http://search.deviantart.com/?q=by:Fenmere&section=today deviantART RSS for by:Fenmere en-us Copyright 2009, deviantART.com Mon, 14 Dec 2009 21:39:04 PST deviantART.com http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss http://s.deviantart.com/minish/widgets/apple-touch-icon-precomposed.png http://Fenmere.deviantart.com/journal/19759068/ http://Fenmere.deviantart.com/journal/19759068/ Sun, 03 Aug 2008 20:00:02 PDT
I've left Boundary Bay Brewery & Bistro, worked for The Whatcom Independent, which closed its doors on June 12, 2008, and I've gotten married!

Harmless Free Radicals is still in full swing though! And Grass Dog Studio is now my main focus.

I should update this account with some of my latest work soon. But for anybody who is curious, I'm offering commissioned artwork for "Grand Opening" rates right now. For the remainder of August, 2008, it is $25 for a drawing (color or monochrome media) and $50 for a computer colored piece. This is less than a quarter of my standard rates!

I take checks, money order, or Paypal. And I've gotten a lot better since my last update.

Take care!

]]> ~Fenmere http://Fenmere.deviantart.com/journal/6239068/ http://Fenmere.deviantart.com/journal/6239068/ Mon, 15 Aug 2005 22:58:18 PDT Harmless Free Radicals! And I've kicked it off by switching to a three day a week schedule and fixing up the website. It's prettier and easier to navigate now.

I've got a lot less going on now that I did, so I've also had the chance to focus on my own business, Grass Dog Studio, designing Mallard Ice Cream's website and a logo or two for some people. My goal, however, is to switch to focusing on my comic and doing the occasional commissioned illustration as more of a bonus kind of work.

The Bellingham School of Comics still meets twice a week at the Black Drop Coffee House, to sit and draw and B.S. about producing comics. We're growing a list of events that we're participating in regularly, including Bellingham Comics Month and the 24 hour comics jam.

I still don't have anything more I'd like to post here, yet, but there are a couple of good candidates on the way. Maybe even some photos of the art shows I've curated... ]]> ~Fenmere http://Fenmere.deviantart.com/journal/4452072/ http://Fenmere.deviantart.com/journal/4452072/ Sun, 30 Jan 2005 10:02:25 PST
The Bellingham Comics Bugle isn't in print yet, but it is being updated on a daily basis online. We have eight comics in the rotation, and more being added every month. And all of them produced and published by denizens of Bellingham, Washington.

The Bellingham School of Comics still meets twice a week at the Black Drop Coffee House, to sit and draw and B.S. about producing comics. We're seriously considering participating in the 24 Hour Comics Jam and next October we'll have ourselves a big show, working on making it Bellingham Comics Month.

Harmless Free Radicals is now being pubished in both the Bellingham Comics Bugle and the Whatcom Independent and is continuing to be updated on a weekly basis. I'm really proud of my efforts on this, and I'm seriously considering increasing the frequency of the comic, perhaps to MWF.

And finally, my own business Grass Dog Studio has been bringing me some solid work. I've two big projects, and I've been offering people my services as an illustrator at an affordable rate with my 15 Minute Drawings.

Eventually, all this will be hosted on Bellessent.com complete with a super nifty, universally configurable script that can do just about anything.

I hope to start posting some of all this work soon. ]]> ~Fenmere http://Fenmere.deviantart.com/journal/3561207/ http://Fenmere.deviantart.com/journal/3561207/ Sun, 10 Oct 2004 22:26:31 PDT
So, what's going down.

I'm trying to draw in more contract work, while at the same time build up my rendering skills so that I can acheive what I need faster.

I'm trying to repair a great load of damage that was done at my place of employ while I went back to school. It's a matter of simply applying the stuff I've learned while things were bad to make things, well, better. Viva la Boundary Bay!

And finally, I'm publishing a weekly comics newspaper called the Bellingham Comics Bugle. It's starting small and modest, with six regular cartoonists, ALL FROM BELLINGHAM, WA!!! We have fourteen others waiting in the wings, submitting stuff on a sporadic basis. And we have Western Washington University, generating at least two decent cartoonists a year.

This thing is going to work. Especially since Bellingham has the cultural climate to make it happen. Local business owners seem to have a loyalty to our local artists. They take pride in supporting them.

If the Bugle becomes succesful, I foresee us giving back to the community in some substantial way with our profits.

And what this means is that Harmless Free Radicals is going back in print. Oh yes, the city is mine. ]]> ~Fenmere http://Fenmere.deviantart.com/journal/3164238/ http://Fenmere.deviantart.com/journal/3164238/ Thu, 19 Aug 2004 11:37:26 PDT
Harmless Free Radicals is now underway and updating on a weekly basis! We have a comic every monday and a page of text every Thursday or so. There will occassionally be two or three pages of text in a row, in which case they will be updated daily after thursday until Monday, at which point there'll be a comic. Occasionally there will also be two or three pages of comic in a row, with no text pages in between. In that case, we'll skip the thursday update altogether, unless otherwise noted in my LiveJournal

That way, if you just want to follow the comics (you can ignore the text or visa versa if you want) check the page every Monday. And if you want to just follow the text, which is perfectly acceptable and should be just as entertaining, you can check the page every Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

Also, the Bellingham School of Comics is going to have a show and produce an ashcan. Be in Bellingham on October. Check out our work!

And finally, work work is invading my life! Save me from hours of drawing, someone! Oh-no! ]]> ~Fenmere http://Fenmere.deviantart.com/journal/2999950/ http://Fenmere.deviantart.com/journal/2999950/ Thu, 29 Jul 2004 22:34:44 PDT website is now operational!

On Saturday, July 31st, we will get our special birthday strip.

On Monday, we'll have our first official comic of the year!

I've got four months already finished and it's some good stuff, if I do say so myself.

Enjoy! ]]> ~Fenmere http://Fenmere.deviantart.com/journal/2930382/ http://Fenmere.deviantart.com/journal/2930382/ Wed, 21 Jul 2004 00:18:31 PDT [link] HFR is going to feature a whole bunch of ancient backstory, as well as new characters, a tighter drawing style, and a tighter story arch.

One warning. The gags have become a little bitter with age. I guess it's what happens when you don't use them for a year. They're a bit snappish.

Heh...

Well, anyway, I've got three months drawn and ready for posting. All that stands in the way of your coming salvation is the money to pay for a decent webhost, and a script to run the strip. These things are on their way. But even if they don't make it on time, the comic will go on!

Enjoy. ]]> ~Fenmere http://Fenmere.deviantart.com/journal/2696878/ http://Fenmere.deviantart.com/journal/2696878/ Sat, 19 Jun 2004 11:44:44 PDT
I really should be heading down to the B.S. of Comics right now, but I figure I can bum a ride from someone sometime in the next hour, so I wanna get this rumination off my chest. I dreamt it up on my walk home last night, and I want to see where it goes.

First of all, let me start by reiterating that, for most of my life, I've been angry at the limitations of life. I hate the fact that I don't have claws, scales, wings, a tail and the penchant for eating large portions of raw cow. I'm particularly irritated about the lack of the ability to fly.

This doesn't bother me as much as it used to, but I still feel like an outsider most of the time. Actually, to tell the truth, I've come to enjoy the limitations of being a human being in a universe with physical laws. The one thing that makes me feel like it's all worth it is the power of my imagination, and the way it can interact with the imaginations of others. This, to me, is truly god-like. But the culture that I find myself in is so alien to me. However, I'm finding that I'm not alone in this. Perhaps everyone I know has the same feeling to some degree or another, so I'll leave it for another discussion, and just assume that you kind of know what I'm talking about.

Now, I've wanted to be an honest to god dragon for large portions of my childhood, and when I've lamented about this people have told me, "but you are a dragon!" I've heard this more times than I could actually recount. Being the bright, clever hairless monkey that I am, I understood what they meant by this. It's a metaphor. I'd say, "look, no." And they'd ask me, "what is a dragon?" And I'd geek out and give them my whole thesis statement (which I'll skip for now) and they'd procede to pick it apart bit-by-bit and illustrate how I, lowly pink-fleshed plains ape that I am, embody each of those characteristics. And this would make me sad, because they don't get it.

What's really annoying is that all these people (my parents, my councelers, older friends, teachers, mentors) were all right. I mean, I'm not saying I'm a dragon. I'm saying that the magic I was searching for as a child is now within my grasp as something resembling an adult. And what is it that I can do that can give me this amazing power? I can draw.

Actually, it's both the drawing and the crafting of the English language.

Quite frankly, there are better. There is so much I must still learn. But having finally created something that seems to have effected a large number of people, my comic, and having recently gone back to school and reviewed my knowledge, I finally feel like I can fly, literally. I mean, literally in the sense that I often feel like I am flying. And since I've been in an airplane, I can honestly say the feeling is even better than that. I think I can breath fire, too.

See, it's the knowledge and the craft of the art. And it would be true of any art that I might have developed over the years, be it programming or studying anthropology. The capicity of the human brain to grasp and manipulate the abstract and the concrete is simply exhilirating. And the ability, when skill is applied, for a human being to effect the lives of others in either negative or positive ways is intoxicating.

I mean, I know foundations of all the special incantations to make a person fall instantly in love with a piece of paper. I've in fact done it, more than once.

I'm sure that some of you who are reading this know exactly what I'm talking about, or have an inkling, at least. My brother, for instance, is a consumate typist with an anylitical mind like a steel trap. He can craft an elegant piece of code in less time than... something. Words fail me because I don't really know the craft or the industry very well. He just gets it done faster than anybody he's ever worked with or for. And it's very clear the kind of power this gives him, as it shapes his life in obvious ways. And I can list other examples, dear friends of mine, acquaintances, people who's Art is cooking especially. Mmmm...

So why is it, then - when I know where my power lies and what its true worth is, when I am reminded time and again that my friends appreciate me beyond my expectations and am showered with their gracious hospitality, when I know that if we were to combine our various powers we could reshape this entire town - that when I sit with them in their front yard, with the finest gourmet Rum in hand, and they start singing sea chanties, I feel left out, that a great injustice is being done to me.

My jealousy knows no bounds, and my anger is nearly unbearable.

I wish I could think of what to do about it.

The thing is, I suspect that the truth is tha... ]]> ~Fenmere http://Fenmere.deviantart.com/journal/2650300/ http://Fenmere.deviantart.com/journal/2650300/ Sun, 13 Jun 2004 11:47:55 PDT ~Fenmere http://Fenmere.deviantart.com/journal/2646227/ http://Fenmere.deviantart.com/journal/2646227/ Sat, 12 Jun 2004 20:18:32 PDT
Instead, I think I'll continue illustrating my book! ]]> ~Fenmere http://Fenmere.deviantart.com/journal/2632575/ http://Fenmere.deviantart.com/journal/2632575/ Thu, 10 Jun 2004 22:24:23 PDT
Anyway, I gots some work to turn in to Illustration, you know the stuff I was saying I was going to turn in day before yesterday? Well, I'm turning that in tomorrow, soon's I'm done with it.

And then Saturday is the B.S. of Comics!

So I'm probably going to be posting SOMEthing in the next few days.

Gosh, I really should get that digital camera, so I could start filling my account with reference photos, huh?

Well, since I don't have any money, that's probably not going to happen this month. Damn. ]]> ~Fenmere http://Fenmere.deviantart.com/journal/2615071/ http://Fenmere.deviantart.com/journal/2615071/ Tue, 08 Jun 2004 17:55:58 PDT
I've gotta package it all to turn in to my Illustration Prof tomorrow, so it's all gotta be done. Might as well show off! No? ]]> ~Fenmere http://Fenmere.deviantart.com/journal/2604351/ http://Fenmere.deviantart.com/journal/2604351/ Mon, 07 Jun 2004 11:48:45 PDT
"If you are submitting a JPG or PNG image, then you do not need a preview image as this will be auto generated from the main image."


I am saved!!! ]]> ~Fenmere http://Fenmere.deviantart.com/journal/2604270/ http://Fenmere.deviantart.com/journal/2604270/ Mon, 07 Jun 2004 11:35:27 PDT
I know how to manipulate files like crazy. If we are truly limitted to gifs, then I can indeed work with that, I'm just being lazy at the moment. But I'd prefer to work with pngs. They are so much better.

And I apologize if my color versions look strange. I'm designing them on my laptop and uploading them before I have a chance to correct the colors on a real monitor. I desperately need to calibrate my laptop's monitor. This will be done this week. Maybe I'll update my deviations to reflect the better colors once I've finished with this dang school thing...

I also hope to take advantage of devart's print thing. Is there anything not in the FAQ that I should know? ]]> ~Fenmere http://Fenmere.deviantart.com/journal/2600081/ http://Fenmere.deviantart.com/journal/2600081/ Sun, 06 Jun 2004 20:53:08 PDT
As I type this, I'm putting off work on the illustrations. I'm working on a black and white one right now that I think I will post when it is done. I won't post all of them, though. But I'd be most grateful for any pointers people want to give me, as this is the first project of its kind that I've done.

I've been doing the comic for quite some time, and when the website's back up, I'll link to it. It's very rough, but that's part of the joy of it. Don't have much time to polish it, because I'm working on the book, and because my alter-ego works as a graphic designer for Boundary Bay Brewing Company. I would post some of my work from there, but I don't own it, they do. So, if you want to see what kind of work I do for them, visit their website, or come to Bellingham and buy a T-Shirt and a bottle of beer from them!

[link]

I do their labels, menus, brochures, T-shirts, you name it. ]]> ~Fenmere