The Story Behind it all
It’s no secret that we’re geeks. Hard-core fantasy and science-fiction fanatics that live for the inspired while always seeking the inspiring. We’ve read and own thousands of comic books, graphic novels, text novels, and DVDs. We’re always listening to the soundtracks of our favorite fantasy/sci-fi movies, and our home is decorated in an eclectic frenzy of old, weird movie paraphernalia in 1984, Rue was introduced to a brand-new fantasy world that had been created in a whirlwind of inspiration.
Our Brief History…Tarnished Images, Inc.
My professional career started the day after I graduated college in 1990. Since then, I’ve worked for dozens of publishing companies, doing mostly fantasy illustrations for collectible card games, magazines, board games, books, role-playing games, and just about any other product you would consider. All of those jobs came from work-for-hire contracts, which was, and still is, the typical way for a freelance artist to get noticed and hopefully snag a full-time spot at a company like TSR or Wizards of the Coast. At the time, I would have been excited beyond belief to land a job at one of those companies. Of course, as is often the case with me, that’s not exactly how my career went.
It didn’t take very long before I became frustrated with “the business part of the business”, which is what I call the daily routine of most freelancers: Begging companies for work, drawing and painting until blue in the face to hit deadlines, missing those same deadlines (oops), sucking up to those same art directors for more work, and then starting it all over again. I couldn’t see myself doing that every day for the rest of my life, so I decided to get out. I proudly declined the next contract that came my way and declared myself a self-published artist. I would only paint my own ideas and then sell them to a (hopefully!) awaiting, adoring public. At least that was the plan. After two months I freaked out and caved in, taking a staff artist job at Steve Jackson Games.
My stint in Texas with SJG lasted nine months, and taught me a great many things. I learned, in no particular order: 1) I paint slower than the continents drift; 2) I suck at art by committee; 3) A Yankee girl from Ohio and California boy don’t belong in Maxwell, Texas (population 178).
Okay, so I freaked out again and decided once more, what the hey, I’m going to paint what I want, when I want, for myself. I just had to be true to the artistic muse. I was going to do what I loved, and the money would follow. I hoped.
In 1991, I left SJG. Todd and I moved back to Alabama and started Tarnished Images. We began as a bootstrap business, with our sales coming from either attending or mailing in artwork to Fantasy and Science-Fiction conventions, and the occasional free-lance job. As a result, we lived on boxed mac & cheese, frozen pot pies (28 cents each!), and on lots of hot dogs. I was doing pen & ink originals, making limited edition prints of them, and hand-coloring each one. It took hours for each piece but it taught me how to paint. Finally, I screwed up my courage and did my first full painting, “Eye of the Storm”. We scraped together enough pennies to have it printed as a offset lithograph. Todd, in addition to handling “the business part of the business,” became Tarnished Images’ Master Framer, and set the highest-quality standards we keep to this day.
1994 was a year of great change. Within a nine month stretch, Todd and I got married, moved to Ohio, and bought our first house. Todd also turned thirty during this time, and this time it was his turn to freak out. :-)
It was also in early 1994 that I met the second love of my life – the world of Renaissance Faires. The first time I walked through those ivy-covered gates at the Kansas City Renaissance Festival, I was lost. Here was a real place – Knights, Scotsmen, Faeries, Ladies-In-Waiting, Traveling Musicians, Nobles, Elves, Castles, Craft Halls, and Jousting Arenas – and I was rubbing elbows with all of it. My artwork had finally found a place where it could come to life. “Once upon a time” became my motto and “Good day to thee” became my mantra. Our long-time love of fantasy grew into our new way of life.
Since those early years, we have expanded from exhibiting in one Renaissance Festival to fourteen! My work can be seen from Arizona to New York, running 12 months a year in over 20 states.
It’s certainly been a wild ride, to say the least. Our business has grown from the humble beginning of matting artwork in our tiny college dorm room, then to a restored garage, then into a rental house, and now into our most recent location, which is a 3,500 square-foot retail location on Main Street in Niles, Ohio. We have grown from one part-time employee to eight full-timers and from a couple of sheets of mat board to thousands of sheets trucked in on pallets. In 2005, Tarnished Images founded its first retail art gallery, bought our first large-format printer to run all of our printing in-house, and jumped into the huge licensing pool with contracts from Excalibur Hotel, Hot Topic, The Franklin Mint, The Mountain, and Tree-Free Greetings.
So here we are, still kids at heart, playing wizards and faeries from 9 to 5. We dress up in funny clothes, speak with goofy accents, and argue about how dragons could really fly. And we get paid for it! I still don’t understand and really can’t believe that people connect with my ideas so often and so passionately. I believe it all comes full circle. You, my patrons, are the reason why I can do what I do. Every day. Thank you for everything you’ve given me. Here’s to the dreamers, wanderers, and kindred souls. Let’s journey together a bit longer, and see what’s over the next hill…