I just spent the last two hours or so staring at my computer screen, finally scheduling updates for two of my most often-used websites:

rachelillustrates on tumblr
rachelillustrates.com

Also, a couple sketches and things are now scheduled for "Tock the Gnome." Still figuring out how to work this whole focus on world-building thing, instead of spazzing out about trying to make page updates happen regularly. Some actual prose updates about the world are probably in order there, too.

Anyway, I'm glad I finally got everything set to post, so there will be regular updates on Tumblr and my main (supposed-to-be-official-looking) website through the beginning of April. Yay! I've got more to scan, too, what with more recent sketchwork and the commissions I'm working on, so I should be adding to that shortly. I hope. It seems to be hard for me to keep up on posting things and keep up on creating things at the same time.

Now I'd better go feed the cats before they start eating my clothes or my altar, or worse, then feed myself, then probably an early bedtime.

location: Home mood: sore music: "I Burn," RWBY soundtrack tags: art updates, main website, productivity, progress, sketchwork, tock the gnome, tumblr

So I've been working a bit more than usual lately, art-wise, which is awesome and I want to talk about that since I'm really grateful for it.

Most of my spare time up until yesterday morning has gone to needle felting a portrait of a mermaid and a baby stingray/ray of some kind, for my llove for Valentine's Day. I can't post that yet since she hasn't gotten it yet - we're doing Valentine's tonight since we worked opposite shifts at the support jobs yesterday - but I'm really excited about it.

In-between bouts of working on that and after it was finished yesterday morning, I continued working on commissions. I've got three in the works right now, with a list of others to tackle after I finish those. One, a portrait of Istas, from Seanan McGuire's "InCryptid" series (gift for a returning client's girlfriend) to be finished in ink and a couple flat colors (sketchwork and reference board). Two, a portrait of a very endowed Gnome OC of VersusMe101, to be finished in full color with a simple background (sketchwork and reference board). Three, a promotional illustration for a friend's upcoming novel, to be finished in full color and detailed background (sketchwork not yet scanned/posted). I've gotten more work done on the first two than I expected, recently, so I'm really happy about that.

I did also give myself some personal work time this morning, and ended up working on the next page of my graphic novel, "Tock the Gnome." In the beginning, I'd intended to publish that online as a webcomic, but I couldn't even make an ever-other-week schedule. I'm currently rethinking how to go about it. Still, it felt awesome to be working on a page again, and I'm glad to be back to working with Tock and her entourage (to those of you who've read it, there really is no other way to describe them, is there?). She's currently in the process of adding the Orc Lady (who's my icon here) to her group, and their interaction is going to be VERY important, so I'm excited to have gotten a little further with that. Comics are just so much fun to draw. Whatever happens with this project, I hope sequential art is a part of it.

On an even more personal note, I've been doing a little bit better in letting this project take its course, instead of railroading it to my selfish plans. Don't get me wrong - I still have lots of plans, and a much better idea of where Tock's entire world is headed, and where it came from, than I did when I started the comic. But what happens with her, and how she gets there, is much more up in the air than I usually care to admit. Tock herself is a selfish, charming, and focused individual who tends to leap into things before planning, and between that and my obsession with True (romantic) Love, I'm not sure what kind of message I would have ended up with if I kept railroading things. I'm becoming a lot more spiritual of late, too, and in letting go of some of this direction while still trying to plan, I feel more informed about what this should be now, instead of making it all up myself. I still have lots of hopes and dreams for it, but instead of obsessing about getting pages done, I plan on devoting at least a year to world and character building (once I've caught up on commission work).

So yeah. That's that. Progress and forward momentum and all :)

location: Home mood: satisfied music: "She Keeps Me Warm," Mary Lambert tags: art, art progress, commissions, illustration, needle felting, personal work, planning, tock the gnome

So I really should be hopping in the shower, but I just scrambled to get my submission in to Seanan McGuire's recent fanart contest (and I hope it counts, since its design work for a commission, but I put a lot of thought and detail into it so I hope she likes seeing it either way).

I have a meeting at noon, then getting my llady home from work and rushing back in to the hotel to work myself, and I'm hoping somewhere in there to get some needle felting done. Her Valentine's present isn't exactly finished. Yeeeeeeah. Sometimes inspiration strikes last minute (it was the same last month for our anniversary, but I got that all worked out in time, so I'm choosing optimism about this, too). Also, sometimes - or really a lot of the time - I find it exhausting to be juggling both Art Work and Hotel Work. I know plenty of people work two jobs, and art is my passion and my calling, but I haven't quite figured out how to make it all work yet.

For today, though, I'm trying my best to stay positive and get done what I can.

Okay, shower. Meeting. Right.

location: Home mood: busy music: "Scott's Lamentation," Carol Thompson tags: art problems, busy, commissions, design work, needle felting, ramblings, thoughts, valentine's day, work problems

Hello there everyone. So its been a long time since I was on LJ, and I'm joining again to try and expand my social media base.

However, for some reason my attempts to update my profile have been glitching, so here's some info in the meantime:

About me:

"Hello. My name is Rachel, and I'm known on some other sites as "rachelillustrates" (that was too long for a username here). I'm a fantasy artist working with ink, colored pencil, felting and words - currently working on a universe for a graphic novel inspired by Fairy Tales and the faerie realm in general. I also work in the hotel industry, in reception, so that'll probably pop up every now and then. I hope to use this journal to post my work, and works in progress, as well as share things that inspire me. Thanks for reading :) "

Some interests:

Comic books, fantasy, faeries, faerie religion, spirituality, Paganism, Feminism, gender rights, equal rights, Gnomes, Orcs, steampunk, illustration, drawing, needle felting, fiber arts, folk music, reading, writing, independent creation

Again, thanks for stopping by and I'll likely be posting more soon.

mood: hopeful tags: art, graphic novel in-progress, introduction, traditional art, writing