SKETCH CARDS FOR SALE!!!

 

   Well, it's come down to this. 

 I am in need of re-stocking some of my Copics/ink refills. And so, I am blogging about selling some art, so that I can hopefully make some money to supply this artistic void in my life. 

 But in all seriousness... 

Remember, I AM just an artist. I don't even have a part time job... I'm a stay-at-home housewife and mom 24/7. So selling art and taking commissions is how I pay for the supplies that keep me going. And if you are a Copic marker user, you know those aren't cheap, and also are not something you can just run out to get at the art store. They have to be ordered in because they are manufactured in Japan!!   O_o   So when I start seeing that my marker flow is dwindling, I write down colors/numbers of what needs replaced, and then I start working on items to sell so that I can make that cost. Actually, the whole process is rather satisfying!!!  =-) 

So I am working on batches of sketch cards to sell. I currently have four original art sketch cards done and ready for selling!!  These come laminated and are roughly 4x6 in size. Copic marker on cardstock paper. I'm working on a few more for selling too, but this is what I currently have available!!   Since I've been working on my fifties project, I thought it would be fun to choose a few characters and dress them in fifties dapperness.   =-) 

   Elsa 

Princess Leia 

Hotaru Tomoe/Sailor Saturn 

Natasha Romanoff/ Black Widow (Who turned out so gorgeous in this dress, that I am actually sad that I have to sell her. But I need markers. And so.) 

These sketch cards are $7 each, with no shipping fees if in the USA. 

I've also got several nice Miyazaki pieces that I have available as prints!!

A 4x6 print is $3, 5x7 print is $5, and an 8x10 print is $7.  I can laminate prints for an extra $1. 

If you'd be interested in any of these original sketch cards or in a Miyazaki Monday print, you can email me at stasiachan89@gmail.com, and I accept payments through PayPal!!!  

Please consider supporting an aspiring artist!!!  ^^

*Note: I DO ask to be paid before mailing out art to the buyer. I am also accepting commissions at the moment and you can inquire about pricing and commission sizes via email.   

-Stasia-Chan '16

Welcoming Myself Back to My Own Blog..

I had thought that I had posted something in January.

Ding dong, I was wrong!!!

Last time I posted, it was Christmas Eve. Yikes. It isn't that I haven't been thinking about posting, or have a lack of ideas to post... Life is just crazy busy, and things like this sometimes get shoved to the side. So, let's start over.

Happy New Year!!!!

OK, now that that's out of the way... Let's fast forward through what's been going on. I've been faithfully keeping up with my "Miyazaki Monday" drawings for 12 weeks now... Which is harder to do sometimes than you would think!! But I've tried to stick to that once a week commitment. Not only does it help my drawing skills, but it's also a little bit of a breather for me, making myself sit down even if I've had a horrible day and no time to draw and just pick something from a Studio Ghibli work and focus on that. It's been stress therapy.  =-)

I'm getting ready to do a mini comic con at Sugarcreek Library next weekend. It's set up more as a meet and greet sort of event, so I think that might be nice change of pace. I like doing tutorial classes, but I get pretty nervous having to explain my drawing process, and constantly worrying that someone is going to correct me when I say "manga"... xD   So I'm interested to see how this event flows, and what people will have to say!

I'm still very interested in doing a 1950's sort of omnibus manga... What I want to do is a compilation of short manga stories set in the late forties and into the fifties. I've been checking out books from the library like crazy, writing down all kinds of things I find interesting from the era, watching some fifties movies, and putting bits and pieces together in character sketches. This whole process to me has been a lot of fun, like delving into a whole different world. There have been a few hard parts... Right now, I'm having a hard time actually figuring out how to write a storyline to be formatted to a manga comic. It's something I've been looking into, reading articles online, and thinking a lot about. Also, actually setting up a manga... The process is daunting to me. Drawing anime and manga style characters is one thing... Actually DRAWING a MANGA COMIC is another thing entirely, and it's not something that just comes naturally. I started sketching out a little Fifties Housewife short manga last year that I finished a few days ago.

I was really, really excited about it when I finally finished it, but then I realized I had made several mistakes...  #1 was that I drew the whole thing on a paper size that is too big to actually fit my scanner. So it was a forty minute project just lining it up, scanning it, seeing what needed to be adjusted, then scanning it in again until I got it close... Then editing in Picasa to try to crop and adjust the colors because I couldn't close the top of the scanner and it ended up looking really shadowy in spots. 

Also, some panels ended up looking crooked. Part of that was because I couldn't line it up right in the scanner, and part of it was that when I went back and looked at my original drawings, the lines were a little off. And so. It ends up being more of a really nice rough draft. Which, I admit, was discouraging to me. I was really excited and put a lot of myself into this little silly project. But, it's another learning experience, and another step in the direction I want to go. So though it's not perfect, I learned a lot from it. And I didn't throw a sketchbook or hurl a perfectly good drawing pen across the room (Yes, this has happened before). I had a brief time of despair over the whole thing, then I had another cup of coffee, took a deep breath, and decided it would be worth it to keep going. And so that's what I'm going to do. I've already invested so much of my heart into this project, I can't imagine quitting, no matter how inadequate I am!!

So, this ended up being a longer post than I intended. I mostly wanted to say this:   I am sorry for not posting regularly... I know I fell off the boat again, and I would like to get back to trying to post more consistently again. We'll see how this goes. I have a very busy schedule coming up this month!!  

I'll end with the inked version of my upcoming Miyazaki Monday. I chose to draw Howl this time (Howl's Moving Castle). I've been working to make more detailed backgrounds and landscapes in my pictures lately. The landscape scene here is based off one in a Chris Hart anime tutorial book, but I made my own adjustments and of course, changed the character to Howl.   

I hope to be blogging again soon!!!

-Stasia-Chan '16

Merry Christmas!!!

This would have made for a lengthy Facebook post, and I haven't posted on here for awhile, so seems like it all works out!!    =-)


I just wanted to write and say, a genuine THANK YOU to everyone that has been a supporter of my art in 2015. The artistic opportunities I have had this year were mind boggling, certainly ones I never would have seen myself being asked to do. Donating art baskets for the community, having my art displayed at the library, teaching two more classes at the library's teen anime program and being asked to participate in their comic con,  and all the commissions I was asked to do this year!!!  It's the first year that I sold my art out of state (went to New Jersey, all because someone from tumblr commissioned me!!),  and I had my biggest ever order that I worked on over the last two months, which included Christmas cards and several 8x10 drawings. I am certainly not saying any of this to brag or boast... I am completely humbled, and it is only because of people believing in me and liking the kind of art that I do that makes it possible. I have the lowest self confidence ever, and so when people ask for my work specifically, it completely boggles my mind. I never take it for granted, and it makes me want to work harder to put all of my heart into the work I create.

Thank you for being a fan, for being a customer, for being a friend. Thank you for your support of my art in 2015!!!

Many wishes for a blessed Christmas!!!

-Stasia-Chan '15

Highlights from Inktober!!! =-)

Hey guys!!!  =-)    Sorry for the delay in putting up a new post. Things have been extremely busy and stressful lately!!  

Since inktober ended a few weeks ago (the end of October), I have been wanting to do a quick post to highlight some of my favorite sketches from the month!!  But I had to finish up coloring a few of them, since that was my major goal for inktober!  But everything is finished now, and so I am going to share my favorites with you!!!   =-) 

This chibi of Sailor V in a fifties inspired outfit was a favorite from the first day of inktober!! ^^ 

 My "fifties mania" has been running rampant in my sketching lately, and that's OK!!!  This chibi of Maryellen Larkin from "American Girl" was really fun to color, and it had been awhile since I'd drawn eyes that big!!! 

I think the hands turned out badly on this one, but I really liked pulling out all my orange and red markers to color this autumn themed sketch. And I had fun using my Staedtler fine tip markers for the designs on her dress!!   ^^

About six or seven of my inktober sketches were centered on a little pig that ends up flying away in a hot air balloon, and then makes it back home again. These were two of my favorites from that little storyboard session... It was funny drawing all those gushing tears on the piggy in the drawing on top, and also funny to make Alice-Chan the bad wolf!! The bottom drawing was the final picture in the series, and I liked drawing and coloring a happy ending for everyone.   ^^

I'm always happy to draw anything Clintasha related!!! Sweetest Day seemed like a good opportunity...   ;-) 

These three pictures you see above are more fifties frenzied drawings... I really can't seem to help myself lately in this area, but it's a good thing!!!  ;-)    The top drawing was especially fun because I really just sat down and let the pencil do what it wanted... and the end result was kind of cool!  The center and bottom drawings are both supposed to be the same girl, and she's a possible character sketch for a project I hope to make happen... I've been meaning to sit down and look into fifties names for a few character sketches. I like her design right now, but I'm not quite satisfied with her hair color, and I need a few more lessons in coloring white anime hair!!!  xD

We were watching "Charlotte", and anime   by Key Animation ( we LOVE their anime!!!), and I was in love with how funny and cute Ayumi was right from the start. So I decided to try fitting her in my inktober sketches!!  

And of course, it's ALWAYS fun to draw Ponyo!!!!   =-)  

My final drawing from inktober was probably my favorite... Nao Tomori, one of the lead characters in the "Charlotte" anime was just such a strong character presence from the start, and I just knew I had to draw her and get it out of my system... but that only made me want to draw her more, haha!!!  It's all going to be a matter of finding the time to do some more sketches of her!!!  



And now... if you made it all the way through this post, I have a few sneak peeks for you....

 This is one of my Christmas card designs!!!   I'll be making prints from the card designs for all our cards this year, but I haven't been showing them yet because I like Christmas surprises!!   =-)  I've done four designs in all, and this will be the one that I send to our "fandom" friends.   =-)    I drew a Baby Groot Christmas card for one family last year and they just loved it, so I wanted to do something like that again, but a little bit different.

This, is a very, VERY rough sketch from a commission I am working on for a customer!!  This whole drawing is an 8x11.5, and will also be made into prints for their Christmas cards!!! Since sharing this with the customer a few weeks ago, the piece has been adjusted a bit and inked, and I am ready to start coloring soon!!!!  I have been trying to lay out a few more of their commissions so that I can ink them and get the basic colors started on those as well, so there has been a lot of art to keep me busy!!!

Other news in my life include having recently turned 26 and having a total breakdown (I feel incredibly old now), getting to go to the "American Girl Place" in Columbus, OH, and buying Maryellen for my birthday (the only downfall is that she is sooo cute, and all her collection is sooo cute, that I want to spend all my art money on more of her cute clothes and fifties stuff!!!), reorganizing a little bit at a time in my house this week, being involved as assistant stage manager for our community's upcoming Christmas play, and starting to feel a wee bit panicked overall about the upcoming holiday rush... And so!!!   =-)


I'll end with a picture of me and my Maryellen doll... don't I look older???

-Stasia-Chan '15

Some of My Favorite Manga References

Let's face it:  we're totally living in a day and age where you can download any artistic reference pictures you want from the internet.

We live in an age for technology... everyone has smartphones or tablets on their person at all times, and so if you're stuck in an artistic bind... can't remember how far apart to space manga eyes? ... you google it, and BOOM! A million pictures and tutorials will pop up from all over the world. That is pretty amazing, right?

And, it's just easier most of the time to keep all of your reference/art ideas stored on your smartphone or device. Most of these are pocket size, or can be carried in your purse or art tote. I'm guilty of this myself... I have a huge folder on my tablet that I use for saving art inspiration ideas, pose references, color schemes, etc... So I'm not against it. But I was sketching out some ideas for fifties themed girls this past week, and I happened to pull out one of my favorite Manga reference books for a reference on drawing sweater texture. I keep most of these books right by my desk, in a drawer for easy access, but I don't use them as much as I should!! I've kept that book on my desk the rest of the week, just looking over some of the poses and texture ideas again, and so I thought it might make an interesting blog post to share some of the tutorial books and authors I have used and enjoyed learning from over the years!!!

By the way, I am a VERY big fan of teaching yourself to draw just by looking at your favorite manga or anime characters. That's exactly how I started out!  But, you need to get a little more in depth in your study and progression of the manga art style. It's unique for a reason, and just drawing your favorite characters, while it will help you get started, won't teach you everything you need to know. I'm just throwing out a list of the top three artists whose tutorial books have helped me (and you probably will be familiar with at least one or two of these!), but if you go to the art section in Barnes and Noble, you can now find dozens of manga art teaching books, whereas before, they were few and far between. So if you don't like one artist's style or way of teaching, find one that works for you!!  Manga art is about VARIETY!!   =-)



1. )     Chris Hart is the artist whose tutorial books I first started checking out from the library. He has several different ones available!! Now, this is a side note, but I've learned over the last few years that a lot of artists don't care for Hart's work anymore. It's hard to figure out the reasons why, but my understanding is that people don't like that the art styles in his books are not consistent with each other. This is because Hart does not do all the tutorials and poses himself, but with a team of other artists. That's never bothered me, because, as I said before... manga art is about variety!!  Not every style of manga art has to have the same style to be manga. And the genres are always changing! But anyway... when I first started really getting into this art style, I checked out tons of his books from the library and just did my best to follow along with the guided drawings. I own a few of his books as well! And he's always coming out with more!!  =-)

 "Manga for the Beginner: Chibis" was one of the first books I pored over , and I ended up buying it! This book is all about chibis. Chibi types, chibi houses, chibi pets... Super cute and lots of fun things to try drawing!!

 "Manga Mania: Shoujo" I also ended up buying. The art styles definitely vary in this one, but you get a lot of variety in things to draw, from princesses to sci-fi warriors... all in the shoujo "girl" style.

I don't own this one, but I was first to check it out from the library a few years ago when it came out! "Manga for the Beginner: Kawaii" is one of my favorite books of his, ever. I didn't know a lot about the kawaii style until going over this book and learning to draw the style myself.  This book also has a bonus section that focuses on the "Moe" style of shoujo as well!!

I'm always looking for good romantic poses to use, and this book has a lot of helpful references.

Above is an example of one of the "Moe" tutorials in the Kawaii book. How cute!!!  ^^

I can't remember what book this is from, but I know it's one of his female character centered books. A lot of variety in poses to try!!



2.)   Mark Crilley. If you are in the manga art world at all and haven't heard his name come up, you must be living under a rock. Considered the #1 manga artist and YouTube guru in America, Crilley had success with a few of his own manga series before putting out his first tutorial book, "Mastering Manga with Mark Crilley".  He also has a YouTube channel and is faithful in uploading a new tutorial video once a week, which is impressive, considering that he's got to be one busy guy! Mark's approach to manga art is fantastic, and while the pictures in his tutorial book might look daunting at first, the approach he takes with giving the guidelines is easy for anyone to follow and practice!

I own the first book, "Mastering Manga". It has many helpful references inside!!!  Here are a few below..

A year or so ago, he also put out a second book, simply titled, "Mastering Manga 2". It's a step up from the first book, and a helpful reference as well!

3. )  Irene Flores may not be as well known as the first two, but she's put out several books already and all of them are very helpful! Her first two books are titled "Shojo Fashion: Year One" and "Year Two". I've checked out "Year One" from the library several times, and bought "Year Two" a few years ago for my birthday. I LOVE using these as a reference, especially when referencing fabrics and textures. In following her books, you're surprised to find how easy she makes things look!

 I own "Year Two" of her Shojo Fashion series, and it's one of the best books I've bought and used the most.

Most of her guidelines revolve around drawing clothing properly, from textures, to wrinkles, to pleats and creases... But she also throws in tips for character design, and there are also many nice poses you can reference from!

By the way, she draws children ADORABLY.

I recently borrowed her latest books, "Shojo Fashion Boys" from the library, and this is a GREAT reference book if, like me, drawing guys is still intimidating to you. Lots of great guidelines to follow here, and this is a book I am definitely interested in purchasing for more reference use!



So, these are the artists whose reference/tutorial books have been the greatest help to me, and I am always learning!!  Have you heard of these artists? Do you keep up with their work? If not, I hope I've given you some new reference ideas to choose from!!   =-)


-Stasia-Chan '15

Inktober, My Biggest Marker Piece EVER, and A Kawaii History Lesson!!

IT'S INKTOBER!!!!!    =-D 

Yay!!!!  I have been so excited for this after participating my first time last year.  <3  Starting on October 1st, the idea is just making it a point to doodle something every day. It can be as big or small as you want it to be, as long as you're drawing one thing every day for the whole month. It's a fun project!!!  I still have my little sketchbook I bought for Inktober last year, and I'm excited to use it again!!  I've been going through seeing what I doodled last year, and the majority of my doodles were done backstage in the dark, while I served as stage manager for "The Crucible"... for drawing in the dark, there are actually a few salvageable ones, LOL!!   ;-)

I FINALLY finished this piece this week!!! Hmm... Now that I think about it, I'm not sure it qualifies as my biggest marker piece ever... My Charlotte's Web and Rei Hino pieces were about the same size. I guess this one feels bigger because there a lot of little details?  Anyway, this was super fun to work on, and I found myself pulling it out when I just felt like I needed to relax a bit. Marker coloring is usually very relaxing to me!!! I think this would be a great picture to offer as print. I don't see myself parting with the original... I love it too much!!!  <3


It's no secret to most people that I'm a big history buff. And after touring Colonial Williamsburg during our vacation last week, I've really had history on the brain. And that makes me think of a lot of things I would love to draw that are about history or that might encourage others to become interested in history! I've been brainstorming and I would really love to do little 8-10 page "chapters" of manga about something in history... for example, the fifties housewife (because this is something I've been very interested in lately).  However, we all know that I'm pretty ADHD when it comes to sticking with one project in art, so...  xD     I think this would be my ultimate goal in achieving something with history. A few other ideas I've had are to do sketch cards titled "Humans of History", and give them a bit of narrative like the "Humans of New York" photographs. Also, to make some "Historical Fun Fact" note cards that you can buy in a set and then send the historical fun to your friends.  Anyway, those are just some ideas... they sound a bit scatterbrained, even to me!  I'd really love to make this happen in the future though, and so I'm always researching and writing down ideas... I think I hold myself back a lot of times. I think I have a good idea, but then I talk myself out of it because I think that it sounds silly to share with others. I'm not good at getting people interested in my art because I'm shy and just hold back in advertising to people what I'm doing most of the time... I know I need to put myself out there more!!


It's a busy weekend for us here, so I'm even more excited about Inktober, because this will keep me doing some art every day, even on the busy ones!!!  

-Stasia-Chan '15