SOTW 441

Some roughs for a commission of a fan's D&D character.
DaVor, the cartographer.
(but he also carries a nasty spear/hammer weapon... y'know for making maps.)  

Since 2007 I've been posting a sketch/doodle/whatever every week on my site. I'll be continuing this trend here on my blog and on my site:
http://www.vinodrams.com/sotw/

I've Been Framed!

Got this nice photo of one of my paintings all framed up from it's proud new owners. I sold it to them last year at Gen Con. It's always nice and flattering to know that your painting is gracing the walls of a geek's gaming room. (or wherever they wanted to hang it, hopefully not the bathroom!)

My original Gouache painting for a Pathfinder Adventure

Thanks again for the patronage Jason and Tina!

Lands and Legends Kickstarter

I wanted to bring your attention to a new book that's up for funding via Kickstarter.

At this years Gen Con an art fan by the name of Mike Phifer approched our table and told us about his book project. Mike and his brother are trying to put together an art book, but not just a random assortment of fantasy art, rather, a themed book about some of the old stories and mythology that feeds so much of genre art.

I was instantly impressed by the artists that he already had signed on. Prominent artists like James Gurney, Donato Giancola, and Todd Lockwood! Also a bunch of my friends and colleagues have signed on. Emily and I are also contributing to the book. Emily's painting "The Lady of the Lake," and I'm painting "The Green Man."

So if you're a fan of fantasy, mythology and art, please contribute to the book! Mike's promo video might not be very flashy but the book itself will be well made and printed. (He showed us an example of a very well designed book he worked on before this project.)

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1633797078/lands-and-legends-the-fantasy-illustration-library

Fun With Gen Con - Part 3

Another nice thing about Gen Con's art show is that it feels like a community compared to other cons we've done. One way Gen Con fosters that community is by having awards every year. The awards are juried by the guest of honor, last years best in show, and an art director from one of the larger gaming companies. It all happens at the artists reception on Friday evening. The lineup this year was Todd Lockwood (guest of honor), Scott Murphy (best in show 2011), and Jon Schindehette (art director at WOTC).

in 2011, I won a juror's choice award from Chris Rahn. This year the legendary Todd Lockwood awarded me with another juror's choice! He told me he liked all my pieces at the show but he really liked my Monsters and Dames illustration.

LOCKWOOD APPROVED!

He said he liked the humor and vibrancy of color in the piece. I was extremely honored and humbled to catch Todd's eye with my work.

Here's a blurry paparazzi style photo of me getting my award with Todd Lockwood and Jon Schindehette:

For some really exciting award related news from Emily head over to her blog and read this post:
http://fabledearth.blogspot.com/2012/09/gen-con-2012.html 
Congrats Emily!

That's all for my Gen Con 2012 posts. Thanks to all who visited my table, Emily and I will be there again next year. I'll just leave you with: 

STEAMPUNK SANTA CLAUS

Fun with Gen Con - Part 2

Drawing on stuff other than paper.
When you have a table at a con, you end up doing a ton of drawings for fans. The weird and sometimes frustrating part of this is that you get asked to draw on odd surfaces that aren't paper. Stuff like…

Playmats:

Some guy wanted penguins drawn on his playmat... I drew
a robot penguin. I feel like he fits in a Mega Man game.

Fabric dice bags:

They auction these off for charity each year. They're actually pretty easy to draw on.

Bandanas:

I did the sharp looking elf man on the left. Emily did the beautiful elf lady on the right.

Slick shiny trading card backs: (only one pictured but I ended up doing 4 or 5 of these)

This was like drawing with butter. The pen would bead up and smudge really easily.

Fun with Gen Con - Part 1

Another year, another Gen Con. That might sound like I'm getting tired of coming to Gen Con, but that's far from the truth. I love Gen Con, but getting ready for it is always stressful. Our studio essentially spills into the rest of our house with suitcases, con display paraphernalia, and original paintings strewn onto every available floor space in our house.

But we made it out to Indianapolis, got all set up, and let the onslaught of genre art lovers gaze upon our tables and shower us with compliments. (that's the real fun part!)

Me, my booth, and my books.

The weirdest interaction with a "fan" was actually fairly early on Thursday. An older gentleman came by and looked through my print book and angrily let the pages drop from his hand and shuffle off, he then went next door to Emily's table and asked if she had any mermaid art. She said the closest piece she had was her water nymph from her book, to which the guy grumbled "That's not the same thing."  Later after talking with the other artists, who had similar interactions, we deemed this individual… "Mermaid guy."

Go forth mermaid guy, the perfect mermaid art awaits you! (just not at Gen Con)

Seriously though, 99% of the fans are awesome, super nice, and really fun to talk to. Over the last 6 years we've actually made quite a few friends that visit us every year and we actually talk about things that aren't nerd or art related! Gasp!

More posts about Gen Con coming soon! As well as sketches I did in the many sketchbooks I sold!