New Work Published: Lovecraft EZine # 23

After a bit of a delay, the latest Lovecraft EZine is online with a raft of new stories for your enjoyment.  Once again, I've got a bit of work featured with one of their pieces.  This time, it's not an illustration but a photo from my personal archives that I've manipulated a bit for the poem, "Not With A Bang, But Waves Whispering" by Wendy Wagner.

Last summer, I visited family in Newfoundland and took some photos with the intention that they would be used either as reference for illustration, or as illustrations themselves.  The photo attached to this story was set up with one of my daughters on the beach.  I spent a lot of time playing on these particular rocks when I was growing up, and thought it was great to be able to photograph my own kids in the same setting.

Editing this one for the magazine was simple; I just desaturated the whole thing, ran the History brush over the central figure, then duplicated the rocks to a new layer set to Multiply, applied Threshhold and made judicious use of the eraser.

As always, Lovecraft EZine is free to read online, but I heartily recommend supporting the magazine by purchasing the mobile edition for $2.99, or at least getting the podcast edition for just 99 cents.  It's well worth the money, and helps this fantastic publication survive.

Meantime, here's my illustration from issue #21's story, "Dunwich Redux" by Tim Scott.  It was a bit of a rush job, but it got the job done.  Enjoy.

New Work Not Published: Tsathoggua!

Recently, one of the podcasts I enjoy, "The Double Shadow", ran a contest in which they asked listeners to submit artistic interpretations of the fictional deity Tsathoggua, created by Clark Ashton Smith.  Tsathoggua is described as: 

"He was very squat and pot-bellied, his head was more like a monstrous toad than a deity, and his whole body was covered with an imitation of short fur, giving somehow a vague sensation of both the bat and the sloth. His sleepy lids were half-lowered over his globular eyes; and the tip of a queer tongue issued from his fat mouth."

Below is my own entry for that contest, showing the frog-like on himself, squatting above a basin of Formless Spawn in his dwelling.  The rest of the entries for this contest can be seen here, but for some reason (likely just overlooked) they did not include mine in the slideshow, so I'm posting it here for your...enjoyment?

The Sound of Lovecraft EZine

Did you know that as of issue # 19 you can get Lovecraft EZine as a podcast, in which all the month's stories are read aloud for your enjoyment?  Well you can.
Did you know that each episode of the podcast is available for only 99 cents?  Well it is.
Did you know that I created the art that graces the page for this podcast?  Well now you do.  Go.  See.  Buy.  Hear.  FEAR.

New Work Published: Drabblecast 272

Fresh on the web, Drabblecast episode #272 features the story "Power Armor: A Love Story" by David Barr Kirtley, for which I have provided the cover illustration.  For this one, I mixed together influences from J.C. Leyendecker and manga comics to capture the impressions that the story made on me.
If you're not aware of it, Drabblecast is a weekly podcast that bills itself as "strange stories by strange writers for strange listeners", and always manages to live up to that description.  Host Norm Sherman is one of my favorite podcast readers, and a darn fine musician as well.  Any episode of the show is worth listening to, even more so when they have the good sense to put my art on the cover.

For the best mecha love story on the web, check out the episode for yourself.

New Work Published: Lovecraft Ezine 21

Once again, I get the honour of gracing the virtual pages of Mike Davis's wonderfully eldritch publication, The Lovecraft EZine.  This time, I'm illustrating the exellent pastiche/tribute/unofficial sequel story "Dunwich Redux" by Tim Scott.  The illo for this one is, frankly, a compendium of all the Photoshop cheats I know how to employe, including digital painting, photo manipulation, blending layers, custom brushes, and straightforward copying. I've even managed to, very subtly I think, blend in public domain work by Bosch and Brueghel.  Despite being a bit of a dog's breakfast, and a rush job too, I think it's actually rather good.

Issue 21 is available for reading on your portable device (Kindle and Nook) right now at Lovecraft EZine.   The price has just gone up to $2.99 per issue, but it's well worth it at that price, especially considering that the money also gets you a podcast version of the stories in this issue.  I strongly recommend you check it out.

In the meantime, here's my illustration from issue 19 for young author Logan Davis's story "The Amtopians".  It was a fun little piece done from Logan's concept sketch and rendered in Photoshop and ArtRage, the latter being not my favorite tool, but a fun toy to try once in a while.  Enjoy.

New Work Published: A Downpour of Apes

When it rains...it downpours.

Out now is the second in the "Annals of Absurdity" series by Joshua Price, "A Downpour of Apes".  As with his first book in this series, I have been lucky enough to provide the cover art, as well as art for the chapter headings.
"Downpour" continues the adventures of Captain Rescue begun in "A Drizzle of Zombies".  It's a comedic blend of superhero/action/horror genres that is as entertaining a read as you could ask for.  I haven't yet read this particular volume, but if it approaches anywhere near the first book, it will be a feast worth consuming. 

If you're a fan of Terry Pratchett style humour, or if you fondly remember the Neil Gaiman edited series "Temps", you would do well to treat yourself to the Annals of Absurdity books.  Actually, while you're at it, why don't you also check out Price's shorter works in this series, "A Mind Not Worth Controlling" and "The Dawn of Malevolence/Urinal Cakes All the Way Down"?  Heck, you can get the whole lot for under 5 bucks, so what have you got to lose?

New Work Published: Lovecraft EZine #19

Issue 19 of the Lovecraft Ezine is up, and once again, I have contributed an illustration for your viewing pleasure.
It's a bit of a special occasion this time.  Publisher Mike Davis's young son Logan has written a story titled "Amtopians", for which Mike has had several of the contributing artists create illustrations.  It's  fun little story, and a good start a budding author.  With my own daughters beginning to branch off into creative fields, I'm all for supporting your kids' efforts like this if you have the opportunity, so it was a pleasure to create an illustration to support Logan's story.
With this one, a scene in his story reminded me of some of the covers of the schlocky horror paperbacks I used to read in the 80's and 90's, so I tried to create an illustration reminiscent of that period.  Check it out here and see how well you think I did.
Lovecraft EZine is, as always, free to read online, or you can grab a copy (with illustrations) for your mobile device for under a buck.  Either way, it's always worth a read, and just seems to be getting better with each issue.

Meantime, to whet your whistle, here's my illustration for Derek Ferreira's "A Counting Game" from last month's Roger Zelazny tribute issue.