ScareLA Weekend Recap

Greetings Boils and Ghouls!

The last few weeks leading up to the ScareLA (or Scare Los Angeles) convention have been full of wild craziness.  Most anticipated (making new product and restocking stuff) and some was unexpected (my car breaking down while out purchasing last minute supplies for the convention).  But after all was said and done, ScareLA was just as wonderful, fun, stressful and tiring as I had been told it would be.

My always wacky and supportive husband posing at the table  on the morning of Day 2.

Let's get strait to business in this post first (that way if you get bored and decided to stop reading you'll at least get the important news first)!

If you had been patiently waiting for the "Help Us Master Gracey, You're Our Only Hope" (a.k.a. R2D2) coin purse and cosmetic bag restock, I do have bad news.  I sold out of the coin purses over the weekend and need to order new ones, again (it'll be about a month).  I do have ONE cosmetics bag left after the weekend and it's live, in the shop, right now.  I've reordered some of those as well and should expect them at the same time the new coin purses come in.  I also sold out of the "Kissing Bats" coin purses, the BRAND NEW "Wee Emily Dover" coin purses (still ONE cosmetics bag of that left, btw), the "Truly Outrageous" cosmetics bags, and quite a few necklaces.  I'll be gradually listing the new product that was made for ScareLA thru out the week, so check the Crypt of DOOM! frequently to see what's popped up!

One of the many new necklaces I made for ScareLA.

My newest cosmetic bag and coin purse design went over so well I have to reorder!  At the time of writing this, there is one Cosmetics bag left available over in the Crypt of DOOM!

This little guy found a new home this weekend!  Goodbye my little Batty friend!

Decided to offer a new, larger size option for the "Master Gracey" prints.  They were popular.

One of 3 sketch cards made for the event.  The left overs will be listed in the Crypt of DOOM by the end of the week.

Business done, now is time to wax poetic about the weekend!  I had a wonderful time.  It was my first two day event and it was overwhelming, at times, how many people would be at the booth at once.  I ran out of one of my more popular business card designs and almost ran out of a second (I now have 6 design options for people to choose from at events).  If I can judge by the amount of Prudence post cards I have left over, since I was giving them out to people who bought something, I made a lot of sales because there is barely any left of the 100 I had made.  I discovered that I'm not the only one that loves Prudence, the Boogervampire's sassy older sister because she had a LOT of new merchandise with her on it sell this weekend.  I tried making sketch cards for the first time on this outing, and although none sold, people's reaction to them was positive.  I got to meet a BUNCH of my Instagram and Facebook followers, and fellow artist Lupe Flores came out to say hello and brought me a beautiful print of her work!  (Thank you, Lupe!!)  I got super socially awkward when artist Gris Grimly stopped and looked at my "Little Leota's Fortune Telling Kit for Beginners" painting, and at one point Director John Landis was walking the floor and leaned in to look at my table and smiled.  It was so exciting.  As usual though, I only ever left the table to use the Ladies Room so I didn't see too much.  Thankfully that's where my husband comes in.  He runs all over these events taking photos and showing them to me later.  I hope that one day, after I've gotten used to going to these kinds of things, I'll feel confident enough to leave the booth and go take a look at my surroundings more.

The print that the talented Lupe Flores brought to me on the 2nd day of ScareLA.  Thank you again Lupe!

This show will be up and on display until August 23rd, 2014

Saturday night, in addition to the all day convention, I headed over to Creature Features in Burbank, CA to check out the Creature from the Black Lagoon 60th Anniversary Tribute Show.  I had submitted my painting "He's So Dreamy!" into the show when I realized I didn't have time to create anything new.  I was overjoyed (and a bit sad at first) to discover that my "baby" had sold.  I only hope that whomever purchased her finds joy every time they look at it and love it as much as I do/did.

Green dots are bittersweet things!  Goodbye my friend, you'll be missed.

A pic from just after He's So Dreamy was completed from November of 2012.

There were many amazing, fun and nostalgic pieces in the Creature show, in addition to mine.   My inner geek loved the Uncle Gilbert costume from the Munsters TV show!  If you're in the Southern California region you might want to head over to the shop and check the show out before it ends on August 23rd (2014)!

Come on out and see my latest creation September 6th, 2014!

Up next?  Well, against my better judgment I couldn't pass up an opportunity to take part in the Museum of the Weird Tribute show for Imagineer and Animator Rolly Crump that will be taking place at Creature Features next month.  I hopped on board a little late so I only have until September 6th to conceptualize and create the piece.  Wish me luck!

That's it for now.  I'm going to go crawl into bed for about a week.  Until the next update, LATER GATORS!

Bats Day 2014: Wrap Up

Composited Sketch for "Little Leota's Fortune Telling Kit for Beginners" made up of 5 separate layers.

So many things to report about this year's Bats Day since I didn't do my usual multi-post ramp up to the event as I did last year.  Overall it went well.  There weren't as many attendees this year, which I think was due in part to the Hotel.  The hotel they had been using in previous years raised their prices and the organizers had to find a new one.  Sadly this place wasn't as large and there was a dentist convention the same day so I think a lot of people had trouble parking.  BUT, the people who did brave all the dental congestion were awesome!  Got to see some friends, make some new ones, meet some followers and just have an all around great time.

The final painting, unframed and cropped to the size of the mat's bounding.

Friday night was surreal.  Last year, the night before the Black Market was spent frantically trying to finish my limited edition Bats Day hair clips before the morning.  We didn't get to enjoy any of the festivities or go to the Gallery999 preview night.  This year, everything was all made and ready to go by Friday evening so we got to go to the Nightmare Before Bats Day Dark Park thingy and the Gallery999 Preview.  More importantly (for me)  I got to finally dust off a dress I'd purchased for our company Christmas party and finally wear it!  (Pin Up Girl clothing is the best for girls with curves, and I pretty much bought over half of their halloween line last year.)  We dance a little bit and just observed people.  We also tried our first Monster Energy drink.  All I can say is DAMN PEOPLE!! How the hell do you drink that crap on a regular basis?!  It was disgusting and kind a looked like your mouth after you rinse it at the dentist office.  I'll stick with pepsi for my caffeine, thank you very much.  :P

The framed painting prior to dropping it off with the curator of the show.

Saturday started earlier than we had been hoping it would.  After the party Friday night, just as I was dozing off and planning table layout in my head, I realized I left my print rack at home.  So, Saturday Morning started at 6am with a quick jaunt back to Burbank to pick up the print rack.  We got back just in time to meet my ever diligent assistant and buddy Tashi and got the 'real' day started.

Carlos and Natasha are always the best assistants for these things!

We  had a fairly decent spot this year, only down side was it was right in front of the DJ booth.  I have horrible hearing to begin with so imagine me talking to potential customers with a DJ booth right behind my head.  The Disneyland Tourist stickers were a hit, which I was hoping for.  Sold a couple of the mini paintings and a few prints of the Godzilla and Mothra paintings.  I'm thinking that if I do it again next year I'm going to need to come up with a bunch of new stock, though, because most of the stuff was the same as the previous year.

Above you can see the designs and finished stickers that were made especially for this year's Bats Day Black Market.  They will be added to the Crypt of DOOM's inventory when the shop reopens June 1st.

Sunday, the actual Bats Day in the Fun Park was entertaining to say the least.  The whole day was one of those days where strange little things would go wacky.  We tried to get on Big Thunder and it broke down after we were 30 minutes into the 50 minute wait.  When we went back, we got on the ride this time, but it broke down with us on it just before we got to the end of the ride.  Plus side to that was that it was in the mine shaft so we weren't out in the sun AND we got to do the behind the scenes evacuation.  They did also give us a fast pass good for any ride so we totally went on Space Mountain with it!  We over ate all day because there were limited edition Bats Day treats and we went on a scavenger hunt to find them all and we never seemed to run into any of our other friends, but those are all minor little things.  It was a great day overall.  Great weekend.

Many of the special "Bat Day" treats they had around the park for the occasion.  Wanted to try the Red Velvet cake but settled for a cookie and cupcake.

Next up on the Docket is the reopening of the Crypt of DOOM!! for the summer.  The Crypt will only be open as long as I'm on Hiatus from my day job.  Once I go back to work, the Crypt will close up so I can focus on that and try to not stretch myself too thin.

Godzilla's Paper Cranes: Part 3 and Wrap-up

"Little 'Zilla's Wish"; 6x6 inch Gouache on watercolor paper; 2013

 So, as a way of practicing for future show's where I may be contractually obligated to wait to post images of my paintings until the opening, I thought I'd practice on "Little 'Zilla's Wish".  He was soooo fun to work on, as I'm sure you gathered from the other two posts.  What started as a smart ass, sarcastic  conversation to a friend turned into something truly endearing and fun.

Details!!  if you look super close at the shoreline you'll see some white squiggles.
Yeah, they're actually seagulls.  I got a little lost in the pretty.

I actually saw someone comment on tumblr (yes, I have one of those too) that if they thought my piece had anything to do with the non-fiction kid's book "Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes" they were going to start balling.  I can honestly say, I wish my imagination was capable of something so moving.  The idea of everyone in the world, including Godzilla, trying to help that little girl finish her quest to make 1000 paper cranes after her death is indeed touching and would make me cry too.  Sadly, as I stated in the last post, it's just because he doesn't like humans and wants them to go away so he doesn't have to resort to violence.  Considering how many Godzilla movies there have been, I think we all know he didn't finish his 1000 cranes.

The other pile of cranes.  He's a long way from hitting that 1000 mark.

So, yeah.  The last few pictures of this and then we'll move on to other, boring, projects.  Namely finally getting the thank you card made for my wedding which was nearly a year ago.  According to the etiquette guides I still have time. :P  Unfortunately, according to my conscience I'm about 4 months over due.  Don't worry, I won't post that one up til it's finished.  No one really wants to see more Halloween themed wedding crap, do they?  Exactly.

Not the best pic, but here's all the pieces on the wall.  Wonderful show!!

My dear friend Natasha Kline's piece "Bean's Beach Bungalow" turned out beautifully!

Oscar Rosales' Bleenkies pieces always bring a smile to my face.  The little book below is now part of our collection.  Carlos couldn't resist a little piece of kid's art called "Mr. Poo Poo's trip to Vegas. 

Even more of the artwork.  The random hand is pointing to Jason Leung's Moby Dick inspired piece.

Look!  There's the painting!  Monkeyhouse Shows are always so diverse.

So lastly,  I'm taking an extended break from my Etsy Shop the Crypt of DOOM!  I've basically taken too much on for one person to manage and something's gotta go.  Right now it's the Etsy Shop.  I'm hoping, if things go well, to have the shop open again in time for the holidays (probably around November 1st, 2013).  The plus side of closing is that #1) my husband won't feel so neglected anymore, #2) I can focus 100% of my daytime attention to my day job, which I'm very lucky to have and #3) I'll be able to focus more on my painting when I'm not focusing on numbers 1 and 2.  I have a million ideas in my head right now and I need to get some of them out cause they're eating at me.

Til the next update. . . later ghoulies!!

Bats Day™ Wrap Up and Photo Dump

My wonderful husband, and "booth babe", Carlos making a funny face.  We never take serious pictures.  this is also the best pic we could get of the full spread.  You can JUST BARELY see the banner.  It is beautiful, btw.

Well, words can not properly express how wonderful my first Bats Day Black Market and Gallery999 experience was.  I'm still reeling from my first public outing as the Boogervampire. . . well as openly billing myself the Boogervampire.  We had such a wonderful time that we're contemplating doing it again next year and maybe even the holiday one if they should choose to have it again this year.

Take a gander at these horrible cell phone pics:

A detailed shot of the prints and original artwork I brought with me.  Yes, if you're wondering, I am super anal when it comes to presentation so my pricing signs matched my banner.  A lot of people thought the original of "He's So Dreamy!" was a framed print.  The museum glass I invested in makes it look SO NICE!!

Next to the prints and original artwork was my jewelry spread.  I totally forgot a price sheet for the necklaces.  Carlos helped build the stacked coffin display stand, and Natasha set it up because I was so nervous I kept knocking my own displays over.

Next to the jewelry display and at the very end of the table was the Bats Day™ Exclusive display and the brand new Mini Buttons!  The Mini Buttons were a hit, of course.  Especially the Kissing Bats and the Angler Fish.

After two hours I started getting an anxiety attack (first hour was tame, second hour things picked up) so my awesome friend and assistant for the day,  Tashi, went and got me a Midori Sour. . . Yes, even the drinks I drink are lime green.

Once I was relaxed (I'm a light weight, it only took half that midori sour) I went and visited other booths.  I picked up this ADORABLE Bats Day Exclusive ZOMs Zombie from Rick over at ZOMs.com.

Here's Tashi doing what she does best, modeling my wears and drawing.  She bought one of my very rare Spider Web aprons back a couple of years ago and was super stoked to have a place to finally wear it. 

Everyone of the people who stopped by my booth was a pleasure to meet and the flow of traffic was so steady that every time I ducked under the table to organize the mess down there someone new showed up and Carlos had to smack me in the back of the head so I'd come up from under the table.

Some of the more rewarding experiences:  A gentleman came by early on in the day and bought one of my monster kid prints and wound up coming back 6 hours later to buy another because he said he couldn't get it out of his head and that he needed it.  He also proceeded to tell me that whatever I was doing keep going it because he thought my paintings were great.  Then, I also got to meet in person a friend of a mutual friend and his significant other/friend who actually recognized my husband (because I'm elusive and don't post too many real photos of myself).  They bought some hair clips and once they got home realized that they had also purchased a print of my Gallery999 Star Wars piece.  Another awesome experience was (as I stated in one of the photo captions) when someone asked how big the original of "He's So Dreamy!" was and they were standing right in front of it.  They totally thought the painting was a framed print and lost it when they realized it wasn't.  I guess they assumed with the amount of detail I packed in there the painting must have been 4 times the size it was.  And finally, I got cornered by a drunk lady after the whole thing wrapped up for the night.  She was very friendly and her friend had come and bought one of the "He's So Dreamy!" prints earlier in the day.  I think she would have loved for us to stay and chat longer than we did, but we hadn't eaten in over 12 hours and were starving to death.  I could go on, but I don't want to bore you. . . but there is one last one.

Lastly, and deserving of it's own paragraph, I was happy to find out that my "Haunted Mansion Meets Star Wars" Tribute show piece sold.  I was lucky enough to go walk thru the gallery a couple of times when I'd take a bathroom break and I was so happy to see people's reaction to it.  More than once I saw women pulling their significant other's over to it impatiently to show it to them.  Overall I think most of them found it pretty funny.  It was so well received that Noah K. told me before set up that morning that people at the COSTUME PARTY the night before were already buying prints of it and trying to figure out where to stash it safely in their costumes.

As we entered the park for our last time in God knows how long.

 Needless to say, Natasha (Tashi) and I were totally exhausted.  In the weeks leading up to Bats Day™ the two of us burnt the midnight oil at a ridiculous pace.  I stayed up til 2am most nights and got up early for work the next day.  I know that's no new or strange experience.  Most other people who participate in these things do it too, but since I haven't done late hours in a while, it totally took it's toll.  How, you might ask?  Well, the day after the Black Market and Gallery999 festivities is the actual Bats Day in the Fun Park™ experience and the three of us just couldn't do it.  We were lucky we got out of bed in time to check out of the hotel.  We discussed things and decided it was best to go home and rest during the day since we had to work the next day, but to return to the park in the evening and hopefully get in some fun before the park closed.  See, the three of us just HAD to try to get some park time in, as  it was our last day before our passes expired.  :(

We did have a lot of fun.  Not as many people looked at us strangely this year, but I think that's because more and more people are starting to become aware of Bats Day.  That, and I'm what I call a "Lazy Bat". . . monster t-shirts, zombie hoodie and black chucks paired with comfortable, baggy jeans and occasionally died hair.  Besides, who would notice my dark side when wearing a hat like this?

Would you take me seriously in a hat like this?  No I didn't think so.

Hopefully next post I'll be further on my new painting featuring the actual Boogervampire, my avatar if you will.  I posted a sketch of him over on my Instagram a couple of weeks ago and I'm itching to get started on the painting.  Until then, thanks again for coming out to see me, being so wonderful and supportive, and most of all, reading all my rambling.

***ONE MORE THING***

A wonderful crafting blog blogged about me and showed my business card.  A Little Known Craft has a fun blog worth checking out if you're a crafter.

Busy Bat!

The fruit of our labor, with fancy display racks.  Left to right: New Buttons, Frankenbunny mini painting, and cabochon necklaces (wip).

Greetings followers of the Blog!

Well, things are in full swing as I (and my partner in crime for this adventure, Natasha) are trying to get the Bats Day Blackmarket items ready for the big day.  I've decided to make a few more little cabochon necklaces, 4 more big cabochon necklaces (including a test run of the "He's So Dreamy" painting as a necklace), and about 60 pairs of earrings (15 of each of the 4 sugar skull designs).  Once I realized that this year's theme was Dia de los Muertos, I figured it was probably a good idea to stock up on all my sugar skulls.  I'm also hoping to make a few more mini paintings before the big day (if I'm not too tired after work) in addition to the 40 pairs of hair clips (once again, 10 pairs of each of the 4 sugar skull designs) I still have to make.  I'm also planning on taking a few of my larger (8x10 inch) original paintings that I have hanging around the house still to the Blackmarket, so you could get lucky and take an original home.  Since I felt bad about neglecting the blog again, I thought I'd drop a few WIP (work in progress) photos on you so you could see that I haven't just been sitting on my laurels.  Sorry for the lame cell phone pics, but I got lazy and didn't wanna charge the fancy camera's batteries.

Close up of the new buttons on their display card.

Close up of the necklaces sans cabs.  So MANY!!

The cabs while they cure.  Hoping to get at least 6 more done before Bats Day!

First time trying a cab with the "He's So Dreamy!" painting.  Looking cute!

Only a third of the earrings we're making. 

In other news:  I got word via newsletter from Spoonflower that they've reactivated the Wrapping Paper option!!  I guess Christmas was just a beta test period, so if you're interested in Boogervampire Cupcake and Frankenbread wrapping paper, they're back up and available!!

How Much Does a Hipster Weigh? . . . An Instagram

Me and my early Christmas Present from my Husband.  Pretty SWEET!!

 Yeah. . . I started Instagram a little while ago, and it's only gotten worse since I finally upgraded my dinosaur of a cell phone last week.  I don't like to think of it as being late to hopping on a band wagon, I like to think of it as missing the band wagon and being totally lame cause the trend is already over.  Here's a couple of pics and I hope to be back to posting real drawings next week.

Saw Red while we were out Christmas Shopping this weekend.

Changed the layout of my Pretty-Pretty Pirate Playset Prints, which are now available in the Crypt of DOOM!!

Journal Dumpage and Super Grover

 

So, the trend you will probably keep noticing here on the blog this year is me following thru and completing forgotten tasks.  Well, not forgotten, but sidelined.  Case in point today can been seen above in my journal entry from the other evening.

My friend the PotatoFarmGirl has quite the eclectic taste.  Mostly people see that she likes super heroes, unicorns, cats, flowers, forrest animals, and of course, animation.  When I first met her 15 years ago, she also expressed a love of Super Grover.  Three years ago at Christmas time, I found the softest, most adorable little stuffed animal of Grover.  Although I think she would have been happy with him the way he was, it seemed kind of boring to be giving to a friend that was in their late 20's.  So I decided to give him a custom Super Grover Costume.  I bought the felt, and even gave her the doll and the pieces 3 years ago and said "He'll be Super Grover when I get done with the costume!"

And he is.  Now.  After he was locked up in my supply locker for 3 years.  Hence the lame joke that the locker was dark in the journal drawing.

Front.  The Logo is a brooch that can be removed.

Profile.  The helmet took forever, so needless to say I'm pretty proud of it.

Now onto the JOURNAL DUMPAGE!!  A good friend asked me why I only post some of my journal drawings since they thought they were all funny.  Some may assume it's because I'm not proud of the drawings or I think they're ugly.  In all honesty, most of the funniest ones are the one's I DON'T post because they aren't the most appropriate.  I usually depict exactly how I feel or a very particular something that happens on that specific day. Occasionally my political correctness, or kindness filter can, how shall I put this. . . be a tad bit off.  So I don't alienate and loose what few friends I have, or get them in trouble with their friends, I choose to only show the ones that won't be too offensive.  So enjoy the most recent Journal Dump!

Got up after 4 hours of sleep for lunch with the Ambitious Misfit.

Instead of going to see fireworks, we spent the 4th rearranging our house!

Up next for Carlos and I is the San Diego Comic-Con.  We weren't going to go this year, but then this happened:

I really hate Hasbro.  They have almost all of my money.