State of the Artist 6/25/2012

View halloo, all!


It's Monday, which means it's time for the weekly State of the Artist update!


Weekly Words

Genius is more often found in a cracked pot than in a whole one.
- E. B. White, 1899 - 1985



Current Project

Last week, in an email exchange with , she mentioned it has been a long time since I'd drawn my persona. She's right! So, I decided to take whack at it.

The New and Improved Kit design is a combination of the persona I had years ago ('Cheetah') and the persona I took on later ('Kitsune') sort of mishmashed together. :)





Near Future

Well, this weekend sees me attending Florida SuperCon from Friday-Monday.

If you'll be in the area, or already planning on attending the con, come stop by and say hi, buy a print, or commission some original artwork!

Monday's post is sort of up-in-the-air as of right now. It all depends on how well the convention goes and how busy I'll be with at-con commissions. I'll probably do a post-con write up and some photos of my table set up if nothing else.


Thank you for joining me for this week's post!


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State of the Artist 6/18/2012

View halloo, all!

Terribly sorry for missing last week's update! It is summer convention prep season, so things are crazy busy printing, matting, and shipping for mail-in conventions and prints, laminating, and packing for cons I'll be attending. There never seem to be enough hours in the day!

But, it is Monday, I have new art to share, so on with the post!


Weekly Words

Without this playing with fantasy no creative work has ever yet come to birth. The debt we owe to the play of imagination is incalculable.

- Carl Jung, 1875 - 1961


Current Project

So, two weeks ago, I posted the Octomer, and he got some very positive responses, which was great! I am pretty set on his design, so really, that was more of a way to see if I could get down on paper what I saw in my head.

The accompanying jellymer is a different issue... there are *so* many varieties of jellyfish, that I'm still rather up in the air on the final design elements. But, I've worked out a preliminary, and toned it in Photoshop, same as the Octomer...





While I rather like the overall concept here, I think there is something definitive missing from the design... and I think it's the stereotypical long, thin, trailing tentacles most often associated with most varieties of jellyfish.

The current jellymer is mostly based on the Mastigias papua, but I might change the design to look more like the chrysaora fuscescens... or, more likely, a combination of the two.

Hey, it's fantasy, I can do a little genetic engineering if I want to. :)

So, what do you guys think of the current jelly design?


Near Future

As stated above, there is a lot of con prep going on, and I'm honestly surprised I could even find the laptop under the stacks of prints and piles of conventions forms!

But, I'll be attending two convention in the next month:

Florida SuperCon 6/29-7/2 in Miami, FL.
Otakon 7/27-7/29 in Baltimore, MD.

Come stop by my table; say hi, buy a print, or commission some artwork! I look forward to seeing you there!

Thank you for joining me for another State of the Artist update!


If you enjoy seeing posts of new or in-progress artwork, please consider a donation.

Become a patron of the arts!

Feel free to post links to this journal/community if you feel there might be interest in my artwork!

State of the Artist 6/4/2012

View halloo, all!

It's Monday, and so, it's time for the weekly State of the Artist update (on time, even! :D)


Weekly Words

Doing a straight-forward, clear-cut task that has a beginning and an end balances out the complexity-without-end that often vexes the rest of my life. Sacred simplicity.

-Robert Fulghum 1937-



Current Project

I've got one commission still sitting on my plate, and it's complex and challenging and in a medium I don't often work in, but I'm enjoying it. While, working on it, though, I took a break to doodle around with my concept of the jellyfish/octo-mer project of years ago, that I never ended up doing anything with.

I DO have plans to tackle this project, once I figure out what I want it to look like, what size I want it at, and what medium I want to work in, none of which I've settled on at this point. However, I was struck with the urge to try tackling the mers separately in hopes of nailing down some specifics of the two people I want to put in this piece.

First up is the octomer. Now, he's not new, he's been floating around my sketchbooks for quite some time, but never as fully realized as I saw him in my head the other day. With that strike of inspiration, I sat down to doodle him out... and once I did that, he called for some more mass and definition. Hence, I sat down at my computer and carved him out in Photoshop.

*as always, clicking the link opens the full-size image*





I'm pretty much set on him at this point... the jellymer on the other hand, is proving to be a bit more undecided... there's just *so* many different varieties of jellyfish to pull inspiration from! O.o

I am pretty pleased with the way he came out, just grayscale like this with a touch of blue. I might end up selling him as a print (along with the jellymer when I finish her.) Might also end up doing a traditional media painting of him alone (again, along with the jellymer) and then do the painting of them together.



Near Future

The Near Future sees my convention schedule set for the moment, the same as last week's. In the next two months I have Florida SuperCon and Otakon coming up, after that, it remains to be seen.

I *might* be sending artwork to AnimeMidAtlantic this year, but the mail-in deadline has caught me completely unawares this year, and I don't know if I have time to get everything together and out the door.

I'm contemplating a Kickstarter project or two of my own these days, and I've been kicking around ideas (no pun intended) with MCA Hogarth for possible projects, as well as a possible collaborative project!

Have anything you'd like to see come to life as a Kickstarter project? Maybe a sketch-to-painting from a piece you particularly like, or a sketchbook project? Leave suggestions in the comment below! :)


Thank you all for joining me for this week's update, hope to see you all again next week!


If you enjoy seeing posts of new or in-progress artwork, please consider a donation.

Become a patron of the arts!

Feel free to post links to this journal/community if you feel there might be interest in my artwork!