I've been asked by a number of folks whether the Temeraire Fanart I created made it through to the winners circle in the Temeraire Fanart contest.  I can now confirm that it did! Which is spectacular! I've known for a while, but because it wasn't formally announced I wanted to keep schtum which was really difficult!

More details can be found here;  

[link]

Congratulations to all the fantastic artists involved, some of whom I follow here on Deviant Art and thanks to Naomi Novik and her team for making this possible. I'm sure the finished article will be awesome!

Tip 1: When making marmalade ensure that the kitchen is well ventilated, otherwise the condensation will make it look like you've been stashing a giant tank of fanta upstairs that's suddenly sprung a leak. Someone pointed out to me half the adventures in my life seem to involve condiments or the likes...the life of a Concept Artist is totally Rock N Roll...

Hey Folks,

It's been a while! Sorry I've been so quiet, but I have been checking in periodically to see what's been going on and  all your comments have been very much appreciated.  Like a lot of artists do at some point, I've been going through a period of doubt. When your passion becomes a job there's a lot of conflict you have to deal with.

I've recently been reading a book called 'Art and Fear: Observations On The Perils (and Rewards) of Artmaking' by David Bayles and Ted Orland. I would heartily recommend it to any creative. It discusses a lot of the worries many of us have, but what's interesting is that by formalising them in the written word it allows us to look at them from a fresh perspective. A lot of the time these irrational fears are running through our heads so fast we don't really spend time looking at them as seeing whether they're actually justified. I was recommended this book a while back and it sat of my shelf for the longest time, unread, but I'm grateful I bought a copy even though I didn't think I needed it at the time.

In lighter news I'll be contributing to an article in Advanced Photoshop. I think it's released in the UK at the end of this month, I don't know whether it's a simultaneous release in places like the US, but I'll be discussing my personal project the Insect Dynasty. I don't know how big my contribution will be, but it was a blast to do. A lot of my time is spent planning the story arc for the Insect Dynasty. I'm almost done and ready to write book 1...FINALLY! Books 2 and 3 are sketched out, it feels good to finally get this thing moving. As it develops I'll start posting more up as I'm holding stuff back until I have the narrative to back it up.

I've been meaning to do prints for a while and that's a project which is slowly taking shape. I may well put the Humragon pic up on Deviant art for purchase whilst I get this other thing up and running. I've also made a little toy design for the Humragon which I'd love to make into a set  showing off the different species. I've just popped it up on PatchTogether and if you've got a moment to vote for it, I'd be very grateful.  You need to create an account to vote, but voting isn't a commitment to buy at this stage. I think it needs at least 100 votes before it gets prototyped.

Right, I better get things rolling again, what with Dragon Age II, ME3 and Skyrim all in the same year, there's precious little time!


   


Take it easy

Nick

Hey Folks!

I've been here a month now and I scarcely feel like I've scratched the surface of all the cool things going on at DA. A big thanks to everyone who's visited my page! It's been a busy few weeks, i've got a couple of small entries cropping up in a couple of Photoshop Mags in Nov so i'll be sprucing up my websites in preparation as i'm postively glacial with my website updates.

Pure Reason Revolution have a new Album coming out tomorrow, check out the 'Valour' track on their website. I love their cascading lyrics, never fails to get me in the mood for painting.

[link]

Take it easy!

I'm totally overwhelmed by all the messages of welcome and feedback on my work. My thanks to all of you, it's very much appreciated!

I've been thinking about submitting some of my art to patchtogether to see whether I can get some resin sculpts made. If this interests you please have a gander at what i've submitted and tell me what you think. You'll need to register on the site to vote, but voting isn't a commitment to buy at this stage. Only if they secure enough votes will they go into pre-order.

I'll post the links up, but i fully expect this not to work, so bear with me if i end up posting a load of random text





Huzzah it worked! *breaths a sigh of relief* Thanks again for taking the time to look over my work!

I FINALLY got around to sorting out a Deviant Art account. There's so much cool stuff going on here it's a little overwhelming, especially the responses I've already had, so my thanks to everyone for looking over my work and I hope to add more cool stuff in the future. Take it easy!