Summary: 10+ hours of painting in an 8 minute video? I share watercolor painting tips and concepts in a time lapse painting of three storybook characters. Check it out, and share it with your friends.



via Studio Bowes Art Blog at http://studiobowesart.com/2013/03/18/10-hours-of-watercolor-painting-in-an-8-minute-video/

via Sketch Blog Michael Bierek http://mikebierek.blogspot.com/2013/03/new-song-sketchessketch-book-selections.html

via The Golden Age Mr. Door Tree http://thegoldenagesite.blogspot.com/2013/03/n_17.html

Lini and her forest friends attack a belligerent troll.

Last summer, after returning from Gen Con inspired by all the amazing fantasy art I had seen during the convention, I immediately (well, after unpacking, of course) set to work on my own attempt at an epic fantasy painting for Paizo Publishing's Pathfinder RPG. I don't say "epic" lightly. The painting was one of the most complex I had ever done: an action scene involving more than a dozen individual figures, most of them animals.



The Player Companion I did the painting for came out this month, so I can finally share my cover art! The book is called Animal Archive and it has been receiving many positive reviews.














via Fabled Earth: The Art of Emily Fiegenschuh Emily Fiegenschuh http://fabledearth.blogspot.com/2013/03/animal-archive.html

I have finally decided after much prompting to get out of my comfy little chair and do a sketch/art book. The theme of this book will be "character design" because I love designing characters and much of the work I've been doing recently has been oriented in this direction. Last year I was lucky enough to have been involved in several animation projects where I was doing character design and I am definitely interested in more of the same. So with that in mind I have made a list of possible concepts for the book to use as design spring boards. The Witch Market is the first of these. What I am showing today is the rough work which will hopefully get me to a final drawing. These are still pretty rough and will require some streamlining and simplifying, or perhaps more to the point "designing". But that is what this process is all about - working your ideas and distilling them down to their most simple and clear incarnation. I still tend to get a little pencily. I could and should be more more graphic and direct. Lots to do !






Meanwhile I am still working on the stop-motion film concerning Arctic Mythology that I was working on before the holidays, but it is all top secret and I'm not allowed to share any of that work yet. I will be sharing the pencil work I'm doing for my new book however. This will be an on going project with many updates so stay tuned.








More soon.



via Mythwood - The Art of Larry MacDougall Larry MacDougall http://mythwood.blogspot.com/2013/01/witch-market.html

via The Golden Age Mr. Door Tree http://thegoldenagesite.blogspot.com/2013/03/blog-post_9.html

(Ye Olde Awkwarde Family Photo.)



This month, the History Channel finally admitted that everything it does is fiction by adding an explicitly-fictional show to its line of programs about men crossing their arms in front of things. VIKINGS purports to document the first Viking raids on the lands "to the west" and the political turmoil at home.



I watched two episodes with the intent to review, because it looked like it had potential to be pulpy fun, at least. By twenty minutes into the pilot, I realized time was actually moving backwards; the cactus on my desk slowly undied, leaves jumped back onto the trees, and still Gabriel Byrne continued speaking, trying to ignore the clip-on salt-and-papper extension he allowed to touch only the back of his hair. I watched the second episode to see if it was just a case of Pilot-itis; by the end of it I was in third grade again.



All the "opening dialogue in native tongue" bits in the world can't cover up the fact that this is a show adrift (get it?!) that can't manufacture dramatic tension. The best things out of the first two episodes are the pilot's scenery shots, and the kid who plays Bjorn (Nathan O'Toole), who shows some naturalism and comic timing that's unexpected and welcome.



He is perhaps the only person in the cast who seems wholly comfortable; Travis Fimmel's Ragnar is too busy carrying the sinking show on his shoulders, Katheryn Winnick is too busy not having much to do as Lagertha, the show's designated sex-scene partner who's sexually menaced twice in the pilot and gets naggy because she had to give up her raiding career (topical! Topical? Stay-at-home-shieldmaidens, amirite?). Too bad, because she misses a raid on a monastery filled with historically-believable grizzled monks, and a boyband member who escapes the sword. What's the master plan? Threesome invites, it looks like. Also history and stuff, I guess. Quick, more halfhearted subplots!



Though it's nice to have my cactus back, I will not be watching any more Vikings. Instead, enjoy this summary of the show in song; it's about as dramatically engaging, and it's eighty-seven minutes shorter.







via Genevieve Valentine (author unknown) http://glvalentine.livejournal.com/366130.html

via The Golden Age Mr. Door Tree http://thegoldenagesite.blogspot.com/2013/03/n_10.html

Victor Nizovtsev was born in Russia and studied at the Ilia Repin Collge for Art in Chisinau, Moldavia and the Vera Muhina University for Industrial Arts in St. Petersburg. He now lives in the U.S. in Maryland.

His paintings have some of the narrative character of Golden Age children’s book illustration, and draw on influences from Art Nouveau, Symbolist and other 19th century painters (in particular John Singer Sargent’s Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose ), but have a contemporary feel.

His subjects include repeated dream-like themes of mermaids, floating lanterns, colorful jesters, playing card kings and queens, storybook villages and playful children. These are arranged in seemingly narrative compositions and portrayed in vibrant color with wonderful elements of texture, at times reminiscent of Gustav Klimt’s decorative textural areas.

I haven’t been able to find a dedicated site or blog for Nizovtsev, but his work is represented by at least two galleries, and there are several mentions of his work on other blogs and art sites.

The McBride Gallery in Anapolis, MD, seems to be his primary gallery, offering both originals and giclee prints, and including some bio information on their site. There are several pages of images (though some links are broken).

His work is reproduced larger elsewhere, however, such at Tutt’ Art and Inspirations. I’ve listed what other sources I could find below.

[Suggestion courtesy of Tim Poorman]

via lines and colors :: a blog about drawing, painting, illustration, comics, concept art and other visual arts Charley Parker http://www.linesandcolors.com/2013/03/08/victor-nizovtsev/

"This artwork can be paid in installments." This phrase appears many places around my galleries, and as I often explain this to folks, I figured it worth writing once, exhaustively, so as to reference it throughout my site. Also, I know some may not contact me for information, fearing a hard sell or something. So, let me walk you through how I do payments.



Typically, starting at about the $750 price tag, I allow paintings to be purchased on payment plans. Below that and I guess I consider smaller pieces, while still not cheap necessarily, to fall into the category of other things we might just put on our credit cards or save up a little for and buy in one go. And while one can still put, say, $2000 on a credit card, interest accrues and the painting becomes more expensive. So, the payment plan is meant to make artwork more affordable.



Here's how it works: if you find yourself interested in a painting that qualifies, you will be asked to pay 20% of the price of the painting up-front. This initial payment is non-refundable, and places a 6 month hold on the artwork--I'll mark the piece as "sold." From there, you have 6 months to pay off the painting at your leisure. You can make monthly installments, pay one big chunk right at the end, or whatever you'd like. You can pay it off earlier than 6 months if you prefer. When the balance is paid, I ship your artwork to you.



If you change your mind along the way or your situation changes such that you can no longer purchase the painting, then I'll happily refund whatever you've paid off, minus the initial 20%, which is kept. I understand that life happens and you can't plan too reliably for the future, so don't worry about it--if you need a refund, you can get it. The 20% basically compensates me for lost opportunities to sell the piece in the meantime by marking it as sold while in-process. Obviously, if you need a refund, I'll put the painting back on sale.



At the end of 6 months, if your painting isn't paid off, I may choose to refund whatever you've paid (minus the deposit) and put the painting back on sale. This may be because I've had other buyers inquire about it in the meantime, or maybe you just disappeared. We'll talk about it first. So if you've been trying to pay it off but just need a little more time, I'm not a harsh man.



(L:) By using a payment plan, "The Sacrifice" was one of many paintings to make its way to a new home. The owner chose a nice thick frame and sent me a photo, too!



Starting at $3000, which hasn't happened often, but may happen more in the future, the same applies: 20% down, however you can take up to 12 months to pay it off.



My goal is to make owning an original painting within the reach of many more people, while allowing the monthly payment to still be meaningful on my end and worth the accounting. That $950 painting, for instance, could be yours for $190 today, and about ~$130/mo for 6 months (adding in shipping). That's bound to be much more doable than forking over a grand today.



It's been very successful for me over the years and has allowed many people to afford pieces they couldn't get all at once, or to secure a piece they loved that they might be able to pay off a few months from now, but wanted to make sure to reserve before another collector got it. At any given time I'm usually working with multiple people on payment plans.



So? See something that catches your eye? Drop me a line and let's make it happen! -->



via Exit Within: the Gallegos Blog Randy Gallegos http://blog.gallegosart.com/2013/03/payment-plans.html

(Direct link to video) CBS News reports that George Lucas will turn his attention next to opening a museum in San Francisco to share his large collection of golden age illustration, comic art, and movie development artwork.

More at Firewire blog

Thanks, Jodie!



via Gurney Journey James Gurney http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.com/2013/03/lucas-to-build-illustration-museum.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+blogspot%2FNVaYV+%28Gurney+Journey%29

via Howard Pyle noreply@blogger.com (Ian Schoenherr) http://howardpyle.blogspot.com/2013/03/happy-160th-birthday-howard-pyle.html

Here's the next installment of my experiment in hand drawn type and book cover illustration.



This one is watercolor and pen and ink, assembled in Photoshop.



via ArtGhost Liz Wong http://artghost.blogspot.com/2013/01/faux-book-cover-2-twelve-thrilling.html

Today marks the birthday of The Mad Scientist's Guide to World Domination, an anthology of stories that take a second look at the "mad scientist" label, in one way or another.



My contribution to the anthology is "Captain Justice Saves the Day," which features very little of Captain Justice (spoilers?) and quite a bit of Dr. Methuselah Mason and his administrative assistant, Brenda Bryce, who's trying to deal with an IT department who cruelly stalks the night, among other very particular office-management requirements.



This is definitely not a story that reflects any of my day jobs, because why would it be, why would you even say that, I can't even begin with you. It might, however, happen be a story that reflects some of your own day jobs, and in that case, all I can say is: I hope you enjoy, and also I’m sorry to hear it.

Brenda had been working for Dr. Methuselah Mason for two years the day he mentioned strapping her to the doomsday device.



“It’s a brilliant idea,” he said. “Captain Justice can never resist the prospect of some helpless civilian. He’ll stop to save you, and by the time he realizes the mechanism is unstoppable . . . ” He sighed. “I’ll be rid of him forever.”



Brenda hit Mute on the speakerphone. “Beg pardon?”



“Don’t worry,” he said. “He always gets there before the timer runs out. I’ll leave some clues for him like usual. You shouldn’t be there long, and you don’t have to really do anything.”



“He said he wanted birch,” came the lumberyard service rep through the speaker. “Birch isn’t mothproof. He never told me the place was at risk from moths.”



“Of course it’s at risk from moths,” snapped Dr. Mason, “it’s an abandoned farmhouse lair.”



Brenda said, “You told me not to tell him that. Also, he can’t hear you.”



“Look, I’d pay you overtime for the doomsday stuff,” Dr. Mason said with a trace of disdain for time-clocking. “I don’t see why we have to have a big I’m-having-feelings meeting about everything I suggest.”



“I’m not giving your boss a pass on something he bought free and clear,” the lumber rep said.



Dr. Mason slammed his hand on the Mute button. “You listen here, you’ll give me that refund or I’ll send some radioactive geese to your house at night, you lying—”



“Dave, let me call you right back,” Brenda said, and hung up.

WILL the Doomsday Device hold the city in its thrall? WILL Brenda get insurance? WILL she have to remind her boss about the pizza-sauce protocols of various restaurants until maybe the Doomsday Device part doesn't sound so bad? FIND OUT, when CAPTAIN JUSTICE SAVES THE DAY, out now!



via Genevieve Valentine (author unknown) http://glvalentine.livejournal.com/363991.html

There's a good lesson to be learned from the book "Curious George Goes to the Hospital" by Margret and H.A. Rey. I remember this lesson from reading the book when I was a kid.



In the book, George swallows a puzzle piece and doesn't feel well. The Man In The Yellow Hat takes him to a hospital so they can figure out what's wrong. This is the page that I recall:






I remember being struck by the fact that the author didn't tell you explicitly that George felt scared. Instead, the author describes an action ("George held his big rubber ball tight as they walked up the hospital steps") that creates the idea in your mind that George is scared.



That is such a great lesson in how to write: give your characters actions and reactions that clue the reader (or viewer) into how they're thinking and feeling. You feel the impact of a character's emotions much more powerfully when you perceive them in your mind this way, as opposed to a character just coming out and saying, "I'm scared".



Saying "I'm scared" is also not very realistic behavior for a character. For a variety of reasons, people rarely come right out and say "I'm scared" when they're scared. That goes for every other emotion as well. Humans are very complex, and our feelings are complex too. Most of the time people aren't really cognizant of exactly what they're feeling, and why, and even if they were, they probably couldn't articulate it. Also, most people tend to hide their emotions pretty well (this is different from person to person and from culture to culture, but it's a general truth). So when a character uses dialogue to announce what emotion they're feeling in a movie or TV show, it never feels real to me and it sure isn't very satisfying. And when a character does that, I tend to think they're lying, anyway. Think about it: in your life, have you ever had a reason to tell someone else that you're feeling happy at that moment? Or sad? I haven't. I'm not sure why anyone would be interested in a running commentary of my emotions. If I'm feeling happy, I'm just going to experience that feeling....I'm not sure why I would announce it to anyone. The same goes for every other emotion.



That's why if a character in a movie ever does announce that they're happy (or sad, or whatever), I always assume that's a lie that they're telling to cover up what they're really feeling (and then I'll try to figure out what they're really feeling, and why they're lying about it).



So for those reasons, it always seems like really poor writing to me when a character says out loud what they're feeling, and what they're saying is actually the emotion that they're feeling.



When you're writing anything, getting the audience inside the head of the characters and letting the audience know what they're feeling and thinking is one of the most (if not THE most) important aspects to communicate. So, if we can't have characters tell us what they're feeling, how do we make it clear to the viewer?



Well, because humans are so good at hiding their emotions, we humans have gotten good at reading the tiny clues people show and inferring their emotions from those little hints. So, just like in the Curious George example, use your character's actions and reactions to give the audience insight into the mindset of your character as they react to the events unfolding around them.



Sometimes that means giving your character reactions that are universally obvious (like George gripping his ball tighter to show that he's afraid). Or sometimes it involves setting up that your character has a certain behavior that he does when he's feeling a specific emotion, and then when your audience sees the character do that certain behavior, they know what he's thinking or feeling (for example, in Michael Bay's "The Island", there's a set up that Ewan McGregor's character smiles in a certain way when he's lying, and that serves as a setup for a plot point later).



The point is this: what a character does in a story - the actions he or she takes, and the reactions he or she has to events in the story - should tell us about who they are and what they're feeling. Not speeches where they announce what they're feeling.



As a writer (or storyboard artist, animator, comic artist, etc.), it's imperative that you know what your character is thinking and feeling at all times and why. If you don't know these things, then you can't communicate it to the audience, and then the story just becomes a series of meaningless events. Nobody watching it will know what they're supposed to be feeling or what they're supposed to think about the story you're telling. So the first step before you can communicate those feelings to the audience is making sure that you know the emotions of your characters (and that those emotions make sense...but that's a whole other topic).



via Temple of the Seven Golden Camels mark kennedy http://sevencamels.blogspot.com/2013/03/writing-lessons-can-come-from-anywhere.html

This 1939 Paramount “Popular Science” newsreel explains the basic principles of cartoon animation in the course of a visit to Fleischer Studios, where they are working on a Popeye cartoon.

I don’t know how long this will be available on YouTube before some copyright troll or other demands a takedown.

[Via @MaxtheMutt]

via lines and colors :: a blog about drawing, painting, illustration, comics, concept art and other visual arts Charley Parker http://www.linesandcolors.com/2013/03/04/newsreel-visit-to-fleischer-studios/