T-minus 4 days til NYCC

First, a little mood music:



Soooooooooo..... New York Comic Con is THIS FRIDAY! Holy crap. This is the big one. Mentally preparing myself this week for 'being on' a full 3 days. Haven't worked a 3 day con in looong time. The costumes will help. Not that I don't love working comic book conventions, I fucking LOVE THEM butttt it can just get a bit exhausting on soooo many levels.

I've got my con outfits all picked out- doing a blonde Barbie/Betty Draper look on Friday. The much-hyped dual showgirl action of me and my best friend Fenny will happen on Saturday and my pinup girl Wonder Woman will be worn on Sunday. I'm kinda stupidly excited about busting out my blonde wig on Friday. I love how it fucks with people.

Fenny's been busting her ass on our showgirl costumes. In case you missed it- the plan is for us to dress up as red and blue showgirls with cigarette trays full of promotional material, namely postcards and buttons. This being a fun way to combine Fenny and I's checkered cosplay past into something productive and a little more respectable, as we'll be working while wearing ridiculous outfits. Plus they're entirely of our own creation.


I'll be wearing a red outfit and Fenny the blue.

Fenny got to work on the costume portion of the outfits, including customization of some excellent quality steel-boned corsets we bought online from http://www.corsets-uk.com/ with satin and sequins and our awesome starry bras.





While Fenny was constructing the costume portion, my job was to build the cigarette trays we'll be handing out cards from and work a deal with my friend and burlesque performer Kita St. Cyr of the Rhinestone Follies of an art trade for feather headdresses and bustles. In return for her craftsmanship I am doing a portrait of her burlesque troupe. Also can I say how much I looove being able to work out a barter of art for stuff? It's frigging awesome.



The cigarette trays I constructed from wooden 'breakfast in bed' trays that I bought at a craft store. Spray painted them black and added two boxes that will hold the postcards that are glue gunned to the bottom of the tray. I also added some black foamcore board to the edges to increase the depth of the tray. I still need to pick up some thick black ribbon for it to hang around our neck. Tested out how the trays look 'fully loaded' as well- postcards and buttons for the kiddies! Postcards will be handed out indiscriminately, buttons will be given to folks who actually come up and talk to us about Girls Drawin Girls. (While supplies last...)



We've got PLENTY of postcards for both Girls Drawin Girls and my own Paigey! cards that we'll be giving out.



I've also started to promo-bomb on subways and ATMs and bars and comic shops around NYC to get a little local interest going.



I'm hoping everything goes off without a hitch. Just thinking of next weekend is making me tired, but it's an awesome, exhilarating tired that I could never do without.

Girls Drawin Girls at New York Comic Con

Just finished and ordered A THOUSAND postcards of the promo art I did for Girls Drawin Girls at New York Comic Con. My best friend Fenny and I will be walking the floors of NYCC/NYAF as showgirls/pinups handing out flyers and posing for pictures. Keep on the lookout!



Please stop by and check us out at Small Press Booth 2479- we'll have prints, books, toys, magnets, jewelry, buttons- ALL WITH HOT CHICKS ON IT!

Aftermath: Girls Drawin' Girls 1st NYC Show

Whew!! Oh what a night!!



So for one night only on Thursday July 18th from 9pm to 1am at Niagara Bar in the Lower East Side was Girls Drawin' Girls's first east coast group art show. Presented by the Antagonist Art Movement and curated by yours truly. And yes, this was my first time curating a group art show in New York. Definitely a learning experience.


Me at the merch table


Flyer inspired by Blondie's Parallel Lines album cover


The show featured work by GDG members, including myself, Maria Danalakis, Erica Hesse, Kaitlin Sullivan, Alice Meichi Li, Anne Walker, Joanna Barnum and Nicole Filiatrault. There was also a merchandise table that included Girls Drawin' Girls products like tshirts and art books as well as a selection of various Paigey products like jewelry, prints and magnets.


Yoshitomo Nara artwork was drawn all over Niagara's walls!






To see more pics from the show, check out Girls Drawin Girls's facebook album!
Join up with their Facebook fan page for up-to-the-minute news!

Over all the show was a success. It was part of Antagonist Art Movement's rotating Thursday night art show space at Niagara Bar, and the show was to be put up and come down all in the span of that single night. Setup was a challenge. I also worked that day, in Midtown Manhattan (where Times Square is) and everything from the art show was split between my apartment in Williamsburg, Brooklyn and my office. So after an aggravating subway ride in the morning with my granny cart and a super nice and helpful taxi driver that evening after work, I along with help from the Antagonist liaisons put the show up, then after a verrrrrry looooong day the evening began and I got my second wind after I put my party dress on and started seeing friends come in. To which I want to say THANK YOU SO MUCH to all that came out so late on a 'school night'. I and the other members of Girls Drawin' Girls really appreciate the support, help and purchases that made it such a success! There was a definite drop-off of attendance after midnight, so we packed up a bit earlier than originally planned and got everything in the rented zipcar my boyfriend had the awesome insight to get ahold of for the ride home.



I'll take part and help organize another Girls Drawin Girls show in the future, but I'd really like to check out some other galleries where I can set up one day, have an opening the next and break it down like a week to a month afterwards. As fun as the Niagara show was, to do all of that in the span of 6 hours is exhausting especially with the added stress of handling other peoples artwork. If I do another show at Niagara, which I would like to do in the future, it'll definitely be a solo show. Or shared with like, 1 friend who is responsible for bringing their own work.

ALSO!!! I have some really awesome news!! Girls Drawin' Girls has a table at New York Comic Con!!! Which means there will be an actual table selling my merch at NYCC that you can go to instead of looking for me and my best friend Fenny as sparkly cigarette girls. Worry not though, because we'll still be making rounds around the Javits Center in our cigarette girl costumes, which are shaping up to be AMAAAZING. I commissioned a friend who's a burlesque performer to make us showgirl headdresses and featherbutts! And I'm already eyeing trims and rhinestones for our costume bodies. After all that drama about my Artist Alley table I'm sooooo glad to see things work out! We will however be acting more as crowd control, steering folks over to the GDG table instead of selling stuff off the trays. So YAY!!!!

Girls Drawin Girls 1st NYC Show!

Just letting you know I'll be curating Girls Drawin Girl's first ever East Coast group art show which is is happening Thursday July 8th in NYC at Niagara Bar from 9pm to 1am in the East Village with help from the Antagonist Art Movement.

ONE NIGHT ONLY!

There will be merch for sale; including prints, tshirts, buttons, stickers, jewelry, artbooks, etc.

"Cute Girls with T & A"
(Talent & Ambition)

About Girls Drawin Girls: (copypasta'd from the GDG website)
Girls Drawin Girls was founded in 2006 by Simpsons veteran Melody Severns and storyboard artist Anne Walker as a way to showcase women artists working in the male-dominated industry of animation. Together, they felt it was time for these talented women to demonstrate their creative abilities and artistic interpretations of female sexuality by re-defining the art of the pin-up.

Since it’s conception, the group has published two volumes of pin-up art and grown to over 80 active members, who individually, have worked professionally in various entertainment industries, from production design, film and television animation, to comic and graphic design.

The group provides collaborative projects for its artists (such as book collections, group art shows, and opportunities to participate in charity art events such as the Pasadena Chalk Festival), in addition to promoting each member's individual artistic endeavors through cross-promotion and marketing prints, original artwork and other art-related merchandise.

I didn't make the team. :/

Bad news, buckaroos. Looks like I won't be counted among New York Comic Con's Artist Alley this year. Finally after 6 months of waiting, delays and anticipation June 1st rolled around and I was told... NOTHING. Cuz no one from NYCC sent me anything. Meanwhile I'm reading tweets and status updates from friends and peers on their acceptance and rejection from Artist Alley. So finally after a day of watching my inbox in agony (and got help you if I got an email from you- I cursed out way too many random emails about sales and reminders) I finally emailed the NYCC folks to ask where my notification email was right before I went to bed. And the next morning after I got up and got to my desk at my day job, I finally had seen that it came through as a reply to my inquiry.... and it was the ever-so-awesome 'we regret to inform you...' So yeah. I had to EMAIL them to find out I was rejected. How shitty. So yeah, the rejection letter made mention of other options, including something about a small press area. I emailed to find out more about this, and recieved a price list. So yeah, the 'small press option' is a 6' by 8' square of unfurnished concrete on the con floor. No tables. No chairs. For NINE HUNDRED DOLLARS. Ugh, so yeah. That's not happening. Maybe if NYCC had gotten their shit together a little sooner and had told me I wouldn't have an Artist Alley table I could've maybe gotten some of my friends together, maybe even organized a big group table. But on top of everything else I've got going on between now and then I can't do something like that in such a small amount of time. So yeah. Oye. Apparently Reed Expo subscribes to the same silly school of thought many people uninvolved in comics seem to have- THAT WE MAKE ALOT OF MONEY. Unfortunately that's not the case, especially for people who could consider themselves 'small press'. Either way, I'm ok with this. Sure I was initially a bit miffed but I'll make it work. I kinda wish I knew exactly what kind of criteria it was that that didn't let me make the cut, whether it was that I still hve yet to be published-published or that my name happened to be on the wrong spot of the dartboard. I still think it's kind of suspicious that there seems to be alot of New York artists shut out of Artist Alley tho, could it be that they're favoring out of state people because they have deals with the hotels in the area? Hrm.
Anyways, I *will* be at New York Comic Con this October, but I'll be hoofing it. In a cigarette girl costume. With a tray of merch. Originally if everything had gone smoothly I would be at the table and my best friend Fenny would be wearing a cigarette girl costume and walking around the con for me handing out promo stuff. But now it looks like we both will. I'm still figuring out exactly what we'll be carrying and how we'll be selling larger items like my Miss Mary Jane toys. Which oh yeah- I finally got!!! (Yay!!) I still also have tables secured at Baltimore Comic Con, SPXpo and King Con Brooklyn.
But yeah- like I said, GOOD NEWS! Miss Mary Jane shipped last week and everyone got theirs!
Including me and my 10- one to keep and 9 to hock at conventions. I already sold 2, so if you see me with one at my table you sould snatch it up! I actually wish I had gotten more of them to sell for myself. I have a feeling these are gonna go rather quickly once my convention rounds start up in August.




Doesn't she look AWESOME? The skin turned out a little more neon than I had expected but overall I think she looks pretty great. I'm trying to rally to get her restocked, and if at all possible do another colorway. This also has worked up my appetite for MORE PAIGEY TOYS. If you get a chance PLEASE VOTE for my rollergirl Laika Phenomenon (you see what I did there?)


Click here to get taken to her voting page!




Laika Phenomenon is up for voting at PatchTogether.com!
Please click the pic to register and vote for her!


Also!! Be sure to check out my interview with Girls Drawin' Girls for their weekly Artist Spotlight!!


"It also helps me get in touch with my inner minx. "

Girls Drawin' Girls Volume 3: Sugar & Spice

From the Girls Drawin Girls blog:

Have you been anxiously awaiting our third volume of pin-up art? Do you want to be one of the first on your block to own a copy, in addition to an EXCLUSIVE pre-sale only print?
PRE-ORDER your copy of Vol III now and pay only $20 (instead of $25), and receive a SPECIAL EDITION print featuring Chef Gigi by our own talented Anand Duncan! Print is only available to the first 100 pre-orders, and will all be individually numbered!
"Girls Drawin Girls Volume III: Sugar and Spice"Featuring our esteemed ladies with T&A (Talent & Ambition), as they return to satisfy your sweet tooth with a third volume of collected pin-up art. Come spoil your appetite with more than two dozen interpretations of your favorite desserts***!
$20 pre-order special! Free domestic shipping!(Prints and books will ship July 7, 2010)



Click here to be taken to the GDG store!!!


***Including my Tiramisu girl!!!

My Piece for Girls Drawin Girls' Upcoming Dessert Themed Artbook

Just a quickie update: finished my piece for Girls Drawin Girls's upcoming artbook that's dessert-themed. My dessert of choice was tiramisu.




Keep an eye out here for when the book comes out! There's some top-notch stuff going into it. Some girls have posted previews of their pieces on the mailing list. I'm really impressed.

Some progress shots:


Rough layout in my sketchbook, along with my inspiration- an old Italian dessert company ad.


Rough pencils. And a wonky eye I didn't notice right away. XP


Inking with my old pals, Microns 03, 01 and 005. I ended up shortening her hair in Photoshop.


Coloring progress, laying flat colors in Photoshop.

Hope you enjoy!

Shots of my stuff during GirlsDrawinGirls.com interview at CTN Expo

The art collective I'm a part of- GirlsDrawinGirls.com, which is a group of female pin-up artists, attended the CTN Animation Expo in California two weeks ago and had some of my prints, buttons and necklaces for sale. All which you can see on this cool little interview they had with indieanimator.com.

indieanimator.com On-Location: @CTN ANIMATION EXPO - GirlsDrawinGirls.com from indieanimator on Vimeo.