White Cloud Worlds

I feel lucky to be part of this book that will be coming out soon, called "White Cloud Worlds", which is an anthology of fantasy artists from and/or presently residing in New Zealand. I got my copy a few weeks ago, and it's truly a beautiful thing. There is a veritable crap-load of really talented people who get a chance to show their personal work that most people would otherwise not see. Personal work that includes a Howard Pyle-esque painting of chimpanzee pirates, a girl nonchalantly lounging on a sofa while giant caterpillars scale buildings outside her window, giant robots marching across a World War I battlefield, and more such innovative images. We were also really fortunate to have a foreword by Guillermo Del Toro, an introduction by Richard Taylor, and afterwords by Alan Lee and John Howe.

Definitely check out the website for the book, which introduces the artists and previews some of the content as well.

www.whitecloudworlds.com

The White Cloud Worlds site also has info on an upcoming exhibition of work from the book, which will include a few of the sculpts that are on this blog.

There's going to be a few signings of the book taking place in the next month or so, one at Armageddon in Auckland during Labour Weekend, one at Unity Books in Wellington on October 30th at 5pm, and a last one at the Weta Cave in Miramar on November 14th, 1pm. I'm planning to be at the latter two, so if you're in New Zealand during those dates and want to stop by, hope to see you there...!

"Giant Fisherman"

Or "Oni".

I recently finished this one. It's roughly two foot tall, and nearly killed its creator in the making.

I'm glad this thing is done.

Photography by Steve Unwin.

"Amphibiana"!

Or "The Pond Spirit's Wife" or "Madame Toad".

I recently had a few weeks off work, during which time I finished up some things that had been sitting around. I've been wanting to do something involving a toad for a long time, since I thought the textures would be fun to do and the paint job would be a good challenge.

The female character on top is something I had come up with way back when, and I decided now was a good time to finally give her a three-dimensional debut. She makes a good foil for Mr. Fatty Fatty Toad Pants. The sculpture is partly a nod to Grimm's fairy tales, as frogs and toads figure very strongly in those stories.

A turning point for this piece was when it occured to me to put a Thai style hat on the little frog girl's head.

Photography by Steve Unwin

Amphibiana

A new piece I finished, the base is about the size of a dinner plate. More pictures to come...

Photographs by Steve Unwin

Red Meat

A devil cooking a distressed looking sausage...with his own gas.

The Cellar God

Finally a new post! This was the last sculpture I finished, sometime at the end of last year, finally ready to show it. It is the Cellar God, a member of a pantheon of a billion gods that live in hearths, wells, bathhouses, kitchens, sheds, etc. He rides an alchemical crab and listens to old jazz music.
Photographs by Steve Unwin.

Chillaxin'

Priestess

Some Nerd

Drawn when I was eighteen or nineteen, in college. I had a rough night out previously. When I got up in the morning, the sun was beating down harshly into my dorm room. I took a look in the mirror, grabbed some computer paper and a ball-point pen, and decided to capture the crap-kicked out of me thing I had going on. It's not a whimsical fantasy drawing, but this is me, in all my disheveled Andy Warhol-resembling glory.

Orangutan Outlaw

Uncle Sarcastic

A goblin. Note the horse teeth and belly button.