30 Day Monster Girl Challenge: Part 2

Day 10: Succubus
Do you have any idea how hard it is to draw a child succubus with out making it look like pedophile fodder?

So, I managed to make it thru my first full week.  There's something refreshing about drawing something I enjoy at night before I go to sleep.  Sadly, it doesn't help me sleep well though.

Day 8: Octomaid
Octomaid was fun, her head reminded me of Queen Elizabeth I

Day 6: Spider Girl
Spider girl is quite intent on learning to Knit.

Day 4: Naga
Hadn't heard of a Naga before this exercise.  The Wiki said that Naga in Hindi culture were usually cobras.  Although the male king cobra is the one with the hood, I really wanted to put one on my little naga girl.

Day 7: Plant Girl
I tried busting out my Tria markers for this.  It's been way too long and I was a heck of a lot rustier than I thought I'd be.

Day 5: Mermaid
Top mermaid was second and I wanted to try an angler fish inspired mermaid.  I admit I'm happier with the first, but glad I tried the second.

Day 9: Demon
Little Demon girls love AC/DC.

What you see here is this week's batch.  Only bummer about this week's batch is that I didn't have time to do a really developed color illustration on the computer.  I did get to look up a new monster I hadn't heard of yet AND I had the pleasure of trying to figure out how to make a 'cute' and pedophile detracting succubus (I'm sure this one's still probably sexy enough to attract some but I'll leave the sexually exploitative 'tween drawings to everyone else).

This last weekend I took part in a beginning puppet construction workshop put on by Lori Lane from Chatterbox Puppets.  Although I took a puppet building and performance class when I was in college, I figured it would be good to brush up on things and see how someone else approaches the idea.  I had a ton of fun and realized I had absolutely no idea what I was doing before.  You can see Todd (or Toddy Wiseass) the Anti-Lovebug below.  My husband and I did make a puppet video torturing our cat Loki with Todd but . . . I'm probably not going to post it any time soon.  Don't worry, it's not anything kinky or strange.  Just your typical "torture the pet" video.  Only with a puppet.

Todd the Anti-Lovebug made at the Chatterbox Puppets beginning puppet construction workshop.

So, big announcement for me.  I'm delving into the of realms of booth running.  I'm going to try to keep my agoraphobia in check and run my first physical booth at a convention/craft fair type experience this Bats Day Weekend (May 3rd-5th, 2013, see their Website for more details).  Since I will be having at least one new painting in the Gallery999 art show that same weekend (also part of the festivities) I figured it would only be logical to also have a booth.  More Bat's Day posts in the future, so be on the look out.

Next week: 30 Day Monster Girl Challenge Part 3

30 Day Monster Girl Challenge: Part 1

Day 1: Harpy

Day 2: Centaur

Day 3: Slime

About 6 months or so ago I noticed a fun exercise over on tumblr that people were participating in.  At the time I couldn't do it because I was beyond knee deep planning the wedding and trying to finish my Monster Show piece.  The exercise was titled "The 30 Day Monster Girl Challenge" and I decided to print it out and hold onto the challenge list until I was a little less busy.  Above you see days 1 thru 3.  I'm hoping that I can stick with it and see it thru but alas, I have a new painting to finish in conjunction with the same ol' humdrum of work.

If you're interested in doing your own, the challenge list can be found on Tumblr here.

OOOOOOoh!  And before I forget!  If you live in the Los Angeles Area and you're into puppets, the Muppety kind, a very good friend of mine is doing a puppet construction workshop this coming weekend (February 9th, 2013 from 2-6pm).  It's a beginning puppet construction class, so even if you don't have any inkling of what you're doing, she'll walk you thru the process!!

Alternate version of Puppet you will make in Lori Lane's beginning puppet class!

She's currently doing a promotional giveaway and you can read about that more on her blog.  Here is also a link to more information on her class and how to sign up.  Lori is a sincerely a wonderful teacher and it's an opportunity I wouldn't let slip by.  Read more about Lori Lane and Chatterbox Puppets here!

New Years Blog Dump

Love me some Grumpy Cat.

Well, I've apparently taken a New Years Oath to not update my blog. . . ever.  That being said, Happy New Years everybody!  Oh and Merry Christmas and every other holiday I missed between the last post and this one.

Limited Edition Frankenbread Men wrapping paper from Spoonflower.  Hopefully it comes back next year.

Speaking of outdated Christmas stuff.  Spoonflower had this AWESOME promotion thru the Holidays.  They were selling wrapping paper!  So you could have a custom printed roll of wrapping paper.  I, of course, jumped on it and ordered 3 rolls of Frankenbread Men paper plus a roll of the "Key L-eye-me Cupcake" and "Clownie Cupcake"designs.  The package in the photo was an Etsy purchase going over to the UK.  The recipient's husband asked if I could gift wrap his order.  Alison, the recipient told me she was very excited about both the gift and the wrapping paper.  Glad to make someone's holiday a little brighter. . . especially since his gift didn't get there until after Christmas.

Let's continue shall we?

I've been toiling away on a couple of commissions, working, and trying desperately to finish some unfinished projects.  All of which I've been documenting on my Facebook Fan Page.  So for the Facebook Followers that stumble upon this update, sorry for rehashing stuff you've already seen, but I gotta update the blog.

First up. . . I have a horribly unhealthy addiction to the Grumpy Cat (which you can see above).  She reminds me of my cat Fluffy (RIP Fuzzball).  That cat was the crankiest cat I've ever seen, but super tolerant.  Every time I picked her up, or tie a bow around her neck, she'd just growl.  I probably drove my mom nuts making that cat growl all day.  Anyway, in my head, Fluffy would make the same face as Grumpy Cat.

"Candy Corn 2012" 4"x4" Acrylic on Canvas; 2012

Back at the beginning of November I was contacted by an Etsy member and she requested two custom paintings.  One was a recreation of my original Candy Corn painting that sold a couple years ago.  The second, we agreed, would be a new Cupcake.  I wanted to do a Halloween themed one (big surprise) and I also love those "Worms And Dirt" cupcakes I've been seeing online.  If you're not sure, what a "worm and dirt" cupcake is, it's just crushed Oreo cookies for the "dirt" and some gummy worms.  I kept the title simple, and just named the new guy "Worms-n-Dirt".  Unfortunately it appears that these two, plus the old gumdrop painting, has gotten lost somewhere between LA and Canada.  Hopefully it arrives sometime this week.  The idea of that cupcake being lost in the cold makes me ill. . . almost as much as the idea of someone's purchase being lost.

"Worms-N-Dirt" 5"x7" Acrylic on Canvas; 2013

At the same time I was doing those paintings I was helping a family member make a design for her ranch.  I'm still working on it.  Family members can either be the most laid back clients, or the most demanding, so I still have a bit more to tweek.  (I won't be posting this commission online.)

I'm going to pause here and say that commissions for the first half of 2013 are CLOSED right now as I get ready for a couple of gallery shows.

Lastly, and most important on a personal level, is that after three years of work I can proudly say that I finished my valentines IN TIME FOR VALENTINE'S DAY!!  If interested, you can see previous posts about them, here and here.  Any-who, the valentines were sent to the printer, envelopes were purchased along with some RAD-ASS Avery Small Business Solutions Display Cards w/ Baggies (and a few pieces of card stock and Epson Premium Presentation Paper) and they were all assembled into this set.

"Boogervampire's Devious Dessert Valentines" Set of 28 cards and envelopes.

The Set is available only until Valentine's Day  (with hopes of making it a yearly, seasonal item) and can be purchased for $15 (plus shipping) in the Crypt of DOOM!

Here's what's happening so far in 2013:

BAT'S DAY is coming:

I was contacted and asked if I'd like to participate in the Bat's Day Gallery 999:2 Tribute to the Haunted Mansion (Meets Star Wars) group show.  It'll be taking place during Bat's Day Weekend May 4th at the Doubletree Guest Suites Anaheim Resort/Convention Center | 2085 S. Harbor Boulevard | Anaheim, CA 92802.  For more information "Like" Bat's Day and Gallery 999 on their Facebook Pages.

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!!

Classic Monsters Show: Wrap Up

"He's So Dreamy" prior to framing.

Well it's December 2nd, which means I can officially post my Classic Monsters Tribute show piece on line.  YAY!!  Seriously, I've gotten so used to doing Work In Progress posts that it was hard not being able to post anything I'd been working on for the last two months.

With out further ado, I give you "He's So Dreamy".

Above you see a series of in progress photos.  I tried to document this painting more than I had others simply because of it's size.  To date this is my largest gouache painting at just a little over 17 inches tall and 7 inches wide.  It was a beast, and as you can see in many of the in progress photos, I got a little "lost in the pretty".  She was a ton of fun to work on and, as usual, I learned a lot seeing it thru to completion.

Sketch

digital color comp

Final

Since I couldn't post the process, above you'll see a comparison of sketch to final piece.  It was really fun revisiting the Creature from the Pink Lagoon again.  I liked the idea of keeping her girly, so as you can obviously see, she's a HUGE FAN GIRL.  The Creature from the Black Lagoon is the equivalent of her "boy band".

A rare photo of the Boogervampire and the framed, finished piece.  Painting on the left by Queenie.

The opening was amazing.  I sincerely thank my friends and coworkers who braved the rain to come out and show their support.  I've never been in a show where they had door men and a line down the block to get in.  It was crazy.  There was a meet and greet before the official opening, which was nice because I'm pretty shy and I usually enjoy just looking at everyone else's work.  I got dressed up for the occasion but felt horribly uncomfortable so we wound up going home shortly after the front doors opened.  After sitting at home for half an hour I decided to be a big girl, throw on some jeans and head back over.  I'm so glad I did or else I wouldn't have gotten to experience my favorite part of the evening:

As I was checking out with my haul of toys and clothes, I noticed a Mother and her 8 year old daughter standing next to me.  The mother was holding my Truly Outrageous print, which made me smile.  I pointed out that it was a cute pic and she told me her daughter had picked it out for her bedroom.  The idea that a little girl was going to have two monster girls playing with their dolls watching over her while she played with HER dolls filled me with so much joy.  I did wind up telling her that I did the piece, thanked her for purchasing it and told her daughter she had excellent taste. ;)

Speaking of prints. . . until January you can only get prints of "He's So Dreamy" exclusively at Halloween Town in Burbank, CA.  After January 1st they will be available in the Crypt of DOOM, along with the rest of my monster prints.  You can see the original on display at Halloween Town until the end of the month (December).

Classic Monsters Show: Part 2

Header I pieced together for my Fan Page.

Only a little less than a week to go before the Halloween Town Tribute to Classic Monsters Show and I'm already nervous.  I know I shouldn't be, but I just am.


In other news, the Frankenbread Men are back for their third year in the Crypt of DOOM!!  I'm not going to be producing the Charm Bracelet this year, but if you're interested in getting the whole set on on something, why not check out my new Spoonflower Shop?  If you've never been to Spoonflower, its a fun site where you can upload your own (copyright protected) patterns and have them printed on fabric, wallpaper or even wall decals (and just for the holidays, my personal favorite, wrapping paper).  It's been pretty entertaining and I'm trying to put together a cut and sew of a Frida Sugar Skull pillow.

Now back to the Tribute Show.  I'll have prints available at Halloween Town on opening night.  Specifically I'll have 20 prints of the new painting available and for the month of December (ONLY) prints of the new painting (entitled "He's So Dreamy") will can only be purchased at Halloween Town.  Prints of the new piece will be available for purchase in ths Crypt of DOOM starting on New Years Day.

If you live in Southern Cali and you're interested in attending the opening night for the Classic Monsters Tribute Show (or stopping by to check it out thru the month of December) click the flyer for more details:

Rick Baker and Rob Zombie. . . my head will surely explode.

EEEK!!!  So excited.  Check out that line up!!

Portrait of an Invisible Boy - WIP

Poster from Universal's 1933 adaption of the Invisible Man directed by James Whale.

Well, the deadline for the "Classic Monsters Tribute Show" over at Halloween Town has come and gone.  I dropped off my piece yesterday with only minutes to spare.  I still can't show anyone for two weeks what it is, but I'm pleased with how it turned out.

Invisible Boy concept sketches.

Thumbnail for Final painting composition.

 What I can show you is this piece.  I'm saying it's a work in progress because I'd still like to complete it one day.  We were allowed to do two pieces for the Classic Monsters Show and the "Portrait of an Invisible Boy" would have been my second piece.  I love how chubby he is!  I'm looking forward to painting all the little bugs on the wall, the microscope and the bubbles in his bubble pipe.

I've shown a few friends, and family members, the sketch of the Invisible Boy you see above and every time I do they laugh and ask why he's dressed like Hugh Heffner.  I always forget that I watch more old monster films than they do so in order to explain it to them, I show them the following two things/images.

My super awesome Sideshow Produced Figure. (Stock Photo)

and a screen cap of the movie:

Claude Rains and Gloria Stuart in Universal's "Invisible Man" (1933).

I'm hoping to complete this portrait before year's end.  Sadly my personal project time has been scarce since going back to work. I'm hoping that since I've already invested money in the fancy mat paper (flocked burgundy velvet), replacement glass and an awesome antique frame I might be more inclined to finish it.  Stay tuned for updates on it's progress.

Just Buried: A Boogervampire Wedding

Our Halloween/Voodoo themed Save the Date card.

I had a much longer, rambley post composed but I decided to save you all the pain of my long windedness and just get to the good stuff.

Front and Back of our Voodoo/Halloween Themed Invites. Painted by me of course.

Front and Back of our Voodoo/Halloween Themed RSVP Cards, also painted by me.

I got married to my long-time boyfriend on Halloween this year.  That was the extremely vague thing I was hinting at over the last few months.  It became an all consuming beast of a thing as I was doing most of the planning by myself.  I do want to say thank you to my friends Lori, Natasha and Valerie for their input and help, just having you three made my life so much easier.

Photo collage by our friend Kristin.  I put the original paintings for the invites on display with the guest book.

My ADORABLE flower girl Sabine.

I don't want to say my wedding was completely handmade, because it wasn't, but a very good part of it was and a lot of wonderful sellers over on Etsy helped make my special day have a unique flair that I couldn't have accomplished entirely on my own.

Closer shot of the bunting.  Letters cut by The Sticker Chick, my friend Nicole.

The totally awesome tree we got married in front of with the homemade bunting.

First up my bunting.  Don't have the best pics yet, but I couldn't have pulled it off with out the help of my dear friend Nicole over at the Sticker Chick.  Although Nicole primarily does vinyl decals, I coaxed her into cutting me 22 letters an blank glitter pages so I could glue them to colored piece of balsa wood so I could make a custom bunting that spelled out "I put a spell on you".

I make color comps of everything now.  This was the third color comp of the bunting.

Next up was my gorgeous bouquet and Carlos' boutonniere.  Both were made by Candace at Flowers from the Garden.  I have horrendous allergies so I thought that if I got a paper bouquet not only could I avoid and allergy attack on my big day, but I could also keep my bouquet for a very long time.

Tissue Paper flowers from Flowers From The Garden.

Also acquired thru an awesome Etsy Seller was my mini top hat veil.  Stephanie over at La Coco Rouge made the most gorgeous mini top hat.  Although I was apprehensive to go the mini top hat route (mainly because they are so popular and I wanted to avoid jumping on a band wagon) I'm so glad that I did.  It was PERFECT.

Top hat courtesy of  LaCocoRouge and photo by Ambitious Misfit.

And finally, my amazingly wonderful photographer Collette over at Ambitious Misfit Photography knocked the ball out of the park. . . well at least from what we can see from the one picture she's posted online as a teaser.

The ultimate thank you goes out to my Mom.  I'd like to think I satisfied a dream of her's by letting her make my wedding dress.  If I didn't then at least she satisfied one of mine by letting me design my own wedding dress.  Thanks Mom.  All three trips to Joann's, in two days, after traveling 1100 miles to make sure it turned out right were, totally worth it.