Networking Options

For the time being, I will not be able to post artwork here.  I cannot post pictures from my phone to blogger and my computer is still acting like a poopy pants turdface about the internet. ):

I will still be updating my Facebook and Twitter (@meltingdoll) accounts with art, as well as Tumblr (meltingdoll.tumblr.com).

You may also e-mail me at meltingdoll@gmail.com if you have any questions or inquiries about commissions or anything else.

Happy Holidays!!

Newtown, CT

I try to avoid making many political statements on the Internet, so all I will say is this: I am sad.  I'm sad today to hear the awful news about children being murdered in school.  I am terrified to be one of those parents some day.  

Before my surgery, I was made aware that cancer would result in me never having children.  Luckily, my tumor was benign and I am still able to have kids, but not without a potential struggle -- my chances of miscarriage or other complications are much higher now, and I will reach menopause earlier than average women.  I have no choice in the matter, and because of these risks, lately the idea of trying to start a family has scared me.  What's really unfortunate now, is today I have more reasons to be afraid.  And that's what makes me sad.  

I never thought something like this could happen to innocent children that were in a place they were told was safe.  Even the surviving children may never fully recover from the horror.  They must have been frightened.  I wish I could hug them all and play with them on the playground to make them forget the bad things in the world, because that's what kids are supposed to do!  They shouldn't have to watch their friends die, or face death themselves just because some jerkwad lost control of his own life.

I make no statement for or against gun control.  I just want to live in a place I can feel safe, where I can feel comfortable starting my own family without having to face the tragedy of outliving my own children, nieces, nephews, or grandchildren.

Ghost Variant Signing Saturday 12/1!

 

 For those curious, here's my process for the My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Ghost Variant cover.  First I sketched up an idea.  We knew we wanted the cover to feature Derpy Hooves, and I wanted to have an interesting background because I knew it was going to be a wrap cover (front and back), so I decided to go with Sugarcube Corner.

 

 

 

I drew up a second design with a different Sugarcube Corner background and added Lyra, as she's one of my favorite background ponies.  I used references from the show for both background sketches.  The second design was the one I liked better, so I scanned it in and submit it to get approved.  Just like when I did the Adventure Time cover, I had to wait patiently for approval before I could start working on the final drawing!

After a little more than a week, Hasbro approved the design but told me I needed to add BonBon.  I find this particularly awesome because it's good to see they like to be consistent with even their background ponies being BFFs.

 

 

 

As soon as I was given the greenlight, I basically finished the whole thing in one sitting.  I used 11x17" comic paper, used microns for the background and a sharpie for the thick foreground lines.  I normally prefer brush and ink, but ponies are so cartoony, I wanted solid lines for this (;

 

And Voila!  The art was scanned and submitted.  I had to wait more than a month to hear anything about it and when I did, it had been colored and completed!  I can't express enough how hard it was to keep it a secret, especially from my friends that are such huge fans of the show.

 

To celebrate the release, I will be at Casablanca Comics in Portland from 12pm-3pm Saturday, December 1st.  Which is tomorrow!!

 

I'll be signing and sketching on oodles of covers!  Here's a preview:

 

 



 

I will have some prints left over from PortCon Maine to sell for $3 each, featuring Vinyl Scratch, the mane six + Spike, and a human Rainbow Dash!  I will also have some original art with me and will gladly draw sketches for those that request it.

 

 

 

 

The original cover art is going to be put on eBay for auction, for those interested!  I will be posting on both Twitter and Facebook when they go up.  There is a chance I won't be able to post about it on my blog here due to my computer being wonky lately.

 

 

This 3 foot cardboard cut-out of Spike is excited to see you tomorrow!



My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Ghost Variant Cover!

I survived my surgery and have recovered well enough to be able to announce the release of the Ghost Variant cover art I did for the new My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic comic!

You can order a copy on my work's website at CasablancaComics.com!

Commission Fundraising

Last Tuesday, I announced opening myself up for cheap watercolor commissions.  I need to pay bills when I'm not working for the next month!  The response was amazing!  SO many people wanted one, and nearly every payment I've been given so far has been over the amount I asked for!  People are really incredible.

Somehow I managed to finish nearly 30 within the week.  Here are most of them!  (A few people wanted the finished art to be a surprise, so I'll have to post those later.)

From left to right, starting from the top:

Gus & Jepperd from Sweet Tooth, Batgirl, Superboy & Tim Drake, Derpy Hooves, Derpy again, and Epstein, the mascot from Alternative Comics, a comic book shop!

Here, we have:  Captain Four-Color, Golden Age Flash & Barry Allen, Supersnipe from Strange Adventures, Bat-Mite riding Bat-Hound, and a customer's son as a pirate.

The top left here is of Byte-Size Bandit, one of the Fresh Meat for the Maine Roller Derby, blocking a unicorn.  Next to that is my friend Nick winning against Hal Jordan and Batman at Smash Bros. Brawl.  Then we have some Adventure Time fan art from one of the new episodes, and my friend Liz's dog Zabu, King of the tennis balls.

These next two sets were my favorite:  Finn & the Flame Princess, Dash Pinkie & Fluttershy, the Cutie Mark Crusaders, Twilight Sparkle & Spike, and Celestia & Luna.  These were starting to get harder and harder to give away.

These last two are my absolute favorites.  I had a request for a White Water Rafting theme and a Zen Koi Fish theme.  I try not to toot my own horn, but I might be making a koi fish for myself at some point.

I took a short break from the watercolors on Saturday to make this crayon picture of the Jersey Devil.  Look for it the next time you visit the Maine Cryptozoology Museum!

I can still take requests for commissions, but they won't be finished for a few weeks.  Surgery is in a few days and I'll be down for the count at least a week!

Ripley: Believe it or not

I found out a few weeks ago I have been growing an alien baby(see: tumor) that needs to come out with surgery.  It makes me look and feel pregnant and fat and uncomfortable.  I'm looking forward to it coming out but I am not looking forward to being out of work for a month or the long, painful recovery.  I can't wait to be rid of it so I can have my body back.

The doctor said it's "like a beach ball" and she wasn't kidding.  I seriously look pregnant.  I decided to name it Ripley.

On a lighter note, I drew some stuff.

Here's something Halloweenie

Here's something I drew to express the pain Garbodor endures every day due to the haters of the world

Here's something for a dude's female RP character that I refused to draw unless I could design her conservatively

Here's some butthead I know punching a cow into hamburgers

And here's some Broxo fanart, a new graphic novel by Zack Giallongo that you should totally go out and buy.

Justice League Roller Girls - Power Girl

Justice League Roller Girls - Wonder Woman

I'm thinking about making a mini series of these (colored of course!).  Maybe next I'll do PG as a jammer... (:

Because I do

I often have trouble expressing how I feel, especially about someone else.  Luckily, he already knows. (;

Snuggle boo boo

I talk a lot about comics but I never post any!  I have a ton of short mini-comics I've drawn the past year.  I mostly keep them in a small Moleskine book, but this was an exception.  I'm thinking about drawing finished versions of the minis I have tucked away so I can get them all posted.

And yes, Abs is a drooly drooler.

Glowing Tree Beets

More crayon art concepts for my comic idea. (:

MLP: FIM Photo Finish

I painted this little diddy for my pal Ana.  Unfortunately she's moving away for work so I wanted to make her something.

WE GO!
*bachikkabada*

Trampirella

Check out Escher Girls!  As a comic store employee and reader, I find it extremely amusing!  And even if you don't read comics, it's worth the entertainment. (:

My Little Scorpion: Venom is Magic

My roommate challenged me to do this.  I don't think he was expecting this outcome.

Here's a recent sign I did for work:

And here's a concept sketch for the comic I keep talking about wanting to do but might not ever finish:

Today is my Tuesday.  Have a good week!

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

I've been playing TP lately on the Nintendo Gamecube.  Which of course means drawing plenty of fanart!

Midna is amazing.  By far the best companion Link's ever had.

Wheee

Gordzilla, Griffin, and The Goon

Gordzilla Ramsay has standards, and his standards say that THIS IS RAWWW

This is Griffin.  If you don't know who Griffin is, you certainly should.

This is a last-minute entry for a Dark Horse contest I found out about last night, with the deadline in a matter of hours.  It'd be amazing to win some art from Eric Powell -- the man is overflowing with talent.  Fingers crossed.

Trying to bounce back.

Disconnect

Almost exactly a year ago, I had to reject my acceptance to art school.

Today, I was unable to tryout for the Maine Roller Derby.

It's something I was excited about and worked so hard for, but in the end I had to make the decision that I wasn't able to commit my time or money to it.  Watching the excitement of the friends I made from Derby Lite is really hitting me hard, like I was the only one that didn't make the team, like I've failed somehow.  Now I'm going to have to continue feeling insignificant and hope someday I can do something truly great and be confident that I've accomplished something positive.  Until then I have to accept that I once again didn't get to follow through with taking an opportunity that could have made my life better.

  

A year is going to feel like forever.

Clumsaloo strikes again

YEAH OKAY SO THIS HAPPENED

I fell outside on my skates and removed quite a bit of skin.  Jason putting peroxide on it was more painful than falling down the stairs on my already-sprained knee.

Here's what it looked like after 3 days

Here's what it looks like now, 1 week later

Pretty awful stuff.

At least now it's healing enough where I can sit in a chair for more than three minutes and not feel pain!

I have some more art to upload, and I will very soon.

MLP: FIM Derpy Hooves

There is no reason Derpy should not continue to be called Derpy.

It means I LOVE YOU in doggie language

Lately I have not been sleeping well.  My stomach makes me sore and tired and it hurts a lot.  I have to eat very often, and there have been nights where I've been forced to sleep sitting up.  It's been brutal(loo), and it's really destroyed some of my urge to draw.

But!

Last night, Jason chose to draw me this thing of beauty as a means to cheer me up.  What a guy!

Here are some things I've done this past month:

I replaced some old signs at work (on the left) I made a year or so ago with some newbies (on the right)!

Here's a flyer I made for my brother's show -- it felt really good that someone specifically requested that I make the flyer!

Here's a commission someone requested after seeing my doodle of the Robins I posted a while back.  He was super nice, and if you live in Dallas, you should totally go buy comics from him at Keith's Comics!

MLP: FIM Diamond Tiara & Silver Spoon

This isn't my best work, but it's finished so I'm posting it!

MLP:FIM Chrysalis

Everypony will gather 'round
Say I look lovely in my gown

What they don't know is that I have fooled them all

Guardian of the Underworld

Hello, my name is Cerberus!  Merr!  I am the protector of all that is bad and yucky.  No one can stop me from totally chomping your face if you try to escape the gates of FIRE AND DOOM

Here are some signs that "ting doll" lady made for that place where they sell funny picture books.
This one does not look particularly tasty..

..but I can't wait to turn these guys into chew toys!  Om nom!

I tried to eat a guy like this once- he didn't taste like anything!  

Now I'm hungry.  Maybe the new mailman will be here soon...the last one was too crunchy.

...I'm too tired to come up with a better post than this.  DEAL

Megaman X

Megaman X was one of my favorite SNES games growing up.  The music for all the games was SO GOOD, and X was no exception.  Even now, 2 and X remain to be my top two favorites of the series.

This is what most of my pictures look like when I start to color them.  I'm posting this because I still stand by my desire to show the world how awesome crayons are -- specifically Crayola.  (Don't go buying that other non-name brand crap or you'll be disappointed!)

Aaaand the finished product!  There are at least 3-4 layers of colors throughout.  So much fun!  I used to squirm at the thought of finishing my art with any colors because I had no confidence in myself.  But because they're so easy and cheap (making them easy to replace so I don't have to feel like I'm wasting materials if I mess up), crayons have CHANGED MY artistic LIFE.

Here's some more Crayon work with some white acrylic!

Happy Monday!