Today, I have a recent Magic
That's all for another exciting Friday on the blog. See you back here next week! Until then...
Gen Con is finally here, and I hope you are ready for the best four days in gaming. I will be returning to the Gen Con Art Show starting August 1st through August 4th in Indianapolis, IN. This is the big one for a lot of us, and it is certainly the biggest event that I attend each year. I have been in the art show since 2011 and except for 2020 (virtual) and 2021 (still wasn't ready for events with people), I have been present every year.
I will be debuting a lot of new art from the Grand Bazaar at the show this year, color MtG artist proofs, and a few surprises. If you subscribe to my newsletter, you have seen most of the new art from the Grand Bazaar already. As always, look for the red walls!
If you found me last year it will be extremely easy to find me this year as I am one booth closer to the main exhibitor floor of Gen Con. If you are facing the art show, I am in the left frontmost corner on the inside of the isle. Like I said, look for the red walls, and you will find me. Here are some maps for those who like maps.
I know, that the previous map has a lot of clutter going on, so here is a clearer map that you can use. Booth 17 is practically facing out into the main hall of Gen Con. I am sure I will have loads of fun people watching to do and a good view of the action and excitement that is Gen Con. I won't be able to participate in any of it, but I will be able to see it. So that counts.
Okay, still can't find me? Well, here is one more map that really shows you where I am at. Just head to the corner of the Gen Con art show and you will find me. Here is the entire map of the art show so that you can see where all your favorite artists are set up!
That's all for another exciting Wednesday on the blog. See you back here on Friday! Until then...
I am thrilled to share another new piece from The Grand Bazaar of Ethra VanDalia! This illustration is for Book Two: The Completed Circle. This is one of three color pieces that will appear in book two. I previously shared with you the first. This is a supporting image for The Arrival section of the book. As one of Woodbane's diagrams appearing in his book series, Woodbane's Journal of Beings, this illustration depicts several species native to the continent of Thrakaa that are now extinct. The large quadruped in the center was a swamp-dwelling silt feeder used as a beast of burden and can be seen as the mount in The Arrival illustration. Moving forward, I plan to have at least one of this style of illustration in the books. I plan to eventually have a book built around them as it focuses on the flora and fauna of the planet. I present Woodbane's Diagram.
This is an extremely rare occasion in the Grand Bazaar, where there are two originals available for this piece. There is the finished inked and painted final image, as well as the pencil drawing that was used to work out the image before inking. The drawing was transferred to paper, and the inking and painting went onto that image, leaving the pencil drawing available, too. You can see the drawing above, and below is the finished inks that I scanned before I started painting.
As a bonus, I have some images of this piece coming together. The first image shows the pencil drawing being worked on, and you can see the digital sketch behind the sheet of paper I am drawing on. The rest of the image shows the ink and paint work happening. It has been some time since I did a larger involved traditional color illustration. While I knew I could do it, I felt a little rusty. Thankfully, it all came back to me, and I am happy with the final product. I just know that the more of these I do, the better they will get.
That is all for another exciting Monday on the blog. See you back here on Wednesday! Until then...
Another week and another new miniature to share (though this is the last one for awhile). This time around, we have the Cranium Rats in Disguise mini that is based on my, you guessed it, Cranium Rats in Disguise illustration that I created for the D&D
This post is a bit late, but there is a lot happening everywhere, so I hope you can forgive my tardiness. When I say this is coming to you late, it was already out of date in April when I shared it with the subscribers to my newsletter (an update coming this week or next, so if you don't want to miss out, sign up!). The image I am sharing with you today was meant to go out in January, then it was February, but as mentioned, it didn't go out till April to my subscribers, which means now that I am finally sharing it with you all, it is extremely dated. So, what does this all mean?
As of earlier this year, I was over a third of the way through the art for book two. As I have been diligently making more art (I will be sharing it with you all very soon), I would think we are a bit closer to being halfway done with the art for the book. Yes, there are still some large, complicated pieces ahead of me, but I have my eye on focusing on as many of the smaller pieces first to help push production further along. I am currently finishing up some new small pieces for Gen Con, and once I am back from the convention, I will be back to working on the mid-size rank-and-file pieces that make up most of the book. In book one, there were years when I was working on it, and no one knew, so there was no pressure to update and inform, but now, with the series a known fact, well, it has been hard to find a balance of oversharing versus being too distant.
All that aside, progress is being made, notes for writing are piling up, and things are taking shape. So, while it might not look it from the outside, or the inside for that matter, things are moving in the direction they should be. There is the question of how long it will take till we see book two. The answer I am currently giving is: when it is done, it will be done. We are still a few years out till we will have the next book in hand. I am doing EVERYTHING in my power to see this next book completed sooner rather than later, but these things take time. If I didn't have to worry about money, bills, food, and sleep, the book would have been done ages ago. But sadly, I am not at a point where the Grand Bazaar can support me, but you never know what the future holds.
In other news, after much reflection and work on the book, I have decided to move my Prolific Whittler piece originally completed for book three to book two. It will work better with the narrative of book two, and as the focus of book three shifts, it begins to lose its importance there. And to be honest, I want to see it used sooner rather than later.
So, to recap, I am working on the book, much art has been made, and more art is still to be made, and then I will write it.
That's all for another exciting Wednesday on the blog. See you back here on Friday! Until then...
I am thrilled to share another new piece from The Grand Bazaar of Ethra VanDalia! This illustration is for Book Two: The Completed Circle. This is one of the numerous pieces of spot art throughout the book. This supporting image is for the Enraged Woofettes section of the book. Depicted here are ancient images depicting the "Strong Beast" that is said to be the large, strong being in the story of the Completed Circle. While a Woofettes has filled that role for a millennia in the telling and retelling of the story, it would seem that they were not originally in that role. I present the Strong Beast.
As a bonus, I have some images of the rendering process of this piece so that you can get a better idea of it taking shape. Additional fun fact: While this is the same paper I have used for my work on the Grand Bazaar, this sheet and several others recently used was from a larger piece of Rives BFK that I have had since college, so over twenty years old. I am not sure if it is the age of the paper or if the paper is made differently now, but water does not go down on this paper the same way as all the others of the same type I use. So there was a lot more drying time and a lot of impatient waiting to see if the washes went down correctly and if the pencil was blending the way I desired. In the end, there was no deviation from the image I was able to achieve, just some uncertain moments of waiting for things to dry.
That is all for another exciting Monday on the blog. See you back here on Wednesday! Until then...
Glad to finally have some new miniatures to share. This time around, we have the Razorvine Blight mini based on my, you guessed it, Razorvine Blight illustration that I created for the D&D
The miniature holds true to my design and pose and turned out beautifully. I began my career in gaming nineteen years ago when I started designing miniatures for the WotC game Dreamblade, and I have been hooked on minis ever since. So I am nothing but happy when I see one of my designs in plastic. It is truly a gift and a joy every time. Here are some photos of the completed mini.
That is all for another exciting week on the blog. See you back here next week! Until then...
Things are moving fast these days, and as I have to protect all images I put on the internet, it has added additional time to my posting schedule. This means that it is now AFTER Infinity Con 2024, and I am sharing the color art artist proofs that I premade for the event. I began doing this in 2024, and so far, it has been a huge hit. While I didn't expect any of these to sell at Infinity Con, the Breaching Hippocamp went to its forever home. I plan to have many of these with me at Gen Con in a few weeks and went ahead and used Infinity Con as an excuse to get ahead on making these. So, if you are attending Gen Con, you will have access to three of these, plus the others I will be making between now and then. For now, I will leave you with some images of the art on the back of the proofs.
That's all for another exciting Wednesday on the blog. See you back here on Friday! Until then...
This past weekend was Infinity Con 2024. It is the hometown convention and always a blast. There is something to be said about only having to transport the booth two miles and then sleeping in your own bed. Saturday was the big day with an impressive crowd, a lot of business, my panel with Mark Maddox, and more. It flew by, and I forgot to take photos of nearly all of it. Most of my pictures were taken on Sunday, as it was a slower day. I saw friends, caught up with some cool folks, and met a lot of new people. The Grand Bazaar was a big hit again, and many copies of the books went out into the world. It was time well spent. Here are some images and additional thoughts from the weekend.
A huge thanks go out to David Heringer for having me as a guest and hosting such a fun event, and all those who attended Infinity Con 2024 this weekend and stopped by to learn more about the Grand Bazaar! I hope to see you all at Infinity Con 2025!
That's all for another exciting Tuesday on the blog. See you back here on Wednesday! Until then...
