Category Archives: Artists who are real artists and for whom we have great respect and deserve to be paid for what they do.

King of Nebraska in 3-D

Remember this post a while back from David Belt about thinking of art in three dimensions? I have been pondering that since reading (and re-reading) his post, and I wanted to share a cool thing I experienced this weekend at RavenCon in relation to thinking about  a third dimension in art.

If you are new to DarkCargo, our Wednesday author is Jonah Knight, a singer/songwriter whose music is about ghosts and mad scientists and time machines. But Jonah is not just about writing songs. His music has a performance dimension to it that is both necessary and inspiring. He has a song, King of Nebraska, with which he has been trying to accomplish a unique event. I have been in attendance for several concerts where he delivered this different ending to the song and could see what he was trying to do.

It really worked this time.

King of Nebraska is the story of a jilted lover who has plans to take over the world by raising an army of clones.  Yes, you read that right.

The crowd was about 50 people in a fairly small room, and about half of the audience were signed members of the Jonah Knight Fan Club, therefore, like me, having seen this before and prepared to accomplish this third dimension.

At the end of the song, we are all singing along to the chorus, Jonah raises his arms and stops singing, allowing this audience-choir to sing praises to the newly crowned King of Nebraska.

Wicked!

How is this three dimensions?

When he finishes the song this way, some transformations take place.

The singer/performer transforms into the character in the story. The audience has become his army of clones, and now the song is performed as a collaborative effort. He is not giving us a song any longer (2-D): we are the song (3-D). Way cool!

Besides which, the acoustics in the little room was rolling and full.

Totally! It was a sculpture made of sound. It was really exciting and it amazed me how well it worked.

I didn’t video that one, but here is a video of The Dead Crawl From the Earth Alive! Enjoy!

The Working Dead: A Review of Ravencon 2013

Copyright 2013 David Belt

I have just spent 52 of the last 56 hours working (I did manage 4 hours sleep Friday night) at a small local convention in Richmond, Virginia called Ravencon. Located around the corner from the Edgar Allen Poe museum, it is no surprise that a large portion of this science fiction and fantasy convention is dedicated to writing with a variety of workshops and panels, covering the entire scope of the writing process, from concept to art to publishing to sales. For my part, this was a working convention. I had a table in the dealer’s room which I manned for 22 hours, spending the remaining time attending panels, workshops and social networking, while attempting to fill orders placed during the day.

The work is grueling. In order to keep up with customer demand, I take my work with me everywhere throughout the convention. I’ll be the one in the back of a panel or workshop, furiously mailing away, while answering questions about storm trooper armor or some other interest. This is how Elizabeth (Darkcargo) discovered me at this very convention, just last year. Throughout the entire convention, I escort Mr. Bunny, allowing him to get out and meet people in order to establish and maintain those social networking contacts so important to successful business practice, a skill which I learned years earlier, under the tutelage of Leona Wisoker and other helpful companions at Ravencons past.

For those of you who do not know, I am actually rather agoraphobic. I don’t do well in most social situations, so the societal complexities of a large scale public gathering, such as a convention, are really quite daunting to me. I fight my inner desire for flight and engage people as best I can, often occupying a small corner of the room with my chainmail bag on one arm and Mr. Bunny on the other.

I haven’t yet counted the weekend’s receipts, but already I know the weekend was a worthwhile success, despite the otherwise unconscionable hardships. Ravencon is much more than just another show to me. It is a home away from home where I feel welcomed and loved with no shortage of family, whom I care for dearly. The events of the convention, while wonderful in content, are merely background; the work, a labor of love. It is the people of Ravencon that make the experience life changing. To that end, I wish extend heartfelt thanks to Chairman Mike Pederson and the entire Ravencon staff. You truly are the very best.

 

photo (1)

After Easter Hunt

Copyright 2013 David Belt

 

My favorite part of the Easter holiday is the hunting, the finding of things lost or hidden.  We hunt for candies and eggs and even jewelry, on rare occasion.  Less often, but more importantly, we hunt for ourselves and search for deeper meanings within our own lives.  For most, the hunting is at an end.  With the holiday’s abatement, it is time for some serious work, and by “serious work” I, of course, mean shopping.

 

For me, the day after Easter is just as big a hunt, as I scour department stores for rare treasures, mostly bunnies.  I’m not sure how Peter Cottontail became the commercial spokesbunny for the Easter holiday, but for my business, it does me good that he has.  Every year, millions of stuffies are made in the pursuit of the Cottontail industry, and every year I snatch the remnants before they are discarded, and repurpose them for my own business.

 

I’m off now to do some serious hunting… “Sssshhhh, I’m hunting wabbits!”

 

Bunnies

 

Fear can be the beginning and the end

A PC wallpaper from Russell Dickerson, available at: http://www.darkstormcreative.com/about-me-2/free-wallpapers-of-my-art/

A PC wallpaper from Russell Dickerson, available at: http://www.darkstormcreative.com/about-me-2/free-wallpapers-of-my-art/

Russell Dickerson is an artist who focuses on horror and speculative genre. Zombies, dead people–living or not, pistol-wielding shouting women, Southern Gothic ghosts, space troopers, space trooper ghosts, skellington cowboys, these are all subjects for Dickerson. He does pen-and-ink, book covers, design of logos, film posters, website layout and design and on and on. His art struck me, and typical me, I have trouble telling you *why*, I just like what he does, enough to have purchased two of his pen-and-ink orginals.

This one now resides in the home of a geologist.

This one now resides in the home of a geologist.

His website is www.darkstormcreative.com.  His twitter feed is @rdickerson, and his tumblr thingbob is http://rdickerson.tumblr.com.

He writes about how it is to be an artist, the work involved with art and creativity, and how he views the world and the art that he sees, as well as information about artwork and artists. I have learned quite a bit from his writings, most of which can be found at his blog, www.darkstormcreative.com, and monthly at the Apex blog.

I was gobsmacked when he agreed to spend time writing a guest post for this little blog of not-much. Here, he participates in the Darkcargo discussion of failure. This is wild, guys, check it out:

Fear can be the beginning and the end

by Russell Dickerson

Over the years, I’ve run into plenty of situations where fear is the prevalent feeling. Now, I’m a horror artist most of the time, so that makes sense. But I’m not talking about the creation of fear, or making something creepy or scary. I’m talking about a definition of fear that is much more personal.

That fear can be realized in many ways. It could be a fear of failure at a creative piece that I’m working on, or a fear that no one will like my art overall. It can be a fear of showing a personal idea of art to someone, hoping they don’t hate it. It can even be the fear of being ridiculed for what I’ve created.

Fear can put a halt to everything and everything I create. I might stop working on a piece because I think it’s failed. I might skip over a good idea that just needs a little work, simply because I’ve reached a stage where it could go either right or wrong.

Career-wise too, I’ve considered quitting a number of times. I fear that, with only a handful of followers and little in the way of sales, I may have already failed. Perhaps I’m just fading away, not willing to realize that no one is interested in the things I create.

Maybe it’s time to let that failure win, and crawl off into the sunset, never to be heard from again.

It’s at these times, when things are at the breaking point of failure, that often the real creation begins. When you’ve reached that failure point, that place where many great things go to die, you realize that all of the fighting you’ve had so far has reached the apex.

At those points, I try to stand up, get away from the situation completely, and look at it objectively (if possible). There are times when what you’re working on isn’t right. It’s not that the original idea wasn’t sound, but somewhere along the line it went off the rails. By stepping back and looking at it differently, or even just an hour later, you might see how best to continue.

I’ve also, plenty of times, just let go of the original idea. I’ll be working on a project that seems to have stalled, and, in the case of my digital art, I’ll go grab some odd texture from my files and apply it to the art I’m working on. I’ll push it left or right, delete or clone parts of it, and even change the color. Most of the time, something clicks in my brain and I get a newfound love of what I’m working on.

Does it work all the time? Of course not.

Just try following my Twitter feed, you’ll see many 140-characters-or-less whinings from me where I’ve given up, thrown in the towel, kicked the idea to the curb, and so on. I may even use a naughty word here and there. But, just as often, you might see another tweet a bit later, where I show off what I was working on. I also tend to show how I fixed it.

At the end of the day, fear and failure are about being honest with yourself. Is it time to end what isn’t working, or is it time to step back, look at again, and push on towards greatness?

For me, that’s a call I consider every day. Some days I win, and get moving. Other days, not so much. But it’s the war to be won, not each battle, and so far I’m at least holding my own.

Advice: The Road Not Taken

Copyright 2013 David Belt

I belong to a number of writing groups. I have participated in a number of writing workshops and panels, and the best advice I can give anyone about writing is… don’t take anyone’s advice.

It’s not that other writers don’t have really good ideas. It is that every writer has their own ideas.

As I draw nearer to my English degree, I realize that there are far fewer rules in the English language than I thought, a few years ago. The English language, however, is repute with options. As these options are so varied and irregularly used, many writers will jump on to the nearest soap box and brazenly declare their own personal rule of thumb.

Before you accept anyone’s personal rule of thumb as law, do a little fact checking of your own. Grammar rules are easy to look up on the internet. My personal “go to” site for grammar rules is grammarbook.com, but most any will do.

The other, and truly more important, reason for taking advice with a grain of salt, vice swallowing the tuna whole, is that it is your  writing. You are expressing your self through your  words. The moment you start using someone else’s words, you stop expressing yourself and start expressing someone else.

Now here is the real kicker to that last idea:

Until you start creating your own language and your own dialect, you’re going to be using someone else’s words, but the manner in which you do so, must reflect you, not someone else. Put yourself into your writing and let that medium of art portray your ideas to the world.

I may read a book written in a style I find grammatically distasteful… and there is nothing wrong with that. It is simply the manner in with that artist chose to express his/herself at that time, and I will be enriched, just the same, for the experience.

Farpoint 2013 – Smaller Can Be Better

Copyright 2013 David Belt

I had the distinct pleasure of spending this last weekend at the Crowne Plaza Hotel – Baltimore North for the Farpoint 2013 convention. The Farpoint con is relatively small, so I would not be surprised that many of you have never heard of it, but as I am an avid fan-goer of conventions, large and small, I will tell you that bigger is not always better.

Smaller conventions, like Farpoint, have a community atmosphere that is intoxicating. When you go to a large convention, the crowds are overwhelming; all you can see is an ocean of strangers. When you go a smaller convention, the crowds are welcoming, and all you can see are friends.

Larger conventions can sometimes be like a bad trip to Mexico. You see things you can’t bleach from your brain; you’re putting money in your shoe; and you’ve got the kids tethered on a physical leash. Smaller cons are family oriented. If you drop your money, somebody is chasing you down to give it back to you. If you need help, anyone around will help you. I overheard a conversation this weekend between two women that outlines this point perfectly:

Woman 1: I’m such a bad mother; I don’t know where my kids are right now.
Woman 2: Don’t worry. They are here at the con. They’re safe.

You can’t ask for a better atmosphere than one in which your children are safe.

On the business side of conventions, guests get a lot more meaningful face time with the fans. It may seem like a turn off for the VIP not have a long line of people waiting for autographs, but on the contrary the lack of waiting means the guest can spend more time with each person, not constrained by the very realistic time concerns of larger conventions. For example, Felicia Day (The Guild) used the opportunity to interview fans as research for her upcoming project. Imagine my surprise when I ask Felicia for her autograph, and she asks me in-depth questions about my views as a gamer. Additionally, because the lines are shorter, a higher percentage of fans will jump into those lines. I know this worked on me, twice. I hate waiting in line, and I normally won’t, but the lines were short, and I just couldn’t pass up the opportunity. In passing through the main hall, John Billingsly (Enterprise, True Blood) was stopped by a random fan and asked if it was okay to take his picture. John responded, “Of course, that’s what I’m here for.” Moments like these rarely happen at larger cons due to the before mentioned time constraints.

Now, don’t get me wrong; I love large cons. The energy and excitement generated by tens of thousands of people under one roof for a common cause is truly exhilarating, but it is an altogether different atmosphere than the community feel of smaller conventions.

In closing, two events really tipped the scales for me this weekend, both generated by Mr. Bunny:
1) While carrying around Mr. Bunny in his Klingon costume. I was interviewed for a fan production movie about Star Trek fans. More to the point, Mr. Bunny was interviewed, and I just sort of talked behind him.

2) I signed my first ever autograph for a fan! This was so cool! A photographer took a professional quality photo of Mr. Bunny and made an 8×10 glossy, overnight, for me to sign as the artist. This is the first time I have been publically recognized as an artist and asked to sign a copy of my work.

GE DIGITAL CAMERA

SF Magazines Corral

The magazine has been the vehicle for Science Fiction and Fantasy since the inception of the genre. Weird Tales, Amazing Stories and other magazines from the early 20th century allowed us to start thinking of Science Fiction and Fantasy as its own genre.

Where are we at today with the SF/F magazine? How has the magazine format kept up with the internets, the e-book revolution, and the impatience for digital download?

(this turned out to be a long post, thus the cut. I elected to not include banners and the like.)

Continue reading →

Captain America: Scale Maille vs Spandex

Captain America

copyright 2012, David Belt

I don’t commonly complain about the artistic liberties that film makers often take when recreating preexisting characters for the silver screen.  I must say, however, that on a personal and professional level, I do take offense to the costume used for Captain America in the recent Avengers movie.

 

Artistically and aesthetically it looks fine, a little flamboyant, but okay.  My problem is that Captain America’s modern costume is supposed to be scalemail armor, not spandex.  His costume could have been so cool, but Disney ran as far from cool as they could possibly go.  Check out this rendering of Cap by Marvel artist Alex Ross.

Does this not look so much better?

Of course the first question that comes to mind is “how could this cartoon drawing be made to look real on the actor?”  That is where a chainmaille artist, like me, comes in.  Granted the high quality piece would have taken several months and several thousand dollars to complete, but this was not a backyard indy film.  Disney had the time and money to do it right.  They made the artistic choice to go with spandex.  Granted, the movie versions of the gloves, boots, and pants were an upgrade, but matched with a scalemail top would have made for a truly epic costume.

The final insult to the Captain America costume is committed by Thor.  In the Avengers, Thor has beautifully done scalemail armbands.  So, where is Cap’s armor?

I’ll end my rant here.  I just needed to get that out.  Disney, look me up.  I’ll do it for free.  Just, please, throw away the spandex costume and get Captain America the armor he deserves.

“Doesn’t matter what the press says. Doesn’t matter what the politicians or the mobs say. Doesn’t matter if the whole country decides that something wrong is something right. This nation was founded on one principle above all else: the requirement that we stand up for what we believe, no matter the odds or the consequences. When the mob and the press and the whole world tell you to move. Your job is to plant yourself like a tree beside the river of truth and tell the whole world–’no, YOU move.’” –Captain America from Amazing Spider-Man #537

From 7 to 8

I subscribe to the email newsletter of Jason Calacanis, the CEO of mahalo.com. If you like Seth Godin or Malcolm Gladwell you may like Calacanis as well. If you don’t know who any of these people are, well, on with the blog.

Calacanis sent out a newsletter a few weeks ago where he spoke frankly about the shortcomings of some of his companies apps. He talked about how getting a product to a 7 is actually not all that hard. So, let’s say you have a good idea for a song. Assuming that you have a base level of skill and creativity, that good idea should get you at least a 6. Work and polish will get you a 7. A 7 is not just above average, a 7 is good. A good song. A good book. A good app.

A 10 on this scale is f’ing mind lowing. To tell the truth, you are not capable of a 10 and neither am I and I don’t know who the hell is. It’s better than great. Better than amazing. A 10 will destroy the earth and reshape the landscape.

A 7 is good. And if I am honest with myself, much of what I do has aggregated to a 7. Recording wise, I think some of my songs might be 5′s or (horrors) maybe a 4. Live, I think I have hit a 9 a couple of times based on the faces in the crowd and the CD sales afterwards. I like to think that I am above average but my powers of self assessment keep me from claiming that I am an 8. So, the real question is: How do I go from a 7 to an 8?

Again inspired by the Calacanis newsletter, I have two possibilities. First, get my 10,000 hours. Malcolm Gladwell, in his game changing book Outliers, provides compelling proof that to become the best in the world at what you do, you need to do it for thousands of hours. The more I write, record, produce, perform, and collaborate, the better I get. However, the improvements needed to move from good to great are time-consuming and, for many folks, are not tangibly noticeable. It’s a grind. Going from being a bad guitar player to an average guitar player is a big deal. From average to good is noticeable. How would you notice if one song is produced ‘good’ and another ‘great’? Slow but steady, I guess.

The second idea is a bigger deal. I need to make big changes to the way I record. My last four CD’s- Ghosts Don’t Disappear, The Exploration of Dangerous Places, Age of Steam: Strange Machines, and the upcoming Another Creepy Christmas were all recorded at the same studio with the same producer. After almost three years, I feel that Zack (producer) and I have gotten better. We’ve put out songs that may have been 5′s but also those that might be 8′s. Time, practice, trial and error has brought us to a place where I truly feel that the new album might be an 8. I’m still in the middle of recording and not objective, but it feels like a full step forward instead of refining my place. And we did this by getting closer to 10,000 hours.

But! To become a solid 8 and, dare I say, attempt a 9, requires a change. A big one. Something that gets me out of my groove and pushes me. Hard. It will probably at least double the cost of my next album. It’s a little scary. It will happen.

Here’s to 2013.

Clockwork Phoenix Pins

I know, me and handmade jewelry… but this *is* cool.

This is a video of Anita Allen showing how she’s making the pins for the Clockwork Phoenix 4 Kickstarter backer rewards (just over two minutes):

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1980499216/clockwork-phoenix-4-new-stories-of-beauty-and-stra/posts/270248http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1980499216/clockwork-phoenix-4-new-stories-of-beauty-and-stra/posts/270248