Welcome to my little Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Satire/Humour Canadian Corner...

Why Sci-Fi/Fantasy Art?

A Short Personal History

Sherman, set the Wayback Machine...

As a youngster, about 8 years of age or so, my father introduced me to this genre with the works of Lewis Carrol.His
modus operandii was to bring me insight into the world of logic,specifically the works of Sir Bertrand
Russell and Ludwig Wittgenstein.What he actually did with this was to incite me to enter
the Gestalt that is Macrocosmic/Microcosmic/Intracosmic* Fiction.

From his suggestion that if I wanted to read "REAL" Science Fiction that I had to read
Flatland:A Romance of Many Dimensions
...I was hooked.
I devoured all the local library's copies of C.S. Lewis' stories as well as Fred Hoyle's The Black Cloud, among many others, in very short order.
I've been a huge fan now for the almost 30 years since.

As an artist, I then went through what I like to call my "23 year apprenticeship" in freelance art doing my best
to bring the concepts I was inundated with, and perhaps the odd one of my own, from the realms of
Speculative Fiction to my commisions, whether they were airbrush murals on motorcycles or business logos.

However, it was Lynne Taylor Fahnestalk who, in 1990, brought me into the On Spec Magazine fold and I finally got to stretch my wings.

Below are thumbs of the illustrations that have appeared in On Spec from 1990 to 2001

The art is done with: Airbrush(acrylic lacquer), Ink,Corel Draw/Photopaint and Photoshop.
Some are a combination of pen and computer enhancement.

These are not the complete set of pictures.There's another half dozen or so waiting in the wings to be uploaded.
There are "some" closer looks on several of the pics as well.Just click on the pic...

If you have any comments or such, please

Aurora Award 2003 Nominated Art

Aurora Award 2002 Nominated Art

Art for Other Stories

On Spec Cover Art

Went to Torcon3 and thoroughly relished it. Details? hmmmm maybe l8r....
Oh...Finally joined A.S.F.A. *grin* and thanks for bank machines.

Congratulations Mel Vavaroutsos on you Aurora win!!
Keep up the good work and don't let your rocket lose fuel!

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September 2K3

I've been playing with some cover concepts.To have a gander at them click the banner blow.



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October 2K3

Here's a couple of new spacy ideas and a somewhat bent dragon.
They're not quite complete yet but I'll update newer versions when they're worthy.

(LEFT) This started out as just an alien on a jovian moon but it looked as though it needed a handler.
(MIDDLE) A Rather Trunculant Dragon and His Sweetheart of a Faerie
(RIGHT) A Small cuttership departs the mothership to do something dastardly...



Happy Halloween and ... All




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May & June 2K4

It's been quite awhile since I've posted any updates and ...it's about time I did.

After doing illustrations for short stories and covers for magazines, my first full cover for a
full length novel is coming out in the next month or so from Edge Publishing.
The novel is The Apparition Trail by Lisa Smedman, an alternative sci-fi fantasy novel set in the
wilds of western Canada during the late 1800's.
Also, I will be attending Con-Version in Calgary (August 6-8, 2K4) as Artistic Guest of honor. As this is
my first "billing" of this sort the honor is truly mine. I am indeed looking forward to this event.

Hopefully by then my first novel cover will be available.
The cover is for "The Apparition Trail" by Lisa Smedman and will be available this June from
Edge Science Fiction and Fantasy Publishing*Tesseract Books

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July 2K4

It's been a fun month.Spent a few days in Camrose enjoying the weather at Stage 13 the first weekend .
The ASFA Quarterly arrived. I have the incredible fortune of having my work on the cover and an interview
inside. The cover is below along with a slightly larger version.

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August 2K4

I'm off to Con-Version XXI in Calgary (Aug.6-8)....see you there!!

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September 2K4

Con-Version XXI was a gas!!! A trifle hectic but alot of fun. I learned alot about the con from the inside.
I met alot of great folk and saw quite a few friends. As Artist Guest of Honor it fell to me to design the
Official Con T-shirt as well as create the cover for the Program Booklet.
Of course there were a few inside drawings as well.

Program Cover


Portraits of the Guests of Honor

... The Rest Of The Interior Program Artwork


The Promo Flyer Art


At the con I finally got my paws on copies of The Apparition Trail by Lisa Smedman.
There's some larger views accessible by the pic below.



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November & December 2004

Here's the pieces I've been "putzing" with since the summer. The bottom row though were created during December.
I've gone back in time with some of the pieces here. "Chance Meeting" is an update of a cover for On Spec originally pixellated back in '93
using Windows 3.1 Paintbrush and a mouse.
The pieces "Mek Grrl", "Home Sweet Home" and "Catching a Buzz" were done from sketches in an old book from '85.







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Spring & Summer 2005

I was busy during the spring with several airbrush projects on vehicles but did play with the "Catching a Buzz" piece on order to
make it worthy to enter the Aphrodisia Competition.The results can be seen
by clicking the thumbnail below.




I was also given the opportunity to do the intro graphic for Roadhouse Film's Visions From The Edge . The image used in the documentary
was a layered photoshop image done in a slightly "50's Pulp" style and animated by the film-makers.




With the Robert Jordan's new Wheel of Time novel a number of websites are working with Tor to promote "Knife of Dreams". I did the
piece for Dragonmount. I'll post the picture soon.





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Fall 2005

I play online fantasy games and one, Guild Wars(NCSOFT), had an online Halloween Art Contest and
the pic below made it to their winner's circle of 10.




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Winterspring 2005-6

A long overdue update here.This will cover the last few months, from December 2K5 to June 2K6.

Last fall I opted to place my work in the Directory of Illustration 2006 Edition.
In order to show my best possible work I then decided to add some new art
and work on improving some old.
The main new pieces for the publication are the four below. however due to the public nature of the book,
I decided to not include the mermaid.
I did include the full version of the picture from the cover for On Spec Spring 2006, further down the page... "the Spectre"



I also included an update of the "Dragon & Faerie". I did add to "Home Sweet Home" but decided
that it might be too dark both figuratively and literally for the Directory.


The piece below was also included though it is older.The original was a fantasy portrait of a lady who's
online presence was marked by an incredibly strong personality. I did update and refine it from the version
on my "Digital" art page.


Sometime last winter while pondering a snow covered field and wishing for spring, I was hit by an image of an eruption.
This concept started as a single sphere the evolved through the daemonic to the spectral. It was while working on the
spectral version that Derryl Murphy, On Spec's Art Director at the time, asked me about something for the spring issue.
He considered the trio but decided upon the ghostly incarnation. All three versions are included below as well as the cover.


Then came time in May to send in the art for my two page in the Directory of Illustration.
The thumb below opens up the full piece, though not actual size.


After submitting the art above, I played on a couple of ...uh... slightly different pieces.
These are still in-progress.


To cap off my spring, Derryl Murphy amd Michael Capobianco contacted me about
designing a 3" sticker for the Andre Norton Award Winners.
While my submission was not the only one being considered, it ended up being the one chosen.
Below is a link to a large silver and gold variations of the logo as well as the full colour version.

The Official Announcement from SFWA

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Fall 2006

Here's two pieces I entered into WoW's first art contest.
In the 2D WoW Categories


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WinterSpring 2006-07




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Summer 2007

The image linked below was entered into a contest for WoWHead




The image linked below is a new double page ad in PLAY!




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Autumn 2007

===The New NEBULA AWARD design===



Here's a few pieces that popped into existance as the vegetation outdoors withered.
They're still ... in progress.



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Summer & Fall - worked on Artworx Vol. 1 -Link to come-
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Winter 2K8 - Summer 2K9