A Record Year for Rainfall

I just received my book for The Sketchbook Project! I'm pretty excited. I'll try to keep up with posting what I do for it here...

Ha!

We'll see. (:

New doodly-do's

If I had a scanner that worked and/or drivers for my currently not working scanner, I'd post more stuff. But instead I must leave it to you to just imagine the fun things I've been drawing on paper!

Also, Tim makes me very happy. Tell your friends.

You'll always be my Clash at Demonhead

I go through spurts of drawing a lot some days, to drawing very little(if at all) on others.

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World in just a few more weeks! Excitement!! I enjoyed Scott Pilgrim's Finest Hour very much, and I think Scott Pilgrim Gets it Together is my favorite of the series.

If you don't know what I'm talking about, you should take the time to find out.

Don't startle her next time!

Pooly Cooly gifted me a copy of Left 4 Dead 2 on Steam, and now I can't get it out of my head. Playing an FPS on a PC is ten million times more fun than on a console. I've been missing out for YEARS! And my uncanny ability to become absolutely obsessed with any good video game never ceases to amaze me. I even make Tim hang out in my room while I ignore him and play co-op campaigns online with Abs and Mick. What a jerk I am!

STAR WARRRRRS

Only days before PortCon

The past three days have been sort of like this.

EDIT: 2 Hours later, to add to the AWESOME of my week, I went rollerblading with The Mick, and I fell, causing this to happen -

[click here for not a fun picture of an abrasion]

I have a similar burn on the back of my other leg's thigh, but you probably don't want to see my butt.

Also

I chipped a tooth.

Eff, I used to have NIGHTMARES about this sort of thing.

How's YOUR week going?

Sugar, Spice, and Everything Nice

The PowerPuff Girls was one of my favorite television shows to have ever aired. Ever. In high school, I even had my room painted blue, pink, and green despite how much trouble it caused my mom to paint it. I established long ago that my PowerPuff self would be purple with brown curly hair - tell me that wouldn't have fit perfectly!

Oval is a Shape

I am ridiculously out of shape. I had to look this realization in the face this weekend and did not like what I saw. Tim and I went on bike rides on both Friday and Saturday with a total distance of about 17 miles. Now my butt hurts. And I didn't even know it was possible for me to sweat so much. (I know, gross, right?)


We won't be going today, but most likely will tomorrow, and I hope we do at least 3-4 times a week throughout the summer. I consider this training for the Maine Boff Games in August. I will rock some faces in dodgeball this year, I will!

It's been 10 days since my last day off

This is how I spent three hours of my Saturday afternoon. How's your weekend going? (:

Maine Comics Arts Festival

MeCAF is and was marvelous.

The workshops on Saturday were really neat and informative. John Shableski from Diamond Book Distributors had a great presentation on Graphic Novels, taking a lot of references from Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics. He had a really good point about Norman Rockwell as being more of a cartoonist than an illustrator (and just because it's painted doesn't mean it's no longer a cartoon - look at how many comics and GNs are painted with gorgeous watercolor!). And Robyn from the Center for Cartoon Studies did an interesting workshop on panel composition. Dave and I went to the PBJ Time place above the Portland Public Market in Monument Square for food (Nutella, Almond Butter, and banana toasted on Cinnamon Raisin Bread - DELICIOUS) and we made it back just in time to see the last half of the discussion with Brian Wood and Jeff Lemire. Then we stayed to see Susan and Everett Soares talk about Small Press Publishing. I learned a LOT about a LOT and even took a few notes that day.

Afterwards, the volunteers and all the guests were invited to a reception on Peak's Island at the Inn on Peak's Island. I'd never taken the ferry nor ever been to the island, so I was puuumped. I spent the evening talking to Stacey Kardash as we ate delicious hors 'douvres including delectable pieces of lamb. Mmmm, lamb.

Then I went to watch the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre and stayed up until 2am because I am a genius.

Sunday was the big day of awesome, despite being 45 minutes later that I meant to be due to sleeping in, and all the guests were really nice. For those that have ever been to PortCon, or almost any other convention, MeCAF is just a giant Artists' Alley. Ocean Gateway is a beautiful building and the talent that shows up to display their work there is just so...inspiring. (I found it kind of hilarious that everyone who knew me said something along the lines of, "Sorry about Skottie Young" immediately after seeing me. I guess I really made it clear how pumped I was to see him, eh? Hehe, but it's okay, he'll be coming to Portland another time for a signing. (:)

As soon as I was given the chance, I went to Brian Wood's table and had my copy of Demo signed. He was very nice, and not once did I hear anything about him being short with anyone. Right after that, I headed to Jeff Lemire's table and he signed my copy of the Sweet Tooth trade, as well as drew a picture of Gus in it. I'm still so happy; I love it when they do that :D

The first biggest highlight of my day were when a little boy came up to say hi to me: "I remember you, you drew me that picture of Spider-Man and Batman at the comic store!" It was so cute! He was the first person I drew a picture for on Free Comic Book Day and him being what, 8 years old, tickled me that he remembered. I smiled and thanked him as he shyly hustled away.

The second best thing to happen is when Jeff Lemire came up and I handed him a doodle I drew of him with antlers (like Gus from Sweet Tooth) and told him it was fanart. He thanked me, said he'd put it on his wall, and then handed it back saying, "Hey, you didn't sign it!" I felt SO COOL. He said it was "really cute" :D And later after everyone packed and cleaned up, he thanked everyone for coming, said he'd be back next year, whether it'd be for MeCAF or for a personal appearance, thanked me again for the drawing, and pat me on the back. It was awesome.

What I love about artists and writers is meeting them and finding out they are the coolest people on the planet. All the other guests were friendly and so grateful for the hospitality. I'm already pumped to see what guests make it next year...Here's hoping one of them is Bryan Lee O'Malley :D