Anne Cain

Adam
19"x25"
pencils

Ah, the first day of May! It's finally starting to feel like summer, and I'm looking forward to the break. I'm going to have the chance to just immerse myself in a lot of artsy projects and wonderful commissions, plus there's all that yummy, chilled lemonade, swimming, and other seasonal goodness to enjoy. Not to mention summer reading--yay! A few weeks ago, I picked up a PDA for the dual purpose of keeping track of deadlines and reading ebooks while away from the PC. I've already got that baby loaded up with the titles I've been buying at chats throughout the year, and I'm currently munching on Cameron Dane's A Fostered Love. Yum!

So, I'm switching from Photobucket to Picasa because the lovely Cris Griffin has brought it to my attention that Photobucket is a little loose when it comes to respecting artist/creator rights. Problem is, it's taking me a while to get used to the interface (as can be observed in the number of times I flubbed sharing images in my last post). BUT, I think I've tamed the beast and I'm testing my knowledge out with another art post:


"Bedroom Eyes", 2009.

Because rbm00 is awesome for reminding me, I've got some cover illustrations to share! :D These are some of the latest projects I've wrapped up for MLR Press, and all four books should be releasing later this year. I'm trying to kick up my painting style a notch or two without losing that stylized comic/manga feel. These covers came out pretty swanky, and I'm happy to post them here.

The AFTER series

Cover spread for wundebar author LM Prieto's After Dark and After Midnight.		Illustration for After Twilight.

SHIFTING SANDS

Cover illustration for "Shifting Sands", a gay-fantasy-cowboy anthology

I'm currently finishing up illustrations for two more yaoi-ish books this week: Ghost of a Chance by TA Chase, and Mourning Doves by Angela Romano. I'm really having fun with these, so I can't wait 'till I get the go-ahead from my art directors to share the art! Also, I'm thinking about giving my journal a much-needed face-lift (finally), and I just might get started on the construction of a personal website (finally, again). My one worry is that my site will probably end up being neglected for WEEKS while I tend to update my DevArt gallery or LJ more regularly. But I think it would be cool to have a place where folks could snag prints of my stuff if they like, and I could neatly organize my work in a writing section and an illustration/mixed-media section. Hmmm...decisions, decisions...

(X-posted on my DevArt gallery)

2009 has been a great year so far, part of what's helped make that special are some of the nods I've been getting for my artwork. Usually, I don't do this type of post because I am so not the horn-tooting, egoistical type of artist, but an online friend pointed out that if readers and fans took the time to nominate me for something, or if an organization recognized my work, that's something very, very special. And I truly do appreciate it more than I can say.
( Some of the bounty... )

I watched "Hellboy 2: The Golden Army" a couple of weeks ago, and I've been trying to sort out my feelings for the flick ever since. See, I adored the character designs, the atmosphere, the plot, the casting, the music. All that was Awesome, with a capital "A". But I'm very much NOT a fan of the characterizations because a lot of things about Hellboy in the movies are just wrong. His relationship with Liz? Totally skewed and wrong. In the graphic novels, he's a father-figure to Liz. He took her under his wing, and helped her deal with this feeling of being an outcast. And while I don't usually OTP het couples, it's ABE & LIZ 4EVAH--not Liz and Hellboy. *BLEAGH*
( If you want spoilers, clicky here )
Why, Guillermo, why??? I wish I could give the movie a big thumbs up, because aside from the things I mentioned above, it's a good flick. But the relationships between the characters are just awful. AWFUL.

So, for all the other Hellboy purists out there, I'm offering these two gems as an alternative:

&

The animated movies get the character of Hellboy right, and capture more of the spirit of the graphic novels than even Guillermo del Toro's special-effects-blitzoramas do. And Abe & Liz have their thing going on in. YES! ♥ Anywayz, these movies are much truer to Hellboy fans than the live-action stuff.

First of all, Happy New Year, everyone! We're already one week into 2009, and it looks like this year is going to be just as exciting and jam-packed, as I'm already behind on answering emails. (I swear, my inbox will go down from 125 messages to, uh, erm, some other smaller, more reasonable number over the next couple of days.)

Now for a cool newsbit: for all my cool LJ buddies who were interested in the digital art & design workshop, registration is now open!

Creative Direction Workshop 2009: Sign Up.
Dates: Jan 30 - Feb 1, 2009.

Your humble senseis will be myself, along with these awesome artists: CROCO DESIGNS ♦ CHRIS GRIFFIN ♦ APRIL MARTINEZ. Topics to be discussed include: making photomontages, creating banner ads, digital painting, using masks in Photoshop, etc. Sunday will feature a big Q&A session, so come prepared with questions and WIPs for feedback and tips. (Hey, that rhymed! :D)

I hope to see some of you there!

*~Register HERE~*

Woke up this morning to find a sweet surprise in my inbox: the cover art to "Devil Take Me" won an Ariana award. Cool! A big thanks to the folks at Epic for this honor, and congrats to all the other winners--there's some great talent out there. :D Thanks, L, for your email with the head's up, and high-fives to the ever-awesome Cris Griffin for scoring herself a shiny statuette too.

"Devil Take Me"
Samhain Publishing
A small part of me wishes I'd submitted something to the GLBT category as well, but I'm horrible at selecting my own work for these sorts of things and ended up missing the deadline. I know, I suck. But hey--the most satisfying thing is creating artwork that makes others and myself happy! That reason alone has made 2008 a fantastic year. ♥♥♥

I used to think this song from the musical "Chess" was cheezeball with the two female vocals. But with two men signing it? Oh. My. Gawd. It's amazing. Listen now, please:



That's John Barrowman singing with Daniel Boys, btw.

The sweet folks over at Romance Erotica Connection have nominated me (or "Anna" Cain, as may be the case) as cover artist of 2008. Thank you very much! ♥

This week, I also posted some new artwork over at my Deviant Art gallery. There are a couple of new covers, and a charcoal drawing:




Also, I must recommend Vanilla Almond tea, by The Republic of Tea. It is YUMMY. But alas, my hot non-alcoholic beverage of choice hasn't helped me shake off this sluggish and groggy state I'm in. I stayed up late working, then woke up late as a consequence. My whole schedule is off and now I feel S L O W and S C A T T E R E D. >:P

Last night, Pawprints: Giving & Taking went on sale! *happy dances* I hope some of y'all will check it out--it's just a short, fun story for the holidays. :D

Pawprints 3: Giving Taking Anne Cain Adrian and his sexy, dual-natured boyfriend, Lal, are headed to San Juan for a Christmas cruise in the Caribbean with their close friends Marty and James. While fun-in-the-sun and piña coladas are on the agenda, the one desire burning inside Adrian is to spend as much time as possible between the sheets with his boyfriend. Adrian adores his "cat" more than he can say with words, so he plans to show his devotion with a special present: for the first time, he's going to bottom for his lover. But the gift might be too much for Lal to take, especially when his former life as a sex slave taught Lal that's the one unbreakable rule: he isn't allowed to top. For Marty, his relationship with his lover is put to the test when James' family balks at the idea of them as a couple. James can't imagine what his life would be like without his kind, attractive boyfriend, but is his love worth the sacrifice? The only way for Marty to find out is to put it all on the line...with a ring. This holiday, these four friends will learn that love is all about giving and taking.

( Teasing you with an excerpt )

For those of you who are Stateside, I hope everyone had a *wonderful* holiday with lots of good food and great friends. ♥ I'm still recuperating from the pumpkin pie binge. :o)

I haven't had much of that thing called "free time" lately, but I did finish a book I found quite enjoyable: The Coming Storm, by Paul Russell. In a nutshell, the story is set at a prep school for boys in upstate New York. One of the teachers falls for a student, and a very passionate, gay affair ensues. The writing is very descriptive and beautiful, though I'll admit that Russell tries almost a little too hard at flexing his English Lit muscles and the prose doesn't come out as natural sounding as, say, Alan Hollinghurst's work. But the Coming Storm's ending is pretty feel-good, and I really did feel quite a bit for the characters.

I've been asked by a couple of friends and some folks over at DeviantArt if I've ever considered teaching some Photoshop techniques or making tutorials. So, I'm currently working out a workshop plan with three other extremely talented artists I'm sure most of you already know by way of their stunning book covers. We're talking about hosting web-shops on digital painting, making promotional items, photomanipping, etc.--all that good stuff.

How many of you would be interested in signing up for something like this? Raise your hands! :) These type of workshops usually run for $20-25 per person for a weekend full of art, art and more art. We still don't have a set date, but right now it's tentatively being scheduled for late-January, early-February.

See this? An actual update to my journal in less than a month between posts. I'm making progress--I'm so not totally blog-challenged! XD However, my To-Do List continues to make a monkey out of me. *scowls*

Anne's To-Do List of Doom

• Illustration Commissions
  
• a couple of logo designs
  
• Book Covers (as always *g*)
  
• Web interviews (Ai-yah! I have two that I need to get booking on!)
  
• Graphics/Tshirt designs
  
• WRITING (progress on my books has been almost non-existent these past couple of months, unfortunately)
  
• Personal Art <-- Hmm...not until I finish commissions for my lovely peeps first
  

I tweet about my grind fairly regularly for those of you interested in quick updates about my stuff.

Oooh, yeah...in a couple of weeks Pawprints: Giving & Taking comes out! It's a short, holiday story staring Adrian and Lal, characters from the first book in the series. Anyhoozle, I'll post more about G&T as we get closer to December 2nd. By then, I should have finished art and blurbs. Yee-haw!

Phew! Got lots of work done this weekend and I'm pooped. But no time to rest--tomorrow I'm going to hit a bunch of the assignments and commissions I've got in my queue so I can end October strong. If all goes well, I might have time to squeeze in some writing during November. I'm going to try finishing off at least one of these WIPs: Pawprints: Strays, Pawprints: Lifemates, and The Sweet Spot. Aren't those titles such a tease? I'm awful. >:)

Here are some of the art assignments have been keeping me busy recently. I've got a couple more that I can't wait to share, but I'm still waiting on approval from art directors and such. :)

Ifayne's Bane, Samhain Publishing, 2008	In Over Her Head, Sourcebooks Casablanca, 2009	Lost Gods, Liquid Silver Books, 2008

And because everyone needs MORE blogs to follow, I'm now on Twitter: http://twitter.com/annecain
I post quick updates, so if I'm getting too quiet on my LJ and you want to know what the *bleep* is going on with me, I'll have current news bits there.

Now...off to bed. 'Night!

Pam, the owner of Literary Nymphs is looking for book reviewers. I wanted to post about it here, because for readers-on-a-budget, this is a great opportunity to get your mitts on some free books. :o) A lot of m/m and yaoi titles are usually up for grabs, so here's your chance to read and share your recommendations to the public!

Here's more info:

"Have you ever wanted to read a book and tell people what you thought of it - good or bad - but in a polite way with your reasoning why you liked or disliked it? Then I'm looking for YOU!

Literary Nymphs is looking for reviewers. We review all genres except inspirational and young adult. If you think you might be interested, please email irishminx-at-literarynymphs.com (replace -at- with @, please!) for more information. Also be prepared to write a review of a book you've recently read!"

...and I'm still recuperating! LOL Seriously, I am. This was my first year in San Diego and I absolutely LOVED IT, but nothing really prepared me for the massive-ness of geekdom and pop-culture awesomeness that is Comic Con.

( A brief Comic Con lowdown )

This trip totally recharged my creative batteries, and I seriously think this is something I've needed for a long, long time. It felt great to be surrounded by so much coolness and creativity, and I'll be bringing some of that energy into my work. I've got a ton of stuff to get cracking on, including art commissions (like da kine for you, Emmy ^__^) that I'll be tackling this weekend, a backlog of emails, book covers, design work, and writing.

BRING IT ON, BABY!!!!! ♥

I'm thinking it ran off with my writing muse for a vacation down in the Caribbean somewhere. :/ While they lounged on a beach in Cabo Rojo, sipping piña coladas, I spent the time working on some covers...
( designs behind the cut )
...and working on some art...
( art behind the cut )

OH. The comic geek in me says: GO SEE IRON MAN. Notice, I've used annoying CapsLock to help emphasize my love for the most awesome comic movie since Spiderman 2.

And in case anyone is worried about my recent affliction: Yes, I still have Barrowmania, with some more artwork to come once I finish up some other fun projects for my awesome author friends. ♥

...Barrowmania.

Whenever I take a break from work, I'm obsessing over clips of him on YouTube, printing photos of him off the internet (daaaaamn, his husband is a lucky guy), listening to his albums (HIS RENDITIONS OF "YOU'RE SO VAIN" AND "YOU'D BE SO EASY TO LOVE" ARE JUST ADORABLE), and wishing the UPS guy would hurry up and deliver my copy of "Anything Goes" already. *sigh* When does the next season of Torchwood start up? Sometime in '09? $&^%! >_>

( I couldn't resist (trying to) drawing John... )

And a few folks have added me to their Flist...so, hi! *waves* Now you're privy to my sporadic postings about art, writing and various nonsense. Joy-joy!

Now that the cover art is on LI's coming soon pages, I can *squeeee*! Second Nature, the next book in the Pawprints series, hits the virtual bookshelves on April 8th. While the story is set in the same universe as book one, it totally stands alone as it's own tail. Er, I mean "tale"! (Sorry, bad pun *g*). I'm so jazzed, I have to share the rough blurb and a short excerpt. And no worries--the content after the cut is PG-13 and worksafe. ;) Enjoy~! ♥

( Pawprints - Second Nature )

For everyone who's 18+, I'll be sharing a sexier excerpt on the Yahoo group I share with the ever-lovely Barb Sheridan: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dragonsdisciple/ Stay tuned--next week when the book comes out, I'll probably do a giveaway contest with some goodies. ♥

Oops...I've really slacked off on my journaling again. :/ Honestly, I mean to keep up with my Flist, but I just get caught up with projects and my time at the PC often runs short. Will some art pretties help make up for it? ;)

These are some of my latest covers, which are also some of my personal faves. I'm sensing a color theme happening here...I'm not sure why, but I'm really into blues and golds. I just love those colors, and they translate really well on websites:



I've also been sitting on a few exciting newsbits that I don't want to share too early. It's not "Holy-Guacamole-It-Will-Change-Your-Life-Forever-!!!-news", but I'm jazzed about it and I'll definitely keep everyone posted once the details and paperwork have been worked out.