Programming

The official opening salvo of IX 2023 – kick off the festivities in fine style with art, friends, and drinks!

From the many different formal curricula/programs to “how-to” books to YouTube videos—the amount of information for aspiring artists to sift through can be staggering. Consider joining me this October to explore how one might better illuminate an ideal development path by examining several aspects of the art experience and how different resources can impact your engagement with it.

Join artist so MK to review various easily available plant pigments and how you can extract them at home. Through demos, we’ll talk about their uses, pros and cons, and how to have fun juggling with chaos!

We all experience those dreaded moments during our artistic process where it appears that nothing is going right! Join artist Eric Messinger for a one of a kind demonstration of how to conquer those roadblocks in real time.

Join VCU instructor Cat Samples for a life drawing session.

It’s always wise to have a ~plan~ in your art career, but ultimately, career paths are circuitous and even the best laid plans are apt to go sideways.  Opportunity paves a capricious road, and is often laid by intermittent benevolent individuals crossing your route while you follow your enigmatic muse.  Join artist Dave Seeley as he shares his journey, perspective, gratitude, and some useful insights along the way.  Extended Q&A

This slideshow presents some of the terrific but virtually forgotten fantasy paintings, languishing in obscure collections, which deserve to be seen again, and to inspire both artists and collectors with new ideas. A number of newly discovered images as well as many favorites from past shows.

Come learn a bit of the history and the how of silverpoint, a drawing medium that goes back to the 1100s, and requires nothing more than a piece of silver wire and some simple-to-prepare paper (and as we will learn, other metals can be used, and there are a couple cool modern papers that just happen to work great). The bulk of the info will be in the first hour, with the rest of the time for Q&A and exploring materials (provided).

 A figure drawing workshop where we take a live model and explore different ways to manipulate what we observe into an imaginative figure. This workshop will cover how to use observational drawing and real-life objects to create fantasy characters and creatures.

 In this demo, Iris will give you a peek into her intuitive approach to working with watercolors. Focussing on letting the medium work for you, embracing the happy accidents and creating interesting creatures.

Artists and writers face the twin challenges of creating our best work and “running our art like
a business.” Russell Handelman and Susan Shwartz, who write SF and collect fantasy art,
have a combined 80 years of experience in the financial services industry and can demystify
creating a financial planning strategy, assemble a team to advise you, collecting the
documents you need to protect yourself, your work, and your family, and describe when you
should review your plans.

Kickstarter’s Head of Publishing, Oriana Leckert, will share tips, tricks, and strategies behind successful crowdfunding campaigns, from prelaunch community-building, to the most important elements of a project page, to a variety of outreach and promotional methods.

Join art historian, dealer and collector Jane Frank for a Q&A session on selling art – tips, tricks, advice, and anything else an artist would want to know about how to make money selling your (non digital) art in a digital world.

This seminar will provide an overview of the intellectual property issues that creative professionals deal with on a daily basis. The seminar will be interactive, and will leave time for a detailed Q&A.

Get hands on with some of the latest and greatest tripod-based easels available today. See for yourself what it’s like to pack, set up, and use a Paintbook, U.Go, Strada Easel, Daybreak Easel, and more!

This seminar will explore the current business, legal, and ethical state of the generative AI landscape. Attendees will have ample opportunity to ask questions and learn how to navigate this rapidly changing technology. Due to the controversial nature of this topic, attendees are reminded to be respectful of differing opinions among their peers.

IX, Cavegirl Productions, and X-Ray Films present “Eye of the Beholder: The Art of Dungeons & Dragons,” a documentary that explores the history & stories behind the art that helped create the world’s most popular role-playing game. The movie profiles artists – both past & present – and features former company insiders, game designers, authors, and fans. PLUS: See a special, exclusive, advance trailer for the upcoming documentary “Igniting the Spark, The Story of Magic: The Gathering!” The films’ directors and producers, Seth Polansky, Kelley Slagle, and Brian Stillman, will be in attendance for a Q&A.

Please note that this presentation begins at 10:30 am!

Join Cat for a workshop starting with lecture breaking down the steps and merits of approaching figure drawing using the Russian constructive methodology – including a showing of student drawings. The session will open into a one hour demo and long pose where participants are invited to draw along and receive feedback from instructor Catherine Samples – professor of Figure Drawing, Science Fiction & Fantasy Illustration, and Art for the Gaming Industry, at Virginia Commonwealth University.

Join the team from Artefex as they talk about conservation requirements for panels/substrates.

GoggleWorks artist Adry Eberhard will direct a life drawing session, working with nude models.

Join Jon Schindehette, founder of SFF Digital Agency and ArtOrder, for a discussion of actions a freelance fantasy/science-fiction artist can take to differentiate themselves in the competitive art market, with a focus on both attracting new fans and high-value art commissions from high-profile art directors.