Olaf

 A good friend asked me to draw something for them.
I figured I would spend my art day doing just that!
It was a request to draw Olaf from Animal Crossing with a flower.
I did some research on him and read about him since I never came across him in the game myself. He seems to be a dashing Anteater wearing a matadors shirt.
People on the net describe him as a young Michael Jackson.
I guess I see that but not really. It could be the curl on his nose.
Anyways, I figured he would be a charming person and apparently he flirts with female characters.
I did some rough drawings and got a thumbnail I liked.

I didn't take much pictures of the progress but all I did was enlarge the thumb to the desired size on the predetermined size I wanted.
I just focused on having decent line art.

I also saw that in his house he has checkered tile. I thought it might be a cool element to pull from and use it as a background.
I ditched the name and decided to do some shadow colors to kind of help finish it up.

I hope she likes it.

Tucson Comic-Con. A 3 day adventure.

Well... Holy shit. What an adventure. I picked up my shirts on Tuesday, the 3rd. Decided that I will not return to Aladdin for any more work. Which means I have to find another printer for t's, which is awesome beause I might be able to work out a better deal or have more work printed for the same price. Anyways, I didn't like the interaction from Troy as a new customer. He was extremely rude to me and the things that stuck out to me the most is that, yes, you've been printing in Tucson for many years, and sure, you have a lot of artists asking for you to do their work, but I'm new, I don't do the printing stuff, I don't know how things work, which is why I fucking asked you and told you when we first started talking, that I needed guidance and help in this situation.  =)
Anyways. It was cool.

Thursday - We set up our booth with minimal cost. Learning a lot about how things work with the cons. I guess, from what I heard, people with big booths need that time to set up for Friday, and even then they were complaining that Friday was even a thing because it's a preview day. They didn't want to be there. So it felt like a waste of time to them. I just laughed. It was cool to set up and see what was missing or find things to improve the presentation. We set up two wire racks with our work hanging from it behind us and had all kinds of stuff on the table for show.
Thursday night I was up all night hand inking stuff for people to buy. I was worried that I didn't draw enough stuff.

Friday - We got there late because of poor planning, but it was in the air. Everyone was late, or just messing around. I guess because it was just a preview day. I took it pretty serious though. I didn't want to miss a chance to meet someone or sell something. We ended up just getting to know the people around us. No one was really interested in buying anything we had.
I was told by several people that I was the only artist with anything related to Rick & Morty and Undertale which was a really cool vein to tap into. Lot's of people dropping by and seeing our stuff but no real sales. Which is fine. I was like, shit... We should figure something out to get people to the table. I decided to start doing $1 sketches for people. Which ended up being pretty fun and successful for the booth over the next few days.

Saturday -  It was a total madhouse. everyone was there. So much awesome cosplay, so many awesome comic enthusiasts, but no real gamers. Which kind of hurt our market since our art is mostly video game related. I drew stuff I didn't think I ever would. Comic Book characters, peoples own created creatures and characters, mythological gods. It was awesome. I was supported by people I know and love, and by people who I didn't know but discovered me through the con. It was a long day but it blazed by. Drawing for people was one of the coolest things I've ever done. It was cool to see people enthusiastic about me and what I thought was the lack of talent I had.

Sunday - Much more of the same stuff happened, I just drew for people and caught up with a lot of friends. I think the biggest highlight was that some one was super interested in my shirt design and got it. It was flattering, rewarding and exciting. I was just so happy to sell something I created to someone I didn't know who shared the same level of enthusiasm and joy over a game. I need more of that in my life. It was just too cool.


The con ended and we packed up with our boxes of stuff and left tired. But it was so worth it.
I learned so much about myself as an artist and as a person.
It was extremely rewarding. I basically made enough money to cover the cost of the booth so I got to do that for free. Which was even more awesome.
I took notes on what people had as far as prints and drawings went, so that the next con I could have more art and stuff that people will want. I'm excited to go on this adventure again and hope to have another booth at the next con.

It's ramping up.

This has been a pretty productive weekend.
I'm satisfied.
I came to some realizations. I broke through some barriers.
I walked through some parts I should have been running and ran through some parts I should have walked.
I stopped, smelled the flowers and the garbage. I took it in. I meditated.
It's been pretty nice.
One of the coolest breakthroughs was when I finally just threw my hands up and understood why I felt so hopeless.
A ship doesn't sink because of the water around it. It sinks because of the water on the inside.
If I keep letting the shit on the outside destroy everything on the inside, it's no wonder we end up feeling like garbage.
What this means for me is that I've been letting the toxicity of people around me really seep in and take hold of my internal voice and opinions.
The thing with this realization is, HOW could I have let this person get to me?
I just can't answer why.. They hold no power over me, or what happens in my life. Even though they may think they do, with the bullshit they pull at work. IE: Lying about my performance, or the way I do things.
I finally can just let the shit roll off my back.
Saturn Returns isn't as bad as I thought it would be. I'm learning so much about how to be. JUST BE.
I'm working on everything and setting it up to be something sustainable. I'm creating my foundation of the life I want. AND through all that I was being poisoned by some ignorant dyke (not exaggerating on that one either...).

I used to worry every day... But now I got better things. =)

I got some shit worked out with using Square to take payments during Tucson Comic-Con
I set up an inventory of my shirts to keep track of sales.
Working on some stuff to sell individually to kind of get something to everyone at any price point.

I'll have a couple of drawings- They'll be hand drawn images of custom Zachy "fan-art" on little pieces of paper. 
They're little square pieces that are drawn in ink from the originals which were done in pencil.
They'll be limited to this con only and in small quantities.

The works are:
Undertale fan-art, Sans and The Protagonist
Pokemon, Bulbasaur and Charizard
Batman
Mega Man
Samus Aran
Inkling Girl
Rick & Morty: Morty "stars in your eyes"
*** maybe a Resident Evil *** William Berkin? He was my favorite.

Working-

Went to get my shirts printed.
Could only get 1 solid color printed.
$330 dollars later, I left with the hope that my 50, single color, screen printed t's will be OK and good enough for Comic-Con.
The guy was a fucking asshole to me. "I'm trying to make YOU money."
Fucking prick, telling me, "Why do you artists come in here with no money expecting so much?"
Um. I told you it was my first time ever doing something like this, I have ZERO experience with it. This is why I'm asking questions.

Working on that Cheech & Chong piece.
It's coming along.
Got a Rick & Morty piece too. It needs more developing.

I also have this other one from Legend of Zelda

K. I'm going to fuck off and die now. =)

Be content with your inevitable death.