Staying true to what actually happens in the book, Dave Dorman first painted Jane topless, then covered her up for the official cover of Jane Carver of Waar. Now he’s sent me the topless version, and like the true friend I am, I’m sharing it with you!

Night Shade Books wants you to know that this has nothing to do with them. They publish respectable books with no nakedness on the covers. This is just between me, Dave Dorman and the world.

Thanks, Dave!

I haven’t done an art post in a while, but I found Noelle’s blog and had to share. Noelle is a great illustrator and cartoonist, and apparently a complete and utter geek. Yay! There’s a lot of fun noodling and doodling on the blog, but every once in a while she does something like this…

Yes, that would be a matador sailor fighting a giant squid while riding a sea horse. As they say on the internet, “Your argument is invalid.”

Noelle seems to like kick-ass heroines having over the top adventures. I wonder what she’d do with Jane or Ulrika.

My advance reading copies are here! So cool!

Yes, I’m blogging about posting on another blog when I have neglected this one for too long.

Head on over to the Night Bazaar, Night Shade Books’ author blog, where I will be blogging every Friday until Jane Carver comes out. This week I introduce myself, talk about my favorite books of last year, and last but not least say a few words about Jane Carver of Waar and reveal the full cover for the first time.

Oh, and it’s here too…

Night Shade Books put it up ON THEIR SITE, so I can at last show you the fantastic art Dave Dorman did for Jane Carver of Waar. I am so thrilled to have my story illustrated by such a consummate professional. Just look at this!

I stole this from my old Live Journal blog. I was thinking about it all again and decided to repost it. It’s about communication in Art and Writing.

The end product of all art (writing/painting/sculpture/film-making/etc.) is NOT the book or print or statue or movie the artist made. The end product of all art is the reaction that the book/print/statue/etc causes in the heart and mind of the person who looks at it. (laughter/tears/rage/joy/horror/etc.)

Art is just a way to take the pictures in your head and the emotions in your heart, and put them into the head and heart of someone else. It is communication. Pure and simple. If you want a person who looks at your work to see what you had in your mind, and feel what you had in your heart, then you must learn to communicate clearly and powerfully.

In illustration, that means learning to draw and paint as well as you can, because if you’re thinking like Frazetta, but your fingers are only making stick figures, no one is going to see it like you saw it.

In writing, it means learning to think clearly and write cleanly. If you’ve got a great epic fantasy novel in your head, but your fingers type “…some doods went to teh forrest and totally killd some Orkz” no-one who reads it is going feel it like you felt it.

So, to sum up. Art is communication. Knowledge and technique help make that communication clear.

Woo.

I’ve been lax lately about linking to cool artists I find on the web. Well, no more!

I found Marek Madej while browsing ConceptArt.org and really liked his haunting, sketchy style. I don’t know anymore about him than what is on his info page, which says he is a concept artist in Poland, but it is obvious from his sketches and daily exercises that he loves to draw. Link through the pics to check out his art blog.

November - Marek Madej

Colossus - Marek Madej

Whew!

For a while there I really thought I would get no entries at all, but finally, right at the end, a bunch of art came in all at once and saved the day. Still, I didn’t get that many entries, so I’m going to go ahead and post them all.

First up, the miniature contest. I only got one entry for this half of the contest, so Adam would have been a winner regardless of quality, but he did a great job. I really like the attention to detail on this. He even got the mask. Congratulations, Adam Parkhouse!

Next up is the Art Contest. There were six entries, and I’ll finish with the winners last. Here we go:

Amos Webb.

Dave Ploss

Ian Rosenthal

Second Runner-Up is Jen Miller

First Runner-Up is Greg Humes

And the Winner is Nadine Greß. Well done, Nadine. Excellent work! The line work and detail are fantastic!

Thanks to all who entered! Congratulations to all the winners! Please, winners, send me your mailing addesses so I can send you your prizes!

Right, it’s the 31st, so the contest is over. The last entries came in yesterday, just under the wire. I didn’t get as many as I’d hoped, but there were some good ones. I will get it all sorted out, post all the entries, and announce the winners next Monday, June 6th.

Thanks, all, for entering!

So cool!

Winona Nelson has sent the Bloodforged prints that I will be giving away as prizes in the Bloodforged art and mini contest, and here they are, with the book on the side to show the scale. They are beautiful, high quality prints on heavy paper, and are signed by Winona and myself.

Man, I almost want to keep one for me!