Spectrum Submissions

Well, here I am apologizing for another delay in blog posts. But I have a very good excuse: I don't have the internet! Soon, very soon. It's just been awhile getting all of my things in order with a new job, new apartment, new bank... in short, it's been Crazytown over here.

I was able to get out my submissions to Spectrum. Unfortunately, the printing gods were not smiling on me for about a week, thus, the final things I sent to Spectrum were not quite the color quality I'd hoped for. But as my friend Kyle says, you gotta be in it to win it! I'm not confident based on what was printed with the time and resources I had left, but we'll see. Anyways, here's what I sent (in the saturation and quality I had hoped to send them in!)

Where have I been

Hello! I feel awful that I haven't updated in the past few... oh let's not count. But some very monumental things have happened since my last post. If you recall, I was living with my sister in San Marcos, California, and during that time I was able to get a pretty cool freelance illustration job. Although I'm not at liberty to talk about it yet, gettin' 'er done was part of the reason for my recent disappearance from the blog. I hopefully will be able to show you some of the job later this month, or in February.

The other reason: Well, I had to drive back to Michigan! My parents came to help, and together we drove through some of the worst winter blizzards of my life in Albuquerque, New Mexico (and I'm a Michigander mind you! Worst winter driving of my life!) But we made it back in one piece. Here was where I may or may not have slacked off given the holidays, and my long time departure from my long term boyfriend.

In the meantime, I had been preparing another sort of portfolio for the other graphic art work I do. Things like marketing, logo design, typography on packaging, etc. And luckily, I was hired immediately for a job I applied to where I get to use those skills! Hallelujah, I get to use the skills I was trained for! So I am very thankful, and very excited to get to be in a collaborative, creative atmosphere again.

On the flipside, freelance fantastical illustration continues, so now I have two jobs (oh brother!). And that is what you can still expect to see from this blog. Long story short, I'm still here, and I will be updating all of you on what's to come. I don't think you'll be seeing anything new in the coming weeks, as I am preparing some older pieces to submit to Spectrum's juried competition. Spectrum is basically my guidebook and go-to for eye candy for the kind of illustration work I enjoy and want to produce. Here is a bit on them:

Believing that there was a tremendous amount of high-quality fantastic-themed art work created each year that some how wasn't being represented in other annual art books and shows, Spectrum was established in 1993 by Cathy Fenner and Arnie Fenner with the intent of providing creators with a regular showcase for the best fantasy, science fiction, horror, and otherwise uncategorizable artwork created each year.

Also, I look forward to their new convention happening this May in Kansas city! So, those are some more immediate things to look forward to. I'll show you guys updates and revisions (centaurs, Aloja, Steve Irwin, Dragon) for Spectrum soon, so keep your eyes peeled!

Centaur Finished!

Ta da! Things will probably still be finessed, but I need some fresh eyes. This is 98% final. I like it!

Centaur Progress

Just so everyone knows, those centaurs are battling it out! Still. Trying to make this puppy look awesome. So here's just a little tidbit. I'd give you more, but I think any other shot will give too much away. But I have been taking lots of progress photos so you can see the progression once it's done. So hold your horses! - er half horses (does that mean you're a centaur and you're commanding the lower half of your body to remain still? I don't know. Like maybe this clip from Fantasia where the girl centaur has to whip her behind to jump the fence- fast forward to 3:32), and we'll see you all again here soon for the reveal!

Oh Fortuna! Centaur Battle!

It's either a man's choir, or that Mortal Kombat voice, but you can't deny... CENTAUR BATTLE! Forgive me, it just cracks me up. I've finally come up with a color study (with the prodding help of my sister to make it dark and twisty enough) and I think I've landed closer to epic awesome centaur battle, and have ridden safely away from wolf-howling-at-the-moon-with-lightning tapestry. The battle begins tomorrow... in oil, on gessoed canvas if you'd like to know. I'm all set to go, and everything is drawn out. I'll try to be more diligent about taking process photos as well.

Centaur color studies

I've settled on the far right composition from my last post, the moment where the centaurs are about to strike. Here are some color ideas floating around my head, still not sure what direction I'm going to go in, but I'm leaning towards anything heat lightning-y. Anything that outwardly depicts the inner fury of these warring man horses. Haha! My job is ridiculous. I love it!

Centaur studies

Ah, I'm much less impulsive, more calculating, and smarter about my studies with the morning. So, here is where we should have begun, little value compositions to help me decide which direction to go. The starred ones are the ones I'm considering, and I'm really leaning towards the one on the right. It's right before the moment of impact, and I think although there are nuances to a fight like this, this is probably the most interesting moment.