Thursday, May 31, 2007

Big Big Mess & A Book Cover



If you've been to my blog here recently you'll have noticed that you can't see pictures. That's partly fixed. I still have to upload all the old art going back to September. This may take a while. The server I use for this site burned out. Even my website was out of commission. Thanks to my brother-in-law it's fixed now. Thanks Sean.

In the meantime, rather than post some personal things I've been working on, here's an easy post of a book cover I did a few weeks ago. You may have seen the underpainting for this in an earlier post. This is the finish. It's for a book called "The Ring of Fire II" by Eric Flint. This book is part of a series that is quite popular.

28 Comments:

Blogger Ron Morrison said...

Cool cover, glad to see you're back in action.

10:03 AM  
Blogger Jared Shear said...

Great cover Tom!.....I love the clouds as usual, the texture on the explosion, and the highlight on the main characters armor that puts the focus right on him.

What size do you usually paint these images?

3:27 PM  
Blogger tlchang said...

*sigh* I can't get enough of your clouds! (The horses, and armor, and figures and fire and stuff are pretty great too...)

11:57 PM  
Blogger Unknown said...

sorry to hear abou the fiasco. Great bounce back post! Amazing as always

10:57 AM  
Blogger Shawn Escott said...

oooooo, nice painting!! The sky is beautiful and the characters fantastic! Great job!

3:30 PM  
Blogger William K. Moore said...

Glad to see the goodies again. Great motion sequence.. I'm wondering who's flying the plane?

4:11 AM  
Blogger BoneDaddy said...

Glad you got it fixed!
I love what you did with the metals--the plane and the armor are very convincing.

7:54 PM  
Blogger Cara said...

Love this!

12:00 AM  
Blogger A. Riabovitchev said...

You are Monster!:o)Love your work very much!:o)

12:59 PM  
Blogger Unknown said...

Great cover! Definitely makes the viewer wondering what is on the inside, which means it is a success in my eyes. And those clouds....mmm mmm mmmmm :)

11:33 PM  
Blogger George Cwirko-Godycki said...

thats great, i love lots of the colors

2:44 PM  
Blogger Nigel Auchterlounie said...

great as usual. It look like an interesting book.
Something to do with time travel?
When doing a thing like this do they tell you to leave a space so big for the title or do they work around what you've done?

6:02 PM  
Blogger Bruce said...

I'll echo the comments about the clouds. Just wonderful. There almost seems to be an upturned face in there with large, thick eyebrows...

11:03 PM  
Blogger Tom Scholes said...

Haha wonder if you are sick of hearing how much people love the clouds yet? Great temperature play!

Have you given SketchUp a shot yet?

5:52 AM  
Blogger ellenceleste said...

Kevin just pointed out that you did this cover. Michael, Kevin and I are all reading this series and Kev got the book for Michael for Father's day. We're pleased to see your art on it. Always enjoy seeing your work.

Ellen Lindow

1:55 PM  
Blogger Jennifer McChristian said...

Great colors and design.
What sublime clouds!!

3:19 AM  
Blogger Chris Ousley said...

Great cover Tom. NC Wyeth called and wants his clouds back. ;-) I like the gal on the blimp. Reminds me of something Heinrich Kley would dream up. I also switched to Firefox a few weeks ago. Safari kept bugging out on me.

10:57 PM  
Blogger Randy Bantog said...

beautiful painting.

4:13 AM  
Blogger Tom Kidd said...

Here I am to answer some of these questions and respond to the various comments. It seems that it’s about time, well, about time two weeks ago really. I may be the oldest ‘slacker’ alive. Things have been getting in the way of things that really shouldn’t have been allowed to be things at all. It’s entirely my own fault.

Ron: thanks. I’ve really got to learn to pace myself and pay more attention to the little things that tend to pile up, and then I wouldn’t get behind.

Jared: my covers typically range from16X24 to 20X32 inches.

Tara: I could easily paint only clouds. All I need is my own blimp to float among them and learn all their mysteries.

Mel: problem is that I un-bounced back too. Thanks though.

Thanks Shawn, you’re a top-notch illustrator. Everyone should check out his blog.

William: I actually have another painting of the inside of the plane where you can see some 17th Century guy flying it.

Doug: I’m not the master with metals. I’ve been studying them more though.

Thanks Cara.

Andrei: thanks. I like your work too. Expect more from me. Know though, that physically I am a monster. In the old days the doctor would’ve accidentally dropped a venomous snake into my crib shortly after birth.

Hey Scott: I wonder what’s on the inside too. The cover was done before the book was written. I got direction from the author. He did a fine job with it though.

George: some days I don’t like color at all; other days it’s my friend. Nature always gets color right but I know that I don’t.

Spleenal: my venting friend who I don’t know the real name of, you’re right, it is about time travel. In the old days you always left space for the title and author. Now the computer can make that space or more of it, so it’s not so necessary.

Bruce: hmm, the eyebrows may have come back to haunt me from a previous post.

Thomas: I did download SketchUp and it waits tempting me to try it but I’m resisting till I get a few pressing things done. It’s just too easy to become absorbed by new programs.

Ellen: Hey, say hi to Mike for me. I need to write you directly. The ‘1634’ books are a great series.

Jennifer: The clouds actually have a lot of texture to them. It’s hard to see here.

Chris: N.C. has always been one of my favorites. If you’ve not seen any of his originals you’re in for a great experience. Kley is also at the top of my list. Recently I saw several of his industrial paintings. It looked like the work of a completely different artist but still beautiful work.

Randy: Thanks. Professional student, eh? Shouldn’t we all remain students in some form?

9:18 PM  
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