Episode 113 - A Healthy Dose of Ninja

We're back with a long, rambling, super-cool episode full of STUFF! We're not even sure all of us will survive. But one thing's for sure - Ralph, Drew, Socar, Patrick and Jeremy will do their utmost to entertain and inform, even at the cost of our very lives.  In this episode we discuss conventions past and future, art technique, health, TV, and whatever else we happen to think of.  

Episode 113!!

Subscribe to the podcast on iTunes! The alternative would NOT be good for your health...

AetherCon! Check it out!

Ep 109 - Critiques return from Beyond the Grave!

This episode we attempt to help make the world a slightly more pleasant place by providing critiques to listeners! Last episode we invited people to send in their art for us to view and discuss, and we got a lot of them, so this will be part one of a two-part extravaganza! It's been a while since we've done a critique episode, so we hope you enjoy.

http://www.megaflowgraphics.com/NinjaMountain/NinjaMountain109.mp3

Subscribe to the Ninja Mountain Podcast on iTunes or we'll come to your door and critique YOU. Don't think we won't.

The pictures from our wonderful listeners in this episode:

David Michael Wright
http://davidmichaelwright.blogspot.com/2011/03/new-painting.html

Chris Carrasco
http://chriscartoonist.deviantart.com/#/d4hy6ql

Alex McVey
www.alexmcvey.com

Max Antonov
http://maxantonov.deviantart.com/art/Red-Sonja-DACN-Avatar-Contest-271354939

Bushmen
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgx4w-CS79C_ZgK-jU6iALqIsrdIgn2WPJY7eA3xgGjSchl2_VYVheu91bovzlOFimo5JUlNqbkTwY8iniNk2bJsBXq0hGQgDU98KgeVJBVySqreGMtgH-xxc4PpVkPjxgxrqtvuw/s1600/overlook.jpg


Thanks one and all!! More critiques next week.

Ninja Mountain 65 - Remembering Frazetta

A great illustrator passed away this week, and we got several Ninjas together to talk about his life, and how he has affected us and other artists. Frank Frazetta remembered, this week on Ninja Mountain.

http://www.megaflowgraphics.com/NinjaMountain/NinjaMountain065.mp3

Or as always subscribe to us on iTunes!

The Visual Artist Podcast Network

Ninja Mountain Episode 63 - "Sometimes I Just Wonder - What it's All For?"

Strap on your jet pack of chat and blast off into the wild blue yonder with your Ninja Mountain friends! On this episode it's a cross-Atlantic team up megashow, with Silent Andy, Jeremy, Jon, Ralph, Socar and early bather Torstein. Under the lazor-scope this week is the weighty topic of workload and self improvement. But fear not! It's not all content!


http://www.megaflowgraphics.com/NinjaMountain/ninjamountain063.mp3



Subscribe at the iTunes store: You know it makes sense.

Show notes to follow if we can think of any...

Episode 51 -How Do We Explain Ourselves??!

In this episode Andy ( See?! He's not last this time!), Patrick, Socar, Drew, and Jeremy talk about:

How we explain our profession to non-Ninjas.

The vague line between illustration and fine art.

More about every Ninja's favorite book, "Frankenstein", as beautifully illustrated by none other than the amazing Bernie Wrightson.

The sleeping habits of a certain Ninja.

The disappearing craft of inking and...

The Flying Spaghetti Monster.

http://mchughstudios.com/ninjamountain_podcast/episode_51.mp3

Subscribe on iTunes, or the noodly goodness that is the Flying Spaghetti Monster will be consumed by alien factions bent on human conquest...

If you strain your hearing you may even be able to make out Socar's hushed tones.

We think she was in the kitchen preparing dinner while joining in our conversation, but we will let you be the judge.

Points will be awarded for the best explanation of her microphone's poor sound quality! :)

Ninja Mountain 50 - ONE YEAR WASTED!!

Yes, this episode marks Ninja Mountain's one year anniversary. On hand to chat (and to keep the conversation as free from actual educational content as possible) we have Andy Hepworth, Anne Stokes, Socar Myles, Jeremy McHugh, Drew Baker and Patrick McEvoy! It's a fun, slightly crazy, and gloriously unfocused look at the last year, the year to come, and a number of topics that are sure to be of interest to someone. Somewhere. Maybe.

http://www.megaflowgraphics.com/NinjaMountain/NinjaMountain050.mp3


Show Notes:
Find out more about the early history of Ninja Mountain on the Escape from Illustration Island podcast episode 8:
http://escapefromillustrationisland.com/2009/10/13/episode-8-ninja-mountain/

Ninja Mountain Episode 49 - “I don’t think the Pirates have a Mountain.”

Like a red lazor blast to the forebrain the Ninja Mountaineers are back, once again attempting to scale the dizzy heights of the fabled Ninja Mountain by sitting around chatting!  This week we take your questions from Twitter and run off with them into the middle distance: Bounced checks? Setting up a business? Palettes? Websites for licensing? Self publishing sketchbooks?


http://www.megaflowgraphics.com/NinjaMountain/NinjaMountain049.mp3



Subscribe on iTunes, for free. Or we'll make you wear the muppet suit at Gencon. Squeal like a pig, Muppet.

On this show: Anne, Jeremy, Jon and Socar


** Special note to the world, especially Canada! **
For some reason, iTunes did not add this episode everywhere worldwide. The one country we've found for sure that doesn't seem to be working is Canada. We're trying to fix this problem without knowing exactly what's going on. It may be something weird on Apple's end, or we may fix it at any point unexpectedly. Life is full of surprises!

Thank you, please drive through.

Ninja Mountain 48-Back to the Bull Session.

Hey there, folks.
It is a small gathering around Ninja Mountain's water cooler this week as Drew, Socar, and Jeremy hang out and discuss a medley of various topics. This week, the Ninjas discuss regrets, personal growth, geography, watercolors, digital art, questions from a new publisher, the delicate balance between art and illustration ( with our usual ham-fisted grace) , and even make a DVD recommendation!
A little something for every sensibility! :)

http://mchughstudios.com/ninjamountain_podcast/nm_episode48.mp3

Subscribe on iTunes, for free. Or we'll throw a scalpel at your cuirass.

Links of note:

Automated Painting
Retrievr
In answer to Socar's last question...

Question for our fellow Ninjas---
What regrets do you have from your past in relation to your artwork and what are you doing to correct it? Open them closets and let us watch the dessicated skeletons tumble out!
Also---What are your goals for the year ahead? C'mon, folks! The year is still young! :)

Ninja Mountain 46 - Critique That!

This week several unusually foolhardy Ninja Mountain listeners have volunteered to be critiqued by out squad of Ninja Critique Commandos: Socar, Drew, Patrick and (of course) Jeremy!

This week's victims are: Mick Collins, Jeff Johnson, Melissa Hitchcock, Chris Burdett and Nick Egberts. We didn't want to rush it too much, so we split this into two episodes, with Angela Sasser, Chris Griffin, Seth Rutledge and Simon Anderson-Carr getting their turns next week.

And, if you hurry you can get in on next week's fun too - just leave your name and a link to the piece you want critiqued in the comments to this week's episode, and we'll add you to next week's list -- BUT ONLY THE FIRST TWO RESPONDENTS. So first come, first severed.. er, served.

http://www.megaflowgraphics.com/NinjaMountain/NinjaMountain046.mp3

Subscribe on iTunes, for free. Or we'll be forced to come to your house and critique you in front of your family. 'Cause we straight up COLD like that.


The Pictures!



Mick Collins



Jeff Lee Johnson



Melissa Hitchcock



Christopher Burdett



Nick Egberts

As we were doing the episode, the ever-busy Drew was doing some paintovers to help illustrate his thoughts, plus some extra ideas he had for Chris's piece. Here they are, presented for your edification:

Mick
Jeff
Melissa
Chris
Nick

See you all next time for more critiques!

Ninja Mountain 40b - D&D Legends Special

If you are a fan of old-school Dungeons and Dragons, great fantasy illustration, great artists, or all of the above, this may be the best show you hear all year! Join Jeremy as he hosts a special round table of Joseph Goodman, Erol Otus, Jeff Easley and Stefan Poag.

Yeah, we don't need to hype it any more than that. Just listen.

http://www.megaflowgraphics.com/NinjaMountain/NinjaMountain040b.mp3

Subscribe on iTunes for the love of Cthulhu!!

Show Notes
Jeff Easley
Stefan Poag
Erol Otus
Goodman Games


AND... For all the latest in Ninja news and happenings, Twitter-style, be sure to follow http://twitter.com/NinjaMountain (Or "@NinjaMountain" for you hep-cats). You'll be glad you did. Probably.

Ninja Mountain 36 - Barry Manilow

This week it's a small yet tiny group, as Socar, Jeremy and Patrick field more of your questions from Twitter. From painting, to digital, to client relations and many other subjects too. So come for the discussion, stay for the singing!

http://www.megaflowgraphics.com/NinjaMountain/NinjaMountain036.mp3

Subscribe on iTunes for free, and we'll stop singing.

Show Notes:

Barry Manilow


My Turn Mobile

Ninja Mountain 34 - Triple shot!!

It's a huge episode this week, with three utterly AWSOME segments! First, Andy, Socar, Patrick and Jeremy take lots and lots of questions from listeners and answer them with the laser-sharp focus and on-topic concentration for which we are justifiably famous. Then Ralph joins in to talk about making your art dynamic - what are the elements that art directors are looking for in a visually exciting picture? Then Anne joins in to to talk about preparations for a new picture (spoiler alert: we ALL agree!) Audio fun-time nuclear happy starts... NOW!

http://www.megaflowgraphics.com/NinjaMountain/NinjaMountain034.mp3

Subscribe on iTunes for free, because we all want to be your special friend.

Show Notes:
In a couple of days we'll put up all the twitter names here for the folks who wrote in with questions!

Ninja Mountain 33 - Life and Other Disasters

Welcome to the much-anticipated 33rd episode of Ninja Mountain! This week Andy, Patrick, Jeremy and Socar talk about artistic distractions, disasters, and other fun stuff that may or may not make any sense at all. But they are on their best behavior as they invite a guest artist to join in the chat: Drew Baker!

http://www.megaflowgraphics.com/NinjaMountain/NinjaMountain033.mp3

Subscribe on iTunes for free, then sit back and enjoy the Awesome!

Show Notes:
Drew Baker

Ninja Mountain 32 - contractually obligated

Not just an episode! A contractually mandated obligation to you, our listeners. Andy, Patrick and Jeremy discuss working with new clients, some thoughts about contracts, working on new Intellectual Properties and the dreaded OTHER STUFF. Then, like a sweet zephyr of beauty, Socar joins the testosterone-laden group to add the fresh air of sanity to the male-dominated conversation. Or something.

Listen to it, there really might be some sentences which can be parsed into the English language... somewhere.

http://www.megaflowgraphics.com/NinjaMountain/NinjaMountain032.mp3

Subscribe on iTunes for free!
A message wouldn't hurt much, either.

Thank you for listening, please drive through.

Ninja Mountain 30: GenCon 2009 Special

Hold on to your bandwidth, its a monster! Part one of our GenCon 2009 coverage is out, and its a biggie! Jeremy and his pin stripe vest deliver a stunning array of interviews with the biggest names in the gaming art world.

YOU the listeners gave us a digital recorder, and by golly we used it!

This special super extended episode features interviews with Omar Rayyan, Jon Schindehette, Wayne Reynolds, Steve Prescott, Randy Galagos, Chris Seaman and more!

And there's more to come over the following weeks!

http://www.megaflowgraphics.com/NinjaMountain/NinjaMountain030.mp3

Subscribe on iTunes for free!
And please do leave a message there too.

Copious enormo-show notes:

Omar Rayyan
Wayne Reynolds
Steve Prescott
Chris Seaman
Randy Gallegos
Jon Schindehette's blog
Chris Pritchard
Aaron Miller
Amy Ashbaugh
Arkady Roytman
Joe Slucher
Andy Hopp
Matt Stawicki
Tyler Walpole

The crew of WIP was there to enjoy the show as well.
The WIP Podcast!
Jeff Himmelman
Caroline Himmelman's "The Art Of Business" blog
Peter Morhbacher
Anna Mohrbacher

More GenCon footage is on the way, folks. We recorded 3.5 hours of interviews so be sure to listen up for future GenCon goodies!

Ninja Mountain Episode #27 - Return of the King

This week sees Patrick return the conquering hero from San Diego Comic-Con (or SDCC or CCI or whatever the search engines prefer to find), with his blood stained booty sack crammed full of audio goodness! Jeremy and Socar take some time to tackle a question from a prospective client and... Patrick is back from ComicCon!

http://www.megaflowgraphics.com/NinjaMountain/NinjaMountain027.mp3

Subscribe on iTunes for free... It's FREE!!

The Show Notes

Todd Lockwood

Steranko - comics & book covers

Chandra Free
Chan at the Archaia panel with Zachary Quinto (she starts about 4:40)

Chris Burdett
(Who blogged extensively about the con, and even has pics of Patrick's seminar!)

Mu Young Kim

Nicole Cardiff (Thanks for the cookies!)

Alex Eckman-Lawn
(His Graphic Novel Awakening is on Amazon now!)

David Rodriguez - Starkweather: Immortal Graphic Novel is in Previews NOW!!
Pre-order it at your local comic book store asap!! Art by your friendly Ninja Patrick McEvoy.

Mark Smylie

Marv Mann
(Some New Kind of Slaughter is on Amazon now!)

Ninja Mountain Episode #26 - Love Hate Sleepy Time

It's that time of the week again. Set your ears to stun and tune in to the latest slice of happytime sugartaste goodness from Ninja Mountain!

We're back to a compact and bijou hour long show this week as the whole team were frankly exhausted.  In spite of their advanced state of fatigue another wonderful* show was wrung out of them drop by drop until the sonic cup verily flowethed over!  This week we take listeners calls once again, with two questions from the wonderful Christopher Burdett, and the fantastic Caroline Himmelman.  And in fact we even come close to answering some those questions!  The love runs free and its hug time for everyone.  

This week's questions:

Why are fantasy artists apparently so nice to each other when we're all in competition?

How do you cope with falling short of teh awesome?

Would you talk about a bad experience with an art director? On line? With friends? (We might not get round to answering the friends part in much detail since we got motoring on the online topic...)

Between the actual content there's a gold mine of actual singing, dancing and all the other things four freelancer artists do when they are too tired to know any better! This week's show is presented by Andy, Jeremy, Jon and Socar.  

We mention it in the show, but it seems appropriate to give a shout out to our other caller of this week, the mighty ATOM, who's call will feature on next week's show when we have our resident monitor expert back on hand to give some real information.  Thanks ATOM, we love you.   As ever you can call the show on Skype via jon.hodgson.

http://www.megaflowgraphics.com/NinjaMountain/NinjaMountain026.mp3

Subscribe on iTunes for free... It's LOVELY!!

The Show Notes

Christopher Burdett: http://www.christopherburdett.com/

Caroline Himmelman: http://www.carolinehimmelman.com/

(Caroline is also on the WIP Podcast (Good interview this month guys! I was cheering! Jon):  http://www.wippodcast.com/

*c'mon this is ad copy, what do you want?

Ninja Mountain Episode #25 - Three Way Split.

Its a big one this week as three seperate Ninja Teams assemble to deliver a triple whammy in a joyously confused magazine format. First up we have Anne Stokes and Socar Myles discussing the topic of being an awesome female fantasy artist in what can appear at a glance to be a male dominated world.

Next up its convention talk with Patrick McEvoy, Ralph Horsley and Jeremy McHugh - get the fat ole skinny on what to do at your next convention attendance! Whether selling prints or selling your soul to every art director you can lay hands on, this crack team discuss it all.

Lastly Andy Hepworth, Ralph Horsley and Jon Hodgson discuss the work and influence of truly awesome historical and fantasy artist Angus MacBride.



http://www.megaflowgraphics.com/NinjaMountain/NinjaMountain025.mp3

Subscribe on iTunes for free!


Show Notes:

Angus McBride: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angus_McBride
Moar McBride: http://www.lookandlearn.com/blog/?p=77
McBride's work in Look and Learn: http://www.lookandlearn.com/cgi-bin/if.cgi?img=0&search=Angus+McBride&cat=all&bool=phrase
Characters of Middle Earth on Scribd.com (which we only recommend when a book is waaaaaaay out of print): http://www.scribd.com/doc/12510173/Angus-McBrides-Characters-of-MiddleEarth


NB:
I'm going to go out on a limb here and predict that since this is the first time I've been let loose in the itunes/feedburner control room on NM I probably did something wrong in making the show work. So bear with us if the magic doesn't happen first time. --Jon

Update - Holy cow, it would appear to have worked! Who would have thought it possible?

Ninja Mountain Episode #24 - Teh Awesome!

What is the quality of "awesome" that is the only sure way of getting work as a freelancer? How do you get it? Do any of us have it? Well, the only thing you can count on is this: you will hear the word "awesome" more times in one podcast than you ever thought possible! Jon is back this week, along with Jeremy, Patrick and Socar. Also, questions from listeners, a book report from Jon, and the world premier of Jon's acid house mix of Socar's "Like a Boss" tribute. Yes, it's nonstop mayhem in the Mighty Ninja Manner! You can't afford not to miss it - AWESOME!!

http://www.megaflowgraphics.com/NinjaMountain/NinjaMountain024.mp3

Subscribe on iTunes for free... It's AWESOME!!


Awesome Show Notes:
SciFiFantasyHorrorSpace_ArtShows

PS - yes, it's ep. 24!! Misprint fixed...

Ninja Mountain Episode #23 - Keepin' it Real

This time out we talk about how we keep up the interest in our work as the years go by. And lots of other stuff too, as always: Kieran Yanner returns from a long hiatus with a terrifying story of tragedy and survival in the face of overwhelming adversity, Jeremy relates to us the harrowing experience of a rogue ceiling attacking his studio, and Patrick can't think of anything to complain about at all. Wanker. And of course, DJ Jazzy Socar lays it down strong, yo.

http://www.megaflowgraphics.com/NinjaMountain/NinjaMountain023.mp3

Subscribe on iTunes for free! If you do it, Socar will rap for you. If you DON'T do it, Socar will rap for you 20 times.

Show Notes:

The Daily Monster

Like a Boss!!!

That "water drawing" thing we mentioned - Emmanuel Guibert.