these wheels are beginning to turn

Things are not certain at this moment in time, but my life is starting to take a positive turn. Well, my life has always been a positive one, but the difference now is that I am seeing a manifestation of the hopes I've had in the past, so things are more wonderfully possible now than they ever have been before!

With the creeping onset of the Autumnal season, I am beginning to notice change not only in my circumstance, but in my inner being as well. I have been re-evaluating my life a great deal lately, and trying to figure out what I want from this existence of mine. The result is that I am re-prioritizing, looking at myself and my potential futures in a very real way.

I have come to terms with the fact that my childhood/adolescent dreams of being rich and famous are probably not going to pan out. So in response I have embraced the idea of a very simple life, with a very simple future, and a very simple growing-up. My only ambitious dream these days is to perhaps afford a house in San Francisco one day. That, for me, would mean that I am rich.

With my newfound employment at a bookstore cafe (which will hopefully begin in a week or so), I have been considering also the role of art in my life. It is such a huge part of me, and I am so excited about the projects I have in my head! I have this huge list of pieces that I wrote down last week---17 drawings and paintings that I want to tackle! Not to mention my wanting to submit to Wizards of the Coast and a few magazines! But since I will not have to rely on art for my sole income, I am giving a lot of thought to the kind of art I want to spend my hard-won free time on. I am trying to figure out my personality and how it relates to my art, namely how it relates to the kind of freelance jobs/commissions I want to work and what I need to step away from in favor of projects that will be more personally fulfilling. But where can I draw the line? I don't want to be picky, and it will be hard for me to turn down work. If someone wants me to draw something for them, and they are willing to pay me, I want to make them happy. Yet, sometimes the project is just not my type of thing, and I end up being unhappy or frustrated.

Is it better to accept all jobs for money and be unhappy in some, or to be picky and have to work somewhere else for income, and be happy with every project?

This is one of the questions I have been asking myself.

I guess I just like a lot of freedom, and I like the idea of someone coming to me and saying, "Draw us a zombie vomiting up another zombie" and then it is my duty to make it excellent, with a bang-up composition and a well-executed technical aspect. I don't know if freelance work like this exists, but oh! I hope it does, if not just for me!

Anyway, my brother just stepped in to show me something, and now I've lost my train of thought. So off I go to read and enjoy some snuggles with a still-sleeping Boyfriend.

I guess the main point of this post, though, is that I am looking forward to Autumn and the changes it will bring: in season, in weather, in fashion, in food, and in myself.

Finished Centaur

I finished the centaur piece today! It was really fun to work on. I've decided that I loooove super-girly pieces! I plan on doing more of them... possibly more featuring cute centaur ladies ;)

Here are some (grainy, I know) photos:

The colors in this one above are more accurate than the ones below. The below shot is a little dark, I think my shadow was getting in the way or something.

Close-up!

This is the first finished piece I have done in about three or four weeks! I was going through a conference-induced bout of depression and doubt, but I pulled through it and am doing the pieces that I want to do instead of the pieces I think I should be doing. In short I am a lot happier. I have no idea where this art career of mine is going to go, or whether it will go anywhere at all. I have some backups planned, but for now I am just trying my best to put my work out there.

I do my art for myself, but I hope that it is enjoyed by others as well. I want the prints on my Etsy store to find a loving home. It would be nice to think that a person other than myself or my family will wake up each morning and look at my work and smile, the way that I do that for the prints I have bought for my own abode.

I like what I do and the way that I do it. I've gotten a lot of crap because of my style, because of the way that I draw and the things I choose to draw. It's been for a lot of my college career and just recently, the SCBWI portfolio review. And for awhile I was ashamed to talk about that. But I am feeling more confident lately, and I just cannot accept that those nay-sayers are right. So I am continuing to be true to my heart, my art, and in the same fashion, myself.

Even if I never "make it" in the art world, even if I never become well-known or published, I will be able to say that I remained true to myself, and thus I will never have truly failed.

To me, failing is allowing others to change who you are. And how I draw is such a huge part of who I am that I simply cannot allow this emotional abuse to bring me down.

*ahem* anyway!
Now I am off to Boyfriend's house for some cuddles and maybe some Drake's Fortune! I am allllmost done with the game... I think! It got pretty scary all of a sudden. Normally I can't play scary games (I get too frightened! I know it's just a game but I AM that character and I could DIE! By a ZOMBIE or something!) but I am too invested in this game now so I can't quit.

Online Shop

My online shop is up and running! There are only a few items up, but there will be more soon so never fear!

Check it out:



just click on the above button! Or if you want you can also copy and paste the following:
http://www.strangeladypress.etsy.com

I am so excited!

Serra Got Her Groove Back!

Here are some sketches I've done lately. Apologies for some of these being kind of light, but my scanner is smaller than my sketchbook AND the scanner has distinct edges, so... makes it kind of hard to get a perfect scan :P For the too-light ones, just click on the image to see a bigger version. It's a little darker if you do that.

A character I've been developing named Abigail. Those faint things at her feet are mushrooms.

More Abigail. I've been trying to practice drawing characters multiple times and at different angles and have it still look like the same character. Since I usually draw single scenes this has never been a concern of mine, but now that I want to illustrate some stories, I should improve!

When I tried to think what my Muse would look like, this is what came out. I got tired of drawing before I could finish her other hand ;)

The following are from Challenge: Pet! over at the Art Challenge Blog I have with my friend Michelle. Check it out!: http://www.strangeladyartchallenge.blogspot.com

A fish on a leash!

Sadie's Pet Dinosaur

Some French Bulldogs. Since they are French I gave them some French accessories: a beret and striped shirt!

I've also been working on coloring that centaur I posted earlier. It's some slow going (I got distracted yesterday and didn't work on it like I had wanted) but it'll get done soon. I have the whole sky background colored, am going to do the grass and environmental elements later today, and then maybe color the centaur herself tomorrow after I come back from the dentist (filling, ugh).

In other news, I am feeling much back to my old cheery self. Some things were bumming me out, but I've learned to either accept them, or say "Screw that! I'll do it MY way!". Thus I am now a happy girl again!

On the job front, I have an interview with a children's art center/day care on Friday! And I'm still waiting to hear back from cool-bookstore-job.
Things are looking up! I don't feel like such a bum when I draw all day, either. So that's an improvement as well!

Hey! I shouldn't have to remind anyone but remember that these images belong to me! If I find out you stole them I'mma gonna hunt you down!

Art Day Today

I did some art today! This is a piece I've been sitting on for some time, and today I was finally able to get right down to it and transfer/ink the image. I had some other things to get to today as well, so tomorrow is coloring-day.

She's a little centaur with a magic apple!

A rather blurry image of her upper half. I do not claim to be a photographer.

Her lower half.

Below are some photos of my "work space," aka: my bed. No, I do not have a usable art table. Woe is me, but perchance I will be able to get one when I can get myself an apartment!

My images start out as xerox copies of my sketches. I just scribble on the back with a 4b pencil and re-trace the lines. Some people don't like to transfer, but I think sketching is my best skill so I like to go directly from my sketches instead of re-drawing.

I believe I was watching "Locked up Abroad" on National Geographic at the time. I LOVE that show!

As I said, I'm going to color this piece tomorrow. I will also upload some sketches I did today--I scanned them wrong so I'll re-scan them tomorrow (the scanner is hooked up to my dad's computer and I already turned it off).

Monetarily Overwhelmed

I really wish office supplies didn't cost so much.

I've been calculating costs for various equipment that I will need in order to set up the ideal home office/studio.
Here's a run-down:
-Scanner w/ 11" x 17" bed: $1500 (unless I can figure out how to stitch together an image from multiple scans...)
-Printer: $70
-Copier (I scale sketches up and down a lot for final pieces): $250-500

Which is more necessary: an apartment or really good equipment? Probably the apartment or I wouldn't have a place to put the fancy hardware, I guess.
I really need a job. Preferably one with great pay and plenty of hours. Here's to hoping awesome-bookstore-job has an easy time with my references tomorrow...

In other news, the Olympics totally blows my mind. Is anyone else just completely befuddled by the idea they are watching history, LIVE? I saw Michael Phelps win his 8th gold medal, and found out at the same time he did that he had broken a record. It sort of trips me out.

Today Boyfriend and I picked up Boyfriend's mom and sister at LAX. On the drive home traffic was terrible, and it was because someone's motor-home had either burst into flames or utterly exploded. They were cleaning up the remnants as we drove past, but it was brutal. I hope everyone inside made it out.

Tomorrow I'm going to be doing some sketching and starting a new piece. I'm looking forward to it---I haven't been able to do anything more than sketch since that reviewer ripped me a new one at the SCBWI conference. I think I finally got my personal power (mojo?) back, so we'll see how it goes.

Hunt for Red Oct-job-er

So, the job adventure continues!

Yesterday before the interview mentioned in my last post, a will-remain-un-nameable food service place called me and asked me if I was still looking for part-time work. I said yes, of course. So after a short conversation with this (very nice) woman, she says "okay, come in tomorrow."
Me: "oh for an interview?"
Her: "no, you're hired."
Me: "oh...okay..."

My parents were extremely unhappy about the job (because of the walking-to-strange-houses delivery part of it, and myself being a well-endowed young girl), but I still thought pizza-delivery would be cool, and didn't think I'd have any real problems.
So I went to my other interview (with a really cool bookstore that will also remain un-named) and that went really well! So I ended up being in a mental bind. I told the interviewer about the first job offer and she said that the bookstore wouldn't officially hire me until September anyway, so I should just take the food-service job and go from there.

Ahem. Thus. Today rolls around and while I was in the bathroom I got a call from a different job, which entails me teaching art to babies... WAY cool! I am going to hopefully be interviewing with them soon.
But despite that I went in to the food place to get all...hired...and stuff. It seemed cool and I loved the managers, but I was having some doubts. It just seemed like not-quite-my-place. When I got home I called my dad and laid it all down for him, all the job details and everything. It's a delivery job, but the company doesn't cover gas (I would)... and my dad explained that my insurance does not cover me for "business purposes." Meaning that if I got into an accident on the job, I would not be covered and thus would have to foot the bill myself. Something I don't think tips would quite cover...

After talking to my boyfriend about it I decided that the odds were stacked against me in this situation. So I went over to the place and told the manager about the insurance issue (by far the biggest issue, since I would never in my life be able to afford any sort of body work not partially covered by some company). She seemed disappointed, but understood.

I feel really bad but I have to follow my instincts in this matter. Meh. But hopefully either the bookstore or the teaching place will want to hire me and it'll be okay.

Anyway, that is how I had a job for less than 24 hours!

Adventure!

Hmm, so I have just started on this "blogging" adventure.

Let me introduce myself: My name is Serra. I just graduated with a Bachelor's Degree in Art/Illustration from California State University Northridge (read: could. not. afford. art. school.) and I am now trying my hand at being self-employed. So far it is pretty liberating, but terribly frightening at the same time. I've gotten a few commissions so far, but to ease my mind I am also applying for part-time jobs (in fact, I have an interview today!)

My goal is to write and illustrate my own books, as well as to show in galleries.

You can check out my work at http://www.freewebs.com/strangelady

For now, I will take my leave. But in the future I hope to be actively posting sketches, drawings, and paintings for your pleasure. See you soon!