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!

Panera is good for progress!

Here is a new illustration that I've been working on lately of Kale, to accommodate my comic of her that I'm currently working on. I'm thinking of making it a mini print kind of thing.



And some current sketchbook pages!


Misaki, one of my fiancé's characters from his big story we're working on, Clayton Chronicles.


More Clayton Chronicles sketches. Patrick and Vespa taking a little time to enjoy each other's company. Proud parents to be!


And my alter ego, Loli-Fran from Or Maybe Not, hauling some luggage to the car in preparation for a con. She was shouting "GET IN THE GODDAMN CAR" but it got cut off. I just found the whole situation funny.

These last three sketches were done while chilling at Panera with some friends while waiting for our department to go over our portfolios. I added some color with Copic Markers while at home. I might go back and add color to sketches more often, I think it breathes some life into them.

Clockwork Queen Sticker Design

Here is the sticker design I finished yesterday:



I'd like to put a URL underneath the title but I'm not sure if it should be my DA address or this blog. I'll decide later.

Still no sign of my bristol board. I think I have to wait 10 days so tomorrow will be a week. Not really worth complaining tho, it gives me time to work on this stuff :D

More to come!