Somnabulistic Snippets

Over the course of the holidays in December, I found myself in front of the drawing table with a little free time on my hands. How, you may well ask, do I like to relax and spend my free time? Why drawing of course!

See the entire post on my blog; Studio Bowes Art: Somnabulistic Snippets

{PS: I have moved my blog over to my word press site, and post here only as a guidepost to my blog. If you are a subscriber, please update your RSS feed to: http://studiobowesart.com/blog/feed/ }

“RGK; The Art of Roy G. Krenkel”: A book review

Summary: I randomly selected the book, “RGK, The Art of Roy G. Krenkel” off of my shelves of inspiration to do a book review. Along with a brief overview of the book’s contents there are some of my opinions about aesthetics in fantasy art.

Read the entire post at www.StudioBowesArt.com

Dear Reader,
Please note that I do publish my blogs primarily from my website. If you would like to stay up to date, use the above link, and you can subscribe to the RSS feed there. ~ Thank you, Brian

Spinning Dreams into Goals

Summary: Foresight might not be 20/20, but things can be a made lot clearer with the use of a calendar. A time management system for freelance illustrators.

Having recently taken the plunge into freelance illustration as a full time career, one of the first challenges to come up for me was identifying specific goals as well figuring out how to accomplish them. The solution to which is a strange thing that some people refer to as "scheduling."

The Problem

Now, if you are anything like me, you will know what it is like to be constantly flitting from one idea to another. Of course one of the big down sides to this way of being is that often times, many good things can get started, but not too many of those are seen through to any sort of finish. As all those different ideas are popping up here and there, it becomes difficult for me to stay focused on the task at hand. It's almost a state of mind where there are just a ton of things to do and everything kinda has the same priority. When this is happening, I sometimes find myself doing a little of this and a little of that, but at the end of the day it seems like nothing has been accomplished. Which is sort of a problem.


Read the complete blog post here: Spinning Dreams into Goals

Dear Reader,
Please note that I do publish my blogs primarily from my website. If you would like to stay up to date, use the above link, and you can subscribe to the RSS feed there. ~ Thank you, Brian

Steps in the Right Direction

Summary: What follows here is my story of becoming involved with my immediate neighborhood to solve the issue of an unsightly asphalt ramp. The result is an example of how we can use the power of illustration better the world we all live in.

Read the complete blog post here: steps-in-the-right-direction

Dear Reader,
Please note that I do publish my blogs primarily from my website. If you would like to stay up to date, use the above link, and you can subscribe to the RSS feed there. ~ Thank you, Brian

Light During the Darkest Days

The Chieu Hoi Saloon, ready to hit the shelves

In this blog post I get giddy about a second illustration going to print, and then get very prosaic about life, illustration and the nature of things coming to pass.

Currently my primary blog is through my website, so if you'd like to update your RSS feed to go there, this is the URL: http://studiobowesart.com/feed/

Best Wishes,
Brian Bowes

Society of Illustrators #53 Submissions

Well, wish me luck, the images have been submitted and the bill has been paid! Now it's all up to the judges at this year's Society of Illustrators annual show/ contest to vote on this year's winners and participants in the 53rd Illustration Annual.

For my submissions, I had to balance the cost and the number of images that I could afford to submit. I felt that 4 of the images that were created over the last year would be a nice representation. Of course I wanted to submit the piece that I did for the IMC, that was such a formative experience that I wanted to show the final piece. Also, in keeping with the Steampunk vibe, I entered my cover illustration for Steampunk Magazine #6.



Next up for submission and in a different genre, is the wraparound cover completed for PM Press' Noir Anthology;"Send My Love and A Molotov Cocktail." I submitted this one because of the over all feeling of the image, and because it is a little more concept and a little less figurative work, and besides all that, I just like it.



And finally, the piece that I have been working on for the past month or so, and that was alluded to in an earlier post, "A Curious Introduction!"



Watch for an upcoming process post about the creation of not only this image, but of the whole promotional piece that this is a part of, and of the considerations behind the core concept. But for now, these are my four entries, and I feel that they do represent where I've been and where I am at. Of course I live in hope that maybe one or more of these images might be chosen to be amongst the prestigious pages of the Society of Illustrators Illustration Annual #53! Only time will tell.

Links to other blog posts:

Click here to read more about the "Jetcycle Getaway," and part of my IMC experience.

Click here to read about the creation of Ol' No.6.

October Surprise: the Sneak Peak

Who's been reading James Gurney's book?

Well, things have been quite here on the blog... too quite, but, that doesn't mean that I haven't been busy! Actually I've been working up a couple different images. One image is for a charity auction later in the month, and the other is an all out effort to make a promotional piece for Halloween. Which is, oh, right around the corner!

I don't want to give too much away, but I am pretty excited about this whole promo. I am putting together a short story, and I mean very short story for the card. There will be a sum of 3 images through out, one will be brought to a finer level of finish,and one will be sort of sketchy, and the third, will be as nice as time will allow. So far things are going well image wise. I am feeling that 'deadline' pressure to make sure that this thing is well thought out, well designed, and delivered on time.

As these projects have been rolling along, I've found that I enjoy taking pictures of my drawing table. Don't ask why, but it just kinda cracks me up to see it. No particular reason.

what it looks like trying to create beauty out of squallor

However, for those who like to snoop, many of my secrets are laid bare on the table there. Jeez, it really is a mess isn't it. Oh well, works for me!

Finally, the promised sneak peak. I came up with this little, or not so little guy as the the case may be, by looking through a Dover copyright free image book of animals. The insect page just seemed to be the right fit for this piece.

Bug Eyed Monster?! more like Bug Eyed Beatnik!

So, I wanted to share a bit of what I was up to in this quick post. Watch for more news as this promo comes up to a finish here in the near future. Now, that I see this fella, with his handle-bar mustachio, he really should have a name... what do you think? Any suggestions?

As ever, thanks for reading along, your comments are always welcome, please go to the regular website and leave them there: (Studio Bowes Art | October Surprise )

Best Wishes,
Brian