Art Fair Season is coming to an end

Hello everyone. over the past many years of my art journey I have attended many indoor events but I decided to invest in a tent set up this year and break out of my comfort zone by applying to bigger outdoor art fairs. I did quite a bit of research and felt that I went into it well prepared. I think researching it and slowly obtaining all the pieces I would need helped a lot. Buying all of the equipment over a year long period helped me spread out my costs and get me a nice professional set up.

I decided to splurge and start off with a better quality tent and I purchased the mesh tent walls for hanging art from Flourish! The mesh walls were a life saver since the first Art Fair I attended was Art in the Vineyard in Eugene and it was over 100 degrees each day. So at least when there was a light breeze I was able to feel it unlike some of my neighbors who were roasting inside their tents. The mesh wall set up was spendy but worth every penny. My Set up and tear down was quick and easy and the Mesh walls only weigh like 29lbs total compared to hauling grid wall in and out. Here is the link for those interested in the mesh walls. https://www.flourishdisplays.com/meshpanels_for_popups

I had a great time and sold my first originals. I took my series of Bones and Blossoms and it went really well. I took original framed illustrations along with prints, stickers, tote bags, and mugs. I learned a lot from this experience and I can’t wait to do it again next year. Thank you to everyone who visited my booth this summer and I hope to see you all again next year!

If you are interested in purchasing my art please visit my online shop!

My Inktober Project for this year

I have a big project planned for inktober 2020, I will be making a short comic this year. I want to make a dark weird spin on the original Alice in Wonderland story written by Lewis Carroll. I am titling this short comic story: Follow the White Rabbit. I ‘v done some character designs and got my ink pens back out. I practiced with some ink washes and pens to get some ideas of how I want to tackle this project. All 31 pages are sketched out and I will be inking a page each day in October! I’m very excited about this project and Inktober in general. I have been doing so much digital work lately and I miss playing with ink, it is my very favorite medium!

Title Page for Follow the White Rabbit an inktober project

Alice Character Concept

Mad Hatter and March Hare Character Concepts

Pencil Sketch

Alice and the Caterpillar

Alice and the Oyster

Goals Update since the world is broken

What a crazy year so far. Like so many others I was furloughed from my day job. The first few weeks as the Pandemic started hitting the U.S. I was working from home (which was nice) but I was waiting for the axe to drop since I had nothing to do since we had no customers. My unemployment was initially denied due to an error but was fixed a few weeks later. The first few weeks were filled with nervousness and unease but I have finally settled into a bit of a routine and I am really enjoying my time at home.

I get to make my coffee and breakfast in the morning when my husband leaves for work. I spend at least one day out my week catching up on laundry, dishes, and regular cleaning. The rest of the week I get to to some admin stuff ( social media, Etsy shop updates, website updates, ect. ) and make art ( sketching in my sketchbook, paint, and work on my comic.) My comic has still been taking a back seat. I have worked on it a bit but I am pressuring myself to get more done. I should have finished it with all the time I have had off so that is moving to the top of the priority list. This is my chance to get that project finished so intend to buckle down and apply myself.

I will also be working on a comic commission which I am very excited about. I will be spending a few days a week working on that as well.

I plan on submitting some art for a few local shows and city projects that are still currently happening.

When this is all over I still plan on doing some gallery shows of my ink art. I ‘m worried it will be harder to get into galleries for a while though. I think a lot of artists will have had time to work on their collections and will all be trying to get into galleries at the same time but I am hoping I can get in somewhere.

I hope everyone is staying Healthy and safe.

My Art Goals This Year!

I feel like my art turned a bit of a corner last year and I found a pretty good groove. Inktober really puts in perspective what I am capable of doing outside of my 40hr day job. I plan on creating more art in general weather it’s just for fun, sketching in a sketchbook, or working on my book. I did a full ink drawing every single day in October and filled a full sketchbook for the http://unboundsketchbook.com project. My sketchbook has been on display since the beginning of January and has been part of the Eugene First Friday Art walk. I t will be there for the art walk this coming Friday as well. Filling an entire Sketchbook is not something I ever do so this was a great project. I filled a sketchbook in one month so I should be able to finish one per year no problem!

I used inktober to add to the theme I started a few years ago with animals in space using Copics as my medium. I was really proud of some those pieces I did and decided to start collecting them and framing the originals to get them show ready. This year I plan on finding a space to host my collection!

I also started revamping my Etsy Shop this year and doing some research to see if I can noticed. I will be adding more to it over the next few months. I already sold a few prints and I really want to see that turn into something,

13x19 inktober Fine Art Prints available in my Etsy Shop!

You can find my Shop here:

https://www.etsy.com/shop/KFlaggArt

I obviously still plan on finishing the first chapter of Cyterna. This is usually a goal that seems so massive that I tend to fizzle out and lose motivation but I have never believed that it won’t get finished. I still have every intention of seeing that project become a reality. I plan on making it my main priority this year. Wish me luck as I plan on staying very busy in 2020!

Staying Busy!

I have had a very difficult year at my current job. I have a 40hr a week day job that is very taxing and demanding. We had a hard year and experienced many cutbacks and downsizing. It was very sad to see so many that I worked with get cut and for those of us that kept our jobs we all absorbed a crazy amount of work. I have been trying to keep my mind off it by coming home and doing what I enjoy. Have had a few side jobs working on album covers and a few commissions.

I didn’t make October very easy on myself since I participated in the worlds best art challenge …inktober! Worked extra hard on inktober this year and completed a full piece every day ( see my full inktober work on instagram). I also entered a few contests at SVS that I hope I place in so I am still waiting to see about that as well. I have started a series of space illustrations that have been super fun. I plan on getting prints ready this weekend to put into my etsy shop! Also I hope to do a local art show with these at some point soon.

Just finished doing marker demos and at the annal Tools of the Trade Show this week. That was super fun. Always nice to see all of the amazing talent at that show.

I also have a large commissioned project coming up that might put my own comic on the back burner again for a while or inspire to to work on both? We shall see where that takes me but it’s a project I am pretty excited about.

Things seem to be going well in the art part of my life so I hope can maintain that momentum into next year. To anybody experiencing a similar path …I’m rooting for you!

My January entry for the SVS art prompt “big”

I have only entered 2 entries so far for the monthly art prompts. I have not placed yet but the competition is extremely talented. I was pretty proud of this one though so I thought I would post it here 😀

Busy Little Bee

     I have been trying to buckle down on pumping out some new artwork. I have been working on sketch cards as well as some new full sized copic pieces to have for sale at my artists alley table at the upcoming Eugene comicon. I had some prints made and I am actually planning on having my penciled comic pages from my graphic novel on display for people to see. I still have a long way to go on my comic "Cyterna" but the new pages are a dramatic improvement in my opinion. I am very excited but still a long way from a finished product. I hope to have my first 4 issues compiled into a printed graphic novel by this time next year. 

Drawing Comics is Crazy Hard

After attending ECCC for the first time in 2014, I had finally come to the decision to create my own comic and attempt to get it published. I have been working on it on and off for over a year now around my forty hours a week at my day job. I do the writing mostly on my own and all of the art and lettering myself. I have learned everything I know from youtube tutorials, blogs  ( jimzub.com is my favorite) , talking to creators in person at cons (highly recommended), and of course the obvious....reading comics. After doing an exhausting amount of work and research I have figured out.....that I have an incredibly long way to go. I do however now have a completed issue of my comic which even though I am extremely proud of, I have decided to start over. I know I can do better and I will.