Rhonda Libbey's art blog

good ink

2011-09-12T16:55:00.005-04:00

As some of you know, I am an active member of the Pittsburgh Society of Illustrators. Every now and again we put together a directory of illustration to send out to prospective Art Directors and pretty much anyone else who may commission illustration. This year we decided to spice it up a little and make it a recipe book! A drink recipe book to be exact. It turned out really nice and there are some great illustrations in there along with some tasty drinks, some call for alcohol and some are simple every day things that anyone can enjoy.

In addition to our nice directory, we are exhibiting the original artwork (and many of us selling it as well) at GalleriE CHIZ. We are also selling copies of the recipe book there for $5.

Ok, enough of the plug for our book.

It's cool, the exhibit and gallery are cool, and there was a wonderful article about it in this Sunday's Tribune Review. It was written by art critic, Kurt Shaw; and I have to say I am flattered that he highlighted my piece in his article. He talks about a bunch of other artists and their work, so check out the link when you get the chance. :o)

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/ae/museums/s_755962.html

http://www.pittsburghillustrators.org/

Discovering a Muse, now available for purchase!

2010-12-01T15:10:00.003-05:00

I am very happy to announce that the book Discovering a Muse is available for purchase!

There are two versions available: 7" x 7" soft cover, and 10" x 10" hardcover with a dust jacket.

100% of profits will be donated to the children's program "Discovery Arts". It's a program that benefits children suffering from cancer.

My painting The Lure is featured in this art book along with many other wonderful work done by my contemporaries in the Science Fiction and Fantasy art world.

sketches and secrets

2010-11-24T16:40:00.002-05:00

Hello again, friends! I know it has been a long time since my last post, but that is because I have been hard at work on a new project. And while I don't think its a good idea to let the cat out of the bag completely on this one, I am just so excited that I wanted to post a couple of sketches. It is an adventure story, and some of it takes place on the high seas! So you will likely get to see some really fun stuff with a tall ship, monsters, and much more. I promise I won't keep you in the dark about it for long.

Discovering a Muse

2010-06-01T14:14:00.004-04:00

My newest painting! I call it "The Lure"......

Lately I have been very busy preparing for the Three Rivers Arts Festival, but I have made a little time to create a new painting.

What's it for? Well, in short, it is a submission to this fun art competition called "Discovering a Muse". You can read all about it here: http://artorder.blogspot.com/2010/03/discovering-muse.html

But it's much more than that. I was trying to create something interesting for the competition, sure, but I also wanted to tie it in to the top secret project that I am working on for myself. I will reveal more about all of that here in my blog at a later time. But for now I can say it involves: adventure, angels, ghosts, the Watchers, Nephilim, rednecks, cultists, and prophecy.

So, you may be asking, "what the heck are the Watchers"? Well... the subject of my painting! Here is a link to a page that can explain more in depth about them:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watcher_(angel)

I was trying to imagine what it would have been like in the time that the Watchers fell. And I thought it would be nice to create a painting of this forbidden love between a human and an angel. It was so forbidden that the angel fell from heaven just to be with her, and she was also cursed by God. They would have been outcast from every community and everything they had ever known. And their kids? Eeek! Those were the Nehilim, and I don't even want to get started on that topic at this time. Look it up on Wikipedia if you are still curious.

Ok, You have probably noticed a few things about the painting I did, like the fact that her eyes are closed and she is not looking at him, and that's because she is not facing the reality that he is not human and she is not focusing on what will happen to her if she falls in love with him. I also thought it would be interesting to depict him as clearly non-human, and a little scary. Not all angels are pretty ladies with swan wings or big fat baby angels like what you see in rococo art, in fact most are really scary to behold. Biblical accounts tell us that typically they have had to say "Be not afraid" to the prophets they visited. And what the heck is this guy in the painting doing? He is looking at us as if to say "yeah, she's all about me and you can't do anything about it." He is toying with a lock of her hair, and I vaguely remember reading somewhere that the 200 Watchers who fell before the great flood had a thing for the ladies with pretty hair. There are reasons why he is ultra pale colored with glowing eyes and black wings, all of these things are pretty standard in accounts of these types of angels. I added face paint and tattooing because it made him look more fierce, and that's something he would need because the angels who did not fall made war on the Watchers. Going up against the archangel Michael? Yeah, you're gonna need every advantage you can get.

Ok, enough of that. I wanted to be sure to invite everyone out there in blogo-webo-sphere to come and visit me at the Three Rivers Arts Festival this year! If you are in the Pittsburgh area at this time, I will be there from June 9-13, 2010. Booth #59

I will post more about this closer to time, including images of original paintings that I will be selling... so if you love Call of Cthulhu, Legend of the 5 Rings (L5R), Middle Earth, or any of the other millions of games I have illustrated for; make sure you stop by.

http://www.artsfestival.net/

Dr. Ferretstein and the diving bell

2010-04-29T16:54:00.005-04:00

Hello friends! Blogger is now cooperating and so I can show you the diving bell illustration. You will have to forgive the absence of a formal color corrected image at the end, it is being photographed at this very moment.

So, let us start at the beginning and with the sketch.

It was not as easy as you would think, designing a diving bell suit for an average sized ferret; all while still maintaining a distinctly victorian-steam punk feel. I tried to also imagine all he would need for air flow, weighted boots, etc. There is a little bellows type of thing on his front that could serve to circulate the air, and a propulsion system on his back. Ah, come on, you know he would need it, those tiny little legs couldn't get him anywhere fast. ;o)

After the folks at the Gamers Realm gave me a thumbs up on this sketch I moved on to color studies. After creating 7 versions all with different color schemes, this is the one they liked best:

After that was all settled I primed a hot press illustration board with gesso, transferred my sketch down at the size I wanted to paint it, and got started with the underpainting right away.

This stage seen above was done with Vandyke Brown acrylic paint. Mostly I hate using acrylic, never could master the medium; but that seems to be the way doesn't it? It seems that artists who primarily use oil don't like to use acrylic much and vice versa. It's not a snobbery thing, I assure you, it's just a matter of being used to how this or that medium behaves.

Now, in the stage below you will see that I have begun to apply another layer to the underpainting stage using Burnt Sienna oil paint. Ahhh, speed gained and back in my comfort zone.

this is what it looked like with all of the underpainting done. Why Burnt Sienna for the underpainting and not some other color? Well I learned in college how to use oil paint and my instructor said it was the best and its really hard to paint in layers like I do if you use much else. I tried other stuff, and you know so far she is right. Other colors don't usually work out so well.

Here is where it starts to really get interesting as I add other colors. I will list a bunch all together so you can see the progress. Not much I can say other than: yep, it's progress.

ok, so there is most of the progress. Now for the finishing touches like making sure the convex glass is looking more like glass:

done!

next post: The Group Painting. 10 of the characters in the Dr. Ferretstein project have been painted in color, all together in a line-up style showing height!

likely I will also have the nice color corrected image of this piece to show you as well.

I feel I must reiterate, at this time, that these images are copyrighted. So nobody better borrow any of these images for their own purposes, seriously... I mean it.

Dr. Ferretstein in glorious color

2010-04-29T15:44:00.003-04:00

Ah, finally I have have some finished pieces in color to share with you from the curious world of Dr. Ferretstein! I will post, as I have done, the color studies and a few various stages of painting so you can see how the work looks in progress. Hopefully it will help some budding artists out there and encourage them. Sometimes paintings have to endure an ugly period before they can be finished. I would be happy to go on about this, but I will let the artwork and photos of it do all of the explaining here.

I would like to share with you, the creation of the "Vitruvian Ferret"

First I lightly gesso an illustration board. Then I print out the sketch I did really big and transfer it onto the primed board. Then, I begin painting some darker details with a really watery acrylic paint, all the while trying to keep in mind that this is supposed to look like its done in ink and the paper is aged. For the text I used a crowquill pen dipped in the same watery acrylic.

For the most part, the illustration is finished. It is important to note that I have chosen to sort of work in reverse. What I mean by that is that I do all of the stuff first that would actually be ink sitting on the surface of paper, right? Then my plan is to scumble in a translucent color on top that makes it look like its on aged paper.

Oops! better have my ferret, Icarus, inspect my work first!

Ok, next step is to mask off the edges we do not want paint on. Because of the irregular border I gently trim my masking tape to fit. Note: I really do keep referencing my color study throughout the creation of a painting.

See here, the color is applied. I chose oil paint because of its permanence and brilliance. Besides, if I do something I don't like I just wipe it right off and its like it never happened; so I can control how much yellow and brown I want in it very easily. It's a messy business, but you can see why I masked off the edges now.

Tape removed, and done!

Photographed by Alexander Patho and the digital file also precisely color corrected.

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In my next post I will show you Dr. Ferretstein in a diving bell suit. I know, right! What on Earth could be cuter than a little ferret scientist in a diving bell?

But you will have to be patient my friends, the blog spot is giving me a bunch of errors at the moment.

Dr. Ferretstein contemplates his own existence

2010-03-20T14:01:00.008-04:00

Greetings, art lovers! If you are following the progress of the Dr. Ferretstein project, have I got something for you! New drawings and color studies!

"What the heck are color studies", you ask? Well, for those who aren't illustrators already, here is a briefing in the stages that are commonly used to produce a color painting:

1. thumbnail sketches

2. gather necessary reference materials, shoot photo reference

3. rough drawing

4. final drawing

5. color studies

6. prepare painting surface and all of that sort of thing

7. create final painting

I don't intend to bore you with thumbnail sketches or reference shots or any of that... well... ok maybe just one photo of my model for Dr. Ferretstein himself. This is my own little buddy, Icarus. Lucky for me he likes to stand on his hind legs a lot:

Yep, these are some of the photos that I reference when I am drawing Dr. Ferretstein. The markings that Ferretstein has are borrowed from my dear old buddy, Frodo, who sadly passed away in '07.

This is the "Vitruvian Ferret", I based it on Da Vinci's Vitruvian Man, and I also wrote all of the text. It is a little hard to read in this JPG, but its written from a ferrets perspective if he could contemplate his own existence.

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Ferrets are mammals of the type ‘Mustela putorius furo’. We are sexually dimorphic predators with males being substantially larger than females. We have a long and slender bodies covered with brown, black, white, or mixed fur. The height of a standing ferret is about eleven paws tall from the top of his head to the bottom of his hind feet, which translates to about fifteen to twenty inches tall with a tail that measures about five inches long. We are light and lithe, weighing between one and a half to four pounds. Among our many habits, we are obligate carnivores and we are also crepuscular. We are territorial, but we are also quite social. And yes, it is true that we have an eye for treasure.

The ferret body is so designed by nature that the face, if viewed from the front, is one-eighth of the ferrets whole height. If viewed from the side, a ferret's muzzle is one paw width in length, between the corner of the eye and the edge of the nostril. Also, the ear is one paw width from the back corner of the eye to the base of the ears. The length of an ear is equal to one paw and the distance between the eyes is equal to one paw width. So it is that our heads are two and a half times as long as they are tall. The length of a ferrets legs are one-eighth of the ferrets height. A ferrets center of gravity can be found five-eighths from the top of his head. Ferrets have a dynamic quality inherent in their physiology. The placement of the ferrets low center of gravity and length of body allow for kinetic energy to be accessed most efficiently and quickly. I endeavor to understand wether if it is merely that the spirit of a ferret is galvanized by our most fortunate body design or if it is that our bodies are the manifestation of an ancient and fundamental component of the spirit of our intelligent and fearless race, perhaps it is both.

– Dr. Nicola Ferretstein

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I did 3 color studies for this piece, but I was pretty sure I knew which one the folks at Gamers Realm would go for. Turns out I was right, but was good to give them a few variations.

This is the one they chose (keep in mind that these are ROUGH images, created for the sole purpose of finding the right color combinations) the final images will be painted far finer. I should also explain how I do them, its easy enough, I print out my sketches on plain old paper then I paint over top with gouache paint. I don't use oils because that would take unnecessarily long to dry, I don't use watercolors (though I probably could) because gouache is more opaque and it does not mix the printer ink into it as much, besides the colors appear as much like oil as a water based paint can. Acrylics? Eek, well that is the one medium I don't do so well with so I try not to use it at all.

These are the alternates that they did not choose. They are ok.

Thats it for today folks. Check back soon to see Dr. Ferretstein's awesome Diving Bell!

Upcoming events!

2010-03-18T14:53:00.004-04:00

Today as I continue my work on the Dr. Ferretstein Project, I am compelled to post these two bits of good news that have come to me as of last week.

1. I have a piece on display in the Toonseum! In downtown Pittsburgh.

The show features the top 25 best covers of the Pittsburgh City Paper.

The opening night has its reception on Friday, March 19 at 5pm to 7pm, but the show is set to be up until April 4th. Not only will the cover itself be on display, but the original oil painting I did for it will too.

You may be saying "Rhonda, which piece made it in?" It was the 2005 New Years issue:

But I strongly recommend seeing the original for yourself, its a different experience. And the other covers aren't too shabby either. :o) Which brings us to the second point of good news!

2. I have been accepted into the Three Rivers Arts Festival artists market!

I will be there in booth #59, June 9-13. Noon to 8. Its very interesting prospect for me. I'm not entirely sure how my work will be perceived, or how it will sell in a shopping environment primarily for decorative arts. My work has always been focused on telling a story, so we will see how it goes. Maybe some die-hard fans will make it out to purchase some of my original art that has previously not been available on any market. :o) Most of it is oil paint, and tends to be ridiculously large in size, but I will be sure to have some giclee prints and sketches available too.

Links!

http://www.toonseum.org/

http://www.artsfestival.net/

Dr. Ferretstein, the second wave of characters all finished up

2010-02-08T14:13:00.007-05:00

Welcome back to my blog, and to the development of the Dr. Ferretstein project. I have the second set of black & white character designs all finished. There are some things that have changed, like gun design and such, but you will see for yourself. enjoy!

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The Adventurer (Mr. Lukas Baer):

The Chronicler (Mr. Daniel Gascoigne):

The Heiress (Lady Vianne Bunnyfeld):

Louis Adams:

Dr. Ferretstein:

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Next posting I will bring you up to date on the color pieces such as "The Vitruvian Ferret"

...and more!

Dr. Ferretstein, the second wave of character design

2010-01-19T14:48:00.007-05:00

Here I have for you the second set of character designs for the Dr. Ferretstein project. 5 more rough sketches of characters whom you shall meet here below. I understand too that the stories about these characters are being written now and as we work together. At a later date I will include links in this blog to any stories that are posted online.

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Dr. Ferretstein:

Professor Nikola Ferrestein (a ferret)
Bio: The world renowned inventor of items such as the Dimension-Shifting Autogyro, the Self-Propelled Sidereal Shunt Steam Coach and the Portable Tesseract Carryall is remarkably publicity shy. Little actual fact is known about this genius of our modern world. There are the myths and tall tales that surround him and accounts of his alleged adventures abound from plays and motion pictures to novels and endless ‘exclusive interviews’. He is a Doctor of Xenomorphic Biology and Oscillating Alternative Hyperkinetic Mechanics, but has lower degrees in a variety of disciplines such as Archaeology and Anthropology as well as Architecture and Art Restoration just to name a few.

One of the few facts that is known is that this eccentric recluse has set up shop in the Dallas area. He has his workshop above the store The Gamers Realm, where he supposedly observes the clientele in search of someone worthy of assisting him with his researches.

He has three confirmed associates, but they can shed little light on the rumors that surround him like a fog.

The Heiress:

Rumored to be European royalty, The Heiress has been a fixture around The Professor for years. She handles a great deal of The Professor’s public affairs, including running his latest operation – The Gamers Realm. However, her exact relationship with The Professor is unknown. She is herself an inventor and artist, but is merely a dabbler at this point. She has a university education, but doesn't talk about it even if asked.

She has been involved in a number of incidents associated with The Professor and met The Adventurer during the affair surrounding the Dimension-Shifting Autogyro.

Louis Adams (a raccoon)
Ferretstein's field assistant and head Ferretstein's network of engineers, mechanics, and spies. He is always out in the field either accompanying Ferretstein or doing other research under Ferretstein's orders. He is generally wearing Victorian field khakis and a pith helmet, and tends to have his field pack close by filled with all the essentials for field work.

The Adventurer:

He is a man of action who is rumored to have been covertly employed by a number of the world’s governments to solve particularly troublesome problems. He has led countless expeditions into uncharted territories ranging from the frozen wastelands surrounding the Arctic entrance to Pellucidar to the core of the biomechanical forest of Vulskryer in the South Seas.

As at home in his workshop as he is abroad in the world, The Adventurer often makes use of apparatus of his own design in his undertakings. His Variable Nutating Meson Collimator is his trademark weapon of choice.

It is believed that he encountered The Professor when he was hired to test his Dimension-Shifting Autogyro, leading to one of his more fantastic adventures. The success of that project formed a bond between the two that continues to this day.

Currently, The Adventurer is in semi-retirement assisting The Professor with his latest project and having his less sensitive exploits documented for posterity by The Chronicler.

The Chronicler

An amateur writer and aspiring novelist, he was out in the world gaining ideas for his “great work” when he met up with The Adventurer. He started documenting The Adventurer’s exploits and soon found himself traveling with him. Currently, he continues in that capacity, but has expanded his efforts to include recording some of The Professor’s works for posterity as well as working on an unauthorized biography of the eccentric reclusive genius.

Well, there you have it. Check back in a couple of weeks for the latest on the Dr. Ferretstein project.

Catching up with Dr. Ferretstein

2010-01-08T12:42:00.007-05:00

It has been a while since my last post, but in that time I had been working on the Dr. Ferretstein project when I could and overcoming a nasty flu bug. The rough sketches I have shared with you here on this blog were well accepted and I have since created a lot more stuff. But before I share any new rough sketches with you I would like to show you how the finished images turned out for what I have already posted.

Buck Lattimer:

Sir Snuffington:

Farnsworth:

Dr. Honeysweet:

Helene Fischer:

I intend to post again soon with new sketches, so stay tuned!

The Dr. Ferretstein project

2009-12-18T11:15:00.007-05:00

Some of you may have already heard that I have been working on a steam punk project of late. It has been going well, and I am ready to share some rough sketches with you. But first I would like to describe the project a little, so here goes.

The folks at The Gamers Realm have kindly asked me to help them with their project they call "Dr. Ferretstein". This involves bringing to life 10 characters in sketch form (3 views of each character), and 3 polished color images. They intend to brand their retail game store with these characters, and I believe use them as inspiration and illustration in stories later on.

So what's the gist of this story line? Basically, it involves animals who speak, wear clothes, and carry themselves as though they are human. Together with their human friends they have adventures and invent all manner of exciting things in a steam punk world.

What's steam punk you ask? Perhaps this will help:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steampunk

I have had a lot of fun with these sketches so far, and only 5 of the characters have been completed. Please enjoy, and check back later to see the final images I have created for these sketches and later developments in the project.

This is Dr. Thomas Honeysweet, a lemur who is Ferretstein's old college buddy and current rival/nemesis:

This is Sir "Robin" Snuffington, a polar bear who is Dr. Ferretstein's lab assistant:

This is Buck Lattimer, an armadillo who is the pilot of Ferretsteins combat dirigible (and a proud Texan):

This is Miss Helene Fischer, a sugar glider who is a nurse:

This is Farnsworth, a butler who is a blue poison dart frog:

The Prisoner - decoded

2009-12-08T16:47:00.002-05:00

In a previous post I suggested a deeper meaning within my painting "The Prisoner ".
I have heard several ideas about what is going on here, some are right some aren't . While I can't know for sure how you will interpret this or any image, I hope that in reading this and reviewing the painting for yourself you may be inspired to look deeper in to works of art ... to tell yourself the story.

What can be seen? Well what can't be seen is another person in the room. He is alone. The work is called "The Prisoner", is this room his prison? Is he reflecting on actually being imprisoned in the past? Is the prison in his mind? Is he a prisoner to an addiction?

We see the man and how he is dressed. He looks like any old fellow we have seen dozens of times down at the local pub. Very clearly he is wearing clothes that are typically American, so he must be American, and he looks to be the right age to have served in either WWII or Korea. A paper at his elbow reads a headline about American Veterans, and this is another clue. Likely it is why he is so pensive. What is he remembering? We can only guess. He stares down into his empty glass that once held what was "hotter than a desert brush fire, colder than a limpet shout", while the liquor bottle points up to another clue about his identity or perhaps what is on his mind. It's the clock with the "Prisoner Of War - Missing In Action" emblem on it. The clock itself sends a dark message about the passage of time, but how deep the meaning may be entirely dependent upon what your relationship is to time and personal loss.

We also see the white walls, and wooden beams behind him. If you look at the texture on the walls, the half circles may begin to look more like wings and the texture like feathers. Notice that there is a white space between them leads up and out of the painting. This is his escape. Is the escape death? I don't know, perhaps. Maybe its not death but symbolic of something abstract that can't be painted in such a realistic scene. Well, hey, at least there is an escape. Right?

I had mentioned earlier that he looks like an average old fella, just down at the local pub for a drink. The lonely figure like so many we have seen, whether its at a pub or a public park. If there is a big "so what" to this painting it is this: that perhaps we should talk to that guy sometime. Hear his story.

Casual conversation may make the all difference for what that "escape" turns out to be.

Fission of Form

2009-09-24T17:03:00.000-04:00

Today I wanted to talk about the exhibit I have a piece in called: Fission of Form. It is still showing at Panza Gallery until October 31st.

Here are some dates to remember:

September 5th thru October 31st, 2009

Poetry Reading October 3rd 6-9pm

Alex Patho opening pics: http://www.pathophoto.com/fof/

Kurt Shaw Review: http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/ae/museums/s_644709.html

Copy and paste this to see more about the show: http://web.mac.com/panzagallery/Panza_Gallery/FOF.html

So what is it? Kurt Shaw say's it best so I suggest reading his review linked above. But he says in it, "The exhibit started with works created by the Pittsburgh Society of Sculptors, then, members of the Pittsburgh Poets wrote a poem inspired by a particular sculpture. The Pittsburgh Society of Illustrators members randomly chose a poem, and created an illustration without seeing the original sculpture. The sculptures, poems and illustrations are displayed as installed triads."

It's a pretty cool exhibit. I love the poem and the sculpture that are grouped with my painting. I met the sculptor and she seems like a very nice girl. Good sense of humor. I haven't met the poet yet. I will share a JPG here of my image, but if you are in the area you totally should come and check out the show. The Opening night was a lot of fun and I imagine that the Poetry Reading will be too.

Here it is, my image "The Prisoner"

And here is the poem that inspired it:

(you may have to open this attachment in a new window in order to read it)

You may be asking yourself "So why is he a cowboy?". Well, he's not. He is wearing the hat because that style is very American and that helps identify him.

Allow me to explain a philosophy very dear to my heart. I believe that images are to be read, and there are a lot of things to read in this painting. Everything has a meaning to it.

What does the clock say? Is there something I am trying to say with the spacial arrangement and design of the background? Are there any other clues I have left you that tell you what he is thinking about or who he is?

I would like to hear from you.

What do YOU think I am saying in this image? Why?

Order of Nine - the color studies

2009-09-22T17:16:00.000-04:00

There are various stages that professional illustrators commonly use to create the right kind of image. These are the ones I use:

1. research and gather reference images

2. thumbnail sketches

3. shoot model(s) for photo reference. (takes the guess work out of form and lighting)

4. final sketch

5. color studies

6. final painting

After it is all done I have the piece professionally photographed and the file color corrected. This way I can be certain that my clients have the best possible digital file, and it's all ready to use.

Sometimes I do little sketch exercises to get me thinking before I begin the thumbnail stage, sometimes not. And, word to new illustrators: ALWAYS get your contracts and business arrangements out of the way before you begin any work.

So here I am, at the color study stage for my cover of the newest Order of Nine album. These are my ideas for the color scheme. When I do color studies I like to take the easy way out and I print out my sketch onto regular paper several times, then I paint over top with gouache paint.

I hope that they like them, and you do too. Do you have a favorite? Let me know.

I will let you know what they say.

ArtOrder challenge

2009-09-20T15:01:00.000-04:00

There is a blog site that I like to follow called Art Order. Every now and then they have art challenges listed, and I hope to participate more in the future. Without further ado, I will share this weeks samples with you so you can follow what I am up to.

This is the site if you want to read up on what these silhouettes are all about:

http://artorder.blogspot.com/2009/09/new-challenge.html

the revised sketch

2009-09-11T14:45:00.001-04:00

Here is the Order of Nine sketch they picked, and already revised. They only asked for a "hotter angel of death", more definition in the mirror, and to replace the dagger with a shard of broken mirror that is cutting his hand.

I hope they like it.

Where to begin?

2009-09-09T05:51:00.000-04:00

I would like to imagine posting a sketch every day.

I am imagining it right now, and its lovely! but not always feasible. However I shall endeavor to do my best, and with that I would like to pass along some of the wisdom I have gained through over 10 years of experience as an illustrator. Over the years I have worked on many and various kinds of sci-fi fantasy books, character design, children's books, magazines, RPG's, CCG's, paperbacks, board games, and materials that aid psychologists. I have also many years of experience as a graphic designer and a Manager of Design, so there are a lot of things I might be able to have amusing discussions about. It's really hard getting started, and I wish I had known someone with experience early on for sure.

ok. Enough of that. I have a lot of work before me to do on an album cover, and I wanted to post what I have done for them so far, and document the progress.

the band: Order Of Nine
genre: Metal (fantasy)
album title: 7th Year of a Broken Mirror
The concept I was given: a bad stretch of luck and its nearly over, but its almost too much to take. You may change your luck if you change the man in the mirror. Undertones of suicide.

Not exactly an easy listening album, and the description could lead to so many possible images. I know that they have a dislike of cheesey, over simplified artwork so I thought I would be wise to elude to a deeper story. I don't have the luxury of speaking to them in person, thus I thought I would provide them with at least 5 different and well drawn images.

Here is what I came up with:

1. what says bad luck better than being pursued by an angry mob?

2. Eh, its metal right?

3. being seduced by the angel of death, that's metal.

4.a slightly more fantasy metal way to be seduced by the angel of death.

5. because not everyone thinks the angel of death would be hot...

The sketches went over well. They liked #4, they say the guy in it fits well with a previous cover they had done. But there are some modifications they wanted done to it. And that is what I am supposed to be doing right now instead of blogging.

stay tuned to see the next incarnation of sketch #4.