Dreams and Shadows

SPECTRUM Fantastic Art LIVE!

2012-01-24T22:22:00.000-08:00

I've been trying to sort out my convention schedule for 2012 (luckily I don't have regular events early in the year, eh?).

New this year is the new SPECTRUM Fantastic Art LIVE Exhibition in May.
http://www.spectrumfantasticart.com/spectrumfantasticartlive/

Is anyone else out there going? Just curious!

CONS-- San Diego Comic Con is almost here

2009-07-20T02:57:00.000-07:00

Cripes!!! How did this sneak up on me so quickly??? ARRRRGGHH! I'm once again, totally unprepared!!!

This year, sharing a booth with Diana Stein: #4821, in the Fantasy Illustrators section. "Lee and Stein" (thanks for changing that, Diana!). I will be there looking frantically unprepared with nothing to sell... so stop by and feel free laugh and point, or whatever. *sigh* O______o

Oh, what the heck, it's only money spent that I don't have and money unmade that I need... nothing new! At least it'll be a crazy, crowded, wild time! I'll have fun once I stop worrying about stuff that is too late to fix... *double-sigh*

Illustration Master Class-- Day 6 & 7--Sat. & Sun. June 20-21

2009-07-18T02:20:00.000-07:00

Saturday was our last painting day, but it was also full of lectures. Argh!

One of Rebecca Guay's originals sitting around in Studio A--

At 11am was a lecture by Shelly Bond, an Editor at Vertigo Comics. Ever since its inception, I've been a huge Vertigo fan. Even though my comic buying is way down, I still like some Vertigo lines, such as FABLES. So this was quite exciting for me.

Shelly talked about what went into the production of FABLES--script, pencils, etc. and about what she did as an editor, coordinating it all, making a guide for where the word balloons would go, overlooking the pencils and panels and general look of the pages. She showed examples of pages, talked about balance of positive and negative space, numbers of closeups per page, two-shots (2 characters in a frame, speaking to each other--and the need to vary the angles). Lettering. Inking (looking at page balance). Color ("color will not save black and white"). Covers (likes it graphically pleasing, tells a story, sense of motion).

Talked about where she found artists (web, published things, conventions). Tips for Portfolio (presentation neat and orderly, less than 10 images). Prefers getting postcards 4x a year rather than .jpgs via email (which I thought was interesting). Advice: Know your potential client (do your research), make yourself available (may be needed to fill in for someone in an emergency), go to conventions and know how to submit your work for reviews.

She was just FULL of interesting and specific information and advice about comics work.

Piece Rebecca Guay was working on--

After lunch, there was a lecture by David Saylor from Scholastic (publisher for US Harry Potter books, largest children's/YA publisher in the world). Talked about picture books (32pp, 16 spreads, typically), the graphics book line (doing a BONE novel by Jeff Smith). Talked about advances against royalties(usu. 1/2 up front), schedules, how children's tends to be a bit more stable in this sort of economy, about other rights (foreign--as in, they will try and sell them). Agents (depends on the agent). Showed samples of various projects/books he was involved with. Recommended: Society of Children's Book Illustrators. Portfolio: likes to see a strong portfolio, maybe a full book MS with illustrations or illustrations from a classic tale. Talked a bit about narrowing market for books--mostly Barnes and Nobles and Borders (maybe Target and Walmart) these days. Covers need to work for THEM--like maybe one guys working for B&N who calls all the shots.

Both Shelly and David were roaming about the Studios in the afternoon, looking and talking with students.

I'm pretty sure this was Donato's... it was being worked on in Studio B, upstairs, so I never saw him actually painting on it--

But a day or so later...!!!--

Sadly, I had a very slow painting day on Saturday. I guess all the lectures didn't help, either. There was more lectures to come, too. But I felt like I was slogging through molasses compared to the day before. Luckily, Donato came by to suggest using some purples in the shadows of the shield... I really had no clue about what reflective light colors to use! And I painted in some golds in her hair and on her dress... and a wee little boat in the distance (Arthur coming for Excalibur???). Her dress and feet and part of the sword and the shield are supposed to be under water, but I hadn't managed to work on that yet...

To my left was Mark, working on a Princess of Mars image--

Karen's Lady of the Lake painting (she was on Ruth's other side). Karen's only been painting for a few years, so I think she did a fantastic job during the class--

Diana's Princess of Mars cover painting--

Jennifer Oliver's lovely Lady of the Lake and Arthur--

Irene Gallo's lecture was after dinner at 7pm. She, of course, is the very well-known, award-winning Art Director for Tor Books (also Forge and Starscape). And she'd been involved with the IMC all week, taking pictures, talking, wearing L.A. William's suit of plate armor, etc. She says she finds artists through annuals such as Spectrum and Expose and Soc. of Illustrators, Mailers (postcards with links to websites), Networking and Conventions, Bookstores (seeing published work), online communities(conceptart, cga, gorilla), recs from other artists.

Portfolios: 8-12 pieces (you are hired on your WORST work), consistency important, show work that answers your client's problems, show work you want to do/get, show great figure work (figures in motion, multi-figures).

Websites: should update regularly, no pop-ups, no indecipherable thumbnails, keep it fast and easy and sharable. Watch over-doing water-marks. Interviews: Impress, don't embarass; don't apologize, don't argue critiques, thank you notes are excellent excuses for a reminder/sample. She likes art blogs, for ease of access.

Irene has an excellent blog on blogger. Lots of photos and posts on the IMC and other things. Google her to find it. (And scarily enough, she had one or two photos of me/my painting, identified by name, which totally freaks me out. Nah, not really. She was actually very fun and nice! ... still... wish I had finished killer piece to show, but ah, well--my competitive days are over... I just don't care as much now! I even sketched in her book, which is something I avoid like the plague... told her the story of how everyone sees those sketches, such as other artists and ADs and some sketches can just be horrible--and that I'd actually done one of those horrible sketches that you just want to tear out of a book, but can't--and it turned out the guy became an AD later!!! Nightmare!!! although he hired me, but still!!!)

Again, this was upstairs in the other studio... but I think Greg Manchess was starting another painting since he finished his group of Steampunk Oz piece. Definitely a Princess of Mars, this one--

Student--Steampunk Wizard of Oz--

Another--

A Lady of the Lake--

Charles Vess ran an unscheduled lecture/slidshow after midnight on Fantastic/Fairy Art--lots of illustrators who are not commonly seen, many from the golden age, a few modern. He just happened to have some images with him and was just running through what he had. Said he often gives similar shows, but swaps the images out, so it's different every time. Surprisingly, even though most of us were frantically trying to get as much painting done, since it was our last opportunity, the lecture room was pretty full! It was a nice break, actually. And we all loved seeing more images! (I took audio notes--still haven't transcribed any of those yet, so no details, sorry!)

I think pizza was ordered again, but I can't really remember! I know it was getting light whe I finally walked back to the dorm rooms!!! ...and there were still people in the studios painting...

Our dorm hall--

SUNDAY---LAST DAY:
10-12 we had to clean up the studios, leaving only our paintings on the easels.

1-5PM Open Studios with public invited to view. Also Yolanda LeRoy, Editorial Director of CharlesBridge Publishing and Susan Sherman, Art Director of Children's Books at CharlesBridge Publishing were going around looking and talking with students.

Hall with our studios and lecture hall--

Also... we all had these lovely red-bound gold-embossed IMC-logo sketchbooks to take notes in. And to collect sketches in, apparently. It started that morning... I grabbed Charles Vess early! (a fairy on a wood/demon) I love his work so much! Casual-seeming lines started to form. And piles of sketchbooks. I tried not to go crazy, since I knew none of the instructors would want to do 80 or so sketches. I just tried to get a few. Also got one from Dan DosSantos (elf girl head) and Greg Manchess (dragon head). And I got a few random sketches from the other students.

There was a closing ceremony where students had organized to give gift packages to the instructors. And we'd all contributed sketches for Rebecca Guay, and signed cards to all of them, and for Sarah, Rebecca's assistant. I tried to write about how much some of these artists had influenced me in the past and how they continued to inspire me, but I doubt it came off half as well as I wish it did. They really are so amazing, there really aren't words!

Rebecca's work from the intro-video. She didn't give a lecture this year since there were just too many people speaking already--

Dinner was quiet. We were all exhausted! People were hanging out in the studios, still, afterwards, doing a bit of final clean-up, putting all the easels and chairs away, etc. And still sketching!!!

I was doing very scribbley dragon head sketches... they kept getting looser the later it got! I was SO tired... but in a good way... Also sad, and didn't want it to end, even though we were all cleaned up and just needed to sleep and pack up for flying out the next morning.

One of the students fell and badly sprained her ankle while running around trying to show her samples to the publishers on Sunday. Students accompanied her to the Emergency Room and made sure the CharlesBridge people saw her work and samples and got her painting and items back to the dorms, and grabbed dinner and breakfast the next day for her.

Otherwise, things slowly wound down. I took a shared ride to the airport on Monday (organized through the class forum, beforehand). Had flight delays and changes along the way, but made it home at midnight (three hours more if you don't count the time change), and slept all day on Tuesday.

And that was it!

I hope there is an IMC next year, and if there is, I'll certainly try to be there.

In the meantime, it's not quite over. They've told us we need to finish our paintings by Sept. 1. I still haven't worked on it, but am thinking about what I need to do on it...

Illustration Master Class-- Day Five--Fri. June 19

2009-07-15T21:55:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the being slow with posting on this (Dad went into hospital briefly for an angioplasty--all is well, no worries). Anyway... back to the IMC! On Thurday, I'd finally got my image on board (Clayboard 18x24), so I tore through the underpainting... I had to pretty much be careful to keep the image since the non-pigment ink had floated off during the wet-mount method and was VERY faint (and green!--used to be black!). I used burnt sienna acrylics, I think. I'm usually a burnt umber type of person, but was thinking of Boris's and Julie Bell's lighter-toned underpainting...

Here I am looking a bit manically at Diana Harlan Stein who was taking the photo over my shoulder...

Finally, finally, finally... Friday, I actually squeezed out some oils... all brand-spanking-new W&N tubes. We had a list of basic colors to buy, and that's what I had. I was a bit confused about which mediums to use and tried linseed and turp with a smidgen of cobalt dryer... although I decided I didn't like the dryer since it totally seized up the paint way too quickly (I probably had used too much! --also, the stuff is horribly toxic). I was told that Boris and Julie didn't like using any mediums at all... and I was discovering that if I painted thinly enough, the oils would dry pretty well as it was. I still continued to use the linseed oil/turp mix, though.

Rebecca Guay was down in our Studio and she came by to paint a bit on the dress, saying that it was possible to glaze with white... she put a bit into the water and smudged it around, saying it could be misty-looking... That helped a LOT, since I totally suck at drapery (even with my photo-ref) and I didn't have a clear idea of how I wanted the painting to look. I usually don't work at all so high-key... it was weird (I was still totally at sea!), but cool (love trying new stuff!).

Basically, the underpainting, with some blue in the sky/distance (cobalt and ultramarine), some green in the leaves and some light flesh tones on her face and the thin layer of white on her dress... the white glaze over the underpainting created a sort of violet cast to the shadows. So yes, I caught up quite a bit in one day.

Greg Manchess and Scott Fischer did some duel-painting on Ruth's piece. It was amusing to watch and attracted a crowd of on-lookers--

There were putting in some color on the banners--

The after-lunch lecture was by Special Guest Jon Foster. We couldn't take photos or record. But in the general presentation that was shown the first day, and run again the last day, I snapped a few quick pictures of his (very recognizable) work, here's one--

He gave an amusing/interesting run-down of his past (community college, jobs, Parson's in NY, being OCD-ish, going to RISD, working in art store while looking for work... for years, finally getting stuff in Aboriginal SF mag., meeting other artists at cons, Spectrum 3--a big break for him, TSR, Wizards, Tor books, Dark Horse, Vertigo, National Geo., etc.)

He did the cover for Brandon Sanderson's MISTBORN, (which is where I first noticed his art, several years ago)--

And this book (which I also read, but can't remember who it's by... GREAT cover, though!--

And the sequel--

Dunno where this lovely piece is from--

He stayed to do a Digital Demo--a sketch of a head from ref., using Painter and Photoshop.

Boris and Julie presented the after-dinner lecture. No photos allowed, either. And wow, I was SO sleepy!!! but had to stay awake, of course! They do their underpainting in acrylic. Block in dark areas in oil, use turp as medium, pick off paint with turp. Use #1 W&N Ser.7 Round Sables for faces.

They've been together over 20 years, over 100 pieces done together. Found their body-building background very helpful.

by Julie (from the same instructor's art presentation)--

by Boris--

Late night in the Studio... Charles Vess inked his Lady of the Lake piece--

And started painting--

Student work, Studio A, Princess of Mars piece--

And another--

Student work, Digital--

Tired, but everyone was still painting until the wee hours of the morning. Money was collected and pizza was ordered again. This time I ordered a bottle of diet coke--which I totally needed (caffeine-wise!). Only one more painting day to go on Saturday before the showing of the work on Sunday, and the clean-up... Everyone was pretty frantic...

TO BE CONTINUED LATER...

Illustration Master Class-- Day Four--Thurs. June 18

2009-07-05T01:00:00.000-07:00

During the class, I hadn't managed to get to sleep before 2 or 3am, so I started to skip breakfasts in order to sleep in to at least 8:30. I ran into town (well, across the street and down a block or two) to hit Starbuck's and the drug store to pick up some paper toweling since the studio had run out the day before, so I didn't want to count on it.

I had slapped another coat or two of matte medium on my board... too much in a hurry to sand the texture away. And all too soon it was Lunch. And after lunch--two special guests gave a presentation on Fantasy in Picture Books, children's book illustrators Dennis Nolan and Gary Lippincott.

From "Dinosaur Dream" (I think!), by Dennis Nolan--

Dennis Nolan presented his work first. Influences (from childhood onward): '50s Golden Books, Dr. Seuss, Rackham, Parrish, Little Nemo, Mad Magazine, Frazetta, Sendak, Jason and the Argonauts. He did a variety of jobs (magazine covers, album covers, book covers, etc.) before becoming more well-known for his picture book work.

From one of his earlier books, "Castle Builder," which was done all in pen and ink, stippling it all (he said he estimated the number of little dots he'd made at about 2 million).

Example of his making a model for reference--

Painting in progress... watercolors, I think--

Then there was Gary Lippincott--

Uses watercolors, liquid frisket (an art of its own, he said), works typically light to dark, back to front, wet washes to dry brush.

Example of in-progress (actually, unfinished) painting--

The after dinner presentation was by the wonderful Charles Vess, who did the art for the original graphic novel version of Neil Gaiman's "Stardust." I think he said he did this image before the book/story was finished--

Influences--Prince Valiant (comic strip), Beardsley, Pyle, Wyeth, Rackham, Dulac, Kay Nielsen, etc.
Example of painting progression--

In Studio B, Dan Dos Santos did a Life Portrait Demo, working on several quick monochromatic sketches first--

Then mixing colors--

Boris and Julie had moved up to Studio B to continue their paintings--

Greg Manchess had original art tacked to the walls of Studio A--

Charles Vess started working on his own version of the Lady of the Lake, penciled then inked within a day or so, and he also had originals on the walls of Studio A--

Students painting in Studio B, another Lady of the Lake--

... and one of the SF covers--

Working furiously, students in Studio A... Pizza was ordered around 10 or 11pm... work continued way into the morning hours (with all the presentations and demos, there was little other time to work, aside from all night, but the energy was high, although there were early-birds who slept and came in early in the morning. Most people were working traditionally whether they were digital artists or not, taking advantage of all the instructors who worked in oils, but there were also stations along the sides with tables for those working digitally--

To be continued... SEVERAL MORE DAYS TO COME!!!

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I hope all the Americans had a fab 4th! Fireworks, music, picnics, barbeques... what's not to like???

Illustration Master Class-- Day Three

2009-07-01T23:36:00.000-07:00

Report on the Third Day of the Illustration Master Class... We had our Guest Instructor, Michael Whelan come in the day before, but today, after lunch, would be his lecture/presentation. I'd been a fan of his work way back when he did that great image of Elric, and he certainly influenced my early work...

He's at the back, ready to comment on his images...

So, on the previous day I was checking my photo ref and working on refining my sketch, and by Wednesday, I had it as refined as it was going to be. On Monday, I'd shot refs (using L. A. William's fabulous equipment and with the excellent Zelda as a volunteer model). On Tuesday, I'd had Charles Vess look it over (he drew an alternate composition on tracing paper and told me about how most people were getting the legend of the Lady of the Lake wrong--that she was an earth goddess and had gifted Arthur with the sword in order to do good, but he used it for more typical things, like battle; I told him I was thinking of the Lady as a Celtic Water goddess--the sort they may have been sacrificing precious objects to when throwing items into certain bodies of water... which, I thought, wasn't too dissimilar an idea). Donato Giancola had come by and suggested that I not move the composition about so much so late in the day and said that perhaps I should have the lake/water more prominent--as in coming down from the background, in a rivulet sort of thing, so her feet and the sword and the roots at the bottom of the picture could be in water. I looked at Charles and he said he loved hearing alternate suggestions. And since I really didn't want to change everything (after having shot refs and all), I went with Donato's suggestions.

Unfortunately, the copy shop still had their printer out of order. Ruth Thompson's printer was working, but it only took up to 19" and I wanted as large an image as possible on the 18"x 24" masonite board... which would mean doing a bit of tiling (printing on two pieces of paper and cutting them irregularly so that the two pieces would jig-saw together along less noticeable lines... but that sounded like a pain to me. Drew Baker had his 22" printer but the ink ran during the mounting process... but they thought there might be a work-around if we spray-fixed the ink. I thought it would only take the morning to get that all done, but it took a while to get my file sized, then to make an appointment with Sarah who was running Drew's printer... then to borrow some spray fix from some nice guy... anyway, I didn't get a print on my Strathmore 500 series single ply Bristol until late in the afternoon. Diana Stein helped me with Donato's mounting method...

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Donato demonstrating his drawing transfer method with a student's work--

Wet Mount Method
1. Wet down print or sketch (whatever you're mounting)--both sides, with paintbrush or soaking in water.
2. Apply Matte Medium with brush to board (masonite or whatever) and back of paper. Cover corners and edges well. Make sure excess water is gone first.
3. Use roller/breyer lightly to get out air bubbles and excess medium (do not squeeze it all out or it won't stick properly). [my suggestion, since I've done this before: roll from center outward to get ride of air bubbles)
4. Brush medium on top (unless wanting to use watercolors as an underpainting/painting)
5. Sand down when dry and add and sand 2 more coats (150 to 200 grit)

Note: Tom Canty used to transfer his drawings by reproducing his detailed sketches photographically in a sepia tone and mounting them on Strathmore board... I'm not sure if he wet mounted them or not, though. I learned a similar wet mounting method from my teachers at Art Center and used it with drawings reproduced by a sepia tone blueprint printer (they could make oversized copies way back in the days when they didn't have printers/copiers available).
---------------

I think only a few others were still in the sketch stage... so I was pretty behind! Ah well. But I was fairly sure I could catch up, since I'm not a very careful painter! Heheh.

So, after lunch, Michael Whelan was speaking-- Diana Stein was fan-girling a bit (and rightly so, I thought!), but I have also been a huge fan. He was THE book cover artist for F/SF for most of the years I've noticed such things. I've got prints of his, and several framed book cover comps and a sketch by him, collected over the years when he was at his prime.

He does very finished comps, here are some examples--

Here's a sketch/comp--

The finished piece--

He said the ADs were the ones who kept picking his centered more iconic compositions. He'd generally supply a number of skeches/comps for them to choose from. Used whatever medium he felt like, but works mostly in acrylics. Also likes Gessoboard by Ampersand.

He sometimes uses airbrush, mostly for flat areas, no details. Often uses free-hand, hand-made frisks made from mat board or other material, so that the edges aren't hard. Here are some of those--

Some other tools he sometimes uses--

He also recommends THE ARTISTS WAY by Cameron--

After the presentation and Q&A, Michael set up in Studio B and worked on/demo-ed a monochrome horror piece--

He also brought lots of prints of his work which he gave away (graciously signing them for us). I grabbed three--one of which was a poster of the Elric I always liked. Diana had me go up there to take a photo of her with him. I thought it came out nicely! (Heheh, she was later miffed at me when Michael was heading towards our table to sit, but then I pointed him towards Rebecca Guay, who was waving him towards where she was sitting. No way I'd feel comfortable sitting across from Mr. Whelan, but Diana would have loved having him by her. Ah, well! He WAS still at the same table, just farther down... )

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The evening was lovely--students and instructors were throwing frisbees on the green in front of the commissary and studio Halls.

The 7pm lecture/presentation was made by Donato Giancola. He's one of those artists I totally noticed right away--almost from his first covers--or so I thought! But Donato started with his beginning work (a fun retrospective way back to his childhood) that showed me he actually had a few covers on some secondary lines that I hadn't seen. He seemed to me to have a meteorically quick rise, coming out of art school right into book covers, but again, I was wrong... the guy still put in his time and has got to be one of the most motivated and hard-working artists around... Thoroughly impressive! His love of doing art and wanting to inspire it in others was palpable.

A private commission detail... scene from a battle (Agincourt?)--

The full triptych, he worked an image of the buyer in, just like artists used to do in the middle ages--

Very early influences (childhood): Star Wars, Tolkien and D&D, Romita's Iron Man comics.

He mentioned that with the advent of all the digital programs, it was no longer so necessary for an artist to leave room for type on book cover art. Diana had left 1/3 of the image open at the top in her sketch for the Princess of Mars assignment, but was told she shouldn't worry about that, which surprised her. Apparently the currently thinking is just to create a good painting, as Donato said in his lecture. And for the purposes of our class, it was better to make a good portfolio piece, anyway, since it wasn't a true book cover assignment. I have to say, this is a huge relief, since the 1/3 business always made for crappy compositions without the type in there, I thought!

And then it was Studio Time from 8 to 10... or to 1am or later/earlier for the students...

Boris, sitting back and thinking about his painting--

Julie, working on the figures (they are both just ace at rendering fleshtones!)--

Greg Manchess, adding a bit more to his painting Wizard of Oz--

Student, Ruth Thompson, had her under-painting finished--

Other students with their drawings/paintings on board (more Lady of the Lake pieces)--

Students, Painting away--

One of the Barbarian vs Polar bear pieces--

I was furiously lathering matte medium on my board... I didn't even bother with the sanding phase (not worried about the texture so much). I just wanted to get my ground ready to paint ASAP...!

MORE REPORTS TO COME

[All photos: copyright (c) 2009 April Lee. All images (c) to their various owners. Any copyright holders please contact me if there are images you don't wish to be posted. Or persons who don't wish to be posted, for that matter. This is not a popular blog as I don't really promote it, but if the General Public does surf in here: Please Do NOT download these images. Thank you.]

Illustration Master Class-- Day Two

2009-06-26T05:36:00.000-07:00

[Been listening to Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett tributes all day and all night... I grew up with MJ... loved him in the Jackson Five and lived through the craziness of the brilliant Thriller album. Definitely the end of an era...]

So... Tuesday, June 16... I actually posted my first LJ report late on Monday night... so I think I got to sleep at around 2:30am or so. Breakfast was at Amherst's Valentine Hall from 7:00 to 8:30, a short walk from our dorm, Pratt Hall. But... I am SO not a morning person. Also, EDT is three hours earlier than PDT, which Did Not Help! *groan!*

[Michael Whelan, guest-instructor, viewing instructor Greg Manchess's work.]

The food was good, though. And I thought I should have breakfast, since it came with the course and I knew it would be a long and busy day. We had a Hazardous Materials and Safety Meeting at 9:45, wherein the college's representative quickly ran down all the rules, such as making sure absolutely NOTHING went down the drains or into the trash that had any kind of paint or medium on it. There were special bins for everything--paper toweling and wash water and turpentine, etc. Wow. Well, I guess it wasn't a great idea for us to be pouring stuff down drains for all those years in other places, but still... wow.

Donato had some of his sketches spread out for us to look at--

I spent the morning on my laptop in my room, looking over the photo ref that was shot the night before and picking out the ones that were closest to my sketch, then laying them in to see... Of course, my sketch had the figure twisted in a pretty broken way (no human could pose that way, unless they were a contortionist... poor Zelda was not happy when I was telling her to try and twist around more!). THAT of course, is a reason photo refs are necessary--so figures can pose in a realistic way! Anyway, I mocked up an image with Zelda's pose. I'd change things in my sketch, of course... make her longer, mostly, but try and keep the pose looking real...

Then I ran back over to the Studio because that's where all the fun was! I 'borrowed' some tracing paper from Diana and sat in my spot and sketched for the morning. Troubles were looming in that the copy shop in town that usually makes large-sized prints on heavy art paper was out of service. Fortunately, Ruth Thompson had hauled along her 19" Epson printer and laptop and set them up in the Studio for everyone to use (with a suggested donation to cover ink costs). That was a total life-saver!
And Drew Baker had brought his 22" printer to use (back at the dorm). I swear, the students were all great about sharing stuff--materials and equipment... it was heart-warming!

Ruth had mounted one of her drawings to board already, using the Donato method, and had started her underpainting in acrylics (borrowing some of mine--which I rarely ever use nowadays, but had managed to pack). It was looking great. I had fun sitting next to her and seeing it all go along (particularly since I was working so slowly... my usual pace, alas!). She had tiled two pieces of paper together on the masonite, since her 19" printer couldn't accommodate her large image, which is why the papers look different.

Lunch was over at Valentine Hall... a short walk from our studios in Fayerweather, from 12 to 1:00. Again, a nice spread of food, cafeteria style.

And afterwards, we had a lecture at 1pm, by Dan DosSantos on Frankensteining reference. I was recording most of the talks, but haven't downloaded them yet. Anyway... he demonstrated by showing a photo he'd taken just outside, a model (Rebecca?) against a stone background with ivy. Then he'd rifled through the internet the night before to pull off bits and pieces that he used to create an outfit and jewelry and flowers for the background... and he put them all into the picture, flipping and distorting and changing the elements to make them work.

Here he is afterwards, laying in the sketch/undrepainting, with the printed out frankensteined photo-ref to his left, plus the original photo of the head and other refs around him. The top one was all gridded out so he could re-create it on his ground. Wow, he works quickly, getting that down! He had the face painted in a blink, it seemed!

The afternoon studio session always goes quickly and dinner was from 5:00 to 6:30.

7 to 8 was a Lecture/presentation by Greg Manchess. Again, I recorded it and haven't downloaded it yet, so no details yet (if anyone is interested, I may post more later). He covers his career so far and has lots of terrific images and is an amusing speaker--showing his reference shots--mostly using himself as a model for all sorts of figures!

In the evening studio session, Boris and Julie are back, painting away. They've laid in background detail and their paintings are coming along so quickly.

And then everyone is running for their cameras as Irene Gallo has been decked out in the full suit of armor that L. A. Williams has hauled along with him from Ohio. Another (Mark?) has brought a sword. (A number of students had brought props and stuff--swords, gowns, fabric--it was great!) Irene makes a perfect Joan of Arc, and that is Charles Vess behind her, and also L. A. Williams in the background.

We were all laughing and having a great time crowding around them. It was just fun and crazy and not at all something you see every day!

For some reason, I'm still not early to bed! Ah, well... just too much going on. I think people are already hanging about the studios working away until the early morning! I try downloading my photos to possibly post here, but the wireless connection is pathetically slow, so I give up and wait until after I return (now!). Gah... It was like being on a bad dial-up! I don't know how the students stand it. Maybe they buy their own connection???

Anyway, more later!

Illustration Master Class-- Day One-- Continued

2009-06-23T23:46:00.000-07:00

I'm back, but still exhausted, so this will be a brief post!

On the first day, after the moving our stuff to the studios (there were two in the Fayerweather building--Studio A downstairs and Studio B upstairs, with 40 students in each--I was downstairs in A) and having our sketches looked at before and after lunch, and then going to the lecture on shooting reference and studio set-ups, we had the evening tine in the studios, from 8pm to 10pm (and the building open until 1pm... or later for people to work if they wish). It was fantastic to see the instructors set up, with them working away!

How often can one get to see Boris painting?

Scott Fischer had a rotating board to paint on.

Greg Manchess was starting a piece that was one of our assignments (the Steampunk Wizard of Oz).

Students, already set up and working hard.

John already had a terrific finished sketch ready to go for the Lady of the Lake assignment--

Boris, with Julie Bell painting next to him, had a comfy chair, with his name taped on back.

Some of Dan DosSantos's paintings on display in Studio A (I'd actually read BUTCHER BIRD, that had his art on the cover, which was my intro to his art).

Donato had the beginning of the private commission he was working on--

Greg Manchess knocked in the first figure on his piece the first night--

Scott got a lot done also--

Julie Bell painted the underpainting--

As did Boris... all in an hour or two--

Of course, they are well-admired professionals for a reason! I was still working on my sketch, of course... shooting photo-refs in L. A. Williams' room, since he had brought his lights and D700 camera, and the fantastic Zelda (who does the graphic/comics on Tor.com) had volunteered to model for a few of us (Diana Stein and Joseph and me), while she got Ruth Thompson to model for her. I was still sorting through photos at 2am. And the late nights only got later from there! Agh!

As I'm still Very Sleepy, that's all for now...!!!

Illustration Master Class-- Day One

2009-06-23T22:03:00.000-07:00

[cross-posted from my LJ]

For a fantasy illustrator, this is like dying and going to heaven! There are 70+ students, ranging from beginning to being tops in their fields. Everyone is excited and working together and amazingly kick-ass. I arrived at Bradley/Hartford yesterday and shared a shuttle in with four others, all women, one a former Disney animator, now free-lancer. We all were glad to meet each other and three of them had attended last year. Apparently they had around 30 students returning, which is not bad in a recession.

Remember that I did a massive fail in getting my assignment sketches ready (we were to pick from a list of assignments, do thumbs and shoot refs and bring a finished sketch or two to class the first day. I chose a basic fantasy assignment: The Lady of the Lake. On Sunday night, Jennifer Meyer, a great artist who is in the room next to Diana Stein and I helped me with a thumbnail and I made a really rough sketch--

We are staying in the dorms at Amherst College. Lovely surroundings, good facilities, good food...

The room I'm sharing with Diana (most have only one to a room, but we volunteered to share).

Ate breakfast at 8 on Monday morning. 10 we gathered for the visual presentation of some of the work of the instructors: Rebecca Guay, Donato Giancola, Boris Vallejo and Julie Bell, Greg Manchess, Charles Vess, Dan DosSantos, Irene Gallo (AD for Tor), Scott Fischer and Michael Whelan. Then we ran off to our Studios to set up and to get our sketches critiqued.

I had a few other crappy sketches--

(believe me, they were crappy... you should have seen some of the gorgeous finished sketches others had--they were suitable for framing as is!)

Four instructors made the rounds of one of the two studios (they would switch off on various days). Greg Manchess and Boris were doing my section.

They thought this sketch was better and suggested I move the sword a bit and said I'd need to get good photo refs to go further.

I grabbed Rebecca Guay to see what she said, since romantic fantasy is more her thing and she sketched a bit over my horrible sketch as well and suggested I flip the image.

After dinner there was a great presentation by Boris and Julie and then Donato and Dan and a martial arts guy on shooting photo ref... slides of Boris and Julie's studio set up for taking photos (he as tons of expensive cameras and lighting). And Donato brought his diffusers and strobe light and reflected color gel light to do a demo with the marital artist doing leaps and kicks. Damn... we all need to upgrade our cameras and lights to a HUGE degree if we need to do it right. But as Boris said, it was better than when he had to use professional photographers and wait to develop the film, etc.

Donato also demoed his method of transferring and mounting the drawing onto board (masonite or illustration board). (Uses matte medium.)

In the studios Boris and Julie were working on their paintings, same with Greg Manchess and Charles Vess. Donato had a large private Lord of the Rings painting he was starting. The studios are all open until 1am.

After that we went to L.A. William's room because he had a strobe light and D-700 camera and we got other artists to volunteer to model. There are people with swords and armor and chain mail and scanners and printers... others are doing all digital, but most are going to eventually be doing traditional. I'll be trying oils for the first time since college.

It's now 2am and we have to be up at 7:30 tomorrow! It's going to be a crazy-ass week!

Warlord CCG-- Bronze Dragon Shape-shifter Warlord

2009-05-03T23:44:00.000-07:00

Here's another digital (PS7 and a wacom) Warlord CCG piece... He's a Bronze Dragon in human form, and one of the Warlords in the game. They wanted him standing on a cliff by the sea, but it was difficult to show the waves since an up-shot is more heroic than an overhead (where you could actually see what's below him). I had sketch versions of both and the client agreed with the idea of forgetting about showing the sea.

I usually don't like those even six-pack abs (if I can help it) but I thought it worked OK with the more dragon-y aspects of him--which are too subtle for words, actually (I think his pupils are slits, and his coloring perhaps, are the only hints).

I'm not much of a clothing designer... I have no idea what the well-dressed dragon warlord is wearing these days. As usual, just winging it...

Still need to do something about the Illustration Master Class coming up next month... Gah, so much to do, so little energy!

Oh, and I went temporarily insane and decided to join a group I know of who are going to Jamaica for a few days. I look forward to visiting the remains of Port Royal and anything the least bit pirate-y... Will be going in a few days, so will be off-line, probably, until next week.

More Warlord CCG Art

2009-04-21T18:34:00.000-07:00

I recently turned in a few pieces that I can't show yet, but here's an older piece from a set that is published. He's a young herald, holding a horn, supposed to look weary and worn. All digital: Photoshop 7.

Warlord CCG blog/site

Hmmm... I hadn't checked that in a while. It looks as if they've posted one of my newer pieces, so I'll post an image of that soon...

Old Warlord CCG Piece--Arial Moonstone

2009-01-05T23:54:00.000-08:00

This is an old Warlord artwork... but I still have the original and was showing it at the 2008 Comic-Con, so I was tinkering with the scan to make some prints... I should probably make a larger sized print than the 8.5"x11" ones I've usually been making out of card art, since this may have general fantasy appeal... I'll have to think about it.

Hither-dither...

2009-01-05T22:41:00.000-08:00

I have a kind of art blog over at Deviant, although I so rarely post there. I'm more often on LJ, but don't post much art there, either...

I could really use a dedicated art blog. Should it be here? Perhaps I'll try it and see how it goes...

I'll probably x-post art stuff at all three place, just to make things more complex and annoying...!

Still Dithering...

2008-10-11T22:42:00.000-07:00

I should make this my Art Blog... although I can always use Deviant for that... But a sort of Official-like Art Blog could be good. That is, if I were actually being productive and had things to post about... *sigh*

Well, I've got my assignment for L5R, at least. The new Edition. I can't believe it's been going for over a dozen years. That's a LONG time to free-lance for one company... and a long time for a card game to exist. I must say, it's hard to keep up the enthusiasm at times, but I still enjoy the work and the players are just the best! It's always a good time at GenCon because of the players. They're lovely to the artists and devoted in a very sane-and-healthy way to the game. And they are polite, friendly and interesting! It's a total win for me.

What Do I Want This Blog to Be?... or Become???

2006-04-17T03:33:00.000-07:00

Per my last post, I have a LiveJournal devoted JUST to Ball-Jointed Dolls...

I used to post my art jobs and appearances and some other things over on my website...

I have a journal-like thing over on Deviant--but I've been mostly posting BJD stuff there, too.

This Blog, entitled so, was probably meant to fill the need of... well... just about anything. But I'm now finding that I don't want an all-over blog, since it begins to repeat a bit of what I have on other blogs...

So now I am stymied... Should I re-shape this blog? Should I reshape the others? Oh, decisions, decisions!!! I DO need a blog for art stuff... but perhaps I ought to keep that on my webpage. Or perhaps I ought to make the Deviant Journal art-related?

I could use a site for reviews--of books and films. I could use a frivolous site for just rambling.... The title of this blog ought to encompass that well enough, but for some reason the look of the site just doesn't seem frivolous enough. It lacks all the silly little emoticons that tell people I'm feeling sleepy or anxious and allows bits of music or whatever.

Now some people seem to have only one site and get it all nice and customized and linked up with friends and use it as they will. That would make like easier, wouldn't it? Why must I be such a maverick? It's not as if I post enough for three or four blogs, quite the contrary!

This will bear some thought... although hopefully not a LOT of thought, since I really should be more careful of my time. After all, it subtracts from my blogging time!

My Latest Compulsion/Obsession (BJDs)

2005-01-12T16:45:00.000-08:00

There seems to be a theme starting with these posts... Addiction to babbling, the urge to collect, buying high-ticket items such as a laptop... I might as well just go with it.

I've gone and acted upon the whole Super Dollfie, or Ball-Jointed Doll (which is the more generic term, since Super Dollfie is the brand name for Volks dolls, and my sights are currently aimed at Dollfie-like dolls made by other companies) thing.

Oh, come on, you knew it was only a matter of time, right? I was already a doll collector--have been since I was young. I wasn't too into the whole Barbie scene as a kid, mostly because my mom seemed to want to discourage it (ha--and see what happens, parents! Let my state be a lesson!). I've been collecting (rather than playing) with dolls for years, although I'm not a hard-core collector of anything in specific... Just lots of different things in a non-methodical way.

I must say that this BJD-thing is a tad crazier in scope (read: expense) than anything I've done so far... so it seems that my sickness is increasing! Ah--I kid! I'm not exactly spending myself out of hearth and home, so it remains just a hair on this side of healthy as far as hobbies go. As others have said, some people spend on clothes and jewelry... others spend on dolls. Whatever makes 'em happy!

And I can definitely use the distraction. Yeah, I know... it's an excuse, but I'm still going to rationalize things that way!

So... I last left off scanning ebay and various websites for all things dollfie.

And that led to SD FAQs, which was extremely helpful to a noobie BJD wannabee collector.

http://www.denofangels.com/sdfaq.html

And that led to THE forum for all things BJD, Den of Angels.

http://www.denofangels.com/forums/

And that led to deciding upon the object of my desire for which I would spend far too much time and effort on.

This has become such an all encompassing interest that I've now got a blog over on LiveJournal that is JUST for my BJD hobby. So you'll have to wander over there to hear more about that!!! ;)

http://april-art.livejournal.com/

My First Laptop Computer

2004-09-17T11:19:00.001-07:00

This is rather like making a baby announcement.

It's a Dell Inspiron 9100!

Pentium 4, 3.2 GHz
15.4" Scree, WUXGA
1 GB DDR, 400MHz DIMMs
128 MB ATI Mobility Radeon 9700
8X DVD+RW Combo Drive
60 GB Ultra ATA Hard Drive
Win XP Pro

Dell Website--Inspiron 9100

------------

This is, I am rather ashamed to admit, the first computer I've ever bought, and the only computer I've had at home in about ten years.

I work on a computer all day at work--and it has lots of programs on it and a high-speed internet connection, so I never had a burning desire to spend a lot of money to try and duplicate that at home. But being in the Computer Game Industry for around ten years makes this somewhat of a heresy as far as my co-workers go.

Peer pressure (and just wanting to do some things at home and not using my work computer) has brought me to the point of spending massive amounts on a computer. Of course I want a really cool computer...

I want to play some games on it, so I wanted a decent video card. I'm not a high-power gamer by any stretch, but I don't want to buy another computer any time soon, so I thought I'd better try for a better card--one that wasn't hundreds of dollars, though. Hence the 128 MG card as a minimum requirement.

Why Dell? Because I've used Dells at work and they seem OK. I've heard that they have experienced some problems--seemingly related to bad assembly and outsourcing--but perhaps the complaints are from people with axes to grind. Anyway, Dells allow for customization. I had some basic requirements (such as 1 Gig of RAM, to help out with any graphics-intensive programs I might be using) and didn't want to mess about with fine-tuning a laptop by myself, since I just am not good at that.

Why a Laptop? Because I hate hauling about heavy cpu's. I don't do it often--just when moving or for repairs or whatever--but they are a pain on the fingers and I'll pay the extra for not having to deal with it. Also--I'm in a one-bedroom apartment that is running out of space.

Why a Refurbished computer? The regular 9100's were regularly over 2K in price. I knew I could, eventually, see a configuration I liked on Dell's website. I was patient. After all, I could continue to use my work computer for nearly everything. And I hoped that with a Refurb, someone would have had to inspect it to make sure everything was OK.

--------

Well... I ordered on-line (using as many coupons and discounts as I could find--and there are usually quite a few on Dell's site and elsewhere--just Google it or something). The discounts actually brought the price down a few hundred to $1800.00+ which isn't too horribly awful (I'm so cheap!). Unfortunately there were no free shipping coupons around, but I figured it was OK, since at least it was a laptop and not horribly heavy.

I order it on August 27 and it arrives on September 1.

I plug it in and press Power. Leds flash, fans go on... Blank, black screen...

Oh, oh...

I try it a few more times. Read up on trouble-shooting.

After about 10 tries the display goes on and I get a few screens through the set-up, then black...

I get a bit farther the next time--all the way through set-up. I wonder if the computer is affected by the horrible heatwave we've been having. It's over 100 degrees and the whole box and computer was giving off heat like an oven when I first opened it.

I decide to let it rest and go home from the office for the day. The next day I start it up again... Black screen.

At lunch I try the website to see if it has trouble-shooting help. I don't think it likes my browser (Opera, because I got a horrible pop-up virus with Explorer), and I can't send a request to Tech Support. So I phone the 800 number and get Tech Support. A very nice guy with excellent English (but with the slightest, very slightest of accents; I know most of this stuff is done over-seas, though). He has me try pushing several Function keys while trying to start up. Nothing.

He quickly orders another computer to be sent out. A good policy, since I can just return mine in disgust and get my money back and decide to spend it somewhere else.

About five days later (as predicted), a new computer arrives at my work. This one goes on immediately. I bring it home and try to figure out if it has the same software and specs as the first one. This takes a few days, since we're in crunch (working long hours for no compensation) at work, so I'm getting home around midnight.

I check to see if the modem works, and various programs, like WordPerfect. I load on Microsoft Works, which came with the first computer.

My co-workers warn me that if I don't immediately send back the original computer I could get in trouble, but really, I don't have the time to sort it all out quickly. And wouldn't you know it, I get a letter asking about it, but worded quite nicely--giving instructions one how to send stuff back and who to call if there are problems.

So I finally pack up the old one in the new box (as they requested), hopefully keeping the correct software cds and instructions and AC adaptors and what-have-you.

Right now, I'm waiting for the DHL guy to come pick the box up.

I'll have to report later on how I find using the new computer.

The Collecting Gene

2004-09-15T17:39:00.000-07:00

I think I must have some problem with compulsive behavior. Well, perhaps not, but I definitely must have the "Collecting Gene." You know, the urge that makes a person have the deep desire to collect things...

I don't have it super-bad. Not to the point that they'll find my dead body suffocated under masses of old newspapers in my apartment. But my condition is unfortunately close enough.

I love to shop. I love to buy things. Ebay is a main supplier, but hey--stores are EVERYWHERE... so I can't easily avoid pandering to my addiction.

It's a curious, but not an uncommon, phenomenon. I don't think I'm making up for not being loved or something traumatic in my childhood. But who knows? Most of us are rather horribly screwed up in some way by nature or nurture or both most likely. I will blame it on nature and say it must be in the genes.

Anyway, my current obsession is an extention of an old obsession. I've always liked dolls. I didn't have many when I was a kid, but I had a few. Now, with my own income, it's rather dangerous. But dolls--what's so bad about that? I'm a female, people-oriented, fashion-oriented, and I can use the excuse that dolls make great reference for paintings.

To be specific, I've been obsessing for the past week or so about Volks (Japanese company) Super Dollfie (type/size) dolls, and similar non-Volks dolls. I haven't quite acted on my obsession yet, although I've been sorely tempted. I've been interested before, but now there's more dollfie-type doll auctions on ebay, and I haunt ebay way too much, so it's become a bit more of a problem.

These things are EXPENSIVE. But I really, really, really want to have one. It'll be interesting to see if I manage to hold out. I usually can't resist the siren call of things I've wanted, but I'm also kinda cheap, so maybe the price will just keep me scared off. Although, bad sign, it's rather odd how views can be skewed and rationalized. To me, any doll above $200 is way too expensive. But super dollfies tend to run from $700 to $1,500. So $700 is starting to sound reasonable. Oh, dear...

Anyway--Super Dollfies... they are Japanese, with similar dolls made in Japan and Korea. They're usually about 21.6" tall and the eyes and wigs can be swapped out, as well as the clothes, of course. There are smaller ("mini" Dollfie) versions and non-"super" dollfies that are about the size of a Barbie. The Super Dollfies are the large ones. They're made out of resin and have a fair amount of joints/articulation.

This particular jag started when I saw a customized doll on ebay. It had a gorgeously painted face, nice wig(hairstyle), and a beautiful outfit. I just couldn't bring myself to bid, even though I came very, very close... It ended up selling for over $1k. *sigh*

The customizer (painter of the face/make-up and overall designer of the look --clothes, hair, etc.) is Satoko Ono, whose website is:

Satoko Ono's Custom Doll Site

The other pictures here are from the same website. No permission asked, but hopefully the link is some compensation...

Addicted to Babbling

2004-09-15T15:50:00.000-07:00

All the world is a stage and we all want to play on it... have that 15 minutes of Fame... Carpe Diem... expose all your Dirty Linen... throw Stones in Glass Houses... or on a Reality or Talk Show... be Exploited... and hunted by Paparazzi... mix horrible metaphors... all Self-inflicted... (and abuse punctuation and grammar...)

Is it really a good thing to pollute the internet with everyone's ramblings?

Should one follow the crowd like so many lemmings?

Can it possibly be of any use to reveal just how inane one's inner-life truly is???

The wise would say, "no, no and no!" But being anything but wise, here I am wasting your time and mine with a blog!

So... are we all leading such useless lives that catching glimpses of other useless lives is that interesting to us?

I hope not. Maybe there's some deeper and more worthy need, such as merely the human connection? And yet... isn't it somewhat pathetic to try and fulfill this need through the internet???

I suppose I'll leave it to the Philosphers.

--So what do you think?

;)