Simon Underwood

@lizardbrain-art

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

153 Folgt1.874 Follower328 Posts

Bluesky

gamer

Ist das dein Profil?Übernimm es — dann gehört dir lizardbrain-art.dirty.social.Profil übernehmen

Simon Underwood@lizardbrain-art· 9d

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

Simon Underwood@lizardbrain-art· 24d

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· 26d

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.

Simon Underwood@lizardbrain-art· Jul 12

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· Jul 4

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· Jul 3

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.

Simon Underwood@lizardbrain-art· Jul 2

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.

Simon Underwood@lizardbrain-art· Jun 24

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· Jun 20

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.

Simon Underwood@lizardbrain-art· Jun 14

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· Jun 5

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.

Simon Underwood@lizardbrain-art· May 31

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

Simon Underwood@lizardbrain-art· May 11

QRP something with horns!

Red and black ink illustration of a hulking goat-like demonic warrior in elaborate armor, holding a flaming sword in one hand and a kneeling minion in the other. It is surrounded by small imp warriors reminiscent of medieval demons.

Simon Underwood@lizardbrain-art· May 6

Red Sonja wrecking some dudes' days

Pen and ink drawing of Red Sonja ambushing a couple of unsuspecting barbarian warriors. She leaps off a rock, sword above her head, bare-chested and yelling, as one hapless warrior turns to look at her in shock.

Simon Underwood@lizardbrain-art· May 5

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.

Simon Underwood@lizardbrain-art· Apr 30

Alternatively, get me one of these and die in a grazing rights dispute

Photo of a concerned man wearing an early Medieval helmet with a comically large nasal guard

Simon Underwood@lizardbrain-art· Apr 15

I can't stop playing Dread Delusion, so here we are.

Colored ink drawing of Orlaith from Dread Delusion. She carries her huge greatsword over her shoulder. An ornate magical key floats above her left hand. The background is split between large glass tanks holding ancient corpses and a scene of huge mushrooms and floating islands beneath the sunlike Neuron Star. Its long flares wind through the magenta background.

Simon Underwood@lizardbrain-art· Apr 13

Trying to remember how to doodle in my sketchbook for fun. Looked at some Moebius stuff and allowed myself a little stippling as a treat

Stipple-heavy pen portrait of a gaunt bald man with a piercing gaze.

Simon Underwood@lizardbrain-art· Mar 28

Art formats I have never tried before: Scapula diptych

Ink illustration on two goat scapulae (shoulder blades): on the left, a knight wields a halberd surrounded by ivy vines. The Latin word INCREMENTUM (growth) is in the top corner of the bone.
On the right, a dragon breathing fire, surrounded by burning vines. In the top corner, the Latin word INTERITUS (destruction).

Simon Underwood@lizardbrain-art· Mar 19

Guess what lads I've got a little comic IN PRINT and IN COLOR and it looks pretty good

Photograph of a comic panel depicting an ancient warrior in bronze armor, wielding a battle-axe and menacingly stomping toward ls the viewer

Simon Underwood@lizardbrain-art· Mar 17

For no reason at all, here's a lil Dune painting I did a few years ago

Gouache and ink painting depicting a Sardaukar from Dune being ambushed by a Fremen warrior bursting from the sand.

Simon Underwood@lizardbrain-art· Mar 6

The necromancer I did for UNDER THE SHADOW OF HELFAST SPIRE, a Shadowdark module by Bob Mason. I did all the class illustrations for this one and they're all really fun takes on classic TTRPG archetypes. The kickstarter is going swimmingly, check it out here: www.kickstarter.com/projects/bob...

Pen and ink illustration depicting a halfling necromancer riding on the shoulders of a zombie. She has a gleefully crazed expression as she points her unwitting steed onward with a hand holding an obsidian ritual dagger. A huge crescent moon is visible in the background.

Simon Underwood@lizardbrain-art· Mar 6

If I had to pick! Honorable mention to Warcraft III and every 3D Elder Scrolls, which consumed probably 10% of my teenage years

Screenshot of my Steam Library showing the covers of my favorite games: Control, Disco Elysium, Elden Ring, Red Dead Redemption 2, Valheim, The WItcher 3, Kenshi, Noita, and Outer Wilds

Simon Underwood@lizardbrain-art· Feb 28

I've completed a comic adaptation of one of my favorite Clark Ashton Smith stories, THE ABOMINATIONS OF YONDO, which turns 100 this year! It's my first comic in full color, which was a hell of a learning experience. It's available now digitally or in print by mid-March. lizardbrainart.bigcartel.com

Comic cover with the title "THE ABOMINATIONS OF YONDO" in a jagged, flowing script. The image shows a broken statue in the middle of a desert, leaning off its pedestal and half buried in sand. Details of the statue suggest it may not be depicting a human. The long, bony legs of an unknown creature creep out from behind the statue.

Five triangular comic panels depicting a fist-sized insect approaching a sitting man, a huge ruined temple with flying creatures nesting in its destroyed upper level, a salt-lake shoreline with a multilimbed creature visible behind a salt pillar, a red rock canyon filled with strange, broken statues, and a violently red sunset over a blasted desert landscape.

Four panels depicting a man, wandering in a desolate waste, noticing an uncanny shadow behind a rock.

Simon Underwood@lizardbrain-art· Feb 27

Hopping aboard the art train, thanks @jorgeperal.net ! Choo choo @artofcaustic.bsky.social @azuremeraki.bsky.social @zeburnay.bsky.social @mentat0209.bsky.social

Ink drawing of a skeleton, richly armored in decorated chainmail with a feather-crested helmet and carrying a massive leaf-bladed greatsword, stepping out of a sarcophagus surrounded by grave goods. A shaft of light from above illuminates the scene and a crumbling tapestry in the background.

Ink drawing of Finnish mythical hero Vainamoinen, sitting under a pine playing his jawbone kantele. His sword leans against the tree behind him. Various forest animals have gathered to listen.

Ink drawing of a wizard's workshop. A massive armored warrior with glowing red eyes steps out of a portal in the center of the scene, pointing an accusing finger at the shocked wizard in the foreground.

Ink drawing of a warrior woman wearing a red patterned cloak that covers her torso. An arcane-looking spear is in her right hand and a smoking shield is slung across her back. In her left hand, she hold the severed head of a mutant sorcerer.

Simon Underwood@lizardbrain-art· Feb 14

Here's a little preview of my first comic in FULL COLOR which I have been working on for a little while now. It's a short one and should be out in a few weeks.

Simon Underwood@lizardbrain-art· Feb 12

A knight called by the deep, now an eternal guardian of the sunken city... This is from a few years ago and I don't think it ever made it on here.

Gouache painting depicting a knight rising out of a murky green ocean. Their armor is dripping with slime and embellished with coral-like growths. Their helmet resembles a cephalopod and many eyes are visible behind the tentacled visor. Eldritch monoliths protrude from the waves in the background.

Simon Underwood@lizardbrain-art· Jan 20

Quote with your horn art!

Ink drawing depicting a dilapidated street lined with the crumbling shells of buildings. Plants grow over the ruins, and a line of tall spruce trees runs across the background. An elk crosses the street in the foreground, looking away from the viewer at the shape of a huge goat-headed man looming above the treeline. A crescent moon hangs behind his horns.

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.

Pen and ink illustration depicting a ragged specter clad in ancient chainmail and covered in vines that grow out of its skin. It holds an axe and a hunting sword. A ragged hood and jagged, chaotic antlers frame an obscured face with sinister glowing eyes.

Simon Underwood@lizardbrain-art· Jan 13

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.

Simon Underwood@lizardbrain-art· Dec 28

Art vs artist 2025 edition. A year of creatures of all types and trying to remember how color works. We survived another one, y'all.