Thursday, February 26, 2009

Sunday, February 22, 2009

Things involving Patrick

Hi! Patrick here, posting about me...

First, if you're going to be at San Francisco's incredible WonderCon this weekend (Feb. 27 - Mar.1,) you might want to see my Digital Painting Seminar. I'll take an hour to give an overview of my digital painting techniques and chat just a bit with the audience.

The seminar is on Friday night (2/27) in room 204/206. I'll be working on a PC laptop instead of my usual Mac, so come and laugh at me as I fumble over the control keys!

Read more about it here - Scroll down the page to 6:00 PM to find me. See you there.

Also, I've been blogging about my favorite art technique books over on my Megaflow Graphics blog. If you're interested in that sort of thing click here to take a look!

Thanks, and I now return you to your regular Ninja blog, already in progress.

UPDATE:
Well! Other than the predictable problems trying to get the shortcut keys to work on a PC (I'm a Mac guy, so doing the translation on the fly had a few glitches!) it went VERY well. I have to thank the wonderful - and surprisingly LARGE - audience for their attentiveness, questions, applause, and laughing in all the right places. :) I think I will have to do this again some time. Maybe they'll want me to repeat this at San Diego? We'll see. Thanks to everyone there for making it a great seminar!

Thursday, February 19, 2009

Ninja Mountain Podcast #4 - The Dreaded Dealines!

The Ninjas bring you an episode fraught with danger and intrigue! Can Jon finish his assignment in time? Can we segue topics without laughing about it? Can so many topics fit in one podcast? Find out this week in the Ninja Mountain Scrolls, episode 4 - this time it's personal!

http://www.megaflowgraphics.com/NinjaMountain/NinjaMountain004.mp3

iTunes is great as well!

This week, we start off with a discussion about deadlines - why are they important, how do you make them, and how does one juggle multiple jobs at once? We share our ideas on getting effective work done that's both good and on time. Then we start what promises to be a few segments on a big topic: Conventions! Love them or hate them, most artists in our line of work have to go to at least a couple a year. We get the ball rolling this time by talking about a number of different con-related issues, and even a couple of fun stories. As we roll in to the convention season, we'll have more on this in the future, for sure!

Show Notes:

Manga Studio
The Fantasy Art Techniques Of Tim Hildebrandt
Bluemoonrising.com

Here's a Yahoo group of artists who attend fantasy/SF art shows and other art events:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SciFiFantasyHorrorSpace_ArtShows/

Thursday, February 12, 2009

Ninja Mountain Podcast #3 - Client Relations

It's our longest episode yet! Dare you enter... the House of Client Relations?

http://www.megaflowgraphics.com/NinjaMountain/NinjaMountain003.mp3

Or get it via iTunes

It's the usual group of guys (Andy, Jeremy, Jon and Patrick), tackling the big subject of what they broadly call "client relations": working out contracts, getting paid, "exposure deals" and other scary stuff. They also discuss the best method of figuring just how much you should get paid for a job. In addition to all that, they even find some time to review a couple of books, and give a recommendation on a Photoshop utility you might like.

So strap in and bite down hard on some leather. It's going to be a crazy ride!


Show Notes
Genuine Fractals
Franklin Booth: Painter With a Pen
Bernie Wrightson's Frankenstein
Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art

http://www.freelanceswitch.com/rates/


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Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Now that we're on iTunes...

As mentioned in the last post, the Ninja Mountain Podcast is now on iTunes! (Yeah, you can click it, you know you want to...)

So here's a deal: if you do us a solid by leaving a review there, we'll give you a shout-out on the next show! One of the most popular podcasts devoted to fantasy/sf/comics illustration today, we might add. (Well, probably the only one. But that's beside the point.)

In other news...

Patrick would like to say that, pursuant to the conversation about blogs on Episode 2, he's revamped his blog page. Go take a look! More actual cool bloggy stuff to come.

Also, you can follow Patrick and Jeremy on twitter:

Patrick's Twitter
Jeremy's Twitter

Stay tuned for the next episode. We should have that ready for you Thursday! See you then.

Thursday, February 05, 2009

Ninja Mountain Podcast #2 - Getting Freelance Work

Bigger and bolder than strictly necessary - it's Ninja Mountain's second podcast! Ever!!

http://www.megaflowgraphics.com/NinjaMountain/NinjaMountain002.mp3

Get it via iTunes: http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=303923176

This week, Andy Hepworth joins Jon, Jer, and Patrick, as the ninjas discuss portfolios, getting work, convention networking, and even a bit of art talk as they debate the merits of ArtRage, the digital painting program.

Thanks for all the comments, both here and on the various art forums we've been linking from. We really appreciate hearing from you and love getting ideas for future shows. Keep those posts coming, kids!


Show Notes
http://www.artrage.com/
http://www.andyhepworth.com/profile.php
Snygg's CA thread in which he disgusts us with his powers: http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=146262
Torstein Nordstrand, incredible artist, artrage skeptic!
Illodeli.com
Hope Street Studios, Glasgow
Irene Gallo's blog

Art and networking sites we mentioned in this episode:
http://www.dave-co.com/gutterzombie/
http://www.conceptart.org/
http://www.epilogue.net
http://forum.rpg.net/index.php
http://www.deviantart.com/
http://www.illustrationfriday.com/
http://www.linkedin.com


Web design:
Strangeegg.com
tigertech.net
wordpress.com


Here's Glasgow!

The wonderblog of Jon Hodgson, friend him and inflate his giant head even further:
jonhodgson.livejournal.com

Join the Ninja Mountain Facebook Legion!: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Ninja-Mountain-Podcast/47504284999

Music/sounds:
Opening and Ninja Mountain stings by Jon
Short Music Interlude by SlingshotVenus (find them on iTunes - this excerpt was from the song "Eunuchorn")
Closing music, "Born on a Mountain in the Summertime" by Jon and Matt

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