Blog| Relax Day

It's a rare occasion when I get a weekend to relax and not have ten thousand events or a giant To-Do list. But the weather threw a wench in our plans and instead of a garage sale, we ended up having a clear schedule with not much to do. So what do I do on relax days?

Here's a breakdown of things I love to do on my days off that I don't really get the chance to do often.

#1. Pajamas.

I've found that if there are things like paintings, updates, or merch I need to work on, I have to force myself to wear actual clothes or else I feel like I get nothing done. You have to dress to go to your normal job so it's the same mindset. Relax days mean I stay in whatever I went to bed in or throw on an oversized sweater, leggings, and not care that my hair is a rats nest because no one is going to see me. That's at least 10 minutes of my life I can spend on napping rather than looking presentable.

Speaking of...

#2 Naps.

Rarely do I give myself the opportunity to take an actual nap mostly because my brain sees that as wasted time when I could be painting, cleaning, doing anything else. The new medication I'm on makes me tired a lot, but rather than fight staying awake, I took a good two hour nap today covered in dogs. Puppy piles are the best way to take naps.

Leon and Almond are like our children. They sleep with us in the bed like children too. If we're snuggled up next to each other, they'll push their way in between us to lay in the middle. Any time we lay down, they have to snuggle with us. It's a good way to make us not want to get up and today I didn't have to worry about disturbing them while they puppy piled on me because I had somewhere to be.

#3 Puppy day.

On the side, me and Rony dog sit for some extra money, puppy socialization, and because we love having animals around. This weekend we had Bragi, who has stayed with us before and loves to hang out with Almond. It's his first time staying with Leon, but it's been good thus far. He's a very chill dog who also loves to snuggle, is very gentle, and mostly runs around outside and then sleeps which we're grateful for since not all dogs are as low maintenance.

Dog sitting isn't too much work since we have animals already and we've been doing it for almost a year, but when we can, we like to relax and supervise the dogs and make sure everyone is getting along. It can be difficult when you have events to go to, but everything worked in our favor this time. Chill dogs and everyone got along.

#4 Reading/Writing

A big thing I'm bummed about with always being busy is that my reading list has piled up and my time being able to read has dwindled. It's something I want to get better at and I think it will be good for me, it's just hard to implement.

I'm going to try and at least read 2-3 issues once a weekend though eventually I hope to make it once a day. It's a good way to relax and unwind for a bit, especially if you make yourself some tea on days like this where it's cloudy and wet.

I'm also trying to get back into writing again. It was the thing I wanted to become before I started painting. I was going to be the writer in the family while the rest of them were artists. Somewhere along the line, it got put on the back burner. Eventually, I think I'll get back to it but it's baby steps and today was a good day to warm up at least. I started with blogs and articles for now, but will eventually start up my book series again. I love writing too much to give up on it.

Relax days are rare and yeah, it doesn't look like much, but little things like these can go a long way helping me to tackle a busy week and de-stress for a while. It's been a hard month and sometimes, you need to take a weekend off and do nothing but snuggle some puppies.

What are things you like to do on your relax days?

I'm going to be blogging about some random topics as well as things that are going on in my life. If you have a topic you'd like me to talk about, let me know!

-Sam <3

Blog| Fresh Start

I've gone through a lot of blogs. I was part of the Xanga craze, Livejournals, Tumblr, even the journal section of DeviantArt. Blogs aren't new to me. I've always needed some form of written release, being an introvert and all, and blogs are ways I can word vomit and get it all out. Raicodoll is my art, my videos, my events, but most of all it's me. So let's get to know each other a bit better. Blog I shall. If you just like seeing my art and or going to the things around town I host, that's fine. The News section has my non-personal stuff. That's cool. But if you don't mind a bit of word vomit and venting, then read on!

In October, after the weekend from hell (that is, the three event weekend where I attempted to kill me and fellow artists with exhaustion), me and Rony spent a week in Seattle for a conference he was attending. Seattle had been on our list to visit for a long time. Companies we loved were located there, it rained all the time, it's a very artsy town and it wasn't a desert.

Visiting Seattle was magical and we fell in love instantly.

Cut to this year. You can only grumble that you miss a place so much before finally just saying, we should move there. Before, moving to Seattle was kinda a lofty dream we would say when the weather was too hot and the wind threatened to take the fence down the block. But after a few google searches and some research, it wasn't impossible.

We made a plan. Two years max we'd move. After some re-budgeting, it was cut down to one year. We'd move in one year.

And that's the plan. We're going to get rid of all our non-essential things, save a ton of money, and pack up all five animals and a trailer and move everything up north! Which is wonderful and exciting but also terrifying.

I've lived in Lubbock my whole life. My whole family is in Texas, at most 5-8 hours away. Moving across the country is a brand new experience. Plus I'm a natural worrier so yes, I am already preparing for this move over a year in advance. Everything feels final. Final birthdays and holidays and events. Things I have created I now have to figure out what the future holds for them.

It's a bit daunting. In the end, I think it's a good decision for us. Sometimes you just hit the limits of your growth and have to move to a bigger sandbox. It's scary and uncomfortable but it'll make you better.

This weekend we're having a garage sale to start getting rid of the junk we've hoarded over the years. I'm purging what I can and deciding what makes the cut to stay. It's refreshing, like de-cluttering your life. Everything will be a new start and I think I'm excited for that. As much as I love what I do, it'll be so nice to start over back at zero and not have any pressures.

For now, I'm going to enjoy life here, doing what I love, and making memories. There's a lot planned for this year and if I'm gonna leave, I want to leave while things are good.

-Sam <3

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

2017.

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

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!

Inktober! Week 1 Recap

It's been a very, very long, busy beginning of October but somehow I've managed to keep up with Inktober. Here's all the pieces I've done so far:

Goals and Patreon

With con season over, I've talked to a few people a lot about where I want my art to go and things I've always wanted to do. I wanted to be more organized and structured with it, wanted to take classes to better my skills, wanted to get out of my comfort zone. October 1st is the first step towards that.

TL;DR I'm starting a Patreon pls support thx

First, here's a breakdown of the goals I want to set:

• More sketchbook collections (or maybe merge both and get them professionally bound because that would be cool and professional)
• Switch jewelry and brooches to acrylic laser cut
• At least a painting a month
• Livestreams!
• Speedpaint/process videos
• More commissions
• More galleries
• Maybe make one more art event to get exposure to artists. Like a sidewalk art exhibit or something
• Might be cutting down on conventions to work on more art
• More prints!
• Switch to either having mainly 8x11 or 11x17 prints and instead of 4x6 prints, switching to postcards only
• Filling up a sketchbook with actual ideas and drawings

Now some of these are attainable. So far I only have maybe 3 conventions for next year and two of them aren't confirmed. That'll give me more time to do local events and grow things. I'm talking with the lovely ladies at Lubbock-Con about the art scene and how to grow it so another event is probably also possible. And I've been looking at places to do acrylic charms and pieces, that just takes money.

Actually, pretty much all of it is attainable, I just have to be strict and rehaul a lot of things. But something that I figured out might actually help is a Patreon.

Which is why I made one. Yep.

I've seen a lot of artists and Youtubers use it successful and it's kinda been something I've been on the fence about because of the ol' self-doubt. But any support is better than nothing and I think it's something that can help me grow.

So October 1st, we're launching a Patreon!

I tried to think of rewards that were doable for me as well as incentive to get people to join.

• So basic donations will get you access to a Patreon only blog where I'll post sketches and works in progresses and probably post animal pictures.
• $5 gives you a discount code to my Etsy shop, PDF scans of my sketches, early access to any videos, and an invite to a drawing practice livestream where we'll work on a technique together.
• $10 gets you a bigger discount code, early access previews to finished paintings and illustrations, a monthly Q&A livestream, you can vote for what painting I do next, and get a copy of one of my sketchbook collections!
• $20 you get a Patreon exclusive postcard with a letter, a second sketchbook collection, and a free item from my Etsy shop
• $40 allows you a monthly portrait sketch request! You can request a sketch/lineart/quick ink portrait of one of favorite characters or an idea and I'll send it to you in a PDF. It's limited to only 10 spots but it's a pretty good deal.
• $65 is basically a monthly 5x7 full colored commission portrait. Same idea as the tier before where you give me a character or idea and I'll do a full commission of it. I'll scan it to you and also ship you the physical copy! This one is limited to only 5 spots.

And everything is basically an accrual so the higher donation tiers get everything the lower tier does. So say you choose $20 a month, you'll get all the rewards from that tier plus the $10, $5, and $1 rewards. Which is a good amount of stuff.

But this lets me paint more, share my art process, get more practice with the requests, while also allowing me to pay my bills and upgrade from cheap paint and dollar brushes. There's also Patreon goals like if I hit $100 a month, I can do bi-weekly videos. $200 let's me make a print of each monthly painting, more sketchbook collections, and switching to those acrylic charms. $400 (which is a long ways off but omg if I can achieve it) would be weekly videos, being able to buy a nice printer to make my own prints, and a monthly sketchbook of all the sketches and art I did for that month.

For now, I'm just hoping I get supporters but it's nice to have goals and I'm excited.

So October 1st, go here and check out my Patreon! If you'd be so kind as to support it, it would mean the world. I've got some other big life changes hopefully in the works. Life changes are good. They keep me on my toes.

I'll go back to my painting cave now. Deadlines approaching sooooon

-Sam <3

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