The second one was a quick sketch for someone when I was a guest at VisionCon a couple of years back. It turned out well, but it was meant to be a bit more of an ink sketch than a final piece.

Since I have a nice frame that needs some small art, like yesterday’s Creature of the Black Lagoon ink, I decided to give the old Phantom another try. It’s based on a scene that I consider one of the great scenes in all of film. It’s the moment that the Phantom’s mask is pulled off, revealing the horror that he is.

I wasn’t going to bother with any of the Broadway-style Phantoms. For me, the character, while tragic, is still a horror character. Chaney’s ability to channel that horror, and yet still a sense of humanity, is what made the role so groundbreaking.

Here it is, it’s 4 1/2″ x 6″, ink on 140 lb. Cold Press. I’ll even have it at the Spectrum show next week.

Click on the image for a larger version. Here’s The Phantom of the Opera:

It went okay, but partway through I had decided to let it be something else. So, I abandoned the original idea and came up with a different creature altogether (which you can see here). But the itch to do a Creature ink never left, and I finally had the chance to sit down and work it out.

In getting ready for my booth at Spectrum (check out the event here), I had a couple of nice, but small, frames that I wanted to use. I thought a monster in each one would be nice (only horror artists think monsters are nice), and it was a perfect time to revisit the Black Lagoon.

It’s not as big as some of the others, at 4 1/2″ x 6″ it’s even a little smaller than most of the Alphabeasts were (which were, for the most part, 5″ x 7″). It’s still 140 lb. Cold Press stock, and I didn’t do an ink wash (though I thought about it).

Here’s The Creature From The Black Lagoon, click on it for a larger version. As always, let me know what you think.

Update: I added the few progress shots of it that I took, for those who might be interested. I do always think it’s cool to see a work at the various stages of completion:

Now that you’re back, we can talk about the cover a bit more. Well, at least I can.

I love working on Ray’s books, and with Cemetery Dance. Not only are they great folks aside from what they do, they also are great with suggestions on how to proceed. But not so much that they force any issues, they really let an artist work with the ideas and come up with something.

In this case, Dereliction isn’t the most straightforward story (though it really is great). Without giving anything away, there’s no real moment that lends itself to a visual cover. Much of the story is about a mystery that can’t be given away, and much of the rest is about emotion over event.

So, you have different ideas that could easily conflict, and any one of them detracts from the ideas behind the others. I decided to mix them altogether, into a multi-layered view.

By layering the ideas, between the varying emotions of the lead character, the events of dreams, and the overall “broken” idea, I came up with a cover that shows them all. Yet, it’s also designed to link them as well, as they are in the story.

Here’s the final version, though the text may look different once it’s published (click on it, and all of the images below, to make them larger):

I also created a slightly different version, with the main character in the blue area. However, I think, while it works well as “art”, as a cover it busies up the works some. We all agreed that having the text, versus the guy in the blue, just simply works better. But here it is:

Which is just something that happens in publishing sometimes, and it’s why I like to have a couple of ideas ready. In case you are interested, here’s what it looks like without the text or the guy:

When I say massive, they are among the largest stone sculptures in the world. Each is 60 feet tall, on 13 foot bases. While you’re out googling them, make sure to check out all of the photos with the teeny, tiny people next to them.

I decided to create a new ink piece of the statues, which is itself a feat of accuracy and detail. But on top of that, I wanted to create the largest ink that I’ve done yet, a 16″ x 20″ piece with lots of details and lots of linework. It wouldn’t be easy, but I went ahead with it.

I won’t get into too much detail, as most of it you can see in the gallery of progress shots below. The stock that I use is a Strathmore Watercolor stock, 140 lb. Cold Press, which does great with ink.

The original size was also 18″ x 24″, but, as you can see if you googled them, the statues sit in a big field. Or, as we artists call it, a big fat lot of nothing. So, I trimmed it to 16″ x 20″, to save a bit of ink and some time. Below are the progress shots, in order of earliest to latest.

[Show as slideshow]

Here’s the completed piece, simply called The Colossi of Memnon. I also added some close-up shots beneath the full art, in case you’re among those folks that like to check out linework. Let me know what you think of it too, and, if you are in the Kansas City area in May, come check out the original ink at my booth at the Spectrum Fantastic Art Live show.

In this case, I wanted to try another fossil as the base idea for an ink. I have lots of reference images from visits to various museums, and I decided this would be a good time to put one of those into play.

This ink is of Dinictis squalidens, a type of saber-toothed cat. It’s not a Smilidon, the typical saber-toothed tiger that most are familiar with, but a separate species. The saber-like teeth evolved separately from the other species, but I’ll let you go look all that up (I’m not a scientist, like Batman).

The ink itself is 5″ x 7″, ink on 140 lb. Cold Press stock. Click on the image below for a larger version, and as always let me know what you think.

Here’s Dinictis squalidens:

What the hell was I thinking?

Now, before we get any further, let me just say that I’m very much looking forward to the convention, and the folks that run the show have been great to work with. But this is my very first “huge” convention to have a booth at, and to say I’m nervous is the understatement of the decade.

Sure, I’ve been a guest at a smaller con before, which means I’m not going into it completely blind. I’ve also had walls in local galleries, so I have a pretty good idea of what to put up and how to deal with the public. But it’s not going to be easy.

So I thought, instead of just whining to everyone on my social networks, that I’d write weekly articles from now through the event. I can write about the things I’m seeing as I get ready for it, what happens when I get there, and what happens after.

If you have followed any of my blogging or social networking before, you’ll also know that this isn’t going to be simply a step-by-step list either. My brain works in quite chaotic ways, so, if you’re willing, sit back and let me tell you tale or two.

The booth itself

Having walls in galleries before, I understand the ideas behind laying out your works in a nice way. Be it by medium, or content, even mixing things up some, there are plenty of different ways to do that.

If you have walls, which I don’t. All I have is a draped off, 10′ x 10′ area, no walls.

There are quite a lot of options to get “walls”, which are really panels of varying kinds. There are pegboard versions, metal “grid wall” panels, even fabric covered panels. I can rent them from the convention center, build some, or buy some. 

I looked into renting them, but they are outside of my pitiful budget. But if this were the only convention I’d ever do, it’s certainly worth a passing thought. I also looked into building them, which, if you’re mechanically inclined, isn’t actually a bad way to go.

The local big box hardware place has pegboard (like a plywood panel, only full of rows of holes) for maybe $5-$20, depending on how big you want them and if you’re willing to cut them up at all. You can get a couple of 2″ x 2″ or 2″ x 4″ boards as sides for the pegboard, and either pieces of those boards for footing or hinges to hook a couple together (for support). All in all, not too expensive. They do have a certain look and feel though, being pegboard, so you might consider painting them as well.

You can look into buying panels too, especially if you plan to do more cons/shows. Metal grid panels, usually 2′ wide by 5′-8′ tall, vary greatly in price, but are generally in the $20-$50 range per panel. At 2′ wide, you need (probably) 12-18 panels to make your plan work. That’s quite a chunk of change.

In my case, I turned to Craigslist. It just so happened that a local seasonal store (I’m guessing a Halloween store) was getting rid of a number of their panels. I made a deal with them for 15 panels, for a great price for each panel, and so I’m set on the booth. Here’s what one of them looks like. For comparison, my head (I’m 6′ tall) would be near the top of the Tombstone poster.

Which is great, I think they will work out well. But wait, work out with what? Do I even have enough art to fill a 10′ x 10′ space?

Laying out the art on the walls

Possibly, but that’s where some planning comes in. So, I opened up CorelDraw (or Illustrator, it just depends on my mood), and started laying out the art on all the panels. I created a document that had the correct, real dimensions, broken up into each side/wall of the booth. Then I put the art that I currently have on there, measured accurately, to see how it would all work.

It becomes a real visual plan (most of what you see above is the left wall of the booth), before I’ve even tried putting together a test run of the panels in my garage. I can see what I have a lot of, with real measurements, and move stuff around all I want. I can add more pieces as they come along (I’ll be adding a new painting and several new inks this week), and I can see where things are lacking a bit.

I can also color code much of my art onscreen, to see how things work together. I can see which pieces of which type are next to each other, and if that works. It’s also a great visual representation of where I might be lacking. Case in point, digital prints.

Since I can print art at home, I only have bothered printing a few of my digital pieces. Looking at my layout, I can see there’s a huge amount of area where those can go. Now it’s just a matter of choosing some of them, and getting them printed and matted.

The panels themselves

The other problem is, I’m making a lot of assumptions about my space by just putting (virtual) art on the panels. So, I need a second layout, this one showing how the panels, tables, and other items fit into the 10′ x 10′ space that I have. It looks sort of like this, a shot from above everything:

Same as before, this layout in CorelDraw is to actual size of everything. From here, I can see (in a virtual sense, anyway) how the booth will work. I know that the panels, at certain points, need to be connected either with a perpendicular panel, or with an angled panel, for stability.

I can also indicate where the front of the booth is, where traffic comes from, and how much space the panels really take up. I am also given an 8′ table (the brown ones on the left, off the page) if I want it, and I have a small table of my own that I’m bringing. I can add either one in to the layout, and see how much real space there will be.

I want to make sure that the booth is easy for folks to get around in, and not have any areas where they might get stuck. Having a “U” design (table in the middle), for example, might cause a blockage of people looking at art. If a line gets blocked, people get trapped in the back, or others who are coming in skip your booth because it looks too crowded.

It’s all a work in progress, but laying things out digitally gives you a pretty good sense ahead of time (even before a practice run) to see how it will all work out.

I like digital art, in this case more photomanipulation than full, line by line sort of art. My style(s) of art usually has a lot of brush strokes, an illustrative reality so to speak. But sometimes I like to explore the chaos of my mind, and often I choose to combine photographs with brushstrokes, textures, pretty much wherever the art leads.

When I’m working on a piece of art that’s more catharsis than anything, I try to let go and just do art. Let the demons out, so to speak. Being a sufferer of quite violent headaches often (no, not migraines per se, and no, no one can help me; thanks anyway), there are days when I just don’t have the spark to create. I just want to go find a hidey hole somewhere and get away from the pain. 

But, that simply can’t happen. I have family life to attend to. I have freelance clients for both art and web development that need their stuff. I occasionally have to run errands, fix things around the house, and so on. So down time doesn’t exist. Which, quite honestly, often makes things worse.

So, I try to do art. It works out great if I can work on an ink, or a traditional painting, even something that needs published. But those activities take concentration, and a focus that I simply don’t have when the old noggin is in peril.

So, two choices: I can give up and go hide in the hole. Or I can fight. 

The trick is just letting the brain do art all on its own. No ideas of where it’s going, and no forcing it into some direction. It is time to do pure, unadulterated art for art’s sake, to shake off those demons in my head and get a move on with the things that need to be done.

Sometimes, I end up with a fat lot of mud onscreen. Those are the ones you never get to see. 

Sometimes though, it works out quite nicely. Pieces like Winter Holiday and A Violent Reaction, pieces that I’m quite proud of, came out of doing art as catharsis. Today’s piece seems to have worked out nicely as well, so I’m happy to show it to you.

I call it, The Darkness Never Comes, though the story I see for the image is quite different than the title. But that idea is for me, it’s up to you to come up with your own interpretation.

Here’s the new art, and click on it for a larger version.

I had two previous H.P Lovecraft oriented pieces, The Deep Ones and Cthulhucraft, so I decided a third one would work out great. After some research, I settled on Lovecraft’s snake god, Yig, first mentioned in his story, The Curse of Yig.

As with many of his creatures, there’s not a lot of visual information to go on. Being that the creature is one of the Ancient Ones, gods of Lovecraft’s mythos, and the father of serpents, I decided to move forward with that idea.

I felt that, there being many different kinds of snakes, that I would create a creature that had parts of several of them. That way, in theory, the god could pass down those traits. I wanted to avoid the easy way out, just a snake-like man with big fangs. I mean, sure, there are lots of fanged snakes. There are also snakes that have sets of teeth and no fangs. Snakes with hoods, designs, even horns, and if this creature was their father he needed to have many different, shared traits.

Here he is, emerging from the darkness. Yig, Father of Serpents, is 5″  x 7″, ink on 140 lb. Cold Press. Click on the image for a larger version:

The valravn is my new artwork, and new Alphabeast. From Danish folklore, a valravn is a half-wolf, half-raven creature. From Wikipedia (and a couple of other sites): 

“The valravns appear in traditional Danish folksongs, where they are described as originating from ravens who consume the bodies of the dead on the battlefield, as capable of turning into the form of a knight after consuming the heart of a child, and, alternately, as half-wolf and half-raven creatures. “

In creating the art, I decided to use the more abstract, scratchy technique of my previous piece, A Lost Night (and of its predecessor, Lost Nightmare). I also took a bit of leeway with my interpretation, leaving both the raven and wolf sides both separate and mixed. I decided, however, not to try and create a single creature, but to leave the interpretation up to you, fine reader.

Here’s the new piece, it’s 11″ x 13″, ink and acrylic on scratchboard, and as usual click on it for a larger version. I give you, Night of the Valravn:

I had picked up some new scratchboard stock, so I went to work. I had an idea of where I was going, towards a “zombie” style creature, but I just wanted to keep that as a general framework. What had worked so well with the other piece was just letting go, just doing art to do art, and I hoped to recapture that some.

I sat down and scratched in a pretty decent zombie profile. Which, of course, I didn’t think to take a picture of until it was too late. So we’ll just say I did.

[imagine a great photo of just the scratched version here]

Once that was done, I did the rudest thing I could think of (for a family show, anyway). I took sandpaper, and scratched all over the entire surface of the scratchboard. Not enough to obliterate the creature I had scratched in, but more as an overriding texture. Click on the image (and all of the following ones) for a larger version.

He came out a bit more feral than expected, once the sandpaper was done with him. I considered changing course and making him a different sort of monster, but I just let it all go and did art.

After I was fine with the sandpaper work, I started painting in watered down (mostly) ink colors, then watered down acrylic colors. Being watered down, they just hit certain spots and combined in others, creating unique patterns.

I also added some black ink wash as well, though a bit darker than the other colors had been. The left edge had seemed a bit light, and the overall piece a bit too midtoned, so I added the black in to compensate for it.

 I noticed at this point that the creature had returned back to being more zombie-like than anything, so I went with it. I touched up a few more colors here, and added some light and dark accents as needed. Then I started in with the ink pen.

The ink pens (Micron pens 02 and 05) really started popping the creature out of his background, and that’s when I really started thinking this was an actual piece of art.

I followed the patterns that the acrylics, inks, and scratchboard had already created, rather than creating new lines with the ink pen. This gave the piece a very interesting look, somewhat a cross between order and chaos. In certain areas, around the eye for example, the lines merely expanded on the idea that was already there. But in adding ink lines in the texture areas, a random, stronger texture appeared, and made the whole thing more unique.

Here’s the final product, and again click on it for a larger version. It’s 10″ x 13″, all sorts of stuff on scratchboard. I call it, A Lost Night:

I took a few closeup shots of the piece too, in case you are looking for more detail: