A Clue to My Weekend Viewing

I'll be watching the third of these.  Of my own free will.  With others.  Of their free will.  Having willingly seen the first two recently.

Tobie, the Leopard Gecko

What?  No new art since January?!  Well, I have done new art, but it's all for work so I can't post it here.  Until this, that is!

This was a commission by a friend who had recently lost their dear pet Gecko, Tobie.

2013

So here's the list of movies I saw in 2012 from last to first:

• The Raid: Redemption
• Paranorman *
• The Texas Chain Saw Massacre *
• Little Shop of Horrors *
• Finding Nemo *
• The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
• Prometheus *
• The Hobbit
• Gremlins *
• Scrooged *
• Sleepwalk With Me
• Phantasm *
• Hellraiser *
• Rope
• Skyfall
• Chronicle
• Detention
• Rope
• Goon
• The Man With the Iron Fists
• Wreck It Ralph
• Pee Wee's Big Adventure *
• The Sting
• In Her Masters Voice
• Halloween: Resurrection *
• Halloween H20 *
• Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers *
• Halloween 5 *
• Halloween 4 *
• Halloween 3 *
• Halloween 2 *
• Halloween *
• VHS
• REC 3
• Sinister
• Case 39
• The Collector
• Outpost 2
• Iron Sky
• Dredd 3D
• Frankenweenie
• A Dangerous Method
• Looper
• Insidious *
• The Breakfast Club *
• Shanghai Noon *
• The Avengers *
• The Cabin in the Woods *
• Shanghai Noon *
• War Horse
• Alien Resurrection *
• Alien 3 *
• Aliens *
• Alien *
• The Big Year
• Dead Birds
• The Big Lebowski *
• Five Element Ninja
• Bullitt
• Nazis at the Centre of the Earth
• Abraham Lincoln vs. Zombies
• Piranha 3DD (without the 3)
• The Code
• The Darkest Hour
• The Bourne Legacy
• The Possession
• The Expendables 2
• Deep Rising *
• The Cottage *
• Tower Heist
• Paranorman
• The Three Stooges
• The Grey
• The Children
• Tinker Tailer Soldier Spy
• Evil Dead 2 *
• Rare Exports
• Lockup
• No Holds Barred
• The Dark Knight Rises
• Sint
• Wrecked
• Tucker and Dale vs EVIL *
• Real Steel
• Mrs. Caldicot's Cabbage War
• First Knight
• Dodgeball *
• Airport '77
• Airport '75
• Airport '70
• Batman
• The Amazing Spiderman
• Brave
• The Killing
• The Night of the Hunter
• Without Warning
• Back to the Future II *
• Date Night
• Cedar Rapids
• Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter
• Snow White and the Huntsman
• Time Crimes *
• Crazy. Stupid. Love.
• The Hangover 2 *
• Bridesmaids *
• The Devil Wears Prada
• The Possession of David O'Reilly
• Mars Attacks! *
• Prometheus
• Last of the Wild Horses (MST3K)
• Mimic *
• Star Trek 2: Wrath of Khan
• The Last Starfighter *
• King Dinosaur (MST3K)
• Moneyball
• The Castle of Fu Man Chu (MST3K)
• Code Name: Diamond Head (MST3K)
• Anonymous
• Bloodsucking Pharaohs from PIttsburgh
• Death at a Funeral (British one)
• Jurassic Park 3 *
• Men In Black 3
• Bedazzled (1967)
• Feast 3: The Happy Finish
• The Serpent and the Rainbow
• The Prophecy *
• Runaway
• The Manhattan Project
• Silent Rage
• Real Genius *
• A Little Bit Zombie
• Angels Revenge (MST3K) *
• Super
• Dark Shadows
• Men in Black 2 *
• Tucker and Dale vs. Evil *
• Wet Hot American Summer
• Terror Train
• Dead End Drive In
• The Avengers
• Hulk *
• Thor *
• Captain America *
• Our Idiot Brother
• Men In Black *
• Turkey Shoot
• Ozploitation: Not Quite Hollywood
• Fast Five
• Return of the Jedi *
• The Empire Strikes Back *
• Shark Night 3D
• Rise of the Planet of the Apes *
• Battle for the Planet of the Apes *
• Conquest of the Planet of the Apes *
• Escape for The Planet of the Apes *
• Beneath the Planet of the Apes *
• Planet of the Apes *
• Star Wars: A New Hope *
• Close Encounters of the Third Kind *
• Paintball
• Shrine
• The Cabin in the Woods
• X Men-First Class
• From a Whisper to a Scream
• Die Hard *
• Revenge of the Nerds *
• Blood Beach
• My Science Project *
• Dolls
• John Carter of Mars
• Jurassic Park 2 *
• Slave Girls from Beyond Infinity
• Time of the Apes (MST3K)
• Mutant
• Horrible Bosses *
• Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory
• Nighthawks
• Darkon
• The Brute Man (MST3K)
• Bad Teacher
• Your Highness
• Paul
• The Violent Years (MST3K)
• Jurassic Park *
• Superheroes
• Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
• Scorpion Thunderbolt
• Unmasked Part 25: The Hand of Death
• Student Bodies
• Drive
• The Woman in Black
• Mighty Jack (MST3K)
• Jack Frost 2
• Red Riding (1974)
• Scream 4
• Red Tails
• Arthur (the Russell Brand one)
• The Mechanic
• The King's Speech
• Chromeskull: Laid to Rest 2
• Invaders From Mars (1953)
• Oblivion *
• The 7th Voyage of Sinbad
• Metamorphosis: The Alien Factor
• The Trip
• Hanna
• Tin Tin
• Revenge of the Nerds *
• 
  
• And here's the list of books I read in 2012 from last to first:
• 
  
• Ghost Road Blues by Jonathan Mayberry (again, I think)
• Boneshaker by Cherie Priest
• Dreadnought by Cherie Priest
• This Book is Full of Spiders by David Wong
• John Dies at the End by David Wong (again)
• Assassin's Code by Jonathan Maberry
• 11/22/63 by Stephen King
• Rivals by Jilly Cooper (for the 8th time)
• A Feast for Crows by George R.R. Martin
• Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame-Smith
• The Meaning of Night by Michael Cox
• Snuff by Terry Pratchett
• The Night Eternal by Chuck Hogan and Guillermo Del Toro
• A Storm of Swords by George R.R. Martin

I'm a little embarrassed I saw so much more than I read.  I used to be a really avid reader in school but not so much later.  Maybe that's a reasonable new year's resolution - READ MORE.  I don't think I'll be keeping a movie list this year.  I'll leave that to Notchordamnatchoz.blogspot.ca since he and I pretty much watch all the same stuff together.

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.