Tattoo Design: Time Heals...

While I was working on "Healing", I felt like doing a more detailed closeup on one of the tattoos I designed in the piece.

Yup, it's fairly simple but I hope the message is conveyed well enough.

Healing

Okay...there's quite a bit of stuff that went into this one so let's jump straight to it.

I first drew the image on the left in the last few weeks of 2010 and, suffice to say, I wasn't exactly in the best frame of mind during that time. It wasn't until after I had finished sketching that card that I realized that drawing was a manifestation of all these different anxieties, fears, worries and confusion that were about to plague my mind in the time to come.

The drawing on the right came to me after I had wrapped up all the stuff with the last convention I went to. A lot of the unpleasant stuff was beginning to get resolved once and for all but what really set the wheels in motion were the concept of "cover-up" tattoos. The kind of tattoos that covered up any scars, wounds and bruises of past injuries, surgeries and any other traumatic experiences. The idea that you could ink a permanent symbol of a new beginning onto you really inspired something within me so I went straight to work on the more recent drawing.

I've also really been itching to try some more experimental methods with my artwork and thought this would be a good place to start. The border is comprised of colored gift wrap tissue paper with half of it stained with tea. In a perfect world, I would have loved to have used actual flower petals but 1) it's winter and flowers aren't exactly blooming right now and 2) the dried ones would crack and fall apart inside the scanner.

A piece of this nature can only be therapeutic to work on and indeed it was. For the record, I'm feeling a lot better and while there are still little threads to be resolved, it's not causing me any anxiety or reason to panic.

On a technical note, there's a lot of things here that I'm really happy with in terms of coloring and blending.

January Vancouver Comicon: The Aftermath

Okay, now that I'm fully recharged from my busy, busy weekend, I just want to give a huge thank you to everyone and anyone who stopped by my table at the Vancouver Comicon this past Sunday. Whether you bought something, flipped through my portfolio or picked up a flyer/business card, every little bit of support is greatly appreciated.

I was actually told that the typical attendance of a January convention was pretty slow and minimal. So you can imagine my pleasant surprise when the overall attendance was much higher than anticipated. For my third go around with conventions, this exceeded my expectations and I still enjoyed every bit of it, even when the inevitable zombie state kicked in. ;-)

I can't wait to do this all over again and I definitely want to hit up more conventions throughout 2011. I'm even aiming for much larger scale conventions, just so I can get a feel of the energy and atmosphere of one. That and I've determined that there just aren't enough opportunities throughout the year to get decked out in costume. ;-)

Onwards and upwards, baby!

Wouldn't YOU Like To Know?

Here's a sketch card I completed at the Vancouver Comicon last Sunday. I've had this image in my mind for quite a few years but just had to wait until it was totally developed...or at least developed enough to satisfy me.

As you can tell, I was totally gettin' my Lichtenstein on. ;-)

Vancouver Comicon, January Edition Reminder

Hey lovelies, just thought I'd remind you all (especially anyone and everyone in the Vancouver area) that I'll be at the next Vancouver Comic Con.

Yup, I'll be at it all over again this Sunday (Holy smokes! That's tomorrow!) at the Heritage Hall in Vancouver, British Columbia. The show goes on from 11 AM 'til 5 PM and admission is $4 per person while kids under 14 get in for free. You too can get in for free if you donate a new or gently used grade school appropriate graphic novel to go towards Vancouver public schools. Sweet, eh?

If you see a redhead with a bowler hat and/or spiky cyber goggles atop her head while sketching and inking away on some shiny new sketch cards, don't hesitate to stop by and say "hi". She'll also have plenty of prints, original sketch cards and mini comics to sell plus her portfolio for you all to take a gander through. ;)

Okay, I'll stop referring to myself in the third person now. =P XD

For more information on the convention and all the creators and special guests involved (including Ken Steacy, of "Star Wars" and "Iron Man" comics) go check out the main website or just take a glance at the flyer below this text. ;)

Hope to see you there and I'm excited to do this!

Turning to Twitter

Oh look, it's my first upload of 2011! Is it just me or is that still a really weird year to hear, write, see and say? "Twennyleven!"

This is more or less an accurate portrayal of my 180 towards Twitter minus the body and soul possession by Kermit the Frog, of course. At least I haven't sacrificed proper spelling or grammar in my tweets so far.I hope it remains that way. ;-)