Little Women Jo on fire!

 I've been a member of the SCBWI (Society of Children's Book Writers & Illustrators) for a few months now, and they have some great awards and scholarships to apply for.  I recently applied for their mentor-ship program and today I turned in a submission for the Tomie dePaola Award.  The winter will get to attend the Winter Conference in New York for free.  With 300 entries last year, I'd be very surprised to win, but no matter the outcome I had so much fun with this challenge.  For this piece I had a choice between 3 novels to pick an excerpt from to illustrate in black and white.  I picked "Little Women."

Submissions are now closed, but you can read more about the award here if you're interested in applying for next year:
http://www.scbwi.org/Pages.aspx/Tomie-dePaola-Award

Joe Kitty

Joe kitty sleeping.. I love how relaxed he is.  This was a really quick sketch done on the closest scrap paper I could find.  I just couldn't resist capturing this pose.

Black River Falls Christkindl Market

 

Sat. Dec 1st, 2012 I had a booth at the Christkindl Market in Black River Falls, WI.  It was a wonderful event with music, dancers, food, horse-drawn wagon rides, reindeer, and even a camel for the kids to pet!  Unfortunately sales weren't that great and I about broke even including what I spent on gas and lunch.  It was a long, hard day!  Still, it was great to see so many happy faces of people genuinely enjoying themselves.  I wasn't sure I should have put up my "Subarashii" sign, thinking it didn't really fit in a German inspired festival, but they belly dancers preforming and polish sausage, so adding something with a Japanese flare couldn't have been that bad.  I even made up some special cards with Christmas greetings in German thinking it would be cool for the event, but I only got lookers, no buyers.  They're up for sale on the esty site now instead!

 Along with my art prints and cards I brought the Christmas ornaments I'd made a few years ago but never sold.  I even made a few new ones like this cute little Musketeer here. I'll be at another event this weekend, if I don't sell any of these ornaments I'll probably just give up on it and keep them for myself.  They are really fun to make, but a little time consuming. 

 I'm not sure if I'll have a booth at the Christkindl Market next year or not, but if I don't I'll probably still go to check out the festivities because it really is a fun event!
http://downtownblackriverfalls.com/christkindl

Subarashii Cards

 I've been working on some new designs for holiday cards!  Just today, I finished a "Merry Christmas" card featuring Penguin & Peep!

http://www.etsy.com/shop/subarashii

Eau Claire Comic Con 2012

About a week before the event, I found out that Eau Claire has a comic-con and decided to contact the coordinator on the off chance there might still be space left.  There was one table available so I made it mine!  This summer I've been trying to hit up as many venues as I can selling art prints, cards, and other items featuring my characters while I continue my job search.  I'm so glad that I was able to attend the comic convention as it was a really fun day!  I made new friends, and sold some art!

Warm-up sketches

Aside from my prints I offered to do live sketches which brought me back to my days as a caricaturist.  It was nice to have more freedom this time though, since I could just embrace my own style with the drawings.  I was nervous, having not done any sketches in front of an audience for quiet some time, so I started with a few quick warmups to calm myself.  It definitely worked.

The night before the con I had even practiced a little, trying to figure out which markers I wanted to bring a long.  I used a black Tombow Duo Brush Pen (https://tombowusa.com/craft/detail/56581) for the outlines, and colored with Copic Markers (http://www.copicmarker.com/) and Woodless Colored Pencils aka Art Stix (http://www.utrechtart.com/Prismacolor-Art-Stix-Colored-Pencil-Set-Of-Assorted-Colors-MP33184-i1010959.utrecht). Below are a couple of my experimental sketches.  The first is Catwoman inspired, the second featured Supergirl with my characters Penguin & Peep.  I did another Supergirl drawing the night before which I ended up selling so I don't have a scan of it, but you can see a bit of it in the lower right corner of the photo at the top.

Friday night sketch

Supergirl with Penguin & Peep

So, Saturday after warming up I got a couple commissions.  I drew some kids as superheros, a fanart piece of the anime charcter Rena, and at the very end of the day, I drew a kid as a zomie which was a very fun piece.  When I wasn't doing those, I kept on doodling.  I didn't have reference for any of these fun sketches, so they were all purely from memory.  Check 'em out:

Another Catgirl

Robin Hood

Dorky Batman (looks more like a Batman Cosplayer)

Sailor Moon

Penguin & Peep Christmas.. I'll color this one to turn into a Print

King Arthur checking out his new attire

 When I look back on these drawings I'm surprised at how many I managed to draw throughout the day in between commissions, sales, and chatting with people.  There are two more drawings I did that I don't have scans of, one was of Penguin & Peep which I drew in a little boy's sketch book, another was a sketch I gave to the coordinator of yet another Supergirl (I guess I really like drawing her)!

Going Batty

Drawing Giraffes

 Here's a small ACEO sized card I did freehand with copic markets.  Reminds me of all the animals I would draw with caricatures when I worked at the SD zoo.

I've been packaging up other hand drawn mini cards like this one to sell online in my etsy shop & artist markets.  They're great for sitting on your desk and brightening your day!

Today I felt like doing a new piece in Photoshop that I will sell as an art print.  Would look great in any kid's room!