Much-needed Updates!

I am Finally, FINALLY, updating my DeviantArt account. And once DA reminded me in an email I have been a 'deviant' with the social media for a decade, I decided now was the time to purchase my CORE+ Membership. 

I already closed my webhost account with Bluehost (it's not them, it's me) and my domain names are still secure for when I migrate. I know who will host me next. I also canceled my Canva account. Will download what's left.

Who would have thought I would become so obsessed with dot-grid (in some cases, titled 'bulleted') sheet paper that I would end up drafting hundreds of comic pages of a nebulous idea from nearly 20+ years ago?

IG Is A Mess

When I created my DeviantArt page, it was to serve as an online portfolio to my work and scope of creative vision. It took me years of deliberation since I knew several years ago, the platform for global artists was experiencing some ugliness in terms of bullying and other social ills. 

Well, dA finally came under new management, new guidelines, and bylaws. An overhaul of the site was made, and when a young family friend and a friend from grad school were both encouraging me to use DeviantArt, I felt now was the time. 

I opened the Instagram account firstly to give my mother's paintings a platform and because, at the time, she was actively trying to sell her art. She even had art openings in our home prior to COVID. My mom was never patient with most social media, her only accepted and tolerated one being WhatsApp. Soon, she convinced me to delete her Insta account. She just didn't want to deal with anything else online. So I looked over Instagram and realized I needed something far more mutable to DeviantArt's steadfastness. 

Also known as IG, I think I unfortunately got into Instagram when it was already bought out by Facebook, and I can already see the ill effects with that takeover. However, I needed to overlook these since my main objective was to use IG's slideshow feature to make one of my comic stories a visual reality. I also created my own art-progression videos (I may go back to those, but the platform doesn't inspire too much trust).

Insta is now making it more difficult to post images vertically because of their feature-cropping. My own cellphones  now have excellent filters and a crop-feature known as Scan. lso do a new feature known as 'Extract Text' I now use for my captions and Alt Text. IG tried to force its users to make their version of TikTok videos. But for months, I kept using my own videos that I then uploaded. After a while, Insta migrated all self-made videos to their Reels section, and in the meantime, they were cropping uploaded images poorly. 

I figured out on the occasion I did my comic pages vertically that the Instagram platform cropped it so badly I would have to take the photo with the page's background. But when it's horizontal, the cropping isn't so much. However, I'm not being paranoid as other creatives such as the cartoonists and artists I follow on IG complained about the same thing. Even friends who tried to promote their books were going through the same. Now IG seems to be forcing us into some other feature. It's making me want to use the Share feature to also migrate to a previous social media platform, Tumblr. 

We shall wait and see.

So many social media to Upload, Update, and Upgrade...

I have not posted anything new to my Instagram account since New Year's. 

I decided to give my phone a break and had looked up last year how to post to IG from a computer and can I say the directions and steps were RIDICULOUS. 

I don't know what kind of nonsense Instagram is trying to pull, but I just posted four new pieces of artwork I did during the week of Christmas. 

And I didn't even have to do a third of the steps Instagram posted on their official page. Maybe some IG employee is trolling but I got those done. There are still more but most of the latest have been posted.

Also, DeviantArt upped their already A-Game to an A+. It is SO MUCH SMOOTHER to upload to the DA account and the old way was actually nice...

Blogs have been updated, website needs a new host and upgrade, will soon post new art prints to Gumroad, and there are a few online subscriptions that need canceling or I roll them back to free. 

Anyhoo, I'm working on some personal paperwork and trying to make some big changes to my social media and freelance work for 2022. Make sure you keep an eye out and I'll try to stay in touch.

PEACE, Dear Readers.

Online shop coming soon!

Will have a Gumroad online store coming soon. Need to update my website and clear up the Deviantart site. 

Another artist mentioned during Inktober (October) to collect all one's Inktober art and compile into PDFs to sell. I've been trying to figure out online selling for some years. He said Gumroad was one of the easier platforms for creative types who are oftentimes not business-minded. 

So, I researched Gumroad against other platforms: Redbubble (used by a comic shero of mine), Etsy (used by a number of crafts-related peers/pals), and I tried eBay for a long time with used books until it shut my bookstore down. I also have a print shop on Deviantart that isn't working either. Gumroad was suggested as the more intuitive approach and I like it. Already have my account opened and ready to start uploading! Once the shop's open, I'll post to blogs, website, other social media, and even on Deviantart!

Illustrations, New Concepts, and a New Art Account!

[NOTE: Here, there be links!]
As a return to my Tabber the Red writing, I had an idea for an illustration while writing the latest cat fantasy.

 ShadoWalker & his Autumn angel (2018)

The concept was difficult and it took some planning but I think I got my point across. Oh! I can also introduce my new Instagram account: Hand drawn by Carmen Jr - While the Deviant Art is my official online portfolio, the Instagram is for friends and other artists to see progressions of my work - such as rough sketches, thumbnails, preliminaries, and drafts! As well as previous versions side-by-side with updated versions.

I Didn't Forget!

Still owe my viewers my Inktober 2017 submissions! Especially on my DeviantART profile... Well, before I upload my artwork, I'm going to touch on a few recent things:

I am re-working an old idea. A science fiction series from my childhood. The journal designated for this story is halfway done.

I'm also bringing up that I noticed one of my posts about  multicultural elements in one's writing is popular and keeps popping up on the blog's sidelines.

A notable reaction when I showed Inktober for 2017, people appreciated the fact that a lot of the characters were Black, Brown, South-east Asian, and that they had Caribbean/West Indian backgrounds! Sort of sad that this reaction means that we still haven't reached the level of inclusion and diversity within genre fiction, but, we ARE getting there!

Next post will be the first Inktober 2017 submissions!

INKTOBER 2017 PROJECTIONS

Last year, I worked on most of the characters from the dog Great Depression novel.

While I'm still working on that, during many of the disasters, and Irma, a curious thing happened: a science fiction story near and dear to me, that I've had in mind since childhood, started to figuratively write itself! These will be a series of shorts that I'm currently compiling.

For this Inktober, I'll showcase these SF characters with updated looks!

Just as I did with NaNoWriMo and Camps NaNoWriMo to pen most of the Great Depression novel, I'm using #Inktober2017 to work on a slice-of-life comic series. So, HAPPY INKTOBER!

P.S. If you wish to see my Inktober 2016, hop over to my DeviantArt profile at http://coppersphinx.deviantart.com

The Website Birthday Celebration continues...

Happy Birthday, Tabber the Red!

The website has updates but more will be here on In Pretty Print and The Angry Goblin! 

Links to birthday celebration goodies (will go live soon) on the website and blogs:

Free coloring sheet downloads and web banner downloads 

and purchasing vibrant art prints!

Please celebrate with me by downloading free swag and buying prints! (More updates! More stock! More to come!)

Purchasing my artwork helps maintain web hosting and to advertise my writing! The more help I receive, the more I can continue to be 'An artist living the writer's life'!

Inktober 10/30/16 - Submission #26 and #27

Antonio Castellano(c)

Stacey's father. He's a Pullman Porter! An important job that played a historic role in establishing the Black middle-class.

Hobart Hankin Jr.(c)

My guy Castellano's Roma father. And with him, I conclude my Inktober adventures.

 

Thanks everybody for the support, thumbs ups, loves, and encouraging words. 

This is Inktober, the last day of Inktober 2016.

'Til next year, God willing.
 

More Inktober coming up!

Already sketched out my ideas for today, last day for Inktober 2016. I'm sketching the protagonists' fathers next. Will need to stop by art store to stock up on black designer marker and some Staedtler pens (if I can as they're pretty pricier than the designer markers).

Inktober 10/30/16 - Submission #24 and #25

Margarita 'Rita'(c)

Beatrice(c)

Stacey's mother and Castellano's youngest/baby sister. Inktober is helping me recreate updated looks for many characters. My last submissions for tonight. Inktober 2016 finishes tomorrow.

Inktober 10/30/16 - Submission #23

Angela(c)

Here's one of Castellano's sisters. I killed my black designer marker. Now I must buy two this week. So I had to use alternate colors and it worked out well!
Stacey's mom is coming up. Wait for her. This is Inktober 2016.

Inktober 10/29/16 - Submission #22

Gina(c)

This is Castellano's mom. My last Inktober for tonight. I'll be drawing Stacey's mom tomorrow. I was going for 5 pieces but I'll settle for two. By the way, this is illustration #23.
Night, you guys.

Inktober 10/29/16 - Submission #21

Redmond aka "Redboy"(c)

Another character for Inktober.

This is my New Orleans Jazz musician! My first illustration of Redmond. 

Inktober 10/28/16 - Submission #20

Dorothy aka 'Dot'(c)

After work, will do more Inktober submissions. 

This is illustration #21! Another character from Depression-era novel. She's at home. I now realize I should have outlined her shoes in red only and without black ink. Oh well. This is Inktober 2016.

Inktober 10/27/16 - Submission #19

Hortense(c)

5 more days before Inktober ends. My submission of a character who is in my novel and also in my published short story "Night Sounds". I know one person who will be happy to finally see this person visually. Hope you won't be disappointed.

Inktober 10/25/16 - Submission #18

Mrs. Burrows(c)

Another piece done on Mrs. Burrows. Done in the style of Art Deco artist Erte.

Inktober 10/24/16 - Submission #16 and #17

Another Inktober submission. Will do another of a male dog facing the female.

Mock title page A

Next Inktober illustration! Really excited by this. Will have a caboodle of illos to scan and clean up before uploading to my DeviantART page.

Mock title page B

Inktober 10/23/16 - Submission #15

*Singing* I'm falling behind... But no worries. The novel is still being written. ere's Sethrine or 'Cissy' as she's called. Stacey's big sister. As I'm drawing these, all I can hear is 20s music.

Sethrine or 'Cissy'(c)

Inktober 10/22/16 - Submission #14

Virginia(c) 

Another Inktober submission! Another character from Depression-era story. Still working in the Art Nouveau and Art Deco styles.

Virginia(c)

P.S. Realized I could add a tail!