meeks

sewing project: teddy bear vest

Sun, 23 Jun 2013 19:08:59 GMT

A little while ago I came across a vest made of teddy bear fabric. It didn't fit quite right, and felt a bit unfinished without a lining, but it was really cute and only ~$5, so I got it anyway, thinking it would make a good base for a sewing project. After a trip to the fabric store, and a few hours with my sewing machine, I had an inner vest, made and added a ribbon to the back and put a bit of red trim in front to match, and (with thanks to my dad for giving me his 'old' DSLR) I'm happy to be able to share the results!

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lorelei has an egg

Sun, 31 Mar 2013 04:59:56 GMT

Wishing a happy Easter to those who celebrate it, and a pleasant, chocolate-filled weekend to all!

Aaaand Lorelei also is an egg!

I bring you...Loregglei Hedgehog!

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fanart: death by curry

Mon, 18 Mar 2013 17:44:15 GMT

A silly bit of crossover art that I did over the weekend, featuring characters from Terry Pratchett's Discworld and Neil Gaiman's Sandman. This took me a lot longer than I expected in ArtRage, and I only realized after it was done that it probably would have been easier to do most of it in Illustrator first. Oh, well...

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Sketchfest 33

Tue, 19 Feb 2013 00:09:40 GMT

After an absence of several months, I finally managed to participate in Sketch Fest again! I only did five sketches this weekend, but it's nice to know I haven't completely forgotten how to draw :P

Prompt: Matsu
This one is a multilingual pun: "Matsu" is both a chinese sea goddess and the japanese word for 'to wait'

Prompt: Web Sight

Prompt: A face in the forest

Prompt: Selfportrait -- together with one of your own characters

Prompt: Nice big sweater

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the itinerant artist returns!

Sat, 02 Feb 2013 21:25:47 GMT

*HUGS* and ~~very belated~~Lunar New Year's greetings to you all! I have returned home after a stimulating and much needed séjour in Asia, during which my access to the internet was unexpectedly limited. (Okay, I did kind of expect it in the Philippines, but you'd think TOKYO would have better wi-fi coverage...) Much of the trip wasn't exactly what I'd call a relaxing holiday, but the reprieve from Vancouver's winter rainfall was more than welcome. I saw more family members from both sides of the family than I even knew I had, visited places I'd never seen before, and got to spend time with Julien, so overall it was a pleasant and refreshing vacation. ^_^

I was several weeks late for my regular chiropractic adjustment, and my body clock, which has synchronization problems at the best of times, now seems to think it's a TARDIS, so it's taking me some time to recover from travelling, but I am feeling more creative than I have in a very long time. I am slowly easing back into artmaking with some small sewing projects; putting some inspiring fabric end rolls I picked up to good use. I'm also eager to work on Lorelei Makes a Friend while I still have Japan on the brain so I can picture Tanuki Jiro's environment.

Speaking of Lorelei, ego_sideways and I took advantage of the cheap production costs in the Philippines to have a small run of shirts made for friends and family. Limited stock and turnaround time prevented me from offering them to a wider audience. Would there be any interest if I were to upload these designs to Zazzle, or the like?

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This is Halloween...

Thu, 01 Nov 2012 01:09:52 GMT

Another Inkling doodle, this time with some touch-ups done in Art Rage. Haven't had the courage to try colouring, but I'm slowly working back up to it...

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Back to basics

Sun, 21 Oct 2012 01:22:13 GMT

I'm slooowly trying to get back into drawing again and finally taking some time to familiarize myself with using the Inkling with Sketchbook Pro. So far, I'm quite pleased with the combination, and I'm looking forward to seeing how the sketches some of you requested will turn out.
For now, I recreated the first exercise from all my introductory classes in art school, and just did some quick (<10 min) sketches. It's been a long time since I've done something like this, and I rather like how the simplicity and familiarity of the subject let my brain sort of switch off so I could focus on getting used to holding a pen again...

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SketchFest 25

Tue, 26 Jun 2012 23:13:08 GMT

Sorry for the delay, everyone! I was feeling pretty sick from Sunday afternoon through most of yesterday, so I didn't get around to posting these until now. I did seven paintings over the weekend, including "Bathing Time", which is probably the most popular Sketch Fest piece I've ever done!

prompt: Fell through

prompt: bathing time

prompt: catch me if you can

prompt: feeding a friend

prompt: shutter bug

prompt: an army of potato golems armed with garden implements

prompt: baby dragons waddling across the highway

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Update: The Mirror Crack'd

Thu, 31 May 2012 23:26:16 GMT

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An unexpected business trip

Thu, 31 May 2012 06:08:53 GMT

So, ego_sideways, aka Toast was in Seattle for a few days, and we took advantage of his proximity to Vancouver to exchange some puppets and books! He'd originally planned to come up here to deliver them on Monday, but some of his travel companions thought the Memorial Day lineups at the US border would make a day trip unfeasible. Since it was easier to find overnight accommodations for a single person than for a family travelling with a young child, I got to go on a mini-vacation/business trip instead. :)

There's a shuttle bus that runs between downtown Vancouver and SeaTac airport with a few stops in between, so I took one of those, and was pleased to discover that the coach was equipped with wi-fi! That let me keep in touch via Facebook and e-mail without the usual roaming charges on the other side of the border, which was good, because it did turn out to be an unusually busy day, and I got to Seattle nearly an hour after the scheduled arrival time.

Toast and I had never actually met IRL, but I had my kitty hat on for maximum recognizability and he's tall enough not to disappear in a crowd, so we had no trouble finding each other at the bus stop. We walked a little under a mile from there to get to the hotel, and I think I laughed most of the way there. Those of you who have encountered Toast online will understand when I say he talks just like he types. Really. He says that stuff out loud. I found it both awesome and hilarious. XD

At the hotel, I was introduced to Mrs. Toast, and a happy, giggling Crouton before going to dinner. During which we actually spoke to each other — partly because lurking in an IRL conversation can be surprisingly difficult. :P It was getting late in Toastie's home timezone by the time we finished eating and got my sleeping arrangements sorted (which may or may not have involved some childish squeeing over the novelty of using a debit card with Elder Days Story Time written on it), so we settled in with our respective laptops...and chatted on Skype. The chatroom did have other people in it, but, yeah, we're geeks. :D

I was a bit worried about my ability to fall asleep and wake up at reasonable hours in an unfamiliar environment, but between the long day I'd had, my weighted blanket, and the sunlight streaming through the window the next morning, it fortunately wasn't a problem.

I met Mrs. Toast's parents at breakfast, and the whole family turned out to be mercifully weird. Weird is good; I prefer weird people. It's the ones that consider themselves normal and think everyone else should be too that are frightening. We went out all together to play tourist, and we got on better than I usually do with people I've just met. It may have helped that they were predisposed to like me after I presented them with this ;):

I may colour this and turn it into a promotional poster or something...as if I didn't have enough of a backlog to work on. :P

This couldn't decently be called a business trip unless I actually did some 'work', so Toast and I returned to the hotel after lunch to sort and sign the books for our Kickstarter backers. I had two other reward commissions that I gave to him along with the puppets, and he gave me a box of books to bring back to Canada.

A really big box of books.

The box took up considerably more space than the puppets had, and was a whole lot less squishy, so there was some concern over whether I'd be able to fit it into my suitcase, but thanks to the amazing space-bending abilities of Mrs. Toast, we got it in, blanket and all. :)

I took the monorail to the bus stop with Toast and the now much heavier suitcase, and arrived with a few minutes to spare. The return trip was uneventful, and the Canadian border guards barely glanced at my suitcase (as opposed to their US counterparts, who scanned every piece of luggage, and opened a few to examine the contents.) About the most exciting thing that happened on the way back was passing a field with llamas grazing in it a little after the border. We were moving too fast for me to get a picture of them, though.

In any case, I made it back intact, and more or less on time. And now I have books!

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update: mother-tongue

Wed, 16 May 2012 18:11:06 GMT

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Weird Animals

Wed, 02 May 2012 19:13:43 GMT

Duck unicorns from a ficlet by aldersprig. Duck. Unicorns. How could I not draw them? XD

This, I am told, is called a Peabit. It was requested by a good friend of mine from The Basement.

The Fang Deer are a new Torn World species created by ellenmillion for the Amazing Critters of Torn World contest. Look out for an article about them soon!

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story sketch: no evidence

Wed, 02 May 2012 18:59:34 GMT

In the latest vignette from robling_t's Hiraeth, Trevor, the youthful looking, but not actually underage vampire attends a stag party for his werewolf roommate's future brother-in-law, and his friends find themselves having to explain why he should not be photographed.

This picture is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License, and may be freely used under the terms of that license with a link back to mikaspace.net Please see terms of use for details.

Click to sponsor this sketch and support the artist!
Feedback and contributions of any amount are greatly appreciated :)

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Update: Chevenga Catching the Fehinnan Weapon

Wed, 02 May 2012 18:46:26 GMT

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A pile of puppets

Tue, 24 Apr 2012 20:23:44 GMT

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report from a busy weekend

Wed, 18 Apr 2012 00:18:17 GMT

I spent a busy but enjoyable weekend in NJ, attending my cousin's wedding, and visiting with relatives in the area. Now that I'm back, I can finally share a couple of my big projects from the past couple of months.

This was the painting I made as a wedding present:

It was inspired by the library scene in Disney's Beauty and the Beast, which my cousin and I once watched together over twenty times in a single week, and is set in the Barnes and Noble store where she and her husband met for their first date. Eagle-eyed viewers may notice a bit of subtle advertising on one of the tables in the background ;) I had this printed on the same watercolour paper as the Salt and Pepper painting that I did for my aunt and uncle last year, and presented it to the new couple in a frame 'wrapped' with a translucent overlay that I also decorated with a Beauty and the Beast inspired image, and the words "May you live happily ever after..."

The wedding, of course, presented me with the recurring problem of finding sensory-friendly formalwear...and this time I decided to solve the issue once and for all by sewing my own dress!

fabric & lace detail:

Unsurprisingly, my sensibilities lie more toward costume design than fashion design, so the pattern was heavily influenced by renaissance gowns and Disney princess movies. In a stroke of pure luck, the fabric I found happened to be an exact colour match for a shirt I already had, so I didn't have to sew the sleeves. I'm quite pleased that the full skirt allowed me to add unobtrusive in-seam pockets, and let me walk without getting tangled around my legs, but the best part is what you can't see in the photo. The bodice is lined with plain cotton cut from a bed sheet that I got at the local thrift store, so I can wear it sleeveless without irritating my skin, and under the skirt is a hybrid petticoat with a skirt made from the same cotton bed sheet attached to the waistline of a pair of short pants! I think this was the first time in my life that I've been able to wear a dress all day without squirming.

In EDST news, we've begun distributing rewards to our Kickstarter backers! I took advantage of my visit to the US to pick up the puppets for those backers who chose them as rewards, and I will be adding eyeglasses to them over the next few weeks. ego_sideways also sent me a few copies of the book to give to my family, and everyone who has seen them so far has been impressed with the quality. :) We are still working on arranging large-scale distribution, but in the meantime, copies can be ordered from Elder Days Story Time (Only US addresses for now, sorry! Still working out the details for international shipping.) My sample set of cards from moo.com arrived as well, and I'm very happy with it, so I'll probably be placing an order with them soon.

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Story Sketch: Pacifica and Sophie

Thu, 08 Mar 2012 07:34:08 GMT

This is a cute scene from the end of the second volume of wonder_city stories, in which Sophie (aka Brainchild) corners Pacifica (Nereid) to thank her for orchestrating the rescue mission to bring her spirit back from faerie, where she'd been imprisoned by an evil wizard.

This picture is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License, and may be freely used under the terms of that license with a link back to mikaspace.net Please see terms of use for details.

Click to sponsor this sketch and support the artist!
Feedback and contributions of any amount are greatly appreciated :)

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Update: The Mirror Crack'd

Thu, 08 Mar 2012 07:33:29 GMT

Also, I realized I had a brain glitch, and forgot to upload the sketch I did of Pacifica and Sophie the other day, so look out for another Wonder City post right after this!

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crack!art: Require: Pony

Mon, 05 Mar 2012 02:09:22 GMT

This one probably needs some explanation...
A few weeks ago, Stormy made a post about her intention to spend a year writing short stories to complement her series of novels, and used "Taylor adopts a pony" as a joking example of a story topic. My sleep-deprived and over-caffeinated brain thought it would be funny if the pony adopted by the big scary combat agent turned out to be Pinkie Pie — to which Stormy responded "if you draw it, I'll write it."
Well, I totally failed to sleep on Friday night, so I had all these extra hours of wakefulness in which my brain was in no state to let me work on anything serious, so I opened Illustrator, and much silliness ensued.

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EMG Portrait

Fri, 02 Mar 2012 05:04:33 GMT

Another portrait submitted for adoption. This one's still in the queue, but with Ellen on maternity leave, I figured I might as well share it instead of waiting.

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update: teddy's terrific travels

Fri, 02 Mar 2012 04:53:02 GMT

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Unplanned fan art: Spots

Fri, 02 Mar 2012 04:24:43 GMT

I did this sketch in response to ysabetwordsmith's wonderful poem Spots, which was partially inspired by my prompt about the challenges of having a cheetah for a pet. It's eligible to be turned into a StorySketch if anyone wants to see it developed further.

This picture is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License, and may be freely used under the terms of that license with a link back to mikaspace.net Please see terms of use for details.

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SketchFest 24

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 09:22:53 GMT

Here's my latest batch of < 1hr paintings. I managed to do seven of them this weekend, despite being distracted by the end of Lorelei's kickstarter project and all the nitpicky formatting stuff I'm doing for the print and various electronic editions of the book. Prints are available through the SketchFest site until Friday, after which...well, I can still do them, you just have to tell me. :P

prompt: Cameleopard

prompt: Oh where could those dust bunnies be hiding?

prompt: If it walks like a duck and talks like a duck chances are good it's not a cat but I fall for the lie everytime

prompt: The wrong guide

prompt: What Happened to the Book on How To Fly Your Dragon

prompt: The thing in the back of the closet

prompt: Flower bed

I'm amused to discover that I seem to be creating a series of cute bugs. It might be fun to do something with them if I ever have time again...

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update: dragon-next-door

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 05:47:19 GMT

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story sketch: catching the fehinnan weapon

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 22:48:01 GMT

This is a sketch of what was voted by readers of Karen Wehrstein's Philosopher in Arms to be Chevenga's coolest move in the Arkan war. After another battle lost to Chevenga's army, a fleeing Mahid has thrown a Fehinnan weapon, a delicate sphere which, if shattered would release a deadly gas, killing rider, horse, and anyone else unfortunate enough to to be close enough. Chevenga barely manages to catch it intact when his horse helpfully rears up and throws him off...

previous version:

This picture is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License, and may be freely used under the terms of that license with a link back to mikaspace.net Please see terms of use for details.

Click to sponsor this sketch and support the artist!
Feedback and contributions of any amount are greatly appreciated :)

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