Lets wreck some something!

My partner just up and exclaimed that our nightstands were friggan' ugly. I kind of agreed. They are standard ikea ones, a kinda greyish white striated finished laminate. They had also seem better days. 

Why did we even buy them??! 

We hate them now. 

SO lets wreck them!!

 Ugh, so boring. The laminate is peeling a bit from those bottom cut outs too. I peeled off any edges of laminate that were sticking out, glued and filled the edges then sanded them. Then I  took off the doors and the little shelf.

The internet is like "Oh use chalk paint, its the best" I TRUSTED YOU INTERNET. Ok, I am sure chalk paint is great when you get the right materials, but my DIY plaster/paint mix was chunky AND translucent and pretty much garbage. But we are WRECKING these things, so no matter, just try and make it pretty smooth, and do a few coats and it will alllll work out...

Oh, did you like that subtle, chalky finish? That is great but ohmygosh so dull. Lets wreck it more by dripping black inky paint on it. Also use a straw, dip it in paint then blow forcefully through it to get amazing spatters. Let each side dry before moving it.

Hey, that is pretty neat actually.

Ok, now once it is all dry you have to clear coat it. I used a satin polycrylic with a pretty small brush. Do a few coats (let each one dry) especially on the top where it will get wear.

Ok, they are pretty weird.

But they are SO MUCH BETTER than the boring ikea grey joykillers. I didn't even have to change the knobs like I thought I would, because they disappear. YAY.

Now we can relax. 

If you are thinking of trying questionable projects, you can't beat using an old Ikea piece as a starting point. Literally every step of this was a disaster, but I pressed on and the end product is super neat! 

The nightstand update is literally the first thing I did to my standard beige rental bedroom. Better find some more stuff to DIY/wreck...

Sometimes Screwups

Sometimes screw ups happen.

I just completed a design called Skull Feels. Nine skulls with different expressions, pretty straightforward right? NOPE.

http://www.redbubble.com/people/blacklilypie/shop

Sometimes it takes a while to get to where you want to be. This design had some screw ups, which I worked on, and I think it came out good in the end.

Here is an example of the final products I made with this design.

See it all turned out ok.  The background of these items (except for t-shirts) have a faint bones pattern that you can see up close. These things are available at my Redbubble shop. You can see bigger and clearer images of A TON of items I put this design on.

The GREY VERSIONS are here. And the PINK VERSIONS are here.

Ok, so lets get to the screw ups parts of this post. (Under the cut)

On a roll.

I am really milking this one painting for all the blog posts I can get out of it!

I worked on this painting WAY too much. Like, hours and hours and hours. I am usually a super fast painter. I still have the urge to work on it too, I just can't seem to get it where I want it. If I just liked more colourful subject matter, life would be so much easier. All that black on black was such a pain.

The scanned and photoshopped version is ready for the spotlight!

It looks almost too dark until you put it in the mat, then it totally changes. I guess having a photo of it in the mat would make more sense. Uh, go look at the listing to see one. (See what I did there? ) Haha.

I am probably going to do a bookmark or mini print of something else with this image. And if I can work out the kinks on the original I will sell that too.

So now I have to go and baby my cat. I had to shave some of the fur off his tail and it majorly hurt his pride. Handsome cats take things like this very hard. It should grow back in a few weeks, but until then he is a big fat ugly cat instead of a big fat adorable cat. Sigh.

Still more Winterwoods.

They are probably about half finished... Ok, maybe 40 percent. 30? Does a face count for more percentage than an elbow?



Her face is complete, working on the hair. I rarely fully finish one area at a time but I am giving it a shot.



He looks a bit better now. I am still not sure if I digging him yet though. But there is still work to be done, so that could change. He looks less like a teen heartthrob though!

Next is clothing, and sometimes I kick myself for getting all involved in intricate outfits when it comes to painting them. Like ruffles and tiny buttons?! WHY did I do that to myself!

A few more days and they will be ready. I already have an idea for the next painting of them. Obsessed much?

More Winterwoods.

Little sketch...

I swear he won't look like Zac Efron when its painted. (Ok, I hope!) And I took it on an angle to try and keep a bit of mystery, but I think it just added gigantism.

This is another drawing of The Winterwoods, a couple I did a print of before. I like the idea of people who might come back again and again. Or maybe I just like the idea that I get to draw their clothing. Ha. Plus I can make up more of a story for these people, and then ideas come to me more readily. I always enjoyed falling back on Batcat when I felt less than creative, and becaus it wasn't forced I made some good quality artwork. So I am trying to do it again with some new kids.

Its too cold in my studio for me to be too productive today. So I leave The Winterwoods in their sketch form, and get to the business of making myself a mini-apple crisp.

Painting progress...

I posted some line art last Thursday, and I am slowly turning it into some sort of actual painting.

Its coming along. She has "giant head" right now, but I can probably fix it. Or just burn it if I can't. ;-) I am liking it less the more I look at it, but I am trying to not be all Debbie Downer about it.

My dude switched to night shift this week and its making me all weird! I don't know when to eat my meals. A voice in my head says "When you're hungry dummy!" but that is easier said than done. Watching someone eat dinner hours after I ate mine is torture!!

Tomorrow I have finished paintings to post and list! Yay!

Two new Loves.

After hinting I would create some new animal "Love" pin and sticker sets, I actually DID IT. *gasp.

Panda Love!

Bunny Love! (Its not even listed yet. I am a marketing genius.)

Panda was quite the leap for me. I intended the Love sets to be Canadian animals that I loved. I kind of changed the rules by adding a Red Squirrel (which Canada doesn't have, we only have brown and gray and black, which are cute but no big ears I love so much...) so after that the concept changed.

I do love Pandas, I somehow don't even believe they are a real animal. So weird. And Bunny Love just seemed natural. I did struggle to choose a bunny that represented every bunny. Its impossible! They all look so different. So screw that, I just did a mix of them all.

So the Love set got a bit bigger. I already have a few ideas for more, but I don't want to go nuts. Maybe in a while...

Today I have an appointment with a makeup artist friend who will make me gorgeous. No reason, just because its fun, and I am a good consumer. So I have an excuse to not work any more today. haha!

Lastly, I leave you with this little sneak peek at my work in progress.

It didn't start as fan art, but it became it as soon as I did the hair. I do so much work that I think is acceptable for people to hang in their homes, and then it doesn't sell. This one won't be as pretty. Sometimes you just need to nerd out and do something with blood splatter for yourself, Am I right? :-D

Painting in limbo

I finished a new little painting, but a technical difficulty is keeping me from scanning it right away. Here are a few photos of its little life.

Here is the pencil drawing. I thought it looked like Miley Cyrus, but my dude said it didn't. Phew! This is one of those pointless paintings where my only goal is to paint pretty eye makeup and splatter stuff.

So I inked it with acrylic ink and a little brush. No major flubs. I even left some of the pencil lines underneath at some places I liked them. Then, as always, my first step
is to wash everything in colours. White paper be gone. If you go to the full size one at its Flickr page you can see just how carefully I do this. *snicker*

So here is the final painting. She needs some plastic surgery in Photoshop, for sure for me to be super happy with her, but other than that I think it came out ok. Until she is scanned I am not sure what form she will end up as in my shop. Maybe a matted print, maybe a bookmark, maybe something else...

So now that Remembrance Day ceremonies have been watched, coffee and pastries have been gobbled (delivered to me in my pj's by my sweet dude!) and the internet has been updated, I can go out into the world. The cold winter world. Damn.

EDIT**
She is photoshopped and etsyshopped, and her name is Olive.

Sneaky Peaky

Assembly of my little book thing is underway! The one I showed a bit of here.


Trim,trim,trim.


And another bit.

I am assembling them slowly (it IS Thanksgiving weekend in Canada...) And I am sure they will be in my shop my Tuesday or Wednesday. Its cute! I think I can safely promise that now. ;-)

Ink progress

A little (big? Medium??) project I am working on right now. Its coming along well. Its nice to do some fat ink drawings like I used to in high school. (Except now they aren't terrible...)

Soon, soon.

Its UP.

Yes, its here!

So my personal website is up after being down for months and months. Its sat unfinished, as I put off making graphics. And even though its still a bit bare, its up and its functioning!

Its going to grow. I might add a shop to it in the future, but right now its just a hub to my Etsy shop and blog, and an online portfolio.

The Batcat mini-site is going to be way more fun to make (That is what the Batcat link is all about) so now I can get started on that. yay!

But that can wait because I am making up a TON of stuffy skeletons!!

My early morning shot of the skeletons lined up and waiting to be stuffed and appliqued. I am making some baby safe ones this time too. But for the others, I have to wait on my eyes from Australia, so the hoard will remain eyeless until later this week. I have other colours too, but I will save those for another day.

The little corner of the studio where I often crouch. It looks so full of stuff, and it is. Its actually pretty neat, no Diet Pepsi cans or cats or teetering piles of books and paper like usual. I must be slipping.

Alright, I am starting to blankly stare at the blogger window with dead eyes, so that is when I know its time to end this post. Coffee then skeletons.

Busy Work

Often, when I am not feeling super creative, or maybe even frustrated, I will go into production mode.

Its nice to just not have to think of anything fantastic, or interesting or creative and just "do work." I needed to replenish my pin set supply, so I got on it. Its a good rainy day project anyway.
First, I print out all the pins I need. I make sheets of pins in Photoshop. Then its time to cut and cut and cut them out... Maybe a couple of hundred?
When the images are ready, its time to assemble the pins. Each little pin takes 5 separate pieces.
Here is my little set up. Ok, its my set up before it got super messy. Ok, Ok, its before I started doing ANYTHING. The button press has a handle you pull in twice to set different parts of the button. Its the kind of mindless task you can do while watching tv. After making thousands of pins, you just robotically put the pieces into the press and before you know it you are finished.
And here is a TON of buttons waiting for their pin backs. I love when I have a big huge pile of buttons, its like when people in movies throw money in the air and clutch it in joy. I just get button joy. I promise I don't clutch or throw them. Much.

And then they all get their respective backing cards, which I didn't think I needed a photo of. It would be a picture of a printer anyway. I just print sheets of them and carefully cut them out.

It doesn't seem like inventory much when its in a box, but there are tons of sets in there. I also make little bags of completed pins and print more backing cards as I need them.

So now I am restocked with pin sets, and yesterday I restocked my ACEO's. Maybe I will do a photo post about ACEO assembly too! Ok, now I am just LOOKING for busy work... :-)

Peek into Batcat land...

Here is a little project I am working on right now.

(My silk screening project has been put on hold. I made an image too big for any of my screens. DUH. I will have to buy new ones. The ruler is a very important tool i should pay more attention to. haha.)

Anyway, here is what I am doing instead. Dual Batcats!!



This is one of them, the "nice" one. You can see how in depth some of my roughs are. *snicker* I had just started to ink it when I took a picture...



Here is the "bad" one. I have a plan that uses both of these as prints and also as a two part mystery object. Of course, it always depends on how they turn out. There are always a lot of happy accidents in my paintings.

So now to paint.

Sara and Schipperke

Here is my messy desk, working on a painting....



And here is the final!



Acrylic and ink on illustration board. I don't know if its finished or not. I might add a background digitally. Schipperkes (skipper-key) are the best dogs that look like little flying foxes to me. I just love their super black fuzzy fur and they way their legs kick out when they run. I will sit through a dog show on TV to see one.



Admittedly, sometimes when I finish a print, I look at it and think "Who would buy this?" I mean, except someone with my exact interests. Haha. People SHOULD have the same interests as me!!

I think this might be my first dog ever? Can I still be a cat lady?

*UPDATE*
I added a nice striped background and listed it in my shop...

back on track

Ok, so getting a new computer is awesome, amazing and fun...

but.

My Photoshop was a seriously OLD version, which worked fine for me on my older computer. I use Photoshop every single day for my Etsy shop, its half the reason I wanted a fast and new computer. So when I learned my new iMac was "too awesome" to run my old Photoshop, everything was messed up!
See that? What a messsss. It wouldn't be so bad but with all the things I print and scan and upload and download and yadda yadda, it was back and forth with a little memory stick and emailing myself and nonsense. But now its all fixed and I am letting my little iMac retire. Its years of fantastic service basically makes me a Mac Geek for life. Not that I wasn't already on the road there, but I think once you "feel sad" for an old computer when you get a new one, you get a membership card.

Oh, and I am sewing a bunch of stuff. And every time I get these lofty ideas about sewing up little materpeices, I get halfway through and go "Ugh, what have I got myself into!!!" At least I finished up a custom order before hitting that wall...
This is a portfolio, like a big pouch without a zipper. Its about 16 inches wide. Photographing corduroy (which I use a lot of) is such a nightmare! Its like a void of light, you can't make out any detail and I end up trying to digitally lighten the images and they end up all washed out. But at least it looks better than the photo when its delivered to the buyer.


Lastly, here is a little sneak peek of an experiment I am trying. Little cameo style images on cotton. They are so cute, but I wish they could sew themselves onto their own projects. Some will end up in the shop, some won't. Thats what experiments are for...

Process post! Danzig the Cat.

Another little custom order, a portrait of a much loved and "right up my alley" sort of wild and naughty little boy cat named Danzig. (How could I turn it down, a boy super-loving his cat and naming it Danzig is like a freaking fairytale to me!)

It was fun and fast and I took a few photos of...
This was the original design sketch. I had some photos of the little dude for reference, so it was more working out what would be around him. I did another separate one for the actual cat, and then spliced them together for the final sketch. This is the scanned pencil drawing on illustration board. Thats why its a bit muddy, I had to up the contrast. On to the painting! I guess you aren't supposed to give away your secrets to painting, but its not like I even paint the same way each time so there isn't really any secret. I tried to keep this one from getting too tight, and colouring it in like a colouring book, but it just happens like that at the beginning. I use really watery acrylic and blast it with a hairdryer every five seconds. And I listen to HIM.I think I should have taken another one in between this and the last one.I basically just added dark and light a few times...dark then light then darker than lighter until its high contrast enough for me. Like this. With a paintbrush! Secret REVEALED! Ok, here is the final guy... Danzig! I think its pretty cute. He is a sort of bad boy, but with a heart of gold, like all orange cats are. :-) Whatever bad thing he did, you'll forgive him.

Custom Cat

I have been working on a custom order for one of my best customers at my shop. I hope she doesn't mind me posting the progress here. I love seeing other peoples works in progress, it feels a bit like you are are learning their secrets...

This is the original sketch I did for her.This is Neo, this little man cat went off to kitty heaven to cause havoc. He has a wonderful interesting face with lots of character...
I did a few roughs first, to get it all set up and then sketched my "final rough" onto illustration board. I have a drafting table thats devoted to painting, so I can leave out projects and work on them over time. I use a Sta-wet painter's palette, which keeps your paint wet over days or even weeks. I spread a few pictures of Neo around to make sure I get his splotches in the right place.
I rarely paint two paintings the same way. I learned from a few fantastic illustrators in university that everyone has their own way, some work on the whole image, some finish small places then move on to the next. I am usually an "all over" kind of worker. I kind of painted him in reverse, using the background to carve him out. On a lot of my paintings, I use a pigment liner to draw the image then kind of colour it in with paint. But Neo needed a more "traditional" painting feel to him.Ok, I could have put another photo before this one as its progressed quite a bit. I usually go progressively darker and darker, and then start all over with lighter over top to get more contrast. Make sense? My best friend is the hairdryer. I lock each paint wash by drying it.

You can see that even though this is a somewhat realistic painting (for me) I messed about with his face a bit to make him smile. I had to fight the urge to give him fangs, even though his don't show like my cat. And here is the final face. I will admit, its a bit "prettier" than the real cat is. In the photos he is a bit more handsome and masculine, but I have come to terms that I just paint pretty. Its what I like. Most portraits do it intentionally anyway... As always, the original painting looks vastly different than the scan, the computer just can't capture it. You loose the transparency of the paint and it deadens the c0lours. So here is is! The final painting. I wish I could frame it up in a antique oval frame painted black and rubbed with white, and hang it up at my house. :-)

Bye Neo.