So I finally finished my Munny, and with more than 4 days to spare. Woohoo! I’m moderately pleased with it, except that poor Egyptian Munny looks like a frog. I guess wide-set eyes on a round head look better in drawings rather than sculpture.

Basically, I thought that the little poop accessories would make good pyramids, and so I have Cleopatra’s cat slaves pooping the pyramids into existence.I was terrified to start painting it, because I didn’t want it to look like poop. (Except the poop, of course!) But I found these Airbrush paints at the art store, and they worked marvelously! No brush strokes ended up showing and the the colors came out super glossy. All in all, it was less stressful than I had expected.

For the painting, I tried staining the paper with tea to make it look like old papyrus. This worked awesomely, but since I colored it all in it’s hard to see the tea and it just made the colors a bit drabber than normal. You live, you learn, I suppose! I haven’t yet scanned it so for now here is a picture of it in its little frame. I’ll take photos of the show once all the Munnys are set up, too. Hooray!

In this post I’ll document how I got 100 Postcards, 50 Large postcards, 250 Business cards, and 25 magnets for $10.39.

Many of you probably are aware of Vistaprint– either for its notorious free business cards or its even more notorious habit of tricking its customers into signing up for sketchy and expensive “Rewards” programs. I, too had heard this, and stayed away from Vistaprint thus far out of fear. However, after receiving a $25 Visa credit/gift card from Wachovia’s referral program, I thought it would be the perfect chance to try out Vistaprint’s wide array of free products and deals. Can’t get to my bank account through a gift card, after all! So, I’m in no way saying Vistaprint is a good, reputable company. But if you wanna take the risk you can get a bunch of stuff for cheap!

Vistaprint has a plethora of deals running at any one time, and I did some hunting to find the absolute best coupon. You can always find their “free items” promo, but the catch is that they charge you $5.00 to upload your own image (though after the first fee it’s free to use the image.) Eventually, though, I discovered a golden link to free uploads AND products: Check it out here. Can’t guarantee how long it will be there, as it came in an e-mail.

I took advantage of this to get 100 postcards, 50 large postcards, 250 business cards and 25 magnets for my Etsy shop. I plan to leave the postcards around at businesses, etc. and slip the magnets into Etsy orders. The total came to $10.39– the price for shipping. There are a bunch of other free things you can get but I didn’t need ‘em. This would be great for your illustration marketing materials, too! I plan on using it next time I do a mailer.

The checkout process for Vistaprint IS crazy and overwhelming. The secret is to just read EVERYTHING and NEVER click on anything “extra” they offer you (Especially the $10 off your next order link. This signs you up for their scammy rewards program.) Make sure no unneeded checkboxes are checked, and at the end of your order do NOT click the “Continue” button that says in small print something about a special offer. It was actually kinda fun avoiding all the spam mines. You also might consider using an email address other than your main one, if you don’t want to look at their offers all the time. Next time I order from them I might post a walkthrough with screenshots: “How to order from Vistaprint without getting screwed.”

Anyway, I got the products and they are all fine quality except the magnets are a little junky and thin. But for the price, you can’t beat it (If you’re careful)!

So today when we were hanging out by the apartment we noticed a lonely fellow. He appeared to have been discarded, but he was actually quite fresh and clean so we invited him inside.

He could not guess our true intentions…

(Obviously on drugs)

After chatting him up a while, we learned that he was originally from Six Flags, but had lost his job of hanging from a string in the carnival section and was now homeless. I listened to him talk, but all I could think about was his juicy, white innards. He was so big and cuddly– how could I resist making use of his Polyfil? So I signaled to my trusty sidekick Matt, and he attacked.

Oh, the sweet innards..

It was a bloodfest. He tore out all that was useful, and left his poor abused body on the floor to expire.

The poor guy didn’t say a word during it all; It was like he was resigned to his fate. So, after a few proddings to make sure there were no good tidbits left, we disposed of the body and escaped with the spoils. Now what to do with a giant bag of Polyfil?

Life is rough in the ghetto

It seems really weird and awkward to start a Facebook fan page for yourself, but everyone on Etsy and beyond seems to have one and it should be a really easy way to let people know of events, etc. It’s not the same as your normal profile– I think it’s geared toward business and professional applications. So if you wanna keep up with my illustration news and events, feel free to follow my Page as a fan!

It’s pretty pathetic and empty right now, which is why I need some fans. Leave a comment and say “hi!” and I will go check out your Facebook Page too!

This has nothing to do with illustration, but just an interesting experience I thought to share.

I’ve always found sleep and dreaming fascinating, and (maybe because of my interest) I often have interesting experiences during sleep. I had one such “interesting” experience this morning (though it was more annoying and frightening at the time) and am wondering if anyone else experiences this!

Occasionally, while I am dreaming, I will suddenly become fully conscious– different than a normal lucid dream in that I feel like I am “awake” rather than just conscious, even though dream stuff is still going on. It will always begin by suddenly being unable to open my eyes in the dream, no matter how hard I try. From there I start to panic in the dream, and it turns to me wanting to wake up very badly but being unable to move any part of my body both in the “dream” and in real life.

After struggling I will occasionally be able to burst my eyes open slightly, and I will even view things in my real room such as posters on the wall and the ceiling fan. An extreme drowsiness will pull me right back into sleep, where the process will start over 4 or 5 times before I finally thrash around the covers and become un-paralyzed and awake for good.

I am aware of “sleep paralysis,” and am guessing that what I experience is some odd form of it, but it feels more like trying hard to wake up with paralyzed eyes, than being fully awake with paralyzed limbs. I have noticed that it almost always happens when I sleep on my back, because I am inevitably staring at the ceiling when I finally can open my eyes.

I have heard various myths about demons and incubi that are more prone to attack whilst one sleeps on their back, and I can imagine how such myths begin if that position of sleep does cause sleep paralysis!

Have any of you guys experienced sleep paralysis or some other strange sleep phenomena? Maybe it’s time to create an illustration about it… though who could do it better than Fuseli’s “Nightmare”?

Shaving is a whole different story when you’re a Gorgon… lobbing off your only friends every three days makes Medusa sad.

Finally took part in Illustration Friday! This week’s theme is “Breezy.”

Momma bunny is so overwhelmed with her 547 kids (and another on the way! …literally) that she can’t seem to keep track of them all. When the wind picks up on this breezy day– well, let’s just say the local foxes will be eating well!

I just wanted to share this doll because I find her adorable… trying to make some specials for Easter! I should really be doing some more illustrations but sometimes you just wanna make dolls. I really need a brighter lamp…

I’m fascinated by totally weird stuff, and this Etsy seller I found today is a definite winner! Though I don’t see anything dirty about clay women’s peepees, some may find it NSFW so click “Read the rest of this entry” to, uh, read the rest of the entry!

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I just received a batch of buttons for including as freebies with my Etsy sales– I love them so much I wish I could keep them all! I’m hoping people will like them enough to use them or give them as gifts, and as they have my web sites on them it could be a good way to spread the word.

The best thing is that I didn’t pay a penny for these buttons. The absolutely awesome guys at Purebuttons.com have an affiliate program where you place a link to their site on your blog or website and you get some free buttons! I’ve actually bought buttons from them before getting free ones (and will continue to do so), and it was fast and super high quality so I have no problem recommending them to you guys!

In other news, I found a very twisted Etsy seller today (actually she found me!) and since it is full of cats and boobied goodness I wanted to share! Her name is Anna and she creates freaking weird ACEOs and other art, bags, and dolls. She even has a whole section for animal girlies *love* Check her out at her Etsy shop! Here are a couple of her cat ladies: