Folks, I'm open for cover and pin-up work throughout January. I have no work for this month and require some cash to get my bills paid and food on the table. If you have any line-art in need of colouring, contact me at creativepoole@outlook.com

My rates are going up this year to $60+, but for this month only, I'm holding my rates at $50 per page.


Cheers!

I'm open to working on cheap character colour commissions for a limited time. Just $40 (US) for single character sheets or pin-ups, +$10 for each additional character on page. Send me a note or an email to creativepoole@outlook.com titled $40 Colours with an example of the lineart you want me to colour and I'll get back to you with a request for specs and refs.

Mature Content

Mature Content

Our fellow artist, Toshinho, after a long time in development, has finally started his Patreon page. This page is dedicated to the development of "Boss Concept", a universe and bible that brings modern corporate life and medieval age style together. The foundation to potential computer games, animation, card games or more. The limits are not yet set.

View the main DevArt journal regarding the project here: <da:thumb id="546543923"/>

Visit Toshinho here: toshinho.deviantart.com/

And the Patreon page itself, here: www.patreon.com/toshinho

Just a dump of all the places you can find me on the web, excluding DevArt of course!

Word Press ( aspoole.wordpress.com/ ): This one is dedicated to my writing pursuits. You can read my short stories and get updates on self-published work.

Twitter ( twitter.com/creativepoole ): Updates on everything here, art, writing and other pursuits. You can also see me take part in a number of Twitter events for writing when they happen during the year.

Facebook ( www.facebook.com/creativepoole ): This one is purely writing related. Just like my Wordpress, you'll find my short stories, books and comic work that I've written for.

Tumblr - Creativepoole ( creativepoole.tumblr.com/ ): This Tumblr account is used to display my personal artwork, colour collaborations, professional colour work and my writing.

Tumblr - Boyz N The Wood ( byznthwd.tumblr.com/ ): This Tumblr blog is different from everything else you'll see from me online. It's dedicated to my outdoor pursuits, bush crafting, survival, hiking and wild camping. Lots of photographs and some writing.

Feel free to follow any and each, and share where you can. And most of all, enjoy the content!


Cheers.

A lot happened during this past year: relationships were created and some very sadly lost; work was done, and art too. I've moved home, downsized and relocated to an entirely different environment altogether. I've given up hobbies and other activities that have now freed up time for my writing and the nature that inspires it.

I have a harder life, in some ways, happier in most other ways (though there are some downfalls). Either way, I see good things ahead, but here I'm going to look at what's happened in the past. 2014 in review.

Work

Working as an English living Colourist in a predominantly American culture of art and industry has been difficult over the years. I don't often vocalise the issues that I have, but it should be understood that for the amount of work I may have to produce for my clients, I earn often times less than 50% of what I'd prefer. $50 rates convert to a measly £ (pound) amount. This aside, I continue to do the job I love that allows me to work with the talented people I've been blessed to interact with.

This year has seen me work in the background of many properties, helping artists complete their credited work. Some work is on colour flats, some on shades, some on lighting effects (which many people are drawn to, I seem to have an aesthetic quality that they appreciate). I've done colours for some first issues of comic serials for aspiring comic book writers, such as the award winning RPG author Chris Carter. I've done a lot of stuff for Jeremy Mohler and Outland Entertainment, a fantastically talented Art Consultancy. They've seen a lot of success in comics and table top RPGs being funded over on Kickstarter, and it's been a pleasure to be a part of that in whatever ways I have been.

Commissions came in waves this year, I saw a lot of people coming to me all at once, and it was overcoming my ability to cope with regular work and commissions, so some jobs, unfortunately for myself and the clients, had to be denied. Overall however, I managed to produce some good colours and please a lot of clients, as well as work on some of the best line-art I've had the opportunity to. There are some amazing comic book artists out there, currently untapped. I hope to see them rise in success.

It was unfortunate that during my relocation during part of the year, with some downtime due to no internet access, I lost a number of projects and prospective jobs while out of contact with clients. It's taken a good portion of time to regain consistent work with my regular clients and I'm finally showing my dependability once again. It has not been easy.

Art

My production of personal artwork has suffered. Partially due to my move, partly due to my focus on other things, and partly because of the lack of structure to my days. All of it my own fault. I've done some stuff that I'm pleased with, digital painting and design that seemed to flow out of me quite easily, despite my lack of practice. Book covers, internal pages, collaborations. I've managed to do at least a couple of each in between every other activity or distraction. It's not a lot, but it is something.

Writing

Writing has been the biggest thing for me during 2014. It's seen the completion of two books and a number of experimental short stories, as well as the completion of research and background work for three literary works, one of which is a novel currently in the writing stage.

“en.gage”, my science fiction novel, which takes a look at one man's experiences inside a massively multiplayer online game, was released later in the year on Gumroad.com. “Forbidden”, a dark fantasy novella, and what I consider a great accomplishment in terms of my story telling ability, was completed and edited, ready for release also.

I can honestly say that I'm astoundingly happy with what I've done, it was a dream for me to be able to say that I've written a book, let alone two in a year, and even more overall during my time writing. I can't say I'm happy with the reception of my stories, of which there has been next to none. I thought writing would be the hard part, but as it turns out, finding an audience is, no matter how much I advertise and share. Facebook, Google Plus, Tumblr and Deviant Art have seen no real activity from prospective readers, though at the end of the year I did see an increase in watchers on Twitter and Wordpress, I think mostly due to my participation in Twitter Hashtag pitching to publishers, agents and editors.

Of those who have read my work, I can happily say that they've enjoyed it. It's a small number, but I'm yet to receive any negative response to my words. It's my hope that I can grow this number and continue to entertain people.

Life

I've gained friends and love, lost relationships and seen the end of lives of wonderful people. I've probably laughed and cried this year more than any other in my adult life. It's been an emotional year. I'm glad to see the back of some of it, and I'm sad to know that as time goes on, things I'd rather have continued with will be lost to me.

I've managed to visit some beautiful places, Scotland being a major location. I've seen sights that I never even knew existed on this island, and I've learnt important skills that I've been able to put in to practise in foreign and even sometimes extreme or dangerous environments. It's been nothing but positive.

I really do hope that these positive things can continue.

The past year has seen both the sad, mundane and the extremely special, I can look back at the beginning and quite obviously see how much I've grown and changed. It's been a period of progress that I've not experienced for a long while. It's been very good in regards to these things, and I wish that I can say the same thing at the end of 2015.