Convention Excitement and New Website Update

Sorry for the radio silence everyone! It's been a mixed bag of bothersome snow, overtime at work, and health issues :< However I am happy to report, if you haven't seen it on my Facebook page yet, that I have secured a booth at Virginia Comicon's 2 day event this November 22nd- 23rd! In what spare time I can manage to grab I've been writing lists, working on the next Alencia book, working on prints as well as button and sticker ideas, and even figuring out how to get my hands my on a standing banner to bring to conventions! I'm SO excited by the possibilities for cons this year. I still won't get to attend as many as I would like due to my full time job but it just makes the ones I can attend that much more special.

I'm also hoping to snag a table for Nekocon this year. I was very impressed with how far Neko's Artist Alley had come since I last tabled there in 2010. While fan art is still prominent there were so many original comic creators (and crafters!) that it made my heart sing! At last one of my most accessible anime conventions has become more welcoming to original content creators. However I have to wait till the first week of May to register so fingers crossed!

In the mean time here is a sneak peek at a work in progress print I'm currently painting:

Also you may have noticed in the previous post that I have been tinkering with wordpress in an attempt to get a blog/portfolio site together as a main hub for my artwork. Well Wordpress has not worked out for me, but instead I've started a site using SquareSpace. I'm still working on getting my domain name attached to it but GoDaddy is not as user friendly as I would like >_> And while I have figured out how to do this in the past I'm still having trouble so please bare with me. Until then you can see my new site (with this blog attached to it!) at Francesca-rowan.squarespace.com/ I'm really loving the interface and that fact that I could import my entire blog over to it. I'm going to start experimenting with updating the blog from my website so we'll see how that goes but I might hold off so folks who have stuck to this blog so long can still enjoy my updates without missing anything. But when/if I start doing blog updates from there I'll give this blog a heads up so no one misses it.

Speaking of missing updates, if you follow me on Facebook be sure to follow these instructions so you can keep seeing updates from the pages you like (otherwise Facebook will try to corner us into paying for people to actually see our updates. I'm thinking about breathing some life into my google+ page or making a new one. Would anyone be game for that?)

So as I go on I'll be sure to share more peeks at con goodies as I make them. Stay tuned and as always, thanks for sticking with me! <3

ART PLANS.

Hey guys! It's been a while but loads have been going on. Mostly busy at work. But now I'm starting to settle down a bit and I've got plans. ART PLANS.

+VA Comicon Small Press Table
You've been hearing me talk about this for a while but that's because I'm super stoked for it! My first table at a non-anime convention! I've been making plans for merch that I want to make and bring including the new Alencia comic, buttons, prints, and some other small items like key chains and book marks.

+Media Studies
There are things like animals and landscapes that I feel like I need to draw more of so I'll be doing a lot more studies to get in the swing of drawing them. For now I'm using certain sketchbooks for this as well as making ATC style cards that I'll be doing studies as miniature illustrations on. I'll be posting them to my tumblr and then grouping them here too. Here are a few so far:










+Or Maybe Not Webcomic
I've got scripts from Ryan lined up and am currently working on the next update. Looking to have it up by Friday since I have a few days off work. I'm going to try to update it as much as I can between now and VA Comicon since I plan on making post cards to pimp it out for the con. I also need to just sit down and draw more comics.

+Kale issue #2
Is still in progress! I've been rewriting an reworking things and I'm starting to think that I should do it as a one shot book like I originally planned but maybe start it over after all. I learned a lot from the first issue but the more I look back at it the more I see things I wish I had done differently. I'm going to keep working on it and when I come to a final decision I'll talk about it here. But either way Kale's story will continue.

+Alencia Comics (and Contest!)
Writing for Alencia's stories has been much easier. She comes more naturally to me than Kale so her stories will be more in number and varied. I really like working in short story/episodic format and I will continue that. I'm also really enjoying mixing horror with fantasy so that is a plus!
Alencia's first short comic will be featured at my table at VA Comicon and will feature FAN ART! I have a fan art contest running from now till August 4th, where anyone who sends me fan art for Alencia will be included in the book (with their name and information to their website) and will receive a free copy of the comic for themselves! Just send me a copy of your fan art (large file size, TIFF, 300dpi, I need it large so when I format the book it will print nicely and not be pixelated) to fran_rowan(at)yahoo(dot)com. Here are some references for your use:
-Alencia close up
-Alencia and Human!Theloyn height chart in color. Theolyn hasn't been introduced in his human version yet (he appears as a cat in the comic for now) but if you wish to draw him then by all means go for it :)
-Preview of the comic. Also for your inspiration here is the preview of the comic featuring the first 6 pages.
Also please keep fan art to PG-13. The comic isn't really rated but it's not really hardcore or anything. If you have any questions please let me know. I'll be sure to share the entries and their artists here too!

I'm also making jewelry that I'll be selling on my Etsy page soon so keep your eyes peeled for that! This post is epically long as it is so goodbye for now and stay tuned!

Alencia: A Noble Deed Preview

Hey everyone!

Good news! I landed a second job! But because of that I'll be very busy. So to tide you over I finished my Alencia comic preview. I ended up replacing the font on the whole comic so that took me a bit of time but I'm much happier with it. For those interested the font is 'Anime Ace 2.0' and can be found here.

So for this comic Alencia has been hired to clear out a noble family's ancestral tomb of some undead that are believed to be running around down there. The whole comic is 17 pages and when I print the book I will include some sketches and production notes. I'll be selling the books at VA Comicon this September, so be sure to come check it out!

CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE PREVIEW ON DEVIANT ART!

I hope you enjoyed that sneak peak, and feel free to let me know what you think of it so far!

One of my favorite things about Indy and European comics was the fan art they'd post in the back of the books from other artists at the publishing house, or that their artist friends would contribute. So if anyone would like to contribute some fan art for the book I will print it in the back of the book along with your name, website, and a little blurb if you'd like to write one about the piece. I will also award a free copy of the comic to those who choose to contribute fan art. However it cannot be in color as the comic will be printed in grey-scale. I will go ahead and set the due date for fan art to be August 4th . That will give me a few weeks to have the printers print the comics (giving them plenty of time keeps it affordable for me). I look forward to seeing what you guys cook up :)

Also: for anyone who wants more information on miss Alencia, you can find some info here and a general front reference here.

AMA

Still so busy over here! I'm on the last leg of switching computers, I'm just setting up my files and internet bookmarks now. I'm applying for jobs,progressing in my driving lessons, and getting ready for Anime Mid Atlantic this weekend! I'll be doing my first real cosplay as a human version of Rarity from 'My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.' I'm really excited for it, its' such an eccentric costume: Purple curly wig, red cat eye glasses, pencil skirt and heels; I feel so cool wearing it :P Well see how it goes over this weekend. I was planning on also cosplaying as Jade Harley from Homestuck but I cannot for the life of me find my wig. So I'll be doing that one another time when I can find my precious wig.

More art to come soon, but probably next week. I have sketches to scan and put together and I plan to make a new header for this blog too. It's looking a bit bare for my tastes...

Also I'll be posting a new sales post when I get back next week. I've got some lovely gothic clothing to sell including a lovely long jacket and some bodices.