New Years Eve

Happy New Years Eve!

So, whats your new years eve resolution?

I have a couple....

1. Lose this holiday weight!
2. To begin developing my business in a professional manner.
3. To continue to develop at least one new piece every two weeks.
4. Enter a couple pieces into a show.
5. To buy that Epson printer I want.
6. To get a tattoo gun before 2011.

So I have six resolutions...I think I can do them, as most of them revolve around the same thing - my art. My holiday weight is a classic New Years Eve thing, but whatever. I've only gained two pounds since christmas but, xD Two pounds can turn into five, which then you get fine with and doesn't seem so bad, and then that gains another pound or two, or another-- etc etc.

What are you going to do this evening? I'm gonna spend it with my mom, my brother, his wife, and his friend. My husband has to work tonight (as always!!) so i'll be here. =]

Christi~

I have no idea what they're saying

who they're saying it to, or anything related, but click on the title of this post. This song amuses me greatly.

Bi-Weekly Draw Fest

Theme 1: Cherries

So my friend, RoboSuplex creator Chrissy Powell, and I have decided to do a bit of a bi-weekly drawing challenge, which we've thusly named the Bi-Weekly Draw Fest.

Theme for the first one is "Cherries" -  This is open basically.  Such as, it can just be cherries, it can be cherry trees, it can be dryads, etc.  I'm going to go about this from a spirit stance, I believe.  We're designing a stationary set, which means the page to write on, and then the envelope design.   More to come!

Okay two things....

God bless Eddie Izzard.



Secondly, God bless Lewis Carroll for giving me so much to work with. I've decided I rather kind of freakishly love Alice in Wonderland, which is fair to say, I think. While working on some paintings for buttons/stickers, "White Rabbit" by Jefferson Airplane came on and I think that that rather describes my idea of my wonderland. A little twisted and disturbing but interesting at the same time...why? I'm not sure. Hell, why not.



Anyway, I developed this Alice series about a year or two ago (the concept sketches, etc) and am finally developing them. In my world, the Red Queen is slowly taking over by poisoning the inhabitants of Wonderland...she marks each one of them in one way or another. For my mad hatter, she took his eye...but with him its a bit of a wonder on if he's twisted or not, as she more so took from him than scared him. Thats still up in the air. The one person she really wanted was the cat (think Queen Beryl with Endymion) but he had no interest in being involved in, well, basically anything. I have some drawings where he is with Alice, in some weird twisted relationship, and I have some drawings where the Queen has finally marked him and poisoned him. I think originally I was just developing my own manga, lolz. The Rabbit is twisted, I believe, and more or less as much of a trickster as the Cheshire is. To me she doesn't really talk, just smiles and does creepy things like leading people down rabbit holes, lolz.



Alice has gone through a variety of looks...still not sure i've settled, lolz. Long hair, short hair, long dress, short dress, who knowwwwwss yet. I still have people to be drawn as well, such as the march hair, the little mouse in the tea pot, the white knight...I *have* got sketches or finished drawings of the cat, the red queen, the white queen, the hatter, and the catepillar.



I dont really understand the point of this ramble, and suppose its all thanks to Baileys, but whatever. Heres a sample of what i'll be painting for my Mad Hatter.

Magnets

I promised better pictures, and here they are!

These are the standard 2 1/4 round magnets, just one of the sizes I will be offering. Other magnets will be offered in:

Round, Square - 2 1/4 for $4.00

Or larger magnets ( 3 inches) for $5.00 The larger magnets are only available in round.

Magnets are in!

Woo hoo - woo hoo!


Just got my first shipment of magnets in, and I must say, they look preeetttyyyy kick-ass. I ordered a set of magnets featuring the Ladies, to be sold on my etsy shop starting Jan 1st.

They are your standard 2 1/4 size, round, with a durable scratch and UV-resistant coating. Each item is printed with vibrant colors, and features a powerful magnetic backing to ensure that it stays where you put it, be it your refrigerator, microwave, your friends knee brace, or the metal cap your dog always wears to prevent aliens from reading his mind. So get yours today! Or on the 1st! Whichever!

I apologize for the quality of the photo, and I plan to take a better picture soon but I want to post it up on here anyway. Camera phone, while high quality, is so freaking sensitive that it doesn't matter how high quality the picture is, cause no one gives a damn about a high quality blur.

Valentine Series completed.

Valentine Series

Alrighty ladies and gents! The Valentine Set of 2010 has arrived, fresh out of my hand! Remember when you were a little kid and it was so exciting to go pick out valentines that you were going to give to all your friends and loved ones? Or even the excitement of going through the ones in your box that you got that day? Well that can happen again, with an adult spin! These sexy ladies will be happy to pass your valentine wishes along in the form of glossy postcards, and lets face it, who doesn't like to recieve mail that isn't a bill?

Also, i've included three of the images on a two tone mug for sale on my shop. Get it at ChristisImagination.etsy.com while it lasts! Mugs will be on sale through end of Feb! After that, mugs can only be purchased at special request having already been officially 'retired.'

*The Ladies of Wonderland are also going to be offered as a limited edition mug, but on a solid white one as opposed to the two tone.

On a random note, I like whales. I also like coffee. I think i'd like a whale that likes coffee.

Information on my Shop!

Alright, so I just got a message this morning from VistaPrint confirming that my order has been printed and shipped, and that the estimated date of arrival is on the 28th of December. Ordered it on the 13th, so assuming I got it on the 28th, that would make 16 days as opposed to the 21 day option that I picked. Not too shabby.

Etsy Shop Info:
printing services and pricing

In other news, theres been some interest among a couple of people of having my Ladies series printed and sold to them! I'm really happy about this as I've been working hard and as a professional illustrator, it's always nice to see when other people admire what you've put so much time and effort into. I plan on having several different options on my etsy site, but think i'll go ahead and list what im planning here.

Firstly, if its on the site, you can get the image in any of these formats, even if its not specifically listed as such. All one has to do is ask, and it shall be done, lolz. Okay! So for the products, keep in mind this is not a complete list, simply a list of various products I plan to have available:

• Bookmarks
• Magnets
• Giclee Prints
• Poster Prints
• ACEOs
• Stationary

Okay, so to explain, as im sure some of you are looking at this list and wondering what some of them are...

Giclee Print

Fine art prints are very popular with artists who need to reproduce their artwork to sell at shows or galleries. Please note that fine art prints are often referred to as Giclee Prints, and are high quality prints of the product. Somerset Velvet Giclee, which I use for my shop, have the authentic "look and feel" of high quality watercolor paper and are produced with Somerset Velvet paper and Epson Ultrachrome professional archival inks, so your product won't fade.

Sizing and prices are as follows:

4 x 6 - $8.00

5 x 7 - $10.00

8 x 10 - $20.00

8 x 12 - $27.00

11 x 14 - $40.00

ACEOs

ACEOS is a short way of simply saying Art Cards, Editions, and Originals. As stated by a fellow illustrator, "They bring original art into the grasps of all art collectors at an affordable price" -- Most of what I intend to be selling are Editions, which will all be signed, dated, and numbered. ACEOs are printed in a 2.5 x 3.5 format, and are the size of traditional trading cards, making them perfect to collect or trade. Pricing varies and will be set accordingly for each piece according to size, number of prints, or if its an original.

Poster Prints

Poster prints are an alternative I offer to Giclee prints for those who would like the art, but maybe looking for something a little cheaper. This is a service I will offer for any of my pieces. These images are printed on a professional laser printer using smooth acid-free paper. The resulting image in vivid and beautiful like a Giclee print, but without the watercolor texture. Its a wonderful, afforable alternative to a Giclee, and look fantastic framed.

8.5 x 11 - $10.00

11 x 14 - $15.00

12 x 18 - $20.00

16.20 - $25.00

20 x 30 - $30.00

Larger sizes are available, but pricing changes and will need to be discussed.

Stationary

This portion will include postcards to start with, but will expand into notepads and paper sets in time. The postcards will all come with envelopes, which will be (for the most part) 100% recycled brown envelopes, which you're welcome to decline should you have other options you'd like to consider. In some cases, certain designs will be placed on the envelopes to cordinate them with a series (for example, the Ladies of Wonderland come with tea party stamped envelopes).

I hope that helps with those of you looking to make a purchase. If theres something you want or need, message me and i'll be sure to get back to you. Thanks for looking!

Christi and Jedi <3

Valentines Set

So ive started my work on my next set. I was thinking how I'd love to do a holiday series, and since theres no possible way for me to make Christmas or New Years, so I'm going for Valentines, which just lends itself perfectly to my style. Either gonna have a set of four or five girls solo'd with Valentine themes, not sure which number yet. Again will be burlesque, as I seem to enjoy that style of drawing. Think they'll make some pretty hot postcards for people to send out for the big day ={P ....mustache typo? Works for me. Anyway, thinking i'll have them up early to mid January. Look for them on my etsy shop, to be opened for the beginning of January.

http://www.christisimagination.etsy.com/

Ladies of Wonderland, finished.

The White Queen:

The Red Queen:

Alice:

The White Rabbit:

Some excitement on the home front.

Alright so, the good news is this:

All my little ladies are painted!  Im hoping to enter them in this "anything goes" show in Ormond Beach this upcoming Feb.  Bad news is that they have a 24 x 24 x 1.5 size requirement which the cheapest i've found for that sort of printing has been in the 80s, with a 20+ shipping fee, so basically a 100 dollars by the end of all this.  Have we forgotten the starving artist scenario? Seriously, the fuck?

Anyway.  Tomorrow i'll be scanning them in via kinkos (death to my scanner) and proceeding with the computer editing.  I'd LOVE to get some physical prints done soon...the plans are postcards or individual prints.  Also discovered a place where I can get my stuff printed on actual cards, which seems all too obvious with an Alice in Wonderland set, so I may be extending the series even more.  By the end of this my entire portfolio will be Alice but I can't help it, the whole concept is rather liberating. 

Far away, this ship is taking me far away, far away from my memories, of the people who care if I live or die - Muse

Ladies of Wonderland

Done? You tell me.

Ladies of Wonderland

Okay, so, Im actually rather happy with the watercolor process so far, the tragedy lies in my scanner. It cannot scan in a non blurry piece for the life of it, so i'll have to take all my images in to be scanned in clear before I can do any computer editing, which is a downfall. Anyway, heres what I got so far...

Subject One:

The White Rabbit

Heres the (albeit) horrible scan in of my White Rabbit. I fiddled very briefly with the saturation in the computer, but have yet to give it full attention due to the low quality of the scan to start with. I cant decide if I want to add some digital effects in via photoshop yet or not. Im rather enjoying the texture to the piece however.

Subject Two:

The Red Queen

When I first started sketching ideas for the queen, I had her very sultry, but soon decided against that. She needed to be sexy, but not too much, which I felt would be expected of the Queen of Hearts. But she's not just a normal queen, is she? Shes flippin' mad. So I have her more coy than my initial sketches, with roses and mini crowns floating in the back. Unsure on colors yet but leaning towards deep rubys, golds, and blacks. Some purple tones. This will be a very saturated piece.

Subject Three:

Alice

Heres my Alice. I wanted her outfit to be very sexual to contrast the little girl image of Alice, but I kept her face a full mask. It will be painted start white, with rose colored cheeks and lips, to play off that child image everyone has. Her corset will be that beautiful baby blue, while the frill, bow, and most likely the stockings will be white. Hair is blonde of course. Unsure on background colors ...thinking a wash of blue...? So far this is my least favorite of the set. Unsure what it is exactly, but something isn't meshing to me.

Color suggestions welcome!

VistaPrint, a blessing or a curse?

So I ordered a couple of free magnets from VistaPrint a week or so ago and they came in last friday, and I am rather happy with them. Although the magnets feel sort of flimsy, they stick to things just fine and considering they were my free trial sample, I have to say I think I did well. I intend to slip these babies in with my etsy orders once I get the shop up and running. Now, for these sample magnets, I just used a design that was already on the site and complimentary to my own style, but you do have the option of uploading your own images to use (sometimes this cost money, sometimes its free, depending on the promotions going on at the moment.) So I got myself 25 magnets for the cost of $6.50 for shipping.

Now, VistaPrint is an amazing site and you can get a lot of quality products for relatively low prices, but you kind of have to be careful because they will throw things at you and all of a sudden you'll have a check out price much higher than what you were aiming for because you didn't read all the print. This happened to me today when I returned to check out their other free products. I discovered that sometimes when you just try something out, it'll actually add itself onto your product list in the checkout area in one way or another, so you have to really look at what youre agreeing to carefully. Anyway, I walked away with:

Free

• One small car magnet


• One rubber stamp


• One Pen with logo and contact information

Paid

• 10 large magnets for $9.74


• 2 notebooks for $23.99

Now, im not too thrilled I got had on the two notebooks, but that was my fault as I kept going back and forth between quantities. I had intended to just settle on one but, I guess that got lost in translation. I got the slow shipping for $6.60, which says 21 days, but i'll keep track of how long it actually takes to get it. I'm hoping it comes out well...these could be great promotional items to use =)

Christi Thomas-Fealy

Color Comp for mailer.

Finally posted a piece of my own art on here, lolz.
Anyway, below is my rough color comp for my mailer. Like i've said before, it's my idea for my mailer. I intend to paint it with watercolors, but since im so sketchy with that sort of thing, I wanted to do a comp or two in the computer. Any suggestions or comments on it, i'd be glad to hear.
I'm thinking of sticking to these three colors, golds, blues, and pinks.
Click on the image to see it in a larger window.

RoboSuplex by Chrissy Powell

Featured Artist:  Chrissy Powell

Chrissy is a friend from when I went to SCAD who's blog I recently began following (http://robosuplex.blogspot.com/)  We used to share our own blog as well, but I was horrible at keeping it updated/anything computer related.  On the left, you can see a doodle she had made for the page featuring her (screaming) and me (zoning), lolz.  Gotta love it.

Her new art uses lots of bright colors and quirky designs, with a child friendly, whimsical feel.  Currently shes focusing on a card set featuring robots, good vs evil, hence the robo suplex link above.  Below i've included two samples of her new work: a good guy (Green Steel/Acero Verde) and a bad guy (The Fatty/ El Gordito)  Both are from her new trading card set.

 

VS

If you'd like more information about the artist Chrissy Powell, check her out at her website, or by clicking the title of this post:

www.robosuplex.com/index.html

1st Blog!

Alrighty! Pop the champagne, light the candles, watch a Johnny Depp movie...it's my first post!

I've decided to open up a blog to correspond with my new Etsy shop (www.ChristisImagination.etsy.com), as well as my new website link (www.ChristisImagination.com). I hope to keep this updated and pray it won't turn into one of those blogs thats gets updated every five months with "sorry I haven't updated!" but only time will tell with that one.

So i'm excited about the progress i've been making with my art business at the moment...it kind of has been dead in the water for a little while now, but things are finally (hopefully) progressing in the right direction. I bought a new domain name, and if I haven't bought hosting yet, I will be doing that soon. I have a wonderful friend who is helping me with the website construction, so I pray that will be up soon. My old website, www.ChristiThomas.net, was tragic to begin with and not really what I wanted as an illustrator, so I'm hoping this new portfolio site will be the platform to dive off of. I spent all of yesterday designing a new logo and business card/mailer, which I am also extremely pleased with the progress of. Scanned in my mailer ideas today over dinner in order to do a couple color comps with before I touch the actual sheet with paint.

The image is my distortion of the White Rabbit, from Alice in Wonderland. It didn't originally start off with this end goal, but it kind of morphed its way into my series. Through it, however, I was inspired to make a couple more drawings to flesh this set out. It will be a postcard series of the girls of Alice, and they will all be provocative and creepy. While it was originally intended to be my business card sketch, my plan now is to use the White Rabbit as my mailer...haven't settled on a business card idea yet. Once I get adobe up on this computer I will post my ink sketch.


My ideas for color are to keep her light and fleshy, with the clocks and mask filigree being in shades of gold. The background will be a very soft blue...

The ladies in this series will include:

• The White Rabbit
• The Red Queen
• The White Queen
• Alice

My idea for a new logo is based off my ring, and its a coo-coo clock =]

I'll end up posting that as well, i'm sure.

Anyway, like I've said, i'm beyond excited, and have lots planned for this little adventure...

Signing out!
Christi and Jedi