Holiday season was a whirlwind that I'm barely coming down from. I completely overextended myself in October and paid the price for that (mental exhaustion is a thing, folks) and then the holiday season finished me off. This was followed by birthdays and Valentine's Day and dog sitting (plus we got a new puppy and Almond joined Obedience School) and I'm essentially drained but mending. Long story short: sorry for the absence.
But I haven't completely been out of the game. I've been working on things.
So one of my goals for this year was to focus more on galleries. I love cons but they're hit and miss right now as the industry goes through a shift and I'm still kinda trying to figure out what's best for my business before I do a bunch. I will be at Lubbock-Con this year though, but that'll probably be my only one. I pretty much barely broke even on Hub City Comic Con and figured I'd lay off cons a bit after that.
We will be at Staple 2017 but only as attendees! I love that show so no matter what, we're going.
With that said, galleries give me a lot of freedom to paint what I want and let me shake my wrists out, so to speak. I don't have to worry about what sales and if anything is cost effective or how many I can reproduce. It's a one and done and I can spend a lot of time on something and not feel bad.
We started the year off with a Bad Luck Gallery at Star Books & Comics for my birthday (January Friday the 13th. Lucky me!) and for it not being on the First Friday Art Trail, the house was packed! I'm so happy so many people were able to come out for it and it shows that as long as you have something interesting, people will come.
That gallery actually got extended to the end of February so if you haven't checked it out, go!
March I may be speaking at the Lubbock-Con Artist Workshop covering the business aspect of art. So conventions, galleries, online stores, etc. It's the side that rarely gets discussed but is extremely helpful for anyone who ever wants to get into art professionally or even just on the First Friday Art Trail. So if you want to get the details, go to Lubbock-Con's Facebook page and find the event there.
April! Ladies Night 3rd Anniversary! Can you believe we've gotten to do 3 years of Ladies Nights? That's nuts. We're finalizing the date now but we have a neat artist lined up that I've featured before so I'm excited to see what she can bring to Ladies Night! Keep an eye out on my Facebook for the official date announcement and event!
Also, big shout out to Star Comics for always letting me run crazy events and being super supportive. Best people ever. Seriously, I could not do any of the stuff I do without them being willing to partner up with me.
May is Lubbock-Con! Feel free to refer back to said Facebook page for details!
And then June 2nd, there's a little movie you might have heard coming out. Wonder Woman? Yeah, we're doing an artist collective gallery for that! We'll have about 20 different artists all submitting pieces dedicated to the Amazonian herself. It'll be on the First Friday Art Trail so go see it! I promise it'll be cool as hell.
There's a few more things in the works, but that's all for now. If you have commissions with me, Sorry!! I'm getting back into the swing of things and am working on getting them sorted. My projector that I use to blow up my sketches also went on the fritz but I'm working on it!
I'm also looking into getting my Inktober works in a sketchbook and as soon as all my inventory is replenished, the Etsy store will be back up with all those.
Thank you again to everyone that's stuck by me and liked my work and just been completely supportive.
-Sam <3