Get info on illustration, books, signings, workshops, and the wonders of art from the desk of John Loren.
Spooky Season Primer
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Issue 08: September 2025... Spooky Season Primer If you missed the last issue, you can read it here. As far as I'm concerned, Halloween started September 1st, so here's wishing you a happy halfway point to the Spooky Season! There will be a rambling Halloween issue coming next, for now we just have a few updates on Lorcana, Everhaven artwork, and info for an upcoming picture book event this weekend. Here we go: An Upcoming Picture Book Event I'll be reading my book FRANKENSTEIN DOESN'T WEAR EARMUFFS! and doing a drawing activity with the kids. The event begins at 2 pm. If you're in the New England area and need more Halloween in your life, come out and support this new book shop. Costumes are encouraged! The Everhaven Archives For those just joining us, Everhaven was a video game (for which I made lots of concept art) that was cancelled weeks before its release. Now I send out a couple pieces with every newsletter. This time from the archives, we've got more concepts for creatures that the Raider characters use as their "pirate ships." Last newsletter I shared the first creature, but then I figured I should have just made them into a set to show the scale. Card News These four cards have been reprinted and are available right now in Fabled, which is an anniversary set that includes stuff from across the first eight sets of Lorcana (as well as debuting some new stuff, like Goofy Movie.) The other Big Card News is that I've joined the Ravensburger crew as Principal Artist for Lorcana. This is a pretty wild change for me as an eternal freelancer! But, working with a fleet of amazing artists on concept and illustration work was too tasty to pass up. If I was missing anything in my years of freelance, it was the opportunity to collaborate on a daily basis. Anyway, this is not becoming a Lorcana newsletter, but you will continue to see lots of fun stuff from the game here, and possibly some of the decks that I build :) |
The John Loren Newsletter
Get info on illustration, books, signings, workshops, and the wonders of art from the desk of John Loren.
Issue 09: October 2025... The Halloween Special II If you missed the last issue, you can read it here. IT IS HALLOWEEN. So, we have the longest newsletter of the year. In addition to being the best season in general, Halloween is also a great season for art, so I hope you've taken in some beautiful ghosts and pumpkins from your favorite artists. This time, we'll take a look at a personal project, a book on my shelf, do some Q&A, and as always there is new Everhaven stuff and Lorcana stuff....
Issue 07: July 2025... The Summer Postcard If you missed the last issue, you can read it here. It's been a while, I've been deluged in deadlines and dad-lines and this issue has sat half-complete for too long. Since last time, I also finished the first round of card signing and wrapped up a round of painting mentorships which I really enjoyed... I get to ramble on about my favorite topics, and of course the artists did a great job. This newsletter is about a year old now, and the question of...
Issue 06: April 2025... The Vernal Journal (Ok so, Vernal means spring... I know it's a stretch.) If you missed the last issue, you can read it here. Last time I asked for some questions, a recurring request was Tips for New Freelance Artists. I know many readers don't fall into this category, but for those who do, I put together a list at the end of some of the things I find important in retrospect. I've been reviewing a lot of portfolios lately, and these things are especially on my mind,...