BEDA! Hello :)
Hey guys!
I AM (kind of mostly) partaking in BEDA this year, but I wanted to try and generate some views on my website, so I've been mainly doing it there. (cough cough www.reaperfox.com)
However, I always intended of reblogging everything over here on LJ due to my FAITHFUL LOYALTY to this site. but I'm behind because sadly copypasting entries is actually a bit of a faff, I wish there was an auto repost function or something but never mind! I'll go the extra mile for Livejournal!
So, I'm going to do a bit of a catch up now! I won't spam ya'll too much, promise!
First day of BEDA - it's April already!??
April is a pretty relaxed month of convention prep for me. My entire 'convention season' seems to fall in May (three cons, one month, Fox only, Final Destination), so I usually try to spend April making art, printing art and packing art! Of course, I am the queen of procrastination, so I usually don't do any of this until a week before a convention, and the end result is a lot of stressful all-nighters. But in theory I use April to calmly catch up on everything.
This year, my Brother printer forced me to rethink my usual plan of procrastination. It packed in last week, with a problem my previous Brother printer had, so I figured I'd finally blow the budget on a decent printer built for my (thankfully growing) needs. My new Epson R2000 is professional, fast and, so far, perfect. With it, I ordered paper, spare inks and a plethora of jewellery findings and goodies for my convention tables and Etsy store. I've ordered bags and card for prints, business cards and a new card display stand for a range of A6 'postcard' prints I'll be selling... gotta say, I feel totally on the ball!
Oh, yes! Speaking of Etsy - I have an Etsy! I looked into Etsy a million years ago, but was put off by the listing fee and the fact they take a percentage of what you sell. I wrote it off for years, until I decided I'd finally give it a go last month. It's been awesome! I've become addicted to checking the dashboard for stats on my shop, because it lists people's search results and I seem to attract a lot of people searching for 'Booker DeWitt', which would be great if I had more than one (crossover parody!) Bioshock print for sale!
Adventures in Nerdy Jewellery
I love selling art at conventions, but I'm constantly jealous of all the wonderful crafters out there who can make nerdy jewellery and clothing for others to enjoy. I've wanted to start creating charms and jewellery for ages, but honestly, I'm really not all that crafty at all! I can't sew to save my life, so even the few cosplays I've created tend to just be very basic adaptations of regular clothing or store bought outfits. I've dabbled in Fimo and Sculpey, but never stuck with it all that much, despite making a cute little Poro recently for Valentines Day.
Still, I found some clear cabachons in a local craft store and thought I'd finally give it a go! I ordered a ton of findings, chains and glue after researching a whole day on what best to use and how. Today, the postman came to the door with a sack full of goodies for me, so I finally set to work! This was the result!
Art Card Bonanza!
So, I'm primarily a digital artist, but sometimes I just want to break out the watercolours and markers and go crazy with real media. The lack of 'undo' is constantly terrifying, but the satisfaction of having an original piece of art absolutely makes up for all the stress! Finding a reason to draw something in real media is often difficult, though - I'm usually too busy at conventions to offer commissions at the con, and any commissions I take online tend to be digital.
And then I discovered Art Cards! There are two sorts very popular with artists at the moment, and both are hitting the convention scene with great success. ACEO (Art Cards Editions and Originals) are tiny 2.5" x 3" trading card sized pieces of art. I first discovered them after seeing the lovely Anastasia's table at Exeter Comic Con last year. She had a binder with pages and pages of wonderful cards, themed after her favourite games and movies and shows. She showed me the ropes and I love the challenge of drawing on such a tiny canvas.
A lot of artists, especially fanartists, are also turning to larger A6 'sketch cards' or 'marker cards'. I think the fabulous Karen Hallion probably had something to do with that! I decided to give it a go myself, as an excuse to keep the real media flowing between digital work! I'm also using it as an excuse to draw lots of things I love but just haven't found time to draw yet! Expect a lot of Disney, I'm sure. :)
Here's my very first batch of A6 marker cards! Twilight and Stitch sold already but the other three can be found over on my Etsy! I'm hoping to have a huge batch available before the convention rush in May. They're kind of totally addictive!
I'll continue to update here of course, but you can find more posts and other nonsense over on my website blog place make go www.reaperfox.com :)
I AM (kind of mostly) partaking in BEDA this year, but I wanted to try and generate some views on my website, so I've been mainly doing it there. (cough cough www.reaperfox.com)
However, I always intended of reblogging everything over here on LJ due to my FAITHFUL LOYALTY to this site. but I'm behind because sadly copypasting entries is actually a bit of a faff, I wish there was an auto repost function or something but never mind! I'll go the extra mile for Livejournal!
So, I'm going to do a bit of a catch up now! I won't spam ya'll too much, promise!
First day of BEDA - it's April already!??
April is a pretty relaxed month of convention prep for me. My entire 'convention season' seems to fall in May (three cons, one month, Fox only, Final Destination), so I usually try to spend April making art, printing art and packing art! Of course, I am the queen of procrastination, so I usually don't do any of this until a week before a convention, and the end result is a lot of stressful all-nighters. But in theory I use April to calmly catch up on everything.
This year, my Brother printer forced me to rethink my usual plan of procrastination. It packed in last week, with a problem my previous Brother printer had, so I figured I'd finally blow the budget on a decent printer built for my (thankfully growing) needs. My new Epson R2000 is professional, fast and, so far, perfect. With it, I ordered paper, spare inks and a plethora of jewellery findings and goodies for my convention tables and Etsy store. I've ordered bags and card for prints, business cards and a new card display stand for a range of A6 'postcard' prints I'll be selling... gotta say, I feel totally on the ball!
Oh, yes! Speaking of Etsy - I have an Etsy! I looked into Etsy a million years ago, but was put off by the listing fee and the fact they take a percentage of what you sell. I wrote it off for years, until I decided I'd finally give it a go last month. It's been awesome! I've become addicted to checking the dashboard for stats on my shop, because it lists people's search results and I seem to attract a lot of people searching for 'Booker DeWitt', which would be great if I had more than one (crossover parody!) Bioshock print for sale!
Adventures in Nerdy Jewellery
I love selling art at conventions, but I'm constantly jealous of all the wonderful crafters out there who can make nerdy jewellery and clothing for others to enjoy. I've wanted to start creating charms and jewellery for ages, but honestly, I'm really not all that crafty at all! I can't sew to save my life, so even the few cosplays I've created tend to just be very basic adaptations of regular clothing or store bought outfits. I've dabbled in Fimo and Sculpey, but never stuck with it all that much, despite making a cute little Poro recently for Valentines Day.
Still, I found some clear cabachons in a local craft store and thought I'd finally give it a go! I ordered a ton of findings, chains and glue after researching a whole day on what best to use and how. Today, the postman came to the door with a sack full of goodies for me, so I finally set to work! This was the result!
Art Card Bonanza!
So, I'm primarily a digital artist, but sometimes I just want to break out the watercolours and markers and go crazy with real media. The lack of 'undo' is constantly terrifying, but the satisfaction of having an original piece of art absolutely makes up for all the stress! Finding a reason to draw something in real media is often difficult, though - I'm usually too busy at conventions to offer commissions at the con, and any commissions I take online tend to be digital.
And then I discovered Art Cards! There are two sorts very popular with artists at the moment, and both are hitting the convention scene with great success. ACEO (Art Cards Editions and Originals) are tiny 2.5" x 3" trading card sized pieces of art. I first discovered them after seeing the lovely Anastasia's table at Exeter Comic Con last year. She had a binder with pages and pages of wonderful cards, themed after her favourite games and movies and shows. She showed me the ropes and I love the challenge of drawing on such a tiny canvas.
A lot of artists, especially fanartists, are also turning to larger A6 'sketch cards' or 'marker cards'. I think the fabulous Karen Hallion probably had something to do with that! I decided to give it a go myself, as an excuse to keep the real media flowing between digital work! I'm also using it as an excuse to draw lots of things I love but just haven't found time to draw yet! Expect a lot of Disney, I'm sure. :)
Here's my very first batch of A6 marker cards! Twilight and Stitch sold already but the other three can be found over on my Etsy! I'm hoping to have a huge batch available before the convention rush in May. They're kind of totally addictive!
I'll continue to update here of course, but you can find more posts and other nonsense over on my website blog place make go www.reaperfox.com :)