Happy Holidays Everybody!!

Here is a little "Ferocious Fruitcake" to keep you company for the holidays. He's seeking revenge on all of you who grumble, complain and roll their eyes at him when he is given to you out of the kindness of someone's heart for the holiday season. Actually, he's just really pissed that a fly is trying to eat some of his maraschino goodness.

So, this break, I decided that (with the exception of my work drills) I wasn't going to do any work of any kind and make myself relax. As part of my relaxation I decided that I was going to go home to Seattle (technically Union, WA now as my parents moved from the city) for 2 and a half weeks for the holidays. Of course, since I'm a jinx, I brought an unnatural weather anomaly with me. :)

Nucleus Red Cross Holiday (Silent) Auction

So, just recently I was asked if I'd like to donate some of my pieces that have previously been shown at Gallery Nucleus to them for a Silent Auction on behalf of the Red Cross. In the e-mail request they were saying that they'd like to donate the proceeds to them to help out all the recent Southern Cali fire victims. Of course I said sure thing! I beleive the following pieces will be up for auction; Devil's Food Cake, and Rainbow Sprinkles.




Anyway, there's going to be a lot of cool stuff, and it's a silent auction (which is always exciting), so if someone who loves art that you care about is still in the market for an awesome christmas gift. . . well you know what you should do. ;) AND you'd be helping all the newly homeless people from the fires during the season of giving. . . so it's a win-win situation! Cool artwork for YOU and helping others in need!!

I Made IT!! (Something to be Thankful For)

My first year at South Park has officially come to a close. Season 12 is now in the can, with the last episode having aired and all the hiatus goodbyes having been said. [Above image obviously copyrite Comedy Central or South Park or whatever it's supposed to be. Oh, and MOM LOOK!! The two little vampires on the left are mine,sorta. Adrien tweeked them a little. :D]

The second half of the run turned out to be far more exciting and enjoyable than I had imagined it would be. We got to play with giant Guinea-saus Rexs (or Guinea Bees, which ever you think is cuter), welcome a Jewel Thief into the Oval Office, see Wendy finally kick the CRAP outta Cartman, and probably the most fun I've had yet, see Butters turn into a vampire and be saved by the the burning of Hot Topic. I'm so excited to have been a part of it and so greatful to be returning in a couple of months.

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, here's a little list of the things I'm greatful for. I'm greatful to have spent a good portion of my year learning from some very talented, funny, but mostly mentally off kilter artist/storytellers. I look forward to February with both good and bad butterflies in my tummy. I'm even more greatful that I have a wonderful, loving family both here in LA (in the form of supportive and amazing friends) and back home. I'm so glad you guys know me well enough to realize that you should NEVER CALL before Noon on Wednesdays. But, more than anything in the WHOLE WIDE WORLD, I'm super-duper thankful for seeing the light and deciding to NOT DO ANYTHING for the next two months.

Sorry for the sappy post, for those who have read this far. I PROMISE the next post will have something amazingly awesome, and preferably a drawing/painting/apron/crusty booger or something other than me rambling off all the things I'm thankful for. :p

Work Doodle

Sketch Dump

So here's a couple random drawings. One from figure drawing a few weeks back and the other two from my small sketchbook I keep in my purse. I draw a little on the big side so I've been trying to draw smaller. Also, I've been looking at the book "How to Draw the Marvel Way" as per the suggestion of a couple of guys at work (mainly for help defining volumes in a simple and quick way), and I decided to apply some of their head structure tricks to my own doodles. The face on the left is the scariest thing I think I've drawn to date. Kinda made me happy that I managed to make something a little creepy instead of creepy-cute.

All DONE!!

So, in a miracle to beat all miracles. . . well in my world anyway, Carlos found my missing sewing machine part under the bed when he reorganizing stuff. He didn't know what it was and honestly though it was like a piece of our toilet or something, but I gave him tons of kisses for finding it. :) I was actually able to finish JUST before I went back to work. So now I'm all excited for the next break and to try making some more.

It's Over ALREADY?!?!

NOOOOOOO!! It can't be time to go back to work already. BOOOOO.

Well, my summer, as you can probably see by lack of posts, has been far more busy than I would have liked it to have been. When I started my break, I had this HUGE list of things I wanted to do with my freetime. I figured 4 months would be more than enough time to: make a short film; pratice my storyboarding; finish my 3 old paintings that I've been dinking around with for over a year now; make a million really cute aprons; do a painting for my brother's fiance in celebration of her graduating; make a couple t-shirts for my brother; do a couple of paintings for Nicole's house of her monster children; take the transportation design class at Art Center; go to life drawing; and finally, do 400 freelance items for the website I work at on the side. . . Oh, and go out of town and spend time sleeping and recooperating for another crazy run.

Needless to say, um, I only got about a 16th of that list done. Got two old paintings done, as I posted; took the car class; and did my freelance which wound up taking the entire 4 months thanks to the car class assigning more homework than I had my entire 4 years at CalArts. . .

Anyway. Enough bitching. Last week I was FINALLY able to start working on my aprons. I've gotten one almost complete. Unfortunately I discovered that a very importan part I need for my sewing machine is missing, and being the dinosaur of a human being I am, my machine is a little on the old side. . .


. . . like the 50 year old side. So finding the part is probably going to take me until my next break 11 weeks from now. So until I get my part. . . here's my apron's progress.


I went for a half apron instead of a full apron, as in the drawing I did at the beginning of the summer. I'm thinking it was a far better choice, as half aprons are super cute. And once I teach my self how to applique and find my missing fashion disc part, the spider pocket will be the perfect finishing touch.

Now for some people, who are close to me, they got very, VERY tired of me mentioning my freelance. Most people didn't know what it was, as I don't talk about it very much (other than to say, it drives me nuts and counting down the days until it's completion), but now that the site is doing well, I guess I'll mention it for anyone who is curious.

I've spent time off and on for the last year doing clothing items for a webgame sponsored by Lifetime TV called DressUpChallenge.com. It's essentially a virtual paper doll website. Sadly it's very addicting for women, so much so that in the 9 months since it re-launched, it went from 10,000 users to over 400,000 users. It's pretty crazy. The users all hate the daily 'prizes' I make, as it forces them to use their imaginations (OMG, a dress from the 1920's?! How preposterous!!). Anyway, it's been fun working with the people over at Burner Studios on this project with them, and I wanted to say thanks for the opportunity, just in case they stop by.


For fun one day, I tweeked one of the dresses I made (I DID NOT draw the figure, only the hair and dress, the avi was created by the artist before me). I had to do a Marie Antoinette dress, wig, and fan. The dress was a lot of fun. It took me over 11 hours to complete. As my boss would say, I got lost in the pretty, but I didn't care. It was so much fun!!

Anyway, here is. The version that will show up in the game is completely different and is actually a skirt and a top. I wonder if the users will hate it as much as they hated the wig? :)

Ahhh. . . Much Better

Probably to my father's great displeasure, I've once again delved into the relm of beautifully, and boldly, colored tresses!!

The initial goal was neon green hair, but I think I let the bottle of die sit around too long (2 years) so my hair looks more teal than I had originally wanted, but I'm not complaining because I feel so much BETTER now!

The drawing was quick and dirty just to illustrate what the style looks like. . . I hate takin' pics, but if I get a good one I'll post it for friends and family to see.

Fruits Go Go

So from August 2nd thru the 17th, I'm going to be participating in a gallery show organized by Caro. It's going to be at Monkeyhouse Toys and Gallery in Silverlake, CA and titled "Fruits Go Go". I wish I can say I'm doing something amazing, fantabulous, and new, but quite honestly an old piece of mine is finally getting it's time in the spotlight. "2D Fruity", the very 1st custom guitar I did with my BF, Mr. CMF, will finally get to be seen by the world, or at least people in Silverlake, Ca. (Although I do hope to have enough time to maybe do one more little piece before then, as I do truly love those crazy kids fashion ideas. They truly are a source of inspiration.)

If the flier is anything to judge the show by (which it usually is), it should be a bright and cheery show full of fun stuff. So if your in the LA area and bored, and have a lot of patience to try to find parking in Silverlake, please do come by and see all the nifty stuff.



P.S. When I say patience, I actually mean about 20 Valium in your system. It's a beautiful place, but I wouldn't wanna park there. ;)

Update!!

Well, being the HUGE dork that I am, when I found that Vynal Pulse did a small write up on the "Fruits GoGo" show, I just HAD to post a link. Not only did they take a picture of the guitar for their site, but my attractive back side made it into two shots. Go me!! :P

Mini City Commuter Hearse

So, my midterm projects were due this week. We had to do presentations in front of the class as to why we were so much more awesome than our classmates. I really wish I could say I was kidding, but the teacher literally sat us down the week before and said we should go up to the front and introduce our selves and then say "my project is superior to these other projects because of . . . "

Anywho, above is the side view and the rear three-quarter view of my Mini City Commuter Car project. The images below are my presentation boards. We were instructed to create a client that was in need of a mini city commuter and cater our design towards this fictious person's needs. Ms. Ivey Bohem, the Hollywood shoe designer wanted a stylish hybrid vehicle to put around LA in. What she got, was a stylish mini HEARSE, mainly because I just really wanted to draw a hearse. :D



In the end, for my first real car renderings, I'm pretty happy with how they turned out. I'm hoping to find the time to go back and make a front 3/4 view rendering, because the best part of the car is it's face, which I based off of a spider and the Packard Hawk (which I think looks like a catfish).

My Little Hand Mixer

So, Wednesday nights are Transportation design in my class, but MONDAY night is devoted to Product Design. I think I enjoy product design a little more. This is one of the renderings I did of a Hand Mixer for my midterm project. It's supposed to be 50's retro, but my teacher said that it's taking on more of an art deco feel. Either way I'm just excited that I'm finally learning how to render metal more accurately!

Friday the 13th. . .

. . .of JUNE!!!


Okay, Okay, I know I'm a couple of days late, but it's more of a recap post for the familia anyway. :)

So, I was lucky enough, or unlucky if you're crazy superstitious, enough to be born on the 13th, and this year, aside from having the awesome luck of my birthday being on a Friday, it was also my 30th birthday!!! Now, being the little black spot on society that I am, I find Friday the 13th to be my good luck day. Call it positive thinking, reverse superstition, whatever, but I think it's an awesome omen that to bring to an end my 3rd complete decade on this planet, I get to celebrate on my good luck day. :) AND, not to mention, I actually had a birthday party for once, be it very small, AND I finally got to have my mini Friday the 13th marathon!!

It was an ultra super awesome birthday, (and to anyone who's curious, no I do not feel old, I'm actually super excited to be 30) and this fast, super sketchy (which I'm supposed to be praticing NOT being sketchy, but I don't care) little self portrait is to commemorate the occasion!

YAY, Birthdays!

P.S. To friends and family I told about my awesome present from Potatofarmgirl, click here to see it in all it's awesomeness!!

P.P.S. In case you're curious, I'm holding my Mighty Muggs Bespin Luke action figure and the most awesome Blythe doll EVER MADE!!! (Thanks guys, I totally love it! I also was lucky enough to get General Grevious and Emperor Palpatine, but I only have two hands and didn't feel like drawing myself as a spider just so I could hold all my nifty action figures.

On a final note, for your viewing pleasure: Carlos being sat on by Tom. Amazingly, extremely drunk people are very light.

Spider Apron

Where Boogers Fear to Tread

So as I may have said before, my boss suggested I challenge myself and take a class during my break. I also may have said that I was totally unobservant and didn't realize until the first day of class that it was a CAR design class. I've already learned a few tricks of the trade and rules about cars I'd never realized before (like the distance between front and rear tire, on average is 3 and a half tire widths; and the average car is about 2 tires tall, with a one third glass to two thirds metal ratio). So I thought it might be fun to put up some of my first car drawings. I'll post my last assignment as well, just in case it might be fun for people to compare beginning of class to end of class work.

Pretty Pretty Princess Loki

FINALLY!

You ever notice how if family asks you for something, you procrastinate on it FOREVER? That's the case here with "Pretty Pretty Princess". My Grandmother asked me for a painting, since my mom and Aunt have one, and I told her sure. . . well that was Christmas 2 and a half years ago now (I think). The sketch for this sat around for a year before I finally had time off to work on it. Did my first all nighter when I didn't have to in a while to complete it, but I find it amusing.

In other news, I was insane and completely unobservant when my boss suggested I take a class this summer. Even though I read the description it didn't fully register what I got myself into until the first day of class. . . and now I'm kicking myself. Mind you, it's something I know nothing about so it's cool and I like learning new stuff, but seriously, Transportaion design? By the end of the summer, I'll be able to draw cars like a mo-fo, even though I'm not really sure I WANT to. :P

Update!! May 30th, 2008


I got "Pretty Pretty Princess" back from the framer on Tuesday. It turned out pretty decent I think. I tried to frame it so that it would look good with the painting as well as good with my Grandma's stuff. I hope It works out okay. There's just way too much pink going on in this thing for my personal taste, but, as I've said, it's not mine, so it's okay. Besides, it was nice to do something out of hte ordinary for me.

Also, as you can see below, I got my birthday presnts early! This is Nico, my new little girl. We got her from the Burbank Animal Shelter almost two weeks ago now. We were shocked at how quickly she and Loki hit it off. We kept them separated for about three days (it was supposed to be a week, but Carlos kept "accidentally" leaving the bathroom door open) before they met. Loki had a kitty crush immediately, and to our great surprise, Nico reciprocated the crush, and now we see cuddling kitties everywhere in the house.



The cuddling is enough to make me puke sometimes. Not to mention, I'm a tiny bit jealous cause Loki doesn't talk to me anymore and is "too cool" to let me snuggle with him. My little man is growing up!

Sleight of Hand

Way back when, 2001 to be exact, I was a bright eyed, bushy tailed freshman in animation school. . . okay bright eyed, but hidden behind an emo glare. :D

Anyway, "Sleight of Hand" is my very first film. For not knowing what the hell I was doing 9 months prior to it's completion, I think it turned out pretty well. And one of the many things I learned the hard way from that particular film was, when the Tech people tell you that there's new fangled technology and that you should use it, DO NOT LISTEN to the UPPER CLASSMEN and do it the old way. . . because a few years down the line, Mac's may not recognize your video compressor and you just might have to rebuild the film from scratch.

I like learning the hard way. . . builds character. :P

Back From The Dead

Well, I made it. Made it through my very first run over at South Park, and now I'm on my very first hiatus EVER!!! I feel like I'm back in school on Summer Vacation again, only instead of finding a job for the summer, I'm resting and going to school.

I'm really excited because I've been given the opportunity to go take a class up at Art Center. I've heard it's very structured and very different from CalArts so I'm looking forward to the challenge.

Oh, and just to get it out of my system, it was SO COOL to see my name in the credits of something on TV for the first time! Some people may take it for granted, but seriously, it's a moment I'm going to remember for the rest of my life.

Now, if you read these things, and you've made it this far, you may be asking yourself, what's with an Easter painting almost 2 months late? Well technically, this painting is more like one year and 2 months late. I actually posted it up around April of last year as a work in progress, but time got away from me and I never went back to it. Until today that is. See I made myself a list of New Years Resolutions, and one of them was to finish all my old paintings before I could allow myself to start a new one. Unfortunately I had to break it when the Power In Numbers 3 came along, but now I'm back to the promises I've made for myself. I've only got two more to finish before I can have fun with some new ideas, and I can't wait to get them done.

Quick and Dirty

Things have been so crazy the last couple of months, but I'm honestly looking forward to my first break between seasons EVER in two weeks. I just couldn't allow myself to go to bed tonight with out doing SOMETHING un-work related.

Angler Fishy

Well, things are just starting to get busy at work.

Had a day off today and used it to finish my painting for "Power in Numbers 3" over at Gallery Nucleus. This year proceeds go to the Make-a-Wish Foundation. As usual with the "Power In Numbers" show(s), there's no theme, just a size restriction, so "Angler Fishy" is 7"x5" and painted in Gouache.

Oh, and here's the flyer for "Power In Numbers 3". Since I probably won't have another post for a couple of months, the show is April 15th, and all pieces are $100 and all proceeds go, as I said before, to the Make a Wish Foundation. There's some really AMAZING artists in this show, and with all pieces of art work going for a $100 bucks a pop (and the money going to a great cause), it's a show not to miss.

Life Drawing. . . Again

So, I sadly realized that it's been a year since the last time I made it to a life drawing class. Things were so crazy last year that an entire year of my time slipped away from me! Not that things aren't crazy this year as well, but I took the time to finally go to life drawing. I was so rusty, but I like this one.


My boss keeps stressing "story" like trying to express story, or find story in everything. I guess with this one, I thought of a lonly little sailor girl, who was stood up by her date or something. Although it's probably more like a stripper who's had a bad night and is pouting because she didn't get any tips.

Anyway, YAY! Life drawing. I'm promising myself I'm going to go every week during my breaks. Lets see if I can keep that promise to myself. ;)

Ultrasupermega Nerd

So,the job has been an intense learning experience so far. Things are going well, at least I think they are. :) (I'm not fired yet, so that's GREAT sign.)

Anyway, after 16 hours of drawing circles (I wish I could say I'm kidding, but I'm not) I think I've achieved a higher level of being in the universe. It was kinda like drawing meditation and water drop torture at the same time. Either way I've come out of it a changed person. :D

After my circle drills, I was finally able to move onto developing a shorthand version of the characters for storyboards. I know, you're probably thinking, but it's "SOUTH PARK!! There's nothing to it!! Lets just say I'm retarded and leave it at that. On many levels. (Especially the level in which I felt an undying need to POST my retarded shorthand characters.) In time, I'll be able to draw them with my eye's closed just like the rest of the guys!

Goin' on Down to South Park

Well, this year has started out with quite a shock. An unexpected one at that.

Back in September, when Carlos and I were thinking of moving to Washington (as the cost of living was becoming a challenge for us here in LA) my friend Valerie recommended me to some people over on the TV show South Park. I went in, met with the director, took a test and turned in. Having done a couple tests in the past, I waited about a month, and when I didn't hear anything back from them, I just kinda forgot about it.

Two and a half weeks ago, they called and offered me a position. It's been crazy leaving Neopets so quickly and diving into work over at South Park, but really fun and exciting.

Above is a duplicate of the South Park Avatar my boyfriend made of me a few months back. When he originally made it, it had a funny bathroom behind it. At the time it pissed me off cause he always draws me pissed off. . . but then I realized it's true. I am always pissed off. :) (Naw, not really.)