Pros and Conventions

For the last few years I’d been wanting to “upgrade” from doing the annual Novacon SF convention to attending an Eastercon – generally the UK’s largest annual SF&F weekend, and finally this year, I finally got my act together. 

Hosted on a different city each year, the location for the 2018 Eastercon – AKA “Follycon” – was Harrogate in North Yorkshire, in the Majestic Hotel, a huge Victorian building, evidently grand in its day – complete with the most enormous gent’s toilets I’ve ever seen. This had quickly become a convention talking point for everyone... I’m surprised they don’t already have their own Twitter account. 

I arrived on the Friday afternoon when everything was already under way. I signed in and headed straight for the art show to put up my work, realising that in hindsight, arriving the day before would have been beneficial and less stressful. While I get a buzz out of the smaller events, I found it completely overwhelming at first and it took me until the following afternoon to acclimatise.

At Novacon, I’ve been used to one main rolling program and a few sub-events all within easy reach of one another. This bigger event saw multiple large panel events running simultaneously with half a dozen or more smaller events happening at the same time in various different parts of the venue. Typically, many of the programme items I had bookmarked, clashed, so I had to be reluctantly selective.

I exhibited at the art show, with my largest and most diverse display to date. The art show was huge and astoundingly good. The quality of the work on show was second to none and incredibly wide-ranging with very few similar styles. 

With over 600 pieces on display of vastly different styles and mediums, the art show was spectacular. My work felt perfectly in place and in very good company. Sadly my fellow artist and good friend David A. Hardy was unable to make it to the convention, but his work came without him. A genuinely pleasant surprise came when I realised Chris Moore and Jim Burns were also part of the art show – two artists alongside Hardy, whose work I have admired for many years, and that has been a big inspiration to me, so meeting them was an absolute pleasure.

Despite being one of the artists, I could have happily spent the whole convention in the art show! I also had the pleasure of meeting other artists such as Neil McChrystal and Anne Sudworth as well as many familiar friendly faces from Novacon –  not to mention Serena and John, the driving force behind the art show and two wonderful people who deserve a month of sleep after putting in so many hours of hard work and taking care of all their artists.

With that in mind, what made the event was really the people. Friendly, likeminded folk and people who you can strike up any conversation with. And unlike your ComiCon type of film/tv events, there are no outrageous autograph charges here (none at all, in fact) – well-known authors, artists and guests are more than happy to sign things for you and to socialise, be one of the crowd and enjoy the convention as much as the attendees – as many of them were prior to being known. There was no feeling of ‘them’ and ‘us’, with no egos on parade.  

I spent a lot of time talking with publishers and writers, but the highlight of the weekend for me, was spending time in the company of Jeff Noon, Christopher Priest and John Clute. I had attended the Angry Robot book launch for Jeff Noon’s new book The Body Library – a title with which I’d been fascinated since reading his previous title, A Man of Shadows last year.

Christopher Priest only appeared on one panel, but it was an insightful – but unfortunately rushed – discussion on the late Brian Aldiss. The various anecdotes from the panel members on their own personal experiences of knowing Aldiss was interesting. After Arthur C. Clarke, Aldiss was one of the first classic SF authors I read, and whose books also inspired some of my early artwork.

It was an honour to spend a few hours with Mr Priest after the panel, despite the traumatising lack of coffee at the hotel bar! Despite being my favourite writer, we touched very little on books, instead talking all manner of other things. I did get him to sign my copy of The Glamour, though!

There was a poster area with posters of varying subject matters. I exhibited a poster on synaesthesia and art/music and made myself available to speak about it to anybody interested. I thought this item was a really good idea and more could have been made of it, as the variety of subjects was really interesting. This also sparked some ideas for future work. 

I also joined in Guardbridge Books’ launch event for Harry Elliott’s novel Warrior Errant, to which I have recently illustrated the cover. I found myself signing copies as the cover artist, which did feel a bit funny, since the author Harry was unable to attend.

I had finally settled comfortably into things when it was time to start dismantling the art show. For various reasons, the traditional art show auction had been replaced by a ‘silent’ auction of on-board bidding. It took a long time for any bids to start filtering through and many people kept asking when the auction event was, so they had to be informed otherwise. 

On the up-side, this enabled us to have the option of instant sale pieces in our displays, an idea I really liked, as it allowed a good combination of pieces that could go to auction, and pieces that perhaps catered for people who were maybe not staying for the full weekend, or were there on a budget.

There has been a lot of things to follow up since the convention, and it has taken a while for my thoughts to settle down. If I’m honest, I didn’t enjoy the size of the event. It was a bit much for me personally. But I did enjoy the social side and of course, the exposure – and you can’t have one without the other. 

There was also a constant feeling of wanting or needing to be in three places at once, and many people who you wanted to talk to, you couldn’t, because you’d either just manage a passing hello or indefinitely keep missing each other as events collided. There was also the matter of having to choose between events. I regularly found myself yearning for a smaller, more simple affair – yet when it was all over by the Monday and things were winding down, I did feel a bit sad. So conflicting feelings, really.

It is difficult to compare an event like Novacon of around 200 people, to something like this, which is perhaps four or five times the size, though both have their pros and cons.

I prefer the simplicity of Novacon, but in recent years, it has felt like the same, but diminishing returning crowd. And it really is a superb convention, which deserves a good attendance. It has a great programme, great guests and you have both the time and space to properly see the people you want to see. However, Novacon does feel like it has become an annual meet-up for the same group – nothing wrong with that, but as somebody on the exhibiting side, you want to see new, fresh faces and a growing attendance.

I would certainly do another Eastercon, especially now I know what I’m in for. On the whole, Follycon was a very positive experience. So many things happened and people met, that simply wouldn’t have happened otherwise. I got a lot out of it from that point of view, and feel all the more inspired for having done so.

Crossover

My new music project for 2018 is an album entitled Crossover.

Having returned to the world of my first album last year, with Back Into the Light, I also found myself thinking back to my roots and looking at the original influences which made me want to create instrumental music in the first place.

The albums in question are Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells and Jean-Michel Jarre's Oxygène – two hugely influential and staggeringly unique albums that emerged in the 1970s and changed the face of both rock and electronic music. While very different in style and production, both albums took you to another place; like a vast musical world to explore. The tracks flowed seamlessly into one another, creating a continually evolving soundscape.

As a self-taught musician, every project is a learning curve and a progression. And from each, there is something that has taken me into the next. But looking back at how those albums influenced my work, I realised that I hadn't actually tried my hand at creating that kind of continuous, flowing album, so it was time to put this right!

Crossover contains just 3 tracks, but with each one lasting between 12-15 minutes and moving through a variety of styles and atmospheres. It is an album where dark and light battle it out, but also a journey and a dream-like adventure – and my most ambitious album to date.

Here is the cover art:

I am constantly fascinated with that shift between worlds, whether it is in our own dreams, films or books – particularly books. I love the often sinister blurring of alternative existences in Christopher Priest's work, in books such as The Glamour, The Affirmation or A Dream of Wessex. Then there's the wonderful writing of Haruki Murakami; his books brimming with poetic metaphors, but also characters who cross between planes or realities. I love how one moment you're in a bustling urban environment, but Murakami can take you into a building such as a hotel or office block and through there, you enter someplace else. However one of the origins of Crossover was Blake Crouch's recent book, Dark Matter. An incredible, if mind-bending read, but the travel between alternative realities and the journey of the characters really got me thinking how I might score a "soundtrack" for such a thing.

While that kind of journey is at the core of Crossover, it also remains open to interpretation – after all, there are many points in our lives in which we find ourselves transcending from one point to another, physically, emotionally or psychologically.

Creating a cohesive musical interpretation of all of the above (and more) has been a real challenge, but also a creative, fun and rewarding one, and I look forward to sharing some clips from the album soon.

Crossover will be released at the end of March, to coincide with my attendance of "Follycon", this year's Eastercon event, taking place in Harrogate. My plan is to launch the album there, where I'll have a limited physical release on CD.

Watch this space...

Looking back...

It’s been another busy year at Light Dreams HQ.

Cover Artwork

Once again, I’ve had the privilege of working with several fantastic authors, with fantastic books.

While it is always exciting and an honour to be asked to create cover artwork, it is sometimes quite a daunting task. Somebody who has spent months or even years writing their book, now have to hand it over for me to do my best to take what’s in their imagination and written on their pages, and transpose that into a marketable cover. But that’s the thrill of the challenge, and it’s what I’m here to do, after all.

Every cover project has been rewarding in a different way, whether it’s the challenge of the cover or artist/author and publisher relationship. 

With a couple of exciting projects already on the horizon, I’m certainly looking forward to what 2016 may bring.

Music

I’ve also had a very prolific year on the music side of things, having released three new albums on Bandcamp. The advantage of working independently is that I can release as much or as little as I wish. Ironically, I’d thought I may release one, maybe two albums at best this year, but when the muse strikes, you have to take advantage!

Sentient City was produced in the last quarter of 2014, and released in January 2015. I’d had in mind for some time to make an album with a “city” theme – with music inspired by working in or living in a vibrant modern city, or perhaps a glimpse of a future city, which is where the science fiction influence comes into play.

Panorama was released in July, and is my fourth release in association with the Initiative for Interstellar Studies. 2013’s Beyond theBoundary album was about space travel and exploration, so with that in mind, Panorama was about what lies at the end of that journey, and the discovery of new worlds. Whereas Sentient City came together in just a few months, Panorama took well over a year. I produced dozens of demos and ideas, shortlisting 16 tracks for the final album!

I’d only just released Panorama when I found myself working on some new music, of a different soundscape. Whereas Panorama had been a slow, building album, in contrast to that, I found myself putting together some heavier beats-driven tracks and in no time at all another album was in the works. 

I released Timeshift in November, and feel it could be my best album to date.

So with that in mind, just where my musical journey will take me from here, is anybody’s guess! But even so, I can't express enough gratitude for anybody who has supported my musical endeavours, whether it be buying an album or simply helping spread the word by sharing or retweeting.

So at least when it comes to art, music and science fiction, it's been a very rewarding year, and I've had the pleasure of meeting many great, likeminded people, whether on social media or in person at Novacon, which always feels like the culmination of everything, each year – and I'm already looking forward to the next!

Under observation...

I've been intending to post about my most recent piece of digital art, Observation Point for a while, so finally here we are.

One of the great things about bouncing ideas around for book cover projects is that there are inevitably ideas that come out of the mix that have potential to be pieces in their own right, and that's exactly what happened here.

This was my original mono sketch – which wasn't right for the cover in question, but I felt it had something about it which I was keen to explore further.



As I've said countless times, it was the science fiction and space art of the 1970s and 1980s which first caught my imagination as a boy and that ultimately inspired me to create my own art – and it continues to inspire me to this day. There is certainly a gentle nod to that special era of SF art in my work, and that was certainly starting to come across here.

A simple image, of an enormous space vessel, in orbit above a planet; a classic SF image. The planet was originally going to be the Earth. But then I had a last-minute change of heart, and decided to make a heavily cratered moon instead.

This was when I discovered that craters are not as easy as they look. It is all about the light and shade, and getting the shape right. Which at first, I didn't. My initial craters were very shallow and more resembled a large pitted orange than a moon!



If these were impact craters, then we needed to see that impact, and the build-up around the edge. But once I'd worked more on really giving the craters more of a three dimensional texture, the piece really started to come together.

When it comes to painting starships or other alien structures, I've started to adopt a much looser approach. Providing the style is consistent with the rest of the piece, and that the perspective is accurate, then I don't mind it looking a little more sketchy or impressionistic rather than something too crisp and clean, which has that evident "digital" look to it. 

The craft itself isn't massively changed from the original sketch, and despite the slightly rough and ready appearance, it still has a good deal of surface detail and texture:



Rather than showing a scene of a spacecraft in flight, I decided to have it floating in space, in an ominous Rama sort of way. And through that, came the slightly unsettling title of Observation Point.

And here is the finished piece...



...nicely rounded off with some text specially written by Richard Hayes:

A spacecraft orbits a heavily cratered moon, the distant sun of this star system casting its light across the scene. The vast size of this vessel’s engines tell us that it has travelled far to reach this point, but they are now cold and silent – it has reached its destination. Even so, there is still much activity aboard the craft. Lights appearing through windows show that its occupants are busy going about their work, and its surface is covered with sensors and antennae which suggest that its role is to measure and analyse data.

We are left in little doubt that these space travellers are here to observe something, but we are not certain what that can be. It might be some feature on the surface of the moon below, or on its parent planet which lies outside our view. What we can be sure of is that the civilization that sent this spaceship to this remote location had the resources, and the will, to dispatch a sophisticated mission – possibly for purposes of scientific research, or perhaps for some more sinister reason.

The Great Digital Art Debate

Nobody can deny that digital art has become an accepted art form, certainly over the last decade. It plays a vital part in the entertainment industry, from concept art for films and games, through to book cover design and illustration.

Any artist working digitally will have come from a traditional medium background of painting or illustration. For me, working digitally gave me the best of both worlds and has allowed me to explore a colour palette that I could never satisfactorily achieve with traditional paints, and it also came without the mess. I'll be the first to admit that paint was never my preferred medium – give me ink or pencil and I'm happy.

So as far as the design and creative industries go, digital art is a crucial commercial skill and one in high demand, with fierce competition. As a medium, it has certainly found its home on the commercial industry side of things.

But is it art?

Of course it is. Just a browse through some of the thousands of artists showcasing their stunning digital works on the Deviantart website demonstrates its versatility. For many artists it is their preferred medium of expression.

Then I hear you cry, "But there's no original!" 

And this sparks an interesting discussion. On numerous occasions when I have been exhibiting my digital art (signed, mounted one-off prints), people have said "I'd buy it if it were an original" and that sort of thing.

I thoroughly understand and accept the "no original" argument from a collector's point of view – there are the obvious facts like the value of a piece and it being the only one of its kind. I have no problem with that and the truth is, it doesn't really apply to digital art.

Of course there is an original - and it's a digital file on a hard disk. But there is no physical original as such. A print is perhaps as original as a piece of digital artwork can get. Some artists may produce one print and that's it. Others may go to the extent of supplying a buyer with their hard disk, or at least the original file on a CD or USB stick, having erased the original – but then you don't hang a USB stick on your wall.

Digital art is a medium in its own right by today's standards, and one in which it is accepted that there is no physical original. However, the amount of time, creativity and effort which go into a making a digital piece is often no different to that of a painted canvas. You can achieve the same nuances, minute details and unique touches of the artist's hand – and all that simply depends on the artist. The major difference is one is made of paint, one is made of pixels.

Funnily enough, at this year's Novacon art auction, I sold several prints of digital art. The one original in my display (a black & white ink drawing) didn't sell.

Another Nova Over...

As I arrived at Nottingham's Park Inn Hotel on Friday afternoon, it really didn't feel like a year had elapsed since last year's Novacon. Here I was already about to do it all over again. And here are my personal highlights...

Novacon 45 saw the usual mix of socialising, book launches and talk panels, which included a superb mix of science, science fiction and publishing. This year's Guests of Honour were writers Stan and Anne Nicholls – lovely people, whose books I've come home with and look forward to reading.

As usual my involvement was exhibiting at the art show, which this year saw a really good variety of artists and styles, including resident artists David A. Hardy and Sue Jones, and first-time displays from Anne Nicholls, with a selection of delightfully eerie fantasy paintings, and Mike Gould, whose display of disturbed surrealism and abstracts really gave the art show a different edge.

Even if overall attendance appeared to be slightly less than usual (this was at least my perception), the art room had a pretty constant influx of visitors, which was nice.

My own art display

Having recently produced my first cover for independent publisher Elsewhen Press, it was great to meet up with the team again at Novacon, and also meet many of their other authors. Most significantly, I was instantly welcomed into what has become known as the 'Elsewhen Family', and treated to dinner at a nearby Indian restaurant. Great company, great food and great conversation – who could ask for more?

This year also saw the Initiative for Interstellar Studies (I4IS) make their Novacon debut. While I4IS' mission is centred around creating a sustainable future in the stars and the technology and engineering required, much of its foundation really stems from science fiction – so Novacon being a heavily literary and science-oriented event, this was certainly the perfect audience for I4IS.

Director Kelvin F. Long with the I4IS display in the dealer's room

Sadly, the tragic events in Paris did affect the mood of the event come the Saturday morning – I don't intend to dwell on this, as I simply cannot find sufficient words. But needless to say, knowing what devastating acts stupidity were going on just across the Channel, did make our little event feel futile and irrelevant. But in the same sense it also highlighted the community feel at the heart of Novacon, and brought the crowd together. It was a topic on everyone's lips.

I attended various discussion panels over the weekend, including a fascinating genre discussion, touching on the vibrant YA scene and the ups and downs of self-publishing and the ongoing struggle to be fond or seen in a heavily saturated market. This had actually evolved out of an initial discussion about what makes decent SF, and if anything I found these subjects very insightful and posed questions that the publishing and self-publishing industries will need to find answers and solutions to in the very near future. Writers on the panel included Bryony Pearce and Janet Edwards.

Floodtide author Helen Claire Gould (wife of the aforementioned Mike) was present for the whole weekend, and presented an original panel on geology, which involved an interesting examination of various stones and rocks, where the audience got to participate and look at them under magnifiers, which in no time were being compared to strange alien landscapes!

The audience rocked up to the stage (literally) to examine Helen's geology collection.

Sunday saw the launch of Katrina Mountfort's Forbidden Alliance (out now from Elsewhen Press). This is a cover I'm extremely proud of, particularly because because Mountfort's Blueprint series is exactly my kind of dystopian SF. I had really enjoyed the first book, Future Perfect, so it was great to see Forbidden Alliance have its official launch – complete with mugs and t-shirts!

Katrina Mountfort and Elsewhen Press' Peter Buck

Author, book, artist and t-shirt!

The Sunday afternoon saw the traditional art auction, where work from the show went under the hammer – a pleasing time for us artists, as a chance to make a bit of cash!

Closing the panel of events was the Initiative for Interstellar Studies, with Kelvin F. Long's enthralling and passionate talk on The Physics of Starships in Science Fiction.

But, in no time at all, it was all over. Again! It's always a slightly sad moment on the last day to be disassembling the art show, which we'd lovingly installed on the Friday afternoon – the art show organisers Serena and John work tirelessly every year to put on a great show and they really know how to look after their artists.

A great event, as always and a pleasure to meet so many nice and likeminded people. Here's to Novacon 46!

It moves!

I have been working on an animated book trailer for a client recently. This gave me a good excuse to buy some new art pens and get drawing. But I was then faced with the realisation that I had to animate everything, which posed a whole new challenge in itself – but one which was soon solved, thanks to Photoshop's animation palette.

Although the effect I wanted was very simple (the "Parallax shift" effect), it was really exciting to suddenly see my piece of artwork come to life! And this got me thinking, why not look at animating some of my own artwork...

This kind of animation – at least the way I've done it – is reliant on your artwork being in layers, so that each object you wish to move is on a layer of its own. This was when I realised that some of my pieces were all painted on one layer, so there wasn't anything I could do. However, those were in the minority, as I usually save a layered version of a piece of digital artwork, should it ever need to be revisited.

So I went through my work and picked out the pieces I felt would work nicely, and set about having fun with them, and I'm really happy with the results. It's simply fascinating to see these scenes I'd spent hours working on, suddenly taking on a life of their own and becoming three dimensional!

So here it is, my SF&F art showreel – complete with my own music, which is a track called "Home", from my latest album, Panorama.

Dark Designs

As my cover artwork for Alice Sabo's forthcoming book Dark Deeds has now been revealed I can go a little deeper into its origins and how we arrived at the final version.

The book's protagonist, actor Asher Blaine is making a comeback after getting over an alcohol problem. But from wildfires to rockslides, everything is against Blaine and it seems that somebody is out to try and kill him.

Alice was particularly keen on one scene in the story where Blaine's life hangs in the balance (again), as he finds himself dangling from a cliff.

Here are two of my initial mono draft sketches. The first shows just Asher's hand as he's about to vanish into oblivion; the second is his striking silhouette hanging on for dear life – which was the one we went with.

I had originally envisaged this as a night scene, but it actually takes place late afternoon, as a dark and heavy storm is closing in.

This led to me exploring several options, from a rain storm to vibrant, fiery sunsets and ominous, threatening weather...

After several variations in colour, light and even the kind of clouds, the final illustration came about, complete with the addition of the sea below.

 Alice Sabo will publish Dark Deeds in early 2015...

Post-Novacon blues (again)

So another Novacon is over – only my third Novacon experience, but I think I’ve got the hang of this convention lark now and settled in. Novacon is a great SF convention – no silly costumes, but a wide range of fans of SF in film, television, art and literature in particular. There is really a strong literary edge to Novacon which is what I personally like the most. If you're an avid SF reader, an aspiring or published writer or a fan of science fiction art, then this is really the convention to be at. 

Novacon is the right size – big enough to be busy and bustling, small enough to have a comfy community feel. The regulars are passionate about their SF, classic and modern, and you'll always find a common point and something to chat or debate about. I'm not the best conversation starter – I need a good day to warm up  – but you do feel that you can just about walk up to any given conversation and join in. As well as always having a packed and superb program of talks and panels, there is a vibrant social side to the convention, which it seems, is the highlight for many fans – often helped along by the convention drink of choice, Black Sheep!

There are always treasures to be found in the dealer's room. If you're looking for rare or vintage SF books, then you'll find it there, more often than not.

However for me, Novacon is mostly about displaying my artwork, as it’s a perfect opportunity to be seen by the right people – likeminded fans, other artists, collectors, writers and publishers.

This does mean I have to select which panels I will leave the art show to attend. Of course, you can depend on it that as soon as you escape briefly into daylight (well, the hotel foyer, on the way to the main room), somebody will come into the art show looking for you! That’s the way it goes.

At my first Novacon in 2012, I found the prospect of putting so much of my work on show for the first time a little nerve-wracking. Of course I shouldn’t have, as everybody had lovely and encouraging things to say about it – and once you see your pieces going under the hammer and selling in the art auction, well, you know you’re doing something right! Two more events later and my work has found a home there. I've even managed to sneak my music in!

Exhibiting gives you greater confidence in your work and being up there on the wall, you see your pieces really come to life and become part of the event. And it’s incredible how they come into their own; your perception of one of your own works can change, and through the (great) conversations with the other artists in residence, you pick up tips, comments or criticism and it all helps, leaving you feel encouraged and inspired.

Sometimes when the con-goers visit the art room and look at your work, if they don’t know who you are (or might not be aware you are there), you can often overhear a comment or criticism which might not have otherwise reached your ears, and that is interesting in itself.  The people visiting the art show often fall into two categories – those who will stop and chat, maybe ask questions about your work and have a general conversation, and those who gaze in silence, keeping their thoughts to themselves. Quite often they’ll return for a second round.

It's also interesting to see which pieces do get bids on, and how many. This of course varies from year to year and you'd just don't know how it will go, but you can get a rough sense for what people like. Of course the real fun starts when the auction begins on the last day.

So a big thank you to the Novacon committee for once again putting on a great event (despite the hotel's best attempts to intervene!). I should also thank the art show organisers, Serena and John for their hard work, dedication and the continued support and encouragement they give to all their artists. You couldn't ask for nicer people to work with.

Until next time...

Novacon is coming / listen to your feedback

As an artist, it’s always difficult to choose pieces of your own work.

I have recently produced a limited-run publication, Escape. Copies of which have been popping through letterboxes around the country, but it will also be available from me in person at next month’s Novacon.

When producing a small booklet of your own material, it really is a hard task to select what works to include. I decided to focus on my science fiction artwork for Escape, as it is primarily what I do, and also what I have done most of my best work in. But it also requires some variety, so I had to choose some non-SF pieces to go in too. Eventually with the help of my wife and feedback from friends, the shortlist was made.

One particular piece of art – and I’m not going to tell you which – was one that I had never felt was particularly good; mainly because it was essentially a quick sketch; more of a rough concept for a piece rather than a finished thing. Yet this rough affair has become the final piece of art, simply because of the comments I regularly receive on it, which never cease to pleasantly surprise me. 

Which basically reminds me that we are not always the judges of our own work. Feedback is invaluable. Your audience are your best critics.

From having little confidence in this particular piece, I’ve now featured it in Escape, and it will be on show at Novacon.

This year’s Novacon art display will feature mostly new and recent artwork, as well as a some older works which haven’t been displayed anywhere before.

In addition to artwork, I’m hoping that the art room will also have some of my music floating through the airwaves, and copies of Traces and possibly Future Worlds Redux will also be on sale. 

Once again, I really look forward to talking all things SF with fellow fans, artists, writers etc. Come and say hello!