Long time no Sock Drawer

Wow, I just realized today since May 4th I have drawn ONE picture for myself.
Before then the last thing I worked on for me was the second comic for Sock Drawer.
I'll be done commissions soon and once I am done, I'm going to work on Sock Drawer!
Starting with a script... I always jump into a comic before I know how its going to end. NO MORE!

Sock Drawer

I mentioned a few posts back that I am working on a comic by the name of "Sock Drawer".
I was hoping to get a blog up and going for it... and I have!
Its still under some construction, but it is up and running.
Please come check it out~!

http://sockdrawercomic.blogspot.com/

Go Girl

Today was a good day!

I woke up at 6:10am for the first time since highschool and I walked half an hour to attend a yoga class... MY yoga class!

Thats right!
Not only can this girl draw* (*opinions may vary), she can teach YOGA** (**opinions may vary).

No but really this was quite the experience in stepping out of my comfort zone- something everyone should do on a regular basis.
I will be teaching a basic yoga class at 7:30am Monday-Friday and 5:00pm Tuesday and Wednesdays.
That's a lot of yoga and I couldn't be happier!

Not only have I managed to get a job as an instructor at this studio (named "Go Girl Fitness Studio") I also designed the logo and did a variety of other design work!

Take a looksie:



This super lassy is Go Girl, or "GG" as she has become known due to my typing laziness.
The client really liked my logo character "Little S" and wanted her own little super logo character with her hands on her hips- so GG was born!

Here is a crappy photo taken from my cell phone:



I honestly don't think there is a better feeling than seeing your artwork printed out-- and HUGE!
This sign is now hanging up above the studio- where I teach.

Hurrah~!

Eventful Events

The last time I made a post it was about the upcoming PAX East!
Well, PAX East has come and gone and let me say, it was a great time all around!

In my last post I was hoping for a better day. A day when I got back into being even half of a hard-core gamer and felt that creative rush I used to after a good round of gaming.

To be honest, I haven't had time to game since I got back! I have been playing Pokemon Black a lot (Nintendo really out did themselves for Black and White), but that doesn't really count, does it? Even though my gaming isn't up to the level I would like it to be, I admit I did come back from PAX completely comic inspired!

I won't get into huge details about all the events I attended at PAX, but I can't make this blog update without talking about the "Penny Arcade Making a Strip" panel.
Mike Krahulik and Jerry Holkins of Penny Arcade fame are awesome. They are so funny and talented and MAN. Just awesome. For the Making a Strip panel they did a Q & A session while writing and illustrating a comic before a crowd of hundreds!
Just seeing how much love they were getting from everyone in the room and how so many of these people loved their comic I could feel the comic fire ignite in my belly (where all comic fires are located)!

So between working on projects for clients I have been birthing a comic series of my own! The series is titled "Sock Drawer" and I hope to give it its own blog/site very soon.

I have been really concerned about writing and displaying a comic as I have a deep anxiety of what people will think of me. I worry people's opinions of me will change based on my characters and story telling-- which is dumb. SUPER DUMB! I know its dumb. BUT logic doesn't necessarily make deep festering concerns any less present. So I'm going to suck it up and be an artist! You can't be an artist without rattling a few cages, so if anyone's cage is rattled by my work... HA! I'm sorry I didn't mean it! Or did I?? ...This not caring thing is going to take some work.

So yeah, have a look at my first comic and look forward to seeing more!

Yellow Scarf is going to PAX!

Earlier this fall I was invited to join my boyfriend (Nick), his co-workers and our friends down on an adventure to Boston to attend PAX East 2011, which is now just weeks away (http://east.paxsite.com/).

Now if I said I was excited that would be an understatement!

PAX is the Penny Arcade Expo.
Essentially it's a large gaming (video games, table top, cards etc.) convention named after the popular Gaming-based webcomic "Penny Arcade" (http://www.penny-arcade.com/).
Not gonna lie, thats one of the reasons I am so excited! I read Penny Arcade all throughout high school. I've unfortunately lost touch with it since, but the upcoming Expo is reuniting my love~!

Going to PAX will be a sweet opportunity to reunite myself with my game-love, which has gone down since College. I never had the time to play games in college, so ever since then I've had a hard time sitting myself down for hours of achieving nothing except well... achievements (herp).

Recently, however, I remembered how creative and inspired I was back in highschool- back when I had the time to let myself relax, unwind and play games. I was full of creative juice, artsy-fartsy-ness and ambition to make my own impact on people, the way games impacted me. I very dearly want to get that feeling back. Especially now, I have a big project I'm really excited about and I don't want to lose that. So here's hoping getting back into gaming can help that... AND Nick can stop calling me a "casual gamer" (which is super not cool by the way! No matter how true it has become :P)!

So the countdown is on- I'm going to do my best to document everything that goes on at the Expo. I also plan to throw my business cards around like candycanes at the Santa Clause parade, hopefully without getting someone in the eye.

Countdown to PAX East- T-minus 16 days.

Yellow Scarf Valentine's Special!

I am so very very excited!
I am going to be joining a Roller Derby team this Wednesday!



I just can't wait I think its going to be a blast, expensive- but a blast!
I need to pay almost $400 up front in fees and equipment.
SO!
Here is where the Yellow Scarf Special comes in!

Until February 13, I will be offering $15
illustrations! This will include any style and up to two characters.

I will also be offering up to 10 seconds of a cleaned up, personalized animation, for $60!
(Edit: Due to time restrictions I will only be taking on one or two animations, thank you!)

Perfect for your Valentine!
Or anti-Valentine! :D

Yellow Scarf has changed location!

Well shucks, it's been a while since I posted anything, hasn't it? And I have no art to show this time.
Well, here I'll doodle up something quick!



There! Now this is officially not a pointless, artless update!

But I digress, the holiday season was a busy one for me, I barely had time for any art-ness.
Of course for the holidays I wouldn't have it any other way.

But now that we're into 2011 I thought a change of scenery would be a great way to refresh my artistic-ness.
So here I am in New Brunswick with my boyfriend Nick!

Now that I am finding myself settled I have been hopping back on projects I am working on for some clients. I am having a lot of fun on these projects which include letter heads, promotional packages and tattoo designs- woo!
Perhaps with the consent of the clients, upon completion of the projects, I can post some of my work!

On the personal-artwork side of things I am trying to get my butt back to school for some more animation!
I am aiming for the Sheridan College in Ontario, so look forward to seeing some of my portfolio work in the near future!

I am also interested, of course, on working on a comic. Since I over analyze EVERYTHING and I can never iron out a story I want to make as a comic, I have a new approach!
I figure, my life is interesting enough- why not make a comic diary?
That way everyone can enjoy it when I make an ass of myself! Hooray!!

Christmas Card Sale

Yessir-ee-Bob!

My Christmas Cards are going on sale next weekend!
For locals who are interested the sale is at the Glenhill Berry Farm 2146 Lochaber.
The sale takes place from 10am-4pm on Saturday and 12pm-4pm on Sunday. Unfortunately due to prior commitments I am unable to be at the sale on Saturday, but my lovely mother will be manning the table for me! I'll be there on Sunday though, bright eyed and bushy tailed!

As mentioned before, once this sale is over I will be opening commissions for personalized Christmas cards for a special holiday price! So stay tuned to find out what the special price is or if you can't wait until after the sale contact via facebook or email: shannonlong88@hotmail.com :)

Sears National Kids Cancer Ride

It has been a while since I posted anything- I've been so busy!!
I hope to update more often both artistically and blog-ally from now on.

But any whosit, cool news!
In a past blog ( http://yellowscarfstudios.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2010-05-17T14:58:00-03:00&max-results=7 as seen here) I had mentioned I designed a logo/character for an important cause. A former teacher of mine is biking across Canada (with many other athletes- although she's the only Nova Scotian- woo!) for the Sears National Kid's Cancer Ride. As mentioned, I had the honour to great a little logo for her jersey. I chose a cute cartoony Tiger as it is child friendly but also represents the strength one possesses to live with cancer.
Today for the first time I got to see how the jersey turned out and I received a jersey of my very own!

Have a look!!


The Front


Close Up


The Back


Close up of the upper back


Close up of the bottom, back pocket- with my signature :D

I feel so blessed for having had the chance to design this little fella. As if the national exposure to my little tiger wasn't enough, I also had the chance to donate my time and energy to cancer research. What an opportunity :) Thanks, Suzanne!

Webcomic!

My Yellow Scarf Studios ad has graced the local newspapers. It was very exciting to see- and I have received a lot of positive feedback from it. I hope to have the ad back in the paper for next week's issue.

In other news, I have been trying to come up with a webcomic series that I could call my own.
I wanted it to be something that I can relate to, be passionate about and therefore never run out of material to write about.
Finally, it hit me the other night while I was in bed-- a webcomic about long distance relationships!
With my boyfriend off to work in another province this is certainly a topic I can relate to. So stay tuned for that! <3 I hope to have my first comic this weekend.



Here is a concept piece for the female character Nathalie Chu. Her male counterpart; Jacobs Collins is still a work in progress haha.

Ch-ch-changes

No! Not for me, well, yes for me, but not Yellow Scarf Studios.

My boyfriend and Digital Animation companion Nick, has been offered a wonderful opportunity with an internship. Unfortunately he will be working in New Brunswick, therefore having to move to New Brunswick, for about a year.

My first thought was "what should I do? This opportunity is too good for Nick to pass up... so should I go with him?"

After a wrench was thrown into my wheel of life I had to stop and double think my plans. In the end I decided to stay on course, live in Antigonish and establish Yellow Scarf Studios into a success business.



It'll be tough, but duty calls... for the both of us. :)

Business Launch!

Although very low key, as I had expected, my launch is going great!

I have run a few tests for my business cards (deciding that I will get them printed professionally) and I have also created an ad for Yellow Scarf Studios that (if all goes to plan) will be appearing in next week's local newspaper! Hoorah!



I feel very enthusiastic and confident in my ability to run my business at this time. I am very glad I gave myself the necessary time to prepare, but now I'm ready to get things started!

Bring it on world! :D

Facebook

**Disclaimer: Facebook logo belongs to facebook!!**

After a day or two of putting it off Yellow Scarf Studios has made its debut on facebook! Woo!

I'm still working out the kinks of the facebook page, but so far so good. If anyone knows how I can improve my page layout or anything I would appreciate the advice/feedback!

Animation Project Update

Dance, Hauptbahnhof, DANCE~!
http://shmarky.deviantart.com/art/Dance-Party-169508121

Seen above is a short dance loop animation I had been working on for a bit. I briefly blogged about it a week or so ago. It was a lot of fun and a nice break from the big animation project I am still working on with my brother and boyfriend.

The animated short I am working on is the very same one about Robots I had mentioned a little before the fishy dance. So, I thought it would be appropriate to update with some more pre-production artwork~! YAY!

Without disclosing too much info about our story, here are two, fairly rough, character turn arounds I drew of the two main characters in our tale. Just so the other members of the team can get a grasp on their designs (designed by yours truly):



Our Robot.



Our Boy.

Hopefully we can get the rest of our preproduction work done ASAP and start with the real fun stuff; ANIMATING~!

Facelift

Giving the ol' blog a make-over, which is going very well thanks to the new templates available.

Soon I'll be making a new banner- still featuring Little S of course!

Speaking of Little S I have a little project underway where I will have my character Little S and this squishy little fellow doing a dance!

Allow me to introduce to you...Hauptbahnhof the Fish~!

Animation Project

A little while back my brother was telling me about a story he had in mind for his next animation project(view some of his work here http://www.youtube.com/user/AtomicBottle ). He only had the basic concept down at this point, but it was funny, I liked it.

The other day he asked if I would like to help with this project of his. Heck yes I wanted to help! It would be great for my portfolio and it would be something to do for fun. It was just icing on the cake when he said he wanted to have it done in time to submit it for a contest on Newgrounds- now I don't expect to win, but its definitely motivation to get our work done!

So for the last few days my brother, and a little group of us have been working on a script as well as concept art for the mini movie. Now, I won't go into detail about what the story is about, but it involves a robot! I have also been given permission from my brother to post some of the concept art we have down so far.

So here we have it... rough concept work for my next animation project.





Look forward to seeing more concepts and characters as we develop the story!

Resume

While planning my Freelance Illustration, Animation and Design business I have been also plotting how to make a creative resume to really express myself!

I find its very hit or miss with a creative resume. I live in a small town where the creative industries tend to be hidden behind all of the stiff, white collar jobs; so most people seem to find a really creative resume "too much" or "not professional".

My current resume (shown below) was created for an assignment during my time at College. Although it has grown on me (and matches my blog oh-so-well) I feel I can do more than this! I would like to really express my creativity and some up with a really interest template- I'm thinking a horizontal resume.





Hopefully I can update my new and improved resume (complete with a personalized, creative touch and updated information) soon~!

S Illustrations Business Launch

With graduation right around the corner, my trip to Europe behind me and my trip to New York in just a few days I have been a busy lady!

My freelance Illustration, Animation and Design business has temporarily been moved down my priority list for this month- but I had planned for that. During the month of June I will be preparing to graduate (June 14th) and I will also be setting up all the necessities for my business. I can't wait!My business will officially be launched this July~!

So stayed tuned for some more info on S Illustrations, but until then, see some photos from my trip!!



Venus de Milo



The Eiffel Tower



The volcano on Iceland. Yup. The one that canceled all those flights, including mine.

Interview

As mentioned in my last blog post my school year is coming to a close. With the end of the school year comes the ever stressful interviews; a time where you go one on one with you a panel of instructors.

Tomorrow is my interview and I have to present myself like I am actually applying for a job; dress well, have a business card available, present my demo reel and all the like.

I was supposed to have my demo reel burnt onto a DVD and put into a case, but due to short notice and lack of funds I am unable to do so. So I decided I will be putting my demo reel as well as other information on my blog so its interview ready!





Wish me luck!

March Break

After some long hard weeks I am just minutes away from being on March break! I cannot wait!
I have a lot of school work to do, of course, but I still have some pretty exciting plans for the week long break.

To start the break off I will be going to visit my grandmother who I haven't seen since Christmas. I'm looking forward to some good old home cooking! As a student I don't get that very often as one could imagine, haha.

Once I return from my grandmother's and head home I will be spending my free time sleeping in, visiting old friends, getting some personal artwork done (for me and my portfolio) as well as working on my business plan!

I have a goal to finish my business plan by the end of the break so I have much to do.
I'm excited to have a business plan under my belt because I will feel much more organized about my business which I am still hoping to have up and running come the summer.

Annnnnnd my break has officially started!
Hooray!!