Irons in the Fire

This piece is a cropping from something I finished last weekend. I'm not sure if I can post the whole piece at this point or even say what it's from, but I wanted to put up some new work. Suffice it to say that she's running for a good reason (all I can say is that it's from something that we hope only goes bump in the night in reality -- oooh, creepy!). I'll post the whole thing at a later time.

Back to work on a different project from the one above -- it's something near and dear, and I'll post some snippits of that work here when I feel the time is right. Lots of excitement brewing in me wee brain about it though! :)

Cheers

A.L.A. Conference and Amazon.com

Laini and I were invited to the A.L.A. Mid-Winter Conference by her publisher, G.P. Putnam's Sons, and her editor Tim Travaglini and we just arrived home from a FANTASTIC couple of days. The conference was in Seattle (which we LOVE) and the experience was just amazing. We had the pleasure of meeting so many generous, kind-hearted people -- from librarians (the "L" in A.L.A.), to Editors, to Art Directors, to Marketing, and on and on). It was an insider's event (with thousands of people) with limited attendance by authors and illustrators and we were thrilled to have been invited! (thanks Tim! :)

The event began for us on Friday when Laini had the honor of giving a presentation about "The Rise of Fantasy in a Post 9/11 World." She was up there with two amazing and prolific authors, R.A. Salvatore and Timothy Zahn, and they couldn't have been nicer guys! Laini had prepared a speech that she read to me on the drive up (making me get teary-eyed in about 1 minute as it covered topics like war, heroes in fantasy and the real world, her childhood, her family, and the question of whether or not we can ever have a "golden age" in our world's future).



After the three of them presented to a crowd of about 500 librarians from around the country (with some editors and marketing folk in the audience as well), we went back to the Penguin/Putnam booth where Laini autographed Advance Reader's Copies of her novel (which I did the jacket and interior illustrations for!).



While Laini was signing (and hearing about how others that heard her speech got teary-eyed!) I snapped a few pictures and then got a chance to mingle with some other editors from within Penguin as well as other publishing houses (and what a great bunch of people!).

So in addition to seeing people we've come to know and become friends with from attending other conferences (hi Mark!, hi Sara and Jaime!), we got to meet a bunch of new fantastic people that I hope we'll be able to see again soon at other gatherings.

What a great couple of days!

And here's the book amidst other recent and upcoming Penguin/Putnam releases:



Oh, and to top it all off, we got home and out of curiousity checked on Amazon.com and voila! my jacket artwork is on the site!! (sorry for all the exclamation points on this post)

Now I'm off to bed, then an early morning as I get back to work on the cover I'm doing for Dark Horse Comics! Very exciting as well and cause for one last exclamation point! I'll post the finished cover soon (as long as it's okay with my editor)

Jim

Happy New Year!

I need to catch up on posting some of the art I've said I would put here sometime soon, but for now I wanted to wish everyone a Happy New Year! Wow, 2007 is just about here. Sheesh!!

A new project coming up on the "maybe/maybe not" pile, one on the "probably" pile, and one on the "yes" pile. Man o MAN I'm excited to be working on all of these (and I'm hoping they ALL come through!). For now, here's an inked and almost done colored panel from an ongoing personal project of mine that my brain won't let me drop for too long. Sigh, where's that "Time-Stoppage Superpower" that Laini and I are always pining for? :)

Be safe & see you in the new year!

Jim

Insomania art weekend = AWESOME!

With the holiday prep and my wonderful (!!) mom visiting I don't have much time to put up a post (which is an EASY trade-off), but I couldn't let TOO much time go before posting SOMEthing about my weekend in San Francisco and the inspiration I found by attending the "Insomania" artist workshop/conference put on by the amazing guys and gals at Massive Black Studios and the Concept Art message boards.

The painting above is a piece I did during one of the life model sessions (this took about 45 mins). There were countless models all weekend but I mainly went to the digital workshops. I'll post more next week, but for now, here's a link to some AMAZING photography by Phil Holland.

Late Night experiments

About to turn in for the night, but I've been messing with these new practice ink pieces I did an hour ago. A bit of paint, a bit of digital texture, a bunch of messing about. Both're a bit creepy, but I dig them nonetheless. Will I feel different about them after a nights sleep ... or will I make one of them my new signature/profile pic? Hmmm. Maybe neither. Maybe both?

Comic Books?

I have the good fortune to know a number of creative people who create any number of things. From books, to collage art, to fine art oil paintings, to recycled sweater purses, to bottle cap jewelry, to any number of things, including comic books. Of the latter, I'm friends with people at all steps of the creation of any comic: writers, pencillers, inkers, flatters, colorists, editors, and publishers. And while I bowed out (on VERY good terms) of the artistic duties on one of my favorite comic books of ALL time (the recently Johnny Depp optioned REX MUNDI), I know that I want to return, at times, for varying lengths of time, to the world of comic books. And after lunch with a friend of mine the other day who's in the comics world, I might possibly be returning briefly to making comics. The possibility of this has inspired me these past couple of days to draw a couple of pages from a story I've been writing off and on for the past year. I've been doing these mostly as a mental warm up to what I might be working on briefly sometime soon and I've got to admit it to myself: I really enjoy drawing action sequences! (it's the nerdy boy in me no doubt!). Okay, so these pages will hopefully SOMEday be more than a warm up as I really think there's a great story to be told, but I'm getting ahead of myself. So, here's one of the pages I drew over the past couple days (still incomplete as I'll be adding some more background characters tonight):


And here are a couple of details from that page:



I'll post the other page soon. I'll also post more definitive information as/if things are confirmed.

This all comes at a time when I'm getting a strong creative hankering to work on some art for a story I just finished reading. Maybe it'll be something that'll be published somewhere, who knows. Anyhow, my creative interest is piqued in several different directions (a recurring theme for me), so I should be getting back to the ol' drafting table.

Cheers! And happy creating to all those talented people out there who might be reading this!

P.S. - Heck, as long as I'm geeking about comics & such, here're a few sketches I did a while ago for Captain America and Madman:

Dreamdark advance copies!

We just received these from the publisher a few days ago and while it's exciting to see them like this, I can't wait to see the hard cover version complete with wraparound book jacket and embossed foil lettering!

Sigh, gotta wait almost 7 more months for those!

Happy belated Thanksgiving everyone!

Jim

Website Updated!

The site has new work in all of the galleries with the exception of the "Sequentials" gallery (although that may change shortly...)

Thanks for stopping by!

The Office and Sushi!

Just finished another piece (see the small cropping/detail from the mixed media painting above). I'm learning more and more about the digital artwork process as I progress on these recent pieces (some traditional painting done and then finished on the computer) and I'm really only beginning to see the possibilities (and I'm VERY excited about it!). Two more pieces to finish before my website update and then I'll get back to working on a project or two that I've shelved for the past few weeks (not a huge secret or anything, but I just don't know if anything will come of them for a while).

Good stuff tonight as Laini brought home some take-out sushi AND one of our favorite shows, The Office, is on tonight. Sweet goodness!

Cheers!

Almost Ready for a Website Update

Thanks for all of the kind words from the "Illustration Friday" participants about my last art posting. For those artists out there who want to join a very welcoming and friendly crowd, I encourage you to take part.

As for the art above, it's a small cropped detail of a piece I finished last week. Currently I'm finishing up 3 pieces and while I hoped to have them done by now, a bit of election fever on my part distracted me over the last couple days (Woohoo!) but I'm back at it today. As the post title says, I'll be doing a semi-big website update soon where I'll show all of these pieces in their entirety as well as a few other new things.

Cheers!

Oh Yeah!

:)

Illustration Friday: "Smoke"

I haven't put up any art to participate in "Illustration Friday" for quite a while but a cropping from an oooold piece of mine just fit too well NOT to participate.

I should have 3 new pieces done by the middle of next week and then a fairly big update on my website will follow.

We saw "The Prestige" this past week. VERY good movie by a truly amazing cast (and the writer/director is awesome too!). I ended up being kind of a butthead though, as I guessed a couple of the twists about halfway through the movie and instead of keeping them to myself I whispered them to Laini (-- I couldn't help it though! I was like "A-HA! I've GOT it!") Anyhow, she was WAY more forgiving of my spoiler than I would have been (see previous post about how much I hate spoilers! :) Everyone should go out and see the movie if you haven't (in my humble opinion).

Jim

Are You Watching "Heroes?" . . .

...because MAN that show's awesome! It's surprisingly gory (given that we're living in a society that loses bladder control at the sighting of a woman's nipple) but if you can stomach some blood, it's been consistently intriguing and smart (in a nerdy sort of way). Check it out!

Also, I just finished another piece. It's a bit more adult/teen-oriented and I've attached a cropping/detail of it above. This one's a mixed media piece like the last few (watercolor, oils, digital-colors, & digital-collage). I'm trying to get another two or three done in the next week or so and I'll post at least one of them here once I finish.

Thanks for stopping by!

Jim

I Hate #&^%*$@ Spoilers

I was just finishing up this piece in the studio while Laini was painting patterns nearby and we had Air America's awesome Thom Hartmann Show on when the newsbreak came on at the top of the hour and randomly, oddly, uncharacteristically (!!!) mentioned a spoiler to a TV show that we download off iTunes. CRAP! I'm a huge spoiler-hater and have literally gotten pretty mad at people at times who jokingly spoil the end of a book I'm reading or movie I'm looking forward to seeing. (I mean, what the hell?!!)

Anyhow, at least today brought me to the conclusion of another new piece & that greatly overshadows any silly TV show spoiler. I'm only putting up a cropped detail of the piece for now, partly because I want to do a semi-big update on my website soon that'll "unveil" some new work, and partly because I'm not positive that the piece is 100% done quite yet. We'll see.

Thanks!
Jim

P.S. -- Don't forget to vote in the upcoming election! :)

Sunday Scribblings - Time Stoppage Superpower

To answer the second part of this first (i.e.- which superpower would I choose) I have to say that the nerdy fanboy in me screams "Choose Wolverine's abilities!" Because the nerdy fanboy in me knows that those abilities include no illnesses ever, no risk of injury, and a vastly extended life (and some other things that mainly involve smelling things really keenly). Well, that last part with the extended life thingie would in itself give me more time to then get more done which is what I would mainly use Time Stoppage for. Plus, I could use my nerdy fanboy powers to fight crime (which yes, I would TOTally do). But anyhow, that's not what this scribble's about...

If I had the power to stop time, I would have to have some rules and stipulations to the power for me to want to use it very often. I would want to:

(1) not age while time was stopped
(2) have Laini and anyone else I wanted along with me while time was stopped for the rest of the world

With this power I wouldn't rob a bank or anything hugely immoral. Instead I would go to some huge gathering of rich people and swipe $5 from each of them. Doing this sort of thing often enough would be like winning the lottery. (sweet!) Plus, I could Robin Hood some of that money to the poor. And of course, I would do all of the righting wrongs thing that I could, but for purposes of this blog, which let's face it, is a display of vanity in and of itself, I will focus on my selfish uses of the power.

And so, the main thing I would do while time was stopped is get LOTS of creative projects completed. Right now I've got so many ideas swimming in my head that it's hard to choose one or two to focus on without feeling like I'm neglecting the other numerous ideas. Also, when I get an illustration job I could stop time and POW send the Art Director a completed piece in what would seem to them like hours or a single day (depending on how much I wanted to wow them).

Ah, but as Laini said in the prompt, dwelling too much on this power does the opposite of being productive and just makes me unrealistically long for it too much. So, with that, I will commit to get even more of my personal projects done and continue to complete all of my illustration jobs before they're due.

For more Time Stoppage scribblings, go here.

*(edit: I added a caption to the illustration above to clarify that it is indeed some of my art)*

Fighting Zombies and Changing Toilets

Since the last few days of August until now it seems like we've been extra busy. While Laini's been doing her final revisions for Blackbringer, I was finishing a title page illustration for the book and getting some art and a proposal letter together for a local (very hip) gallery that's having a group show in a few months. I won't know for a while the results of that proposal, but I've got a few other projects in the works to keep me busy if that doesn't pan out.

But as I mentioned, we've been busy lately, but not just creatively. We had one of my best friends (Arvid, the writer/creator of the comic book Rex Mundi (which I did the art and coloring for last year) and his awesome girlfriend Robyn in town from NY a couple weeks ago. They'd never been to Portland before, so we took them around to some of the highlights (Hawthorne street, Powell's Books, Edgefield, the Gorge, the Alberta Arts District's "Last Thursday" street arts fair, the zoo, and a few other places). We weren't able to take them everywhere we would have liked, as they were only here for a little over 2 days, but Arvid and I still managed to save the world. Here's a glimpse of us in action:



It should be noted that I haven't played video games in AGES. I used to have a Super Nintendo in college and I realized then that I become WAY too addicted for my own good. That was the last video game system I've ever owned because of that realization. When Laini and Robyn saw us pour money into the game time and again I could see the fear growing in Laini's eyes (or I'm sure I would have if I would have looked up from the game long enough -- but COME ON MAN! YOU CAN'T LOOK AWAY! FREAKING ZOMBIES ARE ATTACKING YOU! I mean what else you gonna do but shoot them all?! Sheesh!). Here are a few pix of all of us hanging out with two of our local friends Matt and Jade:



Matt's a very talented illustrator who's collaborating on an upcoming Dark Horse comic book with Arvid, and Jade owns and runs her own publishing company, Cellar Door Publishing. Theirs is a household of creativity (like ours!), as Jade is a talented writer in addition to her indie publishing company. They're the best.

Anyhow, we had a great couple of days with our houseguests and local friends :)

In preparation of our houseguests, we did one of our most dreaded, but necessary, cleaning duties:



And finally, in needing to replace the overflow pipe in the watercloset portion of the toilet yesterday, I went to Home Depot to tackle it myself. Well, that one part turned into a whole new toilet (as our old one (!!**TOO MUCH INFORMATION ALERT**!!) was so old it was possibly an antique). And since I knew I'd have to turn off the water to the house, I figured I'd better get a new faucet (and sink, and install a cabinet beneath the sink. Oh, and replace the medicine cabinet...$$$ sigh $$$). Well, none of it was in horrible shape, but the cabinet covers the exposed plumbing that uglied up the room, the new medicine cabinet is a better alternative to the %^&* one that was there before, and we'll experience WARM water in our bathroom for the first time ever! (it's been either cold or hot ONLY since we moved in -- sheesh!). Now, before I get jumped on for letting stuff like the lack of warm water go unresolved for so long, just realize that it's ALWAYS a hard choice to give up an entire day (and lot's of this stuff: $$$) instead of doing art, so go easy on me. Anyhow, check it out!:



And if you think that caption is exaggerated . . . you'd be wrong. I'm actually typing this as I stare at the new bathroom stuff (just kidding -- or AM I?...). Oh, and lastly, that shower curtain was purchased at (of all places) an art gallery. It's the artwork of the very hip artist Sam Flores and we LOVE it.

This has gone on long enough! THE END

Shirts, shirts, and other items...and shirts!

I thought it might be fun to do some designs on t-shirts as I've become interested (some might even say obsessed :) with finding cool/funny/hip t-shirts for myself and Laini. So, after coming up with a few designs, I opened a little Cafe Press store to carry some apparel and other items with those designs. There are 3 images to choose from so far (including the one shown above). I'll probably be adding some more options eventually, but I thought I'd share what I've got at this point.

2 Practice Pieces

I've been perusing some cool books I checked out from the library this past week in researching a project that might be in the works, and decided to post a couple of the practice pieces I did tonight. These are images I've drawn and painted from the beautiful photos in one of the library books. Doing practice art gets me inspired to really dive into a project.

More specifics about what I'm (possibly?) working on if anything starts to really happen...

Thanks for stopping in!

A Big Thank You :)

Laini and I got back from a thoroughly inspiring trip to Southern California last week where we (in no particular order): attended the fantastic SCBWI (Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators) conference, visited with Laini's grandfather and cousins, went to the zoo, perused galleries and restaurants with our agent, visited my mom, 2 of my sisters, a niece and a brother-in-law, AND got addicted to a hilarious Podcast. And as the pic above states, this REALLY WAS a business trip!

Briefly here, the SCBWI is such a fantastic organization and I'm SO glad to belong to it. There have been such great encounters with other talented creative folks wanting to publish writing or art AND I've gotten the opportunity to meet such sincere, kind-hearted professionals (from writers and artists to Editors and Art Directors). Seriously, if you're wanting to get involved in a creative industry go to their conferences! Most creative professions have large conferences and I urge all those wanting to get serious about their dreams to JOIN the groups, ATTEND the meetings, and be social while you're there! I've learned that many of the "Big Time" pros are some of the nicest people too (that must have something to do with their success me thinks! :)

Now as to the Podcast I mentioned, for those of you who have seen the British version of "The Office" on the BBC or "Extras" on HBO, the hilarious Ricky Gervais records little conversations with his co-creator Stephen Merchant and their producer Karl Pilkington. I was laughing so hard in the airport and on the plane at times that I feared others must have thought I was nuts. Ah well, it was worth it not to hold the laughter in & pull something. The show can get a tad bit mean-spirited towards Karl, but I'm convinced that it (Karl's personality and the teasing that ensues) MUST be a bit of an act -- for those familiar with the Podcast, I'd be curious to know your thoughts about that.

Lastly, a big hearty THANK YOU (!!!) to everyone who offered such kind words and support for my last post. I was very touched to see such nice responses and I appreciate them whole heartedly! I hope the cover grabs people's eyes on the shelves! Fingers crossed :)

P.S. - By the way, that giant lizard next to my niece Grace in the photo above is a sculpture (but she didn't know that at first until my sister/her mom jumped on it and rode it like a bucking burro. I must say that Grace's first reaction when she saw it was pretty funny though :)

Cover preview at last!

Just a quick post to show a clipping of one of the things I've been working on for Laini's upcoming novel! It's a portion of the cover, and a larger portion of the wrap around jacket art can be seen at my website's home page. The book is titled "Faeries of Dreamdark: Blackbringer" and is the first (in a series of 5) coming out in mid 2007 from G.P. Putnam's Sons. I'm finishing up some of the interior artwork and will be posting that as well on my website once it receives the "ok" from the publisher.

For those of you who have expressed congrats over the past few months, I appreciate your support and well-wishes! I can't wait until everyone else has gotten the chance to read her fantastic book!

Jim