Katie Lee Grosskopf // Illustration

Holy Etsy, Batman!

2010-08-06T18:56:00.000-04:00

I've been workin' like an idiot trying to get this Etsy store open, but HERE IS IT, INTERNET-FRIENDS.

Oh, man, I had no idea how hard it is to get everything together, get photos in order, shop policies--my head is a big pile of mushy mush. But! I am glad to be able to provide an easy way for y'all to order prints and artwork and goods from me. I'm a huge fan of Etsy, and I've had my account there for some time now (as a buyer) but I haven't been able to get a shop up until now. I'll be making some more prints to sell soon--this is all a new process to me, and thank god Etsy's been more than helpful and informative with all my questions and troubles. NOW TO SIT BACK AND WATCH THE ORDERS ROLL IN (pipedreams).

Like it says on my Etsy site, I also am happy to do any commission work from you. I did eight (!!!) drawings / paintings over the weekend in commissioned work, so I can work fairly quickly but promise the highest quality to my best of ability! I use archival materials (and print on archival paper, for digital commissions). Maybe I can draw something for you? Feel free to contact me with any questions! I'll probably get some sort of commissioning guidelines / pricing chart up by next blog post. I feel like I just worked all day on this etsy thing (because...I guess I did >.<), and I need to go eat some dinner and organize my selling supplies!

An ending note--thanks again, everybody, for all the support. IT IS LIKE LIVING A DREAM, TO HAVE THE SUPPORT OF ALL OF YOU, INTERNET-FRIENDS. LESS THAN THREES TO YOU ALL.

ETA: JEEPERS, INTERNET-LAND. Not 2 minutes after I pressed "post entry" I have already made my first sale on Etsy! INTERNET, YOU ARE A FAST-MOVER!!! Thanks, guys!!!

Otakon aka Evacuation Station '10

2010-08-06T18:15:00.003-04:00

I've returned from convention-land, a land filled with sometimes horrifying unique sights and mostly disturbing interesting adventures! I am happy to say that I was successful in the profit department, and got to spend some time with my friends that I've known for years through the con circuit. We're old farts, all things considered!
No moar babbling; here are some pictures!

DELICIOUS SEAFOODS ARE ALWAYS CONSUMED IN MARYLAND. This is in preparation for the weekend of eating utter crap, or forgetting to eat altogether. WHAT PAIN AND MISERY WE SUFFER THROUGH TO BRING YOU ARTZ, MY LITTLE CON-ATTENDEES.

OH HELLO THAR PRINCESS BUBBLEGUM. Lots and lots of Adventure Time fans! Algebraic!!!

My friend Karl as Uncle Iroh, and a sweet Tai Lee and Sokka! THE AVATAR LOVE WAS SERIOUSLY AMAZING THIS WEEKEND. LOOK AT SOKKA-COSPLAYER'S FACE. IT IS PERF.

SAILOR SATURN. My favorite, next to the two gay-scouts. Her weapon was well-constructed!

I was kind of losing my mind over this Vanile cosplay, not only because it was pretty perfect and she's adorable and her weapon is totally real and badass, but also because I had moments earlier just seen a Lightning cosplay made from duct-tape, and it was terrifyingly disappointing.

Here is an assortment of pretty lolita outfits and costumes I don't know the orgins of, to spare you my ultra-witty and hilarious commentary. Some of these pictures were taken during the oh-so-hilarious FIRE ALARM that went off Saturday afternoon. Evacuating tens of thousands of attendees is not an easy task, but seriously--it was a test of human logic to get out of the building for some of these folks. The human race is not all that bright at times. Anyway, the photos:

AH, so many good times (mostly documented by my cell phone camera as well as my friend Nina, who had a real-people camera). It was a very busy weekend, and I think I did 7-8 commissions and was hunched over working for most of the convention, and I hate that I really didn't have time to hang out with my friends as much as I would have liked but MOMMA'S GOTTA PAY THE BILLS. I did manage to sneak away and say hi to most everyone I wanted to, and also made some new friends! New friends are nice to have! I finally met Jade who I've gone back and forth on twitter with (and who I blogged about way back) whose work I loooooove. C. Lijewski was also working hard for the money over on the other side of the alley next to Jade. WE ARE ALL CONNECTED, LAWLZ. Iris was out and about most of the daytime at the h.naoto booth, but was glad to spend some time with her over the weekend while she wasn't off being popular!

I also bought an original from Gus Fink, to add to all the other art by him that adorns my house. I also met his friend (ladyfriend?) whose name I forget (I'm so terrible with names, and I hate it, and I'm working on it) but she said that they would both be tabling at Dragon*Con this year, so I hope to catch up with them there!

NOW IS THE TIME TO SHARE PICTURES OF MY FACE. Luckily, my good con-artist friends have concealed most of my body with theirs, which is good, because SUNDAY WAS A FAT-DAY, INTERNET-FRIENDS, YOU KNOW WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT.

Annie, Nina, and I had our cramped cozy corner of the alley. GROUP HUGS. This was Nina's first time tabling at Otakon, and she was definitely very popular! OH ONE DAY I WILL BE POPULARZ.

And now, Kathy and Paula join our group photo time. If you can't tell, it is Sunday and we have been tabling and talking to 40,000 people over the weekend, and are freaking exhausted. Look at my woke-up-early-without-coffee-to-make-a-kinkos-run-and-had-no-time-to-shower-or-look-anywheres-near-presentable face. If you don't know what that looks like, here is some unfortunate photographic evidence.

I also purchased THIS MAGICAL ITEM that will be my new donations box at conventions AS WELL AS a tool to foil my gullible friends:

So, now is when I return to the real world, and begin to eat vegetables again (thank for that hot dog vendor outside the con center, but seriously, I don't think I ate a single vegetable that wasn't a potato all weekend, SORRY, STOMACHHH). I have some leftover prints from the convention that I'll be putting up for sale (moar about that later this week). Hope everybody has a great start to the week!

Monsters Show in Photos + Sudden Busytimes

2010-07-21T07:16:00.000-04:00

OH GOOD EVENING MORNING, INTERNET-FRIENDS! The current time is 6:06AM, and while normal folks have been sound asleep with nary a worry in their clever little heads, I have been awake and assaulting my eyes with florescent colors and patterns and trying to convince myself that although I am not good at math I CAN still count, even though I have CAUSED A SEVERE PROBLEM made a slight miscalculation resulting in about 6 hours of fixing mistakes that may or may not be my fault. SO. PLEASE FORGIVE ME IF THIS ENTRY IS SLIGHTLY NEUROTIC AND FEEL AND/OR ABUSES THE CAPSLOCK.

Because I know you just love photos with captions, I'm here to deliver you with some ace descriptions of fancy!times here at the Kai Lin Art gallery. HERE IS THE GALLERY WINDOW. IT IS LIKE YOU WERE THERE, INTERNET-FRIENDS!

Here are some general pictures of the beautiful / spacious / fantastic-and-perfectly-suitable-also-for-parties-and-receptions gallery itself (I will say right now that all fish-eye lensed pictures are courtesy of 944.com who were gracious enough to photograph the event for those of us without cameras, and by "us," I mean "me.") before it got super-crowded. And you may be asking, "Oh, Katie, what are you talking about you narcissistic fool, that looks pretty crowded to me, what are you talking about."
But internet-friends, YOU WOULD BE WRONG.
BECAUSE THIS IS WHEN IT GOT CROWDED. We had a really amazing turnout of over 500 people I am told, and THAT IS A LOT OF PEOPLE IN ONE SPACE. If you cannot tell, we are also all of equal shinyness and glossiness, because in spite of Shelley (gallery assistant / tumblr lover of my life) informing me that the thermostat was set at fifty, I was under the impression that we were suddenly on a tropical island and/or my grandparents house on Long Island 15 years ago where relief from the heat could only be sought from a 65 year old ceiling fan permanently set on "low."

ANYWAY. Many, MANY people I knew were in attendance, of which was all a pleasant surprise that warmed my tiny, frigid heart. OH FRIENDS, YOU MAKE MY STONE-COLD GANGSTA KILLAH IDENTITY A MERE FACADE.

Shelley, gallery assistant of your dreams. With my hand in a slightly awkward position, OH HO HO, SHELLEY, WATCH OUT FOR THIS LADY KILLER.

Dante DeStefano, who is posed in front of one of her fantastic pieces in the show, I believe showed up in 80% of the photos taken of the night. I mean, who wouldn't want to get their picture taken with her? In a yeti-hat? THE CHOICE IS OBVIOUS, DUH. I believe over the duration of the three hours we were in attendance, Dante completed approximately 900 laps around the gallery, hustle-hustlin'! GO GO DANTE.

The couple on the right (Sorry, couple on the left, I have NO IDEA WHO YOU ARE) is Mr. Jason Hawkins and his WONDERFUL X INFINITY WIFE, BRITTANY. I have admired Jason's work since we were in school together and his wife started making me baked goods to eat on numerous occasions. Jason's oil paintings are outstanding.

Anne Elser was my bookmaking instructor, and my burrito-friend. SHE IS SO WONDERFUL AND HAS ALSO HELPED ME LEARN THE SKILLS TO MAKE MY CHRISTMASES BEAUTIFUL AND THRIFTY. Anne provided our lovely nametags for the show, and I was glad to be able to talk to her for a little bit.

THESE ARE SOME NEW FRIENDS, WHO I AM HOPING VERY MUCH SO THAT THEY BECOME MY INTERNET-FRIENDS. <3 <3 <3 These two kind fellows (OH, WHAT A TIME TO BE HORRIBLE WITH NAMES. I BELIEVE ONE OF YOU IS DAVID. I'M A HORRIBLE PERSON, SORRY, NEW FRIENDS) talked to me for a little bit about my paintings and were generally a pleasure to speak with. This was right before there was a flood of five billion people coming into the gallery and before my anxiety truly spiked. GOOD TIMING.

The photographers at this event took 23094820389423 pictures of my two old neighbors and friends Kari and Derry (RHYMING NAMED COUPLE, ADORBZ) who were kind enough to make it out to the gallery to see me and try to steal the MacBookPro (just kidding). AREN'T THEY CUTE, INTERNET-LAND?!?

My dad was also in attendance at the gallery! CAN'T YOU SEE THE RESEMBLENCE. The dad of the great Katie Lee Grosskopf drove all the way from North Carolina just to see me. FOR ME. <3 THANKS, DAD.

Here, we stumble upon the greatest picture in the history of pictures. For this picture, Gary Weiss is actually smiling and wearing a not-red-or-navy-blue-or-grey shirt, and my best pal Mike is wearing not-holey-jeans, and the three of us are together! In the gallery! Together! Ah, words can't describe how happy I am that we somehow found our way into a picture together. WE ARE SUCH TWEW FWENDZ.

OH, MY GOD, THAT WAS A LOT OF PICTURES. I've probably lost half of you by now (so...only one reader left, oh ho ho) but if you made it to here, I congratulate you, and assure you that this is the last you'll hear of this show. I know I've been hyping it for weeks now, but now that it's off my mind, the plan is to sleep for the next 4 days.

But, these plans are foiled! Because, now that I've gone from a working-at-an-office type person to a working-from-my-comfortable-home-in-underwears type person, I have suddenly hit a point where I am up to my neck in work and jobs are coming in and, like the great Mary Tyler Moore said, I AM GOING TO MAKE IT AFTER ALL. One of the jobs is fairly full-time freelance work which is on my mind 75% of the time, the other 25% being smaller jobs here and there. SO, THAT PLAN TO SLEEP FOR FOUR DAYS IS SADLY LOST TO THE WIND, but will hopefully fly back in my face in the guise of a paycheck. THINGS ARE COMING UP KATIE.

Right after I completed the gallery pieces a couple of weeks ago, I hit kind of an art-burnout stage, and to warm my artist-muscles back up again, I've been completing the 30 Day Drawing Challenge as posted on my tumblr / facebook fan page / wherever the hell else I am on the internet. Here are the first batch of drawings! I'll be posting them in groups so I'm not bombarding you every day with random 1-2 hr little drawings.

01 - Self Portrait

02 - Imaginary Friend

03 - Most Recent Dream

04 - Re-design a Book Cover

IT'S 7:00AM AND TIME TO PASS OUT, INTERNET-LAND!
Otakon preparation is also taking place this week. I'M SURE YOU CAN'T WAIT TO FIND OUT HOW I FEEL ABOUT MAKING PRINTS BECAUSE YOU KNOW IT'S MY FAVORITE THING TO DO, RIGHT!?!?

The Monsters Aftermath

2010-07-17T19:30:00.000-04:00

Here's a ridiculously unattractive photo of one of my paintings and me, at the Monsters show last night! Just call me the sweat monster, guhrossss.

I'm still processing what exactly happened last night. I know it involved a room packed with 500+ people sweating and looking at my and my friends' hard work, and yelling talking excitedly over Lady Gaga booming against the walls, and seeing old friends (SO MANY FRIENDS) and meeting tons of new people, and lots of free booze, and selling a painting (!!!) and and and

*falls down*

Thank you. Thank you all so, so much. Friends, teachers, old co-workers, new friends--it was so overwhelming and like a dream. I have never felt more loved than I did last night. Thank you, everyone. The amount of support that has been shown for me has seriously blown my mind.

I'm going to sleep for the next 12 hours. More about the show next post! And new prints will be available on the site! STAY TUNED, INTERNET-FRIENDS.

Giveaway Winners + Photoshop Wrasslin'

2010-07-13T14:03:00.000-04:00

AS Y'ALL KNOW, I HAD MY FIRST GIVEAWAY YESTERDAY.
The following winners were super quick to respond to my cry of pimpage, and for that I am super thankful!

They are a talented bunch, and I hope that my readers will check out their work as well--very inspiring and awesome work!

And here they are!

Ryan Coons is an outstanding, hard-working, and often hilarious copywriter also based in Atlanta, GA. He works up at 22Squared, where I'm sure he's being his usual self-deprecatingly talented self. He and his awesome gf, Lauren, were my dates (THIRD WHEEL, LOLZZZZ) to our friend Jonathan's recent wedding, and he still owes me $100 (just kidding. no. i mean. yes. but not mad.)

Follow him on twitter and tumblr--you will not regret it, unless you're allergic to funny or nerdy or funnily nerdy things. And if you are, I don't know why you'd be reading this blog anyways.

Jess is a photographer and doodler from NJ who I met when I assisted with tour management and merchandise for bands from Japan that traveled to the States to do live shows for their American fanbases. She's the definition of a sweetheart, and she's talented to boot--she's ultra-passionate and dedicated to her pursuits in photography and art; she is available for hire as well!

You can see more of her work at her deviantart page.

San Smith is an illustrator and amazo-blogger out of Atlanta. Her blog and artwork are both fantastic--I've been a stalker fan of hers for some time, and was happy we finally got to meet each other this spring! If you haven't seen San's work yet, you're crazy, and need to immediately head over to her website.

She is also doing an awesome giveaway right now, so please check it out!

Dana is a blogger from the DC Area who is an avid reader of books and her blog is dedicated to writing and talk to people about her love of books! She updates very frequently, and her insight into romance and fantasy novels makes me want to start reading as much as I used to when I was younger. I also did the artwork for her banner for the site!

Please read her blog, become her blog's fan on facebook, or if you're not a hardcore reader like Dana is, her other personal blog could be of your interest as well!

The Anger Ball is a blog I've pimped out before on my twitter and tumblr, and I sincerely hope that you all have had an opportunity to read these entries. THEY ARE HILARIOUS. I have a personal belief that negativity is harmful and I try to stay away from it as much as possible, but if unavoidable, it is best handled with humor...of which the Anger Ball's specializes! I always look forward to their updates and tweets.

Follow the Anger Ball on twitter or read their blog; there's a little something for just about everybody there!

Good job, followers! Joon and I approve!

Well, I'm happy to report that I have some full-time freelancing gigs right now that will keep me busy for hopefully a long time. Being at home and working here has really turned me on to the idea of working for myself. I do miss the interaction and fun work antics of my old job, but this is easily fixed with some good old fashion hang-out time with my friends--I just have to make sure to schedule not-work times! When you work at home, it's easy to get wrapped up in what you do and forget about having a social life.

THIS, I DO NOT WANT TO EVER FORGET.

Speaking of working for myself, I have a webcomic planned for an October release, and blew the hard-drive dust off of my Photoshop and started to doodle a little.

SHIT, PHOTOSHOP IS HARD. Although, I admit that when I say this, rabid Photoshop supporters insist that Illustrator is hard, and I will agree with that. I just need more practice is all! So, i hope to be sharing more Photoshop doodles as well as some artwork from the webcomic. Stay tuned for more! Thanks, guys!

"I HELP YOU, YOU HELP ME" Giveaway!!!

2010-07-12T03:23:00.000-04:00

ALLRIGHT, Y'ALL.
IT IS TIME FOR THE GIVEAWAY CONTEST THINGIE.

The times are tough for creative folks, and it's my personal belief that we need to help each other out as much as we can. I have received the most opportunity in my life from people who have heard of me through word of mouth, the passing of information from one person to another. Whether it's through people we know, or reaching out through the web, I've been fortunate enough to have great friends, co-workers, art directors, and contacts who believe in me, and my work, and support me simply by telling someone else about who I am and what I do! So, I propose that we help each other, internet-friends!

BUT LET'S DO IT WITH A FLASHY CONTEST!!
YOUR MISSION:
1) Use your social networking doo-dads (twitter, facebook, myspace, etc) and link to my blog, and the Monsters Show's ad and Facebook Page.
The links are
my blog: www.seekatiedraw.com
the show: http://seekatiedraw.squarespace.com/storage/monstersad.jpg (ad)
or, http://www.facebook.com/#!/event.php?eid=134454126575411&ref=ts (the facebook page)

2) Show me that you completed step one!
Leave me a comment on my blog or an e-mail or something to prove to me that you completed the task at hand! Show me your sweet tweets, your facebook updates, your blog updates, your tumblr blogs; show me that you've basically pimped me out to the rest of internet-land! Proof is in the form of link-backs or screenshots of your social networking activities. NO PROOF, NO WINNING. SORRY.

3) Be one of the first 5 people do to this, and you WIN THE PRIZE.

By now, you are surely asking--but, Katie, WHAT IS THE PRIZE!??! Good thing the next section is--

YOUR PRIZE:
1) ONE (1) FANCY-SCHMANTS POSTER PRINT OF ONE OF THE PIECES I DID FOR THE MONSTER SHOW.
I'm making a limited run of prints of the pieces I created for the Monsters show, and YOU WILL HAVE YOUR CHOICE OF ONE OF THESE BAD BOYS:

FOR YOUR WALL.

2) PIMPAGE IN MY NEXT BLOG ENTRY.
In spite of popular belief, I get a pretty good amount of hits on my blog. For doing me a big ol' favor and pimping me out to your friends, I will also do the same for you! Got a new blog that needs some attention? Are you a freelancer that needs some business? Want more traffic to your etsy store? I WILL TRY TO HELP by blogging about you and what you do, so the word gets out to my piece of internets!

THERE IT IS, FOLKS. MY FIRST GIVEAWAY. Winners will be updated on this blog entry. GOOD LUCK.

WINNERS:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

The monsters have left my house and THE GIVEAWAY COMETH.

2010-07-09T02:50:00.001-04:00

THE MONSTERS HAVE LEFT THE BUILDING.
Today, friends, I said some sad farewells to my little creations and put them in the hands of the wonderful Kai Lin Art gallery for safe-keeping, and by safe-keeping, I mean to hang. Freshly varnished prior to delivery, my house smells like a garage and myself and my dog may possible be high as kites right now, but at any rate, OH, MY GOD, THE SHOW IS NEXT WEEK, THIS IS HAPPENING REALLY FAST, AGH, AGH, OH, OH, MY GOD. I am a simultaneously excited and terrified. While I get ahold of myself, here are some professional cellular telephone photographs:

BUT NOW IS ONE OF THOSE TIMES WHEN I MUST ~~REJECT MY EMOTIONAL RESPONSES~~ PUSH ON, and I have so much more to get done by the end of this month. The past week has been pretty intense and chaotic, and, from the looks of it, will continue to exist in this manner at least through August.

All I will say is that the saying "something better is always around the bend," is actually proving itself to be true! It's not always ~~a load of horseshit~~ false! EVEN THOUGH I HAVE REQUIRED A PHOENIX DOWN FROM TIME TO TIME, KATIE LEE GROSSKOPF HAS JUST LVL'D UP. (If you understand that last sentence, I truly am thankful for your presence in this world) Everything, lately, seems to be coming up Katie, and I credit much of it to your support and encouragement! And, because I love you all so much, I WOULD LIKE TO GIVE BACK TO YOU.

This weekend, I am working SUPER HARD to prepare for this blog's very first giveaway. I AM GIVING THINGS AWAY, INTERNET-FRIENDS. And not just things like in your elementary school goodie bags you got from parties (ie: pencil with "happy birthday" design on it with eraser that does not actually erase and so said pencil has stayed unsharpened for 17 years) but I am giving away five free prints of the pieces in the "I'm in love with your monster" series of paintings that are ~~smelling up~~ waiting in the gallery to be shown on Friday to the general public. This, of course, requires some participation on your part, but IT IS NOT HARD. So easy, internet-land, that my little dog (as adorable as she may be, she is the most intelligent of life) could probably win this giveaway.

I'm announcing what to do when I blog on Monday morning! It's a first-come-and-do-what-I-say, first-served, so please head over to seekatiedraw.com on Monday morning AND YOU MAY POSSIBLY WIN THE GIVEAWAY.

GOOD LUCK, INTERNET-LAND. Prepare for my post on Monday! Thank you for supporting the hell out of me--I truly appreciate all your e-mails and follows on all 2309842098423089243 social media sites I frequent! INTERNET-LAND, YOU ARE TOO GOOD TO ME.

Let me hear your podcast recs!

2010-07-06T04:53:00.000-04:00

I'm the kind of person who doesn't like pure silence. From the minute I wake up until I go to bed, I need to be listening to...something. Depending on what I'm doing. Even when I go to sleep, I like to leave a fan on to create that kind of "white noise" that lulls me to slumber at 7 or 8am (I swear I'm not a vampire, even though all signs point to....)

Lately, when I've been working on my show pieces and on illustrations in general, I've been listening to audiobooks. I rarely have time to sit down and read anything, so at least I'd be "reading" in a different way. However, audiobooks cost money, something that is rarer than the Rosetta Stone these days for just about everybody, so I'm listening to about 10 - 12 hours of podcasts every day.

Obviously, at this rate, I run out of shit to listen to quickly (even though some episodes of certain podcasts I will listen to over and over again). So, I am asking you, internet-friends! Do you listen to any awesome, amazing, inpsiring, funny, or interesting podcasts? Can you recommend me any podcasts to listen to? Please let me know in the comments or contact me in some other way--I'd love to hear from you, and what interests you!

My favorite podcast ever is The Moth.

Oh god, the Moth. If you don't listen to the Moth, I strongly encourage you to do so. I love any kind of storytelling and I love listening to stories and hearing audience reaction to the stories. Once, when I was at my old office, I was by myself upstairs with my coffee and just waking up for that day and listened to THE SADDEST STORY OF ALL TIME, and I started crying and wibbling in front of co-workers. DAMN YOU, MOTH. STOP BEING SO TOUCHING.

But seriously, most of the stories are hilarious, with a serious one thrown in there every now and again, but it's such a treat every week, I promise!

Other podcasts I listen to:
2) Sidebar Nation: 3 great guys from Atlanta talk comics and illustration, with a strong focus on the artistic community. Their interview with Peter de Seve is one of my favorite interviews of all time! They seem like 3 super fun and awesome guys; they really do their homework on the people that they interview.
3) This American Life: I KNOW EVERYBODY OF ALL TIME LISTENS TO THIS but I love this program, and I can never catch it on the radio when it actually airs. The stories are always amazing and informative. I basically learned about health insurance, the economic crisis, and the election from TAL.
4) Risk!: I was just informed about this podcast about an hour ago by a good friend, and it did not disappoint at all. It's sort of like the Moth, only way more explicit, ahaha.
5) Downloadable Content: The Penny Arcade podcast. Sadly, I don't think they update anymore, but their back episodes are all hilarious, and it's a great look at the writing process for their awesome webcomic, Penny Arcade.

Allright, back to work! (And listening to new podcasts, come on, guys!)

LO AND BEHOLD. A WEBSITE.

2010-07-05T00:46:00.002-04:00

WHY HELLO THERE, PIECE OF FABULOUS. WHAT ARE YOU?
OH, SO YOU'RE THE NEW WWW.SEEKATIEDRAW.COM, I PRESUME!?
MY, YOU LOOK DASHING.

Oh, internet-land, I am so happy to announce the launch of my new ultra-fantastic website, programmed and designed by Orange Umbrella, who were ultra-professional and took great care to cater to my every ~~psychotic, control-freakish~~ wish to ensure my great happiness and satisfaction! I AM AN ADULT NOW, Y/Y!?!

In spite of my growing giddy nature about my big, shiny new website, I've got to simmer down, because I have got myself on apartment lock-down 2010, and I will not emerge (except for doggie let-outs) until I have all my pieces completed, built, and ready for presentation to hang on July 8th. So, while I get back to that, here are some more in-progress shots:

Joon is supervising as she attempts to take cover under my leg from the fireworks:

Also, I have been working on some patterns for some SEKRIT PROJECKZ. They are up in my children's art and patterns gallery. Where you may ask? ON MY SUPER NEW WEBSITE. I'm updating as I go, but here are some of my initial pattern ideas. I've graciously been offered some help with color from my good friend Ivy Rose Mcleod (who I wish had a website, but here is her flickr account for you to peruse), and I'll be continuing pattern work in my downtime. Whenever that is.

Here's a preview of those--go to my new site for more!

Can't wait to show you guys more as it comes around!

Test test!

2010-07-04T16:17:00.001-04:00

Testing!

My Life is a Monster

2010-07-01T00:11:00.000-04:00

The flyer for my show is out today, featuring artwork of the talented Dante DeStefano! Now that I see it, it definitely feels ULTRA-REAL AND SIMULTANEOUSLY HORRIFYING AND EXCITING. Please, if you are local and can make it out to see this show of epic proportions, I encourage you to do so! It's being sponsored by Svedka Vodka and there is also an after party at the Halo Lounge down the street!

Taking a moment out of a crazy couple of weeks to share some in-progress pics with you all! I only have a cell phone camera for right now, so the quality is just so-so. Plus, the light today was not as bright as it usually is in the morning times, but you get the idea, right?

I enjoy painting on wood, and I've had a mini-lesson in building my own frames to back my paintings from the wonderful Richard Russell. Also, for you local folks, Highland Woodworking helped me so, so much with materials and tools I needed to make my art presentable and beautiful, even before I painted anything; it's so wonderful to go to a shop where people truly care about what they sell and truly care about your projects (and your budget).

Also, I used a circular saw for the first time this week, and decided that I don't much care for using tools where the power is not my own! D: I've been hand-sawing and hand-sanding my frames, which I'm much more comfortable with.

The piece on the left is 95% done! I mounted it on the frame yesterday and I'm sanding it down and adding some texture and poly coating tonight. EXCITING. Getting a few pieces totally done has boosted my morale tenfold.

Fellow art-maker Sarah Jane Sapang (whose blog / shop are both wonderful, if you have not taken a look, please do yourself a favor and do so!) pointed me in the direction of an etsy blog called "Quit Your Day Job," which interviews people who, because of their popularity and success on Etsy, have been able to quit their day jobs and work full-time for themselves! Considering my current situation, this has ultimately put me in SUPER-INSPIRED-AND-MOTIVATED mode. I have a morbid and insatiable curiosity to 1) see other people's studio spaces and 2) know what each artist's typical day is like when they work for themselves!

Also, I opened my formspring.me account again, so you can always feel free to ask me anything there!
Also^2, I am going to be doing my first GIVEAWAY soon! So, please stay tuned for that! I'll also be announcing this on my twitter, tumblr, and facebook fanpage, so no one will have an excuse not to participate!! I'm so excited about this, and I hope you all will be, too! Till next time!

I lied. Time to do a pimp post.

2010-06-18T01:02:00.000-04:00

I can't get away from you people!

But, I wanted to check in really quickly before I get ready for the wedding this weekend, and let you all know (especially other convention artists) about an art-centric convention that my friend Oni has started called Intervention.

Artist alley tables will be juried, and applications are due tomorrow night, so act fast if you can! It's sure to be a really really great convention! Here's a press release to let you know more! (or go to interventioncon.com)

There is a new convention in MD called Intervention. This convention is by artists, for artists. Community and respect are a huge deal here. Artist's Alley tables are only $85. This includes a 6 ft table in a secure (locked overnight) table, a clickable link to your work, and a sample of your art on the Intervention site. The idea is to engage with the community so that we can send you traffic and help you drive sales before the convention even starts.

AA tables are open for application NOW. The deadline is tomorrow night, so you'd best apply quickly.

The URL is http://www.InterventionCon.com

September 10-12 2010 at the Hilton Washington DC

Official details:

Intervention is a convention for the independent comics, art, and music creators. The con was started by webcomic creator Onezumi Hartstein and web developer James Harknell. This goal is to bring together different independent creators to party, educate, and appreciate the opportunities the Internet gives to all of us.

Intervention will have awesome webcomics geek-related programming and gaming all day and night from Friday through Sunday. There will be one dance party where the audience can assist the DJ in making live music and one NYC-style dance party. In addition to the Artist's Alley/Vendor Room over 30 webcomic and New Media experts will attend. The con is still being planned. Discussion is being held on the Intervention forum.
If you need more information or you want to schedule an interview with the con chairs, please contact onezumi@onezumi.com

Preview: I'm in love with a monster

2010-06-15T02:09:00.001-04:00

Some pictures taken with my cell phone of one of my pieces for the show in July. I wish I had a better camera, because, as you see, in these three pictures the color already looks ridiculously different. I'm getting them shot professionally when the whole show is done.
More deets another time--going back to the hunker-down position, will not unfurl until I've got more done. It's been steady, and I feel good about it.

Thanks for sticking with me, guys. More soon.

Knee-deep in Monster-land

2010-06-13T03:42:00.000-04:00

One good thing about being freelance full-time is that I don't have any sleep problems anymore! Mostly because I'm keeping my preferred vampire hours where my peak working hours (and jeezus, I can do a lot of work in this time) is 11pm to around 4am. I'm thinking it might be because of the quiet, and the feeling that I'm here, busting my ass while everybody else is sleeping, like I'm in a secret underground art-making organization (members: 1).

It's about 3:30 in the morning right now and I'm about to turn in, but here's some in-progress of one of the pieces of my show. EXCITING. I'm going to be pretty busy until the show in the 16th, especially because I'm going out of town twice in this time. Crazy, I know.

I'll try to blog more but as this show gets closer to...showtime, my nose'll be to the grind and I won't be able to see past tentacles. Or something.

A studio post

2010-06-08T02:35:00.001-04:00

I got some questions on my tumblr and other internet nooks that I frequent about my studio space, and I thought I'd share some photos and talk a little bit about my "studio." Studio meaning, that room in my house where I make arts happen. If you were anticipating something Disney-esque, GRAVELY MISTAKEN does not even begin to describe.

Well, let's start with my drawing desk, which was donated graciously to me by Gary after the flood. This is where I start to lose my mind / thoughts of artistic suicide begin. The Daystar was bright as hell this morning, and burning my recluse-skin pretty hard. For now, I've blurred out my pieces for the show, but I promise within the next week I'll give y'all an update about that.

Next to my desk are thousands of dollars of ~~wasted money~~ art supplies. Pretty self-explanatory. Because of the recent getting-laid-off thing, I actually rearranged everything and scrubbed the floors (BY HAND, LIKE, CINDERELLA-STYLE, Y'ALL) and I promise you that in a week I won't remember how I organized, like, 90% of this stuff. And it probably won't matter because it'll all be a mess by then, anyway.

Across the way (read: 3 steps to the right) is my computer desk. I learned the beauty of dual-screen action at work, and looking at one screen is almost foreign now. I keep 2 bottles of 100 pills of Advil on my desk because MY HEAD ALWAYS HURTS FROM LOOKING AT THESE TWO SCREENS. Also, I'd like to point out that my mother sent me the same Christmas card two years in a row and that kind of sums up the kind of awesome lady she is.

And behind my desk I keep some old sketches / paintings of mine that I like (usually color palettes or line quality or something to remind me that SOMETIMES I DO GOOD THINGS) and artwork from friends / inspirations that remind me to get off my ass and work. There is also that giant paperweight printer. Gotta get that working again. It basically crapped out right before I was about to head out to Animazement. WONDERFUL TIMING, AS ALWAYS, LIFE.

And there you have it. Not much to it, like I said, but this is basically where I'm going to hideout for the next month and a half. I've gotten some really sweet e-mails and replies from many of you, and I appreciate them all. BUT NEVER FEAR. I've no time to slow down--it's all full-speed ahead from here!

The times, they are a-changin'!

2010-06-06T23:53:00.001-04:00

Animazement was a total blast this year as usual. A PILE OF FRIENDS, IT WAS. It was great to meet up with all the people that I've basically grown up with artistically over the past...8 years? 9 years? Jeezus. I'm practically a grandma in the convention-world these days.

AND OF COURSE I TOOK SOME PICTURES:

This is one of those times when I wish I didn't have just a cell phone camera! OH GOD. When I saw Dug and Russell on the other side of the hall, I pretty much screamed "WATCH MY TABLE PLZ THX!!" to my table neighbors and darted across. I believe I was the only one over 7 years old who wanted their picture taken with them but WHO CARES BECAUSE I DO NOT LOOK THAT PICTURE IS EFFING ADORABLE.

I love DOGS and these are the first cosplayers of the twins where it doesn't look like they went to the Rag-O-Rama and cut apart a parka. ADORBS.

Grab Captain K'nuckles and Bubby, OH MY GOD IT'S AN ADORABLE FLAPJACK. I felt bad because I think I made her pose about 30 times as I was having TEKNOLOGEE MALFUNKSHUNZ. *headdesk* *headdesk*

Ah, I have about 4,000 more pictures but this blog might be long and arduous and those were most definitely the best ones. This con was pretty kick ass, and we had more than few good meals, and like I've mentioned a thousand times it was like, THE FRIEND REUNION, and really, that's the main reason why I do these cons anymore is because I get to see the people that I don't see anywhere else. Although I've talked to a few others about how maybe I'm going to cool it from anime cons and start heading to different shows (starting with NYCC in the fall, oh crap!!!). After I see how my the show I'm part of does in July, I've got to really examine the rest of my year. It's already June, what the hell!?

Also, I'm not keeping this secret or anything, but a couple of you have asked--I don't work full-time anymore, so I'm all-or-nothing freelance these days. My company and I ended more than amicably, so it wasn't a throwing-tables affair or anything like that. But, changes changes, folks! My life is going to be interesting for the next few months, and HERE I AM FUTURE, I AM READY FOR YOU. *puffs up chest and raises gumption*

I'm working on a post for a few of you via my tumblr about what my studio looks like. Being that I just cleaned that sucker up recently for MAXIMUM WORK POTENTIAL, I figured I'd take a few pictures tomorrow along with some roaringly obnoxious commentary, as usual. I don't know how people put up with me, I swear.

For now, here is an adorable picture of my dog next to my flippy floppies on the blanket I put down for her in my studio space.

EDIT: ADDING ONE MORE BECAUSE I'M OBSESSED AND WEIRD.

Pre-con Madness Begins!

2010-05-24T13:50:00.001-04:00

Happy Monday! This is Katie on 2 hours of sleep, 3 cups of coffee in. My body can't decide if it's hot or cold, I have to consciously think about blinking, and the impending to-do list of these precious few days before my trip to Animazement this weekend is screaming in my brain, aka, the hollow space between my ears that has manifested due to slipping into an alternate reality called "Lack-of-Sleep."

Most of you know I've had a problem with sleep for the past year or so. I've tried just about everything, trust me. Fortunately, this means I can do a lot of art over a weekend. I had intended to make a blog happen at some point on Friday. I'm not sure how all this works. How often do people blog? How often do you guys actually want to hear from me? Questions, questions.

Anyway, me and Joon are venturing to North Carolina this weekend for Animazement, my most favorite convention. The staff is always so friendly, and the new Raleigh Convention Center is a perfect new home for this convention that has gone from like, 50 forty-year olds (and me, ohhhhh noooooo) to over 4,000 people! ALSO, ALSO, it is like reunion times for me and my repeat customers, my artist friends, my friends I met when I was sort of in the j-rock industry, and just friends. Animazement is a pile of friends! WHAT COULD BE BETTER, I ASK!?!?

So, here's some art I popped out over the weekend. More to come, even!

ADVENTURE TIME!!!!

SOMETHING ABOUT BELIEVING IN THE ME THAT IS BELIEVING IN YOU OR SOMETHING.

OH HO HO, WHAT IS BETTER THAN ONE GAGA? TWO GAGAS.

That's all for today! I'm gonna go sneak a nap.

Ah mah gah, burstdaaayyyyy!!!

2010-05-17T12:22:00.000-04:00

Today is a good day, everybody! Take the day off, take a long lunch, have an extra bloody mary, TODAY IS MAH DAY OF BIRTH.

Just kidding, I'm rly not that important, but if you need an excuse, HERE I AM TO DELIVER.

Saturday was my birthday partaaaay which, thankfully, this year was more contained and not as out of control as last year. I shall talk today a bit about the perils of Facebook, as in, how it allows people to lie to you.

Last year's celebration, I made an event on Facebook (already a pain) and 10 confirmed guests said that they would attend. As I am always surprised that I have friends, THIS WAS MOST EXCELLENT NEWS. I informed the fine people at the Brewhouse in L5P that I would have a dozen people in attendance and we got a table ala the Last Supper for everybody to sit down and nom chicken wings and drink some beers.

AND THEN 65 PEOPLE SHOWED UP.

Albeit, this is flattering (I think I drunkenly blabbed "WHO WAS THAT!?!?" a few times, not even gonna lie), it got out of control pretty quickly--the waitstaff was crazy, there were mixed up orders, I think my old roommate Jenn had to pay a $210 tab that WAS NOT HERS, I was very overwhelmed. And when I'm overwhelmed I get, as they say, TOTES INAPPROPS.

So, this year, there was less AGHH!!! and more YAY!!! and as the night wore on (and I may or may not have had a 20 minutes party time with a different party sorrrryyyy strangers) I have made a chart of how my time was spent in-between being irresponsible because HELLO IT IS MY BIRTHDAY I CAN DO WHATEVER I WANT THAT IS THE POINT OF BIRTHDAYS.

And so ends my 1 out of 3 days a year I get to go out and be an excusable hot mess.

So, today is my actual birthday, and I'm about to go eat some birthday lunch with my fine co-worker pals. I'm preparing some new things for Animazement at the end of the month, as well as a couple of SUPER SEKRIT PROJEKTS. Hooray, I am twenty--*coughCOUGHcough* years old!

Changes, changes!

2010-05-13T14:30:00.000-04:00

There is a lot happening over here in Katie-land I can't talk about a lot of it right now, but my life is going to be very different beginning next month. I'm looking forward to all the changes and challenges in store for me.

I'm opening commissions again, $10 for some digital art. Also, I'll take some commissions at my normal rate for paintings or large-scale digital pieces. If you're interested, you can e-mail me at katie@seekatiedraw.com, and we'll have a conversation!

Right now, have some Gaga. Because I have to remind myself that it'll be okay. Doo doo-doo doo. Just dance.

Drawing Marathon Day!

2010-05-10T20:31:00.000-04:00

Holy crap, I did so much drawing today! Some were gifts, some were the $10 commissions I called out for over the weekend, and I'm still chugging away! I thought I'd update with my progress thus far!

Oh man! And tonight, I'm hoping to get a couple more done. THAT IS, AFTER I SEE IRONMAN 2, YES, YES. I'm going with my old roommate and fellow fan-dork, Jenn, tonight, and there will be some knee-grabbing on my part, I assure you!

Also! San recently posted a blog with a Princess Bubblegum (of Adventure Time fame) crown tutorial, and today at work, I made myself and some co-workers crowns. It was fun! YOU CAN TELL BECAUSE WE ARE SMILING LIKE NERDFACES. HOORAY CARTOONS!

My huge Asian face, guh.
More updates later, after I go get my mind blown by Robert Downey Jr.

Announcement! Commissions! Thank yous!

2010-05-09T05:23:00.004-04:00

I did this fish for someone at work who likes goldfish. It doesn't really have to do TOO much with this post, but it adds to the list of doodles that happen because of some severe procrastination.

Because of my sleeping problems (right now, I'm blogging at 5AM, urrghhh), I've been exhausted all the time and in kind of a crummy sort of mood. I'm hoping that this changes, starting this week! To help me get out of this rut, I'm doing one of my favorite thing to do, which is to draw things for other people! I haven't opened for commissions in awhile, so maybe now is a good time to do so.

SO! If there's anything you'd like to get drawn by me, I'm opening five slots for $10 commissions. Because of the cheap cheap price, these will all be digital commissions, like the fish over here, no background, full-color, one character / object of interest (or two, if a little simpler). Please e-mail me ( katie@seekatiedraw.com ), and I'll put you on the list!

Slots taken:
~~1. GL (Owls)~~
~~2. MM (Glee characters)~~
~~3. EO (her puppy)~~
~~4. ND (dwaggin)~~
5. JS (turtle)

**Edit: Holy crap, that filled up fast! Hopefully, I'll get through these quick and then I'll open up more slots! Thanks, everybody!**

To see samples of my work, you can always go to my mainpage or my new facebook fan page!
Speaking of, wowowowowowwow, guys! I think I reached almost 120 fans in the first day! Thank you so much for all your support. The times ahead are sure to be a challenge--my heart gets all mushy-gushy when I think about how I could never get up and keep trying without your encouragement.

ALLRIGHT MUSHY STUFF IS OVER. ARTIST MACHINE ENGAGE. TIME TO KICK ASS AND TAKE NAMES.

Sunshine bug!

2010-05-05T15:31:00.003-04:00

Work is in-between projects for me lately, and I've been art-directed by one of my designer-ly co-workers (lots of hypens, guys!) to draw something, the first of which is a "sunshine bug," the nickname she has for her 3 1/2 year old daughter.

Two versions--going to do some printing / pattern experiments with these! Which one do you like better?

My emotions have been everywhere lately! One minute I'm sobbing, the next I'm cynical, the next I'm carefree and happy. I think the lack of sleep has been affecting my emotional filters. So, this week, I'm experimenting with lots of different sleep remedies. If anyone has any suggestions, feel free to let me know!

I'm going to attempt to try:

chamomile tea or warm milk before bed
not eating anything after 7pm
only 1 cup of coffee in the morning (THIS IS THE HARDEST)
not taking any naps (and sticking to it! the amount of accidental naps I take is unreal)
exercising in the morningtime

I'll let you know the results!

Late by about four weeks.

2010-04-27T18:32:00.001-04:00

About four week ago (urrrrrrgghh), C. Lijewski suggested a "Devilman Day," where we get out the old comics and draw that bastard. I completed a sketch on the actual day, but haven't completed the illustration until now.

Mostly watercolor and acrylic, some photoshop color retouching.

Glee tonight! It'll get my artist mojo going again, I believe!

When I did everything and nothing in one weekend

2010-04-26T14:19:00.001-04:00

I had made grandiose plans for a weekend of productivity, mainly:

a) finding materials for my show in July
b) cleaning my apartment because it's gross
c) grocery shopping
d) finishing some more Glee characters.
e) writing some

And what ended up happening was
f) none of the above

However! The weekend ended up being action-packed and subsequently exhausting with headshots and photoshoots and meetings with San Smith and art shows with Gary in Madison and crashing Karen Strelecki's house to peruse her work and work-functions at the Atlanta Zoo and drawing every animal ever and oh lawdy a heated wind blew up mah skirt and I am tuckered out! I feel like a zombie at work today.

Not much going on today, so I finally got around to working on my friend Ryan's tattoo. He wanted me to magic up something in the spirit of these two images below:

And I came up with something a-like-a-this:

Just waiting to hear back. I expect lots of revisions since, you know. This is going to be on his body. Forever. He has every right to tweak and tweak and tweak until satisfied, in my opinion!

Glee Art!

2010-04-19T22:54:00.000-04:00

I watch like, 2 TV shows ever, guys.
ONE OF THEM IS GLEE.

SO, HAVE SOME GLEE ART.
I'm working on the cast, because I love them all a whole, whole lot. <3

April / May Desktop Wallpaper

2010-04-19T13:29:00.002-04:00

Hey everybody!

Work was not too demanding today, and I still have my desktop wallpaper up from March from San Smith up to confuse the hell out of me when I need to figure out my dates. So! For my own intents and purposes, and to kill a little time and have some fun, I made a desktop wallpaper today for both April and May. Nothing too fancy, but wanted to share and hopefully it'll help someone else out, too!

Just go ahead and click on that sucker for a 1024x768 wallpaper. Hope everybody's week is going well! I hope to have more goodies available for everybody in the future.

This week, I'm beginning to look for materials for my gallery show in July, as well as finishing up some lingering paintings that I've been meaning to get to for over three weeks now. D: Time flies!

It was worth it, in a way.

2010-04-17T21:03:00.002-04:00

I've officially done with my graduate studies.
Gary has gotten me some fancy flower bouquet, and I have a pretty piece of paper with my name on it (by the lovely Anne Elser) that says Student!Katie is no more, for real. Anyone that came to party it up at the W hotel afterward (Seriously, I saw some dude that looked just like Lil' Wayne and I was like "WTF aren't you in prison but I love that Drop the Bomb song OMG"), I'm so so so glad you came out to spare some moments hanging out and celebrating with us.

My mother was in attendance, and left this afternoon. An all-too-short visit, if you ask me. :( This weekend is the Sweetwater 420 Fest which basically has me trapped in my house (parking situation = enraging), but it all seems okay when I have Glee, Final Fantasy XIII, and knitting. NERD WEEKEND AHOY.

It's bloggin' time

2010-04-15T17:49:00.000-04:00

Available for the iPad is A Story Before Bed! And look whose book is being packaged with the app! What a lovely surprise from the fine folks at Jackson Fish Market. <3 I'm hearing great things about the app on the iPad--if anyone owns an iPad and is willing to download this app (free! and my book comes with it kukuku!), please let me know what you think!

I've re-vamped this blog to hopefully be more accessible, and am promising myself to update more often what's going on in my illustrative life. So many great and wonderful things are happening, and I'm so thankful and grateful for all the people and opportunities that have reached out to me. I'm working with Orange Umbrella to get my main site up ASAP, but keeping this blog for doodles, in-progress things, and general rambling about the business and lifestyle. I really feel like a new generation of illustrators and artists is emerging, especially among the community that I am a part of, and I'm genuinely excited and happy to be a part of it.

Graduation was actually in December for me, but the actual ceremony is tomorrow night. My parents are coming into town and it should be a great time. I have to say, the two years of internal rage and anxiety and blood/sweat/tears/spray fixatif were worth it.

2 is always 2

2010-04-13T21:15:00.005-04:00

Obviously there's a story behind this, so I'll try to explain the best way I can.

When I first moved to Atlanta to attend Portfolio Center, I had never taken an art class in my life, but knew it was something that I had always loved and appreciated. Having never studied art, I was terrified to just jump in; I knew that my colleagues would have either studied art before, or knew so much more than me, the girl who just went to comic book conventions and couldn't tell a Matisse from a Klimt to save her life. All the illustrators that I look up to and admire, like Peter de Seve or Ralph Steadman, were unknown names to me a mere two years ago. I hadn't painted or opened an Adobe product in my life. I was a scared girl with a 2 gajillion dollar computer she didn't know how to use in an unfamiliar city with zero artistic merit.

The first class (ever in my life) I attended was Gary Weiss' figure drawing class. All I knew about Gary was that he was a slow-talking Southern man that was about 16 feet tall with somewhat precarious posture--this was my first art teacher ever. I was intimidated and second-guessing my newfound career path. Our first conversation went something like:

Gary: How much figure drawing have you done before?
Me: Um, something close to nothing, yeah. *laughs nervously....to crickets chirping*
Gary: ...
Me: Heh heh...um...
Gary: I'll get you an easel. I want you to go ahead and try.
Me: *getting increasingly more nervous, and now there's a naked lady in front of me* Um...okay?

Needless to say, my first attempts at figure drawing were bleak. I'm surprised the whole class didn't laugh at me, and if Gary was less of a man he would either be laughing at me or trying to find some way to get me out of his class. But, instead, he knelt down next to me (hard to do, considering his legs are 10 feet long each) and took his charcoal and said, "Here, start like this."

This moment began one of the most fulfilling friendships I've had in my 26 years of life. It didn't come without it's hardships--I never got a "good job" from Gary until a year and a half under his tutelage--but he has pushed me harder and taught me more than any teacher or friend has ever tried to push me. He has had the confidence in me that I could never find in myself until years later. It made the first "good job"--and I'm proud to say, the many other "good job"s that followed--all the more important, and worthwhile, and cherished.

Gary is known amongst the illustration crew for saying some phrases that make sense in the context of his brain, but are usually vague and questionable to everybody else. One basic design principle of illustration is that if there are to be a number of objects in the area, the best compositions call for an odd number of objects.

However, Gary's way of communicating this idea was, "Because, two is always two."

We laugh about it constantly (lots of "blue is always blue!" and "food is always food!" comments inevitably follow), but in this statement, I see what I really feel is the basis of the kind of person Gary is and the kind of friendship we've forged, which is that things don't have to be complicated or difficult or hard. The good things are always simple and not hard to understand, and will be constant, forever.

So, thanks Gary, for taking a chance on this stubborn kid who just liked to draw comics. You're my first mentor, my greatest friend, and I look forward to pissing each other off until the end of time. "2 is always 2" is on my drawing hand, so if I ever need a boost of confidence when it's 3am and I'm about to lose my mind over a drawing or painting or whatever artistic endeavor I've wrapped myself up in, I can look down at my wrist and remember to think simple, and everything becomes a little bit more clear.

Gradjeeaytin'

2010-04-08T00:14:00.004-04:00

I technically graduated in December, but the ceremony isn't until this upcoming April 16th. I'll walk um...a few steps forward, get my pretty piece of paper, and leave Portfolio Center again until I return in July as an instructor. My, how things have changed!

A group of us are having a group show at the Kai Lin Art Gallery in Midtown Atlanta in June. The theme is monsters, however, Yu-kai, the owner of the gallery, doesn't like anything scary or disturbing which basically cancels out 95% of my ideas, but I'm sketching some concepts this week and proceeding to bust ass once I've got things laid out the way I'd like. I've been experimenting with oil and woodburning, and picking up spare pieces of wood from the dumpster to practice on.

AnimeBoston was this past weekend, which was a total blast. It felt good to not stare at a computer screen for three whole days, and to use my paints and markers and pens again!

2010-02-05T05:43:00.004-05:00

Well, I ended up going to the ADDYs after all.
And here is my proof.

Six jack and cokes later--totally worth it.

2010 Addy Awards

2010-01-18T15:39:00.002-05:00

Just dropping in to letchy'all know that I won an ADDY award this year for illustration!
I cannot attend the awards ceremony, because it is $65/person. D:

Sad day. Anyway. Congratulations to all the winners!

A blog? No way!

2010-01-15T16:33:00.004-05:00

Blogger blogger.

Still have my job. I'm an in-house illustrator at Brown Bag Marketing and I love it. My boss and co-workers rock, I get free coffee, and I draw for a living. No shit! Could be happier in this department.

I've moved into the bottom level of an old house in Candler Park, my favorite neighborhood here. It has a garden, a side yard, and a beautiful studio space with TONS of light and work area. The price was fantastic for the neighborhood. I've been taking my dog for walks in the morning, and it's been fantastic.

I'm no longer a student at Portfolio Center (getting my book together, shooting for beginning of January) but will be teaching there this summer. The nature of the class right now is super!secret, but it should get approved within the next couple of weeks.

Also, upon the release of my second children's book with Jackson Fish Market's site A Story Before Bed, "The 12 Days of Christmas," and the accompanying iPhone application, I've agreed to work with them again on a series of books for their Hippo Hooray! characters, featured in their iPhone applications for kids.

So, I really couldn't ask for more. Things have been so good lately. I think it makes up for the past two years of soul-searching and sadness and frustration and natural disasters and toilet explosions and car break-ins and general nonsensical...nonsense. I can't wait to show you all my new site--it'll blow your head off, for sure. So, be sure to wear a hat.

Home in Atlanta

2009-11-13T12:24:00.003-05:00

After the flood, I'm guessing that the mysterious higher powers have taken pity on me and granted me some good fortune the past few weeks. Mainly, I got a job. Several jobs. Sealing my deal to stay in Atlanta, at least for the forseeable future.

I'm working at Brown Bag Marketing as an in-house illustrator. I've been promised full-time status when I graduate from school (yes, still at Portfolio Center, but taking less classes to accomadate for the 30+ hours a week that I work at Brown Bag), and am working mainly with a client that produces casino games. I am drawing lots of shiny gaudy stuff all day long, and I like it a whole lot. The schedule is fairly aggressive, so I'm always busy, but it feels nice to know that once I graduate, I have a sense of security in how I'm going to support myself / pay off my student loans.

However, during the time after the flood and before I was brought into Brown Bag, I had accepted to work on no fewer that four freelance jobs. A greeting card for a financial group, a header/logo for a financial group, a new holiday children's book for Jackson Fish Market, and illustrations for the Georgia Recycling Coalition, a department of the Atlanta government. So, needless to say, I've been in the business of being very busy.

Also! My children's book is finally on the web. Take a look for yourself at "The Frog Princess" on A Story Before Bed. There are many other esteemed colleagues of mine (haha, guys) who have stories published on there as well. Please let your friends with children in their lives know about this awesome web app. I hope it catches on, because the idea is great. My next book for them comes out before the holidays, so I'll keep you guys up to date with that as well.

I'm going to be looking at an apartment this weekend that's in the neighborhood that I love, and I don't want to jinx it by talking about it, but...it's so cute. I'm looking forward to moving on.

Taking off

2009-10-20T22:41:00.003-04:00

...and I'm not talking about my clothes. Yet.

On the radar:

1) a job (!) at Brown Bag Marketing

2) a greeting card job

3) an iPhone app job

All while still doing school full time.

Good-bye time.

A new quarter, the last quarter.

2009-10-09T10:53:00.004-04:00

Wrapped up the boutique job on Monday--glad to have that over with and also glad that it survived the flooding of my apartment. All that spray fixative really paid off, in the end.

Life is starting to look up these days, in spite of the less fun parts of my real-life. I've talked with fellow illustrators in the area and I know that we all have gotten about 3 to 4 phone calls this week about jobs and projects. This was also the last first week of school for me, and it looks like it's going to be a busy one.

I'm done with Portfolio Center in December. I kind of can't believe it. It's been such a part of my life for the past 2 years. In spite of all the headaches (and, lately, heartaches), it really did change who I am, what kind of artist I am, and what I want to be and do. For that, I guess, I'm pretty thankful. I had some dark moments right before the move to Atlanta. I'm still not 100% sure if this is the city I want to be in forever, but I need to give it a fair chance. As in, actually experience life in this city, instead of staying cooped up in the apartment all day long doing work.

Some new developments are taking place, re: those jobs I was talking about. More about those soon.

Critique finale

2009-09-10T01:41:00.003-04:00

I'm churning out these little mini-paintings, about one every night now for the past three days. It's somewhat therapeutic, as it balances out the hectic crazy that is studio week. Also, I am out of money again (thanks, utilities), and am thankful that I can paint as quickly as I can so that I can deliver the goods to the fine people that commission my poor ass.

Spent the weekend at Dragon*Con (also a reason for my poorness, oh, self-indulgence...D: ) where I didn't spend much money, but the money I did spend was all on artwork that was really inspiring. Please visit Gus Fink, Chris Hamer, and Sarah Frary, all who are going to be featured in a follow-up pimp post that I'll do in the future. For now, it's almost 2AM and I'm not as young as I used to be, so to bed for me, so I can get up and do some hardcore work tomorrow!

My last and final (THANK GOD) critique is in a week. THE FUTURE. I LOOK FORWARD TO IT.

Finally!!!

2009-08-12T18:44:00.003-04:00

Editorial work at its finest.

Job done in February.

Paid...in August. D: D: D:

Can't complain too much. Now I can pay off the rest of my tuition for this quarter, and the art director for this project is someone I will have as a reference for the rest of my life. She was great to work with; not her fault the magazine took so long to pay me.

Also, I just landed a job with a boutique that's opening up in Buckhead in the spring. I get my advance for the project on Friday. And then, I can pay rent! Ah, living the dream. Keeping it real.

More birds

2009-08-12T02:35:00.003-04:00

Squak Squak.

Painting eases my raging anxiety.

2009-08-11T22:41:00.005-04:00

It's been somewhat of a stressful time in my life. I'm out of money, I graduate in a mere few months, and I have to be out of my apartment by December. I'm not sure what pieces I'll have in my book. That worries me probably the most. Everyone who knows me knows that I'm not really much of a worrier, but the past few days have been really bad for some reason. Can't sleep. Drinking a lot of coffee. Really, really on edge.

To take the edge off, I've been doing little paintings that take maybe 2-3 hours a piece, at night, as a way to wind down. I'm not sure it's working, but at least I can get a painting out of it. It's good practice, considering I'm doing just about everything digital these days, and I'm on the computer for like 12-14 hours a day. Yeek.

Here's a couple that I did for people. JJP's is the octopus having coffee with myself. I did the other for my friend Jonathan's mom, with a couple of her dogs. I'm going to try to do a few each week. I think I need the therapy.

Chirp chirp!

2009-08-07T17:16:00.007-04:00

Well, I just lost a whole lot of blog but I'll try to keep it short in case it decides to crash on me again.

Character development has been going great, and Gary and I sat down yesterday to talk about my book and the fact that I need to get out of here with some good work now that I graduate in about 4 months (oh crap). We have three solid pieces down, and I hope to bust them out by the end of this quarter (middle of September).

I talked to Sheila about getting a rep when I get out of this place and I'm still not sure what the best option is. Some people live by their rep and get tons of work--others say that reps are dying out, what with the internet being everybody's rep anyway. Not certain.

Anyway, for now, here are some birds. Each one is about an inch tall each. This is what I do instead of pay attention at seminar.

I draw Deb

2009-07-22T18:17:00.005-04:00

Back from Otakon, which was a total blast and 100% better than I ever expected it to be. Crab was eaten, fun times were had, and money was made.

So, that means that I'm back in Atlanta and resuming normal life. I'm a little behind because of my trip but no matter--it looks like I'm still in step.

Character development is going well, and here's a drawing of my friend Deb. She was very cold in the room today, so I drew her wearing a sweater and a scarf, to see if that would help. She said that it did. Mission complete.

Snow Whites and Rose Reds

2009-07-13T10:08:00.006-04:00

Another children's book for Jackson Fish Market is underway. This is the weirdest version of Snow White and Rose Red that I have ever read, but here's the characters for now that I'm sending to them for review and edits. Soon, it'll be storyboard and tight roughs time, and it'll be 5th quarter all over again. Joy.

In other brilliant news, Tania made me a Michael Jackson bracelet, of which upon receipt, I almost came.

Recommendation: Jade Liebes

2009-07-12T23:12:00.004-04:00

Really beautiful, textured work, of many different styles. Extremely nice sense of color and composition--I love this! Paintings are also brilliant. Aghhh. Check this artist out here.

Space Robots in Love

2009-07-11T22:32:00.003-04:00

Back at school, and only a few days until Otakon. I'm crapping my pants because, once again, I don't have everything done that I'd like. I've still got a lot of prints hanging around from the beginning of the con season, but I'd like to get 2 or 3 new pieces in before the the big weekend. These are two experimental pieces that I'm doing, woodburning the lines and using oil for the colors. Obviously, these are in-process, but I'm hoping to complete both by the end of the weekend. Girl-Robot is done, but Boy-Robot I've just started painting. Something a little different. Don't know how well they will sell, but at this point, I'm glad to be experimenting.

The next few days will be dedicated to getting my ass in gear for Otakon. I leave for Baltimore on Wednesday. I'm excited to possibly make some money so that I can, you know, have food in the house that's not of the cereal variety, but I'm mostly excited to see my friends that I only see a few times a year. And I'll eat some crab. Yes, yes.

Cloudy Days

2009-06-16T23:38:00.005-04:00

Well, 6th quarter is over and I'm just happy it's done with. My critique lasted maybe 8 minutes, and I went out with Gary for pizza later on. He really liked some of my character development.

I'll post more work this week, but here's some clouds I did for my final for Gary's plein air painting class. It was taken with my cell phone so it's obviously not the best quality, but I worked my ass off on it, so here's some work in progress, which is the point of this blog anyway, I suppose.

I'm headed back to North Carolina to see my parents for a week or maybe a little more. They need a vacation and I need to stay inside and avoid the daystar aka the sun, so it works out for both of us. I just had a pretty stressful weekend in New Jersey for a work-related trip, and I'm ready to wind down for a little bit.

2009-06-08T01:32:00.003-04:00

Critique is in a mere couple weeks, and I'm so highly unmotivated and I'm finding it hard to do much of anything for more than ten or twenty minutes at a time.

Today, for instance, I was shuffling back and forth between a gouache painting, character development, photoshop dabblings, Flash mastering, and preparing final pieces for presentation at crit. My arms and legs are wiggly spaghetti. Even now I'm attempting to get my writings together for final to send tomorrow to Claire while blogging (obviously) and watching this Leonard Cohen documentary that Dante lent me that I'm starting to believe is actually...Bono's take on Leonard Cohen. Which is unfortunate, because when I see Bono I want to punch him in his sunglassed-for-no-reason face and when I see Leonard Cohen I want to hug him and somehow absorb all his talent.

Anyway, here's a sketch I did of Lynette, another student at PC, who is graduating next quarter. I graduate in a mere two more quarters, and just the thought of that makes my sphincter tighten, so I'm gonna skip over that conversation for now.

Recommendation: Ben Smith

2009-06-03T23:19:00.003-04:00

Gary took me to some galleries off of Paces Ferry today, and ended up at the Twenty21Collections / gallery Rodin where they are featuring artist Ben Smith who does beautiful woodblock prints, but I was so, so impressed with his drawings.

His site is here: www.bensmithart.com

Please be sure to check out his drawings--I was THIS close to buying a line / wash drawing of his--as his line is just so perfect. Incredibly emotive line quality, agh. I was blown away.

The Difference

2009-06-02T01:04:00.003-04:00

Something I wrote for Tania's class.

From the POV of a family member.

-----

I walk into the bedroom to find her in front of the full-length mirror with the soft mahogany sides . Gripping the edges, her little moon-shaped fingernail imprints decorate the wood. She leans in close, nose touching the surface, breath fogging the glass.

“Hey, Katie-did,” I greet her. “Whatcha lookin’ at?”

She giggles—she laughs at everything—and turns to me. “My eyes,” she says. She turns back quickly, nose to the mirror again.

I change out of my uniform and pull on a pair of linen pajamas I’ve had since I was nineteen. The holes in the knees are familiar; the cuffs are a few inches too short. I remember that Katie’s overalls are also too small—she shot up like a weed—and I turn to her again, but my body is frozen.

She sits quietly, Indian-style, her arms up, exposing her little pot-belly under the Spottie Dottie top we got for her fourth birthday. Her forefingers and thumbs nimbly stretch her beautiful almond eyes open, her dark pupils floating in white circles. Stretched as far as they can go, far from the curved eyes we have called lovely since the day she arrived on the plane with her daddy, her new daddy.

I want to do something. I want to say something. Anything. My mouth, hands, are all grasping for words, coming up empty. She doesn’t understand what she’s doing, or how it’s making my heart feel like it’s stuck in my throat. Her world is Sanrio-colored and full of sunshine.

She’s going to start school soon; people will ask her why we look so different. They will ask her why her eyes are so small, and why her brother doesn’t have the same eyes. She will say it like a script; that she has a unique family, that she is adopted from Korea, which is a seventeen-hour plane ride away, that she landed here to be with her family. They will ask her where her real mom and dad are. She will point to my husband and me; no one will believe her.

Some days she will come home crying; I’ll learn along the way that, just like in this moment, I can’t do much of anything but exist, and braid her hair, and pray that one day it won’t hurt as much. She will end up attempting to destroy herself; I’ll blame myself for not doing more, and the fact that she doesn’t believe in God. One day, she will look in the mirror in her own place, on her own time, and in her own way, learn to see herself the way that I see her.

But now, I sit in silence, looking at her, waiting; she’ll grow tired of this soon. We’ll go downstairs, and she’ll put barrettes from the red paisley tin in my hair, and she’ll forget for a moment that my blonde is so different from her black.

(c)klgrosskopf

thecrayolaplayground.com

2009-05-31T00:49:00.005-04:00

I had the pleasure of working with Jonathan Smith and Will Lindberg on an entry for the AKQA Future Lions competition. Please visit thecrayolaplayground.com for more ideas, and let us know what you think!

Lists

2009-05-16T15:38:00.003-04:00

In Tania's class, I was instructed to make some lists, of which I've made two that I'll share with you.

Theme parties I would like to throw in my lifetime:

- an inflatable animal party (please bring at least 1 inflatable animal upon entry)

- an outer space party (tin-foil must be on your costume, and black lights are necessary)

- a panda party (bring a panda, avoid wildlife preservationists)

- a thai tie party (prepare to eat thai food and wear a tie)

- an extreme stereotyped Asian party (kabuki make-up, sushi cake, chinese opera music)

- a Depeche Mode party (I mean, come on)

- a serial killer party (dress as your favorite beloved murdering abomination)

- a white trash barbeque party (kegs, frosted lip gloss, and jean cut-offs, ahoy!)

What I would like to accomplish before I die:

- host all the previously listed theme parties

- take an incredibly touristy and outrageous picture in front of the Shibuya 109 building

- own a pot-bellied pig and/or a billy goat, and name it Walter

- become fluent in Japanese enough that I can throw insults back to these crazy bastards we bring over from Japan

- learn how to pee standing up, for shits and giggles

- acquire multiple tattoos of octopi

- get over my fear of bugs

- buy my mother a house with all the bells and whistles she’s ever wanted

- make out with Bjork (highly unlikely, but, hey, a girl can dream)

- knit a scarf without 23 holes in it

- consistently maintain a friendship for more than ten years

- learn how to fall in love again

- get married, legally

- pop a perfect bowl of popcorn, no kernels

- eat a dozen hot wings without wanting to plunge my head into a gallon of milk

Dragons still rule.

2009-05-16T00:04:00.004-04:00

"With only one marshmallow left, the dragon pursed his lips, and barely whispered as the flames emitted from his swelled underbite. Unfortunately, he was far too clumsy and awkward to do much of anything with grace or elegance, and in his efforts, he coughed and sent fire shooting from his astonished gums and setting the lone marshmallow ablaze. He stared sadly at the charred tragedy, graham crackers in one hand, chocolate bar in the other. It was truly the saddest day of his life."

Night-time concepting...and dragons.

2009-05-12T01:14:00.004-04:00

Sketch for a night-time scene concept.

Sad dragon...

Coffee + Blog = What?

2009-05-05T11:42:00.001-04:00

So, I have a blog now.

For the launch of the upcoming beautiful website that I will create...soon...I wanted a place to host a special blog / sketchbook section. I carry one everywhere with me, and I'll just be scanning some stuff in, some thoughts.

Some will be about the industry and how it's gonna suck once I get out of here and figure out where the hell me and the pooch are going to live. Some will be about what's going on in my life, and how it's affecting my art (which is almost always).

For most that know me, they know I'm a pretty sensitive human being, but I'm not very emotional, so don't expect bouts of teary emotional word vomit on here. Mostly just art, a bit of rage, and bit of ramble.

Current projects include:

- Usual Portfolio Center courseload that includes Plain Air Painting, Emotive Writing, Flash, etc.

- Future Lions (Jesus, this is the motherload)

- Mexican Luchadore Kool-Aid Pickles (I'll explain later)

- Making aforementioned website

- Some upcoming convention appearances (AZ in Raleigh, NC, Ota in Baltimore, MD)

In personal news, it's 2:30am, I've had an allergic reaction to ant bites, and I just popped 3 benedryl. Let's see what happens.