Happy Holidays!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas..

Not.

It doesn't look like Christmas at all. Where's all the wonderful Buffalo snow I'm so used to??

So for my Illustration Friday post I will use this holiday card I designed for an office supply company in my hometown Medina, NY. It certainly fits in this week's topic, and I literally just finished it on Tuesday!

"Front"

"Back"

I didn't get a jpeg of it when I had the logo on the back. Imagine that above the little red tree there is a logo that says "Paperboys Office Supply & Business Solutions"

I've been crazy busy this December. Working on my house has been quite the journey, but we're putting our final coat of poly on the hardwood floors, so we can move in this weekend! *jumps for joy* *does happy dance* *realizes people are watching and awkwardly sits back in desk chair*

I have taken on another job these past two weeks. Not only am I an Art Director full time, but for the last several days I have also been Santa Claus.

Yes, that's right. 

Awhile back Justin and I made a coloring book for the Lions Club that was printed by Paperboys. It told the story of how the village of Medina is decorated every year by a team of three elves (Rosie, Candy Cane, and Tinsel). Long story short Medina had a big Christmas shin dig where billions of children flooded the streets. At Paperboys you could color a page from the coloring book, and write a letter to Santa (there's a letter on the back to fill out). The big selling point was that Santa will actually write you back! 

Guess who was Santa? 

Yup. 

A better look at the coloring book cover, before the text was put in.

Don't get me wrong, it was fun. Some of those letters were hilarious, and I wanted to make sure that each and every letter was personal. When I was in 1st grade I got a letter from an elf named "Flicky", and I was so excited that I kept the letter forever (still have it now). In 5th grade I was lucky enough to be in the English class that actually wrote those letters to the 1st graders. So who was I? Flicky, the elf. Of course.

Pics of my renovations will be up in due time...there is still too much to do!

Pappyland

McDonalds

It's not Toonsday, but I felt the need to pull a comic out of my archive today. It clearly depicts my attitudes towards the fast food industry and that is, I could care less how bad it is for you...the force that drives my car to McDonalds when I'm cravin' their fries is stronger than any that an article or documentary about the fast food industry could hold off.

Lacking Momentum

Really missing illustrating right now, as well as Illustration Friday. After finally closing on the house, all of my evenings have been devoted to turning our lower into a home. Now we're left with a pile of drywall scratching our heads wondering where to begin!

For small updates on more art-related things, I have rather exciting news! After hours of going back and forth with the rep from Channel 4, my commercial is finally airing several times on both Channel 4 as well as CW! For those of you that don't know, I work at an advertising company as the art director, and these past two weeks have been crazy after we decided to buy commercial ad space. I was sent back to my roots to wipe dust from Adobe Flash and animate a 15 second spot for our company.

All of this has been very fun, however it reminds me of why I started to put myself away from Animation after receiving my degree at Edinboro: Animation is so stressful! I had a small moment of breakdown similar to ones during my final semester at college where I went into the bathroom, let out a few tears, then composed myself to return to my office desk to complete the task.

On a lighter note, I'm completing a children's coloring book to be sold for the Christmas season. As a way of giving back to my hometown, I am helping create a coloring book about Medina, NY. It tells the story of how Medina is decorated by three elves that visit every year, and highlights Medina-famous places and landmarks that make Medina...well...Medina.

Pics to follow, I am terribly sorry that this post is so lame-looking and lacking in photos.

Good Bye, Grand Island

Today is most certainly a scone day. A Pepsi Max and scone day. A Pepsi Max and Wegman's blueberry scone day.

I have good news and bad news. The good news is, I finished coloring my facebook cover photo that I will be posting on my official house closing date which has been set for this Monday, October 22nd!

I love Grand Island and I will miss it dearly, but I am so anxious to get into this new house!

So the bad news is that I committed a murder last night, and the victim was my left big toe. Last year I ran into issues regarding my two big toenails from playing indoor soccer. There is so much quick-stopping on a surface that grips so well that your toes are constantly being jammed into the front of your shoes. Last night was the first night of the new indoor season, as well as the death of my left toe.

I was up until 4 am last night trying to find a way to make it stop throbbing, as it was constantly shooting bolts of pain up my leg at random intervals and keeping me from lying still (sorry Justin). I eventually fell asleep after putting a soft slipper sock over my foot with the hope that its cozy comfort would outweigh the zinging pains. Seems to have worked. Today I have a dull pulse of ache that flows up and down my foot that will hopefully lessen with each passing day.

Illustration Friday: Water

"There was nothing he hated more than taking a bath."

Not overly thrilled with this week's submission, but I wanted an excuse to experiment with drawing water.

Two Sneak Peeks

As I anxiously await the closing of my house new house (or should I say old new house?), I did some extensive doodling which became a b&w illustration that is soon to be colored. Once I finally get the official closing date, this illustration will become my new Facebook cover photo.

Oh, the journey begins... 

Also, last week Justin and I had an engagement photo session with Erin Oveis Brant Photography, and she posted a preview picture...which of course only made me hungry for more!

At Beaver Island Beach on Grand Island <3

I am SO proud that this amazing photographer is from my very own dumpy hometown. She lives in San Diego now, but just happened to be in visiting and doing photo sessions for the week :o) 

I knew that if I couldn't get Erin for my wedding photography, I at least had to get an engagement session done.

Illustration Friday: Book

Happy Friday!

Not the happiest Friday I've had, but I've got a good feelin' about this one. Despite the fact that my closing date was supposed to be today and I thought I'd have the keys to my new home this afternoon (which I won't).

So why do I feel so optimistic about today? Beats me. It's one of those odd times when you feel like you can sense something happening before it actually happens. Or maybe I'm just excited about October beginning this upcoming week.

Engagement photo session this Monday! I'm excited/nervous/scared/anxious/hopeful.

As for Illustration Friday, today's topic was book, and I am happy to oblige.

"Annie didn't really mind Sebastian's company. Truth was, he was her best friend." 

A Little Thursday Choo-Choo

I finally opened the pigknit etsy shop! Right now there are crickets chirping as I only have a couple pieces listed, but that's just a matter of uploading new art. Check it out!

House-buying is quite the process. Faxing, signing, faxing, initialing, mailing, inspecting, faxing. Our closing date was originally Sept 28, and we were hoping to get early occupancy. Well...it's the 20th and we're still not closed. Now I'm just hoping we actually close by our closing date!

Two friends of mine are coming over so I'm making lasagna tomorrow.
Oh by the way, I drew a train:

Why yes, it was as fun to draw as it looks...how did you know?

It had originally began as a doodle in my sketch book that I ended up liking enough to digitize. The zebra was an after-thought, but I'm glad I put him in because this train was lacking in zebra.

I'm so anxious to find out what tomorrow's Illustration Friday theme is...I wasn't feeling this week's theme quite so much. Normally if I'm going to get an idea from it I'll get it within 5 minutes of reading the theme so if I don't get it by then I forget about it entirely until it's suddenly Thursday before the next week's theme is out so...

Another random note: It's gettin' cooler over here in Buffalo. I heard on the radio that because this Summer was so dry, this Fall is going to be disappointingly bland in color. Lame. Anyone else excited for changing seasons?

Illustration Friday: Imagination

I can't wait to see all of the submissions for this great topic!

"Imagination" 

Illustration Friday - Identical

It's been a very...very long time since I've done a drawing for Illustration Friday, so it feels great to have something to show this week!

Here's hoping I have time to participate more often:

Pale Skin Problems

For those of you who don't know me personally, I am extremely pale. I'm opting for an ivory wedding dress because if I opted for a pure white dress I would probably look like something that would descend from an attic and scare small children and housewives..

That being said, I drew a comic awhile back about how pale I am, and now I'm sharing it with you. 

As for an update on the wedding, I've already bought my dress and picked out bridesmaid dresses! This Sunday Justin and I will be looking at a venue in Lancaster, PA that looks promising. I'll be crossing my fingers during the entire trip. We really need to lock down a date because apparently, although I thought i was ahead of the game by looking at venues over a year in advance, I'm behind! Ahh!

A Common WNY Misconception

This is a common occurrence to those of us living in the Buffalo area of New York. When on vacation or out of town, people will often ask where you're from out of common curiosity. When we reply "New York", it's automatically assumed that we're from NYC. This is normally followed by a big let down when we have to break the news that we actually aren't from the city...and that actually the area we are from is quite lame on almost all levels. 

Sorry for the mix-up kids...

Sometimes I think that if I didn't grow up around here but chose to move here after graduating, I might actually like it more. Buffalo's a great city, but when you grow up an hour away, then go to college in a different state, then return to roughly that same area after graduating, I can't help but wonder how many people think I've "moved back home" because there's a big difference here.

It's almost as if it's programmed into my brain that "returning to your home area" is the same as "never leaving home" which translates to failure of sorts. I'll be in Buffalo for at least a couple more years, for multiple reasons (good job, new house, Justin's good job), but this is most definitely not a permanent situation. 

Why? Because ploppy-sloppy-wet-drippy-cold-icky snow is wonderful for December and January, but once April rolls around and I'm still brushing it off my car...it gets a little old.

Homeowners at last!

Okay, we really weren't looking that long. Can you believe we found a house we like in around 2 weeks?  I talked to a banker who prequalified me for a loan Friday morning, we put in an offer Friday midday, and our offer was accepted by 4 pm!

Boom.

Because this duo knows to look past the endless rooms of sponge-painted walls and see the true Buffalo gem that lies beneath...

More updates to follow. I apologize for the lack of posts, my mind begins to stray when I'm onto a new illustration adventure ; )

House Hunting for Beginners

And the beginners would be us. Justin and I have been working with a Realtor to invest in an income property multi-family home. We'd live in one half and rent out the other, and flip it as we go (thank God my dad is a carpenter). We looked at one yesterday that's got some potential...I'll just be happy to no longer be renting.

Don't get me wrong, I love Grand Island and the breeze that I can get there through my windows (not found in Kenmore). However, I'm paying every month to my landlord which is equivalent to flushing that money down the toilet. Not only will I never see it again, but it won't be helping my overall net worth!

Enough house talk. Justin and I have been wondering how we can incorporate drawings into our wedding, because we are both creative peoples. The hard part was incorporating it without it looking tacky, but I think I've come to a resolution: Owl, and Pigeon.

"concept drawings"

No, they don't have names yet. The owl will probably lose his attitude as well. What I'd like to do is have these two as "guests" at the wedding. You'll be introduced to them on the save-the-dates, then watch their story throughout the invitations, program, cake, placeholders, card box, etc., eventually ending on the thank-you cards. We're playing around with ideas, and one that we have is that the pigeon and owl don't get along but the owl invites the pigeon to come because he wasn't invited. The pigeon's jealous of the owl because owls are always considered a "cool" animal found on pillows, phone cases, the works, whereas pigeons...not so much. 

They bicker throughout the entire wedding, and greet guests to their seat with cheesy pickup lines ("Is that a new hairstyle Deb? It looks nice." --- you get the idea.)  and eventually in the end on the thank-you cards you see them hugging and crying over how beautiful the wedding was and you see that in the end they really are friends. 

They'll be simple, sketchy, and in coordinating wedding colors. I'm pretty excited, and I hope the guests find it entertaining at the very least. 

More finalized designs will be posted in the future when the colors are chosen, with proper names for each bird included. Any ideas for names? I considered Leonard for the pigeon for some reason...

For the Love of Food and Fitness

How Computers Feel

Ever thought about how we treat our computers? I had to draw a comic about it because one day I was thinking about how we give our computers a lot of crap for running slow. Usually when they're running slow, we're clicking a thousand things and trying to do too many things too fast.

Lets hate a little less on the poor machines with today's Toonsday comic:

On a side note, Justin and I are engaged! We're also looking into investing in an income property and we'll be looking at two places this Thursday.

It feels good to be moving forward in life. Last year's big step was graduating college and starting a career. Looks like this upcoming year promises big things as well, and I can't wait!

Teen Mom

After watching Teen Mom 2 on Tuesday night, I just had to do a comic about Farrah. I'd been considering doing one about all of the girls for a long time, and this last episode was enough for me to at least be inspired to do one. They certainly give me enough material to work with!

"An Afternoon With Farrah"

Redbox Dilemmas #1

This could be part of a mini series entitled "Awkward Moments at Tops", and this itself is a mini series, so I guess it would be a sub-series? For those of you who don't know what Tops is, Tops Friendly Markets is a local grocery store in my area. Not sure how far its reach stretches, but I have never seen one outside of New York.

When I'm at Tops, annoying things happen to me. Today's Toonsday Comic deals with the Redbox at my local Tops, and yes...it's a true story.

It's Toonsday!

I've decided, I need a scanner. They have a $10 scanner app on the ipad, but I'm curious not only as to how it works but also as to whether or not it actually works. Perhaps I'll look around for scanners online first and then reviews of this app and then make my decision. Yes.

Happy Toonsday all. This week's toon was done in honor of this unseasonably-warm Summer we're having here in New York. It's been nearly 100 degrees on some days, that's crazy! Here, our bodies have adapted to deal with 8 months of cold, bone-chilling, damp, ploppy, sloppy weather...so you can imagine how shocked we all are now under this blanket of heat. Can't complain though, because in a little over a month it'll all be over and back to the cold, bone-chilling, ploppy, sloppy weather!

P.S. - I read book one of Fifty Shades of Grey. I'm wondering what this hype is all about because I thought it was terrible! I'm even a sucker for these fad novels...I friggen loved Twilight. The books, not the movies.

I'll finish the last two because I already own them, but I'm probably going to read something in between to mix things up a bit. Have you read it yet? What'd you think?

Happy 4th of July!

This is a little early, but it is Toonsday afterall...

I hope everyone has a fantastical 4th of July! Sucks that it's on a Wednesday, but I'll be happy for the day off from work!

Rest in Peace, little Wilson

Yesterday I came home after work to discover one of my guinea pigs has passed away. It's ironic because before I left for the day I thought about the fact that even though Wilson had been doing so well after a few close calls we had, he would never be the same as he used to be, and that I wouldn't have been surprised if he didn't live much longer.

We waited until after dark to sneak out behind my apartment complex to dig a grave. I wore my plaid poncho, for some reason it felt appropriate, and we went far enough into the weeds that we discovered a secret garden! Unsure of whether it belonged to another tenant or the groundskeeper, we were just happy to find full sized shovels lying around the garden as my garden spade was proving to be useless. We buried Wilson off to the side, a respectable distance from the garden, and we plan to spray paint a large, flat stone to put on top. Justin said he'll be happy to be close to his favorite vegetables by the garden.

I made this quick illustration with him in mind. Rest in Peace Wilson, thank you for being there for your brother, and I hope there are carrots wherever you are.

"Wilson" 2009-2012

A few hours later...

Amazing what a difference one texture can make on an image. I tried a wood texture rather than a fabric knit and this is how it turned out. I might even like it better. Which do you like better?

Craziness

I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I know there's no excuse for the lack of posting that has been going on. It seems the further into the new year I get the less time I have to post/create/cook/sew/think.

The good news? My boss wants me to draw comics for our newsletters that I send out on Sundays! Woop Woop! I know it's not Toonsday, but here is the first one. To fill anyone in on who Wallenda is, there was a big event going on in Niagara Falls, NY because Nik Wallenda (a tightrope walker) was tightrope-walking across the falls.

Law School

I have recently been asked to do a drawing for a friend who has just graduated from Law School this past weekend. We threw a surprise party for her, and she's a big fan of my comics so I drew one for her that actually ended up not only on the cake but on a framed print as well. I've been waiting until after the surprise party ended to finally feel safe enough to post the drawing, so, without further ado..

And on the cake:

She loved it, and I had a great time making it! No, I did not make the cake. My cakes are disasters, this cake was baked carefully by an engineer friend who happened to enjoy making fun cakes as a hobby. And yes, it was delicious. 

I'm still working to start messing around with watercolors. It's one of those things (like sewing) where I'm really anxious to have the free time to do it, and then when I finally have the free time I don't feel like dragging out all the supplies and making a mess. Usually when I finally have the free time I end up finding myself doing dishes or laundry, so I guess it really isn't free time after all, is it?

I need more hours in the day.

Royal Flush

When someone asks me to "draw me!" or says "ooo I want one too!" I usually get a pang of worry where my sincere gratitude and flattery is supposed to be. Why? Because I know already from the second they ask me that I am most likely not going to do that for them.

It's not that I wouldn't love to, I just don't have enough time as it is do to all the things I like to do, especially when I know that they will want me to do it for free because we're pals and all. So what do I do? I don't make promises, that's for sure. I tell them the drawing has to come to me if I'm going to do one for someone else that's just a random sketch, and here is an example. 

About a month ago I was at a party at my friend's parents' house. In her bathroom, I saw little illustrations of a small child/toddler sitting on a toilet. After leaving the bathroom I said "I hope someday someone will want to buy my illustrations just so they can hang them in their bathroom." and she told me if I drew her a picture, she'd hang it in her bathroom.

And so I did. Besides...she invited me to a get-together for her birthday last weekend and I had to blow it off because I live an hour away and went to a concert that I had already bought tickets for prior to my invitation. 

Cake

A friend asked me to draw a comic for his girlfriend's grad school graduation cake this week. Challenge accepted! Should be easy and only take an hour, I already have the idea of what to draw and that's the hard part!

Why must Monday's drag on like this? I'm in one of those weird funk kinda days where you really want to draw but you try and you just can't, its like there's something wrong with my hand. Perhaps if I were able to listen to some music that might help...

Here's another oldie comic from sometime ago. I suppose it's appropriate that I was talking about graduation cakes, because I drew this during my last month of undergrad.

College Stress 101: To avoid the overwhelming end-of-the-semester feeling hanging over you, try breaking large tasks into smaller, more doable ones. Although overall this technique will prove to be pointless, you will at least feel like you accomplished something out of every day ; )

Slowly Adding Comics

I'm not really sure what I want to do with my really old comics. I will eventually be creating new comics to post every Tuesday as "Toonsday Comics" (note the new tab up above ^)

I have several old comics that I want to have so that I have an entire archive to look through, but part of me wants to draw over them to make them spiffier beforehand. When I first started drawing comics I hardly knew anything about Photoshop and my lines are very faint, but then there's a certain quality to seeing old drawings and how they've changed over time.

Either way I'll be posting them regularly to build my collection on this blog. My comics are just for fun, never to be taken too seriously and hopefully not critiqued harshly as they are just doodles :]

Here is a comic from last year. Don't act like you never did this as a kid.

Illustration Friday: Jump

"As she wrote her thoughts began to jump from the pages"

Terrible Yet Productive Days

Strange weather we're having. It's hard to believe it's pushing May and we have a winter storm warning. Heavy, sticky, wet snow + baby spring leaves on trees = disaster in the making. The last time we had a snow storm when there were leaves on the trees it caused power outages and trees snapping in half from the weight.

Although the weather sucks and I've come down with something, I've been working on redesigning my website. I've bought the pigknit domain and I'm 100% done with the homepage. I've started working on the about page, so that only leaves a few more after that and I can send it to the programmers! It's going to have a very similar design-feel to this blog, and I will actually be embedding this blog into my site so from now on hopefully when you click to my blog you'll be viewing it through pigknit.com  :]  It's all very exciting, yes I know.

Other interesting news? I snagged a lightbox from my sister for free! She just happened to have one from her first year at architecture school that she never uses anymore. It's a nice size, and in great condition. I've been waiting for the right moment to begin experimenting with watercolors. It seems as though all illustrators turn to it at some point, even if it's just for fun, and I love the way it turns out so I can't wait to see what I can come up with in the future. Hopefully by the next time I'm posting this I'll be nearly done with my site, or completely done and waiting for it to be coded.

Finished Commission Piece

I finished the commission piece and it's on it's way to print! I don't think I'll be able to squeeze anything in for Illustration Friday, but the good thing about Illustration Friday is that there's always next week!

Courtney & Brendan, 2012

Commission Time!

I was going to try to create a quick illustration with an Easter theme, but I've been so busy this week I couldn't get around to it, and I'll be out of town this weekend so I think I missed out on my opportunity.

  I've got a new commission piece to work on though so that's awesome, I'll be posting progress as it comes along.  Hopefully I'll have time to work on IF as well.

Can't wait for Easter! I had to cheat and let myself have one cadbury creme egg. I can't help it, there's no avoiding the best Easter candy out there, I can't just not have one. And it was so worth it...

Balloon Transportation

Why waste money on rising gas prices when balloon transportation is so much more energy efficient?

I've been looking into reading books, basically "guides" to freelance illustration and how to make it a possibility rather than just a dream. Any good ones out there? Trust me, I'm a huge geek when it comes to researching products so I've got a long list of "to-reads" already, but I'm always open to more!

The cool thing would be to find one to borrow at a library, even better as an e-book. So far I'm thinking my local library will have neither, but there's always hope.

Do you ever feel an urge of thoughts that you just have to write down, but you don't have access to a journal? I get cravings like this all the time. 

Illustration Friday: Return

"Return"
Follow the string of glowing light,
Hung through the highest tree.
Return to where you're meant to be,
Your haven from the night.

Darn it.

A few years ago, Justin was looking for something to draw, so I told him to draw a raccoon blowing bubbles. Just recently this year I used his sketch as inspiration to create this quick illustration:

Ok. That was all fine and dandy, until today I happened to have been browsing on Cornell & McCarthy's website at the professional illustrators they represent, and came across this:

Aaand my heart sank. I guess a raccoon blowing bubbles wasn't all that unique after all, and to have a professional illustrator unknowingly put me in my spot makes it even worse. 

I linked the illustration to her site, Renee Graef Illustration. I love the mouse on the bubble.

Cat Doodles

This drippy cold weather is depressing. We had an entire week (unseasonably, unbelievably warm) with 70-80 degree weather. Now it's back to goosebump city again. Ever notice it kind of hurts to get goosebumps?

Truthfully my only point to posting today was to post this kitty doodle.

Illustration Friday: Swamp

Remember being little and feeling swamped with homework?  A little part of me secretly thought it was fun, and I loved the feeling of accomplishment when I'd check another assignment off my  planner. I don't miss projects, papers, or presentations though. I definitely never take my free time for granted now that I'm completely done with school. I love that I go to work and come home and leave work at work. In college I always had these dark clouds of assignments and animation projects that hung over me all semester and brought me down.

Tried the first exercise of p90x with my sister yesterday. SO glad I decided not to bother getting into that. Not only is it expensive, but the first exercise is pretty much impossible. There isn't enough structure and there's too much room to cheat, it really is up to you to push yourself in order to get a good workout. I can't do that, not when all I have monitoring me during the time is my cat. This is why I'm a member of the gym and take classes, because in boot camp it's high intensity strength training with a little cardio, and unlike at home where I can skip out on pushups, at the gym my instructor is there ready to pick on anyone who gives up.

Well that was a rant. Can you believe it's only Wednesday? This week is crawling by..

April Sweepstakes

My apologies for being extremely delayed with posting. Perhaps every day is too much?

I wish I had a few extra hours each day where I could just fiddle in Photoshop for fun. I spend all day at work in Photoshop doing work things and want to draw illustrations for Illustration Friday, but by the time I get home and finish all my cooking and cleaning there's only an hour or so left in the day that I like to devote to other things like reading or tv. Also, I leave my wacom at work most of the time. Partly  because I don't like bringing it back and forth since it syncs weird with my pc at work sometimes, and partly because the computer at home doesn't have a nice big desk with lots of room for me to sprawl my elbows out. I'm more or less cramped between the keyboard and our printer.

One can dream..

So it feels like it was just February and I was posting the sweepstakes page I made for the month of March, and now here I am posting the sweepstakes page for the month of April. This months' theme is "pick-your-prize", so I went with the whole April showers bring May flowers vibe, and really I just wanted to play with paper-cut outs in Photoshop.

Birthday Cards

I really should start working on my illustration for Illustration Friday...

Zumba today. Boom.

Here is the front and inside of a quick card I made for my dad's birthday:

 

Summer?

Theories suggest that because we basically skipped over the entire season of Winter this year, we might also skip over Spring (or should I say spring over Spring), directly into Summer weather.

Um..hell yes? Please? Springs in WNY are awful. You might get one day that's in the 50's but then 2 days later it's snowing again. So far, we're off to a good start with record-breaking temperatures, including two days this week that are calling for temps in the mid 70's. Ridonk.

I have two illustrations to do this week, not sure if I'll finish both. I'm working on a birthday card for my dad and as of right now I'm putting that at the top of my list of important arty things to do.

Moving on, here's another comic. Will post the illustrations I've been working on when they're complete.

My iPad 3 Is On Its Way!!

I'm very excited today because my iPad 3 is expect to arrive at the end of the day. I've never owned an iPad, iPod touch, or iPhone, so this is kind of a first for me with touch-screen-smartie-devices.

This week's topic on Illustration Friday is "shades", I have an idea but I need to think more on my execution. I drew a comic yesterday about my frustrations at self-checkout lanes in grocery stores. Even though there is a designated spot to stand and wait for a self checkout machine to open up, I've noticed that people start to hover over my machine because they see that I've started paying. That drives me nuts! I'm not done yet! I usually don't even put any of my things in my bag until I'm done paying, so then I feel all pressured when they're standing there waiting and I'm scrambling to put my debit card away and pack up my things. Patience people...

Awkward Moments At Tops, #1 - Self Checkout

70 Degrees?!

Whoa.

Today the weather calls for a high of 70 degrees here in the wonderfully tropical Western, NY. 75 in some areas! (not mine). This is not only unusual for this time of year...it's shocking.

They really need a size in-between Large and XL. Just sayin'

The weather also calls for isolated thunderstorms which would explain why it looks like doom and gloom outside, but it's all good because although I'm not a fan of a lot of rain, if there's thunder and lightning with it I'll deal.

I just realized I've been spelling lightning " l-i-g-h-t-e-n-i-n-g " my entire life. Fail.

It's not that I don't like rain, there's just an unnecessary over-abundance of the wet stuff in this area. When it rains, it pours. For days. Non stop. After awhile I get tired of squishy shoes and soggy pant legs.

However, this weather is very appropriate for this illustration I drew the other day. It was meant to be a loose drawing without going into too much detail, but I think I have something wrong with me where I have a very hard time leaving drawings "unfinished" looking. I love the way it looks when illustrations are just painterly and colored outside the lines at times, but my perfectionism gets the best of me from time to time. I'll keep working on that...

Tomorrow's Friday! WOO HOO!

Hump Day

For the past two weeks I've been enjoying a brand of oatmeal that I recently discovered due to the fact that I had a coupon for it. The brand is Better Oats and although they have other flavors, I was eating the flavor "raw-pure and simple" because most flavored oatmeals have unnecessary added sugars and what not. It tastes like crap when it's plain, but if you add just one packet of a zero-calorie sweetener like Splenda, it makes a world of difference 0_0

Anyhoo, I'm sure this story about oatmeal is interesting. The point of my story is that I ran out of Better Oats so I bought my local grocery store brand in plain instead, and...well...it's disappointing. From now on I'm sticking with the good stuff. Lesson learned. 

I'm working on a new illustration, just something simple. I don't want to post it yet because I'm actually almost done with it. However, there are always comics to post, so here's another doodaloo. I don't know about you, but I have the worst memory when it comes to reading books. I can remember bits and pieces, but for the most part I completely forget almost everything that happens in a book the second I finish it. This is especially bad when I burn through a series of books, one after the other, in a short amount of time. I usually end up forgetting what part came from what book, so don't quiz me on Harry Potter because I will most likely draw a blank.

P.S. I'm really bummed because this was almost small enough to bump up to the size XL, but it just barely hung over the edge. And now it's microscopic, so you'll have to click to zoom.