Dear Friend,

I recently heard it said that Mother Teresa once  explained that despite a particular artist’s desire to help do the important work that Mother Teresa did, they (the artist) should go on helping to feed people in the way that only an artist can, for there are many kinds of famine in the world.

Every now and then I hope to highlight the independent artists out there that I personally think are well worth your investment. Check them out and I think you’ll find that you agree with me. These are the folks who are fighting the famine of the imagination. We should support that.

Thank you in advance,

~Matt

PS – I should point out that I’m not making any money from this – these are just good, independent artists who deserve your attention and patronage.

First up, we have the ever talented Amy Houser. If those you are shopping for appreciate steampunk, fantasy, children’s books, or cameo portraits – Amy should be your first stop. She does an amazing job of maintaining the whimsical without making her images ‘cheesy’ or childish.

Every now and again, I find myself with some free time.

No really. It’s rare, but it does happen.

When that happens, I like to offer up the opportunity for folks to pay what they want for commissions.

You did, in fact, read that correctly. Pay what you want. If that’s $1, then it’s $1. If that’s $5,000,000? Well, I’ll try really hard to make the art live up to the commission price.

How It Works

1. Confirm that my Commission status (on the right) is set to OPEN.
2. Confirm that the Pay What You Want option (PWYW) is also set to OPEN. (Please note: if this option is NOT set to open when you request the work, I reserve the right to refund your money. This likely means that time is tight, but not tight enough to close commissions completely.)
3. Use the Donate via Paypal button in the upper right corner of this page to send me your commission fee.
4. Contact me via my contact form. Let me know the following information via the form:
1. What you’re commissioning me to draw. Be as descriptive as possible! The more information you give me, the closer I can come to drawing what’s in your head.
2. How much you sent me for the commission, and what email address you sent it from. This is to help avoid any criss crossing for multiple commissions or commissioners.
5. I will email you to confirm that I have received both the information and the commission money. I will likely have a sketch attached to this email. If I plan on doing more work/revisions, I’ll ask you to confirm that I’m headed in the right direction based on the sketch. If I feel that the sketch is complete, I’ll let you know in this email.
6. I welcome your thoughts/comments/critiques.

Please Note: I reserve the right to do as much or as little as I feel is warranted by your commission fee. If you feel that my work is only worth $1 (or if that’s all you can spare) then you’re not likely to get an illustration that took me 15 hours to complete. I will, however, likely give you more than your money’s worth in general – I do have a reputation to uphold.

Well kids – yesterday was the day – The Open Game Table Anthology of Roleplaying Game Blogs Volume 1 went live. Jonathan (editor / project lead for the book) posted about the release over at the Core Mechanic.

There’s even a review of the book over at WIRED Magazine’s GeekDad blog!

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – I’m very proud to call myself part of such a quality compilation of information and fun. Check out those reviews or go straight here to purchase a copy for yourself!

I created an image of a ‘beastmaster’ many years ago (2003) and just stumbled on it again. I enjoyed it, and it was a bit of a departure for me back when I originally created, so I uploaded here for your enjoyment. So ummm… enjoy.

Also? I’m working on a shopping cart (among other things) to make commissioning me easier to do  than it is right now. More news on that once it’s up and running.