Philcon

Haven't posted in a while (but I HAVE been "Twittering"!). Just got back from Philcon. Didn't sell anything (not many people did), but almost half the stuff on my panels were published illustrations. I've been working on a number of illustrations for various magazines. Below are a few of them:
This one is for a story called "Explorer on the Wall" in Outer Darkness magazine.

This is another interior for Space and Time for a story titled "The Thousand Year Warrior."

The publisher and art director for Space and Time--as well as the original founder who started the magazine in 1966 while in high school--were at the con. They seemed to enjoy seeing some of the artwork from their magazine up on display.

The kids won yet more awards for costuming. They entered the masquerade with their version of "The Humans are Dead" from Flight of the Conchords. They one "Best in Show", novice division and "Best Recreation", novice division. They also one another free membership to Costume Con in Baltimare in May--so I guess we're going to Baltimore this spring!

Issue 104 or Space and Time is out now. Here is the interior illustration that I did for the Harry Turtledove story "Moso".


I know what you're thinking: "Stupid! Tigers don't live in Africa!" But its not a tiger its a "moso". The description is left a bit vague--Turtledove only says that it is striped with a tawny coat, oh yes and it is big enough to take down and eat elephants on a regular basis. The whole story is rather ambiguous. The people seem to be rather Masai-like. They herd cattle and the boys undergo elaborate coming of age ceremonies, but it never says one way or the other who they actually are. You don't even know if the story takes place in the distant past or the far future or the present. The ambiguity makes it fun to read but a bit frustrating to illustrate!

I started out with a tiger for the moso and gave him larger canines (for tearing into the sides of pachyderms!). I gave him tufted ears reminiscent of a bobcat and a lion-like tail. I also altered the striped pattern to make it different from a tigers. The glowing eyes were a bit of artistic license to give the image a bit more of a fantasy look.

Just got back from our vacation in Florida. We spent two days at SeaWorld then a week at Longboat Key frolicking on the beach and visiting with my wife's family--oh and doing some plein air paintings of beach scenes. Here are some photos of the paintings. They are just 8x10 pochades (oil sketches) that took about an hour each.




I'll be doing a continuing education class this fall on "Oil Painting for the Absolute Beginner" so I figured I better get some practice in. The class will mainly focus on small scale oil sketching ("pochade" as they say in France). The idea is to get the students up and running quickly by working on a small scale. I want them to quickly create something decent they can be proud of in order to diffuse some of the "mystique" of oil painting.

I have to say SeaWorld is in many ways better than Disney World--not the least of which is the free beer! You see SeaWorld is owned by Anheuser Busch, and they actually have a lot more than Bud and Bud Light on tap. They not only serve the beers they make but all of the beers distributed by AB in the USA. That includes Bass Ale, Bareknuckle Stout and an assortment of amber bocks and lagers.

I will be doing an illustration in an upcoming issue of Outer Darkness. It will be interesting to see what the publisher has in mind. Stay tuned. I'm still waiting to hear if my "racy" cover for Space & Time has caused any problems with distributors or sellers:

Back to the blog after letting it lapse for a while.

Whats new? I have a cover for SPACE & TIME coming out soon. Its a version of the "Storm Fairy" painting that can be seen on my website. I had to modify it slightly to cover up some of the "naughty bits" (The original contains some nudity so don't click it if that bothers you.) that wouldn't fly on the news stands at Barnes & Noble. I hope this doesn't make me a sell out! ;)

I also have another interior for SPACE & TIME for a story by Harry Turtledove. The story is titled "Moso" and involves a group adolescent African boys (very much like the Masai people although that isn't specifically stated), a giant mythical cat and coming of age. I'll publish a copy of the painting here after the issue comes out. Its feels nice to be asked to do an illustration for a big name author. Hildy Silverman, the editor, has a blog and has posted some very complimentary things about the artwork I have done for them. (Including me with some other well known illustrators as "...among the best in the business..." Wow! Cool!) So, of course being an artist always hungry for positive feedback I'll be sure to try and go the extra mile for her and AD Diane Weinstein in the future!

Its the time of year for my wife's big charity art show for Regional Hospice of Western Connecticut. I help out by designing and laying out the program book and hanging the pieces. This year I'm going to actually enter some paintings. The usual fare is mostly what I refer to as "barn paintings" but someone on the art committee happened to see my "Smaug and Bilbo" painting and said I should enter it so I think I will along with some more conventional landscapes--including one of a barn! I've been trying to do the "painting a day" thing to improve my oil techniques and avoid getting stale. Also I'm planning to to an adult continuing education course on "Oil Painting for Absolute Beginners" in the fall to go along with my digital photography courses so its all good practice.

Just got back from Lunacon, the new York area SF convention. All of the usual suspects where there. I sold one painting, but it was my highest price one! It was also one that I decided to include at the last minute--one that I did quickly and loosely in acrylic between Boskone and Lunacon to get a break from all of the digital work. I neglected to photograph it before putting it in the show, but here is the sketch it was based on:


I'm not sure what this is supposed to be. It was something I doodled in my sketchbook last summer while watching my son play lacrosse. The title of the piece was "The Ambassador". My daughter thinks its a robot cat. It does kind of look like some kind of hybrid organic/mechanical creature. The woman who bought it really seemed to like it.

Speaking of my kids they each one "Best in Class" in their respective classes in the masquerade. Emma (9) was a "Tribble Trainer" with a classic Trek female uniform and a giant tribble made from a yoga ball and some fake fur. The gag was that the only trick the tibble could do was play dead. Alex (12) was "A Clumsy Pirate" with two hooks, two eye patches and two peg legs. He made his own stilts to use for the peg legs. Besides winning "Best in Class" he won a special prize--a membership for the 2009 Costume Con in Baltimore.

Thought for the day:
"Am I paranoid...or is that just what they want me to think?"

Boskone

I just got back from Boskone, the Boston area science fiction convention run by the New England Science Fiction Association. I sold five pieces and received an award so it was a pretty good weekend. I also got to hang with a lot of great people from the world of SF including artists Rick Berry and Dave Seeley—self described “Siamese twins born ten years apart” (One can only speculate on the discomfort and inconvenience to the hypothetical mother.); artists Bob Eggleton and Omar Rayann, who each gave awesome painting demonstrations, Bob in oils and Omar in watercolors; and art director extraordinaire Irene Gallo. I also got to talk a great deal with several authors. One of whom, Tobias Buckell, was intrigued enough with my painting of a terraformed asteroid spaceship that he may use the idea in a future story. Pretty cool!

I am currently working on an interior illustration for Space and Time magazine. If you like SF short stories, poetry, experimental stories and other assorted sub-genres that the mass market publishers don't promote then I urge you to subscribe to Space and Time. Hildy Silverman took over the publication a year or so ago and she seems determined to take it to the big time. I've heard they have a deal to carry it on the magazine racks at Barnes & Noble and they are working on Borders. It will be nice to have another SF/fantasy magazine along with the old standards Asimov's and Fantasy and Science Fiction. Especially one that still publishes interior art along with stories! It seemed to be a dying field. I'm hoping to do a cover in an upcoming issue so stay tuned.