Hors d'oeuvres made me do it...

This is my forth day stuck inside on crutches after an operation to take a metal pin outa my leg. I'm going batshit crazy so I have no idea where this came from or what it means! Hors d'oeuvres ARE the devil though, trust me.

Beautiful animal anatomy, and free!

http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/Science/subcollections/VetAnatImgsAbout.html


I  stumbled upon a treasure trove of beautiful animal anatomy  ... I'm so dizzy with these that I had to share. The plates are taken from a book entitled Handbuch der Anatomie der Tiere für Künstler ... or Atlas of Animal Anatomy for Artists, published between 1898 and 1925, by Wilhelm Ellenberger and Hermann Baum, and medical illustrator, Hermann Dittrich. 


These are stunning - well scanned - and free!

Ancient Enemies - I (kind of) finally see the book!

Some nice fellow's taken a photo of Ancient Enemies, a book for the RPG Cthulhutech. This is the first time I've seen the actual book - in hardback with bookmark and all. Those guys at WildFire have a great sense of quality (due to their AD, Michael Vaillancourt I'd say). I'm really hoping to get a copy of this baby.

It's much older, but I was also finally sent a copy of the Shadowrun 4th Edition 20th Anniversary book (it's gotta have been out for well over a year). It's pretty cool too - I was glad to be a part of that considering me and the 'run go way backs.

Freeplay Independent Games Award!

I'm happy to hear this morning that my friend's game proposal project Exodus had won best concept art at the Freeplay Independent Game Festival on the weekend. Above are my contributions to the 'live painting' video he produced for the RTS style game - the paintings were layered in a way that they could parallax and have moving elements that gave them a really nice kick - there's a few elements missing from these stills like blowing capes, flags (on top of the pike in the top image) etc. As soon as I can link the final video I'll update the post.

Here's the Freeplay link to the award winners. Congratulations to Joe Tabor and the artists for an amazing job.
http://www.freeplay.net.au/2010/08/the-freeplay-awards-winners/

Trophy Goodness

Breaking my leg

Sunday night a week ago I broke my leg clean below the ball of the upper left femur. It hurt like hell, enough that I felt totally incapacitated - it was if a massive hand had reached down and squeezed all breath out of me - besides initially trying to pull my pants down to look for what I imagined was a bone sticking out of my leg. After a while shock kicked in - my hands and teeth began to clatter and shake uncontrollably. Thank god my wife was there to help me. My daughter Sadie even gave me a few kisses as I lay on the floorboards of my lounge room in agony (Sabine was a little more frightened ... she stuck by her mum).

In a flash the paramedics arrived, shot me full of morphine and threw me in the back of Ambulance. I found myself in hospital cranked up on pethadine waiting 24 hours for a doctor to pin my bone back together. I've got to say that the Ambos and Emergency staff were brilliant and sympathetic. Surgery happened a few days later. They sliced open my thigh and bolted titanium pins to the two parts of my femur. I now have what could be described as the stitching of a football down one of my legs - staples, no less. I suggested they used adamantium pins and do both legs while they were down there, but to no avail.

Hospital sucks. I've had a real insight into the humility and pains of the infirm - I only have complete sympathy for those stuck within the hospital and medical systems. I never want to go back. Ever. That said I'm happy to say that private health insurance and the Australian Medicare system really worked for me. I'd hate to live in a country without healthcare, infact it scares me silly just to imagine it.

Eight days later of painful physio sessions, drug-addled conversations with friends and parents, monotonous evenings of cycling TV stations, horrifically pained nightimes of awkward sleeping and waking, a night full of the worst abdominial 'bowel cleansing' medicine you can imagine (or don't, please) during which I had to painfully limp my way to the bathroom over and over again without assistance and risk falling over again - I've finally come home to my beautiful wife (who's getting a medal for all the help and effort she's made to make me comfortable)and children. Now it seems like some bizarre dream, except that I'm still limping painfully around on crutches. What a bloody waste of time!

So how did I trip up? How did this useless painful setback begin?

I slipped up on one of my daughter's pink tutu dresses.

The doctors said it was an absolute fluke where I broke my leg ... something usually only reserved for old timers over the age of 90. Just my luck.

Daily Deviation

Well i'm all aflutter ... the Ancient Enemies cover got a Daily Deviation over at Deviant Art!

http://tycarey.deviantart.com/

Never thought I'd get one of those, so this is one of those feel good moments :)

Painful metamorphosis - Kafka?

I think I've worked out what's been happening lately. It's taken weeks of terrible artistic torment to see it. The kind self torture that makes you twist in your sheets at night, and curse your blunted abilities. I've been afflicted with an inferno raging inside that's barely been able to be contained by my skin. You probably know what I'm talking about, and I think it's unique to artists. But it comes down to pure thumping, comsuming desire.

I've been really unhappy with my artwork recently, particularly when it comes to comic art. I've been making many attempts and failing as I flail about look for style and form - being influenced this way and that by the many great artists I see out there. I was getting really bummed out by it. Ripped up by all these powerful twisting desires. I wanted to explode from the inside out. Then it dawned on me - I was in the process of changing my art. Shifting from my old style to a new one - one where I was beginning to add the elements that I knew deep down were missing and yet I wasn't admitting it. Any metamorphosis is going to be painful and confusing, especially one that alters your identity. Like a guy lying on the ground screaming and changing into a werewolf as his body twists, splits and changes shape. It means taking a massive step backwards.

I think I'm on the right path now, although I havn't really begun to do what I need to get where I want. But at least I know it. I need to add a lot more character, composition and style to my artwork - as well has improving my knowledge of anatomy and movement. I know the artists who have it and am going to learn from them. It's a painful injection.

Where I'm Going with Comics

I've never made a personal statement about where I want to take my art. I've always believed that an artist should be flexible, and be able to respond to the commercial need or essence of whatever he's making. I get pushed an pulled around whenever I see great art - It makes me swing back and forth! So here's the direction, in regard to drawing comics, that I want to head - I need to fuse the following artists and recombine it with what I know; Mike Mignola - layout and style, 'Cheeks' Sean Galloway - finding the perfect line & Claire Wendling - Composition and beauty. There's probably more!

I can go about the creation two ways; digitally or traditional. I always lean towards digital but It might be due to laziness. If I can't get myself a Cinteq sooner or later then I want to start doing layouts on paper, and get back into the habit of inking too. The final look i'm interested in is clean lined, simple coloured main characters and painterly backgrounds, similar to a disney or anime sensibility.