Goodbye, ghosts

October was kinda big this year, and not just because I got to watch a ton of horror movies for free.

RESTIVE (written and directed by Jeremiah Jones) finally screened in Austin, and exceeded my greatest expectations. I’m proud to have contributed to that project, and also proud to announce the publication of the first volume of books in the OCTOBERS series, an autumnal dark fantasy for older children. I had the honor of illustrating the books, and they’re a superb read.

I also got to scare the piss out of children, teens, and drunks at Slayer’s House of Discount Torture, the Texas Renaissance Festival’s annual haunted castle (that kicks ass). The whole month wrapped up with a book signing for the OCTOBERS, where I signed books with the authors and sketched young fans of this new series. It’s been the best Halloween of my short life (so far).

November isn’t showing any signs of slowing; Airship Isabella’s wrapping up its first Penny Dreadful novella, which will kick off a steampunk series telling the stories of the crew’s early adventures.

I’m also running XMAS SPECIALS DING DING DING! on family portraits (traditional and themed), pet portraits, gift and decorative artwork. New samples coming this week, and email me for details. Til then, cheers!

–JR

The bookishest summer ever ends with another cover

Sneak peek at a cover I finished recently for a steampunk novel. I’ll post the wraparound with all the text and fancy stuff once it’s published. The author is Patrick Johnson, and you can check out his first novel here.

The cover image here, I created for his second novel, set to be published late this year/early 2012.

GUARDIAN cover art, (c) J.R. Fleming 2011. Collage w/ mixed media.

New watercolor illustration

Finally finished something that did not have a deadline. This is from a once-defunct idea I had, years ago, for a series of paintings based on the Dictionary.com word of the week. The word for this painting is “eldritch”.

eldritch (c) JRFleming 2011

Maybe I’ll do the others…despite dozens of other projects on my mind, this one keeps nagging me.

More to come!  I’ve got some illustrations for an upcoming kids’ book, plus a logo and some other bits that I’m wrapping up this week.  Cheers!

Book covers? Hot dog!

Last week saw a new step in a long-term project I’d begun work on years ago.

In 2008, J.H. Reynolds (one of the many J.?.’s I’ve worked with this century) hired me to do some concept art for a novel series he was writing.  We both loved the project (and being colleagues) so much that we made extra paintings (20 total).  Last week, he told me of his choice to self-publish, and (to my extreme delight) licensed five of the concept paintings to serve as book covers.

My thanks to J.H. and his coauthor Craig S. Cunningham for including me on this fantastic journey.  The paintings are (c) JR Fleming, and the characters and story remain the copyright of the authors.

Hit the Digital Media Illustrations to see the favorites I chose, along with their rough sketches.

ROBOT DREAMS, one of many concept paintings inspired by the vivid world of J.H. Reynolds and Craig S. Cunningham

I Wasn’t Lying!

New artwork, before three months from now, as promised.  There may be hope for this blog yet.

This painting was created on cold-pressed illustration board (a surface I still can’t decide how to feel about) in watercolor, ink, and gouache.  It’s as-yet unpublished, but the book for which it was commissioned is set to publish at the end of the summer.  It’s an American Lit novel by Elizabeth Dinsmoor, and a good enough story that even considering its lack of monsters, steam machines, and gore, I still jumped at the chance to illustrate its cover.  Hope you all enjoy, and when possible I’ll post a link to buy the book online.

Cheers–

Jonah and Ursa M.

Art Update

Revamped all of the portfolio sections, with new artwork in Comics, Digital Illustrations, Traditional Illustrations, Film, and Design.  Many more pictures to come–

JR

Steamin’ Demon

The precursor to a steamy series: