Odd Jobs, Part 3

One of the positives of being an illustrator is that there is the potential to reap financial benefits from previously created work. Such was the case ten years ago after I had stuck my somewhat disconcerting self portrait onto promotional postcards and sent them out into the world. (This painting now serves to remind my kids that "daddy is watching", although the lack of glasses and the presence of bangs makes it a little less recognizable to them. But when I can afford lasik- look out! I don't intend to get plugs, however, to solve the other problem).

Back to the original train of thought-- I soon realized after sending these postcards out that it was a poor choice, as I didn't intend to make portraiture my specialty. Not to worry, though, I didn't get any jobs from the mailing. Well, not any NEW jobs. Besides the inconsequential "you're on file" return postcards, I did get one magazine exec to write and ask permission to use the image I sent in their magazine. The price was $350, and for not having to do any additional work to make it happen I thought that was a pretty sweet deal.

Big...mistake.

Your probably asking, "what was the magazine?" I'm not about to tell you. I did check it out AFTER sending back a contract and became more wide-eyed than I am in the painting. The magazine was a sleezefest and I was glad to not find my mug within its pages. Maybe it happened in the subsequent issue.

I hope not.

Instruments of War

My latest T-shirt design:



Mankind can be so cruel...

A piece to appear in this year's Spectrum Fantasy Arts

I recently learned that my piece "A Midsummer Night's Dream" will appear in the book "SPECTRUM 15- The Best in Contemporary Fantasy Art", to be release later this year.
This piece was created for The Pioneer Theatre Company's production of the play.

Here is the Spectrum Web Site --See "about" and "books" sections.

Prints are available at my Etsy shop.


Click the above image for a larger view.

The Ali'i Warrior- New Book Cover

I recently finished a book cover for author Jon Shute, who is self publishing his new book "The Ali'i Warrior. Kudos to him for his hard work in getting his book out (he's almost there), I'm sure it's been a lot of work and a lot of money. A second Kudos (and a thank you) to him for wanting to get a proper illustration for the book cover, as opposed to finding some clip art or filling the cover with REALLY BIG TYPE. There was a lot of mental energy into deciding what would go on the cover- whether to pick a specific scene, a collage of images, or something symbolic. The end result is sort of a scene from the book (though not quite) with a lot of important symbols from the book. Enough with the talk, though, here's the cover (sans the type):


I consciously tried to add more color than I am usually wont to do. It's strange that sometimes I try to do so and I end up muting them too much all the same.

I'm switching to fashion design (Okay, not really)

Starting out a career as an illustrator has been exciting and challenging. I've had a steady stream of work since making the plunge over a year ago, but the finances can still cause a lot of worry- I'll get paid for a job (usually late) and be okay for a little while, but the graph (as I see it in my very visual brain) starts its immediate descent.

All that to say that I needed some kind of steady income to act as a financial base in between jobs. It needed to be something art-related and something I could be passionate about, so I decided to put artwork on shirts by way of screen printing. Though I paint in a very detailed and meticulous way, I do like doing more graphic (err.. bold, not violent) images, and it's a way to relax a little in between the more mind-consuming painting jobs.

Starting up a screen printing shop can cost thousands with professional equipment, so instead I enlisted my friend Dan (a common ally in creative ventures) to help me build something. Well, here's a picture of the press, albeit without any screens attached:



I've been using it for the past week now and it works wonderfully. The fruits of my labors can be seen at my Etsy site: http://phippsart.etsy.com

So far I've just used some of my existing artwork, but I've got a few new things planned for the upcoming weeks, including a maternity shirt. I never thought I'd be designing maternity shirts...