Back from IlluXcon 5

IlluXcon 5, photo by Kiri Østergaard Leonard

Yesterday, I came back home from my last U.S. journey. Today is Friday, my day for posting here on Muddy Colors. Although still wrestling with the “ temporary disruption of bodily rhythms caused by high-speed travel across several time zones”, or simply with jet-lag, I decided to share some of my thoughts and impressions about this year’s IlluXcon show, risking to “enrich” my post with even more grammar mistakes, wrongly chosen words and poorly constructed sentences, than I usually do, all because of the mentioned “ high-speed travel …”

Well, after attending this unique art convention for the third time, I came to the conclusion that IlluXcon is not a usual convention. No, it is more an extended meet-and-greet event that was brilliantly organized, for the fifth time, by Pat and Jeannie Wilshire, the founders of the convention. Although I consider myself somewhat inexperienced when it comes to the art conventions, I dare say that this show feels almost too warm and too intimate to be called a usual convention, in other words an event where people come to do business; to show, promote, sell and buy new products and ideas. Of course there is much going on at that level as well (fortunately!!). But there is also another aspect to this show, that could easily be sensed when you are there, especially during the last two days of the convention. The camaraderie,  mutual respect and support, friendliness and kindness are some of the qualities that characterize IlluXcon. It is a place where fellow artists and their entourage, clients and art collectors, art students and fans, get together and have wonderful time talking, exchanging ideas, supporting and inspiring each other, learning, buying-selling-commissioning art, having fun and even playing music and singing together.

 

IlluXcon music band under the leadership of Mark Zug

 

I think there are several factors that set this convention apart from the most of other shows I have been at.

First of all, the place where the convention is held is not too big and the architecture is friendly.  The space does not feel cold or impersonal. It reminds me of a cozy foyer of a theater, a place where people gather before going to see a good movie, a theatre piece or a concert. Inevitably, the space influences the setup of the show and the mood of the attending artists and the public. 

Second, there is art all over the place; colorful, inspiring, sometimes funny, sometimes serious, amazing, brilliant, mesmerizing art.  Here you can see the paintings “in person”, that are, more or less, reflecting the personality which created them, in the most direct manner; through the marks left by  hand that holds a real brush and  directs the movement of the physical paint upon the canvas, or board, and forces it into a shape…into becoming something out of nothing… directly, without anything between the artist and his creation, except for the thin air that separates his mental universe from the mostly two-dimensional physical world that is being created in front of him. This convention is dedicated exclusively to good-old hand-made fantasy art. 
 
Last but not least, the artists who make this art, and the visitors, all seem to be very passionate and most friendly people.

Therefore, the photos I want to show you this time will not focus on wonderful art, but rather on wonderful people; my fellow artists and visitors with whom I had the most inspiring and pleasant conversations. Needless to say, not all of my encounters with them were recorded with a camera. There were many, many more memorable moments that made this year’s IlluXcon very special for me.

So, thank you all for your time, your inspiring and supportive words, your kindness and your beautiful art!

Filip Burburan and Milivoj Ćeran in front of their booth

The Balkan Crew

With Jim Burns

In conversation with Thomas Kuebler

Thomas Kuebler’s  charming troll-lady

With Ralph Horsley

With the art students from Ohio

Omar Rayyan, Illy award winner, with “his” head (Photo by Mike Sass)

With John Jude Palenkar and Donato Giancola

Justin Gerard

Talking with Gregg Spatz



With Mark Nelson



With Mark Zug 

Petar Meseldzija Art crew, with Jean, Morgan and Anita.

 

Talking about kindness and generosity; I got  these beautiful drawings as presents from a few fellow artists!!



By Filip Burburan

By Mark Nelson





By Justin Gerard

By Raoul Vitale



By Zach Wojnar

 

Convention sketches

 

Recently, I went to Ghent in Belgium to attend a convention. I have been signing my Tarzan book at the Dark Dragon Books booth. Attending comic conventions is a relatively new thing for me, because I haven’t been doing that for more than 20 years. During such a convention I spend most of my time drawing. In every sold copy of the Tarzan book I did a little sketch. Most of these sketches were simple and relatively quickly done; therefore they were for free. The copies of the book that contained a more detailed and complex drawing were sold for an additional price, which depended on how detailed the drawing was.

At the convention I am usually surrounded by comic artists, which is quite normal, it’s comic convention after all. For some reason there are not many Dutch illustrators attending these conventions. I have to say that illustration, as an art form, is generally speaking a little undervalued in the Netherlands, in spite the fact that Rien Poortvliet, a creator of the world famous book “Gnomes”, and Anton Pieck, a wonderfully unique artist, hugely popular within a certain segment of the Dutch population, but not very known outside the country, are both Dutch. I think I should do  a post on their art in the near future.  

Contrary to that, the comic market is quite developed here, and it seems that these days new comic conventions pop up all over the place like mushrooms after the rain. I guess that the situation in neighboring Belgium is pretty much the same. Anyway, all of these comic artists from different countries who attend the comic conventions, apparently spend their days drawing. They are always in good shape, as far as drawing is concerned; they are highly skillful, imaginative, and many of them are extremely good.

I am a painter and an illustrator. I don’t draw every day, I paint every day! Painting is my cup-of-tea. And to be honest, it’s quite intimidating to sit for a couple of days next to these gifted and hardworking  guys,  who can draw with such a great ease and speed. I get frustrated every time I watch them draw.

Why I am frustrated, you might ask…? Well, for the past 15 years I didn’t spend enough time on drawing. Sometimes I did not draw for months. Therefore I lost the touch and routine, and I developed a kind of fear of drawing. Until recently, I got nervous every time I saw a blank sheet of paper in front of me. Perhaps you don’t believe me…but it’s true!

Therefore  the first convention day is always quite frustrating for me because during that day I try to regain my drawing skills and self-confidence. Usually it gets better the next day. After I have made a number of bad drawings, I finally make one or two good ones, which helps me feel more relaxed. I even start to have fun, for my convention drawings are all silly. For some reason I enjoy drawing silly things.  In spite of all the troubles I somehow manage to remember how to draw by the end of the convention, and I often go home sufficiently satisfied with my achievements. But at the same time I realize that I need to spend more time on drawing. I have to practice more. I tell myself that I must draw every day, at least for half an hour, perhaps at the beginning of every working day…I just need to draw more, I need to get better. Long time ago, when I was a comic artist, drawing was my second nature. It would be great to awaken that state of mind again, and to regain that level of skill. Well, I guess I just need to practice more...
 
In the meantime, here is a selection of my recent convention sketches, and post-convention drawings (more detailed ones, most of these were done at home). I apologize for the blurry images. They were made with a cellphone.

Drawing in progress

Furry barbarian warrior

A few weeks ago, during the comic convention in Breda, I promised to the publisher of my Tarzan that I will do a little sketch in his copy of the book .

Well, I just finished the drawing. The ink is still wet.

 

 

Another homage to Frazetta

About a year ago I posted an entry about the making of the Death Dealer drawing, which was my first homage to Frazetta. Upon seeing the finished piece, the client who commissioned the drawing asked me if I would be willing to do a painting of the same composition. I accepted but shortly after I realized that this might be even a bigger challenge, because the inclusion of color in the process will increase my anxiety, for now I will be working in the shadow of the full scale of Frazetta’s talent. The question about the actual meaning of a homage, and the purpose of such a venture appeared in my mind. To be honest, I never liked the surrogates and epigones. I always greatly appreciated the integrity and the uniqueness of the artistic expression. Therefore making just a simple copy of this iconic character was out of the question.

 

 

I have to say that making copies of other artist’s work is not strange to me. During my studies at the art academy I did a few copies of the old master’s paintings. The purpose of it was sheer practice. In this way I hoped to learn something that I could not get from my art teachers. Although it was not done by the book, so to speak, for I painted the copies from the reproductions, not from the originals, it was highly satisfying and useful, and I collected the knowledge that I was not able to find anywhere else back then.

 

Milk Maid, after Vermeer, 1991.

 

When it comes to my Frazetta Death Dealer interpretations, my objectives are quite different . Although I have to “copy” the master’s character, I don’t intend to copy his technique or style. I am supposed to take his character as a starting pointing and then bring it into my world and reinterpret it so that it gets a distinctive flavor of my style and my thinking. But still, a heavy shadow of the master's abilities is hanging above my head and making me feel a little incompetent. Of course I knew that Frazetta was truly unique and marvelous, but only when you try to make a Frazetta painting, you realize how damn good he was. He was, and still is, the Michelangelo of Fantasy Art!

Anyway, here is the underpainting of my new Death Dealer piece. At this moment I really don’t know how the painting will evolve. I have some vague ideas about the direction I want to go, but it’s more likely that the forthcoming battle with this demanding piece will define the final results. I have to wait and see, just like you…

Dragon, Draco, Draak, Azhdaha, Zmay

                                                                  

The Noble Dragon, 1996

 

The symbolism of the dragon is complex and powerful, and it occupies an important place within the pantheon of symbols in many cultures throughout the history.

The dragons are very old and important element of the mythological universe. In China the dragon is the oldest mythological animal and symbolizes the Earth’s fertility, the power of creation and the Emperor’s power.

Japanese woodblokck print

 

In the European culture the dragon mainly symbolizes greed and lust. That is why it has often been depicted as a creature that spends his days stealing fair maidens, and laying on his golden treasure and jealously protecting it. This is in a way a simplification of the function and the symbolism of the eastern dragon, who is basically a guardian of the “ hidden treasure”. Therefore it can be said that the European dragon means bringing the spiritual symbolism to the basic, lower urges and needs of the human being.

Ivan Bilibin

 

Contrary to the eastern dragon, who is generally a positive phenomenon, in the western tradition the dragon has mainly been perceived as a negative, bad creature, and therefore in the psychological sense he is often connected to the internal problems and obstacles that have to be overcome on the way of moral and spiritual enlightenment.

They represent those monsters from our subconscious who are guarding the threshold to the “Hero’s adventure”, and the higher level of existence. A Hero must slain the dragon in order to get to another level, the next leg of the journey on his developmental path.

St. Georg and the Dragon, 2000

In the Arthurian legend there is a creature that makes its appearance in the story of the Questing Beast. Although described as a creature that has a serpent head and tail, a leopard body, a lion's hindquarters and deer’s feet, it has often been depicted as a strange dragon-like creature. In the story this beast appears in front of King Arthur, who is resting near a deep pool, after an exhausted deer hunt. There is a noise like the barking of a hound pack coming from within the beast’s body. Only when the creature drinks from the pool the noise ceases. After that the beast goes away and disappears into the bushes.

Not being able to understand the meaning of this strange apparition, Arthur goes to Merlin to seek his advice. Merlin tells Arthur that the Questing Beast was the evil spawn of a princess who wished to have an unholy union with her own brother. When the brother rejected his sister's incestuous advances, she made a bargain with the devil, who then murdered the brother and fathered the Questing Beast on her. Significantly, Arthur catches a glimpse of this beast shortly after his own incestuous encounter with his half-sister Morgan le Fay.

Pavel Tatarnikov

However, in his magnificent book Hero With a Thousand Faces, Joseph Campbell gives us another clue as to what the actual symbolism of this intriguing creature might be. He says that this creature’s symbolism is related to the function of the disgusting and rejected frog from The Frog-prince, a famous Brother Grimm’s fairytale, who dives to the bottom of a deep pool and gives back to the princess her lost golden ball.

Both the frog and the Questing Beast are the manifestations of a force that might be perceived as a herald, or the announcer of the adventure. This herald (in fairytales often represented by an ugly frog, serpent (dragon), a mysterious person or a rejected one) is the representative of the unconscious deep, wherein are hoarded all of the rejected, unadmitted, unrecognized, unknown or undeveloped factors, laws and elements of existence ,waiting to be explored. "The herald is often dark, loathly or terrifying , judged evil by the world; yet if one could follow, the way would be opened through the walls of day into the dark where the jewels glow”, as Joseph Campbell poetically expressed in his book.
 
Therefore, in that respect, these ugly beasts are nothing else but the embodiments of the “call to adventure”.

Wladyslaw Skoczylas

Another intriguing symbolic meaning of the dragon is to be found in the Alchemy, where a dragon (or serpent), called Ouroboros (means tail-biter), devours himself and therefore symbolizes the infiniteness of the Life process, the never-ending cycle of destruction and rebirth.

 

Lucas Jennis

So, next time when we see a dragon flying over the fantasy lands, we should know that this creature is capable of doing much more than just spitting fire and smashing down the sturdy castle towers. We just have to give him a chance, but at the same time we need to pray that he does not burn us alive, before revealing the hidden and forgotten aspects (treasures) of his character. For he is a Dragon after all!

 

Back from Breda

 I recently came back from Breda Strip Festival.

I spent two days signing my Tarzan book at the Dark Dragon Books booth. The book was surprisingly well received by the fans and a great number of copies were sold.

The Breda show was again a fantastic experience, and I would like to thank all of you who stopped by at our booth. I hope to see you again next year.



My space at the Dark Dragon Books booth (with Anita)



The Dark Dragon Books crew, from left to right: Amin Gemei (publisher), Marcel, me and Anita.



With Mark Thelosen, discussing the print quality by comparing it with the original Tarzan pages.





I drew many little sketches in the sold copies of the Tarzan book. Most of them I did with a fineliner. Only a few sketches were done with pencil, like this one.