Category: announcements

Angelic Visions – Solo Exhibition + Book Signing + Demo

If you’ll be in my neck of the woods come January, I’ll be launching a barrage of Angelic Visions events starting the first Friday of January, ALL of which will be hosted at our local gallery, Artworks on the Square!  Read on for more and your chance at prizes and pretties.

Friday, January 7th, 2011, 7-9 pm – RECEPTION & SOLO EXHIBITION

Selected artwork from Angelic Visions will be on display for the entire month of January with a reception on the 7th. Wine tasting and live music provided!

Saturday, January 15th, 2011, 7-9 pm – BOOK SIGNING PARTY

Join us in celebration of the debut of Angelic Visions!  Door prizes will be handed out to the first lucky few with prize raffles going on throughout the event.  You could win a free copy of the book, the Angelic Visions themed calendar, and other such goodies!  Food and drink will be provided, of course! Can’t have a shindig without them!

Saturday, January 22nd, 2011, 12-2 pm – TECHNIQUE DEMO

Join me for a demo on how to render skin tones in color pencil and a rundown of the basic tools of the trade.  Appropriate for all skill levels. $25 per person. (No materials required as this is a demo/lecture sort of class).

Mark your calendars!  I’ll be sprinkling reminders as these dates approach. I hope to see some of you locals there!

Also, still taking Pre-Orders, for those who are interested in the special bundle direct from the artist.

Angelic Visions – Pre-Orders OPEN!

I’ve been dropping hints here and there on the nature of Angelic Visions, a project which I have been working on for nearly a year and a half to date!  I’m happy to announce Impact Books has begun its roll out of this upcoming title, featuring a write-up and a free watercolor demo from the book over at their blog!

I have the advanced copy here in my hands and can attest to you that it is just gorgeous!  Like all of Impact’s books, it is a lovely gloss covered paperback chock full of rich colorful images and tons of visual aids to help ease you into the process of painting your own gorgeous heavenly creatures.

Here are some sneak peeks to sate your palettes:

In addition to pre-ordering via North Light’s shop, this book is available directly from me at this link. I’m offering the option to buy the book bundled with an ink sketch on the inside cover, a calendar, or both!  All orders of this book bought directly from me will be packaged with a shiny metallic 8×10 in. print of the cover art “Angelic Vision” and will be autographed by the artist!  Don’t forget to include your 2 word prompt for your sketch when you checkout.  
Note that pre-order bundle quantities are limited!  Order soon to procure your special copy from me!
All pre-orders will ship some time after mid-December.  Those with the sketch option may require more time for processing since I am customizing those.

Leather Faces on Parade!

Wow, when you try to make a pun from Phantom of the Opera’s “Masquerade” and leather masks, you end up with disturbing mental images of Leatherface from Chainsaw Massacre dancing a musical number (or perhaps that’s just me?)

Moving on to the point of this entry! I’ve been dabbling a fair amount in leathercraft of late! In a strange twist of fate, dabbling has started to become a part of my business at large, with at least half of my sales at DragonCon from masks I had on display there.  As such, I’ve recently uploaded a flood of masks for Halloween to various online markets. (Just click the thumbnails to see their sale listings)

And if that weren’t enough masks to shake a stick at, I’ve also been invited to the Mechanical Masquerade, a steampunk ball taking place November 6th in an old theater in Avondale Estates.  I’m super excited about attending this event as a vendor and hyped to make all new designs!  I’ve been a little stumped on what to do so far, but I have a feeling that when the dam breaks, I’ll get a rush of inspiration at the very last minute!

Right now I’m brainstorming on how to mix the themes of filigree, keyholes, gears, roses, clockwork, and lace.  Toss that all together and I’m getting mental images of a street-walking Rosie from The Jetsons, but I’m sure it will all gel at some point to inspire some really cool designs (no doubt in the same vein as my Keeper of Secrets mask).  I’m not quite sure I understand the Steampunk movement as it applies to Fashion, so I am looking for reference links here, if you guys have any good ones!

Will I ever get back to painting (or writing, for that matter?) Only time will tell!  For now, I’ve been quietly thumbnailing images for my long forgotten Rapunzel comic at night.  The upcoming Disney retelling of the tale (Tangled) has rekindled my love of the story and my dark retelling of it.

But that is a matter for another entry!

Con Report: Faerie Escape Atlanta

I’m back from Faerie Escape Atlanta with a very good feeling about the direction this con is going. They’re tapping a niche for mystical/mythical fantasy that I think will gain them a lot of followers, if they can keep it going!  The con was held in a small Holiday’s Inn, a refreshing break from cons that sprawl across multiple hotels with enough people packed into them to make you feel like a sardine. I also ♥ free parking and light traffic to this location!

Angelic Shades at Faerie Escape 2010.
Product placement galore!
This was FEA’s first year in operation and it showed with the lack of attendance for Sunday, when there weren’t as many events scheduled to keep folks coming back.  Traffic in the dealer’s room was all but dead.  What the con lacked in traffic, however, it made up for in the friendly atmosphere and good company. We sat next to Henna Belle, who provided us with lovely conversation and entranced us with her wonderful henna art. She was mesmerizing to watch!
I also met a couple of fantasy authors from Mercury Retrograde Press and was delighted to learn there was a small indy press here in Sandy Springs that catered to underground and character-driven fantasy works. They lured me in with free brownies and I left with two books I couldn’t resist, Secret of the Sands by Leona Wisoker (desert kingdom + prince + thieves=SOLD!) and Shorn by Larissa N. Niec (winged people + angst = Also SOLD!).

Both Larissa and Leona were kind enough to personalize my books for me, which was a treat. I’m hoping that once I get through my huge to-read pile that I’ll be able to work with them on producing some art for their books, which they both seemed highly interested in!  I’ve been wanting an excuse to illustrate something beyond my own stories and this seems like an excellent opportunity for me to expand my subject matter and try more challenging scene-based work.

The Phoenix and Dragon bookstore hosted the event, another place I’ve never heard of local to me!  They also display art in their store on a monthly basis, so will definitely be looking into that once a few more originals have returned from their travels abroad. FAE Magazine also expressed some interest in my art, which I’m hoping to ply my trade with submissions shortly!

So while I barely made more than $150 the whole weekend, it was enough to cover the cost of the Exhibitors table/gas/food and provided a good opportunity to network with people in my area.  Product-wise, my prints were all but neglected in favor of the leather carving, which really seemed to grab people’s attention!  All but one butterfly barrette (the comet moth) sold while half of the keychains and macrame necklaces were wiped out by a single customer.  Surprisingly, not a single mask sold, for as much as people were trying them on!  On the bright side, I won’t have to remake them for DragonCon, which is somewhat of a relief!  I am hoping to return next year to FEA with nothing but crafts and will probably be saving my print/art stock for DragonCon and Anime Weekend Atlanta specifically.
On a random note, with so many faeries wandering around, I feel compelled to make my own fae persona, which I have deemed the Butterfly Eater.  Costume with a ‘captured and impaled’ butterfly theme coming up!  Those good faeries won’t know what hit them. Mua ha ha!
Now, I have two weeks to get in gear for the next (and largest) convention I go to each year, DragonCon here in Atlanta!  I have around 22 images to mat & embellish, paintings to frame, and keychains to make.
So let the mad rush begin!  I’m armed with coffee, tape for my eyelids, and an unhealthy addiction to heavy workloads!
PS
My display (as you can tell from the booth photo) has evolved a bit! A new artist alley booth breakdown is coming soon!

Waiting in the Wings

Yes, I’m still alive!

I realized today it’d been more than a month since I last posted an entry here (so much for that twice a week schedule). Normally, I’d consider this a failing at being consistent with my social media schedule, but sometimes there are just more important things in life that need tending to.

In the month I’ve been absent from the net, I’ve been reconnecting with old friends, spending time with loved ones, and pouring all of my energy into the final stages of a project which I’m extremely excited about. Without spoiling too much hype, I have been working on the writing of a book that illustrates how I go through many of my illustration methods, the book itself packed with new artwork which was created specifically for its pages. I did a short feature about some of the artwork and its references, if you’re curious and want a small preview of things to come.

This will be a mass market book that you will be seeing on the shelves of nearly every major book store near you! There’s still editing, perfecting, and packaging to be done, but a final product is on the horizon! To be sure, I will keep all of you up to date on this blog.

Until the time comes to divulge more info about my book, I’ve been gauging what the future holds for me. Many paths are unraveling, from traveling to art fairs and conventions to pursuing alternate means of income such as licensing and online venues. It’s a bit overwhelming at times, but always exciting! I hope to keep a record here of this journey of discovery with further posts about what it takes to sell work at an art fair to the trials of art licensing and more. I’ll be hitting alternate markets hard in this year to come. My sledgehammer is ready to smash!

So stay tuned! There’s more waiting in the wings.

Prints Clearance Sale & Haiti Disaster Relief

In light of this most recent tragedy in Haiti, I will be donating half of the profits from my current prints clearance sale to the Red Cross. If you haven’t heard of the tragedy, a 6.5 earthquate hit Haiti, toppling hospitals, government buildings, and many homes in the capitol. They need help now!

If you don’t want prints, you can still donate directly here.

My heart goes out to everyone who has been affected by this tragedy. The prints sale will be handled via my deviantART journal. You can see the entry here.

Regularly scheduled blogs will return once I’ve had a chance to get some equipment set back up in my room. I’m hoping to get back into the video blog act again, but this requires that I form order from chaos out of the mess that is my current bedroom/studio.

Until then, let’s do what we can to help others in need!

Updates & New Online Galleries!

Just a quick little update while I’m sneaking a moment to myself during the Christmas madness. I’ve still got presents to make in the form of little leather keychains I’ve been teaching myself to make for my novice dabblings in leathercrafting. I expect a few sleepless nights in the days to come!

I’ve finally hit that part in my big semi-secret book project as well where I’m in a most important step: the design of the front cover! I know how important it is for readers to judge a book by its cover, so I’ve been fretting awfully about how to make this cover the best eye-catching thing that will stop a person in their tracks and make them pick up my book. This means also that the project is nearly finished and I will be able to share more details about it soon! I’m so excited to tell you all more.

In other news, I’ve recently joined a few new online art communities! If you’re a member of any of these places, feel free to add me:

Ang @ Paperdemon.com – The place for my more mature pieces. Empty for now, but will most likely have work soon in the coming months! The interface is tricky for this site, but I’m rather pleased with their moderation of mature-themed images and writing.

Ang @ CGhub.com – I’ve heard this site is like a cross between DeviantART and ConceptART so I’m giving it a try. The interface is pretty clean with lots of ways for artists to network together, from what I’ve gathered. Unfortunately, it seems geared more towards digital artists, which I am mainly traditional, meaning my updating here will be slow.

Ang @ Wonderlands – Alas, I wish I had time to update more here! It’s mainly a site for UK authors, but artists and authors who love the fantasy genre are invited to join. They’ve had such great writers as Jacqueline Carey give an interview and seem to be a friendly community to network in.

I hope you all have a wonderful holiday season! I hope to return next entry with sanity intact. Joyous blessings to you all.

Etsy + Amazon Holiday Shipping & SALE!

Etsy Sale! FREE Shipping

I saw that many folks on Etsy were running sales and thought I'd jump on the bandwagon! From now until December 31st, get FREE standard shipping on all items within the US.

I've also marked down many of my items, including the new leather butterfly keychains, so grab em while they're cheap and available!

Free shipping also counts for custom butterflies and pendants. Note that I do not take custom orders on anything but pendants and butterflies.

My Etsy Shop :pointr: [link]
Sample Offerings:
Amazon Sale! 15% Off

As long as we're talking sales, I've just set my Amazon shop to 15% off ALL items! Remember that these items are bought directly from me, meaning all products are autographed by the artist with all proceeds going directly to the artist. It's a great way to show your support and give the gift of something extra special.

My Amazon Shop :pointr: [link]
Sample Offerings:
Christmas Shipping

If you'd like your items to arrive before Christmas, I recommend you shop early so I can have it out to you ASAP! I make no guarentees on the quickness of USPS, which is my main source of shipping for local and international shipping alike. Expidited shipping will be available on Etsy by special request & handled separately, but is still not guarenteed!

Shipping Times
Orders within the US –
Prints, Pendants, Keychains, Small Originals, & Matted Originals – USPS First class – 3-7 business days

International orders
USPS Air Mail – 7-10 business days

Don't forget the limited supply mini calendar+sketch sale is going on too!

Wishing you all a wonderful holiday season.

:holly::love::holly::love::holly:
Ang

Terrible Dawn + Announcements


“Terrible Dawn”
5×7 Inches, Watercolor & Color Pencil on Illustration Board

A brilliant blade flashes in the deepest dark. All who fear the light know her, for she is the Terrible Dawn, the slaughterer of demons and the blinding brilliance of Heaven.


She was really only meant to be a ‘minor’ illustration, but she just stole my focus and demanded more attention than a mere day. Could it be her resemblance to my muse, Aurora? She’s almost what I imagine Aurora to look like if she were transmogrified into an angel. Either way, this was much fun and an excellent test run of the Series 500 Wet Media Board from Strathmore.

All in all, it seems this board is an excellent upgrade from earlier series. It takes abuse well with wet-in-wet techniques, absorbs hue quicker and more effectively, and seems a general improvement all around over the regular cold press illustration board I’ve been using. Color pencil took to the surface just as well as it had with previous cold press board. I had some minor issues near the figure’s cheek bone where the line became ragged because the surface of the paper began to peel up and create tiny hairs, but I think this issue can be avoided if one waits more thoroughly for paper to dry between layers (I’m an impatient cuss). I like this new board, but will have to experiment more with future pieces to test its full capabilities.

In other news, after much toil and effort and caffeinated nights, I’m proud to release the new Amazon webstore of Angelic Shades! I’ll slowly be migrating the current offerings on my website over to this new webstore over the next few months. Since Amazon doesn’t allow bewbies, any mature rated items will be moving over to my Etsy shop.

Want to keep abreast of new items and offerings? Sign up for my mailing list or keep an eye on the News section of my forum.

All plugging aside, I expect to write a review of my experiences with the Amazon webstore interface once I have gotten a better feel for its expansive features. My first impression is that this shop setup is not for beginners. There’s a bit of a learning curve with all it’s features, not to mention a great deal of setting up you have to have as a business to even be eligible to use the Amazon format.

Till next time, Bat fans!

Going Official Celebration! + More Art to Come

There is a saying that every journey begins with a single step. Sometimes we fall, trip, or get distracted from the path by shiny objects. Eventually we reach a point where we can stop and realize there is more of the road behind us than there is ahead. You’re almost there! Almost…

I’m happy to report that after much deliberation on the matter, I have finally registered as a sole proprietor art studio in my county. It was not as scary as I would have thought it to be. I was imagining men in suits with monocles there to tell me I didn’t make enough or that I suddenly owed money because I haven’t been organized with my practices till this point. Instead, I got pleasant clerks who kindly directed me to the proper locations and smiled wide at my mom and I high-fiving when we finally received the little cardstock business license. There wasn’t much fuss, besides filing the wrong paperwork because I didn’t realize we’re technically an unincorporated residence out here in the boonies of Georgia.

If anyone is particularly curious, we are registered as a home-based business, which means that no retail sales are occurring on the premises (as I sell art purely online or via 3rd party venues, at this point). This sort of designation works for artists, authors, seamstresses, etc who provide a service without actually handling retail sales in a structure (meaning we don’t need to worry about safety permits and the like that other businesses would need, or at least this is how things work in my county)

Numbers can be scary, and while this means I will have to pay more attention to things like proper book keeping, I am so relieved to finally be organized, to have all those numbers and slips of papers that mean I have nothing holding me back from moving forward with this venture. The number of things to fear are growing less and less.

Now pass around the margaritas, throw a steak on the barbie, and shout to the Heavens, it’s time to kick some butt and show the world I mean business (literally).

For the next entry, I think I’m going to actually show you guys progress shots of the next paintings I’m working on. I realized that for a blog entitled ‘the Art Blog of Angela Sasser’, I haven’t really posted much artwork!

So prepare thyselves for some visual stimulation, in the meanwhile.