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).
