Isis Sousa's Blog: Tragic Books' news, page 10

The XIIIth Hour at Duskland - Just published!

I have written my first fiction work, a Dark Fantasy/Surreal/Paranormal short story:



“The XIIIth hour at Duskland” is an introductory short story from the illustrated anthology “Stories of Duskland”.

Sinopsis:

Leonhard is a wealthy gentleman surrounded by the most unusual and loyal friends. His life has been a hiatus for many years until the day he finds a mysterious young lady lying unconscious and hurt in the nearby woods. Pity and curious, he brings her home and does all he can to help her recovery.

A day later, by the XIIIth Hour, Leonhard and his friends discover together the horrid truth about the stranger’s past. “Elisa” and the ones she came across were never the same, once they met in the picturesque world of Duskland.

You can buy it here

Amazon.com
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00E7P2HVE

Amazon.co.uk
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00E7P2HVE

Amazon.de
http://www.amazon.de/dp/B00E7P2HVE

Amazon.fr
http://www.amazon.fr/dp/B00E7P2HVE

Amazon.es
http://www.amazon.es/dp/B00E7P2HVE

Amazon.it
http://www.amazon.it/dp/B00E7P2HVE

Amazon.co.jp
http://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B00E7P2HVE

Amazon.com.br
http://www.amazon.com.br/dp/B00E7P2HVE

Amazon.ca
http://www.amazon.ca/dp/B00E7P2HVE

Amazon.in
http://www.amazon.in/dp/B00E7P2HVE

I am also looking for reviewers, if you’re interested, drop me a line here on GR :)

My first fiction book is finally published!

A year ago, during the summer of 2012, I wrote I wrote the first short story of a series/anthology I have conceived.

I have edited this short story over 50 times, I think! I went though it over and over again, asked for help, for opinions, feedback and constructive criticism so that I could enhance this material and publish it.

I’ve been really lucky that awesome people crossed my way during the process of this story and helped me making it much better. (Their names are in the e-book acknowledgements and I will make a special blog post talking about it later on.)

When it comes to choosing between being self-published and published by a house, I didn’t think much to choose the first option. I REALLY wanted to experiment the “freedom” of self-publishing, and literally “having it my way”.

I enrolled on the Kindle Publisher Select program, and within some hours my e-book will be available for sale.

This project is very important for me because it is the possibility of bringing the world of my “painted” characters to readers worldwide. Yes, that’s because I am not a writer, but an illustrator who is writing for pure joy, when I have the time to do so!

Carpe diem!

Ps: On the next entry, when the e-book is finally for sale, I will talk more about the story and the process.

Current projects

Entreat Me artworks (interior illustrations) are basically done. They are a set of 12 black & white images which I believe the readers of Grace Draven's new book will enjoy!

My first fiction book/short story is almost done on beta reading/and going through editing. I have learned so much and I am very grateful to the beta readers who contributed so my work could evolve. Their names will be in the book credits.

Currently I am illustrating 3 book covers for a German series (teh English tittle would be: The tears of the Unicorn" - and am also illustrating a CD cover for a Swedish heavy metal band.

Can't wait to publish my short story XIIIth hour at Duskland by the end of June... Or maybe even the month after.

Entreat Me illustrations almost done!

I've been working on a series of b&w illustrations for Grace Draven's upcoming book "Entreat Me".

Two illustrations left, a few details to add on some of the finished ones and we are good to go :)

The XXIII th hour at Duskland and other news

A short entry this time…

I’ve been over and over again reviewing and developing my Dark Fantasy short story, “The XXIII th Hour at Duskland”. I know, the tittle is strange, that’s because it refers to the roman numbers of old pendulum clocks. It has roughly 7,5 K words and will be part of an anthology I plan to publish later this year, “Stories of Duskland” with the same characters.

Been thinking to publish two editions: simple (text only) and illustrated. I have already decided on the painting style and mood for the images. I did the research (as the story takes place in England, during the 19th Century. Now I just have to start painting…

Can’t wait to reveal more about this project!

On the other hand, I give continuity to an inspirational art book for Mad Artist Publishing, which focuses on “Artistic Collaboration” and related themes. All guest artists are set and the layout for their part is almost finished. We don’t have a tittle for this one yet…

More news coming soon!

Re-posting: New year, new site, new blog!

Original post from my blog: http://isissousa2d.blogspot.no

Wow, it’s been a while since I wrote a post here! I took a long break, since mid-December last year, due to a long holiday trip and an extra busy beginning of year. 2013, here I go!

So far this year I have done 6 Black & White illustrations for Grace Draven’s upcoming book, a retelling of the classical “Beauty and the Beast” and have 6 more to go. Have done a couple of interviews, very cool ones for IT’SART (click here and read it) and CG ARENA (coming soon, but you’ll find it here). I’ve done also a tutorial/making of for CG ARENA e-mag, based on a work called “The Green Man, which I developed for this tutorial.



Have done a very different work, in a cute/caticature-like style for Mad Artist Publishing’s BOND book. Cool huh? And have also done a Bettie Page commission for Falcata Times, in a more cartoony style (soon you wull see it there too!). Noooo, I am not abandoning Fantasy, I am just pushing my boundaries, so that’s why I did these last two mentioned works ;)

On top of that, have been organizing and recruiting artists for a series of video workshops: IT’S ART FANTASY WORKSHOP – taking place during the year of 2013, with 13 themes into Fantasy Art! More info about it coming soon!

Now, let’s take the subject of this post. I am always thinking of ways to improve and have a website/portfolio which works for me. I have tried several layouts before, after a while I switched to Blogger: I have started a blog and set it to be my portfolio. So when people entered www.isissousadesigner.com (before) they in fact were seeing my BLOGGER site. I thought it was very handy, I found a layout I customized and seemed to be right for me. I kept it for a year or so.

Since I started a website, back in 2010, I’ve been DAILY checking and monitoring my visitors. I learned very much with this habit, such as which images people like more when they visit my site, which page they are more interested in, where do they come from, where did they find the link for my site, etc. These are all important data to help you take your site/portfolio in the right direction.

In the beginning of 2012, I published a work on this Blogger portfolio called “A FantasyPortrait of Sir Isaac Newton”. The piece called a lot of attention, both in my site and my other online galleries. Somehow, after a while, I was receiving a huge traffic of visitors coming from Google Search, all of them looking for “Isaac Newton, Sir Isaac Newton, Newton, etc.” At first I thought it was cool, because I thought some of these visitors looking for images of this great scientist would also be interested in my work and eventually that my commissions could grow.

The Google Search traffic increased very much within the months, at a point that it started to “suck”! It wasn’t cool anymore! I found out NONE of those visitors searching for Isaac Newton had given me a single commission, feedback or anything back. More than that: they were in the way of me seeing the good, healthy traffic on my stats service. So I took a decision: to take the blog down and make a new website for my portfolio, more industry oriented. I’m still working on it, but I see the changes are for the better.

Talking about changes… I’ve been also thinking about better content for this blog, since its start. “Why not share some of my mistakes, hints and growth as artist” I asked myself lately… So since TODAY this blog is called “Artist in progress” and I hope to make substantial articles about my difficulties, my ups and downs, visions and improvement as artist. I think sharing this experience as well as adding other interesting content such as great news and interviews may help aspirants and also may be interesting for those who have been long down the road!

Stay inspired!

Happy Holidays

My dear friends and readers, I wish you all a wonderful holiday season, together with the ones you love!

Hope more of your dreams come true in 2013, followed of much success, love, peace and achievement!

All my best wishes and gratitude for the great year we had together!

Attention Europeans, buy my book at your home "Amazon"

Art of Isis Sousa & Guests is now available at:

Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/Sketchozine-com...

Amazon.fr - France: http://www.amazon.fr/Sketchozine-com-...

Amazon.it - Italy: http://www.amazon.it/Sketchozine-com-...

Amazon.co.uk - UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sketchozine-c...

Amazon.de - Germany: http://www.amazon.de/Sketchozine-com-...

Looking for Fantasy Art Book reviewers

I have just joined this fantasic community and resource for authors & readers that is Goodreads.

Have just added my book to GR database, now, I need poeple who is interested in reviewing Art of Isis Sousa & Guests: Fantasy Digital Painting Techniques & Video Lectures

I can offer a PDF but also a TRADE physical book.

the Special Edition (Hard cover, heavy glossy paper + embossed slipcover) is still being printed, so it will take a couple of months to be available.

Looking forward to hear from you, dear reviewers!

New community, new beginning

I am very glad to have the joy of joining Goodreads! I have two of my friends who are also authors part of this community.

I am really new here, and am gtetting used to the interface and on how it works. I know almost no one here, due to the fact that I have always been involved in CG Communities, rather than book communities!

There's always a first time for everything ;)