It's go time!

Project Nygma is a go.

I've been sitting on this for a year now. I bought some supplies a few months ago, annnnd then a lot came up. I was waiting and waiting on my con pass and was finally approved late last month.

I will be attending Dragon Con 2011 as "Nygma" AKA Steampunk female Riddler.

My biggest concern is making this cost effective. When I saw the corset I wanted on sale for $34 last week I freaked out. And then this morning it was back to $89. Curses!!!! I might just have to learn how to bone. Huh huh huh.

*ahem*

This morning I sketched up the newest addition to my costume, my own half version of hoops/Panniers. Since this is steampunk the amount of fun I can have designing these hardware elements is endless. My biggest concern was that this needs to be lightweight enough to move through the crowds, but sturdy enough to hold shape. I looked up some DIY for tips and saw a great suggestion, tubing instead of expensive boning.

To the hardware store I went! And low and behold, the right size and sturdiness was on sale for $6. Win! I grabbed a jar to possibly use in the staff because I liked the patterning on it.

I looked at variations for creating the staff. I still feel PVC that screws together at certain points will be best for the sake of packing. However That might get a tad pricey. I'll check the craft store and see what else might catch my attention. I was considering the bamboo polls, and just using big "brass" attachment points. Since it was supposed to be cherry stained wood originally I may do that. Not sure.

Then I wandered to the thrift store to looks for odds and ends, and there on the rack was THE perfect fabric... for $1.50. YAY!!!

This will work nicely for one of the skirt layers.

I still have a lot more shopping to do, and a lot of work ahead of me but I'm so excited.

Ive printed out a calendar, wrote down my budget week by week, and am tracking my gym and costume progress on it.

I can't wait to see all my friends again. Dominic, and John, and John, and John, and Andrew, and Andrew, and Corey, and Aurelia, and Katie.
I've got a hotel room to myself which means... party.

I still wouldn't mind splitting it to save money. Buuuut I mean, it might also be nice to be able to have the room to myself when I'm getting ready.

I'm having trouble finding goggles. I need to find some SP workshops and see what base they use.

My nerd senses are tingling!!!

Seriously. I've got goose bumps.


IT'S CON SEASON BITCHESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!


Megacon was a few weeks ago and I'm currently browsing the gallery at EPBOT . I'm eating my breakfast kinda bouncing up and down going "omg. omG. OMG!!!" as I look at each beautifully crafted (and some not so much) costumes. Just the EFFORT people put into these. MMMMmmmmm


So yesterday I finally went to the APEX junk yard to find meh tubez. That places is the apocalypse. Seriously, check it out:








I circled and circled the place for about an hour looking for the perfect Vacum Tube and or lightbulb to place in my cane/staff, It was like playing Goldy Locks. "This tube is too big. This tube is too small. This tube is... filled with goo. Ewww". I was about to give up and settle for a sort of bland looking one when I thought I saw something run past my feet. Which, if you look at the photos, was a little "oh shit!". When I looked down I saw it. The effing holy grail tube I'd been searching for! Perfect size, interesting wire components, brown base, and bonus "Edison" brand. Oh you steampunkers shall enjoy it!

After I found that the rest was like a kid in a candy shop. "I'll take this wire component. And this... thing. And these bulbs! YES! MY CREATION SHALL LIVE! MWAHAHAHAHAAAAAAA!"






On the way home I swung by the library to pick up a fashion history book for some last minute ideas. I'm so stoked!




The only downer is that I had to take a month off the gym and two weeks off my bike due to some medical crap. I'm supposed to do more, but it's not dire and the doc said to wait till October for more stuff, which is AFTER Dcon. Yay!!!

I broke down on Thursday and bought my plane ticket to DCon a little early. Maybe not the best financial move, but it was cheap, non stop, and not some ungodly hour. YAYYYY!!! Now I need to book a room. Hrmph. I'm wondering if They keep rooms for guests?

My painting arrived in ATL for the show late last week. However the frame broke in transit. Wah-Waaah.

After a particularly not-so-pleasant morning in relation to the painting's theme, I got a surprise text from Andrew:


What a dapper dude!! If I make it to ATL soon, a pitcher of beer shall be on me.

For your health!

Lately I've been working 10-12 hours days and have also been juggling a recent onslaught of doctor visits. It's pretty draining to say the least. My apartment is a mess and laundry needs to be done.
Knowing how hard I've been working and a little bit about being bummed about said doctor visits my friends set out on a mission to get me out to have some fun. I was pretty resistant to the idea.. but they are great people who don't take no for an answer. So I "drew" a quick comic about it. Just a way to say my friends are *awesome* and glad they have my back :)



Seriously tho... those NYE party popper things are so fun.

Ta Da

The thing about gouache is that it just WILL NOT photograph. I did my best to correct color in photoshop, but it is still not the same as seeing the image in person.

Hope it is received well :)

underpainting

Need to pick my color scheme for shadows. Body has a lot of warm tones, so maybe a teal.

Sketch/outline done :D

I haven't painted with physical paints in a few months, so I was pretty stoked when I got the invite to the MINT show.

Originally I had planned some cute silly cartoony corgi in a blocky style.

However I have been trying to be more studious with my drawings and getting out of my comfort zone hoping to grow some. I love how my backgrounds in gouache came out a few months ago so I said "Ok, gouache, and a little more realistic than usual. Ruh roh, drawing people."
So as I was rolling this around in my head of what to do, things in life took a turn to crummy (boo to that!). I spent a lot of time meditating and reflecting on issues and I guess "tackling" this mess of negative energy. One current life negative thing in particular I always imagine as Sammael from Hellboy, specifically the tentacle that planted the demon eggs into Hellboy's arm. I won't get into that now...

But with the imagery of demons and tentacles and inner battle I started to imagine this girl, naked and shaking, throwing up octopi tentacles and crying ink. I kept that image and pushed it further, turning the idea of vomiting actual tentacles, to purging this negative entity which has taken over. Thus this spirit animal is the invading force.





I have to admit doing this is turning out to be it's own sort of therapeutic task. While drawing and painting has always been therapeutic to me, actually facing this issue through my art is very nice and helpful.

However I did notice a similarity to the work of Michael Bowels (http://www.msbphotography.net/) after taking the progress photo and felt kinda bad. I in no way meant to cramp his style by proxy, so I want to give him a shout out for his awesome work.

And now, I'm going on lunch!

Kind of old news

My friend Peter (Whom I work with) recently told me "That picture of you on the scooter doesn't reflect you properly". See, a few months ago I went back to the black hair which prompted him to calling me "The Raven". While I am at heart a very easy going gal full of sunshine and lollypops, I can get aggressive when it comes to work. But it's a healthy "go get em!" aggression. So I agreed to let the raven name slide - but only when the aggressive side shows. The deal was done, and I finally got around to making a new vector portrait to reflect "The Raven" for him :)

I am currently (as in RIGHT THIS VERY MOMENT) working on a piece for a gallery show coming up in Atlanta. Things in life got a bit out of sync and I took some time off to work on it. So I'm a bit behind, and the painting isn't what I originally had imagined and something I was going to steer away from. However I like the concept so I'm going to push forward and make it happen.

This is all for now.

Changing of the seasons

And dreaming of tomorrow.

That is all :)

Gingerbread and espresso

Quick note about the most exciting thing EVAR...... FABRIC!!

Yeah.

This weekend the Spink and I went out a'huntin for cute stuff and fabrics. We spent most of the day looking for said cute stuff and stuffing our faces with curry buns. Mmmmm. Unfortunately by the time we wandered to the fabric district we learned to our dismay that it was closed. Soooo we went to my local sad sad Joann store to wander.

I was price shopping and texture browsing for fabrics for my main D*Con costume.

I decided to use a lot of tulle (don't ask me to say "tulle" in person.. it's sad) for the under part of my half bustle. While i think aesthetically I should go with the smaller mesh, Spink had a good point that if I want to really fill it out, I should go with larger mesh and maybe a layer of small on top peaking out.
You cant tell much a difference in this photo of the two sizes, but seeing as how this is my main hobby, I'm neurotic about it.


As I wandered looking for some purple lace I was disappointed to see the only color they had was a soft lilly. They diiiiid however have some pretty nice knitting on some white lace. So I may buy those and dye them with some natural methods. I had my eye on doing DIY natural dyes for a more authentic look so it could be a good starting point.
However I might just go ALL leather for the gauntlet/workers gloves instead of the lace finger area, so we'll see...

Lastly my eye was caught be these fancy little numbers on sale:


I realllllly like them, but if I go with them then it will be a bit more Firefly/old west then originally planned. Now that could either be pretty hot... or just way too much going on. So I will have to play around with some photoshop swatch tests soon. Once I nail down then fabric choices I will have to re-visit if this will be victorian European or American. Hrmmmmm....

Smell the salsa. SMELL IT!

Some nights you just have to clean off the desk, turn off the phone, and just draw for the hell of it. No plan, no deadline, no pressure.

Tonight was one of those nights. Open up a beer, put on a good movie, hide the phone, and just draw...

And this, is what I came up with.



Is there a mouse in the house? Or maybe a (Hanna-Bar) Bera?
I guess I was "inspired" by Ariel, the Disney princess I clung to as my own as a child. Perhaps it was the timing of when came out, perhaps it was because it was the last of the hand drawn (geek alert), or maybe it was because I too was a ginger (I hide it). However, I am of the day walker variety. I fear the sun and its freckle causing ways!!! Guh.
After drawing this I sat back and said "my god, this makes me look more white suburban brat than I like". But oh well. Thats what happens when your drawing just to draw I guess.
It was fun because of how little I work on the Disney style. I find it to be bland pretty often, but It's always good to try different ways to see what new techniques you might pick up. Anyway...Huzzah!!

And now, I leave you with this closing thought:

Like a Dim Sum of Groggyness

Hmm.. So where to start... I'm pretty exhausted but refuse to sleep until I do something art wise.

I was recently surprised by the Capin' with a preeeeeetty amazing gift.. A Warhammer Skaven Army (squee). Now I have never played the game myself (And once vowed It and WoW would be the two I don't touch), but after flipping through some magazines, and hearing the fun stories of battle a teeny bit of curiosity grew in my nerdom. I decided to just watch "From a distance" and maybe "paint one, ya know, cause I like to paint and think it would be fun". But oooohhhh nooooo. I really enjoyed painting something physical again, and the captain just HAD to be awesome and get me an army all my own. *shifty eyes* stupid nice....grumble...

Since this is semi new (mostly just scale issues) I thought Id attempt a photoshop pass on one of my guys to get an idea of the color scheme I wanted to follow.



I had some issues with the levels since I have terrible lighting here, so the purple was mostly a "happy workable accident".

I started physically painting one of my smaller guys, but fell asleep brush in hand, then pig in hand, then dog in hand. Maybe I need more potassium? Or less pollution...

ANYWAY! A photo of him and some other guys to come as soon as I finish them up. I'm really enjoying this new hobby, and am looking forward to attending this big gaming convention next month to learn, shop, and cheer on the Beastmen team (cheer: rah! rah! gore! gore!).

What elseeeeee
Oh! So I have been working on Dragon Con 2011 costume. I decided to go as a female riddler with a far more sinister personality, and steampunk for shits and giggles.
I already have a binder full of sketches and ideas, but don't feel like posting just yet. This weekend I am headed to the garment district to "touch several fabrics". Weight and texture is very important in srs costume making. Plus I am trying to really nail this design so I'm going to need samples to take home and try together. Hopefully in a few weeks when things are less hectic I can go to this awesome junk yard and get some parts for my staff/cane.
Here is a teaser of the question mark design Im aiming for.



Yay! I still don't have word yet on my guest status. And have no hotel room. Regardless, this is gonna be AWESOME. I kinda hope to maybe get this done in time for Comicon....

Do de do. Hmmm. I have been in LA for about 8 months now and desperately need a car. To raise funds I'm going to try to maybe use this art thing t my advantage. I'm working on some ideas for a possible etsy shop. And then I have signed up for an upcoming MINT show at the MINT gallery in Atlanta. I did a lot of work with them when I was living there and they are a great group of old friends. Hopefully my work sells and I can add it to the car jar. Huzzah!

I have some ideas, and was just doodlin to clear the brain clouds out.


And last but not least, I have some people I need to create surprise "hand made" gifts for sometime in the year.
Grace "Scully" : Awesome chica from the times of old in FL.
Aurelia : Amazing lady of the Adams family <3
Katie Cason : MEt her at Dragon Con 09 and insta-nerd-bond
Tammi and Chris Goodbread : Brother and sister in law
Aaron LAnd : Friend of bro and great costume consultant

Don't worry guys, these random things will be made and will rock your face.

Ok. Sleep calls, for work is crazy tomorrow!

a whole lot of lotting going on

Let's start backwards to try to catch up some.

So last post was about Halloween and figuring out what to be. At one point in the middle of the night, or perhaps while riding my bike around, I decided to go as Snake Plissken. I waaaaanted to do Escape from LA since I live here now, but NY is by far the more superior film.

This is a rather easy costume if you have the patience to thrift around and do some modification.
One of the hardest items to find was the camo pants. I finally found the right color and pattern in a size that looked like it might fit. However the particular thift store had no fitting room, so when I got home I found out rather fast that it was one size too small. I just snipped a section of the waist in the back, and added about a 1/4 inch of fabric and they fit great.
For the boots I got a pair of women's knee length "hooker boots". They were a size 11, and I am a 6 1/2.... So I "skinned" the leather off of the heal and epoxied it to an old pair of chucks I had around. This not only worked great with the size now that I was converting a pattern from heel to flat, but it also made a MUCH more comfortable shoe. For the shin guards I just cut up some coke cans, folded them to shape, and epoxied them to the boot with a flexible epoxy. Worked pretty great.

The gun was probably the easiest piece of this costume. There is some strange ordinance in my neighborhood that they cannot sell toy guns. Since I don't have a car here yet I found myself pretty limited on options. I took a bike ride to Spirit Halloween thinking they would have something, however they weren't open. So I wandered into the K-Mart (OMG they exist out here!). I found in the toy section this M-16 with a scope and "rat-tat-tat-tat" sound effects.

I figured if it were hollow id be able to saw off the scope while keeping the wiring in tact, flip it, re attach it, and paint it to be close enough.

Annnd huzzah! That was the case!


Finally, for the watch/count down I didn't have the time to make a working model. However I was able to find a nice leather wrist cuff and a brass light switch plates that I cut into shape, covered in electrical tape, and painted the two minute's left on it.

Final product:


Overall it was a really easy and fun costume to make. I had a blast wearing it out and it was well received. To grade myself Id give it a 7.5, which is good considering the time and limited resources.


As far as costuming goes I have been working on sketches still for some conventions coming up. I had to scrap my large plan once more, but it might be for the best since I don' know what finances I will run into in the next few months.
I am still teetering on my second project (cause I can't just have one). Traditionally, I want to play a male role because let's face it, guys ALWAYS get the best roles and the BEST villains. We'll see....



In the animation realm I have started some early design work for animating my children's book. I want to really push the style to be more textured and mature, since the book was too.. soft?
Here is a page from the original book:

And here is a *TEST* that I am playing with:

I'm not sure If i want to go full texture, or with texture BG and cel animation... Hrmmidy hmm. I also don't have a character design picked out really.
This project is crawling, but since the Holidays came right after I decided to work on this, I blame them... I think maybe I can pump this out by mid/late Feb if I focus.

Speaking of the holidays taking up some of my creativity... I had a freaking BLAST making two gifts in particular.
I'll share the one I thought of almost at the last dang minute first. I decided to make a Spider Pig from the Simpsons movie since the receiver was a fan of said pig. When I thought about this going with a stuffed critter seemed like the best method. Since this was from scratch there were no patterns for me to look at. I studied the character design from watching some clips and looking at screen grabs. I sketched him out to get a feel for his dimensions and then studied my stuffed corgi to see what shapes the manufacturer made to create their product. Honestly I shot at the dark and made a blue print on some paper bags, cut them out, pinned them together, and seeing a pig like shaped shrugged and dived into the project. There was a certain learning curve since I have never made such a fat or three dimensional stuffed animal before. I also do not have my sewing machine here, so this was all done by hand with my few hours after work before I would pass out with my bed covered in needles... ugh. My biggest mistake was that is back strip was too large and instead of keeping his nice fat shape, he came out square, and his eyes laid flat and looked TERRIFIED. So i stripped his face and back and cut a smaller piece. In the end I'm not happy with his face because it's a bit off model. But I AM stoked about the tail... heee.
Photos:





Now, the "big" gift that I was reaaaaaaaaaaaaaaally excited about making this year was the taxidermy moused dressed as Fat Elvis. Now.. yes... I know this is what crazy people do... But.. The first time I met the person this was for, we had talked about a shared love of taxidermy weirdo stuff and they mentioned wanting a mouse angel. Later down the road, knowing they were a big fan of The King, I decided to combine the two. I contacted a taxidermist in Virginia who agreed to pose a mouse mount as Elivs for me. The woman was incredibly nice and a pleasure to do business with.
When he arrived he was smaller than I had really expected in my mind.

Wee-ooo! I started with the wig... which was one of my first of many moments going "what... the hell... am I doing..?"

You can see that I made a lei for him, but it felt too crafty/tacky so I left it off.
I set out the make the worlds smallest elvis jumpsuit... It was a little bit of a challenge because I had t be delicate with the mouse, while making sure the suit was snug and wouldn't fall off. I also had to do very close stitching because of the scale and went a little cross eyed from it. The best part was glueing the sequins on, staying true to the pattern on the King's suite. I only with i could have found star shaped sequins small enough to go the full way. And his hip chains... yeah, they loop the right amount of times...


Honestly, this was probably one of the most fun project's I've done in the last few years. I think this might be something I pursue more..


For Christmas I did get my Mac Shipped to me and a table to finally work on. But not just any table. Oh no. One with a Corgi Knight "Snorgles the Bold" painted on it. Yes folks, this makes me happy...

So I have finally set up shop again after my 8 months out here, and I expect to do more work :)


Ok.. Enough for now... Next time: More animation, more costume talk, and maybe even some talk about something i recently gained interest in... painting minis... dun dun duuuun