First off, hello to all my new readers who picked up my card this past weekend! I'm currently sitting at my booth in the artist alley of sugoicon, getting ready to pack up after an amazing weekend. This was my first year selling my crafted products in the alley, and everything went surprisingly well. My hard work paid off, and I haven't done a final count yet but I've made over $500 this weekend! Its going to make paying rent next month a LOT less stressful and thank you to all the fantastic people who made this weekend great for me :)

I have a lot to do, I'm going to start selling the tentacles and octopus plush through etsy, though at present I'll sell them direct through me until I get it all set up. I'm going to start selling at cons on a larger scale again so I need to get a backstock made so I'm not frantically rushing to complete everything for each con .

But man am I exhausted. Once I've recovered I'll post a report for these past two conventions. But right now all I want to do is sleeeeep.

I'll make some kind of post-WFC report, I promise. But I'm super busy this week and I'm sure you'll all be satisfied by these:



Black Balloon



Plague

Both are india ink and dip pen on bristol. Yeah.

Well this is an awesome development

Not much to report art-wise today, classes have really been kicking my ass this quarter. When I'm not working, at class, or sleeping, I'm usually working on sewing up things to sell at my table at Sugoicon in a couple weeks. That whole deal is coming along pretty nicely, and yesterday I picked up some things to use for my display (some cute cotton fabric to use as my tablecloth, and those fantastic wire display cubes from Target)

Though I am excited to say that I'll be attending the World Fantasy Convention next weekend in Columbus, Ohio. By some strange stroke of luck I got next Saturday and Sunday off work (strange as hell, since the Day Job is a liquor store/party supply store, seriously if you're ever in Northern Kentucky come check us out, its called Party Source) even though its Halloween weekend, a busy as hell time for us booze peddlers. So I'll be heading up Saturday morning to meet up with my partner in crime, Brit Mandelo. I'll be toting lots of business cards along, as well as my portfolio just in case. Her boss, Irene Gallo of Tor.com will be there as well, and I'm looking forward to meeting her. She's already seen some of my work, that Brit brought along with her to Readercon, so I'm excited for a face-to-face meeting. I'll be handing out cards galore and meeting/hanging/drinking with Brit's lovely author-type friends. It should be quite the awesome experience.



These are the cards, by the way. Sadly I seem to have lost the original digital file, which I honestly don't mind considering I plan to have a new design for the cards when I launch my website. Which will happen. Eventually. I'm just terrible at webdesign and need to wait for my friend Arielle to help with the building process.

School projects post

PEESH



Black & White still-life



Color still life, different part of the same still-life setup in the painting studio.

All 3 are oil on canvas and were done in my painting studio in the past 4 weeks. Next week, we start on our extended still life project. I anticipate it will look a lot cleaner than these previous two, which were each done over the course of 2 3-hour classes.



My final project for my advanced comics studio class back in the spring. It was done with pen&ink and watercolors on a 24x36 piece of illustration board. I was quite pleased with the end result especially considering the time crunch I did it under (didn't sleep much for the 3 days before it was due... oops procrastination)

Detail shots:

Holy crap where did September go?

I have no idea. Time feels like its going too fast sometimes. What I wouldn't give for a time-turner.

Anyway, I bought a new sketchbook. Its spiral-bound at the top instead of the side, which I really like. I'm a leftie so right-side binding gets in the way sometimes.


Trying out a different kind of style, influenced somewhat by the Scott Pilgrim comics style and by San Smith's absolutely adorable style.


Another one of my vaguely irritated-looking random dudes. I used to suck at drawing men. Now I draw them so much that I'm out of practice with drawing women and feminine faces. Guess I'll have to work on that.


Observational sketch of my friend Jen sitting across from me at the coffee shop tonight. Highlands is this great bar/coffee house closeby and its a fantastic place to sit, have some great coffee and/or drinks (or coffee-based drinks) and people watch. I like taking my sketchbook along to draw the people sitting around me.


Another pokemon hoodie I recently completed, for Nik all the way across the pond in the UK.


Aaand my current costume project, Hungary from Axis Powers Hetalia. I hate the fandom but her costume is adorable. Plus I need something cute and comfortable in my costume closet and this is really perfect for what it will be worn for (sitting behind an art table selling plush tentacles) I'm hoping to debut it at SugoiCon in November in Covington Kentucky. I have the green dress nearly finished, I just need to sew some horsehair braid into the hem of the skirt to make it extra-swingy. then comes the apron, wig, and petticoat + bloomers. Surprisingly little, I'm used to making costumes with a huge to-do list. Its a pleasant change

peachy

I've started fall classes, and this quarter I'm taking an oil painting class. A nice change from other classes I have this quarter with exciting names such as "ethnographic methods".

This is the peach I painted over the course of 2 classes this week. Next week we move on to larger sized paintings, which I'm quite glad to do. I hate working small when it comes to painting.



picture taken with my cell phone.

I traveled to Dragon*Con in Atlanta,GA this past weekend, and I had a fantastic time. I'll definitely be returning next year. My only regret is not having business/contact cards printed up in time to take along. Oh well. :)

I've been sketching a lot in blue pencil while at work (though haha, I found a new job! I start tomorrow.) and I really enjoy the look I get with it, though its not exactly practical seeing as its meant to be invisible under final pencils and inks.





oh ha, same face. Ooops. But a sketchbook is a "sketch"book for a reason :P



Some weeaboo retardedness. This may end up as a miniprint for fall.



I love this man and everything that comes from his mouth.