Category Archives: Art

Day 1: Yourself

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One thing I haven’t been able to find since I moved out to LA is my mirror, so this is less an accurate portrait and more of an educated guess. Also featured are my two accomplices in crime, Coal the cat and Buddy the terrapin. Both girls; it’s a bit of a hen house here. We moved out to LA together. A 3,000 mile car ride is hard on a turtle and a cat, but they hung in there like troopers, and five months later they’re finally getting over the deeply-rooted resentment for me that only being trapped together in a car for forty hours can spawn.

While I’ve got you here, I don’t think I ever mentioned that I started a webcomic! It’s called MFK and it updates Mondays and Thursdays. It’s still in its infancy, but go check it out anyway and let me know what you think!

30 Day Challenge

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At some point in my life – like two weeks ago – my friend Alejandra Quintas suggested we do that 30 Day Drawing Challenge thing, and naturally I said sure let’s go for it. It was one of those things that seemed like a good idea up until the moment that you actually had to do it. I was already pretty busy at that point and luckily had the foresight to say I’d wait until March, when my schedule was a little lighter.

Well, my schedule really isn’t any lighter. But it’s my birthday month, and dammit, if I’m going to devote a month to subjecting my friends and family to bad drawings of all my favorite things then March is the month to do it. So, I promise to make the attempt every single day up until the end of the month. The quality will range depending on how much time I have at the end of the day, but I promise you it will almost always be a step above this.

It’s aliiiiiive!

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Oh my wow guys, here I am posting. I’ve been a busy beaver lately and haven’t had time to write about story-related things as I’d like to, but I do feel bad about letting my blog just sit. I promised myself I was going to get better about blog posting, so um… let’s try promising again lol, and hopefully I’ll stick to it this time. Story posts will be coming, but for now I want to focus on building a posting routine.

Okay well new items first.

If you will be at Otakon at the end of this month, I will also be at Otakon and you should come visit me in Artist Alley. My friends Alice Meichi Li and Jennifer Zyren Smith will also be there! According to the Artist Alley map I should be either at booth B08 or B09 (Alice and I will be together). Man, the last time I was at a con I’d just graduated from my first college. It’s been years. I can’t wait to see how Otakon has changed!

You might be on Twitter. You might be on Tumblr. If so, you might like to follow me :) just use those handy dandy buttons over on the right over the search bar to find me.

Also also, my website got a facelift care of my amazingly talented and wonderful friend Sarah – who recently began her online comic Rumbirds! She also co-hosts a podcast that’s all about music and theatre and movies and Youtube and coning?? (what the what?) and other fun things. Her cohost Timmy is good people – he introduced me to Happle Tea, and anyone who turns me onto awesome webcomics is A-OK in my book.

Some things are afoot that I don’t want to discuss right now, but rest assured I’m keeping busy, and when opportunity allows, you’ll definitely be hearing about them.

Now that I’m actively pursuing art as a career, it seems that most everyone I meet has artistic aspirations. I was just making a late-night run to the grocery store, and I got into a conversation with the cashier. He asked me what I did for a living. I told him that I was an artist. He got a knowing look, and confided that he used to take drawing classes.

Just this past weekend, I reconnected with a cousin I haven’t talked to in years, and I was surprised to learn that she was interested in art as well. She’s considering going back to school so she can enter the health sector, but she confided that it’s not where her heart is. She’d rather be taking art classes.

Back before I enrolled at Ringling, I didn’t know half the stuff about the world of art that I know now. At the time, I was trying to get myself out of the world of marketing, and being an artist seemed like an all or nothing sort of thing. Granted, I’m happy with my choice, but I understand a lot better now that it’s not the only choice. So many people give up on art to be practical, to focus on school and having a well-paying job and taking care of the family, and lament the missed opportunity to pursue their passion. But… why is it all or nothing? Why not do both? The truth is, being a professional artist isn’t for everyone. It can be just as demanding and thankless as any other job, depending on your role and where you work.

But for every professional artist I know, I know someone else who just does their art on the side – I hesitate to call it a hobby because sometimes it transcends that. Maybe they take classes, or paint in the mornings, or run their freelance photography business on the weekends. Or they’re like a number of illustrators I follow and work on webcomics, graphic novels, and other projects in their free time. I’m most familiar with these type of artists because I read a lot of webcomics – artists like Sarah Ellerton and Tracy Butler. Now, I’ll grant you, Tracy’s day job is art-related, but it’s still a day job. Lackadaisy Cats is something she does entirely in her spare time.

…Of course, this post doesn’t address the very important issue of time management. Anyone working a nine to five job knows how hard it is to come home from work after a grueling day of office politics, fighting traffic, running errands and taking care of home responsibilities, and then convince yourself to stay upright for a few more hours and do some art. But… it can be done. Bottom line is, you don’t have to remove art from your life. It can fill as much or as little of your time as you’d like… and if you’re really passionate about it, I think a little time is preferable to none at all.

Speaking of art, here’s a sneak peek at some new stuff I’ll have with me at Otakon (yes, I’m totally into A Song of Ice and Fire right now).

Robb Stark - A Song of Ice and Fire Jon Snow - A Song of Ice and Fire

Salsa - Eternal Sonata

Illustration Friday

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Bottled

Oh boy. I am waaaaaay behind on my story posts! I’ve been caught up with a few writing projects, and with so much writing on my plate already, the thought of writing about writing was a little overwhelming. Hopefully next week is lighter and I can get back on track!

In the meantime, here’s a painting for Illustration Friday. I’ve never done IF before, and it took me a while to come up with an idea for the theme “bottled.” What do I think of when I think of bottles? …Bonsai kitties, apparently.

When it all goes not according to plan

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First some art, cuz I always feel bad when I post but don’t have any art to show.

Snow Day

Next, a general announcement: I changed the permalinks on my blog. If anyone’s linking to specific entries, your old links should work as far as I know, but you might want to change them in any case.

Okay, now for the real entry!

Ah, let me tell you guys. The last eight months have been quite the roller coaster ride. A slow, boring, yet disproportionately frightening roller coaster ride. Not too many twists, turns or stomach-flipping plummets, but plenty of screams and the silent fear of falling or losing limbs.

In fact, the only real surprise on this ride that warrants a few screams of terror happened last week. I quit my job. I’ve got two weeks left, but it’s a sure thing, now. Next Thursday is my last day.

But really, the most surprising (and amusing) part of all this is just how freaked out my sister seems to be. Last week when I told her I was going to quit, she told me “no, you’re not.” The next day when I told her I handed in my two weeks’ notice, she didn’t believe me. Just now I was e-mailing her about some ideas I have for the next few months—ideas that have nothing to do with my job, FYI—and she replies back, “Did you decide not to quit your job?”

Whoa, sis, calm down. You’re not allowed to be more freaked out about this than I am. Continue reading →

The End is Nigh!

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It’s 2011, and you know what that means. If any of you guys have big plans, you better get crackin’. You’ve only got a year left! Uh… you know, if you’re concerned about that sorta thing.

Which makes me wonder. The Mayans predicted the world would end in 2012… but what day? Like, is this something I can pencil in on my calendar? Y’know, for scheduling purposes?

Anyhoo. Here’s some New Year art.

Selkie

Shepherd

The Not-Halloween Post

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Wow. Is it really November already? Wait. When do we turn our clocks back?

So I’ve been doing… things… mostly I’ve been trying to fit in drawing while I’m not working. It’s quite a struggle, let me tell you. To be honest, I’d be happy if I could just draw and write all day. But, the bills must be paid.

Anyhoo. Here’s an accumulation of stuff from the past few weeks. I don’t post works in progress much, but it may be a while before I get to post again, so I’m going for it dammit. But first, here’s the finished stuff.

In the future, sloths will look like this, and will actually be pretty awesome. Too bad the human race will be extinct by then so we won’t get to appreciate it.
halloween monster

I actually started this a whiiiile ago… like in 2006. I got it half-painted and then never finished. I’ve always meant to get back to it… and so randomly one night I broke it out. It’s probably better that I waited anyway, I’ve learned a thing or two about painting and color since then.
sunrise

Around the same time that I finished that painting I realized I haven’t touched gouache in a while. This was highly experimental, and I’m not thrilled with it. The digital mockup I did looks better :p so I may revisit this sometime too.
winter

My nieces tried out for All County Choir a couple weeks ago (one made it, one didn’t, but there’s always next year). And, well, it’s not every day you get an opportunity to draw children in an environment where they can’t really run off on you.
all county kids 1

They can’t run off… but they can still squirm a lot, which made the girl at the top of this one a challenge. Man, anytime your nieces can pick out what’s wrong in a drawing, you know you’re in trouble.
all county kids 2

This guy at least waited until I was wrapping up my sketch before he got up and started running around the cafeteria.
all county boy

Okay, now the WIP stuff.
circus

bones

Some random (but not too random) panels from a storyboard I’m working on.
ratatosk 1
ratatosk 2
ratatosk 3
ratatosk 4
ratatosk 5
ratatosk 6
ratatosk 7
ratatosk 8
ratatosk 9
ratatosk 10
ratatosk 11
ratatosk 12

Wow, the Broadway Belle sounds remarkably like the movie Belle…

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I meant to write this post last night, but I stayed up late and got sleepy.

Whoo! All of a sudden, strangely, I’ve got a whole lot going on and I’m trying to balance it all. The day job sucks up a lot of time that now I’m wishing I could devote to other things. In fact, I feel kinda guilty taking up valuable time to type up this post.

So what do I need time for? Cooking! I’m a casual cooking enthusiast – not to mention I’m trying to get more fresh food into my diet. One of the nice things about being home is I actually have time to plan meals.

So last night, I set off to the grocery store knowing I wanted to make chicken katsu for dinner. But when I got to the meat section, a cheap packet of lamb caught my eye. Lamb, eh? I’d never cooked lamb before. I couldn’t resist.

And yay, this was the first night I managed to cook the whole dish without having to glance at a recipe. I also sauteed a few vegetables just to add a bit of color. And to my… relief :p it was quite delicious.

I’m actually quite fond of baking too. Last week my dear friend Sarah posted a pic on Twitter of a mixed berry pie she and Roy bought while on vacation. I was so infatuated that I decided I must bake one of my own. Another first; I’ve never made – or eaten – mixed berry pie.

…There’s something flying around in here….

Anyway. So also on my plate is drawing, and this is where day and night really clash. I spend most of my time on the job thinking about all the drawing I could be doing… but then when I get home, I’m so tired that I end up lazing about until it’s time for bed. It’s a test in time management and keeping myself motivated… look how those Ringling battles don’t go away just because you’re not there!

I’ve got a few comics I’m working on – one of which I am currently illustrating. Luckily it doesn’t start updating until the end of September, and I’ve got the first two pages inked, but I’d like to get a little farther along than that. The other two I have a year to work on, but a year can easily come and go.

In the meantime, I’m also experimenting with illustration styles. On a whim I decided to come up with something and bring it into Illustrator. I started with a sketch and color key to get an idea of the look.

It’s been years since I’ve used Illustrator, but I’m pleased to see it hasn’t changed too much. In fact, it’s just as tedious a process as I remember it being. This took four hours, and I haven’t even gotten to the background.

I’ve started listening to showtunes, which just makes me wish I could sing and had more acting experience. I’d run away to the theatre right now, dammit.

Makes me want to draw more, too. Wish I could draw faster. But as it is I’m very slow :p so it’s only one idea at a time, for now.

Never say “never”

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This was fun to do. I’ve been experimenting with CG painting. The conclusion is… I need to keep experimenting. XD But I feel like I’m getting closer to what I want to see in my art.

I keep wanting to be able to post more than just one image at a time, but I don’t draw fast enough. ;.;

I also keep wanting to write an actual update… so why don’t I do that, right now? To start us off, here’s a very useful bit of advice for upcoming and recent art school grads.

So I graduated Ringling in May, and I’ve been at home for just over four months now. The plan was to spend the summer focusing on getting a studio job – and with luck, to have said studio job before September. But as I’ve learned, there are some things in life you can plan for, and some that you can’t.

At the moment, I’m working at a publishing company helping to convert and distribute e-books to electronic vendors (Amazon, Barnes and Noble, what have you). It is in no way art-related, and that drives me nuts. It is related to my past degree and work experience, which is why I got the job – and even that came as a surprise, because I haven’t had a single call/e-mail back all summer.

All the same, I find many days at work are spent daydreaming about all the drawing and creating I could be doing if I was at home. It seemed that the smarter thing – and what had been the plan – would be to stay unemployed a bit longer and focus my attention on improving my work, updating my reel and portfolio, and marketing myself.

But then I discovered that my student loans had kicked in. Not Ringling’s. The ones from my last school, that I deferred to attend Ringling. And apparently I’m a month behind (thank goodness the late fee isn’t as astronomical as credit card late fees tend to be). So, not working is no longer an option. I have bills to pay.

I’ll need the money anyway, if I want to move to L.A., or decide to try freelancing. In this economy, I just can’t take a chance on maybe finding a job elsewhere.

So it’s frustrating, watching my friends get hired at various studios around the country, feeling like I’m stuck. I try to keep my whining to a minimum, because at the same time I’m happy for them, and at the same time I want to be positive and encouraging to other friends who are still job-hunting. But I’m not going to sugar-coat it. I’m frustrated. I can be happy and sad at the same time.

It’s the nature of the industry. It’s incredibly competitive, and there are no guarantees. Talent’s important, but so are networking and the right timing. It could be that I get a call tomorrow, and I’m off to my dream job. It could be that I never get the call at all, and I’ll have to move on to the next thing – not saying that I’d give up on animation, but that I’ll just have to find a different avenue to reach my goals.

Last year I experienced a windfall. My grades were good, I had an amazing summer internship, and all seemed right with the world. This year, I often wonder if I deserved any of it. Ups and downs. That’s how it is, sometimes. Right now, I’m feeling down. I’m in a rut. So the next course of action is to climb my way out.

One of my favorite lines from An American Tail: “Hope for the best, work for the rest.” That’s all you can really do. Like the link says, be open to opportunities, and be persistent.

Annnnd apparently my word count is nearing 700, which was the typical length of my articles back when I wrote for the local paper. o__o I just made you read a whole feature article. Sorry. I’m done now.