deviantART: by:s-girl

deviantART: by:s-girl http://search.deviantart.com/?q=by:s-girl&section=today deviantART RSS for by:s-girl en-us Copyright 2009, deviantART.com Wed, 25 Nov 2009 01:29:38 PST deviantART.com http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss http://s.deviantart.com/minish/widgets/apple-touch-icon-precomposed.png Happy Thanksgiving http://s-girl.deviantart.com/journal/28551849/ http://s-girl.deviantart.com/journal/28551849/ Tue, 24 Nov 2009 16:12:15 PST

Haven't been on much except to peruse the deviations, but wanted to wish you a Happy Thanksgiving.

I should have a few pieces to post after the holidays (yes, trying to get my act together) -- but if you want to see what I call last minute art-cramming -- you can see the stream archive from yesterday here.

It's not good to do a picture like this this fast, but procrastination + deadline = hahahaha.

]]> =s-girl Transition http://s-girl.deviantart.com/journal/27619313/ http://s-girl.deviantart.com/journal/27619313/ Tue, 06 Oct 2009 16:45:08 PDT

I had a really good time at AWA, but am relieved it's over.

I'm hoping that as 2009 winds down I will have time again to do some creative work. That said, next year I only plan to do local area conventions as an artist and will spend more off time (if I have any) doing things that are a bit less stressful (eating, drinking, taking in scenery), etc. Conventions are really competing forces for my time and energy; I fear that getting ready for one doesn't always entail me putting energies in the right place.

So looks like next year I'll be only doing Momocon and AWA (assuming I get a table at both).

Anyhoo - also transitioning my portfolio site to point back to the DA Portfolio app. As much as I wanted to do things manually , Picasa and Simpleviewer were fighting one another today and I just got annoyed enough to give up. I want tighter control (without a lot of need to use html and stuff) over content and make sure it's not hard to update.

Hopefully the change takes place fairly quickly sometime today. I do miss the beautiful layout of Simpleviewer, but I also will not miss updating .

...

On a last note, the contest stuff is over. Congratulations to the winners. It was really hard reading some of these comments on the entries. I know that some of the artists who entered did so out of a strong wish to honor the memory of

. I was deeply touched by the things people put together in her memory.

Thank you to those who entered.

]]> =s-girl AWA 2009 artist alley assignments up (update) http://s-girl.deviantart.com/journal/26238152/ http://s-girl.deviantart.com/journal/26238152/ Thu, 10 Sep 2009 17:05:16 PDT

Heeeeere at THIS PLACE
Edit August 22: So I will be sharing my spot with

and her fearless sister

.... this means serious weirdness... I mean business! Working on bookmarks, but this time, most of them are turning out without tassels because the first batch I forgot to format a certain way xD. And turns out I can't do audio with livestream and vista, but whenever I paint, I will be turning it on. I'll leave it on tonight.. ([link])

And I'm 20 Black , back against what I think is a wall. (?)
Anyways - that means I'm next to

, and

(who being the overly modest dude that he is never told me his work is in the Street Fighter tribute book and will be pinched severely). (I think I'm also three tables away from

and

which means I am going to be very very scary.)

Edit: So far, filling in the inventory slowly. Have bookmarks mostly done

Need to do prints next

]]> =s-girl Testing out livestream http://s-girl.deviantart.com/journal/26189534/ http://s-girl.deviantart.com/journal/26189534/ Sun, 26 Jul 2009 12:11:22 PDT

Just set it up and am playing around with it. Not sure exactly what I'll be doing with it today (i.e., drawing or gaming), but help me out if you can by wandering in. I have no idea if audio works...

(total newbie D

[link]

]]> =s-girl Oblige me http://s-girl.deviantart.com/journal/26092000/ http://s-girl.deviantart.com/journal/26092000/ Tue, 21 Jul 2009 16:58:15 PDT

Go fill out this poll:
[link]

]]> =s-girl Anime Expo 2009 pt2 - Art Jam and Artists I bought http://s-girl.deviantart.com/journal/25879266/ http://s-girl.deviantart.com/journal/25879266/ Sat, 11 Jul 2009 12:09:35 PDT

AUGH MONEY I THROW AWAY
One of the reasons I never make any money in the AA is because I buy stuff off artists. I am as interested in other's art as I am in making my own. (Because frankly if I go back to hardcore writing, my desire will be to find someone else to take my concepts and draw them out further. )

I ended up finding

kind of sitting quietly in the alley after two days of walking by his booth at closing time and going OMG WHERE IS THIS ARTIST. What drew me to his work was a strong sense of environment and a rich texture to his work. I bought two prints from him :>. It was so hard to choose, but I picked two images that I felt would inspire me as a writer. You know how much I love moody scenes and fantasy.... so it should be not surprising I liked these:

I also ended up finding

in the alley. I think I've watched her stuff for some time. I remember her from the Rising Stars stuff and also have just liked her artistic sensibility. She's been around a longer time than most of the "popular" folks and has a good grasp of manga as well as illustration. I bought

from her. I love it when people do something a little different and the fact that it was upside down made me go YAY. She was extremely nice. I have to emphasize how important it is that as a buyer to find an artist who is pleasant to deal with. I have walked away from other pieces I really liked because the artist was surly. A lot of illustrators need to understand that if they're not easy to work with or personable, that it makes it that much harder to want to work with them.

I bought some stuff from a guy who was sharing a table with another artist somewhere in the D row.

and

. It was the Gintama that drew me in. You know how I love obscurity.

also was cosplaying Skip Beat, and I think was the only other person having any Skip bEat stuff in the alley, so I bought a bookmark of Kyoko <3333.

And that pretty much was it. I think again the problem is there was simply too much good fanart for me to pick from, but I end up going for the obscure stuff I can't see anywhere else (ahem, Viz titles) and/or non-anime stuff. Wanted to pimp these artists out because I think they probably would have been appreciated more in a smaller venue, but as Anime Expo AA is that good, it's hard to get noticed.

On another note...

Pictures from the AA Sketch Jam
Again, I think people don't understand the value of what AX does for its artists. Aside from the lack of drama because of how well the staff... ]]> =s-girl Time Travel is for Young People - AX2009 http://s-girl.deviantart.com/journal/25773914/ http://s-girl.deviantart.com/journal/25773914/ Mon, 06 Jul 2009 12:29:15 PDT

Forgive me for not having my thoughts organized before I begin posting. It's sometime in the afternoon here in Atlanta, and I
walked off the plane this morning with little more than 2 hours of sleep, managed to find my way back with 3 bags to my car and make the 30 minute drive home without getting into more trouble. So I'm typing here kind off the top of my head. YOU WILL LIKELY EXPERIENCE MINUTIAE WHILE READING THIS....

So, this trip out to AX started with a few issues, some of the existential kind (why?) and some of the logistical kind.

Let me basically get the bad stuff out of the way , because without it, I will come off more negative than I ought to.... but LAX (Los Angeles INternational Airport) SUCKS MONSTER POO. Last year

and I arrived, only to get stranded for a few hours while a crazy man made a bomb threat and shut down all traffic in and out of the airport.... this year, I arrived very tired and stressed out after having trouble checking in because my convention banner stand bag was noted "special baggage" when in fact it was not, forcing me to nervously leave my car at the curb while I waited 20 minutes to talk to someone at the counter in Atlanta... anyways bags arrive in LAX late and yes, one of them is broken T_T.

and

helped me drag the bag over to the shuttle stop where I pissed off the coordinator because I kept asking for the confirmation number. (I was kind of still deaf in one ear at the point.)

Anyways, get to Westin Bonaventure hotel and it turns out to be cool. Much better than Long Beach where we ended up a very long shuttle ride away across the Port of LAX. Ha! Got lost in Little Tokyo that afternoon, freaked out over bread at the Yamazaki bakery, the grocery store, the random stores, Jungle Collectibles and then went to registration .. la la la.

Anyways, the rest of the stuff went somewhat smoothly, although there were definitely some minuses to throwing our artist bags into the back of a school bus on the first day along with trash D: , but hahaha, oh well. Nothing goes perfectly.

Other than that, the con was sort of okay in terms of the changes. This year the alley was in the Dealer's Room. This meant shorter hours as we had to close when the exhibitors closed, but it also meant a lot of traffic and little down time. (This is kind of a problem when you are not exactly on West Coast time and feel like crud for it

)

The economy was definitely messing around with poor California, and so I think I can say doing about the same as last year was to be expected, although I think it always strikes me that year to year the interest in original art seems to proportionally decrease with the changing in anime fandom demographics. This observation saddens me, as I feel it confirms that I really should back away from conventions (or perhaps these conventions).

Aside from sales though and finding that the fandom is going in a direction I don't agree with (totally about merchandise), I
have to say that this was a great time to see people / meet people/ and catch up with them. Losing friends puts things in context. Having time with people , as short as it may be, becomes so much more critically important. I have to say I had
the best of people around me -- from

http://s-girl.deviantart.com/journal/25615916/ Sun, 28 Jun 2009 20:30:48 PDT

Anime Expo is in a few days (B32! B32!) but I also noticed that AWA is putting up reminders that payment is due by July 5 (see [link] ) . You don't pay, you lose your secured spot. That's kind of big deal considering the badges also front as admission for the convention. (Yes, AWA has gone the route of AX 2008 in which it has a separate exhibit hall!)

Oddly enough, AX this year is economizing by putting the AA in the Dealer's room, which could be good and bad. I've some thoughts on how this can work against you (i.e., your stuff is competing directly with merchandise) and how it could work for you (i.e., your stuff is competing against the non-existent merchandise for a particular fandom).

In the final few days before a convention, I'm usually more prepared at this point, but this has been an exceptionally odd and sometimes sad year. This may be my last AX for some time. I think that remains to be seen with certain personal factors, work factors, and economic factors coming into play.

Getting ready for a convention, as I said, is a lot of work -- from doing the art, to preparing the supplies, to thinking through how many prints to make and what to take (and what I can't take because I want more of 'x' print) and thinking through some logistics that most other people don't deal with (i.e., HOW MUCH DOES THIS BAG WEIGH). Creating art for a convention in the anime genre is also a bit self-defeating in that you have to create to sell, and anime fandoms aren't interested in original storytelling, which is something comic fandoms pay more heed to .

That said, I amuse myself because I have vacillated between wanting to be a writer that dabbles in art concepts on the side to wanting to be an illustrator that wants to write stories. These may seem like subtle differences to some, but to me they are worlds apart as a creator.

I think I have to make a decision this year on where to go next year creatively.

And the truth is, I want to tell stories, and it's not going to happen unless I take some of the energy I put into working with the tablet, and take out the laptop instead and go into some coffeeshop and pour it all out.

Anyways, this is a year that I have been forced to address the fact that life is short and I need to be doing what I love doing. I'm not sure what that is yet, and what that means for me moving forward.

I want to be that person who has it both ways, to be honest -- to write and to illustrate -- but I can't figure it out. There's not really a model for this out there (too many want you to write/draw in a graphic novel format, and I don't feel like being held down to sequential panels), hence the "AAAAAAAAAAAAA".

Anyways, to those that know me as both writer and artist, I ask you - pick one for me to pursue over the next 3 years. What say you?

And if you can't answer, just please tell me - how many prints should I bring to AX T_T. AAAAA.

On another note, I wanted to continue to remind folks that

has posted info on the contest (or started to). Please pass the information forward as much as possible.

]]> =s-girl Art Museums | AX update - Table B32 http://s-girl.deviantart.com/journal/25354934/ http://s-girl.deviantart.com/journal/25354934/ Sun, 21 Jun 2009 18:26:30 PDT

Feeling rather like I shouldn't bump off the below information, so just scrambling in here to post links to two photo galleries I added to my Photoshop gallery:

Chicago
Chattanooga.

These two include some pics in and around two art museums -- the Art Institute of Chicago (+Millenium Park) and the Hunter American Art Museum in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

And since it's now working again - here's the link to my MEtropolitan Art Museum / San Francisco ASian Art Museum albums
with a heavy emphasis on the Asian collections.

I <3 Museums!

---

Hi all. Looks like the locations are now posted at [link]
I'll be at B32, next to

.

On another note, I wanted to continue to remind folks that

has posted info on the contest (or started to). Please pass the information forward as much as possible.

]]> =s-girl For Hakubaikou http://s-girl.deviantart.com/journal/25206707/ http://s-girl.deviantart.com/journal/25206707/ Mon, 08 Jun 2009 21:25:37 PDT

will be running a Rurouni Kenshin contest in honor of our beloved friend and community member,

who passed away earlier this year.

I think because we wanted to do this in the spirit of the other contests, we will be running it similarly, although I hope I can encourage people just to enter to honor someone who just loved a particular fandom, loved looking out for a whole generation of youngsters, painting in general, and was seriously the coolest artist and person around.

Please monitor that account there.

will be coordinating a bunch of us old judges and a few new ones while we settle upon a theme and go from there.

]]> =s-girl Dead hard drive is NOT DEAD YAY http://s-girl.deviantart.com/journal/25097688/ http://s-girl.deviantart.com/journal/25097688/ Thu, 04 Jun 2009 17:39:45 PDT
Unfortunately, my hard drive is from another era it seems, and the interface is outdated. (My new machine uses a serial ATA adapter. My hard drive an IDE.) Any hoo, ,ade a 30 mile round trip up to Fry's in Duluth in torrential rains and bought a USB 2/IDE-SATA adapter for 24.99.

Plugged it in and WHOA. Hard drive is perfectly fine. Even so, I'm copying my pictures and emails over right now .

I feel enormously relieved. Now I feel like I can back up stuff that I should have backed up (shame on me) and retrieve some files that I hadn't yet had a chance to print/send in for prints for anime expo.

Also, I didn't have to shell out 100 for the diagnostic, plus another 300-900 for a retrieval of data D: Thank goodness. DDDD:::

Anyways, YAY. RAAR. NOW BACK TO WORK

and if you're reading this. Go. Back. Up. Your . Data. Now.

]]> =s-girl Prints - Why I hate not doing prints myself http://s-girl.deviantart.com/journal/25029834/ http://s-girl.deviantart.com/journal/25029834/ Sat, 30 May 2009 09:10:06 PDT
Unfortunately one batch came in my mail squashed into my mailbox. The person who packed it failed to put "DO NOT BEND" on the envelope so the mail carrier did not know to place it instead with an office for pickup so I have some 8x10s that now need to be placed under books/boxes for the next few days. I'm kind of in a bitchy enough mood (after not having enough sleep the past few days) to yell at the company, but I think I'll just try to be calm about it and hope that the issues will be resolved with some weight.

The DA batch came all 'matte' and now I have to contemplate whether to even reorder them or not. Problem is most of my prints I always envision with a gloss finish because the colors work better with light reflection. I'm irritated because I think this happened because I was multitasking and failed to see that when you add prints to the shop it defaults with a matte finish. (Yes, I have attempted to correct this now.)

Think I'm going to go out for some fresh air now (i.e., drive with the sunroof open and my music blasting) before I hunker down and do another marathon session working (or redoing) some pieces that I am just not happy with.

Still tempted to scrap most of my fanart. Feeling grumpy. And it's not even PMS time . hahahaha!

]]> =s-girl T-39 | Cartoon Network doin reviews at AX09 http://s-girl.deviantart.com/journal/24964782/ http://s-girl.deviantart.com/journal/24964782/ Tue, 26 May 2009 16:30:37 PDT
Nice to see a clarification of what is going to be asked. I know some folks in last year's alley were actual animation students and that there are a bunch out here on DA, so am posting this nice link that someone from CN it seems has kindly provided in the forum thread I started (trouble in xD ):

[link]

SO THERE YOU GO.

]]> =s-girl T- 39 |Prints http://s-girl.deviantart.com/journal/24911722/ http://s-girl.deviantart.com/journal/24911722/ Sat, 23 May 2009 17:51:00 PDT

In terms of convention prep and where I am, I'm still working on a few more pieces , but also finally did an inventory of my bag post-Momocon (hahahahaha, I'm so bad) so I can determine what to reorder and what not to reprint. Since I'm dissatisfied with probably 80% of everything fanart from two years ago and prior to that, I don't really plan to do much reprinting. (I seriously was about to trash my gallery but decided to wait until I'm feeling less impulsive.)

ANYHOO... back to painting my obscure fanarts xD

]]> =s-girl T-50 Days http://s-girl.deviantart.com/journal/24728794/ http://s-girl.deviantart.com/journal/24728794/ Tue, 12 May 2009 21:00:00 PDT Time until Thursday, July 2, 2009 at 9:00:00 AM (Los Angeles time)
50 days
1212 hours
72723 minutes
4363406 seconds

Yeah. I'm in serious art doo-doo as I haven't drawn anything remotely anime in a while XDDDD.
I think I'm going to do a few new pieces, but I'm going to also just clean up some older ones that simply were too far ahead of the current anime audience the last two years.

But overall, I think my list of ideas is far too great for the timeframe I have left to get things together.

WOOO. I LOVE LAST MINUTE ART!!!

]]> =s-girl Sabbatical http://s-girl.deviantart.com/journal/24488396/ http://s-girl.deviantart.com/journal/24488396/ Tue, 28 Apr 2009 20:53:05 PDT
Due to work related events, I will be offline for some time. My apologies in advance for not leaving comments or looking through DA 'deviations.'

For those that know what my day job is, please do NOT comment regarding that here. That said, I'm doing okay so far. Some days are just horridly long. Sometimes I don't even know what day it is.

That's how it goes.

Hopefully this will not be a long absence from art or posting, but we'll have to see. If you ever need to reach me, go ahead and email me instead. You can see the email below.

Be well and stay healthy.
See you soon.

]]> =s-girl Mangabullet!! http://s-girl.deviantart.com/journal/24224119/ http://s-girl.deviantart.com/journal/24224119/ Mon, 13 Apr 2009 16:32:13 PDT [link]

If you're on there... add me!

]]> =s-girl Apple , Collection 02 | Painter 11 http://s-girl.deviantart.com/journal/24102958/ http://s-girl.deviantart.com/journal/24102958/ Mon, 06 Apr 2009 21:48:55 PDT That said, I picked up the second volume in the "apple" collection this weekend. I had been eyeing it for a few weeks, but not until after the last convention did I feel it was okay to perhaps splurge a little in getting it.

For those of you who aren't familiar with the basic idea of it, Apple features Korean artists who work in different illustrative areas (many are gaming artists for example) and are asked to either submit illustrations or short manhwa (which is Korean for comics).

What I love about this book is the quality of the print and just the weird humor that you find in it... I think what I also just love is that the look in here is really unique. You see a lot of different kinds of style of cartooning and illustration and a lot of the work has great textures.

I'm not too sure what the predominant software is, but to me a lot of looks like Shi, Painter and non-Photoshop things. So as a result there's a lot of volume and '

op' in the works.

In any case, wanted to say I really enjoy this book and for those local folks who don't want to splurge on it, let's set up some time for a draw and art book stare time sometime soon.

....

Painter 11 I love you. ROTATE ROCKS MY WORLD.

...
Next Kiriban is posted on the top of my top page ^______________^

]]> =s-girl Anime Expo 2009 | In Memory http://s-girl.deviantart.com/journal/23992789/ http://s-girl.deviantart.com/journal/23992789/ Tue, 31 Mar 2009 19:22:28 PDT
I have a lot of mixed feelings about going. I really enjoyed last year and very much like the diversity of tastes encountered at this convention (as well as the EPIC COPIC STAND IN THE DEALER'S ROOM). However, as some of you who are closer to me know, one of the regulars at AX, and a good friend of mine Hakubaikou, passed away earlier this year in an accident.

For me, Anime Expo is always associated with her and a few other special people (among them, the now absent from DA and LJ Furonobono and Eddit). These past few months, I hemmed and hawwed about going because she won't be there. In many ways too, I kind of am just back at the "life is too short" to be just sort of poking about aimlessly in AAs. But I know that Haku is also a good reason to go. There are good memories too at AX to think about and revisit.

The other thing I've kind of decided this year, is that I'm not going to ask the question "what fanart to draw," because of the many times we've talked about fanart and stuff between the two of us. I can hear her telling me to not fall into the trap of drawing to sell, but to be just myself and do what I want to do. Yeah. It's a big jump to take, but that's okay. I think I'm okay. I'm going to draw what I feel like and hopefully make some people laugh or smile or go WOW, YOU ARE SOOOOO WEIRD.

On a last note, for those who also knew Haku, please go back and look carefully at the final journal [link] that her family posted. If by some chance you didn't know what happened and were among those who met her at various Anime Expos these past few years, please go look and leave a note. It would mean a lot to folks who knew Charlene well.

And please, don't leave me any notes of sympathy or comments expressing your condolences. I did not write this to engender responses in that nature. If we do meet up at AX, instead come by and tell me a good joke or story. LIfe needs more laughter. (To be honest, given the grueling task of sitting behind the table for four days, I may need both laughter and caffeine at many points in time, but I'll take the laughter. ) Charlene was all laughter, good stories, and oh man... just an appreciator of life.

For those who aren't at AX, well I say "learn how to draw for yourself with whatever time you have." If you've got something to say or draw, do it now. Don't wait for another day to make your masterpieces.

]]> =s-girl ByeBye Mangarevolution http://s-girl.deviantart.com/journal/23852103/ http://s-girl.deviantart.com/journal/23852103/ Mon, 23 Mar 2009 15:58:25 PDT this thread. (Edit: It is now offline, so see for more info.)

It's kind of sad to see these other smaller alternatives to DA disappear, particularly since there are some good tutorials there and better opportunities to find artists that are otherwise lost in the interwebs.

...

On another note - MMMMMPH.
(That's how I feel.)

Photo gallery and journal: [link]

What went down at Otakon aA 2008: [link] ]]> =s-girl Why I like the Creative Commons License http://s-girl.deviantart.com/journal/23833783/ http://s-girl.deviantart.com/journal/23833783/ Sun, 22 Mar 2009 14:44:36 PDT
What kind of puzzles is why there has been absolutely no education about the Creative commons options we have at our disposal here at DA and how they should be used. So oh well, let the people debate copyrights while I state WHY I use the Creative commons license stuff here on DA.

Basically - see the options here and what they mean.
[link]

Yes , it's not enforceable, but it's a clear standard meaning that there can be ways to not hurt the little guy who just wants to download something to look at on their machine or ipod, but also says "no way, don't do anything beyond that."

Note that all of my original works are no reproduction without attribution, no licensing or derivative works.

In brief: Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives:
This license is the most restrictive of our six main licenses, allowing redistribution. This license is often called the Âfree advertisingÂ license because it allows others to download your works and share them with others as long as they mention you and link back to you, but they canÂt change them in any way or use them commercially.

What I like is that "no derivatives" really does cover tracing IMHO. It covers collaging. It covers a whole bunch of stuff.

Anyhoo, I know it's not foolproof, but folks, look it up and figure out how to use it.

Photo gallery and journal: [link]

What went down at Otakon aA 2008: [link] ]]> =s-girl Convention update :) | 50k Kiriban http://s-girl.deviantart.com/journal/23736402/ http://s-girl.deviantart.com/journal/23736402/ Mon, 16 Mar 2009 19:28:59 PDT
I really have to say that it was an overwhelming experience this year with such an increase in foot traffic. Thankfully we didn't have any weird things happen as in previous years and thankfully the room we were in for our part of the AA was possibly the least crowded and coolest in the building.
I am glad I got see

again and meet her faithful boothbunny (who probably will kill me for calling her that) . I also have to say I really enjoyed talking to my table neighbor D, who deserves some serious respect for putting in all that time to make her charms and accessories (and who doesn't have a DA to promote here <-- D: ). Many of the artists in there are hard hard workers. As someone who does this as a "hobbyist" (yes,you can hiss at me), I think fans should understand that the AA is fun, but that fun is secondary to putting your best foot forward every day at every con. It is also a significant risk for a lot of artists who haven't built an established base -- there's investment in materials, prints, lodging, food, etc. SO... next time you see an artist, throw some props or virtual hugs their way

. (Emphasis: virtual.)

Speaking of virtual hugs-- it was sad not to have

there, but I did see him and Lupenzo and also met Gio -- all from Catdrool.com. And I have a really awesome LC3 mini-drawing of BOOBEAR drinking a big bucket of green tea. (Oh thou knowest me so well it shames me, LC3!)

Anime Weekend Atlanta!!!!
Anyways - some good news. I got my notification about Anime Weekend Atlanta, and I was told that I did get a table... I'm looking forward to that one a lot as we see how the changes to the alley begin to play out. I'm pretty excited about the encouragement to showcase more and more original art. I definitely have been wanting to do more of my own stories/writing/painting lately and think this is a great direction for a convention. That said - I am also thinking I need some part-time help at the convention as I would like to not to have to run to the bathroom only once a day. (TMI I know, but SRSLY!) If you are local and are seriously interested, please note me. If you are currently a booth bunny and feel you are not appreciated, let me hire you away. (Ahem:

)

Anime Expo
Anime Expo also posted up their artist packet in the last few days. (That was a hint to some of you.) Yes. I shall attempt to register with the masses as well and hope that luck will be on my side.

50k Kiriban:

got it, so move along now... I'll announce the next one sometime soon after I think about a good target that might show up in a month or so

Photo gallery and journal: [link]

What went down at Otakon aA 2008: [link] ]]> =s-girl Momocon this weekend | 50K - Will do art request http://s-girl.deviantart.com/journal/23424953/ http://s-girl.deviantart.com/journal/23424953/ Mon, 09 Mar 2009 23:11:12 PDT

and his faithful minion. T_T. I also have figured out who else is in the room, and this should be a very diverse and different group of folks based on my poking around DA.

and one cosplay crafter, I believe.

I just hope this year goes without a mishap. Firecrackers, tornadoes, and food poisoning have pretty much marked the last few years. GAHHHHH. I MUST BREAK THE BAD LUCK!!!
So please seriously... cross your fingers for me.
===========

50k Kiriban

Art request can be for an original character or fanart digital painting.
You know I won't do certain kinds of things that will get me permabanned off DA, but other than that I'm pretty open to whatever interests the person who gets closest to 50k. (You must pass it though, and not be short! You also must screenshot it clearly so I can see the view and PM me here.)

If you are so inclined and we can figure out mailing, I'll mail you a print

Photo gallery and journal: [link]

What went down at Otakon aA 2008: [link] ]]> =s-girl 2009 Conventions http://s-girl.deviantart.com/journal/23152378/ http://s-girl.deviantart.com/journal/23152378/ Thu, 12 Feb 2009 08:28:32 PST * Momocon (confirmed)
* Anime Expo (will apply)
* Anime Weekend Atlanta (will apply)

Among the interesting things to emerge this year are the responses by various convention artist alley staff to the commercialization of the alley. No convention seems to be resopnding with the same combination of changes and policies, but there definitely seems to be an interest in addressing the fanart issue, the infringement of crafts issue, and an attempt to push the alley content in a different direction.

In any case, I wasn't too sure I was going to even bother this year. The last few weeks actually made me question a lot of things again, but I think the point of going this year is going to simply fulfill several personal commitments to certain people.

Photo gallery and journal: [link]

What went down at Otakon aA 2008: [link] ]]> =s-girl Tagged! http://s-girl.deviantart.com/journal/22796544/ http://s-girl.deviantart.com/journal/22796544/ Sun, 25 Jan 2009 06:16:09 PST

... remember I don't do memes, but since it was his first one and I don't want to be the mean doofus who breaks the chain...

1. Post these rules.
2. Each tagged person must post 8 things about their self on their journal.
3. At the end, you have to choose and tag 8 people and post their icons on the same journal.
4. Go to their pages and send a message saying you tagged them.
5. No tag-backs.

Eight things about me
1. I have a severe addiction to caffeine.
2. The reason I started drawing actively around age 6-8 is because we didn't have a lot of paper dolls or barbie dolls and so we drew our own paper dolls and clothes.
3. My professional job has nothing to do with art.
4. I suspect my parents have never seen any of my work other than one cartoon I drew representing my 'graffiti days' as a little kid.
5. I'm originally from the Midwest, can't you tell?
6. Other than art, I really enjoy writing and music.
7. I am compulsive.
8. I have about 80 copic markers now. See #7 above.

I TAG ANYONE WHO READS THIS. Which may not be 8 people

Photo gallery and journal: [link]

What went down at Otakon aA 2008: [link] ]]> =s-girl did the beta go away? http://s-girl.deviantart.com/journal/22680292/ http://s-girl.deviantart.com/journal/22680292/ Mon, 19 Jan 2009 18:32:44 PST
Hope to have something posted this week in terms of digital painting. I'm trying to find some inspiration to get going again, but it's awfully hard these days. I think I'm just kind of tired in many ways -- more artistically , emotionally, etc.

Photo gallery and journal: [link]

What went down at Otakon aA 2008: [link] ]]> =s-girl New Year's stuff http://s-girl.deviantart.com/journal/22501922/ http://s-girl.deviantart.com/journal/22501922/ Sat, 10 Jan 2009 08:22:52 PST
I am doodling these days still, and do plan to come back to some digital work, but for now am still doing a lot of sketching.

I think though what I need to do is to start with a more proactive disciplined approach this year.
I just signed up for a life drawing class and hope I get in. It was not really planned, so we'll see XD

Other than that, the lack of interest in the convention scene is why I haven't bothered much with fanart. That and there isn't a single show that makes me want to draw anything for it at the moment!

Anyways, hope all is well with you.

Photo gallery and journal: [link]

What went down at Otakon aA 2008: [link] ]]> =s-girl WOOO New layout http://s-girl.deviantart.com/journal/22005437/ http://s-girl.deviantart.com/journal/22005437/ Mon, 15 Dec 2008 20:16:08 PST
Photo gallery and journal: [link]

What went down at Otakon aA 2008: [link] ]]> =s-girl Randomness http://s-girl.deviantart.com/journal/21832745/ http://s-girl.deviantart.com/journal/21832745/ Fri, 05 Dec 2008 14:35:44 PST [link]

Inately curious, I decided to ask this question after seeing so many messages from DA about various product options. It's all well and good to offer these options, but after watching the economy affect the AA in many ways since September 2007, I have to scratch my head and wonder if artists are the among the last to understand what is happening. So... answer the poll, and get others to do the same. The more people who answer, the better!

And yes, I'm doodling again, albeit slowly.

Anyways... back to scribbling and acquiring markers 8D

Photo gallery and journal: [link]

What went down at Otakon aA 2008: [link] ]]> =s-girl Happy Thanksgiving http://s-girl.deviantart.com/journal/21687115/ http://s-girl.deviantart.com/journal/21687115/ Wed, 26 Nov 2008 19:15:20 PST
It's hard to comprehend the stories we're hearing this year about food banks having more people at their doors, and less to give away.

I hope though that those of you out there who do follow this DA account do have a good day. But I know there may be some who won't because of their circumstances.

For those who don't have to tighten their belts tomorrow, aren't stuck somewhere because of the cost of travel, be extra thankful this year for what you do have. And keep others in your thoughts. If you can give, give. If you believe, pray.

This is a hard time for many.

Photo gallery and journal: [link]

What went down at Otakon aA 2008: [link] ]]> =s-girl Adam Hughes and Allison Sohn | Copics oh Copics http://s-girl.deviantart.com/journal/21461259/ http://s-girl.deviantart.com/journal/21461259/ Wed, 12 Nov 2008 20:29:27 PST

and

were guests at the Atlanta Binders Art Store Artists Demonstration Day. They were technically there for a COPICS/Canson panel (as those are the markers that were being used by both artists), but in spite of most attendees not showing very much interest in the media, did a really interesting panel.

Adam is a very entertaining guy, who took whatever questions we threw at him. (His sense of humor was self-deprecating and a bit fanboyish, which I found really fun. He seems to really like sci-fi fantasy live action shows, which is pretty cool.)Allison likewise was pretty cool as they both took a lot of questions about the business.

What I liked was seeing Adam's pieces in progress. He had a Gen13 Fairchild ink commission that he was toning with a nice set of gray copics and he did talk about his process and did a few neat things with the paper and markers that I'll have to keep in mind for next time.

Allison was really interesting to observe prior to the start of the workshop. She is another person who uses colored/textured papers and had this neat little white ink that she talked about using with her copics work. (I need to remember to look up Windsor Newton white ink for the future.)

But ANYWAYS, I won another copics manual and a ciao marker due to my special insane knowledge of COPICS (Yes, Special Black = 110), but gave the book to the guy sitting next to me. Then, after the demo, I walked over to look at the spiffy new super duper COPICS rack that they got to showcase their stuff. (There's now a special COPICS rack similar to the Pantone and Prisma type displays one sees in most art stores.) And I convinced people to buy COPICS XD

This is the extent of my sick addiction to these markers.

On other news, I haven't done any digital work in weeks since I started my fixation on another Korean MMORPG. It's horrific!!!

I do have a few pencil sketches sitting around and am experiencing style schizophrenia whereas I think I want to push back to my early 2000 style in some ways. DOn't know.... but I don't feel like doing large pieces while I try to figure this out.

And on a random question to all of you out there... how is the economy impacting you these days? I just want to know... particular to the artists out there... what's definitely changed for you?

PS. Yeah. I'm really sucked into this MMORPG. I absolutely love how it looks too. I think if I could paint like these guys at Atlantica Online, I would be one fantastically happy person. But yeah, it's not really helping me with the art stuff. Or writing. Or anything XD

In other words, my art brain has been sucked out of my head XD

Photo gallery and journal: [link]

What went down at Otakon aA 2008: [link] ]]> =s-girl :p http://s-girl.deviantart.com/journal/21234961/ http://s-girl.deviantart.com/journal/21234961/ Thu, 30 Oct 2008 15:57:36 PDT Or randomly.

Anyways, I've been slacking art lately because I'm tired and because I"ve been sucked into the stress-reduction zone of MMORPGs.

So... give me something of an assignment. List something I should draw for next year - Original concept or fanart. I will take all suggestions (except for Family Guy suggestions) with due consideration.

Nyah!

Photo gallery and journal: [link]

What went down at Otakon aA 2008: [link] ]]> =s-girl yawn 45654 kiriban http://s-girl.deviantart.com/journal/20945742/ http://s-girl.deviantart.com/journal/20945742/ Sat, 11 Oct 2008 23:49:52 PDT So catch 45654... or something close to it... if no one catches this one either, I'll kill these until 50,005.

Photo gallery and journal: [link]

What went down at Otakon aA 2008: [link] ]]> =s-girl Bump | 45045 | Self-publishing comics? http://s-girl.deviantart.com/journal/20850563/ http://s-girl.deviantart.com/journal/20850563/ Sun, 05 Oct 2008 22:01:26 PDT

put up the CUTEST AWA con report at [link]

And yes.. it's true. We tried to steal the minion. Then we talked trash because the minion was loyal XD

For details on the 45045 kiriban see other AWA report: [link]

Yeah.

ON a good note, I have a new monitor. I'm so blessed to be able to get the upgrade to both cpu and monitor. It's letting me change my work style - particularly in that I can scratch out more lines now at higher resolutions. It has been very frustrating painting digitally up to this point and now I can work big and change the way I deal with Painter.

I've also been moving forward a lot in the original concept stuff. I'm anxious actually to start writing again. I feel like everytime I forget about the joy of writing, some note comes in here and there to some old things I wrote about 3-4 years ago and it reminds me that the reasons I turned to it was because it was so much easier to "paint" something with words over drawing. Don't get me wrong, I love drawing, but I love writing with it.

The question of the moment is -- where to put these hybrid works out? I have never used some of the comic book self-publishing companies and I'm guessing that's the most affordable method, although I don't have any earthly idea how much it costs . If you have any experiences to speak of, tell me... I want to know.

I also want to know about webcomic publication and whether "illustrated stories" fit that genre. I know there are lots of directories, but what if I do a mostly written work more like "Stardust" over a graphic novel? Will I find myself shut out of those directories? (If so, then meh... better to print publish, I think...)

Anyways, YAY to writing again. And painting with new computer

And yay to AWA for being such a great convention. I'm still living off the joys of convention fumes!

Photo gallery and journal: [link]

What went down at Otakon aA 2008: [link] ]]> =s-girl Mememememe (TWO) http://s-girl.deviantart.com/journal/20745509/ http://s-girl.deviantart.com/journal/20745509/ Mon, 29 Sep 2008 16:36:02 PDT

1. Post these rules.
2. Each tagged person must post 8 things about their self on their journal.
3. At the end, you have to choose and tag 8 people and post their icons on the same journal.
4. Go to their pages and send a message saying you tagged them.
5. No tag-backs.

1. My sign is Cancer.
2. Full moons make me nuts. (Therefore, I must be a werewolf.)
3. I kicked a boy for bullying my friend. His mom was not pleased.
4. I have a weakness for MMORPGs.
5. I cry easily. Even at commercials.
6. I hate sycophantry.
7. Money does not impress me.
8. I have been to Alaska twice.

Ha. Talk about random. No tagging back because it needs to end >D

---

Tagged by

from [link]

Dear LC3:

I don't really know how to tell you this, but Our horoscope doesn't match. I think I realized it When you put cuffs on me Under the bus and I saw you Sit on Manchester United's goalkeeper. I'm sure you're Ashamed enough to understand that there is no solution to this.. I'm returning your ring to you, but I'll keep Your collection of butterflies as a memory. You should also know that I Will tell the authorities about A new life as a clone .

Disgusting Regards,
s-girl
-----------

Moving on,.... need to finish some work that is way overdue. Convention season is over and gone for a long time. Thank goodness.

Photo gallery and journal: [link]

What went down at Otakon aA 2008: [link] ]]> =s-girl AWA Shoutout part 2 | 45045 next kiriban http://s-girl.deviantart.com/journal/20693696/ http://s-girl.deviantart.com/journal/20693696/ Sat, 27 Sep 2008 11:43:25 PDT
Non-US folks can participate, but due to postage restrictions, I'm going to limit the maximum print size involved to letter or smaller.

Remember to screencap the number of pageview on my page and PM or comment me with the link. It doesn't have to be the exact pageview, but the closest to the number in question (and greater than the number in question).

The below is a disturbing image generated by a very talented artist. I'm not sure exactly why it happened, but I blame

for starting it and my big mouth for suggesting the idea ... sort of... it kind of got out of hand. *pun*

Photobucket

For full story on WHY/HOW/WHAT -- see [link]

For rest of con report on AWA see [link]

Photo gallery and journal: [link]

What went down at Otakon aA 2008: [link] ]]> =s-girl AWA 2008 was EPIC | Shoutout part 1 http://s-girl.deviantart.com/journal/20676549/ http://s-girl.deviantart.com/journal/20676549/ Thu, 25 Sep 2008 20:02:29 PDT
This year was interesting. AWA 2007 was the first hint of the economic downturn, but this year was a very strange experience as the economy seems to have worsened particularly for all sales. I don't know that this was a good year financially for many folks, but the odd thing for me was watching the dealer's room jack up prices during the convention. (Que???)

But overall, I'm happy to have moved more prints out of my hands. Still, I have some more I'd like to share/sell/send and will post about that later.

The best thing about AWA is always the people. The parents of

and

are the kindest people I know of. They fed me (or rather included me in their children feeding efforts) most of the weekend. It was really nice to have mom-made sandwiches XD. And their two kids were really awesome. You know , I went in kind of feeling stressed and not willing to be bothered about AWA, but I came away really enjoying myself the entire convention mostly due to the entertaining antics of this family.

What I really like is building relationships with people. Let me say that another highlight was spending Saturday evening with

and

. We ended up inviting them over Saturday evening as the Artist Alley Marketplace closed early. We squashed five of us behind two and a half tables and drew possibly the most revolting/tintillating version of Grimmjow EVAR IMAGINABLE. I don't have the evidence of such misdeeds, but seriously,.... I am amazed at our fangirlish WEIRDNESS.

My memory right now for da names is terrible, but I also really have to say it was very fun being by

and

as well as

. Truly, nice nice people. And Dan is so pretty in his french maid apron XD (Hahahaha.I HAVE EVIDENCE.) Luc kept putting chocolate son our tables. And Tirael was just fun to chat to in general. (And oh her chibis looked so tasty.)

I got to talk more to :iconhackstudios: and

who are people I really just met this year. Of course, it was always good to see the old crew,

and her fiance,

and his booth buddy Lupenzo,

and her familiy. (LOL, I talked to her Dad more than to her.

) I am pretty amused that I also finally talked more than five minutes to

but talked more to his ninja girlfriend (without knowing it)!

There were really so many people... and some awesome crafts people too. I can't get over HOW MUCH stuff I bought in terms of prints and doodads.

So,... don't know what to say other than... ]]> =s-girl AWA 2008 Table 11 http://s-girl.deviantart.com/journal/20474823/ http://s-girl.deviantart.com/journal/20474823/ Thu, 18 Sep 2008 20:52:53 PDT Countdown to DOOM
Thursday night: I stood an hour in the pre-registered line to get my weekend pass. Because I have to go to work in the early part of the day tomorrow (as I need to meet up with my group), I did not want to arrive tomorrow afternoon and spend another few hours in line when I could be sitting in my chair in the AA.

Anyways, happy to be done, but kind of =_= at the moment. The economy sucks. And I'm exhausted from a very hard year of work and conventions.

I'm not sure what kind of signage so look for

[link]"
on my table! Hopefully by Saturday you'll see my sky high blue banner too

That and I WILL LIKELY BE DRAWING TONS OF ALTO FANART. XD. I'm sorry, but MAcross 24 was just amazing. I'm in love with this fandom. You will soon be bored with my gallery because I"m going to just draw it obsessively for a while as I've started writing /drawing again in my fairy tale sandbox.

Anyhow. I will survive. Guhhhh.
=========================

Yeah. Given all the craziness of life after moving, I feel very unprepared for AWA. I just got some of my supplies in this weekend, so I'm finally bagging and boarding prints!

Anyways, I'll be in the Alley at table 11, across and by a lot of folks from Catdrool as well as near some really good talent from Tokyopop. I have no idea if I'll have a sign or what as I left pieces of the sign back in LA @_@, so just look for the person sniffing her COPICS at Table 11 X-D

Prints, Limited Keychains, Sketches
I'll be running some print sales on older inventory this time around as I want to clear out some stuff.

I also can do some limited custom keychains, so stop on by and put in your request early! I will take various doodle commissions. What I think I might do is price by size, so if you have a limited budget , don't worry. I'm pretty flexible as long as I get some sugar and coffee

So much awesomeness that I think I'm going to die
I'll be next to:

and

and across from

and

I'll also be near the very cool

and near

and the master of the wig

. (To be honest, I'm going to start popping coffees on Friday lunch time so I can keep up with all these people!)

Stop on by ye geeks of the old school anime and Macross Frontier 8D. If I'm in a good mood, I"m going to be giving away sketches of some old fave shows of mine... or if not, I will have candy... candy... candy...

Photo gallery and journal: [link]

What went down at Otakon aA 2008: [link] ]]> =s-girl 9.11.01 http://s-girl.deviantart.com/journal/20430490/ http://s-girl.deviantart.com/journal/20430490/ Wed, 10 Sep 2008 20:54:20 PDT
It was a horrifying scene to watch unfold on TV. It was a horrifying experience for people who had family in NYC, were from NYC, and had friends who worked in the Twin towers.

I knew someone who died in the towers that day. I didn't know him well, but he and I were the same age, had chatted here and there. I had met him several times over about 1-2 years because his friends were here in Atlanta. We were acquaintances in real life and chatted electronically when he returned home.

He was early to work that day, an unusual situation for him. Had he gone in the usual time, the situation would be different.

He might be alive.

Life is sometimes cruelly, terribly short.
And for many people tomorrow will be a time to relive those painful memories.

Keep them in your thoughts.
And instead of commenting here, take a moment to give thanks for the gift of an extra day, the gift of life.

]]> =s-girl Meme http://s-girl.deviantart.com/journal/20425427/ http://s-girl.deviantart.com/journal/20425427/ Wed, 10 Sep 2008 15:39:48 PDT

1. What is your deviantART name and what does it mean?
s-girl is an abbreviated form of sherlgirl. Nothing special. Just laziness.

2. Why did you join this site?
I actually don't remember. I think maybe someone else had mentioned it to me and I signed up out of curiousity or to be able to use the search function for fanart.

3. What fandom were you obsessed with when you joined?
Rurouni Kenshin

4. How many people are currently watching you?
270 according to the gallery stats.

5. Your first gift ever was to?
Huh? DA-gift? I don't remember. It's been a long time since I joined!

6. List 5 things you're a fan of.
* Chocolate
* Space operas and sci-fi
* Anime
* Copic markers
* Music soundtracks!

___________________________________________________

1) think of comebacks to the insults below. You may add as many insults as you want.

2) answer the comebacks.

3) tag 5 people and MAKE SURE THEY DO IT!!

You're such an idiot.
* And you're the world's foremost authority on idiots, moron.

God you are such a nerd.
* Thank you.

Get a Life
* (Usually this only merits a searching look as if to say 'And you have one?'

Hey fatty!
* Hey jackass *smile*

You're insane.
* Well, that's obvious.

You have absolutely NO life.
* (This is sounding familiar to the above. Insert any of the above derogatory statements or looks .)

You're so weird.
* Thank you.

You are SUCH a klutz.
* Whoops. Sorry for dropping that cinderblock on your head!

You're crazy.
* Says the woman who thinks Paris Hilton is her role model.

Pay attention.
* It's either pay attention to you, or drive off the road. Take your pick.

You're gay
* That's what you wish

(but I"m just not that into you! XD)

F**k off
* (Actually I don't respond except to walk away. If that's what they want, that's what they get. BUt I don't bother again with this person. )

I tag.....

Photo gallery and journal: [link]

What went down at Otakon aA 2008: [link] ]]> =s-girl Whoa Vista http://s-girl.deviantart.com/journal/20395143/ http://s-girl.deviantart.com/journal/20395143/ Mon, 08 Sep 2008 17:02:01 PDT
This dual core stuff is making me realize now I had been wasting a lot of time with an inefficient processor. Painter 8 files that took a minute or more to open are now open before I can turn around... and the print I just ran off took less than 30 seconds to generate a 8.5x11 photo print!

It makes me want to scream in joy, and in frustration. I should have upgraded earlier...

pshaw.

Photo gallery and journal: [link]

What went down at Otakon aA 2008: [link] ]]> =s-girl Copics and AWA http://s-girl.deviantart.com/journal/20358937/ http://s-girl.deviantart.com/journal/20358937/ Sat, 06 Sep 2008 14:06:56 PDT
I've actually decided I don't like the multiliners for smaller widths. There's a tendency of some of the pens to skip across the paper and I really hate having to run over the surface again with ink so I'm going to try some new Straedler pens I found today at a different artstore in Midtown Atlanta.

...

Other than that, I think I'm not doing any new large size prints for AWA. Other than restocking bags and boards from Clearbags and printing things myself using my awesome Canon *lovelove* I think I'm going to just see how things ride out this year.

The economy was bad last year, but it's horrid now. Unemployment is now at a five year high and so I'm just lowballing my expectations this year out. (And I may end up doing some simple sketches in exchange for iced coffee. whee!)

But anyways, if anyone is going to be at AWA and wants something specific, please let me know if you haven't already. There is a small risk I may have to pull out of the alley if Ike goes crazy in the Gulf of Mexico. However, I have been setting aside things requested of me and I will make a quick trip up to the Galleria and leave requested prints with the cabal of artists around me (they just don't know it yet >D)

Thanks so much guys. And please keep those impacted by the hurricanes in your thoughts.

Photo gallery and journal: [link]

What went down at Otakon aA 2008: [link] ]]> =s-girl disconnected updates http://s-girl.deviantart.com/journal/20280304/ http://s-girl.deviantart.com/journal/20280304/ Mon, 01 Sep 2008 20:55:25 PDT

And other than that, the latest barrage of hurricanes will be throwing a random element at the next month for me at work and also here where I reside. I do expect to be at AWA, but I don't really know at this rate. Let's hope everyone is safe these next few days and weeks. I have colleagues and friends who are somewhere in Gustav's path right now, and hope for the best for them as well as the many hundreds of thousands of individuals who are riding this storm out.

It saddens me to hear of the many casualties in Haiti and in other places along its path. I've heard already there are seven deaths attributed to Gustav on CNN earlier tonight. I'll hope we don't hear of more.

...

Otakon finally acknowledged something, I guess: [link] . It strikes me as interesting that ANN got it right, but Otakon's statement was slightly incorrect. It wasn't one artist, but one group of two artists that perpetuated the multiple table buy. Oh well.

...

With the burnout of work and the artist alley this past year, art is a bit of an obstacle for me lately, so I will be quiet for a while longer, trying to recharge.

Photo gallery and journal: [link]

What went down at Otakon aA 2008: [link] ]]> =s-girl Copics vs. S-girl: WIN FOR COPICS http://s-girl.deviantart.com/journal/20138624/ http://s-girl.deviantart.com/journal/20138624/ Sun, 24 Aug 2008 21:01:07 PDT
Ended up doing a doodle for the other friend as a 'caricature' of her, but while we were goofing off, the black marker was dying a horrible death and refused to be recharged using the normal means discussed in an earlier journal.

So I took out the copics syringe refiller and started working on the marker over the sink thinking I could get it work and the next thing you know, the sink is black, my hands are black, and the entire marker is covered in black ink .

Whoops.

So I've rubbed my hands down with rubbing alcohol (as the markers are alcohol based) and with every type of cleaner on hand, and after washing them many times, taking a shower, etc., I still have black nails -_-.

I'm not sure what to throw at my hands next that won't result in major problems, so I suspect I"m going to be walking around all with week with black fingernails XD (If you have any recommendations on removing alcohol-based ink that don't involve more toxic chemicals, please let me know!)

Maybe I should go find some polish and cover it up.

And I think the black marker is a total waste. I know it's the marker I use the most in my arsenal, so I think I'm going to have just buy a new one and avoid the black ink bottles like crazy. I can't walk around with black hands like this again XD

Stupid black marker. D:

Photo gallery and journal: [link]

What went down at Otakon aA 2008: [link] ]]> =s-girl Meh - http://s-girl.deviantart.com/journal/20112440/ http://s-girl.deviantart.com/journal/20112440/ Sat, 23 Aug 2008 11:48:23 PDT
I've been frustrated by where conventions are heading these past few years, and thinking that something is wrong with a system that tolerates a LOT of crap in the alley and in the dealer's room as well. I'm not sure it's actually correct for them to be so hands off on what vendors do within the confines of their event. Just because you sign a contract, I'm not sure it absolves you of responsibility later should something weird happen. Just because some of these people on the other side are buddies, doesn't mean that they should get a free ride. They should be held to the same standard as new entities and the public at large. And just because people who voice concerns are strangers to staff, it doesn't mean we're all drama-tards. The way people have been treated when raising issues that border on criminal practice has been to be ignored or shut down by staff/moderators in various forums.

It's annoying. We're not all children here. Some of us are professionals and have jobs and responsibilities. We would be, outside of the convention atmosphere, your peers.

And the SDCC mess. THat's terrible. All sorts of allegations of women being fondled, groped, harassed and likely being told they can't do anything about it.

So next year, meh... to be honest, there's only one large convention I want to go to in any capacity. I may look at the small academic convention (Connecticon?) if it returns as well. Or just forget it.

Fandom jumped the shark awhile ago, I realize, and maybe it's time to just exit.

Photo gallery and journal: [link]

What went down at Otakon aA 2008: [link] ]]> =s-girl Ninja visitors | Artist Alley stuff again http://s-girl.deviantart.com/journal/19970298/ http://s-girl.deviantart.com/journal/19970298/ Fri, 15 Aug 2008 12:45:31 PDT
DA has nice tricky features that let me keep track of certain things. Clearly there is now a lot of curious traffic coming in for several reasons.

1> I was not at Otakon, so please refer to

's very well-thought out journal here: [link] if you are seeking some more clarification on something you may have read. The thread in which the original information was posted (and appropriately taken up FIRST with conventions taff) is a members only post so only those who are members of the board can view that information. Please do not ask me about Otakon, as I wasn't there

. I'm reading about it like the rest of you. I have formulated an opinion and at this point after reading the journal and considered the words and statements of some very decent people who I have known for several years to be honest folks, not waivered in the conclusion I drew.

However, I respect your right to hold doubts or ask for more information. That is really only fair. It's hard to understand things without context.

2> I was in the 2008 Anime Expo Artist Alley, and became aware through my surfing of blogs, DA and by talking to attendees and artists of something that was questionable with respect to one of the aforementioned artists. If you are that curious, you can see my earlier journal and the referenced discussion at the anime expo forums: [link] and at [link] . (Edit: FOrum threads have been deleted by staff. )

While those forums are available and open for those of you to peruse, please be assured that the staff there have already responded, are very aware of many issues aside from accountable registration practices and are actively addressing concerns.

3> And for the reason why I think some of you are now here visiting the page, as

alluded to, I will be at AWA. I actually am not soliciting information in any active manner, but I am not afraid to raise questions if others have information that they want to pass forward and are feeling afraid to do so.

But I would encourage individuals to not be afraid to try on their own either. [Edit: I would recommend that you please talk to the staff, who are already well aware of the situation, having been alerted by others in the LIvejournal community.] Be patient if there is a concern, and do your best to be calm and present your information in a logical manner. (Ask someone else who you trust to be your proofreader /sounding board if you are not sure how to present your information.)

I have faith in the staff . Past experience has shown they have listened to all complaints in previous conventions and therefore I believe that the Alley will be its usual fun place.

That said, I do NOT expect there to be issues thanks to the efforts of other artists to finally give the rumors that have been percolating since earlier this year some real substance.

Lastly, I want to say that people need to take a deep breath and try to be constructive about this. I think it's fair to say all of us like the Alley and want it to stay a place where we don't all become consumed with strategy, money, having to run around being detectives, etc. We all want it to be something, obviously.

The issue of multiple tables being purchased under false cover isn't just about someone having more space. It's not a personal attack on popularity of people. The people raising these concerns are successful in their own right. The issue is about honoring the rules the convention put in place to make the place FUN and avoid trouble. It's about letting more artists in to have that space... the team of folks just starting out, or that awesome artist from DA who has never done an alley... it's about trying to improve the aspect of community between artist and convention goer.

Digging deeper, though, this isn't just an issue of space, but of accountability. Money exchanges hands. We're supposed to get a permit to sell. You're supposed to report it. You're not supposed to sell your stuff under someone else's name. Get it?

Secondly, we have strict rules about quantities bec... ]]> =s-girl KENSHIN CONTEST - TOMORROW IS DO OR DIE http://s-girl.deviantart.com/journal/19958177/ http://s-girl.deviantart.com/journal/19958177/ Thu, 14 Aug 2008 18:50:38 PDT

's annual Kenshin contest closes tomorrow. And guess what? As a result, I can't comment on peoples art that have inevitably turned up as ENTRIES. XDDDDDDD

But seriously, if you want to just make me slobber in glee, you know I have a serious uncontrollable lust for a certain alternate pairing that pisses off 16 year olds the world around.

Fortunately I'm not the only judge. And despite my extremely strange love on secondary characters, the truth is we all know that the stars of the show are duhhh... Kenshin.

So that's my last minute shoutout.
[link]

PS. Sheryl and Alto, all the way. At least that's not a secondary pairing right? *kicks away the rabid Ranka-fans*

Photo gallery and journal
[link]
Conventions I'll be scaring in 2008
Megacon - Done!
Momocon - Done!
AX - Done!
AWA - CONFIRMED. YEAHHHHH ]]> =s-girl DSL. http://s-girl.deviantart.com/journal/19943241/ http://s-girl.deviantart.com/journal/19943241/ Wed, 13 Aug 2008 22:03:56 PDT
So back. Sort of. Not going to work on art stuff other than practicing markers offline for some time. It's kind of hectic these days at work, and I'll be working on those kinds of projects on weekends.

But it's fun. Life has been incredibly good to me, other than me misplacing so many things during my move, that I shan't complain.

Photo gallery and journal
[link]
Conventions I'll be scaring in 2008
Megacon - Done!
Momocon - Done!
AX - Done!
AWA - CONFIRMED. YEAHHHHH ]]> =s-girl It needs to be said - Bad AA artists strike again http://s-girl.deviantart.com/journal/19900232/ http://s-girl.deviantart.com/journal/19900232/ Mon, 11 Aug 2008 15:29:20 PDT .............................

No, I wasn't at Otakon, but these two guys were:
[link]
[link]

It looks like the multiple-table artists from Anime Expo struck again! If you want to know who they are -- see comments from [link]

Yup. No surprise. People who have a history of doing something bad once and are not called out, do it again.

Better not happen at AWA.

Photo gallery and journal
[link]
Conventions I'll be scaring in 2008
Megacon - Done!
Momocon - Done!
AX - Done!
AWA - CONFIRMED. YEAHHHHH ]]> =s-girl marginal update http://s-girl.deviantart.com/journal/19881873/ http://s-girl.deviantart.com/journal/19881873/ Sun, 10 Aug 2008 16:04:08 PDT .............................

Well, I'm sitting by the pool using the wireless here and getting eaten alive by bugs... so not planning to stick out here much longer.

I am working on a request for a character at the moment, but as it's on the desktop, I'm not going to be able to upload it for a while.

Other than that, I finally opened the box that contained my markers. yay. So I'm doodling again and trying to get the feel for inks and markers again.

I'm still unpacking so everything feels chaotic and I don't feel like I have a lot of time to sit down and draw. Hopefully things will start to quiet down by end of the month so I can actually prep for AWA.

Photo gallery and journal
[link]
Conventions I'll be scaring in 2008
Megacon - Done!
Momocon - Done!
AX - Done!
AWA - CONFIRMED. YEAHHHHH ]]> =s-girl Meme http://s-girl.deviantart.com/journal/19750707/ http://s-girl.deviantart.com/journal/19750707/ Sun, 03 Aug 2008 11:01:07 PDT .............................

Memememe on ME

Tagged by

1. Post these rules.
2. Each tagged person must post eight things about themselves on their journal.
3. At the end, you have to choose and tag eight people and post their icons on the same journal.
4. Go to their pages and send a message saying you tagged them.
5. No tag-backs

* I run a fansite for a non-canonical pairing that made young girls furious and send me angry venting emails. I then spent ten months writing a 400 page fanfic about a non-canonical pairing. It made people even more furious because it helped normalize the pairing in that fandom. ^_____^.
* My first game system was a Commodore 64.
* I used to do technical support at the campus computer labs and in the dorms.
* I've worked in the following sectors: retail, computer support, library services, retail, and government.
* I really want to change my username on deviantart because to be honest, I'm really not a "girl" anymore. ha!
* I love tea and teapots and have been questing for a decent high tea place for quite a while. May need to travel to Canada.
* I don't usually do memes. This is a ONE-TIME EXCEPTION FOR RO-CHAN.
* I seriously considered dumping grad school for art school but then Disney shut down 2D animation .____.

I WILL NOT TAG ANYONE, but IF YOU DO THIS, let me know

Photo gallery and journal
[link]
Conventions I'll be scaring in 2008
Megacon - Done!
Momocon - Done!
AX - Done!
AWA - CONFIRMED. YEAHHHHH ]]> =s-girl (More or less) offline for a few weeks http://s-girl.deviantart.com/journal/19658507/ http://s-girl.deviantart.com/journal/19658507/ Tue, 29 Jul 2008 10:19:29 PDT
Well, I guess it's time to get acquainted with the free wireless zones around here but that will be intermittent.

Email and all other stuff is affected too, so expect responses to be much slower... and postings to be infrequent.

Photo gallery and journal
[link]

Conventions I'll be scaring in 2008
Megacon - Done!
Momocon - I survived
AX - Confirmed, hopefully will get there in one piece -_-
AWA - CONFIRMED. YEAHHHHH

Join CATDROOL forums! ]]> =s-girl Art and the Economy http://s-girl.deviantart.com/journal/19570326/ http://s-girl.deviantart.com/journal/19570326/ Thu, 24 Jul 2008 10:07:53 PDT
As for me, I'm still on hiatus from any sort of doodling or painting until I complete moving. After I return, I will be finishing one project for someone and then going back to my own things. Next year, I think I want to focus on my own work actually and return to writing substantially more. I had an interesting epiphany the other day on the issue of how I view my own writing vs my own drawing, and oddly enough, I realized that it's very likely I'm more strongly a writer than an artist.

I'll write a longer journal on this at another time and perhaps at another place. But for now... Art! Economy!

[link]

[link]

[link]

[link] (see more gallery closing articles here at [link] )

[link]

[link]

[link]

Photo gallery and journal
[link]

Conventions I'll be scaring in 2008
Megacon - Done!
Momocon - I survived
AX - Confirmed, hopefully will get there in one piece -_-
AWA - CONFIRMED. YEAHHHHH

Join CATDROOL forums! ]]> =s-girl Fanart and Conventions --update http://s-girl.deviantart.com/journal/19425319/ http://s-girl.deviantart.com/journal/19425319/ Thu, 17 Jul 2008 12:56:24 PDT [link]

Edit 3: Anime insider article? I'd like to see that if possible (see ref here: [link]) . If anyone has a backissue, let me know!

I think it's time again to gather my fanart and fair use legal discussions but that will take some time as I try to look for what I thought was an excellent paper somewhere on my hard disk...

In the interim, things to ponder

AnimeIowa has become the first anime convention to go "no fanart for sale" in the Alley and the Show:
[link]

Anime Weekend Atlanta ART SHOW (only) is pondering a no fan-art sales policy according to the director in the AWA forums: [link]

There was another Texas Convention (not A-kon) also considering this if my memory serves correctly.

Before you decide to get all irate in this journal, please don't and do that in yours

. I actually have read up a lot on fair use and done my research now on a few artists and the sentiments of fans to see that this is actually probably an inevitable direction from a legal standpoint on part of the conventions. JK Rowling and her recent high profile case are reflections of these sentiments. It also is not lost on me that many university legal review journals have been tackling fandom lately, including anime fandom.

Popularization comes with a price, and I do think it's possible that looking at the past history of American-based fandoms (Star Wars/Trek, etc.) will show you that fan activities are likely to be more strictly observed.

Anyways, I'll post again on this topic when I grab the papers of interest . In the meantime, go read FandomLawyers at [link] . Great place to start.

Photo gallery and journal
[link]

Conventions I'll be scaring in 2008
Megacon - Done!
Momocon - I survived
AX - Confirmed, hopefully will get there in one piece -_-
AWA - CONFIRMED. YEAHHHHH

Join CATDROOL forums! ]]> =s-girl For those who enjoy &make art... http://s-girl.deviantart.com/journal/19385813/ http://s-girl.deviantart.com/journal/19385813/ Mon, 14 Jul 2008 07:45:09 PDT
I'm pretty happy with finding an AA director who actively engages the artists. We're discussing that multiple table issue that occurred at Anime Expo but it looks like the director received input/feedback already that has resulted in her making some statements which I am satisfied with. ( [link]). Major props to the director for being so timely and attentive to the concerns.

New: The question of where the AA is going is a topic in kind that AX has initiated
here: [link]

id=448915 .

This could be really a neat dialogue, and this is one actually where I think it would be great to have the perspective of the fan as well. I don't see this as just an AX dialogue as what is happening in AX is really occurring all over the US. True these discussions inform the director of AX, but as AX is a model to contemplate for other conventions, it bears significance to the next few years in the artist alley.

And other than that, I hope this is the last post for some time on this issue. Thanks to all of you who emailed in on this. I think our efforts will pay off!

Photo gallery and journal
[link]

Conventions I'll be scaring in 2008
Megacon - Done!
Momocon - I survived
AX - Confirmed, hopefully will get there in one piece -_-
AWA - CONFIRMED. YEAHHHHH

Join CATDROOL forums! ]]> =s-girl Artist Alley people- Please READ and RESPOND. http://s-girl.deviantart.com/journal/19340645/ http://s-girl.deviantart.com/journal/19340645/ Sun, 13 Jul 2008 14:58:02 PDT
Please visit and read the thread at :
[link]

If you were an AX artist alley person last year and in past years, please consider being part of the dialogue. If you are not comfortable about posting your opinion publicly, please do email the Artist Alley and state your concern. I think that unless people acknowledge what happened, and how to stop artists from cheating the system, there will be no effort to redress some clear loopholes that resulted in artists not going this year to AX.

This will affect next year and likely policies at other AA's as well.

.......

Regarding the seating chart issue, aside from the idea of providing a more accurate record of the AA, your contributions to the chart may bring to light whether people really did take up more tables than they were registered for.

For those who were there could you wander back over to the AX forums and help the poster there reassemble the proper seating chart? Thanks!

Link is here:
[link]

Photo gallery and journal
[link]

Conventions I'll be scaring in 2008
Megacon - Done!
Momocon - I survived
AX - Confirmed, hopefully will get there in one piece -_-
AWA - CONFIRMED. YEAHHHHH

Join CATDROOL forums! ]]> =s-girl Draft 2.0 (pictures link) - Anime Expo http://s-girl.deviantart.com/journal/19248081/ http://s-girl.deviantart.com/journal/19248081/ Mon, 07 Jul 2008 20:35:30 PDT

This will not be a proper first report, considering where I last left you off, I was describing Day 0 of Anime Expo after the LAX bomb scare shut down LAX, stranding myself and

for 3-4 hours and putting us in horrible moods. A more proper report would pick up chronologically from that point and then include additional pictures. As my camera sadly took very few pictures, I'll direct you first to the report from AnimeNewsNEtwork: [link]
to set the proper visual context for where I spent the better part of my entire time in LA ;_;.

I've also added some photos to my Adobe gallery here.
There are a few random cosplays in there, and just random images.

Yes, I did forget to take a picture of my table space (or rather, I was self-conscious about it) so if anyone out there did take a picture (preferably with me hiding somewhere), could you let me know? I received two questions about it from folks who wanted to know what it looked like and sadly, I have no idea what to do other than draw it. DX

(However, my banner does show up in the ANN page. If you look at the far right of the first image, it shows up as a blue/red thing . It shows up again in the 3rd image. Haha for going vertical. )

There also are probably a CRAPLOAD of pictures of Danboard-chan who sat on my table pimping my cards. So many people asked me if it was for sale, if they could touch it, take pictures, etc.etc. The little bugger is probably more famous blog-land wise than me. If you also happened to be one of those people taking pictures -- HEY --- let me know. I also want to link to the Danbo-chan stuff.

YOTSUBA holding my Danbo-chan. Danbo is probably in quite a lot of pictures. A lot of folks came by and looked, touched, and posed with it. ooooo.

YOTSUBA holding my Danbo-chan. Danbo is probably in quite a lot of pictures. A lot of folks came by and looked, touched, and posed with it. ooooo.

(This Yotsuba stopped by to chat with me after seeing Danbo on the table. I asked her dad and her for a picture. It was too cute!)

Overall, major thank yous to

and

for putting up with

and I this weekend, and for the help getting through the airport situation.

I also really appreciate the many artists who I met this weekend and many friends from DA and LJ recent and old that I got to see. I've known

online for five years or more through the Kenshin fandom, and it was funny meeting her in person. She's a tiny little thing with a humongous imagination. I also was really pleased to meet Kenni and Tubenose from Mangarevolution.com. I also got to see folks I became friends with through last year's AX RMA,

. It was really cool.

I also got to also finally meet

who was one of the artists who participated in the poll.

I also had several sets of very nice neighbors. I effected a switch the last half of the convention and so left Richard and

http://s-girl.deviantart.com/journal/18964200/ Thu, 03 Jul 2008 06:28:24 PDT

being with me, I think I would have flipped out much sooner. As is, I really REALLY am pissed off at Supershuttle.

However, after meeting up with

and her sister, things got so much better and we ate in Little Tokyo and then went back to do the preregistratino and walkaround.

Unfortunately I don't have the ability to upload my picture sof the "before" state of Expo, but it looks fantastic this year. Naysayers should note that the AA is in a separate hall adjacent to the Dealer's Room and is monstrously huge. That and the Art Show is directly next to the AA.

All my prints and stuff arrived intact, and so did my display. I am not sure I"ll be able to stand it up as the tables look like the narrow 2x6's that one sees in tight meeting conference spaces, but bah. I'm pretty happy about things right now. I'm sure I can make it work.

Well... logging off again. It's only 6:30am here on th eWest Coast. I've been up since 4 something am due to the difference in time zones. bwahahaha.

/// END EDIT //

Well, in case some intrepid person wanders in from the catalog - please go to
[link] for a slightly more organized view of my work.

...

I'm still at C09 for the moment, and plan to plop this obnoxious thing on my table

. I'm not sure what else will be on it, because if the tables aren't six feet long I'm so dead XDDDD.

I'm not sure why other than compulsion I'm printing off some more prints. I guess once I resigned myself to checking in an extra bag and suffering through a carry-on that I decided I was going to figure out how to take some really oddly proportioned items with me. I can't say enough though about having multiple paper sizes and types on hand. I wasn't super thrilled with how some of my prints were handled by a commercial service, and printing them on matte paper at home actually has been really eye-opening. Sometimes there IS more accuracy to matte paper in terms of showing subtle color decisions that had been made as well as softening an image even more.

Anyways, no need to keep posting well-wishes. I'm ready for it to be here already... wooo!

Edit: Catalog went up online at [link]
WOO.

Photo gallery and journal
[link]

Conventions I'll be scaring in 2008
Megacon - Done!
Momocon - I survived
AX - Confirmed, hopefully will get there in one piece -_-
AWA - CONFIRMED. YEAHHHHH

Join CATDROOL forums! ]]> =s-girl augh airlines = suckage = AX = ARGH http://s-girl.deviantart.com/journal/18841060/ http://s-girl.deviantart.com/journal/18841060/ Sat, 14 Jun 2008 16:07:09 PDT
So I've been attempting to pack and repack things this afternoon to figure out what the weight issue is. I found out that my portfolio book is absurdly heavy, somewhere between 4-7 pounds. Looks like Itoya's sleeves and the binder itself make the thing heavier than it should be.

So I'm weeding out extra copies of older prints, and really coming in with a much lower number than I usually do, weighting higher quantities for newer stuff. (Of course, I still have one more print order coming in >_< and that is going to probably push my poor bag right over the edge.)

I also had to drop a load of backboards for smaller prints which is unfortunate, but maybe someone who knows the area around LACC can tell me if there is a comic book store nearby? OThewrise people are just getting their prints bagged -_-. grr. I am so annoyed... at comic book conventions there are dealers who just sell boards and bags, so you don't have to fret over things... grr grr grr.

And seriously, I had to get rid of PAPER to make some pounds go away . ;_; I still worry I'll be at the airport throwing things out just to make it work.

Haha. If you ever see large white backboards flying in an airport in the South in the next few weeks, you'll know it's me.

*chuck*

Photo gallery and journal
[link]

Conventions I'll be scaring in 2008
Megacon - Done!
Momocon - I survived
AX - Confirmed, hopefully will get there in one piece -_-
AWA - CONFIRMED. YEAHHHHH

Join CATDROOL forums! ]]> =s-girl website back in business http://s-girl.deviantart.com/journal/18815157/ http://s-girl.deviantart.com/journal/18815157/ Fri, 13 Jun 2008 06:41:25 PDT
It's really barebones, but after Hakubaikou helped me out with the gender/art poll she ended up pointing out several really good tools to manage images that didn't rely on the crappy PHP stuff I was trying tomake work before.

So anyways - it's up at
poeticsamurai.com.

At some point I'll redesign the clunky imagemap . I plan to put in a link for my photographs soon too.

As for writings, I'm less sure... may just leave that undisclosed for now

Photo gallery and journal
[link]

Conventions I'll be scaring in 2008
Megacon - Done!
Momocon - I survived
AX - Confirmed
AWA - CONFIRMED. YEAHHHHH

Join CATDROOL forums! ]]> =s-girl