I… was a teenage anime

Look at me not posting for months! Even though I promised a Spectrum wrap-up post! Well, my seriously fraught move into DC has finally kinda-sorta resolved and now I have something awesome to talk about which does not involve terrible surprises!

And that is… this thing my friend Brandon made and released at SPX! (if you follow me on twitter, there was an indiegogo campaign for it). It’s a mini comic anthology collecting stories from a bunch of us artists who had transformative and/or embarrassing stories to relate about our teenage encounters with anime.

Who else contributed? Oh, just a bunch of seriously talented and internet-famous comic artists who make me feel all woobly to have work beside…

Somehow, my comic ended up being first.

I have a beautiful brown paper package tied up with string by Brandon himself, all full of copies. So if you’re jonesing for one of your own, go ahead and drop me a line! A whole world of teenage anime experiences, all for just $8 + shipping!

 

Teaser

Tomorrow morning Evan and I hit the road for Kansas City, and Spectrum Fantastic Art Live!
I’ll try to blog while I’m there, but chances are that I’ll only have time for twitter. Trip synopsis when I get back!

And if you’re going to be there? Please find me! It’s going to be a great time.

In the meantime, for all of you I won’t be meeting there, have a tiny teaser of the last piece I managed to finish before packing.

Begging for Treats

Graphite, digital coloring

Giving digital a little more of a shot!
Thoughts? Opinions?

Evan and the Eggs (experiments in digital coloring)

(click for embiggening powers)

A frequent mental refrain of mine is “Dang, wouldn’t it be cheaper/less messy/take less space if I just worked digitally?” Typically this sentiment is quickly dashed when I actually give it a shot, throwing up my hands in frustration when I take a stab at coloring some meant-for-watercolor linework in photoshop and find myself frustrated with the results (except for that Fireside Magazine cover of mine, but special cases.)

WELL. I stuck with it this time. And I have to say, I’m rather fond of the result.

What do you think? I also played with using a textured paper I’d scanned as a background:

This is all rather new to me, and I’d really love some input! I’m personally leaning a little toward the paper background, but since I’m so used to traditional painting/printmaking I’m wondering if I’m just using it as a crutch to make myself more comfortable.

(And if you think that looks like a certain Evan we all know sitting in the tree, you’re right. He took one look at my original thumbnail, and declared that he wanted to be in it:

Evan, you have odd tastes.)

 

Quick draw

I started this a few months ago (haha, longer ago than I last posted here actually…) and it just got snowballed under everything else I was up to.

It’s my contribution to the ‘cute girl with dragon’ trope in fantasy illustration, that sort of seems like a requirement anymore…

Water color, and ink (experimentally, I’ve been doing a lot of experimenting lately) applied with a brush. I have mixed feelings about it, but I’d love to hear input from others! What do you think?

Innsmouth Magazine #12, fresh hot and terrifying

New issue of the lusciously frightening Innsmouth Magazine, everyone! And not only that, but the cover illustration is one of mine! Go treat yourself to a copy of this eminently spine-crawling publication by Innsmouth Free Press.

Happy Hallowe’en!

 

We were lucky enough here in Annapolis to weather hurricane Sandy with relatively little damage (relative to the poor folks in New York, and Ocean City, and many other places where the weather came down hard.) So in celebration of everyone’s favorite day of eeriness, and for our luck in still being here after Frankenstorm, here’s a Hallowe’en card!

And if you aren’t arbitrarily barred from giving blood (for reasons of sexuality or travel history, etc.), consider taking a look at where you can donate blood in your area!  What’s more eerie and kind-hearted than pumping your blood into a bag to give a stranger, after all? It’s the best kind of tricksy Hallowe’en treat, I say.

Though I hear they appreciate getting dollars, too.

Grangy, or Of Rotting Logs

An illustration I had to scrabble to finish after returning from Canada is online already! It’s for a story on AESciFi (The Canadian Science Fiction Review) by Michael Hodges about a strange little critter and the nebulous give/take relationship it has with the narrator.

I decided to experiment a little on this one, and it’s the first illustration I’ve inked entirely by brush. I really like how it turned out, I have to say, and it was so much quicker to do than with a dip pen. I obviously didn’t go for as fine a line as I normally do with a pen (not everyone is as proficient with single-hair brushes as Niroot), but I think the effect worked for this subject. Working on another quick personal piece at the moment to see whether I feel like sticking with this method. I’ll report back.

Oh and a reminder! The Fireside Magazine funding drive has 17 days to go. Donate $25 and you’ll get a signed high quality print of the cover art, by me! *hint hint*

Spectrum Fantastic Art Live

This thing called Spectrum Fantastic Art Live happened for the first time this year, and because I didn’t really know what it was going to be like I didn’t put much effort into going (though I had the poster up on my fridge for months. Crowbot!) Then I heard that it was amazing and everyone had a really great time there.

So I will be at the 2013 SFAL! In fact, I will be sharing an exhibitor’s booth with Evan Jensen and Galen Dara. More info when I get it!

New Source of Entertainment & Delight

While I’ve been chugging along on my new job, creating patent illustrations for Items of Wildly Unlikely Commercial Success (I wish that were actually my job description rather than simply being accurate), I’ve also been working my feelers deeper into this whole ‘world wide web’ business.

To that end, I now have a Society6 shop stocked with prints of some of my work!
On top of that, until August 12th there’s free international shipping from said shop!
Want a peek?