Cover for The Ragged Man, by Tom Lloyd, from Pyr Books:
Oh, Hell!
And a couple details:
February 4th, 2010
New Art:
New Art
Cover for the new edition of Sheepfarmer’s Daughter, by Elizabeth Mo0n, from Baen Books:
Paks ©Todd Lockwood
November 24th, 2009
The Beautiful Grim
Last week the talented artist Daarken dropped me a line and invited me to participate in a project that he is putting together. The cause is selfless and honorable, so I wanted to pass the information along to everyone.
He wrote:
“My name is Daarken and I am a concept artist and illustrator working for Mythic Entertainment. My friend Leif Jeffers, an animator at DreamWorks, and I are organizing an art auction fundraiser that will be held next year.
Earlier this year my girlfriend, Cat, was diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 25. On November 3rd, 2009, she had a bilateral mastectomy after going through 16 weeks of chemotherapy. As you can imagine it has been hard for her, not only mentally and physically, but financially. In order to help alleviate some of her medical bills Leif and I wanted to throw an art auction. The proceeds that are left over after her medical bills have been paid will go to a breast cancer related charity to be determined by the artists in the coming weeks.
We currently have artists contributing that hail from all regions of the industry: concept artists, animators, photographers, sculptors, fine artists, illustrators, you name it. The theme for the auction is “Beautiful Grim.” The interpretation of “Beautiful Grim” has been left up to the artists. A tentative deadline for the art has been set for February 1st, 2010. Venues to hold the event are also currently being researched, but so far we are considering either San Francisco or New York.”
To learn more, to donate a piece of art, or to simply keep track of progress, visit BeautifulGrim.Org.
Thanks, everybody!
November 8th, 2009
Speak out for the rights of artists, authors, and musicians
If you are a working artist, author, or musician, you owe it to yourself to sign this petition to the President and Vice President.
The letter you will be adding your name to:
We, the undersigned, are just a few of the more than 11 million artists living, working, and creating across the United States. Our work brings significant cultural and economic value to our society – and contributes $1.52 trillion to the nation’s GDP. Yet that value is being disregarded as our rights and incentives to create are increasingly under threat.
Hear us as we speak with one voice about the importance of creators’ rights.
We are the essence of America. Since the founding of our country, our work has provided light in the darkness of conflict, humor in the depths of sadness, beauty in the face of ugliness, and reason in the dysfunction of division.
We serve as the foundation of our communities; you find us in schools, performance halls, libraries, museums, community centers, and movie houses. We enrich our culture with a wide range of creative expression, including music, film, software, video games, writing, photography, graphics, and other visual arts.
We contribute in some way to every single industry in the country. Many of us are self-employed. All of us work hard and pay taxes.
Yet, we are under assault. Our rights to control the distribution, use, and reproduction of our works in our vibrant digital age are dismissed by many who do not understand the value we bring to society. They tell us to work harder, create better, and give our works away. Some think that they should control our works and that they should be able to appropriate, perform, and copy them how they please, without our consent, benefit, or participation.
Our freedom as creators lies in the Constitutional rights we cherish, rights given to us to promote our culture. Without these rights, our ability to pursue our creative dreams and to meet the high expectations of those who benefit from our creative works is significantly diminished. As a result, all Americans will suffer.
Mr. President and Vice President, hear our call. We know you understand the value our creative contributions bring to our society and economy, and we know you can encourage our citizens to respect our rights. Please pursue policies supportive of the rights of artists and the encouragement of our creative efforts. Without the proper respect for our rights and works today, it will become even more difficult for us to create in the future.
Posted by Todd in Art!, Blog Home, Orphaned Works at 2:12 PM PST
October 21st, 2009
New Art up on my website!
And ain’t it about @#$%! time!?
Click on the picture to go see:
September 15th, 2009
Experiment in 3D
This is something I’ve always wanted to try:
Hold your two hands up about six inches from your face, about two inches apart. The idea is to find a position in which your left eye can only see the right image, and your right eye can only see the left image.
Then cross your eyes until the two images merge.
Voila!
June 17th, 2009
Orphan Works: Back Again
FROM THE ILLUSTRATORS’ PARTNERSHIP
6.17.09
In Orphan Works Land, no news has been good news, but that’s about to change:
US Copyright Register Marybeth Peters told Intellectual Property Watch that orphan works legislation is expected to be introduced within the next 10 days. It is her understanding there may still be some issues in the House version to be resolved, and there are some stakeholders – such as illustrators and other artists – “who are probably going to lobby pretty hard against it.”
Peters said this issue is important to her, and the fact it came so close to passing last year is almost bittersweet. “What I hope it isn’t … is it’s one magic moment you get” to finally get it passed, then it doesn’t happen, she said.
We don’t mean to disparage the Register’s comments. She’s had a long and distinguished career at the Copyright Office. But her statement deserves a reality check. Illustrators are not opposed to an orphan works bill. We’re opposed to this bill.
We’re opposed because its scope far exceeds the needs of responsible orphan works legislation.
Moreover, illustrators and artists are not the only stakeholders who oppose it. At last count, more than 83 creators organizations are on record against it, representing artists, photographers, writers, songwriters, musicians and countless small businesses.
Last year, we proposed amendments to the Orphan Works Act that would have made it a true orphan works bill. The amendments were drafted by the attorney who was chief legal counsel to the House Judiciary Committee in drafting the 1976 Copyright Act. The amendments were co-sponsored by the Artists Rights Society and the Advertising Photographers of America. They can be found here: http://ipaorphanworks.blogspot.com/2008/07/hr-5889-amendments.html
On July 11, 2008, we submitted those amendments to both the House and Senate Judiciary Committees. In our preamble we wrote this:
As rights holders, we can summarize our hopes for the Orphan Works Act simply: to see that it becomes a true orphan works bill, with no unnecessary spillover effect to damage the everyday commercial activities of working artists. We’d be happy to work with Congress to accomplish this. No legislation regarding the use of private property should be considered without the active participation of those whose property is at stake.
Last year more than 180,000 letters were sent to lawmakers from our Capwiz site. These letters did not come from obstructionists. They came from citizens whose property is at stake. They may lack the resources of big Internet companies and the access of high powered lobbyists, but last year they spoke. They asked only one thing: that Congress respect their personal property rights and amend this bill to make it nothing more than what its sponsors say they want it to be – a bill that would affect only true orphaned work.
We urge this Congress to listen.
- Brad Holland and Cynthia Turner for the Board of the Illustrators’ Partnership
Posted by Todd in Art!, Blog Home, Orphaned Works at 7:56 PM PDT
January 28th, 2009
Art Workshop!
A good friend of mine (and damn talented man, too), Anthony Waters, is participating in a concept art workshop in just a couple of weekends. He writes:
There’s going to be a concept art workshop hosted by the Laguna College of Art and Design in Laguna, California the first full weekend in February, and we want you!
http://fyreant.deviantart.com/art/LC…r-02-110970255
I’ve linked to my DA page for the flyer; in case it doesn’t work, I’m including my URLs and the school contact information too. The event will take place on Saturday, February 7 and Sunday, February, 8 from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm in studio 9, at the LCAD campus. Lunch will be provided.
The workshop will feature presentations by Anthony Waters (that would be me), Dean Deakyne, Farzad Varahrayan and Joe Peterson.
The cost of the event is $235. A non-refundable deposit of $100 is required by Friday, January 30. The remaining balance is due Friday, February 6 at noon. Please contact Kerri Redeker at 949-376-6000 ext. 240 or kredeker@lagunacollege.edu to provide your payment. She accepts Visa, Mastercard, check, and cash.
There you go. Come on down, it’s gonna rock!
Ant
Anthony Scott Waters
http://www.thinktankstudios.com
http://fyreant.deviantart.com/
http://bloated-nose.blogspot.com/
Anthony is one of the most creative concept guys I know. He was a staff artist doing concept work for Magic: the Gathering when I first moved to Washington to join the Wizards of the Coast staff. We’ve been great friends since.
If he says this house is gonna rock, then it’s gonna.
Also, be sure to check out Anthony’s website. Look for the “Canyon of Guts.”
He’s a sick man.
That’s why I like him …
December 13th, 2008
Pirate King – sketch to finish; Part III
Here is a Quicktime progression of Drizzt in development, from the cover for The Pirate King (click on the image below):
December 12th, 2008
Pirate King – from sketch to finish: Part II
Once the layout is approved, I’m ready to finish the drawing. Here you can see the perspective grid I placed on a separate layer to guide my castle’s construction. I didn’t have it this prominent as I was drawing, but ghosted back as a guide — it’s intensified here so you can see it. There are no straight lines in the horizontal plane of this grid except for one major axis along the front of the parapet wall; they’re all subtly curved. That’s because I wanted to feel as if we were floating just above Drizzt — that required a close vantage. In order to sell that, the rest of the view had to be ever-so-slightly fish-eyed (that’s the way things look in the real world, by the way; you can see it from where you sit if you turn your head and study the parallel lines where the wall meets the floor and ceiling. Or stand in the middle of a straight road and look in both directions: how can those two perfectly straight lines meet on either horizon?)
With all the elements in place, I first convert the grayscale drawing to colored “underpainting” in Photoshop, using a combination of brushes set in the “color” mode, Color Balance, and other tools. Then I take it back into Painter for most of the rest of its transition, beginning with transparent Digital Water “glazes” in Corel. The Digital Water brushes are intuitive and very useful for blocking in big areas of color. My first task was to distinguish the warm and cool areas from each other. This “underpainting” would show through everything that followed to one degree or another. When painting traditionally, in oils, this would be an acrylic layer, perhaps in brighter colors than I used here:
Then I’m ready to start detailing, beginning, usually, with the most distant parts of the environment:
The process for me is to continue to build up color with glazes, then pop the highlights with opaque color when everything else is resolved. I worked the same way in oils: transparent darks, rich opaque highlights:
Since publication, I decided that I should go back and brighten the picture, even though it was too late to salvage some horrendous printing on the actual book (Wizards contracted a new printer, I am told … see what you get when you go cheap?)
Image © Wizards of the Coast. Text © Todd Lockwood
Next up: Details of Drizzt