Book Cover Reveal

As many of you already know, I've been working with Ellie Di Julio, doing the book cover for her newest book, The Transmigration of Cora Riley. 

The Big Reveal has been done, after several months of impatiently waiting to show it off. You can view Ellie's original post HERE. Otherwise, presenting the cover!

Funnily enough, when Ellie and I first talked about the cover, we had the exact same idea in mind. The door, the valley, and the space between light and dark. I had done 4 initial sketches, but this was the one that I liked best, and she agreed, as it already tracked with the ideas she had been keeping in mind.

The background was deliberately kept vague to make way for finer detail in the foreground, and to keep the eye on the doorway, Cora, and what might lay beyond.

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On a personal note, the last few months have seen a lot of change and have been somewhat stressful. Nothing like a near complete overhaul of one's life to send you spiraling into crazy working days, and watching the days go by in a blur. There are more book covers around the corner, not to mention children's books, my own writing, and a variety of events once the winter passes. It's going to be a big year, and I'm looking forward to it.

The Current State of Disarray

Just a generic update:

Life has been INSANE lately. I landed a job with a game distribution company, which involved moving several times, (and still currently looking for a place to live), along with the associated chaos of a changing schedule, and having to juggle commissions. There might also have been a certain best friend's wedding involved. My schedule is FINALLY beginning to relax, and I can actually plan for the next few weeks. Of course, now that I've said it, my free time will vanish in a poof of busy.

My company (the "day" job in which I do graphic design & marketing) is sending me to Chicago for a weekend for the Chicago Toy & Game Fair. I cannot tell you how excited I am about this trip. There will be visiting with an old friend of mine, Deep Dish Pizza, and depending on how the weekend plays out, visiting at least the Art Museum, and maybe a cultural center or two. It's been years since I've been able to spend time in Chicago, so I'll be working and playing as hard as possible to make the most of my time there.

The Transmigration of Cora Riley reached not only its funding goal, but several stretch goals as well. Including the Livestream event, where backers get to watch me paint and her write (and ask questions). I'm both excited and nervous about this, since I don't generally enjoy having someone over my shoulder while I'm working, but it might not be so bad if it's a webcam. The next few weeks will see the book cover coming to life, and I'm really excited about being part of the whole kit & caboodle.

Also back on staff to run the Ad Astra art show again in 2014, planning a trip to Seattle hopefully in late summer of 2014, and beginning plans to go to the Dominican, New Orleans, Europe, and Taiwan in the next few years. It can be done, and there will be related art.

Of course, the smaller adventures and teensy museums will be posted to Tumblr as I travel. 

Crowd Funding Art and Literature

My friend Ellie Di Julio, author and font of wit, is crowd-funding her new book: http://igg.me/at/CoraRiley

I've been a fan of Ellie and her work for a very long time, and she's asked me to paint the cover for The Transmigration of Cora Riley. We're roughly $300 from the mark, and been working on stretch goals all morning. 

Cora Riley Cover Study

If you're interested in donating, the incentives are all listed at the Indigogo Page. Thanks for reading! More art stories (and perhaps a few embarrassing ones) coming up soon!

EDIT: Oct 25, 12:38pm : WE'RE FUNDED! Now any new pledges work toward the stretch goals we added in, just in case we blew past the funding goal. (We totally did!) 

Thanks to everyone who supported the effort! 

Just a Quick Update

A little while ago I posted about the mural I did for Torran, an austistic boy who needed a Space themed room. Lesley, his mom, posted the final photos showing not only the mural but the furnishings which kinda make the mural look complete, since I had to leave large chunks of space to allow for furniture, so the mural actually looked a little incomplete.

Until now.

She's got images posted here http://realwomendrivestick.blogspot.ca/2013/09/finally-renovation-reveal.html
iffin you'd like to see the finished product. (Not to mention take a gander at her snazzy new kitchen. I'm attempting not to be green with jealousy at the great space she and Bruce have created in their home. 

New Beginnings

So the short version is: CHANGE.

Everything in the last month - job, life, art projects, housing, even the computer decided to die on me. The computer situation is remedied, but the rest of it is still on-going. I was fighting being nicknamed the "Nomad". Now I've just embraced it. I don't know where all this change will take me over the next few months, but I'm hoping it'll be a bit closer to friends and family. If nothing else, I will be staying with friends and family until I can find somewhere to settle in for a while.

However, in the changes have also come beginnings:

I've begun working with the folks over at Zombie Orpheus Entertainment, specifically with writers Matt Vancil and Kevin Mickelson, doing illustrations for the JourneyQuest RPG that was unlocked with 300 subscribers. I'm thrilled to be working on the project, and hope that you will check it out, and possibly subscribe to help the community and media (films, games, and more) grow as a continued fan-supported series.


You can check our JourneyQuest Episodes on Youtube.com.  I'll post more on that project as it develops.



Sylvermoon Chronicles III from Quicksylver Productions is out now, which contains a short comic collaboration that Eric "Takkless" Ray and I worked on over the course of last year, as well as another short story by yours truly, along with a ton of terrific authors. (The cover of the book is also a collaboration.)

We're already working on Sylvermoon Chronicles IV, and I cannot say how excited I am to be part of the continuing series.

I also have several children's books lined up for illustration (alas, not for public consumption), wedding portraits, and I'll be spending a day at the Pet Valu in Kincardine, Ontario, doing caricatures to raise money for their pet adoption program.