While I haven’t been leaving much of a visible art foot print, these last few weeks, I haven’t been slacking off. First, I’m working on both building up my digital resources and trying to get my 3D-skills updated after about a three-year absence. There’s quite a few image ideas swimming in my head, I’m just building to the point where I can tackle them in my “new ways”.

Second, I’m taking an online natural illustration course out of Australia so that’s not only going to be taking some of my art time, but also (hopefully) giving me a refresher with my old skills in physical art media. So lots going on, but little to show for it yet. Meanwhile I guess you’ll just have to drink in the other cool images I’ve recently run across from the talented crowd ‘round DA.

Well it’s been only about a month (give or take) since my last blog update so maybe I’m having success in retraining myself back to the DA habit. I’ve made really good progress on migrating my old arting materials to my new machine and getting up to speed with DAZ Studio 4.12. I may have only pumped out three finished pieces, but behind each one is a number of experiments and trials. With each one my “render legs” have regained a bit more strength. It feels kinda nice being back at the digital drawing board… if only to provide some distraction from our nation’s dumpster fire du jour.

I’m also reading my way through a course on the basics of microbiology, both as a way to update my education and to provide some deeper technical nuance ability when it comes to forming ideas about the directions extraterrestrial life might take. It feels to me like many science fiction creatives are heavy on the physical sciences, while being much lighter on the natural sciences. To paraphrase a quote a friend recently related to me: “Physicists look at the question of extraterrestrial life and say how can it NOT be out there given the practically infinite number of stars and planets in the universe. Meanwhile biologists look at the same question and ask, given all the improbable events it took to nurture advanced life on Earth how can we expect that to be readily replicated elsewhere.”

My own view isn’t in either extreme, but I think both sides present valid considerations. When people (and especially scifi fans) talk about “alien life”, what they’re usually really saying is “complex extraterrestrial life with at least human-level intelligence and a mechanized society”. That’s a rather extreme qualification given that in Earth’s 4.5 billion year existence, we’ve met that qualification once and it’s only been for a few thousand years.

That said I think evidence has been mounting that the basics of life, as manifested on the microbial level, might turn out to be a probable feature of nature under the right circumstances. If that’s true we may yet see life on other bodies in our solar system in our lifetimes. But don’t expect them to be great conversationalists. The road to advance eukaryotic life is indeed one of improbabilities, but that doesn’t mean that discovery of  “microbial alien slime” wouldn’t blow the doors off the evolutionary doors and capture the world’s attention.

So yeah – biochemistry, blah, blah, blah. You came here for art, so here’s some of the cool stuff I’ve spotted since coming back to haunt these digital halls. Click the thumbnails for visual enrapturement!  

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Well hey there! Long time no chat. I’m still alive and kickin’… I’ve just been kickin’ it elsewhere: in my reading nook, on my modeling bench, and in my kayak. So I’ve very much NOT been here… due to the fact I didn’t have much new to show anyone. But that may change in the coming months.

The biggest thing that’d been keeping me away from making art was my aging machine (as I work mostly digital, these days). The ole box just could keep up with the state of the tech. Like a (too) old car, it can still get me from point A to point B – most of the time – but not without great aggravation. That massive speed bump is on the mend. My new machine has arrived and is in the process of transitioning to my office, so with luck, motivation, and inspiration, I’ll be back in the game soon.

Another sign of my waking art slumber: I re-upped my CORE membership. So now I’ll feel more compelled to make good use of that!

I’m also planning on taking an online natural scientific illustration course with my wife this Spring. I don’t want to let my physical art skills TOTALLY atrophy! So you may be some work from that venture popping up here soon.

As to my many wonderful and talented DA friends, I’m hoping to get caught up on looking at your work. My apologies if I don’t leave much in the way of comments as I play catch-up. If I did that I think it’s unimaginable that I’d have time left over for art! But hopefully, once I settle back in, I can share my feedback with greater detail and frequency.

I hope the year’s treated you well and you’ve got some good holiday revelment in the cards.

We here I am again… after another loooooooong absence. For whatever reason I just haven’t felt driven to create much art this year, and something in me feels guilty about coming to DA purely as a spectator. All I can say is that I sure hope this lull passes because I’m much happier when I’m creating!

I’d be lying if I said political anxiety here in the U.S. wasn’t part of the problem and with the outcome of the last election I find myself driven to become even more politically engaged to preserve the progress made over the last couple of decades. But I’ll attempt to minimize bringing my political baggage into the DA sphere which is about art, entertainment, and escape. I know that barrier won’t be 100% impermeable, but I’ll do what I can.

I’d like to shout out a BIG thank you to whoever gave me the anonymous membership boost! That was a joy to discover… and joys are a valuable commodity of late. I’ll try to participate more and make the expense worth your while… but “try” is the best I can promise and clearly doesn’t pass Yoda muster.

My first book cover of 2017 just rolled out this week! It’s not precisely a “new” work, but it’s a tuned up older image and it’s on James Cambias’ first self-published e-book, “Outlaws & Aliens”. This is affordable entry into Jim’s work, if you haven’t already read him. He tends to write good SF adventure with a solid science underpinning. I hesitate to actually to use “hard SF” to describe it since, to many, that implies dry, concept driven work. Jim’s work ain’t dry and it won’t require a calculator to appreciate. He has two fun novels already published by Tor Books: “A Darkling Sea” and “Corsair”. I can heartily recommend both!

www.amazon.com/James-L.-Cambia…

And how about that "Rogue One"? I haven't enjoyed a Star Wars film as much since "The Empire Strikes Back"! As always let me close with a selection of neat DA stuff you might have missed… and my personal wish for ALL of us to have a happy, fulfilling 2017.

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Hi! How are you all? I've been pretty AWOL over the last half year. It wasn't a conscious decision, but rather driven by the fact that I just haven't been doing much art myself. I guess you could call it a creative dry spell. Whatever the case I'm hoping that it doesn't plague me too much longer. I appreciate all the varied "welcome back" messages folks have dropped me.

While I may not have much in the way of new stuff got show, I have been asked to be part of the digital art gallery for the Museum of Science Fiction's "Escape Velocity" event, in Washington, DC on July 1-3. Their own description of the vent is as follows: "Escape Velocity is part comic con, part science fair, where we’ll have amazing guests, discussion panels, technology demonstrations, workshops, costumes, parties, concerts and more. Escape Velocity seeks to make a measurable positive impact to boost informal learning on the more conceptually challenging academic areas." You can read more about the event, here:

escapevelocity.events/

Meanwhile, life goes on around me/us, hm? Gravity wave detections. Space-X rocket landings. New dinosaur species discovered almost every week and new finds illuminating their plumage. A new fundamental subatomic particle threatening detection. All told it's a damn exciting time to be alive, once you read past the melodramatic election and Brexit headlines. And there's still some damn fine artists makin' stuff on DA…. like these talented lads and lassies!! Click the thumbnails to explore deeper.

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