The Explorer's Guide to Drawing Fantasy Creatures Shortage!

Copies of The Explorer's Guide to Drawing Fantasy Creatures–I have them!

For some unexplained reason, my publisher has run out of stock of The Explorer's Guide to Drawing Fantasy Creatures and the books are on backorder. I wasn't too worried about this when I was first informed I would have to wait for my own order to arrive, but now they're out of stock at Amazon and my publisher's website right at the holidays, typically the best time of year for sales of my book. (Sigh.) It appears you can still purchase it online at Barnes and Noble and it's hopefully still available at your local bookstore or art and craft supply stores such as Michaels.

If you had been looking to order a copy of my book for yourself or for a gift this holiday season and were unable due to the shortage, I'm offering a book + print special for sales of signed copies purchased directly from me!

I can't offer the discount Amazon can, but as special thanks for your support I can offer personalized service, including:
• my signature
• a dedication if you'd like one
• a signed 8.5 X 11 print of your choice of any creature from The Explorer's Guide to Drawing Fantasy Creatures

I normally only make 13 X 19 prints of a limited selection of creatures from the book, so your print will be special! I will run the free print offer until the books are back in stock at online retailers or until I run out of the copies I have, whichever occurs first.

Images of the creatures can be seen below, and the print will be similar to the Explorer's Guide prints I sell at cons and on Etsy, just smaller.

To purchase a copy of The Explorer's Guide to Drawing Fantasy Creatures, click here. You can also get to the purchase page anytime by clicking on the book cover in the sidebar on the right-hand side of my blog.

So many creatures!

Happy Holidays from Fabled Earth!

Sorry–no cute small, furry animal holiday pictures this year! (Maybe for New Years?) I would, however, like to share a video of some other furry Christmas-y creatures. I hope everyone has behaved themselves...

Happy Holidays!

Sketches from GeekGirlCon 2014

GeekGirlCon 2014 felt like it was over almost as fast as it arrived. Thanks to everyone who stopped by to chat, peruse my paintings and support my work! 

As usual, I did a few sketches for people who bought my sketchbook. I forgot my camera, so my booth neighbor and friend, Jen, of Dancing Heron Illustration was kind enough to take photos of a couple of the drawings for me. 

And here is a bonus fantasy critter doodle from earlier in the year:

In the "news" category, my Etsy shop is finally back open after being offline for a few months while I concentrated on other projects. I'm currently holding a 10% off sale until the end of the month. Enter coupon code FALLSALE2014 upon checkout to receive your discount. (If you're looking for the baby dragon note cards, fear not! I have more art card paper on order and will add the finished cards to the shop as soon as I'm able to print more sets.)

GeekGirlCon 2014 Is This Weekend!

Hello everyone! I'm saying "hello" because I feel like I haven't been here in a while. And I guess I haven't. So, hello again!

Click to enlarge

The fourth GeekGirlCon is this weekend! Already! And I will be there. Again! The convention is on Saturday and Sunday, the 11th and 12th, 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 be located at table 403 in the Exhibitor Hall on Level 3 of The Conference Center. Please note the Exhibitor Hall is separate from Artist Alley, which is on Level 2 in room 202.

As I always say, 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 may also bring a number of original paintings if any of you feel like big spenders this weekend. (But I am still old-school and I don't have a smart phone or Square and I can only take cash. Sorry!)

I just noticed my artwork is included on the GeekGirlCon blog on page two of the GeekGirlCon2014 Exhibitor Guide. Thank you to Jess Downs for featuring me! To see other Exhibitor highlights that cover crafts and comics, click here and here.

Hope to see you at the convention!

More GeekGirlCon links:
Basic information about the convention
Exhibitor and artist list (look for a link to the floor map at the top right of the page)
How to get to The Conference Center

Illustrator and Designer Appreciation at AFRU Gallery

Alas, Vinod and I could not make the trip to Gen Con this year. For years Gen Con has been our favorite venue to show new artwork. We have both been busy making that new work, so anyone who would like to see it will have to wait until next year. We hope everyone that attended the convention had a good time!

The good news is, if you are going to be in or around Portland, OR in September you will have the opportunity to see some of our original paintings. Vinod and I will have work hanging at AFRU Gallery in Portland from September 5th through the 27th as part of the Illustrator and Designer Appreciation show. The exhibition showcases the work commercial artists like illustrators produce in their free time when they aren't on a project for a client.

I will have a few pieces from The Explorer's Guide to Drawing Fantasy Creatures on display. (And most are for sale, too!) It's true they were done for a client (IMPACT Books) and weren't necessarily personal work, but considering I was allowed to draw and paint pretty much anything I wanted for my book, I count them as personal pieces.

The show will be up during Rose City Comic Con, so if you happen to be in the area attending the convention please stop by to see it! The gallery is just blocks from the convention center.

The Illustrator and Designer Appreciation opening reception is Friday, September 5th, from 6pm to midnight. I'm sorry to say we most likely won't be attending the reception because we will be at home caring for our sick guinea pig friend.

For more information, including the exhibiting artists, gallery hours and location, click on the show flyer below:

Click to embiggen!

Last Chance to Vote on a "Crowd Sorcery" Sidekick!

It's the last day to cast votes for "Crowd Sorcery" characters–this time for heroine Fable Thatcher's sidekick. Will her partner be the swashbuckling boy who can talk to dragons? The mysterious girl who possesses the Book of Shadows? The Fledermouse in hiding? It's all up to you!

Development sketches for one of the potential "Crowd Sorcery" heroines.

There are twelve characters to pick from. Fred and I had a difficult time narrowing down the many submissions for each character, but it was especially tough this round. All of the "Crowd Sorcery" participants should be proud of their amazing efforts at coming up with so many unique characters for this project.

Some of my hero sketches were printed in the July/August issue of Cricket Magazine. Villain sketches will appear in September, and sidekicks in October. Finally, the November/December issue will feature Fred's finished story and my illustrations. I'm grateful to be a part of this fun project and excited to see how the story and characters develop from this point forward.

A preview of the "Crowd Sorcery" spread from the July/August issue of Cricket.

For more information about "Crowd Sorcery," including instructions for downloading the digital editions of Cricket click here.
To become a Crowd-Sorceror by sharing your ideas, visit the "Crowd Sorcery" section of The Chatterbox and get posting!
For my earlier post about "Crowd Sorcery," see my original blog post here.

Vote for Your Favorite Crowd Sorcery Characters!

Minotaur voted. Did you?

The time has come to vote for your favorite "Crowd Sorcery" heroes and heroines. Go to the Chatterbox to cast your votes!

There is still time left to submit your character ideas to "Crowd Sorcery!" Now we are looking for some bad guys to cause trouble for our heroes and heroines. Visit the Villain thread to add your villainous characters to our fantasy story.

For more information about "Crowd Sorcery," including instructions for downloading the digital editions of Cricket click here.
To become a Crowd-Sorceror by sharing your ideas, visit the "Crowd Sorcery" section of The Chatterbox and get posting!
For my earlier post about "Crowd Sorcery," see my original blog post here.

Help Us Tell a Fantasy Story Using Crowd Sorcery!

Click the image to enlarge and read more about "Crowd Sorcery!"

If you're a Cricket Magazine reader, you may remember the fantasy story "The Star Shard" written by Frederic S. Durbin and featuring my illustrations that was printed in the magazine for a year from April of 2008 through April of 2009. In 2012, Fred and I put together a series of posts that we called "Star Shard Week" on each of our blogs to commemorate the publication of Fred's novel of The Star Shard.

Fred and I have been given the opportunity by the editors at Cricket to work together once again on a new project called "Crowd Sorcery." It's a collaborative project involving Fred, me and you! Kids that would like to participate can go to Cricket's message board, The Chatterbox, to help us invent characters, items, and a fantasy dictionary that describes the world you would like to create. Participants will vote on the ideas they like best. Throughout the summer, I will be doing sketches of the chosen characters and items for the digital edition of Cricket. Then I will illustrate the story that Fred writes using your contributions and it will be printed in the November/December issue of Cricket!

For more information about "Crowd Sorcery," including instructions for downloading the digital editions of Cricket click here.
To become a Crowd-Sorceror by sharing your ideas, visit the "Crowd Sorcery" section of The Chatterbox and get posting!
To see Fred's post about "Crowd Sorcery," visit his website here.

We can't wait to see what fantastic ideas you come up with!

Sketches from ECCC 2014

Another Emerald City Comicon has come and gone. I'd like to extend my thanks to everyone who came by our table during the convention.

Here are some of the sketches I did for people who purchased my sketchbook, Journey, this year:

I have two sketchbooks still available featuring the following original sketches. If you had been thinking of buying a copy online and either of these drawings have caught your eye, please contact me and let me know so I can put the book aside for you.

See you at ECCC 2015, March 27th-29th!

Emerald City Comicon 2014: Final Day

Today is the last day of Emerald City Comicon 2014! A con report of some sort will follow shortly. If you'll be at the convention Sunday, please don't forget to stop by our table N-10, located near the back of the exhibit hall.

I'll be waiting!

ECCC's Monsters and Dames 2014 Art Book

My Painted Marsh Nymph illustration will be printed in ECCC's limited edition Monsters and Dames 2014 Art Book. If you buy the book (available at the ECCC Merchandise booth), stop by our table and I'll be happy to sign it for you. The proceeds from the book go to Seattle Children's Hospital.

Emerald City Comicon 2014

This year's Emerald City Comicon (or its fun to say abbreviation, ECCC) is only two weeks away!

Last year, the show was huge and had even expanded into the Sky Bridge, the wide hallway that connects the two sections of the exhibit hall. This year the show is even bigger, and as of Thursday, March 13th, it is completely sold out. It looks as though the exhibit hall has expanded even further into Level Three of The Conference Center, which is part of the Washington State Convention Center (and the location of GeekGirlCon in the fall). Please refer to the map for all the confusing details!

Click to enlarge! Full convention center map here.

There is an important note I'd like to make: there are now essentially THREE Artist Alleys. Please make sure to visit them all! Last year there was some confusion about the location of all the artists, and many attendees said they were unaware Artist Alley was split into two sections. 
As you can see on the map, one is on Level Four closer to the entrance of the Washington State Convention Center and the other is through that aforementioned Sky Bridge in the second, larger section of the exhibit hall (where most of the exhibitor booths are located) near the back of the convention center. It looks like the new, third section of Artist Alley is located below the main exhibit hall floor on Level Three of The Conference Center.

The show will be open longer this year, too. Friday is now a full day, with show hours from 10 am to 7 pm. It's gonna be a long day for those of us working the floor! (Come by and be nice to us!)

Vinod and I will be sitting at booth N-10 in Artist Alley, not too far away from our location last year. We're against the wall near the bathrooms, so hopefully we'll be easier to find in the crowd. I'll have most of my usual product available: copies of The Explorer's Guide to Drawing Fantasy Creatures, posters, prints, note cards and sketchbooks. They won't fit on the table, but I plan to bring some original paintings to sell, so if you're interested in seeing what's available, please ask.

Emerald City Comicon will take place at the Washington State Convention Center in Seattle from Friday, March 28th through Sunday, March 30th. More information about the show is available at the Emerald City Comicon website. Hope to see you there!

Article on Children's Picture Book Illustrations

The 2014 Caldecott Medal winner was announced today. The award went to the book Locomotive, written and illustrated by Brian Floca.

The cover of Locomotive.

Yesterday, in anticipation of the announcement, npr posted an article praising some of the picture books published in 2013: Eight Picture Books That Make Us Wish We Were Kids Again. Two of the books on npr's list were chosen as Honor Books by the Caldecott Medal Committee.

You don't have to be a kid to appreciate the wonderful illustrations from these books!

More on the Caldecott Medal here

Dwarves II

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

The second character I designed for Unrestrained Games is an intimidating and capable fighter who leads his elite dwarven warriors into battle. To contrast from Hogoren who was heavy on the bottom, I made Downammar slightly top-heavy. His clothing and armor is fit for a king and formidable in battle.

A few of the costume details changed between this design sketch and the final.
It's mostly hidden in the final drawing and painting, but his necklace is made from a dragon's claw.

His additional weapons and accessories come from battles fought in distant lands.

Unrestrained Games website

Lands and Legends Kickstarter: Final Week!

Lands and Legends, a fantasy art book project.

It's the home stretch for the Lands and Legends fantasy illustration book Kickstarter, and there is a loooong way to go to reach the goal! For more information about the project, please see my earlier post here.

While I compared the book to Spectrum: The Best in Contemporary Fantastic Art to describe the subject matter one might expect to see in Lands and Legends, Lands and Legends will be different as a collection of work. Rather than a compendium of art put together through a juried competition, this book is a collaborative project comprised of fantasy art that many of the artists are creating specifically for this project. As such, in order to fairly compensate the artists, the cover price of the book is higher than an art annual like Spectrum, the production of which is paid for by entry fees.

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