Tessera

Simon Underwood

@lizardbrain-art.bsky.social

Portland illustrator and comic book crafter. Swords, sorcery, trees, skulls, doom. For commissions, merch, and my comics (ABOMINATIONS OF YONDO OUT NOW!), check out www.lizardbrainart.com

327 Posts1873 Follower 153 Folgt

Simon Underwood @lizardbrain-art.bsky.social · 2d ago

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

𝔾𝕆ℝ𝔸ℕ@gorangligovic.bsky.social · 3d ago

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

Simon Underwood @lizardbrain-art.bsky.social · 2w ago

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.

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 ...

lizardbrainart.bigcartel.com

Simon Underwood @lizardbrain-art.bsky.social · 2w ago

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

Simon Underwood @lizardbrain-art.bsky.social · 2w ago

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.

Clayton@explorersdesign.bsky.social · 3w ago

Public Domain Art is the lifeblood of small tabletop rpgs, but it can be a nightmare trying to find the right art and license. This week, I’ve re-uploaded my old list from 2020 (with updates) of public domain websites. That's 500,000+ public domain paintings, photos, maps, and film. Link below 🔗👇

Simon Underwood @lizardbrain-art.bsky.social · 3w ago

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.

Simon Underwood @lizardbrain-art.bsky.social · 3w ago

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

𝔾𝕆ℝ𝔸ℕ@gorangligovic.bsky.social · 3w ago

I heard a joke about Tantalus but it eludes me

Simon Underwood @lizardbrain-art.bsky.social · 3w ago

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

Patrick Klepek@patrickklepek.bsky.social · 3w ago

Do you remember what *your* first R-rated movie was? I finally asked my mom (I couldn't remember), and she told me it was The Lost Boys when I was roughly the same age as my daughter (about 9). The movie traumatized her more than it did me, apparently

Simon Underwood @lizardbrain-art.bsky.social · 3w ago

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.

Colin Smith @colinsmith.bsky.social · 3w ago

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

Simon Underwood @lizardbrain-art.bsky.social · 7mo ago

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.

Simon Underwood @lizardbrain-art.bsky.social · 4w ago

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.

Simon Underwood @lizardbrain-art.bsky.social · 4w ago

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?...

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

YouTube video by Underrated Albums

youtu.be

Simon Underwood @lizardbrain-art.bsky.social · last mo.

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

Nessa ✨@nessathewriter.bsky.social · last mo.

every fucking name generator is AI now. I don't need to create chemical runoff for a name generator. I want a little form put together by a random guy fifteen years ago that puts together vaguely themed words. I know I sound like "guy yells at cloud" but I'm going to yell at this fucking cloud

Simon Underwood @lizardbrain-art.bsky.social · last mo.

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.

Simon Underwood @lizardbrain-art.bsky.social · last mo.

Bouba and Kiki, elder gods

Illustration depicting two statues of eldritch beings. The left one is round and molluscoid, with worshippers kneeling in a pool before it. The right one is sharp and angular, with worshippers dancing naked with torches in front of it.

𝔾𝕆ℝ𝔸ℕ@gorangligovic.bsky.social · last mo.

Thought of another fun exercise everyone can try: turn Bouba and Kiki (of the Bouba/Kiki Effect) into characters that fit your own tastes and interests

Characters Bouba and Kiki posing heroically. Bouba is round and soft and she wields a mace, and Kiki is sharp and angular and wields a sword.

Simon Underwood @lizardbrain-art.bsky.social · last mo.

Time for a new logo

Emblem depicting a reptilian warrior emerging from a stone frame. It is wearing bronze and leather armor and a helm crested with horns and feathers. It holds a bronze sword in its right hand and a human skull in its left. Below the frame are the words "lizardbrain art" in an archaic font.

Steve Lieber @stevelieberart.bsky.social · last mo.

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.

Simon Underwood @lizardbrain-art.bsky.social · last mo.

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

Simon Underwood @lizardbrain-art.bsky.social · last mo.

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.

Simon Underwood @lizardbrain-art.bsky.social · 2mo ago

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.

molly tanzer (I guess!!)@mollytanzer.bsky.social · 2mo ago

We’ve got double art by @saprophial.bsky.social and are careening toward spray edges… www.backerkit.com/c/projects/b...

Blue Fire: A Jirel of Joiry Novella

An officially licensed novella starring the first lady of Sword & Sorcery, Jirel of Joiry!

backerkit.com

molly tanzer (I guess!!)@mollytanzer.bsky.social · 2mo ago

We did it! The book is real. Now let’s see if we can get double art, spray edges for the book-as-object folks, a shipping discount….and more??

Simon Underwood @lizardbrain-art.bsky.social · 2mo ago

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.

Simon Underwood @lizardbrain-art.bsky.social · 2mo ago

It found my backyard

Weird Spy Satellite@weirdsatellite.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Transmission #8319 from NROL-82 (COSMIC TOP SECRET) 1. Scythe Site 2. Tacos Vehicles 3. An Illustration

Aerial satellite photo labelled in bright yellow letters:

1. Scythe Site
2. Tacos Vehicles
3. An Illustration

Actual coordinates: 53.2662° N, 20.9541° E

Simon Underwood @lizardbrain-art.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Ten-season infinite budget Malazan Book of the Fallen

☀️ Starshine@starshine.bsky.social · 2mo ago

What’s your white whale tv/film adaptation that needs to happen

Simon Underwood @lizardbrain-art.bsky.social · 2mo ago

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.