Monday, October 27, 2008

THE SHADOW AND THE FLAME

This image is for the first book in a series of four, I think, by talented author, Denise Rossetti, who is exploring afresh direction in the Fantasy genre. It is a hot book, in many ways and well-written, too! I recently was interviewed by her on her blog, http://www.deniserossetti.com/blog/, for the launching of the series by Berkley Books.
Briefly, it's a fantasy world in which certain rare people are inhabited by powers , such as Fire , Breath, Shadow, etc. The Powers are also very involved with the sexual natures of their carriers, though it seems they are incomplete without their opposite power. Denise, forgive me if I mangled this synopsis!
My challenge was to get across this intense sexuality and heat of the fire spirit within our heroine. I worked with a scene where Cenda is beginning to explore her sexual nature with the fire in her tavern room. I wanted to get across the torment she had about her, the longing and also the amazing power of fire that she was just beginning to control. My model for this was Ewa Da Cruz, who once again carried a role way beyond the usual! Photography was by Shirley Green. Inspriration was partly the work of William Blake, whose 18th century paintings transcend time.

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Sunday, August 24, 2008

THE STEEL WAVE


This is an oil painting for the book, The Steel Wave, by Jeff Shaara, published recently by Random House. It was created using as reference that famous photo of the Omaha Beach landing on D-Day, photo used with permission. Whenever I do a war image I feel a deep sadness the whole time. I hate war and think we humans should evolve past this type of brutality. At the same time I mourn the young men and women who get thrown into the middle of these things! I can imagine their terror as they struggled in the icy waves to get ever closer into range of the machine guns and exploding shells. How did any of them survive and how did they remain sane after witnessing that maelstrom of death? I am humbled to be portraying them and yet I condemn those "masters of War", who brought into being the need for those soldiers to wade ashore that day!

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Saturday, July 12, 2008

RUNAWAY McBRIDE


I haven't had a call for a lady wearing a bustle in ages, so when I received this assignment, Runaway McBride, by Elizabeth Barton, Berkley Books, for a woman wearing a beautiful bustle ball gown, it was an ice change from the string of Regencies I've been doing. Costume history note: 1870s were the era of the bustle, an enlarged, padded under structure that protruded out the back, emphasizing the rear, but also giving the upper body a lean look by contrast. Corsets helped with this part,of course. By contrast the Regency women's fashion was emulating the ancient Greek look of unstructured simplicity, moving the waistline high, just under the breast and allowing for long, flowing folds below. I think it would be interesting to bring back the bustle, but I can't see it happening in todays world of cars, elevators and computer desks. Maybe at some gala occasion it would be quite a departure.
Enough about fashion! I was very pleased with the way this image came out. It was one of three I submitted. I wanted the girl to stand out an be featured, but also for an design element to flow behind her. In this case a William Morris inspired design was used and seemed to work well with the period and pose.
I want to thank photographer, Shirley Green, model Lauren Delollio and costume designer, Sharon Spiak for their great help in making this image possible.
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Sunday, January 27, 2008

SCANDAL'S DAUGHTER



This illustration was done recently for a book titled, Scandal's Daughter, by Christine Wells. It's a case where where I haven't read the book, so I can't comment on the writing or story, but it looks to be getting great reviews. I was given the barest of facts, the heroine's age, hair color, time period and a bit about her character. They also had a scene in mind, which is helpful, but the rest I basically made up and hoped it was right for the story. I went with the heroine's personality, which was independent and strong-willed. The publisher mentioned an English house in the distance and a horse grazing mid-ground, so I decided she had been riding, even though wearing her Regency dress. I gave her chamois gloves and a riding crop to help get that across and had her thoroughbred wearing a saddle. The idea of having her looking away from us, into the scene was requested from the art director and I really think it brings the viewer right into what she's looking at. This is also a way of allowing the female reader to place herself in the role of the heroine, and not get hung up on her face. In this case, the face, and body, too, belongs to Suzanne Fogarty, a model I have worked with many times and always is superb!

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