Updates: New Art, New Conventions

I'm alive!

So my new job took some time to settle into, but I think I've got it now. As promised, here's some new artwork!

Andromeda

First up is this thing. I thought I was done with it the last time I showed it but it turns out that I was not. There was a lot more that I could do and so, I did. I'm much happier with it now and it has turned out to be a great seller at the comic conventions I've attended so far this year.

I still never added a background because I wanted to give the sense that she IS the universe. I have been thinking of doing more ladies along these lines but I haven't really had the inspiration yet to do more.

Owls for Grandma

Next is, "Owls for Grandma," named so because that's exactly who I did it for. She's not really my grandmother, she's my cousin's grandma, but she just enjoys being everyone's grandma. She had a rough year last year, a lot of deaths in the family.

I had told her a few years back that I would paint her an owl and I just never did. Truthfully, tried a few times to digitally paint her an owl and it never turned out right. Maybe I was hard on myself I dunno.

Eventually I bought a wood board and decided to do this with acrylic paint instead and that turned out to be a good decision. What started out as only being one owl, turned into three when I realized that eastern screech owls were really tiny and the hollow in the tree was a little large to put just one in there.

Oliver Lucas: The Staff of Moses

When all was said and done, it's not the most amazing masterpiece ever but I am happy with it and my grandma is too!

to the left here is a finished commission done by myself and my usual partner in crime, Nga Nguyen. (Her lines, my colors as usual) I went to a small one day show in Richmond VA, where I met local author Andrew Linke. We are currently working on book cover number two!

This was a pretty ambitious piece with all the hieroglyphics in the background. Not to mention that making something look old and a bit distressed is somewhat difficult to do in photoshop. sometimes your textures tend to come out too perfect to look right.

Anyway, I hope to have the second cover done by mid September. Nga is always super punctual with her work, but me? Not so much. Just another something I have got to work on. I need to make myself work more. I run on inspiration far too much.

Clockwork Koi

 Next! "Clockwork Koi" I've been working on this thing since last November. I'm not sure what inspired it really. This is one of the rare times that I drew exactly what I set out to draw. That is always difficult for me for some reason. Probably goes back to that "running too much on inspiration" thing I mentioned earlier.

My job deals a lot with machines and I actually enjoy it. I'm used to seeing metal, rivets, nuts and bolts, and hydraulic lines, so I incorporated them into my art here.

The lotus flowers seemed out of place and far too plain when I added them next to the mechanical features of the koi. After a little thinking, I decided to go with an antique lamp look. My grandmother had one of those antique stained glass looking lamps, so I used those as a reference. I eventually want to draw a dragon to match it, but that will have to wait until I've cleared my commission list.

Love you to the moon and back

Last but not least! Here's the latest artwork. This isn't the whole thing and it actually can't even be finished until after the wedding. It's a guestbook idea that actually came from pinterest but my friend here had me do my own spin on it.

I told her I'd do it and decided to have it done in watercolor but didn't stop to think that I haven't actually seriously used watercolor paint. I don't think that el cheapo watercolors when I was ten years old really counts as practice. So I may have panicked a little.

I watched a few tutorials, grabbed a few supplies and just hoped that it would turn out okay. I'm happy to say that she loves it and not too many people could tell that I'm a total watercolor n00b. What can I say? I learn really fast. I have to. If I had to list a skill as my best asset, it wouldn't even be art, it would be the ability to bullshit like I know what I'm doing until I actually do know what I'm doing.

In any case, that's all I have for the moment. It makes me happy that this is the most artwork that I've updated in a while. I'm getting more time to do it these days since I ditched that old job and found this one. I just... feel better. It's amazing how much your job affects your life. Since ditching my old job and getting with this new one I've lost nearly 20 pounds, I've completed four more artworks and sketched many more, and I've signed up for the most conventions I've ever done in one year.

Speaking of conventions, I've also updated my convention schedule page. If you know of any that I may be interested in, feel free to comment! I'm always looking for more!

Talk to you again soon!

Spark, out.

Sailing On: Winds of Change

Hello again!

No, I'm not dead. Things could be better but I'm certainly not dead lol.

A lot has happened since my last blog update! I'm not talking about small changes either. There have been quite a few large ones.

The Job Front

As most of you know I was laid off last year. I didn't manage to make art a career before my job at the gun factory left. Supposedly I had until August of this year, but they decided almost last minute that my last day of work there would be December 13th 2014. This was especially frustrating for me because it meant that I would be stuck looking for employment while five months pregnant. Even in this day and age, when everyone speaks of equality, you can expect to have a very hard time finding work as a pregnant woman.

Step into my office...

Fortunately, I didn't have to worry about being unemployed for very long. I found another job at a fab shop only a week after being laid off. I rather enjoyed my work. Even though the benefits were lacking and the pay wasn't what I had gotten used to at my previous job, the people were nice and the atmosphere was very relaxed. I couldn't have found a more perfect place to work while expecting. Even more helpful was the fact that I picked up skills beyond working as a gunsmith. My boss even bought me books to study up on, which was very nice of him. It wasn't without its struggles though. I have a feeling some of the guys at the shop thought I was a sympathy hire. Hell, even if I did get hired out of sympathy for my situation I am totally not complaining. For someone without a college degree, experience is almost priceless. I was able to get away from solely working in the gun industry.

Don't get me wrong, it's so cool to be able to call yourself a gunsmith. Unfortunately it's such a niche occupation. Sure, this is the dirty South, there's a gun shop on every corner that would hire a gunsmith. But that's the thing, most places only need one or two and aside from the gun shop or a gun manufacturer, no employer around really cares how well you deal with guns. And the politics! Ugh! It gets exhausting to hear it around the work place every time some politician gets too big for his pants and decides to wage war on your way of life. For most people, it's not every day that some political dingbat reveals some plan to destroy their living, but for a gunsmith it's a regular thing.

Anyway, just when you thought life couldn't throw me another curve ball, right after the birth of my adorable baby girl, the company I worked for announced that it was moving away as well. If I hadn't already been contacted by an old coworker about a job, I probably would have been laid off for the second time within the course of a year.

Which brings me to where I am now, working quality control at a factory that deals in plastics. (truthfully I'm not feeling it... but it's work.) I'm still determined to do this art thing for a living, but until then it looks like I'm stuck with the smell of burned plastic every day.

BABY!

Alexandria Michele Altenkirch. Born April 3, 2015

So the last time you heard from me I was expecting a baby. Well she's here! And she's the most adorable baby on the face of the planet! (Oh no I'm not biased, not at all.)

I will admit that I was afraid of the whole birthing thing. I wasn't looking forward to that particular detail but it wasn't exactly avoidable. Thank God for modern medicine though! For the most part I feel like I got off easy. However, once the epidural wore off I wanted it back. Oh, the things no one ever tells you about having a baby. Specifically: the recovery. I thought, nah, I don't need six weeks, I can come back to work after like... three.

Now I can be close while I work

!

Needless to say, that definitely didn't happen. When they tell you six weeks of recovery, they mean it. I needed all of it. During my recovery I did manage to do a little artwork, finally breaking my artless streak, which pretty much lasted the whole duration of my pregnancy.

But hey! Look what I got out of it: A little girl lovingly named Alexandria. I love her to death, she's just so adorable and making her smile is the highlight of my day! She's growing like a weed and at two months old she's already outgrown some of her little outfits. Being a parent is something I never really saw myself doing and being responsible for another life is just terrifying sometimes but I think I'm getting the hang of this Mom thing.

Convention Update

Although I had plans to go, I didn't ever actually make it to MAGfest. I did, however, make it to Animazement again this year.

Unfortunately this was the worst year at my home convention yet. It seemed that I was somehow just invisible. I had next to no sales, I was lucky to break even. Everything that could have gone wrong did. I already hadn't been doing well in sales (the first time ever I made less on a Saturday than on Friday.) and to make matters even worse, a friend of mine knocked a cup of coffee over and it spilled all over the remaining prints. It was a total disaster.

This was quite literally the best part of the weekend.

 I actually had more fun exploring Raleigh than I had at the actual con. I don't know, somewhere I feel like maybe I lost the Anime crowd. I don't watch many of those shows anymore and the ones that I do watch are pretty obscure or just old. I mean Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet, Knights of Sidonia (ah netflix...), Utawarerumono? Anyone ever hear of them? Psycho Pass is probably the newest and most mainstream thing I've watched and actually liked. Where did Rurouni Kenshin ever go? I still see some Inuyasha hanging around, Sailor Moon never really seems to lose popularity but I was never really a fan. Full Metal Panic! Anyone? I feel like I haven't seen anything for that in years. I never really saw much fan art for it anyway.

So yeah... maybe I'm just not with it anymore.  I've decided to shift focus, and thanks to a fellow artist alley goer, I managed to sign up in time to make it into artist alley at NC Comic Con in November this year. Gonna be on the look out for more conventions to sign up for. Maybe NYCC one year? ;D (I can dream.)

Art Updates!

 I the job that I held up until I had Alex was so laid back that I did a couple of sketches. They're not my usual fare but maybe I'll paint them at some point. I did always tell my grandma I'd paint an owl for her one day. I've been working on my own line work for a while now. I'm actually pretty happy looking at some of my art. I mean, it's not perfect but the last three pieces I completed were completely my own. Making a little progress there!

I've also picked up a project, which I'm currently working on with Nga. I'm not going to go into major detail about it but I'll release a little information as I get permission to. It's gonna be awesome! So far it's hard work trying to balance a full time job, a new baby and art. I'll have to do it if I want to keep it up though.

I know I introduce myself as a colorist most often, but I have a confession to make... I have never actually colored frames. I'm not sure exactly how to keep colors consistent. It's alright everyone involved knows this is really my first try so It's bound to be a learning experience.


Now that you've read this wall of text (or at least some of it.) I will leave the blog open for questions! If you're curious about anything (so long as it's appropriate) please feel free to ask!  Anything from favorite music to what programs and tools I use for my artwork. I'll do my best to answer questions Thursday of next week if there's enough interest.

For now, I'll leave you guys with a few of my newest sketches and artworks. Remember, I am on more social media than just blogger! Check the websites and contact info tab on my blog to follow me on Twitter, Instagram, DeviantART, and a few others.

Until next week!

Spark, out.

Life: It Happened

So for those of you that were reading regularly, I am sorry for the long absence.  Life struck and I have been nowhere close to a computer for quite some time.  The past two months have been absolutely inundated with large events.  So we'll start at the beginning.  This may be a pretty long blog post.  Just a warning. 

BABY NEWS!

Some of you may already know this bur for those of you who don't, here it is!  Around the same time as Otakon I found out some really important, and kind of unexpected news.  I'm pregnant!  My husband and I will be expecting our first child around the first of April next year.  That has definitely preoccupied my mind quite a bit.  Not that I'm panicking or that I don't want kids.  They were going to happen sooner or later.  While I say that this was a surprise, it wasn't exactly an accident. 

So far I'm around five months along and we already know the sex of the baby.  It's gonna be a girl!  We've got a first name picked out, the last name is obvious, but a middle name isn't really coming so easy.  My husband wants to use my middle name, but I don't like that idea.  I didn't like that both of my parents name me after themselves, I didn't want to do the same to my own child.  So the middle name is still up in the air.  (suggestions in the comments are greatly appreciated! I'd love to hear some!)

Little Alexandria Altenkirch

For a while I was also worried that I would be a detached parent.  I'm not sure if it's due to my upbringing or what, but I have a tendency to be very... distant.  I thought, "what if I see my baby as just a thing?  Not a tiny human, but a thing that simply cries, barfs, and poops everywhere?  Wouldn't that make me a terrible parent?  What if I'm just as awkward around my own child as I am other children and even adults?"

The last ultrasound definitely pushed me a little further over that hurdle, as well as the fact that I can feel her moving now.  I've become quite paranoid of anything happening to her, even if she does like to randomly assault my bladder.  Nothing quite compares to that  ultrasound where you can see your baby's little head, and her hands and feet.  You can see your baby in real time respond to things happening outside your belly and it really starts to put things into a different perspective for you.

Over all I am definitely excited, just a little anxious for the future.  I will do the best I can to be a good parent and I know my husband will too.  I couldn't be happier for the supportive friends and the few family members that I have that have been very supportive as well.

CAR ACCIDENT

Before....

Now this one is sort of embarrassing.  I wrecked my car.  It all happened in the dumbest way possible too.  I ran a red light and smacked another vehicle and to this day I couldn't tell you how in the hell I missed the fact that the light was red.

Luckily it wasn't a terrible accident.  The car is still drivable and shockingly everything on it still works even though it suffered frame damage.  The air bags didn't go off, I didn't even get a bruise from my seat belt and the baby is just fine.  I'll be forever grateful that the car has some amazingly strong brakes!

This happened at the beginning of September so I wasn't even pregnant enough to show yet, which is probably a good thing.  All in all it wasn't a super traumatizing experience and no one suffered any injury.

However I've been pretty damn depressed about it all.  This was my first ever vehicle and it was still functioning well and it still looked perfectly fine up until I wrecked it.  The car is nearly 16 years old and I've owned it for the past eight years.  I used to wash and wax this car at least once a month.  I could shine it to such a finish, that the sunlight reflecting off of it could blind you.  I was proud of my car and I had been through a lot with it.

Now it looks like it's had a stroke.  I bought a new bumper for it, which has no paint on it and it's lopsided due to the frame being twisted ever so slightly.  The hood, and the headlights are both transplants from junkyard vehicles, one of them is foggier than the other ... holy crap this poor vehicle!  I feel so terrible for having wrecked it.  Mechanically, the only thing that was wrong with it was a busted radiator, which was replaced.  I still drive it and I still talk to it and love it, but looking makes me feel so guilty!  The inside is also a mess now, and still filled car parts that have yet to be replaced...

I did take the time off to go get the parts from the junkyard myself.  I normally go to the junk yard with my husband but this time it was my mess and I didn't feel like dragging him with me.  Being a petite woman in a junk yard, alone, now that was an experience in itself, which I may post an entry about later.  The way some of the men there acted upon seeing me you'd think they had just found a unicorn.

JOB LEAVING SOONER THAN EXPECTED

Yep, it is sad, and it has some terrible timing considering the baby.  I somehow knew that this would happen though.  I didn't want to believe it but, as my grandmother always said, "that's the way the ball bounces."  Work was getting pretty slow.  We were supposed to focus on a new product this year.  So much counted on these new products, and they never worked.  Last year work was plentiful, sometimes almost too much to handle.  We worked overtime until we were sick of it.  There were days during the winter that we never saw sunlight because we quite literally worked from sun up, to sun down.

We were supposed to launch something like two completely new products to keep us busy up until the lease on our building was finished in August of 2015.  They had hired a large number of temps to deal with this ramp-up in production, which should have happened as early as last year.  To put it bluntly, it never even almost happened.  The products in question still don't work to this day.  In the course of a year, we went from making millions monthly, to losing hundreds of thousands every month.

Due to this massive, corporate failure to function, my job will not longer exist as of December 13th, 2014.  Yes folks, that's about two weeks from now.  I think someone needed to explain to some of these guys that "give or take a few months" shouldn't translate into "give or take nearly an entire year."  If these morons were competent enough to plan more than two weeks ahead, this could have been avoided and I wouldn't be looking for a new job while nearly six months pregnant.  Your actions sometimes have adverse effects on other people kids, remember that.

Even though I really want to wash my hands clean of this company forever, I did have an interview for a graphic design position with them and maybe I'll get it.  The opportunity is great.  I mean let's be honest here, I didn't even expect to get an interview.  With my lack of experience as well as the fact that I have no college degree I'm shocked that I'm even in the running.  The design team seem like very nice people, and the interview I had with them was a far cry from the stiff, stuck up, know-it-all attitudes of most of the corporate people I had dealt with already.  I had to give some real thought to answering questions and giving my take on the scenarios presented to me.  If that kind of critical thinking is involved for this job then I have a feeling that I would love it.

Unfortunately, as well as the negative connotation I already have for this company, moving six hours away doesn't appeal to me either.  I don't want to uproot my husband and make him start over.  Again.  He's not from here, he's only been living in this area for about eight years now, and now that he's established with friends and my family, I feel like it would be unfair to him to make him move.

Even with all the negatives, I don't want to let my fear of the unknown keep me from finally having something that could create a more stable and enjoyable future, not only for myself, but for my family.  If I could chase this opportunity, I could actively support myself, my upcoming child, possibly even my spouse too.  We wouldn't have to go without and I could finally break out of treading the poverty line.  There's also the hope that once the company consolidates, maybe they'll finally get their shit together and things will get better.  Seems like a win/win situation but there's always more to it isn't there?

This is extremely conflicting to me.  I'm really not sure what to do.  It's overwhelming at times and this would explain quite a lot why I've been lacking in motivation lately.  I've been quite depressed and conflicted and I haven't finished a single art piece since the beginning of August.

ON THE BRIGHT SIDE

I do have a few things to look forward to.  I had applied for MAGfest earlier in the year.  I was wait-listed but it seems that I may be going anyway!  A friend of mine scored a table and has offered to share that, as well as her hotel room.  I couldn't be happy enough to have such awesome friends!  I'll keep everyone updated as I get more info on this.

http://magfest.org/ visit it.

This is a bit of a pick-me-up since I'm excited to get back on the convention trail so early.  It's also a bit of a wake up call.  I need to get some more artwork done!  I still have a commission waiting in the wings to be finished and once I finish that I will be focusing on painting.  Actual painting, with acrylic paint on canvas.   I haven't decided exactly what I'm going to do with them yet but I have a stock pile of traditional art supplies from the years of Christmas gifts I have yet to use.  I should really stop wasting it.

The originals will be available in art auctions at conventions this coming year!

I won't be attending any conventions, February through April, due to baby.  I've been advised not to travel past seven months.  This does leave me time to apply for Animazement again at the end of may and I would love nothing more than to do Artist Alley at Animazement for a fourth year in a row.  It is by far my favorite convention to attend.

Keep an eye out!  I plan to start live streaming again in the near future as well!  This will probably especially pick up after the holiday season once I'm out of this dreadful apartment and into something more spacious and better kept.

Once again, I'd like to thank anyone and everyone who reads, for reading.  It does feel better to get some of this stuff off my chest sometimes.

Hopefully my next entry will have some more artwork for you guys!

Until next week!

Spark, out.

Otakon: Con Report!

So as you guys know, I went to Otakon last week.  I must say that people had told me about how large it was, but nothing they said could have prepared me for just how many people I saw.  This convention was ginormous!  I had a great time with my husband, as well as hanging out with my good friend, Jen.

So the ride there, while long, was very scenic.  We drove from my home town of Charlotte, North Carolina, all the way to Baltimore, Maryland.  It took us about seven and a half hours, give or take a few minutes. 

We left at around six in the morning just to make sure we could beat the traffic getting into the city and then went through the mountains on Highway 81 as opposed to fighting to get through Richmond and D.C. on Highway 95 like some people suggested.  I'm kinda glad we picked the less direct route, we hit very little to no traffic just as we planned.

Our Table!  Prints belong to myself and Nga Nguyen, perler Bead artwork and Origami earrings belong to Jen Austin.  Links at the end of the post.

Ah yes, planning, how often does that ever go right?  I'd say we were pretty darn lucky all things considered.  This was the first time any of us had gone to Baltimore, let alone Otakon.  We stayed with a friend who lived close to downtown.  She was super amazing to let us do that and I will

forever be grateful for it!  Hotel costs in downtown Baltimore are insane.

So we got to the convention, got our badges, set the table up and the rest of the convention was a total blur.  I'm so sad that my phone was perpetually dying!  I should have brought my camera to get more photos but I don't even know that I would have had much time!  I saw so many good cosplays! I've posted a few of them, the few I could get and I stole a few from Jen's Facebook page too.

So far as selling goes.  Friday was kinda depressing.  It usually is though, since most people are window shopping.

Half way through Saturday it was like the bottom dropped out.  I had a few people come by and spend a good $80 Just at our table!  I was pleasantly surprised by the attention that our artwork was getting!

I only made it away from the table a few times and that was in order to get food usually.  We didn't take very many breaks.  I got to explore a little bit.  I ventured around the dealer's room some, and I also found the game room and played a bit of Super Smash Brothers Melee. 

My only complaint was that things were difficult to find.  They seemed obsessed with having a designated entrance and exit to the dealer's room and to Artist alley and it wasn't really clearly marked as such.  You just had to go there and ask which one it was.  Quite irritating.  Once you were in only two feet they wouldn't let you back out either. 

Needless to say, I did a lot of circles.

I'm still kind of recovering from the whole thing, I have yet to figure out exactly what I have to split of the profits.  I do know that it was a profitable trip though, and if the taxes don't hit me too hard I will definitely be trying for it again next year!

We also made friends with the table next to us.  They were very nice people!  Also ran into a few online friends.  One was a pretty cool blast from the past.  She actually knew me from my time playing the MMO, Perfect World International.  I've long since quit but former guild members didn't forget the artwork!  

I am so thankful to everyone so far that has supported our artwork and to everyone that helped me along at Otakon this year.

You guys rock.

I may have to update my schedule soon since I signed up for a few more next year.  For now it's back to more artwork and more frequent updates.

Spark, Out!

LINKS

For Jen's Deviant Art page you can click here: OrigamiCrane12 She's starting to post more than she used to, which is totally a good thing!  Check her out!

Making Progress: Otakon 2014 and a Colorist Gig!

Hey guys!  Long time no see.

It's gotten super busy for me!  (not necessarily a bad thing.) which is why I've only been able to update the blog sparingly lately.  I don't really want to end up with a bunch of itty bitty short blog posts.  That can get rather boring I'd imagine.

Anyway, the map for Otakon's Artist Alley has been released at last!  With only a few short weeks to go I can tell you guys where we're going to be located!  Luckily, it looks like I won't have to try and shout at people from a desolate corner this time!  I'm actually decently close to the doors, which is a good thing I hope.  Click HERE for the map!

The print line up is pretty well the same as Animazement.  I think I'm going to add a few things though.  Tinkerbell will no longer be available.  For some reason she never really sold well, it took three conventions to get rid of twenty Tinkerbell prints!  I'd say that's not really worth doing over.  I have a few works in progress that I really hope to have finished by the time I make it to the convention!

That Daenerys print I was working on is still making progress.  Since I don't think there's much point in keeping around two prints of the same character, I plan to replace one with the other.  So Otakon will more than likely be the last place that you can get my old Daenerys portrait.


As you can see here, the old one is a little boring.  Very stylized, supposed to look sort of water color.  I mean let's be honest here, it was the best I could do with a cell phone picture of a sketch that I did a while back.

I was at least happy that the character was recognizable.  It made me happy that people loved it so much.  I have a feeling that the new picture is going to blow it out of the water.  I showed a small preview before and this is the only place online that I'm going to show a bigger one.

I am very out of my element with the newest painting.  I don't paint dragons well.  Or hands.  So far I'm pretty satisfied with how it's coming out.  It won't stay in black and white, but, unlike the other Daenerys print, this one will not come in an 8x10.  It is formatted for 11x17 and that's that.

I'll also be sharing my table space with a good friend of mine.  She won't have any prints, but she will have some really adorable origami crane earrings as well as some perler bead artwork!  I don't really have any pictures of the perler beads but here's a few of her earrings sets for those who'd like to see!

On top of everything here I've also been signed on to participate in a comic anthology.  I'll have more on that later, once we're further along.  Seems that there will be a Kickstarter for it soon, so not to worry!  You'll definitely hear all about it!

I'm excited about it since it is my first sorta serious job in comic books.  I can't recall ever having to sign a contract at least!  I was asked to color two, but between everything I have going on with my convention schedule, I could really only promise to color one.

Speaking of which, it's now time to stop writing.  I need to check on my e-mail.

I want to take a little bit of time first, though, to say thank you so much to those who follow my blog, whether it be on blogger, or on the numerous other sites that I post updates on.  I appreciate every +1 and comment that I receive!  Thank you also with being patient with me. I know that I was planning to update twice a week but my schedule isn't really allowing for it right now.  Trying to keep it to at least one random update every week.

Spark, Out.  Until next time!

Back on Track: More Artwork!

So, let's get back on track here with some art.

I finally finished the Punisher, Descent into Darkness piece!  Just in time too!  It seems that it can still be used for the Capitol City Comic Con, taking place in the middle of July.  Hooray!  I'm going to be honest, I thought that I was just going to fail this one and let down my client.  Which would have really sucked.  It was already long overdue and that alone made me feel terrible

Pencils by: Ace Continuado

I had some issues with it, one of those issues being how black everything was.  It was so heavily inked and I have never worked with anything like that before, it was definitely a learning experience.  I still kinda feel like I made a huge mess out of it.  The colors are bright, which is odd for me anyway.  Especially since the subject matter is so dark.  I guess at the very least it'll get someone's attention right?

On top of the colors, I've also been trying very hard to brush up on my own pencils and solo projects.  There were a couple that came out of boredom since work had slowed to a crawl for a week or two.  I'll admit, I may have drawn a few silly pictures and wrote some really nerdy things in box lids while I was doing inventory.  At least anyone who finds these boxes might get a laugh if they understand the references.

Someone's going to be so confused.

Hey, look!  Sarlacc barf!

Along with video game references, there were movie lines, silly "Confucius" jokes, an inside joke, which I'm sure no one will even understand but it sounded like a good idea at the time.  One said "Han shot first!" Another had a picture of a stop sign and then "Hammer time" down below it.  I think the "arrow to the knee" joke made it in there somewhere too.  

I even drew a De Lorean in one of them.  Yes, THE De Lorean from Back to the future.  Unfortunately I don't have a picture of it.  All I had to screw around with was a single black sharpie, I made the most of it.

Only YOU can prevent range fires

As you can see here, I do have a Star Trek reference, a Portal reference, Boba Fett, Smokey the Bear, and if you can't read the one with the itty bitty writing in the corner of the first picture, it says "Let the Wookie Win."

I'll probably get in trouble for it, but it's totally worth it.

As for some even more recent sketches... well..  They haven't been many and they haven't been easy either.

I know I want to put an owl on this next one below.  I wanted to do some crazy fancy owl makeup too, but I wasn't too thrilled with her neck.  I attempted to add a different angle than usual and some movement to my sketch but I sorta failed.

I'll fix it later I suppose.  It should be fun to paint over and I may actually have some nice original work to add to my prints before I head off to Otakon in the next few weeks.

Oh yeah that.

I'm so freaked out about going right now.  I have never been to Baltimore in my entire life and I have only ever passed through Maryland to visit my in-laws in Jersey.  Hooray for being scared shitless!

This next sketch of Daenerys from Game of Thrones I did with every intention of practicing with my greyscale markers. I ended up caving into the pencil in the end.  I wasn't even happy with the way her face turned out, not to mention her wonky boobies.  And what's with that hair?  It's all floaty and all over the place.

This is because I'm a total amateur and I was going to attempt making it look like a fancy portrait because I can't draw arms, hands, or anything else for that matter.

I really did have a vision for this one and I'm slowly completing it with the help of Photoshop.  It's proving to be very difficult but I need to challenge myself.  Most of my best paintings start out as sketches I didn't even like. 

I do have a work in progress shot for you guys.  It's only a very small portion of the overall piece.  I'm saving all of that for the big reveal.  I also want to finish this with enough time to print it out for Otakon.  It would be replacing my old Daenerys piece.

Everything I have been doing lately is an experiment.  As of right now I'm not even sure that I like her skin tones.  Perhaps it's a little too dull.  I jumped ahead of myself and started adding color before I was really done laying out the whole thing.

This means I'll probably be taking a few steps backward on this one.  But no worries!  I have a feeling I can finish it and that this will be one of my best works to date!  There will be dragons, and fire, and so much stuff that I'm pretty sure I can't draw.

I'm gonna do it anyway!  Onward with the artwork!

Also, for those of you who are interested, I would really like to do a Q & A blog entry.  One with illustrations.  I'd like to practice some expressions and this seems like a fun way to do it.  If you're curious about anything at all, feel free to ask!  There's a little box to contact the author on the side of the page.  Use it to ask whatever you'd like and I'll answer all the questions in a blog post within the next few weeks!  You can also comment on this blog post to ask your question!  It doesn't even have to be art related :3

Fire away!

Animazement 2014 Con Report!

Well that was fast!

The convention came and went a lot quicker than I imagined it would.  A lot of work went into this and I'm happy to say that we did manage to pull it off.  It was a lot of hard work and plenty of frustration at first but by the time we finished setting up on Thursday night I was feeling a little better about the whole thing. 

Open For Business!

The stand looked awesome and went together very well.  By far it was the best set up I had ever had for an artist alley.  Things weren't really easy though and I didn't do as well as I did last year.  I feel like this mostly had to do with my location.  Artist alley was very, very large this year.  That alone didn't bode well for some artists.  A lot of competition, albeit friendly.

For those that got stuck in the little alcove off to the side, that location was simply awful for business.  With that location people had to actually seek you out in order to really find you.  It wasn't just me it was everyone unfortunate enough to be stuck in this barren corner.

I don't really have a picture to accurately display my frustration at being stuck here.  This was taken before things really got busy.  From the balcony, after things picked up, you could really tell that most of the traffic was through the middle and the little alcove I was stuck in got very heavily ignored.

In a lot of cases, there were people that came by my table that wanted to buy prints, but they had no more money to do so.  They often told me that we were the last table that they saw in the alley, and they had spent their budget elsewhere before even noticing that this little cubby hole even existed.

My very lonely table in BFE

As you can see in this next picture here, this is my table from the entrance to the alley.  I had to zoom in on it.  You can kinda see my husband sitting there, conversing with an off duty police officer that had been paid to provide more security for the convention.

I resorted to a few semi-desperate tactics to up foot traffic in the area.  At some point on Saturday I got so frustrated with the lack of attention that I left my husband to watch the table, and I went half way up the stairs in between the escalators to yell at people coming down into the alley.

When I say yell I don't mean angrily.  It was something to the effect of "Hello everyone!  Artist alley is really big this year please don't leave until you've visited everyone, including that dark corner over there!  I know it's scary looking, but be brave!"  I even asked a couple of Jedi if I could borrow their mind tricks to sell prints.  I'm usually not that outgoing so I surprised myself a little with how much nerve I managed to get up to draw attention to myself.

Table Graffiti

People didn't really react terribly to me, most of them were intent on giving me a high five while they rode down the escalator.  As luck would have it, this bold move did increase foot traffic to the area and I sold to quite a number of people that I specifically remember seeing on the staircase.  Things picked up Saturday and even more on Sunday so not all hope was lost.

Another trick that I employed again this year that worked well last year, was the table graffiti.  I got a number of metallic pens and a black table cloth and let people go at it. This time it didn't get quite as full but there were more colors to play with.  It was pretty colorful by the time we left but that was the plan.  No one drew anything offensive on it, so all's well that ends well.
 
As for the art auction, the two pieces I submitted did pretty well!  They were both collaborative works, the lines were by my good friend, Nga Nguyen, and the colors were by yours truly.  You know, the usual stuff.  Upon entering your works into the auction they are subjected to a competition.  We've had pieces that placed every single year, whether it be second or third place.  This year, though, we finally got first!  It was a pretty big shocker too!

Of the two posters I put in auction, I expected the Sailor Moon piece to go for more than the original character.  After all, fan art does usually do better than anything else.  Apparently I'm just a backwards sort of person.  The auction piece that made the most money and won the prizes was actually the original that was submitted.  The winner of the auction for the print of "Angelic" purchased the print for his mother and had me sign it "to a loving mom."

He seemed very pleased with it and that made me happy.  It's always nice to know when someone really appreciates the work you do!  That's why, despite the bad location, despite the long days involved, I found it nearly impossible to have a bad time.  Even when I thought that I might not break even and after I realized that I left all of my 8x10 prints at home, I couldn't help but to enjoy myself.  I even did a few sketches for people.  I had two people at least buy four prints or more in a shot.  I also did an art trade with an artist I watch on DeviantArt.

Hopefully next year will be a little better.  From what I've heard it seems like they're going to do all they can to avoid the cubby hole next year, and maybe even open up a door in between the alley and the dealer room so that the artist alley can get more traffic and not be quite so isolated.

Despite our awful location and little traffic, we still managed to turn a profit and for that I'm pretty darn grateful. I was also grateful that my husband went with me.  He was very supportive through the whole thing, even when I was beginning to doubt myself, and I really enjoyed hanging out with him the whole weekend.  We made a great team of course!  We are married after all.

Now to get ready for Otakon and hope for better luck there.

Spark, out.

Lots of Catching Up

Well this week has definitely been an interesting one.  On Friday, I left work a little early so that I could pack myself and my husband into the car.  We headed up to Boone to see my little brother graduate college. (Congrats Sean!)  We were about to leave when my husband glanced at his Facebook feed and noticed that one of our coworkers had posted a ridiculously giddy-looking selfie, which he called his "fire at work selfie."  Complete with firetrucks in the background.

Yep, that's right.  My workplace caught on fire on Friday.  It didn't burn to the ground but there was definitely some damage.  So much so that we were told to stay home yesterday.  I was supposed to stay home today but our job isn't very good at communicating those things.

Anyway, I took advantage of the situation to start on a very long overdue commission as well as to work on a few more unfinished works.  Time to get these things rolling out!

First up is the commission I was talking about, and also a top priority at the moment.  It's going to be some promotional art for a a comic convention, also an exclusive print.  It's very far from being finished.  And I mean VERY far.  So much left to do on this one.  I think this is definitely a step in the right direction for me, since it'll be at the exclusives table at the convention, I'm sure I'll get plenty of exposure.

Pencils by Ace Continuado

I promise it'll look better than this.  I kinda wanted to give it a nightmarish sort of feeling, so I tried to make the lightning and all look like it was ripping a hole into another dimension or something like that.

I'm not sure how well the rest of the lighting is working out so far.  I'll make it work somehow.  Anything I color usually looks this disorganized before I get a better idea of what I'm going to do with it.

I'm also going to have to look up some references.  As weird as it may be for someone like me to admit, I've never watched any of these movies!  Well, except for Chucky, I've seen at least one of those.  And to think that used to terrify me as a child.

Pencils by Paulo Barrios

 This one right here, with the redhead in it, is a personal piece.  Not sure when I'll ever be done with it.  I had commissioned it for myself from another artist on DeviantArt a long time ago.  The characters are mine although I'm not sure if I like how he portrayed my main female.  I'll more than likely end up giving her a boob reduction and maybe a more covering shirt.

While I'm not offended by female video game and comic book characters wearing less clothing, I just don't personally want that for my own characters.  Especially this one in particular.  Despite the fact that I'm not entirely happy with how my main girl here was dressed, I did really like the composition of this piece.  Which is why it's getting colored anyway.  Aside from that he captured her attitude pretty well.

Last but not least I have this one, some strange tree girl... thing.  I liked the idea of nymphs in Greek mythology.  So I was thinking about it one day and came up with idea of taking a nymph and making it something other than Greek.  So here's a Japanese cherry blossom nymph.

At least that's what I think it is.  It looked better in my head I swear.  This is actually modified from my previous painting.  I didn't like it much, I plan to do better this time.  This is kind of my way of proving to myself that I am more than just a colorist.  While I'm still not very good with anatomy and the like I hope to get better through practice on pieces like these.

I kinda miffed up the tree and the flowers already I can tell.  Again this is a work in progress and it isn't completely finished.  It's more complete than the other two but rather low on the list of priorities at the moment.  I"ll finish it one of these days, perhaps it'll be another print for conventions to come.

Well that's it for today.  Hopefully by my next update I'll have the Punisher piece more or less finished.

Spark, Out.

Ready For Animazement!

Hey guys, sorry I missed that last update.  I was busy with a number of things (job hunting being one of them.  I may actually have a new job that can pay my rent and give me enough spare time for more artwork.  Hopefully.)

So I'm totally over the pre-convention jitters.  Well, mostly.  I am actually prepared much earlier than usual!  This weekend I got down to business.  All of my printing is done as well as my banner and my display. I wanted something better this year than the flimsy pvc pipe stand that I had last year.  Quite honestly it sucked and looked absolutely terrible.  I don't plan on using so much masking tape to hold the display prints up this year either.  That looked so sloppy and unprofessional.

Anyway, I wanted to make it out of pvc pipe again but the drawing I made was a little complicated.  That stuff is usually pretty cheap, which makes it an ideal material.  I did the math though, and after I found that it would cost me $75 in pvc pipe I decided that maybe that wasn't the most efficient and cost effective idea.  I over-engineered the crap out of that stand.  It needed to be sturdy enough to hold up prints, a dry erase board, and a banner.  It probably would have worked but I the money was a bit outrageous and there are better options for cheaper.

 

Our 4 foot by 2.5 foot banner.... and my wedding cake topper haha.

Totally Over-Engineered.  Would have been a good stand though...

I eventually went with those wire mesh storage cubes that a lot of people seem to use for stands now days.  After finding some of my own and getting them home, I can see why people use them.  They are sturdy and there's so many ways you can arrange them.  My display is gonna rock this year!  I may still end up buying some pvc pipe and some zip ties, I need to hoist my banner up over the stand somehow.  The higher up the better.  After all, I am stuck in a corner and getting attention is important.

I also got this super awesome board.  It's a black dry erase board that you use with neon colored dry erase markers.  Yes!  This is dry erase!  I had no Idea that they even made these until I found them in Walmart.  I'm not sure that these will be my final prices, I just had to try it out when I got it home.  It was too cool.  I plan to attach it to one side of my stand at eye level.  I may even get another one for the other side to keep the commission list updated and let people know when their commissions are finished.  Haven't decided yet.

As you can tell I used to work in the restaurant... they bugged me do the feature board every day for this reason.

So maybe I lied I'm not COMPLETELY ready for the convention yet.  The to-do list is definitely a lot smaller than it used to be though. I have to trim my prints.  They turned out great by the way!  I'm so excited about it!  I finally did enough research to save my print files in a printer friendly fashion.  The colors turned out amazing and I am very happy with the quality of the paper I got them on.  I even printed everything for less than the budget I had set aside for printing, which is also a plus.

I want to print out one more poster though.  I will be putting two prints into the art auction this year instead of just one like in previous years.  One is an original concept and the other is fan art.  I thought that was fitting.  I only ever print out ONE 16x20 print to sell of each piece.  There will never be another print that size for sale of any of these again. 


Sailor Moon was kind of a no-brainer.  I did a quick poll on DeviantArt anyway and it won out over three other pieces to be in the art auction this year.

As for the original, I just had it printed on a whim because I liked it.  The brown haired angel in this picture is a character from a really old story I had dreamed up back in high school.  She does have a name, and her name is Catriona.  Nga did an absolutely wonderful job capturing her character in her pencil work!  It was a joy to color.

I've adapted Catriona's character for E20XX like most of the characters from that old story plot.  The characters were just too cool to abandon even if the story I came up with sucked.  What could you expect though, I was sixteen.  As I grew up, so did the characters.  It was almost like they outgrew that story.

Hopefully other people will like her as much as I do.  I sold an original character last year in auction which was a success, far more successful than I thought it would be. It gave me the warm fuzzies when the lady who won the auction brought it by the table to have me physically sign it.  Her daughter found me on DeviantArt and sent me a picture of it hanging up on the wall in their house.  I cried happy tears.

This will probably be the last I write about the convention before I actually go.  I only have two weeks until the con.  Since I'm mostly done with the preparations, expect some sketch entries into the blog pretty soon along with my current works in progress.  Got some overdue commissions to finish.

If all goes well I will be updating again on my normal schedule of Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Until then thanks for the continued support it means a lot to me.