I'm a bad girl.... I know. I skipped a week to update you . I almost missed today as well. I remembered. Work has been crazy. I work in a frame shop which has been nutz. It will be nutz until after the holidays. Everyone wants all their stuff yesterday. On top of that we are all frazzled so hooray for the holidays. Well, I got all my packages in the mail. I have two big purchases and I am done! So on to the ever lovin list!!!
I have been doing a large amount of work on the website. I have all the creator images completed now... for the initial launch. I have created a sort of database that will be the skeleton for how sales will proceed on the site. I have also gotten started on creating Immortal Gothic's sister site which will host more content and galleries for Am I Immortal. The main page is giving me some serious issues because I am stumbling over how to create buttons that react differently in different states. Ugh.... so hard. I can get it to work and then when I set two of the states to invisible it all disappears.... grrr.
Static Lullaby is in the big black beast and I am working on the layouts for it. I'm over halfway done with it so soon I should have the pleasure of making Nathan a very happy person. I like making people happy.
I have created my holiday image for this year. I believe that it came together pretty well. I expanded it and am currently using it as the background on my computer.... It's just a nifty image. If anyone wants the background, let me know and I will forward it to your e-mail :) Happy to share the Luv
I also only have some lettering and effects left on Snow Leopard. The tones are complete and the images are all set.
In the upcoming couple weeks I hope to stay focused and continue pushing forward with my endeavors. Thank you for your patience and support. I'll see you all soon sly cats. Enjoy the night!
Today we went to Hartford to visit Lizzy. We ate Chinese (food not people) and visited the local art store (my favorite one) where I got the ink I need for Am I Immortal#3 and a bunch of emulsion and water based textile inks because we have been screen printing. Those were not the things that I went there for. What I had needed were some art trading cards... you see I thought I had lost them but instead had handily attached them to my big clip board so that I wouldn't lose them. So art cards...$3.00 what I left the store with $70.00 a day with Liz and her Ma...priceless... yes I went there. Here's the workload:
The short story that I had said I was fighting through is finally completed. It is sad and needs editing, but it has a title, "Heartless", and a good bit of potential once I take a step back and allow it a moment to breath.
The Inks for Static Lullaby are complete and the pages are re-assembled. I am looking forward to this project's quick completion...providing I am able to run through the rough spots.
The Eye of the Wind deserves her fair mention. I am making a painting for my stepfather. The ship's name is The Eye of the Wind. I hope to have her in the eye of a storm cresting a wave with her hull half out of the water. She is an amazing ship and I can tell you I am moved by her like I have never been by any other. She has a black hull with two masts, a honey toned deck, a cloud for her figure head which looks like a blowing cloud...oh and I can't leave out her BLOOD RED SAILS!!!!!! She stole my heart the moment I saw her, and I hope to meet her someday.
Last I have some really cool news. I have been commissioned by Ink Dot Boy to expand my collection of 3 images, which was my original intention, to 6. These images will be set up in a variety of sizes as well as grayscale or color so that his promotions people will be able to easily utilize them with minimal effort and cost. It is exciting because, like with Nathan and Sean, Ink is very creative and it is easy to feed off of his drive to make really moving imagery.
I wanted to mention a note of congratulations to Henry and his Sarah. Every dark one has a Sarah... and some are even named that. I also want to congratulate my new found friend Sarah on her Henry :) I wish you all the happiness you can muster in your binding.
No preview pics this week, sorry. I am embroiled in scanning so would only be able to offer you boring textures anyway.... or images that appear to be half of what they should be. Next week I hope to be rich in visual aids. Alright my lovely dark ones, till next week... do be as bad as you're able!
This week has been nutty. I suppose that could be said each week... but I have been feeling it more. Perhaps it is the Holiday. I have see some pretty amazing things some of which I will share before the usual update. I had my birthday, which I really wasn't looking forward to at all. It turned out to be a lot better than I thought. The only thing I had wanted, I got, which were super chocolate cupcakes.... and I discovered some wonderful things. I have this flower that is blooming in my garden. Seems so trivial, but despite the chill, the time of year, that none of the trees have leaves around it... my gypsy rose created one giant last flower which opened in a bed of chocolate mint on my birthday. I have been told that I am foolish to think that this would not or could not happen... as it is my garden after all... but it was so nice last year when my violets bloomed through the snow... and the rose this year. It is as though the world is trying to remind me that I once took in every day as though it was the first time I had seen it. Whatever there is out there that took pity on me and made such a direct spectacle to get my head back into the game... thanks.
So this last week I have once more tried to be as busy as I'm able and chip away at my workload. Here's what I got:
Am I Immortal: The Crypt has its pencils completed. I shall be moving to the inks on that in the next two weeks. I aim to get a few more things finished before I... tie myself to the bottle as it were, but am very much looking forward to getting started on it. The Crypt caps off at 24 pages, that's 2 more than my work with Free Lunch. I will also be reinstating Mini-Cain so you can look forward to that. The worst thing about it is my dry sense of humor so if you can get over that... you should enjoy it.
Am I Immortal: The Origin has seen some of its last revision now. As you know my intention was to post the piece online and have it eventually printed as a hard cover. This will indeed be the case though it will take me a LONG time. The script is 47 pages in it's most basic form. That means that it will cap off at 50 minimum with the potential for more if I have stand alone imagery or interject some advertisers... which I may choose not to do in the case of the advertisers. My intention was to have this maintain the look and feel of a fairy tale despite its adult themes. Somehow I got this crazy idea that a good story can be beautiful, and have since been pushing myself to improve enough so that this vision is satisfactorily brought into existence.
I have also gotten a lot closer to completing the finished inks on Static Lullaby. It is an interesting layout and I hope I am able to create the feel that Nathan had wanted through out the story. Working off of Sean's base inks has made it easy to just add a little here and there to really make it pop as I feel he did a great job. I predict that these pages will come together smoothly, though I know of one that may have me swearing at it a few times.... but the last page is always the worst...
I have been writing a short story recently. I keep getting interrupted so it has been very slow going. I have some fears that it will be inconsistent. It doesn't even have a name yet. I just had this idea I needed to get out. I will post more information on it as it comes into clearer focus.
Sadly that's it... but that's a lot if you think about it. I admit that a fair amount of my invested time went into The Origin. It had started as an 11 page piece and needed serious alteration before it would be image ready. I also had to do a lot of content alteration as, at the time I had originally written the thing.... I was really into some parts of it and just not into other parts. Hopefully I have filled in those gaps. Till next time my beautiful damned... enjoy the night.
Good evening everyone. This last week has simply been a blur. It hasn't felt real honestly. Tomorrow is my birthday and I'm not liking it this year. It's not because I'm getting older like a lot of people, it's because I liked being 33. My lucky numbers are 3 and 13 so.... I enjoyed i t. 34 is rather anticlimactic in comparison. I'll be all happy again at 36, I'm sure. On another note, my shoulder is slowly improving. That means that I have been able to start getting more done. The next few weeks will still have some pretty big fluctuation as my work schedule (the day job) will be crazy. The joys of retail. Here's the skinny on what went down this week though:
First I had wanted to let you know that I have been able to work on Am I Immortal once more. I feel that I have made a sizable dent and have started to make up for the couple weeks of downtime. I am part way through page 21 now, and don't forget I still have page 24 completed. That that means that I have roughly 2 and a half pages and then I move on to inks. I am excited about my progress. I feel that with this installment, you will get to know Cain a little bit better... perhaps enough to understand why I am so driven to get his story onto the page. No matter how much it hurts.
I have completed another image for Godslayer. It came out pretty cool except for one hand. Red is the girl's name and she has this kinda old fashioned steampunk fusion thing going on. I was inspired by Vargas (he was a pin-up artist for playboy for many many years) for her character design, and though at first she may not have been exactly what Nathan had thought of.... she fits the bill pretty well.
I have been able to work more on the website too and have been able to create some more of the imagery. Waiting for responses from some of the other artists so that I can finish, but all and all I feel I have a firm handle on how it is shaping up.
I have completed another piece for Ink Dot Boy as well. It is HUGE. I got some really great feedback from his fan base from the first one that I did and he had mentioned something about anything I made, he would use...if it was like that...so how could I decline. This one is very different from the first. I had to alter the girl in it as I needed her to be visibly dead. The original image the girl was looking away from the camera and I needed her eyes to be visible. Even the person I found that I did use is....very different as I altered he expression, facial structure. The background is much the same.. it is so different from the original that I had trouble finding it again when I was done with the picture. I think that Ink Dot Boy himself is really the only thing that is close to what he looked like, but I covered him in blood so...yeah.
Well, wish me luck for the rest of the week. I'll see you on the other side of 34...blah :(
I don't think that I have mentioned here that most recently I have been in a considerable amount of pain. When I was younger I was in a car accident.... I loved that car (it was my favorite) but apparently the guy driving the little truck behind me loved it far more than I as he decided he wanted to try to permanently bond it to his truck.... and I came out with whiplash and a ripped shoulder. It was my right shoulder of course because that would be the WORST THING EVER. So I apologize for not creating enough to warrent two posts a week these last two weeks. I've said it before and I shall say it many many more times... I don't have much that is very interesting to say anyway... so onto what's what in my worklist:
I was able to continue on Am I Immortal a little, but was not even able to complete one more page with my shoulder that day. I need a lap desk or something to rest my elbows on so I can become more productive and not suffer so much. I will attempt to get more done on that this coming week.
I did however complete Hunter, which is a concept for one of the characters in Godslayer. Nathan should be putting some info up on Godslayer in his blog soon. I have the Concept for another of the characters, Red, nearly completed. I am REALLY enjoying drawing her. She's supposed to have some armor... but I think I will have to create another page for that as this image is all attitude.
The Meth Collection is back on track. I completed an ad for it....which you will see below. The Ad is for a band which I listened to a lot while I was making A Matter of Faith and the additional content the collection has. Yes, the ad will also be in color. The band is Ink Dot Boy (www.inkdotboy.com) and the album is called the Red Symphony. I felt with the original images.... it wasn't RED enough. I had explained to the front man of the band, Andy, that I have a love affair with red...so I would hold him hostage and mess with him until I was pleased with the result. I'm just glad for his patience as I made him wait some time while I played.
Sean and I finished screen printing and painting some immortal Gothic shirts. They look pretty sweet... and I am pleased with the result. They are a beautiful mess!
I also did some sculpture. I haven't taken any shots of them yet. The one I made is a small white sparkly mask fitted with gears for eyes and a flat head screw for a mouth. Will made another which I then fitted similarly. I hope to mount them both on some kind of pendant and put them up for sale on etsy. I completed one other necklace too. I had hoped to get pictures of some of my wares up before this post... but alas... here we are.
Till next time my darlings. Enjoy the night. I can't complain... I still have flowers blooming despite the cold. Almost makes it worth venturing into the sun to thank them for blessing my land through the frost. Sweet dreams... green spirits.
This weekend was another convention that signified the end of my con season for 2009. Now I get to concentrate on wonderful things like... getting older and... christmas. I am not really looking forward to very much, honestly. It seems the projects that I have now... which should be so simple to complete are taking an eternity. I HATE waiting. On the other hand I don't want to be super pushy. It's like balancing on a tightrope. Too much and there is the threat that people will perceive me as being impatient and difficult to work with (which I completely admit to being but I try to curb it so I'm not a complete loner), too little and I will never get anything done. I just need one thing done! I'm running myself into the ground trying to work every angle to just get one step ahead. One good thing would make it all seem like I am working so hard for something! I don't even mind paying for it! Ugh... so without further complaints... the update for the week:
I spent most of the week working on the website... unfortunately it just crashed and I had to delete the subdomain completely. So I am back to square o ne with it. I have an edge because I know how to do what I want now.... but I was supposed to meet with my webdesigner (wait a minute... I'm my webdesigner now) tomorrow so he could answer any questions that I had about how to make it exactly what I want instead of close. I am using wordpress but kinda twisting it, so there are some features that I want to remove from the basic page layouts. I figured out how to make it do what I want... so I am very sad because it really took a lot of work on my part...which is now all gone :(. So I feel like I wasted a ton of time on NOTHING. I could seriously cry right now. now I just keep getting error messages when I try to do anything...
On a related note, I worked with Liz Ortiz and Sean Therrien to get their respective blogs up. Soon that network will be running. Now if I could just get the site up.... man I am really about to cry..... a lot! My goal is to have all the navigation for the individual blogs and main site in the compass in the sidebar so that it will be easy for people to navigate from one thing to the next. I would love feedback on the basic design of things... especially once I get the redesign of the site running live. Perhaps tomorrow Devin will show me once more that I am just an artist who is truly not good at figuring out the right code.... man I was doing so good. You can see where my mind is now, LOL.
Over the weekend I did a few little sketches on artist cards. One of them was really cool because it was not my normal style at all. It was a chibi version of this character for a girl at the convention I was at. I would totally post it.... but I am waiting for Liz to send me the scan...poke poke....liz!
I got some more work done on Am I Immortal book 3. I am happy with how it is coming. I keep saying that and can only continue until I get it through to a digital format. I desperately hope that you will enjoy it. It will be printed under the Immortal Gothic banner which offers me a bit of relief. I will be at my own mercy.
Nathan gave me an amazing update for Godslayer. I can only tell you that I know this story is going to be insane. I'm really glad to be involved. I need to get him pictures for Red and Hunter....so.... I gotta jet. See you all on a less blue night... when I do more than sleep all the time and wish I would stop hurting...
I am so very tired but am keeping myself up trying to eek out that last little bit of work. Work you say? Why what work would that be?
Currently I am lettering and making the greys on Snow Leopard which will be published in the CAG Manga Anthology With Honor. The piece was written and created by Henry Covert, penciled by Albie Luciano, and inked by Alex Rivera. I am simply the lowly letterer and adder in of many skies and snowfall for this one... this team gets all the credit. With Honor Facebook group That is a link to where you can get more info, preview some of the artwork, and become a fan of With Honor.
I am on page 16 (turns out it was page 20 that I had previously completed) of Am I Immortal now for pencils... I think. It's in my bag so I'm not sure. I'm really happy with how the pencils are turning out. One of my mentors once said that a lot of great comics and stories are that one step ahead because the pages show you actions without words... sorta like if you watch a movie in fast forward... you may not get the joke, but you can tell what's happening based on the attitude of the characters within the frame and know one has been told. I'm trying for that... and my usual one panel I love per page. Wish me luck!
I made a necklace.... It is pink so I will be selling it, LOL. It says love on it... and I might be tempted to vomit in its presence if I hadn't created the darned thing. I'll probably sell it before anything else just because I feel that way. Always seems to be how it works. After this weekend I intend upon getting some stuff up on etsy. I will provide a link when I do.
I finished the redesign of my site. Now comes the tricky part of figuring out how to make it do what I want. I will have a meeting at some point this next week or the week after with Devin, who is the original designer of most of my sites inner workings. With any luck... you will see some changes shortly in it's basic function, though the layout will remain much the same. I will continue with updates on it's progress.
I have started to set blogs up for others who will run under my banner. Those will play a big part in the main site upon it's completion. Right now I have mine.... obviously... and have set up Nathan Baker's which is : The Silent Soul . I know he has some writing up in a link there, so make sure to stop by and say hi, if you will.
I think I turned into a pumpkin hours ago and just haven't seen fit to get up and go to bed. ARGH!!! I'll rest when I'm dead. I need ice cream and coffee, that's all.
Welcome once more to my night, lost souls. I am pleased to announce that I have been quite infected with a new tale. It is unfurling in my mind like a soft petaled cereus and has been filling my head with such evil musings. A word of warning... this story is not mine, but Godslayer, which belongs to Nathan Baker. That means you can expect a bunch of steam punkish trippy crap from me for a while and that's not a bad thing at all. Anyways, my child is still the devil... my husband still patiently waiting for me on the couch... and I have nothing very interesting to say except for an update of events.
Today we got the shots from both graveyards for Am I Immortal. This means I have the shots for The Crypt as well as all the graveyard shots for Coast to Coast (which is book 4). I will still need shots from the marina, the highway, the alley behind the radio station, and for the running sequence in mystic. I know that sounds like a daunting amount of images... but it's not and could all be taken care of easily in one day. Whilst in the big graveyard in mystic, we came upon a chestnut tree that was ripe, so we looked up a recipe to roast chestnuts cause we wanted to see what they tasted like. I mean if it sucked they would not have made a song about it at all. Then it occurred to me that we would be eating chestnuts that came from a graveyard.... is that wrong? It's the ultimate form of recycling. Would that be the vegetarian version of cannibalism. Hmmm. My my who would have thought that getting a few photos would lead to such a scandal. Well, if anyone does have an issue... I WRITE ABOUT VAMPIRES... and any woman who doesn't enjoy entertaining a light snack from time to time is just... a nun!
Next comes the drawing part. I have pencils completed through page 11 now for Am I Immortal: The Crypt. Normally that would be anticlimactic but I know that I already have page 16 and 24 done...so that means I'm over half way there. I have the physical cover art completed as well, but was going to make a digital version for the cover itself. When (yes I said when) I have a gallery opening in the future, you will be able to see Blood River. I told you about that last week so time to move right along.
Girl parts!!!! My son has a riding lesson on Thursdays and every time we go they have more bones for me. There was a doe who died there and now she's spread all over the field, but when they find her bones they give them to me. Right now I have her skull and some of the major bones from her legs. I really hope for a couple ribs and some vertebrae, or a hip...man that would rock. Why am I a hoarder of this girl you ask? Well, she is not my first set of bones. She however is the first that wanted to be something. I am going to give her wings and fit the parts I have so that she can become something again. I rarely work in sculpture and have been moved by her to give her what she wants, to be made immortal. So look forward to that sometime in the future.
I also managed to write a few more pages of Am I Immortal: The Runaway. I think I know what the character looks like and I'm really excited about it. I need to clarify it in my mind a bit more before I attempt to make it. I mean it took me about 3 months of thinking before I put the goth king down and he turned out OK. I think this rugged runaway will come faster, but we'll see.
Last news is the Logo. You see it actually... to the right with my last name over it. I know, pretty sweet huh? Shame this blog thing insists on microscopic. So my work will now have that logo on it even if I am signed cause that's how I roll... or I just really like my logo, LOL. Also, any other creator whom I work with who wants to be under my umbrella will have that marking, but with their name over it... obviously. I'll have to see what they are turning out but, I have faith in those I run with. On that same note I had wanted to mention Liz Ortiz's first book, Rasgal, will bare the mark in it's next printing. The book is really good (I have a copy of the first printing) and I am so happy that she has been able to push and make her dreams a reality... and in record time! Congrats Liz on #1!!!!
So with that my darlings I must go about the rest of my evening. Next week I may only be by once as I have a convention in Vermont. Bakuretsucon. I love that con. It's like a vacation cause we all know each other. Should be great times. Stop by if you're in the area!
Today begins the new night. By this I mean... Recently I have become independent. I am starting fresh under my own name again. Mind you this is quite a frightening prospect. I feel this to be the lesser of two evils however. I have always been better at keeping by my own clock... and have blossomed into something that likes to work alone, much like many of my influences. Those whom I share my mind with, well lets just say it's like expanding upon my own thoughts rather than compromising with another separate entity. I hope to offer a home for those who have been disillusioned and displaced, and offer you... those few who crave more than just to be meek the chance to meet those I am shared with.
Now I will share with you what I have been up to:
Am I Immortal (Immortal Gothic) by Shawnti Therrien, Packt: the Crypt is one third of the way through pencils. I hope to get the photography done in the next couple weeks so I can beat leaf fall
Am I Immortal (Immortal Gothic) by Shawnti Therrien, The Runaway: Twilight Path is three pages in for writing... and for those of you who are not aware of how crazy I am... that would be book fourteen in the series.
Meth (Atlas Unleashed) by Shawnti Therrien, The Collection is completed. I am in discussion with Atlas Unleashed about the final details of printing, release, and promotions. If you want an ad in that book, please contact me, myrretah @ gmail.com, for rates and sizing specifications. Any and all support is appreciated.
Static Lullaby (Atlas Unleashed) by Nathan Baker part one is to inks. The first two pages are completed. I will finish the pages as I recieve them from the inker, Sean Therrien, and thank Nathan Baker once more for granting us such an amazing concept to work on.
Static Lullaby (Atlas Unleashed) by Nathan Baker part two is in the finishing stages of script completion. I already have some great ideas for the pages and hope to start on some concepts once the script is fully polished and approved. I feel lucky that I had the chance to sit down with Nathan at the convention this last weekend to work out the gory details.
GodSlayer (Unsigned) by Nathan Baker is through to the conceptual stage. I was able to create a couple good images that lend a feel to the world that story takes place in even though they are only of the characters themselves. Once more it just meant sitting down with Nathan and getting them on the page so he can shop the idea around and find the right artist (more on that coming soon). I hope to have further involvement in this story even though I will not be the main artist as I love the idea.
Blood River, a painting by Shawnti Therrien is now completed. I will make a digital version that will be the cover for Am I Immortal book three.
With Honor, the CAG Manga Anthology is in it's last stages. Tweaking lettering. Triple checking the stories. The printer is still up in the air so I am not sure what size the pages need to be. That makes things a bit more difficult. My only hope is to give all the artists the best first impression that they could hope for. Some are new and this will be their first published work.
How too, Yes I am gonna be in a how to book. In fact I should be doing that instead of writing this and working on concepts for godslayer...but I have to keep a careful balance in my head of things. All of the artwork is prepped and ready to go. I am unsure of what they want for Copy so I am procrastinating. I should not...
With that said I promise you an update soon. Thank you so much and I will keep you posted on the horror that is my life as best I can....
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