vertigo25 said:
It would be interesting to see what you could do with a drawing of a woman with all of her clothes on.
Wow, thank you Vertigo, very in depth. I do hope the above quoted sentence of yours is something rather generic you attach to several artists and not aimed specifically at myself. Honestly, I have ever only done *one* nude in my entire career.
If I give the impression of objectifying, I apologize, such is not my intent. However, I must point out that I do as required by the parameters of my contracts. Before I had the pleasure of coming into contact with Mongoose (whom is my newest client) I have had some rather, uhm, colorful folks to work with. LOL I could tell you some stories! But Im afraid they would be rather inappropriate for public forum. LOL
Mongoose is a wonderful company that gives me a lot of freedom and rarely asks for anything so base. It is a great pleasure to work with the very fine fellows, Nick and Will, of whom I have been contracted with. They are definitely an artists' pleasure to work with. Rarely am I so pleasantly surprised to be in contact with such fine individuals that allow an artist the freedoms necessary to grow and evolve, so that better art can be achieved.
You might be surprised how many companies just want to push garbage out as fast as possible. Its refreshing to work with fellows like Will an Nick, who have very high standards. I actually enjoy being pushed to do my best and "stretch my wings" on every single piece. I relish it, actually. Not to mention a lot of extremely fun projects have been sliding across my desk thanks to them. I hope I do not faux pas in relating my extreme excitement to be working on a Conan book right now
Its been a loooong dream. Ive been a Robert E Howard fan for years and years. I became an R.E. Howard fan due to the art of Frank Frazetta.
It was an absolute nightmare to get ahold of *any* R.E. Howard books while I was in college. Thankfully I got a job at a Barnes & Noble, which had an extensive database of even back-listed books. I was able to obtain 2.
The biggest problem was that someone else had obtained the rights to "Conan" in novel form and had pushed out several junk serials by unknown authors in the decade prior. Of coarse, that company at the time wanted to push *their* novels, not the original collections from "Stange Fiction" magazine (or whatever it was that Conan debuted in). So they left the jewels of R.E. Howard's work sit unreplenished.
Due to the deflating value of the "Conan" series thanks to that lost venture, all "Conan" material was lost in legal limbo. Nothing new was printed until the fabulous "Best Of" collections recently. Thankfully, they also printed collections of Solomon Kain, and several other of R.E. Howards' creations as well, not just Conan.
And of coarse, the work at hand. Im an avid gamer myself. A Conan RPG just made me all a twitter
I actually was pretty heavy in "dropping hints" to Will and Nick about my desire to work on something, ANYTHING Conan
But I have no scruples, so am not ashamed
Sorry to blather on. To sum it up, Frank Frazetta was one of the reasons I became an illustrator. Working on "Conan" is both exciting and terrifying, because I want to give an homage to that amazing artist, who first breathed 2-D life into Conan; and did it so absolutely perfectly. Its a tough act to follow, so Im terrified. I know I cannot offer such robust and perfect examples as he, but I am still striving to give the readers something akin. Ah, also, I should probably apologize in advance. Being I am heavily influencing myself on Frazetta's work for my contribution to Conan....well I cannot promise I *won't* objectify. But don't worry, there will be plenty of muscled hunks in their scantily clad loin clothes to offset the fantasy-driven babes
God bless Barbarians.
Anyway, back to the suggestions!
Color, ugh, yes, color. LOL
Actually, Ive been an "interiors" guy for years. I got my first cover (and thus, color) commission early last year (2008). I spent weeks on it and still to my eye it is horridly flawed. But it appeared in Dragon Magazine and was indeed kept on as the cover for that specific work; so it was not a failed attempt. Its the one with the Dragon bearing down upon the archer in a fetid, gas-clouded swamp.
Since then Ive tried every medium available to me. Of coarse back in college they pushed us to do everything via computer. That was the growing trend. And there are *amazing* digital artists out there. No doubt about it!
I, however, will forever be a traditional artist. I must use my hands. I got well enough to have a few private commissions done on computer. But I needed to try and overcome that hurdle of picking up a paintbrush and creating art. Sounds like a funny thing for an artist to say, huh? But it is true. I was a rapidograph artist for years. All Black and White, all interiors.
Over the last year, I say I have grown leaps and bounds in the advent of color. Though I am no van Gough obviously. I have probably 7 or 8 unfinished pieces. Practice pieces as it were. Many end up getting thrown out because my ability changes so drastically. I start one piece, then half way through get the inspiration to start something else. 4-5 pieces later I go back to the very first one, but realize Ive changed so much there is no way I could finish it! LOL
Not to mention Im still getting comfortable with the various mediums at hand. Sad to say I have only been successful with one piece done in acrylic. Ive always failed at oils. Ive tried straight pigment, mixing it myself, or using it as inks or pencil-like sticks. It is there I have had the most success. Which is funny because its the most difficult to use.
When using straight pigment (mixed with water) its like working with ink. It dries FAST. Youve got less than a half a minute to cover the area and smooth it out before your window of opportunity is slammed shut. Too much water curls the paper; any variation in the pigment will show in an overlapping streak (like markers). Plus you have to mix subtle spans of pigment with bold separation lines in some areas. Try to get a new color next to an area not 100% dry and you get tie-dye bleeds. Its a NIGHTMARE. LOL
But I guess Im one of those types. Either fly by the seat of your pants, or dont bother doing it. Who says art can't be exciting?
So that's my story. Sorry if anyone is asleep now
