Category: Blog Posts

Kickstarter Launched! Goddesses of Autumn Enamel Pins + Summer Pin Pre-Orders

Originally posted on Patreon

The fateful day has finally arrived and the Goddesses of Autumn Enamel Pins have now launched on Kickstarter!  By the time I’ve sat down to write this post, we’re already almost 30% funded, which fills me with such happiness.  It’s been easier for me to deal with my fear of failure when doing these kinds of crowdfunded projects because of your massive support and enthusiasm!

So thanks so much to all of you who have been along for the ride while I grow my Birthstone Goddesses into a collection of my own and fly free as an independent artist.  It means the world to me!

Since my folks here are my SUPER FANS, your word of mouth means a lot!  If you’d like to help spread the word, here are a few links for you to easily share even if pins aren’t your thing or you don’t have the funds to participate this time.  Sharing is caring!

– Retweet this post on Twitter
– Share and/or Like this post on Facebook
– Re-blog this blog on tumblr 

Pre-Order the Goddesses of Summer Pins

If you missed out on the Goddesses of Summer pins, I’ve finally listed them in my shop where you can pre-order the whole set or a single pin!  I plan to ship them out in mid-October or sooner (once my Kickstarter Backers have all their pins first).

>Pre-Order here!< 

Patreon Patrons, don’t forget to use your Patreon discount code for 15% off (or your 25% off code if you are pledging $10 or more!).

_

Now it’s time to celebrate this milestone!  We’re now officially at the halfway point with the enamel pin Kickstarters.  What a gratifying learning experience it has been!

I’ll be back soon with another update about where we’re going from here.

Here’s to all of you who make my dreams possible!

♥ Ang

Convention Report – DragonCon 2019

I’m back from DragonCon and have finally stirred from my post-con torpor!  Thanks so much to everyone who stopped by, including a couple of my Patrons here!  It was so lovely to meet you and give you hugs (and pins!).  I got to see so many artist friends I haven’t met in person, plus old friends I only get to see this time of year.  I only wish I’d had more time to spend with everyone!

I always like to do a write-up if I can.  DragonCon is such a massive show and always a great event for testing out new, ambitious things!  I’ve been working hard towards it for a long time before the event to make new products to debut, such as the tote bags and scarves.  This was also the first time I’ve ever had to fill such a large space at 8 x 10 feet! It was an intimidating prospect!

So how’d I do?  I sold half my canvas totes, but only a couple of scarves!  Most folks went for my prints, pouches, totes, and greeting cards (especially the ones themed for the month of September!).  I also think my display made an impression!  People really seemed to love my little ‘shrine’ of flowers and candles.

You can also see a video tour of the booth here.

All in all, I made back expenses and then some!  Having a larger display space really paid off for me, as I think the larger display footprint allowed me to give people a better idea of the scale of this ambitious project of mine which is really hard to contain in a smaller space.

The Art Show

The Art Show was a new beast this year!  New management meant new changes, such as the lack of a silent auction or a print shop.  This meant more floor space for artists and a new way to buy directly from the artist, instead of an auction!  It was nice to be able to take my earnings from sales in the Gallery area home immediately instead of waiting for a check to come in the mail.

There was a little confusion about how to buy things from the gallery bay, but otherwise, I felt the changes were for the better, letting the Art Show check-in process go more smoothly (no dealing with barcodes or anything of that nature).  I really enjoyed the new black pegboard for the Gallery area as well!

The volunteers were especially exceptional this year.  They came around often to see if we needed help and check on our well-being!

What Did I Learn?

DragonCon, especially one where I test out new things, is always a learning experience!  Here are some things I learned.

  • Bundle Deals. The bundle deals worked like a charm! I attribute most of my sales to people wanting to buy gifts for multiple people and being encouraged to do so by saving a little money with a bulk discount.
  • More Signage. I need more signage to show people I’m on Patreon, what my name is, and also that the series is about a birthstone series, as it took  people a minute to realize this was a birthstone series and upon realizing that fact, they of course then wanted to immediately see what their month was, which was easier when I made month signs to go by the images (and to subdivide the print bins).
  • The 15 Second Rule.  Kevin, who has vast retail experience and is a remarkable salesman, taught me this at the con. Basically, instead of smothering people with my overeager greetings, give people 15 seconds to process what they’re seeing and decide if they are engaged with it.  

    This wait time helped me make a better call about who was meandering through and who was actually interested so I don’t waste my precious introvert energy on people who have no interest.

  • Stock for Birthday/Month Sensitive Items.  I had so many September babies stop by and say “It’s my birth month and I’m treating myself” or I had friends of September babies shopping for birthday gifts for the special September person in their life. This should have been obvious to me, but I need to keep more stock on hand for these timely occasions!  I even made extra of September and still sold out!
  • More Small Impulse Items. I had so many people who didn’t want to make a big investment or who didn’t have a lot of wall space who ended up scooping up stickers and greeting cards.  I would have sold pins like hot cakes for this reason as well!  

    I want to focus my table area around showing off these small items since they became the ‘bread and butter’ small sales that added up nicely at the end of the day because they are easy to manufacture on a mass scale with a good markup and impulse range price tag that isn’t too much of a burden for the average buyer.

  • Calendar. I REALLY need to finish up the calendar for this series, as now that I have all 12 images, it’s become my number one requested item. I’ve planned to work on it after the enamel pins, so it will be coming next year!

Favorite Cosplay

Oh boy it was SO hard to pick a cosplay to feature here!  Now that they’ve lifted the no photo ban in the Art Show, I had a lot of fun taking photos of amazing cosplayers who dropped by my booth.  They were all wonderful and you can see more of them here.  

However, I just have to feature this lady!  I was a Power Rangers fan back in the day and this lady made me squeal with nostalgic glee.  She also made her costume herself!

I am already missing the glorious geeky chaos that was DragonCon!  I love being around so many kindred spirits that it feels pretty lonely when I get home and return to the grind.  I’m grateful my fans (and especially my Patrons) are here in my corner experiencing this journey along with me.  Your encouragement and feedback have helped me have one of my best cons ever!

Next, I’ll be hopping right into Kickstarter fulfillment and revving up for the Goddesses of Autumn pins, so there’s no rest for the wary!

Did you stop by at DragonCon?  What was your fave cosplay?  Sound off in the comments!

♥ Ang

JordanCon Bound + Art Show Preview

I’m headed to JordanCon in ATL this weekend, which is one of my favorite local fantasy-centric conventions to attend.  The Art Show there is so warm and welcoming and I’m excited to share more of my Birthstone Goddesses there this year!  

My body of work grows and grows, this year’s showing at JordanCon now including a selection of the designs I created to be used as header images.  I haven’t added prints of these designs to my online shop (yet), so in-person events are the only place to buy them until I have finished rolling their print offerings out (slowly, but surely!):

I’ll also be showing off the original painting of Lady of September as my centerpiece this year!  She looks so stunning in the new frame that my Patreon Patrons helped me pick out last year.

I’ll also be displaying two of the limited edition masks I created for my Birthstone Goddesses, the mask of February and May!  Here they are as photographed by the talented WinterWolf Studios.

Finally, you can see a video of some of the mats I’ve embellished with ink and gold here:

Convention Inventory

For those attending this show who may be considering adding something to your collection, here’s a rundown of what I’ll be offering at JordanCon this year:

 In my gallery bay:

  • The framed original of “Lady of September”
  • Hand-Embellished Prints of 7 of the Goddesses
  • 4 matted open edition prints of their header designs
  • 2 of my hand-tooled Limited Edition leather masks

In the Print Shop:

  • 8×16 prints, 5 prints per Goddess representing each month of the year!

Unfortunately, I will not have a dealer’s table this year, but the Art Show staff will be happy to help you out with purchasing my art.  

You can also still come say hi to me in person at the panel on Livestreaming for Artists (Stream A Little Stream) which I will be co-hosting with fellow artists on Friday at 2:30 pm.  Feel free to come join us and/or chat me up after the panel!

—

If you cannot attend the show, I’ll be adding any unsold items to my Art Nouveau online shop, with the hand-embellished mats being made available exclusively through my Patreon Secret Shop. 

I hope to see some of you there!

Re-branding the Ladies of the Months + Project Roadmap!

My astute fans may have noticed I’ve begun referring to my Ladies of the Months intermittently as Birthstone Goddesses over the past few weeks. I’ve had some major revelations happen while prepping my project for a wider arena (ie. Amazon).

“Ladies of the Months” as a title was getting a lot of strange looks!  Some of the misunderstandings about the title have led to some interesting questions, including, but not limited to:

  • Does this have to do with menstrual cycles?
  • Does this have to do with erotic coloring books?
  • Does this have to do with erotic calendars?

Silly, you may say, but if the title of a project requires a lot of further explanation, doesn’t make a good impression, and is too generic to be easily found via search engines, there is a problem!  This is why I have opted for a couple of changes.

Re-Introducing the Birthstone Goddesses!

From this day forth, the LADIES OF THE MONTHS will be called the BIRTHSTONE GODDESSES.  Each individual Lady will still be the Lady of January, etc., but the set of birthstone ladies as a whole will now be referred to as BIRTHSTONE GODDESSES so that it is easier to understand and put out there in the world.

Who are the Gemstone Goddesses?

I’ve had a great number of requests for Art Nouveau styled Ladies who do not correspond to any birthstone, which got me thinking.  Why limit this series to only birthstones?  I have renamed the entire series to Gemstone Goddesses so that at some point in the future I can come back and add more without restricting myself!

Wouldn’t you like to see a Lady of Sunstone or a Lady of Moonstone?  I know I would!

The BIRTHSTONE GODDESSES will now be a subset of the GEMSTONE GODDESSES series as a whole!  Wherever you see the Lady of Eternity pictured above, she now represents both of these series who are now ALL part of the same endeavor to bring the beauty of Art Nouveau to the world through these thematic creations!

Where to Find this Project?

Now that my project has been undergoing some title changes, my social media outlets dedicated specifically to this project have been changed to match.  Please update your bookmarks:

Where Do We Go From Here?

Now that we have a brand new name and a whole ambitious set of items on the horizon, it was time to get this project organized!  Check out this roadmap I’ve created for the rest of the Birthstone Goddesses project in Trello.

(Click here for a closer look at the Birthstone Goddesses roadmap)

The biggest change to the agenda is that the wall calendar has been moved up to next year so that I can create some of the fun add ons like Enamel Pins that can be bundled with it.  I also wanted to make sure my Kickstarter launches were reasonably spaced out so as not to overwhelm everyone.

This Roadmap is subject to change, but we have a good place to start to make this huge endeavor more doable.   We’re going to make great things this year!  

Are you excited? I KNOW I AM!  I’m especially hyped to get these pins out (I’ll have some sneak peeks of the designs I’ve been sketching soon!).

Coming next – I’ll be announcing the new streaming schedule so you can drop in on me while I’m working on making all this magic happen!

Thanks for hanging with me through thick and thin, Patrons and Followers.  You are the best!

♥
– Ang

Re-branding the Ladies of the Months + Project Roadmap!

My astute fans may have noticed I’ve begun referring to my Ladies of the Months intermittently as Birthstone Goddesses over the past few weeks. I’ve had some major revelations happen while prepping my project for a wider arena (ie. Amazon).

“Ladies of the Months” as a title was getting a lot of strange looks!  Some of the misunderstandings about the title have led to some interesting questions, including, but not limited to:

  • Does this have to do with menstrual cycles?
  • Does this have to do with erotic coloring books?
  • Does this have to do with erotic calendars?

Silly, you may say, but if the title of a project requires a lot of further explanation, doesn’t make a good impression, and is too generic to be easily found via search engines, there is a problem!  This is why I have opted for a couple of changes.

Re-Introducing the Birthstone Goddesses!

From this day forth, the LADIES OF THE MONTHS will be called the BIRTHSTONE GODDESSES.  Each individual Lady will still be the Lady of January, etc., but the set of birthstone ladies as a whole will now be referred to as BIRTHSTONE GODDESSES so that it is easier to understand and put out there in the world.

Who are the Gemstone Goddesses?

I’ve had a great number of requests for Art Nouveau styled Ladies who do not correspond to any birthstone, which got me thinking.  Why limit this series to only birthstones?  I have renamed the entire series to Gemstone Goddesses so that at some point in the future I can come back and add more without restricting myself!

Wouldn’t you like to see a Lady of Sunstone or a Lady of Moonstone?  I know I would!

The BIRTHSTONE GODDESSES will now be a subset of the GEMSTONE GODDESSES series as a whole!  Wherever you see the Lady of Eternity pictured above, she now represents both of these series who are now ALL part of the same endeavor to bring the beauty of Art Nouveau to the world through these thematic creations!

Where to Find this Project?

Now that my project has been undergoing some title changes, my social media outlets dedicated specifically to this project have been changed to match.  Please update your bookmarks:

Where Do We Go From Here?

Now that we have a brand new name and a whole ambitious set of items on the horizon, it was time to get this project organized!  Check out this roadmap I’ve created for the rest of the Birthstone Goddesses project in Trello.

(Click here for a closer look at the Birthstone Goddesses roadmap)

The biggest change to the agenda is that the wall calendar has been moved up to next year so that I can create some of the fun add ons like Enamel Pins that can be bundled with it.  I also wanted to make sure my Kickstarter launches were reasonably spaced out so as not to overwhelm everyone.

This Roadmap is subject to change, but we have a good place to start to make this huge endeavor more doable.   We’re going to make great things this year!  

Are you excited? I KNOW I AM!  I’m especially hyped to get these pins out (I’ll have some sneak peeks of the designs I’ve been sketching soon!).

Coming next – I’ll be announcing the new streaming schedule so you can drop in on me while I’m working on making all this magic happen!

Thanks for hanging with me through thick and thin, Patrons and Followers.  You are the best!

♥
– Ang

March Wrap-Up: Health Updates, MOAR Coloring Book Updates, etc.

Happy weekend, all, and hello, hello to all the new folks who hopped on board my Patreon this month during my pledge drive!  Here’s my monthly update post to sum up what’s been happening around here in March.

I have happy news that my husband finished his radiation treatments in March!  His prognosis is a good one and in a few weeks we have a follow-up to learn how effective these treatments have been.  For now, we’re just breathing a sigh of relief and hoping that things can start getting back to a boring state of normal around here! (If I keep saying it, it will happen, right?)

Coloring Book Updates

Another major item I’ve been working on this past month is making a standard edition of my coloring book available to the masses!  This has proven more challenging than I anticipated, however.  

I was going to simply release a version of the book through Amazon’s printing service, but a good opportunity came up that would allow me to print a better quality version myself, so I’m currently negotiating this publishing path.  

There’s a LOT that goes into applying to be a vendor on Amazon instead of merely applying to be an individual seller, as well as printing considerations you must abide by.  Did you know that if your barcode isn’t scannable through your packaging or that if it is placed incorrectly that your book could be rejected and/or a vendor could be fined by Amazon?  No?  Me neither!  

I’m still doing research so I can make sure I do this right!  I’m hoping that when I’m done that it means my book will be available on Amazon for the easiest buying experience and that I would have even more reach than I would on my own!

Posts You May Have Missed This Month

New Additions to My Digital Library

Upcoming Appearances

April 26 – 28 – JordanCon 2019 – Come say hi to me in the dealer’s area and check out my original paintings in the Art Show!

—

With a sick hubby still suffering from radiation after effects and other backend tasks (preparing for taxes, getting my Patreon ready for Backerkit integration, etc.) I don’t have a lot of art to show from March, but I’m hoping to change that in April!   

Thanks to everyone who has been here even during the lean art times.  It really makes a difference in our lives, especially during these trying times which we’re hopefully coming out of now!

Much love and inspiration!

♥ – Ang

Ang’s 2018 Summary of Art

The end of the year and the beginning of a new year is always an introspective time for me.  It’s that time where I look back and take stock of where I’ve gone and look forward to where I’m going!  I wanted to take you all on a tour of this year’s greatest hits.  It’s been a pretty prolific year for me, artistically!

JANUARY – Anko’s Determination

 

Anko, my Warlock Tiefling who loves to bake, came onto the scene a few years ago for my husband’s Dungeons & Dragons campaign and I’ve loved watching her grow from meek young girl to a strong capable mage.  This image represented a pivotal moment in her development where she and the party faced off with an enemy that had no regard for innocent lives.  Anko learned to fight for what she thought was right and that she was more capable than she realized!  The resulting drawing of this moment flowed out of my pencil without much effort and remains my favorite drawing of Anko.

FEBRUARY – Lady of October Thumbnail Sketches

The next few months were consumed with research and study for the Lady of October, starting with her thumbnail sketches. This Lady was a bit different from her sisters in that she was much more mystical.  I agonized for a long time making a composition that was different enough from Lady of November, who also had a similar holiday theme in the Day of the Dead, while this Lady is more Samhain.

MARCH – Lady of October Fashion Design

More Lady of October! She was a unique challenge with her billowing sheer outfit and I deliberated a long time trying to nail down her look.

APRIL – Lady of October

The Lady of October finally arrived!  I experimented with gray inks for the first time with this piece trying to find a way to create mist and subtlety with pen and ink.  She also marked the completion of the Ladies of the Months main series of paintings, one of my major accomplishments for this year!

MAY – Ladies of the Months Headers

May was a prolific month!  I Kickstarted the Ladies of the Months coloring book while feverishly creating all twelve header images to boost the campaign.  It felt good to take the completed designs for the Ladies that I had agonized over for years and just have good fun with them!  Lady of December’s header was my favorite from the bunch, but you can see all twelve here.

JUNE – The Lady of Slaughter

Created for a Patreon request, this sketch allowed me to draw on an old love for Egyptian mythology that I had never really expressed in art before.  It felt good to return to these beloved stories from my childhood and indulge in that old love!  

JULY – The One Who is Above

The Egyptian sketch requests from my Patreon Patron continued resulting in some of my unexpected favorites from this year!  You can see the whole triptych of Egyptian gods here.

AUGUST – The Rose Seelie

This month saw the creation of the Rose Faeries, my pair of cards for the Olde Fae card game based on Old Maid.  It also marked a glorious return to creating more fantastical images, which I had been sorely missing!

SEPTEMBER – Fury of the River Goddess

Sometimes those quick sketches just work out!  This request for a Patreon Patron’s river goddess made me realize this is the kind of thing I want more of in my RPG/Game portfolio and also showed me what strong shapes and contrast can do in a composition.  The rest of this month was spent converting the Ladies headers from the previous month into line art for the coloring books extra pages.

OCTOBER – The Little Ladies of the Months

October was another flurry of productivity creating extra art for the coloring book!  Lady of September here was my favorite of the bunch as I felt had the best balance of a dynamic pose and filling up the space of the medallion in an interesting way.  You can see the whole set of twelve Little Ladies I created during this month here.

NOVEMBER – Anko’s Determination (Colored)

I realized during this month that I had fallen into a slump.  I was really burnt out after working on so much material for the book and it had been a very long  stressful year with my husband’s cancer diagnosis in August and hospitalization for heart problems in February.  Whenever my morale is low, I turn to games and original characters who always lift my mood.  After spending several months ignored, Anko finally got her first ever colored portrait!

DECEMBER – Exalted Secret Santa

The burnout slump continued and I’ve been trying to take it easy this month to enjoy life and family!  Doing the Exalted Secret Santa every year has been such a fun way to connect with one of my favorite fan communities and cool tabletop universes. It’s always exciting to see how my partner interprets my characters, as well!  You can see what my Secret Santa partner did for me here.

Finally, here we have a montage of nearly all the art I created in 2018!

 

What’s Next?

It’s funny that while I was very productive this year, I still feel like I didn’t do enough!  There were a lot of days spent forcing myself past those mental slumps feeling like everything was a disaster because it was supposed to be easier or finished long before it was or I wasn’t ‘strong’ enough to work past my mental blocks and tiredness to make more than I did. 

I have to remind myself that I am not a machine and that sometimes life is going to get you down.  It’s ok to spend your time with loved ones instead or work on a personal piece to make yourself feel better.  In the end, well-being is more precious!  A hard lesson for this workaholic who was always taught that my self-worth lies in my productivity levels.

Next year, I’m very much looking forward to exploring the more conceptual paintings I have planned for the Ladies and diving deep into that fantastical element I’ve been hankering for in my work!  I also want to get back to studying more, as I feel I’ve really let my fundamental skills languish.

I have a lot of exciting art goals for 2019, but I’m going to save those for a New Years post!

I hope you enjoyed the tour of this year’s work!  What was your favorite piece of mine this year?  Did you create any favorite pieces of your own?  Let me know in comments!

Much love and inspiration!

– Ang

[VIDEO] Studio Hangout OCT 2017 – Kickstart Art Review, Inktober, and My Favorite Author

Check out my latest wrap-up video for October. I fear with every video I share, the more of a dork I reveal myself to be!

Featuring the following things:

– My thoughts on the Kickstart Art seminar with Stephanie Pui-Mun Law and what revelations I had from it.

– An epic level geek out about Kushiel’s Dart which I was nearly hesitant to share online, but it’s on the internet now.  Oh well!

– Pumpkin Spice shenanigans.

– Plus aaaaart!

Various Art Nouveau artist of lesser acclaim.

Did You Know? Unknown Nouveau

If you’ve been enjoying my Ladies of the Months series thus far, you might also enjoy the series of articles I’ve been writing here on Patreon called Unknown Nouveau.

While Mucha is one of my strongest influences on this series, there are so many wonderful artists who emerged from the Art Nouveau movement during its prime between the 1880s and 1890’s.

The Unknown Nouveau articles focus on artists from the movement you might not have heard of, many who are also female artists who simply did not get the same attention as their male counterparts. I wanted to feature some of these lesser-known artists, as well as inspire and educate myself along the way.

You can start browsing my current Unknown Nouveau articles here.

Enjoy and let me know if you’ve heard of an unknown Art Nouveau artist who you think I should feature OR if you discover someone new from the articles who you think is amazing!