Merry Christmas!

I was THIS (you can's see my hand, but I'm holding my thumb and finger about half and inch apart) close to doing my own Christmas cards this year.  But then I got busy with work and the weekends this month flew by filled with travel, shopping or visiting.  So instead I did some original art cards to enclose with a card.  The combo of my camera who didn't think a flash was needed and I couldn't convince it otherwise, and the light on my desk, the cards look more yellow than they are in real life but you get the point, I think.

Thanks to everyone who bought something from my Etsy store and my Cafepress store.  Boy, that sugar skull I did is really popular!

Thanks to everyone who started to follow my blog, my tumblr and my twitter.  I know I'm not terribly interesting by it makes me feel that way to know a few people want to know what I'm up to.

Thanks to those people who commissioned me this year.  I hope you still like what I've done for you!

And thanks to everyone (and everything) who has inspired my this year do to fanart or try out a new-ish medium to art in.  Yes, I use "art" as a verb.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Notchordamnatchoz: Walking Dead: the Stopped Dead

I personally witnessed just a fraction of the work that went into this graphic.  It's crazy detailed and it's crazy because a national newspaper had the idea to do it and is running on their website right now.  Go Canada!

Check it out!

Notchordamnatchoz: Walking Dead: the Stopped Dead: Here's a few of the 347 zombies killed so far during the 2.5 seasons of the walking dead. They're from a GIANT, super detailed graphic ab...

Sparks Nevada Fans Part 2

They're the BIGGEST little Sparks Nevada fans this side of the Red Planet!

Yes, its more Thrilling Adventure Hour art.  This time for Sparks Nevada, Marshal on Mars.

I had some extra time and I NEVER animate my own art so I wanted to give it a little movement.  It's grainier that I'd like but that's the nature of a gif.  And this one is kinda on the big side.

I would have liked to try this out in Flash, but I know just enough Flash to make it really frustrating to work in.  I know what I want to do, I know it can be done, I know the basics of how to do it but I don't know all the small fiddly details that go into doing it so I'd be two steps forward, one step back for days until I give up and do it the way I'm used to doing it.  I just create layers in Illustrator and either redraw the movement or just move the shapes around on each layer.  I was trained in Classic animation so I still think in a "draw frame by frame" kind of way but creating so many animations for slots games has taught me to get the most out of the littlest amount of drawing.  Now that it's the way I want it, I might use it to re-teach myself Flash.

I didn't plan any animation for this so I just rotated and tweaked things here and there.  The only thing I redrew were little Sparks's legs so it looks like he's bending his knees.  Also, a little squash and stretch can go a LONG way.

Sparks Nevada Fans Part 1

I couldn't help myself.  When inspiration strikes, you sometimes have to ride it out.

It's what got stuck in my head after listening to many episodes of Sparks Nevada, Marshal on Mars back to back.  He's from Earth.  I also have the theme song stuck in my head.  Each quite brain moment I have is filled with it.

I'm planning on getting this coloured because, mainly, I just want to see what it looks like in colour.  I also have a different idea for the text but I'm too lazy to fix it in the sketch.

Thrilling Adventure Hour Presents...

It's time....

To send the little ones to dreamland and set your radio's dial to "spooky".

Bolt the doors, lock your windows and steel yourself for mysterious suspense, in this evenings final feature...

Meet Frank and Sadie Doyle, the toast of the upper crust, headliners on the society pages.

And, oh yes, they see ghosts! 

Oh boy, do I love this show.  After listening to an episode my head voice sounds like Sadie and Frank mashed together.  If I only drank martinis....

I'm thinking a Sparks Nevada might be next.  If not him them maybe a bunch of his kiddie fans who shine their astro spurs and don their robot fists before listening to his next great adventure.

Beyond Belief!

So I follow Nathan Fillion on Twitter and he tweeted a link to a radio show podcast he performed in.  Being curious and bored I followed it along only to discover The Thrilling Adventure Hour podcast.  And now I can't believe I've been without it for as long as they've been doing it.  It's like the old 1940's radio serial shows but with the most amazing and surprising cast.  You MUST check it out.  They just had a super successful Kickstarter campaign to raise money for a graphic novel, a behind the scenes web show AND a DVD of a performance!

My two favourite shows are Beyond Belief and Sparks Nevada, Marshal on Mars.  The other shows are tied for a very close second.  Yeah, you have to hear it to get it.  After listening to the "Vampire Weekend" episode of Beyond Belief I KNEW I had to draw Frank and Sadie Doyle, the martini loving couple who see ghosts.

I have great plans to get this coloured with some nice 1940's colours and text if I can find a few moments here and there.

So do yourself a favour and listen to this podcast.  It's brilliant.

Halloween Pumpkins

I never just sit and fool around with paper and ink.  Notchordamnachoz (take THAT spell check!) inspired me to try it out.  I found some big bristol paper and loosely sketched out some big head poses that turned into pumpkin dudes since, you know, it's Halloween month.  It took about a week of inking to finish it.  And by a week, I mean sitting down for 5 or 10 minutes at a time and flushing out one of the colours.

This one is my favourite.

"Whatcha thinkin' 'bout?"

"Halloween..."

And this is me playing with my new tablet, trying to figure out my new hot keys.

Pretty Serious-ly Awesome!

I got a little surprise package in the mail a few days ago.

Samples from the Pretty Serious line!  Whoo!

Thank goodness she sent 5 colour of polish (and one very tasty smelling tube or lip gloss!) so I could try out a colour on each nail.  From thumb to pinky the colours are Gargoyle Ganache, Mummy Mush, Into Dreams, Morning Java and Tux.

Since I was going to a Halloween party a 2 days later I thought the black Tux colour would look pretty awesome.  It's black with a shimmer of blue in it.  Classy!

Thanks to Karen at Pretty Serious for the treats!

Pretty Serious

For almost a year now I've been working with this fantastic entrepreneur who started her own cosmetic company called Pretty Serious, in Australia.  It all began by doing a header for her B movie review blog, B Movie Chicks, which then lead to me doing pinups for her different lines of products.

Creating her logo design is what lead to the girl painting her nails that I've been using on my blog and website.  I also helped design the packaging for the products.

Hello World!

This one is based on computer lingo.  I've always been an Apple girl, so I've never witnessed a Blue Screen of Death but I'm sure the colour is nicer than the situation.  See the colours HERE.

In The Night

This on is based on an old SNES game, which I never played, but I recognized the character design.  See the line HERE.

Monster Mash

Ok, this one I really enjoyed doing.  Anything kind of monster related and my eyes and ears perk up.  You can probably guess who each of the little, soon to be blended, monsters are based on.  See the colours HERE.

Emma Louise

Last and more definitely not least is the charity driven colour.  To celebrate a friend's birthday, she got to design her own colour with the profits of the sale of this colour going to her favourite charity.  It's a limited edition too!  Read more about it HERE.

It's been a pleasure working with Pretty Serious these past few months.  Me being in Canada and her being in Australia hasn't hampered our work.  It just bends my mind a bit thinking she's replying to my emails from the future because of the time difference.

It's Wrestle Time!

"You got your Adventure Time in my WWE!  And you got your WWE in my Adventure Time!"

That's pretty much what went on in my head one recent Saturday morning.  That's CM Punk and Paul Heyman, if you don't know.

Artbook for sale at Etsy

I have some leftover copies of my artbook from the FanExpo last month.  I thought I'd try selling them on Etsy so I can offer a sketch inside each book.

So!  I'm selling my artbook at Etsy and am offering a sketch inside each book with purchase!  I have 12  left so it would be pretty amazing to have them sold by the end of this year.

I'm also including with every order, a freshly drawn sketch card.

Baby's First Sushi

I did this for a friend for a baby shower gift.  She loves her sushi and hasn't been able to have any with fish for 9 months.  I would tease her that Maki is good boy's name and Sashimi is a nice girl's name.  Luckily for the baby, she didn't take me up on those names.

So that's all the new art I have for now!  Looks like I have to get back to my desk to draw once again.

Prints for sale at Etsy

I was going to wait until the weekend but I got restless and since I had a minute break from work I figured I'd just jump in and do it now.

I have an Etsy shop!  

Just two 5"x7" prints available right now.  I'll add more as the weeks go on.  I'm just curious if this will encourage people to buy.  I'm hoping shopping from a reputable online store is more comforting that just dealing with me and paypal.  Not that I'm not comforting, I think I'm quite nice...

Fingers crossed this thing works.

FanExpo 2012 Wrap-up

So this sketch pretty much represents my feeling for the FanExpo.  Me being the girl, my art being the cat.  It was a bit of a bust.  Don't get me wrong, there were thousands of people walking around, there were some pretty big corporate displays like Lego, Marvel and Ubisoft with displays and demos and freebees, there were some pretty amazing A-list celebrities, but all of that didn't add up to a great weekend for us in Artist Alley.

The organizers moved Artist Alley from one long wall along the back of the room to a shorter wall along the side of the room.  We were 3 rows from the farthest corner of the room.  The main feeling was that once people started at the opposite end of the Artist Alley, got to the half way point, they either got tired or ran out of money so they turned around and didn't make it to the final few rows where we were.  We were also quite close to the CTV area (a TV station here in Canada) so I think people saw that and figured 'Boring, I'm here for comics not TV' and turned around.  We were also close to one of two giant TOWER OF T-SHIRTS! towers so people saw that and probably figured they'd seen one, they don't need to see another.

So overall it just wasn't as successful as last year's FanExpo.  I would like to thank those who did stop buy to chat or buy, especially those of you who remembered us from past years and always seem to buy something new from us.  Thank you!  You made my weekend.

Something else I think messed me up was autograph hunting.  I haven't been the one who goes out for autographs from the celebs, I sit back and watch the table while Andrew does that.  There's never been anyone who I just really, really wanted to meet.  Until this year.  Yes, I scraped up the courage from somewhere and got Alan Tudyk's autograph on my Tucker and Dale image.

I was taking a walk and happened to see he was there a day early so I thought better do it now before I lose sleep with anxiety and anticipation.  So I got in line and the volunteer announces that the line is now closed.  I was the last one.  What?!  So I joke to the guy in front of me, 'Does that mean I'll be the one he remembers out of everyone today?'  And he says 'Yeah, when he's lying in bed tonight he'll be thinking of you.'  WHAT?!  And the volunteer jokes that I should toss my hair and be all flirty.  Double what?!  Like I needed all of that to make me any more nervous.  But he was very kind, shook my hand, seemed to be amused by my piece (I gave him one with my autograph on it :P) and signed it as well as the photo that I got for the price of the autograph.  As I walked away I thanked him for not cancelling to which he smiled and nodded a 'You're welcome' kind of thing.

I also got Norma Reedus and Jon Bernthal (from The Walking Dead) autographs for my Mom since she's a huge fan of the show.  That should be a fun addition to her birthday presents!  Sarah Wayne Callies who plays Lori just showed up out of the blue at Norman's table while I was lining up but I didn't have enough money on my for her's too.  Talk about awkward.  She's twiddling her pen as I'm standing there waiting for Norman, NOT getting her autograph.  But she did compliment me on my owl t-shirt.  

So all that autograph stuff had me on edge for three days.  Right now I'm suffering from post traumatic stress disorder.  I keep flashing back to how much of an idiot I may or may not have made of myself.  I haven't even looked at the few photos I got of me and them since they were taken.

So that's sort of it in a nutshell.  We hung out with some convention friends (Ghoul Friday and Mummy's Little Monster, I'm looking at you!) I bought some great new art to freshen up our art wall.  I'm not quite inspired to jump back into my own art right now but I'll give it some time.

I have a lot of merch left over so I'm planning on opening at etsy.com store.  I figured people might trust that more than just buying directly from me.  Worth a shot I guess.  I also might try the tumblr thing and start one of those.  Like I don't have enough places to update when I have something to update with, but what's one more, eh?

Killer Fangirl 6: Zombie

And finally, a girl's best friend, the zombie.  I went with a Return of the Living Dead theme with this once hence the logo on her shirt.

If you're coming to the FanExpo this weekend, this image is my display on our table so look for it if you're looking for me.

Killer Fangirl 5: The Sawyers

This one's a fan of that friendly southern family, the Sawyers and their world famous chili.

Will be for sale at the FanExpo this weekend!

Killer Fangirl 4: Michael

This one was a little tougher.  I figured the butcher knife and the style of the pumpkin face would give the best clues to who she's a fangirl of.  In the movie it's either Dr. Loomis or the sheriff who asks for back up at "45 Lamkin Lane, the old Myer's house" so I went with that as the address.

This too will be for sale at the FanExpo NEXT WEEK!

Killer Fangirl 3: Freddy

Every girl dreams of her Freddy once in a while.

Will be for sale at FanExpo, in two weeks!  How can time go so fast AND so slow at the same time?

FanExpo Map

So that's were Andrew and I will be, A53.  I think we're surrounded by a few authors with their books. I might be wrong but it looks like they've rearranged the layout this year.  Last year artist alley was pretty close the celebrity autograph area but now it's WAAAY on the other side of the room.  But this map is always a little deceiving until you set foot in the room and see where everything is with your own eyes.  Even then it takes a few hours of walking around to get your bearings.

Killer Fangirl 2: Jason

What girl doesn't love a maniac in a hockey mask, eh?  Especially if that girl is Canadian!  I'll be selling this at the FanExpo this month.

Killer Fangirls 1: Ash

So this is the result of colouring one of those sketches I posted earlier:

It's girly Ash from Evil Dead 2.  I've seen a ton of cosplay of women dressed as Ash and their costumes are usually better than some of the costumes guys put together.  She's not really a "fangirl" but Ash is such a pop culture cult hero that I really wanted to try girlifying him.  Is that a word!  It is now!

I've got 5 more fangirls.  I'll be selling them at the FanExpo this year.  I'm thinking they'll be 5"x7".  So come on by if you're coming and want one!

GO JOE BARTOCH!!!

image by Andrew Barr (his cousin!)

Look for him in the pool, 100m butterfly!  Whooo!

Christmas Art Trade

 It only took 7 months, but my friends and I (almost) competed our Christmas art trade.  We "commissioned" each other with a subject and this is my result.

Beastly Rock Chick

Lady Terminator

Ape Guard

 I figure if we commission each other now we should have the art done by this Christmas.

My Artbook is DONE!

Finally!  I got off my butt, then back on my butt in front of my computer to get this artbook sorted out and done.

BOOM!

There it is!  You can find it at Lulu.com.  If you want to find it AND buy it, just follow this link here.  It's 75 pages of art I've done over past 10-ish years in full colour.  It's not in chronological order, that would have driven me a little nuts, but you can probably tell the progression of my style just by the art.  I know I can.  I should also add that they often put codes for discounts and deals on the front page so check that our first before ordering anything.

I'll be selling this at the FanExpo this August so you can get it from me there.  I'll even do a sketch for you on the inside if you're so inclined to want one.  I'll also be selling leftover books on my own, so if you do want a sketch but can't make it to the convention I'll post the how-to of going through Paypal.

Tucker and Dale VS Evil

Fan Expo recently announced that Alan Tudyk is going to be one of the celebrity guests this year so I was inspired to do a Tucker and Dale VS Evil sketch.  I'm planning to get it coloured.  And if I can muster the courage (I'm shy!) and he doesn't cancel at the last minute, I'll get a few printed so I can give one to him and get him to sign another.

FaxExpo 2012

If you haven't checked out the guest list for this year's Fan Expo in Toronto, then you bloody well should.  Thank goodness we already have a table because going as a visitor would be a little INSANE considering who's going to be there!  Seriously!  So here's hoping they all show up and no one has to cancel.

Pizza!

Been drawing a lot of pizza and pizza related things lately.  For some reason I wanted to give this one a quick Photoshop colour.  Not surprisingly to me, I am not craving pizza now.

Killer Fangirls

So I'm trying to get back to where all my pinups kinda started and come up with something for the big FanExpo in Toronto this August.  My first idea was extra curvy versions of our favourite movie slashers.

This sort of worked.  I did this Leatherface one, thought it was pretty good, then tried a Freddy.  Well, 12 pages of erased sketchbook later I still couldn't get it to work.  I couldn't even visualize a Jason or a Michael Myers.  So I scrapped that idea, which was hard, because I had gotten to the point of just redrawing the same thing over and over thinking I was drawing something different.  Anyway, this is what came out next.

This is more like it!  I've already coloured them and I love them.  I don't want to give too much away by posting the finished once already so I'm going to sit on them for a little while longer.  I'll be selling them as single prints, 5"x7", at the convention.

I tried to think of other classic slasher but I think I covered the main ones.  Then I thought of Ash.

Now I think I'm in the swing of things.  She isn't coloured yet but I'm not sure she's a fangirl or a slasher.  She's kind of the female version of our favourite anti-hero.  Or she is a fangirl since she seems to be flirting with her evil hand.  Either way, I'm hoping to get this one coloured too.

A little bit of crazy

Inspired by watching wrestling last night and crazy little AJ.  She may look tiny but I'm sure she could kick my butt without losing her breath.

Glow in the dark Gremlins Shirt!

Notchordamnatchoz: If Billy's dad had his way.: So this fancy design can be found for sale at Shirtpunch.com  starting right now! Gremlins has always been one of my favorite movies, ye...Glow

Illustration Friday: Heights

This one's a quicky for Illustration Friday.  The new sketchbook I'm using really eats up my pencil!  But I hate to waste a book since I bought it.  I found 3 blank sketchbooks in my tub of supplies so I have to keep telling myself "Don't buy sketchbooks!".  "And tuna!"  I have enough tuna in the cupboards too.

Illustration Friday: Puzzled or "Velma"

I've been watching the new Scooby-Doo cartoon Mystery Incorporated (thanks to Andrew) and it's the first time I've ever enjoyed the show.  Ever.  Scooby-Doo just always annoyed me.  But this new version of it is pretty good.  It's got some good story lines, some great in-jokes and a fun "I know that voice" kind of cast.

So I started sketching out some Velmas to see where it took me.

And here's where it took me!  What's funny is this week's Illustration Friday word is "puzzled" so it's like fate or something.

Flashback

So looking for inspiration for something to draw, I thought I'd try revisiting some of my previous work.  I did that a while ago with some old pinups (my pirate, cupid, mad scientist, spacegirl) and it worked out well so here's my revisiting, gulp, Lucha Babes.  Yikes!  That was 2004!  8 years ago, 8 YEARS AGO, when I wrote, drew, inked, lettered and published my own comic book.  Every one was doin' it so I wanted to see what the big deal was.  What a crazy kid I was!  Seriously, what was I thinking?  There was SO much work involved.  It really gave me a huge new respect for those artist who go it alone.  Good on ya!

Then.  Hand inked!  By hand!  With real ink!

Now

I still have a soft spot in my gut for my drawings, dated as they are.  It was actually pretty hard to capture what I remember being so easy to draw back then.  And to think I had 8 masked female characters!  I'm please how Desnuda's (I remembered her name!) sketch turned out so I might colour her in sometime when I'm bored.