Lumley Covers

I have to highlight designer Gail Cross. She does most of not all if Subterranean Press' line of terrific cover designs and, man, is she good at making Brian Lumley and myself look good. I LOVE these!!! I posted these covers before as paintings but here's how they look as front/wrap covers. Wow. THE TAINT is already on sale and HAGGOPIAN will be out next May. But you can pre-order it here:

http://www.subterraneanpress.com:80/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=lumley06&Category_Code=B&Product_Count=7/\

Half-shelling Venus...

Okay, here's a new cover I just finished-a special edition of VENUS ON THE HALF SHELL by Phillip Jose Farmer. What a quirky and strange book!! The imagery was wild, but at the same time, it is not a "pulpy" book at all, so this affected my treatment of it. I did not want to spoil anything since it was so wild in spots. Also, I was a bit tired out from painting weird aliens and spaceships. So thanks in part of John Davis, who gave me some great ideas(he's a huge fan of the book) I went with this more prosaic approach. Dare I even say....MAINSTREAM? Nah, eccentric is better. Anyway, I took some liberties showing The Sphinx(I always wanted an excuse to paint that statue!) but I figured how cool it would look flooded(as what happens as the book opens). The clear case the hero and the dog "Anubis" are sitting on is a museum case with a dead mummy inside of it.I wanted it to be a melange of imagery that one would think of as connected to the book. ODD imagery and that's just the start! Anyway, it was alot of fun to do and the publisher liked what I did, so that's always nice. I painted it 16x20 and in oils, the reflection part was just joy to paint. This month I feel really blessed with what I have to paint- I did a Heinlein, and this Farmer cover, and, next is another Heinlein and then a Stanislaw Lem. Do I dare touch the hem of such legends?

Some NEW Small Paintings!!

The Golden Wave(8x10, oils on panel, SOLD!)

Tiger (8x10, oils on panel, SOLD!) Here's a couple of new paintings of the day. The top one is based on some pics I took on the West Coast, near Monterrey, with this wonderful golden light right about sunset. I worked my own embelishments into it, and just was really pleased with the result. The bottom piece was based on some images of a tiger I found, I just love painting tigers. Getting their stripes is very hard to do, and do right because the edges, up close, between the oranges and the stripes, are kind of diffuse. I love big cats of all kinds. I want to paint more, for sure!! I also painted both on panels, which I don't usually work on but in this case, it was just right. The paint sort of just moved around easier than on a rough canvas and this created it's own nice effects(like the background of the tiger). Anyway, remember it's Christmas-shopping season for those people who want one-of-a-kind presents!

A Lovecraftian drawing...(SOLD!)

Just a drawing, done on toned paper of HPL's darkest creation, Cthulhu...sitting on his throne in some netherworld...it's for sale, so email on the price if interested.... also, click on the image and you can see it in alot of detail!!!

Memo:Fire Breathing Dragons-Bad for Kids

Normally I don't get into these things, nor do I post links. But this deserves a rant.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk:80/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=494755&in_page_id=1770

What we have here is political correctness attaining new heights of stupidity. This illustrator was told to change the art she had in a kid's picture book because the idea of fire breathing dragons "could be dangerous to health and safety". It appears that such suggestions are prevailent in the UK and the US.

Okay, give me a break. Who sits around and dreams up these idiotic assumptions?Further an example of dumbing down of everything. I don't know what it's coming to but this one really takes it. Years ago, I bought a model of a Utahraptor and some months later, I had a Federal Fish and Game "official" call me and ask me if I had indeed purchased it, and what I may have bought was illegal under endangered animals acts. I reminded him that a Utahraptor was an EXTINCT dinosaur. Long silence. Finally...."Oh. Sorry". People really make me wonder.

Eye-Pod Attack!!!!

Eye Pod Attack!!! So here's a new cover I did for this Ben Bova collection of funny SF stories. I was totally stuck for an idea that would be fun to paint. So I went with the idea of this creepy monster going to eat a spaceship...Eye Pod Attack!!!! I did this in oils, it's 16x20 and, it's for sale but inquire on the price! I was really inspired more than a bit by my friend Eric Joyner's marvelous works. Sometimes I think Science Fiction is taken WWAAY too seriously, so time for some fun with giant slimey monsters! My sig btw is on the rocket itself!Compare with the sketches in the previous posts.

World Fantasy Con...almost forgot!!!

I said I would make a post with some piccies of the World Fantasy Con, but Irene Gallo did it quicker and better than I could! I almost forgot with all the hustle of the last two weeks. So here's some coverage of the evening we did some drawing in front of a crowd of people, with Donato Giancola, Shaun Tan, and of course, me. Always fun, always crowd pleasing. It was nice to just talk, and draw and to work with such other luminaries. Here's the link and the pics-

http://igallo.blogspot.com/2007/11/world-fantasy-day-1.html

A New Something...

A new larger(18x24) painting(NOT a painting of the day) for a re-issue of an old Heinlein book called BETWEEN PLANETS from 1953. Fun book, takes places on a romanticized Venus and this is a human with a Venusian dragon as they are called-weird alien things with multiple limbs and even more eyes. Fun stuff to do, compare with the sketch from a few posts ago...been a real grind of a week so far. But I press on, so enjoy!

A "Super Real" Time..

As my friend from Japan, Shinichi is fond of saying when he's insanely busy, he's "super real"...well, that describes me for the last few days and at least the first few days of this week coming...maybe I can post something interesting. Just to let you know I'm working away on some stuff and not doing much blog stuff at the moment...that will change though I am sure...

Working out color ideas...

Between Planets(8x10, oils, SOLD)
Laugh Lines(8x10, oils $150)These are color sketches, work ups for paintings that will appear later. The top one is for a Heinlein re-issue of a very old book BETWEEN PLANETS. Takes place on a very strange Venus. Lots of cool visual stuff including these Venusian dragons. I wanted to avoid any dark colors or my usual habit of throwing green & orange into everything(Is it my fault they WORK as colors?). The bottom painting is for a collection of Ben Bova stories. Not very visual but, one is a pastiche on how SF shows and movies are made and, Bova's obvious contempt for such based on his own experience consulting(The Starlost-anyone remember?), so I went for the cliched giant space monster and space ship. Lots of fun and the final will be a hoot to do!

Changes in thinking...

Back from The World Fantasy Con in Saratoga, NY. Lots of fun and, friends I haven't seen in ages. Really a good time!! I'll post some piccies soon!

I seem to enjoy fantasy and, darker work-horror, moreso than I enjoy space related work. Note my fixation with Lovecraftian work. I was once a "Fellow" of the International Association of Astro Artists. I dropped my membership and "Fellowship" in it awhile ago and, realized I haven't missed anything. I never understood what a "Fellowship" was anyway. One of my "FAQ's" is "Why did you stop painting space art?". Largely, because the computer has truly replaced the human hand w/brush in this regard. Computer/digital art truly is amazing, and, frankly, Hubble telescope pix and Cassini and all, have just put most "space art" to shame. That said, space is still a nice backdrop to use for sci-fi imagery...and I'll still do that anyway.

Speaking of, a couple of nice work-ups for some covers soon!