BUZZ BUZZ Once There Was...

Genghis Frog from the TMNT Punk Frogs is Harpo Marx of the Marx Brothers. Chico's still in progress.

For the "Vintage Hollywood" themed TMNT Community/Meme/collaboration thing going on Deviantart: MoulinMutantRevue.



I should be sleeping, or making spinks, or preparing for Artscape, or preparing for Otakon. But instead I give you grayscale frogs.

Yus.

Giggle-snort.



Napolean Bonafrog from the TMNT Punk Frogs is Groucho Marx of the Marx Brothers.

Why? There's a goofy "Vintage Hollywood" themed TMNT Community/Meme/collaboration thing going on Deviantart: MoulinMutantRevue. There's OC's and Canons and great artists and fledgling artists and it's no where near the submission deadline (Aug 28th), so not everyone's uploaded their pledged characters. But I was going out of my gourd with the need to do more art.

So. This is 1 of 3 total Marx Mutant Frogs: Harpo and Chico are in the works.

( Line art Work-in-Progress Below the Cut )

Say the magic words and the frogs come down!

I am an incredibly, ridiculously lucky human being. So lucky in fact that it gives me hysterical giggles if I think on it too long.

1. I got the job. OMG. Like, with a salary and benefits. It starts up next week, and I'm waffling between quiet panic and utter lethargy. The lucky part? It took me a week. From 'deciding I needed a job' until acceptance letter. WTF?! I DON'T KNOW, BUT I AM SO GRATEFUL.

2. My house is not on fire. The house across the street caught fire. I live in a TOWN HOUSE. The whole neighborhood is just back to back to back to back... and the place two doors down and one strip of asphalt away was ablaze. My home, my cats, important federal documents that say I'm allowed to work at the new job I just got? All of them are FINE. The lucky part? Because it's RAINING TONIGHT. There was only one unit burned, and thankfully for the neighbors, they weren't home--no injuries!

3. My fiance and his extended family rock. Don't get me wrong, I've got awesome folks in my own gene pool, but it's wonderful to be in love with someone who's not tied to a fresh batch of crazy. You know how many families out there are the 'family values' version of spastic, rabid weasels in a sack? My whole family's been incredibly supportive and generous, but I want a special spotlight on the basic sanity of my family-to-be.

4. We got space at AnimeBoston! 2 feet. BUT IT'S SOMETHING! I'd already told Boston friends we couldn't go--and into my inbox pops the offer! I'll be tied down with the new job, but that wonderful fiance of mine will be there with 2 foot worth of inventory. ;P

5. Our panels got approved at Tekkoshocon! That's badges in the bag and a chance to really talk to folks! :D ROCK! Again, I've gotta stay home thanks to new job, but I'm not the only one in the studio who can give panels on the topics we picked, so we're covered.

6. I have kickass friends who animate my goofy drawings for me: THANK YOU, REI!


Lucky me is going to bed. I MUST REMEMBER THIS FEELING WHEN I WAKE UP TOMORROW. I don't know what my malfunction is, but I'm always more focused and determined at night when I should crash and not in the morning when I need some fire to seize the day.

Tomorrow's To Do List:
1. BE ACTION-PACKED.

( Cut for Fill-In-The-Bubble-Comic )

The comic under the cut is the art I donated for Farpoint 2010's Charity Strip Off featuring the convention's mascot, FARP. (Fully Automated Robotic Participant was designed by Todd F. Brugmans.) I and a few other artists made these blank strips that attendees can use to customize their own comics in exchange for a donation to one of the sponsored charities: Julien Fleming Memorial Fund or Vietnam Veterans of America.

If you'd like to try your hand at coloring and filling in dialogue on this one for fun, feel free. Just be sure to comment here with the results because I wanna seeeee.



In creating the comic up there, I drew my first daleks. That ought to be a baby book: My First Dalek. See dalek. See dalek roll. Exterminate! Exterminate! Oh dear. Stairs.

In the comic for Far Point, the daleks didn't fit entirely in the panels. So I did something else so you could see them 'full body' as it were. This is it. Mostly I love the little flailing dalek. I want it as an animated gif.


Also, there is more snow than any sensible person could want. My four-foot fence is gone.

I owed Kevin this squid flasher.

I still owe Blue and Kittenfish. I'm also fairly certain that I owe SC something from somepoint, so I'll be drawing for her too. If you want me to owe you some art, you should join my animal crime wave.

COOL YULE ARTY PARTY

Date: Tomorrow! December 12, 2009
Time: Noon - 6pm
Location: The Lustine Center - 5710 Baltimore Ave, Hyattsville, MD, 20781

What: Gallery Shows by DC artists. 4 Live bands. Holiday Crafts Festival. DC area Comics and Graphic Novelists.

Click the picture above to see the official press release.


---

On a personal note: Kevin and I had an amazing housewarming. Thank you all for coming out. The place really feels connected now. Not just a huge cubby where we keep our stuff and crash at night. :D

I had a grand time with our out of town guest, Clare Moseley, who does a pair of comics: Creator Confidential (A webcomic chronicling Clare's first year working as an indie comic writer/artist) and Otherkind (A twenty-four page ongoing fantasy comic, available as both in print and as a digital download). You can get to both her projects through the link in her name.

Clare, Kevin, Jade and I wandered Baltimore and poked much of it with sticks. I have photos. Specifically AMAZING photos of the Baltimore Cemetery.
( Preview of Graveyard Photos )

The graves are from the mid to late 1800's and in terrible shape. It's clear that if there is any surviving family, none of its members are visiting. However, the neglect goes further. The drainage in the cemetery is abysmal and all the gravestones are settling. Many are cracked in half, and from the moss growing, have been that way for ages. Others are piled in marble stacks, pipes jutting out from underground, rusting against the white marble. The thin grass squelches underfoot and the constant suction of the mud at your heels sparks superstitious uneasiness.

I haven't formatted all my photos, but I will. I've also got more light-hearted stuff from museums and Holiday decorating. Those will go up as well.

I've made our X-mas tree out of clear silverware this year. :D (Yes, Clare & Jade! SUCCESS!) Pictures of that shortly as well.

Wish us luck at the art show!

We're back from AnimeUSA!

And lemme tellya. This con was just such a wonderful experience! The venue was nice. The staff were amazing. The attendees were fun & funny. I handed out over 1300 flyers in person, and I know I spoke to each and every person I gave one to!

The con was structured so that the artist alley NEVER CLOSED. Lol! We stayed for a 14 hour shift the first day, 16 the day after, and then 10 the following day. I spoke to complete strangers (who are no longer complete strangers, as we made friends with a number of them over the course of the con), for 40 hours in 3 days.

I'm a little hoarse. I spoke with some folks when I got home and they thought I'd picked up some horrible con-flu thing, but I swear, I feel fine! Heck, my throat doesn't really hurt. I just sound like Joan Rivers. "Oh! OH! Can we TALK?!"

We have a lot more funny pictures, but they're on Roxy's camera. (Psst. Roxy? Please to send pictures?) I'll post'em when I get'em. In the meanwhile...( Kevin does Commissions! )

We're doing a small, local art show in December:

COOL YULE ARTY PARTY
Held at the Artdc.org Gallery at the Lustine Center
5710 Baltimore Avenue
Hyattsville, MD
December 12, 2009
1pm until 7pm

Meet and Mingle with local DC artists, enjoy live music and fun... This will be an amazing day! Not only will we have an opening for the artdc.org Patron's show, we'll be open during the Gateway open studios. We expect to see a great deal of foot traffic. Perfect for last-minute holiday shopping or just visiting!

This Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, Kevin and I will be in some of y'all's backyard at AnimeUSA in Crystal City, Virginia. You can find us here:


Hope I to SEE some of you!


I got INTERVIEWED at Big Apple Comic Con by U Frag TV. Starting at minute 25, I'm on right after Lou Ferrigno. Damn, son! (I would have embedded it, but it auto-plays. Yuck.)

I've been interviewed by other folks from cons before, but UFragTV's the first to post the interview.

If I sound a little quavery and like I'm the daughter of the old MicroMachines guy it's cause they were doing the interview LIVE and I was told that I might get bumped at any moment for William Shatner. *nerd-gasm*

( PHOTO-DUMP from Big Apple Comic Con 2009 )

Separate from all that, Kevin's got an ART SHOW!

I mentioned it in passing before, but he's got a huge gallery at the Greenbelt Arts Center. He did the logo, program, poster, and postcard design for their production of "Little Shop of Horrors. We saw it on opening weekend; it rocked. Hard. (We know the plant. Go Fred, Go!). If you're local, you've got until Thanksgiving weekend to see the play. The plant puppeteering rocks, Seymour fills out the role perfectly, and I loved the guy they had playing Mr. Mushnik.

Kevin's art will hang in the lobby of the theater through the end of their December play The Devil's Christmas Carol". You've got plenty of time to check out some original art, or any number of framed prints.

I'VE GOT INTERNETS!!

well. my ethernet card is working, so i've got internets when kevin's not online, b/c we don't have a cable long enough to reach both his AND my computers, but! I have internets.

Sure, my office space is still an ungodly series of heaps, but i'm gonna eat some lunch, put on the bugle or rachel or keith, pull out some sharpie markers and my bundle of blank file folders and SORT THIS MUTHERFUCKER OUT.

So in brief, while i'm still wired:

1. NYC Comic Con = LOADS of fun. Very $$$-y, so we may not be back to that one for a few years, but when we're ready for it, we'll hit it like a crying kid in church. THANK YOU MIKE!!

2. Halloween = Awesomesauce. I dressed up as a Spink this year.

3. The Move = Hellish, but only if hell were underwater. THANK YOU to all the folks who rolled out 2 days in a row to help us move in the rain. We've discovered and repaired all the leaks in the new townhouse, with the exception of the one that seems to come from the upstairs tub.

4. Verizon = FULL OF STUPID. @(#$%&@#$()FCFJVXVJSE)R(##@()@@!!

5. My computer = FULL OF FAIL. Failed wireless drivers. Failed ethernet card drivers. Failed uninstalls that prevent failing installs. GRAHH!!! Thank you, Blake, for tinkering with the stupid thing and getting the ethernet card to work.

6. Kevin's Brother = Down a finger-tip. Kevin's poor brother lost the top of his right index finger to his dogs when he tried to stop them from fighting. The doctors could not re-attach the finger joint, but Darren's getting a prosthetic so he can keep playing guitar in his band. Brother's gal also got bitten while trying to break up the dog-fight, she's damaged, but recovering nicely. The one dog is fine. The other dog got stitches around her eye, is fine, and is getting a new home where she can be the only child. Both dogs are super sweet with people, but fight like cats in a sack around each other.

7. Kevin's Art Gallery = AWESOME SURPRISE! His work is being displayed and sold at the Greenbelt Arts Center in the lobby outside the community theater. We had been expecting to provide 'some pieces,' not 'frame and hang enough art to cover 42 feet of wall.' It worked out BEAUTIFULLY though and it's such a cool display!

8. Upcoming Convention appearance = ANIME USA in Crystal City, VA. On Nov 20-22.



So much more to say, but so much more to DO. I'm not dead--and I've not read or caught up on anything y'all've posted, but I look forward to it! :D

I cannot spiff up my journal if I cannot see all the parts. Lo! Let there be content.



Also, Thank you melannen, for the lovely new shiny that I will cherish as long as I am able. Which won't be long, but it will be INTENSE. My mother would be horrified. That was not a proper 'thank you' note.