Wednesday, September 25, 2013

hungry again

[listening to "the antidote" by st. vincent]

La Luna inspired piece for NYCC charity auction


i said i'd show more art, so i'm showing more art today! =D this is the piece i did for the New York Comic Con art auction. i was watching my Pixar Shorts bluray the other night and La Luna is one of my favorite ones. so much to love about it. and since i'm crazy about the moon - even crazier about stars - i really wanted to do a piece inspired by it. this is mixed media with watercolors, inks, colored pencils, and copic markers.
i've been trying to figure out how to use watercolors and so far i have really mixed feelings about it. it's really a bummer that i never got a chance to learn how to use watercolors, or any paint really, from any of my classes in college. when i think about that stuff, i get kinda Hulk-angry about money not-so-well-spent on my college classes. (fyi - if ur looking for someone to speak to kids about the importance of going to college, don't ask me. i'm that person that'll tell em the opposite based on my experiences.) BUT I DIGRESS. i hope this will attract some buyers. i wish i was there for some of these auctions so i know if i should continue drawing stuff like this or go back to drawin sexy ladies. i just have a weird thing about drawing sexy ladies for a charity for kids. =/ call me crazy.

 

also, MORE ART! these are commissions i did from this past weekend at Hero Bot Con! haven't been treated so well by con organizers like this in a while. such an amazing bunch. they even had a panel for us about us and it was really kinda neat to see all the people in there interested in how we work as a studio and whatnot.
then this guy gave me a brand new unopened Unicorno as a gift!! he figured i liked em cuz of my hat. he was right. LOVE these things!!! one day i'll have a fleet of these just invading my workspace. best part about that - they don't leave horsepiles! my little desk minis family is growing. =)

Tuesday, September 24, 2013

hungry

[listening to "motown philly" by boyz ii men]


cool cosplayers at Anime USA
i just realized i haven't eaten dinner yet. so i'll keep this short and sweet. just thought i'd share some Anime USA pics from the other weekend. cuz if i don't share em, it'd be like it never happened! =(
i think my favorite out of this weekend was Fionna dressed as harley quinn with Cake as her hammer. my goodness it doesn't get cuter than that. but really, the ones that i DID do were so much fun it's tough to pick just one.

now, for some eats. [slumps off weakly]

Thursday, September 19, 2013

uncomfortable

[listening to dru hill]

btw - don't mind my blog post title. it has nothing to do with the content of this post. i'm just feeling uncomfortable in general. happens every month. sigh.
 
look ma, that's us!

our next stop on this Con-nado (again, TM. but really, not TM) tour is HERO BOT CON! it's a 1-day show on Sept. 21, 2013 in Horseheads, NY. they were nice enough to bring me, theFranchize, and Flash out there for the show as guests and i believe we have a panel that day. it'll be neat to meet some new faces since we've never been to this part of NY before. wish us luck! i leave you this week with some sketches from my sketchbook! 

 Sora in the Land of Ooo! (cuz i was excited about my new game)

 tryin to get better at this durned brush pen

channeling my inner-Skottie Young

Tuesday, September 17, 2013

moody

[listening to "isolated system" by muse]

me & theFranchize signing at the Third Eye Comics booth on Saturday
ID Studios gang with 2/3 of the ladies of The Hangout from Comicosity.com
thought i'd post some pics from Baltimore Con the other weekend while i gather pics from Anime USA this weekend. Baltimore Con was a great con as always. thanks to theFranchize's much-deserved Harvey Awards nomination, we were given some prime placement in the con. it was kinda intimidating but i could really get used to it. saw lots of familiar faces and kept hearing consistently that "we're everywhere." yep, that's cuz we are. really, chances are we're coming to a con near u. unless ur outside the U.S. in which case i wish we were going out there but not yet.

noteworthy cosplayers of Baltimore Con 2013
as always, the cosplayers at this show have gotten better and better and i took pics of some of the most noteworthy ones. even my studiomate's (Flash) kids cosplayed this time - so adorbs. a girl also surprised us at the table cosplaying Amanda from Fanboys Vs Zombies! can it BE more awesome?!?! and yeah, that's a dude dressed as Miley - perfect! i wish he came by the table cuz i would've loved to take a pic with him cuz i happened to wear my "Twerk Miley" shirt that day. as it is, Flash took this picture for me.

on our way to the Harveys
Harvey Awards ceremony shenanigans
even though the hubby didn't win the Harvey, i think he was in great company in there. it was definitely amazing to have gone to our first Harvey Awards ceremony as it is. it was a room full of some true comic art legends like Sal Buscema (who gave such a moving speech that everyone kinda choked up). i know he was one of my husband's biggest comic book influences.




apparently next year the con will finally become a 3-day event and we can't wait to come back and be a part of one extra day of awesomeness! i was beginning to think that 2 days can barely contain all the people that are trying to get in the con!

as for my "moody" title - it's cuz i'm shifting moods a lot today. i don't wanna get too graphic or personal. just know that every month girls get this way. it's nothing personal, u just wanna keep a good distance is all. =P

Thursday, September 12, 2013

striking

[listening to spotify stuff]
this weekend is the 2nd stop on our Con-nado (TM) (not really TM)! we're headed to Washington, DC (our hometown!) for Anime USA! the convention is from Friday Sept 13th till Sunday Sept 15th. you will find me and my 2 other studiomates theFranchize and Flash in their Artist Alley the entire time at TABLE 24!! this is actually the first time we'll be set up at this show as this group. the hubby and i previously set up once in the con's earlier years, but i won't get into that.
so come on by and see us! we love anime crowds! u crazy kids are such a blast to be around!

Wednesday, September 11, 2013

breathing

[listening to "bittersweet" by ellie goulding]




like i promised last week, i said i would show my newest Catwoman piece! so here she is! she completes the Sirens set with Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn. i won't have smaller 6x8 versions of her until next year to go with the other 2. we already finished our print order for the rest of the year so =(.
just like the other 2 ladies, this is my take on the character. originally i wanted to draw my favorite Catwoman version - the Michelle Pfeiffer one. but thought better of it and was afraid folks might not like it so much. so instead she kinda looks like her current iteration with a little Pfeiffer influence on her costume. so much like the other 2, she looks like the current version but with some slight modifications.
normally i see her drawn with a nice fluffy black cat or an even fluffier white cat. but i chose the Sphynx cat because i think people who are really into cats really like some of the unconventional breeds. i've always felt like there's a definitely ICK factor with hairless cats. they kinda look like aliens! but i've been following Kat Von D's instagram lately and she has a sphynx cat named Piaf. she finds this cat to be beautiful and mysterious and i figured Catwoman would probably think the same thing. cuz let's face it, when u get right down to it, she's a crazy cat lady. ;P

now the process is pretty much the same as my usual drawings. this time, i decided to take a photo of a city - this one being NYC - and fuddling with it to turn it into a background. i've seen some articles on this trick in my ImagineFX mags and decided to give it a go. i think i like the way it came out! same deal as the rest, went from my pencils straight to digital painting. started with flats, went to shadows, then highlights, then special effects-y stuff. everything was done on photoshop. oddly enough, i think my favorite bit of this piece turned out to be the cat. go fig! (cuz i'm a dog person. =P)



on a more somber note, today i remember, much like thousands of others, where i was this day 12 years ago. it was a tough thing to wrap my mind around when it happened, still a crazy thing to accept. while i am extremely grateful for not having lost anyone i personally knew to the tragedies of that day (and many days following), i pray for those that were not so lucky. never forget - 9.11.01

Wednesday, September 4, 2013

updating

[listening to "water runs dry" by boyz ii men]


so this weekend starts the craziness that is the last half of our comic cons for the year. with a show every weekend this month, i will do what i can to update this page each week. but i can't promise anything cuz i am but one person with only 24 hours in a day. i'll do my best to post pics and updates of our con-anigans (con shenanigans - see what i did there?) and any other art that i'm allowed to post in the meantime so keep an eye out for fun things!
to kick things off on the right foot, here's a sneak peek of a Catwoman piece that i finished just in time for this weekend's Baltimore Con! i'll post the full image after the con. why? i dunno, i just thought that'd be a good idea. =/


speaking of Baltimore Con - BALTIMORE CON is this weekend! it's the first con to kick off the Con-nado! (con tornado - i got lots of these!) all 4 members of ID Comics Studios will be there - me, theFranchize, Flash, and even Domo! we're on their guest list and will be in the Artist Alley tables A85-A86. we'll have tons of prints, a couple of NEW prints available, Fanboys Vs Zombies comics/graphics, Adventure Time sketchcovers, and more artbooks! of course we'll be drawing commissions both days at the show. and while ur there on Saturday, wish my hubby theFranchize luck on winning his Harvey nom!


lastly, i thought i'd share a couple of pics from the past WV Pop Con from 2 weeks ago. these are a couple of commissions that i did at the show. this year only theFranchize and i were able to attend the show but we still had a great time. had some good beer, made some new friends, and even had Ron Frenz (Marvel comics) buy a couple of Superman prints from us. pretty durned cool. if you want to see all the pics from our trip out there, just head over to the IDENTITY COMICS STUDIOS Facebook page (and make sure you LIKE the page). =)

Tuesday, September 3, 2013

werkin

[listening to "part ii (on the run)" by jay z & beyonce]


with almost 2 weeks of break between the last con and this one, i've filled my days with art and prepping for the next crazy batch of cons. starting this weekend, i have cons every weekend this month. i'll never see my puppies. =( but it'll totally be worth it.
before i post more stuff about the upcoming cons this week, i figured i'd take a quick sec to post a recent commission i finished. this is what i consider an "inks only" commission for me. i like adding grays to my inked commissions. the client requested Domino with one of his original characters.