trubluebecca

[trubluebecca]

I made a Fur Affinity account. Furries liked me more than the dog fancy this month. Also they are anti AI.

[trubluebecca]

Nice, if I didn't offer sketch portraits, I would have made $14 after my booth fee. (This is sarcasm.)

[trubluebecca]

Didn't sell anything with the breed portraits I did. :))))))))))))))))) And people wonder why I don't just draw x breed? I had some strong looks at the schnauzer magnets though, but never quite got the sell.

I managed to cover my booth fee and make something over, but two days out of 4 I basically made no sales. Sunday the only sale was to a club member who is friends with me on FB and asked to buy a couple magnets when I posted about them. I wasn't sure if she would even be there or not, lol. I offered on site sketches and that's the only reason I made money, but everyone came around later in the afternoon, so I only was able to hand one out of four off the same day. I have one I actually still need to finish for a club member that I can see at monthly meetings. I have about 2 portraits in my wrist when I have to crank them out back to back.

Overall it was about what I expected for a dog event post COVID. I do have pretty solid leads on a couple of commissions. There's more of the ones I'm like "Yeah, I doubt I'll hear back from you," but I'll take what I can get.

None of the prints I sold were dog art. Did not sell one sticker. Sold only a couple of the magnets. I did actually sell an original and it was not dog art, lol.

I'm probably going to skip sheltie nationals. I am reaching out to NADAC again re: vendor fees because I think that will be more worth the time to try to connect with previous clients. I need to do more research on the breeds and shows that are worth concentrating on.

I cranked out a couple generic breed portraits last week to print on magnets. I will be a vendor at my first all breed show this week. They also are hosting agility, obedience, rally, Fast Cat, and dock diving at the same site. So we've got ALL the things going on. Mini schnauzers are one of the breeds having multiple specialties and the club is hosting the agility trial. I happened to have some photos I had taken of a CH mini schnauzer that a friend used to own. He was not groomed for show, so I had to try to figure that out. I think I added too many waves in in the furnishings, but what are you gonna do?

[trubluebecca]

“No one wants to look at art of OCs” I don’t think that’s true at all…I follow people specifically to see their OCs literally all the time. Bring back being curious about people’s OCs, asking questions about them and hyping them up like we did when we were teens

[trubluebecca]

I cranked out a couple generic breed portraits last week to print on magnets. I will be a vendor at my first all breed show this week. They also are hosting agility, obedience, rally, Fast Cat, and dock diving at the same site. So we've got ALL the things going on. Mini schnauzers are one of the breeds having multiple specialties and the club is hosting the agility trial. I happened to have some photos I had taken of a CH mini schnauzer that a friend used to own. He was not groomed for show, so I had to try to figure that out. I think I added too many waves in in the furnishings, but what are you gonna do?

[trubluebecca]

I'm thinking about raising my rates again towards the end of this year or beginning of next year, so if you've thought about ordering something, I would do that sooner rather than later. I will try to post reminders monthly about things going up. I know things are hard right now, so that's why I'm not going to immediately raise prices.

Posting this so I can pin it because I guess I'm better about keeping this updated than a post every year. Please reach out if you're looking for something other than a pet portrait. I'm open to other work.

[trubluebecca]

BRB raising all my prices after seeing someone sell photo edits pet portraits printed on canvas for $150 base price.

[trubluebecca]

Cleaned up scan of the Nakks and Maud wip from a few weeks ago! If I wasn't trying to do something so quick, I probably would have played with the composition some more, since their colors are so close their faces kind of blend together.

[trubluebecca]

Finally cleaned up the scans of Ruu and a bogling.

Such an old oc it kills me. She is 22 yrs old. Drawing circa 2003. I still don't remember why I decided to dump her green outer robe for just the blue.

[trubluebecca]

I think it's nekko time.

Last month I decided I wanted to doodle some nekkos. I could have just looked for game model pics or snapped images in game and strictly referenced those. But no, my creature designer brain wouldn't let me do that. I had questions about certain design choices and needed to find real animals to reference. I also questioned the use of "avian" to describe them on the Wookieepedia entry.

Cal and his homies.

First thing that bugged me design wise was the feathers (?) growing on the armor plates. I was like why? How? Then I remembered that some armadillos seem to have a bit of fur on their armor. I calmed down. (Still not nearly as much as nekko's seem to have growing, but whatever.)

Nine-banded Armadillo via Wikimedia

I drafted this before I got the art books and the nekko image used in the Survivor art book actually has a smoother plate edges and a hint of more armadillo like texture. So guess I nailed that.

My next beef was their goofy leg angulation. They have video game creature legs. So, I looked up ostriches so I'd draw my nekkos with slightly more realistic proportions.

source: PBS

I feel like their flightless bird proportions and feathers are about the only "avian" features these critters have. Apparently they also lay eggs, but I'd argue these guys more closely fall into the "reptomammal" category like a tauntaun.

I think ostrich feet a pretty obvious source of reference. But you could actually reference another mammal for something similar.

Llama's have great 2 toed feet!

Then we've got their heads. I think this is where they really lack any avian influence (other than the feathers)

I had to go find teeth to look at since I couldn't find anywhere that had a reference to their diet. I wasn't sure if they were herbivores or if they might actually be predators. Their knobby little teeth say herbivore to me.

Then I saw some animation of them eating off the ground, so that answered that.

I have not quite figured out wtf their ears are doing. The ears seem to curl and uncurl. When I looked up llamas for feet, I had a "hmm ears?" moment, but looking closer at the models I'm not sure about that. But they're obviously some big ears that are not avian at all.

I also think their snoots have a lip and not a beak, so no avian influence there. At first I thought about horses, but looking again I'm like oh, I think I've seen that profile and nostril shape/placement on rhinos.

Image by Joel Sartore

I am actually working on a bigger piece with multiple nekkos, but here's a digital sketch because I felt like I should have some art on this post. I pushed the ostrich on the legs by like...reflex. I'd like to play with more details on the face, but I picked a weird angle for that.

[trubluebecca]

Man, I was making tentative plans to be a vendor at Sheltie Nationals this year, but making a drive 200 miles further to NADAC agility championships is probably going to be about the same as far as expenses. I could run my dog too. I also have more previous clients at that event that would likely order something vs trying to break into a new crowd. (Though it's a breed I love drawing and have lots of art of.)

[trubluebecca]

Responses on my post about this are all over the map, but it looks like most people who create art do so just out of a need to create art, even though they find the actual steps and process to be totally unfun or even annoying to do.

It appeared from notes to be a bit rarer that people draw or write out of loving the work process itself. Lets find out!

[trubluebecca]

Livejournal sends me a message that my blog is 16 yrs old and I'm like damn, I probably haven't posted there for 10 years and sure enough last post was from 2014.

[trubluebecca]

The furry con went well! I think I sold the most items and probably had the best sales ever. I'm sure it's not as much as some people, but I'm always happy to at least cover my costs.

Magnets sold pretty well. Interested to see how they go at the dog show before I make a call, but I'm thinking they will be worth pursuing. Like someone said "now I don't have to find a frame and wall space. I can put it on my fridge."

I only had a little bit of time towards the end of the day to check out other artists and vendors. I threw a bunch of money an Melissa Mendelson Art and we talked about the #dogsportslife who I did not realize was the guest of honor!

I think I need to upgrade my table display but I gotta figure out how I want to do that. I was told I was undercharging for a lot of stuff, but like...it feels like those prices would work for some cons but not others. Doesn't seem right to mess with pricing for each show. The podunk one day pop culture fandom shows I do locally probably would not support higher prices, lol. So I guess you could not bother to do those shows, but like...they're close and cheap.

[trubluebecca]

not normie enough to fit in but not fringe enough to lean into being a freak, worst of both worlds, pure liminality, just the weird coworker, and unrelatable classmate. and your mutual

[trubluebecca]

She's here! With a bonus owl friend!

I love the detail in her mouth and paws and delicate brushwork on the fur.

If you like adorable ceramic animals, check out @robinsceramics blog and Ko-fi to purchase.

she turned out SO pretty <333

image description: a ceramic coyote with warm brown fur striped with black. It looks up, mouth open to reveal its little fangs.

[trubluebecca]

Finished the magnets I wanted for this weekend. I've still got a bunch of dog ones I need to make for the dog show later this month, but at least this gets me started. Very curious to see what the response is. If it's good, I'll have to look into ways to make this easier than hand cutting, lol.