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Illustrator

Farewell to Realms of Fantasy…again

Realms of Fantasy has kicked the bucket now for the second time. I feel sad about this, but at the same time the past year has sort of slowly weaned me off the magazine due to the lackluster design and the so-so stories.

One day in 1994 (when I was 12) my dad came home with an issue of Realms, a fantasy short story magazine, and dazzled by the amazing illustrations and really cool fantasy stories I’ve been reading it ever since. I credit this magazine for introducing illustration to me as an art form and introducing me to some of my favourite contemporary illustrators (Alan Lee, Brian Froud, Kinuko Craft, John Howe, Yvonne Gilbert and so many more).

I became interested in folklore solely because of Terri Windling’s Folkroots column which was always so interesting and featured so many classic illustrations from the great Golden Age illustrators (Rackham, Dulac, Nielsen, etc.), and have incorporated folkloric themes into my own art since then.

Well Realms, it’s been a great 16 years and you’ve been a major player in my artistic development. I’m sad that I’ll never get to illustrate a story for you, but I will treasure every issue I’ve collected (or should I say that my dad has bought me) since 1994.

Here is a collection of my favourite covers:

 

My first ever issue

 

 

I copied this cover when I was 13 in pencil crayon.

 

 

Love this cover by Kinuko Craft

 

Save the Sudbury Watertowers Art Show

Joel and I (but mostly Joel) organized an art show at the local Fromagerie to save the Sudbury watertowers, which were slated for demolition…but now are saved!

We don’t expect anyone to give Joel credit for pretty much raising awareness in a city that doesn’t give a sh*t about most things cultural, but I want to put it on record that Joel is basically the reason these watertowers  were saved, by keeping the issue in the local media.

Just goes to show, blogs go a long way in small places. Read more about it at his Save the Sudbury Watertowers blog.

My watertower sketch (which I drew plein air about a year ago) went up in the show beside Joel’s. We were sitting in the same spot, so the sketches are pretty similar, the only difference being that mine has a bit of colour in it.

 

Backlog- Costa Rica Sketches

As I mentioned previously, my website is a complete mess at the moment. I don’t know what happened and quite frankly I don’t know how to fix it. I’m looking at a complete overhaul (again) in the near future.

Anyway, I’ve finally managed to upload my Costa Rica sketches. I went to Costa Rica for six days in August and I sketched nearly every day (I’m so proud of myself). I always wanted to be one of those artists who keeps an amazing travel sketchbook, so hopefully I’m working my way up to that. I’m not very good at filling up the entire page and drawing over other things, but I started to do it a bit this time.

The Teatro Nacional in San José. San José really doesn’t have that much going for it in terms of architecture, but this is one of the better historical buildings. Unfortunately it was closed when I sketched this. I also got a sunburn while sketching this.

 

A beach in Manuel Antonio. It was so humid here that the sand was constantly wet and stuck to you. I honestly thought I would pass out from the humidity. It never dried so and I kept finding sand in my clothes for the next few days.

 

Another beach sketch in Manuel Antonio. There really is nothing else to do on the beach but sketch the people lazing around.

 

Costa Rica is known for its orchids, some which are almost microscopic.