Spectrum Fantastic Art Live 2015

Before I talk at length about this year's Spectrum Fantastic Art Live (SFAL), let’s go back and play catch up to put some things into perspective. 2015 has already been a huge year for me, and I've been so busy living in it that I haven't had much time to talk about it.

A while ago I had publicly talked about moving from Virginia to the great pacific northwest, but I was intentionally vague about why. Most people assumed I was coming out here to work on concept art for Wizards of the Coast, which was actually true, I did come out for a concept push. But after the concept push ended I rolled into a new contract as a full-time art director for Magic: The Gathering. It was a big decision that was in the works since last summer. I wanted some time to settle into the job before making a formal announcement, to learn the ropes and make sure art direction was a good fit for me. So far so good; It's a challenging job but very rewarding so far. And it turned this trip into a more-or-less-covert scouting mission as well as the usual business and pleasure.

Ok, now back to the event:

The beginnings of a great event
This past weekend started with a plane ride from Seattle to Kansas City, MO, where I shared an Alaskan Airlines flight and shuttle with artists Tyler Jacobson, Brom, Laurie Lee Brom, and Iain McCaig. Getting to know these folks better has been really special. Every convention has its personal highlights, and one of the big ones this year was a short chat with Iain at Starbucks about what stories I want to tell with my future personal work, which is still something I'm figuring out, and got me thinking hard on the subject.

I also got to sneak in a quick sketch of this engrossed reader on the plane...

After arriving in the late afternoon, there was a lot of meeting and greeting (any time there's a gathering of the art family the hugs don't stop for a while). Friday evening capped off with an Art Director Icebreaker at the Marriott bar- an event where if you wore a lay around your neck it meant you were available for portfolio reviews. Fun! I participated in that for most of the evening, and had some great conversations with artists about their work, including doing a string of portfolio reviews on top of a grand piano... how cool is that?

More big news...
I finally got a decent chance to wander the show floor Saturday morning, though for the first time I think I looked at more art in peoples' portfolios than the wall displays. At noon I attended the Flesk panel about the logistics of Spectrum and what's to come in the future. The panel consisted of people who had been involved in Spectrum 22- creators of the award Christine & Colin Poole, jury members Justin & Annie Stegg Gerard, Iain and Brom who are members of the advisory board, and John Fleskes who took over the publication from the Fenners with Spectrum 21. Each took their turn talking about their part in bringing the annual to life.

Hearing about the judging process was especially helpful because I'm going to be a member of the Spectrum 23 jury next year. It's a huge honor to be chosen and a task I take very seriously. Justin mentioned the feeling of holding peoples' dreams in his hands, having been both accepted and rejected from the book in the past (same here, man!). John also spoke about his philosophy of bringing together judges from diverse backgrounds for a well-rounded representation of the industry. I already know that I'll have the pleasure of judging alongside Terryl Whitlatch, and I can't wait to hear who the remaining jury members will be...

The Spectrum 22 Awards Ceremony
Saturday evening. The Fenners and John Fleskes put on a hell of a ceremony- dancing and aerialist performances punctuated the award announcements, with industry giants presenting the awards for each of the 8 categories.

"Momentum"

And my piece, "Momentum" won the gold award in the Unpublished category!!

That was the climax of my art career to date. Greg Manchess presented the award, and I'm glad he's strong, because the hug I gave him might have broken a weaker person.

I didn't give a scripted acceptance speech, so I don't remember exactly what I blurted out, but to recap: I dedicated this award to my grandfather, who bought me a copy of Spectrum 4 for my 14th birthday. I'd always wanted to be an artist, but that was the initial turning point that gave me a direction. Granddad wasn't an artist himself -he used to joke that he couldn't draw a straight line with a ruler- but he was a huge fan of science fiction and fantasy (especially dragons), and encouraged my interests in Dungeons & Dragons and all that "weird stuff." And the last thing I got to tell him was that I'd finally made it into the book- I'd just gotten my acceptance letter to Spectrum 15 a few days before he passed away. I've entered every year since, and I think he would be proud of me for keeping it up and getting this far.

Some might argue that awards aren't that important, but industry recognition means a ton to me. It's an indicator that I've been successful in my work so far, and I'm very grateful to have the support of my peers.

Congratulations to ALL - the full list of nominees and winners, including art, is up on the Flesk blog.

A special thank you to Arnie & Cathy Fenner for beginning and keeping this wonderful tradition, John Fleskes, Shena Wolf for her tireless work behind the scenes, and the panel of judges who saw something special in my work: Justin and Annie Stegg Gerard, Dice Tsutsumi, Greg Ruth, and Virginie Ropars.

Me & Dan Dos Santos after the ceremony- congrats to Dan, who won the gold award in the Book category!

The Artist's Muse
I also wanted to take a minute to admire the breathtaking new award design that John Fleskes commissioned, created by sculptors Kristine and Colin Poole. Each award was cast in bronze and embellished with silver or gold. Their concept was to create a muse for the artist, since one didn't previously exist. Artists historically were thought to be craftspeople who simply imitated nature, but we celebrate a tradition of realizing the unreal, and now we have a muse of our own.

(Update: read more about the awards on the Flesk blog)

Spectrum 22 Awards, created by Kristine and Colin Poole

The Women of Wonder
On Sunday I didn't have as much time to say goodbye as I wanted since I had to leave in the early afternoon to fly home, but I did get to pick up a copy of Women of Wonder, the book created by Cathy Fenner to celebrate past and present women in the imaginative arts. The printing and art selections are gorgeous. I'm proud to be included in this book, and I hope it serves as a positive example for all artists, men and women alike.

Women of Wonder | Edited by Cathy Fenner, Introduction by Lauren Panepinto

The book is now available on Amazon.com if you want to pick up a copy (and you should)!

Life after SFAL
My first order of business (besides sleeping in late) after SFAL was to go through my stacks of business cards and codify my notes from portfolio reviews. I was pleased so many people wanted to share their work with me, considering how new my AD position is. There were a handful of up-and-comers in attendance I'll be keeping a close eye on, for sure.

Now that I've typed up this huge post, I'm going to get back to work, because that's what we've gotta do. The show left me feeling so inspired, and kicking around all kinds of ideas. Winning awards is wonderful, but it doesn't mean I can put up my feet and rest on my laurels- in fact, I need to work even harder!

Til next time, happy painting.

IlluXCon 6 Magic: The Gathering Panel

Listen: Exclusive Coverage of the Magic Artist Panel at Illuxcon 2013

Joshua Krause from OriginalMagicArt.com was kind enough to record audio of the Magic: The Questioning panel at IlluXCon 6! We did an informal turn-based Q&A from the audience, which was mostly comprised of up-and-coming artists and art students curious about the hiring and commission process for Wizards of the Coast.

Participants (also pictured L to R in the photo above) were as follows:
Winona Nelson (moderator)
Anthony Palumbo
Jeff Menges
Karla Ortiz
Cynthia Sheppard (me)
David Palumbo
Randy Gallegos
Steven Belledin
Donato Giancola

Packing for IlluXCon 6!

What ho? Do I spy an 11x15 inch charcoal drawing of Jeleva??

Coming soon to the lands of Nephalia... or the Lehigh Valley, you decide.

To see her and other traditional works of art in their full, unadulterated (and in-focus) glory, come to IlluXCon 6 at the Allentown Art Museum this week and weekend! I'll be showing my art in the Weekend Salon event, and there's a ton more to see in the Main Event and the Showcase. Not to mention all the incredible programming! For those interested in hearing about what working for Magic: The Gathering is like, I'll be participating in a panel Saturday at 4PM alongside Winona Nelson, Donato Giancola, Jeff Menges, Dave & Anthony Palumbo, Randy Gallegos, Steve Belledin, and Karla Ortiz to talk about our experiences and answer your questions.

Anyone who's followed my blog for a bit knows I gush about this show every year (and I've had the privilege of attending every single one so far), but this year there's an exciting venue change, and more artists than ever before. Also, being pushed up to September, I will NOT be bringing a winter coat for the first time...

To Pat, Jeannie, and all you lovely artist people who will be there, see you within the next 48 hours! <3

Gearing Up for IlluXCon 2012

It's less than two weeks away now... the fifth annual IlluXCon! Are you as excited as I am?

This year is a bit different for me, and I'll explain why. Unlike 2010 and 2011, I will not have a table in the main show. There are very good reasons for this, the main one being that I didn't try out for the main show. "Wait... what??" Yes, you heard me: I didn't try out. In late 2011, when IlluXCon announced they were officially going traditional-only, and everyone had to be juried into the show, I had to get honest with myself about my work. I've been a working illustrator for a few years now, but primarily a working digital illustrator. When I did a hard comparison between my digital and traditional work, I saw a big enough disparity in the quality that it bothered me, and I thought it would be best to spend part of my first year as a full-time freelancer working toward getting back into shape with oils.

Instead of trying out for the main show, I set a goal for myself to make 5 oil paintings to present at the IlluXCon Showcase, which is the one-night-only art extravaganza held at the Ramada hotel. Not just paintings for the sake of painting, but paintings I would be proud to put my name on and show off as a sample of my latest work.

I think I met that goal.

A couple weeks ago when I started planning my table display, I made a second big decision that will set 2012 apart- I'm only bringing traditional work. Digital artwork isn't necessarily verboten in the Showcase, but it's not part of Pat and Jeannie's vision, and it's unfair to collectors who want to buy originals to get them interested in what they don't want. Also, for the first time, I don't need to show it to feel good about my work. If I had had enough original oils the last two years, I'd have done this sooner, but I just didn't. In less than two weeks, you won't even see a print or postcard of a digital piece at my table. **SPOILER ALERT** Here's what that might look like:


I'll have 5 original oils, 3 of which are still for sale, as listed below:
• Blue Flame, 2012, 16x22 in. | $1,200
• Rush of Blood, 2012 | Sold
• Tarzan: The Light of Knowledge, 2012 | Sold
• Omens, 2012, 22x30 in. w custom frame | $3,200
• Phial of Galadriel, 2012, 11x14 in. | $600


On the table I'll have a binder of original drawings, including richly-detailed preliminary drawings for four of the oil paintings listed above, priced between $150 and $300.


The binder will also have large giclée prints of some traditional work; if you can't pick one up at the Showcase, they can also be ordered online from my inprnt.com store for the same price.

Something new that I'll be trying out is playing my Making of Omens painting video at my table (sans audio, so my table-neighbors don't go insane from hearing the same 10 minutes of sound on loop). For people who want to watch it after the showcase, I'll have little cards to take that have a QR Code on the back, that will link you directly to the video:



Lastly, I'll have the usual takeaways, in the form of business cards and postcards, all bearing images of traditional paintings from 2012.

None of this is to say that I'll be abandoning digital art- no, siree. I still plan to work both ways, but I'm hoping to continue focusing more on honing my traditional skills throughout next year. I'm really hoping that I might have a shot at the main show again when IlluXCon moves to Allentown- that is a great motivator.

Lastly, since I'll only be behind a table for one night, I'll get to go to some lectures and hang out this year! :) Looking forward to seeing you all very soon! Now, get back to work.

Voting for the "Illie" Awards ends tonight!

(File under Shameless Plug)

One of my paintings, Rush of Blood, has been nominated for an Illie Award, along with tons of other awesome works. Voting ends tonight at Midnight EST! The Illie Awards are presented by IlluXCon and the Illustration Exchange.

Visit the IlluXCon site to cast your vote.

New York Comic Con!

Last week I had my first Comic Con experience!


I shared a table at New York Comic Con with my good friends Noah Bradley (left) and Marc Scheff (top) from Awesome Horse Studios. Photo courtesy of Irene Gallo.

I was going to write out a huge list of tips like I usually do, but our friend and left-hand booth neighbor Kiri Ø. Leonard beat me to it! And she did a great recap, with good advice for first-time exhibitors. Read about her 10 Things She Learned at NYCC.

Instead, I'm going to sum up the 4 day art extravaganza and share some personal experiences through the majesty of captioned photographs.


Every convention starts weeks or months in advance with good decent planning.
We discussed what we were going to bring and drew up a little table plan before the con... of course, we thought the tables were going to be 2 feet wider than they actually were, so our setup ended up being quite different.


Wednesday Night: I measure some foam core board in Marc's studio while Tim Paul makes custom wallets.
After arriving in NYC, we got straight to work making tiered foam board stands for our prints. Thanks for the idea, Tim!


Thursday Morning: We arrived at Javits Center, along with Marc's assistant Alex, and set up our display.


All done with setup! Posing at our table just before the doors opened on Thursday.
Sharing a 6-foot table among three people meant we needed to maximize our vertical space. We were guilty of a bit of "visual vomit" (too much disorganized clutter), but since we were treating the Con as a fun learning experience, we rolled with it.


Me and Noah looking suave and/or cheeky...


Sushi dinner with artist Kiri Ø. Leonard and art director Lauren Panepinto
Work hard, play hard. Just like any convention, evenings are for hanging out with friends and colleagues. Not pictured here: the alcohol.


Friday Morning: I pose next to Marc's banner with Kiri. The banners, much like the rest of our setup, were fastened together with duct tape and wishes.
I decided Friday was going to be dress-up day. Coincidentally I also had my best sales day... ha! Anyway, things got so hectic starting right after this photo was taken that we barely have any photo record of the next 48 hours. To paint a very small picture: Javits Center was PACKED wall-to-wall with attendees for the remainder of the con. The recorded numbers topped 116,000 for the whole weekend. WOW.


Saturday Afternoon: Posing with Dan Warren (center) and Dave Rapoza (far right) from Crimson Daggers.


Sunday, at last! And coffee. Delicious, delicious coffee.

All told, we had lots of fun and did well with sales. I'm really looking forward to the possibility of doing NYCC again next year!

The Illux-Chronicles

A Personal Foreword:
I had a difficult year, artistically. I don't enjoy making excuses, but for the record, I felt a bit pathetic in my art efforts in 2010, especially after renovating the house and changing day jobs. I spent the better part of the Summer without much internet access at home, so my online community interactions flagged. I stopped freelancing completely for four months, between late May and September.

And while it really was necessary to get my life in order, the not painting part SUCKED!!!

Because of this, I was nervous about attending Illuxcon this year, obsessing over the fact that I didn't have much new work to show and my artistic "game" was somewhat rusty. But as I was packing up the last of my Showcase display three days before the show, I got a game-changing email from Jeannie Wilshire, who along with her husband Pat, runs the convention. Justin Sweet had to cancel at the last minute and I was next on the waiting list for a table in the main event. "Holy...!" I thought. I HAD to find a way to make it work. Failure to do so was not an option. Jeannie was incredibly comforting, and somehow her faith in me restored some of my lost confidence.

There were jokes among friends that Justin's shoes wouldn't be easy to fill, which is most certainly true (and I joked back that I hope he wears a ladies size 7). I felt like a kid who just got away with ordering a drink at the bar...

With very little time to prepare, I immediately sent my husband out on an emergency Dammar varnish run, ordered some frames to ship overnight, and started sketching out what pieces I'd put where on a 4x8 panel. I experienced about 8 different kinds of panic over the next 3 days. The good kinds.


Matting and framing my work the night before the show, 11/10/2010

In the end, Illuxcon 3 was wonderful. The table, the amazing art everywhere, the old and new friends, the conversations... all of it was more than I could hope for. For the first time in months I felt like I was awake again, in my own body - there was so much support that I can finally put 2010 behind me, and work toward a strong artistic year in 2011. I'm so motivated I could explode.

Thursday:
There's so much to take away from this event that it's hard to write it all down in one place. Like last year, I traveled up from Virginia to Pennsylvania with artist Laura Diehl and her fiance Chris Kozlowski. After helping me unload my artwork at the show (thank you again, guys!) we checked in at the Ramada, and headed out to our second annual kickoff dinner at the Altoona Red Lobster. Included in the group was Lauren K. Cannon, with whom I've shared a few Q&A pages in ImagineFX, Aaron Miller, Joe Wilson and Mike Sass, who are some of my best friends, as well as fantastic artists. And I met a couple new fellows, John Stanko, Chris Simmons, and Joe Slucher.


From L to R: Lauren Cannon, John Stanko, (me), Laura Diehl, Chris Kozlowski, Joe Slucher, Chris Simmons, Aaron Miller (behind Mike), and Mike Sass

Out of the three years the convention has been running, this was by far the busiest it's been on a Thursday night. It felt almost like the pace of Saturday from the 2008 exhibition. Throughout the whole event I had trouble sitting still at my table. I've gotten to know so many awesome artists who I consider to be my extended family, it seemed silly not to spend a lot of time hanging out with them. Thankfully my wanderlust was satiated at the artist's reception that evening. All the main event artists got to socialize and look at each others' work. As usual the display was amazing. I was certainly not the only one who felt humbled by the sight of it all.



Even though it doesn't have a "drinking party" reputation like some bigger cons, I did drink a lot this year, and almost every night (fun, but very exhausting!). At the bar I was able to get reacquainted with some of the artists I'd been out of touch with for a while, like Eric Fortune, Dan Dos Santos, and Michael C. Hayes who brought along his awesome artist table-assistant Thomas Babbey. Yes, Thursday definitely set the tone for great things to come.

Friday:
Friday was insane. I spent most of the day at the Heritage Center either at my table or at Le Bistro. Most of my friends either had tables of their own to watch, or went over to the Devorris Center to watch lectures (which I unfortunately missed out on this year). I may not have been there, but I heard many a joke about Donato's "hand commissions." (good one, D!)

While the artists in the Showcase were setting up, I grabbed dinner at the hotel with Daniel de Leon, Kyle Thomas, Jean Scrocco, and (the legendary) Greg Hildebrandt. Jean (who is not only Greg's partner but also his agent) recounted stories about the art trade and how some of Greg's work was devalued in an estate sale when a collector died unexpectedly without leaving a will. Among other things (including a great rant about how modern art is the biggest joke ever played on society), Greg talked about his foray into pin-up art, and how he loves working with the Trans Siberian Orchestra.

After dinner I toured the Showcase a bit, but it was so packed with people I could barely see the art! (How cool is that??!) Read more about the Showcase at my pal Laura's blog.

I also had a portfolio review with Jeremy Jarvis, Senior Art Director for Magic: The Gathering, that night. It was a good review. Jeremy's cool, and very easy to talk to. He made some keen observations about my work, like the fact that it's mostly figurative, but I rely mainly on environment for narrative. Very interesting - really made me think about my approach. Best of all, I'm looking forward to doing some work for Magic next month.

Friday night culminated in what was possibly the best hotel party I've ever been to, thrown by Grant "The Apparatus" Cooley, our resident p(ART)y animal. ;) I left around 3 AM, and there were still people going strong.


"Where did she go?" "I'll bet she's out drinking with those weirdos again."

Saturday:
I think it goes without saying that I was a complete zombie on Saturday. Breakfast was fun, but my head hurt increasingly as the group I was sitting with started waxing philosophical about politics... I digress. I spent more time at my table on Saturday, and it was a bit more fun with the increased amount of students in attendance. I love talking to students. I had a wonderful opportunity to review two student portfolios, and I think I was able to offer sound advice, despite the sleep deficit.

Saturday night we went out to a brewpub and chased our dinner with the first annual Illuxcon Art Jam! featuring multi-talented artists performing live music.


The Musical Stylings of Harchar and Zug

I'm not *entirely* sure how I was still upright long enough to go hang out at the Ramada bar yet again, but I had the pleasure of learning to speak Irish with the spry and infamous Patrick Jones, and sipping some Irish whiskey and bourbon with new acquaintance Tim Winkler.

Sunday:
Sunday had a mildly somber tone to it, mostly because we all knew we had to leave soon. (I waited to break into a full cry till I got home). Still I enjoyed the last day at the Heritage Center, minding my table, signing books, selling prints, and talking to curious onlookers. The show was open to the public on Sunday, so there's an interesting (or boring) shift in the questions people ask. You get a lot of "how long did that take you?" and "Where do you get your ideas?" etc. etc. Not that people shouldn't ask these questions necessarily, but sometimes I think people just talk for the sake of talking.

I still couldn't sit still, so me and Eric, along with Laura and Chris, hiked over to Sheetz to buy Dan a giant can of Red Bull.

At around 3:00 I took down my booth. Poor Lauren was waiting on me to go to lunch, yet I had forsaken her, and she lamented as she ate a stale pop tart to keep from starving. ;)

I did have a chance to thank Pat before rolling out, but it never feels like enough. I didn't make a whole lot of money (almost sold an original oil but the couple decided to buy another painting instead), but what I did make on print sales I used to buy other artists' prints (Hooray! I can finally add to my growing collection of Lucas Graciano prints hanging in my studio) and donated the rest to next year's Illuxcon scholarship fund.

Afterword:
It's ridiculous how much I haven't mentioned here. There just isn't enough room in my brain or on a page to recount everything in one go. If you have a memory we shared, or of something else cool, please write it down and send it to me.

To The Continued Success Of The Fantasy Artist Community.

Illuxcon 3 UPDATE

Due to a last-minute cancellation, I will be participating in this year's main show! This is an incredible and exciting opportunity, and I owe many thanks to Pat and Jeannie for their consideration!!

Since I was originally going to participate in the Showcase, I have a lot of prints already made, but am currently scurrying around trying to find/make bigger work to hang. This should be lots of fun, and a whirlwind two days in preparation... Here goes! :)

Illuxcon 2009 - Friday Evening, the 13th

Friday night was awesome.

I remember coming back to our hotel room at 2 AM and saying to Laura, "That. THAT is Illuxcon."

The evening began (after our naptime and sketchbook run) at Le Bistro, which was a new addition to the 'campus' since last year. I thought originally that no one in Altoona ate food, because last year it was impossible to find a restaurant in the whole downtown area... but really they're just hidden, and it was kind of Pat and Jeannie to reserve one.

We had some coffee and had good conversation with Scott Greig and Mike Sass- two very nice guys formerly from BioWare, who were visiting all the way from Canada. They told us stories about making video games back in the Baldur's Gate era (which admittedly was an awesome time for PC games). My favorite was the description of how models were textured in the days of yore; often they were limited to four textures per character, so an eyeball texture was sometimes stretched out over the limbs to simulate muscle.

We didn't really do much sketching, but judging from the crowd's fervor in the other room it was very very fun.

Afterward we crowded outside for Vincent Villafranca's live bronze pour:



Joe Wilson made the comment, "man, I can't even pour gravy that accurately."

The next part is always my favorite: the bar.
No, I'm not a huge drinker, but there's a lot to be said about meeting people with a drink in your hand. Fantasy artists are ridiculously nice people, and approaching them isn't hard anyway, though it's always nice to have a little extra bit of social lubrication.

Laura and I had a couple 'DS duels' where we traded her NintendoDS back and forth, making little paintings on the program Colors. Not so much a duel as a collaboration, but everything sounds better with 'Versus.' Eventually this ritual involved other artists. Laura even posted some of them on her blog!

I think the biggest significance about what Pat and Jeannie have done with Illuxcon, is that these events serve as a reminder to all of us that the community is still strong. You have the formal show and lectures, but you also have an open-format window of time to just talk to people- something you don't get every day in such a small field.

Illuxcon 2009 - Thursday the 12th/ Friday the 13th

Although it was fun going solo to the first Illuxcon, I think I prefer traveling with a group. This time I brought not only my husband, Brendan, but my illustrator pal Laura and her b/f Koz. We all shared a room at the Ramada to cut down on cost a bit, and used Laura's truck to load all our artwork.


(Koz & Laura in our hotel room, Thurs, Nov 11)

I knew it was going to be a great weekend going into it, but I was also excited about some of the new programming and artists. After getting into town, we stopped by the show, and wow. It was a bit overwhelming, honestly - it's not a show you can do in just an hour. You have to take it in in pieces, or else you'll miss a lot.
So we retreated to the bar. There weren't a whole lot of people there on Thursday night yet, but it was relaxing to grab a drink before turning in.

We woke up early on Friday and ate complimentary breakfast at the hotel so we could get down to the Heritage Center early. Our first stop of the day was the Art of Self Promotion roundtable discussion, with Boris Vallejo & Julie Bell, Donato Giancola, Ruth Sanderson, and Jeremy Caniglia. I agree with Boris that the audience-led conversation careened into tangential territory (talking about rights management and contracts) instead of focusing purely on getting your foot in the door, but there was a lot of useful information nonetheless.



One of the more notable parts of the discussion was Donato's demonstration of how 50% of your marketing will typically be for naught, while the other half might get the attention you're after; he demonstrated this concept by showing the audience two dollar bills, then tearing one into smaller and smaller pieces, representing how no matter how much you spend you'll get about half a return on your investment. He also brought along a portfolio he made out of two heavy steel dinner platters, which was... totally fun.



One of the more surprising things to hear was how much LuLu.com was mentioned, since previously I'd been under the impression that their printing was slipshod. Ruth and at least two others during the convention mentioned it as a cheap alternative to fancy offset printing for producing show books.

After that we sped over to room 003 and listened to Caniglia's History of Fantasy Art talk. This program was less interactive, but very informative. I felt bad bringing Brendan to this one since art history isn't easy to relate to if you don't have an art background, but he was a trooper. I thought the speech started out very strong, with Jeremy giving background on himself and tying Renaissance & Romantic art into modern fantasy themes. I wish that there had been a little more variety in the contemporary art parallels made, but after all there are time limits, and he did a great job for the time allotted.

After that, (ok this is mildly embarrassing) we all went back to the room to take a nap. At least the others did. My heart was moving at hummingbird speed from all the excitement, so while I tried to rest a little I couldn't stop fidgeting. After that was over, Laura, Koz, and I headed over to Target to buy sketchbooks (I told you this was embarrassing!) and then to Le Bistro for the Reception, Sketching, and live bronze pour...

To be continued...

Illuxcon 2009 - A (very) Brief Overview

It's good to be home, but I have to say that this year's Illuxcon was one of the best weekends I've had in my life. A huge thanks to Patrick & Jeannie Wilshire for hosting yet another amazing event.



I'll probably map out my whole experience day-by-day, but overall, I learned (or reaffirmed) a few important lessons:

1. Carry your portfolio with you at all times, including to restaurants and the bar. Illux is full of opportunities to look at amazing work both in- and outside the actual show, so take full advantage of every opportunity to make yours available. Likewise, if an illustrator does NOT have his or her portfolio, it's ok to scowl at them disapprovingly.

2. Buy a portfolio with removable pages (or bring an Xacto knife with you). Chances are your book will need surgery after the first several reviews, and there's nothing worse than playing doctor using the wrong tools.

3. Charge your camera battery. One of my biggest hopes for next year's con is that someone else will take over my photo-snapping responsibilities. I do like taking photos, but it's kind of frustrating to break character while waiting for a prosumer Nikon to FOCUS. Also, everyone seems to have a better camera than me... hmm...

4. Go to as many lectures as possible. Bonus points if you can somehow be in 3 places at once!

5. did I mention that thing about bringing your portfolio everywhere?
...

Now I mentioned to a few folks that I was thinking of creating a Flickr account for people to post up their post-con artwork (or rather, the paintings inspired by the 'Illuxcon experience'). And so I actually did! Come join here: http://www.flickr.com/groups/1262041@N20/
My studio floor is a mess with business cards, so if I met you you'll be getting an email from me to that effect.

More details to come- Back to work!!!!


(my silly mug @ the Saturday showcase... good times)

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.

Digital Art lecture & demo at WT Woodson High

Last week I got a great opportunity to visit the digital art/animation/AP portfolio prep classes at WT Woodson (my old high school) and give a slide presentation and digital painting demo to the students.

The first part of the lecture was focused on how I got started; My teacher, Donna, even had some [embarrassing] examples of digital artwork I did when I was in her classes for effect. Then I talked about some of my methods, and about the business side of it all. We're business card-carrying members of society too! Tell your parents we're like lawyers and executives, only way more fun.

I think the demo was much more interesting. I let the students pick the subject and they said "people!" so I borrowed one of the students.

This is the 10 minute portrait doodle that ensued:


Meanwhile, I've got all my tips turned in for an upcoming Imagine FX article, along with my bio, headshot, 5 pieces of recent work. Their latest issue is on the gaming industry, and I have a business card in my pocket which Donna gave me for the game studio EA/Mythic. It's down the street from our apartment. I'm thinking of calling them and scheduling a review or something, if they're interested in working with contract artists.

I've got to draw line art for a "Professor Gizmo" today at the office, who I imagine is a steampunk wizard chemist guy. We'll see what the client actually says.

And lastly, here are some macros of me reaching for my coffee mug during the school presentation, courtesy of Livejournal user oldsmobile_mike.