New Website! New Directions!

In case you haven't noticed, the website got a new look! I'd been meaning to redo the site for the longest time and finally sat down and worked on it all day. It's been a while since it first launched and my limited knowledge showed, but I think now it's fresh and reflects my current tastes a lot more.

Growth! It's a thing!

The business has been going through a lot of growth lately as I move everything more towards what I want it to be now that I've got experience. So what does that mean?

• I will be phasing out certain jewelry and product. 
• Switching from 11x17 prints to 8x10
• Not as many conventions
• More galleries
• More sketchbook art
• Splitting the blog into two categories: News and personal blogs. 

I loved making jewelry but the effort to make everything was exhausting and I was starting to feel like I had too much product all over the place. So I'm cutting it down to just the ones that do well or that I really like (If there's a certain piece you like, let me know!)

It's more of a cost thing with the prints. 11x17 prints are expensive to buy unless you buy a bunch in bulk and I have too many designs to do that. It's cheaper and easier for me to do 8x10 which means more will be available and I can actually sell them online!

With conventions, I happened to start at a weird time. Suddenly everyone was getting flooded with conventions so I had a lot of options but now it's too saturated and I'm realizing that I'm not getting the return I want to for the stress that I'm experiencing. I love them, but I think I like attending them more. So I'm sticking to only a few I know I can do well at and isn't out of the way for me.

Galleries were always my main goal and with the art scene growing in town, I got very lucky. I get to do exhibits and galleries with Lubbock-Con and now I'm organizing Star Comics galleries. I even have a few other group exhibits I am participating in outside of that. That's also what pushed me away from conventions. I have to be focusing on all the galleries I'm in!

Sketchbook art is kinda a given. I need to practice more and I like experimenting at a smaller size than I'm use to. The more I do it, the better I'm getting.

And last, the blog. I stopped doing as many Vlogs on Youtube because of the time it took to edit, but I still want to share my personal life and experiences and thoughts. I also left Tumblr because I got tired of the format and the fight for Likes and Reblogs. So since this is my website and in part, what I'm selling is myself, I decided to host my own blog here. Posts that are just news and events and updates of that sort will be on the News page and personal posts will be on the Blog page.

We're planning on moving to Seattle next year so I wanted to log our time prepping for that, some of my personal struggles and thoughts, rants, and things I love, but didn't want to bog down the actual business news so this works best!

Lots of changes but I think this will be good. I need a routine and this helps my art and business further.

Thanks again everyone for sticking around and supporting me!

-Sam <3

Featured Artist: Stephanie Besco

Stephanie Besco is a new artist coming all the way from San Diego, California here for Texas Tech and is showing for the first time in Lubbock at Star Books & Comics Downtown! Both her and her sister, Stacey, are part of TigerBomb!

Her favorite things to work on are portraits and says she's been drawing since she could remember. "I went to the Art Institute for a year but didn't learn anything worth all the money...so I decided to take a hiatus from art by joining the Navy for 6 years and now I'm trying to get back into it in my free time...I really enjoy meeting new artist friends and very much look forward to being active in the Lubbock artist community with all the local rad talent out here!"

Stephanie is one of Lubbock-con's new Featured Artists as well and will have one of her pieces at Alamo Drafthouse November 12th for a Flash Gordon showing as well as Timeless Custom Frames & Art Gallery December 3rd with the other Lubbock-Con Featured Artists for a one night exhibit! The gallery is located at 3501 50th St. #112 in the Mission Plaza, off of 50th St. and Indiana.

For now, you can go by Star Books and Comics 916 16th Street, Thursday-Saturday from 2-8pm. She has two paintings up for our Halloween Artist Collective show including "You Fight or You Die" and "I Have to Return Some Videotapes". Both are available for $150 each. You have absolutely got to see them in person and they'll be up until the end of the month!

Featured Artist: Teena Brewer

Teena Brewer is another new artist that had her first gallery showing at the Halloween Artist Collective at Star Books & Comics Downtown!

She is a self taught artist who says she learned by watching and admiring other artists' work. "I love all types of art! I believe art is all around us...There is so much beauty in this world and I think it's amazing that we can capture it on a canvas, a photo, through words and music." The mediums she's tried and enjoyed so far are watercolors, acrylic, and color pencil because she loves blending colors though she would like to learn and work with other mediums like oil pastels.

You can follow her on Instagram @TeeBrewsArt and can contact her through her Facebook page or Email TeeBrewsArt@hotmail.com for art inquiries.

Teena has two pieces up at Star Books and Comics (916 16th st). "The Evil Enchantress" which is available for $75 and "Oogie Boogie" which is $25. You can go see them at the shop Thursday-Saturday from 2-8pm!

Featured Artist: Victoria Gabriella

(I wanted to try and do something new where I feature and share a bit about the artists I'm showing with in our Halloween Artist Collective show at Star Books and Comics. Please like their pages and go see their art!)

Victoria Gabriella is a new artist and had her very first gallery showing at the Halloween Artist Collective at Star Books & Comics Downtown!

She's a self taught artist and uses a variety of mediums from marker to acrylic and loves to experiment! Victoria says, "All of my inspiration came from anime as a kid, which resulted in mostly drawings of women, which works, but lately I feel more in tune with myself and am trying to break off from that a little more and just let anything else that comes to mind start to flow."

Victoria will be showing at the October 2016 Levelland Art Walk tonight along with a few of the artists in the Halloween Artist Collective show! Go say hi!

Her "Poison Ivy" art piece is sold, but her other painting "Love Never Dies" is available for $50 and you can go see it at Star Books and Comics (916 16th st) Thursday-Saturday from 2-8pm!

Community to the Max

Con season for me has wrapped but things haven't slowed in the least. I'm currently staring at my To Do list and there's at least 10 paintings on there that need to be done within the next month. But I'd rather be busy with my art than not have anything to do at all.

There's a lot going on in town!

First off, Lubbock-Con's Geek Garage Sale is next weekend if you want to check that out. It'll be at Tornado Gallery from 5pm to 10pm September 24th! So go by and raid through all the geek treasures that have been donated.

Next is something I'm super excited to be a part of. September 28th at 50th Street Caboose at 6pm, Lubbock-Con and I will be hosting an Artist Dinner! We're looking for local artists that are wanting a platform to get their art out, opportunities to show, and ways to get their name out! We'll talk about becoming a Lubbock-con featured artists and getting new talent in for our events! So check out the event link and come by!

October 1st is Ladies Night! We'll be featuring artist Indri Himawan! She'll be there selling prints and will have free limited Ladies Night posters. Lubbock-con will be hosting a costume contest, Jo De's will be selling comic book flowers, and Kayla Crow Photography will be taking pictures of the event! It's our last Ladies Night of the year so come out and celebrate with some geeky ladies!

The following week (told you there's a lot going on) is the First Friday Art Trail and on October 7th Star Books & Comics Downtown will be having a Halloween Artist Collective! Me and a bunch of other artists will have Halloween themed pieces up for display and sell! It'll be a spooky good time so make sure it's a stop during the First Friday Art Trail!

If you happen to be in San Jose, California (YEP) on October 7th, Anno Domini gallery will be part of the South First Fridays Artwalk and will be hosting an Art of Zine exhibit! I'll have both my sketchbooks and #Workcomics there on display and for sell! Neat, huh? If it's in your neighborhood, go and see (and maybe take pictures for me pleeeeeeeeeeease).

The next day October 8th, Lubbock-con is hosting Nerd Prom 2.0! Tickets are $5 and can be purchased at Star Comics and the event will be at Backstage. Me and the other featured artists will have special prom art for sell and you can also purchased limited prints! Get dressed up and party your nerd heart out!

Take a breath.

The NEXT day October 9th (can you see now why my To-Do list is so long?) is my Fall Pokestop Art Drop event! Everyone demanded it so we're doing another one before the year is out. We have even more artists this time and all the art will be Halloween themed because October, duh. Check out the event link and make sure to follow so you can get updated when the art starts to drop and get sneak peeks at the art ;)

Aaaaaaaaaaaand that's it. For now. After that, me and Rony are taking a big trip to Seattle for a week to relax as a mini-vacation, followed by a wedding, and then I'm working on a bunch more personal art and jewelry and writing! I can relax in time for the holidays.

Thanks so much for everyone support and following along! We've really grown in these past few months and I'm starting to make goals for next year. More paintings, more writing, more community events, and maybe a patreon? Who knows. Gotta work work work...

See you around town!

-Sam <3

The Slow End

...of my convention season. Not of me but I mean, you never know. Ama-Con is done and the prep for Hub City Comic Con begins. HC3 will be the last convention for me for the year, but not the last thing I do. Between two different gallery showings, Ladies Night (see Event calendar for details), conventions, and Geek Girl Brunch, my plate has been very full.

Better to be busy than to have no work, right? Right? Somebody?

First up, GGB had a Book swap brunch and then the following a Pokemon Go meet up. Both were awesome and had a great turnout. We've even started getting a tiny bit of press about our events and ended up with a crap load of sign ups.

Ama-Con was a wonderful experience this past weekend and it was great to have people come up and say they had previously met me at "insert convention" and loved my stuff. It feels like I'm starting to get a bit of traction after almost a year of entering the convention circuit.

Hub City will be my one year con-iversary actually so maybe it's time I add some new stuff. I'm working on a second sketchbook since I started getting requests for another one. Debating if I should make it of my fan art sketches, originals, or both so feedback would be nice.

And because Overwatch is a black hole that keeps sucking me in, expect some stuff from that.

I'm working on getting the Eevee set as a keychain version for those who either don't have their ears pierced to wear the earrings or boys. Boys, you can wear the necklace set. I promise you'll still look cool. I'm also finally getting the Starter Pokemon drawn out and done to add to the Pokemon set.

Also debating on doing some Pokemon Go Team flash art but don't quote me on that. They take a while.

Besides that, I have a lot of paintings to work on for the Suicide Squad Exhibit and for the FFAT at Star Comics Downtown. Ladies Night is this Saturday and we're starting to move to having a featured artist for each one. This one we're featuring Kyanne Birley who has previously helped out at the event! So come out if you can!

Gotta wrap everything up everything before family vacation (so much traveling. So so much. What is life)

If you have a request for something you'd like to see at Hub City Comic Con or just in general, let me know! I'll see what I can do!

Until next time

-Sam <3

YC3 & Live Art Event!

Hello, lovelies! Lots going on this month! Free Comic Book Day just wrapped up and now it's on to the next thing. This weekend we will be at Yellow City Comic Con with the wonderful Mrs. Fortune's Millinery at table B2! Come out and say hi!

Between moving the house, getting the office unpacked, and trying to con prep, there's a lot happening but I'm excited to come out and see everyone! After this convention, I'm hoping to get a lot of new product and art out so some designs may go away. Get them while you can!

We're also excited to be pairing up with Lubbock-Con again and doing a Live Art event! May 21st we're kicking off a series of Artist Workshops put together by them to let people know what goes on behind the process of putting our art together and to allow people the chance to learn. To start it all off, we'll be holding a live demonstration at Star Comics' second new location in the downtown area! So come out to 916 16th st! It's part of Mad Hatter's House of Games!

Facebook event and info here.

Keep an eye out for more events and things we're participating in. Lots and lots happening in town!

Until then, I'm going back to unpacking and prepping for this weekend!

-Sam <3

Ladies Night! One Year Anniversary!

Ladies Night 2016. You ready?

It's been a whole year since we started Ladies Night at Star Comics. It's been a crazy ride. I remember when we first started. I had emailed Robert, the owner of Star, asking if they'd ever done anything like it before or if they would ever do one. A few comic shops I'd known of in other towns had done Ladies Night so why not ours?

He wrote back that he was interested and we set up a meeting to talk about it.

Then we went to Staple, were dazzled by everything there, and then on Sunday, the day we were supposed to head back to town, Austin Books & Comics were hosting their own Ladies Night. Rony graciously sacrificed his sleep so I could go, offering to drive the 6 hour trip afterwards. A friend of mine and I went, met some of her friends, we all shared recommendations and talked with people there. Some of the guests from Staple were there too so it was a magical time. And I knew what I wanted for our Ladies Night.

We had no clue how big it was going to be. At the time, it was hard to gauge the nerd community. This was before the Lubbock-Con events started or our first con and everyone was still scattered. I just wanted some people to show up. We planned stuff for the kids, snacks, I made stickers and buttons. I stressed out a lot.

And then the day came, we figured out our first set up and low and behold, the place was filled with people! Like could barely move filled with people. We gave things away, sold out of little tote bags, the line to buy comics was to the door. It was crazy.

We built it and they came.

Our 4th Ladies Night is coming up on April 2nd. We've gotten a rhythm down. Make a place girls can talk and read and meet other girls, give the kids some activities. Give girls the space to talk without judgement and have fun. That's all I wanted.

So if you haven't come to one of our events before, come check it out and meet some other geeky ladies. We promise we're nice. Ask each other what comics are your favorite or recommend titles if they're new.

Thanks for supporting this little thing of ours. Hopefully we can keep doing it in the future :)

-Sam <3

Ladies Night is getting Spooooky

Ladies Night is back at Star Comics Saturday, October 24th! And we're having a costume contest! Because why, not. It's Halloween. I've been extremely lucky to have been able to do these events and have met a ton of awesome geek ladies through this. So please, support this so it can keep happening and we can keep making sure our geeky ladies have a fun, non-judgey, safe place to hang out with other geeky ladies and meet new friends!

(Also, this flyer came out really rad thanks to my boyfriend, Rony Dixon, and his awesome graphic design skills so pat him on the back)

Mark your calendars and we'll see you there!

-Sam <3

Lubbock-Con presents Nerd Prom 2015!

Fun fact, the entirety of my Junior and Senior Prom was spent mostly at the table with my friends, eating from the chocolate fountain. Chocolate fountains are my weakness. But besides that, prom was pretty uneventful since I didn't really like the music or theme or most of the people. So now, as an adult, it's kind of exciting to get to go to prom again because it's going to be a Nerd Prom!

(And most of my friends will be there)

The other exciting part is I will be a vendor at it! I'll be there with some of my jewelry and prints along with an exclusive print I'm doing only for the event so quantity will be limited if you wanna snag one of these!

I'll even have a few new designs to sell if you wanna see some new stuff first *winkwink*

Tickets are only $5 and going fast. You can pick them up at Star Comics 2014 34th st Lubbock, TX and the event is 21+ because there will be all the alcohols. Check out Lubbock-Con's facebook for more details!

Dig out your old prom attire or cosplay it up and come as your favorite geek couple. Maybe you'll win Prom King and Queen and get some cool goodies.

Prom is this Friday so go get your tickets and stop by!

See everyone there -Sam <3

#Workcomics Vol.1!

I believe it was almost a month and a half ago when we got the harebrained idea to turn my daily work doodling into an actual thing. A book! A comic book?An art book? Well, all of those combined. We looked at different printers and figured out how we wanted it to look, how much it would cost, what size was it going to be? Well, I'm proud to see, it worked out. #Workcomics Vol.1 is here and in my hands and I'm so so happy

Isn't it cute?! (And the paper is so nice, like omg) And its the color of the actual post-it notes! Not only that, we kept all the creases and folds and tiny cat teeth mark the originals had to authenticate that yes, these were really post-it notes and yes, my cats really like to steal them.

These may be the only run of Vol.1 so they are limited in quantity and over all, just limited edition. Vol. 1 covers from April to June from when I first started it to about when we started getting the book ready for print.

The front cover is actually the very first #Workcomic I ever did and the back is brought to you by Lubbock's very own Star Comics who were gracious enough to sponsor the book so we could get it made. They've been so so so supportive of all my weird ideas and projects (like wanting to start a Ladies Night then wanting to make a baby comic book) so I'm incredibly grateful to them. Thanks, guys!

The books will be available to purchase online September 1st on my Etsy shop when it goes live again and they'll be $10. If you are in Lubbock this weekend, I will have copies at my booth for Hub City Comic Con so you can get them in person! And first! We are limited to roughly 45 copies so get them while you can!

And to celebrate the release, on September 1st I want you to do your own #Workcomic. Doodle at work (don't get in trouble though) either on some paper or a post-it note and hashtag it #Workcomics so I can see. You can tag me on Twitter @Raico13 or Instagram @ Raicodoll. It's like an art day!

Thank you so much to everyone who has supported me and this book! And now, back to prepping for the convention!

-Sam <3

Ladies Night 2.0

This past Saturday was once again Ladies Night at Star Comics. Planning this event wasn't nearly as stressful as the last one but that may have been because in between multiple road trips, having Geek Girl Brunch's prelaunch brunch, getting #workcomics ready for print, and getting the sketchbooks done, I was all out of stress. I think the most stressful part was getting the art for the flyer just right. I redid it 4 times in about just as many different styles. I'm glad it turned out so well.

Also I didn't bake this time so that took a load off my shoulders.

With this Ladies Night, we changed the format a bit. We raffled off the posters instead of giving them at the door (there was still a line waiting), snacks were put outside to make room in the store, chairs were put out there so people could sit and chat, at the kids table we set it up so they could make their own superhero masks, and we had two featured artists, Koolaid Girl and Kyanne Birley (she dressed up as Lumpy Space Princess!) Allison Terry Images was our event photographer for the night and did an awesome job, getting us some wonderful pictures. Even the local newspapers photographer came by and took some pictures of the event and its attendees.

With Lubbock being a college town and Summer essentially being off season, we didn't have as many people as our first one, but it didn't really matter. We still had a pretty big turnout and the ladies stayed almost the entire time, more space making it easier to chat and browse. The artists had prints for sale and did sketch requests most of the night while people snacked and found something new to read. I saw a lot of ladies from the first event and got to talk to more than a few. It felt more relaxed and comfortable. More like what I had first imagined: a space where girls can just come and chat with other girls with similar interests and find something new to read.

 I think that's my primary goal with the Ladies Night. To give women and girls of all types, transgendered, and non-binary identified a place to go to relax and talk and not feel like they're outcasts. I want to give female artists and photographers and vendors a platform just like I'm trying to give the attendees. Comics are for everyone, not just boys. Nothing is "just for boys." And if a little girl can learn that later on, maybe that'll give her a little empowerment later on when things get tough.

All in all, the night was a success. I'm happy and tired and forever glad to have been given the opportunity to do these events. Free stickers and buttons were grabbed, the posters were raffled, and there were plenty of cute little girls and awesome costumes through the night. Both our artists did tons of sketches and people walked away happy with some new art. Comics were read and suggested. It was a good night.

Much thanks to Star Comics for supporting me and hosting the event. They are continuously rad and so so so so so awesome and definitely helped me to not stress out too much! Thank you to our incredibly talented artists, Koolaid Girl and Kyanne! People loved you and I am grateful to have you both! Go check out their websites to see some super cool art. Thank you to my former roller derby teammate and awesome friend/photographer Allison Terry! These images are gorgeous! If you are in Lubbock, you should definitely get her to do some pictures for you! And thank you to my boyfriend for being our security again. Sorry you couldn't come inside but I appreciate you!

And now it's on to the next thing. Geek Girl Brunch Lubbock launches August 22nd and Hub City Comic Con is the weekend after that. Working on a lot of art and merchandise to get ready and we're getting the art prepped for #Workcomics to get printed. I'll put up more information about that soon! If you aren't aware, I revived my old Youtube channel where I do vlogs and talk comics and stuff so you can check that out.

Time to get back to work.

-Sam <3

Ladies Night is back!

Ladies Night is coming back to Star Comics! So many people loved the first one so we brought it back and are doing things a bit differently. We'll have two local artists, Kyanne Birley and Koolaid-Girl, tabling with art as well as a few freebies, snacks, a raffle for posters, and of course, comics! It's going to be a ton of fun and we hope everyone will be there! I will be organizing the event along with Star Comics and will be there if anyone would like recommendations!

This is going to be a blast again :)

-Sam <3

New Things!

Everything is finally starting to settle down at the new apartment and ramp up when it comes to work. I will have another post soon about all that though! Exciting news though!

First, sketchbooks are coming soon along with new prints in the shop! Working on a lot of new art to get ready for Hub City Comic Con so be on the look out for that update! I will mostly have 4x6 prints but if people want bigger sizes let me know and I'll make it happen!

Second, if you use to follow me on Youtube when I did vlogs, well I started them up again!

Third, after a lot of shopping around to find a place online to get #Workcomics printed, everything kinda left me disappointed. It's apparently hard to find a reasonably priced picture book that is post-it note sized. So we went local and after some back and forth and some amazing support from Star Comics, #Workcomics will be out in print! I'll have my own comic! In paper! With my name on it!

It'll cover 2 months of doodles and comics so roughly 60 pictures! We're getting everything set and I am having to getting a whole lot of post-it notes scanned and cleaned up, but I should have them for Hub City Comic Con at the latest. They'll be available online as well :)

I'm still working on getting some buttons, stickers, and other things made and put online but I'd rather put everything up at once then slowly one thing at a time.

Progress!

-Sam <3