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SheVaCon 2010 Art Report

Jeff — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 15:37:09 +0000

Stormtroopers and Klingons descended en masse upon Roanoke last weekend to attend the 18th annual celebration of all that is unreal in southwest Virginia, namely SheVaCon.

The show’s Artist guest of honor was Stephen Hickman, with additional guest artists Seth Bennet, Amanda L. Carruba, Kristy Gilbert, our own Veronica V. Jones, Beck Kramer, Malak, Ron Miller, Chris Range, and Daniel Trout.

Others illustrators and craftspeople in the art show included Gina Canady Adler, Sarah Clemens, Jennifer D. DePaola, Margit Elland Schmitt, and Tiffany Toland.

Our own Johnathan Darkly had been told there was no room for his “digital” artwork in the gallery, so we were surprised to see more than a few empty panels at the show. We were told scheduled artists didn’t show up, but Jon’s still not speaking to us.

Veronica’s prints were featured prominently in the art show, as well as a winged pig sculpture. She also demonstrated her digital art prowess in one early panel, and shared her freelancing experiences and portfolio tips in two others.

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Six Answers from Jeff Carlisle

Jeff — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 00:32:10 +0000

It is ironic that we now feature Jeff Carlisle, for if you’ve ever been within a mile from a Star Wars convention in the last few years, not only must you already be quite familiar with his colorful renditions of Mr Lucas’ characters, you will have also surely talked to him in-depth about his storied career.

What was one of your earliest fantasy/sf experiences?

I would have to say it was the barrage of SF in 1977. Star Wars and Close Encounters changed my life (as it did everyone else’s) — I was only four when they came out. I distinctly remember seeing the TV commercial for Star Wars and freaking out when the Sand Person shot up. I also remember a local radio station playing the entire “Story of Star Wars” record on-air. Add into the mix Lost in Space re-runs and WUAB (out of Cleveland) showing SuperHost and Star Trek reruns with Space:1999 every Saturday evening… and it pretty much warped my mind. The Incredible Hulk was my first comic book and it tied nicely into the TV show–and I found the exact issue I used to have at half-Price Books a few years ago. Totally worth the money.

How did you become a professional artist?

Well, I decided I was going to be an artist in High School, but didn’t know exactly what I wanted to do — so I went to Art School for college. I was lucky enough to live in Columbus, where CCAD (the Columbus College of Art and Design) was — and Robert McCall, one of the great space illustrators of all time graduated from there, so i decided it would be the place for me.

At the time I thought I would become a Science Fiction Cover Illustrator (little did I know that Illustrated covers were a dying breed), and during school I thought I was going to be a monster sculptor and movie concept artist.

It was only after graduating that I realized that I couldn’t do that in Columbus, then I started thinking about illustration again. After being out of school for about three years and working as an Office Temp, I met my friends Heather Kreiter and Tony DiTerlizzi at a gaming convention, and thought it might be a good market for my work.

Tony told me to go to GenCon… which I did… and luck was on my side since they were launching the Star Wars RPG from WOTC. Since I was a Star Wars geek and liked to draw spaceships, and they needed spaceships, I started getting work, which led to Star Wars Gamer magazine and then Dungeon magazine and Dragon magazine and work with both WOTC and Paizo.

Because of all my WOTC work on Star Wars projects, I also started getting work from Lucasfilm directly…which made me more noticeable to other markets. And here we are today!

Where do you find inspiration for your work?

Well, having to pay a mortgage inspires you to work! But seriously, almost all the work I do is based upon art orders from Art Directors, so they have a plan and I try to follow it as best I can. I am a detail freak, so it seems to lend itself to more technical illustrations, but I can change it up when needed. As to what inspires me when i design things for my illustrations — it all comes down to research. If I have to draw a group in a Star Wars illustration, I research who is in the group, what other artistic interpretations have existed, what the clothes, weapons and such are — and then try to present it in an illustration that combines all those things without copying too much of the inspiration.

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

Self-reliance and discovering the value in yourself is very important to me. So many people think that only other people can do great or good things — they completely lack the ability to see what is inside themselves. I am a humanist at heart, and believe that the ability to succeed exists in everyone and has only to be nurtured to develop. I don’t really believe in luck or fate or anything metaphysical — but I do believe that success is opportunity meeting talent and preparation. When those opportunities come along you have to act on them — even if failure is an option. Failure is an opportunity to learn as well.

What has been your most challenging project?

Every new thing I work on always feels like the most challenging. I do have to say that Comics are an overwhelming amount of work — anyone who can do issue after issue of comics are heroes in my eyes — and in Concept Design, it is challenging to be true to whatever world you are working in, but not just re-hash what has already been designed.

And of course, portraits are amazingly hard — because people can tell instantly if there is a problem in your proportions when you draw a human face — and you try to also find a little look that feels individual to the person you are drawing. Very hard Stuff!

What are you working on now?

Well, since October I have been working on WebComics to tie into the Star Wars Clone Wars TV show on Cartoon Network. Three other artists and myself do all the art for stories that tie into each episode of the show — and the deadlines and art are very challenging. We just finished the season and hope to return for more adventures next season.

On top of that, I have been doing a lot of spot illustrations for the Star Wars RPG and graphic/typographic design and concept design for Paizo’s Pathfinder RPG — as well as working on a number of newer projects I can’t talk about yet. One highlight was that I got to design the Production Company Logo for Knights of Good Productions, who produce the award-winning (and very funny) Webshow “The Guild”. It has been a real treat to see them end every episode with that Logo, let me tell you!

Follow Jeff’s artistic ascension at jeffcarlisle.com!

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Six Answers from Heather V. Kreiter

Jeff — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 14:38:02 +0000

Many of our friends are veterans of countless fantasy gaming and media conventions, and few have traveled farther or setup their table more often than Heather Kreiter. We wanted to know from whence her beautiful, twisted imagery comes.

What was one of your earliest fantasy experiences?

I guess I have several actually. When I was 11 I was OBSESSED with Unicorns. If it had a unicorn on it, I had to have it. Yes, many young girls liked Unicorns at one point in time, but mine evolved from Unicorns to dragons when I was 14. Also at that same time a friend of mine gave me The Sleeping Dragon by Joel Rosenburg to read. That book paved the way for The Dragonlance series and my love of Larry Elmore, Keith Parkinson, Fred Fields and Clyde Caldwell.

How did you become a professional artist?

Cuz I draw good. No, just kidding. It was kind of by sheer luck. I attended my very first Origins in Columbus, OH in June 2000. I had a table in the very small art show. One of the days I decided to take a break from my table and do some shameless self promotion in the dealers room. I brought my portfolio, business cards and pamphlets with me. I hit up every single booth that I could, just trying to get someone Art director-ish to talk to me. I finally happened upon the AEG booth. Their art director at the time, Jim Pinto, sat down with me and actually took the time to give me a real portfolio review….and it was harsh. During my review, one of the other AEG booth monkeys came over and told Jim, You’re not supposed to be doing portfolio reviews until Gen Con! He replied to her, I was told I could have a half hour of my time to do what I wanted, and I’m looking at her portfolio!! Luckily for me, he must have seen some sort of potential as he gave me my very first assignment a month later.

Where do you find inspiration for your work?

Inspiration is something that I’ve never run low on. At any given time I have at least two dozen ideas for projects floating around in my head. I draw inspiration from my Pagan/ Native American spirituality, from my crazy children, from dreams. I may see a face, pose or landscape in a magazine and have a whole idea spring from just that one visual.

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

Create what makes you happy, and everything else will fall into place. It took me a long time to realize that. I used to take on any project that would come my way, despite if I liked it or not. One day I made a conscious decision to ONLY work on projects that I wanted to, that I enjoyed. As soon as I made that decision, I began to get work that I really enjoyed working on.

What has been your most challenging project?

That’s an easy one. 5 years ago I was given my very first book cover by an independent author. It seemed like a fun project, but the author actually called me all the time bitching about the other artists that he was working with (there were 6 books that he needed covers for). After working on the project for about 4 weeks, I finally received my contract. Several days after receiving my contract, I finished the painting and emailed a copy to him to review. When he called me about it, he was less than enthusiastic about it. There was a section of “cells” in the painting that were supposed to be glowing. He never told me this, but apparently put it in the contract, which as I said, I received a month after starting the painting. I ended up repainting all of the cells. This took me an additional 1 hour/cell and there were at least two dozen that I had to repaint. In my opinion, this made the painting look worse/much less dramatic. When I sent him the revised painting, I never heard from him for three weeks! When I finally did get a hold of him, he told me that his lawyers had told him not to talk to me. What the…?? I ended up getting a puny kill fee and to this day have absolutely no idea why my project was canceled.

What are you working on now?

Right now I’m working on 4 cards for the L5R expansion that is coming out in Dec., several private commissions that include tattoos, My Little Pony/Demon personas, and a line of Zodiac Angels.

Keep up with Heather’s projects at Shaman Soul Studios.

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Highlights from San Diego Comic Con 2009

Jeff — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 03:28:35 +0000

While no fan of mega media conventions, I still feel the small sharp sting of jealousy for those willing and able to brush elbows with hordes of costumed fanboys and self-published fanfic authors for the chance to glean the latest genre media gems.

Even though Comic Con’s track record for predicting mainstream success is questionable at best, there were more than a few projects that deserve to succeed:

Tron Legacy – If home is the greatest science fiction film of my childhood, It sure looks like you can go back again. in 3D.

James Cameron’s double feature of genre goodness Avatar and Battle Angel Alita might be a bit father off, but he’ll work his box office mojo on these high-concept spectacles. These films will also be produced in 3D.

Flash Forward – a simplified, televised version of Robert J. Sawyer’s compelling tale of a global premonition and resulting chaos will hopefully only be made close enough to Lost to guarantee a nice long run on ABC.

There were plenty of other properties that vied for our attentions, but the ones I’ve listed above are the projects that I’ll be watching with great anticipation. Have I missed anything important?

Just to be clear, I haven’t forgotten about District 9 or the wickedly cuddly 9, but I was well-informed of both of those awesome films well before last weekend.

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Origins 2009 Art Show Report

Jeff — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 15:54:15 +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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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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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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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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Six Answers from Doug Kovacs

Jeff — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 18:24:28 +0000

It’s only fitting that Doug Kovacs kick off our new interview format. Our multifaceted, deeply-considered conversations were the inspiration for this feature. His six answers here are, as thought-provoking as ever.

What was one of your earliest fantasy experiences?

My mother read “The Chronicles of Narnia” to me when I was young, and …..there was the Bible. I could say quite a bit more about the distinction between fantasy and reality (or truth and falsehood for that matter) here, but I think the first sentence pretty much lays out where I stand on the matter.

How did you become a professional artist?

Professional? Artist? I guess, that is when a person does nothing else but art for money. Let’s take it apart.

Artist. I’ve called myself an artist since I was a teenager so that made me one. Additionally, I’ve never got a very good argument out of anyone that I’m not an artist. If you don’t buy any of that, I also happen to spend the majority of my time producing art each day. How did that happen? Nobody managed to stop me.

Professional. As opposed to a laborer? Maybe its just because I was born middle class, kept my hands and eyes intact through my childhood and have developed the ability to write notes to myself, show up at conventions and respond to email.

Where do you find inspiration for your work?

Ah. This question. I’m not entirely sure. Inspiration seems like a necessary component to the daily work of an artist. I’ve got all kinds of art books and music to get me going in the right direction, plus I’m literate. It’s hard to say if the individual little tricks I use to rally my morale are actually inspiration in the true sense. I could say “coffee” too. Overall though, I think I have generally never been comfortable going any period of time without doing something creative, so in that sense, I’m not sure what it’s really like not to be inspired.

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

No. There are a few, but I’m not sure about the hierarchy. Culture coexisting with nature is one for sure. Then there is the “ideal versus the real”. Mythology is ever present. I’m working on a third piece in a “red door” series,and they seem be about unknown roads, or possibly paths less taken.

If we talk purely about my illustration work, the themes tend to come from those that commission the work, and frequently contain little desire for subtext in the art in and of itself. Rather, the art is seen more as a necessary appendage of a larger work. For instance, with a game illustration the theme or idea is often “the game”, and less a focus on the artists ideas as an individual. The message in a picture of a dwarf can really just be: this is what a dwarf looks like.

Ideally there is room for both an aesthetic image and an idea in art beyond the most obvious. Unfortunately ideals are generally a place where you aim, and rarely the actual target hit. The pursuit of money often is driven by the fear of ideas. When it’s business versus art, somebody with a little power is going to have to champion the art …at least in the world in which I have lived. There are far too many unreflective sycophants, and gawking numbskulls flocking to oppose such champions, that good art prevails less often than I would like. Good art to me usually involves both craft and concept.

What has been your most challenging project?

Finding a place to exist in a culture that doesn’t necessarily seem to share my values. So far, I guess I’m doing okay with it, but I expect it will be a chore until die. It is like swimming through waters sometimes more, sometimes less viscous. Sometimes it’s downstream, and sometimes there is a ball and chain with manacles involved.

What are you working on now?

I’ve been working on many things at once for a while now. I’m always trying for a balance between accommodating deadlines for clients and producing creations that are an end in themselves. That is,images that would never be made unless I choose to make them. With a quick glance behind myself at the selves which hold works in progress, I can see: a couple of incomplete landscapes started during camping trips from my time in California, a “faerie” piece involving a nest and a weird bird, the third in my red door series, a pin-up style erotic clown, and Green Man plate #16.

As I write this I’m just taking a break from working on my 6th full set of interiors for Goodman Games, 4th edition Dungeon Crawl Classics. A couple of other things I’m developing are a type of card game, and a comic book, which I’ve been writing and Illustrating for a couple of years now. The later two are couple of many long term projects. Several crossover greenman/faerie vegetable women images are also in the works.

Learn more about Doug’s inspirations and his process from his website.

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Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog Concludes Tomorrow

Jeff — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 16:47:08 +0000

Will Dr. Horrible do whatever it takes to join the Evil League of Evil? Will Penny succumb to the charms of handsome, but intensely cheesy Captain Hammer? Hopefully we’ll all know tomorrow, when the third and final act of Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog is unveiled.

If you’re not familiar with Joss Whedon’s latest exploration of musical fantasy, run — don’t walk — to this web-only event and catch acts one and two. Neil Patrick Harris plays the introverted but committedly evil scientist Dr. Horrible, and Nathan Fillion hams it up as the superheroic and superficial Captain Hammer. Felicia Day innocently shines as Penny, a homeless advocate for whom the Doctor pines, and who is “saved” and wooed by the Captain.

After this weekend, this comicbook musical will no longer be offered for free on the site, but never fear… it’s destined for DVD in the near future. So don’t forget to support this quirky endeavor when you can, but run go watch it now!

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Blog Like it’s the End of the World 2008

Jeff — Tue, 27 May 2008 14:14:11 +0000

After last year’s catastrophic events, bloggers of the world are keeping especially vigilant for any unusual signs of impending doom in the weeks leading up June 13th. It should come as a surprise to no one that this also happens to fall on what promises to be a very unlucky Friday.

Steve Wilson of My Elves are Different fame has set up a geographical registry to keep track of volunteer lookouts, should the improbable events of last year somehow recur. If you’re interested in telling the world what — if anything — happens on Friday, June 13th, put your pin in the BLITEOTW ’08 Frapper Map.

But honestly, what are the odds of apocalyptic lightning striking twice?

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Origins 2007 Art Show Report

Jeff — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 18:44:22 +0000

The 2007 edition of the Origins Art Show was an explosion of fantasy and science fiction artistry, and everyone who missed it will have a slightly less fantastic life as a result. In an attempt to minimize — or even reverse — their slide into mundanity, here are some of the awards presented to the most compelling works:

“Bride of Davey Jones” by Robert Scott – Best Fantasy *
“Piper” by Andy Hopp – Best Fiction
“WWII Marine Girl” by Andrew Bawidamann – Best Color *
“Bloody Mary” by Heather Kreiter – Best Monochrome *
“Buccaneers & Pirates” by Jeff Menges – Best Historical
“Barrow of the Forgotten” by Steve Prescott – Best Game Related
“Come Hell or High Water” by Ren Hasting – Best 3D / Mixed Media
“Geisha Blossoms” by Heather Kreiter – Best Contemporary, two years running!

Others who lent their considerable talents to the event include: Ed Beard Jr., Jeff Carlisle, Jason Cole, Dan Cortopasti, johnathan darkly, Larry Elmore, Jason Engle, Minerva Inciong, Veronica V. Jones, Joe Kovach, Doug Kovacs, Robert Kraus, Tim Lantz, Theresa Mather, Jeremy McHugh, Brian Miskelly, Jeff Prescott, Chris Pritchard, Nigel Sade, Kay & Tony Steele, Charles Urbach, Daio Waltz, David K. Wong, and Cornelia Yoder.

* Featured Image

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