As a way of taking some downtime between projects, I recently immersed myself into episode after episode of Bones (yah, I'm a later starter: currently in the middle of season 3.. SHHHH!! don't tell me *ANYTHING*).
Bones and body organs and body liquification... (Haven't gotten to that episode yet, but wow.) (Plus humor, drama, sexual tension, Oh yes.)
In addition, I've been reading a lot of good stories. Almost all of them written by friends and acquaintances. ( I am blessed.)
Also, indulging in just some straight up doodling in my sketchbook. For no reason what-so-ever except I want to:
Then learning a new Photoshop trick where-in I am able to 'lift' the drawing off the page, for easier coloring. (VERY helpful, as I still prefer my analog natural-hand-drawn lines to what I can sketch out on the wacom tablet) This isn't the best example of the trick, but here's what I did with that previous sketch:
Oh... and random, but have you seen this montage of the many cinematic deaths of Sean Bean?? (warning: Spoilers. And death. Violent death. Over and Over and Over.)
Seriously. Wow. (Thank you, Jacob Ruby, for showing me this )
I've been trying to Photoshop in a more painterly way. Pushing pixels around like how I used to push pigments. I have to admit, the ability to have every object on a separate layer for easily re-sizing, moving, flipping etc, is... well, is a lot easier than doing that with pigment on canvas. It's easy to feel "lazy" or that I'm "cheating" with photoshop. This especially on my mind as I look into attending the Illustration Masters Class, where there will be a lot of emphasis on traditional mediums.
Anyhooo... I try not to pay those feelings too much mind. Right now, I'm merely trying to take my photoshop skills to the next level.
Well here is Jaym Gates' contribution, Sleep Cycles:
((Viewing online falls short of how these pages are experienced in real life: they are incredibly textural, mixed media pieces and my scanner simply has not done them justice. You'll just have to wait your turn to actually hold them in your hands.))
Sleep Cycles. by Jaym Gates. once upon a time, night and day were two realms. instead of cycling around humans, humans revolved through the endless cycles.... slumber... dream... nightmare.... gentile, quite, refreshing. humans liked it here. many refused to move staying in slumber for as long as possible. most, however, moved on to dream. bright things, beautiful things. anything possible. the dark dreams too. sometimes we have the same dreams. these are the wild places. nothing comes here intentionally. only the lost, the mad dreams. and those things... those things hunt us all. caught... fighting.... fighting to go through. sometimes they escape into the twilight. that's where they meet the champions, from the day. sometimes they hunt the lovely things only found in darkness. the darkness cares for it's own. and for everyone passing through. and so day comes again, and night dreams thank you jaym!
Much appreciation goes to Wendy Wagner who opened her home to me for this convention. (And to Andrew for taking me rock climbing. Plus all the other exceptional friends and fellow creatives who helped make the trip amazing.)
Orycon was fabulous and I was especially pleased to have my work win the Directors Choice award for Best Horror in the Art Show. (Undead Evening Gown, nabbed me the ribbon.)
A bit overwhelmed with all the things I could (and should) say about the event, I will instead just share a few a few snapshots of what I sketched during panels and readings:
There is so much I could say about the events and proceedings of World Fantasy Con... but instead, Here: a few doodles I did and a table full of collaborative drawings done with others during the convention.
Issue 31 of Apex Magzine just went live! It's an amazing line-up of fiction, poetry, and non-fiction, edited by the amazing Lynne Marie Thomas. Oh... and I got to do the cover art :)
