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Hard times for a fellow freelancer

| Aaron McConnell

Pelgrane Press, the publisher of the yet to be released 13th Age core book, posted some unfortunate news earlier today concerning the layout designer for the book:

Chris Huth has produced excellent art and layout for Pelgrane Press including Ashen Stars, Night’s Black Agents and 13th Age. Last week his apartment suffered extensive damage from a fire. (You can read more news reports here and here.) Luckily, no one was hurt, but he and his partner have lost their home and most of their possessions. His computer and software – the tools of his trade –  and all backup drives have been destroyed with very little chance of recovery. Chris is sleeping in friends’ houses while he searches for somewhere to live.

Please go to the Pelgrane site to find out how you can help Chris and what this means for the 13th Age release schedule.  Below is a small sample of Chris’ layout work for the book:

layout_chrishuth13thAgeVignetteDummy

Post ECCC 2013

| Aaron McConnell

AAMcC_ECCC2013Photo by Georgia Ball (or was it Scott?)

I spent Emerald City Comicon with my son this year.  With his help I was able to keep abreast of some of the happenings beyond my table.  The next convention that he and I will attend together will be Stumptown Fest and if all goes according to plan he should have some of his artwork and comics available for sale, as well.  At ECCC we both spent some time drawing behind the table.  Below are some 13th Age commissions and you can find some of the drawings and photos by my son at his blog.  My thanks to those who stopped by my table.

ECCC_ForgeBorn_3ECCC_HulkinaECCC_MirrorFighters

Tableau of Merch

| Aaron McConnell

Here’s a little preview of some items that I will be selling at Emerald City Comicon this weekend.  You can find me at Table 2617 (or thereabouts) on the ECCC Level 4 Show Floor.  The framed image depicting a mantis attack in this snapshot will be on sale in the Krab Jab Studios Art Exhibit “The Gathering” on the TCC Level 3.  13th Age will also be represented on one of the TCC Levels of the Gaming Show Floor.

See you there!

photo_AMcC_Merch

PS. The Diabolist original art in the right hand corner of this image is spoken for, but for the time being you can still request a similar commission.

 

 

Portland Opera Presents…

| Aaron McConnell

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Don Giovanni.  This version has been updated by the stage director and self-proclaimed “bad boy of opera,” Christopher Alden.  I was invited to the rehearsal the other night (lucky!) and contributed the following drawings.  There are two more productions of Don Giovanni in Portland this weekend, November 8th and 10th.

“Why you take everything so serious, Aaron?”  Good question, Joker.  Funnier drawings by Portland cartoonists can be found here.

Behind-the-Illustration: The Priestess of 13th Age

| Aaron McConnell

The Priestess hears all the Gods of Light and speaks for those who please her. She is part oracle, part mystic, and part metaphysical engineer, since she created the Cathedral, an ever-expanding temple with rooms or entire wings for each of the faiths she favors.   –From the 13th Age icon teaser description.

Lee Moyer really made this piece his own with the digital paints.  I sometimes have a guess about how the light and color will work when I turn the pencils over to him, but this was one of the cases where the final result was a total surprise.  I just gazed in awe for a few minutes when he sent it to me.  We had discussed the architectural design of Hugh Ferriss as an influence for the Priestess’ cathedral, so evidently I was expecting the background to be mostly monochromatic.  I have come to understand that the tastes of the Priestess are much more diverse and spectacular.

Below an extremely crude thumbnail.  (I’m lucky that Lee and Rob can look at something like this and determine whether it’s a direction I should pursue, or not.)

One Strange, One Creeper

| Aaron McConnell

I managed to do a little drawing during ECCC.  I started this Dr Strange (reading Lovecraft) without a commission request and kept chipping away at it, but didn’t finish until I got home.  The Creeper piece was done for an entire sketchbook of Creeper drawings.  There were some really nice pieces in that book, and yes, I was intimidated.  I wanted to have rain pouring down on the Creeper through the grate in true Ditko fashion, but fortunately for the sake of time and sanity my table mate, Dennis Culver, talked me down from that ledge.  It takes experience to get comfortable sketching at conventions, I’ve found.  I’m amazed to see people who crank them out in the double digits.  Some artists manage to get commissions before the show and do a lot of the design layout prior, so they can focus on the rendering exclusively during the Con.  That’s a sweet arrangement.  Anyhow, I did a couple other commissions and if you, Dear Reader, were the recipient and want to send me a scan of the piece to post on my blog, please do so (find my email top right of this page).  I had a request for a Sandman in another sketchbook, but the timing didn’t work out.  I wish I had asked to see the book, though, and I’m wondering which Sandman it was.  I assumed Gaiman’s…but which Gaiman version…hmm, apparently I wasn’t prepared to do a Sandman.  Oh, but next time I will be;)