For those that were unable to attend, the eve of May 5th, we were privileged to have a guest speaker: Stephanie Pui-Mun Law, who is a freelance artist. Each will be formatted as the question asked followed by her response to the question. Her website address is http://www.shadowscapes.com

Before you read on, we would like to express our gratitude to Stephanie for taking the time to come sit with us this evening. Her artwork is a joy to look at and we all look forward to seeing what comes in the future. For those that took the time to also sit and ask questions, we thank you as well. 

DGMuse: You've done work for Magic and I was wondering if you play the game, or any other CCG's?
Stephanie: actually no. I haven't ever played any card games. and very little rpgs either, though i do a lot of art for that.  I always get people assuming that I play many of the games that I illustrate for. strangely enough, for the most part I don't.  well i was tempted to try at one point, after I did the cards and they sent me a whole box of them a few months later

Saieva: How long have you been drawing in general...was it just natural talent, did she take art classes...or both? 
Stephanie: Hm. well, i've always drawn. I was always drawing as a little kid in any spare moment. I took a few art classes when i was young. nothing serious and took as many art classes as I could through high school. then in college I went to study computer science. my parents impressed on me that i needed to go for some practical career and did a double major with art on the side but the art program there was more for fine art/modern abstract stuff and they absolutely HATED illustration. that was the worst thing someone could say to you in a class critique. so i basically spent those 4 years spashing paint around, gluing glass bottles together, and stuff like that. People in that department really had a fixation on phallic things. Somehow it was "symbolic". :) so um...i guess what i'm saying is really what i've done since, all the illustration really has been self taught  lots of practice.

VexeDGM:  Comment: "Thank you so much for coming here and being apart of our questions and answers, I'd like to firstly say that before asking my question. Now onto my question: "What inspires you? Your work is so unique and diffrent, each time I see something of yours it's very distinct. Something has to inspire and motivate you.."
Stephanie: mythology, folklore, legends, fairytales...for concepts and ideas for imagery... nature. artist peers old masters -- pre-raphaelites, surrealists. sometimes something so small as just seeing sunlight shining through leaves
VexeDGM: "Anyone studying your work can find all of those things within each piece, they are very beautiful."
Stephanie: thank you

Sunniva: out of all your art what would you say is your favorite that you have done and why?
Stephanie: ooh...that's hard. it really changes constantly! i would say right now my favorite is "Maestro of Birds"...let me find that link so you kow what i'm talking about  http://www.shadowscapes.com/image/maestro.shtml.  my favorites are always changing to my more recent pieces.  in a way, i take that as a good sign. i mean, if I'm not thinking my best work is my current stuff, then i'm stagnating and not growing other old favorites: "Autumn Foxfire", "Blue Rose", "Seeking the Moth Queen". the images would be: http://www.shadowscapes.com/image/liri.shtml, http://www.shadowscapes.com/image/bluerose.shtml, http://www.shadowscapes.com/image/mothqueen.shtml. oh wait you said why maestro was just a whole lot of fun to do. i had to research how all those different birds looked and the whole thing just turned out not -exactly- as i envisioned (which they never do), but better in different ways. unfortunately, i've noticed that not many other people like that painting as much as i do if print sales for it are any indication. i think because the small size just doens't do it justice. most of my paintings are 20x30 inches a little jpg loses most of the details!

Jestina: Do you do commission work for private individuals....like, can someone give you a verbal and have you come up with a visual? How easy would it be for you to find time to do something like that... 
Stephanie: yes, i do take commission work but I'm sometimes a bit picky about what projects i take on. if you had something specific in mind, email me a short description of it, and i can let you know

Honglath: "What popular Magic cards have you illustrated?"
Stephanie: Oh, i've only done 3 for a set a little while back (Invasion) Sunscape Apprentice and the the two others actually I don't remember what they changed the name to. they gave me different titles for the original descriptions. one was Scouting Trek, and the other Temporal Distortion. here they are: http://www.shadowscapes.com/gal_CCGMAGIC.shtml

DGMuse: are you working on any projects right now for any other ccg's or rpg's?
Stephanie:  Pretty much constantly. I do regular work for Legend of Five Rings and Warlord ccgs. as well as some occasional stuff for Warhammer CCG. every few months for each of those I do about 2-4 cards.  RPGs, I do a lot of work for the company Green Ronin. The current project I'm working on a lot for them is called "Blue Rose". it's more of a romantic rpg setting inspired by Mercedes Lackey. Another fun project, which I've actually completed all the illustrations for is a book that Larry Elmore is publishing. It's a D20 book. But that's mostly an excuse for the art, which is the main focus. All the art in it is done by me, and it's about faeries.  It's a series of about 10 very short stories, where the characters are actually useable in an rpg campaign setting.  anyway, it was a lot of fun to do, and I'm really looking forward to when that comes out. the estimate is sometime before August, but it might be delayed

Saieva: In dealing with commisions or even the artwork for CCGs and RPGs, how do you decide which ones you will do and which you won't? 
Stephanie: It's pretty easy -- I ask myself if I will enjoy doing it. That's the reason I do this after all. It's because I love making art. When I was in college, I had every intention of becoming a software engineer and just doing art on the side as a hobby but my last year, as I went through career fairs, handing out my resume to all these tech companies, I realized that I wouldn't be happy doing that for the rest of my life, and that I -needed- to do art so that's when I made the decision to actively persue it but I don't want the art to ever be a chore, or something that I'm not inspired to do. so I only take on the projects that get me excited. i am fortunate that I don't have to take everything that comes my way because I manage to make a relatively stable income from my website through sale of prints. it gives me the freedom to work on my own ideas half the time and not have to constantly worry about keeping a full pipeline of work. i would be tearing out my hair if I had to do that!

Sunniva: How much does she charge for these types of things? I mean to commission is one thing but for like rpg games to make up character pictures for the players. 
Stephanie:  not quite sure what the question is? do you mean a company commissioning vs. a private individual commission?
Sunniva: private individual.
Stephanie:  well, it really varies, mostly on size and complexity but for example a 9x12 watercolor painting I charge about $550...up to 20x30 inches for $2000

Merci`: Will you be doing book signings when it comes out?
Stephanie: at conventions yes. I go to about 6-8 conventions a year. if you join my update list at my website, i'll notify people of any appearances. here's where you can join: http://www.shadowscapes.com/updates.shtml

Jestina: What advice would she give to up and coming artists? For example, one of the players here is in high school and does some beautiful drawings and paintings and has them posted to a website specifically for artists. But if she wanted to be published...what could she do? (Jes too)
Stephanie: which website? well, first of all, posting to websites is a great first step. i can attribute a lot of my own website's success to Elfwood
Jestina: used to be on Elfwood, but they arent sure now.
Stephanie: http://elfwood.lysator.liu.se for anyone not familiar with it though, when i joined elfwood first it was only 200 artists, as opposed to the 200000+ it is now. but still, there are other sites out there, and it's a great way to gain exposure and slowly work your way up into the industry.  i still get some very good leads from art directors finding my art through sites like Elfwood. the good thing about the gaming industry is that it's relatively easy to get into. it's not a make it or break it thing. there are a lot of little ways to start climbing into it. for example, taking commisisons from gamers to draw their characters. there's a huge market for that.  it's a great way to start doing relevant work, and to build up a portfolio then you can start sending that portfolio to companies and attending conventions

Chastity: if you were to order something would you autograph it?
Stephanie:  sure. :) all my prints are signed, but if you want any special note, just email me and I will be happy to personalize the autograph

ArowynAngel: my brother is mulling around the idea of building a game and submiting it to one of the game companies like Play Station or Nintendo. Who to contact ?
Stephanie: honestly I don't really know much about the video game industry. I would start by looking on the websites to see if there's any contact information for the right departments but aside from that i don't know.

Jestina: Does she do a lot of research for the paintings usually, or does a muse just strike and she paints?
Stephanie: a bit of both. some paintings require a lot of research, and others I just go with it. i love the internet for image research though! it makes life for an artist MUCH easier

Sunniva: I think she misunderstood what I asked and to make my question a bit more specific I was asking if she did character pics so that people could have custom pictures on their rpg sheets (online) And if she did do that how much she would charge. I do not mean on canvas or anything like that
Stephanie: Ah. No, I don't really do those..sorry!

DGMuse: do you play any tabletop rpgs or have you ever? and if you have, what classes did you usually lean toward? ...and we have a faerie race here that i bet you would like to try out, so come by and play with us sometime. *smiles*
Stephanie:  I used to play them, but the last time i have done so was about 10 years ago and i'm always some sort of magic user or bard. oh, I do play some computer rpg-ish games now. Current addiction is Diablo II and yes, a sorceress. :)  faerie race sounds fun! Okay...I guess that's it...

DGMuse: hehe. thank you for the visit and answering our questions.

Stephanie: no problem. thanks for inviting me