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November 10th, 2009
10:56 pm - Holiday on Phreetum Prime
 Copyright © 2009 Richard H. Fay Holiday on Phreetum Primeby Richard H. Fay Twin red suns rise over a crimson sea As wudols twitter a raucous chorus Amongst the majestic etafal trees. Saunter beneath the weeping purple fronds And sip a cup of sytunn flower tea While wine-stained waters kiss a chartreuse shore. Sail the ruby waves on a solar sloop. Watch black-winged tijucks fish for mugaspits. Feel the droning hum of an ulorn's song As it dives right under your silver ship. Weigh anchor beside Glastornak Island And marvel at its tall crystalline spires. Return to your quaint cliff side veranda In time to see the blue shubiyemps dance. Laugh at their crazy mating rituals, But then shed a tear when the males drop dead. Join the joyous feast and masquerade To honour the fatal change of seasons. Rest quietly beneath the yellow gaze Of Phreetum Prime's seething volcanic moon. Spy golden sprites flaring in the night sky As ion storms clash in the stratosphere. Be lulled to sleep by a burgana's trill As a soft breeze blows across the dark sea. (Poem originally published in Star*Line, March/April 2008)
Current Mood: artistic
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November 1st, 2009
03:49 pm - A Leviathan Ascendant in MindFlights
"A Leviathan Ascendant" now appears on the cover of the November 2009 issue of the e-zine MindFlights. Check it out!
Current Mood: artistic
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03:34 pm - Abandoned Towers Issue #4
Robin in Sherwood Forest
© Copyright 2009 Richard H. Fay
Abandoned Towers Issue #4 is now in print. Within the pages of this zine you can find the above colouring page, "Robin in Sherwood". In addition, my cinquain chain or swirl (I'm not exactly sure which it would technically be) "Amongst Faerie Oaks" and its accompanying illustration also appear in the same issue.
Copies of Abandoned Towers Issue #4 are available for purchase here.
Current Mood: accomplished
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October 28th, 2009
02:03 pm - Niteblade Art Blog: House of Chamberlin
This Halloween, for a different kind of treat, visit the House of Chamberlin. Open its heavy oaken doors, step through its dark stone threshold, and prowl its eerie halls. Spy strange, wondrous, fantastic, and frightful scenes. Meet lusty vampires, hungry werewolves, macabre musicians, and deadly dragons. Check out examples of Ric Chamberlin's artwork in the latest Niteblade Art Blog entry, "House of Chamberlin".
Cheers and chills!
Current Mood: spooky
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October 19th, 2009
01:31 pm - Guest Blogger at LEARNING DARK ARTS
Today, I am a guest blogger over at Robert G. Male's blog Learning Dark Arts. Robert graciously asked if I could be a guest blogger sometime this month. He hoped I could come up with an entry discussing my personal creative process. Well, I did, resulting in "Traditional Meets Digital".
If you want to learn a little bit more about how I go about creating my artwork, please read my entry in the Learning Dark Arts blog.
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11:16 am - Art Accepted at MindFlights
Today, I received word that the editorial team at MindFlights has accepted my artwork "A Leviathan Ascendant" for use in a future issue of their e-zine. I don't know when the piece will appear, but as always, I'll post a link when it's up.
"A Leviathan Ascendant" was one of three pieces of artwork I sent to MindFlights. The other two were turned down. Now, I will be the first to admit that they accepted the best of the bunch; I consider "A Leviathan Ascendant" to be one of my finest works yet. And now that I know they like my style enough to use my art, down the line I may compose something new for submission to the zine ("A Leviathan Ascendant" originally appeared as the cover image for Abandoned Towers Issue #3). However, there was an interesting dichotomy apparent in a couple of the comments regarding the rejection of another illustration, "Polypod at Home". This is what two different members of the editorial team had to say:
"I find the color scheme jarring. A no from me."
"I like the colors but not the content."
One apparently didn't like my rather weird colour scheme. Another seems to have liked the colours, but disliked my choice of creepily alien subject. I can't help but to grin with mild amusement over these opposing opinions. This rejection is too interesting to be upsetting.
It looks as if my constant comments about tastes, opinions, and preferences differing from reader to reader apply equally well to viewers of visual art, which should come as no real surprise. After all, art appreciation can be a very subjective thing.
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/classic/smile.gif) amused
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October 10th, 2009
11:58 am - The Banshee's Cry
The Banshee's Cry
A fell keening echoes across the moor,
Punctuated by the pealing thunder.
Pouring rain lashes at the windowpane
While argent cracks flash in the darkened sky,
But the tumultuous storm cannot quell
The ominous wailing of that fey hag.
A figure wrapped in a funeral shroud
Glides swiftly across the tempest-wracked heath
And draws closer to this ancient estate.
A fearful being of mist and shadow,
Well imbued with sinister witchery,
Forewarns of a preternatural doom.
Master of this mouldering edifice
Inhabited only by grey shadows
And a myriad of pallid spectres,
A withered scion of a once great house,
I know the dreadful truth of the legends;
The eldritch oracle foretells my death.
The prophetic call chills my troubled soul,
But I resolve to accept my dim fate.
A raddled face stares through the murky glass.
My weak heart pounds rapidly in my chest;
I hold the revolver up to my head.
The banshee will be proved right
One last time.
Poem Copyright © 2007 Richard H. Fay
Originally published in Sinister Tales, October 2007
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/classic/wink.gif) weird
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October 3rd, 2009
08:52 pm - Poems & Art Accepted at ABANDONED TOWERS
My speculative poem "The Birth of Sentience on Aggraboth V" and my speculative cinquain "They've Come for me Again", along with their respective illustrations, have been accepted for publication in the on-line version of Abandoned Towers. Yes, these are the same poem and art combos that I just posted here yesterday, and they are already featured on merchandise in the Abandoned Towers Zazzle Store, but I'll still post a link when they're up at the e-zine.
As much as I've always thought sending out new material was better than sending out reprints, I could get into the reprint habit quite easily. I might have to consider sending out reprints more often, to publications that take reprints, anyway.
Current Mood: pleased
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October 2nd, 2009
02:14 pm - They've Come for me Again
They've Come for me Again
Bright lights,
strange silhouettes,
voices inside my head
signal my departure from Earth
once more.
Poem copyright © 2008 Richard H. Fay
Originally published in the November 2008 issue of the web-zine Aphelion.
Poem and illustration available on merchandise in the Abandoned Towers Zazzle Store.
Current Mood: artistic
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01:13 pm - The Birth of Sentience on Aggraboth V
The Birth of Sentience on Aggraboth V
A green jungun raises her head
Out of the black primeval muck.
She spreads her rainbow hued neck frill
And stares at the huge crimson sun.
The sight ignites a mental spark;
Enlightenment widens her world.
Strange ideas course through her brain
And fill her mind with new notions.
"Who am I?" she wonders gravely,
"And what might I be doing here?
How was all this I see first made?
Is there a purpose to my life?
And what may greet me at life's end?"
With clearer vision than before
Her amber eyes look all around.
They espy her scaly comrades
Feeding on some armoured quibbibs,
Oblivious to her wondrous
Contemplative epiphany.
Anxious to share her new-found thoughts
She opens her fanged maw and roars;
Junguns lack a spoken language
To put concepts into real words.
Disappointed at her failure,
She sheds a tear and sinks back down
Into the primordial ooze.
Poem copyright © 2008 Richard H. Fay
Originally published in The Fifth Di..., Edition 10, #1, March 2008.
Illustration available on merchandise in the Abandoned Towers Zazzle Store.
Current Mood: artistic
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September 25th, 2009
12:30 pm - Niteblade Art Blog: Faerie and Fantasy
I just posted another Niteblade art blog entry. This time around, I feature the faerie and fantasy art of the character concept artist and illustrator Amber Alexander. A soldier turned traditionally trained artist, Amber discovered digital art during her last semester at the University of California at Berkeley. She was hooked, and decided that digital was the medium for her.
Check out more about Amber and her work here: Faerie and Fantasy: The Art of Amber Alexander.
Oh, by the way, I managed to slip "fays" into the entry, just to make a point (and because it worked). I simply couldn't help myself. Not to mention, I didn't want to use "fairies" after using "faerie" earlier in the paragraph.
Current Mood: accomplished
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September 8th, 2009
03:35 pm - Holy Cow!
Today, I finally received a couple of copies of Abandoned Towers #3 featuring my cover art "A Leviathan Ascendant". I wanted one to frame, and one to add to my growing collection of contributor's copies (I was sent a contributor's pdf, but I just had to order actual print copies). Plus, my wife wants to take one into work to show off. I believe she thinks that some of her coworkers don't quite get it when she says I did the cover art for a magazine (albeit, a small-press one).
Well, I opened the box, peeled back the plastic, and literally exclaimed "holy cow!". I knew this image happened to be one of my best drawings yet, but seeing it for the first time in its full-colour glossy glory was an amazing sight. I am actually impressed by my own art, which doesn't happen very often. Usually, I'm my worst critic, finding microscopic flaws, discovering non-existent faults. I get so bad at times that my daughter says I have "art-orexia". Not this time. This time I'm quite pleased with my work. And trust me, there is no way to experience the full impact until you hold that zine in your hand.
(And, let me give some credit to Crystalwizard and her Abandoned Towers team, too, because they came up with a title font that goes great with my serpent.)
Current Mood: impressed
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September 3rd, 2009
01:20 pm - Drawing Swords
I've been drawing swords for a clip art project. I used to draw swords and other weapons for fun, during down-time at my former place of employment, and in the process scared my coworkers to no end. They all knew I collected medieval sword replicas, and some thought that I would go completely psycho one day and bring one of my swords to work to wage bloody mayhem.
Silly people, my swords aren't even truly sharp, and anyway, how would I have gotten them past security at the labs? It's not like you can easily conceal a three-foot long piece of polished steel. Besides, I was drawing swords in a purely artistic sense, not a martial one. Some people let their wild imaginations get in the way of any sort of rational sense. I actually dealt with the terrible atmosphere present in those labs by a more reasonable fashion - I left! (Imagine that.)
Anyway, my more enlightened coworkers used to ask me what I was doing in a place like that, when it seemed like I had the talent to draw so well. I was certainly a prolific doodler of deadly weapons. So, now I draw swords for profit. Yippee for me!
Funny how things can work out like that sometimes. It took a while to get to this point (while I was still at the lab I created sword and weapon bookmarks for sale at a local medieval fair that didn't sell nearly as well as my Arthurian character ones), but I'm finally putting my penchant for drawing swords to good use.
Current Mood: amused
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August 30th, 2009
02:21 am - Another Saint George in AT Zazzle Store
For a while now, Crystalwizard has been asking for another Saint George to feature in the Abandoned Towers Zazzle Store, in part because merchandise featuring my other Saint George drawings has proved to be somewhat popular. Well, we've sold a handful of Saint George items, anyway.
The above image is a drawing a few years old that I just got around to adjusting for use in the store. I removed the background colour, made the ground of the shield and surcoat an off-white, and touched up the image here-and-there. And now the adjusted image of "Saint George as a 14th Century English Knight" appears on merchandise in the Abandoned Towers Zazzle Store.
My manipulation of this image got me thinking about my approach to digital art. While I understand some traditional artists dislike art composed on the computer, I do think that the computer can be valuable tool for enhancing traditional art. I could never have changed the colours so easily with a piece coloured in the traditional manner of ink, pencil, or paint. And I've even been known to manipulate the drawings themselves using the computer. However, I almost always resort to ink on paper for my initial drawings, the bare bones of my art.
I guess, just like in many things, I'm a middle-of-the road sort of guy. In terms of digital versus traditional art, I'm not a strict adherent of either approach. However, even though it is coloured digitally, I still consider my art to be traditional, since it is initially drawn by hand. (Mixed media, perhaps?)
Current Mood: artistic
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August 29th, 2009
11:50 pm - Cosmic Journey Illustration
Copyright © 2009 Richard H. Fay
I created the above weird and wild illustration to accompany my poem "Cosmic Journey", appearing in the on-line version of Abandoned Towers. The image already appears on merchandise in the Abandoned Towers Zazzle Store, and sooner or later should be published on the Abandoned Towers site.
After drawing quite a few decorated medieval-style letters for another Cyberwizard Productions project, it was nice to take a break from the historical and draw something much more imaginative. And I had the general look of the "green ghungliders" stuck in my head for quite a while now, so I just had to draw them sooner or later. Otherwise, my head might eventually explode. And that would be messy.
Current Mood: artistic
Current Music: Astronaut by Duran Duran
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August 26th, 2009
12:32 pm - Niteblade Art Blog: Bloody Horror
In the latest installment of the Niteblade Art Blog, I feature the work of the accomplished horror artist Jerrod Brown. A traditional artist and a southpaw, Jerrod has been painting and drawing for nearly forty years. A huge fan of horror movies and the artwork found in the classic genre magazine Famous Monsters of Filmland, Jerrod lets his love of horror shine through in his deliciously dark paintings. Check out three examples of his work here: "Bloody Horror: The Frightening Art of Jerrod Brown".
And now I have just one more thing to say about this - LEFTIES RULE!
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July 20th, 2009
02:04 pm - Amongst Faeries Oaks in AT Zazzle Store
My illustration "Amongst Faerie Oaks" is now available on various items in the Abandoned Towers Zazzle Store:
http://www.zazzle.com/abandonedtowers
Check it out! And please consider buying items featuring this piece, or items featuring other examples of my art. Any sales will help keep this particular artist from starving (or at least give me more reasons to keep on a drawin').
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July 18th, 2009
04:47 pm - Amongst Faerie Oaks
Amongst Faerie Oaks
Copyright © 2009 Richard H. Fay
A while back, the editor of Abandoned Towers asked if I could compose an illustration to go along with my cinquain series "Amongst Faerie Oaks", slated to appear in Issue 4 of her zine. Although I was awfully busy due to an impending move (since completed), I simply couldn't pass up the opportunity to get more of my art published, especially art featuring the Fair Folk in a forest. So, I worked on drawing something appropriate for the poem.
It took me several days to complete (drawing the scene went frustratingly slow), but I think it was pretty much worth the effort. I'm not sure I'm completely happy with the figures (I hate figure drawing), but I'm quite pleased with the way the forest came out. However, I may now want a break from drawing forests (I drew another forest recently for a Robin Hood colouring page for the same issue); my eyes were crossed after drawing this one!
Current Mood: artistic
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July 1st, 2009
07:03 pm - Abandoned Towers Issue #3
Abandoned Towers Issue #3 is now out. And my art is on the cover:
Not to mention, my illustrations "Memories of Camelot" and "The Armour of Loki" accompany Bradley H. Sinor's story "And the Wind Sang". And my cover art also appears inside as a colouring page:
The print version of Abandoned Towers is available for purchase HERE.
Current Mood: accomplished
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June 23rd, 2009
09:25 pm - Art in DREAMS AND NIGHTMARES #83
I received my contributor's copies of Dreams and Nightmares #83 today. My illustration "Barixas Hunt" appears as filler art on page 10. This drawing depicts a six-legged draconic hunting beast pursuing a furry beaked barixas (my idea of what an extraterrestrial boar analogue might look like). I utilized a similar composition in my medieval-style "Boar Hunt", and figured such a good thing was worth using twice.
Current Mood: artistic
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rhfay's journal
