2005 Highlights The Best in Show Award at the World Fantasy Convention Art Show was awarded to "Da Vinci's Dream" by illustrator Douglas Klauba view image. The Art Show at the World Fantasy Convention is a juried exhibition, displaying top published artists in the field with an Artist Reception on Saturday evening. The November 3-6, 2005 gathering was held in Madison, Wisconsin welcoming Guests of Honor: Graham Joyce, Robert Weinberg, Terri Windling, Artist Guest of Honor: Kinuko Y. Craft and Toastmaster: Peter Straub. The World Fantasy Convention is an annual gathering (almost a reunion) of professionals, collectors, and others interested in the field of Light and Dark Fantasy art and literature. The number of Attending memberships are limited (approximately 1000), and usually sell out in advance of the start of the convention. Members come from all over the world, and the convention site also travels around the world. A couple of new interviews with Doug on his comic book and sci-fi work are available online. You can read one at the Moonstone Books site: www.moonstonebooks.com and an audio interview that you can download is available at Word Balloon Radio: www.wordballoon.com at the new Pop Culture web site, It Came From The Basement: www.icftb.com Spectrum: The Best in Contemporary Fantastic Art has announced an exhibition of original artwork, culled from all past eleven annuals. The best of the best! "Mercury Jack" has been selected to be among the 250 displayed at the Museum of American Illustration at the Society of Illustrators. The Spectrum Exhibition is scheduled for September 7 through October 1, 2005 with an opening reception to be held on Friday, September 9 at the Society of Illustrators, 128 East 63rd Street, New York, NY 10021-7303. This exhibit will be a rare opportunity for enthusiasts to have a personal experience with the vibrant and expressive work that has come to exemplify Spectrum. "Mercury Jack" was originally published in Spectrum annual 7 and also featured "Colossus" a painting by Doug's uncle, George Klauba. 2004 Highlights The Moonstone Merchandise Mart at www.cafepress.com/moonstonebooks has a variety of cool Kolchak the Night Stalker, Jack Hagee and Lone Wolf shirts, jerseys, mugs and journals that feature cover art that Doug has painted for Moonstone comics. Unfortunately, due to the licensing agreement with King Features / Hearst Publishing, there will be no Phantom merchandise. The Blackbeard the Pirate view image illustration for the story Ghost Pirates in Breakaway magazine was selected among the entries in the Editorial category and will be included in the art annual Spectrum 11: The Best of Contemporary Fantastic Art to be published in October, 2004 by Underwood Books. Douglas Klauba will be at the Moonstone Books publisher booth at the 35th Annual Comic-Con International at the San Diego Convention Center this July. He will have a selection of prints and artwork available. It's sure to be a busy weekend with over 70,000 attendees expected! 2003 Highlights Secrets Revealed! Many of you have asked how Doug comes up with his concepts, how he painted Mercury Jack, and how much time he puts into each project. All of these questions and other topics are covered in a great new book Exploring Illustration: An In-Depth Guide to the Art and Techniques of Contemporary Illustration by Michael Fleishman from publisher Thomson Delmar Learning. The book is an excellent source for students and followers of Illustration, both inside the classroom and on the drawing board. The book examines all aspects of Illustration from history to the techniques and materials of some of the top illustrators today. Doug was featured alongside Gary Kelley, Gregory Manchess, Elwood Smith, John Jinks, James Bennet, Sam Viviano, Jacki Gelb, Loren Long, C. F. Payne to name just a few! The book is filled with black and white images as well as a full color section including artist profiles and features a number of Doug's painting's. Buy it now! Amazon.com "This is the best book on Illustration that I've seen!" LifeWay continues to commission many paintings throughout the year for their Teaching Pictures and In Ministry With Kids magazine view image. Moonstone Books has assigned Doug to paint the covers for their on going comic book series of The Phantom for 2004! view image Doug's rendition of the classic King Features icon met with critical acclaim after the Moonstone trade paperback bearing his interpretation of the jungle hero quickly sold out in 2003. Publisher Joe Gentile immediately offered him the prized opportunity of portraying the historic comic strip hero on a regular basis, and Doug didn't hesitate to accept! Joe explains, "With The Phantom, we were really looking to do something that would be noticed. We are basically dealing with a man in purple tights running through the African jungle. So, we wanted to showcase what makes the Phantom who he is: the 'Ghost Who Walks'. He has been looked upon with awe and respect for 20 generations. We needed to amp up the character's innate mystery and power, and somehow make him look like a real human being, but show that he may be MORE than that. That's where Doug Klauba comes in. With Doug's painting of the Phantom, by far the most powerful and most emotion - provoking depiction of this character that I have ever seen, he shows the Phantom realistically, but with that extra touch of otherworldliness that befits the 'Ghost Who Walks'. The Phantom is a guy who, when he walks into a room, the bad guys immediately want to leave. Here, with Doug's painting, I think he captures the inner intensity of the character like never before." Doug added, "I felt that this was going to be a once in a lifetime chance for me to paint this beloved character who pre-dates even Superman in print, and I'm putting 200% into it." Created by Lee Falk in 1936, the Phantom remains one the highly regarded comic strip characters around the world, who also finally made it to the big Hollywood screen back in 1996. Doug was also honored when his cover for the Moonstone trade paperback collection was included in The Phantom 2004 Diary published in Australia by Mallon Publishing. The Diary is an historic selection of classic Phantom cover interpretations through the 60+ years and from around the globe. Moonstone Books Douglas Klauba, Storyteller. You may be familiar with Doug's children's books but did you know that another of his true passions and interests are in the sequential art medium, commonly known as the comic book? Moonstone published Doug's first comic book story, "Raja Yah" view image written by Clay And Susan Griffith, for the first issue of "Ghosts". Doug describes the story as a 'tip of the hat' to the Warren magazines of the 1970's that he grew up reading: "The ten page story was rendered in pen and ink, a favorite medium of mine that I don't get the chance to use too often, and also as an homage to some my favorite illustrators Franklin Booth, Joseph Clement Coll and Gary Gianni". The 32 page comic book was released in July 2003 at Wizard World Chicago, where Doug was busy dividing his time between the Artists Alley and the Moonstone Books publishers booth. Doug will continue to experiment in the comic book medium with two new black and white stories for 2004: A darkly humorous twist on the Mad Scientist genre written by his longtime friend, award winning Horror writer Wayne Allen Sallee, and a brand new tale of gritty crime detective Jack Hagee written by CJ Henderson and penciled by Thomas Gianni. Peak Creative commissioned Doug to illustrate the packaging covers and interior art for Focus on the Family's Radio Theatre's productions of "Little Women" and "Anne of Green Gables". 2002 Highlights Doug illustrated the official commemorative poster for the Chicago Fantastic Film Festival view image held thru the weekend of June 1 & 2 at Chicago's Gateway Theatre, one of the last remaining movie palaces in the city. It was also featured on Fox in the Morning program with one of the festival's guests, actress Joanna Cassidy. Ms. Cassidy also did the unveiling of the art at the opening reception on May 31st. You may remember Joanna Cassidy from her outstanding roles in films such as Under Fire, Who Framed Roger Rabbit? and Blade Runner, and can see her currently on the HBO show Six Feet Under. The poster is currently available to purchase for $20.00 (includes shipping). Email Doug for details. 2001 Highlights It's a boy! Daneen and Douglas Klauba announced the birth of their first child, Luca Angelo Klauba. Doug raced Daneen to the hospital on January 29th at 8:45pm and Luca arrived at 11:52pm (a true artist cutting it so close to his deadlines!) a healthy 7 pounds, 7 ounces and 11 inches little boy. With new sounds in the house and studio, Doug was still able to meet his deadlines (amazingly, without much sleep) for Forbes ASAP, Computer User, Biographics, Breakaway, Clubhouse and others, including Hansel and Gretel for a child's classic story anthology titled: Bedtime Stories from Publications International, Ltd. In January The Adler Planetarium and Space Museum released their calendar with the month of August showcasing Doug's painting of a Buck Rogers type Space Man. view image The painting was recently accepted into the annual : Spectrum 8 The Best in Contemporary Fantastic Art. This summer Doug created a commemorative poster for the Chicago Silent Film Society Film Fest. The poster was designed in a vintage 1920's style, featuring Rudolph Valentino in The Son of the Sheik. The poster was an instant success and sold out completely on the evening of the event.view image In September, Doug was chosen the honor of illustrating the Bosch 100th anniversary poster, to be released in December. The design is historically reminiscent of Bosch's past advertising posters from the early 20th century. The art will also be featured on the Bosch 2002 calendar.view image 2000 Highlights Commissioned by Focus on the Familyto do a portrait of Cassie Bernall late last year. The painting was presented to the family of the Columbine High School student that said, "Yes, I believe in God", and recently was used in the Focus on the Family, Breakaway and Lifewisemagazines. view image Finished 13 illustrations for the childrens' book, All You Ever Need by Max Lucado, at the end of February 2000. This book is available in bookstores everywhere. You can order it from Amazon.com Just released from Crossway Books, Forever Friends (The Toy Shoppe on Periwinkle Lane).view cover You can order it from Amazon.com My painting, Mercury Jack,was accepted into the juried Spectrum 7annual.You can order it from Amazon.com Commissioned by Paris Casino in Las Vegas to create a product label for Celis Pierre Reserve Biere. view image