Story Warren - Guest Illustration

Hi there gang! Here's a quick blog post to tell you about a thing I did a few weeks ago - an illustration for Story Warren, a website devoted to fostering children's imagination through storytelling. You may have already seen the story that ran on June 27th, but if you'd like to check out the full post you can find it here.

It was a super fun piece to work on, and I really have to thank Zach Franzen for not only asking me to do the piece, but also providing some excellent art direction! Looking forward to possibly doing more for Story Warren in the future.

In the meantime, I have got lots of things going on, like potential new projects in the works! I'll try my best to keep you updated with new work - I know the blog has been dormant for a while. I just returned from a 10-day tour of Scotland as well, which was magnificent and life-changing! I'm hoping to post some photos from that just as soon as I can, but for now, check out this blog for a general idea of what we did: http://www.douglasbondbooks.blogspot.com/

Spectrum Fantastic Art Live 2: Post Trip Recap

Hi everyone! I bet you thought I had forgotten about this blog didn't you? Well, I haven't! In fact, I've been wanting to post for a long time, and things have really gotten in the way. But, for now I'll spare you the details and dump a few photos from my trip this past weekend to Kansas City for Spectrum Fantastic Art Live 2!

 

The amazingly talented Jean-Baptiste Monge. He and Paul Bonner shared a booth.

They were super friendly!

 Cory Godbey and Justin Gerard. 

It was so awesome to finally meet them! They are terrific fellows and they had an incredible 

booth with incredible drawings, paintings and prints.

The insanely talented brush-wielder, Jeremy Bastian, creator of Archaia's "Cursed Pirate Girl".

His ink work is mind-boggling. Definitely worth checking out.

 Jon Foster did a great demo on his method of working with oils, then later 

gave a brief overview of his digital post-production process on the same piece.

 The finished oil painting.

 Oil painter Annie Stegg and her splendid booth. Her artwork is absolutely gorgeous, and she sold nearly all of her original oils, which you can see in the background. She also gave me a free print in addition to the one I purchased, which was really too kind of her. Thanks so much Annie!

 The one and only Manchess doing a demo. He was painting a Spock portrait. Live long and prosper, Greg!

 Terryl Whitlatch doing a Q & A panel about her work on Star Wars: Episode 1. She designed

one of my least favorite characters of the whole series, Jar Jar Binks, but she's so nice and her other artwork is so great, I was able to forgive her. (Just kidding).

She drew me a beautiful horse picture in my sketchbook. Not... Jar Jar.

 I was able to meet David Petersen, the creator of the comic Mouse Guard and his wife Julia. I really enjoyed talking with them and to David about his inking, page layout process and just the comics world in general. His original inked pages from the Mouse Guard series were simply amazing. I picked up the first title in the series which I'm super excited about starting.

 Justin Sweet, a concept artist for many films, including Narnia. He was very engrossed in his painting he was working on.

 Some work from the Muddy Colors booth, including some Jesper Ejsing prints.

 On Saturday night the Spectrum Awards Ceremony was held, and it was a fantastic show. You just can't help but feel happy for all the hard working artists who were honored. 

 The Midland Theater in downtown KC was gorgeous. The photos do not do it justice.

 The highlight of the evening for me came when Cory Godbey won a Gold Award for his piece "The Fishmaster" in the Unpublished category. I was so happy for him, and so glad to see his work getting the recognition it deserves. It was a great to be able to spend the evening with such terrific folks.

A very happy Award winner,  with wife Erin Godbey,  

and friends Zach Franzen and Justin Gerard.

______________________________________________

So, to recap, I would say that SFAL was an incredible experience. It was not so much about learning art techniques or practices, but it was more about networking, and community. I think it made me think differently about what the illustration community really means to me, and it made me realize that we all are trying to do what we love, and we love sharing what we are creating. 

I was able to meet old friends and make many new ones. But I think most of all, it was a motivator. My creative batteries have been recharged, and I feel ready to take on new projects with increased enthusiasm. Because as Zach Franzen mused about some of the art at the show, there is so much art that "displays gratefulness". Gratefulness for beauty, storytelling, and the ability to share them both. That is something to be passionate about!

Please be sure and check out the artists' websites that I linked to above and spread the love!

#158 Tristan & Iseult: The Morholt

The Morholt (Study)

Sepia & White Pencil on Toned Paper

"Tree-tall, and thunder-fierce with the strength in him of four men"

Getting down to the wire on preparations for IMC. I'll be illustrating the battle between Tristan and The Morholt. Still have a long way to go, but made some good progress today. I'll post more as I get the rough sketches finished.

#140 New Year, New Directions

Well, it is already 2012, and since I'm sure that you're already sick and tired of hearing about New Year's Resolutions (and of course the finer points of Mayan calender reckoning), I'll spare you much of the sappy gushing about an old year gone and a new year begun.

To be quite honest, I've gone through a lot of re-evaluating the direction of my art goals in the past year, and a lot has changed in the way I look at my approach to learning the trade of Illustrator and Artist. So I thought that I would briefly fill you in on what's been going through my brain so you will know what to expect this year from Drawing the Sword.

One of the most game-changing decisions I've made in the past year is the decision to stop attending Academy of Art University Online. This decision was a hard one, but overall I feel that I'm already better off for it. After talking with several people, including the esteemed Matt Silver of the Silver Agency, I made the decision (based on my own reasoning, no one else's) to quit art school in favor of simply schooling myself in the ways of crafting illustrations.

At this point I hear art instructors everywhere screaming:
"HE'S A FOOL! HE SHOULD BE IN AN ACCREDITED INSTITUTION PAYING GOBS OF MONEY SO HE CAN GET A WELL PAYING JOB SOMEDAY! HE CAN'T BECOME AN ILLUSTRATOR JUST BY READING BOOKS AND WATCHING YOUTUBE!!!"

And I can understand their concerns. For one thing, attempting this is a very risky business. And they are right, books and YouTube (YouTube especially) can be hit or miss. But one of the best things about it is, it may be risky, but it is far less costly. Accredited institutions are not cheap, folks. And for what I could pay for tuition at AAU I can finance a trip to Amherst MA to attend one of the world's finest week-long learning sessions with America's finest illustrators, learn from them, talk to them, network with them. Buy them coffee. Whatever. That one week would be ultimately more profitable to me than a year in school, learning at a school's pace. I would prefer to learn from real people that I can connect with than just by reading a syllabus.

So ultimately what this comes to is one very important thing: Portfolio.
I will be spending this year, 2012 constructing the best portfolio I can. I plan to do what I thought I could do with an Illustration degree (get very fine freelance illustration work), with a solid portfolio. Most clients will not give a flip about my dusty diploma hanging on the wall in my cramped, book laden, paint smudged studio. They want to see what I can do. They want art, not a piece of parchment with Gothic print all over it and a gold seal at the bottom.


I have several personal projects in the pipeline. I'll be announcing them soon, as the plans become more concrete. But you can bet that I will soon be drawing a great deal of Hobbits & Dwarves this next year. That's all I'll say on that one.

Two other very important goals that I am aiming for this year are this: Obtaining my own Website, and securing an internship somewhere with a studio or independent artist. These are both pretty reliant on how my portfolio is looking. Without a well-rounded portfolio, a website is going to look pretty anemic, and securing an internship of any kind beyond "Official Studio Toilet Scrubber Intern" will be fairly difficult. So, like I said before, Portfolio is the name of the game right now. I'll be hard at work on that, and while doing so will be perfecting technique - drawing, digital, watercolor, oils.

I think that one thing I have learned is this: becoming an Illustrator is more than just an event that happens. It's a lifelong process. The masters haven't perfected it yet. They're still on their own journey. So I figure that I had better get started down the road. The sooner the better!

So here's to 2012 - The Year of the Illustrator!!

-Will

#087 Submission!

You might remember I mentioned something that I would be doing with my Silver Chair book cover. Well, I just did what I said I would be doing.
Entering the IlluXCon annual Scholarship Contest!!
Each year in Altoona PA just about every major sci-fi/fantasy illustrator known to mankind gets together to hold IlluXCon where they teach classes, host lectures, and get to hang out with wannabes like me. And every year, they offer scholarships to up & coming students whose art catches the eye of 5 judges. So I submitted my humble illo for The Silver Chair so I could be in the running for one of those coveted scholarships. I really really really want to win. So wish me luck! If it really happens this'll be the chance of a lifetime!

My Final Submission:

Approaching Harfang Castle
Photoshop & Painter 11