Aftermath: Baltimore Comic Con 09

Whew! What a weekend! Though off to a rough start that included a NYC Megabus that was two hours late, an almost-riot outside said bus once it arrived, barely 5 hours of sleep and an hour and a half ordeal getting to the Inner Harbor because of the Baltimore Marathon (which would otherwise taken 15 minutes), the convention was a success! Saw alot of friends, worked my networking mojo, sold alot of stuff and ate delicious, delicious crabcakes Saturday night. Also got alot of compliments on my retro pinup ensembles I wore, many even mistook me as a Bettie Page cosplayer. I always dress up for conventions, so I can work as basically my own 'booth babe' but instead of the fans talking to a paid representative of said company/artist, they actually get to talk to the artist herself with me. Plus with my 6+ years of retail experience I feel I get the best response from 'customers' when I'm standing at their level, making eye contact and greeting them as they enter my 'store', aka the front of my booth. There's so many times going to comic cons as a fan that I've found myself in Artist Alley and have a whole 'Don't look in their eyes!' moment. I hate when artists are pushy pitchmen over their work, I've left Artist Alley way too many times with books and ashcans and such I didn't even want in the first place, that I've been guilted into buying or taking, that I end up throwing away only days later. I try to just be friendly and personable, and barely even mention my work, even though it's displayed all around my table. I let my work speak for itself, and I only talk about it to folks that seem interested. As it should be, I'd much rather 20 people take my card of their own free will with them back to their house than see 100 cards I've pushed on people end up on the floor or trash can. I have also decided I don't like doing con sketches and probably won't advertise doing them, at least at the convention. I do like the smaller headsketch format with markers, and I may take orders at the con and do them after the con and mail them out, but as far as doing them on-site this will probably be the only time. It infringes on my ability to network and bring customers to my booth, let alone speak to anyone while getting work done in a timely manner, plus usually the getups I wear to cons involve alot of shaping undergarments, which tend to get very uncomfortable when sitting and drawing. And I only got one on-site sketch request the whole weekend, which kind of discouraged me from the idea. I'll probably just take requests before a con and do them from the comfort of my own desk at home if I do them again. But yeah, Brooklyn's King Con is in less than a month (Nov 7-8, to be exact), so I'll get to work my convention skills yet again.

Me and Ballsy at the Artist Alley table

This weekend: Baltimore Comic Con!

Hey all! I'll be at Baltimore Comic Con this weekend- so if you're planning on going stop by booth #143 in Artists Alley!



Hope to see you there!

Mary Jane Preview, Pt 2

Mary Jane Preview Pt 2
Originally uploaded by iampaigey

Miss Mary Jane preliminary sculpt preview, part 2. A final round of revisions and I think we can fully unveil her, and I am soooo excited. You can still get her at the reduced price of $50 before her sculpt is revealed- click here to go to her pre-ordering page. That's less than the price of an eighth of weed, which lasts like, what- a week? This will last you FOREVER!

'Sugar come by, and get me high...'

Hey all! Sooooo effin' busy this past month. It's crazy. Trying to get outstanding commissions done, get my Shrinky-Dink inventory in order, have some small semblance of a life and I've got two comic convention appearances coming up, being:


Baltimore Comic Con: Oct 10-11

and


King Con in Brooklyn: Nov 7-8

SUPER-excited about both. Haven't worked an Artist Alley table since February at New York Comic Con, though I did do a 6-hour stint at New York Anime Fest this past Saturday at the Girls Drawin Girls table, which was fun and good practice, but anime cons are too high-maintenance and draining for me to deal with on the regular. I think the last pure anime con I went to was Katsucon 2002(?), and that was as a cosplaying fan, and yeah, do not have the patience for hyper-active weeaboos anymore in my old age. Give me the crotchety old alcoholic curmudgeons of a comic book convention anyday. Not to say I didn't meet some swell people this weekend, there were some nuggets of sweet sanity in an otherwise big-eyed, cat-eared, dog-collared maelstrom of Hamtaro dance parties and impromptu fake sword fights.

Shot of me at the Girls Drawin Girls table at NYAF:



Oooh-wee, do I LOVE my 5-minute weave!! ;)

Oh! But in other BIG NEWS- I got the preliminary sculpt pics of my Miss Mary Jane resin figure that I'm getting made through PatchTogether.com!!! They look AWESOME!!! They asked me if there were any modifications that needed to be made, which I pointed out to them, so we're waiting to see how it goes. But because you guys are so very dear to my heart, I'm gonna share a sneaky-peeky with you. ~__^



The buddy hair texture and baggy/hood turned out PERFECT! They even got all the little leaves in there! I still can't believe she's gonna be real, it's so crazy that I'm gonna have a toy based on my own work. Shoot, after Christmas I'm gonna definitely submit another design for sure! But yeah that's about it. I'm taking the weekend off for New York Burlesque Festival, I'll be sure to post a link to pictures, as I'm sure it will be QUITE THE TIME.

And I leave you with the song that inspired the original artwork for Miss Mary Jane herself:

New Necklaces and a High School Mixtape

First off, got some new necklaces on the market. Not yet on my etsy storefront, cuz I've been busy. Also got more of Ballsy's line, including the first two of his monster series- which so far includes the Wolfman and the Creature from the Black Lagoon. Dracula, Frankenstein and the Mummy are soon to follow.



And with that I leave you with the music I enjoyed during my formative years (being high school). Not much else worth posting. Hope you enjoy!

Lots of exciting news!!!

Hey everybody!! Got alot of exciting news to let you know about!!

First off, Miss Mary Jane is up for pre-order at PatchTogether.com!! She's going for $50 before they start sculpting her, but once she hits her initial 20 preorders she'll jump up to $60 a pop! So if you're absolutely certain you want one before you see the sculpt, here's your chance to get her on sale. There's only 8 slots left at this discounted rate as of right now, so get on it folks! I'm so excited to see how she turns out!



Also, my roller derby necklaces have been reviewed by my pals at FractureMag.com. Super-nice little write up, you can get your own either directly thru me or thru my etsy.com store over there on the lower right hand side of this here blog. I'm hoping it'll get the attention of some more roller derby leagues who'd like some necklaces for their merch booth. FYI- I offer bulk discounts! Also look for some of my necklaces to be on sale over on the west coast at the LA Derby Dolls' next bout at the GirlsDrawinGirls booth! I'm also starting to get some of my fellow artist friends involved in my jewelry/accessories/magnet making empire as well, and have started my first offshoot brand of accessories featuring illustrations from my boyfriend Phil 'Ballsy' Balsman. Look for more artists' work in the following months!

Work it.

Finally took some product shots of my roller derby necklaces, and also opened up my etsy store finally, which you can check out here or by scrolling down and seeing on the right panel over there. I haven't done much to it yet to personalize it, I plan to, just been mad busy, as always. So excited about my accesory line- my necklaces, the Derby Girl in particular, are also going to be sold at L.A. Derby Dolls
bouts via the Girls Drawin Girls merch table. They'll go for $10 each and will be available in a variety of colors. So excited to expose my art to a whole new coast. Also sent some out to my buddies at Fracturemag.com for their product review. Hopefully that'll drum up more interest in other derby leagues carrying my products. I'm also working on new images to make into jewelry and I'm even getting my boyfriend Phil's artwork into the mix, with hopefully his own offshoot line as well. Also doodled up a cute little redhead, named Cherry. I'm planning on some accessories of her as well.