge and burn tools and a stock textured brush. Dodge and Burn are tools based on photography terms (and from when Photoshop was a photo retouching program) having to do with purposely over or under exposing areas––or in other words darkening or lightening them.

I use these tools to create shadows and highlights to my base colors while giving a bit of a pebbly texture with that stock brush. I pushed the intense lighting behind the ferret and fox to help draw the viewer's eye where I wanted it.

This illustration, along with many more, will be published in the sketchbook 'Past Whereabouts' which will debut at Emerald City Comic Con in March 2026 and will be available in my online store soon afterwards: https://mouseguard.bigcartel.com/

Em of Appleloft

As I work toward a new sketchbook this year, I'll be doing a series of posts about Mouse Guard illustrations I've done that will be included in that new release: 'Past Whereabouts' that will debut at Emerald City Comic Con and be available in my online store soon afterwards.

Sketchbook illustrations are often a chance to explore corners of Mouse Guard that I haven't gotten to yet. Whether it's certain locations, characters, or just ideas or thematic tones. For this illustration it's Em of Appleloft and a crow friend. In this post I'll break down the steps to creating the illustration

I made a list of places to return for 'Past Whereabouts' and had Em of Appleloft at the top. I started with a drawing of the outside of her home, a balcony/air-dock-perch with an awning looking into the open knothole in an apple tree. I referenced my original drawings from The Black Axe volume as well as some photos of apple trees. On a new sheet of copy paper I drew em and a crow (based on photo reference).

These were all digitally assembled in photoshop with some color blocking to help identify the forms.

The digitally assembled pencil layout was printed out and taped to the back of a sheet of Strathmore Bristol and placed on a light pad. With the light shining up, I was able to see through the bristol surface to the printout to use as a guide as I ink the artwork. I used Copic Multiliner SP pens to do the inking (the 0.7 nib mostly)

The inking focus was on making sense of all the organic shapes of the bark, the balcony bracing, the leaves, etc by trying to be careful with texture and line density differences. 

With the inks scanned, the color flatting (painting areas of flat color to establish all the color areas) started I pulled colors from the The Black Axe for Em and her clothing and the crow, but I was able to play with the browns, greens, and reds of the setting until the flats looked harmonious enough.

It's also at this stage that I established color holds (areas where I wanted the lineart to be a color other than black) for Em's clothing embroidery, the leaf veins, and the speckles on the apples.

The last step was to render the colors with dodge and burn tools and a stock textured brush. Dodge and Burn are tools based on photography terms (and from when Photoshop was a photo retouching program) having to do with purposely over or under exposing areas––or in other words darkening or lightening them.

I use these tools to create shadows and highlights to my base colors while giving a bit of a pebbly texture with that stock brush. I also toyed with pushing the other leaves and apples back a bit by adding some lighting effects in the lower right corner.

This illustration, along with many more, will be published in the sketchbook 'Past Whereabouts' which will debut at Emerald City Comic Con in March 2026 and will be available in my online store soon afterwards: https://mouseguard.bigcartel.com/

Lillygrove Library Funeral

As I work toward a new sketchbook this year, I'll be doing a series of posts about Mouse Guard illustrations I've done that will be included in that new release: 'Past Whereabouts' that will debut at Emerald City Comic Con and be available in my online store soon afterwards.

Sketchbook illustrations are often a chance to explore corners of Mouse Guard that I haven't gotten to yet. Whether it's certain locations, characters, or just ideas or thematic tones. For this illustration it's a funeral in the Lillygrove Library. In this post I'll break down the steps to creating the illustration

After dusting off the Library Arch model for a recent Architectural Model Video (https://youtu.be/sqiKdE50BNc) I wanted to revisit that location for an illustration, and liked the idea of the sun streaming in, but also keeping the ghostly tone of when I showed the location in Legends of the Guard Vol 1 by setting a funeral there.

The location was drawn on a sheet of copy paper over the top of a composite photo of the model with and added design of the window (based on a tile pattern). Then the dead mouse and altar and flowers were drawn on another sheet, and the mouse paying respects on yet another sheet. They were all assembled in Photoshop (each tinted a different color) and a tone blocking to help me see where the light's edges were.

The digitally assembled pencil layout was printed out and taped to the back of a sheet of Strathmore Bristol and placed on a light pad. With the light shining up, I was able to see through the bristol surface to the printout to use as a guide as I ink the artwork. I used Copic Multiliner SP pens to do the inking (the 0.7 nib mostly)

The inking focus was on keeping the line weight and details spare in the stream of light, but much more dense the further in the corners everything was. There was still a lot of detail in the walls, mice, flowers, and books to worry about on top of those lighting concerns too.

With the inks scanned, the color flatting (painting areas of flat color to establish all the color areas) started. I pulled colors from the Legends of the Guard issue cover with this library for starters before shifting everything a bit darker and greener.

It's also at this stage that I established color holds (areas where I wanted the lineart to be a color other than black) for the window and the murals (as well as that one open book).

The last step was to render the colors with dodge and burn tools and a stock textured brush. Dodge and Burn are tools based on photography terms (and from when Photoshop was a photo retouching program) having to do with purposely over or under exposing areas––or in other words darkening or lightening them.

I use these tools to create shadows and highlights to my base colors while giving a bit of a pebbly texture with that stock brush. I also toyed with additional layers to help sell the beam of light streaming in and the cast tones from all the window glass on the floor and deceased Guardmouse.

This illustration, along with many more, will be published in the sketchbook 'Past Whereabouts' which will debut at Emerald City Comic Con in March 2026 and will be available in my online store soon afterwards: https://mouseguard.bigcartel.com/

Soren: Daggerheart RPG Character

My RPG friends from childhood have reunited to roll some dice again. Jesse Glenn got inspired to run a newer RPG from the folks at Critical Role called  Daggerheart. We've had two sessions so-far, a character creation session and then the first part of the adventure. I've posted art process for my character and Mike's character (see links at the bottom of the post)

For this post I'm sharing my drawing and the process of making the art for Nick Kowalcyk's character Soren.

Soren is a Drakona (Dragon person) Seraph who wields a divine sword for his dragon god Azhdaha. Nich gave a me a lot of free reign on the dragon design parts (he asked the horns not be too big or crazy) and focused more on his skin tone being muted earth colors (and an eye that has a pupil of flame that I couldn't show well enough in a drawing this size).
I looked at several references for poses of human knights from RPG artists before settling on drawing this readied stance I could add my dragon head drawing to. The horns, sword, and crossbow were images/3D assets I pasted in as shape holders to make life easier, and the same for painting in a quick tail shape.

The layout was printed out and taped to the back of a sheet of Stathmore 300 series bristol. On my Huion lightpad I was able to use the printout below as a guide while I inked on the surface of the bristol. I used a 0.7 nib Copic Multiliner SP pen for the whole thing.

The texture of the mail armor was the daunting part, how do space that so it was more open in the lighter areas and more dense in the shadows. To offset those textures I wanted his other armor bits to reflect his mountain upbringing with warm quilted bits and fur lined bracers/shin guards.

I scanned the inked art into Photoshop and started the color process. This first step is just to separate the different parts of the drawing as different flat colors, a professional version of coloring-in-the-lines.

As I said, Nick asked that Soren's skin be muted warm earth tones, which gave me some room to do richer warm tones for his other clothing and a cool green/grey for the armor.

At this stage I also added in color holds (areas where I want the ink lines to be a color other than black) to Soren's pupil and dragon spots.

The final colors were rendered using the dodge and burn tools in Photoshop with a stock brush that also adds a pebbling texture.

Drawing your RPG character (as well as the other players in your party, if you happen to be the 'artist' of the group, is one of the real pleasures of playing an RPG and part that I certainly missed.

I look forward to playing more with my old pals and I'm glad we have these images to help get us in the spirit of our characters and have a unified idea of the visualizations of this adventure we all make up together.

Below is a group shot I assembled of our characters together:

If you missed the process art posts for the other two characters here are links:

Caledon Spargan: http://davidpetersen.blogspot.com/2025/09/caledon-spargan-daggerheart-rpg.html

Winnifred Cloverdale: https://davidpetersen.blogspot.com/2025/12/winnifred-cloverdale-daggerheart-rpg.html

Dawn of the Black Axe Print

The Mouse Guard: Dawn of the Black Axe hardcover is OUT TODAY!
You can pick it up from your local comic/book shop or various online retailers (https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/813486/mouse-guard-dawn-of-the-black-axe-by-david-petersen/)

I entrusted Gabriel Rodriguez with the visuals of my world of mouse adventure as we told the story of Bardrick, the first Black Axe and he did nothing short of a masterpiece of illustrating.

I'm offering a 8"x8" print in my online store mouseguard.bigcartel.com I drew of Bardrick with the axe and the five snakes who surrounded all that was. Below I'll walk you through the process of creating the artwork (and another bonus FREE papercraft at the bottom of the post)

The piece started with rough sketches for my ideas for Gabe to draw for the hardcover collection's front cover. It was based on my original drawing of Bardrick (in the Axe Wielder's Sketchbook) and a panel Gabe had drawn in the issues. The concept of the snakes as a celtic knot appealed to me to tie into the illuminated manuscript illustrations I typically use to show Black Axe history. Gabe's cover certainly has this vibe and tone, but with his own sensibilities in his own artistic voice.

Something about that loose sketch with the more tangled snake knot wouldn't let go of me. I wanted to see my version of that drawing to completion and figured if I offered it as a print, we could put it in the online store and take it to conventions. I tightened the pencils of Bardrick on one sheet of copy paper (lightboxing a blowup of the original loose doodle)

Then over the course of several sheets of paper and digital blocking in of colored stripes overlapping each other, I was able to do tighter stylized versions of the five snakes: Gammeltan, Dødfare, Skalaknute, Streikrask, & Langtspyd where I tried to infuse details into their patterns that are special to each snake's appearance, build, and abilities.

The layout (a combination of pencil drawings and digital compositing and color blocking) was printed out and taped to the back of a sheet of Strathmore 300 series 12"x12" bristol so I could ink it on my Huion lightpad. 

I inked this using a Copic Multiliner SP 0.7 nib pen. On the lightpad I'm able to see through the surface of the bristol to the printout to use as a guide as I ink––which means no erasing away pencils or digitally adjusting away blueline.

Even though I'd done so much prepwork on the snake designs, keeping all of the patterns and lineweights and details on them straight as I inked around Bardrick was the trickiest part.

When in the inks were finished, I scanned them and started the coloring process. That first step is called 'flatting' and is basically establishing flat color areas for each part of the illustration. No textures, no lighting––just flat base colors. Much of the color choices were already established either from the comic issues (which I colored) or my rough starting sketch...though lots of the colors needed little adjustments for hue, saturation, and value before I felt like I had a place to start rendering.

It's also at this flatting stage that I established all the color holds (areas where I want the inks to be a color other than black) on the snake outlines and their inner details.

Here again are the final colors all rendered out mainly using the dodge and burn tools in Photoshop to get all my shadows and highlights and the textures are achieved by using a stock textured brush in Photoshop.

The Hardcover book (out today!) collects all three issues (including all the variant covers) of Dawn of the Black Axe, and this print is available right now as well in my online store: mouseguard.bigcartel.com





Also available for FREE is a PDF print & assemble papercraft of Bardrick I designed on the Mouse Guard website:

https://www.mouseguard.net/s/Bardrick-Papercraft.pdf