March 2009
29 posts
When they make the Seaborn Rock Opera... →
I want them to include “Take a Bow” by Muse. Listening to it as I type this, and it’s…perfect, this slowly building tale of corruption and payment, gaining momentum, heavy guitars, straining…
February 2009
52 posts
Saltwater Witch Chapt4 detail →
Detail crop of one of the Saltwater Witch panels I’m working on now. This is the start of chapter 4, Kassandra waking in the middle of the night, talking to Praxinos—telling him to shut up,…
Leaf Father →
Quick painting of one of the characters in my current novel length work.
Needed to know what he looked like, striding through the woods, a king
among them. This guy’s also power hungry, not at all…
IF: Breeze →
Painted this at lunch for Illustration Friday topic: breeze. I flipped it 90 degrees right, but I painted it horizontal. Digital, CS, Wacom tablet, about an hours work.
Don't just get ahead, get a transparent head... →
From MBARI—the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute. (Just so you know, Monterey Bay Aquarium is one of my favorite places on this planet. Like I could live there).
Anyway, check…
Retro Modern House [Flickr] →
chrishoward.author posted a photo:
New novel, character study →
Here’s another sketch of my new protag. What do you think?
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Benefit comedy show this Sunday →
In the Boston area? Want to laugh and help students at the same time? One of our old writing group members and a very funny guy, Con, is part of the lineup in a comedy show to benefit the Boston…
Words I love →
Looking up a completely different word in the dictionary, I found this treasure:
Torpedoist Tor*pe”do*ist, n. (Nav.) One skilled in the theory or use of torpedoes; also, one who favors…
Featured work on dA →
I just got a couple of my Saltwater Witch panels featured on deviantArt. Cool.
http://coffeelover.deviantart.com/journal/23395928/
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Very shimmery →
Shimmer, a quarterly print magazine of speculative fiction and art (shimmerzine.com) has reopened for story and art subs! There’s also a redesigned web site in the works.
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Mermaid tails →
Cool news story out of New Zealand: “Auckland woman, Nadya Vessey wrote to Weta Workshop in Wellington asking if they would help her realise a life long dream and make her a fully functional mermaid…
You'll dream of those steps tonight... →
There was a great Lines and Colors post on Polish Surrealist Zdzisław Beksiński a few days ago. His work is dark with lots of things burning, ash and mist everywhere, cathedrals rising out of the…
Main character study →
Finally getting around to this one, a character study for the protag of my current novel length work. It’s been in the back of my head for a while, and great to finally let it out. I’m not going…
Retro Future Housing →
Is it normal for artists, designers, scientists, to be ahead of their time? Isn’t it crazy how the same wacky ideas keep coming around, and that sometimes they seem to be not-as-wacky the third,…
Interview →
Shaun at The World in a Satin Bag interviewed me last week with some great questions, and it’s up on the site here:
http://wisb.blogspot.com/2009/02/interview-w-chris-howard.html
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She's climbing the walls →
Kassandra that is. I just posted the end of chapter 3 for Saltwater Witch. I painted all of these this morning, all digital work. Example pages below. Click for the larger view.
Click here…
Productive painting day →
I got up early with the dogs, got them out and fed, and sat at the dining room table painting for the next four hours, all digital work, and I ended up with seven panels for Saltwater Witch,…
Jeff Hayes →
Have you checked out Jeff’s work lately? Jeff’s a friend of mine, a Boston-area artist working in oils. I get his blog fed through my reader, I see all the amazing work he’s been doing, but I’ve…
Does FREE work? →
To narrow that down a bit, does the posting of stories, novels, and art for free downloading, reading, viewing, and even sharing, make any difference in print book sales, in attracting more traffic…
Where does it go? →
A couple people have asked me where the chain goes in the last set I posted for Saltwater Witch. I’ve been saying, “you’ll just have to wait for the next set,” but…I can’t wait. Painted this…
4Plus1 →
A few weeks ago, Steve Thorn kicked off this really cool interview format, 4Plus1, “a section spotlighting people of interest from all walks of life, from writers to artists, scientists to…
Where does it go? →
A couple people have asked me where the chain goes in the last set I posted for Saltwater Witch. I’ve been saying, “you’ll just have to wait for the next set,” but…I can’t wait. Painted this…
LittleBoarsHead [Flickr] →
chrishoward.author posted a photo:
Looking toward Little Boars Head from North Hampton beach
AtlanticBeach [Flickr] →
chrishoward.author posted a photo:
Kids on the beach
LittleBoarsHead2 [Flickr] →
chrishoward.author posted a photo:
Looking toward Little Boars Head from North Hampton beach
Kassandra dropping into the abyss [Flickr] →
chrishoward.author posted a photo:
from chapter 3 of Saltwater Witch: the0phrastus.typepad.com/saltwaterwitch/
4Plus1 →
A few weeks ago, Steve Thorn kicked off this really cool interview format, 4Plus1, “a section spotlighting people of interest from all walks of life, from writers to artists, scientists to…
New set posted for Saltwater Witch! →
Another three pages up! Kassandra’s still underwater, dropping deeper and deeper into the Atlantic, but she’s about to hit the bottom. I did all three of these in five to six hours, all digital…
BOSKONE →
Had a great time at Boskone—my first Boskone being on panels, doing a reading and a signing. I had my reading Friday night at 10:30—I read chapter 1 from Sea Throne to an audience of five. …
IF: Celebrate →
Here it is Friday the 13th, and this will be my 13th week posting to my web comic Saltwater Witch, which amounts to 80 pages. I’m starting to experiment more with color and media, going with…
To appease my wife... →
I have agreed to get a show of hands and comments from those of you who know the origin of the “shocked and stunned” line in my previous post. Apparently Alice thinks I’m insane to put it in…
UGCX day 2 →
Second and final day of UGCX (User-generated Content conference and Expo) in San Jose. Beautiful weather, enough sun to get out and walk around downtown at lunch. Guy Kawasaki…
The advanced state of surveillance in our country →
Spotted this one at the Target in Morgan Hill, CA. Many of the Targets have video surveillance—at least the signs tell us they do, and given the low cost of quality surveillance gear, I believe…
UGCX show day one →
Packed panels, great speakers, this has really turned out to be an interesting and fun con, and we’re already making plans to attend and even get on a couple panels in October when UGCX is out in…
My Boskone 46 Schedule →
Friday 10:30pm Independence:
Reading
Saturday 10am Harbor 2:
Men Writing Women
What is it about “strong female protagonists” that appeals to so many male
authors? (And what do they think is…
Off to the UGCX show in San Jose →
I’m heading out the west coast in a couple hours, spending a few days in SJ, mostly at the convention center for the User Generated Content con and expo. Stop by if you’re in the area!
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Into the abyss →
I just posted another set for Saltwater Witch, a little early, because I’m out in California for a few days. Hope you like these—all digital work now that Kassandra’s underwater. I’d also like…
Another painting, Kassandra looking into the abyss →
Digital, Photoshop CS, Wacom and a pen. What more in life do you need? Okay maybe some coffee.
More panel work for Saltwater Witch.
Click for the full view:
Time to get her feet wet... →
Painted this morning, another set for Saltwater Witch. This is all digital, starting with a dark blue background in Photoshop CS. This is the first full set underwater, even if it’s really just…
First person POV and better dialogue →
I write in 3rd and 1st primarily, and every once in a while I’ll play with others. I’m well into a novel, a little over 40k words, and it seems to me that my dialogue is just on, it’s sharper,…
A question about reading and filtering →
I’m just thinking at the keyboard, and I’ll say it: I think one of the most gratifying things for a writer is a reader who understands your characters.
I’ve been thinking about how people read…
Seaborn review →
Another “A” review for Seaborn at UrbanFantasyLand from Harry Markov, and I’m liking this: “For me Howard’s writing evokes a resemblance to Nabokov’s style with unconventional imagery and…
Over a 100 followers... →
…on Twitter. And I’m following a little over 80, mostly my friends, favorite authors, and a bunch of publishing and technology industry radicals.
Find me on Twitter here:
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Some bad news for the sea →
Seaborn came out last July, and by that time I had already completed another book, Sea Throne, with many of the characters from Seaborn—Kassandra, the war-bard and her daughter, evil sea kings,…
