More work on the Fishy Cleric dude....

I got into Spectrum! YAY!

After years of trying and trying, i have finally made it into the hallowed halls of the Spectrum annual "Best of Science Fiction and Fantasy Art" competition. All I know right now is that I got in, and that is according to Spectrum's own website. I am listed as Sean "Muttonhead" Murray.

What I do not know is which piece got in, but I think I can safely assume that since I only entered 2 pieces, it's probably THIS one, since I think it is the better of the two that I entered:

Anyways, I think what happens now is I have to do a nice digital print so that it can be displayed at a gallery show or something (at least, that is what I have seen them do in the past), and then the piece will be printed in the annual book which usually comes out in October.

Yay!

Fish-Cleric for Dominance War

OK, so my pace hasn't been very steady, but I am determined to finish this before the deadline, despite the book cover commision and the overtime at work. here is the final drawing for my entry: I have decided to make him a "clericon" instead of a wizard. His weapon will be a blunderbuss that uses Holy Power as it's source of energy, and he uses it to blast the faces of heretical robots in the FACE! YEAH!

Dominance War RESEARCH!!! YEAAAH!!! KICK ASS!

I went to the Walters Art Museum to get some inspiration for my Dominance War concept. I ended up doing a bunch of drawings of the old flint lock guns. Maybe my character will be a cleric that uses a powerful gun that uses Holy Powers to vanquish enemies. It could be carved with all kinds of religious iconography.

The view from my apartment...

So, as I mentioned before, I now live in Baltimore. Now, bear with me here: I have been working for Big Huge Games for more than a year now, and they are in the suburbs of Baltimore, yet, I was LIVING in New York State, that's where my house and my wife were. I had been a contractor for Big Huge up until this past September, whenI agreed to come on full time.

During this time, I was working from home every other week, and the weeks I was in Baltimore, I rented a room from an old lady in a neighborhood close to the Big Huge offices.

Last month, my wife moved down here and we got an apartment together (what a crazy concept, living with my wife! Fancy that!). The apartment we are renting is on the 14th floor of a building in downtown Baltimore, in a neighborhood called Mount Vernon. Baltimore was never a place I thought I would live, especially having grown up in the Northern Virginia suburbs, where most people consider Baltimore to be barely better than Chernobyl.

But it turns out, I kinda like it here!

Now, I ain't sayin it's all wine and roses. Two people did get shot a few days ago in a road-rage incident the next neighborhood over. But I have to admit, Baltimore is a city with a lot to offer, and so far, the wife and I are enjoying ourselves, and looking forward to the day when our house in New York finally sells so that we can start looking for a real home here (anybody wanna buy a lovely cape-style house in the heart of the Hudson Valley with shining wood floors, a double lot, and a 2 car garage?), but until then, I will stare out my window onto this creepy, but cool old church tower.