Tag: art

Long Way Around the Sun…

Yeah, 6 months have past since my last entry.  The Day job is exhausting, I have little to no energy left when I get home at night to do any kind of arting.  I have no idea how I’m going to rework my portfolio, I get about half an hour worth of drawing done on my lunch break, and that’s it.  The weekend is usually full of the stuff I used to do during the week when I was freelance.  This is going to be far more challenging than I had originally imagined.

This is the last painting I managed to do, and that was at work, took about two weeks?

Most recent Sketch (after seeing Alita: Battle Angel)

Meanwhile my artwork ‘todo’ list just keeps getting longer.

I hope my next update has some real art.  *crosses fingers*

Commissions…

are officially CLOSED.  
I know I had mentioned keeping commissions open till Sept 7th.  I just don’t think I’ll be able to do it, so I’m just going to go ahead and close now.

I will not be taking on any new commission for the foreseeable future, and I’ll probably be super picky about the projects I  accept.

I start my new day job tomorrow.    I will need some time to get my brain out of  the ‘art for money’ mode, and find my creative voice again, right now she’s MIA.

First paycheck will go toward getting me a new pair of glasses, paying for my website at wix, and getting the cats to the vet for their annual check-ups.

My last show is October 20th – The Wheaton Halloween All Night Flea Market.  I’m not sure at this point how many shows I’ll be able to do, or if I’ll even want to do shows anymore once I get sorted with the new job.  I’d like to keep doing them, but it all depends on how much new original work I can create while also working 40 hrs/wk.

New Art:
I created this for a client’s business card because I thought it needed a pop of color over the standard black/white clip art.

I have it up on TeePublic and  Society 6.

Before Closing – I want to give a special thanks to all of my patrons and clients for their support over the years, it’s been rough, I really appreciate it all.

Job Hunting woes…

I really don’t even know where to begin this post.  I’ve been actively job hunting since April.  I’ve had 3 phone interviews and one in person interview.  And still no job.

I have frustration on several fronts.

1. Too many civilian employers don’t take Military Career Experience as real Career Experience.

2. So Far I’ve run into the people doing the hiring for creative jobs have absolutely no experience in that job.  So when you’re asking about items on your resume, as you’re talking to them, their eyes glaze over because you can see they have no idea what you’re talking about. When you try to clarify what you’ve said by making it simpler, they’ve lost interest and are just looking at you.

3. I’m very limited to how far I can go for a job.  I’m limited by funds and the fact that my car is a piece of crap.  It needs repairs I don’t have the money for.  I can drive for about 20 minutes before my car starts to over heat.  The highway is completely out, it’ll over heat in 5 minutes.

I might have to re-evaluate my strategy and go back to admin for the time being.

It’s So Damn Frustrating.  Being Frustrated and anxious sucks.  I cleared my commissions list and all of my contracts. I have zero dollars coming in right now.  And I’m so anxious I can’t draw anything without wanting to chuck it in the trash.

Edit to Update:
I just got a call with a job offer, now I just need to wait on the background check.

Mighty Con Dupage 2018 [in review]

Mighty Con Dupage has come and gone.  I really thought that there would have been a better turn out with the weather being as hot as it was, I think people opted to stay home where it was cool.  While I didn’t do great, it wasn’t terrible.   I had great neighbors on both sides, I got to chat with young artists, and a few friends I haven’t seen since last year (or maybe the year before).  I’ll most likely do it again next time it rolls around.

Lately I feel like the internet has become a black hole, while people may like your work they wont necessarily give it a like or comment leaving you to wonder if anyone likes your work at all.  And with every site and it’s algorithm, getting your work to your followers is next to impossible.  So getting out to these small local shows is so refreshing.

 

I’m still working on my Chibi Self Portrait,  I really like how it’s turning out, I’m thinking of using it to rebrand my website.

First & Second Draft:

 

Second Draft Edited in Photoshop:

 

And the finished line work on watercolor paper:

 

Hoping to have it finished today, I have a portrait commission to start.

I’m also thinking of offering this type of portrait as a commission with an option to put it on merchandise for the client.  I can’t remember if Zazzle lets you make private product pages, I know you can’t at Society6.  Would anyone be interested in something like this?

Ok, gotta get back to work, I hope everyone has a great week.