Anyone else going to the NYC Freelancer's Guild Christmas networking party?

(at least I have a REALLY BIG CLOSET)

Dec Arts Day 9!
On DA

This was a collaboration image done by Aimee C.(armeleia) and I for Den of Angels 5th Anniversary. Den of Angels is the largest English community for asian ball-jointed dolls. I was one of the founding members of Den of Angels and it's admin for a long time,... and eventually I retired and Aimee C. took over (along with the other volunteer moderators), so it's fitting that we do a collab for the anniversary!

The top figure with the blonde hair and dress was drawn and colored by me, and the lower figure with blue short hair was drawn by Aimee C. I meant to post this a while ago, but the file somehow got lost in my inbox.

You can get some t-shirts with the design, here.

----------♥♥♥------♥♥♥----------

COUPLE UNRELATED THINGS:

♥ in lieu of that meme going around, how bout you just ask me questions and I'll answer. <3
or you can do it on twitter. By the way, I haven't had time to follow everyone and keep up with twitter and facebook, but if you @aimeekitty on twitter or you reply to a post on facebook, I -will- read it and respond where appropriate. <3

♥ Would you guys like to see a video demo on how I use COPIC markers or draw? (or would you like to see other types of videos...? Mitch is barred from answering this question.)
EDIT: I'll definitely do some drawing and marker tutorials then, when I get some time to figure out my setup, etc. :)

♥ If I did an art show, is it acceptable for me to do it with marker work? Or would I have to use watercolor or gouache or something? The reason I ask is that I've heard some people say they were worried about marker permanence over time? But I don't really know much about this. (I haven't noticed the colors fading, but I haven't really done a study.)

Meh, textures work well enough in place of shading, right?

---

I have reached the height of apathy and zero motivation today. I'm so frustrated about it I want to cry. I'm tired of being broke. I'm tired of not having decent food in the house. I'm tired of failing at everything I do or try to do. Everything is stressing me out right now, I can't even put it into words properly. I can't even take commissions to bring in some income because, well, I already said I'm done with them. I'm not tacking more onto that just to end up refunding them in January.

I'm going to have to retake my writing class. This makes me mad at myself to no end. I pretty much wasted an entire semester because I either dropped everything or stopped going to class. Writing was my only saving grace because I was doing well in it until I started to flake out on my discussion board assignments. Not intentionally, but I'd be out past 7PM (when the boards close) and I'd be fucked. Did I care at the time? Hell no, I was enjoying myself with friends. But now I'm beating myself up over it and I hate it.

I'm stressed out about the rats. I lost Possum last night because I think the nude boys we took in back in August are just...severely inbred and aggressive. I paired them all up thinking it'd be cool because they all seemed to get along and they killed Possum.

Internet bill is due on Tuesday or it's cut off. I thought I'd be able to make it until January (usually I can lapse three months before they threaten to cut it off, and I paid extra last time I paid the bill). I have my writing final online on Tuesday, but I guess that doesn't really matter at this point.

I wish I could just borrow, like, $200 off someone just to help me make it to Jan. Just enough to float me through the holidays and I'd be able to pay them back. It's such a pain. I can't even go out of Labor Ready because we don't have the gas to get my to any worksites. I'd love to be working, don't get me wrong, but everything's been fighting against me about that and it's a pain in the fucking ass.

UGH.

Wangst wangst wangst.

I hate the winter. I always get like this. It's always woe-is-me because shit fucking sucks in the winter. Give me spring. Give me sunny skies and walking weather so I can get out and do what I need to do on my own.

So I was walking down the hall, and a blonde young woman was going the other direction. I suppose she could be considered attractive enough, I didn't recognize her but she certainly seemed slim and trendily dressed.
The thing was, she had an enormous purse-bag, and for some reason, there was something else dangling even further off it, on a long cord, a clear acrylic window surrounded by a dark frame. The closest thing I could guess was maybe an ID badge and lanyard. But it was swinging widely, and almost knocked me in the leg as I passed her. Both not wanting to get hit, and puzzled, I did a long, low headturn going by, following the object and trying to figure out what it was.

I'm sure to anyone else in the hall (I don't think there was), it looked like I was very shamelessly checking out her legs.

I wonder if she noticed. I hope not.

TODAY'S TEA: Houji-Genmaicha from Den's Tea


Some Etsy sellers I've bought cute stuff from lately...! ------------
adorapop - lovely romantic jewelry
cottonblue and beautifulwork - adorable Japanese fabrics
stitchduchess - cute and clever crosstitch designs.
woollyduck - felted sweets
kristaface - cute sparkly resin jewelry

thanks for the sugarcookie snowflakes guys! You guys are adorable. <3

Some photos from this week,:

It's been really cold this week (for Southern California...!) I was shocked to see ice on my sidewalk and snow on the surrounding mountains! Luckily our heater got fixed. Either way I'm enjoying wearing my jackets. WOOT.


Here's my current desk. To the left (what you can't see) is a traditional animation desk. We don't use that -too- much anymore, but we still use it.
On my desk (shown) A few rement, some of those cute kidrobot Futurama figures, a karaoke bunny, Lilo and Stitch paper holder... ... my stuffed sakura tofu (the big square thing with legs and a smile. :) )... he has a squishy fake bread on his head. a bunch of tea... and lots of model sheets.
I do my drawings on the cintiq you can see on the right there. I tend to put reference pictures on the left monitor. My desktop backgrounds are Doctor Who and Sugar Sugar Rune.
Started thumbnailing storyboards for my second season 6 Futurama show. Thumbnailing tends to melt my brain,... but it's really fun, too. I can already tell I'm going to have fun with the acting in my sequences... now if I can just get those shots right!


Here's a pic from my tree this year. Noble Fir is my favorite. This little angel is from my grandma's tree. And then, being the animation dork that I have, a good 60% of the rest of the ornaments on my tree are Disney ornaments. my Lilo and Stitch one... and the whole tree itself. I ran out of ornament hooks so I didn't put my red ball ornaments on... I might leave them off. The white look is pretty.

I don't know how much you like Star Wars...and I know how many of you feel about zombie stories...

But somebody combined the two. Bonus: it is the official Star Wars artist.

Yeah...I don't know about that.

http://gizmodo.com/5422300/star-wars-zombie-posters-are-crying-out-for-zombie-films-to-advertise

Snow day off of work!

Akaelae and Alien Dice HAVE updated. Shivae.net has news concerning possible break in updates next week due to Kim's doctor visits. She has a little procedure taking place on Friday morning.

Update: Well.. procedure's being cancelled. Can't afford the $430 they want up front.

Update: Update: Well... it may happen if the doctor says she really, really needs it.

Future Shivae! RPG Forums - Next will be Cyantian's RPG forums. I'm tired of dealing with Dreamhost and want the sites consolidated 'next' to each other. :P I can't even get into my store and the wiki has apparently vanished again. 9.9 The databases ARE there so I just have to move them.

Since it's that time of year and I'm asked every year, my wishlist has been updated and is located here.

If you enjoy the comics the number one thing you can do is direct other people to the sites (If you need linking images of a certain size or for a certain comic, just ask.. it'll get me to actually MAKE them...). :) Or consider donating to support them/ get the ad free viewing account.
I also have a huge mountain of email to go through! Still.

So far, my new work method seems to be working. Usually I do lettering last, now I'm doing lettering and panelling first then doing EVERYTHING digitally, including pencilling and inking. So far I've finished one page of Abby, two pages of Akaelae and am on the second page of Alien Dice - today I do as many comics as I can get done to see what I can get done. Trying to build a buffer and this just might do it. Removed several hours of steps involved in scanning and prepping pages that way. The rubber grips seem to be helping my fingers.

Visit the store for merchandise! Currently up are prints, tote bags and notebooks!

Movie I'd like to see with husband: The Men Who Stare at Goats. I'm .. not all that enthusiastic about The Princess and the Frog. On one hand, I was thrilled to see a 2D movie, but the trailers keep turning me off and on ... but I want to support the 2D movie. I am intrigued by Avatar, although it has some serious (in my eyes) flaws - I think it deserves to be seen in 3D until I hear otherwise. ;) For visuals alone. I think our Christmas movie will be Sherlock Holmes and likely Alvin and the Chipmunks for Kim. Really light Christmas season it seems for movies.

Of course.. then you look at January. :D I'm a bit confused why Hoodwinked Too! was not put out in December along with Tooth Fairy - which does look funny despite how silly it is.

Being an Artist is the coolest job in the WORLD!

Seriously, yo! (Shout-out to Jaime) I get to go all SORTS of cool places and draw whatever I want! Thanks to my connections and title as "Artist", I am now attending ballet classes... XD Only I don't get to do the dancing. I get to watch and draw!

And let me tell you, these girls are tickled PINK at getting drawn! They always wanna see what I got. They even try guessing which girl is which, and if I am starting to connect faces to names, I think they are usually right!

I love my "other" job!!!!

... despite living at our new address for several months, and having called the Post Office a long time ago to make sure they registered our address... people trying to "click and ship" through USPS.com still get our address as "not existing". Pizza places still can't find us and neither does google maps. Sometimes the postman just doesn't come at all. How many times do I have to call you, USPS? This will be my fourth time. Ridiculous. This is a run-of-the-mill thing, I shouldn't have to do this.

So have a tree and an angry-aimee for today's arts. I can't manage anything else because I spent the entire day thumbnailing 5 Futurama sequences and my brain is SPENT!


also makes me angry: myspace took over imeem. GOD, I HATE MYSPACE.

however,... this photoshoot of various actors reprising their iconic roles wearing normal clothes, is pretty awesome. The poses are really strong and there's something revealing about it. (thanks to macbeemer)
http://atticus-flinch.livejournal.com/473373.html

New Patch tomorrow, or so they say. I am still getting my rogue Zanajin up to 70 so he can buy that fast-flying skill to go with that fast flappy mount that just sits in his bag. This troll is more fun to play than my hunter Toothache because well, he can stealth. Being invisible and sneaking around saves a LOT of time and is why I love playing a Rogue.

But alas, I have not drawn any fanart in HOW LONG? And you guys just LOVE trolls, right? Lately it's been all centaurs and bunnies so there better not be ANY complaints when I start posting Warcraft art again...does Kyoht get this grief from her furry fans too? :D I am kidding of course--since she posts werewolves now no one can say Boo. Hey, that gives me an idea...Troll and werewolf!

You all need to go watch ZOMBIELAND even though it doesn't have michael cera in it (and it should... who the hell is Jesse Eisenberg? Go home!!! We've already got someone who acts like michael cera and his name is michael cera!! lol)

My bro was hounding me for ages to watch this movie, and now that I finally have, I can hound everyone else about it now too. And say it was a pretty damn funny piece of shit. No malice intended. Woody Harrelson is the best. XD WATCH IT NOW

ps: Kitten - guess what I found in Steve's dvd collection.... Black Snake Moan. Ahahahaa (though I ditched it for zombieland tonight, sorry XD)

My new theme song. Pink Martini.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FeVJbhXuRek&feature=related

<3

Day 7 Arts! ( on DA)


Another quickie rain sketch
Apparently I won the Le Chevalier D'Eon ACP contest with Lady of the Thread for my Lia de Beaumont costume! Wheeeee! That was unexpected because there were so many nice and really well crafted Chevalier costumes. I guess that anime really brings it out. :) (Thanks, ACP!)

FINALLY it stops raining. We got the roof fixed today YAY no more kitchen monsoon lol.

I can do the forward splits both ways. I'm mildly freaked out by this. :D; But I'm more mildly freaked out by the fact that my level performance is next week and tomorrow is the dress rehearsal and I'm afraid I wont have the strength to pull it off. :\

We were doing one stretch in class yesterday though, lie on your back with your butt on the wall and then let gravity pull your legs down in front splits. After a while it stops hurting and actually becomes quite confortable. :D Jill came around and was like "LOL you look like a kung fu master" Probably because I was wearing all black yesterday XD so I did a ninja prayer pose for effect. HAHA. But seriously when you're stretching that far it's not hard to go into a meditative state to deal with the pain DDDD: Next time I'll need to take a photo. I am sad though Jill is moving to sydney to teach advanced at another studio. Everyone's gonna miss her. :ccc

In other good news apparently nerves can rebuild, and can often cause shooting pain as they do so. THANKYOU NERVES. I'm not so worried about my left arm freaking out and going sensitive on me anymore, even if it's a little inconvenient.

Oh well, back to art! rrrrrrrruh @_@

Have you ever been so exhausted in the morning that you were in physical pain? I feel like a train ran over me. If there is one thing that would make my life better, it's a nap...but this job if 40 hours a week, good luck with that. I can barely concentrate on anything much less the jobs that come in.