Superheroes at the Met

About a month ago, I'm walking by the Met, outside the windows of the Temple of Dendur, and a friend of mine looks in and says, "That looks like Superman's house in there." The Met was setting up some swanky party, but I really doubted Superman had anything to do with it. And I was wrong. Superheroes: Fashion and Fantasy was opening.

I have to admit, I ran through the exhibit quickly. Nothing really caught my attention -- although I did enjoy seeing super-enlarged comic art, most by Alex Ross, used as backdrops. It wasn't until I saw the runway shots in the catalog that I realized what was missing for me was motion. Seeing the costumes and clothes in action, even if caught on film or in comic pages, made more sense to me than seeing them hung over stiff mannequins.

Still, no day at the Met is a bad one...

Denny

The thing I loved most about Denny was how completely he enjoyed each and every walk -- no matter how long or short, or how many times it was up and down the same street, it was pure joy.

Pirates of the City of Brotherly Love

"Real Pirates: The Untold Story of the Whydah From Slave Ship to Pirate Ship" opened at Philadelphia's Franklin Institute last night. Greg Manchess created eight paintings in ten weeks for this National Geographic exhibit, most of which had one to two dozen figures in it. Crazy. I wrote a bit about the exhibit when it's opened in Cincinnati last year, but this was the first time I got to see it in the flesh. It recounts a life of a pirate ship salvaged off the shore of Cape Cod a few years back. Yes I am biased, but I have to say, the paintings go to a long way tell the story of the ship and it's crew in a way that the artifacts alone could not. Cutlasses are cool, but, you know, a bit tough to relate to. Quite a number of these paintings have made their way into the Communication Arts, Society of Illustrators, and Spectrum.

Throughout the opening we spent a bit of time talking to unreal pirates. A stage fighting group, Shadow Combat, was hired to add some color to the event. It took no time at all to realize that we had been to a number of the same conventions and had some friends in common. A fun bunch. I'm sorry I'll miss their show at tonight's public opening. (Damn this job o' mine!)

Next stop for the exhibit is Chicago's Field Museum. I am officially psyched, I've never been to the Field.

Wallpaper: Michael Kaluta and Seth Fisher

This week's wallpapers at Tor.com:

Michael W. Kaluta -- Michael is always a delight, on paper and in person. Here is a recent post about a lecture he gave at SVA.

Seth Fisher — Seth was an amazing artist who passed away tragically young. Rick Berry introduced me to him many, many years ago. I only saw him briefly but I have a clear memory of looking through his portfolio. I don’t follow comics as much as I’d like so, I was amazed when a few years ago Tor editor, Liz Gorinksy, showed me a comic page of original art she had just bought and it turned out to be Seth’s. It is a beautiful drawing. I’m happy to be able to show his work here.

Io9 Party

Thanks to Charlie and Annalee for hosting last night's Io9 meet-up. I got to meet some cool people, including a couple of my Macmillan brethren from Scientific American (and learn more about crayfish than I needed to know) and only once did I need to cover my ears and run away from a Battlestar spoiling conversation. Good times.

Stephen Youll on B&N.com

Check out Barnes and Nobel's "Cover Story" interview with Stephen Youll. Besides hearing him talk about his work (including a few Tor titles), you get see a lot of cool bugs.

Memorial Day Weekend

Just like that, I'm back to my island in the Atlantic.

Academy of Art University Spring Show

So, the real reason to have been in San Francisco was to participate in the Academy of Art University Spring Show last Thursday...and a very impressive event it was. The university brought in over 500 professionals from various art industries -- illustration, animation, car design, product design, graphic design, video games, architecture, fashion design, photography, you name it -- to meet the graduating class and review their portfolios. Clearly the school is very concerned with preparing these kids for their careers. Creating polished presentations and learning how to talk and network with prospective clients is not so easy, but the event threw them into the deep end of the pool with confidence.

I spent most of my day with the illustrators, of course. The thing that struck me most was how high the base level of quality was. A phenomenal student can come from anywhere, but across the board, all of the AAU students had very solid and consistent portfolios. I have to assume that is a product of a good and disciplined education.

Concept work was very strong -- which is not surprising. While advertising used to be the bread and butter of illustration, nowadays it's the gaming and movie companies that are hiring illustrators by the boatload.

The rest of my day was spent walking around the other departments, trying to eavesdrop on other reviews. The show was followed by a very nice reception with time for the visiting professionals to chat, drink some wine, eat some pigs-in-a-blanket, and unwind a bit.

Many thanks to Chuck Pyle for inviting me out and for being such a gracious host. And congrats to all the students I saw out there - best of luck (and by "luck" I mean hard work) to you all.

IMAGES, TOP SET:
Pretty painted building.

IMAGES, SECOND SET, Top Row:
Eli Harris, Betty Edwards, Chaiki Uchida,
Bottom Row: Frank Lin, Ryan Jones

...AND VARIOUS SCENES FROM THE SHOW

At the Airport

...have some more SF:

A Walk Around San Fransisco Town

My free day was, in a word, a blast. I was so busy leading up to this trip that I never planned what to do when not at the University. My only real thought was to visit the awesome people at Borderlands Books, but I never got my act together to give them the heads-up. No matter, it was more fun to walk in and it slowly dawn on them that I'm not normally part of their natural surroundings. The store is as beautiful as people say it is -- calming, especially in contrast to the chaos of my office. Alan, Jude, and Cary were gracious hosts but I have to admit, it was Ripley the Hairless Cat that stole my heart.

Cory Doctorow will be reading and signing books tonight. Anyone in the area, this should be a fun night. I'll be working but if I have the time, I will run over an try to catch a bit of event.

Without much ambition for the rest of the day, I simply walked and walked...and walked. I went to the De Young museum and saw some great works, but the sun and the drive to simply keep moving drew me back on the streets and walking again. I saw Haight Ashbury, Golden Gate Park, lots of residential neighborhoods, found a tennis ball (which I'll bring home for Fiona), a super-ball, and two science fiction paperbacks neatly laid out on stretch of brink wall (which I gave to Borderlands), almost by accident, I found the Pacific Ocean (which required crossing a highway and cutting under a fence) and then back to the hotel. Low on ambition, high on mind clearing easy activity.

I’m in San Francisco!

Chuck Pyle invited me out to view and judge the Academy of the Arts University student show. Yesterday was the judging and, while a tough assignment, I had a great time with it. These kids are amazing. Kudos to Chuck for keeping the judges focused while also giving us the latitude to shape the awards as best we felt they should go. And kudos to the great group to jury with: Dice Tsutsumi and Jennifer Chang from Pixar, illustrator Robert Hunt, and artist rep Richard Solomon. I'm looking forward to meeting the students and seeing their portfolios tomorrow.

Thumbnails: Patrick Arrasmith

Thumbnails: 30 Second Interviews

An ad in Locus Magazine pointed me towards a Subterranean Press edition of Snow Crash illustrated by Patrick Arrasmith. Normally I don't need any reminding about how cool Patrick is, but it did remind me that I had yet to hassle him for a quick interview. Without further adieu....

Favorite painting you did in the past year?
I did a piece for Subterranean Press that was fun for me to explore getting color scratchboard to work in a new way. The book was New Amsterdam by Elizabeth Bear. [BOTTOM IMAGE] I've been playing with putting color into the scratchboard on the computer for a little bit now and this piece was put together in a modular way. I took the different elements and placed them together to make the end image that made me feel like I was getting somewhere.

Dream assignment?
Someone to pay me to write and illustrate the crazy daydreams I have while working at a desk doing their art.

Do you remember the first time you knew you wanted to be an artist?
I think I was always doing art in one way or another, except for a brief moment when crafting drug paraphernalia took precedence. The moment for me was when I finally realized that I had to forget about the negative associations (starving artist etc.) of pursuing art as a career and just go for it.

What painting do you wish you painted?
Every time I get the new Spectrum book or go to a Society of illustrators Annual show I would say I feel jealous that I didn't paint so many of the images. But to not dodge the question I think the first time I saw the Gustave Doré engraving "Invocation to Muhammad" in college I had the strongest feeling of I wish I did that.


Most embarrassing illustration related moment?
Years ago turning in an utter turd to a trade magazine because I did it in the back of a van on a road trip. Literally the majority of the illustration was done at around 65 to 70 MPH. So unprofessional. When I first started I had trouble separating work and play.

What are you working on now?
The 5th installment of The Last Apprentice series of young adult fantasy novels. It's a decent amount of work with interiors so it's been my only focus lately.

Orphan Works Act, Act Now

[From the Illustrators' Partnership of America]

Call to Action:

Last Thursday the Senate Judiciary Committee endorsed their Orphan Works Act. It is now headed for the full Senate.

If you’ve written before, now’s the time to write again.. Urge your senator to oppose this bill.

Because it has been negotiated behind closed doors, introduced on short notice and fast-tracked for imminent passage without open hearings, ask that this bill not be passed until it can be exposed to an open, informed and transparent public debate.

We’ve drafted a special letter for this purpose.
Contact your Senator in opposition to S.2913 NOW

The House Judiciary Committee is considering H.R. 5889, the companion bill now. Please write them again:
Contact your Congressman in opposition to H.R. 5889 NOW

2 minutes is all it takes to write your senator and representatives and fight for your copyrights. Over 68,000 e-mail messages have been sent so far.

Don't Let Congress Orphan Your Work.

Donato Giancola wins Hamilton King Award!

A huge congrats to Donato Giancola. He has won this year's Society of Illustrators' Hamilton King award for The Golden Rose.

This is a big deal. The Hamilton King Award is technically given to the best painting throughout the SI annual, as judged by past Hamilton King Award winners, but it has also come to signify something of a mid-career achievement award. Past winners include Bernie Fuchs, Leo and Diane Dillon, James McMullan, Mark English, Gary Kelley, Bob Peak....basically a "who's who" of illustration since 1965.

The award ceremony will take place in June in conjunction with the Illustrators Fall of Fame inductions. I'll be sure to post about it here.

Cheers, Donato!

Gary Ruddell at the Henoch Gallery, NYC

When I first started at Tor, one of my most favorite people to work with was Gary Ruddell. About ten years ago he turned toward gallery work and, while we never kept in touch, I have very much enjoyed following his career from afar.

Last week, Gary had a solo show in Chelsea, at the Henoch Gallery. I was as excited to see him as I was to see his artwork. He was, as always, a delight and the paintings were, as expected, even more evocative in person than in the printed materials I have seen them.

He works on large canvases, exploring scenes that are both vast and deeply internal, realist and loose -- edges are often defined, obscured, and then re-defined. He has developed a personal language that the viewer feels confident in, whether or not they assign the same meaning to the imagery as Gary does. All in all, it becomes a kind of dream landscape that is truly exciting because it feels almost explicable.

RELATED POST:
Gary and I in 1999, Point Rhyes, California.

Marko Djurdjevic on Sidebar Nation

Being at work on a Sunday afternoon isn't my first choice of weekend activities, but this Marko Djurdjevic interview on Sidebar Nation is making the time go quickly.

Jason Manley on Sidebar Nation

Another great interview from the folks at Sidebar Nation. This one with Jason Manley, founder of Massive Black and ConceptArt.org.

Wallpaper: Jeff Jones and Bruce Jensen

Can it be a week already!?

Up this week, Jeff Jones and Bruce Jensen.

Grab them while you can at Tor.com

Update from last week:

Eric Fortune made me clean my desktop. (Click here for the horrible "before.") If only someone could inspire me to do the same for my non-virtual desktop, I'd be golden.

Donato Giancola and The Last Paladin

Donato Giancola recently finished this painting for Kathleen Bryan's The Last Paladin.

Occasionally I will get a number of great sketches for one project. In this case, Donato had created a couple of sketches for the first book in the series, The Serpent and the Rose, and I hated the idea of picking just one of them. Luckily the editor, Beth Meacham, said that one would be perfect for Serpent while the other could be kept for this concluding volume. It was nice entering into a sales season knowing that we had an approved sketch a year and half before we needed the painting.

IMAGES:
Final Painting.

Initial thumbnails. The top right became The Last Paladin while the bottom thumb was used for The Serpent and the Rose.

Flushing out the thumbnail.

Final Drawing.

Greg Manchess and Dan Dos Santos Demo at RISD

A highlight of my year is an annual visit to Jon Foster's Rhode Island School of Design class. His students are great, Providence is beautiful in May, Jon's extended family of friends and artists are a delight, and Jon, himself, never seems happier than when he's playing match-maker between talented peoples.

This year Greg Manchess and Dan Dos Santos did a class crit and a demo. The object of their demo happened to be the super awesome former student of Jon's, Wesley Allsbrook. Wesley, I'm excited to say, is creating a short comic story for Tor.com. It's just a big happy circle of life thing.