Master of Letters (Logos and Font Design). DARLENE is a life-long practitioner of calligraphic writing with a formal education in type design. Links: Logo Design  Font design  Letter Design  

Classic 1980’s Iconic RPG Artist. DARLENE was the first female illustrator for TSR, Gary Gygax’s company which first published Dungeons & Dragons and other Role Playing Card games. She is most noted for creating the now-classic WORLD OF GREYHAWK maps and for producing “Jasmine: the Battle for the Mid-realm” Collector Card Game, the first RPG card game published (1982).  

Greeting Card Designer. DARLENE offers many different types of Greeting Cards including her early medieval fantasy paintings and art honoring Gary Gygax, Father of RPG; Mystic Knot Designs; Unicorns and other mythic animals; and, for people with spooky Gothic tastes, The Baron Samedhi series. DARLENE also creates “Just For You” cards, meaningful one-of-a-kind greeting cards specific to each individual.

Thirteen Knots   The Gilead Cross    Geometric Circle    Mystic Rose Knot    Geometric Triangle   Gilead Love Knots   

FANTASY GREETING CARDS by DARLENE:

More information about Darlene’s Fantasy Art cards shown above are posted here and may be purchased at Darlene’s  Zazzle Shop.

DIVINELY INSPIRED GREETING CARDS by DARLENE:

SPOOKY GREETINGS CARDS by DARLENE

All of the cards featuring BARON SAMEDI can be purchased at Darlene’s  Zazzle Shop.

MORE FANTASY ART

COLUMN: Serendipity (The Crusader Vol. 1 No 1): “My Return to RPG” by Darlene

COLUMN: Pages from My Sketchbook… DARLENE shares her Creative Journey (Crusader Vol. 2 No. 2):  “The Nagas” by Darlene 

COLUMN: Serendipity (The Crusader Vol. 2 No 3): “The Game of Design” by Darlene

COLUMN: Pages from My Sketchbook… DARLENE shares her Creative Journey (The Crusader Vol. 2 No. 4): “The Characteristics of Dragon People” by DARLENE

Tags: DARLENE, art, Crusader, gaming, article, RPG, Gygax, design, dragons, TLG

       One would think otherwise, but artists who are multi-talented are at a disadvantage in the marketplace. Current hiring practices favor those who are proficient at specific tasks. To successfully compete in the marketplace and to obtain steady freelance work means I have to squeeze myself into some narrowly defined parameters. For me, this squeeze has never been easy.

       For a multi-talented person to perform the same repetitive tasks–daily, weekly, monthly–translates as being creatively constricting and, for me, would border on oppressive. That’s why I’ve chosen not to concentrate exclusively on just one artistic expression. I’m apt to get bored.

I always excel at jobs which are fluid and can allow me to freely draw upon my diverse talents and inner resources. However, if I solely concentrated on logo/letter design, I’d miss illustration. If I only focused on painting, I’d miss graphics. If I focused primarily on marketing, I’d miss calligraphy. If I focused on writing alone, I’d miss cartography. I require a daily dose of variety to stimulate the totality of my creative being.

       I shine whenever I find projects which can combine several disciples. I’ve produced one-of-a-kind books for the fine arts in which I mixed the inks, made the paper, hand-lettered the text, illuminated the page and bound the book. I’ve also combined some of my skill sets for commercial book projects–such as creating the cover art, lettering the book’s title, producing the interior illustrations, and designing the layout. The book’s text could also be set using typefaces of my own design! Too bad we don’t live in a “William Morris / Kelmscott Press” world which values the book-as-art. The closest we can come in today’s marketplace is the graphic novel and this is on my list of things to accomplish some day.

       I’ve spent a life-time apologizing for my talents, my intellect, my gender and my extra-sensory abilities. But no longer.  I’ve decided to embrace my diversity. Now I’m only seeking patrons who recognize my uniqueness and honor my unusual range of talents. And I seek  projects which are as non-ordinary as I am.

Tags: DARLENE, Illustration, drawing, art, graphics, book, calligraphy, lettering, titling, design, paper-making, book-binding, typographyy

Last year’s idea of publishing my artwork in the form of greeting cards was on the right track-but now I can see that I was just thinking too small-and so twentieth century! This realization comes on the heels of an artistic journey that has side tracked me since Thanksgiving.

As described in my previous post, I ceased preparing a comprehensive logo worksheet to concentrate on producing a cover illustration for the fantasy novel, Timaru. This creative project unexpectedly forced me to develop a distinctive computer art style, a style that first appears to be photographic but is actually very painterly and impressionistic.

Late in January, I decided to apply my developing style to a digital re-interpretation of my first and only published Dragon Magazine cover (TD#37). The vivid colors of the subject matter (a maiden and a unicorn together in a sunlight glade) enhance the hyper-real effect.

My “Maiden & Unicorne” digital illustration was only partially completed when I came across the possibilities of offering this artwork as high definition art in an HDTV format. To accommodate the new size requirements, I increased the resolution and considerably expanded the width. On a plasma screen, the artwork is a glowing and luminous celebration of color.

To obtain this artwork as an HDTV screensaver, click onto Art-On-Demand.

My “Maiden and Unicorne” is also available as greeting cards. Click here.

What is unusual about the art: Maiden & Unicorne by Darlene

Sometime around Thanksgiving (2008), I received a request to create a book cover as a Christmas present. I understood the art would be part of a gift for someone whose days were numbered. I’d committed myself to the project before I completely understood its parameters. The actual assignment was to create a fantasy cover illustration with very specific, exacting detail. Because of such tight time constraints, I had to spend every waking moment working on the cover.

At the onset, I realized that in order to complete the book cover illustration on time, I needed to abandon my customary (old-fashioned) way of doing things. I called upon my inner resources and decided to use electronic imaging software as an integral part of my creation process. It’s a new thing for me to use the computer in every stage of the painting process instead of just the final ones. So I created the canvas directly on my computer and imported scans of my sketches, paintings and photographs. I placed each image on its own layer so that I could build the design and easily readjust its elements. Although I knew my solution to use the computer was sound, there were times I became overwhelmed and frustrated. The process forced me to stretch beyond my comfort zone.

Even before I had finished, I had devoted many more hours into this book project than could be recompensed. Considering the circumstances, the extra time I gave towards the book cover art, I chalked up to being a seasonal expression of “Good Will Towards Men.” Later, I would learn that this particular book had posed different trials for everyone involved in its creation and delivery. Circumstances outside our control forced each one of us to meet our individual challenges head-on. We could do nothing but persevere. We faced the winter storms, fretted over our sick kitties, confronted our doubts, and basically did whatever it took to meet our deadlines until we ultimately triumphed.

Penny Williams, publisher of a pdf community magazine for the gaming hobby (www.phoenixlore.com) wrote me: “So despite misunderstandings, delays, and the weather, the project came to stunning fruition. It seems it was meant to be. And in the making, it has brought light into the lives of everyone who worked on it, I think, as well as to Dan’s father.” Although the Christmas present was from a son to his father, he was not the only one to receive a gift. My gift was discovering the joy of creating art on the computer.

I find I love painting with light. It’s like–yet so unlike-the physical act of applying and manipulating paint on canvas. One great discovery is that I’m able to use the same techniques on the computer as I did for pastel painting. The best part about painting with electronic media is I don’t have to find a pristine brush or have to clean the one I’m using every time I move to another color or to a new area on my canvas. Even better–there is no need for clean-up. That’s a time-saver in itself! By and far, my favorite electronic painting feature is the ability to undo mistakes. How great is that!?

This will definitely spoil me for traditional media…

Tags: DARLENE, fantasy, art, computer art, Timaru

Every year, the corporation I work for throws an appreciation party for its clients. Over the course of a decade, our annual event has evolved from a simple “meet & greet” into something quite spectacular. Last year, my co-workers and I dressed and acted like pirates.  We were involved in helping our guests figure out riddles from The Pirates of the Caribbean movies.

Our theme this year was Hollywood. This time, my co-workers and I dressed up as famous characters from the movies.  Our guests mingled with the likes of Batman, Zorro, Indiana Jones, James Bond, Scarlett O’Hara, The Phantom of the Opera, The Blue Brothers, and the Godfather, to name a few. Me? What role did my boss assign me to play? Catwoman.  I played Catwoman.  And, according to the buzz, I played my role pur-r-r-rfectly.

Tags: catwoman, darlene, fem, fatale, black, mysterious

I’ve been thinking about many things lately–about the economy, about the way things used to be done, about the game of graphics, about the lessons involved in suddenly losing everything due to a computer crash in mid-October.

Today, I want to share my thoughts regarding the last item I’ve listed above-lessons involved when something “unexpected” happens in life. There are no accidents-we just haven’t been listening. There is an incessant conversation going on between us humans and the unseen world of the universal mind. Communication happens through the language of symbols.

If we don’t understand the message behind the symbols, we cannot allow ourselves to be guided by its wisdom. If we don’t identify what we need to shift about our beliefs, attitudes, behaviors, or relationships, then the universal mind will repeat its warning. Only this time, the universal mind ups the ante. The thicker we are regarding the symbolic meaning of those things that happen to us, the more likely we are apt to pull towards ourselves more and worse happenings.

Losing my information has stopped me cold in my tracks. OK, Universal Mind, you’ve got my attention. I’m standing here, alone in a wide expanse, stripped of most of my work and feeling exposed. What is it that I need to figure out?

There are several ways to derive meaning from a situation like this. One way would be for me to recall the last thing I was working on before the computer crashed. Also, by determining what is easily retrievable and what is not recoverable, by locating what files and documents I have saved elsewhere, some type of meaningful pattern should emerge. During this process, I located some old computer disks I had not opened in years and found a plethora of logos and lettering projects I had almost forgotten about.

That’s why I decided to take advantage of the new features on Linked-In and prepare a Slide Presentation showcasing some of my favorite logo designs. I spent last weekend collecting whatever logo examples of my work I could find. The following Monday, an e-mail arrived requesting information on my rates for logo design and what to expect. Whenever the action of synchronicity gets recognized, it always provides valuable insights. And it is this synchronicity which provided me with another clue to take another look at logo design.

What does it mean to recover close to 100 different logos and lettering projects but lose all the associated business forms? The message I’m gleaning seems to be that I don’t need to regenerate my customary business schedules, contracts and pricing sheets. I simply need to figure out a different way to relate to the business of art-one more in tune with what feeds and satisfies me as an artist.

All clients really want to feel secure in the knowledge that they are in capable hands, that they can have what they want within their budget, on deadline, with no (bad) surprises. And artists mostly want to know if the time they spend on their client’s behalf will be valued and if they will be compensated fairly and without a hassle.

Thus I have taken on the challenge of developing a new LOGO-LETTERING WORKSHEET.

To what extent are non-creative people rapt by the moving patterns of light and shadow dancing across a textured surface? How many stop to appreciate an unusual juxtaposition of colors in their environment? Creative people respond to different stimuli. The power of subtly and nuance moves us. 

Visual thinkers are simply able to tackle ideas and concepts from a non-linear perspective and respond differently to the same stimuli. People who do not consider them selves to be particularly creative tend to be conventional in the way they organize information and do not recognize the advantages of developing the intuition as a skill. From a linear standpoint, creative people seem to be “wired” differently. 

Conversely, the creative person does not automatically accept the status quo when it comes to problem-solving. Their approach is particularly germane in those areas where ideas have become obsolete with time.  There is also a spiritual dimension to lateral thinking that has more to do with perception than logic. Creative people perceive the world in non-ordinary ways.

Creative people relate to situations, to our environment and to other people in uncustomary ways. We experience time differently. Most of us possess an advanced awareness of spatial relationships. What is so useful about lateral and visual thinking? Due to our unusual style of processing information, we are able to offer insightful solutions to problems.

It’s this very perceptual difference that makes creative people so valuable in the marketplace. We have the means and the potential to generate and communicate ideas so effectively we often catapult our employers (and their clientele) into prominence. 

Ad agencies, publishing companies, marketing firms and companies specializing in design depend greatly upon the genius of creative people. Our biggest advantage lies in our ability to see clearly beyond the surface. Successful companies actively seek out individuals with the power to perceive what’s under the surface. 

Creative people can usually be found in vocations which have the potential to alter the perception of masses of people-visual artists, illustrators, sculptors, musicians, writers, architects, designers, craftsmen, singers, actors, directors, mathematicians, poets, etc…

In fact, finding the right creative talent and keeping that talent can be the single most important factor which can make or break any of those top dollar “image is everything” advertising / design/ marketing firms. A word to the wise: it may take a creative mind to recognize a fellow artist’s creative potential.

For all our marvelous insights, we pay a high price for being in touch with our intuition. Many things that are obvious to most of the population often sail over the heads of artists. Since most of us tend to avoid social interaction, we have under developed people skills. This is why our manner is often off beat and sometimes off putting. We don’t mean to be difficult, we’re often just clueless.

What I’d like to communicate to all the friends, colleagues, partners, or relatives of creative people is simply that a little appreciation goes a very long way. When those who manage creative people recognize and respond positively to our needs, we will always produce outstanding work. 

Of late, I’ve been languishing in a bleak world where even the brightest of hopes appeared dull gray against a pervasive pessimism which darkened my outlook. Like so many others who have felt disheartened and dispossessed, I was taken by surprise Tuesday night when I shared such strong feelings of renewed hope and optimism with so many others. I recognize this unexpected cascade of confidence as a true gift of healing both on a personal and a collective level.

To welcome, record, honor and spread the restorative healing properties of these uncustomary feelings, I’ve decided to lock the very powerful vibration of optimism that is continuing to wash over me into a resonant set of eight greeting cards. Three of them appear below:

In my capacity as sacred artist, I accomplished this through several means. First of all, I selected a positive and appropriate visual image to serve as a foundation symbol for my series. Because of its association with life, internal harmony and the perfection of nature and also being unencumbered with political baggage, the Nautilus shell became my inspired choice.

In direct relationship to the Golden Section and Fibonacci Series, the spiral structure of the Nautilus shell grows in perfect mathematical proportion and further evokes the ideas of protection, expansion and renewal-all things this country needs to feel safe and in control.

By transparently placing both right and left halves over each other, I recreated the beautiful geometry of fractal art hoping to represent ever expanding emanations of exuberant joy. Inspired by its lining of iridescent Mother-of-Pearl, I created eight differently colored versions.

The Nautilus is a nocturnal being that lives in a state of equilibrium with its environment. The Nautilus responds to both lunar and solar cycles even though it spends most of its time within great oceanic depths. In this regard, it is evocative of mystery and awe.

The Nautilus inspires us toward increased awareness of the innate healing potential pervading all life, and to embrace concepts of balance, health, and well-being in the world in which we live.

Another method of imbuing an art object with a specific energy signature is to sing and utter prayers during its inception. Using this form of focused intent, I sang “Happy Days are Here Again” as my mantra (lyrics appear below) throughout the entire creative process.

So I am rather proud to use my talents to capture for sharing this unique moment in time. Whatever the future may hold, this line of eight cards will always retain the life-affirming emotional energy of unabashed JOY.

May all who buy or receive these cards be inoculated against the poison of fear-based emotions and thinking. May all remember the moment when the promise of new beginnings suddenly became possible and faith in the American Dream became restored.  

Tags: Obama, celebration, new, beginnings, sacred, art, greeting, cards, optimism, LinkedIn