Important note: The staff at the Virka fabric store speak no English. I don’t know the words for sewing machine, needle, elastic, boning, nylon strapping, or buckle.

Fortunately, the lady helping me was very nice and willing to listen to my half-Icelandic, half-point and grunt. She made very good guesses and she spoke slowly when talking to me. I made it out of there alive with everything I came for.

Ah, today was a good day. I pulled out all the boning on the bear, made some adjustments to the pattern and reinstalled it. I need to get a person in to put the suit on so I can install the belt that will keep everything in place.

I started on the arms today, but am still in the patterning phase. The challenge here is that I have to accomodate bear anatomy and a persons anatomy at the same time. They don’t always line up, but I’m pleased with my initial pattern.

Rob and I headed down to the Kolaport today because I wanted to hit that booth that had the SF books again. I picked up some beauties all of which look like pulp, untill you start to pay attention to the author’s name.

Exhibit One.
The banner at the top says, “A Madcap Blonde and Her Reckless Lover Challenge a World of Rollicking Chaos”

Hell’s Pavement by Damon Knight, the founder of SFWA.

Look at these beauties.

I’m particularly fascinated by the cover for Marion Zimmer Bradley’s Star of Danger. I always think of the Darkover novels as being fantasy, even though I know it’s technically science-fiction. I’m sure it’s an effect of marketing. When the book first came out, in 1965, science-fiction was the hot thing.

Look at the difference in the 1965 original cover (which I picked up at the kolaport) , the 1985 cover, and the 2000 cover.

I started today by sanding the bear down to remove the rough spots. The white patches are where the fiberglass has been sanded.

I cut out the eyes of the bear, which I’ll replace later, with a tile-cutting bit on my dremel tool. While it is possible to sand the eyes down to a glossy, smooth surface, it makes more sense to replace them with the original hemispheres I used when sculpting the head. I’ll then trim those to insert the lenses. I also used a bit of two-part epoxy to redefine the eye lids.

I also removed the snout of the bear. I have two reasons for this. First, it makes for a more huggable bear. Second, it removes weight from the front of the mask, which will make it more comfortable for the performer.

Carving foam is starts much like carving wood. I trace the basic shape of the bear’s snout on a block of foam. With an electric carving knife, designed for carving turkey, I cut out the rough shape. If this were wood or styrafoam, I’d use a bandsaw.

Each time I cut off a piece of foam, it takes my pattern with it. There’s a very simple way to handle this fortunately. I use a spot of hot glue to glue the pieces back on so that I can see the pattern. When I’m finished, I’m left with a blocky shape that’s roughly the same as the original nose.

At this point in the process, I realized that I had a video camera and an editing program. So you get to watch the rest of the process, edited down to less than a minute and a half. Enjoy.

Any questions? Oh, and let me know how the video works for you. I might do it again if you like it.

An artist just asked me, “Is there anything you’re particularly fond of, any imagery that your magazine leans towards?”

Why, yes! Thank you for asking.

If we start with the belief that one is submitting work that is well-rendered, with an understanding of composition, or, as Beth puts it, art that is not lame, then there are some things that make art stand out for me. In general, I like a sense of movement, texture and story in art. For me, it needs to be communicating something, be that a mood or a moment. I look for an elegance of line and tend to respond well to texture.

Our tagline is “Speculative fiction for a miscreant world.” We do fantasy, science fiction and unclassifiable stories that tend toward funny, dark, strange or all three, so I look for illustrators who will fit with our stories. To quote our art submissions guidelines:

We’re looking for art that complements the stories we publish: speculative, original and compelling. For each issue, we’re looking for one color piece for our cover, and a few black and white or grayscale pieces for the interior. We want art that tells a story and that pushes the boundaries of illustration in the same way speculative fiction pushes boundaries.

A few things to note that will improve your chances:

• Know where the light source is coming from in your piece.
• Please use a model or photo reference if you are trying for realism.
• It is not enough to have a well-rendered figure; figures must be part of a strong composition.

I’m always curious; what do other people look for in art?