Long month

Mayhaps you noticed my absence. Mayhaps you didn't. There are a lot of blogs to follow, and so little time...

Regardless, I return. Tired, but determined. I have accompanied my girlfriend on an extended hospital stay, participated in the student art sale, and survived the holidays (so far).

I blew two of my self-appointed deadlines (artorder and the frazetta tribute) and still haven't gotten much of anything off the ground. But I painted tonight. And it was most satisfying. My little squid girl has been lonely as of late, what with my distractions and side projects. Here she be, closer yet to being haply finished. Sorry for the poor picture quality.

New style

So I'm about to try a series of work in a new-ish style so that I could be more approachable from an editorial standpoint. So I am incorporating much more of my drawing and trying my hand digitally for a cleaner, less painterly feel. This is one of my pieces in progress, a cropped image from the original named, "Internet Explorer." As soon as I can, I'll have the helmet looking more like a space helmet and less like a weird halo. Any critiques? Suggestions? Do you like the new direction?

Awesome sauce.

This weekend I went to the first art convention I've ever been to. It. Was. Awesome.

Being able to see the originals of paintings that I've looked at on the internet for ages was a real treat. Seeing the strokes, the little colors, and then turning to the side and being able to talk to the artist him or herself was truly inspiring. Not every day do you get to show Dan Dos Santos your portfolio or ask Donato Giancola about his skin tone colors.

I shook every hand I could, I asked every question I could, even the stupid ones, and even though I was star-struck and awkward, it was great learning to push past that. I got a lot and a lot of great insight and input, and a surprisingly positive response to my portfolio. I even got to sit in the hot tub with Lars Grant West and drink alongside Dos Santos and Patrick Jones, to name a few. Yeah, I sound like a fan-boy. I am. So be it.

One of the scariest encounters was with Jon Schindehette, who in real life is super, super nice, and also very muscled. Of course it was all my nervousness, and it was awesome to talk to him, but man-o, I'm glad I brought my antiperspirant.

Other standouts were Scott Altman, who is ridiculously nice, Ryan Pancoast, someone who I think is well on his way to pure awesome, and again, Lars, who was really nice and informative to talk to. Eric Fortune really gave me some detailed insight into my work, and Dan Dos Santos had some great tips on surface texture with my work. I could keep listing names and blubbering happily, but rest assured, I am happy to be broke, after all I gained from this trip.

Paintings and opportunities

Here's a fantasy piece I've been working on for the upcoming Illuxcon. I don't have very many fantasy pieces, oddly enough. That is soon to be rectified. At Illuxcon, I have signed up for a portfolio review with the ever-informational Jon Schindehette, Creative Art Director at Wizards of the Coast.

I love fantasy, and I love science fiction, but I have never really felt comfortable building fantasy paintings in the LOTR era. I feel like it is cliche, and I never want to be seen as a painter of cliches. That said, I am trying to make this piece straddle a fine line. Not shown here is the atmosphere and the 'magic.' Our old wizard foreground is firing lightning at the British coat and tie style magician in the middle-ground, who is deflecting the shot into the street lamp behind him.

The story is as simple as it gets: wizard fight. I thought of a young, proud generation of wizards working to topple the old order, as brash and bold as they are powerful and impatient. Unafraid, even, of picking a fight in the middle of the street in the early morning fog. The buildings and our character in the middle-ground will all be very affected by the short draw distance and smothering effect of the fog.

Speaking of Jon Schindehette, I have very exciting news. Recently he posted on his blog, ArtOrder, that he was looking to mentor someone. He asked all of those interested to submit five pieces of art and a write-up stating why we would be a good mentee and why we want to be one. Well, I had to jump at that.

Even more recently he announced that five of the artists (out of however many) were standouts for his particular help, and that he would be asking each if they wanted him to be their mentor. And I was one of them! This all happened about two weeks ago, and initially I was hesitant to mention this opportunity, as I was unsure whether, of the five, he would continue to narrow it down. I still don't know if he is helping with everyone on the list, but he is helping with me. So, hurray!

Another happy point of news: I may be getting an in-house position at an Ad agency working on photography layout sketches, a sort of blueprint for all of their mailer work for big clients. I had an interview with them on Monday, and they will be sending me a 'test' next week to see how I do. Working on actual illustration would be much more of a fit than working in Joann as a day job, methinks.

That's not all, either! But that's all I'm going to tell you about for now, ha. Illuxcon is coming very soon and, outside of helping my dad build a shop for his work and making money in Joann, I have dropped everything so I can focus on painting and making my portfolio shine. It is a very important weekend for me, and I've been setting up for months now.

Big things are in store! Being patient is even harder now that I am waiting on actual things, but it is easier, too, because at least I know there is a light at the end of this tunnel.

I shot the sheriff. Once a week 6

I don't want to be seen as a western painter. So maybe I should stop painting westerns. They are a great test, though. It's like taking an aptitude test every year, seeing what I've learned and, even, what I did better in the last one. This is a little study that, once all my other work is done, and there is thankfully a lot of it right now, will probably go to finish and stand beside the other cowboys.

I will also give a shout-out to Jake Murray, his mention of the Zorn palette influenced much of what I did to this piece. Another blog of note, if anyone who follows me does not already follow them, is Muddy Colors. Donato's post today made me laugh, as it is specifically why I think this piece works well: a limited greenish palette for the skin that looks warm when set next to the ultramarine I put liberally in the background.

8x10, oil, approx. 2 hours

Interview time

I'll be back later, pray for me!

I have a habit of...

Posting right before a post saying that I'm about to post. I guess it's just my way of letting the world know I haven't forgotten about artwork. There are alot of exciting, exciting things underway for me in the next few weeks (regardless of my little rant earlier) so it has been a busy time for me, working in little fits and starts on multiple pieces not worthy of showing. But by early November I hope to have five new paintings. Two of them you have seen progress on, but three others will be wonderful little surprises to fill in some gaps in my portfolio. So yeah, I'll post soon. See you then.