Triptych Transitions

To our treasured audience,

We, the Triptych Trio, would like to express our deepest gratitude and appreciation for your support of our interdisciplinary project.  Over the past year, we have created 10 Triptychs uniting our 3 disciplines–illustration, music, and writing–as well as a hardcopy booklet and numerous behind-the-scenes posts.  This experience has helped us grow in our individual crafts and collaborative abilities, and we hope these stories have brought you as much enjoyment as we had in creating them.

In pursuing our artistic disciplines, we find ourselves transitioning into new and exciting projects beyond the scope of Triptych.  Due to this, we will no longer be posting new content on our site, but we will be preserving the blog as an archive of the project.  In that way, all the Triptychs and informative posts will remain there for your enjoyment.  Please feel free to email us directly to share your comments.  We always love to hear from you.  Also, we have a quick, 5-question survey about our project that you can fill out at your leisure.  As a reward for participating, anyone who completes the survey will receive free shipping* in the U.S. for our Triptych Book 1 (while supplies last)! Or, if you prefer to purchase one in-person, Candice will be selling the remaining booklets at the Downtown Redlands Art Walk on October 23 inside the Cope Building at 19 E Citrus Ave.!

Again, we want to thank you so much for your support and for coming along with us for the journey.  The encouragement has meant a lot to each of us.  We hope that you’ll continue to enjoy the work we’ve produced.  Thank you for being fans!

With love and gratitude,

The Triptych Trio

Candice, Holly, & Natalie

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*the free shipping code will also allow a $2 discount for U.K. and Canada locations

Comic Conquering Part 3

SDCC has come and gone. Following its dwindling sparkle is a steady stream of movie trailers to feed our anticipation for the coming year. As exciting as it is to read up on the latest Comic-Con news, there’s something magical about walking the floor of the exhibit hall and experiencing it in real-time.

Before opening hours.

After opening hours.

Set-up each morning was like being backstage at an amusement park or theater production. There was a quiet energy amongst the exhibitors and a sense of the vast scale of the convention floor. Youtube videos do the elaborate booth displays an injustice.

Warcraft booth.

The highly anticipated American Gods television series.

Sideshow Collectibles will stop you dead in your tracks.

I was very tempted to get a ball of fluff.

I don’t know what it is, but I like it. Alex Pardee’s “Wyatt” from his Astralnauts.

My booth was near Mondo, so I had the unique pleasure of watching con attendees do battle as they speed-walked to save their spot in line. I will probably show up in a few pictures of Mondo collectible figures from the convention since they were on a table parallel with my booth. Regrettably, I did not use the opportunity to practice my photobombing skills.

Comic Conquering Part 2

Comic Con is just beyond the horizon. Not only will this be my first time exhibiting at San Diego Comic Con, but this will be my first time exhibiting at a convention. Period.

This would be an impossible feat by my own efforts, so it’s imperative I mention the Kevin Workman Foundation. It is through their amazing generosity I have a booth and this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. If you’re attending SDCC, you can stop by the “Preview Night” Happy Hour Fundraiser that the Foundation and Comickaze are hosting. Of course, you are more than welcome to stop by my booth, #934 in the main exhibitor hall of the convention center!

So, what does one bring to one of the largest convention in the world? EVERYTHING. No, don’t do that. It’s important to get inside the mind of the con-goer and think about what they’re interested in. And the answer is probably not a balanced number of Harley Quinn and Star Wars prints. The approach I’ve taken is to:

1. Present a uniform branding that gives people a clear idea of my work. If I’m going to have a banner with an anthropomorphic Victorian insect-man on it, I better have more where that came from. This is is one of the reasons I embarked on my Gentlebugs series, which I have made into a nifty button pack and prints for the convention. I have also added some touches of steampunk aesthetic to my booth and will sport a complementary costume for a few days at the Con.
2. Have an element that encourages crowd interaction. I will have the Triptych booklet for people to read and listen to with a pair of headphones. Aside from the opportunity to share such a cool, collaborative project, this interactive element will attract the curious passer-by.
3. Sell a variety of items. Not everyone collects prints, but there are definitely people who love items with functionality, like buttons or bookmarks. Also, it gives me a variety of price points benefiting both small-spenders and serious collectors.

We’ll see how well that approach works because I have no idea what will happen.

Lets have a look at some of the items I will have at my booth, shall we. For size comparison purposes, I have the help of my trusted model, Pablo*:

Like I mentioned last week, I will have copies of the Triptych booklet. In addition, you will find a button pack featuring your favorite Gentlebugs.

I will have some traditional-media work as well, including several miniature portraits at about 5″ x 4″ and my original acrylic painting for The Fisherman’s Bride, that has been uniquely framed within convex glass.

Last, but certainly not least, we have bookmarks and a postcard pack containing 3 of my illustrations.

The conclusion to my Comic Conquest will be posted next Tuesday, so keep an eye out for what will likely be an article of epic proportion. And you can expect a whole lot of cosplay photos.

*Pablo is a 12-inch figure available at Sideshow Collectibles

Comic Conquering Part 1

Nothing can completely prepare you for a first time exhibiting at Comic Con San Diego, but I like to think one can try! There’s only about a week left and preparations are nearly complete. One item in my arsenal for the convention is a sampler of Triptych stories:

Also doubles as a makeshift cosplay.

The booklet has 3 of our completed triptychs, including Descendants of Twilight, The Fisherman’s Bride, and Servant of Anubis. In the back of the booklet is a QR code and link that allows you to access and download the music that accompanies those stories.

Guaranteed bird certified.

The process of forming the booklet involved deciding which stories to feature and then designing a format that suited them as a printed booklet. We picked a combination of our favorite stories along with stories that represented a variety of “moods”. The presentation is similar to the blog with the illustration presented first and then the story following.

We’ve passed the 4 month marker!

To our incredible fans,

Triptych has just celebrated its four-month anniversary, and the project is going strong!  We’ve now completed two full cycles of triptychs since our first one debuted on January 19, and along with that we’ve created a Facebook page, a Tumblr blog, a Twitter feed, a newsletter, an art print shop, and, of course, our very own website.  Your support continues to mean more to us than we can express, and we want to thank you for viewing, reading, and listening to our collaborative art.  We hope that you’ll continue visiting us to see all the new triptychs and enjoy your old favorites.

Descendants of Twilight – January 19

Beneath the Tumtum Tree – February 9

The Path Witch – March 1

A Dance with Death – March 22

The Fisherman’s Bride – April 12

Servant of Anubis – May 10

Leave us a comment and tell us which is your favorite triptych!

Print Release

We are pleased to announce that you can now own an art print on physical, 100% cotton rag paper from a selection of our Triptych illustrations. You can purchase them on INPRNT–a great website that makes quality prints and takes great care in shipping them safely. I’ve made prints from them for shows and have not found any printer yet that can rival their velvety soft paper. We plan on updating the shop regularly with new prints, so stay tuned!

Get your Triptych Prints!

Downtown Redlands Art Walk Recap

It was my first time exhibiting at the Downtown Redlands Art Walk last Sunday. I didn’t know what to expect, so I went with a light set up, including miniature framed artwork and a couple different printed items.

By my side were some excellent artists who were kind enough to join me on the sidewalk in front of Bricks and Birch. Even with just the four of us, we represented a range of materials and approaches, from fine art landscapes to caricature to digital illustration. You can peruse more of Alan’s and Noel’s work on their respective websites.

Al Remele with his oil paintings.

Tom braved the challenges of live caricature.

Noel Jimenez brought his top-notch originals.

Later in the day, we encountered some strong winds and even a few raindrops that materialized from an unknown source. We improvised with our displays, moving things around to prevent paintings from becoming airborne. As the weather worsened, we packed up most of our items. At that point, I still had a digital painting demo to perform and knew the show must go on! With the help of Natalie and Holly, we moved my monitor, laptop, and precious goods indoors so that I could continue.

The coffee shop owners were very generous with this change of events. It was great to catch the eye of a few curious customers with my demo and brought more attention to the work I had up on the wall. Speaking of which, my little print gallery is still up this week, so if you’re in town, you can stop by Bricks and Birch for your morning coffee and see the display!

Overall, it was a pretty crazy day of unknowns and maybe less foot traffic than I had expected. However, I was able to hold rich conversations with the handful of friends and strangers who visited. The pizza was pretty dang good too.

In recent news, we have changed from a 3-week to a 4-week schedule for our completed triptychs. This will allow us to continue creating quality work for you to enjoy! We will have an extra week for news and progress updates, so you can still expect some interesting content while you wait for the next release.

Triptych Trip: LA Times Festival of Books

The Triptych trio braved the elements and public transportation to get the scoop on the 2016 LA Times Festival of Books. What transpired on our visit?

First things first. We brought along some hipster square Triptych business cards:

Natalie and I took the Metrolink–a first for me, but well worth the $10 ticket that took us to Los Angeles Union Station and back home. With no traffic or parking concerns and the ability to chat casually, it makes me wonder why I haven’t used it before! A free shuttle bus took us from Union Station to the USC campus where the festival was held.

Natalie enjoying the sparce greenery of San Bernardino.

Our friend Robert tagged along for the ride.

There were quite a few lectures scheduled throughout the day. I used most of my time to browse the booths and found a few independent publishers to talk with. At lunchtime, we were graced with the presence of a plethora of food trucks. After a serious consideration of my options, I went with a Jogasaki sushi burrito. Later in the afternoon, I attended a talk with authors Cecelia Ahern, Susan Dennard, Cindy Pon, Elissa Sussman. They discussed their latest novels and how they develop their fantastical, but realistic worlds.

Talk at the YA Stage: “Young Adult Fiction: The Light Fantastic”.

Highlight of the experience: sushi burritos.

An interactive mural.

I found Waldo.

I amassed quite a bounty of items from the festival. Some of my favorite items included an adorable bear print by concept artist and illustrator David Colman, some crazy postcards from Anomaly Productions with high-tech augmented reality capabilities (via mobile app), and an amazing magazine called Color Ink Book. 

Coloring books are all the rage nowadays, but because so many people are jumping on the bandwagon, you see a variety of quality levels and content limited to what “sells”. You don’t see much on the grotesque/monster spectrum, but really, who wouldn’t want to color intestines and blood vessels? Color Ink Book is work of art and activity book rolled into one.

Even with the rain and the peril of a few soggy books, the LA Times Festival of Books was a successful venture! From my standpoint, the festival could invest more in attracting commercial artists to encourage more community between themselves, publishers, and authors. Despite this shortcoming, books remained the highlight, as they should be.

 

Downtown Redlands Art Walk

If you’re looking to get out of the house for a breath of fresh air and fresh art, the Downtown Redlands Art Walk is coming up this month on April 24. The event is relatively new, but hosts a large number of local artists and small businesses who will be displaying their wares on the sidewalks in the downtown area of Redlands, California. It takes place from 12pm-6pm–perfect for an afternoon stroll.

I will be having a small booth at the Art Walk with some bookmarks, prints, and other goodies for sale. Bricks and Birch is generously letting me use their space, so you will be able to see some additional prints up inside their shop. From 4pm-6pm I will be running a digital painting demo., which is a great time for you to stop by if you have any questions about my process!

More details about the Art Walk can be found on their Facebook Page. And don’t forget about the LA Times Festival of Books happening this weekend! Aside from books, there will be some incredible guest speakers, live music, and art all around the USC campus! If you plan on going, you can play Where’s Waldo and look for the Triptych trio. We will have very legible logos on our shirts. We’d love to meet you, so say ‘hi’ if you see us there!