Amanda Palmer Tarot Kickstarter!

Amanda Palmer Kickstarter

The project has been launched and already on its first day, at only a few hours old it's been funded well over $6k! Very exciting! Don't hesitate to become a backer and own a set of this awesome limited edition goodness! ;)

IMC 2013 Piece

Jon and Arya oil & acrylic 24" x 36"

I finished it! I will be making prints, which will be available to buy at Dragon*Con and illuXcon this year!

Amanda Palmer Tarot

Hello! It's been a pretty hectic time lately, lots of art to do, places to go... I apologize for a lack of updates, but I was fortunate enough to be able to take part in the Amanda Palmer Tarot project. I was roped in really really late in the process, so I had to haul ass to get this done in a timely manner in place of another artist who dropped out. This is the Six of Cups, a card which speaks of nostalgia, simple pleasures, and joy.

Now that I'm less than 24 hours done with this piece I do have my qualms with it, specifically anatomy but otherwise I'm happy with how it turned out and especially how as of late my technique of painting has changed for the better after watching a lot of tutorials.

Now I need to finish my Illustration Master Class piece that's been silently screaming at me to finish!

IMC 2013 Prologue

So here's my concept for this year's Illustration  Master Class piece. I chose the assignment to illustrate two Game of Thrones characters, depicting Arya Stark and Jon Snow. I chose the two characters because they have this special bond, Jon being the one to nurture Arya's desire to want to be as far from the lady she's being forced to be by giving her her first sword: Needle. The two of them are black sheep in their own right, Jon being sent off to the wall, being the bastard child of the family, and Arya being defiant and free-spirited. As the story progresses the two of them are left to fend for themselves.

Arya I've depicted in a defensive pose, but Needle at hand she is capable of defending herself. As a character she is indeed very strong, but being forced to flee and survive on her own  she has run into situations that are beyond her control being still just a child.

Jon's sword bisects Arya's hair in a symbolic representation of how Arya has lost her innocence and how she was forced to drop her identity and her gender to flee the capital after her father was executed.

I'm pretty confident in this composition/idea, however my only qualm is I need to finagle a way to cut her hair shorter without smushing Jon into Arya, because to pass as a boy her hair was cut waaaaaaay shorter than I depicted. Winona Nelson suggested to me that I use a shadow cast by Jon's sword further up in the composition to achieve that effect, which is something I will definitely play with until the critique next Monday when the IMC is in full swing!

New Piece: Threads

"Threads" 16" x 20" oil and acrylic on board

This is a new piece I just finished for Forest to Shore Gallery's 2nd Anniversary show! I had a lot of fun with this, I got to experiment with an old grungy brush that's been around since I don't even know when!

Wh4t5 Ur G4m3r T4g?: The Art of Gaming

Tonight was the opening for Wh4t5 Ur G4m3r T4g?: The art of Gaming show at Plan 9 Tattoo. It was an absolute blast, as can be seen from this awesome cake someone made to be consumed by all!

I actually hadn't documented this show at all here, so I shall in this post. I was notified about the show on February 5th, and had a week and 2 days to come up with ideas, and complete at least one piece for the show, which the drop-off date was February 14th, the show opening to be on the 16th. I set to work, spending one night honing in on which games that would be fun to illustrate, and then coming up with ideas for a piece after I had decided upon a game.

I ended up choosing The Neverhood and ICO, and spent the weekend and subsequent days during and following the nasty blizzard that hit us here painting away to get them done. Both were done, and varnished in the wee hours of the morning on Valentine's Day, leaving me praying they'd be dry by noon to be framed and delivered. I checked my email before heading to bed to see what time to drop them off and found out that the show had been postponed for 2 weeks due to the snowstorm.

Despite dealing with the stress of having to get the pieces done so fast and so soon, it all worked out in the end. The weekend of the original opening I wasn't going to be able to make it due to going up to Boskone. But, because of the rescheduling, I was able to go to Boskone and the opening for the show, and on top of that, able to get Aedan into the show as well! Excellent!

Here are some glimpses of the opening I was able to get in between nerdy discussions about games and movies:

My ICO piece

My Neverhood piece

Month of Love: Day 26

Today's theme was to put a bunch of your music on shuffle and illustrate the first love song that came up. On the way to and from work I had my good 'ole Zune on shuffle, and Rammstein's Pussy came on. That's a love song, right?.... Right?!

Month of Love: Days 22, 23, 24, 25

Day 22, free theme, decided to paint whit my fingats...

 

Day 23's theme was I Would Do Anything For Love (but I won't do that...)

For Freestyle Sunday I posted a progress pic of me working on a painting for a Sandy Hook Benefit.

Today, Day 25, was a free theme again and I decided to do a Love Wizard.

Month of Love: Day 21

I was at work all day, and hadn't much to do considering the kids are on February break. I then spent a good while rooting through my supplies and using a set of alphabet stamps I had found, individually coloring and stamping each letter. Originally this was to be the background for something, but I love how this looks by itself. It shall remain the mating call of typographers and graphic designers.

Month of Love: Day 20

 

This is for yesterday's theme Odd Couple. Bam. 

Month of Love: Day 19

Toooooooootally did the wrong theme today. I thought it was opposites attract but it was actyually odd couple. Woopsies!

Month of Love: Day 18

It's been a few days since Valentine's. The last bits of candy are trickling away, and those left just screaming "Eat me!"

Month of Love: Day 16

I was in Boston all this weekend for Boskone, and didn't have much downtime to sit down and dedicate my brain to my duty of doing a daily piece on Friday, so I missed it... However, for today's entry (day 17) Marc, Kristina, Scott and I took a ridiculous picture together forming a giant heart with our arms while we were together at Rick Berry's studio party. Once that's uploaded I will be posting it here.

This piece was for Saturday's theme Tainted Love. I was sitting chatting with Aedan Roberts and Jason Cheeseman-Meyer and whipped out the Moleskine and my travel watercolors which I had forgotten I had in the deep recesses of my bag. I was thankful for that, despite how reluctant Moleskines take to watercolor...

Month of Love: Day 14

A month or two into getting to know each other and building a close friendship, John took me to go ice skating. We were supposed to meet up with two friends of his, but they overslept. After John and I skated around for an hour looking like idiots, he suggested lunch. We ended up at a vegan place, tucked away in a back parking lot a few towns over.

As I got out of the car, he sat down on the hood, and after a moment of looking out into space, he asked me out. It caught me by surprise, but the moment was perfect. To this day I still think our friends flaking out on us was all part of the plan for John to woo me. Regardless, we started dating two days later. The rest is history.

Since then the car has been a staple in our lives. We have gone on so many adventures, whether they started off with a destination or not--sometimes the trips just resulting in the two of us driving around for hours for the fun of it. All I can say is I hope the adventures never end :)

Month of Love: Day 13

While my brother was off in California, John, a coworker of my brother's, would take me on late night trips to our 24-hour diner. Up until that point I had only spent time with him in the company of my brother and his group of friends. I always felt like an add-on, and not truly integrated.

At the diner we would sit for extended periods of time until the wee hours of the morning drinking cup after cup of coffee, getting to know each other better and better. We talked about video games, books, movies, television, art, anything and everything. Slowly but surely, a mutual love was brewing...

Month of Love: Day 12

So for the next three days, our challenge is to illustrate a love story from our lives. Here's my part 1 of 3:

After I graduated from college I made the decision to move back home to Connecticut. I had left my college friends behind, and the friends I had in Connecticut from high school were elsewhere, living their own college and post-college lives. In essence, I was marooned.

Within two months of moving back, my brother, the only person keeping me sane and entertained at the time, went to California. I was bored, lonely, and needed someone to rescue me from going insane! (to be continued...)

Month of Love: Day 11

Lovetopusssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss

Month of Love: Day 10/Klaymen Buddy

Decided to dedicate the day to working on one of two pieces I'm submitting to a show this weekend, well, Thursday. This is Klaymen from The Neverhood. I have a lot to do the next few days!

Month of Love: Day 9

Today's theme was A Face Only a Mother Could Love. These little monsters are all over my classroom, they're fun :)

Month of Love: Day 8

A few days ago I was down in my basement and saw a woodlouse spider ambling his way across the floor. They're frightening looking things with large fangs and rusty red in color. I named him Peanut :3