We just recently returned from our must do once a decade pilgrimage to Higgins Armory. This place is in Worcester, Mass. and is housed in an oddly art deco glass and steel mill like building with turrets. Inside are vaulted cielings and four stories of one man’s amazing fascinating collection of armor and weapons from around the world. From Etruscan helmets to lacquered samurai armor to ornate miniature wheelocks for children of royal birth, this place rocks.
Supposedly, it is the largest collection of its kind this side of the pond. The level artistry and commitment that went into some of these works is absolutely outrageous. So was the living and working conditions is my guess.
Anyway, a trip to this place is not wasted. You will see, feel and be transported back to when people used to bludgeon each other with large heavy iron objects for fun and profit. What a hoot! A few pics of the visit : )
This costume was concepted back in early summer and pretty much completed in a leisurely couple of months because it was slated to be used for a Halloween burlesque gig. Well, that never materilaized and instead it was used at the Burlesque Bootcamp in downtown Providence this weekend. I am really pleased how the concepting came close to the actuality.
The costume got put through its paces in the act she had developed and am I glad I reinforced a lot of those seams. Really just do not need the clothing falling apart off cue! Cheers!
If dead cats can dream so can dead mice! Looks like a rough day for Mickey.
Such a beautiful clear and sunny day outside (54 degrees), much too nice to spend it working in with the promise of this being one of the last beautiful days available. As I needed to get some reference of the ocean shore anyway, I hopped on my scooter and went on down to Goddard State Park. I was not the only one with this idea. The park was not particularly crowded but there were people out riding horses along the shore and running with their dogs. Others were just meandering about enjoying the weather. I got my reference photos, did a bit of beachcombing, and watch sailboats out in the cove for awhile.The sun was bright upon the water and with the leaves drifting out of the forest lining the shore, it was actually quite enchanting.
The sun moves quickly at this time a year and within a couple of hours it started to cool down dramatically. So time to get back home and back to work : )
In the spring of 2007, I was contacted by the people at Electronic Arts do some concept work for Warhammer Online: The Age of Reckoning. It was an exciting opportunity that I readily took up. One of the things of working for gaming companies and film are the non-disclosure agreements commonly called NDA’s. Basically, you are bound not to talk about a project, what you’re doing or show anybody what you’ve done for a set period of time. This tends to wreck havoc with your portfolio because you would like to show what you’ve done to prospective clients to get more work. Sometimes, by the time you could possibly show someone your work, it’s been such a length of time that not only have your skills increased but your style has changed.
Anyway, I was out trolling on the Web looking into playing a new MMORPG (massive multi-player online role-playing game). I love these. They are such great fun. I played Dark Age of Camelot for about three and half years and more recently Lord of the Rings. The really big problem with these games is that to play them and really immerse yourself into these worlds, you have to put time in. The more you put in, the more you get out of the game. However, time happens to be one of the rarest commodities I have. For every hour of game play that means it’s one hour less of reading, watching movies, drawing comics, painting, etc., etc., etc. So what it boils down to is a prioritizing choice. That and the fact that these games are so addictive, are reasons that I really try to resist them. But as I said there I was trolling for one on the Web, lol.
I went to check out Warhammer Online and saw a link for concept art. Always interested in that, I clicked and went through a few of the pages and suddenly I was taken back because there was my work. How cool is that! So here is the link:
http://www.warhammeronline.com/conceptart/conceptArt_2007.php
Below are just a few of the other concepts that I did for them. The work I did was High Elf shields and zealot talismans.
This past week, I was contacted by the Curator of Fishes at the Department of Vertebrate Zoology at the National Museum of Natural History otherwise known as the Smithsonian Institution. They are writing a new book on biogeography through the University of California Press and wanted to use my Paracyclotosaurus davidi illustration for within the pages of the book. What a lovely surprise! What a feather for my hat!
The book is due out in the summer of 2009. Paracyclotosaurus davidi is below. They can be seen along with a few other long dead critters in the prehistoric gallery of my website at Prehistoric Beasties.
Day of the Dead kitty dreaming of past culinary delights. Oil on board, 2.5×3.5″.
Kitty has made his way out onto an Ebay auction. Click if you would like to bid : )
