David is a specialist in the areas like: Concept Art, Illustration, Storyboard, Digital Painting, Matepainting, Webdesign(Php/Css/Flash), Design, Packaging, Print, 3D.

Recently I've noticed quite a few posts that are plugs. For the time being I've left them be seeing as there hasn't been much traffic to this journal or to the plug journal recently.

So I've decided to bring up a question to the community: Do you prefer to see plug posts go to elfwoodplugs, or are you okay with seeing plugs appear in the main journal?

x-posted.


Welcome back to Spec the Halls !

Spec the Halls is a contest for speculative winter holiday-themed fiction, artwork, and poetry. The holiday may be fictional or real; it may be Christmas or Yuletide as we know and love it, or it may be something much stranger.

Submissions open November 1st, and the earlier you submit, the more likely your submission is to be a featured submission! And you should submit, since this is still a relatively small contest, which means your odds of winning are good. Not that you'd be that calculating and cold-blooded, of course.

The contest guidelines remain essentially the same as last year, though the prize amount has increased. To refresh your memory, read the guidelines.

Post about this contest! Spread the holiday cheer...the strange, twisted, weird holiday cheer.

You can sign up for the weekly-ish newsletter sent from mid-November to Christmas, at the Spec the Halls website.

Or if you prefer, these newsletters will also be duplicated in an RSS feed spun off from my blog at:
http://cloudscudding.livejournal.com/data/rss?tag=specnews

7 anime brushes

brushes

Her illustrations have been for various game and publishing clients, including Wizards of the Coast, HarperCollins, LUNA Books, Tachyon Books, Alderac Entertainment, and Green Ronin. She has authored and illustrated Dreamscapes (2008, North Light Books), a book on watercolor technique for fantasy. Her work also regularly appears in Realms of Fantasy Magazine.

A few years ago, I came across a picture that I thought was simple, but absolutely beautiful.
I don't know the artist or the name of the picture, but I can see it clearly in my head because it left THAT much of an impression on me.

I just spent around seven hours on Elfwood looking for this picture, and I am hoping one of you might be able to help me.

I think it might be a watercolor picture, and it's of a mermaid.  Her tail isn't quite visible because she is lounging on a rocky shore, halfway out of the water.  Her hair is long, wavy, and red-brown, and her eyes are brown.  She has a fin at the small of her back if I remember correctly, and she was looking right at the screen.  She was very thin and her skin was grayish?

I really loved that picture, and it used to be my wallpaper years ago because I never got tired of looking at it, but I lost it when I had to wipe my computer clean (that thing was a dinosaur).

If anyone has any idea of who this picture might be by, or who the artist is, I would be VERY grateful!

I joined elfwood a looooong time ago, within the first year or two that it was created (I'm in gallery 100). Back then it was literally the only site of it's kind. Remember back when all the dot coms were blooming? Ah memories, well Elfwood was right up there blooming with the best of them. What happened?

Just look at this journal, I remember when there used to be a new post every day on this journal. There were so many posts that the creation of sub journals was necessary. Now look at this place, lucky to see a new journal every few months. People have given up on this place, moved on.

Thomas had this amazing thing in his hands, he was holding the biggest and brightest online art site in existence! And then he let it all turn to dust. Imagine creating yahoo back in the day, Elfwood was just like that, it had the potential to be the premiere web site of it's kind. And now, well it's just depressing to think about.

It seems like elfwood wants to change, I see ads now, and some of the new features and functions that made DA popular (although I don't like that your bio is no longer displayed next to your art on your main page). But it seems the old growing pains still hold true. The mod system is still flawed, the rules are way too subjective, and the users are still unhappy. And without the users you have no site.

For awhile there when people were near riotous, I thought maybe this is a good thing, maybe elfwood needs to burn to the ground to be reborn new and grand again. But visiting these forums and the site again today, that doesn't seem to be the case. It's a huge dissapointment.

Many people would love to see Elfwood revive itself. But so long as the old issues that made people leave in droves years ago, remain in place, I see no chance of that happening.

The solution is so simple it's heartbreaking, it's just like the american auto industry who, while gas was 3+ dollars per gallon and consumers were begging for alternative fuel and fuel efficient vehicals, continued to build gas guzzling SUVs. Listen to your users! You are nothing without them.

Current Mood: disappointed

Spec the Halls is a winter holiday-themed contest for speculative creations.

This means:
* Christmas, New Years, Yule, Winter Solstice, or another winter holiday that you make up.
* science fiction, fantasy, or horror
* stories, poems, artwork, or anything else you can think of

Basics:
* No entry fee
* Reprints encouraged
* $42 first prize, $5 honorable mention--and the joy of spreading the spirit of Christmas and twisting it to your own ends.

Details here.

x-posted a little, for obvious reasons.

I was hoping all you nice folks could help me find some Harry Potter fan art I was looking at a few weeks ago. I can't remember anything about the artist's name. I know there are thousands of HP fanarts out there... but I really would like to try to find this gallery again. I remember the artist is female. She has a series of several simple pictures in her gallery that are based off of Snape's memories in the last book. She illustrated the whole sequence but only some are in her gallery. She also has illustrations of Dobby's funeral, "old" Harry and Hermione at the graveyard, Harry and Ginny at the Griffindor victory party, among others.

Any help would be appreciated!

Photobucket round two, more information:
http://www.plagiarismtoday.com/2008/07/24/video-your-images-for-sale/

With the encouragement of Peter Retzlaff from the Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Puget Sound (Seattle), Jeremy Kayes, creator of The Elves of Iax is holding an auction for an original poster of the cover and first page of his self-published comic. Jeremy is personally covering the printing, framing, shipping and auction fees, so your full final bid will go directly to BBBS of Puget Sound. As an added bonus, if the final bid is greater than $100, Jeremy will donate an additional $100 of his own to BBBS. Thank you, and happy bidding.

Visit the Auction Page on eBay. The Auction will close Tuesday, June 3rd at 8:00pm Easter Time.

I would have posted this in the EW forums, but the CAPTCHA seems to be broken.
I'm the writer and creator of the webcomic http://elvenlacryment.com. My previous artist no longer has time for the project and I'm looking for a new artist. The old artist left mid-issue, so I would ask the new artist to re-draw issue 2, but we would leave issue 1 as is.



Contact Info
If you're interested, please send me a sample of your work to elvenlacryment AT gmail DOT com.  You can also aim me at AnarchicQ or MSN at Q_Slash at hotmail dot com

I have been a member of Elfwood since before there were moderators. I not only understood why moderators were added to the process, I wholeheartedly approved of the move. I still do.

I have supported Elfwood through some rough times and always remained loyal to the project, even when I didn't agree with what was done or how it was accomplished. That hasn't changed.

I was an original member of the ERB, back before we had any actual removal tools; our job was to catch copycats, verify the sources, and report them to Thomas to manually remove. I totally get why the ERB exists, and how it is separate from the moderator process. I approve of them so entirely I helped start the group.

But there is moderation and then there is ridiculous, nit-picky, over-zealous, power-tripping rules mongering.

Allow me to illustrate.


( Cut for length )

Any one of these things is a simple irritation. An extra hassle I'm willing to put up with for the sheer nostalgia that Elfwood has for me. I like the people involved with Elfwood and I respect that it's Thomas' site and maybe he has certain rules in mind. Something was borderline, okay, fine.

But when I trot over to our fearless leader's own gallery and find work much more questionable than mine? When I get work pulled down because they don't agree with my cropping decisions? When the ERB is more interested in taking down questionable work than reading the descriptions or noting that there are crystals hanging out of a tree? I gotta wonder – is this what he had in mind? Is this level of pickiness going to do anything but turn away otherwise active, loyal members of Elfwood and make them feel unwelcome, hassled and alienated?

I, myself, have no wish to submit anything else to Elfwood under this kind of mindless finickiness. I am not, however, deleting my gallery or 'taking my toys and going home.' I'm making a request:

Could we please, please, please put the moderate back into the moderating process? Can we take a long look at the direction we're heading and reconsider? Elfwood used to be a place that was inclusive – if a piece could be considered favorably, it was. Now, it's become painfully exclusive – if a piece can be cut out for any tiny little reason, it is. This is horrendously off-putting to any user and really takes the joy out of a place that used to be friendly and accessible. I'm not saying that we should revert to anarchy or waive the rules just for ME (or anyone). But there is a huge difference between following rules and trying to find letter-of-the-law reasons to reject anything you can.

We had issues like this back when Zone 47 was the only place for any piece with modern elements (remember that?), and the problem was addressed and a neat solution devised. I hold out hope that the same can be achieved here, as well.

Cross-posted to the Elfwood forums and emailed to Thomas.

Please note that I have not once resorted to calling anyone a Nazi. Please use the same restraint in replies. Also note that most of those links will be gone by the end of the month, as I have very limited time to maintain my gallery and thought it would be more productive to spend that time writing this and working for change than fixing a lot of things that I really don't believe need fixing.

Interview with Margeaux Walter

www.myartspace.com

I am holding a contest to see who can create my next tattoo. Thing is, I have an idea of what I want but I am somewhat flexible and the tattoo has some logistic problems. Number one, I..d like it to have a map of the world on some sort of antiquated medium, like a bamboo scroll or weathered parchment. The map can be outdated or inaccurate, I leave it to your design. Other elements I..d like to incorporate are a dragon or dragonoid character (symbolizing myself,holding the map maybe?) and a compass rose w/ the points left blank (I have 8 brothers and sisters, and will add symbols for them at the points later). I am very into travelling, ships/water/(perhaps the dragon would be an elemental water dragon?). mermaids or other interesting things could be added to the map. The tattoo will cover the right half of my backside, from the bottom of the ribcage to the bottom of the thigh. I might move it up to just cover half my back, but I have a small tattoo on the upper right shoulder that would have to become incorporated or covered... it..s of a bouncing Tigger(symbolizing a playful nature). Visit my website for more info. The winner will also get a picture of their artwork on my body once the tattoo is complete! If you have another idea, submit it as I am open to new ideas. Submit via snail mail or email, I will return oiginal art if you provide postage and a return envelope/container.  bpmsea@yahoo.com or write for for an address.