a short story by sigil
The scene is 1999
A 14 yr old me is browsing Elfwood after creating some art of my own for the first time:
http://www.elfwood.com/~mel/Finished-(1999).3030256.html
http://www.elfwood.com/~mel/Mottled-Dragon-(1998).3030232.html
I stumbles upon this:
http://us-p.vclart.net/vcl/Artists/Ursula-Vernon/UMithras.jpg
and this
http://www.elfwood.com/art/u/r/ursula/crux.jpg
and this
http://images.elfwood.com/art/u/r/ursula/blackkirin.jpg
and my world is changed forever, thanks to Ursula Vernon~
I read Black Dogs probably before I'm old enough to really appreciate it, but there's scary unicorns and sex in it and that's pretty great.
Life happens for over a decade, and all these things are kind of forgotten, though filed away in the inspirational images I lock down while going through a loss of faith, dropping out of college and a divorce.
It's 2011 and I'm at Anthrocon, sharing a dealers table with a friend. The name on the banner at the table next to me is suddenly familiar. Ursula...VERNON and it ALL COMES RUSHING BACK. Black Dogs has been published, I run and immediately buys my copy of the books and have URSULA FUCKING VERNON sign them. Ursula is nice and friendly and has a great smile. Ursula likes my watercolor pieces and says I should try the non-furry con circut too. I go home and process this all with some level of disbelief.
Fast forward to 2013. I follow Ursula on LJ and twitter and we've talked some. I've made colleague/acquaintance with other amazing folks like Miss Monster and Charles Urbach and am now an Art Director at a company I really believe in. I paint some of Miss Monster's masks from a project I abandon, hoping that maybe someone will take them off my hands. Up they go in the art show and Ursula V buys them both. In addition, I bid on one of Charles Urbach's prints, and he tells me later "Why did you do that, I would have traded with you!"
So in short I don't really have a lot of celebrity worship but I kind of flip out in my head a lot when the people who inspire me ARE INSPIRED/ENJOY MY WORK BACK. and it's happening and they don't teach you ever what to do other than "not be weird", which I hope I'm not being!
It's weird knowing that I am now having this effect on other artists, when I say I will do a trade with them, or say I like THEIR art! I'm just melissa/sigil/whatever, come on now!!
A 14 yr old me is browsing Elfwood after creating some art of my own for the first time:
http://www.elfwood.com/~mel/Finished-(1999).3030256.html
http://www.elfwood.com/~mel/Mottled-Dragon-(1998).3030232.html
I stumbles upon this:
http://us-p.vclart.net/vcl/Artists/Ursula-Vernon/UMithras.jpg
and this
http://www.elfwood.com/art/u/r/ursula/crux.jpg
and this
http://images.elfwood.com/art/u/r/ursula/blackkirin.jpg
and my world is changed forever, thanks to Ursula Vernon~
I read Black Dogs probably before I'm old enough to really appreciate it, but there's scary unicorns and sex in it and that's pretty great.
Life happens for over a decade, and all these things are kind of forgotten, though filed away in the inspirational images I lock down while going through a loss of faith, dropping out of college and a divorce.
It's 2011 and I'm at Anthrocon, sharing a dealers table with a friend. The name on the banner at the table next to me is suddenly familiar. Ursula...VERNON and it ALL COMES RUSHING BACK. Black Dogs has been published, I run and immediately buys my copy of the books and have URSULA FUCKING VERNON sign them. Ursula is nice and friendly and has a great smile. Ursula likes my watercolor pieces and says I should try the non-furry con circut too. I go home and process this all with some level of disbelief.
Fast forward to 2013. I follow Ursula on LJ and twitter and we've talked some. I've made colleague/acquaintance with other amazing folks like Miss Monster and Charles Urbach and am now an Art Director at a company I really believe in. I paint some of Miss Monster's masks from a project I abandon, hoping that maybe someone will take them off my hands. Up they go in the art show and Ursula V buys them both. In addition, I bid on one of Charles Urbach's prints, and he tells me later "Why did you do that, I would have traded with you!"
So in short I don't really have a lot of celebrity worship but I kind of flip out in my head a lot when the people who inspire me ARE INSPIRED/ENJOY MY WORK BACK. and it's happening and they don't teach you ever what to do other than "not be weird", which I hope I'm not being!
It's weird knowing that I am now having this effect on other artists, when I say I will do a trade with them, or say I like THEIR art! I'm just melissa/sigil/whatever, come on now!!