Update: Graphic Novel

I’m doing exclusive updates and behind the scenes content over on my Patreon page, but I thought I’d do a quick recap what I’ve been sharing over there so far this year. I’m making steady progress on the graphic novel that I began writing in 2017. The script got a rewrite last year and since then I’ve been working on character design, page layouts, and the like. I’m more than halfway through the page layouts now—for a 93 page graphic novel it’s been quite the undertaking. While I have a day job that I love, it nonetheless takes a lot of time away from my creative endeavors. Progress is happening, if slowly.

You can follow along and get all the updates and see all the sketches over on my Patreon.

"The Four" Artist Profile Interview.

I was recently interviewed by 9&10 new’s “The Four” for part of their ongoing artist profile series. It was such a wonderful experience, especially for someone who gets nervous in these sorts of situations. Sarah was incredibly kind and easy to talk to.

Here is the transcription of the interview with a link below to the video.

Who are you?

I’m Bird! I’m a Traverse City native. I’m back after being gone for about a decade. I have been a professional artist for probably four years.

When did you get started in art?

I’ve always been artistic and creative. I was a doodler as a kid and I got in trouble for it a lot. It was the natural thing, even though I tried doing some other things before I ended up here. So, I went to Northern Michigan University, I started out as a graphic design major, thinking I would eventually go into set design, or transfer colleges, but I just didn’t love it. And, I fell into illustration and that was the major for me. I minored in creative writing as well.

What is your favorite medium? 

I’m primarily a watercolor artist, though I do dabble in collage, graphite, ink, colored pencil, but watercolor is one that I keep coming back to over and over again, it’s challenging. It makes you kind of collaborate with it. So I think that’s what draws me.

What inspires you?

Nature is probably my biggest inspiration, local wildlife, local plants that’s super interesting to me. I’m also really interested in the occult, world religions and spiritualitie,s and how the human mind works.

What do you hope people get from your work?

I hope people learn something, maybe about nature or mythology, or maybe just about themselves and kind of what’s going on internally with them. A moment of peace and introspection.

And here is the video!

I Love My Day Job

I feel like artists don’t talk much about their day jobs. Or if they do it’s usually negative. I work a day job that I love!

Some artists’ day jobs are adjacent to their passion, but mine’s not in my field at all. That’s actually why I applied for it originally, almost three years ago. I wanted something I could do that would pay my bills, but I wouldn’t “bring home” with me or be expending creative energy at. I wanted something physical that wasn’t retail.

As some of you may know, I worked for one of the big art & crafting corporations through college and beyond (six years total). It’s the job that allowed my husband & I to move out to Maine. But when we decided to move back to Michigan, I knew it was time to quit & move on to something else. I landed what should have been the dream job, but wasn’t. After that I was unemployed for a while. Like, starting to panic because I couldn’t find a job. Maybe I was being too picky, maybe the job market just kind of sucked. I don’t know, but I ended up applying for all kinds of weird jobs. Then I saw an ad for a bar back position at a local winery. I had no idea what to expect having never worked in the service industry before. My husband made it seem like it would be awful & backbreaking.

I applied anyway.

It can be hard. In a good way. Sometimes, I have to hustle all day. But that’s where I thrive. I like to be moving and doing things for my whole shift. Standing around with my hands in my pockets with nothing to do drives me absolutely crazy.

While I started out doing bar back duties I’ve done so many other things since then. I’m listed as “Jill of all Trades” on the website. At some point or other, I’ve helped on the bottling line, been on the crew processing grapes & apples during harvest, worked events, done deliveries, cared for the plants outside the winery, worked in the vineyard, packed online orders and wine club shipments, and cleaned just about everything. I’m sure there’s more I’m forgetting!

Recently, I began creating artwork for some of the bottles. It still feels totally surreal. The bottles above are the ones currently available that have my artwork on them. Though the skin fermented pinot gris on the left (my personal favorite label so far) has a very limited amount left! The ability to use my degree has been the best bonus I could ask for and truly an honor. I hope that LFC is able to use this artwork for years to come.

When I applied, I was simply looking for a paycheck. I somehow found a little family as well.

Artwork for upcoming labels: in order a riesling, blaufränkish, and pinot blanc.

Patreon

I set up a Patreon! I figure there’s nothing to lose and everything to gain. 

There are five different levels spanning from $1 to $50.

The beginning patronage level receives a personal thank you on my Instagram story every month and access to select posts on my Patreon feed. At the highest level patron receive personal thank yous on my Instagram story every month, access to my feed on Patreon, early access to items (like prints, books, etc.), a monthly signed print (3x5") & a personal doodle (3x5"), and surprise monthly goodies (like an extra print, stickers, etc.) included with their monthly art mail.

"Your pledges will help me buy supplies (paints, brushes, paper, matting, packaging & shipping stuff, etc.), enter work into galleries or contests, and pay bills (website upkeep, business & copyright fees, etc.) so I can keep making art!" 

Check it out! 

I'm STILL HERE

After we moved I really got caught up in working on my own projects and just in work in general. And we were trying to get a business off the ground by October. Plus being close to family means spending a lot of time with family. And not to mention all the settling in things you do when you first move in to a place. There was a lot going on. 

It's nearing the end of five months here. Things have settled down. I've changed jobs. I'm working just part-time now, as opposed to nearly full time. That means more time to work on art! And I have been doing a lot more art in the past two or so weeks. It feels really good.

It's all been art that I make for myself. I got a beautiful Sennelier watercolor set for my birthday, so I've been playing with that a lot. I promise I'll do a review on it soon.

With all the art I've produced in the past few weeks, I thought it was more than high time I get the shop opened. To that end, I've obtained an LLC. I have NO idea really what I need to be doing to run a business, but we'll find out as we go. Mostly what I'll have for sale in the shop right out the gates will be prints. I do have a handful of originals, too.

I've really been focusing on the small floral pieces, but I need to get back into projects. I should get back into the graphic novel, but somehow just thinking about it makes me all weak and nauseous. So, I've been outlining for the past months, in the free time between other things, a deck of divination cards that will be similar to a tarot deck. I'll go more into this project in another post. 

Kickflip'd: A Skate Deck Art Exhibition

The show I'm in at Awesome Hobby Shoppe is having its opening reception at 6p on March 15th.

My piece, "Queen of Heaven" (AKA the pussyboard), will be available for purchase.

See you there!

Kickflip'd Facebook Event Page

Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes

There are some big changes ahead.

We, Max, Trinity, & I, are moving back to Michigan. We'll be moving to Traverse City, my hometown.

Our lease was coming up at the end of April here in Maine. It got Max & I talking about what we wanted to do next. Did we want to stay here another year? Did we want to try to move north, to Augusta, perhaps? We started digging into our ten year plan, talking about what we want to accomplish, and thinking about where we want to end up. It quickly became clear we didn't want to be here another year. And maybe Maine hadn't been the best choice right now after all... (Northern Maine is still one of the most beautiful places, we may eventually move back.)

Well, we got in touch with my brother & sister-in-law who have been trying to get us to move in with them for forever to see if the offer was still open. It is. And they've asked us to be their business partners & open an art supply store with them! What!

To that end, I'm quitting my job. I've been with the same company for six years, three of which I've been in a management position. It's very daunting, losing that stability (& the benefits, let's be honest). I'd been planning to leave when I turn 30 anyhow. The timing just felt right.

It's been a year of incredible change. I don't regret any of it. Both Max & I have grown so much & we've learned a lot. We've made some great strides on the paths of our chosen careers & we've stoked the passion-fire for our dreams. I think you struggle to make you strong. 

I'm feeling very positive, very at peace about the decisions we've made. It's a good feeling. I know this move is going to bring great good.

The coming of April will bring to a close an amazing, crazy year & open up onto a whole new wonderful adventure that will be full of even more success!

Graphic Novel Update

If you listen to the podcast I do with my husband then you already know what my plan is for the graphic novel. If not...

I've given up on getting four pages of the graphic novel done a week. I don't know yet what I WILL be able to get done in a week. I wanted to get it done in a year, but I don't see that happening now.

I've stepped back to reassess.

I need to up my technical drawing skills. When I was writing the graphic novel I wasn't really thinking about the art, not the making of it. I was thinking more abstractly about it, composing the panels & pages like shots of a film.  So now that it's come to the making of it I've found that my imagination has reached far beyond my skill level. This is a good thing, truly. But a difficult, frustrating, & painful thing as well. Growth is hard, or it can be.

My new plan is to work on perspective drawing every day for thirty days. I think I'll start fresh February first & finish some other paintings up in the meantime. This was prompted by an episode of Your Creative Push, a (kick-ass) podcast I listen to.

I'm hoping this will force me to get better. Maybe I'll even find that this sort of drawing is something I really enjoy. All I know is I want the art to be worthy of the story.

New Year, New Goals: Update

Well, I've been pretty shit really at following through with my resolutions.  

My biggest failure so far is that I haven't worked on the graphic novel. At all. I started working on page one and immediately got overwhelmed. I really should have paid more attention to the perspective lessons in college. My first panel should be a big, beautiful shot of a castle amidst mountain peaks, a highly-detailed three-point perspective piece that will set the visual tone for the rest of the graphic novel. So far I have...a horizon line. 

But it hasn't been all bad. I just finished a new painting that I'm quite proud of (you can see it in my Personal section). 

In addition,  I've started setting up my online store & populating it with products. So far I have a few originals & prints of my more favorite pieces. The hold up with officially opening? Taxes & legalities. Sales tax is complicated, folks. But, with any luck, it will be open by the weekend!