Illuxcon 2 is NEXT WEEK!!!!

SO EXCITED. I even made a little postcard holder out of scrap moulding. :)

Hope to see even more folks there than last year! I'll be there the full four days this time, so come find me at the Ramada hotel bar any evening and we'll talk art.

Eyes & Expressions

Another quickie for ImagineFX - This time the subject was eyes. I grew up loving portraiture, thinking someday I'd like to be a portrait artist before I discovered the versatility of the fantasy & sci fi genre. So I kept this a very simple composition, to demonstrate how making eyes slightly larger than is natural is a fun way of unnerving your viewers into a subconscious interest in your piece. I also created one of those sketchy eye expression tables to accompany some text about how the facial muscles work with certain emotions and how they affect the shape of eyes.

Underwater - quickie

Another quickie for IFX Q&A, started and finished last night.

Meanwhile, preparation for IlluXcon 2 continues... only 3 WEEKS left!! I've got a massive amount of prints ready to order, and it was confirmed this week that Laura Diehl and I will have adjacent tables at the Saturday Evening Showcase, at the Altoona Ramada on the 14th of November.

In the Mirror...

A quickie I did yesterday for Imagine FX Q&As, upcoming issue 51:


I'm always amazed by how long it takes me to write tutorials and answers to art questions. It almost takes me longer than doing the work itself. I guess it's sort of like typing or playing piano - you do it for so long you can't remember where the keys are unless you're touching them.

Close up #1: [link]
Close up #2: [link]

More Progress on the DL Cover

Since I have a family obligation tomorrow, I spent about 12 hours on this today, getting it ready for a web preview. It's only about halfway there (just wait until I start adding beasties!) but it's still going smoothly.

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I've been getting a lot of questions recently about time management- people asking how I manage to balance a day job, illustration job, and a social life. Honestly it's tough, and I don't balance things very well. I try to reserve whole days or large blocks of time for painting, and I don't go out as often as some. To those who have asked, I'm working on it!

In other news, I've got a couple of ImagineFX articles coming up over the next couple months, including some tips and a Q&A that I'm currently working on. Always happy to contribute to such a fine pub.

More later...

"Cruciata Navaar" for Sinister Adventures

This one was SO much fun. Read more about the character here at the SA website: http://sinisteradventures.com/index.php/sneak-peeks. The character designer and art director Nick Logue's ultra-descriptive character studies are some of my favorites to work from - in fact, he does half my work for me by creating such vivid imagery with his writing. We did a few snippets together last year, and I hope to have the pleasure of painting many more.

Dragonlord cover, painting progress

I snapped a couple progress shots of the Dragonlord cover last night (underpainting + first session).

Also over this long weekend, I've got some board game artwork to finish up and a 1/4 page vampire illo for one of my favorite returning customers. Groovy.

Return to Neverland WIP - collaboration with Aaron Sikstrom

Pan? Wendy? A jealous mermaid? What could possibly be cooler subject matter for a collaborative effort? A few weeks back I got a very nice email from Aaron Sikstrom (http://seethrou.deviantart.com) asking if I'd be interested in doing a piece with him. At the time neither of us knew the other had an affinity for Peter Pan mythology, so it was quite a nice surprise when I first saw the sketch he provided for me: [link].

As the painter/colorist, I thought the otherworldly lagoon-light would make a great contribution to bring out the magic of the story. There's still a fair bit of work left to be done, but it's really shaping up.

Dragonlord cover, more progress

Here's the latest digital sketch for the Dragonlord cover. As I mentioned earlier, this is purely a digital sketch for a full-blown oil painting. In some ways it's developing its own personality as a digital painting, but the super cool author in this case prefers the look and feel of real paint, and I have a lot of respect for that. A few key changes were made here from the original b&w sketch I posted in July, my favorite being the main male character; he's taken on a bit more of a cro-magnon appeal. I had originally misread (or missed) a vital descriptive part of the story and made him too human at the start. This is one of those cases where working directly with an author is truly a worthwhile experience.

Exotique 5 & Getting back in the saddle...

I got the good news this morning that Half her Heart made the cut for Exotique 5!! This is not just "everyday cool" but also gratifying since I very much had Exotique in mind when creating the piece.

As for my absence lately, my father in law passed away at the end of July, so it's been very hectic at home. I'm just now getting my artistic affairs back in order from the brief hiatus (including road trips to Iowa and North Carolina). As I get older I realize that interruptions in my workflow are harder to bounce back from. I think tonight I'll require extra coffee to get something done for a Friday deadline!! It's good to be back.