Okay, what's the deal here? 5 days without any artwork? Has the LWSHWY finally demanded some quality time?
Even her greatness hasn't responded with whether she is buying the software for progeny.
Or was BrianC's query about IT the straw that sent you over the last lip of sanity?
Let's get to work, Mr Radical Thorn, sir. Your public demands it.
What a task master! Well, if it's any excuse, we're still trying to get the house put back together from the carpeting. So LWSHWY's demand for time is a bit more along the lines of lifting boxes rather than for quality time...Originally Posted by Hereford Eye
However, concidentally with the Westwind use of the Blacker Magic image, it appears to have shown up elsewhere as well. Check out this link for some poetry folks who have used my same image as the inspiration for a contest. I'm going to post a thank you note to them later this evening when I get home from work.
Update: seems as if the day after I found the AllPoetry site's contest with my image, they decided to revamp the entire site, and in the process they cleaned up / deleted all their old pages, including this one. So, sorry 'bout that - it looked good for a day!
Last edited by Radthorne; August 24th, 2006 at 10:16 PM.
That is really cool, Radthorne! Congratulations. Hope you got more than just by-line credit.
Goodness, did they even ask you before they decided to use it? Don't worry, HE, we stil prefer your stories, but next time, you have to use the word "conjure" in itI actually sort of like the black and white version of the pic better (don't know what that means.)
Her greatness is up to her neck in sharks, thanks, and laundry, and has been ducking Mr. Radthorne because I have been woefully poor in living up to my responsibilities in the last week. But I'm working on it. I may get the software program -- Jessie is interested -- but I think I'll try to find it in a store first.
I read "The Dance" and found it interesting, very Holbrook in style and sentence structure with some HE on the imagery. I was a little confused by the stag/dancer parallel structure at first, but I got the hang of it. It's a very sad story. I think Kevin's picture for it is too happy-looking.
No, they didn't ask; but that's ok; they did credit me, and kept my name on the image (one reason I slap it on there so prominently...). As with HE, it's nice to have created something that inspires other people to create as well. I posted a note on their forum this evening, thanking them for the kind comments, and oh-by-the-way-if-you-liked-the-picture-here's-a-link-to-my-site. Seems fair. Maybe somebody will click there and decide they'd like to read a nice fantasy book!
I share Kat's perception that the structure of The Dance was rather confusing at first, but once I got the hang of it, that part was fine. Too happy on the picture, you say? Well, I could have shown them both dead lying on the ground!But that seems a tad grim...
Someone was asking for a picture...
I'm on the side of happy. The tale is not supposed to be grim; it is supposed to describe the cycle of life, one generation supplanting another. The supplanted generation has no reason to grieve; that's just the way it is. And a danged good thing, too. Consider a world where a young lady must spend the rest of her life listening to her mother's advice. The ideal, it seems to me, is to arrive at the state where you can look back and see that it was a very good dance. If you can do that, you can meet the stag in an afterlife and reminisce on the good times.
Now, imagine a world where I was always there to ramble on and on. Ugh!
The presentation originally used two different font types for stag and old man. We lost that in the submission due to submission guidelines or some other reason I don't remember anymore. With two fonts, the confusion evaporates.
Well, the rider is not Lessa as the dragon is green but it looks like it could be Pern. She must have just dropped in for a hot dog and a soda, taking a break during the lull in thread fighting.*
*Sounds like a description of the mods keeping sffworld clean, doesn't it?
Last edited by Hereford Eye; August 24th, 2006 at 08:41 AM.
I like the dragon rider pic but ... could you tone down the color parts? How are the colors standing out through the mist? Even the dragon looks too bright. Think if the whole pic was in black and white it would look totally awesome!
That argument works until I imagine having to do without my mom just yet, and then it doesn't.
On the dragon picture, it does look sort of black and white in the background with the mist and the buildings, so the green dragon is a very bright contrast. Why is she holding out a sword? There isn't anybody else in the air, and wouldn't it be dangerous to take off with sword drawn for no reason? (Just trying on my HE hat.)
Great... I finally get a passing grade from HE (anytime I'm not skewered for out-of-place cheese/candles is a victory), and along comes another one...
Here's a black and white version, for your review:
Kevin,
I got my Westwind today and enjoyed your cover picture and poking around your website. Between the two of us we took up a good portion of the Westwind issue. I couldn't find an email address so thought I'd try this route.
My son J W Kalin also does fantasy and science fiction illustrations but works mostly with oils. You may have seen some of his work at various cons. He did the illustrations for my children's book, The Mountains of the Moon.
Jan Clark, a fellow Windstorm author
gramajan@earthlink.net
Hi Jan, and thanks! Yes, I'd say Windstorm seems to have a strong representation in Westwind this issue - I don't think it was necessarily planned that way, but it works well for both of us, I think! Great article, by the way. It was a fun read!
I do recall seeing the cover of The Mountains of the Moon, so I must have come across some of JW's stuff, probably at one of the cons, as you say.
My email address is somewhere there on my site, I think on the Biography page. Hopefully we'll have a chance to bump into one another, either at a con or perhaps at some Windstorm event.
Looks great in black and white. Question: why are the rider's and guardsman's armor so bright, along with the fountain? Moon ore?
As for her sword being out: she's showing off, very dangerous as she can easily lose her seat ... which is why her left arm is so long and all bent up. She didn't learn the first ten times
Hmm, looks interesting in black and white. I don't know -- what does everyone think?
I'm sorry to be negative on the sword, but it does seem a little strange. Plus she's sitting up straight when she should be leaning forward because the dragon is ascending. The G forces would then be pressing her backwards unless she makes herself flatter. But I do like the picture in general.
Ok, I tried playing around with this image just to try something different. One problem with a big scene like this is that it pretty much maxes out my machine, since the dragon is a really huge model all by itself, plus I have three human figures with their clothing textures, and all the buildings, props, etc. In fact, after having it crash on me several times, I tried rendering the dragon and rider separately from the background and compositing them together in Photoshop.
Anyway, I'm sure this makes no particular sense either, but I thought it would be fun to try a flying "rider" (at least it's something different, eh?). I also altered the color some on the background. I think it needs a little color down there, but I tried toning it down a bit.
Last edited by Radthorne; August 26th, 2006 at 01:25 AM.
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