It's about time I posted one of these. With the holidays over, we're settling into a routine. I think I might be able to fit in some writing during this time, but it's going to be hit or miss for now. On a positive note though, right before Christmas, we found a house that would be nearly perfect for our family. It has enough bedrooms for everyone to have their own room--even the new one coming. On top of that it has a huge bonus room that I can use as a craft room. =D There's even space in the formal dining room--since we don't really need one of those--to put all the kids' homeschool stuff. The garage is also large enough to put a workbench for projects that need ventilation. The best part is it is a short sale, which means it's in our price range for what we can afford. We put an offer on it, and the sellers have accepted it. Now, we're just waiting to see if the seller's bank will accept our offer. I really hope they do because this house would be great for our family. If we get a positive back from the bank, we'll close 30 days after they approve it, and then we get to move again (for the last time I hope). If not, then we'll have to start looking again, but I'm going to keep my fingers crossed for a positive for this house. =)
So, that's how the house hunt and homelessness is going. We were at Magfest last weekend, which was fun. One of the neatest parts was Wednesday evening I got to drive my little car into the vendor area right up to my table to unload. That was just plain fun. The weekend went well. My husband participated in 4 panels, which he claims went well. =P I won't be posting a full con report on this one for lack of time--I'm going to have to get off the computer soon now. I will be updating my website and DA accounts with the new Sailor bookmarks and the new What Woulds I finished for Magfest soon (I hope). Right now, I'm working on the most awesome commission ever (it involves Final Fantasy VI), a new set of original designs similar to the Zodiacs but based off of birthstones, new What Woulds--the 6 I didn't finish before Magfest + 4 others--and the bookmark set based off of The Guild, which I started December 2010 and was supposed to have been finished for Magfest 2011 (clearly it wasn't). XD As we've been settling into a routine of sorts, I have been able to work on art a little more consistently, and if I can get some writing time in for my blog here, then I should be able to put up some work-in-progress stuff here and there. ^_^
Showing posts with label plans. Show all posts
Showing posts with label plans. Show all posts
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Saturday, November 12, 2011
Crazy Month Is Crazy
I completely forgot to post this yesterday. I'm not too surprised considering what's going on here. This post is to give you guys an idea of what this month is going to look like, and why work on art projects is going to be kind of hit or miss.
As you may recall, last week, I posted that we got an offer on the house. The house has been inspected, and we have a list of repairs to make--all of them fairly reasonable. Starting now through the end of the month, we will be working on fixing things in our house. Also, later this month we will be packing up and moving everything (again), although this time it won't be so bad since a lot of our stuff is still in storage and won't have to go anywhere; we'll just be packing up what we kept and adding it to storage. Still, I hate moving and packing, even with less stuff. >_<
So, the first reason why this month will be crazy is we're going to be moving and doing a bunch of repairs to the house. The next reason is Anime USA. This coming Thursday, we'll be driving up to the Washington D.C. area, and spending Friday through Sunday running a table in Artist Alley. On that note, I am still trying to get the Sailor Moon mecha pilot bookmarks finished for the convention. I have today, and maybe Monday, to get those done. @_@ At that point, I have to take stuff to the printers, so I make sure I have time to cut out and laminate everything before we leave for the convention.
Oh yeah, and if that wasn't enough craziness, I'm pregnant. =P Seriously. XD This explains why I've been so tired over the last month--those following me on Twitter might have noticed the number of naps I've been taking or nights where I've just gone to bed super early. All in all, that's not a bad thing, and the real craziness for that won't show up until the spring, but it does affect my energy levels, so I probably won't be pulling the all-nighters I normally do before a convention, which means I may not be finishing all 15 of the bookmarks I wanted to have done--#5 will be done today; I might try for 10.
Keeping all that in mind, I'm going to try and keep working on art projects, but it's probably going to be a fairly slow month. I'm hoping December will be better--I'll be chilling at my parents temporarily while we save money for a down payment on a new place to live, so the moving and house stuff won't be an issue. There are also no conventions on my schedule for December. There will still probably be low-energy days, but I think I can work with that. December, I'm planning on a new "What Would ___ Do?" set. Twelve new prints and badges featuring different games and characters from the first set. In the next couple of weeks I'll probably put some polls up for some of the games where I'm having trouble picking which character I want to draw from it. =)
As you may recall, last week, I posted that we got an offer on the house. The house has been inspected, and we have a list of repairs to make--all of them fairly reasonable. Starting now through the end of the month, we will be working on fixing things in our house. Also, later this month we will be packing up and moving everything (again), although this time it won't be so bad since a lot of our stuff is still in storage and won't have to go anywhere; we'll just be packing up what we kept and adding it to storage. Still, I hate moving and packing, even with less stuff. >_<
So, the first reason why this month will be crazy is we're going to be moving and doing a bunch of repairs to the house. The next reason is Anime USA. This coming Thursday, we'll be driving up to the Washington D.C. area, and spending Friday through Sunday running a table in Artist Alley. On that note, I am still trying to get the Sailor Moon mecha pilot bookmarks finished for the convention. I have today, and maybe Monday, to get those done. @_@ At that point, I have to take stuff to the printers, so I make sure I have time to cut out and laminate everything before we leave for the convention.
Oh yeah, and if that wasn't enough craziness, I'm pregnant. =P Seriously. XD This explains why I've been so tired over the last month--those following me on Twitter might have noticed the number of naps I've been taking or nights where I've just gone to bed super early. All in all, that's not a bad thing, and the real craziness for that won't show up until the spring, but it does affect my energy levels, so I probably won't be pulling the all-nighters I normally do before a convention, which means I may not be finishing all 15 of the bookmarks I wanted to have done--#5 will be done today; I might try for 10.
Keeping all that in mind, I'm going to try and keep working on art projects, but it's probably going to be a fairly slow month. I'm hoping December will be better--I'll be chilling at my parents temporarily while we save money for a down payment on a new place to live, so the moving and house stuff won't be an issue. There are also no conventions on my schedule for December. There will still probably be low-energy days, but I think I can work with that. December, I'm planning on a new "What Would ___ Do?" set. Twelve new prints and badges featuring different games and characters from the first set. In the next couple of weeks I'll probably put some polls up for some of the games where I'm having trouble picking which character I want to draw from it. =)
Monday, September 5, 2011
Fall Projects
Back at the end of June, I posted a Summer Projects post highlighting what I planned on working on over the summer. I thought, since we're moving into Fall now, it would be a good idea to revisit that post. Today, I'm going to look over what I'd planned to get done, what I actually got done, and discuss a little of my plans for the Fall.
First, let's look at what I'd planned. I wanted to have the new Zodiac set finished for art. This Zodiac set was going to be the compliment to the one I finished for Anime Weekend Atlanta last year. The first set featured six guys and six girls, and the second set was going to do girl versions for the six guys and guy versions for the six girls. My goal was to have the new Zodiac prints and their chibi badge counterparts finished by Otakon. I also wanted to stock up on my inventory of fanart plushie designs for Otakon: Pikachu, Umbreon, Kirby, Black Mokona, White Mokona, and Moogle. Along with those I wanted to make some bunny and kitty mini-plushies.
Now, let's see how things actually went. Getting the Zodiacs finished by Otakon did not happen. In fact, the only progress made before Otakon was taking the Aries sketch featured on the Summer Projects post and inking it. In my defense, we lost most of July to moving. Most of August was taken up with commission projects and family events, and it's only been in the last week or so that I've really been able to get back on track with things. So, Zodiacs... fell far short of my goal. I did manage to get a decent number of plushies made before Otakon. I boosted my fanart inventory and had three each of the bunny and kitty mini-plushies. So, plushies... goal achieved!
So, what's on for the Fall? The short answer: lots of cool stuff! For art, I will finally have Anime Tarot card decks (these are now available for preorder from my Etsy shop) for Anime Weekend Atlanta and Anime USA. I am going to keep working on the Zodiacs. My new goal is to get them finished by AWA; it'll be tough, but I think it's doable. Last year, I made my set of Sailor Moon Harem bookmarks because they were asking artists to put together something to match the convention theme: Arabian Nights. This year's theme is military, so I'm going to be doing a new set of Sailor Moon bookmarks, this time with a mecha pilot design. I'm thinking about making it a yearly thing to design a new set of Sailor Moon bookmarks for AUSA to go with their theme. Sailor Moon is just so much fun to play with; the characters really lend themselves to this kind of re-designing. That's my minimum goal. I'd also like to see some of my other in-progress bookmark sets (World of Warcraft, The Guild, and Dragonlance) get finished by AUSA--AWA is later this month, so I think I'll be doing well to get the Zodiacs done for that. Outside of that, Soul Eater and Full Metal Alchemist are high on my list of series I want to do massive bookmark sets for, but those might have to be a project for next season.
That covers art. For plushies, I'd had it in my head that I might be able to do some more new plushie designs, but I think I'll be doing good to just restock my inventory again since I sold out of pretty much everything at Otakon--not that I'm complaining. ;-) I think I'll play this one by ear. I'd like to work on some new designs, but I'm not going to get too excited about that idea. For other crafts, we're still hoping to debut the decorative props for AWA and I'm going to finish up the last of the charm designs plus replace those that sold at Otakon. Maybe by AWA I'll have a good way of displaying my charms. Finally, I'm still trying to get Suzaku and Euphemia cosplays finished for AWA for my husband and I. It's a low priority item, but I'm still holding out some hope that I can get those finished.
That about sums up my plans for the Fall. Chances are, it's entirely unreasonable, but it'll be interesting to see how things go. Look for a Winter follow-up to this post in early December.
First, let's look at what I'd planned. I wanted to have the new Zodiac set finished for art. This Zodiac set was going to be the compliment to the one I finished for Anime Weekend Atlanta last year. The first set featured six guys and six girls, and the second set was going to do girl versions for the six guys and guy versions for the six girls. My goal was to have the new Zodiac prints and their chibi badge counterparts finished by Otakon. I also wanted to stock up on my inventory of fanart plushie designs for Otakon: Pikachu, Umbreon, Kirby, Black Mokona, White Mokona, and Moogle. Along with those I wanted to make some bunny and kitty mini-plushies.
Now, let's see how things actually went. Getting the Zodiacs finished by Otakon did not happen. In fact, the only progress made before Otakon was taking the Aries sketch featured on the Summer Projects post and inking it. In my defense, we lost most of July to moving. Most of August was taken up with commission projects and family events, and it's only been in the last week or so that I've really been able to get back on track with things. So, Zodiacs... fell far short of my goal. I did manage to get a decent number of plushies made before Otakon. I boosted my fanart inventory and had three each of the bunny and kitty mini-plushies. So, plushies... goal achieved!
So, what's on for the Fall? The short answer: lots of cool stuff! For art, I will finally have Anime Tarot card decks (these are now available for preorder from my Etsy shop) for Anime Weekend Atlanta and Anime USA. I am going to keep working on the Zodiacs. My new goal is to get them finished by AWA; it'll be tough, but I think it's doable. Last year, I made my set of Sailor Moon Harem bookmarks because they were asking artists to put together something to match the convention theme: Arabian Nights. This year's theme is military, so I'm going to be doing a new set of Sailor Moon bookmarks, this time with a mecha pilot design. I'm thinking about making it a yearly thing to design a new set of Sailor Moon bookmarks for AUSA to go with their theme. Sailor Moon is just so much fun to play with; the characters really lend themselves to this kind of re-designing. That's my minimum goal. I'd also like to see some of my other in-progress bookmark sets (World of Warcraft, The Guild, and Dragonlance) get finished by AUSA--AWA is later this month, so I think I'll be doing well to get the Zodiacs done for that. Outside of that, Soul Eater and Full Metal Alchemist are high on my list of series I want to do massive bookmark sets for, but those might have to be a project for next season.
That covers art. For plushies, I'd had it in my head that I might be able to do some more new plushie designs, but I think I'll be doing good to just restock my inventory again since I sold out of pretty much everything at Otakon--not that I'm complaining. ;-) I think I'll play this one by ear. I'd like to work on some new designs, but I'm not going to get too excited about that idea. For other crafts, we're still hoping to debut the decorative props for AWA and I'm going to finish up the last of the charm designs plus replace those that sold at Otakon. Maybe by AWA I'll have a good way of displaying my charms. Finally, I'm still trying to get Suzaku and Euphemia cosplays finished for AWA for my husband and I. It's a low priority item, but I'm still holding out some hope that I can get those finished.
That about sums up my plans for the Fall. Chances are, it's entirely unreasonable, but it'll be interesting to see how things go. Look for a Winter follow-up to this post in early December.
Friday, August 5, 2011
Plans... What Plans?
That's kind of how my life seems to go at the moment. I make plans, but then life has other plans which pretty much always override my plans. Sometime I wonder why I even bother making plans--aside from the fact that without some kind of plan I'd spend my days utterly distracted with absolutely focus.
Nothing ever seems to go the way I have in mind for things to happen. For example, just today, I'd planned to spend the morning working on lesson plans, and then I'd spend the afternoon working on the Team Sidequest website (which needed to be up months ago) and commissions. This evening has been claimed for the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner for my cousin's wedding, since I'm one of her bride's maids and Ty is her ring bearer (btw he looks absolutely adorable in his little tux). What actually happened today? First of all, I got up 7ish, then ended up back asleep till about 10. Admittedly it was nice sleeping late, but that killed most of my morning. I then got a text from my Mom, who was 'stranded' at her hotel--she'd come up early to help with wedding preparations except everything's pretty much ready and my dad got called into work and he'd taken the car and left her at the hotel. So, I only ended up lesson planning for maybe an hour, then I went to pick up my mom. I have spent the rest of the afternoon looking around for preschool stuff for Logan, and outdoor toys and activities to keep the boys busy (i.e., shopping). Admittedly it's also been nice to go out and do some girl time stuff (with a house full of boys that doesn't happen very often). Also, my husband's sick and has been in bed all day. @_@ The tally: lesson plans for next week are not ready; commissions are sitting about where they were yesterday--lineart for Squall is finished and lineart has been started for She-Ra, and that's about all that's been accomplished since Wednesday. I also have a couple of 'surprise' projects I'm working on for someone--I haven't said much about it, but keep an eye out. ;) Really I'd planned on having at least one of the commissions completely finished by now. Failsauce.
Life has rewritten my plans similarly most every day this week. It's getting old and a little frustrating. Does this kind of thing happen to anyone else?
Also, would anyone be interested in a post about my drawing process--the steps I follow for most of my art?
Nothing ever seems to go the way I have in mind for things to happen. For example, just today, I'd planned to spend the morning working on lesson plans, and then I'd spend the afternoon working on the Team Sidequest website (which needed to be up months ago) and commissions. This evening has been claimed for the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner for my cousin's wedding, since I'm one of her bride's maids and Ty is her ring bearer (btw he looks absolutely adorable in his little tux). What actually happened today? First of all, I got up 7ish, then ended up back asleep till about 10. Admittedly it was nice sleeping late, but that killed most of my morning. I then got a text from my Mom, who was 'stranded' at her hotel--she'd come up early to help with wedding preparations except everything's pretty much ready and my dad got called into work and he'd taken the car and left her at the hotel. So, I only ended up lesson planning for maybe an hour, then I went to pick up my mom. I have spent the rest of the afternoon looking around for preschool stuff for Logan, and outdoor toys and activities to keep the boys busy (i.e., shopping). Admittedly it's also been nice to go out and do some girl time stuff (with a house full of boys that doesn't happen very often). Also, my husband's sick and has been in bed all day. @_@ The tally: lesson plans for next week are not ready; commissions are sitting about where they were yesterday--lineart for Squall is finished and lineart has been started for She-Ra, and that's about all that's been accomplished since Wednesday. I also have a couple of 'surprise' projects I'm working on for someone--I haven't said much about it, but keep an eye out. ;) Really I'd planned on having at least one of the commissions completely finished by now. Failsauce.
Life has rewritten my plans similarly most every day this week. It's getting old and a little frustrating. Does this kind of thing happen to anyone else?
Also, would anyone be interested in a post about my drawing process--the steps I follow for most of my art?
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