BUT, I realize I might be turning into a crazy monster hoarding lady(only one cat, thank you very much) and it’s good to have goals and deadlines anyway, so I’ll be putting a tiny series of stuff up for sale…in 10 days. February 15th. Day after Valentines Day, so you can plan to put some of that leftover chocolate cash aside.

Here’s a preview(they’re mostly done). They’ll be a series of handsculpted and handpainted(my hands, in case there was any doubt) rockbeast specimens with awesome little real semiprecious stones embedded in them. They’ll all be under $100 too, including some cute tiny things for $20 or so.

Yay, self imposed deadlines(like I don’t have enough of them already)!

Anyway, here’s the evolution of Mr. Grumpypants(so far).

Mr. Grumpypants started in that stop motion experiment I posted a couple weeks ago, when he was a hastily sculpted lump of clay. That particular shape’s one I’ve been making for a long time, and largely based on starfish.

Here’s Grumpypants from 2 weeks ago.

Here’s one of the starfish critters I used to sculpt(this one’s from 2009 or 2010, I think).

After making that video, I experimented with making a puppet type critter for more stop motion stuff. It went sort of terribly.

Yeah, I haven’t sewn anything for a couple years, and it shows. Then I sketched a version of Grumpypants I thought I’d make(about a week ago).

Anyway, the Grumpypants-in-a-dorky-outfit image stuck with me, and this weekend, I sculpted him for an art show I’m participating in(more on that soon).

I got distracted, before adding “sleeves” to him, but decided I liked the tentacley arms. So I drew him that way again.

Current state of Mr. Grumpypants McGee(he got a prefix and a last name in the process).

And he’s probably not done yet. I think I want him a bit pudgier. Anyway, I guess what I was trying to say is that my “process” is really all over the place! Haha.

I’ve reached the point where I have one very comfortable corner of my studio, and a pile of shelves and other assorted messes scattered in the other three corners. Cleaning is now a really high priority, but I’m glad to have at least one corner of awesome workspace. Jason bought an intercom system so we can communicate about things like dinner and that cat. Mostly, it’s just been him saying hi, and me responding with monster gurgles.

I also finished this little pinned bee.

Most of the work I’ve been cranking out lately has been writing – but more on that soon.

Fortunately, I have an early February deadline, so my ass is being re-kicked into gear.
That work is mostly Sawdust Press related, but doinking about in InDesign isn’t all that interesting(it’s not THAT interesting to me, either).

This week, my finished sculpture is a pinned monster.

I also tried my hand at some stop motion animation! I’ve decided that it’s a lot of fun, if hard, and I really hate plasticine. That stuff makes my hands feel icky. That ickyness is really inspiring me to build some puppets. Anyway, watch this – you get to hear me talk and make monster sounds!

Doughnut from sawdustbear on Vimeo.

I hope you like it! I think it’s cute and it’s pretty fun to see clay move.

Here are some pieces in progress. I cut up a pile of wooden blocks to play with – I meant to route all the edges, but lost motivation to do so.

I also greatly pared down the Marlowe website, mainly because I accidentally deleted its database(don’t ask).

I also would like to update my blog more often – in this case with whatever is happening in my studio, finished or not. So, here’s week one, and hopefully I’ll make it through another 52 weeks!

Here are the sketches on my wall right now. You can see several versions of Anemone Jones, as well as a couple other things I’d like to work on in the future.

The rock tentacle beast thing on the top right is in progress and going to be pretty big! Right now, it looks like a giant pile of foil and clay, but hopefully there’ll be enough there for a decent progress picture soon.

I finished a couple things this week for an art show that I was invited to do about a week ago. It opens this Thursday, so yeah, it was a bit of a last minute thing(they were waiting to hear back about the space). It’s called Creatures of the Black Lagoon, and is about creatures that were, and still may be in the La Brea Tar Pits. Obviously, I went with a more monsterey interpretation, as usual.

Tarbeast Specimen #1

Tarbeast Specimen #2 (with Sabertooth)

These two are in progress, but they’re the third and final piece for the show. Tarbeast Specimen #3 and #4 (the Bone Collectors)

See you next week!

Actually, most of my resolutions are a lie. They change around every time I list them. I’m not very good at resolutions. I’ll probably make a lot of art, because I usually do anyway. Hopefully I’ll make better art, not just more of it.

I am finally moving my studio space into a room of my own, and I’ve seriously gotten so much more productive having a space that is not also populated by my cat. The cat-hair-in-clay issues remain unresolved since I still track it everywhere.

Here’s a picture of my current work area. There’s an annotated version with notes on Flickr, in case you’re wondering where I obtained a table that garishly green (my dad made it in woodworking class. I love it.).

Here are some progress pictures of things I’m working on right now.

Little Bear Girl. Those cones next to her are legs, or will be eventually. I thought it’d be nice to sculpt something that wasn’t a monster for once. A bit inspired by Doubleparlour, who’ve been my awesome con neighbours twice now, even if they make fun of my dancing. Okay, “dancing.”

The first coat of colour for Tarbeast Specimen #1. This is for a show in about 2 weeks with the Zzyzx Gallery of Natural Science (at the Hive Gallery, LA).

Anemone Jones and Abalone Smith. For an exhibit in conjunction with the Center for Otherworld Science in March. Until people think I’m awesome enough to give me shows, I’m going to go ahead and hold them in the fictional museum I’ve been developing for years. I’m sort of obsessed with abalone now. The Monterey Bay Aquarium was gorgeous, as always, and being in love with gorgeous anemones is easy to fathom, but I seriously spent 15 minutes hanging out with an abalone. They’re interesting creatures, really.

And that’s all for now! I’ll try to update this blog more, but I’ve been mostly using Instagram and Tumblr. Follow me there if you like lots of progress pictures – otherwise, I’ll try to distill the most relevant parts into this blog!

It’s going to be a ton of work to get everything done, but that’s okay.

(progress picture of a sculpture for an “exhibit” called The Secret Life of Anemone Jones)

Work accomplishments:
- I built a giant boat on wheels, and hauled that jerk to Burning Man.
- Published Marlowe the Monster Volume 1, and a minicomic, The Macbeth Signal.
- Made a bunch of monsters.
- Met a sort of ridiculous number of AMAZING artists, who coincidentally, were all amazing people too.
- Got some pretty awesome press on Marlowe, like on io9 and Autostraddle, and also from two of my favourite people to see at cons, Jeremy and Hana.
- Traveled to Seattle for Geek Girl Con with Dianne, ate delicious crab. I felt that the convention was a game changer, and I’m proud to have been there for the first one!

Life accomplishments:
- Devoted a lot of time to petting General Guster Mc. Wheezypants.
- Was pretty happy all year.

(the quarter of my studio that I’ve been working on setting up)

Things I’m going to do in 2012
- Finish moving into my “new” studio space! With atomic tangerine walls!
- Get married!
- Publish an anthology on Early Internet Fandom experiences with some amazing artists and writers.
- Publish the first issue of a story about Joan of Arc(sort of) with James, a very, very old friend.
- Be an exhibitor at SDCC for the first time!
- Release my first resin figure, Inkyface.
- Work really hard on more Specimen 7/Center for Otherworld Science stuff.

Resolutions:
- Less talking, more doing.
- Eat less meat.
- Go to the dentist.

“but i loved you so much”

another depressing monster diorama.

1. I did a guest comic for Jamie Smart’s fantastic comic Corporate Skull. It’s here. Read all of Corporate Skull too, it’s terribly addictive. Probably NSFW, depending where you work, although in the funny, sweary, bloody way, and not the naked people way.

2. I donated art to the FEESA auction – a pinkish specimen here, and a set of Marlowe figures from last halloween’s comic here. You can search ebay for “feesa” to see everything in the auction, which has seriously amazing stuff from mindblowingly good artists.

3. I said I’d never do it, but my first resin figure is getting casted right now. It’s an octopus.

4. I’m also currently obsessed with toys-as–actual-playthings, so my brain is currently filled with dollhouses and marionettes and tops and Mr. Potato Head, which I think means that there’ll be a lot more weird wooden things emerging from my workshop soon.