'The Machine'

What One Skill Do All Entrepreneurs Need to Succeed?

What One Skill Do All Entrepreneurs Need to Succeed?

Here's some great information that really applies to freelancing as well as entrepreneurship.  See no charge!

New Sci Fi painting

'The Transit Spaceport' Loved this and wanted to share!

New one

The Alien mine concept

The Orb Princess

I love doing pinups and anime girls when I have the time. Here's one I thought I'd share! Enjoy. IIID

Steam Flyers Update

We're making great progress on our neo-classic scrolling shooter 'Steam Flyers' right now. The new game-play framework is pretty much implemented and running smoothly. A lot of the new graphics and elements are being implemented. All in all the game is coming together great and should be up for testing and release soon. Check back for some sneak peeks and updates. IIID

Ace Pilots, Honor bound Ronin, and Post Apocalyptic Destruction It's a lot to handle...

Juggling the dev of three new games at the studio at present. Lots of work but it really feels good every night when you shut down and you've made solid progress on one or all of them. Moving forward on projects you are passionate about is really rewarding! These projects are ones I've wanted to do for awhile and I can't wait to show them off! I'll be posting shots/vids of WIP and game-play for each up here as we get deeper into each project. All the best! IIId

Painter or Photoshop?

I'm finding more and more that the answer is both. It's really convenient to run them side by side and utilize the tool sets in both, going back and forth. It's how I've been working a lot lately and I'm diggin on it immensely! Since PSD is a native format in painter it's no thing to move back and forth these days. I'll generally draw and sketch in painter and then move over to texturing and manipulating the image(s) in PS, then back to painter for the painterly finish with oils, effects or the like. This way I make use of the strengths of both pieces of software. Uber powerful workflow. Hope that answers that nagging question for ya's D

Not Exactly Seafood

It's always a bit unnerving when you're scuba diving and a herd of mechanized gulpers comes racing through...

There is no magic bullet, or magic beans, in freelancing...don't buy the hype.....

I recently saw a freelancer who was advertising that he could show other less adept freelancers 'the way to success' for a fee. He had various qualifying statements in his ad that all pointed to him being a rising success and for a (undisclosed amount on my part) fee, he would show others the way to riches and happiness as a freelancer. To me this kind of thing is simply symptomatic of some of what's wrong with the freelancing scene these days. First let me note that freelancing isn't easy for anyone. It's a choice you make or in some cases not. Mostly it is though, due to the freedom it provides. It's appealing in many ways but can be very difficult at times. Sometimes you'll spend more time hawking your work than actually working in a given month, and sometimes to no avail. Other times you end up working for wonderful people on a wonderful project. Now if you'll notice the word I used the most in that last little blurb, it was the word 'work' and yes it is the answer to all of your freelancing whoas. Work solves nearly every problem and since it's all on you as a freelancer, it can be overwhelming at times. Never the less, I've found that hard work is what ultimately sets those who succeed apart from those who don't. I don't just mean working at your art either. You have to network, a lot! You have to talk to people, and you have to get good at selling yourself, hit the forums, etc. If you can't or won't , then nobody will hire except the occasional noob, and they rarely pay or pay little. These days there is more competition than ever in our industry, and other art related fields, that also proves my point. Those who work hard and get the work done professionally, on time, and in a dignified and professional manner get repeat business and referrals. Those who don't, well, don't. What I don't like to see is anyone, trying to make it in this business, spending hard earned money, or money they don't have to hear someone tell you either what you can find on the internet for free, know by common sense, or what you already know, wrapped up as a magic bullet that only they know and for $$$$ will share with you, if you buy your way into the club. I mean in my mind the only reason I can see another freelancer doing something like this, is well that they probably aren't making enough money freelancing and feel like they are entitled to exploit others even less knowledgeable than them for a bit of side cash. It's only an opinion, but I've always felt that your drive and work ethic will keep you ahead of others in this game, and teaching what you can to others coming up is the way you give back, not the way you cash in. There will always be strata in this industry in relation to experience, creative ability, and drive, etc. Advice is given by most top end artists freely(you'd be surprised at how gracious some of them are). What they tend to sell, in the forms of books, dvd's etc, is technique, theory, or something equally valuable, not career advice. I've honestly never seen it done before running across the ad I did the other day. Don't be taken in by this sort of thing. You have to work hard, do your best work, and work every day to improve, and then do it again the next day. Network, and take paying jobs, any paying jobs, but do not work for free! I've said that before. It gets you nowhere. IF you are going to invest money in your career, make sure that it is a sound investment and that you are getting value for your money. Don't pay for advice or opinions on the industry they are already out of date by the time you listen to them. This is a rapidly evolving industry that changes daily, weekly and monthly. It's a constant, and if you can't deal with the swings of freelancing then you might want to just buckle down and get your portfolio polished up and look for an art department job somewhere. There are upsides and downsides to that arena as well, but the benefits and paycheck are nice. All in all I'm not preaching and you can do what you like with your funds but I mean freelancing in the arts isn't mysterious or rocket science. It's a lot of hard work albeit satisfying work. I just don't want to see people get taken in by others who are looking to offer them something that doesn't exist. There are no shortcuts to becoming a professional level artist and there are no magic methods to getting dream jobs. You have to grind it out on both accounts, and anyone trying to tell you otherwise isn't being honest with you, especially if they are charging you for said knowledge. Just work hard, stay positive, and show off work you truly believe in and you will get there. You may not even get to where you think you want to go today as an artist, but eventually you will get to where you are supposed to end up. I hope this is informative and a bit helpful in avoiding unfounded high hopes and unnecessary spending on your parts. All the best! IIID

New Show Reel for 2013