Full Moon #31: Mad Monster Party

Wolf Man from "Mad Monster Party", 1967.

Goofin' off

So, I finished another paying gig a week or two ago.  October-January was INSANE for me, and my recharge plan is essentially "Play Fallout 4 until collapse.  Wake up and repeat."  It's worked, kinda.

These two are both quick(ish), messy sketches from ref photo's.  Drawn whilst watching the new X-Files & hanging out with my family.  Seems that I'm always jumping between work methods; whole bunch of digital, go straight to pencil/pen/whatever.  Too much drawing, go make something in the workshop.  Too many handmade books, go write something.
I'm pretty lucky that I have the space/time/ability to jump between some fairly disparate stuff, as the mood hits.  One more, that is not 40s/50s:

Also building a Fallout 4-related item.  Will update after I get some problems solved.

2015: Year In Review

Had a couple low-productivity months over the summer, but I think I did pretty OK this year.  25 paying bits of illustration.  Again, not livable money...but way more than the 4 I did the year before.
Actually turned in the last paid piece of 2015 about 15 minutes before I started typing this.  December was kinda rough, and it will continue right through into January.

I have barely played Fallout 4.  I have not yet seen The Force Awakens(!)  Haven't really hung out with my family in weeks.  Ah, the freelancer's carefree life.

Learned a whole bunch about the new Sketchbook Pro...enough that my most recent batch were done entirely in that software...no photoshop or artrage required.  Learned a whole lot about painting hair.  Taught myself rudimentary bookbinding, and proceeded to hand-make about 2 dozen sketchbooks.  wrote 100+ pages of a CYOA-style experiment.  Also, my long-term project involving werewolves continues as time permits.  Finally finished my blade runner pistol, and then had the photo re-tweeted by Adam Savage (again, '!').
  Lots of anxiety and stress, but less pain.  More therapy.  We'll see how 2016 goes.

Happy New Year

More books...

So the way my brain functions, after learning how to roughly construct a sketchbook I launched immediately into making covers wholly of my own design.  Which led to this:

...because I can't stop my brain.  This then turned into THIS-

-so now there's a limited run of 7 copies(+ my initial, slightly misprinted prototype).  3 are already spoken for, but that leaves 4 of them to sell on Etsy(maybe).  240-page blank sketch- or notebooks.  I like the idea of doing small, limited runs of these.  We'll see.  Also mocked up a different style of faux-retro cover:

  I keep thinking that someday my brain will learn how to quiet down, but apparently that day is not today.

Happy Halloween

Quick(-ish) piece done this evening.  After spending the last month working on game maps, really needed to get back to something more figure-oriented.

sketchbookin'

...and by "sketchbookin'", I mean actually making sketch-and-notebooks from scratch.

I've been having some personal challenges emerge lately, just life stuff.  One of the ways I claw my out is through making stuff, in this case learning how to make notebooks.  I could always use 'em, and learning this skill has sparked some interesting ideas.

So this was attempt #1, made over the course of an afternoon.  160 pages (ten 16-page signatures) stitched together, covers made from scrap plastic board and a big piece of scrap leather.  Cover was glued up with Barge adhesive.   Made a skull stencil on a whim, because me.  This one went into immediate and rough use...want to test its limits, see what needs to be corrected going forward.  Pages have already been ripped out, it's overstuffed with extra paper shoved in the back, etc.  Roughly 9"x6".

Trying something different...this was #5, I think.  After figuring out the arrangement of 90-some pages into book signatures (which was interesting), printed out smaller-size pages from my current fave gaming-related nerdery, Ken Writes About Stuff and put 'em into a book.  About 9 months of the first year, at any rate.  Machine-cut a stencil for the cover text.  Cover made from a cheap red fabric.  Kind of mixed results on this one.

Okay, this was #6.  By this point I had ordered and received actual book-making supplies, so this one was made proper.  312 5.5x8.5" pages, bookboard cover & spine, proper bookcloth covering, better pva glue used.  Charcoal endpapers.  I consider this a sucess.   Has the best stitching of the bunch.

Most recent one, #7.  Used the correct materials, but used a cheap green fabric I'd found for the cover material.  Has a fun texture and took the glue really well.  Cream endpapers,  168 pages, roughly 5.5"x8.5".  I really dig these last two.  The look and feel like "real" books to me, which I'm quite enjoying.

Also:  made a similar-sized notebook covered with a black vinyl material (questionable results with the vinyl; my daughter liked it so it's hers), and made a refillable sketchbook with full 8.5x11" pages and a cover that folds over and around the book...i love the utility of top-spiral-bound sketchbooks, except for the spiral part.  Always gets mashed & difficult to use, so I'm also stress-testing my design to see how it holds up.  More book stuff incoming soonish.

I turned Pro (I guess?)

First two pieces I did for Fantasy Flight Games were published a couple months ago, in the Force and Destiny Beginner Game.  Both are on the backside of the fold-out map included in the set, the taller piece is twice the size of the other(3 panels of a 4-panel folded poster).  I've done a handful of maps for the Star Wars RPG line in the last year or so, with a hilariously rough learning curve.  It's all stuff that's outside of my painting experience, and is therefore fantastic stuff for me to be working on.
Also, it's PRO WORK.  That PAYS MONEY.  I do like that part quite a bit.
...and a thank you to Matt Zeilinger, my buddy who got me the lead-in to literally all of my paying freelance work to date.  Thanks, man!  Incidentally, it's his art on the front side of the foldout map, as well as the single other back panel.