Dara Cooks Stuff!

New art from the January issue of Experience Life! magazine.  I'm going to be illustrating the monthly food column!  Kudos to AD Lydia Anderson.

Illustration West 54

One of the most important parts of the illustration business is the Annuals.  Organizations like American Illustration and the Society of Illustrators put out a big fat book every year full of what they consider the best illustration art of the past 365 days.  I've been submitting to a bunch of them every year since college.

I finally got in Illustration West 54, so yay!  It's a sign that the new direction I've been taking is working.

Here's the piece that was chosen:

and here's the cover of the annual:

Inktober the Fifth

 

 An Elder Thingy from At the Mountains of Madness by HP Lovecraft. In preparation for my graphic novel, I wanted to depict it unusually, like something you might see in a coral reef or a botanical garden or an LSD trip. But I also wanted to brush up on my quill pen skills. I skirted the edge between the those ideas and making it textually accurate, and as such feel I failed at all but the last.