A Mixed Bag of...Nuts? Paintings?

I've had my first commissions for superhero paintings from a few people who were at Bics and I have to say, I'm pretty excited about doing them! I was hoping to get commissions from people for characters I haven't done/wouldn't have thought of doing and the batch of requests I've received from one chap (for him and three friends!) have come up trumps! I'll be doing paintings of Thanos, Dr Strange, The Shadow and Belldandy from Oh! My Goddess. I think that's a rather good mix of characters; I've yet to do a female character so Belldandy will be an interesting challenge! Looking forward to drawing The Shadow; I might even paint a Rocketeer for my own amusement too!

My Studio!

Well, after two weeks of stress, I've finally been able to settle into my new flat! I currently share a three-bed with my best friend which means our spare room has been used as a studio. This was one of the reasons we decided to take the flat as we're both arty types and really need space to work. So now I can finally work somewhere without socks and other bedroom-type bits getting in the way! Here's a little look around my cluttered but comfy workspace.

This is my portion of the studio; I have my computer/drawing table and a table for painting.

I've been working here for the most part on Christmas and shoe designs. My graphics tablet is kicking about somewhere too.

A few bits for the wall. There's an original Sean Phillips sketch of Zombie Captain America and a Duncan Fegredo Hellboy sketch. I had to put up my second place award for best 2D design from the Bristol Design Festival as I never really win anything and I'm proud of it! There's also a picture of Odo from DS9 that was a Valentine's Day gift from my boyfriend!

Canvas' and soft toys together at last! There's a plushie Cthulhu, a Moogle from Final Fantasy X, the mascot for Japanese soft drink Qoo and a very odd Japanese radish from a grab machine in Tokyo.

A few of my many books. Until the wall shelves go up, the rest are in my bedroom. For the most part these are arty books and magazines. Oh, and a Goomba from Super Mario Bros!

The all-important stereo and music! Also more toys including two Lums and a Godzilla from Japan, Toad, Mothman, Marvin the Martian and two uber-rare Hideshi Hino figures!

And back to the computer desk with a Spidey mug full of coffee and a pile of work ready for inking! You'll also notice the Animal Crossing mouse-mat and a little K.K Slider; another piece of win from Japan!

Bics 2009!

Well, Bics is over for another year and it was awesome. I sold lots of stuff, made lots of money and met lots of awesome people. My superhero paintings went down an absolute storm and I think I'm going to have commissions coming out of my ears, which isn't a bad thing! A chap from a comic shop in Halifax wants a bunch to sell for xmas which is great and may generate even more commissions. As usual, I was crap and pretty much forgot to take any pictures, but here's how my stall looked at the start of the weekend. By Sunday afternoon, it was looking a bit bare! I sold all but 3 of my 24 paintings! I only just realised how blurry the pics are too so apologies!

Some mild stress...

Just a quick update! The last weekend has seen me move house which was stressful to say the least. But I now have a very cool studio (pictures coming soon) which is a joy to work in! Added to the hecticness is the fact that the Birmingham Comic Con is this coming weekend which has meant trying to squeeze in last minute preparations whilst shifting boxes and furniture.

On the plus side, my contract for the illustration agent is in the post so I'm hoping that freelance work will start to pick up in the next few months. I also have a batch of new shoe designs to send to kings of Neon when my home Internet connection is back up.

Must stop drawing Christmas!

Phew! This is the last batch of Genki Gear designs for now; I'm totally out-Christmassed. I've loved drawing very unconventional holiday designs and I've already gotten a great reaction from people. I don't get off that lightly though - now it's time for Halloween! I wanted to do some Halloween designs that could possibly be used on cards and stuff just for my own amusement and in a show of great timing, Kings of Neon have requested some Halloween shoe designs! Two birds with one stone = productive! XD

Competition coming soon!

The Birmingham Comic Con is a mere week away and all my efforts are going into making stuff to sell. I'm hoping to do as well as I did last year, especially with my paintings geared toward a more mainstream audience. We can only wait and see though!

Anyway, I thought I'd run a little competition after the con and give away a load of goodies! This will consist of badges, key rings postcards etc. More on that later!

Odd Xmas Designs!

Here are the first batch of Genki Gear badge designs. I think I got a tad ambitious with a few, considering they're going to be 3cm in diameter so we'll see which ones they pick! Hopefully between work and moving house I can do the rest...

I'm very tempted to get these printed as stickers to put in my Christmas cards this year! I'm enjoying the lack of traditional/slightly odder Christmas imagery :D

More Christmas Oddities

Genki Gear Xmas Card Designs

These are my designs thus far for the awesome Genki Gear. They were more than happy for some not-quite-traditional-designs which was a bonus! I've still got some more to do as well as the badge designs. I may even make a pack of these myself to give to my nearest and dearest at Christmas!

What I Wore Today!

A lot of illustrators are currently posting on the awesome What I Wore Today Flickr group by Gemma Correll so I thought I'd have a go too!

Life Meter Volume 3!

One of my favourite blogs and zines is Life Meter; a video game lover's dream filled with odd snippets of artwork and comics about characters we've spent our lives controlling, collecting and shouting at because they won't kill that bloody annoying end-of-level boss. Well, a little while ago, I did a picture of Solid Snake from Metal Gear Solid that I submitted to Life Meter thinking it was going to be on the blog. Turns out I'd actually submitted it to the zine. I can't say I mind though! It's going to be in full colour too which is great. There are some fantastic artists in there so if you're a game lover, it's worth checking out.

More Oddities!

Deck the halls with ghosts and goblins!

As much as I hate to say it, I'm starting to think about Christmas, but only because Genki Gear have asked me to do some card and badge designs for them! This means getting into xmas mode for the next 2 weeks to meet the deadline, but on the plus side I get to do some very nontraditional pics, Genki style! So expect lots of festive robots, monsters and any other un-Christmassy characters I can think of!

Which segues nicely into my next "festive" endeavour: Halloween! I never really do anything arty for Halloween but given I like to draw ghoulies (of the supernatural kind!) I thought about producing a series of spooky images for a set of postcards. Mummies, Werewolves and Vampires, oh my!

Something Weird is Going On...!

These are part of a new series I'm doing called "Something Weird is Going On" where seeming normal objects and situations are given an odd twist. I don't know if the images work or not though! Haunted Videogame and The Horrible Swamp Creature are part of this series too!

Series Finished!

I've finally finished all the superhero paintings I'm doing for the Brum Con; I now have 24 in all! These will all be available to buy at my stall and I'll also be taking commissions for people too. If you buy from me at the con they'll be at the special price of £20 each, whereas commissions will be £30 (price includes postage and packing). They've been a lot of fun to do and I'll definitely paint some more when things are a bit less hectic.

More Supa Heroes!

Thor and Abe Sapien for the collection!

Hillbilly Kid

Some people-drawing for a change!