Shameless Self-Promotion and other Artistic Ramblings

Time for another weekly update, along with some shameless self promotion! What else could you ask for in a post? (Okay a lot more, but we're not going to go into that, okaaaaaay?)


NEW LOGO

It's Shiny!

So in case you haven't noticed, I've finally started plastering my new logo on ALL THE SITES. I probably agonized over this for way too long. After deciding to keep the name "Crash Bang Labs" until further notice (I realized while "Smart Pumpkin" was an awesome name.... I did NOT want an orange booth all year round), I wanted to refine the image so it would appear better on things.

Namely, that pesky spool of thread had to go. It was cute, and I DO sew things, however, that's not what my art business is really about. I draw comics and pictures, and want to sell books and the like. It also turned into a giant BLOB of ink when I would shrink it down for things like business cards. Not good, I say, not good.

Oh, and for those curious, I went with an "Art Deco" feel because that's pretty much the font I've been using, and frankly anything "Art Nouveau" feels way over used, and too flowery for what I do. (shelves art nouveau rant for later)

ARTWORK EXPLOSION
Holy Art Explosion Batman!

I don't know what's happened lately I blame having a convention finally appearing in a little over a month but I've been on a drawing spree. Which has been AWESOME, cause I've been stuck in a rut forever.

I'd be so lost without that color chart!

I hope to start picking back up on Sky's End itself, as you can see from the picture above. I'll have to honestly admit, that the holiday season thoroughly destroyed me physically and mentally (and I didn't even get a cold through it either), and I think I just didn't have much willpower to do ANYTHING creative.

As Seen on DeviantArt

But now, now, I have the artist alley drive as things ramp up for the convention season. That, and I realized that my booth hasn't changed much in several months, so it's time for some new products! I'm also getting some new business cards and promotional cards for the shows as well.

And who knows? Maybe I'll start back up my HOW DO I ARTIST ALLEY series of posts. Seems plausible.

SHUTO CON PANELS
In which I babble a lot about art.

Shuto Con isn't until the beginning of April, but I do have some fun news for you! I will not only be co-presenting on 3 cosplay panels with a cosplay cohort of mine, but I am also providing the service of THREE BRAND-NEW ART-BASED PANELS!

That's right. ART. PANELS. I think this is something that is sorely missing in the convention world, espcially with how much I see people drawing at them! Be it in the alley or otherwise.  So I'm going to start giving art and comic based panels and see how they go.

I'm no master, but I can at least help point people in the right direction! And now, for your perusal, are my descriptions of the panels (with links to the Shuto forums):

Time in a Box: Tips for Comic Panel Layout
A picture’s worth a thousand words, but a terrible layout only spells disaster! Join Crash Bang Labs for a discussion panel about Comic Panel layouts and composition. Whether you’re drawing a single comic strip or a full chapter book, the tips and tricks in this panel will help you tell your story your way!

Her Legs are HOW Long? An Interactive Panel on Drawing Properly Proportioned People
Having trouble drawing people, or maybe you’ve always wanted to learn? Join Crash Bang Labs for an interactive panel on drawing human body proportions! The first half of the panel we’ll discuss proportions, and show examples from comics and animation, and the second half we’ll do some follow-along exercises where we draw a basic male and female! Sketchbooks are encouraged, but basic paper and pencils will be available for those who don’t carry art supplies with them.

ART JAM (Rules are listed under the forum)
Do you like to draw? Want a quiet place to doodle for a while? Then join us for ART JAM! What is ART JAM? Well, it's an open panel where you can come in, and work in your own sketchbook or with the art supplies provided (pencils and paper). Feel free to work on your own picture, or draw one of our still lifes provided!

FACEBOOK SHAMELESS SELF-PROMOTION

Did you know Crash Bang Labs has a facebook page?

You can find it at: facebook.com/CrashBangLabStudio

I'm working on promoting more stuff on there, and actually updating people on what I work on and conventions I go to. It's apparently what all the kids are into these days, so I caved and decided that yeah, I guess I needed to do it.

Otherwise, I tend to hide on Facebook (too much drama from long ago has burned me on the site, so I keep my personal stuff to a minimum).

OKAY! I think that's enough for the next couple of days. Someday I'll make shorter posts....

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Well, I'm a couple days late to the new year, but I wish you all a HAPPY one as well!

Truth be said, I'm always horrifically exhausted around this time of year. From the two weeks before Christmas up through the first weekend in January, I spend more of my week and weekends traveling to see people. Not that seeing people is bad, but when they all wait for the SAME time period (it's a holiday, yo!) I get very mentally exhausted. So I'll apologize for the moment if I get a little cranky or down.

However, to try not to be so down, I'd like to start off the year on a fresh, if not hilarious, foot!

I'm still in the process of figuring out what to do on which day (as the Holidays have managed to bungle up my schedule nicely) which is why the comic came to another standing halt. I actually ran out of time to even barely draw and it's making me anxious.

Let's start with what I want to accomplish (not a complete list mind you)

Projects on Dock

1.) Tangerine Wings #2 and more
Really, this is just me finding the time to sit down and draw it. I actually have a good idea where things are going now, but in making sure I can still function I have been making badges like crazy and they have taken over my life. Hopefully after this week I'll have a better schedule.

2.) Art Book
I'm tired of trying to make prints to sell. I mean, I'll still have SOME around, but until I can get better at using the Photoshops, or have more full color marker work, I don't think my prints will sell much. I'll still try on those though.

I'm also running out of space on my wall, and what do I like to collect? ARTBOOKS. So why not start to make one? I plan for it to be relatively good sized (there will be a lot of sketches in it too on top of full color ones). This first one I'm going to devote to all my old tabletop/RP characters. I have a lot of them.

3.) Finish that Hoenn Set
I've finally figured out how I want those badges to work. Just need to sculpt them now.

4.) Pick up Sky's End again
Don't worry. It's coming. Namely, once my final bout of traveling is done. I just know that I need to work extra hard later this year to have like a month of buffer just to fill the space during the Holidays at the end of the year.

CONVENTION SCHEDULE

Currently, I am now confirmed for my first three conventions of the year:

KATSUCON (February 15-17)
SHUTOCON (April 5-7th)
ANIME CENTRAL (May 17-19)

I will be in the artist alley at all three of these conventions, at Katsucon I'll also be participating in the World Cosplay Summit, at Shutocon I hope to be also giving some art panels (more details on that later), and Anime Central I'll be in their alley again!

ARCHIVING

I wanted to save the best part of the post for last. If anybody has been paying attention, you know I keep ALL the sketchbooks that I've had ever. Needless to say, that's a lotta books.

And these are just the 9x12 ones!
(I also think this isn't all of those ones either)

However, my constant looking through them, trying to find characters and specific pictures have started to deteriorate them. In hopes of saving them, I am now going through book-by-book and scanning in the pages. I am also searching for a good photo organization program that I can tag all these pictures with keywords for ease of searching too.

Needless to say, it's been a bit of a source of entertainment for me - as some of these old pictures are REALLY bad compared to what I can draw now.

Some still stand the test of time, but a lot of my doodles from back in the day... oh the noses, the long necks and the HORRIBLY disproportional legs. When I come across a set of good examples, I'll show y'all on here.

That's about it from me right now. I need to go and work on some more art things!

Oh. And sunday was my birthday! Yay!