GenCon 2011 is finally here! We’ll be updating Facebook and tweeting from GenCon for the next few days. Follow us for breaking news! Several of our authors, including Emily Fiegenschuh, will be there. Have you seen The Explorer’s guide to Drawing Fantasy Creatures yet? Go check it out!

If you’re planning to attend Gen Con in Indianapolis this week, you’ll be able to meet the Emily in person, and get a peek at the book as well as more of this IMPACT artist’s amazing work!

Be sure to check out Emily’s new blog, Fabled Earth, for more information about her appearance at Gen Con, book signings and other promotional events.

Other IMPACT authors who will be there include William O’Connor , Stephanie Pui-Mun Law, Chuck Lukacs, Jim Pavelec, Chris Seaman, and Rebecca Guay.

These authors have helped us create Sketch Dragons, DragonWorld, Dracopedia, Sketch Fantasy Art, Dreamscapes Myth & Magic, Fantasy Genesis, Wreaking Havoc, Ink Bloom, Hell Beasts, and soon to come Fantasy Illustration Master Class.

Check out all these books in the North Light Shop and don’t forget to keep following us while we’re at GenCon!

Sign up for Chuck Lukacs’s mailing list and get a NEW chance every few months to win ORIGINAL prints or collectible Magic: The Gathering cards. Not only that, each time, Chuck will also give a small amount to one of the charities (like this one) listed on his website.

Chuck Lukacs is the author of Fantasy Genesis, the first “how to draw”/fantasy art idea generation game/book of its kind and co-author of Wreaking Havoc, the no holds barred guide to drawing and painting fantasy warriors and weaponry that he did along with fellow IMPACTers Jim Pavelec and Chris Seaman.

Keep creating!

Mona

Click on the pictures to find out more!

Desktop looking a little boring? Time to switch out the HP7 wallpaper for something new? Maybe something with IMPACT? (Pun intended…)

Download free desktop wallpaper of fine art featured in IMPACT Books and get exclusive bonus desktop wallpapers by signing up for our e-mail newsletter, which actually gives great tips and let’s you in on special offers.

Scroll down to the bottom of the page for IMPACT wallpaper and click the desktop background you like. We’ve got stuff from Extreme Face Painting and Buddy Scalera’s Comic Artist’s Photo Reference. After the image has loaded, just right-click (control-click on a Mac) and select “Set as Background” or “Set as Wallpaper.” The newest images are at the top.

If you sign up for the newsletter, the bonus images include awesome art from Dreamscapes, DragonArt and Wreaking Havoc like this:

Stop by and wish Chuck Lukacs a Happy Day at his new Fantasy Genesis blog, where he talks about childhood inspiration and his upcoming IMPACT book, Fantasy Genesis, coming soon…

Happy Friday everyone! We’re wrapping up the week with a fourth installment of super-awesome designer Wendy Dunning’s exploits at Mid-Ohio-Con:

With a Little Help from Your Friends
Comic Art Collaboratives and Groups
I found that Columbus has a couple of groups of folks that get together to share their art with each other. One of these is Sunday Comix, founded by Max Ink. Sunday Comix meets once a month (on a Sunday) so that members can share works in progress and get feedback. It’s open to artists, writers and readers. Their website is www.sundaycomix.blogspot.com. They are sponsoring Comix from the Crypt, a haunting art show of member’s works, now through the end of the month of October. A couple of members are pictured here.

Also in Columbus is a group called PANEL. This is a writers and artists collaborative that publishes anthologies with Ferret Press. The anthologies come out twice a year, with the current one being number 14, PANEL of Horror. I stopped to talk to Brent Bowman, who did the cover art for PANEL of Horror.

Q: How long have you been doing this?
A: So long, I can’t remember. But more in the last 4 years since I’ve been with PANEL.

Brent is working on a comic called Allied Powers (www.alliedpowerscomic.com). The writer is Craig Bogart, who has his own comic called The Ineffables (www.theineffables.com). I picked up a couple of issues of both. The Ineffables is kooky fun from the two issues I’ve read so far, and I have not yet broken into Allied Powers.

PANEL website: www.ferretpress.com/weblog
Ferret Press: www.ferretpress.com

The moral of the story: hook up with some of your comic buds to keep the comics dream alive.

Here’s a book by some comic artists that work together: Wreaking Havoc. Written by Jim Pavalec, Chris Seaman, Chuck Lukacs and Thomas Manning, this book shows you how to draw the characters and creatures that wreak havoc and their weapons of destruction. And if October has you in the mood for some horror, check out Jim Pavalec’s Hell Beasts or Steve Ellis’s Scream.

IMPACT co-authors Chris Seaman and Jim Pavelec both received high praise and awards for the awesome work they presented at Gen Con this year. Chris won Best in Show for his entire body of work, which means that he gets to judge the art show next year. Jim won third place for a Star Wars cover he created for Dark Horse earlier this year.

Jim and Chris along with Thomas Manning and Chuck Lukacs are the authors of Wreaking Havoc: How to Create Fantasy Warriors and Wicked Weapons. Jim and Chris also co-authored How to Draw Blood-Sucking Monsters and Vampires (available soon), and they are currently working on Ink Bloom (available in April 2010). More on their latest project will be coming out soon.

Chris and Jim at Chris’s booth.

You can see some of their award-winning art and follow their progress on Ink Bloom at their blog.

Check out the new blog by Jim Pavelec and Chris Seaman, two of the authors of the 2008 release, Wreaking Havoc: How to Create Fantasy Warriors and Wicked Weapons.

The pair has teamed up again to create another IMPACT book, due for release in Spring 2010.

While I can’t share with you the details just yet (well, I could, but you know what I’d have to do next…and quite honestly, I just don’t have the time), I CAN tell you that this next book will be incredibly cool, and you CAN follow along with what Chris and Jim are reading, looking at, stressed out about, at the blog they set up to chronicle their creation of the book: Ink Bloom.

As the publication date nears, of course, details will be revealed.

In the meantime, if you haven’t picked up a copy of Wreaking Havoc, or of Hell Beasts: How to Draw Grotesque Fantasy Creatures, what are you waiting for?!

Horrifying beasts from below were the subject of Jim Pavelec's first how to draw and paint fantasy art book.

The tradition of learning always amazes me. Sometimes I forget, and sometimes I am reminded. Like yesterday. Chris Seaman, one of the authors of Wreaking Havoc, forwarded to us at IMPACT a couple pieces of art created by budding artist, Jordan, age 12. (In case you haven’t heard, we LOVE getting art from readers.)

This morning, while emailing back and forth about how COOL these drawings are, I recalled an interview I did with John Howe when I first started with F+W Media (then F+W Publications), IMPACT Books’ parent company. The interview was for Artist’s & Graphic Designer’s Market.

(In the interest of full-disclosure, I’ll tell you I’ve referenced this interview several times recently, on different occasions, for different reasons. I love it when something gives me a lot of mileage…but I do worry about the horse. Ahem.)

Jordan’s first sketch is from Chris Seaman's Wreaking Havoc gnome.

In the interview, John said:

“The deeper you throw yourself into copying someone else’s work, the faster you get through it and identify the elements which may eventually become part of your own way of approaching things. It’s a tradition that’s been going on for millennia. You’re trying to understand another’s work and the only way to understand is to try to do it. I must’ve copied millions of things when I was in my teens.”

I love that Jordan did the gnome, then seemed to take the stuff she really wanted to use—like the armor decoration for example—and put it to use with her own creature. Perhaps that’s all learning is—whether it’s drawing or writing or whatever. We see or hear something we like. We emulate it. And we should emulate it, at least for a while.

Jordan’s second sketch is her own creation.

John explained it like this:

“You’re looking for yourself somewhere. You’ve identified something that you think you can use. You need to try it and you need to make it your own. Imagine a road. You see a section of it way up ahead—because someone else has been drawing for ages and they’re professionals with all these techniques and gimmicks an gadgets. You get a glimpse long before you could get there by cutting through the woods yourself. Now you can forge on.”

So forge on, Jordan. You drew the gnome, then discovered how to take elements from that drawing and incorporate them into your own. Who knows what you’ll discover tomorrow? 

To read the entire article, originally published in 2004 Artists’ & Graphic Designer’s Market, click here.

The best 4 days in gaming have come and gone and IMPACT was there. Between panels, games, the art show, costumes and everything else we got home happy and exhausted.  Here are the highlights.

The IMPACT ladies on the floor

A random fake sword fight

 “The Wreaking Havoc Guys,” Jim Pavelec, Chris Seaman and Chuck Lukacs, were kind enough to participate in a panel for us. Their message was one for aspiring fantasy artists interested in marketing their work to gaming publishers. One of the first things they told the crowded room was to not be afraid to talk to anyone in artist’s alley. They insisted that fantasy artists are always eager to talk about their work, share advice, and even review portfolios. There’s a definite feeling of community among artists who work in the gaming business—there has to be.

Chris, Chuck and Jim

Fantasy artists have to rely on networking and talking to other members of the gaming community to find work. “There are no ‘on-staff’ fantasy artists,” said Pavelec, talking about the trials of making a living creating gaming art, “It’s all freelance.” All of the panelists agreed that art directors don’t typically seek out new talent and artists have to hustle to get their work noticed. “It’s a job—it’s work,” said Seaman, who has sold his work across all kinds of markets, including to children’s books publishers.

Everyone agreed that being a gaming artist isn’t easy. “The pay isn’t great for a long time. You need a real job and have to work on art in your spare time,” said Pavelec. “Art school gives you a start, but not everything you need,” Lukacs chimed in, stressing how many art colleges don’t focus enough on the business side of things, which you have to learn to be successful.  

So why bother, when you can make better money doing something else? The guys say it has to be something that you love to do. “I like to draw badass weapons, I don’t know about you guys,” laughed Seaman.

"I like to draw badass weapons."

The panelists went on to give advice about everything from marketing yourself as an artist to best practices for staying productive. Chuck Lukacs showcased samples of his impressive portfolio, stressing the importance of having professional looking samples that include your contact information and web address. And speaking of websites: “Don’t put up everything you’ve ever done,” Lukacs warned of a common mistake made by artists who create their own portfolio websites, “focus on your best stuff.”

The panel lasted about an hour and was packed with great advice about creativity and good business. When asked for final words of advice Jim Pavelec told everyone to “continually draw,” Chuck Lukacs warned about watching your time and working fast and Chris Seaman, getting quiet for a moment, said, “see it through to the next level—don’t quit doing anything.”

Check out the book.

A bunch of us IMPACT chicks–Mona, Wendy, Jennifer, Kelly, Erika and I–are off to GenCon today (tough work, but somebody’s got to do it). We’re totally looking forward to seeing our friends Chuck Lukacs, Jim Pavelec and Chris Seaman there, as well as the awesome con crowd! The guys are authors of Wreaking Havoc: Create Fantasy Warriors and Weapons; Chuck’s working on a Fall 2009 book; Jim’s the author of Hell Beasts; and Jim and Chris will soon be creating some art for a vampire drawing kit in time for next Halloween. They’ll do a panel at GenCon, moderated by big IMPACT dude Justin. We’ve also got great projects coming up in October, including Comic Artist’s Photo Reference: Men and Boys by Buddy Scalera; Manga Martial Arts by David Okum; and Cartoonimals by Harry Hamernik. — Pam Wissman, Editorial Director, IMPACT Books

Comic Artist's Photo Reference: Men and Boys