May 23, 2012
Legacy Lost
Gaining her was just as hard as losing her.
May 16, 2012
Dress Your Marines in White
Murder in powdered form. What a life.
May 9, 2012
About Fairies
Some things happen whether or not you clap your hands.
May 3, 2012
At the Foot of the Lighthouse
I am American. We are all Americans.
This past weekend was the first Spectrum Fantastic Art Live convention (hopefully the first of many), held in Kansas City. For 19 years, Spectrum has been the premier art annual for fantasy and science fiction illustration, sculpture, concept art, and comics. Never one to rest on their laurels, the founders, Cathy and Arnie Fenner, have mounted two major New York exhibitions of selections from the annuals and, now, have created the largest gathering of genre artists and fans seen in the US.
If you don’t know Justin Sweet’s name, you sure know his work. He’s become the go-to guy for creating many of today’s fantasy and science fiction movie characters and environments. He’s worked on the Narnia movies, John Carter, the upcoming Snow White and the Huntsman, Jack the Giant Killer, and... The Avengers!
Here are a few designs for the Chitauri alien invaders that Sweet drew. You can see more on the his Muddy Colors post, tantalizingly labeled “Part 1.”
The award winners for the 19th edition of the Spectrum Fantastic Art Annual were announced this evening at an awards ceremony at Spectrum Live, a weekend-long celebration of fantastic art, in Kansas City. Congratulations to all the winners and nominees!
A few years back, artist Cory Godbey started the blog Terrible Yellow Eyes as a pet project and tribute to Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are. The subject matter and the initial offerings were so beloved by so many artists, it went (as they say) viral. In the end he collected a year’s worth of loving homages to Sendak and his charcters. It’s a great way to pass an hour, after you’ve revisited your Sendak library.
Here are just a few favorites of mine...
We are very excited to reveal the cover to A Memory of Light, the final volume of Robert Jordan’s epic fantasy series The Wheel of Time. The artwork for this final edition is by, arguably, one of today’s most beloved illustrators, Michael Whelan.
[The process behind the cover, sketches, and the full cover below]
Holy cow, every trailer is getting me more and more excited to see this.
Each year Greg Manchess, Dan Dos Santos, and I ask a dozen artists to create a 5x7 painting of their choosing. These miniatures are exhibited at the Society of Illustrators and then placed on auction with all proceeds going to the Society’s student scholarship fund. I’m excited to say that the auction is now up on ebay and will run until the evening of Sunday, May 6th. Here is an opportunity to own artwork at an affordable price and help some young illustrators at the start of their carreers.
Bidding is taking place here.
Jynx by Jamie Zollars
For “The Pokemon Battle Royale,” the Light Grey Art Lab asked 151 artists to created original works of art inspired by each of the original 151 Pokémon to fantastic candy colored effect.
As many know, Darrell K. Sweet passed away in December before completing the final cover art for A Memory of Light, the concluding volume in Robert Jordan’s epic fantasy series, The Wheel of Time. While it will not be the cover to the book, we are, however bittersweet, proud to reveal the color sketch he created in preparation for the painting.
“Darrell Sweet defined an era of fantasy for a generation of readers,” Wheel of Time publisher, Tom Doherty, has stated. “He was one of the early leaders in the field. He made fantasy accessible to a broader range of people.” Darrell worked on many great series but he is arguably most closely identified by his work on The Wheel of Time. Harriet McDougal, Robert Jordan’s wife and editor said, “Darrell was a great pleasure to work with, painstaking for accuracy to the text (well, his trollocs, not, and yet wonderful), and what color and energy in his work! There is nobody like him.”
He was an inspiration to a generation of artists as well as readers. Hugo award-winning Donato Giancola hangs a Sweet painting proudly in his living room, “Darrell’s work became an integral part of my development as a professional artist. I intently studied dozens of his works on the novels I purchased and read, mostly for his wonderful cover illustrations.” Greg Manchess stated, “ I was fascinated by his comfortable, gentle rendering that lent a lovely, believable light to all of his pictures.”
Darrell was one of the first artists I worked with in my carreer. I never imagined the series without him. Neither, I suspect, did Robert Jordan. Sweet believed until the very end that he would regain the strength to finish A Memory of Light. I am grateful that we, at least, have his color sketch to complete the series. Below you will see the art for all fifteen covers for the Wheel of Time, as painted by Darrell K. Sweet.
“A half a penny... The most powerful agency of the dreams of a nation is currently underfunded to do what it needs to be doing. And that’s making dreams come true. How much would you pay for the universe?”
Listen to Neil deGrasse Tyson’s impassioned plea to increase NASA funding. I dare you to walk away without getting both a little teary and up in arms.
Concept artist Mark Molnar has been having some fun doing some Dune speed paintings as a personal project.... Makes us wish some studio would give the movie another go.
Who’da thought Darth Maul just needed some color to look even more intense? Artist Nicky Barkla has created a series of incredible paintings that combine portraits with the look and feel of cranked-up marbelized paper.
Click below for lots more nightmare fuel, featuring villains from Batman and Harry Potter.
Last December I called a bunch of artist-friends and asked them to share their favorite winter paintings for an article celebrating the winter solstice. I didn’t expect to make it a series at the time, but the post was too much fun to put together and I learned way too much not to try it again.
To be honest, when I started I worried that spring would not have the gravitas that winter does, however now that it’s here the exuberance of spring is a delight. It has been a mild winter here in the American northeast, but the promise of warmer weather, longer days, and a gentle breeze are irresistible.
Without further ado, here are the joys of re-awakening.
“Prometheus has landed”, and we are super pysched. Ridley Scott’s Alien-ish prequel comes out June. I’m excited to see Hunger Games and The Avengers but this is the one I’m most looking forward to. The Space Jockey, hyper tension, and old fasioned bubble helmets....I cannot wait.
Hugely popular and influential French comic artist Jean Giraud passed away today. Under his own name, and his science fiction pen-name “Moebius,” Giraud created thousands of comic strips that proved high art and surrealism could be brought to comics. Giraurd also collaborated with a number of movie directors, influencing the look and tone of Alien, The Fifth Element, and Blade Runner.
“The term ‘visionary’ is applied rather liberally these days. In Jean Giraud’s case, the word is simultaneously appropraote and inadequate....Moebius started on a joureny of spiritual exploration and self discivery and graciously has taken us along for the ride. Funny, erotic, shocking,evocative, inspirational, and unforgettable. Moebius has crated a body of work that challenges — and ultimately rewards— our imaginations. ” —Arnie Fenner on Jean Giraud’s Spectrum Grand Master recognition.
He was a particular favorite among his fellow artists. Many creatives and readers will mourn his passing.
Can you judge the measure of a scientist by the desk they work on? National Public Radio’s Science Friday has a series of short interviews with prominent scientists giving tours of their work spaces. See a painting of Michio Kaku with a lightsaber. Wonder if Neil deGrasse Tyson is any less sexy for his Starry Night kitch collection. And sit for a few minutes and enjoy Oliver Sacks’s rock collection. (Brian Greene seems too busy moving between dimensions to have much of anything on his desk.) Lighthearted and occasionally poignant, these are great little things to watch in between tasks.
I know it’s hard to forgive Lucas the sins of the past two decades but this collage-ish ad campaign from Bleublancrouge for the Montreal Science Center’s “Star Wars Indentities” exhibit is enough to bring that childhood smile back.
“Star Wars Indentities” will run April through September... and we are jealous of anyone near enough to Montreal to see it.
There are worse ways to end the day than to think about how connected we are to the universe, literally.
(via Slate)
Our resident Burroughs expert had some good things to say about John Carter of the Movies, now Disney seems to be trying to prove it is worth seeing (in the face of what many are claiming a botched ad campaign) by releasing ten full minutes.
