My latest piece of art is this Geisha illustration that was created as a tutorial in Advanced Photoshop magazine issue 89. The image was created entirely in Photoshop using the Pen, Marquee and Brush tools.

The image was created over a two week period (a few hours a day since I had other projects) and started with a simple pencil sketch of the geisha that was scanned into Photoshop to be used as a guide or blueprint for the final piece of art.

A big thanks goes out to editor, Adam Smith for assigning me such an awesome project and keeping me on point during the process. So go out and buy the magazine when you get the chance.

This year I had the unbelievable honor of being the Artist Guest of Honor at Gen Con in Indianapolis, Indiana. This is an especially significant honor for me since I got my professional start in the fantasy gaming industry by showing my work to art directors and editors at Gen Con back in 1994. A huge thanks goes out to Barbara Fisher and the rest of the Gen Con team for giving me such a special moment in my professional career.

My wife, Silvia, at our booth.

I had attended Gen Con almost every year when it was located in my hometown of Milwaukee. In 2003, Gen Con moved to Indianapolis, and I just never got around to going. What a lazy bum I am! So this year was my first trip to Gen Con Indy. I had no idea what to expect.

When I learned that I was going to be the Artist Guest of Honor, I reached out to past Guests of Honor like my buddies Tony DiTerlizzi, Jeff Easley and Tom Baxa to see if they had any suggestions. The advice they gave helped me in planning for such an amazing event. A huge thanks goes out to those guys.

You gotta love that hair!

Silvia and me at our booth.

I knew I’d have a large booth, so months prior to the show I began making preparations to fill out the space I had with prints, original art and books. I even had a computer screen at my booth that ran looping video featuring a slideshow of my artwork and a timelapse video of me creating a drawing. Apparently, the Gen Con planners had moved the location of the Artist Guest of Honor booth this year to a more prime location. That’s an understatement, really. My booth was located practically in the middle of the main exhibit hall. Because of this, traffic at my booth was non-stop. Future Artist Guests of Honor will really appreciate this kind of exposure but will need to have an assistant with them. I was lucky enough to have my wonderful wife, Silvia, as a helper. I wouldn’t have survived the weekend without her.

Goofing around with some costume contest winners.

On Friday, the second day of the convention, I did a painting demo to a sold-out crowd. It was heartening to see so many people show up just to see me paint and learn a few tips. At the end of my demo, I collected tickets from everyone in preparation for a lottery drawing to give away the painting that I worked on during the demo. Joel Mentor was the lucky winner of the painting, and he couldn’t have been more excited.

From left to right: James Cole, me, Joel Mentor.

On Saturday, I was supposed to give another painting demo for a few VIGs (Very Important Gamers). Planning for that event got a little confusing, so timing didn’t work out as planned. In the end, only one VIG member was available for the painting demo. But this ended up being a great thing for that member because he got to sit down with me for a one-on-one lesson and demonstration. Joseph and I had a great time. At the end of my demo/lesson, I handed Joseph my brush, relinquished my seat, and let him work on my painting. He was thrilled to do so, and he actually did an amazing job!

VIGer Joseph and me during my painting demo.

One of the “duties” as Artist Guest of Honor is to help judge the Art Show. This is both exciting and scary. I love seeing art and the artists that create the work. I don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings if I don’t pick their work to win an award. So it is a very bittersweet assignment. That being said, two other artists joined me in judging the Art Show. The talented Wayne Reynolds and Chris Rahn are two artists whose work I admire, so it was great to walk around the Art Show with them and agree upon the winners. In fact, we were all in agreement most of the time with the artists we chose. This made the experience much easier and I didn’t have to fight it out with Wayne Reynolds, which we all know he would have lost!

Me with artist Chris Rahn.

Congratulations to Emily Fiegenschuh in winning first place for her amazing painting for the cover of her book, The Explorer’s Guide to Drawing Fantasy Creatures. Mark Poole took second place with his gorgeous painting, Snowblind. Scott Murphy received the Best in Show award for his painting, Goblin Engineer, which all of us judges fell in love with.

Me with the very tall and very talented John Esh.

Each of the judges had to agree on the artists chosen for the various prizes. However, we each received a Juror’s Choice award that we could give to any one artist of our sole choosing. I was struck by the work of artist John Esh. I found myself returning to his work time and again when I walked around the show. I felt his work was consistent, well done and he had a unique voice with his art.

Meeting artists at any convention is always a highlight for me. I look forward to seeing old friends and making new ones. I’d been away from Gen Con for so long that all of the artists I met there I had never met before. Some I have befriended through Facebook or other sites, but I never met them face-to-face. Jim Pavelec was one of those guys. Jim is such an amazingly talented artist whom I was excited to finally meet. A week after Gen Con, I would see Jim again at Chicago Comic Con. He’s a super great guy!

Me with the extraordinarily gifted artist, Ralph Horsley.

Then I got to meet the extremely talented Ralph Horsley, who is a really nice guy. We were fans of each other, so we traded paintings. I’d wish I had more time to pour over his paintings because they are so wonderful to look at, but I know I’ll be seeing him at other events.

I think artist Omar Rayyan is trying to eat my brain or he wants to make out with me.

Incredible artist Chris Seaman and me at his booth in the art show.

I also got to meet other amazing artists such as Omar Rayyan, Chris Seaman, Chris Rahn, Wayne Reynolds, Tyler Walpole, Vinod Rams, Mark Poole, Aaron Miller, and Dan Scott. All are very talented artists that create inspiring work to see in person.

That’s Chris Figueroa in the scarecrow outfit. Scary!

Signing the arm of a fan.

Giving a free copy of my Thumb Wars book to a lucky little girl

And this recap wouldn’t be complete if I didn’t thank the many fans and admirers of my work that stopped by to visit me at Gen Con. I am always humbled that so many people enjoy my work. It makes me so happy to hear stories from people about how my art inspired them to create art or how my work has been a part of their gaming adventures over the years. I wasn’t prepared for the response I received at Gen Con, it certainly made me feel great. Thank you all so much.

I hope to be back at Gen Con in 2012.

Hi everyone! I know it’s been a while since I’ve posted, but I have been busy with many projects. One of those projects I worked on late last year has finally arrived in stores. Thumb Wars: The Ultimate Guide is a thumb wrestling activity book published by Klutz/Scholastic for which I created all of the illustrations, along with some of the text treatments and some page layouts. The team over at Klutz, Jill Turney (Art Director) and Eva Steele-Staccio (Writer & Editor), made this an amazingly fun project to work on. Officially the book hits stores in February, but it is already showing up with various online retailers. The book even comes with a really cool, unique glove for you and an opponent to wear while thumb wrestling. So go out and buy the book!

The book at Klutz

The book at Amazon.com

The latest issue of Creative Quarterly Magazine (issue 20) features one of my images entitled Mayan Walker. I’m in the company of such legendary illustrators as Anita Kunz and David Palumbo, so check out the magazine if you get a chance.

Also, a project I had been working on for Scholastic/Klutz Books a few months back is now available for pre-order at Amazon.com and will be released February 1, 2011. The book, Thumb Wars: The Ultimate Guide, is full of illustrations and various thumb wrestling games, techniques, and challenges. It also comes packaged with the “Sleeve of Doom,” a slick, shiny sleeve that locks the two opponent’s hands in place while they battle it out.

Also, I’ll be selling and signing copies of Welcome to Monster Isle at the Edgerton Book Festival in Edgerton, Wisconsin on Saturday, October 23rd from 10am-4pm. Special guest at the festival will be author/illustrator Chris Van Allsburg. Hope to see you there!

I now had my reward. A killer book by a killer artist that I could pour over for the next week or so. And I did. I’ve known Brian for more than 18 years and I’ve watched his artwork grow and get better every single year. A book collecting his art has been a long time coming for us fans of his craft. And the book doesn’t disappoint. One of the things I’ve always disliked about many artbooks is that the artist never talks about each piece of art, its creation process, concept behind it, techniques applied, etc. Brian, however, gives fans exactly what they want. He has included his own personal notes about almost every piece of art in the book, including preliminary sketches. There isn’t a single wasted space in the book, as it is packed with cool art, awesome tidbits, and really nifty photos sprinkled throughout. You’ll also find quotes from some of the top people in the art and rock fields (Brian must have paid these people hefty amounts of cash to say such nice things about him).

All kidding aside, I can’t say enough great things about Brian. Even though he has risen to the heights of rock poster super stardom, he has remained one of the most down-to-earth artists and friends I know. I suspect this won’t be the only book collecting his work, as he is a non-stop, art-making machine. Thank goodness for all of us!

If you’ve read this far and you don’t know who Brian is, you’re some kind of nerd that’s apparently been living in a cave. Go check out his website, then stop being such a stingy punk and drop a few bucks to buy his book. You won’t regret it.

When you get your first award for writing or illustrating, it’s a big deal. A very big deal. A mega big deal. So you can imagine how proud I am that my daughter won her first book award!

Antonia took second place in the 2010 Wisconsin Association of School Boards’ Write and Illustrate Your Own Picture Book Contest! Her awesome creation, The Mummy Comes Moaning, was judged one of the best among 342 entries state-wide. She competed in the 4th & 5th grade division. Along with a certificate of commendation and a cash award, her book will travel the state to be displayed at the WASB Fall Regional Meetings and the State Education Convention held in Milwaukee in January of 2011.

Toni put so much thought and time into her project. She had to meet strict requirements and deadlines. She created her book from scratch, hand-binding it herself. She wrote and rewrote her story. She sketched and painted and added various media to creatively illustrate each scene. She devoted many evening and weekend hours to turn in the best book she could. In the end, it was a masterpiece, and she’s incredibly proud to see that work rewarded.

My wife, Silvia, and I couldn’t be happier for her. Congrats to you, Toni! Well done!