Back from outer space

My last two shows were Fanime in San Jose, CA and Faerieworlds in Eugene, OR--weirdly enough, these are two out of three of the towns I spent my formative years.  The third is my next stop this summer, Peirogifest in Whiting, Indiana.  A nostalgic summer!

Thanks to everyone who made those last shows a success, it was awesome to meet new people and get inspired by amazing costumes.

Man, I have been sick pretty much nonstop since Fanime, sorry for dropping off the map.  Worked a bit too hard and went home straight to work.


Speaking of which, things are going great with the book!  When they give me an official press release I'll say much more about it, but I'm currently working on the cover and it is shaping up to be awesome.

Take a look at what I've been working on in the meantime!

To my classic poster series (joining Hamlet, Midsummer Night's Dream, and Wizard of Oz) I have added one of my dearest childhood friends, Peter Pan.

I've been hankering to do a new Peter Pan piece ever since the image I created as part of my 'Long Lost Friends' triptych.  After all, I started my career with a Peter Pan pic in my portfolio which I still bring to shows, though I'm liable to retire it when I replace it with another re-do, simply because I think it doesn't actually represent my current work as well as it did when it debuted.

In fact, here are the two images in question: the 'Long Lost Friends' and the original piece that got me started.

The new poster has elements of this, even the color palette is similar.  Its meant to be iconic, containing stylized symbols from the book.

This is one way more literal, and I think the colors have the right feel for the scene but it is pretty straightforward and doesn't really have much of my own interpretation.

Actually what bothers me the most is that it owes too much to the Disney movie rather than the book, which I'm really fond of.

So, there's a nice progression!  You can also see many common threads.  Sometimes I look at my work (specifically things like this, which reference beloved classics) and I am worried that I'm not pushing the concept as far as i can, and that may not serve me well in my portfolio.  However, what is going on here is that I am trying to keep my market in mind: trying to keep the spirit of the original work intact as well as using familiar motifs to appeal to people who like my work, like the original classic, and want something that expresses that book or play in terms that they can connect with, as opposed to looking at me playing for other artists.

Is this a give-and-take that other people are dealing with?  Anyone want to sound off a bit?  Before you do I'd like to add that I really won't do a piece unless I am satisfied with it and feel that it has integrity so even if it is a balancing act, I am still happy with what I produce.