I spent the 1980s doing endless, endless amounts of fan art for various private publications put out by my Darkover fan friends and colleagues. In retrospect, all this fan art production seems a near-total waste of time, and perhaps one reason why I am not a more successful (better-known and making money) artist today. I scratched most of this fan art out on illustration board with a late 19th century "storybook" style modeled on either H.J. Ford's "colorful" fairy tale book illustrations, or the modern illustrator Barry Windsor-Smith, who was inspired by the older style.
I sold most of the drawings for modest sums, or just gave them away to the publishers or authors of these forgotten diversions. This one here is from a Tolkien pastiche written by Marion Zimmer Bradley. My records say that the original was sold to a fan in Baltimore, but who knows where it is now, as fans always live in chaotic circumstances. As far as I'm concerned, I wasted most of the 1980s doing crap. I'm trying to save whatever was good from that era in my artistic life. I'm not sure this qualifies as "good," but there it is, saved anyway.
"The Jewel of Arwen" title page is about 7" x 10", ink on illustration board, Summer 1983.
1 comment:
I am sorry that you think it was a waste of time to do these. I personaly consider any art I do to be, if nothing else, good exercise of my skills! Every picture I do I try to push my self to do better and I learn something from every picture. Also, BWS is one of my all time favorite "comic/fantasy" artists! Think of these all as training exercises not as a waste of time.
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