Okay, one more......

Well, I thought the last blog was going to be the last one until after Christmas, but then today I got word that this painting was going to hit the stands on January 15th. It's one of my older paintings and was purchased by Necrotic Tissue magazine as "Pick up"art. To make this even more special, this will be the first issue of the magazine in Print. The past issues where web-magazines. You can order your copy here My guess is that this is going to be a major collectors Item, so you might want to get yours asap. Another note is that this was done before I started training under Master Horne.

You know in my last post that I was gonna talk about some "dirt" that happened this year in my end of the year blog. But let me a little more specific on what I am going to say. For one, I am not going to drag anyone name through the mud, nor I am going to hint at who they are. The only reason I am going to do this is at all is for two reasons. The first is that I want people who are new to this field to know up front, that yes, if your talented enough and work hard enough, you can be very happy doing this for a living, but there are tons of sharks out there that will do ANYTHING to use you and steal from you, cheat you, you name it, and they will do it unless you learn to spot them. One of my biggest problems is that in the past I have had trouble spotting these types. But Cheryl (Madison) has really helped me with this, and when she tells me that someone is trouble, I listen. An I have been happier ever since.

The trouble with the majority of us creative types, writers, film makers, artist ect is that there is this little kid inside of us, and in my mind, that's where the imagination comes from. But it also gets us in trouble because we get so excited when someone wants us to do something that we think is really cool and put good sense aside. Or at least, It's been that way with me. I think that's where a lot of my darkness comes from. The Child in me has been hurt, used, lied to and abused. That's why, no matter what I draw, there is something there. A lot of the time it is the emotion I draw in a character's face or something about the place and the lighting.

An when these sharks come along and do these things to me (us) there is a big part of me that just wants to beat the living hell out of them. These last 10 years I have learned not to want to be violent, but just draw what I feel instead and that really seems to help get it out, but the damage is done and the child is hurt once again.

The second reason is more practical. I hope by sharing things with you, it will help you to not make the mistakes that I have. Here are a few hints for the young people that I hope will help you on your journey. Unless your dealing with a mainstream company, check out their website. If they have a chat room, go there and just listen. I do that while I am working. Most of the time, you hear positive things and learn about a company that you may want to work with. Remember as a free lancer you need to build a good client list. I have said this many times and I will say it again. Always show good manners and respect. No matter how good you think you are, there is always someone better that wants what you have.

When you do a google search on a potential client, check all the main links, because someone may have put a tag on a blog naming the company. I have a 3 strike rule. If on line I find 3 legitimate complaints by different sources, then I strike them off my consideration list. But make sure the people who are making the negative statements are truly legit. You would be surprised at how many people's ego can't take rejection and act like idiot's when they are turned down.

Normally I don't promote group sites to get work for various reasons, but I make an exception with Facebook. I joined Facebook a year ago, and since then I have not had to look for work, at all and I am already booked till March already. One of the many reasons I like facebook is that when you friend someone, you can learn a lot about them by reading their profile. But the biggie is that you can chat with Publishers, Art Directors and all the markets you want to work in. You have the chance to get to know these people and actually become friends. Without Facebook, you do not this kind of opportunity. Plus you can get to know your favorite artist, writers, movie stars and so much more. If your not on Facebook and want to work in the fields I do, then join Facebook. Promoting yourself is major in this business. If you are shy, take drama. You need to learn to be sociable and have confidence in yourself.

Next time I see you, I will have some sketches to show you on a new painting. I hope that everyone has a wonderful and safe Holiday. Peace and Blessings everyone and Merry Christmas.

Probably the last post till christmas.

Hello friends. I want to wish you all a wonderful, happy and safe Holidays. I've been very busy and getting ready to start a new painting today. It will be the second one for the AntiPalidin Book for The Evil Nerd Empire. The one directly above is the first one. The top illustration is something I did about a year ago, and when i was looking at it the other day I saw mistakes that I had made, and decided to spend a day fixing them. I think it looks much better than the first way I did it.

I've really been getting the itch to do some steampunk work. When I first did the above piece, I really didn't understand what Steampunk was about. I've been listening to a Band called Abney Park, and they really have a Steampunk sound and look, and they have been inspiring me to head into Steam Punk. You can check them out here. So this coming year you will be seeing me doing Steampunk samples along with my normal work. Steampunk horror.... hmmmmmm sounds interesting.

On to other things. We are going to have a contest on my fan sites. It will be a bimonthly and it will be about stories, art and video that fans make of a piece of art I put up. The winners will get free prints and free original. There will be a 7th contest as well, and it will be all the winners from that year to determine the very best. The winner will get a free oil painting of my chose. We have the judges already and now all I have to do is list the rules and post them. Look for this the first week of Jan. I am also going to talk to my publishers to see if they will kick in some prizes as well, like a book with my art and so on.

This has been a awesome year for me, and next week, I am going to review it for you, and tell you some of the "dirt" that went on behind the scenes. I can think of 4 people right now that my statement made their blood pressure shoot up about 50 points. The problem is this. In this field, like any other, you have con artist and crooks. At some point someone has to put a end to their bull. If gone unchecked, they will keep doing what their doing, which is ripping off artist and writer and in one case I know off, try to take credit for a story written by a very famous writer friend of mine, and he put my art with it to. He made it look like he did both. We had his site pulled in a matter of hours, but something tells me this creep hasn't learned his lesson.

The thing is that when young artist and writers try to break into this field, 80% of them have to climb the ladder, which takes years. Along the way, their are so many Vultures waiting to take advantage of you and steal from you. When you do run across a publisher that pays you and treats you good, you do what it takes to keep working for them. You will find that the more successful publishers have built a family like atmosphere among it's talent pool.

Well, time to get busy now. I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas. Peace and Blessings.

The ways things are going............

Hello my friends. I hope you all are staying warm. It's cold as heck up her in the mitten state! lol Thank goodness, I work inside these days. The fellow above is named 'Kannon" and he is the star of a book called "The Anti-Palidin" soon to be published by the Evil Nerd Empire. It is part of a painting in which I showed you the other player in the post before the last one. Now this is just the color sketch, so don't think I'm done yet. Right now I am working on the background, which is the interior of a church. Hopefully next time I blog, it will be done, or close. A couple of things to remember when you are drawing or painting something like this, first always remember to make the hero or villains hands larger and stronger that the models hands are that you are using, and also remember in the real world, armor, weapon, clothing, whatever is always going to have wear, so when you draw and paint them, dent things up, dull them, tear them. Make them believable. It is one of the steps to breathing life into your work.

As I have told you before, Cheryl is writing now, and she put up a website. Go here and check it out. I think she did a wonderful job. I am also adding a link to the right side bar for future reference as well. You'll notice on her site that she mentions a new contest that I am having 7 times a year. I will post all the details over the weekend, and if your a member of the international fan club, you will be getting a letter about as well. The prizes will be original paintings, drawings and prints all personalized to the winners. I am very flattered to have so many of you in the 2 fan clubs. Between the 2, there are almost 5000 fans. That just knocks this ole country boy on his butt when he thinks about that. Considering most of my life I've had to hear from my "family" (except Dianne and her children) what a loser i was. Thank goodness I believed in myself when no one else did.

Some times I wonder just how many people from all the past years keep up with my career, if any. I really would like to hear from you if your there. I haven't changed and i would really like to know how you all have been. The years pass quickly.

This year is approaching its end, and a new year will soon be here. I can say honestly, without a doubt, this has been the best year of my life. I found love and my career found me. In the next few blogs I'm going to fill you in on behind the scenes of this year. About my life and about my job and some of the people I've worked with this year. I already know that next year is going to be awesome, and it will also mark the return of Nick Rose to the Convention circus. Yes I meant to say circus. I love seeing the fans, but god, I hate being on the road, running into "old" friends that you really just want to beat the hell out of, but you have to smile and say "How have you been?"

The one thing about me is that i am not a phony. I say what I mean, and I don't play games, but I do take care of business. My biggest downfall is that I want to believe in people, and a lot of times when I do that, their conning me, but Cheryl has really been helping me to see people for what they really are. I have made some wonderful friends this year and have really expanded my horizons as the saying goes. An since we moved into the new home, I have been loving that as well. You wouldn't believe how much studio space I have now. Now I can set things up the way I've always wanted, but never had the space, including a place to package up mail orders we get for prints and originals, as well as a spot to set up permanently to shoot models.

What I am trying to get across in this blog, is that life has really been great to me this year. Sure there has been some bad things happen, and my health was touch and go there for a little while, but now i feel good most every day, and now I am going to start exercising again to make myself even stronger. I hope that all of you are having a wonderful holiday season, and remember, I don't bite, if you want to know something, just ask. Peace and Blessings.

I've been really busy.....

Hello my friends. It has been a very busy, and emotional time since I last blogged. I'll try to get you filled in on things. First off, before I forget, here is a link to some pic's Cheryl took of me today. Funny stuff.

Posted above are the last 2 paintings for "Darc Karnivale" and it goes to press come tomorrow. The one with the house was a re-do of "One for the Road" by the awesome Paul Kane, and the one above that is for "Playtime" by Marie O"Regan.

The reason I redid Paul's illustration was the first one, I just didn't do well at getting the point across. The story is about the "4 Horsemen" getting together for a few drinks before the world ends. It is a Awesome story, but I just couldn't figure out how to get all 4 of the horsemen into the pic, without losing most of the detail that you need to see who each of them are. So after talking with Paul about it, he suggested this idea, and I loved it and went for it.

Marie's was a re-do as well for different reasons. The first version of her painting is much more darker and eerie. Marie felt that the picture needed to be toned down. Her point was that if you saw this little girl (the original one) on a playground, you would run like hell. I needed to make her more approachable so other children would trust her. It is a very scary story, don't let the picture fool you, but in the story, that is what happens. You meet this little girl, start playing with her and....... You'll have to buy the book to find out, but it will scare the hell out of you.

I know that some of you might not realise how important this book is to me personally, but think about this, There are 16 short stories written by the very best horror writers in the world, and I was chosen to do the illustrations and cover for the book. This is huge to me, a dream come true.

Well folks, I was going to try to write more, but I am just plain out tired and I need a night off. Peace and Blessings.