EXCLUSIVE PATREON PRE-RELEASE - Until Monday night, all THC Patreon (join here!) can order signed advance copies of Shroud of the Avatar: New Beginnings #1! Where #0 bridged the old worlds to the shores of New Britannia, #1 kicks off a canon miniseries set in the worlds of SotA! Don't miss out on this Patreon exclusive - join today! www.patreon.com/tortoiseharecreations

GET EVIL! Book of Exalted Darkness Kickstarter Now Live!

We interrupt your regularly scheduled program to bring you the BOOK OF EXALTED DARKNESS!  A new D&D 5th Edition campaign setting for celestial and evil characters in a holy decopunk setting (think steampunk, but with a strong 20's/30's art deco influence). I'm the primary artist for this and I am chomping at the bit to explore this aesthetic more - so check it out today!! Make your campaign VILE! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/verantheacodex/book-of-exalted-darkness-evil-for-the-5th-edition

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/verantheacodex/book-of-exalted-darkness-evil-for-the-5th-edition

Upcoming Convention Appearances

THC will be appearing at the following upcoming conventions!

• Great Philly Comicon - April 7-9, 2017 in Oaks, PA http://www.philadelphiacomiccon.com/
• Festival of the Silver Serpent - May 5-7, 2017 in Baltimore, MD (closed event)
• Tidewater Comicon - May 13-14, 2017 in VA Beach, VA http://tidewatercomicon.com/
• 3 Rivers Comicon - May 20-22, 2017 in West Mifflin, PA http://3riverscomicon.com/
• Frederick Comicon - June 4, 2017 in Frederick, MD http://shoffpromotions.com/
• SciFi Valley Con - June 9-11, 2017 in Altoona, PA http://www.scifivalleycon.com/
• VA Comicon - July 8-9, 2017 in Richmond, VA http://vacomicon.com/
• WVPopCon - August 26-27, 2017 in Morgantown, WV https://www.facebook.com/WVPop/
• Four State Comicon - September 9-10, 2017 in Hagerstown, MD https://www.fourstatecon.com/
• Baltimore Comicon - September 22-24, 2017 in Baltimore, MD http://baltimorecomiccon.com/
• HoBLoTHIV - November 9-12, 2017 in Austin, TX (closed event)
• Wizard World: Austin - November 17-18, 2017 in Austin TX http://wizardworld.com/comiccon/austin

I'll have special sale pricing on almost all of my inventory, including large and small prints not available online and my Dangerous Women coloring books and Gina Harwood novel series. Hope to see you there! :)

Preorders Now Available for First Run of the Art of Indi Martin: Dangerous Women Coloring Book

Pre-orders are now available for the first print run of the Art of Indi Martin: Dangerous Women coloring book, featuring 40 new plates of original art! Expected to ship mid-March, quantity discounts available. Check it out here: https://www.etsy.com/listing/496843958/art-of-indi-martin-dangerous-women-the

Here's a few examples of the lineart featured in the book:

Electric Heart

Mermaid

Snake Whisperer

2016 By the Numbers

It's December, and we're fast coming up on another click of Earth's odometer, so I thought I'd take a moment for retrospection before we slide into 2017. Welcome to 2016's By The Numbers, where I throw out a lot of big numbers and some not-so-big numbers to try to quantify the year. :) 

Doin' it BY THE NUMBERS! 

• 107: Client pieces completed in 2016 (not counting con commissions) Want your own? Check out my rates and waitlist here: http://indigowarrior.deviantart.com/journal/

  

  A sampling of some of my client pieces for the year!

• 6: Covers (Sylph, Recap, Dark Unknown, DU Players Reference Guide, VC Radical Pantheon, Hypercorps: Wasteland) 

  

  A sampling of some of my covers!

• 3: Commissioned watercolors (Phydra, SuckerPunch, Sylph)
• 11: Pencils
• $4,063.00: Total raised for my Art of Indi Martin: Coloring Book! Kickstarter in October! <3 Thank you to all 84 of you who supported, and although it's not slated for focus until the start of the new year, I have another fun number just for you:
• 23: Total coloring pages completed thus far! Here's a brand new one, in which I decided to sacrifice a few sanity points to cherry blossoms. :)

  

  "Ranger & Cherry Blossoms" - Indi Martin, 2016
• 264: Total posts on Patreon! Patreon was a big deal for me in 2016, and my patrons managed to keep my bacon out of the frier a few times, financially. Thank you so much for your support - I will keep doing whatever I can to make sure my feed is the most robust, and I am the most interactive that it and I can possibly be. Join me! www.patreon.com/tortoiseharecreations 

  

  www.patreon.com/tortoiseharecreations 
• Growth: I started with 18 lovely patrons in January of 2016, and that number has nearly doubled to 30! YOU ARE AWESOME, PEOPLE. Not yet a patron? www.patreon.com/tortoiseharecreations 
• Patron-exclusives: 
• 16: Total stock art pieces made available to Patrons for free (with license) in 2016
• 4: holiday stock art monsters, unreleased to anyone else and unavailable except by being a patron! 
• 31: First dibs on original artwork for sale (all 31 ink pieces for Drawlloween)
• 8: Full .psd files of my artwork
• 66: Personal pieces (non-client, not counting over a hundred sketchbook pages)
• 23: Dangerous Women (of which 4 have been painted either digitally or via watercolor for fun ^_^)
• 6: Pieces completed in and around Gishwhes (not a gisher? Change that! Have the best week of your year! www.gishwhes.com )
• 4: Fan art pieces - All I got done in the fan art realm this year was a finished Punisher painting, and three pencil pieces - 011 (from Stranger Things), SpiderGwen, and Jon Snow
• 24: Conventions attended - as far away as Norman, OK (SoonerCon!) and Denver, CO (GeoWoodstock!)

Notable misses to make up in 2017:

• Writing: 2016 broke the book-a-year publishing streak I was on and in fact featured virtually no writing whatsoever. This was not by choice, but by necessity, as writing is a long-term investment and 2016 demanded short-term money options, so art was absolutely my focus - primarily client art. However, I have a science-fiction serial novel in mind, and the next trilogy arc of the Gina Harwood series outlined, so it is certainly in my future. :)

2016 was the 5th year since Tortoise & Hare Creations took its first shaky breath, but it's been - by far - the busiest - I said that last year and it's true again this year! THANK YOU for being here with me, and I hope you're just as excited as we are to see what Year 6 brings to THC!

Wake me when September comes - oh it's here? Aw, hell, I overslept! WHY DIDN'T MY ALARM GO OFF?!

Welcome back to our occasional update of what's going on around the THC studios!

• The Big News: Art of Indi Martin: The Coloring Book! - Kickstarter is now live! Thank you for everyone who's supported so far - thanks to you, we've blown past the funding goal AND the first stretch goal in three days! This means the coloring book is DEFINITELY happening, and it's jumped to containing 30 pieces of art - that number can still go much higher as we unlock stretch goals (and unlock the Kickstarter-exclusive Sketch Zine bonus reward!). Join and share now! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1027835983/the-art-of-indi-martin-adult-coloring-book  

  

  Tattooed Survivor - Indi Martin, 2016

• Patreon! We're in the last month of the third quarter, which means there's going to be an original art giveaway at the end of September! For as little as a buck a month, you can support indie art (and Indi's art!), see all the behind-the-scenes and sneak peeks at unreleased artwork, and have a chance at original art giveaways, of which there will be TWO this quarter! JOIN US! www.patreon.com/tortoiseharecreations
• Commissions are open! Check my rates and waitlist here: http://indigowarrior.deviantart.com/journal/Artist-Bio-and-Rates-528468095 
  
  

  

  Decommissioning Ascalaon - painted for ENWorld Adventures - Indi Martin, 2016

• Dark Unknown - this massive 54-piece, largely black and white project is coming to an end! All that's left is the cover, which is underway. For sneak peeks of a lot of unreleased Dark Unknown art, make sure you join me over at Patreon: www.patreon.com/tortoiseharecreations This is the piece for the 8th circle of magic, and the only one other than the cover that received color treatment! Check out the Dark Unknown project at darkunknown.org 

  

  Color Orrery, posted to Patreon

• Recap's album - featuring my wrap-around cover art and interior art! - has been released and is AMAZING! Check it out at www.recapband.com Also, there is a new greyscale photorealism timelapse video of a portion of the interior artwork up on our YouTube channel - check it out! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrKobUuPqsY

  

  "Pronoia Cover Art" - Indi Martin, 2016

• Sunday, 9/25 we'll be making our first appearance in Frederick, MD for the Shoff Frederick ComicCon - come on out and see us there! 

Thank you to everyone for your support! 

The Art of Indi Martin: COLORING BOOK! Kickstarter Now Live!

Special announcement!!

The Art of Indi Martin: Coloring Book - my first foray into the wild and wonderful world of adult coloring - is now live on Kickstarter!! Check it out HERE:  https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1027835983/the-art-of-indi-martin-adult-coloring-book    - and after you're done, make sure you share the project! The more backers/funds the project raises, the more art EVERYONE gets for their pledge!

Summertime and the Livin's Easy

Welcome back to our occasional update of what's going on around the THC studios!

• Shroud of the Avatar: New Beginnings is still underway - the Patrons at www.patreon.com/tortoiseharecreations get first look, so get on over there and join us!
• Commissions! Client work is currently taking up the bulk of Indi's time as she completes the second order for the Dark Unknown's game manual (all small black/white pen-and-ink-style pieces!), over halfway through and trucking! None yet released, but the Patrons (clicky!) will be the first to see any new ones! In a similar vein, work is underway on the Mists of Akuma project, a cool feudal Japanese/steampunk campaign setting brought to you by the creators of the bestselling Veranthea Codex! Super excited to be working on this one - but the story's the same! Not yet released, but the Patrons will get first glance! However, I CAN share a portion of the vinyl wraparound cover painting for Recap's upcoming album "Pronoia," for which I painted the 12x24" cover and a 12"x12" interior piece - I can't wait for you guys to see them! Album is dropping July 23rd, so keep an eye out for the rest of this and the matching piece!   
  
• Character Commissions! Though Indi's Waitlist is still pretty full, she can and continues to fit some individual character commissions in - drop us a line if you want to see your character or faction logo spring to life! 
  
• Go West, Young Business! This quarter marked the first time since coming here that we've left the familiarity of the mid-Atlantic states to vend at conventions further from our shores! We had a great time at SoonerCon, catching up with old friends - SoonerCon was actually the very first convention THC ever presented at five years ago, though our offerings were slim! We also caught a local Nintendo Play event in Denver before exhibiting at GeoWoodstock XIV, our second GeoWoodstock as a company! Thank you so much to everyone in those states (and between!) for making us feel welcome! 
  
• Upcoming Shows & Appearances:
• 7/16: BookFest! PA - State College, PA

• 
  

  7/23: Popcomiganze - Dunkirk, MD

  
  

  7/31: Galacticon - Columbia, MD

  
  

  8/6: Dover Comicon - Dover, DE

  
  

  8/13: Washington County Comicon - Hagerstown, MD

  
  

  8/27-28: WVPopCon - Morgantown, WV 

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

Let Us Go Then, You and I, When the Evening is Spread Out Against the Sky

Welcome back to our occasional update of what's happening around the THC Studios!

• We've officially begun work on the next installment of the Shroud of the Avatar: New Beginnings comic miniseries! Join us at www.patreon.com/tortoiseharecreations to keep up with all the behind-the-scenes and sneak peek material.  

  

  Portion of the double-spread, watercolor title page for the next issue. 

• Congratulations to Tapestry of Ages Games for The Dark Unknown: A Quest for Art's successful Kickstarter campaign (Check out the project here http://www.darkunknown.org/ )! We're well underway working on the art for the final half of the manual, but here is the final piece from the first half, the Bestiary: "Elder Dragon." 

  

  Art by Indi Martin
  (c)2016 Tortoise & Hare Creations/Tapestry of Ages Games

• Another congratulations goes out to Recap Band for their successful Kickstarter for Pronoia, the follow-up album to one of my favorites, Neon Milk. I ended up being a stretch goal on the campaign, so I'll be doing the cover and an interior piece for their album starting in May! Check out their music here: http://www.recapband.com/ 
• New Fan Art Print! With work keeping me pretty busy, I haven't had a lot of time for personal projects, but I was really struck by Jon Bernthal's take on the Punisher, so this one got done. :) Available for purchase here: https://www.etsy.com/listing/273251534/the-punisher-by-indi-martin 

  

  "The Punisher" - by Indi Martin

  
  
• Upcoming Appearances! 
• Tidewater Comicon - 5/21-22 - VA Beach, VA
• HOBLOTH - 6/1-6/5 (Private Event) - Austin, TX 
• SciFi in the Valley - 6/10-12 - Altoona, PA
• SoonerCon - 6/24-26 - Norman, OK
• GeoWoodstock XIV - 7/3 - Denver, CO
• BookFest PA - 7/16 - State College, PA
• Popcomiganza - 7/23 - Dunkirk, MD

Title Quote from T.S. Eliot's "The LoveSong of J. Alfred Prufrock"

Fear Not the Dead, Pool Your Thoughts to Love Instead

Welcome back to our occasional, and not-generally-scheduled update of what's going on around the THC studios!

• Valentine's Day Sale! You have until 2/14 to get 25% off anything in the Etsy store! Click HERE to shop, use code LOVE16 when checking out - no minimum purchase! 
  
• FREE VALENTINE'S DAY CARDS! Last year, I did a fun Valentine's Day bonus for our Patrons (Join us! Get cool stuff!), and this year, I've chosen the best of them and created a free, downloadable, printable sheet of Valentine's Day cards. While you're there, consider becoming a supporter for as little as $1 a month, it makes a huge difference, and you can show your support and reap the benefits! Click HERE to get the full-size version. 
  
• Will's superheroine comic, Morel, has officially launched its own webpage - www.morelcomic.com - check it out! 
  
• Commissions have been flowing in! Check out Indi's Commission Page to get on the list! Watercolor commissions have been hot, get signed up for a truly one-of-a-kind, frameable artpiece to call your own. (Pictured here: a camera-phone pic of the 18x24 "Sylph" cover art, from the upcoming Sylph video game.) 
  
• 2016 Tour Poster! We've got most of our shows lined up for 2016, so take a peek and see when we'll be in your neck of the woods! 
  

2015: By the Numbers

Welcome back to THC's occasional update of what's going on around the studios. It's December, and we're fast coming up on another click of Earth's odometer, so I thought I'd take a moment for retrospection before we slide into 2016.

2015 was a hell of a year. Let's do this by the numbers:

17: Number of conventions THC attended this year as artists/vendors. That's pretty far down from 2014's 38 - we'll be finding a happy medium between those two numbers for next year, I'm sure!

321: Number of posts on our Patreon page. MOST of those posts are patron-only exclusives, like works-in-progress pictures, full .psd files, high-res, watermark-free files, sneak-peeks, and Patron-exclusive stock art. We launched the Patreon officially on 1/15 of this year, and it's been a wild ride already!

63: Number of watercolors completed this year (that I have scans of - there were probably at least that amount that got discarded). Here's a collage of some of my favorites:

426: Number of pages in the final release of Into Dreams: A Gina Harwood novel, which was released on June 11, 2015. 

74: Number of commissioned paintings or drawings completed this year (not counting a few at conventions). Again with the collage, though this will probably be the last one, as they're surprisingly time-consuming. 

8: Stock Art pieces released to the Patrons after introducing the concept late 3rd Quarter. 

7: New Fan Art prints in the entirety of 2015 - Crowley, Charlie Bradbury, Arya Stark, Xena, Tyrion Lannister, Seven and Four. I've got one underway and I'm looking to expand this number a bit in 2016 - I wanted to cut back, not cut out fan art altogether! 

3: Other Milestones I couldn't figure out a way to fit into the "Numbers" theme. In addition to all of this, we also created and released Shroud of the Avatar: New Beginnings - our first (but not last) foray into officially licensed comics. We also created and released the Geocaching Pinup set and the MD Expansion of GoCache to commemorate GeoWoodstock XIII, held ten miles from where we live. :) 

2015 was the 4th year since Tortoise & Hare Creations took its first shaky breath, but it's been - by far - the busiest. THANK YOU for being here with us, and I hope you're just as excited as we are to see what Year 5 brings to THC!