WIP Wednesday

Not sure about these "stories"... so here's my first ever attempt in post-form. 🌙 #thermalreactive #sailormoon #space #pins #buttons #etsy #wipwednesday #wip

A video posted by M. Smith (@poison_and_antidote) on Aug 17, 2016 at 8:18am PDT

I got this neat thermal reactive paint and I'm trying to figure out how to use it on button designs. Here's one of last night's experiments. 

Right now it seems like 2 layers makes things milky and foggy looking, but maybe I just need to wait longer between coats. 

WIP Wednesday - Great Gatsby Prom Invite

Today's big design job, Great Gatsby themed prom invitations. #dayjob #graphicdesign #greatgatsby #highschool #design #prom #jaygatsby #poisonandantidote

A photo posted by M. Smith (@poison_and_antidote) on Apr 20, 2016 at 12:22pm PDT

My day job has been eating up a lot of my time and creativity these days, so I figured I'd try to post more about it here on the blog. I mean, I AM a graphic designer, so the stuff I make during the day is artsy, even if it is more functional and client-driven.

The most labor intensive design I worked on today was this high school prom invitation. This year the theme is "The Great Gatsby" (The movie more-so than the book), so I recreated the title screen from the film for the front of the invite. 

Check out a behind the scenes WIP photo under the CUT and I'll talk a bit more about the process of making the design. 

More 365 Art Buttons

 I’m working on a little button-pack for Otakon with some of my 365 art. These images aren’t final, they have a bleed to allow the images to wrap seamlessly around the button. I’ll have to print them out and give them a press to see if they need some tweaking before I commit. I’m really digging evil-cat-monster-thing as a button, I hope he turns out nicely.

♥ etsy ♥ storenvy ♥ facebook ♥ sometimes foodie ♥ Society6 ♥ redbubble ♥

Day 151: WIP Pearl

Crystal Jem Series : Pearl/Kimber WIP

Even though Garnet was the one playing the key-taur in Steven's band, I feel like the keyboard was more Pearl-like than a guitar. (Plus she played violin in Steven's band and there is obviously no violin in The Holograms buttherewasoneintheMisfits.) I also made Pearl's hair a little more flowy like her 80's version from the Story For Steven Episode.

♥ etsy ♥ storenvy ♥ facebook ♥ sometimes foodie ♥ Society6 ♥ redbubble ♥

Day 149: WIP

Working on a little Jem and the Holograms themed Steven Universe piece for Otakon 2015. Mixing two of my animated musical loves with Pink leading ladies. I am so incredibly happy about this mash-up. I'm sure it's been done before, but I'm gonna do it anyway.

♥ etsy ♥ storenvy ♥ facebook ♥ sometimes foodie ♥ Society6 ♥ redbubble ♥

Some WIP stuff for Otakon 2015

Otakon is almost here. I am freaking out!

There's still so much I want to make and do! I already have all my in-stock-stickers cut out and ready to go, I have my two sailor moon mini sheets done, I'm starting on some little notepad designs, and I am making more jewelry.

It’s fun getting back into polymer clay jewelry and charms. I made more mini fruit tart studs, some little doughnut studs, and I’m making my Princess Jelly Fish print into a few underwater themed buttons.

Day 131: Still going...just super slowly

Why do I only get the urge to do more serious art at like 3 AM on a work night? Come on brain, get with the program!

Ah well I worked a bit more on my Black Lady piece, I keep going back and tweaking things here and there before even moving forward, but I think it's coming along very nicely!

♥ etsy ♥ storenvy ♥ facebook ♥ sometimes foodie ♥ Society6 ♥ redbubble ♥

Day 125: Attempt Number...I don't know...Maybe 12?

Remember that Black Lady doodle I started forever ago and was going to redo digitally? Well I have started and scrapped that project a insane number of times. I revisited it today, and I kind of like where I'm going with it. I still need to put her hands back in and do a lot more stuff to it, but I think this line-art that I have down so far will stay....but we'll see.

♥ etsy ♥ storenvy ♥ facebook ♥ DA ♥ sometimes foodie ♥ Society6 ♥ redbubble ♥

Day 100: WIP

This feels like such a cop-out on my part. I wanted my day 100 to be crazy awesome, but it's only this WIP for now. I want to make some more prints for Otakon, and on day 1 I drew a black lady, so for day 100 I wanted to do it again, but it's 6AM. How did that happen? I'm looking forward to working on this tomorrow. In the meantime I am getting used to my new tablet and I LOOOOOVE it. Oh man, so much fancier and better than my super old one from 2005. This one can zoom and change brush sizes and do all kinds of short cuts. It's so much better.

Okay, I hear birds chirping, and I have another Candyology101 podcast to record tomorrow, so I better get some sleep. Good morning/night internet!

♥ etsy ♥ storenvy ♥ facebook ♥ DA ♥ sometimes foodie ♥ Society6 ♥ redbubble ♥

Day 14: Namesake & New Sticker Designs

So I watched the first episode of that magical boy anime that came out, to be honest I can't even remember the name of the show...(I'll look it up later ) It's Binan Koukou Chikyuu Bouei-bu Love!, but it was awful and terrible and I loved it. The reluctant magical girl aspect to it reminded me of the nurse-themed RPG Maker game my sister's been working on.

Other than my daily doodles I've been quite busy doing a LOT of stuff. I figure I'll put that under the CUT, it's a lot of digital art.

Day 4: Space for Rent

Mechanical Pencil, various Micron Pens and THIS REFERENCE PHOTO

This one is going to be a WIP, since I like where it's going and I don't want to rush it. The "Space for Rent" thing on the shirt is actually based off a stencil I made in High School (out of duct tape) and "screened" onto shirts back then. I didn't know any better at the time, so I was making them with acrylic paint, and all the lettering was super stiff.

Still, it was cool, and now that I am over a decade older and know better, I'd still like to try and make a shirt for real for myself. It's silly, and stupid, but I like it.

♥ etsy ♥ storenvy ♥ facebook ♥ deviantart ♥ sometimes foodie ♥ Society6 ♥

Finished Rhyme and Beat Prints and How I made Them

Okay so the vlog post for my Otakon 2014 experience should be up by the end of this week, I apologize in advance if I looks like a zombie, but I am fairly certain I got the con-plague.

I never got the chance to post about the rest of the prints I made for Otakon, I was way too busy being a one-woman sweat shop, so here are some progress shots and finished photos from my Rhyme and Beat posters. (Rhyme ended up selling out on the last day of the con but she'll be available on etsy soon.)

These little cards are 2.5" x 3.5" and I did the sketches with a mechanical pencil

First, both posters started out as little sketched ATCS (artist trading cards) that I made for orders in my etsy shop. I photographed each rough sketch before shipping it out, so I used those as a guide for the finished posters.

I thought her expression was too blank, time to add some personality.

From there I took the photograph, enlarged it, and plopped it into illustrator. Then, on a new layer, I started inking the sketch. A vectored style perfectly matches the art for the game. It's chunky, imperfect, and very graphic. As I inked I modified the sketch and tweaked things here and there to make everything look a bit more polished and refined. (These ATC sketches were really quick ones to thank buyers in my shop. So they needed a lot of tweaking.)

My layers got a little messy, so I was trying to find a way to get the chain to work the way I wanted it to.

Once the line art was completed I would start laying down flat colors and add very basic shading.

That's all! Then I saved the files, added the captions, and rushed them to the printer in time for the con. I wish I had planned the series out a bit more, I feel like way too many of the characters are facing left, but I am still quite happy with the outcome.

♥etsy ♥ facebook ♥ deviantart ♥ sometimes foodie ♥ Instagram ♥

Outer Scout Weapons WIP

Why do the outer scouts have such lame transformation wands? Since I really hate how their wands look, but they are my favorite scouts, I have to represent them somehow. So, I decided to make Uranus and Neptune's weapons instead. I might make Pluto and Saturn after Otakon, but their weapons are too complicated and long for me to turn into stickers right now.

♥ etsy ♥ facebook ♥ deviantart ♥ sometimes foodie ♥ Instagram ♥

Sailor Sticker Weapons WIP

I received my sticker samples from the company I plan on ordering from, and the clear ones just weren't up to snuff. I plan on ordering white vinyl ones from that company, but I am on the look out for a clear sticker producer that has what I'm looking for.

In the meantime, what good is buying stickers for Otakon when I have no designs? I started working on this one tonight. Check out an earlier WIP shot under the cut.

Tiny (Rage Inducing) Sprinkles Are COMPLETE!

Photo from my Instagram Account

I hate making these itty bitty sprinkles. They are hand made polymer clay nonpareil-style sprinkles that I make and cover in a luster dust to create a golden/iridescent sheen. I use them for all my You're my hero cookies, and they are a huge pain in my butt.

Admittedly candy-style sprinkles (the long tube-like ones) would be insanely easier to make in large batches, but it just doesn't have the same effect.

I make each one of these little things by hand so, until I find a better way, this is how they will be made from now until forever.

On a clumsy/frustrating note, I did what most crafters dread. I knocked over my container of these onto shag carpeting. After I cussed up a storm that would put any sailor to shame, I turned on my photo lights and sat on the floor picking each one up. Thankfully I got most of them back, but I am STILL mad that I did that.

Nothing sucks more than sitting there for hours hand making itty bitty clay sprinkles and then accidentally dumping them all over the floor. Have any of you ever done that? (Please tell me I'm not alone...and clumsy.)

♥ etsy ♥ facebook ♥ deviantart ♥ sometimes foodie ♥ Instagram ♥

NEXT UP....

I started Joshua tonight. I am hoping to manage my time better since the Jellyfish Princess piece took so long. I am giving myself a 3-day deadline for each of these TWEWY images. Between working a full time job, running my etsy, and Sometimes Foodie, I think that's a pretty reasonable time frame...let's see if I can stick to it.

♥ etsy ♥ facebook ♥ deviantart ♥ sometimes foodie ♥ Instagram ♥

Jelly Fish Princess 11 x 17 WIP

I plan on updating more next month, since I have a lot of things in the fire, so here are some shots of a current 11x17 poster I am working on for Otakon 2014.

TONS more WIP shots under the cut.

Sometimes Foodie Redesign!

Okay, as far as redesigns go this isn't a HUGE change, but I tweaked a lot of things here and there.

I'll post a before picture below so you can see the difference. I like it so far, but the changes are pretty minor.

I altered: 

• The Header: made it text only and made the coffee stain part of the background
• The Background: I added a pattern of spoons and coffee cup stains
• Etsy Banner: I made a little animated banner for my etsy shop
• Facebook Likes: I changed the coding for the Facebook likes to better fit that small area.