Silver Lining?

The other day I was going through some of my old posts and it made me realize that I've become more lazy and distant with my blog. I really don't like that I've become that way, and I apologize. Being lazy unfortunately can be part of my character, but when it comes to personal expression, I'm not typically distant. It's usually a challenge for me to NOT wear my heart on my sleeve. The truth is I've been going through a lot of personal stuff lately, and it's affected my online involvment overall. This will pass. I don't know when, but I know it will. And eventually I hope to be more involved again. I hope to get back to a point where I can update this once a week consistently, and I'm considering a redesign as well. Anyway, don't give on me, k?

I'll leave you with a quick update of the recent Silver Lining print at Teextile. Yeah, I know it's kind of cheesy that I'm advertising this particular print in this post, but it really is just a coincidence. To be honest, at this very moment I'm seeing more tornados than sun peeking out of the clouds, but here it is anyway, lol. I apologize for posting this a bit late. Yesterday was the day it was $12, but it's still available until Sunday for $15 if you'd like to pick it up.

Painted with Water Update and Piranha at Teextile

I'm still smiling and floating high from Painted with Water's Threadless score. I can't thank all of you enough for giving it so much support! This definitely moves me in the right direction for meeting my newest goal. Even if it doesn't print, I'm still so excited to break a three.



The next news takes place at Teextile, the new temporary home for Piranha Still Life (last seen at Tee Fury.) Grab it today for $12, the rest of the weekend it will be $15, and then it will be gone. Some of you have mentioned missing it the first time, so here's a second chance. :)

Can't stay for long today, just wanted to say hi and keep you in the LOOP! (I know, sorry.)

Painted with Water Design Ready to Score

Last month I mentioned I was going to take some time off Derbies to concentrate on Threadless. I have to say, it's been very satisfying to be able to devote a lot of time to one design and not be rushed. I enjoyed being able to work on it and then come back the next day with fresh eyes and refine it. The design I'm referring to is Painted with Water, inspired by Paint with Water books.

I thought it might be fun to share the entire process of it. To begin, I have to thank AdderXYU again for reminding me of those books. One of our conversations made me think of the design.

The first thing I did was order a couple books to experiment with. I found a new one and an old one. The old one was so old in fact, that it didn't work! It was still great to study though. The old ones used more artsy and decorative patterns, like the snowflakes on Barbie's sweater here:



The new one used simpler patterns, but at least the paint still worked. I dripped water on it instead of painted to see what it would look like, because that's what I had in mind for the design.



Then I drew for a long time and finally came up with a sketch of things that depended on water. (If you need to, click on any of these images to see them larger.)



I inked it in Photoshop:



The easiest way to color it, I thought, was to first make it look like it would before water was applied.



And finally I "added the water." During the critique process at Threadless, the drops of water caused minor controversy. A lot of people thought they were distracting, but when I took them out, it looked too flat. I really wanted to accentuate the water so I decided to keep them.



Even though the process was lengthy, I enjoyed it--especially the "painting" part. It reminded me of painting watercolors with my dad when I was younger, except with less risk of me absentmindedly drinking out of the water cup with paint in it (which I did, once.) Anyway I hope you found this interesting and please take a moment to score it if you can here: Painted with Water

Thanks for reading!

Brilliant! A Print at Springleap!

I'll be honest, I've been a bit stressed out the past few days, so my serotonin levels got a much needed boost when I checked out Springleap this morning and saw that Brilliant! won first place. I almost didn't believe it because I hadn't yet received any email from them. Regardless, it was a pleasant surprise, to say the least. Thank you to all of you that scored it!

The Daily Walrus

Last night, my slumber was interrupted by the chime of my phone, and when I read the message it brought, I thought I was dreaming. It said "Your daily is up!" This was definitely well worth me groping around in the dark for my laptop to check Shirt.Woot. And there it was! I was so happy I could have just hugged that little crab. I'm not even sure it's possible to hug a crab, but I would try.

Anyway here I am this morning and it was indeed not a dream. Some of you may remember this design when I tried it out at Shirtfight. Sadly, it didn't make it there, but happily it found its place as my first Shirt.Woot Daily. I've changed it up a bit, hopefully for the better.

Aside from this excitement I'd like to point out a couple of other well dressed animals at Springleap. Please help these cats get a second chance by scoring and commenting.

And one last thing: Since I was fortunate enough to reach my last design goal, I figured it was time to move on to another. I've decided to focus a lot of my creative energy into Threadless in hopes to get a print there. It was kind of a tough decision to make, because for me, in order to do this properly, I'm going to have to lay off the Derbies for a little while. Up until the past couple of months, the Derbies were a bit of an addiction. But I began to get discouraged from the time constraints. There were occasions where I had to sacrifice quality and experimentation in order to submit on time. This way, I can take the time to learn new techniques and to perfect designs instead of rushing them. So, don't miss my Derby stuff too much, k? Hopefully this will help even better things to happen. :)

As always, thanks for reading, and thanks for all of your support, my dear, dear friends.

Quick Update and Contest Winner Announced

Here's just a quick line to say hello, ask how you are, talk about the weather (Alabama in August is unbearable,) and give an update on designy things. First off I'd like to congratulate MaskOfIcarus, the winner of the Loopy Blog Contest. He chose Spirit of the Stag as his prize and a copy of it is already on its way to him. A big thank you goes to him as well as all of the rest of you who participated.

I've got a couple of active subs right now. The first is The Witching Hour up at Shirt.Woot.


The second is originally from Shirt.Woot's BBQ theme, Cookout in the Valley. It is now up for scoring at Threadless.


I will probably be recycling a couple more of my older designs soon so keep your eyes out. Brilliant! and Dr. Whoooo are begging to get back in the game. I also now have three new ideas antsy in my queue that I will hopefully be able to make some time for.

Last thing I'd like to mention is that Cardinal Letter is about to disappear, so if you'd like to buy it, do so before tomorrow night. That's all for now!

12th Print Confirmed!

I must admit, Cardinal Letter was not a design I expected to be the climax of my print goal; it's been resting at Ink-hound for quite some time--well over 90 days. I am by no means complaining though. It's actually one of my favorites, one of the very few cases I'm satisfied with the use of halftones, and I don't mind that it references Hawthorne either. It will go on sale tonight at midnight at Ink-Hound. If it seduces you, grab it quickly because it will only be available for a week.



As stated before, I will celebrate this being the 12th print by drawing a name from the long list of loyal fans that have tweeted something nice about my blog. That person will receive a shirt of their choice out of these options:

Cardinal Letter
Cats With Weapons (must let me know by today for this one)
Half Full Wins
Spirit of the Stag
Gamer Mother

Spreadshirt designs:
Comfy Pearl
Typical Weekday Morning
Deep Sea Book Light
Candy Coated Sticks of Happiness

There's still time! Like I said before, use Twitter to tweet something nice about my blog, include a link to it, and include the tag #LoopyBlogContest. One entry per person, valid until noon today. This is just my way of thanking those of you who have supported me in so many ways, and have truly helped make it possible for me to obtain this goal.