The Town Herald

The netpaper about Elftowners, by Elftowners, for Elftowners.

Featured Cover Artist [Mordigen]

by [Mordigen]



Name & Age: Heather LM Malone, 22
Country of Origin & Residence: Ireland / USA
Work: Pool Management / Retail Sales Associate, Author & freelance artist
Hobbies: anything creative or possibly dorky

Q:Where is your work is available for sale?
I have some things up on Ellen Million Graphics, at www.ellenmilliongraphics.com, all my prints can be purchased through my Deviant Gallery at www.mordigen.deviantart.com, and then some of my other things, like sculptures, wax carvings and jewelry can be purchased directly through me.

Q:Where can you be contacted professionally?
Anywhere :P. I'm not picky and bitchy - if you have a way to contact me, or if someone happens to stumble across me, they can use that means to contact me professionally too. I have a semi-official email set up for my wanna-be design studio : DRAG.designs@gmail.com - but they can also contact me here through ET, through EW, DA, myspace, facebook, messengers or my personal email - It doesn't matter to me.

Q: How did you get started with your art, and how long have you been drawing?
I got started with my art by watching my mom and dad - both of them did a number of artistic and creative things. My dad was a Fencing coach, where he would sit around and sketch the bouts at the fight hall, my mom was in ballet her whole life and would sit around and sketch dancers and poses, it was *always* around, it was *always* in the house, in our lives, so it just came naturally. How long have I been doing it? Since I learned how to hold a crayon :P

Q:How would you describe your pieces in general, and what they mean to you?
ME. That's how I would describe my pieces -- even commissioned pieces that are done for a specific mean, even if they are plain-jane requests, still get a lil bit of a twist, a lil bit of a flare to them that makes them unique, that makes them signature to me and me alone - and that makes me happy, which just makes them even more mine. They mean the world to me - because they are me, they are my expressions, my emotions, my angers, my worries, my dreams, my fantasies - everything. It's sort of like a diary in visual form, everything gets spewed into them.


Q:What sort of technique do you use when painting or drawing?
it varries greatly - I'm always trying to experiment with different techniques that friends have told me about, or that I've researched, try to learn and expand. You can't ever just stay stagnent, thats how creativity dies. Of course, everyone always has their signature style, but my signature style gets left behind a lot because I love trying new things ;P

Q:What would you consider your favourite or best piece and why?
The Harpy. It just screams everything that is me. I love the mythological creature of the Harpy, I love the bird the Harpy, I love the olde legends of Harpies and Banshees (because in some cultures those two overlap), it makes a good representation of the things that interest me, and since it is not a traditional harpy by any means, it gives an excellent representation of the way my mind works, and how i see things and my Creativity. Also, I had a clear set-out visiion from start to finish, there was no guessing or "go with the flow" like I do on so many of my pieces where I just let the idea come to me as I'm doing it -- I KNEW exactly what she was, and exactly what she was not - and it was the one piece I have ever done that every single last stroke, every last hue, every curve and bend and item fell directly into place - it was completely effortless, and came together *exactly* how she was meant to be, and the final piece was, indeed, perfect to my original vision. She still, to this day, amazes me and fills me with pride when I look at her - now 7 years after she was created.

Q:Where do you see your art going, are there any different styles, artists or subjects you’d like to experiment with?
My art will go whereever I go. I change alot, especially with my mood, so it will just tag along with me. And that being said - I never know where that might be where we end up, but that doesn't matter. We'll know when we get there, my art and me ;P. I love dadaism. I have been experimenting with it a lot lately, and I love it. I did soem abstract work in the past, and it is a great emotional release, it's invigurating and a rush because it's untamed - and i love that, but dada work has an even more raw, and sincere feeling to it, even though it is darker and harsher works, it is much more vulnerable, and that inspires and intrigues me and I love it, so of course, that makes me want to try it myself.

Q:Will you stay with your fantasy subjects, or do you think you’ll branch out?
Oh branch out, of course. I was never *strictly* a fantasy artist to begin with - it just so happens to be one of my big interests, not just in art but in other medias too (like literature, and film etc) so of course, it just being a natural interest of mine, I'm going to gravitate to that genre in my art aswell -- but it is not my *only* interest, so it certainly wont be my *only* art genre.

Q:What is it that makes the genre of Fantasy special to you, what makes it so magical and capturing for you that most of your artworks spring from it?
Well most of my artwork doesn't spring from it, actually. That's just what most people see. I do not display a lot of things, becauser their personal to me. Though I'm beginning to change that slowly, so people will see a big part of me that has been somewhat hidden for quite a while. BUT I love Fantasy because it leaves so much open to the imagination - it isn't bound by logic or reason of what we know to be, and know not to be. Anything you can dream up becomes real in fantasy, and that is a beautiful and liberating thing.

Q:And, finally, What do you have to say to those aspiring Elftown fantasy artists and writers? What would you love to see from them, what do you warn them against, and what do you think they should remember?
I would love to see more of them. Elftown's art community, sadly, seems to be dying, and it makes me angry. So all the artists and writers out there - I want to see THEM. I want them to become more active in the community, show off their talents, share yours tips and suggestions - ask for more tips and suggestions, and make friends with the rest of us dorks and pervs that are so awesome here. I'll always warn everyone against selling out -- I hate sell outs. I don't mean take commissions you really don't want to do because you have to pay the bills - ok, that's life, we have to survive, but never forget about *you* and why you are an artist, and what it means to you. When you loose sight of that, and you become just a corporate machine to spew out anything that sells just for the money and forget about everything that drew you to this field.........you're dead, plain and simple. There has to be heart, and there has to be passion, when that is gone - it's time to quit, even if it's just for a lil break.


lil' more about the featured piece: "Zodiac Wheele"
What was your inspiration behind this piece?
Well the Zodiac, duh :P and the Herald. This was a piece I did specifically for the Herald cover, as we were without a special featured artist this issue :( So myself and fellow Heralder [Chimes] whipped up some staff-pieces for the cover this issue.

What emotions, or vision were you trying to portray within this piece?
Serenity, inspiration, and intrigue. I wanted there to be peace and serenity, because I think thats what comes to mind often when people think of the stars and heavens, but I also wanted there to be a since of inspiration and mystery, because that is also a huge part of the horoscopes and zodiacs. And even though I did my piece on the traiditional Roman Zodiac, or "sun signs", there are a ton of other zodiacs from other cultures - and I wanted to leave a side to represent that too. There are dark, savage, whimsicle, robust, tribal and more and more zodiacs out there, so I wanted there to be a sense of a light side, as well as a sense of a dark side to represent all the various different types of Zodiacs - as that is what this issue is dedicated too, not just one zodiac. Though, I picked the Roman Zodiac because that is the most widely recognized zodiac, so of course being the cover, I wanted people to see something they recognized and could resinate with.


Tell us a little bit about how you came to create this: IE-media/technique.
I created it from scratch in Photoshop CS2 as a digital painting. I airbrushed the background colours using various styles of media and special affect brushes, then added in layers of gradients and textures. I used a celestial brush set to add in the stars and the constellation markers, and astronomy charting - then I used the 'WingDings' font that comes pre-installed on every comp to do the Zodiac signs :P. I did each of these on seperate layers, arranged the layers until I got everything in a proper composition I wanted, then added highlights, lowlights and glowing affects to the Zodiac wheel, then after saving various different copies, I flattened the image to make sure the final image was what I wanted when flattened to a .jpg, then added in the text, flattened again and there we have it :P

How do you feel about the finished piece? IE: are you happy with it, did you accomplish what you set out to do?, etc.
I am happy with it - I am very happy with it. Moreso than I had expected because it was a simply vision, done very quickly for a specific reason, so I didn't have all that too extravagant of expectations for it - and it turned out great. So I'm very happy with it, and I feel I accomplished what I wanted with it fairly easily while still making a good quality pic in a very limited timeframe :)






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