Dave Dorman Horror Art from Dance of the Demented WildClaw Theater Fundraiser

Dear Friends,

My friend and fellow artist Charlie Athanas posted this on Facebook, and I thought you might be interested to see a piece I did at a WildClaw Theatre fundraising event called “Dance of the Demented” in 2010. As you will note, I did a much looser style of painting here and I was pleased with the result. Let me know what you think of it?

Here’s the original photograph:

Colleen Elizabeth Miller, Model

 

And here’s the painting (a black and white version of it):

A Black and White version of my Horror Painting

And here it is in color (sorry for the angle of the image):

Color version of Dave Dorman WildClaw Theatre painting

And here’s an XCU on the face:

XCU of the face in Dave Dorman horror art painting

 

 

Dave Dorman News & An Opportunity to Help A PTSD Survivor

Dear Friends,

My art (including Captain Nemo!) is on display at HEVANSTON GALLERY in Evanston, Illinois, curated by Charlie Athanas. I am joined by artists Aaron B. Miller and Douglas Klauba, so if you are in the area, please check it out. It’s really a wonderful gallery show.

I’m off to see Captain America today, which I’m really eager to see, but I wanted to give you the heads up about an important project that I think deserves some attention, so please share this with all of your military and philanthropic friends. Iraq veteran Melissa Thurber, the daughter of my good friends Steve and Karen Baker, served our country honorably in Iraq, but like way too many, she returned home with PTSD. She is enormously brave, and a talented photographer, so she is putting together this wonderful photography book sharing the stories of fellow veterans with PTSD, who are trusting her alone to tell their stories. I am wondering if any you out there can find her a grant to fund her project? Perhaps Starbucks‘ Howard Schultz could include Melissa’s project in his $30 million to research PTSD, since these brave veterans are baring their souls in telling their sides of the PTSD story. Here is Melissa Thurber’s description of her important project, and a link to her GoFundMe.com page:

Iraq Veteran and PTSD Survivor Melissa Thurber Needs Help Funding Her Book

I am an Iraq war veteran with PTSD. I have been a photographer for as long as I can remember. Photography is my release. It is my healing tool. I have been wanting to start working on a photographic book about PTSD. I want to reach out to other veterans and try to help them heal the same way I am through the powerful images I can create. 

I know first hand how very hard it is to talk about why I have PTSD. I always just tell people it is from my deployment. My goal is to reach out to other veterans with PTSD and through my photography tell their stories and hopefully help them heal some along the way

I already have many Veterans with PTSD that I have spoken to that are 100% willing to participate as they trust that another Veteran with PTSD will be honest and real with their stories. 

Funding this project will bring light to an unspoken problem with today’s veterans, including myself, and hopefully will reach other veterans not in participation to see that it is ok to share our stories, no matter how it’s told!!

Thanks, everyone, for reading. I am hopeful you’ll join Denise and me in helping Melissa Thurber reach her modest goal to produce this PTSD book.

Dave.

It’s Official – Dave Dorman Experience: Year Two Is Happening

Dear Friends,

Chef Timothy Schultz of Wisconsin is now officially on board, so I am pleased to announce we will be having The Dave Dorman Experience: Year Two this April 27th from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m., which is during (but not endorsed by or connected to) C2E2.

The Dave Dorman Experience: Year Two Package Includes These Exclusives:

• Limousine transportation from McCormick Place (where C2E2 is held) to Dorman’s private residence in the Chicago suburbs
• Swag bag of rare gifts from sponsors and Dorman’s personal archive
• Exclusive event t-shirt designed and signed by Dorman (watch this blog where I’ll post the t-shirt designs)
• Chef Timothy Schultz will be serving hors d’oeuvres and a traditional gourmet Italian meal paired with wines
• Collectors will have an exclusive tour of my studio, collections, and access to my private vault of prints, pencil prelims, and paintings
• Fans will receive an exclusive, live painting demo by me
• One lucky fan will win the pencil prelim from the live demo
• One lucky fan will win the actual painting from my live demo (Note: In the interest of drying time, I will be painting in acrylics rather than oils for this event)
• A portion of the proceeds from this event will go to Elgin Academy and the organization that helps my military family, USACares.org.

The cost to reserve space for this event is $350 per person, limited to a maximum of 10 people. To reserve your space today, please email denise@writebrainmedia.com for instructions, along with a list of any dietary restrictions, drink preferences, and most importantly, your shirt size.

To get more details, please “Like” https://Facebook.com/DaveDormanFanPage or check back with me here. For sponsorship opportunities, please contact denise@writebrainmedia.com.

As always, thank you for reading and a Happy Easter to you!

Dave.

Six Lucky Fans Will Come to My Home, See Me Paint and 1 Will Win the Painting

Dear Friends,

It all started this past Thanksgiving. We were with our friends, and my friend’s step-dad was very excited to meet me, have me sign my Rolling Thunder: The Art of Dave Dorman book for him, and then watch me draw the remarque and just generally hang out all day and talk art and pop culture. Our friends Mary and Julie lamented that this was a rare occurrence for a fan to have personal access to me, and that got this whole crazy ball rolling. Before I knew it, my wife, Mary and Julie had a night planned out at my house, with Julie cooking a gourmet meal (she’s great), and the fans getting unprecedented access to my studio, my collections and a chance to see me painting live and in person. That’s how this whole thing developed. So, we’ve worked out the logistics, such as when it should be held (April 14th, during C2E2, altho’ not affiliated with C2E2 in any way), how to get the fans here (by limo) and what we should include. I will do a live painting demo while everyone’s here, and one of the Lucky Six will win the painting. So…here’s the eBay auction under my wife’s account, which will award one seat per week for the next 3 weeks. I will also post an auction under my account, awarding one seat per week for the next 3 weeks. We will end up with what we’re calling the “Lucky 6,” or six fans, who will get an unprecedented backstage pass to my private world and art. If any of the winners are artists, they will also get a portfolio review, critique and all of the advice they could possibly want. Also joining us will be Discovery TV’s host of GEEK LOVE, and founder of Sci-Fi Speed Dating, Ryan Glitch and his lovely fiancee’ and business partner.

I also want to let you know that ROTOFUGI, one of the hottest, hipster galleries in Chicago for the Juxtapoz/Hi-Fructose magazines and designer toy collectors crowd, has invited me to do a one-man show from April 6th – 30th. I am enormously honored. The timing on this is wonderful, because anyone rolling into town for C2E2 April 12 – 14 can easily cab it over to ROTOFUGI for my one-man show. I’ve named the show Pi Ala Mode: A Tentacley Delicious Feast with Delightful Amuse-Bouches. As you might have guessed, there will be plenty of octopi-laden art, along with a backdrop of eclectic pieces, something to delight anyone’s palate and/or palette, from my 30-year career.

I will have more fun news to post in my next blog about some really fun and creatively rewarding upcoming projects. I’m under embargo not to discuss them until the companies I’m working with do their press releases, or I’d love to be telling you already. I hope all of you Star Wars friends reading this have picked up my latest Dark Horse Comics Crimson Empire book (#5 in the series of 6).

As always, I thank you for reading and for your time and interest.

Dave.

Announcing My 30th Anniversary Print #2: COBRA Night Viper

Dear Friends,

It’s time to announce the #2 Giclee in my year-long 30th Anniversary Limited Edition Series. This exclusive set of celebration prints commemorates my 30 years as a professional artist, showing milestones in my artistic career. For more general information on this series please see my previous blog announcing it by clicking here… I thank Hisstank.com for picking up the story as well. That was really great. G.I. Joe Fans, if you’re not on that site already, you need to know about it.

In case you didn’t read my last blog entry, this paragraph recaps the back story on my involvement with Hasbro and G.I. Joe:

Beginning in the mid 1980s, I started working for Hasbro as a freelancer for their R&D Department. I was hired to create paintings of their characters, in development for toys, to be rendered realistically as if they were real people. This assignment was perfect for me, as I love to work on figures and challenge myself to translate the toy designs as they might look if you saw them on the battlefield. These works were to be used as presentation pieces to the Board of Directors to help them choose which characters got produced as actual toys.

For the first wave of figures, I was told to concentrate on the character with very little background added. I did about 12 of these during that set. In the next wave, I was asked to add a proper looking background to the figures. This helped place the figure and give it more context and realism. I continued to do that for the rest of the art done for Hasbro, until the early 1990s. I produced around a hundred paintings for them and it was a very fun run.

For 30th Anniversary Limited Edition Giclee #2, I have chosen the COBRA Night Viper as my representative art for this time period in my career, because it has always been one of my favorite GI JOE paintings. This was one of the first I did featuring the full background, with the color and atmosphere of the piece really giving a great feel of stealth and character.

COBRA Night Viper by Dave Dorman

Like all prints in this series, this one will be issued in extremely Limited Edition Giclee’s of 30 copies, each signed and numbered by me, Dave Dorman. Each will have a special embossing on the print in the bottom right corner and also come with a Certificate of Authenticity. The price is $30.00 including free shipping in the US, an additional $18 for shipping outside the US. Please click here to order this print….http://www.davedorman.com/30thprint.shtml

Next month’s featured print hint: “If Adventure Has a Name….”

For those of you following Ghost Rider creator Gary Friedrich’s situation, no matter which side of it you’re on, he’s a fellow artist and human being, and he’s hurting and needs our help. To help Gary, our friend Steve Niles created an online fund-raiser to help with geting up on his mortgage and medical bills; if you’d like to help Gary, please click here: http://www.steveniles.com/gary.html

Another fund-raiser I’m involved in is helping my Chicago comic book artist friend Doug Klauba’s beautiful son Gianni, pictured here:

Gianni Klauba, Son of Comic Book Artist Doug Klauba

Gianni is a special needs child who needs costly therapy and an iPad to help with that therapy, so please click on http://giannispad.com if you can help him. I contributed an Artist Proof of my Darth Vader’s Persuasion of the Outer Rim to help with that, and I know our friend Alex Ross has contributed this original Batman piece as well, so please bid on all of the art to help our Gianni!

Bid on Alex Ross' Batman Art for Gianni Klauba!

I will be teaching how to draw Star Wars art in an afternoon workshop with Doug Klauba on February 25th at the Southwest Elementary School in Evergreen Park to raise funds for their PTA. For those of you who watch Big Bang Theory, let me know if you’ve spotted Doug’s artwork on the set yet?

In other teaching news, I will be presenting at the prestigious American Academy of Art (Alum include Douglas Klauba, Jill Thompson, Alex Ross) in Chicago on Wednesday, February 22, 2012. I was told by an organizer that the students have been stealing the posters off the walls that announce my lecture and include a low rez image of Lord Vader’s Persuasion of the Outer Rim, so I hope people actually find out about it and show up to see me.

I also want to let you know that I will be donating an original oil Star Wars painting to non-profit indie school Elgin Academy, and online bidding will start on March 1st. I am told  one of their auction items is 2 tickets to San Diego Comic-Con, which are impossible to get and were sold out during last year’s show already. If you’re in need of two five-day San Diego Comic-Con passes, you’ll want to keep an eye on this page. Those passes include a dinner with me in San Diego, if you don’t mind dining with a dedicated carnivore.

I thank you for poring over this rather lengthy message, but I had much to announce today. My next blog will be my interview with my friend Mark Nagata, who owns MaxToyCo.com, a wonderfully exclusive Japanese Monster Toys company.

Have a great rest of the day,

Dave.

Dave Dorman STAR WARS: COMICS Cover Art Front and Center at Barnes and Noble Today

Dear Friends,

Imagine my surprise and delight at seeing the new Abrams Publishing book, STAR WARS: COMICS with my cover art featured front and center at the Barnes & Noble in West Dundee, IL just now! Here’s the image:

DAVE DORMAN STAR WARS BOOK COVER at BARNES & NOBLE TODAY!

And here are some magazines I bought today – Imagine FX and HI FRUCTOSE. One-time comic book artist Kent Williams is featured in this issue of HI FRUCTOSE. Having moved on both personally and professionally from comic art to “fine art” or “low brow art,” this article shows us Williams’ art as what is truly inside him.

Magazines I Bought Today at Barnes & Noble

I want to give a shout-out to WARREN JACOBSEN, a fan and friend in Avinger, TX who brought me the t-shirt w/my Star Wars art on it that I posted a couple of days ago. I’m glad he granted me permission to publicly thank him. He reports that the t-shirt was actually at TARGET (at our house, it gets the French TAR-JHAY pronunciation) not Wal-Mart. He shared that this particular shirt w/my art was the only one sold out in the series. Here’s hoping someone at licensing in Lucasfilm is keeping track of “public sentiment.” No, I receive no royalties from the sales of the shirt, as it was a work-for-hire project, but it’s gratifying to hear it’s selling so well and fans still appreciate the art.

I am judging a children’s “healthy lifestyles, healthy living” art competition for kids ages 5-12 on behalf of Fox Valley Women and Children’s Health Partners in St. Charles, IL – the Top 12 winners will become part of the practice’s calendar that will sell to the public and raise money for the North Aurora Mother’s Club, so you Fox Valley families out there reading this, please send jpegs of your art (high res scans) to ddorman@fvwchp.com. The deadline for art submissions is November 15th.

I plan to write more over the weekend and give you some feedback on the AMON TOBIN concert I’m seeing tonight with my friend Charlie Athanas, as well as some other project updates.

As always, thanks for reading. 

DAVE.

Creator ,“THE WASTED LANDS.”

Dave Dorman Horror Painting Auctioned Tonight

Dear Friends,

Tonight’s the night – my favorite horror theatre group, WildClaw Theatre, will be holding their “Masque of the Red Death” Gala Benefit to raise funds for more terrific horror play entertainment. Here are some images of my painting they are auctioning off tonight; I was inspired by the idea of an eerie Victorian asylum and it came out on canvas.

Dave Dorman's "Inside the Asylum" Horror Art; Acrylic on Canvas

Extreme Close Up, "Inside the Asylum" by Dave Dorman

I hope you can make it out tonight and join us. There will be no shortage of celebrities, surprises and memorable moments. Thanks for reading.

Dave.

Some New Dave Dorman Art & Horror Art Jam Japan Fundraiser Tonight in Chicago!

Dear Friends,

For those who may not follow me on Twitter or Facebook and didn’t already see this, I want to let you know that I have been in contact with Tsuneo Sanda, one of my favorite Japanese Star Wars artists, and he assured me that he and his family are all alive and well. That was a huge relief to me.

Below is a piece I created, private commission, based on my Wasted Lands character, M. D’Cease, who is the most bad-ass coroner this side of Dodge City (except there’s actually no Dodge City in the Wasted Lands…). Let me know what you think.

M. D'Cease, Coroner, Mortal City in Dave Dorman's The Wasted Lands series

We all love the Japanese-inspired horror movies (frankly, I appreciate just about anything Japan inspired), and tonight we Chicago artists are giving back to our friends suffering in Japan. My friend Charlie Athanas invited me to join in the event called “A Gathering of Horror” and it is an “art jam” of Chicago artists and illustrators creating something together to help raise money for Japan earthquake/tsunami victims. If you can join us, please do. It starts at 7 p.m. and goes to 11 p.m., after which much drinking, camaraderie and hijinks will continue to ensue, well into the early morning hours. Here are the details:

Where: Lucky Number Grill – Upstairs Loft

1931 N. Milwaukee Avenue, Chicago, IL

When: 7 p.m. to 11 p.m. and beyond…

If you’re in Chicago tonight, try to join us. I promise, you won’t be bored.

Also, I’m in the throes of planning an exhibit in Herndon, VA for August of this year, and include a 2-day workshop. If any of you are interested in learning oil painting from me, in the most non-traditional way possible, let me know. It will likely be the first weekend in August. I may have a second exhibit running in Reston, VA as well, and I will keep you posted on that.

If you are on LinkedIn, please feel free to link with me. I’m on Twitter as @DaveDorman and I’m on Facebook as well.

Thanks for reading!

Dave

 

I Need a Quick Favor by Midnight Tonight

Dear Friends,

Two friends of mine, Sean Steinmarc and Paul Feldman, started this cool new company called PSGive.org. They share a true heart for charity – they started out by raising money for diabetes research, and then realized there had to be a way to create greater impact. PSGive.org not only raises money for charities, it incentivizes people to contribute as well as learn about additional charities needing their help.  In no time at all, PSGive.org has risen to the Top 5 on Mashable.com’s big online contest for the best new online business in 2010. At midnight tonight, all voting stops and the winner is decided. PSGive.org has been in first place all along, and I want to ensure they remain there. I will be donating some really fun experiential stuff (maybe private art lessons with me directly?) with them in 2011, so I am personally invested in seeing they do well. Here’s what I humbly ask of all of you tonight:

Simple instructions:
Taking just 5 seconds to vote helps our charities!
1. click http://on.mash.to/f9Hwu1
2. login with Facebook or Twitter (they don’t do anything w/ your info without permission)
3. click ‘vote’

For Twitter, we’ve been going with this – please ReTweet this for me:

@psgive is startup helping charities; I know u luv charities, pls help by voting on @Mashable & RT! http://on.mash.to/f9Hwu1

Thanks, friends. I will let you know tomorrow if we’ve won!

I thank everyone who dressed up to celebrate little Star Wars Girl Katie last Friday – I have been so slammed with my Frazetta painting, I haven’t had a chance to post since them, but I will do so shortly. A warm holiday season to you all.

Dave.

Thanks for Listening to me on Dennis Miller’s Radio Show Today

Dear Friends,

On Veteran’s Day, I thank all of the brave men and women serving in all branches of the military who sacrifice SO MUCH to ensure we continue to enjoy our freedoms. As the son of USAF Lieutenant Colonel Jack Dorman, I understand how much the military and their families sacrifice. Thank you also to all of you who were listening to me on The Dennis Miller Radio Show today. Here is the link on Dennis’ site to my interview: http://www.dennismillerradio.com/b/One-Of-A-Kind-For-Our-Military/-338762614549322936.html

Dennis and Christian were kind enough to let me come on and the share news about my military art project, Project 52, which helps to raise funds for military families who are financially challenged, given through USACares.org. Here is the link: http://www.indiegogo.com/Project-52.

Last year at this time we auctioned my Transformers painting, which was the first-ever illustrated cover art for GEEK Monthly magazine for their special Comic-Con issue, juxtaposing the “old school” Transformers character vs. the modern day version. I donated all of that money to USACares.org.

 

 

Dave Dorman and Dennis Miller with Dave's Transformers Painting We Auctioned for USACares.org

Today, I’m asking you to help me spread the word about Project 52. Please post it on your FaceBook, Twitter, MySpace and LinkedIn accounts, and anywhere you connect with your social networks. On Twitter or Cinchcast, the hashtag reference is #Project 52. Please tell your military friends and your family about Project 52. For just $5, you or the person you designate will be mentioned in my Project 52 book, which I’m self publishing. For $1,000, you can own a Dave Dorman original oil military painting. There are tons of contribution opportunities and options between the $5 and the $1,000 range, but please contribute whatever is comfortable for you, even if it’s just words of support. The initial $52,000 we are raising will cover expenses for publishing the book, art materials, printing the limited edition signed and numbered lithographs and helping to defray costs for me taking time off of commercial work to focus on this project. Fifty percent of all earnings from the books and lithos will go to USACares.org. The remaining 50% of book and lithograph sales will go to the Make a Wish Foundation in honor of Katie Johnson (501st founder Albin Johnson’s late daughter) on behalf of the 501st Organization, for which I’m honored to be an honorary member. For those of you reading who are unfamiliar with the 501st, these are the great men and women worldwide who donate their time, wearing Star Wars costumes and marching in parades, visiting children’s hospitals and continuing to be good will ambassadors of Lucasfilm.

I thank you all for your kind words and moral support. I’m very passionate about doing Project 52 and ensuring it is done to perfection.

We are still in the throes of unpacking from our big move, and the other day I discovered the old reel-to-reel audio tape recordings of my father, from when he was serving on behalf of the United States Air Force in Viet Nam. We didn’t see my dad for an entire year, so we communicated with him solely by letters and tapes.  I’m getting these recordings made into CDs for my sister and brother, but if you  know of a military museum out there who might want some of these recordings, please let me know.

As always, I thank you for reading and following my work.

Dave