Well, the convention season has ended with a big hoorah at the Austin Comic Con. I had met another member of the Art In Effect team there. Chuck had come in to Austin from another business trip in Las Vegas. He came to the event to help network and gather information.

My flight into Austin was a good one. Although I had to put my second carry-on bag under the plane, I had made it there safely. Once we had landed I figured that I would just go to the baggage claim and pick up my bag.

So I had gotten there and waited and waited and waited some more. At the end, all the bags had come out except for mine. I was like crap! They lost my bag and now I’m going to have to buy new clothes and replace any other electronics or adaptors that were in the bag. Finally after forty-five minutes of waiting I went to the missing baggage office where I joined a disgruntled line of other travelers whose luggage had also been lost. After about another fifteen minutes of waiting, Lady Luck had smiled upon us as all of our luggage had been recovered. What a fiasco that was. Everything else after that was gravy.

I was tired the whole first day in Austin. I usually don’t sleep well before a trip. Especially if I’ve never been there before. I just get excited and my mind is unable to rest.

Anyway, I was well rested by the time Chuck had arrived at the hotel that first night. So after he settled in, we decided to hit the night in downtown Austin. We were right in the middle of it all and we had a great time.

The rest of the trip was just a blur. Between manning the booth for the convention days delicious dining, and fun nights in downtown Austin, time just flew by. This whole convention year was just,… Wow!

I can’t wait ’till next year’s conventions and the adventures associated with them. We just have to wait about three months ’till it all starts again. In February of 2012, Mega con in Orlando, FL will start the team’s promotional tour. We’ll keep you up to date on all the conventions that we’ll be attending. If any of you get a chance, stop by the Art In Effect booth at the conventions. Later, Mo.

It’s a shame that I wasn’t able to attend any of the conventions this year. I really wanted to but other obligations had prevented me from attending any of them. I’ll probably end up going to a couple of the conventions next year. Mo’s just got to figure out which conventions the team is going to be attending. I’ll keep you all posted on that info.

Other than that I’ve been working on awesome art, and writing some rhymes. I’ll leave you all with this — I’m full blown, vibin’ and well in the zone/ I’m taking full charge and I’m bringin’ it home/ Blue strength in its vibrancy, you know that it’s gold/ The product I yield, it just breaks the mold/I got the hold/ on all this attention/It’s not hyped up/It’s another creation/ bound to become another sensation/It’s Art In Effect and it all just reflects/high speeds below radar no one can detect/In this real game/gotta earn the respect/what did you expect/That gettin’ up high you wouldn’t have to invest/ any real work- that wasn’t meant to impress/ that wasn’t meant to be blessed/maybe those cards just weren’t meant to be dealt/Gotta play what is given/ true intentions in livin’. —-Peace out, C.

I heard that the Austin Comic-Con went really well. Unfortunately, some work and a lot of personal matters prevented my attendance. I’m keeping most of the personal stuff to myself. Of it all, I’ll only say that part of this involves a move, which will take me out to Lehigh Acres. This means a welcome reduction in cost of living that will allow me to spend my summers in Chicago. I regret not having been able to make the convention, but for those of you who will be attending the Florida MegaCon in February, I do plan to be there!

Pain has kept me down for the count, but I’m happy to announce that I’ve finally recovered. I pinched my sciatic nerve. It was unbearable enough that it’s probably for the best that I didn’t make the Austin Comic-Con. I also didn’t get much done by way of designs, since it hurt to even move my arms. On the other hand, I’ve had a lot of time to think of ideas. Now that I’m feeling better, I’m looking forward to throwing some new creature designs at the Art In Effect team. A few are nearly done, now. I won’t go into what they are, yet. They won’t be in the preludes, but you can expect to see some really cool life forms on some of the alien realms that we’ve created.

The Art In Effect team have been very busy wrapping up script writing and background designs, hiring new artists, hiring a new writer, and to still stay on target. This has brought us to that tiresome, but necessary, time of reorganizing, so that everything is easy to track. I hope to have that done by the conclusion of the weekend. After that, I should apply to become a superhero, or at least an antihero.

I’m not going to so much as wax on the politics of the Occupy Wall Street gatherings. When I look at this through an artist’s eyes, I’d love to get down there, at street level, and shoot a ton of pictures. They could be used for references for everything from peaceful protests to serious civil unrest, simply by using more aspects of people positioned in certain ways as opposed to others.

With the desire to keep realism in mind, knowing that I’m unable to get down that way is distressing. It looks like I’ll be spending a few hours on Google image searches.

Well, I’ve written about the mask that I designed, which can be seen at the Benedict Bio. I explained the thought process that went into the mask’s creation. There’s no need to repeat any of that here. If anyone reading this blog hasn’t seen the mask, you can also see it 2 posts prior. The write-up is there, with it. The Art In Effect team has been saying enough in our daily updates on Facebook, myself among them, that I won’t turn this blog into a sounding board to repeat the same stuff. I have a few more paragraphs left of daily edits, and then it’s clove cigarette and absinthe time.

-Benedict-

I have the fun of describing a darker future for mankind. There’s a lot more to this than what I’m saying, but the Art In Effect team is trying to be slow with what we leak, regarding the content of The New Age. What I can tell you is that there are a lot of elements within the story of The New Age. The New Age is not as easily classified under a specific genre or subgenre. It’s also a drama and a mystery. Without turning into a “choose your own adventure”, it’s interactive, with a reader-participation interface.

There will be elements of steampunk and cyberpunk. The New Age is really neither of those things, in that it’s not all taking place in one of those specific types of settings. Instead, some of its settings fit those niches. There will be some dystopian elements, and perhaps a bit of the noire, but this is hardly an attempt to be the next Blade Runner, neither, with so many worlds in our story, is every world any more ruled by the concept of dystopia than of anything else. I just happen to really love writing about some of the darker aspects of the setting, and right now, that’s where My work has taken Me.

For those of you who are interested in the design of the mask, allow me to elaborate. I’ve had something of a fondness for masks, for a few years. I’ve never been terribly good at actually building them (without them being an outright disaster), however, I have drawn some successful designs. The first was for a friend of mine, but that was years before I developed a real interest in masks. At the time, I was in the fourth grade, and I did the design in exchange for a peanut butter and jelly sandwich!

I have a small collection of masks (four, total), which I wear on special occasions. This is one that I’ve designed, which I intend to wear when I make public appearances on behalf of Art In Effect. I have two reasons for this: First, I love to show off. Second, and of equal importance, if not greater, I’m a very private person. I hope for the success of The New Age, and I believe that it will go over with great reception, but at the end of the day, I’m more withdrawn than the other members of the Art In Effect Team.

My desire for anonymity is not without a flare for the dramatic, or perhaps just the pretentious. I guess that depends on the time of day! When I did this design, I had opera masks in mind, although I didn’t want to simply do another opera mask. In the end, after having tried all sorts of other ideas that were so horrible that I hope that no one even finds the ashes, I settled on going back to the template of an opera mask. By and large, there’s very little symbolism involved in its creation.

Sure, I could spin a yarn about some nonsensical meaning behind the choice of black, white, grey and silver, but the truth is that I picked these because I like them. It’s also why the dark areas around (and beyond) the eye sockets are shaped the way that they are. I let the pen do the thinking, and I wasn’t disappointed with the results. The ringed disc in the middle is another story. Fans of a particular role-playing game will probably see it and think that it has to do with a certain type of diplomatic character. While I’m aware of the reference and enjoy the game, that was not at all what was in mind, when I designed this. The symbol is from alchemy, and it represents gold, which, in alchemy, is governed by the sun.
I’m not alone in the Art In Effect team, when it comes to not being a fan of going out in the day. Why use a symbol associated with the sun? I’ve always thought that the symbol of the sun was cool-looking, which is good enough for me. On top of that, I really enjoy the depth of its meaning. Sure, I’m not particularly fond of gold, either, but historically speaking, the wealth of all great nations has been tied to gold. Thus, the symbol of gold is also one of wealth, success, and stability. Viewed in this light, it has the right touch of pretension. People can make of that what they like, but there you have it. I hope that you enjoy the design.

I’ll be honest with everyone. I’m not the most personable of people. I don’t mean that I don’t enjoy talking with people, or anything like that. It’s just that with so much going on with writing for The New Age, concept art for the same, and then personal matters that I’ll keep personal, I don’t think much about blogging. While I’m going to work to make a blog more often, I just want to make sure that those of you who graciously follow the developments of the Art In Effect team don’t take it personally that I haven’t had more to say, until now.

With that said, now I have to try to make this interesting. I understand that a lot of people out there really enjoy reading people’s blogs. I love to write, and I’m certainly not without an ego. Nonetheless, I’m still getting used to jotting things down on a more regular basis, about what amounts to my daily activities and, to what extent I can, those of the business.

Right now, I don’t really have any insight to offer that isn’t being covered on our front page updates. As you may know from those, from our Email blasts, from meeting us at the conventions, or some combination thereof, we’re in the process of developing some short introduction stories, which will provide some entertaining explanations for events that are detailed in the first books of the up and coming downloadable series, The New Age.

Aside of My usual work, which is almost entirely writing for The New Age, and a little conceptual art here and there, I have some new projects in the works. Some of these, I’ll keep to Myself, at least for now. What I would like to share with everyone is that I’m going to be doing some artwork, which, time permitting, I hope to have available for purchase at the Art In Effect booth, at the Austin ComicCon. Given how busy My schedule is, I’m not certain as to how many pieces I’ll be able to finish in time. I may or may not include some pencil work, but I’m My top priority is to include at least one piece of art that is done, start to finish, with a regular ballpoint pen.