Monsters Show in Photos + Sudden Busytimes

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

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.

Preview: I'm in love with a monster

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.

The times, they are a-changin'!

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.

Drawing Marathon Day!

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.

Sunshine bug!

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.

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

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!

It was worth it, in a way.

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.