Today…I worked. Despite a bit of bumpiness starting out doing some work for Hogshead Games (they want some interior illos, and we’re still in the ironing-out-the-process stage) it’s all good–the bumpiness, for once, is not a what they want vs. what I got frission, but the fact that my art liason is an expectant father and has to work around little things like his wife being in labor! Not that I mind. Some things are more important than drawings of chicks with guns, and the delivery of babies definitely qualifies–I can’t think of a better excuse, and if it means that I gotta pull a few late nights near the end to get everything wrapped up in time for their next sourcebook, hey, those are the breaks, it’s happened before with much less reason. (On the other hand, he liked all the composition roughs I sent, so I may wind up having to paint a half-dozen instead of two! Gee, how awful…) Also worked on the next stage of the cover for the first Victoriana module–s’cool. I’ll post images at some point. The Victoriana system’s always cool, because the guy is great to work with and can phrase what he wants in a clear, concise manner, while leaving most of it up to whatever I’d like to do, which is a very good thing all around.

The end result is that I did nothing much of interest today except paint. And I did nothing much last night except paint, either–started another sewer mermaid painting, got about three hours in, gazed at it, said “You know, this is just not gonna fly,” and had to go back to about square one and a half. The rough of the figure is useable, and I like it, but the background was just silly and fiddly and the faux perspective was crappola and distracted from the textures. Textures are one of my strengths, and I know I should do things that play ’em up, rather than things that make the eye wander around going “Uhhrhrhrhgh.” But aaaaaanyway, the new roughs are much better and have a much stronger, straightforward design, so hopefully I’ll have a new sewer mermaid in a few days. Which is ironic, because I still loathe mermaids, they’re one of my least favorite fantasy creatures, but they give me an excuse to paint a figure and do wild shit with fins and markings, and as long as they’re lurking in a sewer, I feel better about the whole thing. I like fantasy creatures in sewers. It’s balm for my withered little soul.

I wonder what a sewer unicorn would look like?

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