Color Final

Here is the color final for my first completed image from, "Villain".
Cheers.

New book

Here is a wip for an image in a children's book I'm putting together.
More to come as I refine and recolor the image.  I'm at the stage where I have a few color sketches that are so rough and nice, but that obscure some of the pencil work that I want to show through.  So begins the drafts of color.   And loads of computer fun.

I hope you enjoy them.  I'll post more in the next several days as I finish it up.
Cheers!
-Micah

Lose an afternoon online with me

If you love to look at fantasy and sci-fi art, if you love to know what artists are thinking while they work, if you want to know what informs and inspires them, what work excites them, what challenges them, then have I got a few sites for you.
Here they are, prepare to lose an afternoon, or a day, and never miss it.
Muddy Colors.

Muddy Colors is a blog that is home to some of my favorite artists. Oh, to just look at the contributors' process and galleries would be great, but these folks go beyond to show and tell about good works, not just among themselves, but from all realms of art.  You will fins posts about technique, and articles about influences and inspiration.  It's a feast for the eyes, and food for thought.
WiPnation.

Now here's what I'm talking about.  This site is a workshop, a studio, a group critique all in one.  It's a site of user content, as well as being the hub for a couple other great forums.  Bring your art here to get comments and notes full of honesty and experience.  And bring your voice too, because one good turn deserves another, and when you give a good crit, other artists on the site take notice of your own work and help you out when you need it. Everyone there has the chance to make stronger work, and to help out their fellow artist.  One of the most fantastic tools on the site is the redline tool.  when giving a crit, you can use this online tool to draw on the other's work to show, rather than just write, what you think needs tweaking on the piece.  It's a great asset, and what make the site unique among artist communities online.

I mentioned the other forums connected to WiPnation. Here they are.

Art Order.
Changed my life.  Jon Schindehette the senior creative director at Wizards of the Coast created this blog years ago and it has long been a place to challenge, inspire, and network talent in fantasy illustration.  Art Order's posts about the methods of art directors, the job of creating work on commission, how to thrive in your genre, and how to attract the attention of clients is invaluable to any artist working today.  It's a tremendous blog, and a rewarding read.
Awesome Horse.

I had the pleasure to meet the Awesome Horse artists, Marc Scheff, Cynthia Sheppard, Noah Bradley, and Aaron Miller as well as hear the WiPnation creators, Timothy Nelson and (unless I got his handle/name mixed up) Peter Mohrbacher speak, at Illuxcon last year.  So, let me tell you about Awesome Horse.  Four super talented illustrators post live art demos and critiques. And they archive them, so if you're new to the site, you can catch up on some of what these artists are all about.  I summed that up without a lot of fanfare.  So let me reassure you, that there is a wealth of insight and commentary in each of their live demos and critiques.
There you go.  That'll take you all afternoon to browse through.  And if you're part of the legion of facebook users, many of these honchos and artists that created these sites and contribute to them are on fb, and seeing works in progress, and getting their updates is always a treat.  Thanks for reading!
Cheers,
-Micah

Recent works

Here are a few of my most recent pieces.  

Wander

Near Extinction

Anticlockwise

Ratatoskr

Moebius

Dawn of Man

 

Lyssa

Standing Among Stones

Another new piece for the January show, Vantage Point down at NCC in Naperville Illinois.
Enjoy.
Cheers,
-Micah

A Princess of Mars

I might have overlooked this book had this challenge not arisen over at ArtOrder and WiPnation.
Thanks to Jon, for cluing me into this series of books. You can read all about it at either site, but essentially the challenge is to do an homage piece to the book, "A Princess of Mars" by Edgar Rice Burroughs.

If you're a fan of Han Solo, Spike Spiegel, Drizzt Do'Urden, Indiana Jones, even Captain Kirk, you'll enjoy this book and the protagonist, John Carter, who seems to live in the hearts of all these heroes.

So these are my works in progress so far. Image progress goes from top-bottom. I'll post more here, and more at WiPnation, a new developing community of critique and talent. Check it out.

Cheers!
-Micah

Illuxcon 4

I noticed a theme this year in the talks, panels, and workshops that I didn't notice last year. It may have been due to the personalities involved this year, but the theme I noticed time and time again was:

"Viewers of your work will notice the technical mastery of a piece. But more than that they are engaged by, captivated by, and are moved by seeing and understanding (even on a subconscious level), that you give a solid god-damn about your work. "

When you are challenged by your work, in love with it, scared by it, frustrated by it, and you make your way through to the end to finish it off, the viewer can read that emotion in it, can feel the inspiration, and the striving of the artist as he pushes his art forward through this piece and into the next.

That must be an exhausting and invigorating way to create work. I've felt it a few times in recent memory, but not enough to consider myself solidly on this path.

This year, I learned it's necessary to produce lots of ugly work in the process, and a worthy amount of great work as a result.

I'll write more on what I observed and absorbed there later. Right now, I have to hit the drawing board. I attached a few images of the prints that I glommed onto this year. These were just a few of the hundreds of pieces that I would have loved looking at everyday in my own home. But we are all, at some point, slaves to circumstance (and pocketbook).

The pieces are, in order from top to bottom:

"AWOL" by Justin Gerard

"Saint George and the Dragon" by Justin Gerard

"Quiet Night" by John Harris

"Mass: the Building of FTL 1" by John Harris

"Obernywten" by Donato Giancola

"Jovah's Angel" by John Jude Palencar

See you next year at Illuxcon? I'll be there, I hope you will be too.

Cheers,

-Micah