View halloo, all!!
**This is the last State of the Artist update for 2013. There won't be any State of the Artist updates posted until after the Sketch-A-Day Project for January 2014 is completed, since those get posted every day.**
Wow, it's hard to believe it's December 30th, isn't it?! The year has just flown by, and, I don't know about anyone else, but I'll be happy to usher OUT 2013 and usher IN 2014! I'm looking forward to the new opportunities, new outlook, and fresh start that comes with starting a new year!
Weekly Words
What is a thousand years? Time is short for one who thinks, endless for one who yearns.
- Alain (Émile-Auguste Chartier), 1868 - 1951
Year In Review
Let's see... what's happened in 2013 on Planet Kit?
January:
saw the launch of the Sketch-A-Day Project AND the Monthly Postcard Project, both of which will continue into 2014. (The Sketch-A-Day Project starts on January 1st and will have a new sketch posted to the blog every day hence the gap in State of the Artist updates.)
Some personal favorites:
There are still original sketches from the 2013 Sketch-A-Day Project available for purchase
HERE!
The Monthly Postcard Project resulted in 12 brand new, exclusive, small original works mailed out to subscribers over the course of 2013.
Some personal favorites:
February:
saw the Work-A-Week Project, spinning off the Sketch-A-Day Project, to produce 4 new finished pieces from the selection of sketches of the previous month.
There's only 4 pieces produced during this project, but I do have a personal favorite... and this one was quite the challenge!
March:
saw the enjoyable madness that is MegaCon in Orlando, FL (which I will be at again in 2014, March 21-23) which I greatly enjoyed and will do again next year.
April:
saw the launch of the Moleskine Notebook Commission concept, which I had a great deal of fun with! Once, Sketch-A-Day 2014, Work-A-Week 2014, and MegaCon are over, I'll most likely do another batch of these, so keep an eye out!
May:
saw a new, random traditional piece that evolved from a Sketch-A-Day 2011 doodle
June:
saw the completion of another abstract acrylic painting commission, which I TRULY enjoy doing! I get such an amazing artistic thrill working on abstracts. They're such a change of pace from the tightly rendered illustrations I usually spend my time on. That said, I've come to the conclusion that, when it comes to abstract acrylics, bigger is better! The cathartic rush that moves through me when painting an abstract cries for a BIG canvas.
July:
saw mostly random doodlethingies and Florida SuperCon commissions and the start of the Comics Nouveau Project
small selection:
August:
saw work on another abstract acrylic commission series (for book covers!!), my attendance at AFO (another Orlando con) and convention commissions along with more doodlethingies!
small selection:
September:
saw the completion of the book cover series of abstract acrylic paintings for author and soul sister, (
MCA Hogarth. With the independently-completed medallion images and text, these paintings made for some absolutely AWESOME and unique book covers! And the completion the inaugural Comics Nouveau pieces)
October:
saw my attendance at Necronomicon in Tampa, FL and dipping my toes into Inktober for the first time... a totally awesome project that I may add to my annual project list!
samples:
November:
sadly saw only ONE doodlethingie the entire month (although, most of November was trying to come up with a Holiday Card image I liked... >.<)
December:
saw a few more doodlethingies AND the mailing of the 2013 Holiday Card!
This year's Holiday Card Project exceeded any expectations I EVER had for the project, considering traffic/noise/responses on my blog/LJ/dA/twitter are *very* quiet, but the addition of posting the Card Request Post on tumblr this year resulted in a veritable explosion of requests. This year saw the mailing of 500 cards! (Really, it's not the cards that are the main issue, most printing companies have amazing deals on cards during the holiday season, it's the postage that's the killer.) So, this year's Holiday Card Project resulted in 362 domestic US card requests, and 183 international card requests, bringing postage to a staggering, eye-popping, wallet-weeping $309USD... Those of you who donated to this project have my everlasting gratitude for helping alleviate the cost of the project.
The
Silvertales Studio Zazzle shop saw the addition of oodles of new projects over the course of the year, and that will continue into 2014. If you'd like to see full-size prints of popular pieces added to the Zazzle shop, please let me know in the comments, especially if you have any suggestions for pieces!
Well, I think that's all for this week's State of the Artist update here on Planet Kit.
I thank you for joining me again this week! Feedback is the food which fuels the creative discussion between Artist and Audience, please, feel free to comment or leave suggestions for new projects!
If you enjoy seeing posts of new or in-progress artwork, please consider a donation.
Feel free to post links to this journal/community if you feel there might be interest in my artwork!
