Blue Moon Rising

Origins 2009 Art Show Report

Jeff — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 14:54:15 +0000

Once again, in a dark alcove of Columbus, Ohio, a secretive cabal of judges have cast their bones and divined the highlights of this year’s Origins Art Show:

“Sweeny Jack” by David Wong - Best Monochrome
“Stayin’ for Dinner Yet?” by Mike Bocianowski - Best Color
“Dragon Skull” by Brent Barrett - Best 3D/Mixed Media
“Dr. Who” by Jeff Carlisle - Best SciFi *
“Martini Fairy” by Alain Viesca - Best Fantasy
“Lady Britannia” by Jason Banditt Adams - Best Historical *
“Pie Cuthulu” by Echo Chernik - Best Contemporary *
“Ardent” by Chris Pritchard - Best Game

A wide variety of creative skills rounded out the gallery, including the works of: Andrew Bawidamann, Ed Beard Jr., Amanda Becher, Lydia Burris, Gina Canady-Adler, Heather Cornelius, Chris Curran, johnathan darkly, Ren Hastings, Andy Hopp, Veronica Jones, Robert A. Kraus, Heather Kreiter, Amul Kumar, Theresa Mather, Joshua David, Brian Miskelly, Steve Prescott, Nigel Sade, Tony Steele, Charles Urbach, Donna Waltz, Brent Woodside, and Cornelia Yoder.

A larger venue with plenty of ambiance and the able management of Thesser and Giggles helped make this year a show to remember!

* featured image

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Sarah Ann Davies

Jeff — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 14:09:11 +0000

Elves, as the de facto emissaries of fairy folk, have undergone almost constant artistic reinterpretation over the centuries. Thanks to the inspired efforts of Sarah Ann Davies, these gentle souls are are expertly represented in the twenty first century.

Through Ms. Davies’ eyes, we see beautiful elves as elaborately coiffed, art nouveau royalty, still connected to nature in subtle yet important ways. Their luxurious bodies both at ease in any setting, yet mildly self-conscious… cautiously aware of their intoxicating effects on mortals.

Aside from a forest full of fey, accidental angels, jeweled Indian princesses and personal portraits are also to be found on her art blog. In fact Sarah Ann seems to have gone completely elf-free this year. Hopefully she’ll soon return to her mythological roots, yet even her seemingly-mundane works have a hint of fantasy shining just beneath the surface.

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BLITEOTW 2009: They Just Keep Coming

Jeff — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 13:24:37 +0000

Tomorrow heralds the return of a peculiar annual tradition that just won’t die: Blog Like its the End of the World 2009. Over two years ago, Steve Wilson started promoting an unusual idea of his that involved a global zombie pandemic that swept the globe on June 13th, midnight local time, to be acted out exclusively on blogs all over the world. It was wildly popular, and rightly so, but why do the zombies keep coming?

After two years of fighting zombies here in and around our nation’s capitol, I’ve taken steps to avoid the zombie jamboree that’s set to begin in a few hours time. These steps are magical in nature and arise from my complete and utter boredom of what will certainly be a “zombie threepeat”, as opposed to a glorious alien invasion, demonic uprising, robot rampage, or some other non-ambulatory-deceased catastrophe.

Zombies are so 2007.

Update: the closest thing to a compendium seems to be the BLITEOTW community at LiveJounal.

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Emily Fiegenschuh

Jeff — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 15:18:26 +0000

It would be an easy mistake to quickly glance at the playful illustrations and youthful characters that dominate Emily Fiegenschuh’s gallery and presume that she has exclusively played in the children’s illustration market. Looking beyond her watercolor whimsy, however, will reveal a far deeper and broader understanding of her artistic acumen.

Ms. Fiegenschuh has a talent for not only understanding the innocence of any subject, but also in revealing it — subtly at times — in her works. This childlike quality is easily seen in her playful fairies and hatchling dragons, but also playing across the face of many a reluctant warrior and seemingly irredeemable monster.

Revealing her skill with natural media, her watercolor works are inspired by the intricate textures and raw beauty of the natural world. But be warned: nature frequently reminds us that innocence and savagery often walk hand in hand.

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Frightful Fairies and Sullen Succubi

Jeff — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 03:56:16 +0000

About this time last year, our Mr. Darkly started a slow, steady trickle of fanciful fairy figures in a wide array of creative color combinations. They were cute, a little underdressed, and far too jittery, so the effort didn’t quite warrant a mention.

Recently, however, the string of salacious sprites has been broken by an updated, but no less improbable portrait of a futuristic demon hunter and her curvaceous captive. Rumor has it that Jon’s next project will also feature demonic damsel fighting a more classical foe: an bright and shining angel.

With a bit of luck, this proposed piece will be included in the batch of Jon’s lenticular stereo images we’ll bring to Origins — along with Veronica’s dog and pony show — in three weeks time.

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Let the Right One In, If You Dare

Jeff — Thu, 21 May 2009 23:09:03 +0000

The classic vampire film relies on a few well-worn tropes: a seductive, powerful villain, a noble, principled hero, and a clear sense of right and wrong. These roles are occasionally reversed, and the undead hero struggles with brutish humans.

Neither of these situations adequately define the chance collision of violently introverted Oskar and mysteriously vulnerable Eli in the Tomas Alfredson cinematic adaption of John Ajvide Lindqvist’s novel Let the Right One In.

Set in a small Sweedish town in the 1980’s, we follow Oskar’s small, quiet life as a bullied student and single child of a failing marriage. When he meets a strange, standoffish girl named Eli outside his apartment, a halting, awkward friendship blossoms. As several grisly murders set the community on edge, the two childrens’ relationship becomes stronger, and more complex.

It would be easy for the unknowing to dismiss Let the Right One In as a somber European preteen Twilight, and while the premise is not entirely dissimilar, these cinematic still waters run far more deep than teen angst and escapism. It is an intimate, almost claustrophobic tale of the innocence and brutality of youth, and the forces that drive lost souls together in times of mutual need.

This dark, stark tale slowly builds like a midwinter snow drift, and casts a slightly disinterested eye at one young man’s coming of age, and his encounters with an oddly vulnerable, eternally innocent monster. Is it love, or something less? Only time will tell.

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Vinod Rams

Jeff — Tue, 19 May 2009 03:47:32 +0000

A shining thread that connects every culture’s mythology is humanity’s complex relationship with the other animals of this world. In some tellings, even the gods themselves evidenced aspects of animal form and behavior. Vinod Rams clearly takes inspiration from these beastly tales, and the result is a veritable feast of feral furries and appreciably animalistic humans.

The is no denying the inherent humanity of the characters Mr. Rams illuminates, rather their essences are complimented with a raw, visceral energy that emanates from the animal instincts and passions that are still a part of us, no matter how we seek to obscure this elemental truth.

Recall your own inner animal as you enjoy the detailed figure work of Vinod’s collection.

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Are You Missing out on Knowing?

Jeff — Sat, 02 May 2009 16:32:53 +0000

Perhaps you were avoiding the Alex Proyas film Knowing because the trailers made it appear to be a generic Hollywood disaster flick, or maybe you were afraid of another bizarre performance from it’s leading man. Whatever the source of your reluctance, I’m here to tell you that this film is anything but generic, and hardly Tinseltown’s normal action-adventure fare.

The film start out simply enough, with a time capsule containing young student’s drawings being buried at an elementary school, to be then opened and distributed to the students of the same school 50 years later. But when one widower’s son receives a long string of numbers in lieu of a drawing, it’s soon discovered to be a list of fatal disasters, nearly all of which have already occurred since the list was created. The last few, however, will occur within days.

Given the relentlessly-expanding scope of the film’s events, Nicolas Cage — as the widower uncovering a potential prophesy of doom — was given plenty of room to react to extraordinary events that unfolded around his character. The people with whom he interacts provide a ballast that never let him, or the film get too out of hand too quickly. Even the child actors are calm and reasonable — as they can only be in films — yet still retain enough of their innocence and wonder to weather the increasingly improbable events that occur.

The trend of late is for the marketing teams to underplay or hide altogether the fantastic elements of movies — The Last Mimzy’s extraterrestrial origin being one such example — and Knowing is the latest victim of this trend. Theists and Humanists alike will be challenged by the events of this film, but its ultimate message is irrefutable: the only certainty we have is that our future rests in the hands of our children.

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Chris Pritchard

Jeff — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 23:00:34 +0000

Uncovering the brutal truths and rough-hewn beauty of the high fantasy world may be a difficult and thankless task, but Chris Pritchard accomplishes it with ease. His worldweary warriors and battle-hardened beasties are no less heroic in their pursuits, but they are mindful of the costs of their victories, and the toll it has taken on their soul.

Mr. Pritchard has a flair for the demonic and the beastly, be they aspects of the human psyche, or more explicitly as creatures of dark power and ferocity. Indeed, some of the figures you find in his portfolio are not clearly man nor animal… but some amoral amalgamation of the two.

Curiously enough, when Chris isn’t exploring the inner and outer struggles of the fantastic, he’s documenting a decidedly science fiction parable of street crimes and political intrigue titled Subterfuge. This compelling web comic, like much of his work — and perhaps his outlook on life — is rendered only in shades of gray.

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Holding Out for a Dollhouse Hero

Jeff — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 19:44:35 +0000

After having just watched the eighth episode of Joss Whedon’s high-concept action thriller Dollhouse, I realized why this beautifully cast, cleverly scripted series is ultimately so unsatisfying: there’s not one regular character to honestly root for or admire.

The Dolls themselves are certainly sympathetic characters, but are little more than mindless babies in their natural state. All of the extraordinary abilities exhibited by these “actives” are built on false personalities. It seems impossible to parse which impulses and desires they exhibit are actually their own, or if a mind-wiped zombie can even have honest feelings. Every hint we’re shown of the people they once are later proven illusory…. a lie.

Those that work in the Dollhouse itself are willing participants in all manner of in human atrocities. Yes, a few employees of the Rossum Corporation seem to honestly care for their mentally neutered charges, but a few sleepless nights in the service of evil isn’t particularly noble. Most seem resigned to, or downright amused by the savage acts committed by and on their infantile charges.

This leaves us one obsessed FBI agent who is obviously much more concerned with debriefing Echo than taking down a global slavery operation. Even if agent Ballard’s intentions were pure, he’s certainly accomplished nothing meaningful to date, other than a brief rendezvous with the girl of his dreams.

Like those wayward souls who serve the Dollhouse, it seems the actors and viewers alike are trapped in a situation beyond their control. The best they and we can hope for is that there is a method to Mr. Whedon’s madness, and like some mirror-mirror Buffyverse, there’s a “Big Good” hero waiting to confront our merry band of villains and save the day… and the series.

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Six Answers from Jeremy McHugh

Jeff — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 01:40:17 +0000

You would be hard pressed to find an artist with more irons in the fire than Jeremy McHugh. He’s a full-time RPG illustrator, podcast co-host, and tireless participant in sketch groups and art competitions. Sleep for Mr. McHugh seems a mathematical impossibility!

What was one of your earliest fantasy experiences?

Hmm…does the time I was sucked up into a space ship count? Actually, I can remember being two years old in the back of the family station wagon at the drive-in theater. A huge gray slice of pizza was crossing the screen…and that was my first impression of Star Wars in the opening moments of the film.

How did you become a professional artist?

It was something I chose to work towards when I realized that there are people who make a living drawing silly pictures! I put together a small portfolio and began contacting people. I suppose my first published work (that I was paid for) came from Ron Edwards over at Adept Press on his Sorcerer RPG. In my mind that would mark the true beginning of my career as a professional artist.

Where do you find inspiration for your work?

I think I find it where most working pros do (based on those I’ve spoken to). Books, film, other artists, music, being outside. Basically anything that gets my imagination going. A pretty standard answer I guess.

Is there a single message that you find yourself most drawn to?

I like the theme of the ordinary person facing and overcoming extraordinary circumstances often by blessedly good luck and an adherence to principles and common sense. My favorite heroes fall into this theme snugly.

What has been your most challenging project?

Hmmm…I suppose it was one time when I was contracted to do a large batch of card illustrations and learned half-way through it (quite by accident), that I would not be hired for the next set because the owner of the intellectual property did not like my work for some reason.

I really had to dig deep to be a professional. In addition, the feedback from the intellectual property’s owner was often insulting and contradictory to the reference I was provided. Still, professionalism won out and I finished my assignments with the quality I was known for at the time. Hard to type when I am patting myself on the back… LOL.

What are you working on now?

Currently, I am working on a book cover for an RPG publisher. I am quite proud of the work so far. I feel it is among the best I’ve done to date so I am pretty excited to eventually see it in print. I’m also working on a small 4-page comic story which has been good fun so far.

Follow the frenetic pace of Jeremy’s career on his blog: McHugh’s Basement.

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Melissa Findley

Jeff — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 01:41:39 +0000

Why are the most beautiful creatures often the most deadly? If anyone knows the answer, it may be Melissa Findley. Never before has a collection of characters — both mythic and mundane — been so pleasing to the eye, yet so dangerous to immortal soul.

A few of Ms. Findley’s portraits reveal cunning, but ultimately benign souls, gently pondering their place in the world. Other works, however, paint a far darker image of delicate deceit and convoluted chicanery, wrapped in introspective packages of simmering, sensual energy. Yet even these darkest hearts seem somehow capable of the noblest of virtues: love, loyalty and perhaps even brief flirtations with compassion or kindness.

One commnality among all of these deviously charming men and wickedly vivacious women, however, is that each possesses the single most combustible combination of attributes imaginable: the skills necessary to shape their world, and the audacity to use them.

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Watchmen Heralds Superheroic End of Days

Jeff — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 16:37:15 +0000

Superman ushered in the modern age of movie super heroes in 1978 as a alien farmboy with a heart of gold and a clear sense of good and evil. A decade later, Batman burst on the screen with some serious issues, and a darker view of caped crimefighting. Bats became a bit more grim — and much less cheesy – thanks to a much-needed reboot, but was still grounded by a strong sense of justice, and a belief in the sanctity of human life, no matter how corrupt. The Watchmen are set for general release tomorrow, with several costumed heroes ultimately more frightening than any villain.

No superhero will never be as dark or unforgiving as Rorschach, as omnipotent or emotionally detached as Dr. Manhattan. Still other characters fight for their goals at nearly any cost. The viewer may find themselves challenged to redefine their concept “hero” several times throughout the film.

While there have been a few changes to critical plot points, the general consensus is that Zach Snyder’s Watchmen may very well be the most failthful translation of a comic book to the screen. The core questions of the corrupting influence of power on governments and the human soul remain, and with its unflinching gaze into the abyss, Watchmen could conceivably mark the begininng of a post-super era for a generation of moviegoers.

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Foundling by D. M. Cornish

Veronica — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 19:29:56 +0000

I recently went to a SCBWI conference and was an avid listener as speaker after speaker spoke about what makes for effective writing. One thing that was mentioned is that good books need a hook – some way to grab their audience and not let go until the last page is turned at 3:00 in the morning.

For me, I was hooked by Foundling, the first book of the Monster Blood Tattoo series by D. M. Cornish. Although the basic premise is similar to many other books - a young orphan starts off to make his way in the world – what captivated me was how fully realized is the world of the Half-Continent the orphan Rossamund lives in.

Having lived in Madame Opera’s Estimable Marine Society for Foundling Boys and Girls all his young life, he’s an innocent who’s only caught glimpses of the wider world through the adventure pamphlets a kind housekeeper would bring to him. When he leaves to start a career as a lamplighter and takes a fateful wrong turn, he discovers a place both wilder and stranger than those stories could ever convey. The monsters that surround him are both bigger, badder and more complex, and many times, human.

To visit the Half-Continent and travel with Rosamund on his journeys, D.M. Cornish has given us a travelogue lush with language. Illustrated plates by the author give us glimpses into the characters we will meet, and a lengthy explicarium provides additional information for the true explorer of the Half-Continent. Recommended.

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Outside of a Dog….

Jeff — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 05:46:45 +0000

In my callow youth, I was a voracious reader. I read books by the bagful: new, old, borrowed or traded. Asimov, Heinlein, Bradbury, Tolkien, and all the Thieves’ World, Myth Adventures, and Sector General I could get my hands on.

One day, however, a horrible thing happened: while reading a particularly… difficult Star Trek novel, the plot and characters began deconstructing in my head… all of the writer’s fetishes and fantasies were laid bare before me. 20 years later, I have yet to read a work of fiction spanning more than a handful of pages.

With this in mind, it’s not to difficult to see why book reviews have been a long time coming. Fortunately, Veronica is stepping in to address this absence of media in it’s most ancient form, and here — in her own words — is why:

I want to tell you a little bit about myself and what I enjoy, as this will help inform you of my tastes and let you judge just how much weight to give my advice on books. I am new to reviewing work and certainly new to writing. However, I have long had a love affair with reading and love of reading leads to writing I’ve been told.

I consider a trip to a bookstore to browse the aisles to be a delight, and have had to train myself over the years to put down a book and get down to the business of living, as I have sometimes put off necessary work in order to get in a few more chapters.

When I was younger, I brought books to shopping trips with my mom, to dinner parties, in the car or the bus. I would even walk from class to class reading a book. I especially love fantasy, and science fiction, but I’ve been known to enjoy a good intense thriller or mystery and sometimes a nice emotional love story just to mix things up.

There you have it. If she writes one book review for every ten she reads, Veronica will surpass my post count before the year is out.

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Mirana Reveier

Jeff — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 00:48:45 +0000

Should any doubts remain regarding the mutual benefit of cultural cross-pollination, they have been put to rest by the savory jambalaya of anime and high fantasy that is the work of Mirana Reveier. With a combination of original creations and fan favorites, her carefree characters exhibit the traits of each tradition in a seemingly infinite variety of combinations.

The relaxed, lanky denizens of Ms. Reveier’s design may seem to be citizens of many artistic nations, but they all benefit from her particular stylistic vision, while ably honoring the traditions of cartoon and painterly portraits. Her odes to Avatar: the Last Airbender, Coyboy Bebop and Final Fantasy are unique, but the works that feature creatures from her own imagination are perhaps her most compelling.

Each piece in the puzzle that is Marana’s gallery is unmistakably hers, and undeniably enjoyable.

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Climb Ninja Mountain to Attain Artists’ Enlightenment

Veronica — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 02:34:23 +0000

Podcasts are great in that they are so specific. Do you like Brand X comics made from 1977 to the spring of 1981? Then you may be able to find a few like minded individuals to broadcast your devotion to the world via the magic of podcasting.

While the new show from Ninja Mountain isn’t quite that geeky, it does speak to a specific subset of illustrators - those who through misfortune and a love for the hobby paper gaming industry, have chosen to work in the specific field of fantasy and science fiction illustration for role playing and card games.

Having done quite a bit of work in this area myself, I found myself intensely listening to the show — giggling in agreement at times and of course jealous as all hell of the assembled talent on the show. The current cast includes Jon Hodgson, Patrick McEvoy, my friend Jeremy McHugh, and occasional guest artists. The hour long show is like listening in to a conversation between friends at an industry convention — the topics are wide ranging and scattershot but there are nuggets of gold for the aspiring freelancer.

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Coraline is a Delightful Nightmare

Jeff — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 05:31:01 +0000

Dreams are fleeting, irrational experiences that distort, compress and bend reality in innumerable ways, often defying their own internal, transitory laws even as they are defined. In spite of these mercurial qualities, dreams can be both a sweet release from the physical world, and a chilling reminder of the realities we seek to avoid. Coraline too, reminds us of uncomfortable truths while offering us an escape… into the heart of a child.

As the film begins, we meet Coraline Jones, a confident yet solitary young girl and her distant parents as they settle in to an old house. Coraline encounters quite a few odd characters in and around her new home, but has a hard time settling in. When she discovers a portal to a magical world where her other mother and father meet her every need, she’s overjoyed… until they make an oddly disturbing request.

The visuals on display in Coraline have a singular style that benefits from both old school stop motion and newfangled computer animation techniques, both are used to full effect. The 3D presentation is also executed flawlessly, but seems oddly unnecessary in this otherwise engaging experience. That Neil Gaiman’s timeless book gets no mention in the marketing is more than a little odd, but one would imagine he hardly needs additional praise for his eerily boundless imagination.

Feel free to take all but your youngest to this modern fairy tale, but like the best of childrens’ films, you have to be grown up to fully appreciate its worth.

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Look Out Kids, Veronica is Coming!

Jeff — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 05:05:19 +0000

The 2009 convention season has crept up on us like a thief in the night, and it’s first crime is to steal Veronica off to New York later today for the SCBWI Winter Conference. Her attendance at this munchkin-friendly creative get together is her first official venture into the world of childrens’ illustration.

Even her newly-redesigned website MoonShines has gone a bit whimsical, adding her favorite kiddie creations beside her fantasy and action adventure works.

Fantasy art, however, cannot be denied, so Veronica will yet again be in attendance at Origins. Her latest works will be on display in the art room, but she will no doubt be wandering throughout the room and convention, cavorting with the other artists in attendance with reckless abandon.

Finally, we will redouble our efforts to attend Con on the Cob this year. It might be our imagination, but it seems as if we don’t attend at least one of Andy’s conventions this year, it will be impossible for us to ever catch up to his rapidly expanding list of events.

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Rise of the Lycans Provides Fine Underworld Foundation

Jeff — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 06:54:11 +0000

Can a film be both a powerful introduction into a particular mythology, and fitting end to a series as well? Returning to the roots of Lycan and Vampire animosity in Rise of the Lycans after portraying a critical turning point in their immortal war with the first two Underworld films seems to have accomplished just such a feat.

This prequel finds the courtly vampires caging and breeding their beastly werewolf kin. When a new, more “evolved” child is born, he becomes father to a new, more intelligent strain of slave… perhaps too intelligent. Lucian grows up a slave, and while serving his Vampire masters well, he wins the heart of his master’s daughter Sonja.

Michael Sheen reprises his role as the lycanthropic Lucian, as Bill Nighy seethes as the kingly Viktor, lord of the undead. Underworld newcomer Rhona Mitra shines as Sonja, and provides an equal measure of warrior and womanly ways.

In spite of the fact that this tale has largely already been told in the first two films, these three actors imbue their immortal characters with the strength and passion to elevate Rise of the Lycans beyond mere flashback to a compelling epic rife with tragedy, yet filled with hope.

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