Thursday, August 26, 2010

baltimore comic con 2010

[colors by utada hikaru]

so i've just finished a very large illustration that probably wasn't supposed to be as large as it turned out. but sometimes i get a weeeeee bit carried away with something when i'm really likin the idea. took many days to finish but i got it done by the buzzer. =P unfortunately however, i can't post anything more about it as it was a commission someone got for a person's birthday present. and the person they're gettin it for watches my deviantart account so who knows if they venture into my blog or not. but i'll be giving it to them this weekend at the convention so once i get back, i'll have stuff to post! today however, not so much. =( i've also been working on a couple of commissions for this other person but once again, i will be giving it to them this weekend at the con so i can't post those! so though it seems like i'm not doing anything cuz there's no pics of my art table lately, i really am. please believe me! ^__^
Baltimore Comic Con is this weekend - August 28th and 29th. i hope to see some folks there as well as fellow artists that i haven't seen in a year! it's always a fun con so i'm excited to be back. my only gripe (and it's a huge one) is that we are, once again, stuck in a very crappy spot all the way in the back [tables A111 & A112]. now i'm a fairly understanding person and though i do understand that logistically speaking, someone's gotta be in the back. BUT whether we get our moneys in early or very close to the date, we keep getting put back there! not to mention we're there every frackin year for i dunno, something like 5-6 years. where's the justice!?!? who do i have to kill to get a decent spot!? makes me a little peeved but i'm trying to stay positive. i just wish conventions weren't like high school and that it's all about who u know. is that what life is in general?? is it just all about who u know cuz if it is, i'm fairly screwed cuz i'm not naturally a very social person. *sigh* i guess the best thing i can do is just shut up and make lemonade. so is life...

Monday, August 16, 2010

nite and day

...by al b. sure!
so before i went to bed last night after my very disappointing art day with my debbie-downer attitude, i was watching some Soulphrodisiac on the VH1 Soul channel and nite and day by al b. sure! came on. i dunno what happened but all of a sudden i decided i didn't wanna give up on the supergirl cover and i took another crack at it - this time with my usual tools of pencils and paper. and i was able to draw the cover that i wanted to do! WOOHOO!!! i usually get my inspiration from music (which is why i need to have music playing as i work on art-stuffs) but i have no idea why this particular song made me try again. maybe the nostalgia gave me the 1-Up that i needed to do-over the day. who knows!
since i have it drawn, i'm not sure if i can post it on here before the PendantAudio.com does. i'll have to check on that. SO i'm posting up these two cards that i did for a March of Dimes art auction. it was of any characters we wanted so i chose Powergirl (naturally) and Supergirl. cuz why not! they just come to me so easily, especially powergirl now that i draw her at practically every convention we go to (except otakon, though that's not really surprising. a few people didn't know who she was even though they liked the print i had.) anyways, these were colored with copic markers. i'm still getting the hang of those things but i'm glad i looked up a couple tutorials on YouTube cuz now i know what to use the Colorless Blender marker for! (which, btw, is what should be properly labeled as "magic eraser marker".) hope these ladies raise a good amount for a good cause. =)

Sunday, August 15, 2010

the end has only begun

...by lifehouse

so today's been quite the disappointing day for my art. in an attempt to draw my very first Pendant Audio's Supergirl cover #41, i decided i wanna try doing the piece completely digital. i've always drawn on paper first, then scanned and colored digitally that way. but as i quickly found out as i started sketching is that i'm not ready yet. my skills have very very far to go. or it could be that the pose i was trying to do just wasn't right. whatever it was, it didn't work in my favor. and even though i've gotten as far as laying the flat colors and even a few shadows (not shown), i've decided it's probably for the best to scrap this idea. so an entire sunday has passed and all i've got to show for it are these work in progress images that aren't even going to get use. *sigh* maybe i just need to play video games for the rest of the night and start fresh tomorrow. or draw something else and hopefully that looks ok. we'll see what happens.

Saturday, August 14, 2010

alla luce del sole

...by josh groban


i'm workin dilligantly to finish these commissions from the super sale and here's some that are finished already. the first one is an original character named Jess for someone on deviant. i originally had her without blood but i thought it was too plain. luckily the client liked the bloody version too. =)
the second two are both for one person on deviant. i think some of them are her characters and some are her friends'. (not sure which ones tho.) she ended up liking them which i'm really glad about. the two girls are Daisy & Lily (lily's the tall one with the big boobs, daisy's the one with the skull mask on). the words on her shirt and the texas image are digital cuz i didn't trust myself enuff with handwritten/drawn typography. the Budweiser American Ale label i got off the internet. i figured it would be cooler to see an actual beer label in their hands than something i made up (which probably would've ended up as some perk drink from Call of Duty).
the guy and girl are Adam & Julia. that's probably the best gun i've ever drawn. maybe even the best dude i've ever drawn too. =) we're makin progress!! her feet turned out pretty well too. i always have a hard time drawing toes but i think having had to draw so many barefooted commissions at Otakon helped me out for this one. her shoes were a specific request from the client. i never would've thought to draw leopard-print manolo shoes. frankly i'm just not that trendy which, if u know me, u can judge from my usual ensemble of tshirt and jeans. =P [everything about the two commissions are pretty specific requests from the client - i just drew from instructions. ^__^]
in other news, i'm starting to get more comfortable with our new wacom intuos. squeee!

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

how deep is your love

...by dru hill

before i get elbow deep in commissions, i wanted to post what was on my art table for the past couple of days. that's right, a delicious delectable delicious (did i say that already) red velvet with cream cheese frosting and fondant heart Georgetown Cupcake! theFranchize got some after weeks of me crying for it since TLC came out with the show about them called DC Cupcakes. the show itself is kinda wack cuz it all feels scripted but it was yummy-licious way before the show cuz my BFFFs got me some last year for my berfday. and wowsers it was good. they have tons of orgasmic flavors but i think the red velvet is my fav so far. i was very sad when the dozen cupcakes were gone but it was probably for the best cuz it's not exactly in the category of healthy foods. he said the line at the actual store (the one featured in the show) was far worse than what the show depicts. but they recently opened another one in Bethesda, MD so that line was far more tolerable. the picture doesn't do it justice cuz i'm no photographer. just know it was delicious (if i haven't mentioned it before.) =D

this is a picture of my pencil pouch that i tote around now. i got it from Cheeks Galloway at Heroes. the character on it is one of his original characters. i love my pouch cuz it's so handy without being cumbersome. but the buttons on the back are my new fav addition to it. my hubby got it for me at Otakon from this girl. she really took a liking to his art so after she got a print from us, he went to her table and got a print from her and she threw these really cool buttons in. gotta love Sailor Moon fan art!! (unfortunately i don't remember her name. =( i suck i know.)

Sunday, August 8, 2010

rock your body

...by justin timberlake
before i call it a night after a full day of working on one two-character commission, i wanted to post up this Stitch sketchcard i did for my ninja friend that i mentioned in an earlier blog. i saw her at Otakon and finally gave it to her so she was thoroughly surprised. =) at any rate, as promised here is the card. theFranchize did one for her as well but i'll leave that up to him to post on his blog - theFranchize Live.
this card actually didn't take much time to do except when i had to look for Stitch references. cuz i dunno about u but i certainly can't pull him out of my head. i can pick him out of a crowd no problem but to recreate him is not the easiest thing, especially since Lilo & Stitch had such a unique art style. if ur askin what's with the cds and what's that thing in his mouth?? it's a Zen (mp3 player) which she and i both have (except mine is black). the busted up cds are because his BADNESS level is way up! =P

Saturday, August 7, 2010

there goes my baby

...by usher

well here's the well-past-due blog update. i'm really sorry. both theFranchize and i are still recovering from the fantastic Otakon weekend and all the computer problems which, by the way, we're still somewhat dealing with at this time. if there's one thing i absolutely hate and think is a complete waste of time is a friggin virus in my computer! what the frack!? seriously what is the purpose of making viruses except to be a general nuisance?! i'll stop myself before i start ranting about it. i just want all the virus-making people in the world to know that i hope u all come back as a dung beetle or Seth Rogen's anal bead in ur next life. (sorry to be so graphic but it really burns my bum.)

at any rate, like i mentioned, Otakon was friggin fantastical! i was afraid that we would be so ignored because of our non-anime subjects and not-quite-manga style of art. (which we learned is what anime-lovers call "western art." how frickin cool is that!) but, on the contrary, it drew quite a few people in saying that it was cool to finally see some "western art" in the artist alley. i do wonder if all the other artists in there were givin us the stink-eye for all the superheroes we were flashin around on our prints. (tho, i tend to think everyone's givin me the stink-eye, but that's a whole other topic - on the next episode of Oprah.) the only downside (other than the fact that we were in there for 13 hours in Artist Alley friday and saturday) was that i didn't get to experience the con like usual! i only got to walk around the dealer room once! blasphemous, i know! i tend to spend the entire 3 days in there as much as i can buying stuff with money i don't have. but when i think about it, would i rather go and spend money i don't have only to go home ridiculously broke OR make money selling my art and get loved for the way i draw?? --- yeah, i knew u'd think it too. =) i still managed to get the Ame-Comi Wonder Woman statue i never ever see anywhere cuz it gets bought the moment it appears. so BOOM! i win. =P

seein as how i didn't get to walk around, i certainly didn't get to take any pics either. when i was at the table, there were definitely some cool cosplayers walkin around. a couple of the zombie folks really freaked me out too. they were the nicest folks but they had these crazy contacts that made me feel like they were staring into my soul! and the fact that they were so nice made me really afraid that i wouldn't be ready when they reach over the table and start eating my brains. according to Zombieland, i'm already SOL on Rule #1 - Cardio. =( i did get a shot of these 3 chicks dressed as different Lady Gagas. wasn't expecting those but i guess i should've. i mean, who's more costume-y than Lady Gaga at this time?? (and of course, lots of gratuitous butt-shots but that'll come later whenever i take the time to create my collage. crazyness.)

biggest NON-highlight of the weekend was the stupid fire alarm that went off in the middle of the busiest point of sales on Saturday. curse u to whomever pulled it or set off some piddly fire. everybody had to evacuate and we were outside for more than an hour. the con didn't really resume until about 2 hours after that because everybody in the artist alley (and probably the dealer room) had to check back in. we couldn't even get behind the tables until every person checked in. *sigh* completely understood why but it was still quite the blower. so those were sales that we'll never get back.


still, we managed to have a fantastic show. theFranchize and i did a ton of commissions and they were all friggin fun! i'm posting all the ones i did that i managed to take a pic of before i gave 'em to folks. this one really cool couple asked me to draw an anime version of themselves so that was kinda nifty. never did that before. and one guy even had me draw on his iPod case. how flippin sweet is that! hardest thing i've ever had to do tho. copics and microns are NOT easy to apply onto that surface.


i managed to get a quick video of these folks dancin. it was pretty hilarious even tho i was too far to hear the music. dude in the leather outfit freakin pyramid-head guy was great! but apparently a staff person turned their party off and Cell had to put away his boombox. party pooper!

from this point on, i will make it a point to be watchin those Otakon bulletin board thingies so i know when to register. i never want to miss another year of setting up ever again! and hopefully at least one other member of ID Comics will be able to come too and i can actually get up to go to the dealer room twice! =