If you've been following Altrix's work for a while, you've probably seen the work of artist Ginger Hoesly. So far she's drawn and designed covers for the first of our Chronosmiths Chronicles books, Paul Driscoll's After Vincent, as well as for our charity releases Seasons of War: Gallifrey, Master Pieces, and Unearthed.
Ginger is back again for the cover of Eleanor's Tears, and she's also contributed something else to our latest book. Read on as we chat with her about the latest foray into the universe of the Chronosmiths!
For those who are new to our
site, tell us a little about yourself.
My name's
Ginger Hoesly; I'm a "graphic designer by day, illustrator by night"
type of lady who can oftentimes be found ranting and raving about
various nerd subjects, and also baseball. If you've ever wanted very
strong opinions about, say, the best Elder Scrolls game, underrated
pitchers in the MLB, and get a drawing out of it, you turn to me.
You've done four covers for Altrix Books so far. What's
your design process like?
Well first, I'd like to say
thank you for allowing me to work on those covers, as I find the whole
process a very rewarding one. I am a designer by choice (which is not
exactly the same for all illustrators) and it satisfies a certain need
in my brain.
As far as the process, the
initial thing I like to establish is the general mood and tone we want
to convey. With pieces that need to communicate something, I like to
have input from the author to understand what they are thinking and are
going for so that what I create is not going to cause a
disconnect from the actual work itself. However, I understand that it
can be difficult to try and narrow down your whole story into a single
image, so I mostly ask for a wide net of key words, scenes, and
locations that I can then draw from.
For
The Chronomsith Chronicles, I wanted to establish a certain look and
layout to the covers that would tie all the books in this brand-new
series together. For Master Pieces, I was more concerned about trying to
represent a variety of characters involved without drawing portraits of
them - so, the opposite of CC. It varies by project, which is again
when I turn to author/editor input.
There's one more thing you've brought to this book - the
character of Tati. Tell us a little about her.
Ohhh
Tati. Well, she was a character I created back in 2009, and can be seen
in several of my college art projects (though looking a little
different). However, artists have a curious habit of making characters
but then not actually doing much with them, so she kind of just lingered
for a while when her story didn't get off the ground. I don't exactly
recall how it got brought up, but at some point in time you (Kara) and I
were talking about something or another, Tati was mentioned, and
eventually it came about that she would fulfil a perfect niche in The
Chronosmith Chronicles.
Her original story has her start in a far future on a colonized planet,
and eventually in the narrative she becomes a dimension-hopping bounty
hunter, which I am amused to see was something actually needed!
What's it like seeing her in this new setting? Any hopes
for what she'll get up to?
I'm honestly just
glad to see that Tati has a home. It is a little bit nerve-wracking to
hand off your creation to someone else when you have such a strong idea
of who she is, even if you (I) have never done much with her.
However, I trust you guys to do her right. I'm hoping Tati makes life
annoying for the various parties involved and maintains her great hair
while doing so.
Where can people see more of your work?
If you just want the art, the best place to follow me would be on
Instagram.
If you're also interested in my fandoms and baseball opinions, my
Twitter and
Tumblr would be great places to check
out. Finally, I do have a
website which contains illustration & design work, plus my shop! I have
various t-shirts, prints, pins, and other sundries available for
purchase.
