Unpublished landscape concept art for a film proposal for A Distant Soil. There’ve been several production deals for this comic, but like most movie offers, they never really go anywhere. I don’t get wrapped around the axle about them.
I was advised to sit down and do some concept art for the producers, and then advised by another prominent Hollywood producer not to do concept art for free, but to make the production company pay me for it. Oh, how it all makes my head spin.
Well, I did a few pieces anyway, because I needed to practice Photoshop. This is a speed painting, several years old, of an Ovanan landscape. I used a lot of brushes you can get legally licensed from places like Renderosity.
When I first created A Distant Soil, it’s New Age-ish themes and crystal technology were unique in comics. Now everyone is doing the crystal Sf/fantasy thingie.
I have several hilarious letters from an artist named Barry Blair (now deceased) who wrote to tell me one of his publishers used to have all my comics in the office, and would pop them open to point to stuff they wanted him to swipe. It was hysterical. To draw crystals, he was told “Just do it like Colleen does it!”
And, of course, in this piece, I just used someone else’s Photoshop brush!
is it okay if I can’t stop laughing? Should I see a doctor?
Well if you are going to swipe you might as well swipe from the best.
Those letters are comedy gold.
Many letters also from Colin Chan nee Walbridge, who was Barry’s partner. Barry died several years ago. I do not know what happened to Colin.
I guess… it’s an honor?
Heh.
Testing new comments system
Testing new system again. So far so good.
Wow, I had no idea Barry had died… very saddened, he was one of my art heroes growing up because he was so consistent.
Also testing new system. Seems to work
Yes, the news report was Barry had an aneurysm. He was in his 50′s, which is pretty young to go.
I was surprised to find out he was a 50+ year-old man. For some reason (perhaps the look of his art, I don’t know,) I assumed he was a kid, but he was a good decade older then me. There was very little information about him after his death.
I guess Colin Walbridge has retired. Again, I assumed he was a contemporary, but he is nearly 70 years old.
I don’t really know much about either of them. While they did write me frequently in the 1990′s, I only met them once or twice.
oh yay hopefully this means wordpress won’t keep kicking me out every few days so I have to log in again…
Well, if you just want to comment with your FB id, you never need to sign in here again.
Wasn’t Barry Blair the artist with a special eye for *hm* very young characters in sexual situations?
There were some very unsavory aspects to his work, in my opinion. I didn’t really look at much of it, but I think hiring him for certain projects was ill-advised.