But the truth is, between school and trying to find ways to earn money, I've been SWAMPED.

But I miss you guys! How is everyone? :)


School Rant:
I'm taking two classes right now. One employs exclusively charcoal. I HAVE NEVER HATED A MEDIUM MORE THAN I HATE CHARCOAL. BURNING PASSIONATE HATE. It probably doesn't help that my teacher in this class is sort of a jerk and has ridiculous expectations. Also, she's a painter and I'm starting to realize that people who call themselves 'Fine Artists' do not generally appreciate the skills of those who call themselves 'Illustrators'. The things I'm learning about light and form are great! Totally useful and applicable to the career I want to pursue. The correct techniques to employ charcoal, to blend and stump and erase and generally exist in a cloud of black charcoal dust? Don't need them. Will never use the medium again unless it's for a grade. As an illustrator I can apply the things I'm learning in this Fine Arts course. But I won't use them directly. Thus it's very FRUSTRATING to be barely passing the class when I KNOW I'm not a shitty artist and I KNOW she's just got a stick up her butt like almost every teacher I've had who was a "Fine Artist" and not an "Illustrator".

*sigh* Anyway. My other class is awesome and amazing and I love my teacher and he's fair and honest and tough, but offers good advice for improvement and doesn't make his students feel like shit when they make a mistake.

Money Rant:
The job market sucks. I'm still unemployed and it doesn't look to be changing anytime soon so I'm really trying to start bringing in monies through Etsy and commissions, so that I'm not totally depending on Kim and financial aid to keep us afloat while I'm doing this school thing. 

 www.brainbowz.com <--redirects to my etsy account. :) I've been painting USB drives because it's fun and geeky. Gonna be some more zombie themed stuff up there soon. Wee.

We also put our badges up on Etsy. Did I mention we love Etsy? So fun. Oh and Kim's been working on building me a new portfolio site.

Yay! I loves it so far: www.jdsaxon.net  <--Kim is awesome.


So yeah. I'm taking commissions again. Fanart, cosplay pieces, simple leatherwork... Whatever you need/want. :)



TV Rant:

OMG LOST YOU ARE CRAZY AND I HATE WAITING A WEEK BETWEEN EPISODES! But seriously. I am so f-ing sick of the Jack/Kate/Sawyer/(Juliet?) love triangle(rectangle?) that I could vomit. I confess to really really hoping that Kate dies this season. She'll break fewer hearts that way and I'm tired of her whiny victim act. I loved her in season 1; can't she go back to being badass?

We started watching Pushing Daisies because I sort of fell in love with Lee Pace watching The Fall. And holy crap, it's AMAZING. I love the visual aesthetic! It's so bright and high quality and feels like a movei every episode. Epic beautiful music, perfect narrative (done by the guy who narrates EVERYTHING -- love his voice), ADORABLE LOVE STORIES <-- and this is coming from ME so you know that's saying something. Need more of it. 

Um... that's all for now. :)  

(Stolen from sporkkunoichi)

The first five people to respond to this post will get something made by me. It will be about or tailored to those five lucky "victims."

This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:
- I make no guarantees that you will like what I make!
- What I create will be just for you.
- It'll be done this year.
- You have no clue what it's going to be. It may be fic. It may be poetry. I may draw or paint something. I may bake you something and mail it to you. Who knows? Not you, that's for sure!
- I reserve the right to do something extremely strange.

The catch? Oh, the catch is that you have to put this in your journal as well, if you expect me to do something for you!

People have started talking about the Alice group that Kim, Thea, Heather and I conceived of a few years ago. And now that we've successfully pulled off our awesome Wizard of Oz group, I think it's time to solidify some plans!

I know that there are a few new people who have shown interest in participating in the steamy Alice fun, so I'm going to try and get a handle on just who wanted to do what. If you know, help me fill in the blanks! :)

As of now, we've got no solid idea of when we want to do these costumes. Originally it was going to be another CostumeCon group, but since we've no idea when that con is going to come anywhere near the west coast again, we might want to shoot for Comic Con instead. I'm not set on any one con in particular and I don't think we even need to say for sure that we're doing these this year, unless everyone wants to. :) Let me hear your thoughts!

Alice - Thea? Did someone else say they wanted to be Alice?
Cheshire Cat - Diana
White Rabbit - Laura
Caterpillar - Kim
Mad Hatter - Me
March Hare - Heather
Dor Mouse - Shari
Queen of Hearts - Thea?
TweedleDee/Dum - Sharon? I think that's what you said, Laura?

Some other ideas:
Cards - Hiku?
King of Hearts
Walrus
Carpenter - Hiku?
White or Red Queen
White or Red Knight - Hiku?
The Duchess (and her baby/pig)
MockTurtle
Lion
Unicorn

So! Once we've got that settled, then comes the fun part! Here's a few links to get you started. Remember, the theme is STEAMPUNK, which means these costumes are gonna be a bit more challenging than what some of us have tackled before. Or at least for me, just completely new! I'm hoping to shoot for a level of detail and quality similar to these people: http://media3.playstadium.dk/img/mgh/d3/billeder/cosplay/12.jpg (Believe it or not, not actually an Alice group, though I swear I see Alice and the Hatter there. :D) Which means we're making costumes, but we're also making -accessories- to accent the costumes. We're not shooting for a particular decade of history (Steampunk is fantasy, after all), but I'm personally planning to be inspired by victorian costuming and that general era for the base of my costume. I invite you to draw inspiration from that time period's clothing as well! Still, I'm all for creative freedom so if you've got something else in mind, let me know! I'm sure we can find a way to all come together in a cohesive and yet unique way. :)

While you're designing your costumes, please try to remember to incorporate elements of the original character into your design! I'd really love us all to be identifiable by anyone who knows the stories of Alice. :)

Steampunk fashion LJ community - Probably the best resource you'll find. I've been devouring it's archives.
Gentleman's Emporium - A great site with premade clothing and accessories. Of course, make your own costume, but use this site as inspiration. Or a great place to buy pocket watches and cheap glasses! Also some very affordable men's shoes.
Reconstructing History - I've linked you to the Victorian/Steampunk pattern section of their site. I haven't ordered from them before but it looks like nice stuff!
Alice Illustrators - An archive of the other illustrators (besides Tenniel) who have tackled the illustration of Alice's stories. Good for inspiration and reference!
Lauren's Alice in Wonderland Page - a larger number of illustrators here, but smaller samples of each one's work. Still good reference
Alice In Wonderland (text and w/ Tenniel's illustrations) - Just what it says. :)
Through the Looking Glass - Tenniel's illustrations
SmallParts.com - a great site for various materials and as the name says, 'small parts'
S. Axelrod Co - similar to above, but geared toward jewelry and craft. Equally useful for the steampunker.

If anyone has any other useful sites, comment and I'll add them to the list of links. :)