Show Aftermath and Sketch Practice

The Barrington Harvest Festival was WAY bigger than I'd imagined! We got a ton of foot traffic and enough sales to convince me to sign up for next year's show! I've got my work cut out for me this week- a bunch of t-shirt orders to fill and several potential portraiture jobs to follow up on.

This show was also the maiden voyage of my tent- which is a real pain to transport, but which doubles my display space. So even though it now takes two cars to carry all my stuff, once we were there, the new setup worked splendidly!

I want to get better at drawing quickly, with little to no reference, so that I can do sketches at Stormwatch events and comic conventions without feeling nervous. So I set aside some time to practice drawing comic characters on the spot.

This afternoon's exercise resulted in an odd image of Dazzler (30 minutes)

and a Ms. Marvel pin-up (40 minutes). I've decided to take my time on this one, so that I can add her to my ever-growing stack of superheroine pin-ups.

Both of the images above were made with the assistance of stock photography from Marcus Ranum. His work is FANTASTIC and extremely helpful to all you illustrators out there. Seriously, check out his official website and the DeviantArt account he uses for his stock photos.

Living Corpse Pin-up, Pt.2

Digital coloring it is!

This is the first piece I've finished in true comic book style- i.e. pencils, then inked, then colored digitally. I finished the color in 6 hours, which is pretty good considering I was going it all with a laptop touch pad.

I've been hesitating to buy myself a drawing tablet since they're so expensive... but they really are worth the money. If I do any more projects that involve digital coloring, I'm going to need to get a Wacom, 'cause this trackpad nonsense just doesn't cut it.

I can't decide if I like it better with or without the background.

If anyone besides me is reading this, leave a comment with your opinion.

But, yeah, really excited about this piece! It feels really great to bang out a good image in a few days, not because I need to, but because I'm so engrossed in the project that I can't turn away!

UPCOMING ART SHOWS!:

The Barrington Harvest Festival is tomorrow! My table and tent will be set up from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm and it'll be packed with goodies- prints, original artwork, t-shirts, painted eggs, you name it! So, come on by if you're in the area!

Living Corpse Pin-up, Pt.1

I spent the day working on a pin-up for The Living Corpse- a delightfully entertaining horror comic illustrated by Ken Haeser. If you haven't heard of it or haven't read it, I highly recommend it! It's fun and campy and surprisingly sweet.

Anyway, there's a goth chick named Lilith who is infatuated with our rotting hero and I wanted to show them interacting with each other. I'm extremely happy with how the piece came together- especially from a stylistic standpoint, since I was concerned about matching my style to Haeser's characters.

I can't wait to show him!

I haven't decided if I'm going to color this with colored pencils or try my hand at digital coloring. Either way, I'll be posting the results as soon as they're finished.

Below you'll find photographic evidence of my mother's sainthood.

(She looks annoyed for the sake of the reference shot.

She was actually an extremely patient and responsive model.)

UPCOMING ART SHOWS:

I will be selling my wares (including eggs for the first time!) at the Barrington Harvest Festival on Saturday, October 9th from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm. If you're in the area, come say hey!

EXCITING NEWS!

I just finished my first real

freelance illustration job!

Oh sure, I've been commissioned to do portraits and even some t-shirt design work, but I've never worked on a national publication before! I was contacted by Bluewater Productions to do the cover for one of their "Political Power" comic books and I am so psyched about the project!

I'm really pleased with how the piece came out and even more happy about the amount of time it took me to complete it. When I first got the call, I wasn't 100% sure that I'd could to finish it by Monday without pulling an all-nighter, but apparently I was underestimating myself! I slept well each night and still got it scanned in by Sunday afternoon.

I met the man from Bluewater while I was working as a booth babe at Wizard World 2010. We spoke about the possibility that I might illustrate the cover of another book in their Political Power series, but when I didn't hear from him for months I started to lose hope. A few weeks ago, I heard that the comic book we'd discussed would be hitting the shelves soon and I figured I wouldn't be hearing back from him.

Then I get this email, out of the blue, saying that he may have a job for me!

I had already planned out my weekend- Hang out with Tom, paint some eggs, silkscreen some geeky t-shirts to sell at the Collingswood Book Festival, meet up with the gallery owner I met at my last show and talk to him about selling giclée prints. I canceled all of that immediately as soon as I got the details. I locked myself in my studio all weekend long, with St. Thomas of Mitchell keeping me company. I'm extremely excited about the possibility of working more projects like this.

UPCOMING ART SHOWS:

I will be sharing a booth with Stormwatch Comics on October 2nd

from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm as part of the Collingswood Book Festival.

I plan on selling my comic book themed artwork there, so that means Julie Newmar portraits, comic book heroine pin ups, and the Avengers sketch covers with Black Widow as played by Scarlett Johansson. I'm also making some t-shirts just for the occasion. If you're in the area, stop by! It'll be a great time!

Also, the Barrington Harvest Festival is coming up.

I will be there on October 9th from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm.

EGGS

So, it's almost 2:30 in the morning and I've finally stopped painting for the day.

I've started dreaming about them, so I'm officially hooked. There's just something really satisfying about finishing one and seeing it- all shiny and brightly colored. It appeals to the magpie in me.

I started painting eggs a few weeks ago when a Craigslist ad told me that a man in north Jersey would pay RIDICULOUS sums of money for them. Time went by and the job never actually materialized, but I fell in love with the intricate patterns and the calming sort of repetition that goes into making each one. Plus, I get to show my long-time love of mythical creatures.

I'm hoping to have a basket full to take to my next major art show, and I'm planning on making a few into Christmas ornaments for the holidays.

UPCOMING ART SHOWS:

Speaking of, I'll be taking part in the Barrington Harvest Festival

on October 9th from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm! VERY EXCITING!

Now it's time for me to get some sleep, because I can't see straight anymore and my shoulders have been replaced with lumpy rocks- but seeing those first three eggs sitting in the carton makes it totally worth it.

Collingswood and Portraits

I had a fantastic time at Collingswood's Second Saturday event! I sold enough artwork to make it worth packing up the car, made some connections with a local gallery owner, and then danced my butt off with Tom at the end of the night.

At the start of event, we noticed a band (Beyond Therapy) setting up directly across the street from us. At first I was nervous that they were going to be loud and obnoxious and that having them playing so close to my stand would make it impossible to conduct any business, but I was pleasantly surprised!

Some of the people I talked to at Collingswood expressed interest in my portraiture- so in order to clear out the queue, I've finished up the double portrait I'd been working on for Tom's sister and her husband.

Also, I've started painting eggs. For fun and possibly profit. More on this later.

Haddonfield and More

Haddonfield's First Friday was mildly successful- it's certainly promising enough for me to go back and do it again next month. It was the first time I'd done an outdoor art sale at night, which poses it's own set of unique challenges.

My boyfriend Tom is usually the one who helps me manage the booth at these types of shows, but since he was off visiting family for the majority of the night, my mother stepped in to pick up the slack. We sold a little bit of my work and got several offers for pet portraits. Next time I go, I'm bringing a bigger sign and chatting up anyone with a four-legged companion.

And, because I think it looks awesome to see the step-by-step transformation of a piece, I'm going to start posting animations of just that. This one is for Mary, Mother of God- a watercolor and ink piece I completed in 2009.