The Aria
The cover from the original edition of the third volume of A DISTANT SOIL. This was painted in Genesis Oils, which is not really oil, but works like it. It dries on demand at 250 degrees, which is a delight for illustrators. I quite like using it, but don’t get much chance to these days.
This was one of the first attempts to work in this medium and it’s a little awkward, but I like the color. It did not print well at all, and it looks terrible on the book, but nice online. I think the printer actually used a low res scan instead of the one they were supposed to use.
One serious disadvantage is you have to use the Genesis varnishes, and I don’t care for them. I like a shiny classic varnish and the Genesis brand is flat and mat.
I’ve had serious technical issues with the computer lately, and spent most of the last couple of weeks installing new hard drives, and cleaning out thousands of files. Managed to clear a terabyte of space on the computer, and found many, many good quality images that I thought were lost. I look forward to sharing them with you.
I have thousands of images I simply never filed, and among them, many important images at high res. It’s quite a relief to find them!
Also, see you at New Jersey Comic Book Expo this weekend!
9 Comments
Traci
This looks completely different in print, it’s all grey.
Colleen Doran
Looking at it again, I can say with certainty that the final printed copy must have been shot from a low res scan. You can see dots on it, it is a dead giveaway of low resolution.
Also, I did not scan this from the original art, but from a slide/transparency shot by a photographer. I’m afraid almost all of the work I had shot by photographers was poor quality. I had no way of knowing it at the time, of course.
Every once in awhile I see some art book and I marvel at how bad some of the work reproduces. Many artists were at the mercy of third parties before we got our own scanners. And then we were at our own mercy until we learned to use them!
Storywriter
Oh wow! I never saw the whole thing before! I saw it on the back of one of the books so I didn’t see all the details. It’s so beautiful! Kovar looks so handsome as always.
Colleen Doran
Hi Storywriter! Glad to see you again!
It’s great to have this new format to show the art I can make it all a lot bigger than on the old page which was limited to 500 pixels wide. I shoulda posted this bigger. I guess I should just go ahead and do that!
Colleen Doran
OK, just reloaded the art even bigger!
Traci
My God…It’s full of shiny Avatar!
RabidEwok
Haha, Niniri is telling Kovar, “Talk To The Hand!” Emeris still creeps me out!
I had an ADS dream the other night. Aeren and the Twins were still around, on Earth and allied with some very powerful, very “old” Ovanan who’d been on Earth a whole lot longer than even Bast was. Much much older than Kovar, or Niniri or Emeris or Sere. Of course they were preparing to do battle against The Hierarchy. It was fun while it lasted because my brain sets up its own Hollywood production company every night when I go to sleep. Thinks it is 20th Century Fox or Universal and so my dreams are like watching a movie in a theater, complete with color film, moving images, a story and a plot. ADS as a major motion picture production! Terrific! Loved it! Too bad no one else got to see it! Happens every night, but sometimes more than others. I had 4 separate dreams like the ADS one that night, only remember the ADS one. Maybe it was the Mucinex, I’ve been taking it because I have a cold.
Traci
I want your dreams!
Colleen
Well, there is a producer interested, but we will see what happens!
Sounds like a great dream, which I’d seen it, LOL!