#087 Submission!

You might remember I mentioned something that I would be doing with my Silver Chair book cover. Well, I just did what I said I would be doing.
Entering the IlluXCon annual Scholarship Contest!!
Each year in Altoona PA just about every major sci-fi/fantasy illustrator known to mankind gets together to hold IlluXCon where they teach classes, host lectures, and get to hang out with wannabes like me. And every year, they offer scholarships to up & coming students whose art catches the eye of 5 judges. So I submitted my humble illo for The Silver Chair so I could be in the running for one of those coveted scholarships. I really really really want to win. So wish me luck! If it really happens this'll be the chance of a lifetime!

My Final Submission:

Approaching Harfang Castle
Photoshop & Painter 11

#086 New Painting WIP

Here's the beginning value stage for a new painting I've started. I think it's gonna be pretty cool. I've got two other projects going at the same time before my summer semester starts: "Jewel Heist: Mars", and my final personal revisions for my Silver Chair cover. Honestly, I'm ready to move on from the book cover project. There's a lot of things I want to fix, but I'm not sure yet if it's worth it. I'm just tired of looking at it so much! Anyway, I've got until the 15th of June to make revisions before I can reveal what I'm going to do with it... he he he.
They say new artists need to get their first couple of hundred paintings out of their system before they really start getting good. I believe it, so the more the merrier my friends!
Happy Photoshop Painting!

#085 Silver Chair Book Cover: Final

So here is the final version of my book cover project for C. S. Lewis' The Chronicles of Narnia: The Silver Chair. Again, looking rather anemic in my browser, yet not completely unsatisfying to see this piece in a finished form.

However, the term "finished form" is a bit misleading. Because, really, this piece is not completely finished. I still don't feel right about this painting (which was done in Corel Painter 11, then tweaked a little in Photoshop). It just feels like it needs something more.

Now if you follow me on Twitter, you may have heard my desperate pleas for suggestions. I need some post-production advice on this thing (obviously it's kind of late to be fixing compositional issues), but I would love to hear about anything regarding the lighting, color, etc. Is it washed out? Too muddy? Tell me!

And I would really like to hear any suggestions regarding a brush, Photoshop or Painter, that would allow me to add stars easily to the sky. This seems like a no-brainer, but I really wasn't able to put stars into the composition, due to a lack of technical ability!

So, thanks in advance to any feedback you might have. As an added bonus, if you leave a comment, I'll respond back in the comments section telling you how wonderful and brilliant you are. Okay?

And I still have a little revelation about this project that I will share later... nothing much, but I'm kind of excited about it.
Alright, enough for now. I look forward to your comments!

-Will