ImagineFX Magazine #46 - coming next week!

Tune in next week for IFX #46, and check out my "grunge" workshop! I've even put some DVD assets out there for everyone to share. The whole issue has "gone goth," so I think I might make a pot of ultra-black coffee and puff on a clove while enjoying this issue...

Read Beren's post, via the iFX forums

Speaking of grunge, I took some great photographs of my father-in-law's house last weekend. It's reminiscent of what I imagine a nuclear test site would look like after 30 years of nature taking over. No doubt some of those textures will be showing up in new artwork.

ArtOrder Vampires Challenge

I don't normally work in pure black & white, but that was the nature of the "Vampire Challenge" recently posted on ArtOrder. It's been a while since I've participated in a short-term challenge, too. And winning isn't everything; I entered more for my own edification and practice. I'm looking forward to seeing the other artists' renditions. Enjoy.

2D Artist Magazine #41

I'm a little late on this one, but Half Her Heart's Duet is available at higher-than-normal resolution in the Gallery section of 2D Artist Magazine's May issue! There's some awesome artwork and content in this e-zine. I particularly enjoyed Ivan Kashubo's sketchbook, and the speedpainting article...

You can purchase the mag through the 2dartistmag.com website, or download a free "lite" version as a .zip file.

Donato's

About two years ago, Dan Dos Santos invited me to a party in Brooklyn at Donato Giancola's house. It was an experience that changed my life, not just in terms of networking with veterans of the fantasy/sci-fi illustration field, but because when I walked in that door, I didn't know I wanted to be an illustrator yet, and walking out I was certain that's what I wanted to do. I'd admired a lot of these guys since I was a teenager, but my artistic plans had been all over the map. Until I discovered there really IS a group of people out there who are like me, and they showed me what I needed to do.

Last week I got an email from Scott Grimando about this year's gathering, and I couldn't pass up the opportunity.

It was great to reconnect with folks I hadn't seen in a while - Kristina Carroll (www.kristinacarrollart.com) is an awesome up-and-coming illustrator and total sweetheart. Also Zelda Devon and Kurt Huggins (www.teeteringbulb.com) who I met at Illuxcon last year. I also got a chance to meet some new folks like Ruth Kim (www.ruthkim.com) and Robert Brown (www.bobbrownart.com). All great stuff worth checking out!

One of the highlights of the evening was having a conversation with Gregory Manchess about his current re-working of an illustration featuring a certain famous (or infamous?) pirate.

So in conclusion, it was another awesome night. And totally worth braving bus travel. It also made me realize how far I've come in 2 years. I'm hoping I can keep up that pace in the next two.

W.T. Woodson Alumni Art Show - June 2

Yep, next week I'm showing work at my high school's Alumni Show. According to one of the art teachers, I'll be the oldest one showing. Ack! If you're a Woodson grad or just want to come for the heck of it there will probably be free food, and the new art wing they built is a friggin huge and amazing sight to behold.

Art Remixes

(Click to enlarge)

I just had to redo the mer-people! I got a lot of good critique on the original version of this piece, and decided to act on it. Honestly the original was done as figure practice— not sure why I took it seriously enough to ever post it anywhere, but by putting the mer-folk in a new context I think I really made this work. I've gotten even more good input on this in the cgsociety.org and conceptart.org crit forums since yesterday, which I'll carry on into my next onslaught of work.

Also last week I reworked the 2007 painting Shall we Count His Rings?):


(Click to enlarge)

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.

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.

-------
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.