D&D and IFX Sitting in a Tree

That's the subject line of the email Claire Howlett, editor of ImagineFX magazine, sent to me. It had me singing that silly little children's tune most of the day. Partly because it is one of those insidious tunes that buries itself into your brain and you can't shake it loose, but the primary reason I was walking around singing had to do with the news that she shared with me. If you are one of those lucky folks that live in the UK, then you might have wandered past your local magazine stand and seen the ultra cool Dungeons & Dragons issue of ImagineFX that hit the stands on the 16th. Those of us in the US have to wait until next month to get a copy! What's so cool about this issue. Well, it's about Dungeons & Dragons! Does there need to be more than that? Well, it seems that some of you aren't convinced yet! The Dungeons and Dragons special edition of ImagineFX comes with a 2011 fantasy and sci-fi art calendar, plus it's free DVD full of tutorial goodies. Within they look at the history of D&D and how it helped to define fantasy art for many, in a 10-page feature filled with some of the greatest D&D art.

Providing the cover is Dan Scott, artist for D&D, Warhammer and World of Warcraft, and he accompanies it with a workshop of his elfin image. They've also got Eric Belisle to bring a key D&D encounter to life, and Dave Allsop takes a simple brief and makes a sprawling monster being for a game card. Aside from D&D, they also throw in additional content. In the tutorial section, Daniel Murray looks at mixing 2D and 3D to bring new life into a familiar comic book character. Brett Bean provides a tutorial on creating a glowing industrial character in Sketchbook Pro, and Sergio Paez shows you how to storyboard your scenes like a pro. They profile the book cover artist John Picacio, looking at how he blends mediums and styles to produce his iconic images, as ever there’s loads to find on the free DVD, with over eight hours of video advice. Sold yet? You should be. I know I am, and can't wait for my issue to show up.

Goals Setting for the Busy Creative

I'm not really one for new years resolutions, but I've decided that I would like to consider setting a few goals for the year. Draw everyday. Do one painting a month. Revisit my portfolio. Design a t-shirt. Design a sticker. Find 12 new artists. Create a new art book that features unpublished artists. Book my speaking and convention dates early. Do one world building exercise. Attend at least one new event professionally, and one personally. Alright, that'll do for starters. Last year, I found that it was useful for me to write things down that I want to accomplish. It helped me focus on what was important to me, and start to prioritize tasks. In fact, I found that it was even more useful to put them onto a calendar and force myself to set aside time to accomplish the tasks. Seems kind of simplistic doesn't it? Set aside time to accomplish something important. A crazy novel idea, huh? You'd think someone would have thought of that before.

Okay, I know it isn't a brilliant new concept. Folks have been doing it for years. The problem is - no one taught me to do that! I would just flit from one task to another - doing whatever bright shiny bauble caught my attention at the time. Sure, I was always entertained, but I wasn't necessarily very productive of effective. I needed to get myself organized or my wife or boss were going to kill me. I don't know about you, but my life is very full and I am constantly finding myself with less time than tasks. I've finally started getting a little bit organized (imagine that...after only 50 years!), and the calendar technique has become one of my most useful and effective ways of staying organized. Now that I've got a list of things I'd like to accomplish during the year - I'll sit down with my calendar and start setting aside time to accomplish them. How about you - do you have a list of resolutions or goals?

What steps are you going to take to make them happen? Do you write things on your calendar, make to-do lists, have software helpers, fly by the seat of your pants? Each of us has to find a system that works for us. Share your system and maybe you can help teach someone else a tool that will dramatically affect their life. WMC Fest. Speaking of my calendar, you might notice that one of my goals is to book my conventions and speaking engagements early. One event is trying to help me do that. I recently received an invite to speak at the Weapons of Mass Creation event hosted by Go Media. We'll see if we can sort out the details, but I wanted to point out the event to everyone and give it a quick plug. It sounds like a great event - 20 speakers, 20 designers and 20 bands. It's got to be one of the least expensive events I've run across, and a portion of the funds help benefit a good cause. If you are in the US midwest in June.

Feeling Lucky or Let Down?

A Roundup of Art Critics on Google's New Mega-Museum. As with any kind of new tech application, there are going to be pros and cons. I tried out Google's Art Project and found it good in some ways and way wonky in others. The good includes getting to examine some works in close detail that you wouldn't be able to in real life. The not-so-good, for me, are the somewhat limited selections from each museum that you are able to see. Granted, it's a big undertaking to document the collections of major museums for an online application, not to mention all of the legal wrangling that must be involved. I guess my expectations for more views of the museums' various rooms and collections were a little high at this stage of the game. Hopefully, there will be some tweaking of the program to and more of the collections included at a later time. That said, no matter how good Google's Art Project gets, it is still a far second-best to being able to view the works in person.

Going National

Last month, CNN sent a camera crew down from New York to tag along with my gallery rep, Bridgette Mayer for a day. Bridgette is being featured on a segment of Anderson Cooper's show called On The Rise, which focuses on young entrepeneurs who are recognized as leaders in their respective industries. Anyway, Bridgette brought the crew up to my studio, where we were filmed talking about some of my paintings. I've been told that I'm going to be featured in the piece, how much is up in the air, but 30 seconds or 3 minutes, a lot of people are going to see it regardless, and I hope you can, too. There's also going to be a featured story on CNN's website this week. If you have cable, Tivo, or whatever, check out Anderson Cooper 360 this coming Wednesday, between 10pm and 12 midnight on CNN, you might catch me mumbling something on national tv. 

I don't know exactly when the segment will air, so record it if you can so you don't have to sit through the whole program, if you can't. Here's the press release: Bridgette Mayer of the Bridgette Mayer Gallery is pleased to announce that she will be featured during CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360 "On the Rise" airing Wednesday, 10 – 12 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. A featured story will also be airing on CNN’s website on Thursday. CNN's program "On the Rise" features successful business owners and entrepreneurs who are recognized trendsetters and rising leaders in their respective industries. "It is exciting and an honor for me to be featured on CNN. As I get ready to celebrate my fifth year anniversary in business I am more committed than ever in continuing to provide quality programming & exhibitions for the city of Philadelphia, my clients who support me and the artists I represent", said Mayer.

The gallery was founded in 2001 with the intent to support emerging and mid-career artists and to exhibit original contemporary paintings of the highest quality. Education also plays a vital role in the gallery's programming and last spring the gallery presented "Rock-Solid Finance: Building Your Financial Present & Future as a Creative Professional". This program, held at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Philadelphia, offered financial education to young artists. Most recently, Mayer was a keynote speaker for several events at her alma mater, Bucknell University including "The Business of an Art Gallery and Contemporary Art" at the Samek Gallery, and "Bright Ideas and Putting Them Into Action" at the Student Leadership Institute.

Finally at it Again

Yep, I actually painted today after almost 6 months of little to no studio activity. It's just taken me a while to get back in the swing of things. The thing that was odd about today was that I was having a crappy day mentally. I don't usually like to force myself to paint when I'm not really feeling up to it, but I needed to channel some of that angst somewhere, so painting it was. As usual, I don't know where this stuff is headed, but the only thing to do is, well, to do it. That's all there is. I'll see where I am when I get there. I have two paintings that are in progress. I worked on those today. The lighter one is actually covering over another painting from my last series that wasn't very good. I don't know how I even let it out of the studio when I did. I remember having that nagging feeling that it wasn't quite up to my standards, but I let it go out into the world anyway. I got it back from Bridgette a couple of weeks ago and decided today to do away with it.