Friday Thoughts (Ep. 27) (Patreon)

Hello my darling friends and patrons! I hope that you had another happy week, and that you enjoyed the first days of October. As I write this rain is falling gently on the red and yellow leaves of the plants outside, high schoolers walk by on their way to school, car tires hiss and splash on the wet concrete. And you know I’m burning an apple cider scented candle, drinking water from a halloween cup, and wearing doubled up Halloween socks and a thick, big house sweater. Life is good. And it’s been a great week!

The main event of the week has been Inktober, the annual daily art challenge that I mentioned last week. I’m having a great time designing and illustrating the daily works of art. It feels good to see true improvement in my design skills and execution since last year. 

Most importantly, I feel like I have a stronger sense of what I like in art. My style and technique doesn’t feel like it’s flailing around to find purchase. But I want to note, it was key that I went through that flailing around stage, trying many different styles and techniques. And it’s key that I regularly return to experimentation.  That said, it feels good to feel confident and happy with what I’m creating for once!

It was also a very good mail week! I recieved a couple of the orders that I sent out last week. Including the copies of Hazel: A Witches Lifestyle Zine (by Cottonwood Press) that I contributed to a few months ago! Remember my piece on Rituals for Confidence? It’s in there, and it really shines on the off-white paper! Lucy Kagan, the editor and mastermind of Hazel, used Kickstarter to raise more than $3,000 to find the printing of these mini magazines/books.

It’s very inspiring to see my art in a publication a long with the lovely art of other contributors. Seeing something I thought of and drew on my iPad printed and on a physical object literally never gets old. The zine looks so good! I’m going to bring these zines along to GeekGirlCon, and then I’ll be selling them on my Etsy for $15!

And look at these sweet little portraits Lucy illustrated of all the contributors! There’s me with slightly shorter hair and my ever present septum piercing, and of course veggies floating all around me. (And my sweet friend Tori illustrated above me!) Thanks, Lucy! This is so so lovely!

Also in the mail I received my first professional bulk order of business cards!  And BOY does it make me feel like a real business owner! I’m not sure if I shared this, but for the 7 months my business has existed I’ve been print8ng my business cards at FedEx on their thickest paper and hand cutting them myself. It sort of made sense at the time, because I needed them quickly, didn’t know how long I’d want to use that design, and I THOUGHT it would be cheaper! 

It definitely is not cheaper, and nowhere near equal quality. I don’t know why I’m surprised. Vistaprint, where I ordered my cards this time, had a great sale, so I ordered 200 count of premium business cards for approximately $30. Compare that to $25 for 50 flimsy, lower quality print, hand cut cards from my local copy shop. The latter works in a pinch, but actually ordering cards is saving me so much time, makes me feel and look professional, and actually saving money. Is anyone surprised but me??

Lesson learned. I’m happy.

Add that to my joy in receiving my first order of printed postcards from Moo.com! I am beyond pleased with these, minus a slight misprint on the back of the rectangular cards. Moo is awesome not only because of the quality, but within each order you can print as many varieties of print as the number you order. Meaning if I order a batch of 25 prints, I can order 25 different images without paying extra! I took advantage of this by ordering 5 images per set, for a total of 25 square postcards, and 50 rectangular.

I plan on selling these for $5 each at GeekGirlCon, and then at markets in the future!

This is definitely inspiring me to search for more outside vendors to order my products, rather than making everything at home. 

Also, I found these fun pompom garlands for $3 in the party section of Target! I’m excited to use them to decorate my market stalls/tables in the future. I want my displays to look like a PARTY! (Also peep my doubled up Halloween socks).

Last Sunday I had a quick meeting with a friend I made through Instagram, fellow artist and illustrator Heidi Roo! She and her husband were visiting Seattle from California, and asked to meet for a quick coffee before they had to head out. 

It was my first time meeting with someone I met online and she set the bar very high, haha! She is so sweet and talented and knowledgable, and I hope to get to collaborate with, talk with, and see more of her! The experience reinforced the ability of social media to create a true community, with real people and real friends.

She made a voog of her weekend in Seattle, which I screencapped for these images of our coffee date! Check it out here!

Thanks Heidi! You’re amazing!

That’s all for this week, folks! Slowly growing, improving, learning every day, every week. Slowly moving forward. But that’s great, because I’m in it for the long haul!!

Non-Art Life:

Zach turned 25! He got cards from family, and from me halloween socks, cologne, and (most importantly) a Dungeon Master’s Handbook for Dungeon’s and Dragons! 

I also made this Philly boy vegan cheezesteaks!

This week we finished up the first in our Autumn roster of media, Gravity Falls, and moved on to our October annual cartoon series: Over the Garden Wall. Like I’ve said, this artist household is extremely pro Cartoons.

I hope you all had a wonderful week! What do you have going on this lovely month? Are you going anywhere? Are you participating in Inktober? Let me know in the comments!

xoxo

Ragon