Just posting to say that I'm still keeping an eye on my account here and will occasionally post some art every now and then. I'd like some input on my latest submission and see what people would like to see more detail of, or see me finish.

I'm focusing mostly now-a-days on traditional artwork, mostly pencil work, though I do have a few digital pieces floating around here and there on my hard drive.

Ok, so I've just about recovered enough from Acen to talk about it. Seems a bit late but oh well.

Friday - No Acen for you!

So I got there at about 10:30 with my friend who could only go for this one day. I expected the registration line to move a bit slow but only spend a few hours in it.

Oh how wrong I was.

We got there and the line was OUT THE DOOR. It seems they didn't divide up between pre-reg and atcon-reg yet again, so we all got clumped together for a few hours.

We get into the actual registration line (yeah, we waited 2 hours in a line to get into the registration line) and then their servers crash. 4 hours and three restarts later, they give up and just start to hand-write our badges. By this time my friend has left the line to enjoy what little of the con she can. And that line that eventually divided up between pre-reg and atcon-reg? Yeah, they merged ONCE AGAIN before getting to the Payment booths. Dealer's Room and Artist Alley closed at 6 PM. I didn't get my badge until 7:25 PM. After celebrating my badge by a mad dash to the bathroom I hung around for a bit before going home, my ankles on fire and my knees feeling like I just ran a 20k marathon.

Saturday - Gattai!, Sprite and Impromptu Art Jams

Saturday - with my badge in hand - I finally got to see the Dealer's Room and Artist's Alley. And this year they kinda bungled that up too. Artist's Alley was secluded away from everything (yet it still got a lot of foot traffic...) and Dealer's Room was all over the place. I met up with ~LorBot (Lor) and ~EllieVyle (Ellie) at their table in the Artist's Alley, which wasn't hard to find since they had a brand new poster that had to be a good 7-10 ft. tall standing up on their table with a new 'mascot' for Rainarc Raphsody. They also were next to the table for Studio Anti-Thesis, and behind them (if my memory serves me) was =One-Vox with his new art. So that little corner of the Alley was about to explode with all of the artist talents there.

I hung out with Lor and Ellie for most of the day, helping out however I can and letting Ellie use my Copic markers again (man she's really good with them). I ended up going to dinner with them and their friends at Gino's East (pizza place known for good deep dish pizza in Chicago) and had a blast there. We talked about several things, including:

- The origin of the 'Yaoi' paddles often sold at anime conventions.
- the current 'it' thing in the anime/fanart community (btw, its Death Note).
- How cool TTGL is.
- Marvel and how they can finally properly represent their comics in theaters with the wild success of Iron Man.
- How a man could drink an entire pitcher of Sprite by himself and not spend 5 minutes in the bathroom peeing like a racehorse (I don't think we ever got to the bottom of that mystery, and I'm glad we didn't.)

The night ended with an impromptu art jam in the basement of the hotel that ran well into the night (to near 1 AM) before I finally left.

Sunday - East meets my Western stomach

Sunday I helped our Lor and Ellie a bit behind their table as best I could, and when the con ended at 4 everyone went to Matsuwa marketplace, a Japanese supermarket/food court/bookstore to pick up various things and to have one final meal together.

Oddly enough, I'd never had pocky (the staple treat of anime fans) or a Rasmune (those oddly-shaped bottles with a marble in them), and was treated to both by someone (if you tell me your name I'll give you credit for it!) I also had Chicken Curry Udon, another Japanese dish, for my dinner. It was a bit of a culture shock to me to be eating these foods all at once, but it was interesting in a good way.

Well, I think that's about everything. I had a blast and hope to be back next year - armed with a mailed-to-me badge and a hotel room for myself.

So as I was sitting in class today, a thought occurred to me:

I have a PORTFOLIO full of new drawings, gesture drawings and actual art pieces. Why have I not yet submitted any of them?

I have about a dozen different pieces of art in my portfolio, and after I finish my class Thursday I will take photos of the art pieces with my camera and post them on dA that night.

Well, since we're only a month away from Anime Central (hereafter refered to as Acen), I figured I'd make a journal based solely on Acen stuff.

The Good News

+ Come Hell, high water or me being in a sugar-induced coma, I will be at Acen for AT THE VERY LEAST Friday and Saturday.
+ I will be selling some prints of my work, including some new stuff that I will post about a week prior to the actual convention.
+ Being able to hang out with all of my artist friends like ~LorBot, ~EllieVyle and a whole lot of other people who's name and/or their dA account names I forget (please don't hurt me).
+ I'll try to bring along my laptop and drawing tablet to the convention as well.

The Bad News

- Not sure if I will be able to attend Sunday, though I hope I will be able to.
- I don't have a table in Artist's Alley because they sold out about .001 seconds after they opened up registration for tables.
- I don't have a hotel room either.
- My laptop's battery barely lasts 45 minutes, and after a recent accident with it, there is a VERY noticeable crack in the monitor originating from the top right corner of the screen and extends on a diagonal towards the center of the screen. So far, any art drawn on this monitor hasn't been affected, but who knows what will happen between now and Acen...

The Requests

= If there is anyone who DOES have a hotel room for Acen and is willing to give me a small corner of a room, PLEASE note me or IM me. I am willing to pay a portion of what the room cost so it's not like I'm mooching off of people.
= And if anyone who does have a table in Artist's Alley is willing to let me sell some of my prints on their table, I'd appreciate it. I'd be willing to help with that table's sales and any other way I could repay said person's generosity.

The List

Here is the current list of prints I will be selling at Acen:

iFly: [link]
Hands on Frame: [link]
What His Eye Sees (Naruto Fanart): [link]
TTGL - Gurren Brigade: [link]

I will determine prices and print sizes for all of these in the coming weeks, so keep your eyes peeled on this journal for more info.

... Huh, it's April Fools. Looks like dA is doing a bit of an April Fool's joke and having everyone's avatar be this "so i herd u liek mudkips!?" internet meme thing. Meh, so long as it goes back to Kenshin on April 2nd I couldn't care less.

So I posted a digital sketch a few moments ago, go and check it out. Other than that... Well, trying to pull funds together still for Acen. The problem isn't so much getting money together for the badge, its getting enough money to let me either bum a hotel room or pay for parking for 3 days for the con, because I plan on staying there the entire time if at all possible. And I'm still trying to get funds together so I can make a few prints of my stuff. I won't have a table at Acen this year, because they sold out within about 5 second after being put up for purchase. Maybe I can get lucky and bum a table space from someone or take a table space that isn't being used.

... And I think that's about it. Have fun folks on your April Fool's Day and remember, if you can't laugh at yourself you can't laugh at anyone else!

2008 FAQs and Commissions: [link]