Publihed/Unpublished

Well, I guess I'll start with the bum news.
-My inclination about Spectrum this year was correct - I didn't make it in. But I'm not at all surprised by that. I wasn't really feeling like the work I submitted from '08 was on par with what I could have accomplished, or what came immediately after the deadline. So, I will try again this year. Won't hear about Exotique until June or July. It would be nice to get into just one book this year.

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Now, on to the awesome stuff!
-First, I just got an email from ImagineFX (best fantasy/digital arts magazine ever) asking me to contribute some work & artist tips. I'm extremely excited about this!

-Also, on May 4th I'm taking a blast into the past— I'm going back to my high school to talk to my old art teacher's AP Studio & Digital Arts classes. Has it really been 8 years since I graduated? There's a lot I want to talk about. I love inspiring young artists, as hard as it can be to reach them sometimes.

-And speaking of high school, I've been invited to participate in WT Woodson's first annual Alumni Art Show in their new Gallery wing. Kids these days don't know how good they've got it; gone are the days of two stuffy art rooms competing for space in the chorus & band hall.

-Last week I was asked to submit a "Making of" tutorial for the latest piece to It's Art Magazine, which I did, and they're including me in their upcoming Masters Edition.

So all in all things are going smoothly with exposure at the moment. I need to get back to the drawing board, though.

Daily Deviation

Half Her Heart's Duet has also just received a Daily Deviation on deviantart.com. Woo hoo!

New Painting Featured in It's Art Magazine

In addition to a Choice Award on cgsociety.org, Half Her Heart's Duet is also a front page feature for the next week on It's Art Magazine and they're going to have a tutorial for it I'm creating available online. :) I'm really excited about all the fervor this one's generating; it feels like a few very important doors have been opened in terms of artistic exposure.

I didn't realize until I physically wrote out my to-do list just how much I have on my plate right now, so it was good to spend some downtime last night sketching out thumbnails for new projects.

CG Choice Award

My newest piece Half Her Heart's Duet won a CG Choice Award late last night! I'm absolutely thrilled, and very grateful for all the positive response.

Shortly after that news, I received a very nice note from Paul Hellard (from Ballistic Media) encouraging me to submit this piece to their book, Exotique, which focuses on digital character art. Aside from the story, the thought of creating something better for a Ballistic publication was A HUGE part of what drove me to do this piece, especially after hearing I'd missed the boat on Exposé 7 last week. When you fall off the horse, you get back on, right?

I think this is all a good sign...