Mustache Mania

Wow, it's been a busy fall so far! Birthdays, shows, general family madness. It never seems to end. I had planned a wonderful Halloween post, but it kind of fell through because I lost track of time and the costumes just didn't get done like we wanted. So yeah, upset about it a little but it happens. Now we are gearing up for the holiday show season. Going to be doing Deluxe again this year, which we are super excited about. I love that show, you meet so many awesome people there. Also doing some smaller shows, one at my kids elementary school and one at Chesapeake Energy. So lots to do!

My daughter got me started on the whole mustache thing a few years ago. She likes to buy the stick on mustaches from the vending machines and freak people out as we drive by them in traffic. I have always made plush ones, but this time I decided to make some out of Crayola Model Magic and dowel rods so you can walk around with your stache. I have to hide them from my four year old, he likes to wear them around. His favorite is the Fu Man Chu stache. It is very easy to do. I mainly make things I think kids are going to like to play with  and plus it is made out of non toxic materials so you don't have to worry if they stick them in their mouths. Enjoy the pics I remembered to take! I actually did process photos this time ( I am so bad about that)

So here is my layout of clay and sticks. I also have wax paper on the table so I have somewhere to put them while they dry. It takes about a full day for them to totally dry enough to sit them in a container, I also make sure to flip them so both sides air dry equally. I use the Model Magic because it's just plain awesome. My daughter and I built an entire Greek Mythology Theme Park out of it and paper mache one year. It dries well and it doesn't get all crumbly, plus it stays a nice soft texture after it dries. I also don't have to bake it which is a huge plus! I have black and red here.

Next I pull some clay off and start to roll it. I put it into one piece and taper off the ends. I also did this on top of my calendar, which was a dopey thing to do. After this I shape it to the shape I want and shove a stick into the middle of it all.

I do use some sculpting tools for whatever I feel I need them for. Not much but they help when smoothing things out and curving things. Then I lay them out and let them dry.

Ta Da! Then when they are all dry, you hand them out and let your family members take unsuspecting pictures that you then put on your blog. I am sneaky like that! My sister decided to add a pop cap monocle to her picture,  my daughter just had a giggle fit because she used the ginger stache as she calls it.

She somehow reminds me of the Mayor from the Power Puff Girls. All she needs is a jar of pickles.

The fun never ends in this house, let me tell you!

Time to go, hope to update again soon, providing I don't get sucked into another black hole. See you soon!


Author:
Kiamichi

Art Process

Hey there everyone! Hope your summer is going well, no one has been fried like an egg or anything have they? Can not wait until this heat wave has passed. Summer is really not my favorite time of the year. It has however allowed me to get caught up on things since I refuse to go outside. I was working on a commission last night and decided to make a post out of it. I am going to share a bit of my art process with you guys. Ready, here we go!

First, I draw a sketch of what I am going to draw and then I scan it into my computer:

It is just a quick pencil sketch done on some white paper, nothing fancy at all. So after it is all scanned in I open up Adobe Illustrator and get my layers set up. In the first layer I place the image I scanned in and lock it. I use the layers above it to draw the linework and color and shade. The next three images show you a bit of what I mean:

 

This takes about and hour or so to do, depending on how bad of a perfectionist I am being. It really is a lot of trial and error and finding out what works best for you. Now here is the final product after I have smoothed out lines and added shading and all that fun stuff:

 

Pretty cool huh? There are a ton of tutorials out there in internet land. I learned a lot from them and also just messing around with the program. I prefer to use Adobe Illustrator to draw with instead of Photoshop. Still messing with the whole digital painting thing in Photoshop. But, this is mainly how I do most of my digital illustration stuff. Hope you like my little show and tell, I know it isn't very detailed in information but I wasn't writing a tutorial.  Until next time, stay cool and try not to melt!

Author:

Kiamichi

It's already been a month!?!

What happened to the time???

I swear, between this post and the last one it seems like I got sucked into some kind of vortex. Mainly because the entire household was gearing up for my daughter's dance nationals competition in Orlando. I would share pics but in truth they aren't spectacular or anything. We went to Disneyworld in between things and it was all kind of a blur. Never again lol.

In the mean time, things have been developing on the business front in certain interesting ways. We are officially showing at Deluxe Indie Craft Bazaar again this year! I am extremely happy about this. We had such a great time at it last year and are much better prepared for things this year. I can't wait to see who all sets up and talk to all the customers. We have also been acknowledged by Zazzle.com as one of their ProSellers! This means something, I am still learning about it, but it is exciting nonetheless. I got a cute little badge to put on our storefront there and I think we will get more traffic because of it, not sure, like I said, still reading on what it all means. So we are slowly growing, which is fantastic! I am glad for all the support and people who like us enough to buy something. It makes me so happy! So thank you!

Been working on small commissions here and there, it's been a lot of fun. Still doing the pin ups. I have lots of examples in the Deviant Art gallery. Working on some bookmarks right now. Going to put them up in the etsy shop in the printables section. Also going to bead some team logos for sale as well.  Gearing up for shows in the fall, that's when we like to do them. Weather is nice and you don't feel like you are going to melt. That's about all for now, let me leave you with a pic of my sis, daughter, and youngest son taking you to the gun show:

Thank you! They'll be here all week! Take care everyone!

Hats and Girlie Pics

Just a few things I have been working on. Still doing random drawings to pump up my portfolio, which is always fun, but also going to start selling some prints so I have been drawing for those too. If I get enough money together I would really like to transfer some to canvas. Also been doodling on some hats. Was hoping to get them painted and heat set for the weekend but I don't think it's going to happen cause of time. So some quick pics and then I am off to finish things up for the show at the Funky Hair Ranch in Edmond on Saturday!

Have a nice weekend! If you are in the area hope you stop by the show!

Attack of the Plush Doll Monsters

If you follow me on twitter, you would have seen I said something about sewing some plushies. Well I did, and I feel like showing them to you now. Not only that but my awesome husband has started making these amazing hand carved wooden swords and wands. I have added a page for them at the top of the blog here. He plans on making other things other than just swords and wands. He wants to make canes and bows and arrows and all kinds of really neat items so as he makes them and I get pictures of them they will be added to the flickr stream. There have been lots of new pictures added to flickr and they are on here as well in their respective pages, so take a few minutes to check them out.

On another note, my sister is relocating back home after many years away, so hopefully I can get her to let me post more of her process photos here since she will be living close by now. Now, on to the pictures!

Here are all those dolls I made. 

There is a flying pig in there, some ponies, a couple of dinosaurs, a frog, an octopus, a snake, some mustaches, and a pair of riceballs. I am going to save them for the show in Edmond next week. What doesn't sell I will put up in the Etsy store, plus I will make more. The pig has to be my favorite new one.  He is really fat and squishy.

Here is a couple of pics of the swords my husband made:

There was a dagger and a wand, but some kids snatched them up before I could get pics of them. He carves them all by hand. Our sunroom is covered in wood shavings and sawdust! As I am typing this he is sitting out there carving a broadsword and several wands.

We are gearing up for the show at the Funky Hair Ranch in Edmond next weekend. Hope you can come by and visit us if you are in the area. I love doing shows, you meet so many interesting people and see so many interesting things. As always we will also be setting up in the Plaza District next month so come by and hang out with everyone there. That's about it for now. I have a four year old waiting for me, lol. Will update again soon!

Just a regular day in the life

For my family at least. We sit here and play with glitter and hot glue. Here is my daughter making a pickle bacon rocket for her science class:

And here she is after she painted her face, cause that is what happens when you give her a paintbrush:

Then she attacked her brother with it:

Handsome, and colorful!

As all this crazy was going on, I was beading on this:

and I was also building myself a light box out of poster board and duct tape. I think it came out pretty spiffy if I say so myself. Why buy a light box for $80 when I can spend around $3 and make one myself with some trusty duct tape. Here it is in all it's glory:

So then I took pics of my awesome new business cards I ordered from MOO.com. I got their mini cards cause you get more of them for your money, plus I love the size. I also love how smooth Moo's printing is and the paper they use is sturdy, and you get cool little boxes to keep them in!

As usual, getting things ready for the Plaza District next week, so make sure you all come check us out!

Merry Christmas! Have some bacon!!

Hope everyone has had a wonderful holiday with their friends and family. It's been pretty laid back here. Everyone is all warm and comfy in their flannel pajamas and fleece blankets. Coffee is flowing because the adults here all need caffeine to function. Plus, I got this awesome present from Santa:

Love it!! I got a Major Award!! I was just saying last night while watching A Christmas Story that it would be awesome to get that lamp and that I would forever love whoever was able to procure one for me. So happy to get this, you have no idea. I am such a nerd.

I also have been busy drawing things up. I am also offering custom silhouettes in the Etsy store, if you are interested. Here is my ode to pork, because who doesn't love bacon?

 

I have a warped sense of humor. I have also made a wall pattern of the background and will be putting it on items in the Zazzle store, the individual little pig will be on items as well. The whole thing will be sold as posters and maybe some other items as well. More to come so check back often!

Author:

Kiamichi

Bead Madness

I have been beading like a maniac for about 2 weeks now, I think. My perception of time is a bit wonky cause I work from home so I never see weekends anymore, but that's a whole other post about the side effects of working in your pajamas every day.

These are for the upcoming Plaza District Festival on October 9th in Oklahoma City.

The top one is going to be a bag and the others are hair pieces. I need to edge them and put them onto some barrettes. Then I decided to show my mess. I have this HUGE stack of drawers that are full of nothing but beads in them. I am slightly shocked though cause when I went through them the other day I realized I am running out of a few colors. I haven't had to buy beads in about 5 years, I buy in bulk, so it was a bit of a surprise to me.

Other than this, I am just trying to get my whole look for my booth together. I haven't had a real booth in a long time and I have changed what I sell so coming up with a cohesive look is stressing me out a bit. I want it to be simple but pleasant to the eye, but not to where it is distracting from what I am selling. The crafts are the stars after all. Until next time, happy creating everyone!

Star Wars and Ice Cream

Things have been a little hectic, working on a project and it's kind of taken up a lot of time, hence the long wait in between posts. Here are a few pieces I am working on and will be finishing once I am done working on the current project I have to do. I will definitely post more about this project once it is completed, but until then I kind of have to just say that I am busy and some things are on the back burner until it gets completed.

So I am going to preview for you my Ice Cream Dream and Star Wars Bunch illustrations. I will also show you my extremely messy work space. I try to keep it clean, but it never stays that way.

I am going to finish this one up in Illustrator later. I really can't wait to work on it more cause I think it's cute and silly. It basically sums up my love of frozen dairy products. YUM!

It's a nice little family portrait. This one is going to be finished in Photoshop after I ink it by hand. I basically made it for my son, he is a huge Star Wars fan. He wants to take fencing cause it will be like fighting with light sabers. So he will be getting a copy of this to color all on his own once I get it inked.

Here is my laptop. I do everything on it. Everything. I also own multiple USBs and that is where I keep all my illustrations so I have enough space on my laptop to work. I love my laptop.

Yeah, here is my messy desk. It was clean a few days ago, now it looks worse than this. At least I know where everything is, it is a very organized mess. I really need to clean it again.

I am going to attempt to post every Friday from now on. I need to be more consistent. Even if I am busy and can barely check my emails. See you next week, hopefully with something interesting!

Construction over and Cards!

I am a fast little worker bee when I want to get something done. I have some temporary slide shows up to show my work. I am using those until I can find better ones, maybe with flickr or someplace else. Most likely flickr, just need to get my stuff set up there and no time for that until this weekend. So enjoy the newness.

I have also been block printing cards again. Will get a post of those up in the next few days. Letting them dry so I can take photos of them. My fingers are stained magenta, it is a bit strange looking, almost alien like. It's more hot pink than magenta really. Very delayed love cards. I had intended to have them done for Valentine's Day but then life got a bit crazy so half got done and then I just now got to finish the rest. Love happens every day though so who says you can't make love cards any other time of the year! Will be sharing them by the end of the week and they will be up for sale in the Etsy shop. Going to overhaul that shop soon too. Need to be more descriptive and all that fun stuff. Back to work now!