"Matty's Toy Shoppe" and "The Joys of Toys" Mattel Tribute Show @ Gallery 1988

Back in 2014 I took on a rather ambitious painting, considering my style and my aptitude for getting 'lost in the pretty' (also known as caught up in tiny details).  Some of you may remember it.  It was called "Little Leota's Fortune Telling Kit for Beginners".  If not, you're in luck because I posted a pic of it.  :P

"Little Leota's Fortune Telling Kit for Beginners", 11"x14" Gouache, 2014

Anyway, "Little Leota" was ambitious because it was my first painting at 11"x14".  In it, I told a story of Frannie, my version of the Bride of Frankenstein, trying to use all sorts of ways to determine if her crush, Sheldon, liked her back.  There were all sorts of games and fortune telling things that a kid may use to find out the answer to such a question.  In addition to that, it was also a Disneyland Haunted Mansion tribute piece.  All the Haunted Mansion items were relatively subtile and made up the room that Frannie, Gillian (creature) and Prudence (vampire) were all playing this little game in.  If you know the ride well, you can recognize many elements.

"Little Leota" was a monster.  It took nearly 300 hours to complete.  The wallpaper alone took 18 hours because my idea of using a stencil failed miserably and I had to painstakingly paint the pattern one section at a time.  In the process, I pinched my sciatic nerve and my leg would go numb or hurt for nearly a year.  "Little Leota" got the nick name "the Beast", and she was a beautiful beast.  The Beast drained me, shortly there after I went into a period of burn out.  It lasted for 3 years.  I didn't stop making art, but I never felt like 'myself' when I worked.  It was hard to come up with ideas and nothing seemed to work right.  I swore to myself I'd never do anything as ambitious as 'The Beast' again.  (For the record, the Sushi Gremlins, which would take a year and a half to complete and exponentially more time to finish, was only 8"x10".  It will always be considered the M.O.A.B., or Mother Of All Beasts.)

Until now.

Return of the Beast

"Matty's Toy Shoppe"; 11"x14" Gouache; 2017

Back in early 2017, I had the extreme honor of being invited into a group show over at Gallery 1988 on Melrose, in Los Angeles.  Gallery 1988 was one of those galleries that I felt only people who had "made it" showed in.  They present mostly pop culture inspired work, so a lot of themed group shows and "cool" individual artists who use popular culture as their muse show there.  The show I was invited into was a Mattel tribute show and a portion of the proceeds from the event were to be donated to the UCLA Mattel Children's Hospital.  I graciously and eagerly accepted the invite.  (Not to mention the curator, Cuddly Rigor Mortis and her husband Ed Mironiuk are some of the nicest people I've met in a long time.)

For my piece I decided to repurpose a concept I had initially thought up for the Twilight Zone/Alfred Hitchcock show I mentioned in my last post.  It was probably the best decision I could have made, to scrap the Curiosity shop idea for Twilight Zone and repurpose it as a Toy Shop for the Mattel show.

The idea was once again, ambitious and required the painting to be the same dreaded 11"x14" that nearly killed me on "Little Leota".  I didn't care.  For the first time in 3 years I felt excited about a painting.  Inspired.  It didn't feel like just going thru the motions to hit a deadline, which so many of my pieces had started to feel like.

It took 2 months, and if my calculations are correct, 200 hours to complete.  I named it "Matty's Toy Shoppe".  Unfortunately it was late and got there two days before the show opened, but it was worth it.  I couldn't compromise on the quality.

Detail shot of the store window.  M.U.S.C.L.E. Men are teeny tiny.

Emily, Iggy, and Ollie's toy inspiration.

The story is relatively simple, as was the story for "Little Leota".  Emily (the skeleton girl) gets left behind by the boys, Iggy (Hunchback) and Ollie (Wolfboy).  She runs as fast as her boney little legs can go to catch up to them.  The story is simple, but as always, the execution is the hard part.

I wanted to fill the toy store window with a ton of Mattel products.  And I did.  There's He-Man toys, She-Ra toys, Hot Wheels, a long lost Hot Wheel Toy line called Farbs is in there, Little People, Barbies, the 1988 Barbie Ultra Vette, a Chatty Cathy, a Uke-a-Doodle, some M.U.S.C.L.E. men, a Food Fighter, a Magic 8 Ball, a View Master and a TON of Fischer Price toys.  The monster kids all have Mattel products with them too.  Ollie (wolf boy) has the Hover Board from Back to the Future 2, Iggy (hunchback) is playing a hand held football game and Emily has a Chatty Cathy doll.  There are so many things in there, and wanna know a secret?  Most of them were toys that I wanted as a child but couldn't have.  There are only 3 toys in there that I had as a child, two of which are 'hidden' (a 1988 Hot Looks Model doll and the Barbie driving the Ultra Vette is supposed to be a Dream Date Barbie, which was one of only 2 Barbies I ever had as a child) and the third is front and center (She-Ra and Swiftwind).

This time around, on the actual painting part, I was so paranoid about ruining the painting that I had a 'drop cloth' on the painting at all times.  It would be placed on a section I'd already finished to protect the painting from myself.  When I get nervous or tired I tend to drop my paint brush a lot.  I've pretty much done it to every one of my paintings, and gouache is unforgiving, so if you drop a paintbrush you're kinda screwed.  And damn was I tired.  I still work full time as a retakes board artist over on American Dad and don't get home until 8 at night.  I'd then feed my husband, make sure things I had to get done were done, and then sit down to work from 10pm to 2 or 3am every week night and then all day and most of the night on weekends.  I'd take a night off every 4 days or so to sleep in hopes of not frying my brain, but it was pretty crazy this time around.  I've learned that my work takes time and I used to tell people I'd need a month notice in order to be in a show, but now it's looking like I need two months notice.

Okay, enough rambling, time to wrap up.

Screen capture of the Gallery's front page.

The opening night was wonderful.  I met some of the other amazing artists in the show, got to catch up with some friends, and got to talk to a few people about the painting.  I don't normally do that.  Talk to people about my work, but I was so proud of this one I couldn't not tell people about all the little things I put in there.  It was a great experience, and just like the Twin Peaks piece, which I produced at the same time I was making the Mattel Piece, something good came out of the finished piece.  The Gallery, which I admit I put up on a pedestal a bit, used my painting as a banner on their front page.  So flattering.

To see the Mattel Piece, "Matty's Toy Shoppe", in person you can swing by Gallery 1988's until the show ends on July 15th.  The show is also available for viewing online over on their website.

Bats Day 2015 Wrap Up and What's Next

"In the Key of X=?"; 5"x7" Gouache; 2015

 Greetings and Salutations, followers!

Bats Day 2015 has wrapped up and I'm somewhat back to normal after the crazy, fun filled weekend.  So I figured I'd give you guys a re-cap!

This year's Bats Day weekend started on Friday, as always.  My husband and I headed down to the Sheraton Park Hotel in Anaheim, CA after loading up the car.  Every year the organizers of the Bats Day in the Fun Park weekend always throw a party.  This year was no exception and they had a wonderful costumed event.  Every year, I never commit to the party because I'm a horrible procrastinator.  I'm never sure if I'm going to  have everything ready for the Black Market the next day and choose to leave the party night open in case I have any last minute scrambling to do.  So, although I didn't formally attend the soiree, I was lucky enough to slip in for 5 minutes to check out the Preview night for the Gallery999: Through a Child's Eye's art exhibit!

"Rap on a Table"; 5"x7" Gouache; 2015

You can see my finished pieces above.  I did two small paintings for the event this year.  The first, the Trumpet playing ghost, is titled "In the Key of X=?".  It's a 5"x7" gouache painting on watercolor paper and turned out pretty darn cute.  The second, entitled "Rap on a Table" is also a 5"x7" gouache on watercolor paper painting.  I'm particularly fond of the little lamp behind the ghosts head.  At this time, the "Rap on a Table" painting is still available on the Bats Day website for $75.00 (plus tax and shipping) if anyone is interested.

Speaking of the ghosts, the companion piece I was working on didn't quite get finished in time.  Which really bummed me out.  I'm going to work on it and try to have it finished in time for ScareLA, and will have the original and prints of it on display there this year.  (Hopefully.)

@osoamelie and I are as ready as we'll ever be! Come see us. Please? Bats Day Black Market; Sheraton Park hotel in Anaheim. Here til 10! #bats #batsday #batsday2015 #batsdayblackmarket2015 #boogervampire

A photo posted by Mary J. Hoffman (@boogervampire) on May 30, 2015 at 3:05pm PDT

So, the next day was the Bats Day Black Market, the spooky vending event.  I had to trim stock a little bit in order for everything to fit on the table, but what I didn't display wasn't really missed much (hair clips and earrings).  I took 4 different throw pillows to the Black Market this year:  the Candy Corn from the Spook Show in March, plus a pillow of the "Help Us Master Gracey" painting (R2-D2), and a Black and Green versions of the Kissing Bats I have available on Cosmetic Bags in my shop.  Since it's Bats Day (the day the Goth's take over Disneyland) I'm sure it'll be no surprise to anyone that I sold out of the Black colored Kissing Bats pillows, and the R2 pillows.  I do thankfully have more fabric on hand and will be making a few more to throw in my shop when I open it for business this Saturday, June 6th.  The new stickers went over well, and the surprising big seller was the Sushi Gremlin sticker. I sold out of a few of the Coin Purses and one of the cosmetic bags.  I'll be placing a reorder for those items in the next day or two so they'll be back in stock in time for ScareLA but not for the shop opening this month.

As far as non-stock related stuff and the Black Market, I just have to say Noah and the Bats Day team went above and beyond this year.  This year, the hotel layout was fabulous.  Everything in one place and it was clean, air conditioned and the bathrooms were easily accessible and tons of parking. . . my personal fave about the hotel?  STARBUCKS IN THE LOBBY!!!  I know, I shouldn't be so excited about Starbucks, but seriously, I need some caffeine or I'm cranky.  I had a wonderful time vending next to Ish and Jason from My Vicious Boutique and was super happy to be able to run in and chat for a second with the amazingly awesome Drew Rausch, the artist on IDW's limited Edward Scissorhands comic.  I got to chat with John, the man behind the awesome Killhouettes line, Kimmy from Moonlit Studios/Spooksieboo, and my good friend Queenie from Pocket Full of Posiez.

Overall, Black Market was a wonderful success this year and I'm contemplating doing it again next year (was thinking this might be my last year for a while)!

Your pal the Boogervampire made it into the LA Weekly!  I'm front and center, looking like a dork.

Big news about the actual Bats Day in the Fun Park event, that happens every year on Sunday of Bats Day Weekend, is that I went for longer than an hour this year!!!  Last two years I was so exhausted after the Black Market that I'd go long enough to people watch a tiny bit, eat some food, buy a droid at the Build-a-Droid stand and then bounce.  We were actually there most of the day and actually ran into people I know!!  I also had the great opportunity to meet a few people I didn't.  Overall, it was a great weekend.

So what's up next?

The Atomic Tiki Terrors Group show @ Creature Features in Burbank, CA  July 19th, 2015

Up first in July is the "Atomic Tiki Terrors" Group Show at Creature Features in Burbank, CA.  I just started the sketch and am hoping that I'll get it all wrapped up in time.  So follow the Instagram to see work in progress pics.  Let's just say, I'm putting a lot of brains into this one.  :P

All you need to know is in the picture!

Next, a month after the "Atomic Tiki Terrors" is ScareLA!  As I said in an earlier post, ScareLA is moving to Pasadena this year and if you haven't gotten tickets yet, guess who has a discount code?!  That's right!  Use your special Boogervampire discount code to get 25% off until June 22!  Just use the code: SCAREBOOGER at checkout.

That's it for this blog entry.  Later!

2nd Annual Spook Show: Part 2

The Boogervampire and I thank everyone for turning out to the Spook Show and welcome any new followers!

The 2nd Annual Spook Show was this last weekend in La Mirada, CA.  I know I said I'd post teasers of items that were going to be there but work has been crazier than usual.  Hence the reason I shut the Etsy shop down until July.  And now I'm back into work, busy as ever.

I just wanted to do a super quick recap of the event.  Things went better than I anticipated.  Had the opportunity to meet up with some people I talk to every now and then online and get to know them a little better and meet a fellow artist I'd been admiring for a few years and speak with her for a while.  I also test marketed some new product ideas (cosmetics bags), sold a couple sets of the Valentine's and nearly sold all of my remaining 2014 calendars.  It was a great day and I got to sit right across from the hearse club so I got to look at pretty (and some not so pretty) hearses.

I feel horrible that I didn't get to talk to everyone that came by, especially Sarah from Pink Donuts Designs.  Both times she came by I was either helping someone or catching up with someone I hadn't seen in forever.  I hate disappointing people, or feeling like I may have, especially when it's someone you've never met in real life.  I hope she didn't think I was too rude.  :(

Anyway, here's a random assortment of me and my husband's Instagram pics of the event.  My episode deadline is rapidly approaching so I probably won't be able to post much until I turn my board in.  After I do I'll finally get back to my Sushi Monster painting.

My husband caught me during set up.  Of course I had to make a silly face. 

My fearless crew!!  Natasha Kline and the Hubby.  They are showing off all his fun purchases. 

Sold the neon heart bat to this lovely lady! 

Someone brought their replica of the Dragula out for the day.  The guy was nice enough to let Carlos take a pic in it.

I'll announce this here now though.  Remember how I mentioned I'm going to force myself to go out more this year?  Well, my "spring event" will be taking place in May!  I'll be returning to the Bats Day Black Market for 2014.  I won't be making any exclusive items this year because of my schedule but I will be participating in their Haunted Mansion Icons art show put on by Gallery999.  I've got something very subtile in mind for my piece and am pretty excited about it.  Unfortunately, as with last year's Gallery999 painting, I can't post any in progress or preview images until the day of the event.

For more information on the Bats Day event, history or the event, or activities for this year's event please feel free to visit www.batsday.net.

Best Little Art Show In Burbank @ ELEU Salon

Greetings all!  First let me say, Happy Halloween and second, let me show off my new painting.  Although the show it's for isn't until the 9th of November, a severed head somehow felt fitting.

"Marie Antoinette's Severed Head"
4"x8" Gouache; 2013

That's right. . . "Marie Antoinette's Severed Head".  I wanted to have a whittier name for it, but everything I could think of was too long.  "Was the Cake REALLY Worth It?" somehow seems like a veiled political statement and "How Am I Supposed To Reach It Now" just doesn't seem right either.  So I'm just going to call it what it is.

The painting will be part of the ELEU Salon's Winter Art Show on November 9th, 2013.  The show is  called "The Best Little Art Show In Burbank".  Everything is smaller than 8"x10" and is less than $100.  Marie here will be $100.  When I receive a flyer for the show I'll edit this post and add it.  In the mean time check out the Facebook Event and the Salon's Facebook Page for details as they become available.

Once again, hope you all have a wonderful Halloween.  I know I will.  I'll be celebrating my First Wedding Anniversary by going to see Danny Elfman.  My inner Synchronized Swimming nerd is totally dorking out.  (Believe it or not, I was NOT introduced to Danny Elfman via Oingo Boingo.  When I was 12 my Synchronized Swimming coaches had purchased "Music from the Darkened Theater" and every routine we had that year was from the scores of Danny Elfman.  I then bought the CD and started collecting his scored works.  5 years later I learned about Oingo Boingo and became addicted to them.  I know, TMI, but I felt like sharing.)

Autumn Serenade

Well, the ELEU Autumn Harvest/Dia de Los Muertos piece is thankfully finished.  I'm now officially half way thru the 6 paintings I have to have done before my hiatus ends in November.  As much as I love that I'm getting to spend my break painting, I have to admit I'm getting a bit tired physically.  I have to paint at night like I would if I was still working.  The house goes into such a state of disarray when I'm working that I have to spend my entire hiatus getting things back in order. . . which as I'm sure everyone knows, is a full time job it's self.

Anyway.  This piece was a lot of fun.  As I stated in the last post where I introduced it, color comps were a pain in the butt, but in the end that extra three days it took to finish them was worth it.  Details of the show's official opening reception are still vague but I'll post details here and on Facebook once I know more.  What I can tell you is this:  the painting, which I've entitled "Autumn Serenade" will be on display at ELEU Salon in Burbank, CA from Friday, September 13th, 2013 thru November 2013 and will be $275.  If interested, contact ELEU Salon for more information.

As I'm sure my followers have noticed, I like to make my paintings a bit personal.  This one is no different.  Fun personal things hidden/represented in this painting are not that hidden really.  The little boy and girl are representing my husband and I.  We will be celebrating our first anniversary on Halloween so Autumn is very special to us.  Specific references are:  The mariachi is left handed.  That is probably only something musicians would catch and think I made a mistake on.  It's not a mistake.  I redrew the entire composition when I realized I made him a right handed player.  Not only does it help the flow of the piece, it wouldn't be my husband if he was a right handed player (yes there is a difference and left handed guitars are very hard to find).  Second, I totally made the scarecrow girl a grunge girl on purpose and she's totally wearing a Pearl Jam t-shirt.  I always wanted one of those "Alive" t-shirts.  The little Jeremy stick figure is totally awesome.  There aren't too many hidden things in this one actually.

Everything else is there for story purposes or just because it felt right.  There is a church yard in the Background as that's where the little mariachi boy came from.  If you get out a magnifying glass you can actually see decorative bunting strung just behind the cemetery entrance.  The crows were fun and although they look more like robins or sparrows than crows I really like the design and will probably do a few mini paintings of them cause they're just cute.

Up next?  I have one week to complete a Macross/Robotech themed piece.  I've got the concept and after taking today off to try to catch up on sleep, I'll be sketching and hopefully color comping that one before the end of the day on Friday the 13th!

Can't believe it's halfway thru September already!!

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.

Tea for Two and the Rejects

Or should I say "The Rejects and Tea for Two"? 

As I said before, the final "Tea for Two" painting almost didn't happen.  Originally it was going to be entitled "Tea Time on the Titanic" and the Gentleman Octopus and Lady Squid were going to be in a recognizable portion of the sunken Titanic wreck taking their tea with old first class Red Star Line china.  As I was doing my research and watching a bunch of documentaries I stumbled upon a really good one that interviewed the original ex-navy commander who discovered the wreckage back in the 80's.  And for the first time I saw the Titanic for the tragedy that it truly was and not just a fascinating ship rusting away on the bottom of the ocean.

I love Gothic things, and I have the utmost respect for the dead, and when I realized that the Titanic is essentially a cemetery, I couldn't bring myself to desecrate and dishonor the memories of the people who died there.  The only "tombstones" those people have are the remnants of their leather shoes that will be sitting on the bottom of the ocean for who knows how long.

Anyway, I couldn't do the original painting. . . so what you see above is what I almost turned into the "Tentacle Love Show".  After doing one or two of the color blocks, I lost inspiration (I think mostly because the piece wasn't telling a "story"). . . so I went back to the "Tea Time" idea and just made it a generic stretch of ocean floor and with an average china tea service. . .   The final results of which you can see below.

So yeah. . . a butt load of cephlopods for your viewing pleasure.

Random Toon Boom Doodle

A friend accidentally sent me a doodle of her 9th grade school photo today.  I did a quick doodle of mine to "repay the favor".

Enjoy.

Oh, and in the 9th grade I was insanely obsessed with Disney.  So I was actually wearing an embroidered, button up 101 dalmatians shirt, with matching dalmatian puppy earrings.  The sketch was super quick, or there would have been more detail.  :P

Bookworms

Once upon a time, in 2005, I did some t-shirt designs.  I'd just recently been bit by an insect craze and did about 5 different little bugs, most of which were representations of their names.  This was the first time I drew my little bookworm.

Now, 5 years later I was thinking of revisiting him (since the t-shirts were never made) and making him a back to school item in my Etsy Shop.  Sadly I think that the back to school shopping has been done, so he won't get made into a charm, but at least he's cuter now.

Yes. . . just for personal fun I've posted both the 2005 and the 2010 version.

Also. . . More Sketchbook doodles!!  The crazy happy lady is supposed to be Donetella Versace.  She's got funny lips.

150

Well, whadda ya know. . . 150 blog posts.  Although I should probably post something monumental, post 150 is just going to be another sketchbook dump.

While watching Extreme Makeover Home Edition, the guy who was recieveing the makeover caught my attention.  He was a quite, manly man from Arkansas. . . spent the whole hour trying to draw what he looked like.  Not because he was amazing looking or anything, but because he was so. . . I don't know. *shrugs*

I've never just sat down and drawn people I see on TV.  It was actually really fun and Carlos keeps asking to see the page and starts laughing at it.

Speaking of Carlos. . .he got a little pissy with me this afternoon when he called from work.  Made me wonder what his day was like so I drew what I thought the other end of the conversation looked like, including his coworker Will.  Oh, yeah and the girl next to him is just having that internal battle of trying to decide if she wants to spend the $10 on the purse she likes in the store.  :P

And finally. . . posted another Spider Apron in my shop.  Had to raise the price, sadly, because a lot more time goes into those damn spider pockets than I was letting on.  This particular apron had three separate pockets made for it, but the first two had "problems" and were discarded.

Head back to the land of mischief, aka Work, aka South Park next week.  It already looks like it's going to be an interesting run!

Crypt of Doom Update

Hey Y'all.

As I've said in the past, when I'm in the middle of a run over at work, I neglect everything. Including family. :(

This last Wednesday was my first day off that I've been able to do absolutely nothing, so I spend the day immersing myself in pretty pictures. In the process I realized that even though I recently put an older painting in a gallery show, it was one I'd never put up on my blog. . . so here it is all framed and pretty.



It's title is simple, just "Bobby and the Banshee". I put it in the Gala Benefit show over at Monkeyhouse Toys in Silverlake, CA. So if you missed it and you'd like to take it home with you *wink, wink* you can head on over to the Crypt of Doom at Etsy.

I also posted my "Green Eggs and Ham" tribute piece over there as well as unleashing "Ferocious Fruitcake" just in time for the holidays. :D

I was feeling so productive that I also finally got up off my dead butt and started the pattern making process for the baby squid apron I posted a design for a year ago. Keep checking back through the next month for updates on that. I'm also going to be posting a third, slightly different version of my spider apron up in my Etsy Shop, a.k.a. the Crypt of Doom before the holidays. In case anyone is interested.

Truly Outragous!

So, I did an all-nighter Monday night to finish this little ditty. It's for another group gallery show, this one at Monkeyhouse Toys in Silverlake, CA. It's just a little get together of some local artists displaying artwork based on their favorite 80's toys. If you're in the neighborhood, stop on by. It's Saturday, August 1st from 4pm-8pm.

Obviously (or maybe not, took the gallery owner at Monkeyhouse a little while to get it) I loved Jem Dolls as a kid. Had Jem, but always wanted Pizzazz and Stormer. Also making a cameo is my very well loved Care Bear Cousin, Cozy Heart. No he didn't have an eye patch when I was a kid, but he had some paint scraped off his eyes and probably should have.

See flyer below:



*unaltered image available here.*

Movin' Along

Ahhh, FREEDOM!! Summer hiatus has arrived and I'm beyond excited for it!

First off, some drawings! I went rooting through the supply cupboard at work and found some prismacolor markers and decided to draw some monkeys from a flickr photosstream. Turned out nicer than I had anticpated since I haven't drawn monkeys or with markers in a LONG ASS TIME.


Second, these didn't get used at work, but thought they were slightly amusing if not highly offensive. They were vis-dev sketches from one of Cartman's flashback sequences in the "Fishsticks" episode. Don't know if I can get into trouble for posting stuff from my personal sketchbook or not, so I put copyright info at the bottom just to try to save my butt a little. Also below is the South Park equivalent of 100 push ups. . . if you suck at thumbnailing.


And, finally, I'm super happy to say that both my aprons sold on ETSY!!! I was so excited that I had to package them ultra super special for their trips to their new homes. Carlos said that the mail lady looked at him funny when he took them into the post office. That's my goal, freaking out one postal service attendant at a time. ;)

Boobies

So, um, yeah. . . I don't know why I made her topless. . . sometimes I just don't wanna draw clothes on them. Maybe it's like a deep seeded psychosis rooted in the fact that I never wanna get out of bed in the morning, hence not getting dressed. . . although I always live in my Slimer and the Real Ghostbusters pjs, and that's kinda dressed. . . right? Rambling again. Time for bed.

In case you're curious, it was done in Corel Draw X3 and was inspired by this artist I found on Deviantart that goes by the name Blush Art.

Happy 30th Birthday, Bunny!

So today is Carlos' 30th birthday. I stayed up late last night/this morning making him a card so he'd feel special and stuff.


Oh, and we also had a G.I.Joe party. For more funny G.I.Joe birthday party pics, check out our Flickr set. They're just plain ol' silly. :)

Side note, I was really excited to see today that the first season of South Park I worked on came out on DVD on Tuesday!!! I had to buy it I was so pumped!

Creature Colored

So a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, I sketched a cute little "Creature from the Pink Lagoon". My friends demanded a colored version but I forgot about her and had all these grand ideas in mind for her that never did anything but sit stagnant in my mind. Until now.

I finally got up off my dead butt today and did something with her, primarily making her the new image on my website's contact page.

Jury Duty

So, for the last two and a half weeks I've been on jury duty. It's an interesting process. Back in December when I was supposed to serve, I wound up postponing again so I could go get snowed in in Washington with my family. That time I died my hair blue to try to get out of it, this time my hair was normal so I got selected. I even told them under oath where I worked during selection in hopes that the conservative old people that were the defendants and plaintiffs would not want someone like me. Obviously that didn't work, so I've been taking advantage of the time to read "Shot by Shot", do some doodling, practice a little, and mostly sketch all the people around the courthouse.