Setting goals and the future!

2012 really passed in a blur; time seemed to fly by, so I felt that I haven't accomplished anything.  o_0 Let me recap some of the stuff that I did; it might give me a better idea on what goals to set for the new year.

PlushYou, Patterns, and Ramblings

Welcome home Kurt! I actually like him better than Cyndi, so I'm glad I get to keep him. I'm happy that Cyndi sold, but there was a bit of an 'issue'.  I actually blogged about my fail over on tumblr, so go check out this post in case you're curious. Never trust a sleep-deprived mind. o_0

MtlCC Con Report

I think this was the least stressful con I've ever attended... I didn't have much merch, but I didn't really care because I only had one 'goal' for this event: meet Avatar/Korra fans!! :D I also got to meet tons of great artist. I was seated next to Craig Stuckless and Chris Olsen. Check our their original work!



Legend of Korra Madness

At the last con I attended, Otakuthon, I really had a blast, partially because of my Amorra couple that got excellent reactions. For Comicon, I decided to go for Amorralok instead. I had prepared a huge paperboat that Korra was supposed to be all tied up in...but there wasn't enough room for the display. If I get a table at AN next year, I'll be sure to set it up properly (that's if I still have Tarrlok).

Otakuthon 2012 Con Report

Last year, I organised my con report in The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly... but this year, it went really well! No theft, hardly any rude comments, fair sales, and loads of entertainment.  It's pretty much all good, lol!  It could be my diminished expectations, or maybe it's just my new approach to artist alleys (i.e. aim to have fun); regardless, I had a great time despite being heavily sleep deprived, and I would consider going next year. 


Team Exquisite





Tania and my side of the table (with a random girl that looks part of it, lol!)



The lovely Lisa and Julia, buddies from last year!

July is for Laughs

Oh wow, I haven't blogged in such a long time! I can't believe July is almost over!  Even though I haven't travelled anywhere this summer, it sure has been busy and "exciting".  Here are some highlights of the crap that I've been doing:

The Move

As some may be aware, I was pretty miserable at my old place because of psycho-roomate, and my good friend Laurence got ditched by her crazy roomate, so it was the perfect opportunity to move in!  No more crazies in our lives.  The rent is only a 5$ difference, and the location is even better.  The room is smaller, but the layout is good, AND I actually feel that the whole appartment is my space, so I can chill in the living room, cook in the kitchen, take a break on the balcony, etc.

YESmontreal Art Expo 2012

Montreal Science Center

It was a bit odd to have an art expo in the science center, but the venue was gorgeous, easy to access, and actually great for the expo.  It's just the mix of science and art that people might find a bit bizarre (almost like the relevance between wrestling and anime... wahh?!?).  I had a rather painless trek there; my luggage was smaller, along with my portfolio bag.  The forecast said it was going to rain, but we were very lucky to have the sun prevail! ^_^

Anime North 2012 Con Report

Alas, the infamous AN has come to a close...and even after a good night's sleep, I'm still exhausted. I need another nap, but I have about a million things to do because my art expo is this sunday, and I have NOTHING. Gah! OTL

But onto the con report! Not many pictures like usual, so this will be descriptive instead.


DAY -1

Yup, we start in the negative because the adventure starts there! Soooo... umm...  basically, my merch suffered a huge hit of BLARGH... a friend of mine passed away the saturday night, one week before the con...so it's been a little rough, and I didn't have the biggest motivation to work my 2000%.  I have lots of unfinished plushies, and my total head count resulted in exactly 28.  Compared to the 50 from last year, that's not a lot! o_0 But this year, I chose quality over quantity, and not to mention, I had lots of stuff to bring for the workshop, meaning not as much space in my luggage.

I also made chibis of Chrona, Fye, Howl, Ulqui, Grimm and Stark.  But I finished those up on Day -1, so no time for pictures! o_0  After packing everything up, I had to venture downtown because I was going to crash at my friend's place who lives right next to where the bus was going to depart. It was convinient, but walking around with that heavy load of luggage (curse stairs!) was cumbersome and tiring.  I slept only for 3 hours before hopping on the bus and starting Day 1.

Providence, Books, Anime North update

Update 1: Providence

Okay..... I haven't updated blogger in a LONG TIME.  I went to Providence about a month and a half ago, and I wanted to blog about it, but then got super lazy and now it's May. o_0 

The trip was super last-minute and spontaneous because my friend got accepted to the grad program at RISD, and she wasn't sure whether she should accept, so I was like: LETS VISIT.  And so we did.  Me, being the seasoned traveller did most of the planning... there are zero hostels in Providence, so I ended up checking for couchsurfers.  We stayed at a rather "unique" place.

Pheleon's Workspace

It's about time that I show pictures of my space! Originally, all of the magic is supposed to happen here, but because of reasons beyond my control *cough*psychoroomate*cough*, I had to move a lot of my shit back at home to concoct the rest of the commissioned plushies. Meanwhile, I was also busy making Adrian, so now that he's done as well, I finally had the time to clean and re-organize stuff.

Nuit Blanche Recap & Medusa Hoodie

And so, my failtastic skills at documenting strike again: I did not take a single picture at Nuit Blanche last weekend!! o_0 EPIC FAIL.  But in my defense, just about everyone else had huge ass cameras and snapped away crazily, so maybe one day, I will stumble upon documentation of the night.

It went really well!  No drama... well, there was a little in the beginning, but nothing that involved me personally.  I got there about 2 hours before the event, and we essentially had to bomb the remaining flyers in the Place-des-arts area where the main festivities were going on.  We got back a little late, and then I stayed by Adrian more or less the whole night.  Lots of socializing and hipsterish stuff.  When the DJ started at midnight, we had already sold all of our beer, so it was surprisingly more dead.  Apparently, the attendance was like 2900 people! Which is AWESOME! And Adrian really was the star of the show. :D

But among the other things I wanted to do for the event... we had to dress to impress cuz it's Nuit Blanche and a graffiti gallery is the pinnacle of trendy hipster crap. I bought this awesome green-ish leopard (which I thought was snakish/crocodilish) printed fabric...and I wanted to make it into a tunic, but decided agaisnt it when I spent the previous days freezing my ass off in the gallery during set-up.  So change of plans: I rushed to the store and picked up some wool to make myself a jacket!!

I didn't have much time, so I went for a simple design.  My main criteria was a huge hood and that it would be fitted nicely.

The cuffs didn't end up happening. Nor the trimming.

The Making of Adrian (Part 2)

Laurence working on Adrian (WIP)

Completed Adrian!

Okay~ So I haven't updated this in a long while, but Adrian is complete and is now living in the gallery.  My goodness, set-up was CRAZY.  I should have taken pictures but I didn't have my camera, and my friend was a little embarassed by the way we were packing (she said it was so amateur, but it did the job).  And then hauling it over to the loading dock, getting it in the truck, and moving it to the gallery. What a day!

The Making of Adrian (Part 1)

Eek. Haven't blogged in quite some time! I've been busy...figuring out my life, and tackling plushie commissions. I've also been writing fanfiction, very strangely enough. o_0 But I'll save that rant for another day.

And admidst it all, I've also been making a 9-foot gorilla out of cardboard that we've christened 'Adrian'. It's also going to have the Sydney Opera house on its back.

http://laurencevallieres.com/

Sounds kind of random, but there's method to the madness... well, not really, but sort-of.  LOL. Basically, my buddy Laurence is organising an event for Nuit Blanche, and she managed to book a space at the Freshpaint Gallery~ its known for graffiti and street art stuff. So anyways, she asked me if I wanted to collaborate with her, so while we were at the Yes!Montreal Art Expo, in the car after the first day, it somehow clicked to me and I said to her: "lets make your monkey with the sydney opera house out of cardboard!".. I've always liked the drawing she had made a while back, and I would have liked to see it in sculpture.. and in HUGE.