~antonvandort

Hello reader!

I am very proud to announce one of the greatest artist I ever met in my life: Master Luuk. At least, that is how I call him sometimes, refering to the famous space opera hero Luke Skywalker (I guess this is a guy thing, sorry ladies). I have a very special connection to him: he is my eldest son!

A couple of days ago, he came home after school, and he showed me a painting he made. It was a beautifull dragon (I guess that my interest into fantasy and science fiction has influenced him). As a proud father, I like all drawings of my children (I have four boys by the way, but I will spent another journal on that one), but this one in particular, I like very much. It had nothing to do with the fact that it was a dragon, but somehow it looked more complete then all his other work. I had the idea he made some progress in his artistic skill level. Immediately I thought: this guy needs to becom a deviant! As a kid of this time, he liked the idea immediately. Some time ago I gave him his own internet connection, his own email, his own MSN, everything he needs to join the rest of the world in this exciting medium called The Internet. And now he has his own Deviant space as well....

Please be kind and give him a pageview: [link] and do not forget to look at his dragon: [link]

One thing that he really likes is that his Dragon is about to win in number of views compared to my C3PO [link] (for the ladies, it's the golden droid from Star Wars).

Anyway, if you want to, give him some nice comments, I am sure he will be delighted and give a response back to you!

Thanks for reading, may the force be with you and take care!

Regards,
Anton

Yep, you read it correctly, I have won the contest [link] from JT Lans for his book cover!

I am so proud about this! For so many years this is what I have been dreaming of. I have analysed the work of Boris, Frank Frazetta, Stan Lee, John Buscema, Royo, Frank Cho, Don Lawrence and many other masters of the modern pop culture in the nice of science fiction and fantasy art...many covers are burned into my mind....and now.....I have my own cover! Here it is: [link]

There is even an entry in Wikipedia: [link]

Hopefully this will give me some extra exposure which might lead to more of this kind of work. I really enjoyed working on this one.

So, what's next? Last week, from an artistic point of view, I had some kind of a "writers block". I work best when I have a goal. The contest was something I could focus on. I have been looking for other contests, but I could not find anything I really liked.

Maybe I should start doing commisions for others? I also had the idea to propose to Lans to do more artwork for his book. This contest was a good step, interesting and fun to do, but what should be my next step? What should I do to get more work into this area, this line of "business". Any advice is highly appreciated......

Thanks for reading, take care,

Regards,
Anton

Finally, it is submitted, my entry for this contest: [link]

It was kinda stupid of me, because I wrote the final date on a piece of paper, but in my mind I had the wrong date. Fortunately the contest holder was so kind to put the date backwards. If I am gonna win this one, it will be my first cover publication. If not, well, at least I learned a lot from it.

But am I happy with the result myself? Well, since it is now almost 3 0çlock in the morning, yes, I am. Will I still be happy with it tomorrow? I don't care! I had fun in creating it, I am cold, and I wanna get to bed!

Thanks for reading, take care.

Regards,
Anton

A new line of business? Well, don't get me wrong here, I am Anton, the "artist", but I am also Anton the "business administration consultant". The terms I use come from business administration, and also from the artistic field. Sometimes this makes it a bit difficult for me to communicate. Artist think I am only in it for the money and management types think I am softy. I guess I am somebody who is always looking for "the best of both".

But, since most readers are from the artistic universe let me explain. I created this piece
[link] for Whizzywhizzer, and the comments are pretty positive. It is the second, because the first one is this one: [link] which also received a lot positive comments. I never thought that this kind of work would get this kind of appreciation. In my life here in Holland, I don't know many people that like this kind of digital work. They more like my "real art", acrylics on canvas etc.

So, I am happy that I found a "new market", an new "product-market" combination! It seems like a "rising star" that will turn into a "cash cow".

And don't get me wrong, I am not into this for the money. What counts for me is if I enjoy the creation of it. I am looking for this "zen-moment" were time is not applicable. That's what I am looking for! And if others like the result, that makes me happy too, ofcourse.....

Thanks to Ileana [link] and John [link] ...

....and thank you for reading this,
Regards,
Anton

Sometimes a wonder if I will ever meet some of my DA friends in person. Don't get me wrong, I like this digital era we are living in, but sometimes I feel that nothing compares to personal contact.

If somebody is coming over to Holland for some reason, please let me know. I am willing to take some days off to meet you in person, show you around, and discuss art and make some paintings photo's etc.

Anyway,....

Thanks for reading,
Regards,
Anton