Lauren Gray's Pyrography

Um, so... I just came across this blog recently, and took a good look at it just now. Her work is exquisite! I am so impressed by her choice of tool... she's using a woodburner! Look at this! It's so great!

Something up my sleeve!

...It's my arm.


GET IT?


Ugh, sorry. I'm sleepy, a wee bit warmed by shiraz, and bored. No, what I mean to say is, I'm working on stuff. Diligently. For real. Again. It will BLOW YOUR MIND.


Or not.

Has the weather been amazing for everyone else? It's been glorious here in NYC! And of course, I've had to work, and miss it. I've stared longingly out of windows, but not been able to been in it. Oh bother.

TCAF 2009

Now that I've remembered there's an internet to be on, let me take a moment to say that the answer to your burning question is that yes, I'm going to the Toronto Comic Arts Festival. Art Squared will be at a table (most likely dominated by a banner featuring George Costanza's giant head, as seen on Rachel Maddow (about 18 seconds into this clip) and I'll be sitting there. If someone wants a book, I'm there. If someone wants to steal my chair so they can get drawn by Joe Bluhm, well, I'll be... right over there.

At any rate, WOW! Exotic Canada! I've never been! I one time went to the Canada Pavillion in Epcot. The educational video I watched tried to tell me that everyone in Canada ice skates, and is either a fisherman, a dog sledder, or a cowboy. Scott Pilgrim tells me everyone is a cartoon, and when you fight people, coins appear from the sky. So I don't know who to believe.

Coraline

I finally saw 'Coraline'! I waited much too long; it's been out for a month already. It was, to put it succinctly: rad. The design was great, the stop motion was great, the voice acting was actually pretty great. The British comedy team French & Saunders, Ian McShane, and John Hodgman did excellent jobs. And freaking Keith David as a cat? I was a bit "meh" when I first saw Dakota Fanning and Teri Hatcher on the cast list, but to be honest, they each did pretty good jobs. I just don't think of their voices as interesting or distinctive. And I'm coming off the horror of listening to Miley Cyrus' voice in 'Bolt', a perfect example of an actor being cast just because of her contract with a studio, not because of any discernible voice talent. She sounds like a 45 year old smoker.



But Dakota Fanning was engaging and likeable, making her Coraline not at all cloying or awkward sounding. I was impressed, and that had been really my only misgiving. Even if her performance had been lacking, the design and animation would have distracted me.

Now, to see 'Watchmen', which I fear will invariably disappoint. Oh well. Fingers crossed.

roughage

So, these are just a few roughs from when I was dabbling with some character design for a studio's pitch.

Draw....ing....gg.....

I'm currently working on a character design project. On spec. What that means is I'm working for free, unless the project gets pitched and bought, and in that case, I get paid. It's okay; I know the people and trust them and they're an actual, reputable studio. Just with this economic freefall, who's got money to pay anyone anything*?

But right now, my hand is just about to fall off. I'm gonna take a break and watch Alec Baldwin on SNL.



*according to all the 'unpaid intern' BS ads on craigslist.... no one....

New York Comic Con '09!

Funtimes! Here are some pictures from this weekend.

I was there with the Art Squared table to sell 'Famous Corpses', the book I wrote...



See? I'm giving a thumbs-up! Come on by!


And, in terms of "Famous People I geeked out on", I met '30 Rock's Scott Adsit (pete hornberger)


and!

Joss Whedon!


Adsit was super nice and Whedon was being mobbed, being the most conspicuous guy on the convention floor, but he was still accomodating and friendly. So that was fun.

I walked around only a little bit, just enough to stop by my friend Lar's booth where he was selling his books for Blind Ferret Entertainment, and by the OniPress booth to grab the new Scott Pilgrim. It was fun!

New York Comic Con

SO, that's happening this weekend. I'm gonna be sitting at the Art Squared Publishing table, signing copies of Famous Corpses. You know. Just a lil' book I kinda wrote. Nothin' big.



That'll be kinda fun; I did some signings at an art convention in the fall, which was.... to be honest, weird! I haven't signed a book since the senior year yearbook. Not that I'm the only one there; I'm gonna slip away and go see potentially awesomer stuff, like um, just the brand new Scott Pilgrim!



Yeaaaaah!

RockLove.etsy.com

Oh, I never actually mentioned this buttttt for Christmas I received this:



It's a totally adorable necklace from the awesome RockLove's etsy shop! My boyfriend surprised me after spotting it in an earlier post. I hate that I forgot but I wanted to mention it; she's a really nice gal and the shop is great, so be sure to check her out!

I was pretty excited about all the snow, until I took my dog out and discovered it had all melted already and the sidewalks were rivers.