Pepper and Mint

Ummm so this is my e-card because I... well didn't make it in time to get them printed... hahaha. But next year she'll be printed. She came to mind at last minute. 

Well I'm a tad old fashion when it comes to holidays. I'm not an uber OMG CHRISTMAS... as I hate that it's soooo commercialized... "lets buy the most things"... and "ooo the sales". That's not what the holidays mean to me. But I can't lie... I like the old concept of the winter holiday and that's pretty much how I think of it.

Meaning of the Winter Holiday to me:
1. Food: making food, eating food, and sharing food.
2. Smells: cookies, spice, and pine
3. ♥: Caring, sharing, and charity
4. Magic: Elves... elves... and more elves :D I'm a nerd


I will probably make more and call them Little Winter Wonders. This is Pepper and Mint.

SCBWI contest entry and other news.

The SCBWI is having a contest that is due mid this month. The entries are based on a certain passage from the story of Chicken Little (where the group runs into Turkey Lurkey). This was my submission. It was drawn and colored completely digitally.

On other news... still unemployed. I've applied to LOTS of places but no one's even called for an interview. Well still plugging away. 

Also I was contacted but a group called FHQ aka Firehouse Quilts out of Colorado. They make and donate quilts to children from fire sites and to abused women and children. So GREAT group. They heard my name while attending one of my uncle's fabric arts seminars and thought I'd be able to help them out. They are looking for a new look to make them feel more professional. Which I like volunteering and donating so I said sure :D!!! 

Growth to a New

As time goes on, we mature and experiment. We try and learn new techniques and try to develop a signature style. I used to be a strictly traditional illustrator. I used watercolors and color pencils... graphite and pens. I actually only tinkering with digital in college and had one class in it. Yes even in my young age, I wasn't fully formally trained in the ways of digital arting; but after I graduated I continued with my exploration with its clean and compact ways. I always told myself that I'd probably never compare but at least I was trying; and there is always more to learn but surely I have been getting better over the years. I seem to make a technical jump every year. So without further ado... presenting my latest style:

I have been practicing with a project for my best friend. He had created amazing backgrounds and short stories for his World of Warcraft characters, so I have been doing character drawings of them for him. These are characters 20 and 2 (out of 30) that I've done (or redone... as originally I started in an older style but it just wasn't working for us) for him. 

And on an extremely recent note, Monday my job came victim to what many others are going through. I was unfortunately laid off. So while I'm job search I have also been trying to keep myself busy and work on my art. This was a commission I did for someone last night.

Changing minds one reader at a time

Dear Reader,

            If you are reading this, clearly someone close to you thought this was important or meaningful enough to share this with you; and for that I send them my sincere gratitude. I am not the type of person to start chain letters. I never desire people to feel obligated to read them, to send them, or to waste the space on their email servers; but I felt that this was a well-needed message to send out.

           

            On Tuesday, October 18^th, I was a victim of acute road rage, racial profiling, and verbal assault. Now I know you are probably thinking that road rage is a common incident, especially being in the state of Massachusetts, but regardless of whether it is common or not, it doesn’t make it any less of a crime.

            While stopped at a traffic light, which turned  into a Stop and Shop parking lot which I commonly frequent, the driver behind me obviously lacked the patience to wait for the light to change. Enraged that I wouldn’t cut through oncoming traffic on a yellow light, he laid on his horn even though the light had changed to red.  He continued to lay on the horn throughout the time that it was shining its “do not go” coloration. So I did what any normal person would do, I pointed at the light and made a simple gesture that meant, “I heard you during the last 30 seconds, but in this world traffic lights exist.”

            When we were given the opportunity to go, he proceeded to follow me into the parking lot, followed me up and down the aisles until I had to make a stop, and squeezed his large vehicle on the right side of my common Civic. At that, I chose to ignore  him, looked in the opposite direction, and went to do what I was there to do, which only provoked his crazed obsession with terrorizing a young woman while she was trying to pick up her roommate from work.

            He forcefully opened his car door to purposely smack a dent into the side of my car and yelled obscenities. This made him not only look like an impatient jerk, but clearly a bigot who has an obviously strong hatred for immigrants.

           

            Now let me get one thing straight. I was born in the foreign lands of Norfolk, Virginia. It is true that my father immigrated from to this country when he was a child, but he has been a United States Citizen for over 35 years, of which 25 years he served this country in the US Navy.  My mother is a New England native with roots in Massachusetts that go back to the Puritans.  I am not an immigrant, despite my possible, unidentifiable appearance. Since my father just so happens to be black, for that moment, in the eyes of this ignoramus, I was an “illegal immigrant cunt”. I countered this attack with an upright middle finger, which if you know me, you know this was out of character; but there are times and places for actions such as this. This was all followed with more profanity and heated motions. He was now at his true Neanderthal form as he hit on my side mirror like an ape. While I sat still in my car, my middle finger still raised, I pointed at it to gesture that it was all he was going to get from me.  I knew if I had tried to form a full witted verbal counter, my tears of rage would be a give away of my fear. No one takes a person whom cries when they are mad seriously; and while I seem like an eloquent chatter box due to this message, in person my social skills are rather on the shy side. The man circled around in front of me saying that I had no right to flip anyone off due to my unfortunate citizenship status and then left the lot completely from what I saw.

            Now if you’ve gotten this far, I honestly commend you for I know I’ve gone far past the 15 second limit of the average attention span which this is modern messaging 101. But if you, please, bare with me for just a little longer, I do have a point to all of this in which I can explain now that you have received a proper back story to what prompted this statement.       

                                               

            This event made me think about a few things: impatience, bigotry, bullying, and about all of the other people who could and would be terrorized by people like this moron. So to this, I am choosing to do what I am known for, since my heart resides with the empathetic Progressive party. This isn’t just about what I’ve been a victim of, but about the choices people make every day when they torment someone.

            I remember while my roommate was trying to console me, I tried to crack a weak joke like, “Wow, I’ve never been called a ‘cunt’ before. What ever happened to good old fashion ‘bitch’?” But I think even he could see that it was merely my way of trying to ignore the elephant in the room. I get no joy out of people seeing me vulnerable (even him, my beloved best friend) and my puffy, blood-red, still flooding eyes weren’t helping.

            ‘Tis true that I grew up in the south. From Virginia, my family moved to northern Florida; and as a commercial artist, I can honestly tell you that Florida is not the palm tree paradise we want you to believe on our beautiful post cards. So I am by far not someone that escaped judgment unscathed.

            Sadly, if you are among the many who are unaware of how thing works there, I am what would be known as a half-breed; and no that is not as cool as being a mischievous Halfling for those whom have ever played or opened a Dungeons and Dragons manual. A “half-breed” is one who is born from parents of two different races. And for the racial caste system, you either pick a team or stand alone. The most common greeting isn’t, “Hello, how are you?” It’s usually “Ummm, what are you?” Either way you are rarely fully accepted, which puts you below everyone else. Even for those who don’t grow up brainwashed to follow the racist mantra, you tend to have a complex where you can’t actually accept yourself. I’d be a liar if I didn’t admit that for a moment or two in my teen years, I thought that I could never even have a relationship in fear of putting my loved ones in an uncomfortable situation because of my race. Whether that was just true emo-ness or a way of coping with the fact that I had zero action in the relationship department, the problem was the same… I couldn’t even accept myself. And until I left the state for college, I was faced with stares and judgment for my appearance.

Now I’m not saying that I haven’t any issues now. Heck, a year or two ago, a police officer was detouring us around a road issue (surprisingly in the same area as the recent incident), he stopped me and asked if I spoke English. I know that no state is completely a diverse paradise, but one problem from time to time is better than being bombarded daily.

So no, I am not a stranger to racism; and while environmental conditions have vastly improved (though there still is no action in my relationship area) and I have since then been able to stand with more pride since I moved to New England, events like this, while rare, still can occur and cause great harm. Nationally, biracial individuals still aren’t fully accepted. Our own president was forced to choose a label regardless of the fact he finds that race is unimportant, as many other biracial/ multiethnic people do. We merely want to be seen for who we are.

Now I have two options, wallow and shroud myself with pity or get up and move forward. I am a strong, ambitious geek who has and will achieved a lot. I am an illustrator, a designer, a best friend, and an aspiring author/ illustrator combo. I am a daughter, a sister, and so much more. I am known for creating things out of nothing. Give me you fridge, and I’ll make you a multiple course meal. Give me fabric, and I’ll make you a custom, character themed hoodie to fit your stuffed animal. That is who I am.

            I could wallow, but I could also make a choice… to turn a bad experience around and make a change… to make people aware of problems that many people face. It’s one thing to slap one person on the wrist for their uneducated stupidity but its another too make people aware of the problem in which plagues us. Our country has an epidemic of ego and it can often create harm.  Call it bullying, ignorance, bigotry, or terrorism (in the true definition of the word not the disgusting label that is given to people of different religious beliefs).

            So to that, I will leave you on this note since I know that this statement has reached a two and a half page count typed (you should have seen it written). Whether you are labeled as “Caucasian”, “black”, “asian”, “Hispanic”, “heterosexual”, “homosexual”, “male”, “female”, “immigrant, “citizen”, “the bullied” or even “the bully”, know that you aren’t alone. We are all apart of this thing we call the human race and to put an end to this dysfunction, it will require more than single reports… It will require all of our voices spreading the word to make people every where… aware.

And at this, here is me signing out. Once again I want thank you for making a choice of taking the time out of your day to not erase this random forward that someone close sent to you. I want to thank you for making the choice of taking the time to read this; and I also want to thank you for making the choice of taking the time out of your day to send this to those who are close to you.

I tip my hat to you.

Hello my name is Sam. I am 27 years old… and I am biracial.

            

More characters because you know you want them

Lily and Lilowyth Salix - is a willow hamadryad (I say is... because they are one person). 

Over time hamadryads (in this story)... developed this ability to shape shift their forms (which is why she doesn't look like a tree). While it allows them to fit in among humans better, their bodies are more fragile than tree bark which makes them VERY intolerable to flames.

They have the ability to disguise their skin (though not all hamadryads take on a human form... it's merely a generational trend). The one thing they can't change is their hair. Their hair is still somewhat vine like and has leaves on it (which is why she wears a large hat); and rather than flesh their skin still has a pattern of wood rings when you look close enough.

Lily Salix was from 50 years prior to the story. She is the reason why Oliver Cain (the story villain) is who he is. She was one of the first people... well beings... to treat him with any complete kindness without  question, and he's captivated by her look and sweetness. Unfortunately for Cain, he has a childhood bully by the name of Eric Melbourne; and one day Eric Melbourne's bullying goes a little to far which results in the accidental death of Lily Salix. Feeling weak and horrified at the loss of her, he goes on a quest of becoming stronger to protect creatures like Lily; but in turn things get out of control in later years and he ends up using those whom he desired to help.

After Lily's death, all that remained was a large seed in which he brought back to her parental figure (a kobold who's actually the narrator of the entire story); who plants it not knowing that Lily's core was still alive. This in turn produces a second Lily (AKA Lilowyth Salix). her guardian can't bare to call her Lily and encourages her to be different.

They share A LOT in common lol and are physically identical with one exception. Lily wore a necklace given to her by Cain (it's later becomes the group crest... so all members, good or bad, that know about the mythics carrying some form of this crest). She also wore lighter colors and had a more bold personality (which actually is what gets her killed... from protecting Oliver). Where as Lilowyth likes bright colors and doesn't own a necklace. Instead the crest actually appears as a form of birthmark in the center of her chest (where the original necklace rested... her heart). The necklace, while it was hot, burned the marking  into the seed at the accident. She also isn't as courageous as the first Lily. She has a terrible fear of fire.

There is a temple surrounded by man-made pools and contains a god. Within those walls and columns, resting in his hands, is the Lotus (the mythic artifact that can... when open to bloom... floods water but when turned upside down to close... draws in water). In the arch recesses of the temples exterior, like the mighty serpent, sit the nagi priestesses... standing guard and waiting for a possible threats.

                                              
Oden Foiergot - Kobold (fiery kobold to be exact) raised both Lily and Lilowyth from seeds and is the one that basically teaches Cain and that group (Milo, Catherine, and Robert) basically everything they know about Mythics and their Artifacts. Personally he has the ability to shape shift, some magic, and has a travel form that's a wisp of red flame which comes in handy since he's secretly that narrator of the story.

Book Series Progress Update: Charts

So I thought that I would show some of the elements that I keep just to organize my progress through projects and to make sure I don't lose my thoughts. These two are for the "Milo's Study" series. Above is a character relationship chart. Because there are so many characters that meet each other on separate occasions and it involves not only traveling and beings of other species... generations... etc, but the narrator makes references to different things, I keep track of everyone with a Character Relationship Chart. Also it's one thing to write it... but it's always difficult for me to come up with names. So often I'll keep track of who they are but add names later because it often requires a lot of research to find exactly what I want to use. This being a book that has multiple cultures... names are relatively important... I think.

This chart is a Book Progression Chart... which for me it will come in handy more so later on when I have to do large extended edits and proof readings (which I need to stop being so nit picky at this stage until it's more fully written... hahaha). Basically so I can keep track of what phase each book is in. Right now it's more so if people ask how everything is coming... they can keep track by looking at my chart. There isn't a standard length to the books yet. I just wrote down 15 (as in chapters) so I could have room. The writing pattern does have a formula to them though so that it sounds consistent. 

Character Teasers 2

Dryewvett Has- Kelpie/ nugel variety. And he's actually one of the bad guys. Master shapeshifter and known as the water horse, he can shift into maidens and a white pony. Regardless of his appearance he is ALWAYS wet even when he looks dry which is why they have called him Dryewvett Has (pronounced hos). He's basically used as a knapper. When he has found what he was sent for he will snaps his tail like a whip as well as excrete mud like fluid out of the glands in his pads on his webbed feet so that when he grabs his catch it will slide without and struggle when pulled. Though he can also excrete a natural adhesive through the pores of his skin so that his find can't escape from his grasp.

Kamida Hiromi- Kitsune (and she's A LOT older then she looks... as you can see nine tails)... master shapeshifter and is old enough to manipulate time and space (not perfectly though). She is being held prisoner (in the middle of a deep water pool) for that talent. As powerful as she is... she has a fear of deep water.

Character Teasers 1

Kublerstout- Goblin Height: 3 feetish, status: group leader and keeper of the goblins cauldrons (duplication ability) and is a murder suspect. The children meet him in the town of Condersoot in book two.

Charlie Nikolai- a modern house brownie. Status... orphan (parents were taken by a village cat; but he has a sister, Marci who takes care of him. The girls often find holes in their clothing when they move in with their grandfather. They think are moths but it's really "nicking" fabric for Marci (where they picked up their last names)

Tired of "book project" teasers....?

I know I've been sort of hinting at a "book project" with a tease of character ideas popping up from time to time on my facebook. So I thought I would actually clarify on the subject. I'm writing... a book series!!! Yes I said a book series and yes I know... I'm an artist. Why would I attempt writing? Well I'll tell you... some artists actually write for one thing. Secondly, all artists have worlds that they create and this is just one of mine.

So this was a project that I started back in early 2007. It was going to be a 40 page children's book that basically resulted in the concept of loss being a natural part of life where a girl loses her beloved, eccentric grandfather after staying with him and hearing his epic stories of his relations with creatures only found in folklore. After losing said adult figure, she discovers that the eccentric, story-teller wasn't just telling stories when she using the key he gives her to open a room full of things that support his claims. Well turns out that it was simply too large of a concept for a 40 page book. A lot can happen in the mind of an eccentric, old man; and a lot can happen in the mind of an eccentric, old me. So why limit myself to children's book format?

What was going to be a 40 page book, turned into wanting to make a book that crossed novels and illustrated books (and it would change the world). Then this morphed into extended story elements and optional reader participation (and it would change the world). Which this all then morphed into a novelette series with prequels and optional interaction (and it would change the world). After that, I thought that this all couldn't be done or released, plus whom am I to attempt a project like this? Suddenly, one of the illustrators that I highly respect released a book called "The Search for Wondla"; and this verified that my dream world could in fact be possible. It may not change the world now BUT after 4 years of planning this story world... I have a little more courage and a little more hope that this project can and will be done.

So right now it's organized as a book series of 7 books for the main story line and 2 book "prequels" (written in that order); and when I say prequel, I mean prequel/ spin off. The book lay outs have been hatched out on various papers, typed documents, and sketchbooks; and the writing of the books are being done in pairs because I want the books to be consistent to one another. So yes, this means I know what happens through the entire series. I've already allowed the story to mature; and at the moment, I'm rather proud of it. The prequels have also been hatched out. While the series is very much "children are the heroes", there are two supporting, adult characters that make appearances and are especially important in the story. These two characters were intended to have stories of their own and also wove themselves into the story (I know I'm acting like this story has a life of its own but... it has).

So just to give you a better understanding of this world and making it brief (no... I'm not going to give you the entire run down and spoil it). The series is about the world of two girls, Sarah and Phoebe MacLachlan; and how they discover that what they thought was their family... well isn't.

I'm hoping to convince my best friend to get in on the action... like I'd write the series and pass it on to him to over look and make all fantastic (because I love his writings), and I already have two people that have said that they were up for being "edit eyes". But yeah!!! There you go.

Soooo yeah... book series project YAY! Finally!!! More updates soon to come!!!

Ummm anyways... outside of this... I also have a list of projects (as usual). Just a couple major ones are (those I have quite a list):

- Illustrating "Elliot's Little Big Adventure" (another 40 page children's book I wrote a little earlier this year and also one of the stories I had planned actually in 2005)

- Re-re-illustrating "Dark" (not happy with some things... but it was written by Tory Chang)

- The visual WoW story (a gift)

- a few sculptures

Clearly some updating is in order

So I moved to a new apt at the end of last month. It's pretty swell, honestly. It's actually in the same building as my last one (because I have that kind of awesome luck that one out of my six neighbors were moving out the same time I was looking and they just so happened to have the one two bedroom apt in the building). Anyways it's REALLY neat. I really loved my last apt but this one is truly even cooler. I'll show pictures later. I just got the livingroom set up over the 4th of July weekend.

Anyways... even though there was a move and I've had a few commissions. I ummm well I never actually posted any of my other art since about June. So I thought I would post it now.

Well In my long list of projects I have a project that is really a present to my best friend/roommate.

He is a HUGE World of Warcraft player. So much so that he knows the world and lore inside and out. He started writing short stories for each of his characters. From what he's done, I must say that he's brilliant. Even though he had told me about some of the backgrounds while he was working on them... nothing beats actually reading them. They are both informative and stylish. He wrote them as biographical events with a bronze dragon narrator (which you even become attached to the narrator when you read it). It's written in a way that explains the individual events and situations PLUS the lore of the world for even those whom don't know can follow. Even a WOW player tends not to know the DEPTH which is WOW. The world is HUGE... the races are PLENTY... and they all have their subgroups, wars, and ways. As a WOW casual player, I could see the world I love and even viewing for people whom know nothing of the world... this is a REALLY entertaining read to discover it. He's only gone through about half of his 30 characters but seriously, I love them so much. I've planned on making a visual spin off... making illustrations for each story.
He may be my best friend... and has been for 6 years... but this isn't some bias that all friends have for each other. I'm a fantasy geek and his writing style is really amazing. So what I've done is created my own "visual narrator". Sort of as if she follows him on his journey (hero and sidekick like we are in person) and visually documents these characters as she meets them or as the story's told to her. So it will be compiled of the characters and a few joke drawings of inside jokes or of the narrators. It's a large project but when I have down time or are practicing or trying something new, I'll work on these.

Other than that I have... well I'm hoping that next years school theme show will be involving the end of the world. Either way I've had an idea for this piece for a long time and wanted to do it. "Out to Play" sort of representing the natural disasters. Basically Gaia is upset for our over usage and is basically seeking revenge with the help of her "child" (wind, drought/fire, earth, and water); and our cities are their play grounds.

Well this is all for now... more to come later!!!

Rán the Goddess of the Sea

I did this piece of years ago. Inspired by the stories of Rán.

Rán is a Norse Goddess (sea)... Rán also means "Robbery". The story of Rán is that she'd capture men as they sailed out to sea. She (by the story) had nine daughters... but for the piece I want to make her more terrifying. Since she isn't out there to be a sincere merfolk.

Well that was YEARS ago (I mean about 4-6 years ago). I wasn't happy with the end results but I liked the concept so this time I made her both beautiful and terrifying. So yes she is threatening and has FAR more than 9 children; but there is an aspect of beauty about her.

*yes I know blue spotted octopi or yellow bellied sea snakes aren't from that region of water but it's fantasy here...

Illustration Friday: Safari

Every child likes to explore and has a great imagination!!!

Animals

So... that wonderland project is almost complete. Actually the cards themselves are complete... just need to finish putting it together. Since Tory's not familiar with the template program, I've been doing it for her. Buttt these are a the other cards I did for the deck. Now I'm not a furry... so I think I did alright for someone who isn't one. Let just home the buyers like it.

Japan Relief Effort Art Auction

Some of the Montserrat Alumni are putting an art auction to raise money to donate to the Redcross Japan Earthquake Relief Effort. We are donating art pieces which we will then have a show and auction off pieces that night. A company has offered to match what we can raise so I'm hoping that we have a good turn out. I know that we are all really excited to do this. And a few of use have strong ties to Japan (remember I went in 2004 and was apart of the club when I was in school). This is my larger piece that I will be donating. I'll have two small pieces to donate as well (which will be a break down of this one... one will be a geisha and the other will be of the koi). I wanted to play on the the Japanese flag and notable images that people think of when they think of traditional Japan. So I wanted it to look grainy like parchment. I applied the single red dot in the three images. I may add some text characters but if not it shall remain as this. Along with this I'll be making 5 dozen apple pastries. Sooo I've planned to take a half a day then to get to work and help.

Get well little Zoe

Also since January, one of my little cousins were sent to the hospital with a staff infection that infected her leg and foot. Her mother is well... a step from a complete failure (and I'm not being snotty... it's one of those cases of where she only wants custody for the child support). But anyways... she's only 10... she may be a mature 10 but still 10 none the less. So I wanted to draw her something that would make her smile and let her know that there are people out there hoping that she gets well.

Lost in Wonderland (art updating)

Wow it's been a while since I've posted... I guess it's time I play catch up. Since we last spoke I've been working on a series of project. I wrote another children's book (forlittle kids). I worked on a collaborative project with my best friend, John. I worked and still am working on a collaborative project with Tory (a wonderland themed deck of playing cards for furries). And I made a piece to donate to a charity fund raiser. I've probably done more but I can't remember everything at the moment. So I guess I should post my work and then see where things go from there.

The first four pieces are of commissions I did for the wonderland deck. We have an engineer, a royal court's man, a hunter, and a soldier for hire. The wonderland deck is made up of major Alice in Wonderland characters and just general characters to go with the world or era. We asked people for references of their characters and a chosen role in which they want to play. Roles ranged from labor worker to court royal.

New business cards, new mailers, and the start of my theme show entry!

Even though I still have mailers and cards, I needed to make new ones because my work and style has taken a MAJOR jump in the past year. As you can tell I even had to change my blogger header and avatar >.<. So this weekend that was one of the goals and I also did things that I didn't do for my last two runs.

For my mailers I decided to make it with a teaser of pieces rather than one piece of a portrait. Also added some of the funny faces so that it ties into the site and my business cards. For my business card I decided to go with a silly self portrait (the monkey face since I'm known for making it) but did it in a vertical format which my past ones have been horizontal. I know it's more common to hold them horizontal and that's how they sit in holders and everything. It's not particularly standard but my intentions were to be a little out of the ordinary. I usually hand them out vertically (by habit) and if someone sticks it in a book or a folder, I thought it would be a good calling card to have my face peering at them. I hope that this is as effective as I planned.

Then for the theme show, which is wild west, I chose to do an Alice in Wonderland theme. I'm not really into the wild west but we all get themes and projects we aren't happy with, so your job is to make it enjoyable. My first thought was to do a katamari tumbleweed piece with a jackalope; but then I thought about sharp shooter Annie Oakley and thought I could do something fun with her and the jackalope as white rabbit. It may have come from listening to too much anime or anticipating for the movie "Sucker Punch" but this is what I came up with. But I chose to use the common modern pose for her, the parallel of the game, and will add text on the buildings that should help make it even more themed to alice (the train is "The Dodo", the Saloon will be "The Rabbit Hole"). Annie Oakley was a sharp shooter performer who dress fairly conservatively, but what's the wild west without saloon girls. So it will be battle among the old bar maid (the queen) versus the noob starlet (alice/annie).

Hello 2011

So where to now? Well before the year ended I submitted a book, updated my website, and started looking for agents' contact information (since I'm really have no luck with promoting myself). Now things won't stop here... :D! I've planned to enter the new year steam rolling as usual and have. I've gotten 2 character designs- done, a spot illustration- done, my theme show piece- in progress, and a sculpture- in progress. I think I am in need of doing a couple items before I can submit to agents, but I'm really close. I hope that will be happening by the end of Feb. I'm hoping for sooner but time really seems to fly (it's already the 5th) and like all young illustrators know... working to try and get your break in the illustration world is rough especially when you need a 9-5 to survive and pay living expenses.

Gabby and Deity are from a long side project I started planning out a year or two ago. They are from a story that was made up from a collection of my own dreams.

"Gabby" is an orphaned elderling. Elderling are young full-bloods (there are two types of full-bloods: human and creature.... creatures have taken on the name elders to differ themselves from ordinary animals). She's from the creature class Sirenia. Sirenia are hybrid formed humanoids... they have always had a sirenia mother and a human father. Sirenia is a dominant gene for female offspring so all female offspring are called elderlings. She is the last survivor from the town of Avior which was attacked by Raiders. The citizens were torture, murdered, or left for dead. Her legs were shattered and her tongue was ripped out to stop her from trying to defend herself. She some how made her way to the city where she was made fun of by the local children who dubbed her The Jabberwocky. She was soon found and taken in by a group of housemates that have treated her and adopted her as their own child. Her legs are in braces because they had to be rebroken to heal properly. She's been able to develop a new attack and defense.

Deity (her code name) is one of the housemates and is the one that first finds Gabby. She was stationed in a purist city growing up because her father was on the modernization unit. She has the ability to control life energy and energy fields. When she moves back to the city, there was two her. To cope with the intolerance of the purist city her personality split into literally two bodies. Once she gains an esteem the second body begins to fade which makes that second version upset. The other finally disappears and is absorbed after she wins against her in a well needed showdown. She tests her theory of energy fields which boosts her abilities by 10 fold and takes her down. Energy source is everything in this world so that's why she was coined as the deity. She's also been called the puppeteer because of one of her favorite attacks.

I was working on my digital skill versus illustration styles. Cartoonish to more realistic drawings. This is my mom's dog Prince!

Bye 2010!

Alright the starting gate is done and the shot has gone off. Now go!!! Last year, I will admit was a huge leap for my art work (and I'm not just saying that)! I went from just acrylic painting and dabbling in digital paint to solely using it digital. I went from having very limited digital paint skills to somewhere I can actually be somewhat happy with.

January 2010


November 2010