Thursday, January 12, 2012

Happy New Years!!!!!

Sooooooo.... it's 2012.... and we all know what that means... I'll be 28 this year (hahaha); and every 7 years something happens. No, really I am normally not any where near this egocentric (really I''m not) but it was better than saying... "it's the end of the world". Even I find the Mayan Calendar "interesting" but I never believed that it meant the end of the world. It merely meant the reset of humanity; and no, I don't mean that we will die off and begin again. I merely mean it in the mental state... that this year will mark the either turn away or towards more chaos. Referencing The Fourth Turning by Strauss and Howethis is the time that marks the change and reset of the Rosencrantz and Guildenstern cycle we have done throughout history.

But enough of that... you didn't come here to talk about humanity or politics.... so it's time for updates YAY!!!!!

When you saw me last I had lost my job and was working on my piece for the Tomie De Paola SCBWI contest for Chicken Little. Well not too much has changed... I'm still sadly unemployed and I'm still keeping busy other wise. Still hunting hard too... applying to a lot. While I'm not working on the Tomie De Paola contest... as that was done, sent in and lost... yes lost... le sigh. I'm honestly more sad for the other entries. The winners were honestly baffling and I had four (not including me) that I desperately wanted to win. But also in that time I finished this... tada.  

I finished my volunteer project for the FHQ: Firehouse Quilts organization (please check them out)!!!! This was the design that they chose.

Which I would have posted earlier but it was a gift to someone and I was waiting for her to get it. Also in that time I've met artists on Linkedin. One by the name of Anthony Beard who is a GREAT prototype toy and figurine modeler from Ohio. So if you are on Linkedin... look him up. I also met an aspiring writer by the name of Tim Girard who is looking to create an independently started animation... The Seven aka Shard of the Seven. He had seen some of my character designs and asked me if I would be interested in getting commissioned to create his character references.


Along with that I have some other smaller commissions like this one on FA. Which I  am enjoying because I get to draw period clothing... hahahaha. I have no clue why but I love drawing period clothing!!!! They wanted their fursonas done as Sweeney Todd and Mrs. Lovett.


I also am preparing to send a submission in to possibly win a grant to self publish it through the SCBWI. Which book you ask? That book would be "Dark" written by Victoria Chang. Didn't you plan on re-redrawing that again last year? Why yes... I did. So are you going to re-redraw it again, Mrs OCD? Why yes, yes I am.... oh and I'm not OCD... I think I got it this time and I'm rather excited. There's going to be action and serpent shadows... and ohhh it's going to be good. Nutter... isn't the deadline for March? Ummm well yes... but I only need a rough dummy and two finished illustrations. I can do it!!!! 
Ohhh okay... you're still nuts. Why... yes, yes I am.

On the note of being nuts... the theme show is coming up and it's the Wizard of Oz. Well I liked the movie when I was a kid and "Wicked" is interesting... and I re-read the first original book. And yet you came up this this? Yes I know... not the most impressive but I have been playing a lot of Super Smash and I wanted to do something Wicked-esque but not many know the races of Wicked so I thought even if it isn't amazing at least it would be amusing. So I have been working on this. It's a brawl of Ozian characters. The brick road needs to have other character heads but the selected fighters are Dorothy and the first witch they meet in Oz from the first book versus... Wicked's Elphaba and pets and Chistery (which I need to fix the spelling on the piece... I know). It's EXTRA cliche to show good against evil so I took it more to the since of comparing the two books in general. The Wizard of Oz (unlike the movie) is actually VERY Dorothy centric. It's chibish and really unrealistic and lacks depth. Wicked brings Oz to a whole new level; and has caused the world of Oz to never look the same again. And "Wicked" is political... and about Elphaba and her legacy (even after death). She wasn't wicked at all.


Anyways... other projects... I have a novel I'm reading to illustrate for a friend of my cousins in Australia. And Spoon's baby shower is Sunday... talk about me being a nut again. You'll have to wait for evidence of that but I worked hard on my presents and even I'm impressed with how they came out... or well coming out. I still have two more pieces to sew together. I still have lots of fabric though. I swear it's magical. I actually ran out of the matching thread before I ran out of fabric. I seriously have no clue on how since I estimated the amount of fabric I'd need before buying it. I know I made a slight change in plans but I seriously didn't think it would be that drastic. Oh well I hope they like them.

And lastly my book series is coming along rather well. Next is to convince my best friend if he'd be willing or bored enough to help me out :D! Closing out and I hope you enjoyed Yays!