Click to see all images at large size -- 1000 pixels wide, or more...
Progress reports and updates ... yes!! Two pieces of news ... one: the last of the NARC books has been finished, it's ready to be packaged, and the upload is bang on schedule, set for Thursday. Phew! This has been an enormous job, but the the last two covers were composited yesterday and today, and I am really pleased with them:
... and that's the whole NARC series rejacketed. These are also among the best covers on any of the Mel Keegan books (in fact, I would say they are the best covers). What can I tell you? I love these characters, and the universe they play in. Doing this art has been a great joy ... "down and dirty" science fiction, with the heaviest of heavy industry, the angst and politics and highjinx of the big thrillers ... vast starships, strange worlds, the corruption of old cities and new human cultures -- and on top of all this, a couple of gay heroes who just make your mouth water! What's not to love, right?
The answer to an obvious question: no, we're not going to be publishing a new edition of the paperbacks you can get at Amazon. We've reached an age when 85% of all books sold through are sold in ebook format. So we don't see a need to reissue the paperbacks ... but we can certainly make a range of luscious products available at Zazzle! Get your NARC fix on goodies carrying oodles of the artwork. I'll be organizing that shortly ... stay tuned to this blog for news.
Speaking of which -- here, have some more Jarrat and Stone pictures before I sign out for today. Yawning. Must go put head down in about five minutes, or do face plant into keyboard...
click to see these at large size, of course...
And the other piece of news is that Vue 10 Esprit should have finished downloading by the time I'm doing typing this. Dave has been doing the most amazing things with the free "pilot" version, and it was simply time to get the full version when we noticed, Eon is having a sale -- Vue is forty bucks cheaper if you get it right now. So it's been got. I'm looking at Dave's images and I am drooling over the render engine! You just don't believe what you're seeing ... and here's the thing of it: Vue 10 has compatibility with Poser ... and I have Poser Pro in the mail right now, halfway to Australia. All being well, I should be able to put together a scene in Poser, export it as a Collada file, which is the "bridge" to Vue, and then render it in the Vue engine. Whooo! This is going to be amazing.
The first couple of images in today's post, I call "Fallen Angel," or perhaps "Angel with Broken Wings." He's hit the deck in the middle of an industrial complex, and I guess the imagery is pretty obvious: spirituality is going down in the teeth of technology. If you've been following this blog for a long time you might recognize the character: the Seraph in a Bottle ... the heavenly creature captured by the alchemist. I did those images about 18 months ago.
The Bryce landscape -- or seascape -- is another exercise in me hunting for a way to make Bryce to realistic stormy seas. I haven't found a way yet. It's defying me. I'll keep hunting -- but in the meantime, this one is so pretty, with the beautiful skyscape and the "stairway to heaven" effect of the light on the water.
Back in a couple of days, with more, but for now ... there's a pillow with my name on it!
Jade, 6 February
