Hypericon poster finished!

I've been quiet because I've been working on the Hypericon poster painting. Now it is done!!! And my 20-year-old technology has stopped talking to my 7-year-old technology, so it's off to buy a thumb drive for transferring the file! Why, yes, it IS a long story! My OldTech workarounds are works of art in and of themselves. :)

This painting is acrylic, because I am still kind of sucky at oils, and it took a long time because I have YET AGAIN assigned myself a horrible, twisted lighting problem far beyond my meager skills. I persist in doing this. I think my brain is trying to kill me. But despite nearly throwing the canvas out the window on more than one occasion, it's done, and I am happy. I will post the pic soon, either in the Covers section or the Commissions section of the gallery (linked at the sidebar).

My inspiration for this one is one of my favorite Chinese fairy tales of all time. The fairy Chang-e took her bunny and her lantern and FLEW TO THE MOON, and she is the subject of lovely paintings throughout history. I wanted to do a painting that gave a nod to all those gorgeous traditional Chinese depictions of her, with her floating garments blowing all around her, but I also thought, "What if she took her flight in a hot-air balloon?" Then the balloon itself becomes a Chinese lantern-- maybe the moon is actually Chang-e's balloon??? Then I had to give her tools and she became Professor Chang-e and her Amazing Moon Balloon!!! And now her hairstyle is more Japanese than Chinese, and she seems to have an obi on over her Chinese duds, but she needs it to hold her Archimedes drill, darn it! So clearly she is a woman (fairy) of eclectic taste and education. As is her bunny. Who may or may not be steering the balloon. He might just be thinking about how high up they are.

Oily oils! ...Acrid...licky... acrylics?

Well, I started oil painting again, and guess what! I am hhhhhhhhhorribly out of practice! My first attack of a painting is a pretty wretched underpainting, and I suck at mixing colors. So, it will be an adventure of an uphill climb while battling orcs with polearms, or something. :) In addition to learning how to mix oil colors, I need to rebuild my tolerance for solvent fumes. I am high and shaking right now, and that is after approximately two hours of painting. So, yeah, I am a lightweight. The shaking might also be caffeine-related. I probably should give that fourth cup of coffee a miss.

Meanwhile, in acrylic-land, it is awesome to be able to lick my paintbrushes absentmindedly without having to be chelated for heavy metal poisoning afterwards. :) I am keeping up with acrylic painting while doing oils, because I don't want to lose my skills. Also, I continue to need work on drawing and color theory, so onward I slog! But it's a fun slog, full of awesome things!

My favorite painting I have done lately-- yes, go ahead and laugh!-- is of a chunk of rock. I was asked to paint a piece of obsidian, and of course there are several artistic problems there!!! (1) Painting a black thing, (2) painting a shiny thing, (3) painting a thing with reflective surfaces, and (4) painting a chunk of mineral that just sits there, in such a way that it still conveys life and motion and is interesting for the viewer.

ROCK!!!! :)

Oil Crisis!

Looking at the prices of oil paints... having a panic attack. :)

GenCon!!!!!!!

GenCon was so fun that I was like a child being allowed to tour the Wonka Chocolate Factory. In my mind I was SKIPPING through the Exhibitors' Hall to a perky plucked-strings soundtrack while sugarplums, dice, and Dominion cards rained down from the ceiling!!!! I WAS AN ENTHUSIASM VOLCANO spewing FANGIRL SQUEALS into the GenCon climate!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now I am exhausted, but the happy kind of exhausted, like a kid who has eaten all the sugarplums, played with all the toys, and run around in a circle for nine hours straight! I had a fabulous time at the Ennies, met and talked with so many awesome, wonderful people, and I'm still pretty incoherent with joy!

I want to thank Eloy Lasanta SO MUCH for letting me crash the Third Eye Games booth-- I hope my excitement over his games in general and Part-Time Gods in particular helped fire up future players of his games! I know he sold a lot of books, and I am so happy at EVERYONE who bought one!!! You are all rock stars in my book!

Also, gah, SO MANY AWESOME PEOPLE!!! I was thrilled to be able to meet Darren Watts of Hero Games in person, having only chatted to him over email in the past, and was super happy to see Fred Hicks there and finally meet Ryan Macklin-- CONGRATULATIONS on the Dresden Files Ennies, you guys, and note my polite restraint in NOT rushing the stage and screaming when the books won multiple awards! :D I am now going to SHAMELESSLY tell everyone who cannot run away from me fast enough about my HUMONGOUS contribution to Evil Hat's success, having done six (6), yes, SIX!!! illustrations in the Dresden Files RPG books and thus sharing in a tiny, tiny, slivery SPLINTER of those Ennies for Production Values and Best Game, and since I can't find a way to take any credit for the writing-related ones, well, those are safe from my depredations. :)

This is turning into a super-long post, so I am going to save my GenCon gushings for several posts. Hopefully my poor little brain will remember to mention EVERYONE who was SO FRIENDLY and WONDERFUL and made this, my first GenCon, so warm and welcoming and addicting. I will DEFINITELY be back next year!!! :) :) :)

Finished!!!

I am DONE with Big Huge Summer Project!!! And I am still mostly sane!!! Mostly well-rested, even!!! It is shocking.

I am very excited about this one, because it is a series of FIFTY-SIX painted illustrations, and I am absolutely thrilled to have finished them in a manner that stays true to the spirit of the source text. I still need to get the scanning done and all the end details sorted, but I am feeling levitate-y that all the paintings are done.

Annnnnd now I need to pack for GenCon. *faint*