The Recycle Project

I'll be visiting GenCon in Indianapolis tomorrow. So, that should be fun. In preparation for the event, I ran out and picked up a little portfolio book and printed my current portfolio. I still had my old portfolio prints, so it was great fun being able to physically compare the two. I realized there are themes I like to revisit.

Sometimes I revisit a subject because I don't feel like the first time through did it justice. Way back when, Jon Schindehette had an Art Order contest called D&D Pin-up. He wanted to see D&D characters (preferably tieflings) in a sort of classic pin-up pose. So I gave him this half-assed Gil Elvgren style piece.

At the time I didn't think it was half-assed, but I knew that if I could revisit the subject, I'd give it my whole ass. So I did:

Sometimes I revisit a subject from a different angle. In Fahrenheit 451, there's a moment in the books when a woman sets herself on fire in front of Montag. I thought that'd make a cool cover, so:

A few years later, I wanted to be more conceptual with the cover. The real catalyst for Montag was the girl Clarisse, so I tried playing around with the idea a bit. This piece is already on its way out of my portfolio, so maybe I'll give it another go soon...

Sometimes I like many aspects of a project even though I change everything else about it. Here, I've kept only the perspective.

Originally, I was going to just replace the guy with Link, and say hey, Water Temple. But I hate the Water Temple. Also, so much of my art fades to black that it gives a very claustrophobic feeling to my work, so I wanted to open it up and give the piece room to breath. This was one of my first digital projects, and I'm still happy with it.

Last but not least, sometimes I revisit a project because it's just fun to paint. One of the great joys of being an artist is producing work year after year and seeing how much you've grown and changed. This project is one of my most stark comparisons.

When I finish a painting I'm particularly proud of, it is inconceivable to me that I could do any better.

But what do I know?