tabbiewolf | Entries tagged with comics

Yesterday was

spotweld's birthday, so I made him a rum cake and we went to Mohegan Sun to eat fancy-schmancy food at Bobby Flay's Bar Americain. VERY tasty steak and seafood. We also goofed off on the fancy slot machines that are always full on weekends. Didn't win anything, but eh...it's a birthday, you get to splurge :)

I also bought him a fire pit that arrived today. Because FIRE. It is sitting on the porch now because it weighs 40-some pounds and is kind of huge so I don't want to attempt moving it. But if you come over to our place, marshmallow and weenie roasting will be done!

I was going to spend today finishing the last minute stuff for ConnectiCon: finish making a few more buttons, organize the stuff that hasn't been yet (the bigger buttons need a method of storage that I've only actually figured out in my head AND the big Con Box needs to be reshuffled), print up some lists of buttons and stock sheets.

Unfortunately, I woke up today feeling rather like someone had driven a fork into my head. NOT as bad as a migraine, but definitely similar. Same feeling of nausea, too. I took a hot bath, which sometimes helps, but this time it didn't...so I took a nap, only a couple hours after waking up, trying to get rid of the nausea. Thankfully, it worked, so I ate something very mild and I'm hoping that whatever it was that's causing it has gone away. The headache stuck around, so I've taken some Pamprin and am trying to get stuff done anyway. Once again I'm stuck grinding in first or second gear, when I SHOULD be operating in fourth.

#TMITuesday: It's probably PMS. My body seems to think that excess progesterone (the hormone that is responsible for morning sickness) is a really great plan during my cycle, and worst off: I know it's genetic because my mom went through the same thing (at least I know it's NORMAL, though, even if it's a pain in the ass). Also PMS seems to come into effect the moment my period ends, which I'm really enjoying [/sarcasm] The moodiness is steady, though the nausea is only occasional. I will be talking to my OB/GYN about this when I see her for my yearly checkup later this month; she put me on Prozac for it two years ago, but the side effects of Prozac were fucking with my sleep schedule so I stopped taking it. Might be time to find a new drug or to start taking it again.

And if you ended up getting Huey Lewis & the News in your head thanks to that last sentence, I apologize.

So, though I'm now getting started many hours later than I'd like to, I AM going to try to get a majority of the con stuff done today. Official con setup is on Thursday, and thankfully I'm pretty far along in prepping...probably because I've been working on it, a little bit each day, for a month and a half. The opposite of procrastination, guys, be proud of me!

I'm hoping to use that preparation motivation to work on a comic or two after this convention. But I've been saying that for years so don't hold me to it.

Actually, no, hold me to it. I need to fucking do it. I'm awesome, and the stories in my head are awesome, and I really should draw them.

That job I was having second thoughts about, after 3 days of "testing it out" and sending a bunch of references, has not called or contacted me. Clearly I made a great impression =p Not too bothered by not getting it, in all honesty. It's probably saving me a lot of trouble.

I do wish they'd pay me for the 10+ hours I spent learning how everything worked, though. That's kind of unfair, I'd like those hours of my life back.

~*~
Getting prepped for ConnectiCon. Received my order of charms, postcards, and plastic bags for customers (not enough artists/indie crafters include bags to actually carry the stuff in). Only thing I'm waiting on is my new button-based business cards. Currently making a ridiculous amount of buttons so we're not making them on the fly like we were last year. Redoing the displays using foam board instead of cork to allow for more buttons to be displayed (can fit 81 or 100 depending on how many I want to cram in each row; the cork only allowed for 42 per board, I think? Amazing how much an extra two inches does #thatswhatshesaid). Also adding graphics to a vest that I am going to cover with buttons so I can be a walking advertisement, for those moments when I actually leave the table.

~*~
Our CSA starts this weekend, huzzah! We will be getting fresh veggies every week and maybe I can lose this weight that I've put on since the whole Job From Hell Part 2 stress last year. Jobs From Hell: Question your own competence AND gain a pants size!

(I think it's probably my metabolism changing with age, but I'm sure the stress didn't help.)

I know I need to exercise more and that it will help my fitness, my weight, and my depression, but getting the motivation to get started is the issue. Once I get started I'm fine -- just like when I'm drawing a comic -- but actually getting to the point where I DO start is the difficult part.

~*~
Speaking of comics...a famous comic art site of the erotic persuasion is accepting submissions. I'd like to try, but they say outright: No furries. I can draw things other than furries just fine, but I've never really had an excuse to draw human erotica before...so I worry that submitting the best examples of my comics (which, of course, are all anthropomorphic animals) will make them go, "Ehhhhh...we SAID no furries..." even though they'd just be examples and not anything I would expect them to publish.

I'm annoyed that the kind of art I like to draw is a very tiny niche that freaks a lot of people out. Dear world, Just because I draw people with animal heads gettin' it on, it does not mean I want to fuck animals. I just think animal heads are more fun to draw than people heads! Oy.

I may or may not be attempting another comic.

Should I take bets on how long it keeps my interest?

Doing taxes, utterly frustrated that my 3-ish months of employment seem to have fucked over our chances of a return. Apparently my job didn't withhold anything (which I SHOULD HAVE NOTICED on my pay stubs, but that job stressed me out so much I didn't care), and now I owe the feds.

Lesson learned: Real jobs suck and never get another one.

~*~
I follow a couple graphic design blogs and I'm constantly amazed at how much whitespace exists in "classy" graphic design. Sure, it looks great (or it looks empty, depending on your opinion of the use of white space), but it tells you nothing about the product.

It also is something that usually doesn't make it too far out of the designers' roughs, from my past experiences. Generally marketing, PR, and various other people above you will think it's great but need stuff added, and you've left all this room, so clearly you can add stuff!

After a few years of working in the business, it's usually pretty easy to tell what parts of magazines/ads/etc. were the designers, and what part were the marketing department. Usually it's at least 80% marketing department =p

~*~
My mind has gone back to running a million miles an hour again, which I suppose would be great except my creative drive is basically non-existent. I've got a ton of ideas I'd like to work on and absolutely no desire to do them at all.

One of the things I didn't notice until it was gone was that the depression — I'm assuming it was the depression — put a silencer on the million miles an hour brain. My train of thought was that ridiculous high-speed thing Elon Musk came up with, but depression toned it down to…I dunno, a couple of hobos walking along a train track. I honestly don't think I MINDED my mind being a bit more quiet; it lead to a lot less paranoia and worry, which is often where my brain goes.

Another thing the depression dampered (or maybe it's the weather?) is my cabin fever. It used to be impossible for me to go a few days without going out just to get out of the house…nowadays I'm perfectly comfortable staying home. This is actually a good thing, because even though I have my own car now, going out leads to money being spent, and I can't afford it these days.

~*~
I'm contemplating getting a crafting die cutter — basically a little machine that can slice paper to precise shapes. Originally I was considering a Silhouette Cameo, figuring it'd be good for cutting out the custom scrapbooks I've been working on as well as button sheets. And then I looked further into die cutters and discovered the Silver Bullet, which can do leather and wood and plastic AND can emboss & engrave and dammit, I wish I had more money to spend on this kind of stuff =p

I need to get off my butt and finish some commissions so I can have "Help Tabbie pay her taxes" and "Help Tabbie buy a die cutter" commission drives.

I also should get working on art for the card game that me and

fenris_lorsrai are doing, and other art projects. My art drive needs to come back, but I realize fully the only way of luring it here is to actually start using it.

The catch-22 of creativity; if you don't use it, it ain't there.

And we roll into 2014 without any major weirdness happening, which means that it's already happened or it will be happening soon, or both. We shall see!

2014 is going to be a year of Trying To Better Myself, which is going to probably turn me into a whimpering ball of "omgwhy" every other month, but hey. I'm going to try to work through my chronic depression and do more art. I'm also going to promote my art more and attempt to make a job of it, which has the possibility of ending disastrously but I can't learn that if I don't try.

I'm going to draw a comic project with Saghiir, whether we get accepted to an anthology or not (did I mention we applied to be in Beyond? We totally did because we're awesome) because I love the characters and also because, to be blunt, I wanna see how the story ends! I also have a fresh idea for a new comic story, centered in a (mostly) human universe, so we'll see where that goes. I've had hundreds (thousands?), of comic ideas in my lifetime, and 99% of them have gone successfully nowhere...but I'm sick of that, and I want to change it. I also want to work outside the furry fandom for once, because it's a niche audience; I will ALWAYS have an audience, as long as I draw furry, and that's awesome! But I also want to see what audience I can get (and hopefully maintain?) outside of the fandom*.

I also know that once I get started on a project, other projects will roll into my brainspace. I work very well when I have several different things going at once.

Currently, I'm on a sketchbook-making kick. Inspired by Mossy, and thanks to my mom getting me a wire binding machine for Christmas, I've started crafting sketchbooks:

A wild Sciggles Book appears!
And I think they're pretty neat. I hope to start taking commissions for them soon because they are relatively unique. I can also make scrapbooks, journals, and other types of books, too, but sketchbooks was the obvious go-to.

As usual, for the end of the year, I locked all the entries from January 1 to December 31, 2013. This is NOTHING TO BE WORRIED ABOUT, it's just how I round out my years on LJ.

* - If you take this as "OMG the furry fandom SUCKS!" you completely and utterly missed what I said.

The holidays sent me ass over teakettle, though I DID spend all of yesterday drawing, which was pretty awesome and majorly satisfying. If I still owe you art or comics, they're on their way, I've just been totally in a "I'm spending this week having massive amounts of sex & snuggling with my hyena, fuck everything else (not literally)" mode.

Plans for the New Year: Taking a break from going to Anthrocon in 2013. The stress:fun ratio is starting to get unbalanced, and the money spent:money earned ratio, if similar to this year, will make it totally not worth my time. I made more money at FurFright - a significant amount more, a couple hundred bucks - and I didn't have to spend 18+ hours in the car and stay in a hotel and eat terrible pizza because everything else was closed or packed. Hell, if you figure it out, I made almost exactly half what I made at Anthrocon at ConnectiCon (with the help of

fenris_lorsrai)…and at ConnectiCon, I was only selling buttons.

I also got a lot more interest in my booth at FurFright, and a lot more interest in my art! I sold several of my portfolios and quite a few more commissions and comic books (also a general interest in Jarlidium's other works, since they don't go to FurFright). At Anthrocon, I saw a lot of old friends and had several folks who've been commissioning me for years pop in…but really, it wasn't enough to make me want to go back. Plus, these folks know how to contact me online!

Let's face it, folks: we're inviting all the folks we'd be spending time with at Anthrocon to our wedding! Or, as it's currently known:

Going to get these printed up as magnets to send out for our Save the Dates. We figure we should start early since it's Memorial Day weekend and people start making plans early!

And yes, that registry info is live. Our wedding website/registry, which includes video of the proposal and awesome art by our amazing friends :) I'll be posting this every so often until the actual wedding date.

We're planning our honeymoon for the Food & Wine Festival, which is in the fall.

Plans for Being More Productive: I'm going to start a comic this year. I say this pretty much every year, but with my new Cintiq tablet and a whole lotta time on my hands, I really have no excuse (I haven't since October, really, but I blame the holidays). I might Livestream the development process, if anyone's interested in watching me fuck around with character designs and color schemes.

I also am looking into getting a local, part-time job. By "local" I mean "I can walk or ride a bike to it" and by "part-time" I mean "doesn't take up so much of my life that I ponder suicide the way The Job From Hell did." Spot and I still only have one car between us, and I've realized that all our fun weekends have added up to almost 30,000 miles on the car in the year we've owned it. That's quite a few tanks of gas! We'll be limiting our trips out to maybe once a month, and if/when I get my job, I'm thinking of investing in a Vespa or other motor scooter.

Ideally, I'll be able to get a job at a local print & design shop. I'm not putting too much hope into that, but it's what I love to do, and it's something I'm comfortable spending 6-8 hours a day doing.

Annual Locking of the Entries: Sometime in the coming week, I'll be doing a massive lockdown of all this year's journals. If there's anything you want to save to blackmail me later, do it now! And don't be freaked out when I lock everything down. It's been a yearly tradition for a while now, and I don't delete the entries -- I just make it so only I can view them!

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Entries tagged with comics

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Random Thoughts

Happy New Year, Y'all.

Plans for the New Year, the Annual Locking of the Entries