I try not to spam my blog with constant shop promotion posts, but Etsy is doing a MASSIVE sale this weekend called the Yart Sale, and I didn’t want to be left out! The Yart Sale is from June 10-14, and features sellers all across Etsy hosting their own awesome sales. If you search “Yart Sale” or “yartfreeship” in Etsy, there’s a ton of sales going on right now!

I wanted on the bandwagon too, so I’m offering:

* Free shipping on all my dolls
* 20% off orders up to $25 and
* 30% off orders over $25.

At my Etsy Shop

Sweet! Let me know what sales you have going on too, and I’ll check them out!

Here’s some stuff I came up with when typing “Yart Sale Cat” into Etsy’s search. Weeee!

I started up a MySoti account to sell t-shirts. Stay tuned for more designs!

Check out the designs here!

To try to get back on track, I’ve decided to do an ACEO (2.5×3.5 mini-art) for an animal of each letter of the alphabet! Just something to make sure I draw SOMETHING every day, and also fill up my Etsy shop. These are just for fun… I’m not really trying to make any profound statements. Just hoping people might want to collect them on Etsy, which you can by visiting my shop! I swear they won’t ALL be so vacant… but Axolotl’s and fruit bats both give off distinct “empty” vibes when I look at them.

A is for Axolotl – Original – Print

B is for Bat – Original – Print

I’ve been trying to think of new pieces for my portfolio, and have not been able to decide between doing what I love (children’s stories) to get an awesome and full children’s book portfolio, or doing what I am lacking in numbers (editorial.) I want to separate the sections of my portfolio so that the boobz aren’t on the same page as the kid stuff, but I’m worried it will look empty as I don’t have 100s of pieces yet.

Well, typing to myself has got me decided– I’ll try to do another editorial piece or two, so it WON’T look empty when I separate everything, and then I’ll work on some children’s stuff I’ve been wanting to do (Alice in Wonderland, and the Jungle Book… maybe the Jungle book first as ethnic boys are always a plus in portfolios)

Wow. Anyone who made it through that stream-of-consciousness heap shows perseverance! But it was helpful to me!

*scurries off to find a magazine article interesting enough to illustrate*

I don’t think it has fully “hit” me yet, but as of Thursday my time as a student at SCAD is officially OVER! Crazy. I have an apartment here in Savannah until August so I’m not leaving the city yet… but my time spent now will be toward self-promotion and hopefully real jobs rather than classwork. It is kind of terrifying I guess, but no moreso than a pack of wild locusts.

In other news…. wait! I don’t have any

With this last quarter of college being so extremely busy, I’m just dying for it to all be over so I can have some time to learn new things. Once I graduate and DO have time, I will probably change my mind and want to be lazy, so I figure if I tell myself what I want to do now I might feel sufficiently guilty enough later to do it.

So here is my absurdly long list of what I would like to accomplish (professionally… yes I want to learn to pee standing up but that’s another post altogether):

1. Learn the intimate specifics of CSS and PHP – I know enough CSS to apply styles to my site, but I don’t much about positioning. And as for PHP… hahaha!
   
2. Put my newfound knowledge to work and redo my web site in validated CSS – I feel like a dinosaur as my web design is still in tables, with code from the stone age. Bleh! (Wow, nerd.)
   
3. Learn how to code in WordPress and move my blog over (Will Google send someone after me for this statement?) – Something about WordPress just makes me feel all fuzzy inside.
4. Get people to actually look at my web site – You’re not reading this. Nobody is reading this. So it’s time for a Super Promotion Attack Plus!
5. Publish a Children’s Book – This is probably my number one goal that I would wet myself if accomplished.
6. Learn to Animate - Flash… 3D, I don’t know. I just really want to learn to animate.
7. Get a couch – Okay, this isn’t a professional goal, but we have had this apartment for 2 months now and I REALLY WANT A COUCH. (We got a couch! SUCCESS!)
   
8. Expand portfolio to new markets – I would like to have a body of work for every market, so I could send a portfolio to get work in: Stationery, Toy Design, Concept/Character work, T-Shirts, Greeting Cards, Web Design, Poster, Editorial. I’ve got a ton of children’s work, but only a few samples of other markets.
   
9. Get in an annual – Yes, please.
10. Take Part in Illustration Friday – Good way to get the juices pumpin’!
    

Well, that’s all I can think of for now but you bet your sweet bippy I will edit this post if I think of anything else!

…what is a bippy?

Classes just started, and it seems like they will actually be useful this quarter! I’m very excited. In portfolio, we had our work torn apart and had to write up a list of our weaknesses, and our interests in markets and topics. Then we create six projects that utilize this information in repairing holes in our portfolios.

Here are the things I want to work on in the months to come:

1. More variety in people — especially more males. Also old people, and multicultural people. Children’s Book publishers want to see this wide variety.
2. More variety in subject — I get stuck on themes, (boobs, cats, sea creatures, babes,) and I generally avoid drawing the things I hate… like cars and architecture and oatmeal.
3. More black and white work — A lot of children’s magazines and older kids’ books have black and white interiors.
   
4. Work on colors/lighting — I’d like to find a way to keep my colors very bright and, er, colorful, without the image seeming disjointed and losing all the tiny details. Also I was told I need stronger changes in value, and I agree. I was also told my compositions need work and while I don’t exactly agree, I’ll keep it in mind.