My last journal entry was over a year ago. That's pretty sad. So lets change that. I have been working at LEGO for the past 5 months building large scale models. The biggest thing we did this last year was Bilbo's home from "The Hobbit", Bag End, made entirely out of LEGO bricks. It was a very exciting project to be a part of. Along with that I've also had the privilege of doing some concept work and story boards plus lots of building with some very talented people. So far a great experience.

Here's a short vid about the construction of Bag End. Two months of my life condensed into a brief couple of minutes but well worth it. Oh yeah, I show up a few times in the vid...

Hello peeps, time for another shameless update. My artwork recently appeared on the cover of Cameron Pierce's new book Gargoyle Girls of Spider Island from Eraserhead Press. This is Cameron's 7th book of Bizzaro fiction. For those of you who don't know what bizzaro fiction is, Cameron has a good explanation on his site. If you are interested in buying Gargoyle Girls of Spider Island or want to find out more about it, the book is available through Amazon.



This is what the original picture looks like.

I'm so psyched, my work recently appeared on the DVD portion of Imagine FX issue 77. It seems that one of my pieces was chosen as the image of the day on the Imagine FX website back in October. That lead to being asked to contribute some work for the DVD. I can't say enough good things about Imagine FX, it's a great mag. If you are into fantasy and sci-fi digital art then that's the magazine you should be getting. So go check it out guys! Issue 77 is on sale now in the US. The UK is one issue ahead but I'm in the US and just got to see it.

I also wanted to plug in again my Facebook art page. If you haven't been there yet please go check it out and show it some love. And if you have already then allow me say thanks for your support!

At some point this morning I passed the 100, 000 views mark. So exciting! I know some people do it in a year (took me 5) but still it's a big deal to me! I am very thankful and appreciative to everyone that came by to view, fav and comment. It means a lot to me!

I started a Facebook fan page for my art recently. I thought it was a good idea because my regular Facebook account was getting friends requests from people wanting to see my artwork there. Right now, however, the fan page has a sad 7 likes. So if you are a facebook user would you mind checking the page out and if you like the artwork then add it to your likes.  I know that not everyone likes Facebook so if you are looking to see more of my artwork then while I'm at it I'll shamelessly plug in my official website Ancient Earth Studios. You can see my work there and find out updates as well.

I also wanted to say that another coin (based on my Grim Reaper artwork) was produced by the fine folks at the Geocoin Store. If you are into collecting geocoins than please check it out! This is what the new coin looks like:

Here's the previous four:

What a week I've had!! Myself along with large areas of Massachusetts and Connecticut spent a week with no power after a freak winter storm hit us on October 30th. It's Fall in New England and the trees still had covered in leaves. The weight of the snow (we got a foot) snapped trees and branches everywhere knocking down power lines and smashing our power grids. Halloween was canceled because of the danger of down power lines and debris. A week later we finally have power but things look like a battle zone out there.  Crazy thing is that this is not the first state of emergency that we had this year. Earlier in the summer a Tornado went trough my town of Springfield MA. Could you believe it a, tornado right through the city, we're still recovering from it when this happened. But God has been good to me and my family and we've been kept safe and warm through these difficult times.

Good news is that I got my work out there in a couple of things which is very exciting for me. First, two of my works appeared in Vampire Art Now. A very nice collection of Vampire Art. I would encourage you guys to pick up a copy and check it out. I believe the book can be purchased at Amazon, Barnes and Noble and other major book stores.

Second, my grim reaper piece was made into a set of Geocaching coins (if you don't know what that is just go here). If you are interested you can go to the Geocoin Store and pick some coins for yourself. The coins are 1.75 inches, 4mm thick and are trackable. Four colored versions were produced.

I just couldn't believe that I got a Daily Deviation. It's amazing how many comments and favorites I received from it. I just wanted to publicly thank ^Astralseed for suggesting it and `WDWParksGal for featuring it. And to all those that asked questions please be patient with me as I try to get to you.
And now back to a normal pace here at DA.

I wanted to ask my fellow Deviants what they though about the Print Services here on DA. I would appreciate your comments, thoughts or experiences, likes and dislikes. I'm asking because I want to make some artwork available for prints and have no experience with it. So any input would help. Thanks a bunch!

Hard thing to go through
This Sunday I had to put one of my kitty cats to sleep. The night before he escaped and we couldn't get him back in the house. He was an indoor cat and just went nuts with the freedom I guess. The next morning I found him in the back yard laying on my chair swing. His leg was completly broken and bloodied, I could see bone. He was alive but seriously hurt. It took forever to find an animal hospital that works on a Sunday. Finally we got him in and turns out his back leg was broken into two (it was being held together by skin and tendons) and his hip was cracked. There was also possibility of internal bleeding. So I sat there and held him while he was put to sleep. That just broke my heart, could I have done anything else to help him I would have.
We believe that he got hit by a car. How he made it to the back yard and onto my swing I can't even guess, he must have been in such intense pain and for who knows how long. I know that a pet is not a person so I don't want to make light of anybody else pain if they are going through a family death or something like that but it does hurt to see this happen to pet that you loved and raised like a member of your household.

It's about time
I just spent a week redesigning my website. There was a lot of work to be done to make the page up to date. I learned all types of new things in the process and I can't even say that it's done. It's a work in progress. But it's good enough to ask for comments. So if you guys wouldn't mind checking it out and letting me know what you think. Just click on the banner below to get there. Thanks a bunch!

Momma
Happy Mother's Day to all you motherly ladies out there on DA! You guys with a wife and kids go out and buy her a card quick before you get in trouble. I was ahead this year and got everything a couple of days earlier. Also don't forget to call your moms or that woman that raised you and say thanks.

Fun Times
Free Comic Book Day was a blast. I went to three different stores and picked up all kinds of books and Graphic Novels that I've been searching for. Got to go out to eat, hung out with some cool people and just enjoyed the day. I thought the free comics this year were not as impressive as in years past but it was still a good excuse to go out and search for deals. Did any of you get to go out and pick up some freebies?

Howdy
Hey my DA peeps! Long time no update. I've been keeping busy with a few art projects which leave little time for personal work. Hence the lack of art updates over the past months. Hopefully that will change soon because I'm aching to put up some of that work.
But like I was saying it's my Birthday today. I'm now 37 years old. Making my way to 40 but now quite there yet. I hope you all have a great day!

Ho,ho,ho!
Just want to wish you all a Merry Christmas! Hope that everyone has a blessed day with family and friends. Please be safe if you are traveling!

4 Years on DA
I can't believe it's been 4 years since I joined. I still remember signing up. Well it's been a good experience and I think my art has grown because of me being here. Just the inspiration alone forced me to move forward but also the comments and critiques from people that have gone on to become friends. So thank you all for a great four years and I'm looking forward to more. What's funny is that although I'm on DA all the time my journal didn't change for 5 months. Wow, that's out of control.

ENnie Awards Nominee

One of the books that I worked on Hellas: "Worlds of Sun and Stone" has received two nominatons for an ENnie award. One for best interior art and one for best production values. What's an ENnie you say, well here it is: "The Gen Con EN World RPG Awards (the "ENnies") are an annual fan-based celebration of excellence in tabletop roleplaying gaming. The ENnies give game designers, writers and artists the recognition they deserve. It is a peoples' choice award, and the final winners are voted upon by the gaming public at EN World".
So I am asking everyone to please go vote, be it for Hellas or for anything else that you feel deserves the vote. I know that all the guys that worked on the book (myself included) would realy appreciate it. The voting starts today July 24th and goes to midnight August 1st.

ENnies Nominations Page
Voting Page

Thanks!

Fireworks
Happy Independence Day weekend! Here in New England its been raining on and off everyday for weeks. So I'm hoping that I get to see some fireworks and that they don't get rained out. There's been years when just driving on the highway you can see the fireworks of several towns going off at the same time, that is always cool. And now that I have young kids going to see fireworks sounds even more exciting.
Anybody else doing anything, fireworks, picnics, barbecue?...and if you don't live in the USA I hope that you enjoy your weekend anyhow. Although I'm sure most countries have national celebrations of some kind on different days. Anyone else do something similar?

50K
Noticed yesterday that I had just past the 50K pageviews mark. It's taken three years to get to that number. Thanks to everyone who has passed by and faved, commented and watched. I appreciate it very much. It feels good to know that sometimes you have inspired someone else with your work.

Woohoo
That's right! Today I am 36 years old! I guess I'm one of those few adults that just loves celebrating his own birthday. Could you believe that in four more years and I will be forty, that to me is just amazing, wow. So as my gift to you I say take the day off and enjoy!
As for me I am accepting birthday well-wishes, praise and money. Have a good day everyone!

I hate being sick
I really do hate being sick. I am a terrible sick person possibly because I hardly ever get sick. Most other peoples colds don't usually effect me. Sometimes even my wife will get sick and I won't get it.
But this time I wasn't spared. I was in bed for 5 days with every symptom you could image: Headache, terrible chills, fever, coughing, you name it I had it. I'm glad to say that I am finally feeling better but my energy level is soooo low. Somehow or another I have to get back to watching my kids and doing some artwork. Looks like a though week.
I hope you guys are all feeling ok.

Other galleries
I just uploaded some of my artwork over at Epilogue and Imagine FX. I was wandering if any of you guys have galleries over at these places as well? These sites are different from DeviantART and I don't know anybody in them. If your work is at either place any chance you could give me some love or post a link to your pages here. Would love to see some familiar faces over there. Thanks peeps!