Forging Games - Part I

On finishing any big project, it's remarkably easy to kick back, become one with the closest comfy chair and watch period detective series'  for hours.. or weeks.. But as any freelancer will tell you, the time you can take to rest on your accomplishments is usually no time at all.  While you were working quite diligently on the biggest looming deadline, the host of; meetings, promised work for friends, personal work, and all the focused self-promo to carve your way into the next big project, sit smoldering there in the corner, bent up and in states of neglect.

To my amazement, (and thankfulness, as I didn't teach one class) the whole of last year was miraculously filled back to back, with nothing but big projects, and I rode the awesome wave, just hoping that all that other opportunity didnae stick me hand in warm water while I was sleeping!  Opportunity is tricky that way. =)

The Warden in all her 3D modeled
and action packed glory, not your
run of the mill tank character.

One of those big projects came in the way of an email from; wildly skilled digital illustrator and visual problem solver, Adam Cook, and the wickedly brilliant and fun team of creatives at SuperGenius (additional links to your right).  Adam brought me on board Paul Culp's do-all video production house in Oregon City, SuperGenius just around this time last year.  Can't really describe the honor it was to work on the design and concept team for their video game Forge.  It had been a long time since I worked on any team, let alone one with so many Super Geniuses (Genii? Geniui? Genieye?Gene Kelly? I dream ah Genie?) but the results have been double down rainbow in the sky, all the way; working on my World Development skills, Characterization, the slow but interesting progression of my Digital Chops, and above all, being a visible and solid part of FORGE; a brilliantly fast paced and fun game that is now out on the Steam game engine, using some of the very latest in animation and visual tech.  It's a bloody romp of hack, slash, and arrow nocking melee strategy, with massive fiery explosions, and magical burst of mayhem stashed away in every corner.  For the sake of your inner-viking I would defo check it out!! =)

The Warden's Bear and Ranger's Wolf.  Belly tattoos, shaved knot
work, spinal and tusky protrusions, and bands of forged armor. 

I'm pretty proud of the work I did, and what seems fairly unlike a large majority of gaming studios; Dark Vale, Digital Confectioners, and Super Genius gave all Forge's concept artists the ability to show this work shortly after release, so here it comes my friends, in a three part series!

Final Bear Modeled

The Warden character was Forge's "tank" character and from the beginning she was to be something of an anomaly in the video game status quo.  I can only hope that we were able to do so in even a small way.  The Warden character was a task in balancing strength, body type, posturing, costuming and the myriad other things that make up the tank, while still having her remain feminized enough to read as such on screen.  Her shield took on many different shapes and forms, as did her helm and weapon, but the final 3D models took on all the right elements, while remaining in the ancient Nordic period we were after.  The weapons I designed for the Warden were especially fun, and although I only really had time to design out the top half of the shield, the Warden's shield attack features a ring of shields lit up something like golden lanterns!! just beautiful to watch, and brilliant to see some of my imagery make it to game play!

Final Wolf Modeled

The idea of familiars or spirit animals for each character was being tossed around throughout all waves of development, and here I had the chance to develop some fun ideas that were developed further as the initial 2 weeks were drawing to a close.  The Warden's familiar was to be a Bear, as was the Ranger character's to be a Wolf. The Thief/Assassin's familiar was to be a Panther, and the others were to become awesome ghostly and pyropocolyptic beasties

The Ranger character began when I didn't really have a great grasp on how some of the aspects of modeling and animations would actually play out, or the process that was to be followed.  Portions of his costume, and the blue lit Celtic cross chest plate remained, but the Ranger character gained largely from a couple different folks joining in on design.  The Ranger did help me understand how being ignorant to portions of any process might be a blessing in coming up with combinations that wouldn't be attempted, but also how they remain a curse.  Perhaps one of the greatest lessons I learned throughout Forge, was that very few of the tricks illustrators use to direct the viewers attention two dimensionally, actually apply when designing for games or film, where it's all about the 3D all day.  Thinking about function and mobility in real time 3D while you work, is utterly different than thinking about the very same things as they're required for only a split second in time.  =)  I'd like to think by the time I finished the last character I designed for Forge, that I had a better handle on the specific hassles any particular material, or body part, or structure might pose, because of the growing pains in the first character.  =)

 Fun to see all the ways in which simple shapes, or the mention of words during the ideation process can effect outcomes, it's just an amazing thing to take part in, and much like the free association or improvisation that happens when I use Fantasy Genesis, so was working with such a creative team of folks.  Stay Tuned for Part II !!

Portland Grand Prix

What a great event!!  The Con Center was packed with Magic the Gathering players, and the front line of illustrators were the likes I've nae seen!!  RK Post website, Mark Tedin website, Anson Maddocks, Mike Dringenberg, Steve Argyle website, Mike Daarken Lim website, and myself; sketched, signed, told lightpushing tales of old and new, and otherwise sold our artistic souls to the fans of the greatest collectible card game done placed on this here spinnin' Sphere!

One of the highlights of the show was having a great dinner with fellow LightPushers Mike Daarken Lim, and his wife Kat.  Daarken is of course a name synonymous with most brands at Wizards, and a long list of publishers and vid game companies, but in my research for an upcoming interview, I also found all the brillos work Mike has been doing in the form of tutorials & reviews on his Enlighten site. Quite an artist, and I can't wait for the chat!

Sad to see her go, but Barrington Forge Tender is sold and off to a new home!

I had the great fortune of selling the original painting for the Barrington Forge Tender during the Grand Prix as well..  There was an interest at the show, I started a haggle that I would've followed through with, if there was a decent offer, but in the 11th hour when I got home for the night, an email collector snatched it oop!!  Crazy timing on that one.  I've used BFT at school as an example of professional process, at shows as an example of the multi-layered wash technique and how an original glows in ways a print simply cannot, and at home this painting has been off and on my walls in both Detroit, as it has been in my apartments in Portland for the last 7 years.  After all that, I'm torn, but I'm also happy that the BFT will be framed up and enjoyed, instead of stuffed away in the closet as well.. =) Cue Sting..

The best part of any Magic show is sketching and sharpie markering up cards and playmats with weird and fun alterations, and this show was no different.  It was every bit as weird and wonderful as the last, and like the theory behind Fantasy Genesis, the most creative wig bubbles seem to come from limiting yourself to only one or two words in association. After all you don't want your skeletal robots getting too complicated on you, nor should you give too many fans playmats crabs.. =)

One of the many highlights of Portland
GP, was giving a fans playmat crabs.. =)

Now it's straight on to the Grand Prix Las Vegas in June, and a whee further bit on to the new Theros World dropping in Sept.!! Stay Tuned !!

The Content of Ones Character

 Saw the trailer for Pacific Rim at the cinema when Pam and I saw The Hobbit the other night, and I was reminded of how successful; snub-nose, truncated, foreword sloping Cro Magnon facial features can be when used to indicate insane strength and behemoth scale in any characterization.  The first couple of times I was really impressed with this, were with the Dragons of Michael Phillippi, Paul Bonner, and Todd Lockwood.  

All three of these brilliant illustrators create amazingly meaty creature heads, by giving them small but detailed orbits, and a brow to jaw line with only one or two surface planes to it. The unconscious mind will read this as a skull structure so dense and solid, that any attack will surely just recoil from the weight.  There's many other ways to achieve this, but for giant creatures, it's a great technique, and works every time.

After seeing the trailer, I remembered this sketch floating around on the sketchbook I used in my classes at the PNCA.  Done from the Fantasy Genesis role to the left, and revisited on more than one occasion, I thought I'd have another go at this Triceratops Rhino looking fella.  I threw some more masculinization into the pose and facial features, but also shrunk his head by giving him bigger limb proportions.

Another double Mammalian role that took a couple tries, but could make a nice protagonist or antagonist when he grows up?  Keep sketching, and stay tuned !!

Deviant Art Creations - Round Three

My Pop used to say, "If it's important, you make time" and although nowadays that statement sounds like, "Oh crap, you mean now I've gotta build a time machine, on top of my deadlines?" when I was young, and had all the time in the World, it was simply a statement meaning, "Make this important enough to actually plan for it".  So in that spirit of giving propers, and making time for the folks who have been finding Fantasy Genesis an outright blast to flip their wigs with; I give you Round Three of the Fantasy Genesis contributions from the Deviant Art page!

Space Crab by Belthazubel - Meant to get this one in on the
last round, but what a nice digital piece!

A couple weeks ago, after finishing a series of Magic the Gathering paintings, I flipped through what folks might be up to, and was blown away with how many great pieces, and brilliant creations had been  brought to Light!  This first piece, Space Crab especially stood out with all that contrast and cool color. I tell my students, Insects and Deep Sealife is the model for so many great ships and Mechs.  There's a history of our brains associating Insects and Sea Creatures with that of Alien life to begin with, so when you use bits and bobs from them in your Spacecraft and Space Alien design, even if it's just the simple replacement of limbs, it always works well! =)

Dew Rat by Nythrant - Very nice subtle color in the
background!  Really one of my favorites with a
Mineral/Element based Creature from FG!

Companion by Nythrant - JadePlant, Bear
seen here, in another great creation!

A great spotted Frog Shaman Humanoid
by jm665 - Way to go, designing the limbs!

SanchaySquirrel rolled a Flytrap Scarab Duck, and did a
brilliant job with the extra head view!  Difficult thing,
to make a duck look sinister, great job!

Eelan by MythDragon - This piece makes me want to try
my hand at an Eel based Humanoid.  Very nice, indeed!

Creature Thing by MythDragon
Looking like another duck creature,
but this time with deep sea fish lure
and tail, excellent work!

Hope to see more soon from these Lightpushers, and hope to

be back teaching in the next school year at the PNCA.

So until then, have a Prune Faced

and a brilliantly creative

2  0  1  3

Stay tuned !!

Subtle Epiphanies

It will never cease to amaze me, the ways in which we monkeys are inspired?  What makes us, "get it" or go that next level.  What is the combination of Content & Technique, if there is one?  Word association (although Fantasy Genesis has driven me for decades), quite often takes a seat to historical influence, or rather if I see what makes a great design, or texture, or series of marks behind a Cornwell, or Robinson, or Wyeth, I'll attempt to make a mash-up of those parameters in the next painting.  There's Comedy, Theatre, and facial expression, Mathematics and Natural geometries, all out one-up Hunger Games with other illustrators, and even hitting absolute bottom again and again can inspire me to go the distance and create something different and new.  Then sometimes it's an email from a fan, or a simple note telling you that you've changed someone's perspective with your work.. =)  They've reminded you of the things that have always been there, and perhaps you've momentarily forgotten?  This has been the case with the last couple of emails, and messages from the FaceBook page, and a nice note from Haley Johnson, who sent this wicked Fantasy Genesis creation; an Australian Frilled Lizard!  This chap reminds me a bit of my Auntie Rooster, but I can't say I've ever seen reptilian features on a rooster, which is saying something. =)  Thanks Haley, let all those creations spill out of that brilliant mind of yours, and thanks to ayebody for all the subtle epiphanies, keep em coming !!

I think comedy would had to have played a roll, when I rolled up Mudskipper : Plasma : Pinecone.. Could've made a cute creature, but I took the harder path.. They're kind of like Ducks, or Pandas or Frogs, hard to make menacing, but found a vid for Mudskippers and spent about 5 hours on a digital painting.. I dunno.. I was headed for a Leviathan, but the scene turned almost Lovecraftian in the end, with villagers blowing him oop and all.. =)  In any case, I hadn't done one of my own exercises for so long, I'd almost forgotten how fun it is !!  =)

If you're not already on it, please take a minute to sign up for my Mailing List.  What, what.. Free prizes are involved!?!  Indeed!  I straight up pick a raffle winner from my list every quarter, you pick one of my four charities that I give to, and I give away Magic the Gathering or Fantasy Genesis collectibles and swag.. =)  Stay Tuned!

Grimm Pilot - take two

Life goes by so quickly sometimes, I shiver with the thought of it.?  This small bit of work I did for the pilot of Grimm unfortunately didn't see too much screen time, but here's the rest of the story..  The show's been through a whole season, and picked up for another, but I've been so busy with teaching and freelance, moving my studio again, and acclimating to a new work flow, I've been completely delinquent in watching it..  Perhaps I can have a marathon when the new season starts and catch up on all the episodes missed?

©NBC/Universal

In any case, my students love the show, and every episode I've seen has been proper acting, and fast but extraordinarily creative effects and props.  Before I went into the Grimm lot studio to work, Elisabeth had me do a couple treatments of the directors chair logo (shown previously), and a couple sketches for pages what would appear in the book.  I was super geeked about this potential, as being the "guy who sketched the Grimm book" would've been the newest height of this thing I call a career?  Not having seen the graphics for any monsters, and going off the ideas of the show that were given to me,  I sketched these two characterizations; one of Rumpelstiltskin, and one of the Old Crone of Hansel & Gretel fame.  

©NBC/Universal

 The Crone character was actually in the pilot script and described to me a bit, but the Rumpelstiltskin was basically me spit-balling some ideas of how the mythos could be delivered in a new horrible way.  Then after my first day, I got a look at the script, a better idea of what they wanted, and they had me sketch up a couple mock ups of what the pages of the book might look like.. The script at the time said the book should be a sketched archive of the 2-3 monsters that would appear in the pilot; Wolf, Snake Guy, and Crone, wherein one page would be a likeness of the person in human form with something like a police form attached; stats, criminal encounters, notes, etc., and the other would be a likeness of the beast within, and what they look like to the Grimm. At first I thought this was something that, over the ages the Grimm Family would've developed, or perhaps a universal system of documenting in some way, where pages from 100 years ago, might look something like they did for the grandmother Grimm, but this changed, and a couple times. The nature of television perhaps.. =)

©NBC/Universal

©NBC/Universal

The book was a massive tome, so I did my samples actual size but in graphite at first. These two samples, with all the different "hands" of nonsense filler script I could think of, were shown to the director, and although the smoking guy was closer to what they wanted, the direction quickly started to change into a scrawled "untrained" hand and more primitive skills, rather than my "too illustrated" "too good" work.. So that day I tried my best to dumb down my skills, and perform on command, with the already "aged" paper they'd ordered for the book.  Bringing in thicker tools; pens, brush markers, graphite sticks, charcoal, conte' and fixative, I sketched about 6-10 sheets of characters, scrawled script and in every different way possible.

©NBC/Universal

I remember a beaked character with hooks, that turned out looking quite 40's nazi-ish, an orge, also this Blutbad in conte' that looked older, matching the paper quite nicely, but also the two portraits of a Blutbad, and Crone straight from the 3D models the design team had done at that point.  Neither made their way on to the screen, even after limiting myself to 10min. sketches, and really working at aping a less skilled approach.  Alas, I've not seen any of them appear in the pilot or show so far, and didn't get phone pics of them either.

Funny thing, being inadequate for anything you're truly geeked about, jobs, relationships, or otherwise.. but when what's needed is, loosing your skills and not developing new ones, it's especially odd?  I was basically trying to reverse my skill set, desperately scrawling to give them what I was used to doing when I was 12?  Hell, I probably didn't do an "untrained" look when I was 12?  I even tried sketching with my opposite hand, in a balled fist, and I couldn't imagine having my name attached to it, even if it was what they wanted? So, could be a blessing, could be a curse.?  I've a pretty impressive new client on my client list, and with some luck this won't be the last television has seen on this Lightpusher.. =)  Stay tuned !!

My Three Mentorships

I've found in the brief time I've been teaching, that the best stuff comes from individualized one-on-one tutoring.. When I can get straight to clearing a pathway to where that particular student wants to tread, and see almost instantaneous success in the areas they want to work on, I know I've done a decent job of it.. There are few things more awesome and striking than these wonderful instances, and I had the rare opportunity to serve in this way to three great 4th year thesis students this semester; Ven Locklear, Ley Hazard, and Addison Rankin.  I'm extraordinarily proud of all these young illustrators, and would encourage Editors and Art Directors to take a look at their work to see if they might fit any projects or internships on the horizon..

Ven (with a Fae picking his ear), myself, and Addison (with tiny staffs and arms protruding from our heads)

Addison Rankin is a digital painter, with about the most pleasant and agreeable personality that you're going to find, and with a skill set that's far outside his age.  His digital work holds an almost Flemish feel to the lighting and contrast, and his B&W ink drawings are brilliantly alive, filled with spastic movement, intriguing costumes and characterizations..  Addison's thesis was based on creating eight portfolio pieces for a Sword & Sorcery themed Tarot deck, and his presentation followed Uncle Joe Campbell's Hero's journey from the Fool card's perspective..  After seeing all the traditional and digital painting from the school recently, I can say the work done for his cards, stands as some of the best figurative work out of every department of the school, and is at a state of finish to begin competing in the SF&F market.. Definitely keep an eye out for Addison Rankin on your journeys, and give him a holler at his website if an opportunity or two arise..

Ley Hazard is a conciliatory, but wickedly skilled digital illustrator/comic artist.  Filled with articulate surprises, and gravitating toward serendipitous creative spurts, her work is quite meticulous and shows brilliant promise in being very tight in it's line quality, and expressive in it's characterizations and metaphor..  When she brings her work to the Light, it shines with a thoughtful polish that's well worth the wait..  Hazard's thesis was a pitch for a graphic novel series called, The Catastrophe Quartet..  The stage is set here in Portland, in a simultaneously real and fantasy world, that follows the heroine through personal tragedies, her redemption through compassion, and eventual elevation from it..  Do yourself a favor, bookmark and stay tuned to her Catastrophe Quartet Blog to see how the story and illustrations develop into the first book in this emotionally and socially charged series!

Ven Locklear, out of all my first mentorships this semester, has landed a gig in his chosen field, straight out of the gate!  I needn't really go on beyond that success so few folks in this business attain, but I will.. =)  I had Ven for an Independent Studies student a semester before last, guided him through some figurative struggles, and when chosen to be his mentor, tried to impart all the knowledge I've accumulated in terms of design and color, but also characterization and creature design..  Quite early on, he was asking the same questions I'd been long ago, curious and driven by our common genre', visually progressing from week to week, which is an amazing thing to behold with any student.. When he pitched his idea for a SciFi horror themed vid game called GLOOM, I thought; this work would make a great portfolio to pitch around conventions, enter into contests, and really grab a heads-up in terms of a freelance career, but little did I know it would be a bit more.. About 3/4 the way through the semester and his thesis project, Ven found a job opportunity online, and put together 2-3 art test pieces for a vid game company in TX, on top of the work done for his thesis..  Ven, amongst pretty rigid industry competition, and in an international arena, nailed the job down before his presentation day, and knocked the actual thesis presentation out of the park. So check out this new concept artist's work in upcoming games, but until then check out all the work done for GLOOM in the mean time..

Stay tuned.. =)

Dig Infinity !!

Fellow LightPusher from Portland, Jay Longfellow recently posted on AO about drawing games of the Surrealists, and it sparked up some thoughts on games and Creativity that, oddly enough I'd not really written about here on the FG Blog yet? Here's the awesome DeepSea Palm Fish Jay created, the bit on Infinity that he spurred, along with this semesters brilliant student contribution!!

"Whether it's a reliance on Serendipity, or drive to stay Creative no matter the cost, or stubborn pig-ignorance to avoid things done the "normal" way, I've always been fascinated with game "rules", breaking them, building them anew, breaking them again.. What's become apparent in the last couple years, after publishing a drawing game of my own, is the simplicity amongst complexity.. Like Jay said, "creativity within the constraints of the game’s rules".. Simplifying the Infinite, makes the "rules" of any game, make sense to me? When I graduated school, I was left with no rules, no more assignments.. I could do Anything.. Yet, that Anything shortly became daunting, and since no professional work was coming in at the time, (life-long struggle in fact) there was a need to have something external to me, to drive content.. So that I could create more effectively within boundaries of the Infinite.. After all, necessity is the mother of invention.. So, I started to play with my first couple creative games.. Like the Surrealist's games utilized free association, and the ever expanding, collaborative visual device to drive the works' content, we played with games in school as well.. Mine was a fairly complex free association word game created after seeing a performance of John Zorn's COBRA, wherein teams of musicians battle with complex musical variables to perform one off compositions.. Genius, I thought.. This could be done visually, in a very similar way.. My game was also influenced by, Brian Eno's Oblique Strategies, which was used by the Talking Heads, and later became a sort of Hitchhiker's Guide or Magic 8 ball to Eno for awhile.. Musicians, Poets, Writers, Illustrators, Physicists, Sea-side Sand Castlers.. We all create in different materials and techniques, but most of us are awestruck by the Infinite in a way that we want to capture it in our Content. I love to talk about Creativity and the Brain, the reasons why we monkeys perceive the way we do, and how to work inside that Science.. Games are perfectly suited to both subjects, so forgive me the rant.. "

Here's the wicked creation one of my students contributed to the Fantasy Genesis docket this year.  Molly is a wonderfully skilled illustration major, that has some brilliant animation and cartooning chops as well..  I believe it was an Attacking Rodent Gator, but look at all of that movement!!  Great job as per usual Molly, and a scaly new addition to the FG mythology !!

Stay tuned, Folks!!  and don't forget to sign up to the mailing list!! It's about that time to choose who will pick my quarterly Charity give away!!

Next Volley of Fantasy Genesis Creations

For the time I've been teaching, I'll have my students play around with Fantasy Genesis for fun or extra-credit, and last term I was graced with a couple more funky creations from Alex Carmon, and Aimee Flom at FlomDrawn.

Both excellent young illustrators.. Aimee has a brilliant sense of design and detail, and Alex has a wonderful knack for textures and the anthropomorphic. 

There was also this awesome Parrot/Mantis from Lucas Puryear, teaching in Texas.  I really want to try this combo out!!  I mean, Parrot/Mantis is about as intriguing and idea as was Spider/Ducks..  That's a team I'd bet on.. =)

We all knew it.. from the stomping grounds of Illuxcon, great things were bound to be created!  A couple weeks back the young team of Zejan & Eric, from Altoona, PA of all places, asked if they could use some of my illustrations for their new Illustration Blog Sketch Round-Up.

Well, they not only used the illos I sent, but did a rather spectacular review and contribution to Fantasy Genesis as well!!  Zejan sketched these two rather cretinous looking Insectile and Reptile creatures, which are just 15 million kinds of awesome!!  So glad you enjoy creating with the game, guys!!

I'm sure there's some great things to come from these two, and I can't wait to see more as their blog progresses..  Stay tuned !!  =)

Grimm on NBC - Part I

A while back I had the pleasure of doing my first work in Television, for a great new NBC pilot called Grimm, which has just aired.  Filmed here in Portland, the story runs something like this; younger cop in a detective team finds out he can see monsters among us, and his daily criminals. He starts to see folks faces shift into hideous grotesques more often, and it's revealed to him that he's of the original Bros. Grimm family line, and Grimm's Fairy Tales turns out to be a group of case studies for these monsters across history.. The real book is passed down to the newest generation of Grimm seer, and as fate would have it, most of those monsters in the tales are not only real as life, but are after the Grimm's!

Logo I created for the directors chair, and lot
passes, along side a couple of the show's logos.

Watch the show for the action filled fantasy, as it's far cooler than I can describe.. =)  In my short couple of days working with Props Master Todd Ellis and his team (including Paul Eads, Elisabeth Burhop) I definitely learned some of the ways in which that world works, and what remains constant is that it works Fast.. They get some amazingly creative things done as effectively and quickly as you could imagine.  Didn't get to meet them, but David Greenwalt and Jim Kouf (of Buffy the Vampire Slayer fame) wrote this great script, and I can't wait to see the season of campy and bizarre ideas they come up with..  Everyone I did meet was brilliantly abuzz, a cacophony of phones constantly blowing off, and Stumptown coffee addled conversation about this movie or that shoot. It turns out that the insomnia of Freelance transcends all forms of creativity.. =)  

Concepts for the key shown above.  I thought either
the ideas of a maw opening to reveal the key, or perhaps
claws as the teeth of the key might look cool.

The most impressive thing is, that they work in a state of not knowing.. Let me try to explain..  There's so little time, that if someone's given a prop to start designing, they're simultaneously creating metaphors or a specific look or feel that no one really knows will fit yet?  Nor does the Prop Master know if that prop will be changed at any time during that day, or shoot or if it might be cut just after completion? (and no, "Cut After Completion" isn't a name I danced under =)  Perhaps this is the way all office situations work, but I found it fascinating!  Still don't know how they do it.? =)

Scythe blade (which actually sent the Props Master
in for stitches) started out a bit more proto-German
with animal symbols

The few things I contributed to Grimm were created in less than a week, and done alongside grading projects, and freelance.  I researched language, and mythology inasmuch was applicable, and as is the case for every project, I threw my back into getting them what they needed.  A macabre children's book feel, with some knowledge of Ancient scripts was what I was brought in for (I think), but needed changes in direction seemed to happen on the hour, along with script changes which unfortunately excluded most of the sketch work I did.  So, all the drawings you see in Grimm's pilot aren't mine, but I'm going to show you a couple of the things here that I thought were pretty good that we may see in future episodes.. =)  Stay tuned for Part II.. =)

Facebook Fantasy

 A couple months back, I received a FB message from Mark A. Nelson (legendary comic and SF&F illustrator) telling me a student of his brought Fantasy Genesis into his class for a drawing assignment.  Mark and I exchanged books, he gave me this brilliant chiaroscuro drawing of a beetle that will remain a treasure to me beyond words, but I gave his student a silly little sketch for bringing Mark and I together, for a potential tutorial book project.  In any case, Mark's student, Vi Nguyen not only rolled and sketched these beautiful couple of Creatures from Fantasy Genesis, but she took that silly sketch of mine and did a Brilliant digital piece from it!!

Gracious thanks Vi, so glad you were able to have fun with my Drawing Game, and with Maestro Nelson as your Professor, the world would do well to look out for you when graduation day comes around.. =) Stay Tuned !!

A good days Creating..

There are days when I'm sketching or painting, that I'm so caught up in the work, there's little that can distract me.  I'll look up at the clock, it's nearing 4am, and even though I'm desperate in wanting to finish alla prima (or alla weeka), I'll look down at the piece and reluctantly sigh at putting in a good day of creating..  Now that I'm teaching, it's a bit different, and a bit of the same..  Most of the sessions when I'm working with students interactively on their projects, things need to be done in that session, in order to give them enough time for final execution.  The other day after getting back to the apartment, shedding all the apparatus of modern life, thankful that I'm paying rent, and looking down at my day, I noticed the two Tombow pencils I'd brought with me staring up; Reliable, Trusty and blunted stubs.. I sighed at a good days creating, before I re-sharpened to start again..  and  no, "Trusty and Blunted" isn't a name I danced under.. =)  Stay tuned..

Shadowcore Illustration

Opportunity is an odd thing.. Rare, wonderful, but can hold a shock to it that takes a while to dissipate. This element of surprising opportunity has been crawling up the sides of me wig lately.  We're never quite sure when or if certain opportunities will be flipped our way, or whether or not we'll be able to flip them back to others, but there seems to be a constant of surprise when it does come around?  I like to think of this somewhat familiar sensation, a combo of both fear and joy, as Shunryu Suzuki's "Beginner's mind", like the very first time you ever experienced something..

There's yet another constant in that opportunity can snowball in sequence like big clumps of snowflakes that collect as they fall, Opportunity snowflakes.? Well, in any case, that's what has been happening this week!  Along with passing an opportunity from the PNCA on to my buddy Arkady Roytman, I've started contributing to a new Illustration Blog!  Mr. Craig Spearing; excellent digital SF&F illustrator, good friend, and creator of this wickedly rendered creature (influenced through Fantasy Genesis) has recently formed a team of illustrators for a blog called SHADOWCORE.  I'm proudly part of this wild group of talent, and encourage you all to check it on out !! Stay Tuned !!