I can dream of ways to keep you occupied

7 new Between Gears pages in the last week!

I'm going back and finishing November and December, so check the site often, because I will place pages in their proper order in the archives after they have been up for a week, and then they will be hard to find.

Obviously I have more time to work on BG now that the thesis and Over the Surface are over, but another great breakthrough that has allowed me to update more often is that I am penciling with blue lead now instead of graphite. With non-photo blue pencils, I can ink over them and NOT erase! It's wonderful. I used to have to ink my pages again after erasing pencils, because the eraser would fade the ink pretty badly, but no more! Pages take a lot less time to make, which means more pages, faster! (^^)b

Last week, I counted all of the pages I need to make for BG and all of the pages that I have made so far. I am at just about 1/3 of the pages done, which is actually a lot better than I thought! I am starting a big project in August, and I would really, REALLY like to finish BG before I start that. I want to have a complete narrative of my senior year from September - June, and I think that the next couple months are the best window I will have to finish it for quite a while.

Only in dreams we see what it means

Just had one of those moments:

I got a check in the mail today from Multnomah County Library for some minis they bought from me at Stumptown. I went online to search their database, and saw them in the catalog!
Behold my little victory!

....How cool would it be if I was named 'Natalie Nutria'?

Baby to be #1, you've got to raise the bar

(Materials test for an upcoming anthology story)

I've been working on many new projects since finishing Over the Surface chapter 2, mostly illustrations and short comics. When I am between long comics, I often get feelings of aimlessness or dissatisfaction. I want my next project to be a marked improvement on the last one. I do a lot of art exercises and think about what I want to work on for next time.

During the interval this time around, I've been looking at tons of art from talented people and feeling down about my own abilities. There are so so SO many things I can't do yet that other artists have been doing for years. Today, I remembered something that made me feel better: nobody can do or be it all. The artists that I admire are all extremely talented, but I am holding myself to a standard made up of the best parts of each of them--something that just doesn't exist.

I used to do the same thing with actresses and models I wanted to look like: subconsciously combine the best traits of each of them into this idealized person who, in truth, did not exist, probably could not exist, and was unfair to compare myself to. If I held anyone else to the standard I have made of this eclectically all-talent artist, even the most brilliant artists wouldn't live up to it.

No one can be everything, and we have to just focus on cultivating our own brand of talent. That's not to say there isn't a LOT that I can learn from my favorite artists or that I don't have a long way to go in my art studies, but I need to cut myself some slack when I start thinking, "Augh, why can't I ink like this person AND lay out pages like that person AND color like that person AND..."

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Side note: has anyone read the picture book Grasper?? I read it in elementary school and it is definitely one of the ones that stuck with me. It's about intervals in life when you have an opportunity to grow.

It could be considered using when I call you up straight out of the blue

New sketch: Spider-Woman!



I am astounded by the number of superheroes I have drawn this month (4). This is up from...what? 2 ever...? Haha. They are fun to draw. I think I will draw me some super men next.

This is for a friend who gave me his old T.V. at the beginning of winter term. It's been sitting on my to-do list ever since! It feels so good to be done with the thesis and going down this list of oh-God-you-should-have-done-that-two-months-ago things. It will probably take another month to get up to date, but I am alright with that! Gonna start another late thing now~

We can do this right here and now

Over the Surface 2 minicomics now available on Etsy!



If you want a bundle deal on OtS 1 +2, wait until later in the week and I should have time to list one. I have tons of chapter 2 minis; I do not foresee them running out before then. :P I only have 4 copies of OtS 1 left, but I am working on a second print run right now. I am aiming to make that next batch available around June 10, and it will include some awesome fan art in place of the bonus art in the first print run of chapter 1.

There's good days and bad days

Have some Iron Man 2 fan art:

Black Widow Iron Man 2 by ~Tallychyck on deviantART
Holy God, was Scarlett Johansson good in that movie! I had no idea she had this performance in her. Attention movie studios: you are hereby forbidden to typecast Scarlett Johansson as the Other Woman or Forbidden Fruit--she shall ONLY play Natasha Romanoff from this day on!!! (How amazing would it be if she really did, and every chick flick she had a part in also had a I-kill-you-with-my-legs scene?!)

The dust has only just begun to form crop circles in the carpet

I'm using this sketch from Stumptown to practice coloring on:

I think I'll make prints once I settle on colors I like.

Jump magic jump!

3 new additions to my 'art from others' Flickr set from Nico and Emi!!! Wowzers!

Today is homework day. :-/

You put soul inside your shattered heart

Here's a pin-up I made for the 4th volume of Return to Labyrinth, coming out this August:



David Bowie, you are ridiculously fun to draw. Jennifer Connelly, it's a little weird because you look like my mom.

I watched Labyrinth yesterday before beginning this, and realized that I actually had seen it before, but hadn't remembered. I must have been at a friend's house, half-watching and half-playing something else, because it's an extremely fuzzy memory. What a fun movie,though!

Know what else was a fun movie? IRONMAN 2. Expect fan art. <3

This is show time this is show time this is show time

Aw dang! Over the Surface 2 minicomics are printed and assembled!!!!


I will distribute them to my thesis committee tomorrow along with the final draft of my paper. Next Wednesday, I'll present my thesis and be DONE! :DDD
With the thesis behind me, I will turn my thoughts to other art projects, including making the minis available in my Etsy store. So close, you guys. So. Close. Then that anthology story, those illustrations for people, new Between Gears pages...

Here's that cover image for you:

Surrounded by subconsciousnesses

Here's a little Over the Surface 2 preview for you. I am toning page 17 now, and I should be done well ahead of my Wednesday deadline.

Backing up obsessively! :P

I took my love down to Violet Hill

My primary thesis adviser likes my second draft a lot better than she liked my second draft. PHEW!!! This is a very good thing.

Back to toning pages 13-24~