Another Desert Piece

Here's the finished painting. Now, off to school! Two days a week, I have to admit, is kinda killing me. Well, I'm just the kind of person who hates leaving the house. HERMIT.

Childrens Book Illustrations Exhibiton

The Brush Art Gallery & Studios in Lowell, Massachusetts will be exhibiting original artwork by renowned American children’s book author-illustrators from September 19th to October 24th, 2010. The featured award-winning illustrators are Christopher Bing, David Macaulay, Kelly Murphy, Matt Tavares and David Wiesner. Book signings and talks with the artists will be held on October 1st (Macaulay) and 2nd (Bing, Murphy and Tavares). Please visit the gallery’s event page for more information regarding the exhibition.

Tang Dynasty

I recently got a project that is about Princess Wencheng. She was a lady of the imperial family in the Tang Dynasty. She became a famous historical figure of China for her marrying the chief of Tubo, a Tibetan King and bringing with her the culture of Han nationality, thus promoting the unity and integration between different ethnic groups. Princess Wencheng is the first princess of peace-making marriage in the Tang Dynasty. It was very fun researching the different costume and custom of this era of Chinese history.

The first great funfact was the importance of color. The garb of many officials in the Tang dynasty had different colors and were used to indicate their official ranks. The robes for the Emperor were yellow, a style that remained the tradition until the Qing dynasty. Generally speaking, the costumes for officials ranked as Level 3 and higher were purple, officials ranked as Level 5 wore red, officials ranked as Levels 6 and 7 wore green, and officials ranked as Levels 8 and 9 wore blue. Why was color such a focus of these costumes? On the surface, ancient people used the positions of king, minister, the nobility, and the characteristic of humility to show the dignity of the different ranks in society. But in fact, in the corresponding dimension of heaven, beings of different colors have fundamental differences—different dimensions, levels, and particles. It's believed that the various colors of the social ranks are the various manifesting forms of the different lives in our universe. Where do all the black loving goths belong nowadays?

After looking at countless images of courtly ladies, I then watched an amazing visual spectacle called "The Curse of The Golden Flower". I was able to see the lavishness of the costume and the intense color palettes that might have existed in the Tang Dynasty. It must be wonderful to have ancestry with such craftsmanship and symbolism.

City of Sands

I picked up a job form a Spanish publisher to create the cover of their version of this Italian story. Did you get all that? It's super fun to be working again with international publishers, and I am always curious what different take they might have. It's also the third book in about a year that I've illustrated with Dogon, Mali, Tuareg, and desert mysticism. No complaints here, but now I want to desperately visit all of these places. Here are a few of my sketches:

Unicorn's Tale Revealed!

Annnnnd, here's the fourth bookcover of the Nathaniel Fludd: Beastologist series revealed! Unicorns!! But, I think most people could have figured that out. I am DYING to know what is next!