Tuesday, April 23, 2013

✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ Glitter & Mayhem ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧

Presenting the cover of Glitter & Mayhem!
(✧ I'll be cleaning sparkles out of my studio for a long while ✧)



Cover art and design by me :)

A little while ago Lynn M. Thomas, Michael Damian Thomas and John Klima asked if I might possibly be interested in doing some work for an anthology they were cooking up in partnership with Apex Publishing. My answer was OMG YES!! 
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Glitter & Mayhem

"Step behind the velvet rope of these fabulous Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror tales of roller rinks, nightclubs, glam aliens, party monsters, drugs, sex, glitter, and debauchery. Dance through nightclubs, roller derby with cryptids and aliens, be seduced by otherworldly creatures, and ingest cocktails that will alter your existence forever.

Over 120,000 words of brand new fiction from some of the best writers in the business are ready to bring you the most glamorous parties in the multiverse. "
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Glitter & Mayhem is available for pre-order plus stay tuned for information about the launch party at WorldCon where the editors and I will be signing books.

))✧SQUEEE✧((

Meanwhile, here's some work-in-progress glimpses into creating the cover. This is the preliminary sketch we released as a sneak peak for the Kickstarter:


preliminary cover sketch, by Galen Dara

The nature of our cyboristic lead jammer's roller gear took some work. Simple skates just didn't seem right. Two pieces of reference I leaned heavily on were these (rather incredible) modern chariot skates and these (completely mind boggling) circa 1910 roller skates.

click for larger view


Her hair was also something I had to play around with quite a bit to get the right feel. I tried tentacles (couldn't help myself) and cable wires, but soon realized such elaborate coiffures distracted from the whole of the piece. A little experimenting revealed she had a taste for short red hair.

click for larger view



Etc etc etc, until the final painting (ta da!)






But enough about the cover. Here's a peek at the star-studded Table of Contents.
 ✧((zang))✧

Introduction by AmberBenson
Sister Twelve: Confessions of a Party Monster by Christopher Barzak
Apex Jump by DavidJ. Schwartz
With Her Hundred Miles to Hell by Kat Howard
Star Dancer by JenniferPelland
Of Selkies, Disco Balls, and Anna Plane by Cat Rambo
Sooner Than Gold by CorySkerry
The Minotaur Girls by Tansy Rayner Roberts
Unable to Reach You by Alan DeNiro
Such & Such Said to So & So by Maria Dahvana Headley
Revels in the Land of Ice by Tim Pratt
Bess, the Landlord’s Daughter, Goes for Drinks with the Green Girl by Sofia Samatar
Blood and Sequins by Diana Rowland
Two-Minute Warning by Vylar Kaftan
Inside Hides the Monster by Damien Walters Grintalis
Bad Dream Girl by SeananMcGuire
A Hollow Play by AmalEl-Mohtar
Just Another Future Song by Daryl Gregory
The Electric Spanking of the War Babies by Maurice Broaddus & Kyle S. Johnson
All That Fairy Tale Crap by Rachel Swirsky

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If you need more shiny stuff while waiting for the book release, go peruse our pinterest board. To wrap it up, here's a little gold plated burlesque on roller skates. Just for you. (FYI, she does get down to pasties by the end. NSFW.) 

Monday, April 22, 2013

Booth 521 @ SFAL


SFAL banner

Just a reminder, Spectrum Fantastic Art Live 2 is in less than a month. I'll be hanging out at Booth 521 with Evan Jensen and Li Grabenstetter and a bunch of art stuff.  Come say Hi! See you there :)



For more about the event, follow Spectrum Fantastic Art on Twitter and Facebook.

Friday, April 12, 2013

Spectrum 20 entry

Sweetness! Finally got the news about which art piece was accepted into the Spectrum 20 annual. Of the three pieces I sent in, my version of Cairn at Slater Woods was selected. Which is interesting, because it's a personal piece I created on a whim after coming home from the Illustration Masters Class. (More about it here.)


Makes me think I might try and use my whims more often.

Speaking of which, a friend recently shared this and it's pretty intriguing:


(source
Two actors taking improve to a whole new level.  Finding the story in the very moment they are telling it, stepping into the unknown 'without even a glimmer of an idea'.  "Trust us, this is ALL MADE UP". Give it a listen, it's pretty fascinating.