Art-O-Con

Well it has been a very busy weekend and nothing says Sunday like a relaxed atmosphere filled with amazing artists, photographers, sculptors, and vendors.

My good friend Lara and her husband at Jaded Dragons Studio were amazing enough to bring this idea of an art convention to life for us all. They have been working for months to bring local artists together, sending out flyers and emails and press releases for this thing, I'm quite proud and thankful for all their hard work.

The day started off great, I left early to go pick up my friend from Toronto, and we were gonna have tons of time to go set up and peruse around before the show opened, although things didn't quite turn out how I wanted. As me and my bf arrived off the highway at Front St. we discovered they were holding a marathon that day and had pretty much all of Front blocked off barely letting small groups of cars drive through...

Well, after a short time of waiting to be trafficked  across in breaks of the marathon runners we successfully picked up my friend and headed back towards the highway until we discovered....once you came into the city....you couldn't get out...(pretty much). We drove street after street trying to find a way back onto the highway but because of all the runners no cars were let across the street. We ended up waiting down a street we thought we could cross for about half an hour before saying "Fuck this shit, let's just drive all the way til we reach the end of the marathon...we got an art show to set up for!!"

So that we did, and we were eventually directed by a police officer down Adelaide to some street I cant recall and we made our way out. *Phew*

Getting there and setting up was a breeze and the day started off great with lots of new friendly faces and compliments of all kinds and didn't stop until the end of the night. Neighboring artists included Genevieve Letourneau who sat across from me and had visually beautiful art which included 3D cut-out illustrations and images drawn on wood shapes. To my left, at the end table was Julie Pomerleau who's traditional work is quite wonderful and varied as well, partnered with her friend Ben. Behind us was a fellow Sheridan art student named Dayna Duxbury with wonderful hand made notebook covers and buttons with art and bookmarks as well. We all connected in that art related way and talked the day away.

I did have time to do an art trade with the wonderful and talented Heather Soeder after discussing our passion for watercolour and speaking of fun techniques and methods of the medium. I "squee" every time I look at the little fluffy chickadee illustrated in her piece, which I can't help but stare at constantly. Thank you again Heather!

I also bought a piece from the uber talented Leigh Anna Frostad which I honestly think I paid way too little for, for what she can do. Her work is witty and beautiful, as you can see in the picture and I love everything about this piece. She is, yet another MLP fan and I love it.

So, until next time (which should be Fan Expo) I'll be possibly drawing and creating things to sell keeping me busy during the days and will keep updating for the next big thing which should be Anime North where I'm going to attend as a SPECTATOR instead of a VENDOR for once, which is nice because I can actually go and see things rather than sitting behind a table all weekend... plus I haven't been to AN in ages.

So it's Happened...Again

8-bit Perler Bead Magnets I made for the Toronto Comicon

So after two conventions (The Erotic Arts and Crafts Fair in Feb. and the Toronto Comicon on the 10th) things have slowed down drastically and I feel myself in that "oh shit, what do I do now" phase. Prepping my work for conventions kept my day busy during the day and then night time was for the part-timer job at Wally's world.

Why do I work there and not in my feild you ask? Well, it's a steady income so I don't have to keep waiting for money that may or may not come from freelance jobs which sucks when you have quite a few bills to pay. Remember that oh so excited post about me getting that job in Toronto, well, needless to say, I haven't been really doing anything since December. So yet again...I get my hopes up over nothing. Today I will be applying for more jobs, and hopin' for the best. Then again, the usual interviews turn into dissapointments or no call backs because like everyone in my feild, its a dog-eat-dog world and I'm up against professionals who have more then established portfolios and experience with pre-press, Quark Express and the like.

When I DO get freelance work, it seems to take forever to get the money, and it goes straight into debt anyways, so it's like I never see it at all... (GOCRYEMOKID)

Anyways, thus is my trials and tribulations once again as an artist, still searching for that dream job, still drawing (thankfully) and still keepin' it hopeful.

The Fun Never Stops

Hello again, its been quite the busy start to the year I think. My con partner and I have been researching and planning to hit up pretty much one convention per month this year in attempts to make money to pay off debts and whatnot. So far were attending 3 until we have the money to send in for the other cons but its a start. To begin the year off right I will be once again displaying my work at the Erotic Arts and Crafts Fair in Toronto at the Gladstone Hotel: EACF 2012 which for those who know me, is perfect for my kind of work. For those in the GTA, you should come and see the show, there will be Burlesque dancers and everything!

I have made more valentine's cards seeing as v-day is just a few days away and for those who want some nice art, theres that too. I've stuck to my pretty watercolour style with ink and just catered it to the theme of the show. I have a few favourites for the show like this one:

I like the show because its cute and fun while having a relaxed atmosphere for the the curious and open minded. Right now im sitting in my friends apartment, watching her husband play The Darkness 2. Oh gamers, how I envie you for having actual time to play video games :p wish me luck for tomorrow! I'll post more about the show on Monday and let you know how it goes.

'Tis the Seson

So, it seems it has been a while since my last post but that can only be due to me having a busy Nov/Dec. Not only am I now working 2 jobs but I have been working on gifts for friends and family on my days off as well. Work in Toronto has been slow as of late, but thats only due to projects coming to a close and things on hold, etc...so...I've been pretty much saving money on gas lol.

Also, since im uber poor once again I've decided to make presents for friends and family consisting of 8 bit characters and personalized tree ornaments. the 8 bits are for all my nerdy friends and range from Skyrim helmets to Chun Li to 1UP mushrooms. The materials I used were Hama beads you pretty much put onto a grid and then iron together to meld he pieces once you're done. It's pretty easy but takes a while to do seeing as I have to fish out the colours I wanna use each time. Heres an example of one:


I have also been somewhat productive in updating my website (finally) with the new work I've done and changing the look of a few pages to a more modern way of telling things. Like the clients I've had, instead of just a boring old list, I've show logos which is more more visually interesting! I also still need to update my client work portfolio but I cant really do much until the work I've done at Spoke goes live some time in January or so. I'm really excited about a particular one seeing as it's going to be a Facebook App! :D

As for new images, I've whipped up a few new ones that I'm pretty proud of. Can you tell which one I spent the most time on? lol








Also I have been working with a friend on creating a logo/business card design for her new company in Towoomba Australia. It's a pretty awesome concept of taking professional photos at fun events using props and silly hats to make it more awesome. We need more of those here ;p



So, thus has been whats going on in my life so far, busy as hell, cannot wait til the holidays are over and I can get back to my regularly scheduled program. Til then.

I Can't Stop Drawing Geishas...

So I've done a new piece of art recently which actually started from a paint chat doodle I did during a friend's art jam. It was pretty...

so here's the doodle...

and the final. Mmmm textures...

This is Halloween ~*'.~

So my favorite holiday has come and gone sadly but I had tons of fun during this spooky season. Most of this month, I've been having horror movie fests with friends watching classics and movies I have been meaning to see, but never did. Such include:

The Wicker Man

The Convent

Kiss of the Vampire

The Happening

Dawn of the Dead

Earnest-Scared Stupid

Nightmare on Elm Street

Hellraiser

Poltergeist

Dog Soldiers

The Descent

and I'm going to see Paranormal Activity 3 this Saturday. :)

With Halloween there will always be Halloween parties, especially since 2 of my friends have birthdays on the 29th and the 31st. We all crowded into Lauren and Kathleen's apartment to celebrate Kristie's birthday with amazing fun and spirits. Since I'm poor this month, I decided to just make a DIY costume of an undead tourist. It's actually the first time me and Argel have dressed as a couple so I was kind of excited. Here's what we whipped up: Zombie Tourists (ugh...yeah I know...) 

Then there's Halloween day! I took the liberty of dressing up for work Monday because, well, its me, and any excuse for me to dress up (other than cons) is good enough for me! lol but I didn't do anything too crazy because well, I'd be sitting in front of a computer for 5 hours. I decided to use my leftovers:cat ears and a wig (real original eh?)

That night we got the kids ready for some trick-or-treating around the block and luckily the weather wasn't too bad. I believe it was only 7 degrees that night compared to last year where a billion layers wasn't enough. Amelie was a one eyed blue monster and Genevieve was a little chicken. (too cute! XD) They were both very excited to receive all the free candy and chowed down as soon as the bag was dumped out. I do wish people would decorate their houses like they used to back in the day. I mean, people would go all out, flashing lights, scary music, cobwebs and floating ghosts everywhere.....now...not so much. I think it's the fact that the candy is so expensive that all they can afford is a pumpkin to carve, if that. There's one house we go to every year that does just that, and kudos to them for making a visual impact on the block. Til next year!

A Fun October

So, it seems October has been a busy and productive month with many fun and exciting things happening. As my last blog post stated, I've been super busy with my new job doing various projects for various companies (soon to be announced when it launches ;p) I'm excited to see the progress so far and cant wait to see it live! The drive in to Toronto hasn't been so bad, since I normally work 1-5 I miss the traffic going into to work, but kinda get stuck into the beginnings of it on the way back. I find if I leave right at 5 its ok, some crawling towards the beginning but then it opens up around Cawthra or so. I personally don't mind traffic, just a little bit of music, and my mind fills up the rest.

This month I also got to go see Evanescence preform after their 3 year break. It was nice to see her preform live again seeing as she puts a lot of emotion and effort into when she sings. I went to line up at around 3 even though the doors opened at 7. It's a goods thing I did too, it started pissing rain that day and luckily I got a spot under the tent part at the front beside the building because man, that would be a long and miserable wait. Argel joined me after he was done work and got us street meat to beat the hunger only to get heart burn from it later lol. The concert was great with some pretty awesome bands to start the show like Rival Sons, and Pretty Reckless who the lead singer was the younger sister from "Gossip Girl". Amy Lee was gorgeous as always and I LOVED her outfit she wore that night. It reminded me of a goth princess/prom dress with black sparkly schiffon and a plaid bow sash to the side. I liked it so much I drew it! Anyways, here's some pics to follow up the text:

Singer for Rival Sons (reminded me of Mic Jagger)

Singer for Pretty Reckless

Amy Lee

her outfit that night I really adored.

So that's pretty much it for events happening this October but oh wait, there's Halloween, thats the next blog post ;p