Hey, all! Well, guess I should be getting caught up on all that's gone on the past, oh...three weeks or so? Geez. x_x

I have a personal tumblr now! If you want to follow me, it's right here. Expect most of the same stuff I post to my dA, but now in convenient tumblr form.

Went to AM2 Convention in Anaheim last weekend, where I tabled with Rasenth and had kiaxet As my awesome helper! All in all, sales were...pretty meh. :| A lot of people stopped to look at things, but not nearly enough buyers. It may have been because it was a free con, and most of the people showing up there were either broke or saving their money for Anime Expo in a few weeks. The Artist's Alley there was huge...bigger even than the Exhibit Hall, I think. There was also a live band there a lot of the time, and that was frankly really dang annoying. The acoustic guitar or singer people were fine, but anyone there using the amps/drums was so dang loud that you couldn't even hear a customer across the table. As a result of the con, I have a bunch of leftover Dissidia pony buttons available for sale, plus some custom-painted ponies! More on that below.

On the plus sides, I did do a couple of commissions and actually sell five copies of Lunargyros, which was more than I was expecting to! Also, just hanging out with Razzy and Kia was a lot of fun, since we spent most of the time totally geeking out over Kingdom Hearts. Our table was KH-central. Sooo looking forward to more geekery in the future!

Last night I went and saw Brave at the El Capitan with Kia, and it was a lot of fun! It was a good movie most definitely, with some beautiful scenery, and proof positive that Pixar has at last figured out hair. However, there was something really...different about it from the usual Pixar fare. It felt more like a Disney movie than a Pixar movie, just in terms of the animation style, the pacing, and the action. The art was beautiful, but the story was...hmm, not exactly what I was expecting, either. Maybe I was expecting a little more of the heavy mysticism, like in The Secret of Kells. This movie is primarily a mother and daughter story. It's kind of hard to put my finger on it. It was good, but I don't think it was one of Pixar's best.

The KH3D demo was released on Thursday, and OMG I NEED THIS GAME NOWWWWWWW. There wasn't nearly enough demo for my tastes! That game was seriously just a lot of fun in terms of gameplay, and Sora was squishy and adorable even for the one scene he had, and NNNNGH. IT NEEDS TO BE THE END OF JULY NOW SO I CAN PLAY THIS THINNNGGGG.

In general, work's been kinda slow. The freelance project I'm on is sort of on hold, at least for my portion of it, but I'm hoping it'll pick up more in the near future. I'm going to have a lot of extra time in July it looks like, so I'd like to be spending that time on some money-making ventures...especially since I guess Comic Con isn't happening. :P Oh well, time to maybe do more for my birthday, then.

And as a final thing...I have both extra painted ponies, and extra buttons for sale! Please check them on out! :D



Here are button versions of all the Final Fantasy Dissidia ponies!

- $2.00 each!
- Three for $5.00!
- If you want a full set of Cosmos, Chaos, 012 or all, that can be negotiated!
- No extra cost for shipping!



And here are all the custom-painted fandom ponies! These include Kingdom Hearts 2, Birth by Sleep, various Final Fantasy, and The Hunger Games.

- $25.00 each! This INCLUDES the cost of shipping.
- Three for $60.00! Again, cost of shipping is included.
- Prices are as such since each pony is hand-painted, and only one or two of each exist as is. You're getting a unique pony!
- As it stands right now, here are the ponies available:
-- Sora - 1
-- Riku - 2
-- Kairi - 2
-- Terra - 1
-- Aqua - Sold Out
-- Ventus - 1
-- Katniss - 1
-- Peeta - 1
-- Gale - 1
-- Cecil - 1
-- Tifa - 2
-- Cloud - 2
-- Sephiroth - 1
-- Squall - 1
-- Yuna - 1
-- Lightning - 1
- If you would like to commission a pony, feel free to comment to me about it! I can do any character desired.

Aaand since it's been...oh, almost a MONTH or so since last update, beware the massive picture dump:

First and foremost, got a (super late) birthday gift here for the epic ghettopeach!

( Yvette )

And now some more All Hearts:

( All Hearts - Genie, the Peddler, Princess Jasmine )

And finally, a crapton of waking-up drawings:

( Under-covers drawings 412-430 )

Drawing:

Writing: Current and future iJAG things, plus other tags

Once again, it's been forever since I've updated here. And my excuses are the same...busy with many different projects, mostly checking iJAG for Dreamwidth stuff and Plurk for friend stuff. I'll try to keep up a bit better in the future.

May is going to be an...interesting month. Definitely a busy one in many ways. But for right now, I got a little less than a month's worth of freelance work, which will be real nice. Also, the project itself is actually pretty fun to work on...my kind of aesthetic and such. Hope the finished product turns out well! Mentordude says that work leads to more work, so I definitely hope that's true.

I've got a whole ton of ponies on my desk that I intend to paint and sell for AM2 Convention! I did some test paints for three of them, and they turned out okay! I'm excited for the con...

Also, while I'm still avoiding spoilers completely, I at least listened to some of the songs from KH3D. And...huh, it's a bit different from their normal OSTs, but so far I think this one may be one of my favorites. The songs are just so happy.

Got another dump of LP and arts for ya...



( All Hearts - Santa, Reindeer and Sally )

( Under-covers drawings 359-373 )

Drawing: Lots of freelance stuff and more

Writing: Tags and such for iJAG

KH3D Countdown: 102 Days

OH GOODNESS but I've been busy around here! There are seriously not enough hours in the day.

Most people know this already, but I'll just reiterate it here again...I am trying to stay SPOILER FREE for KH3D! I know most friends have already spoiled themselves, but I really wanna hold out until I can play the game myself. So please don't go sharin' spoilers with me! I've been good about them so far, unlike with BBS, where I got spoiled for Vanitas without my consent on dA.

IN THE MEANWHILE, I'LL JUST ROLL AROUND AND HOPE THAT SUMMER GETS HERE SOON SO THAT I CAN PLAY IT AAAAAAAAAAH AAAAAAAAAAAAH

This past weekend I was super-busy with a sudden barrage of freelance projects, all of which I thankfully got done on time and to the clients' satisfactions! Had to do a storyboard for a commerical (online commercial, but still) and then a series of stickers, logos, mock sites and more for a music video. If either of those things goes up soon, then I'll link 'em.

Also, on Saturday, I went up to visit my grandma, since she was recovering from a broken wrist and I haven't seen her in awhile besides. It was nice just to hang out with her for awhile and talk, and we also got us some In-N-Out and ice cream. We also went to see my grandpa, and it was...definitely an interesting experience seeing him again, compared to the last time we visited him. I know he didn't recognize me at all, but at least he seemed to smile a bit when I talked to him. I drew him a little sketch just to keep.

OH, something else I just remembered...I got invited, so I'll bet at AM2 Convention in June at an artist's alley table! :D I'll be selling a buncha stuff, including fanart-things and copies of LG...so woot, finally get the chance to do that! I'll probably mention the con again closer to June.

And hey, Kia's computer is working again, so we've got another episode of the Kingdom Hearts 2 Let's Play up!



( All Hearts - Hercules and Zack Fair )

( Under-covers drawings 351-358 )

Drawing: So many things I've lost track

Writing: BEST THREADS IN iJAG

Wondercon last weekend was a bunch of fun! It was my first time going since it was down in Anaheim this year, and I headed out there with corrielle and kiaxet. We ended up staying in the Hilton...probably the nicest hotel I've ever stayed in for a con. |D All in all, it was like a more chill version of SDCC, and I spent most of my time just hanging out with friends or scouring the exhibit hall. I went to some of the business-related panels, but didn't really hear much new from those (although it was interesting hearing people discuss Wonder Woman's history for her costumes and body shapes.) The panels for Once Upon A Time and Community were a lot of fun to watch. Got to see Pascal, Jean, Axel, Katie, Amy and many others in the hall, which was fun! :D I ended up buying a whole bunch of books from Archaia (they were having a buy two, get three free sale and COULD NOT RESIST THAT), plus a book on color and light by the illustrator of Dinotopia...it's been real useful for working on my painting. If it's in Anaheim again, gotta make sure that I go back to the con next year.

Also been busy this week doing Gnomon Preview Days again, in which I said hi to some old friends there too, and also just working on stuff and the usual job-hunting. I seriously can't believe March is almost over...

In case you haven't seen yet, I've started an askblog on tumblr! It's Ask Master Eraqus, and thusfar it's been a lot of fun to do. XDa Hopefully I can keep up with it!

( MLP - Day and Night )

Ending with more All Hearts and waking-up drawings...

( All Hearts - Megara, Phil, Pegasus, Pain and Panic )

( Under-covers drawings 340-350 )

Drawing: Commission work, portfolio prep, All Hearts, etc.

Writing: Mostly tags

Aaaand I am back from the con! It was a busy weekend, so I slept pretty late this morning, but it's all good. So, may as well do it now while most stuff is still fresh in my mind (and also to get it out of the way), here's the con report for this year's CTN Expo!

( Friday )

( Saturday )

( Sunday )

( Swag )

Overally, a totally fun weekend, both inspiring and exhausting since you get to see first-hand just how many amazing artists are out there in the industry. But I'll definitely head back next year.

Drawing: Got so much stuff I want to work on now I don't even know where to start...

Writing: And same here. |D

So yesterday ended up actually being pretty awesome!

I Got up early and headed over to the CTN Animation Expo in Burbank, and spent pretty much the entire day there! I wasn't sure what to expect with this con (there really wasn't much to expect anyway, since it was the first one), but it was pretty much like all of my favorite things about Comic Con, except condensed into a mere fraction of the space and people involved, with less line-waiting, more professionals and no crazies. I was pretty much surrounded by people so much more talented than me, which is both agonizing and inspiring. 8o

Considering I was only able to do one day there, I did as much as I could! Got into the Dreamworks' Production Design panel, which was on their design process for "How To Train Your Dragon" and how they went through three different levels of development as the story kept changing. I actually wasn't aware how much influence Chris Sanders had in that, but after seeing lots of it, yeah there's definitely lots of his work influence. (To say nothing of Toothless the dragon looking quite a bit like Stitch!) We got free signed lithographs of some production work from that. 8D

The other panel I waited a bit for was the Pixar Story artists panel, which was basically like five story artists talking about their story process. It's kind of interesting and encouraging how many of them are into comics, utilize their comics work in story, or both. All their advice and stuff seems like it should be obvious when you create stories for movies, yet is so difficult for people to follow for some reason!

Also went to the Character Designer's panel, which included people like Harald Siepermann and Andreas Deja, and they also spilled a bunch on how they did their design process. So the panels were gooood.

And then the exhibit hall AAAAAAAAAH. MY POOR WALLET SUFFERED. Because seriously, I walked in and it was like HEY LOOK Stephen Silver Claire Wendling Sergio Toppi Peter de Seve David Coleman etc. etc. A THOUSAND ARTISTS YOU REALLY LIKE ARE SELLING THEIR CRAP HERE, COME BUY IT ALL, SUCKERRRRR. I was mostly good and only came away with a Wendling sketchbook, a Disney/Pixar artist comic anthology (the sequel to Rocket Johnson), and one of Pascal Campion's sketchbooks because he's a really sweet guy. OH YEAH, and all the free stuff...like a HUGEASS PRINCESS AND THE FROG POSTER OH YEAH. I also ran into a ton of people I hadn't seen in awhile, including people from Gnomon that I'd been meaning to say hi to. I stopped by the Sony Animation booth and passed along my stuff, and seemed to get a decently good reaction, although it didn't really go one way or the other.

Also uh, while I was there, I was pretty much introduced to Shane Acker and got to talk with him and we had this whole convo about what he's working on next. 8DDDD

The con was also showing off a ton of character maquettes, with some really oldschool stuff as well as stuff from the new Alice and Wonderland. They were also doing live demos, so I got to sit for an hour and just watch Andreas Deja draw various Disney characters and relate anecdotes about what it was like designing and drawing them. 8D

I finally finished off the day by deciding to stay late for the movie screenings, which were Don Bluth's Banjo the Woodpile Cat, and The Secret of Kells, both of which I hadn't seen before. I don't think either were super-strong on story, but animation-wise MORE than made up for it. Especially Secret of Kells, OMFGGGGGG. That whole movie was just ridiculous eye candy, with some mesmerizing animation, and getting to watch it in a full theater full of animators who applauded at the end was nothing short of awesome.

SO YEAH, GOOD TRIP. If they hold it again next year I'm definitely making an effort to go back, since it WAS all the best professional stuff about Comic Con for me condensed down into a small enough package to be both manageable and fun!

Drawing: Lunargyros and commissions still

Writing: Cards

...Because maybe it will make me feel better, I don't know.

Damn it all! I thought that the second term for GNOMON would start after AX, but as it turns out, it starts before. I've already paid for registration and the hotel and that's all non-refundable, plus there are people flying in that I'm picking up and sharing hotels with, so it's not like I can just cancel on AX now. But it means that I'll probably be missing the first day of a few classes, no matter when they are. Except I don't know when they'll be because we haven't gotten the schedules for second term yet. Either way, that means emailing teachers and doing makeup work, which is a pain in the ass.

And I might as well kiss Comic Con goodbye, since the weekend directly before that it's the big family reunion that I Absolutely Am Not Allowed To Miss Under Any Circumstances. If I did SDCC too, that'd be three uber-weekends (about Wednesday through Sunday) used up, and taking about the equivalent of three weeks off out of a ten-week term just won't fly, even if it is early in the term when there's less work. Fuggit, I really wanted to go to Comic Con, too! It's about equal with my AX tradition, if not moreso, and there were some people I really wanted to see there. DDDX

Ironically enough, the whole reason school is starting a week earlier at all is because they're taking a week off for Siggraph. Which I guess I should go and register for instead. AX can be by "fun con," and Siggraph can be my networking con for this year. But I still want Comic Con for both networking and fun, cryyyyyy. ;_;

Also, I got a jury summons, but I can't frecking register for it until tomorrow at whatever time, anyway. And I didn't get it until late anyway because the letter went to my old address and I had to get here and...whatever, I don't know. I better not have to actually show up, because I'll be uber-pissed if I have to take that time off of school to go sit in a damn court room all day. Screw you, patriotic duty!

Argh, I was doing just fine today until all this stuff kinda settled into my brain at once. XP I played around with NURBS during lab today on something that wasn't homework; maybe I'll post it tomorrow. All things considered, it was coming out okay, and I actually felt like I was problem-solving. I really want to make sure I'm having fun while at this school, 'cause I'll learn more and learn faster if I have fun at it.

Yeah, just had to vent; will go work on various things until bed...

Drawing: Comic pages galore.

Writing: Sporking's going slowly. I'm hoping to have more time to work on MWWBK starting around this weekend.