Society of Illustrators Call for Entries

Illustrators 51 Call for Entries
The Society of Illustrators is now taking submissions online. Deadline: November 7th

Sunday

Goro Fujita's Robotic Speed Paintings

Come on, admit it: These totally made you smile.

Goro Fujita

Check out his demo reel, "Interview with Carl Hawkins". Very funny and cute.

Rick Berry in Soho

I had a lovely time meeting up with Rick Berry Thursday night (twice in one week!) at the opening of a group exhibit at the Arcadia gallery, along with his amazing wife, Shelia, and their daughters. A number of NY artists let themselves out of the studios for night, Donato Giancola, Kurt Huggins and Zelda Devon, Randy Gallegos and his wife Monica. Good art, good food, and good friends. Extra shout-out to Andy the gallery guy and fellow WNYC member.

Arcadia Fine Arts Gallery

September 18 - October 1, 2008

PHOTOS: Rick Berry and Donato Giancola. Zelda Devon, Randy Gallegos, and Rick. One of four of Rick's paintings in the exhibit.

Thomas Tenery Interview on Tor.com

When I gave our Tor.com moderator the heads-up that a Thom Tenery post was ready to go, she wrote back to say how stunning his work is. She's right. Thom's work is stunning. Thick with atmosphere, rich color in low values that remind me of watching undersea documentaries. (Sad, but true, I love undersea documentaries.) Everything in Thom's images seems to be alive and growing, even the ships and hardware.

Thomas Tenery Tor.com Interview

Excerpt:

Favorite painting you did in the past year?
I really enjoyed doing "The Ark," [top image] an establishing shot for Alien Race. In an inspired moment, I spontaneously kitbashed a couple of color sketches that I had done about a year and a half earlier, sketches that I liked but that had never really gone anywhere, and then added the elements necessary for the storytelling aspect of the scene depicting a huge space vessel in port delivering cargo and race animals to the alien planet. It came together very quickly and managed to hit the stylistic sweet spot that I often try to achieve somewhere between loose concept art and a more finished illustration.

Click for the full interview....Go on, go now.

Tom Doherty

My boss talking about Tor.com.

Bookmaking Explained!

Via Hang Fire Books. Most Awesome.


Printing a Book, Old School from Armin Vit on Vimeo.

Yes, even Greg Manchess is sick of "Talk Like a Pirate Day"

CGunit.net

Shelly Wan turned me on to this amazing art site, CGUnit.net. A mix of traditional and CG art with more than a dash of photography, rolled up into fashion, fine art, and illustration, all with a scifi/fanatsy kink.

I'm so not cool enough to be hanging out there, but I'll visit daily nonetheless. (In cyberspace, no one can see your Birkenstocks.)

The site is semi NSFW. It's almost difficult to find works that are not half naked, gothy, future/fantasy girls.

FIRST SET: Oleg Duryagin. Alex Kanevsky -- one of my favorite contemporary painters, earlier post here. Chen Man.
SECOND SET: Amy Sol. Chris Bernes. Phil Noto
THIRD SET: Jeff Simpson. Kazu Kibuishi. Jason Chan. Sam Weber.

Joshua Middleton Interview. (And somehow I sarted to rant about website design...again.)

OMG, I have such an art crush on Joshua Middleton! So, there is now an interview with himon Tor.com and he has been added to the Tor.com Galleries.

Joshua Middleton Tor.com Interview:

Do you have a set image in your mind when you first start sketching or do you start out abstractly and let the process of doodling take over?
If it is a commercial assignment, then I probably have some elements I must include in the composition, so my sketching process usually starts with those general puzzle pieces in mind. I don't always have the luxury of time to doodle, so I have to work out a lot of drawing in my head before the pencil days, which is often the case with comic book work. If the work is purely personal...

For the full text, click on the above link.

And may I add....

I spent hours at his website last night. Mostly, of course, because I love the work..but also because the site is designed such that you can spend hours there without wanting to hang yourself. Clean easy navigation. All the images load up quickly and fully, all at once -- no need to click round meaningless details and then forgetting which closeup of an eyeball was that cool crowd scene you saw ten images ago. No messy watermarks. No time wasting pop-ups. And, best of all, fully sharable -- every image has it's own URL and is copyable. Ironically, because it was quick and easy to get around, I ended up spending much more time there than I would have on a site where I had to click through to see each image.

But all of this is besides the point, what really matters is that he an awesome drawer that creates dreamy images with an economy of style that makes me wish I could step into his world.

Matthew Kalamidas, Art Director for the Science Fiction Book Club

Over on Tor.com:

An Interview with Science Fiction Book Club art director, Matthew Kalamidas.

A sample:

What are the exciting and/or scary aspects about working with an artists you never worked with before?
There’s always the concern that we stay on schedule, the work meets everyone’s expectations and that the entire experience is a good one. It’s always a thrill to make a new connection with an artist and to talk through a project and develop what we all feel is a great result. I prefer a very fluent relationship where I can go back and forth with the artist and bounce ideas off of each other (as time permits).

Full interview on Tor.com.

(What I didn't ask, and really should have, was how did he get that super awesome Donato "Wizards" painting. Hmmm....follow-up time. Stay tuned.)

Rick Berry in SoHo NY Exhibit

Rick Berry has four paintings in Arcadia's annual small works exhibit. I had the pleasure of meeting up with Rick when he dropped them off and got to see a bit of a preview. Looks like a great show, with Rick's work being among the most visceral and expressive. (Who's surprised?)

I believe the opening reception is Thursday the 18th. (I'll update once confirmed.)
Exhibit runs September 18th through October 1st.

Spectrum shows off Peter de Seve sketches for Call for Entries 16.

I just Twittered this but I think those of you on RSS feed are not receiving those posts in the right hand column? (Don't worry, you are not missing much -- only a quarter of it is art and illustration related.)

Cathy and Arnie Fenner are showing two sketches from Peter de Seve for their Spectrum 16 Cal for Entries, along with instructions on how to get on the mailing list. They are teasing us by not saying which sketch was chosen...and I'm glad I am not the art dircetor that had to choose. Peter, without question, does some of the wittiest and charming illustrations around.

Kurt Huggins and Zelda Devon. Or, Never Enough Octopi!

I'm going to look like such a copycat but, I swear, I saw this Cleptopod drawing and was going to post about Kurt Huggins and Zelda Devon just a few days before they appeared on uber art site, Drawn. (Congrats, guys, for the well deserved exposure!)

A particularly fun aspect of my job has only become apparent in the latter half of my career thus far -- watching artists "turn on." I've enjoyed meeting Kurt and Zelda at various conventions and Society of Illustrators events for the past year or so. While there is a whole like to like about their earlier work, there is a clear and steady progression from good to even better.

Further congrats for their silver medal in Spectrum 15, due out November 1st.

Further reading: An iterview with Kurt and Zelda on What to Wear to an Orange Alert.

And one further note: Zelda has the only tattoo I've ever seriously envied.

Peter Chan: Frequenaut

While putting together a Tor.com post, I came across the name Peter Chan. A quick Google scan to his blog and I fell in love with his drawings for the newly released, Ignatius MacFarland Frequenaut. Between these drawings and the write-ups the book is getting, I'm sitting here resentful that my local Barnes & Nobel is closed at 12:18 on a Sunday night...err, Monday morning.

Sunday on Governer's Island

After being a very cocky winner of the first game of croquet, I came in dead last in the second game. I would like to say that they all ganged up and kept knocking me off the field but that would have meant I was anywhere near them in the first pace. The higher you are, the farther you fall. Oh well, I lovely day of flappers, straw hats, and good times.

Downside: I now have a ton of cheese leftovers and no willpower to keep from eating it. Would it be wrong to eat an entire wedge of manchego like a slice of watermelon?

PHOTOS: Mark, Christine, Mina, Patrick, Kurt, Zelda. Dancing to Michael Arenella and His Dreamland. One-Shoe Magoo. Years later, the New York skyline still doesn't seem right without the towers.

Adam Rex is a freak.

As proven by this video. But he's a funny freak, so...

Politics 08

Last night was the opening for the Society of Illustrators' Politics 08 exhibit. It's always tough to see a show during the opening but even through the hubbub of the party this is clearly a knock-out exhibit. It's curated by Edel Rodriguez, former art director for Time Magazine. Being in the middle of this terrifying election and in an era where editorial illustrators are often forced to soften their statements, it was wonderful to see many well crafted and strong opinions. I'll looking forward to a second look.

The party itself was a blast. September starts off the Society's new season, after refurbishing the galleries. They look stunning. The place was jammed packed. I had a great time talking with Chris and SooJin Buzelli, Eric Braddock, Peter de Seve, Scott Brundage, Kurt Huggins and Zelda Devon.

PHOTOS: People in the gallery. Edel Rodriguez and other artists addressing the crowd. John Kascht and Phillip Burke. Barry Blitt's infamous New Yorker cover.

Radio Update

Second time in two days for "It's Only A Paper Moon." I'll gladly be humming this all night long.

Concept Ships

Holy smokes, if you're all about the hardware, be prepared to spend a lot of time at the ConceptShips blog. The layout is a bit overwhelming but if you settle in, there is tons of great work to see.
TOP: Jae Cheol Park MIDDLE: Sparth BOTTOM: John Wu

Meanwhile, back at stately Wayne Manner...

Over on Tor.com: Julie Bell talks about a tarot set that she, Boris Vallejo, Dave Palumbo and Tony Palumbo have been serializing in Heavy Metal Magazine. Includes quotes from the whole crew.

"Describing Paintings"

This is a lovely read.

Seriously. Go read it.

More Me!

Publishers Weekly's Rose Fox asked me a few questions about the covers for Jay Lake's Escapement and Mainspring

September = Perfect Days

A quick lunchtime picnic in Madison Park with a few local SFnal peeps.

Boris Vallejo and Julie Bell have started a blog.

I believe a "hurray" is in order. Boris Vallejo and Julie Bell have started a blog. They're posting sketches, works in progress, commercial and private paintings, gallery outings, and it's a four-for-two blog, 'cause you're also getting a peak at Dave Palumbo and Tony Palumbo's work.

The radio may be playing Sinatra's "Nice work if you can get it" but my head is hearing Astaire's...and slipping into Feinstein's. OK, so it's a bit schizophrenic in my head right now. But it proves that I am immune to all of Sinatra, except for "One for my baby and one more for the road."

In the "What Rock Have I Been Under?" folder

The Illustrator's Partnership of America has a blog dedicated to the Orphan Works issue. Agree or disagree, if you're an artist, it's your future they are talking about.

(Where have I been to have not seen this until now?!)

Wow. Mandy Patikin on the radio singing the lovely lullaby "Nothing's Gonna Harm You.'" Is it possible to forget the song is supposed to be sung by a serial killer?

Now the radio is on to Audra McDonald. A nice night of rain and radio.

Twitter me this, Batman!

Tor.com tweets now. You can follow the goings at:
Tor.com Twitter

In my limited experience, Twitter has been the only social networking tool that actually works in the real world. Although Myspace, ugly as it is, is a useful mailing list for events. Facebook may look better than Myspace, but after all the doughnuts and vampire bites I quickly found it to be a complete pain in the ass. Twitter sounded like the dumbest idea, like, evar, but with Patrick Nielsen Hayden's encouragement (yes, I blame you, Patrick) I tried it out. After a slow start, I'm now addicted. I just wish there were more artists on it. But then, it's entirely text based so...

Happy Weekending, Everybody!

I admit it. I am jealous that MTV has a pool table and massage chairs in their lunch room...In fact, I'm jealous that they have a lunch room, one with a patio overlooking Times Square, no less.

I haz logoz.

This Unbeige article about the Rolling Stone logo selling for big bucks reminds me that I have Tor.com's "Stubby" taped to my office wall. One day I will be rich! Rich, I tell you! (No one tell Greg I still have it, ok?) And it is, oddly for a 21st Century logo, hand drawn.

Joshua Middleton

Saw this in the bookstore yesterday and thought: Damn, I wish that was a Tor cover! Hats of to Joshua Middleton and his work for Holy Lisle's The Ruby Key

Cathie Bleck, scratchboard on a grand scale.

Cathie Bleck has a new show opening in Ohio.
Butler Institute of American Art
Sep 14, 2008 -- Oct 26, 2008

I love how personal her work is. It's impossible not to come up with some kind of mythology in it, and yet nothing is so overstated that a specific interpretation is forced on the viewer. Like the natural elements she portrays, her paintings are bold and sensual with plants and animals in constant motion, beautiful but rarely placid.

Earlier post on Cathie Bleck.

What the Frak?

Oh, the places Google takes you. Because I posted about a Tor Frak Party, Chris Talbott of the Associated Press called and asked me about the use of the faux slight. Here is the Yahoo News article, "What the Frak."
(Thanks, Claire, for the heads-up.)

And now, CNN has the same frakin' article.
(Thanks, Greg Cox, for the heads-up.)