Friday, December 27, 2013

Dwarves!

I hear dwarves are popular these days. Good thing, because I happen to have art of that!

At Emerald City Comic Con earlier this spring, I made a connection with the lead designer at Unrestrained Games who was looking for artists to visualize some characters for his independent game project. There were few restrictions to the assignment; I was simply to design and illustrate the two commissioned characters in my typical style. It was fun work!

Development sketches for Hogoren

The first character I worked on is a blacksmith. I designed his equipment keeping his profession in mind.

I wanted him to be jolly...maybe even a little too jolly about rushing into battle.
Hammertime!


Unrestrained Games website

Tuesday, December 24, 2013

Lands and Legends Kickstarter

Hello! I hope everyone is surviving the hustle and bustle of the holiday season. I apologize for the abundance of news posts and the scarcity of art posts on the blog lately. I'm preparing several posts that contain art from recent projects and it won't be too much longer before they appear. But in the meantime...yes, more news. Art-related news.

Lands and Legends, a fantasy art book project.

At Gen Con this year, Vinod and I met a dedicated collector interested in recruiting artists for a book project he is putting together about the creatures, people and places of myth and legend. Mr. Phifer's description of his book Lands and Legends sounded interesting, but the best part of his pitch was his focus on the participating artists receiving their fair share of the book profits. He managed to gather an impressive number of seasoned pros working in the fantasy and science fiction genres including James Gurney, Donato Giancola, Stephanie Pui-Mun Law and many more. Vinod and I and a large number of our friends are also on the list.

Please note there is some nudity on the Lands and Legends Kickstarter page and website, and, if the subject matter typical of fantasy and sci-fi art is any indication, you can expect nudity to be in the book as well. (The way I feel about certain aspects of the genre in which I work, including the way women are portrayed, is a discussion best left for another day.)

Though you can't yet see examples of everything that will appear in this volume, there is sure to be plenty of fascinating and beautiful art. For anyone interested in a comparison, I am guessing there will be similarities with the art published in the Spectrum fantastic art annuals. The intended audience of this book is fantasy fans of the artists in the roster.

If you choose to support the Lands and Legends Kickstarter campaign, you will be supporting over a hundred working artists as they create an image of a subject they love. And of course art always turns out better when you love what you're working on!

Easy access related links:
Lands and Legends Kickstarter
Lands and Legends Website

Friday, November 29, 2013

Autumn Savings at Fabled Earth Art!

I've listed some new items at Fabled Earth Art just in time for the holidays!


There are two holiday greeting card options now: the Pancake Glider card I had available last year, and a new design by Vinod. Both are available as individual cards and in packs.




I've also added Vinod's sketchbook, Linework! Fabled Earth Art is currently the only place you can buy Linework online. Each sketchbook comes signed and with an original drawing inside.

If you'd like to take a gander at the stuff we've got for sale, please click here to visit the shop. The best part is, starting today and continuing through Monday, December 2nd, everything in my shop is 15% off! Just spend at least $5 and enter coupon code CYBERSAVINGS2013 upon checkout to receive your discount!

Don't forget, signed copies of The Explorer's Guide to Drawing Fantasy Creatures are available to purchase through my website if you're looking for a unique gift for that monster-lover in your life.

Monday, November 18, 2013

Thursday, November 14, 2013

Summer and Fall Convention Season Wrap Up

The summer and fall convention season was so packed for me this year that I had little time to sit down and collect my thoughts between each show. Since I never had the chance to post about Gen Con or Rose City Comic Con, I thought I'd write a brief wrap up for all the conventions I attended in 2013.

As each year passes, unless something out of the ordinary happens at a convention, I sometimes struggle to think of something new to write about each one. It's not because the conventions are boring or that I'm losing interest. When you spend most of a convention sitting behind a table listening to the constant murmur of background noise (it sounds exactly like what you hear for a few seconds on Antiques Roadshow after they tell you how much the thing is worth) and watching a steady stream of people pass by in the aisles, experiences can start to blur together. There is a lot of interesting stuff going on that those of us working the hall sometimes miss out on. (And, though very fun, it really is work–it can take me up to a week to "recover" especially if I had to travel to a convention. Talking for several days straight can zap the energy out of an introvert like me!)


The only good picture of any of my booths this year.

The highlight of every convention is the people that return to my table year after year. I would give a shout out to all of these fans and friends, but I don't want to put anyone on the spot. If you're reading, you know who you are. :) And thank you, thank you, thank you for supporting my work and keeping me company at the con, whichever con it may be.

There are two wonderful people that I look forward to seeing at Gen Con every year that I know would love a shout out though: Jim and Crystal Martin! Jim Martin (AKA Gary Gnu) has worked as a muppeteer and director on Sesame Street and as a puppeteer on many other beloved shows including Mister Roger's Neighborhood and The Great Space Coaster. They are trying to revive The Great Space Coaster and I know they would love it if you would visit and "like" their Facebook page.

Gen Con Indy


This year at Gen Con I had the unique experience of judging the Art Show, a privilege bestowed upon the previous year's Best in Show winner. It was a fun but daunting task to pick award winners from amongst such a skilled group of people. Outside of art school critiques, I had never judged the work of other artists before. (I judge my own art plenty.) Luckily, it was not only up to me; my fellow judges Brom and Jon Schindehette were there to offer insight. After each of us made a circuit of the show alone, we got together to discuss our favorite artists and pieces. My list must have had at least two dozen names on it. I had a hard time narrowing my selections down. The top prizes went to Aaron Miller for Best in Show, and Omar Rayyan, Elizabeth Alba, and Milivoj Ceran, for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Prize, respectively. In addition to the other awards, each judge may choose an artist or a specific piece of artwork to receive the Juror's Choice award. My Juror's Choice pick went to Alexandra Douglass.

Oh yeah, some showoff named Vinod won something, too.

Rose City Comic Con


The Oregon Convention Center

This year was our first visit to Rose City Comic Con, which was also our first visit to Portland, Oregon. We enjoyed both. The convention is still on the small side, but growing. Instead of having to hunt aisle after aisle for our table, Vinod and I found it about thirty seconds after entering the exhibit hall–a welcome relief from long walks with suitcases and boxes in tow. One thing that stood out to me in particular (and it may have been because the smaller size of the convention allowed more room for cosplayers to walk around the exhibit hall comfortably) was the large collection of excellent costumes.

Unfortunately our crappy camera did not capture them very well but here are a few:



This has got to be the cutest cosplay couple I have ever seen!
(From Kiki's Delivery Service)

A Batconversation!
Two very well done Star Wars costumes. I'm happy to be noticing a resurgence of Leias from A New Hope instead of the slave Leias that were popular a few years ago.

We liked Portland and are looking forward to another trip in the near future. Driving around was a breeze compared to Seattle, we ate some great breakfasts and yummy sweets from Sweetpea Bakery every day, and maxed out parking meters–twice–spending far too much time at Powell's Books. If you ever wanted to buy an oversized, cumbersome Norman Rockwell book with all of his Saturday Evening Post covers for $20, Powell's is the place to go! (Yes, we bought that.)

GeekGirlCon


2013 marked my second time attending this three-year-old convention. (For a description of GeekGirlCon, why it's called what it's called and what it's about, check out my 2012 post about the convention.) Much like all the hip conventions seem to be doing, it's growing. Conventions these days! Weekend passes sold out in advance this year. It was noticeably more crowded in the exhibit hall. I was pleasantly surprised by my increase in business since last year, too. Yay GeekgirlCon!

Well, I think that covers just about everything. I hope I haven't bored everyone too much with my Convention Tales! Onward to the posting of art!

Thursday, October 17, 2013

GeekGirlCon 2013


My apologies for the serious lack of posts over the past couple of months. This has been our busiest year ever for conventions, and travel and prep for each con, coupled with house stuff and regular work has kept me away from the keyboard.

Speaking of conventions, GeekGirlCon 2013 is just a day away! The convention is this Saturday and Sunday, the 19th and 20th, in The Conference Center (which is across from the Washington State Convention Center) in downtown Seattle. There are panels and activities galore running through most of the weekend, but the Exhibitor Hall itself is open 9 am to 6 pm Saturday and 9 am to 5 am on Sunday. I will located at table 412 in the Exhibitor Hall on Level 3 of The Conference Center. Please note the Exhibitor Hall is separate from Artist Alley, which was added this year and is on a different floor and in a different room.

Click to enlarge.

I am going to sound like a broken record if you're a regular reader, but I must mention once again that I will have signed copies of The Explorer's Guide to Drawing Fantasy Creatures, sketchbooks, prints, posters, and greeting cards available for sale. If I can find the space I will also be bringing a number of original paintings if any of you feel like big spenders this weekend. Hope to see you there!

Saturday, September 14, 2013

Rose City Comic Con

In one week, Vinod and I will be sitting in Artist Alley at our first Rose City Comic Con in Portland, Oregon. This will be the convention's second year, and the con is being co-produced with the organizers of Emerald City Comicon, a great art and comic-focused convention in Seattle (and one that we have attended for three years) that has been rapidly growing in scope and popularity. If Emerald City is any indication, I look forward to Rose City putting on a good show. From the Exhibit Hall map, it looks to have an enormous Artist Alley, with the space set aside for us taking up a third of the hall.

Click me!

Vinod and I will be sitting at Table B-10. Just like all our other shows, I will have signed copies of The Explorer's Guide to Drawing Fantasy Creatures available for sale, and both of us will be offering sketchbooks, prints, and whatever other goodies we can cram onto our six foot table. Hope to see you there!


Friday, August 30, 2013

Last Week of Fabled Earth: The Art of Emily Fiegenschuh



I'm still recharging after a busy Gen Con (brief wrap up coming soon) but I wanted to post a reminder that this is the final week of my gallery show Fabled Earth: The Art of Emily Fiegenschuh at Krab Jab Studio in Seattle.

The online catalog for my show can be viewed here, where you will find one-of-a-kind original gouache paintings and limited edition prints of my work available for sale. If you're local to the area and interested in purchasing art, books, or prints, you may either make an appointment or stop by Krab Jab Studio during the open hours on Tuesday or Thursday afternoon. Those too far to come out in-person can simply "add to cart" online and have artwork shipped directly to your home. Too easy!

I'm pleased to report that the opening reception went well. There was steady traffic in the gallery space throughout the evening. Friends stopped by to offer their support and many newcomers walked through and asked thoughtful questions about my paintings. Thanks again to all who came out!
 






For another perspective on the show, artist, Krab Jab founder and show curator Julie Baroh has posted her thoughts on the Krab Jab Studio blog.

Fabled Earth: The Art of Emily Fiegenschuh will be on display through September 5th.

Friday, August 9, 2013

My Show Begins Tomorrow!

Paintings waiting to be loaded in the car for the show.

My gallery show Fabled Earth:The Art of Emily Fiegenschuh starts tomorrow! The reception is from 6 PM to 9 PM at Krab Jab Studio in the Georgetown neighborhood of Seattle. Saturday night is the Georgetown Art Attack, which is a local gallery crawl. Art galleries throughout the neighborhood will be open to visitors and some locations will also have music and live performances. There is even a shuttle bus to take you from place to place. You can make it an evening of art!

For those outside the Seattle area, the day after the opening the show catalog will go live online. There you can browse through the pieces on display as well as purchase art if anything catches your fancy. 

Check out Krab Jab's Facebook page for info and previews of some of my pieces that will be hanging through September 5th.


Monday, August 5, 2013

Gen Con Exhibit Hall Survival Tips

Gen Con is less than two weeks away! Vinod and I will be stationed at our Art Show tables (numbers 55 and 56) from the time the con opens Thursday morning until it closes Sunday afternoon.

Click to embiggen!

We are once again in a mad dash to prepare artwork, books, and prints for presentation and sale at the Art Show. A trip to exhibit work at Gen Con is not possible without a lot of advance planning. Simply attending any busy convention can take some preparation (or at least a few tips) especially for new con-goers. I've come up with a few after participating in conventions in some capacity for the better part of two decades. Most of the following tips are specifically for Gen Con, but some may apply to any convention.


DOs and DON'Ts at the Gen Con Art Show

 

Please do:

•Talk to the artists. There might be vampires at the convention, but I promise the artists won't bite.

•If you like a particular artist's artwork, strike up a conversation even if you can't or don't plan to buy something. Feel free to ask questions about their work. Artists come to the convention to show their work and interact with people, so they will be happy to talk to you. I know this can be harder than I make it sound. Though I'm used to sitting behind the table, I myself feel bashful when approaching another artist at conventions.

•Look through stuff! Unless for some particular reason you're asked not to, it's perfectly ok to touch all the stuff on the table–it's there for you to view and buy!

Please don't:

•Take photos of booths without asking. Some artists prefer that their work is not photographed.

•Line up blocking the aisle in front of someone else's table to get to the artist next door.

•Put your bags on top of an artist's table–they don't want their work or product to be damaged.


Paying at the Art Show

Gen Con has a payment system that's different from most other conventions. Rather than paying the artist directly at their table, there is a cash register set up for customers in the central area of the Art Show. The system works like this: the artist you're buying from fills out a slip that describes the item you're purchasing and the price. You take that slip up to the cash register and pay. You will receive a copy of the slip stamped "paid" that acts as your receipt and you bring this back to the artist to pick up your item. While this might seem like a hassle, it is helpful in that it allows you to pay with a credit card instead of just cash so artists don't have to worry about handling plastic or change.

Tips for New Attendees:

•Bring a backpack especially if you're going to buy a lot of stuff!

•Plan to do a lot of walking.

•Maybe this advice is outdated in the Paypal and credit card age, but when I used to walk a convention floor, I would keep spending money in a separate place from money meant for food and other essentials. This would help me stick to a budget. (Once it's gone, it's gone!) When I used to attend a lot of conventions in high school and college I would carry my spending cash separately in an old brown velcro wallet with a white line drawing of a Cabbage Patch Kid on it for some reason. I wonder what happened to that wallet?

•If possible, buy tickets in advance so you don't get stuck in line, OR...

•If you aren't in a rush to get into the show ASAP, if you do need to get your ticket, it's usually less crowded at the ticket booths later in the afternoon.

•Eat outside the convention center. Con food=blah.

I hope these tips might be of some help. Have a great con, where and whenever it may be!

Sunday, July 14, 2013

Fabled Earth: The Show


I'm interrupting the recent blog silence to bring you an exciting announcement: next month I will be hanging my first solo gallery show, Fabled Earth: The Art of Emily Fiegenschuh!

The show will be on display from August 10th through September 1st at Krab Jab Studio in Seattle's Georgetown neighborhood. If you visit my blog regularly, you might remember Krab Jab Studio as the gallery that presented the group show FAERIE in February.
  
Fabled Earth: The Art of Emily Fiegenschuh will open with a reception on Saturday, August 10th, from 6 to 9 PM. This is the best time to see the show since Krab Jab is a working art studio with limited gallery hours. If you're in the Seattle area and would like to meet me or see my work in-person, please come check it out! If you have any family or friends in the area who are into art, fantasy, dragons, or all of the above, please spread the word!

For additional information, including a map to Krab Jab Studio, visit http://www.krabjabstudio.com/


Wednesday, June 26, 2013

The Current State of Things


Now, where did I put that drafting table?
You are looking at a picture of our new studio! For comparison's sake, this is how the old studio space looked for the past three-and-a-half years. There's a lot of work to do...

Friday, June 7, 2013

Sprites!

Paizo Publishing has released the latest Pathfinder Player Companion, Fey Revisited, which means I can share the Sprite illustrations I did for the book, just in time to liven up my blog!

I was not surprised that I was hired to work on a book of fey, since I have been assigned creatures from the fairer side of fantasy for years: elves, faeries, baby dragons, horsies... Clients feel that my work leans towards the majestic or cute, rather than gross and scary. (Fine by me, since I can avoid illustrating zombies. I didn't like zombies before they were cool.)

A Sprite token.


Heeeeeyyy, quit it!


While Sprites may look enchanting and sweet, as most folklore will tell you, faeries have a dark side. Look, they're attacking poor Harsk and stealing his stuff! I tried to limit my palette on this illustration to give the forest a mysterious atmosphere. I think I did a decent job, but as always I see plenty of room for improvement.


Whoosh!

This was a challenging piece because I had to suggest a swarm of Sprites without conjuring an illustration that would take a year to paint. I'm not sure how successful I was at showing anything close to a "swarm," but hopefully one can guess that there are many more Sprites emerging from that tree.

Wednesday, June 5, 2013

Etsy Sale Oopsie

It has come to my attention that my Etsy Moving Sale coupon expired a day early. D'oh! I have created a new coupon that will still work on the last day of my sale which is today, June 5th! Make your purchase before midnight tonight and enter the new coupon code MOVINGSALEONEDAY to receive 15% off your order at my Etsy shop, Fabled Earth Art.

I finally have some art to post here, so please stay tuned for that in the next couple days!

Friday, May 24, 2013

Moving Sale on Etsy!

Many apologies for the lack of posts for the entire month of May! I've failed to keep up with what was supposed to be my self-imposed blogging schedule. I've been working on a couple of fun projects that I can't show publicly yet and I'm also preparing for a big move. In a few weeks, I will no longer be working out of a bedroom!

In order to lighten my load, I'm holding a sale at my Etsy shop, Fabled Earth Art. Through June 5th, all of the items in my shop will be on sale for 15% off! If anything catches your eye, please consider making your purchase during the sale, as my shop will be closed for the remainder of June once the sale concludes. Just enter the coupon code MOVINGSALE upon checkout to receive 15% off your order!


Thursday, April 25, 2013

Interview on Fantasy Artists of Etsy Blog

A brief interview with me has been posted on the Fantasy Artists of Etsy blog. Interviews are posted each Monday, and an archive of interviews is available here. Check out the blog to discover some of the talented fantasy artists that sell their wares on Etsy!

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

One of These Things is Not Like the Others






Last month my friend, author Susan J. Morris, and I visited a local elementary school to talk to students about writing and art and, most importantly, dragons. After our presentation, I was cornered by clever kids that (quite easily) convinced me to doodle some dragons for them to take home. Time ran short and I finished up some of the drawings at home. These are some of my favorites from the group. One student was a bigger fan of foxes than of dragons.

Thursday, April 18, 2013

Animal Archive Process

My apologies for the long hiatus!

I mentioned in my previous post that the Animal Archive cover painting was one of the most complex I have ever done. I read over the art order for the job, thinking, "This is going to be awesome!...This is going to be hard!" I would need to tackle a high level of detail, rendering dozens of creatures in the scene, and still make the illustration readable. 

Balancing out the composition began at the thumbnail stage. I did numerous thumbnails for the illustration. I narrowed them down to the five I felt were the most successful.
We went with number three, though I liked numbers one and four as well.

Often, when working with a complex scene, I will draw important characters separately, so that I can put as much detail into them as I would like, and then I'll collage them together in Photoshop later. I used this technique (if you can call it a technique) for Animal Archive, as well as for the cover to my book.

I did the drawing for the hero character, Lini, at a larger size than needed for the final composition.

After drawing all of the animals either in my sketchbook or on tracing paper, I grouped like animals on their own layers in Photoshop. The rough drawings below show how I experimented with those layers before settling on a final composition. I had to make sure there would be room at the top and bottom for text without the image being so busy as to make it indecipherable.

I spent lots of time drawing that leaping boar in the bottom right and ended up having to sacrifice him for the title.

The fox on the left would eventually be eliminated as well.


The final drawing. I found a way to get that boar back in there, at least partially!

I don't usually have progress shots of my paintings, since they are mounted to a board as I work, making them very difficult to scan, but in this case I took a couple digital photos along the way.


This is usually the stage where I start to panic because I feel like I've forgotten how to paint!


The final gouache painting.
I was asked to change Lini's magic to fire magic, which I painted in Photoshop to complete the cover image.

The cover with title and Pathfinder logo.

During the course of working on the illustration, I feel as though I lost some of the forward momentum of all of the animals and the compositional punch of the lines converging on the troll's face, both more apparent in the thumbnail. (James Gurney coined a great term for this compositional device: spokewheeling.) I was happy with what I was able to accomplish with this painting, though there is certainly room for improvement next time.