Friday Thoughts (Ep. 45)

Hello hello hello friends and patrons! (It's the same thing!) Another happy Friday to you! It doesn't seem like it's been that long since we last talked, does it? In fact it's been exactly a week!

First off this week we are joined by two new patrons, Alona and Lotus! I'm so happy that you two are here! I am super flexible when it comes to this Patreon, I am open to suggestions, feedback, and requests. And that brings us two closer to our 10 patron goal, which is when I'll be able to start the Arty Business series here. I'll keep working on bringing in those extra patrons, but if you have any friends who might like what I share here I'd love if you would suggest me to them. In the meantime, welcome, Alona and Lotus!

Additionally I want to say thank you so much to another of my patrons, Larry, who has given an extra large donation recently that has helped fund so many of my business purchases lately. Including a few fun things I'm excited to share this week. Thank you so much, Larry!

I started off this week with finally posting this fun little doodle on Instagram, and turning him into a sticker! And since it was April 1st, I turned this joke doodle into even more of a joke by incorporating a little bit of realism:

But was it a joke? I had a big influx of sticker orders that day due to both of these stickers, AND the instagram post is now one of my most liked, commented on, engaged with, and shared posts ever. 

So something that took me 5 minutes to draw and share is one of my most popular posts and stickers ever, while something that takes me days gets crickets. Do we learn something here? Loosen up, be silly, don't overthink? Don't be afraid to share something even if you don't love it? You never know what people are going to connect to? Right place, right time? 

What I learn from this is social media is a mystery and don't worry about it too much. Ha.

This week I also began work on a project that I'm very excited for, and I can't remember if I mentioned it! I've been hired to design a game day poster for the local women's basketball team, Seattle Storm. The poster design is entirely up to me, and will be used as promotional material for the game. It will be sold at the stadium on the day of the game, and all proceeds will go to a local charity!

The game I am designing for is a special Kid's Day game. This week I designed these 6 very quick thumbnails. Which is your favorite? I would love to hear! Leave a comment on this post to tell me which you like the best. 

Another project I finished this week was this 8x10 Produce Block Print! This is my second block print design, and just as I predicted I am hooked!! I absolutely love the imperfect look of this medium, and love that I can quickly and beautifully print it on so many different surfaces.

Like tote bags, bandannas, and t-shirts! To prepare for the Mac & Cheese competition I'll be tabling at on Monday, I bought a bunch of materials from our local Jo-Ann's. Not the highest quality but it's in my neighborhood and I don't have to order them in bulk before I know how well they will sell. 

If they sell well in person or online I'll buy a bulk order of these materials online. That way I'm not investing too much upfront for something I'm not sure about!

Unfortunately, we don't have a drying rack in our one bedroom apartment, and the ink takes a week to cure! So I had to use every available surface in our small storage room to dry these goodies.

I need a new system! But I'm going to see how these sell before I set one up!

I think they're very cute! These tote bags were a lot bigger than the first ones that I bought, so the design looks a lot smaller. But honestly I think it still looks good! 

If you like any of these products and would like to essentially pre-order one, I'd love to offer them to you before I bring them to the competition/put them online. Just let me know what you're eyeing and I'll set it aside for you so you can get it ASAP!

I also bought a couple bandannas to experiment on! (I don't have a sewing machine to sew my own.) These ended up being one of my favorite products! I'm wondering if I should keep one for myself, hmm.

By the way! I used all Speedball block printing products to make these prints, including the pink easy carve lino blocks, and black Speedball fabric ink. Not sponsored, it's just what my local art supply store had. I also just learned that "speedball" is a combination of heroine and cocaine, which is definitely not what I'm talking about here.

I spent a lot of time this week printing out stickers and cutting them by hand. I did it while watching PEN15 , so it wasn't exactly exhausting. But I can see how cutting all of these by hand will eventually be very bad for my wrists and hands. Someday when I have more space I'll buy a Cricut cutting machine! Someday!

Bonus! This week I popped in to target to get a new non-stick wok (our other large pan was falling apart and we cook ALOT of veggies per meal.) In the cheapie/dollar section I found these adorable felt veggies and a mini wheel barrow! Perfect for decorating my table at markets/conventions! Always be on the look out for little props for your displays.

Non-Art Life:

My friend and I went to Vegfest, Seattle's annual vegetarian festival. You bought a $12 ticket to enter and then ate your fill of delicious free samples! It was vast majority vegan samples, and had everything you could possibly imagine. And it was PACKED.

I left feeling very full and very inspired. I want to be more involved in the vegan community. I want to email vegan companies and offer my illustration services! Luckily I have a vegan event on Monday with the Mac & Cheese competition. Maybe that will be a good start!

This week I bleached and dyed my hair again! I bleached it at home with Manic Panic's Flash Lightning and Zach's help.

The day after bleaching I dyed my hair with Lime Crime's Unicorn Hair in Blue Smoke. Please enjoy this very unflattering picture of me and my brushed out hair and dye-dirty shirt. I'm not as unhappy as I look!

I left it in for about 3 hours and the result was a lot more teal than I was looking for, because the Blue Smoke color is a green-toned blue and my bleached hair was fairly orange. The last time I dyed my hair blue the color immediately turned purple. So, I decided to layer the purple-toned blue over the green-toned blue to get the navy I was looking for!

The next day I grabbed some Manic Panic Shocking Blue and gooped it on my hair for a few hours. And this is the result! A nice navy blue that really pops in the light. I'm back to feeling like myself. And looking like my logo!

It was a busy week, and there's still a lot more to do before Monday! I have to finish a batch of handmade pins, put my name on/sign the bags and t-shirts, price everything, package my earrings and pins, print/cut/sign a new batch of prints, and practice my set up. I can't wait to tell you all how it went next week.

If you get a second I would love to hear which of the Game Day posters you like the best in the comments. AND let me know if you'd like a special pre-order of a t-shirt, tote bag, or bandanna! They will each be around $20.

That's all for now, my dears! 

I hope you had a wonderful week, and have a great weekend!  Thank you thank you thank you for supporting me here on Patreon. YOU are the best, YOU are a superstar, YOU are a fresh field of flowers on a spring day! Have a good one!

xoxo

Ragon