Isis Sousa's Blog: Tragic Books' news - Posts Tagged "illustration"

Original post from my blog: http://isissousa2d.blogspot.no

Wow, it’s been a while since I wrote a post here! I took a long break, since mid-December last year, due to a long holiday trip and an extra busy beginning of year. 2013, here I go!

So far this year I have done 6 Black & White illustrations for Grace Draven’s upcoming book, a retelling of the classical “Beauty and the Beast” and have 6 more to go. Have done a couple of interviews, very cool ones for IT’SART (click here and read it) and CG ARENA (coming soon, but you’ll find it here). I’ve done also a tutorial/making of for CG ARENA e-mag, based on a work called “The Green Man, which I developed for this tutorial.



Have done a very different work, in a cute/caticature-like style for Mad Artist Publishing’s BOND book. Cool huh? And have also done a Bettie Page commission for Falcata Times, in a more cartoony style (soon you wull see it there too!). Noooo, I am not abandoning Fantasy, I am just pushing my boundaries, so that’s why I did these last two mentioned works ;)

On top of that, have been organizing and recruiting artists for a series of video workshops: IT’S ART FANTASY WORKSHOP – taking place during the year of 2013, with 13 themes into Fantasy Art! More info about it coming soon!

Now, let’s take the subject of this post. I am always thinking of ways to improve and have a website/portfolio which works for me. I have tried several layouts before, after a while I switched to Blogger: I have started a blog and set it to be my portfolio. So when people entered www.isissousadesigner.com (before) they in fact were seeing my BLOGGER site. I thought it was very handy, I found a layout I customized and seemed to be right for me. I kept it for a year or so.

Since I started a website, back in 2010, I’ve been DAILY checking and monitoring my visitors. I learned very much with this habit, such as which images people like more when they visit my site, which page they are more interested in, where do they come from, where did they find the link for my site, etc. These are all important data to help you take your site/portfolio in the right direction.

In the beginning of 2012, I published a work on this Blogger portfolio called “A FantasyPortrait of Sir Isaac Newton”. The piece called a lot of attention, both in my site and my other online galleries. Somehow, after a while, I was receiving a huge traffic of visitors coming from Google Search, all of them looking for “Isaac Newton, Sir Isaac Newton, Newton, etc.” At first I thought it was cool, because I thought some of these visitors looking for images of this great scientist would also be interested in my work and eventually that my commissions could grow.

The Google Search traffic increased very much within the months, at a point that it started to “suck”! It wasn’t cool anymore! I found out NONE of those visitors searching for Isaac Newton had given me a single commission, feedback or anything back. More than that: they were in the way of me seeing the good, healthy traffic on my stats service. So I took a decision: to take the blog down and make a new website for my portfolio, more industry oriented. I’m still working on it, but I see the changes are for the better.

Talking about changes… I’ve been also thinking about better content for this blog, since its start. “Why not share some of my mistakes, hints and growth as artist” I asked myself lately… So since TODAY this blog is called “Artist in progress” and I hope to make substantial articles about my difficulties, my ups and downs, visions and improvement as artist. I think sharing this experience as well as adding other interesting content such as great news and interviews may help aspirants and also may be interesting for those who have been long down the road!

Stay inspired!

A short entry this time…

I’ve been over and over again reviewing and developing my Dark Fantasy short story, “The XXIII th Hour at Duskland”. I know, the tittle is strange, that’s because it refers to the roman numbers of old pendulum clocks. It has roughly 7,5 K words and will be part of an anthology I plan to publish later this year, “Stories of Duskland” with the same characters.

Been thinking to publish two editions: simple (text only) and illustrated. I have already decided on the painting style and mood for the images. I did the research (as the story takes place in England, during the 19th Century. Now I just have to start painting…

Can’t wait to reveal more about this project!

On the other hand, I give continuity to an inspirational art book for Mad Artist Publishing, which focuses on “Artistic Collaboration” and related themes. All guest artists are set and the layout for their part is almost finished. We don’t have a tittle for this one yet…

More news coming soon!

I've been working on a series of b&w illustrations for Grace Draven's upcoming book "Entreat Me".

Two illustrations left, a few details to add on some of the finished ones and we are good to go :)

I was invited to join a group that was just founded by e-book cover designer (and writer) Jade Laredo -

COVER ARTIST FORUM: http://www.goodreads.com/group/show/1...

All cover artists (and those who make interior illustration as well) are invited to join!

Authors, there could be a great place to gather information and insights if you are planning on purchasing a cover or assign an artist.

Join this great group with me :)

Click here: http://www.goodreads.com/group/show/1...

If you enjoy browsing fine art books, illustrated books, picture books, comic books, graphic novels - if you're an author of this kind of book or reviewer, here is the place for you:

https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/...

Welcome to this new, cozy and interesting group!

As most of you may know, I work as illustrator and only write/publish books as a hobby thing on my free time. And as artist, I have had the pleasure to work with many amazing GoodReads authors. I have learned a lot on the process of each book cover and have made great friends.

Today, I am sharing with you some of the covers I have done on the past couple of years – hand painted from scratch -, mostly within Epic Fantasy, Fantasy and Fantasy Romance. Lately I have made a Sci-Fi Romance cover – but that will only be revealed next year ^.^

Another thing about the covers you see out there is that they are generally made months before a book is published – so yes, readers, the new releases for you are old news for me and those who worked in the production of a book. :)

Those covers on the top are for Grace Draven’s books of the Wraith Kings Series.

Some covers for Martyn Stanley





Some covers for Nathan Barham





Some for Josefine Gottwald





Here’s for Gaelen Foley





And here’s for Tiffany Roberts






I have some new covers done the past months, but I just can’t yet share them with you, so PT II of this post may come later this year.

As for what goes on the cover - it is ALWAYS what the authors/press require and how they require. It means I don't do what I want, rather I do what the client wants ;)

I have done MANY non-fiction covers, within graphic design technique, but I am not featuring those in these posts. (Maybe on a separate post later on as well?)

And I have some room available on my schedule this summer for a few more covers, in case you’re interested, send me a message. Fees start at 400 USD/370 EUR. (But hurry, because those get filled pretty fast.)

And that's all folks, thanks for reading :D

Hi there, guys! :-) December, the key that closes 2017, has arrived… And I would say, it came rather too quickly!

Now, it’s the time of the year where most have too much work and many social events to attend as well as hunting for gifts and planning for the big holidays.

I have a Christmas post prepared for you, but that one comes later! ^.^

Today, I’d like to share with you that I am launching 2 YouTube channels:

- Tragic Books: where I will do Gothic Book reviews, talk about self-publishing, writing and show you my own book projects. This channel will start in January 2018!

- Helheimen Design: where I do art book reviews, talk about art and artist problems and show making ofs, tips and tutorials based on my own paintings.

This channel is now out, and the first video you watch here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=robYW... showcasing the art book and calendar of my artist friend Pierangelo Boog.

If you’d like to support my work, you can subscribe, leave a like or a comment :-D Hope you enjoy it!

Have a great time, good luck organising your month and see you soon!