Anne Cain

I made some nifty wallpapers for author friends and thought I'd share them!

Paul's Dream Rowan McBride	Treasured Crystal Jordan
1920px 1024px	1920px 1024px

I'm guest blogging over at the lovely Clare London's journal today: http://clarelondon.livejournal.com/152262.html

Head on over to have some fun and maybe win some goodies!

Happy 2010, everyone! It's incredible how quickly 2009 went by, but I hope it was a fantastic year for you as well. So many exciting things happened in the last twelve months that it's been quite a whirlwind. Some things changed, for example I'm not doing covers for Samhain at the moment, but I've had the chance to do some great projects with Dreamspinner Press and it's been a super, super experience. In 2009, I also attended my first RWA conference, participated in a number of exciting art projects, and I made new wonderful friends in addition to the amazing folks I was already blessed enough to know and have in my life.

I've had the extreme pleasure of creating book covers for tons of amazing authors, and I'm really excited about this year's upcoming catalog. (The Battle Sylph comes out in February--yayayayayay!) Also, I'm incredibly lucky to have the best readers and art fans any creative individual could ever hope for. A huge part of what I love about my work is knowing that something I've drawn or created has made someone else happy for a little while.

I try not to make any new years resolutions because I've rarely, if ever, been able to keep them. *sheepish grin* If I were to make resolutions, however, the list would go something like this:

1. Make time to read! I haven't been able to finish a book since a friend loaned me some of her Stephanie Plum novels and I think that was sometime in September. *facepalm*

2. Make time to write! The last story I was able to finish was the Halloween special for Pepper Espinoza's zine...but if anyone wants to read an eight-page expository on mazzacchios and Paolo Uccello--No. Don't go there.

3. Make time to draw! I didn't have enough time in 2009 to take on as many personal or fan art commissions as I usually do, and the handful that I did take on...well, let's just say I have extraordinarily patient and understanding patrons (emmyjag and technosage may poke me reeeeeeeal hard right now). ;)

EDIT:4. FINALLY FINISH MY WEBSITE. Ugh.

Anyhoozle, to the many lovely peeps out there who have been very kind and supportive of me throughout the year: thank you, thank you, thank you! I hope this doesn't sound cliché, but I truly am blessed by each of you and only a fool would not appreciate the value of your support.

Here's to a fabulous 2010!

Boy, if that title doesn't say it all...! *sheepish grin*

As I'm sure happens with, oh, EVERYONE at one point or another, I've been finding myself sliding down the very easy and seductive slope of laziness when it comes daily exercise. I know that I need to drag myself away from the computer or drawing table, I know that a workout will do me good, and I know that setting aside a couple of hours every day to do so isn't that big a sacrifice. But, damn--it's so easy to put it off by telling myself something like, "Oh, I'll walk after dinner". Which never happens, obviously.

So, I'm starting my days off with a little yoga, courtesy of this nifty tome I picked up at Half Price books: Yoga for Dummies. After a week of doing the Sun Salutation and an assortment of other twisty, bendy and ouchy poses, I feel more balanced and physically harmonized already. Either that or I've let too much blood rush to my head while trying to do headstands...*cough*

Now run for cover--the following is a shameless "Go, me!" segment of this post. *g* I've gotten some nice reviews for Beautiful Boys, and I wanted to thank everyone for reading the story. I'm glad y'all enjoyed it!

http://sensual.ecataromance.com/index.php?p=2937
http://bellaseroticreviews.blogspot.com/2009/10/beautiful-boys-by-anne-cain.html
http://fallenangelreviews.com/2009/September/teresa-beautifulboys.htm
http://literarynymphsreviewsonly.blogspot.com/2009/09/beautiful-boys.html
http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/774356.html

I despise politics and I'm not even going to go there in this post, but I've been staring at the newsfeeds this afternoon going, "Huh? The Nobel Peace prize, really???" And the kicker is that he was supposedly selected for this recognition back in January of this year.

So I look at the list of previous winners (see Here) and make note of the good works they've done or the struggles they've endured or the years of effort they've dedicated to their cause--people like Nelson Mandela, Mother Theresa, Martin Luther King Jr., the ICBL and Jody Williams, and so many others. I have to ask myself, what the hell has Obama done to merit being included with this list of people? And here's the answer: absolutely nothing. Everyone has good intentions and goals, but since when do we honor ideas instead of true, hard work and effort? For God's sake, back in September we had the videotaped murder of a kid--an honor student, no less--senselessly beaten in Chicago as an outcome of gang violence in the community, and it took the White House how long to speak out against the heinous act? Nearly a month?

I'd brush the peace prize off as a joke, except that when I think of the sacrifices people have made to make a real difference in the lives of others, this is a slap in the face to them. I don't give a rat's ass about entering a discourse on the political reasons behind the award's bestowal and I certainly don't want to start a pro or con Obama discussion, but I have to quote a blogger from the UK Telegraph: "...WTF?"

Today was one of those rare, excellent days where everything just clicks creatively. I was able to finally jump over the hurdle on a couple of projects that had me stumped midway, and I'm still going strong. I'm tempted to put the tablet away to see if the flow of inspiration will help me get a few more words on a short story I'm putting together for the lovely Pepper Espinoza's webzine/blog, "Electric Elephants". Speaking of Pepper, have I shared the latest cover I've done for her? It's for her current release, "On a Bruised Road", on sale now from Loose Id. Way before I knew I'd end up being the lucky artist on her title, she asked if I'd like to read the manuscript. It's a very intense, beautiful story--I hope you'll all check it out.

And Anne (love the name! *g*) Marsh's awesome novel The Hunt has also hit bookshelves this week, which I'm very stoked about. I haven't had a chance to see the book itself yet, but I have the cover flats in hand and they're swankilicious. This is another project where I was able to read the manuscript before working on the cover illustration, and the story is edgy and sexy. Good fun, good fun. Anyone on my flist who enjoys m/f romance and shifters will enjoy it!

Ooh la la! Things have been cooking nicely since my last sporadic update. This weekend I'm developing some concepts for a few 2010 print titles at different publishers, along with my usual assignments for e-houses. One project I'm uber excited about is the redesign for Rhianne Aile's "Cursed" and the upcoming sequel "Betrayed" over at Dreamspinner. I'm also working on the art for the lovely l_prieto's "Dark Designs". And I have fan art commissions that I STILL need to finish--seriously, I don't know why you guys are so patient with me on those. My butt needs whipping. *coughs-and-looks-at-Emmy*

On a somewhat random but work-related note, I've been rediscovering the joy of making art while listening to movie scores. Do you know what soundtrack is great for Regency-flavored projects? The Duchess by Rachel Portman. I believe she's also the composer behind "The Joy Luck Club" soundtrack, which is another great, emotional score (but a bit too melancholy for most projects though). And, omg, do NOT laugh: the soundtrack for Conan the Barbarian by Basil Poledouris kicks ass. Word.

Oooh, check it out, everyone! While I was sleeping last night, my latest release "Beautiful Boys" went on sale over at Loose Id. Yippee! Head on over to LI's website to read an excerpt and maybe take a peek at the other fabu books releasing this week. Have fun! :D

Anne Cain's Beautiful Boys
Genre: LGBT Erotic Contemporary
Length: Novella

Sometimes Dean is too hard-headed for his own good, and his brother, Neil, warns that he’s about to make a huge mistake. But when Dean refuses to back out of a Mediterranean vacation with the ex, he finds his stubborn ass stranded on a desert island. Hopefully the gorgeous, naked guy he discovers on the beach knows what Dean needs to get over the ex once and for all.

Neil has his own issues. Destiny, the cosmos, and God-knows-what-else seem to have it in for him when it comes to romance. He’s too scared to a take a chance until the klutzy stripper at his birthday party reminds him how sweet love can be. The one catch? His new honey is named Jinx for a reason…

Things aren’t much easier for their friends. Nathan has the hots for his tragically hetero roommate, and the two designers working for Neil’s magazine are so caught up in professional rivalry they don’t notice the sexual tension getting ready to go Pompeii between them!

With eight quirky, beautiful boys and four chances for romance in this collection of interlocking stories about love, sex, and polyester rabbit’s feet, it’s going to be a hot summer.

Publisher's Note: This book is a re-edited, revised compilation of several short stories previously released by another publisher and includes one new story. It also contains explicit sexual content, graphic language, and situations that some readers may find objectionable: anal play/intercourse, male/male sexual practices.

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.