back in the saddle

first day of Thanksgiving break: the games, the science, and a chance to finally bang out some art.

after a hiatus that makes me look nigh prolific by comparison, Phil Rossi is back in the podcasting/writing game. last week he 'cast a new story, "Silk and Old Tree," and after forgetting to have me do the cover in advance publicly taunted me on Facebook to "save him from crappy art." so i tried.

[edit:] upon seeing this, J proclaimed, "Well, I'm going to have nightmares! Super effective!" and gave me a high five. love my wife. also: "Needs more unicorn."

the return was marked by a brace of other pubs: one featuring not-my-best work from 2011, and another of the stories that were to comprise our short fiction collaboration that never quite got finished. [Cryptkeeper voice] "Boils and ghouls, I call this terrible tableau... The Artist."

[note: the previously unveiled two-of-ten are "Anamelech" and "The Watchers."]

finally! while the original Spooky Basement kicktibbler didn't quite make it, Clay started a new, modest indiegogo project for the first volume, Welcome to Monsteropolis. even better, it's been funded (!), but it's not too late to throw a few bucks his way and get in on the rewards. his is a bizarre and very real talent, and i'm excited to do the covers for the series.

/.n [while listening to... nothing for once. mmm.]

[ t h e _ v a u l t ]

Happy Halloween. [read with the voice and piercing, judgmental gaze of Conal Cochran from Halloween III.]

we had one of the most beautiful possible seasons in the run-up to Hallows here in the Midwest. on a sortie to Madison two weeks ago, such was the foliage that i quite literally exclaimed out loud on several occasions and may have swerved on the road. the 31st dawned cold and cloudless and glorious. let us savor it.

i am rediscovering the need to paint, to create. strove to the utmost to immerse myself in the season this year, but made some missteps along the way and the fates conspired to fully and completely keep me from haunts. notes to self: next year, paint earlier, keep the hallows playlist on constant shuffle, minimize the commercial nonsense.

did manage to run back through some good horror fiction along the way, including ol' Rossi-time's "Crescent," [listen for free] which was my first professional book cover / promo art gig. inspired me to paint one of the pivotal scenes from early in the book, since i can't pass a Halloween producing nothing.

incidentally, and obviously, "The Bone Garden" isn't happening this year. i've substantially rewritten the script and am starting from scratch on the art, which will be in a different and more economical style than my previous stuff. we'll see how it turns out. next summer should be the first in years in which i'm not endlessly mired in manuscript or course prep. i am looking forward to it.

/.n [while watching Trick 'r Treat]

[ s p o o k y _ b a s e m e n t ]

i have wanted to do a project with my brother since before time and space were a thing.

here it is.

"Clay Astroman's Spooky Basement: A new book series combining horror and pump in a way that will make your arm hairs dance around like crazy. Are you prepared to get scared/pumped?"
[ kickstarter | fb | instagram ]

check out the kicktibbler for a sample of these incredibly bizarre wares, or at least watch the video featuring Sam the cat and some insane greenscreen. imagine!- a series of "Goosebumps"-style books written in the style of Robert Hamburger for slightly deranged adults (or "for cool idiots" in the preferred parlance). i'm doing the covers, as well as the logo [which was based on a design by Kästle Astroman].

this kid is screamingly funny and won a horror short fiction contest or two in Austin back in the day. get in on this, throw a buck or two his (well, our) way, and stay pumped!

short post today - writing this mug with a splinted right hand (wedding reception related mishap...) is subdelightful. between that, illness, and some stupid texting teen totaling J's car a couple weeks ago, i am beginning to suspect that i must have inadvertently wronged a gypsy witch and it's too late to apologize... hey Clay, make that book 13!

them links again: "Clay Astroman's Spooky Basement" [ kickstarter | fb | instagram ]

/.n

[ d i a n t h a ]

a sequel, requested by Blairs: "Pokemon League Champions of Instagram: Diantha." current gen champion Diantha + Tyrantrum [both source images © Nintendo and affiliates], fine specimens. i took some license with Diantha's outfit; namely, i don't know nor do i care to reproduce whatever the heck the apparent wings on the back of her jacket are. i have replicated with loving care her skeletal lower extremities.

winter break was a fascinating mélange of family times, tremendous sloth, the worst winter weather unto which i have ever borne witness, and so on. i need to keep painting or i may go mad. bring on Halloween.

/.n [while listening to Crossbreed]