Interview: SoulFire Photography

What do Dragon Age: Inquisition, Tolkien, and RWBY all have in common? If you answered they're awesome, well, yes, you're technically correct. But they're also a few of the fandoms with a few of the characters Sonja of SoulFire photography has brought to life through her colorful albeit sometimes gut-wrenching work (yup, the proof's in the pudding) with cosplayers of all genres. Below the cut you'll read about her approach to working with cosplayers, her dream shoot, and her journey as a photographer. So check it out!

Interview: The Pixel Peddler

 One of my favorite parts of going to conventions is walking through the artist and vendor halls and seeing some of the creative ways people appreciate their geekery with their art.

For Allen, also known as The Pixel Peddler, that means taking painstaking care to arrange beads into pixelated portraits of some of fandom's most beloved characters. If you can't tell from his giant Link portrait above, his fun and colorful creations look like they jumped straight out of an old game console (just check out the shading on those boots - amazing).

Find the full interview below the cut!

Interview: Doctor Dan the Pancake Man

Breakfast is my favorite meal. Scrambled eggs, bacon, cinnamon buns, a tall glass of orange juice...for me, you just can't beat it. And today we're talking about the middleweight champion of the Breakfast Food world: pancakes.

If pancakes are the middleweight champion, Doctor Dan the Pancake Man is...okay, it's an imperfect metaphor. Basically, if you didn't know pancake art is a thing, you're about to be pleasantly surprised by the following interview with one of the world's only pancake artists - and certainly the only one I've seen pour a pancake of Nick Fury's face that looked both uncannily real and unbelievably delicious.

Daniel Drake has been professionally making pancake art since his visit to the Today Show in 2013. How does one get into the pancake dancake biz? Read on to find out...and look to the end for a special deal on Wizard World St. Louis tickets!

Interview: Skahfee Studios

For a while now, I've been looking for something to hang above the Tolkien-centric bookcase in my living room, next to my museum-edition Sting (okay, okay, I'll stop preening now). Imagine the excited symphonies that sounded in my head when I happened across Scott Smith of Skahfee Studios' booth at Indiana Comic Con in March and found this perfect illustration of Smaug above The Lonely Mountain, made completely out of quotes from The Hobbit. Pretty sure my money grew wings of its own and flew out of my wallet at mach speeds.

I'm not sure if I even waited to hang it up before I sent Scott a message, asking for an interview. Scott is a pop artist who molds his typography to create stunning visuals from fandoms near and dear to the geeky heart. Currently, he travels to conventions around the country, sharing his art full-time with the world. Read on below the cut to learn how he tackles each piece and why he made the scary jump from "cubicle slave" to full-time artist.

Interview: Katelin Kinney Photography

I love pictures that tell a story. That make me wonder about the person in them, what they're thinking, the kind of world they live in, and what might have just happened out of sight.

Photography by Katelin Kinney

So it goes without saying that I'm a huge fan of photographer Katelin Kinney's soft yet vivid creations. Katelin has a talent for grounding a fantastical concept in a familiar setting; she takes something we know, and uses her pictures to ask the question, "But what if...?"

I was recently able to touch base with Katelin and ask a few questions about her inspirations and style. Read on!

Relentlessly Cheerful Art

Who doesn't love a good mash-up?

The internet is teeming with them, but it always feels like there are new ones to be had. For all we think we've seen every variation of Star Wars and Doctor Who and Firefly crossing paths, variations keep cropping up and surprising us...and we're always glad when they do.

Art by James Hance

Art by James Hance

James Hance's art has been dubbed "relentlessly cheerful"; it's an apt description, trust us. One look through his gallery and you'll have more warm fuzzies than Kirk with a bridge full of tribbles.

He alternates between soft palettes and sketchy strokes and finds the perfect balance between cute and almost too cute. Our favorites (if we absolutely had to pick) are his storybook-like Doctor Who illustrations and of course, his Wookie the Chew collection.

Nevermind - I just saw his Where the Wild Things Are/Star Wars piece.

Check out Art by James Hance and as always, please be supportive of independent artists!