Heads up, Cali! I'm coming to Designer Con 2015!

So here goes! It looks like I'm gonna do it! If everything fares well, this November I will be vending at my *first* West Coast convention: Designer Con! I'm SO EXCITED! I've had my eye on Designer Con for awhile as a potential West Coast convention to attend. The art scene out there is so much up my alley, plus California in general has stolen so many of my creative friends from NYC. (I'm looking at you, DC Comics...)
 

I'm going to be sharing a booth with my pal Peter Goode Art and my husband Phil and I will be taking a much deserved vacation the rest of the week, visiting stuff like Disneyland, Universal, Little Tokyo... So many things to check out. I haven't been to LA since I was a little kid, and then it was only because my family had won a trip to Disneyland. I'm excited to go back! Plus bonus: since I'm going at the end of November I'll be getting out of NYC just when the weather has gotten shitty.

Peter Goode and his creepy awesome monster paintings.

PLEASE HELP SUPPORT ME this very expensive trip I'll be taking (I've calculated the costs of going and I kind of want to cry...)! Visit me at one of my upcoming convention appearances and buy some of my merch! Not in the area? Check out my Society 6 store! Or my Stickermule marketplace! I might even get my etsy store restocked one of these days, haha! 

The Art of Paigey! On the Stagey!

OMGGGG you guys!! I'm getting a burlesque tribute show!!!

Thanks to Kita St. Cyr, my artwork will be coming to LIFE on the stage of the Gemini and Scorpio loft in Brooklyn next month!! I am SO excited!! She's been talking about doing this for YEARS (ever since we both worked at the tshirt company after I first moved to NYC) and then blew up my phone last month with a string of texts telling me she had a venue, a date and a string of amazing performers all set to bring my drawings to life. To say I am overwhelmed is an understatement. Phil was all "This might be too much stimulation for even YOUR ego..." Haha, which is true- it's hard not to get at least a little bit of a swollen head with all these talented and beautiful women all wanting to dress up as my artistic creations and interpretations. Other than the performers list and what piece they plan to an act inspired by, I am just as much of a spectator as anyone else. (Also in case there was any confusion- NO I AM NOT DANCING. Trust me- you do not want to see that.) There will be a raffle with a prize bag of Paigey stuff to the winner as well as a small selection of my merch for sale at the show.

Get your tickets here!

Facebook invite here!

Omg lookit the ARMY OF HOTTIES that have amassed in my honor! 
 Kita is the Nick Fury of Burlesque for creating this line-up of all-stars!

Me and Kita!

I seriously can't wait to see this show happen!! And already in the midst of so much else going on with both Monster Mania and NYCC happening before and after!! What a week this will be! ::collapses::

Visionary Tattoo Fest is THIS WEEKEND YOU GUYS!

Meanwhile, on a billboard in New Jersey...

Visionary Tattoo Art Festival is THIS WEEKEND, July 26th-28th in Asbury Park, New Jersey!

I'm a GUEST! And I'm selling stuff! 

I designed the flyer for this year!

I hope I see you there!!

There's also a pinup contest, ladies!!

The Visionary Tattoo Arts Festival!

Check it out, all! I did the flyer for the Visionary Tattoo Art Festival going on in July at Asbury Park, NJ and will also be a guest artist all weekend and will be vending my wares as well as Little Asian Sweatshop's. I hope to see you there!

I completed this flyer in about a week and a half, the deadline was pretty tight with the shop that runs the show getting approval for it to go on later than normal because of damage to the beach from Hurricane Sandy. So this is the 'unfortunate' result of me being bad at time management and artwork negotiations/consultations with friends who are fans whose enthusiasm for my work is contagious. Especially when they're feeling my ideas and give me lots of creative control. Before I've put pen to paper I've promised them (and myself) the moon and stars because you know, I'm THE Paige Pumphrey! I can do MAGIC! AND it involves impressing a subculture from which I at one point in my life felt excluded from? Oh MAN, ALL THE BUTTONS.

We wanted to make the branding of the Festival more light and beachy and family-friendly as opposed to previous years where it had a more 'come out and get some nails in your dick/metallll wooooooo!' vibe. After being shown examples of the beautiful facade of the Convention Hall, with it's Victorian sea monsters and copper plating, I was inspired to make the design an early 20th century/Victorian themed beach poster. Looking at the works of JC Leyendecker, an all-time favorite artist of mine, as well as the art and feel of the Battleship Bay area of Bioshock: Infinite (which my husband has just arrived at in the game) I knew I had quite an undertaking. My clients also really liked the layout of my Saints and Sinners flyer for my artshow a couple years back- of having two characters framed by very detailed typography. We chose a sword-swallowing mermaid and the Asbury Park mascot Tillie (who is similar to the Coney Island funny face) in old-timey swimwear to be the 'hosts' of the flyer.

Rough sketches of the mermaid and Tillie.

Tight pencils.

Inks. (Scanned in Photoshop.)

Flat colors.

Slowly starting to lay out the flyer. Originally I was going to use Victorian clipart to save time, my husband however looking over my shoulder suggested it would look soooo much better if I drew all the filigree and framework out. Begrudgingly I agreed with him.

Printing out what I had at 40% opacity, I drew out all the elements by hand- the banners, the gold railing, the sun-shaped caption for the date. I even added a sea monster as a call back to the building facade.

Scanning the sketches for the elements, I traced and built them out of vector shapes in Illustrator, then ported them over to Photoshop for placement on the actual flyer. You can notice some of the changes elements went through during the process.

Coloring in all the elements individually, adding shading, texture and slowly figuring out my palette. In the end the only clipart I ended up using was the background filigree and the seashells on the the gold railing. 

Getting ready for Baltimore Comic Con!

I drew another UTZ girl pinup!
Time permitting, I would like to get one or two more pieces
done in time for my show at The Ottobar!

So I've got A LOT of stuff coming up in the next couple weeks! I'm having a pre-party for Baltimore Comic Con Friday September 7th at the Ottobar starting at 9pm! You can see the Facebook invite here! It's also the release party for my newest artbook Thanks For Your Support. There's gonna be a Photobooth, a raffle to win prizes like a Miss Mary Jane figure, original art to buy and merch tables set up for both me and Little Asian Sweatshop! It's going to be QUITE the little shindig! But don't fret if yu can't make it, as I will also have a table at Baltimore Comic Con all weekend in Artist Alley at tables AA 213-214!

Artist Alley tables 213-214!
I'll be sharing with Little Asian Sweatshop!

I'm trying to get all of my merch, original pieces and myself in order before the big weekend, so I've been pretty busy the past few weeks and intend to keep working all the way up the the wire.

But anywho, check out all the cool stuff in store:

Original inks from my I (heart) Baltimore postcard
set will be available for purchase!

Ouija Girl inks will be available for purchase!

"Who me?"

Luchadora magnet sets!!

The Three Fates of Baltimore magnet sets!

Working on LOTS of magnet sets! 

Amor Eterno magnet sets!

And what's this?
Nothing I'll have at the show, but just a little sneak
peek at a future project I'm cooking up with LAS.

"Thanks For Your Support!" Pre-Order

Check it out, all! My 2nd artbook "Thanks For Your Support!" is almost out!

The cover!

Pre-order your copy TODAY for $25 (plus $6 shipping)!

I'll even throw in some free *mystery* gifts!

Preorders are closed!

But you can still order my book at my etsy store!

The first page!

It's a 6x9", 56-paged softcover with full color interiors, a foreword by my friend Kevin Slaughter and an index featuring notes on each piece! It's like a REAL BOOK! Includes my famous pinups, flyers and fanart. Picking up right where my first volume, The Art of Paigey left off- it is basically a continuation of the 'Greatest Hits' album of Paigey artwork.


Want a sneak peek?


Created with cinemagr.am

Comes signed- if you want me to make it out to anyone in particular let me know!

***Also! If you place your order before Friday September 7th, you will get a FREE copy of my I (heart) Baltimore mini-print set! A $10 value!***

Will you be in Baltimore for Baltimore Comic Con September 8-9th? If so I'm having a solo art show
upstairs at the Ottobar on Friday September 7th from 9pm-1am to celebrate the release of "Thanks For Your Support!" and to kick off my *5th* year of professionally selling at Baltimore Comic Con (which I will be working Saturday the 8th and Sunday the 9th!) Lots of books, original pieces, and merch (including flowers by Little Asian Sweatshop) will be on sale, as well as fun stuff like a photo booth and a raffle to win a Miss Mary Jane figure!
Facebook event page here!

Kevin Slaughter thinks you should pre-order too!

Milestones

Summer 2007
My first summer as a New Yorker

On this day 5 years ago I moved to NYC to live with the man I love, carrying out one of the single best and scariest decisions of my life. It was scary because the risk was so high. If it all went well- I'd be living a dream come true. I'd be where I belong. But if it failed, I'd be chewed up and spit out and would have marked the second time in my life I had to crawl back to the primordial suburban ooze from whence I came. I had never lived on my own before. To go from the safety of my parent's basement, tucked away in a Maryland suburban cul-de-sac to the biggest, brightest, craziest city in the United States. The mythology of it makes my head spin. The city where songs have been written, movies have taken place, shows have been filmed, universes have been built upon. I have had a love affair with New York City since the first time I visited in high school for some art field trip. We only went to the Met and saw the Rockettes, but God, I wanted to stay. Thank God we didn't go anywhere near the Lower East Side. I'd have run away with the gutter punks. One of the times I went during Kubert School I kept one of the subway tokens I didn't end up using and strung it on a shitty shotbead chain around my neck. Almost like a promise to myself. Or some sort of totem. That was 1999. I rarely took it off. I thought I lost it while attending Dragon*Con 2004 and was so unbelievably upset. It showed up again though and it is one of my most precious pieces of jewelry. I still wear it everyday. Moving to NYC has allowed me to pursue my dreams of being a career artist in ways I would have never dreamed possible. This city has enabled me to make connections and friendships with amazing, creative, DRIVEN people who continue to inspire me. Had you told me 8 years ago that my life would be as it is now I'd have laughed in your face. I had thought the most I could hope for was getting full-time at Hot Topic and a studio apartment behind the local Target with my burnout boyfriend at the time who I had to MAKE get a job at Starbucks. My sole confidante was my supposed best friend, who sabotaged any attempt to better myself at every turn. It's a testament to my gumption that with all the setbacks I suffered at her hand that I still emerged as driven as I am. I was told on a daily basis that I was wasting my talents. Spinning my wheels in the mud. That there was more for me out there. Moving to New York was the new start I needed. One by one I severed connections to those that dragged me down and I am so much better for it. I now have real, true friends that support me along with career success that has been a long time coming in a city I love with the man of my dreams. 

YAY!!!

So yeah, there's that. But also! Another big thing that happened just yesterday, being that I got my *first* big article written about my artwork in a major comic book blog, being ComicsAlliance which is one of my favorite comics news blogs. And I'm not even being all ass-kissy, I really do love CA. Like, if you have a free afternoon, read Chris Sim's Remedial Batmanology. It is perhaps the funniest thing I've read in the past 5 years. Also I'm a fan of anything Bethany Fong writes. She and I have very similar world views. But yeah the article is awesome and it coming out was a complete, amazing surprise to me. Shoot, if anything I was figuring I would have to do at least 5 more X-Men redesigns before I popped up on any radars. A ComicsAlliance article about Ross Campbell's Jem & the Holograms redesigns were actually what inspired the project to begin with. I'm also super-glad to see the comments aren't terrible. They're actually all pretty glowing. I know I shouldn't look but I can't help it. It IS really reassuring.




Haha, but yeah sorry I got all sentimental and TL;DR on you. You probably just wanna see some art, huh?

Cyclops!
“Energy blasts, huh? Here’s one from a pro!”
I think Cyclops gets a bad rep. I think people think just because you're a leader you gotta be square, which doesn't have to be true. There's plenty of cool leaders of teams (Hannibal of the A-Team for instance). And a guy can play it super straight and severe and still be cool. Cyclops is a very necessary member of the X-Men. Plus he's one of the more iconic members of the X-Men. I've always loved the visor. So with my version of Scott I wanted to really play up the old 'Slim' nickname, and what better way to accentuate how skinny a guy is than by putting him in a tailored Mod suit. I also modeled his looks a lot from old pictures of Michael Caine from stuff like Get Carter and The Italian Job. Just super cool, like you never ever see him sweat. Plus I wanted him and Jean to really LOOK like they're supposed to be together. Like they come as a set.   

I'm also working on a private commission featuring an action shot of my Dazzler redesign. It was too fun not to pass up. Right now I'm just finishing up inks, but you can check out some progress shots I took of the piece so far. I'm having her skate against a team of Hellfire club Goons- much like her first appearance!

Next weekend: Baltimore Comic Con!

Baltimore Comic Con is August 20-21!
My fourth year in Artist Alley!!



Table 130 in Artist Alley!!
To celebrate my 4th year of going 'pro-ish' I'm having a SALE!
ALL WEEKEND! Buy 3 items get the FOURTH ITEM FREE * **!

(* free item will be the lowest priced item)
(**only Paigey items, I'll have friend's stuff for sale at my table that will not be included in the sale)


Convention memories!!
Here's me at my first table ever at Baltimore Comic Con 2008!

I'm in the Mega Man Tribute Artbook!!

Yay! San Diego Comic Con is right around the corner! Not only will all my nerd blogs that I follow and social media outlets be exploding with news of upcoming pop cultural phenomena but I can also officially post my Tron Bonne a la Big Daddy Roth that will be in Udon's Mega man Tribute book that is being released as well!! Yay!!



Official info:

MEGA MAN TRIBUTE LIMITED EDITION HARDCOVER
-the book is premiering at the San Diego Comic-con at the UDON booth (#5037), July 20-24
-for fans not attending the show, you can preorder the book at UDONstore.com


MEGA MAN TRIBUTE SOFTCOVER
-The standard softcover edition is also available for preorder on amazon.com

Interview with Tameeka Time!!

Back in May '10 I was interviewed over Memorial Day weekend by my good friend Tameeka Ballance, who is a videographer and runs a blog called Tameeka Time that features art videos (including graffiti by my former dayjob boss man Cortes) and Jersey Shore recaps (if you're into that sort of thing).

Give my girl some love and go on over to her site to check out more videos!

Check out the full Paigey coverage over at Tameeka Time here!!

Added some new stuff to my Etsy store!

Been keeping myself busy crafting the night away and added some new stuff to my etsy store!



Including stuff like my 'Greatest Hits' bracelet, with 8 of my favorite pinup girls on it! It's like a wearable Paigey portfolio!



If you're a fan but live too far away to come see me at events like comic cons and burlesque shows my etsy store is the *perfect* place to pick up some awesome Paigey merch! I always throw in extra goodies like buttons and stickers with every order!

I'll be vending at the Psychobilly Luau! (7/22-23)

I'll be a vendor at the 5th Annual Psychobilly Luau Weekender in NYC next month, July 22nd and 23rd!! I'm VERY excited about this! I've wanted to go for as long as I've been living in NYC but never got to for one reason or another, so going AND vending is like two awesomes in one! Yay!
I'm currently working on a few new show-specific type pieces that I'll have on merch by the time it rolls around. Nothing too crazy, just some cute little stand alone girlies that'll appeal to the psychobilly/hula crowd. I'm very excited about expanding my audience into the psychobilly crowd, I really want to start vending at other subcultural events besides comic conventions. I'm also looking into the Baltimore Tattoo Arts Convention as well!

One of the pieces I'm working on is a little luchadora girl with mask and cape. I think she'll make a sweet magnet/brooch and maybe some stickers.



I also just recently completed a sexy little nurse on a pill, titled '..For What Ails Ya!'



So far I have her on some pillboxes and as a magnet/brooch. She sure is a cutie! ^_^