For anyone keeping up with my work on the Neoplastic contract for Dread, or who just likes my art in general, with Rafael's blessing I've placed the first of the illustrations on my dA account for public consumption.

You can either click here to jump to my gallery or use the thumbnails below to jump to each image directly.

Avomiad

Expexiant

Forgot to mention one thing yesterday: I've put the three pieces I submitted to Artists First! into my deviantArt gallery (it's the three most recent grayscale images). Man, they look rough. I think "Fearing For Munin" is the most polished, and "Eater of Stars" needs the most extensive work to finish.

Ok, I'm supposed to leave for Forge Midwest tomorrow morning, but we're also supposed to have some seriously bad weather and poor driving conditions up north here, so I don't know if I'll be able to. I'm ride-sharing and splitting-a-room with someone else, however, and I don't know what his situation is if I have to cancel (I don't want to leave him holding the bag if there's a fee for canceling the room).

Second, because of my day job calling me in all week, I haven't had a chance to do more than work some concepts out in my head for the Neoplastic contract (to say nothing of trying to finish up my last contribution to Artists First!). So...ARG! I believe I will have to bring a sketch pad with this weekend and then buy a new scanner. Oy.

Finally, both Jen and I are freaking out because we're finally buying a house (or at least trying to)! So far in our price range, we've found three houses that are almost perfect, one more perfect than the others, and we're nervous as heck about our offer being rejected or the appraisal coming in at less than the asking price. As this is our first time around on this particular carnival ride, any of you have any advice about how these things tend to work?

To explain: we need to move out as there's just no room in the house we've been renting for the last eight years. Right now, our three girls are crammed into one room that has become a barracks (literally, enough room for the beds and a strip of space between each). Their dressers are in our son's room because that's the only room with the space for them. Our kitchen is large enough for just one person to move around in comfortably; and I don't recall the last time we could all fit around the dinner table (and you have to crowd past it to get to the kitchen as is). So more space is the primary issue.

Plus our rent is going to skyrocket this autumn when our lease is recertified. I'd rather be paying that kind of money for a house I own than one I don't (especially when I'll be paying less on the mortgage than I would for rent, and especially given how small our house is compared to the houses we've looked at).

The start of a new members-only story up at the Well of Mimir. Yes, it has echoes of DarkSun in its influence, but it goes beyond and outside that. I have what I hope are some interesting surprises in store for readers, and I don't mean just plot-wise, but interpretive and perceptive.

(And I should yell at Jen because she hasn't signed-up for a membership yet... *nudge*cough*poke*)

Also, I've entered into an illustration contract with Neoplastic Press, so I'll be fairly busy this next month or two. The best thing about it is that I'm actually feeling like I can pull it off after having done two good pieces for AF without feeling like a failure and pretender.

Apparently I needed a challenge to kick me in the ass, or a combination of factors, like a challenge and certain realizations regarding what I want my art to be/look like/do consciously and what I subconsciously prefer.

I think there's a marked stylistic difference between my old stuff and my newer stuff, and I've always been happiest with the older work. Therefore, I'm going back to that. No more trying to please the folks who want me to use a different style than I use nor my own trying to be the kind of artist I'm not.

Yes, pushing the boundaries is good. But pushing them should never hold you back.

The Game Chef Artists First! art and game design contest is seeking art submissions until April 5th. We are looking for illustrations for a role-playing game that does not yet exist, styles both far and near the RPG mainstream are welcome. These illustrations will then be used by a large pool of designers to create a new role-playing game.

To enter, artists must simply draw a series of illustrations for a role-playing game text that does not yet exist!

1. There must be 3-5 original (created for the contest) black and white illustrations, suitable for the interior of a book


2. B&W only, size should be from 1/4 to a full 8.5x11 page, although strange form factors are A-OK (everything doesn't need to be contained in a rectangular bounding box)


3. Each illustration should showcase a place, mood, person, idea or event. The illustrations should be thematically connected in some way.


4. Submissions must be posted in the Game Chef forum as a unique thread in the Art Submissions category, or as an e-mail to gamechef08@gmail.com by 12:01am April 6th, 2008

For complete contest information and to sign up or sound off please visit the website.

Artists First is part of the Game Chef contest. Game Chef has run annually since 2002, and has become a center for small press and independent role-playing game development. Last year more than 120 people participated, and several games from that contest are in active playtest with plans for publication.

If you're a designer and not an artist, we don't need you for a couple of weeks, but feel free to register and sound off. Also, please repost this announcement anywhere you think it'll catch some eyeballs.

Man, Driftwood Publishing has really gone downhill since Jake sold it.

I'm talking about this because of a recent post I saw on the Forge advertising a new fan forum for it and the threads I then read on the official and now-completely-unmaintained forum regarding the current and on-going situation there.

And also because I know there's been very negative rumblings over the years about Driftwood's new owners from numerous quarters and I've always been curious about other people's experiences with them.

I can't say I'm surprised because I saw this happening from the start, what with their treatment of queries from fans -- either never answering questions or giving uninformative non-answers, and in such coming off "too good" for their fans -- and especially with what they did with the artwork I spent so much time on for The Flower of Battle.

Honestly, I've never been so pissed off at an outfit as I was over that; it burns me knowing Jake would have treated my work (and me, too, but I can deal) with much more respect if he had still been in charge. Had I realized what they were to do beforehand, I would have pulled my permissions for them to utilize it, but of course I couldn't know.

Anyways, as such, it isn't all that telling (to me) that they've had Sorcery & The Fey on pre-order for three years and yet won't talk to the folks who already sent them money for it, nor is it telling or surprising they continually give empty reassurances about the same needing just a little more work whenever the bi-yearly demands for an update from frustrated customers watching another promised due date pass by become too loud on their forums. Such speaks volumes about their business practices, regardless of whatever current excuses there may be, and even as valid as such may be when taken in isolation. Taken altogether, it paints an ugly picture of a company that just doesn't know how to function effectively.

I feel bad for the hardcore Driftwood/tRoS enthusiasts because I've been down this same road before as a fan. The publishers of Immortal did the same thing, dragging loyal fans on for years with promises of new and necessary material "just around the corner", none of which ever materialized. This fed growing disgruntlement and eventually a sense-of-betrayal among a number of rabid fans who tired of the empty promises and rah-rah-rah! rhetoric, no matter how heartfelt it all all might have been when given.

I know it led to some hard feelings and a sort of falling out between myself and one of the staff when I and a number of others finally snapped and began heavily criticizing the design directions and behaviors, the whole circus we had been investing in for years. We were tired and hurt and sick of it.

Regardless, watching that train wreck formed one of my foundational cornerstones for business practices, "Never promise something you aren't going to deliver when you say you're going to deliver it. Hype is no substitute for content, no matter how much attention it garners, because that sort of attention is empty and it bites back."

Which, not surprisingly, is also tied to the Asatru and ancient Norse ethic of always keeping one's word and thus not giving it unless you plan to do so: hell, high-water, or personal damnation being no excuse.

Mainly though, I'm sitting here wondering why Jake sold to the Driftwood folks -- it was such a very, very bad decision that was apparent early on. I can't imagine but I do wonder what line they sold him about themselves or their suitability as publishers and developers to make him trust them with his game and product.

At this point, all I can say is that I'm glad I got out when I did and was spared the frustration and aggravation of having to deal with the new owners and things like being completely ignored by the owners and not being paid at all for work long completed.

Which is also why, if you're an artist or other creative, you get a signed contract and half up-front and the rest before you hand-off.

This is the follow-up/broader discussion of the fiction writing industry I mentioned some time back, IIRC, in my complaint about the SFWA and associated writerly nonsense.

(...Read More...)

I'm thinking, if even noticed, I will catch flak for it from seriously offended people invested in their identities as published authors and the myths of the status quo. Oh well, in an interesting bit of Serendipity, such would just be another expression of Terraball.

You know what I really hate, deep down in the pitch black depths of my shriveled, unforgiving heart?

( ...to spare you the fury... )

*long sigh* I feel better. Been holding that in a while.