Question: If I was to use Kickstarter to fund creating an original fantasy painting, available as a print ranging from standard US letter size (8.5″ by 11″) all the way up to 2′ by 3′, would you be interested in supporting it?
What size print would you want?
It couldn’t be Magic the Gathering related (copyright issues), but what fantasy thing would you like to see?
Guesstimate prices would range from $15 to probably $120. With some super rare stuff in the $300 category.
So what d’ya think?
CCG Artist proofs are special version of the cards that have a blank white back. Each artist receives roughly fifty of these for each card he has published. Usually they’re sold at shows as a collectible.
Occasionally people pay extra to get a sketch put on the back.
And every now and then, someone wants something completely crazy…
This was a special commission and the Phyrexian Dreadnought shown here stretches across four Dreadnought APs.
These days, I recommend if someone wants something this crazy, they let me just put it on a piece of art board because I can do a better job on a surface that isn’t four cards trying to shift out of place as I’m drawing on them. Still, if that’s what they want…
The person who commissioned this was also going to buy the Dreadnought original but had to back out. His loss as there was someone else eagerly waiting to nab it.
Remember that equation “Goblins + (Fire and/or Explosions) = Hilarity!”? Yeah, still holds true.
Here’s my one new piece of art in Magic’s 2012 core set – the Goblin Fireslinger.
Here’s the art description –
Goblin Slinger
Location: Arid mountain region, perhaps near a goblin camp or cave
Action: Show a goblin swinging a some kind of goblin sling weapon, in which is a red-hot sling-stone. He looks viciously at the viewer, as if he’s about to bean us in the head with that stone.
Focus: The goblin slinger
Mood: An irritating little bugger!
And here’s the sketch. Sometimes I hand in black & white sketches, but sometimes I like to go with a color one, especially if the lighting is important to the image. Here’s that sketch –
I imagine the goblin is on the opposite side of a narrow ravine filled with molten lava. The rock formations at the extreme lower left and lower right are rock bridges and the goblin is doing a fine job of protecting them both. However, it looks like at the moment of this image he’s decided to take the fight to the viewer and is beginning to launch himself across the ravine for a little ‘face-time’. And by face-time, I mean ‘face meets burning rock’.
As you can see, most of the goblin drawing is unchanged from sketch to final. His coloring underwent a big transformation because the hot lighting (from the unseen molten lava) was strengthened. This meant the green of the goblin felt more and more out of place with the ambient light in the image so his skin tone was shifted to yellow with warm brown shadows. Because all color is perceived relative to its surroundings, your brain tells you the final version of the goblin is more green that he actually is. Color is a tricksy evil swine sometimes. Ask any artist.
And talking of color, take a good look at his eyes. The center of his pupils are a brilliant blue.
This might indicate the color of whatever he’s looking at reflected there but it’s really me using the strikingly out of place color to make his eyes more piercing, and that little bit extra crazy.
Oh, and bonus points if you noticed the ear on his swinging side is shortened and capped with a singed stump. Hey, swinging burning rocks ain’t easy and every goblin learns it one way or another!
… or scribble dreams. That’s certainly the case this time.
While trying to rein in the horror that is my computer’s desktop, I found this little doodle I did of Morpheus of the Endless from Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman.
I vaguely remember doing this to try out some of the new brushes in the latest iteration of Artrage, which if you’re interested in digital painting, I strongly recommend you take a look at. It’s a budget price for an excellent piece of software.
It’s 4th of July and here in Seattle there’s been people letting off fireworks in the dead of night for about three days now. Oh, the joy.
Me, I’m not a fan of publicly available fireworks. I much prefer the local authorities to put on a show and leave it in the hands of (presumably) professionals. You usually get a more impressive display and a lower injury rate. I was unfortunately once witness to a bottle rocket’s bottle tipping just before take off and firing the rocket into a crowd of spectators and I’ve never really felt the same way about fireworks ever again.
Anyway, whatever shenanigans you’re up to, stay safe. Goblins, on the other hand, should be encouraged to play with fire at all times. Remember this very important formula;
Goblins + (Fire and/or Explosions) = Hilarity!
I’d now like to demonstrate with samples from just one set – 2003’s Scourge;
Goblins with burning rock projectiles = Fun!
Goblin War Strike.
Goblins with pillar of fiery doom = Comedy gold.
Pyrostatic Pillar, which had the working title of Bug Zapper.
Whether they’re having a ball raining incendiaries down upon their enemies or running for their lives, nothing goes better with hot flaming death than a whole bunch of goblins. It’s true. I looked it up.
And finally, please try not to stab anyone’s eye out with a sparkler! Unless it’s an actual goblin, then that’s probably okay. Probably. Just remember, if you feel like picking a fight with a goblin, you better be ready to fight a dozen more. At least.
My ever-under-construction website will eventually feature a fairly exhaustive FAQ. I’ve got a bunch of questions, and managed to lose a whole bunch more (I’m gifted that way). Occasionally I ask myself if I’m missing some important questions.
Then I realized the blog might be a good testing ground for current questions – Did I cover everything? Was it a clear explanation? – and an opportunity to collect new questions.
With that in mind, let’s start with the basics (and – full disclosure – some that are kind to my wallet);
A: Do you sign cards by mail?
Q: Yup. Check out this article about exactly that before sending me cards.
Q: Y’know, come to think of it, I don’t know all the cards you’ve done.
A: Click the handy Gatherer link up on the right column. It’ll take you to a visual spoiler of every Magic card I’ve done artwork for. Not for the faint-of-bandwidth.
Q: Do you have prints for sale?
A: Yup again. Currently 60 different ones. They’re $12 plus shipping and are printed on high quality archival paper stock. My email is linked at the top of the blogs right column, so drop me a line and I’ll send you a list.
Q: Do you have Artist Proofs for sale?
A: Yes indeed. Prices vary as does shipping depending on how many you want. Drop me a line for a complete list.
Q: Do you have original art for sale? Magic art?
A: Astonishingly, yes. I held on to almost all of my originals until I could buy a scanner that could make satisfactory high-end archival scans so that I could ensure I had an excellent digital copy of the image before the original left my hands . I picked up a great scanner a few years ago and have slowly been selling pieces ever since. Drop me a line and – surprise! – I will send you a list.
Q: How much do Magic originals cost?
A: Mine run the gamut from $450 to $1600 with most sitting at $950. That price includes Fed-Ex two day shipping with insurance. Shipping outside the U.S.A. costs up to $80 extra. Originals from Doomtown and V:Tes tend to be $300 to 650 in price.
Q: Are Phyrexian Dreadnought, Baron Sengir and the Abyss available?
A: Nope, sorry. Not every high profile card is gone, however. Check the list.
Q: Do you have any original sketches for your Magic cards?
A: Yeah, though those are less well documented. Ask and I’ll let you know if what you’re interested in is available.
So, got an idea for a FAQ entry? Drop me a line in the comments here, on the various message boards I inhabit or at my email linked above (that right column again).
Today I have a really weird piece for the comic book fans among you. But first a little backstory;
From 1985 to 1997 London was home to the United Kingdom Comic Art Convention. The UK didn’t have many comic cons and this one, while far smaller than many American shows, was eagerly anticipated every year by UK comic fans as an unprecedented opportunity to talk to the major comic companies and to rub shoulders with British and American creators, though in the case of the creators, you usually had to track them down in the on-site bar. No, really.
These were amazing cons. I got to meet Alan Moore, Steve Bissette and John Totleben during the height of their work on Swamp Thing and was at the talk where Moore first revealed his idea for a little upcoming comic called Watchmen. I got to chat to Brian Bolland, whose linework I’d long worshiped on such strips as Judge Dredd. Anyway, I could goob for days but let’s get to the point of this tale…
Like most comic cons, there was an accompanying con-booklet bursting with new images from fresh and established talent. One year I decided to give it a try because I’d gotten a mad idea that didn’t want to shut up and leave my brain.
Tidbit #1; By now you’ve probably heard of Neil Gaiman. At that time, he was mostly known for his comic book Sandman which features Dream, the personification and master of dreams and his six siblings collectively known as The Endless. The most popular and enduring of these personifications is Death, who appears as a cute gothy girl with an unusually sunny disposition given her rather harsh vocation.
Tidbit #2; 2000AD has been the most popular comic in the UK for decades. And no character is more popular than Judge Dredd, the toughest cop in the harsh Mega-City of the future. From a rich rogues gallery that’s been developed over 34 years, no enemy deserves the rank of nemesis more than Judge Death, a member of the Dark Judges, a dark mirror to Dredd from a dimension where it was decreed that all crime was committed by the living and so their perverse logic made life a crime.
See where I’m going with this?
Stare into the face of…
I always imagine pieces of fantasy artwork as windows into another world. Given that, I find an artist’s signature that is very visible, even dominating, to be very jarring and disruptive when attempting to soak in a scene.
Don’t get me wrong, there’s no right way to do these things. Some people’s signatures are practically a work of art unto themselves. Others, are vivid stamps of ownership. That’s just not to my taste.
In most of my pieces I keep my signature subtle, using colors from within the image and only rarely placing them against strongly contrasting colors. There are some Magic pieces where the only way you would ever see the signature would be to hold the original painting; the signature is minutely different in color to its background.
And then there are the occasions where I make the signature part of the decor, or an integral part of the image.
Click through for a round of Hunt the Signature
Sorry it’s so quiet here. I’m in the process of re-arranging my workspace; putting in new bookshelves, throwing out and recycling the usual crap that builds up and – OMG – dusting.
Yeah, living the high life, that’s me.
I’m also working on one image that is a meeting of two fascinating steampunk worlds and I’m developing a comic book. It’s been a while and clearly it’s not just my room that needs dusting off.
Funny how no matter how many shelves you have you never have enough for those really tall books…
Also known as Joe Dredd, and Old Stoney Face.
I’ve read comics regularly since I was three or four, and as much as I love the DC Comics characters I grew up with, my weekly thrill power hit came from 2000 AD and nothing was more eagerly awaited than the latest half dozen pages of Judge Dredd.
I was one of those kids that trudged down to the newsagent in Feb 1977 and picked up issue one. I never stopped after that. Though living in Seattle these days has certainly made it harder to get hold of new issues. I could buy them in a digital format but I’m not so sure I want to say goodbye to the physical artifact (though my groaning bookshelves would certainly thank me).
I actually did a couple of episodes of Judge Dredd for the Judge Dredd Megazine way back in 1993 and I bought my first ticket to the U.S. with those earnings and that’s where I met WotC. So I owe the old fascist curmudgeon big time.
And occasionally I like to sketch him and think idly about asking the guys at Rebellion if I could do another Dredd episode…
Such a grumpy old bastard! And such fun to draw.
P.S. My favorite story was Block Mania and the subsequent Sov Apocalypse. I always thought Block Wars were the coolest damn idea (Narratively. I sure as hell wouldn’t want to see one in real life).
P.P.S. Brian Bolland is the Man.
P.P.P.S. I’m keeping my fingers crossed for the new Dredd movie starring Karl Urban. I try not to think of the Stallone version which was a squandered opportunity.