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Hey I'm back! I have no real reason as to why there is such a big gap between posts other than life getting in the way and art block. But I'm hoping to post more often again and I'll start by posting some old work I've done over the past year. This one is from October and was part of an artist drawing challenge called InkTober. The goal is to do one ink drawing a day for the entire month. InkTober was started in 2009 by Jake Parker as a challenge to improve inking skills and develop positive drawing habits. This was my first time participating.

Click the image below for a larger view ...or Right click "Open Link in New Tab" for the largest view.

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I also did a bit of animating. Nothing amazing, but I just wanted to make sure after effects still worked on my computer. I'm thinking of more things to animate at the moment.

MangaMinx Title Sequence from Carolyn Fisk on Vimeo.

I also entered a couple contests on this site so if you want to check them out and maybe vote for them if you like them:

1) http://creativeallies.com/creations/2dn2/contests/766/design-a-dress-for-joy-formidable

2) http://creativeallies.com/creations/z8n2/contests/771/design-commemorative-art-for-onerepublic

3) http://creativeallies.com/creations/x8n2/contests/771/design-commemorative-art-for-onerepublic

4) http://creativeallies.com/creations/t8n2/contests/771/design-commemorative-art-for-onerepublic

5) http://creativeallies.com/creations/l8n2/contests/771/design-commemorative-art-for-onerepublic

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So I made another entry for the Tomb Raider contest. I didn't go with my original idea for the 2nd entry because it was too similar to my first entry and I wanted to do something drastically different. Here is what I started for the "other 2nd entry" that never came to be and the BW for the one I went with.

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This is the final image for my first entry to the Tomb Raider contest on DA: (Link)

If you want to help me out, you can head on over to DA where my entry (Link) is and leave a comment, critique, or even a favourite if you like it. You will need to be a member on the site though.

Here are some process pictures for this image. I tried to remember to take some while I worked, but by the time I got to working on "Lara" I forgot to take some....and I was working all in one layer for her :/

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I'm going to enter the Tomb Raider contest on Deviantart (link) and these are the roughs I have so far:

Thanks Mel for helping adjust a few things <3 Anyone else is also free to critique and make suggestions. I'll be working on the final for the crouching pose first and will be starting the standing pose later (standing pose needs legs adjusted). The background for the crouching pose feels too empty so I'll probably add more forest canopy and maybe a few buildings/structures.

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So I finally got the UPS charges sorted out for the contest (link) I won back in December. I wanted to wait until I had that over and done with before posting any pictures of my winnings. The prize again included: 1 Mega Munny, two 7" Munnys, 2 Mini Munnys + 1 Mini Trikky, 4 Micro Munnys, and 5 MW zipper pulls.

Before I knew that I had won the contest, my girlfriend bought me 2 mini munnys and 1 micro munny as Christmas gifts. Needless to say when she found out I won the contest she was not very impressed. But I assured her that I would love whatever she gave me...and I did...and still do. With her gifts I ended up with the full range of available colours for the micro munnys.

Although I plan to paint over all of them so it doesn't really matter what colour they are (But I might keep the blue one as it is). I've already painted the red one to look like it was made out of wood.

I will eventually get around to creating something with all the Munnys, but the Mega Munny will be the last one I work on. I'm not sure what I'll do with it yet, but I want it to be a design worthy of it's massive size and original price tag. So it'll be a few years for sure. One of the family cats (Shadow) really enjoys the box it was shipped in.

UPS Brokerage Fees

So I received the first of 2 packages for the contest I won for the Kidrobot contest: Link, and had to pay a $112.25 UPS Brokerage fee. I've already contacted Kidrobot about why I had to pay a fee on a prize and hopefully this issue will be resolved soon. But I hope they get back to me before the next package arrives because I'm not sure what to do about it. I might have to refuse the fees and have it sent back to them.

I'm sure this is all one big misunderstanding and someone just forgot to put a checkmark in some box on some form. But it sure ruins the feeling of winning a contest when you have to pay fees you can't afford. 

I should be excited about winning and getting my stuff.....but right now it's sitting on my bed and I'm feeling ripped off.

I really hate UPS.

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So I decided to quickly animate something for a contest at the last minute. No time for editing or retakes.... just add snow and away it goes. Next time I want to do something like this I really need to give myself more time.

But now I have a light box I can use to take some slightly better lit photographs of my projects.


EDIT: So my animation was chosen as the winner for the contest! Now I'll have more than enough Munny's to design for years to come!....Or maybe just another year. It has been announced to the site but it looks like they just used my dropbox link instead of uploading it to another service, so I'll have to send them my blogspot link when I confirm the package has arrived. And I'll post pictures of my prize when it arrives.

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I participated in the Steveston Grand Prix of Art again this year and this is the final result of my time at the event. Completely created in Copic Marker..... not watercolour (much to everyones amazement).

I think it turned out better then what I produced last year...even though I haven't really been creating much art outside of work for awhile. I look back on this picture and see a few little things I wish I could've touched up, but the final whistle had gone and I ran out of time... for 3hrs this was pretty good though. I've never been very good with titles so the piece is called "Heringers" after the shop in the picture.

This piece was bought by Heringers Meats in Steveston Village (the shop in the picture) and will now reside with the rest of their collection from past competitions. So if you would like to see it in person (and maybe pick up something for dinner...) head on over to Heringers.

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I was also the person in charge of artist registration this year... which was a learning experience and a hell of a lot of work when my registration duties evolved into more than just registration duties + other shop work, customers, etc. But it seems like registration went a little more smoothly this year, so alls well that ends well I guess. Though I'm not sure I'd be interested in doing this duty again....unless I had a dedicated helper maybe.

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And on a sad note, my cats health has deteriorated further as the cancer progresses. I will have to make a decision in the next few days or weeks, of when to put her down. It's been something I've been trying not to think about, but when you visit the Animal hospital almost once a week and everybody knows your name... you know it's about time. This will be one of the hardest decisions I've ever had to make, but I know in my heart it's the right thing to do for her.

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One of my Dodge Dart contest entries [Link] was chosen for the semi-finals: [Link]

I'm surprised it was chosen over some of the other images I saw for the contest. They seemed to be picking more abstract entries.

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This is for another DA contest . I've completed 3 other entries but this was the first non-abstract one. I should really practice drawing vehicles so I don't have to rely so much on reference imagery to create them. But then I also have to do the same for people, animals, etc... So much to work on. I'm really hoping that this image at least makes it into the semi-finals. I don't expect it to win (though I really, REALLY, hope it does), but at least getting into the semi-finals would make the amount of effort I put into this contest worth it.

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Sometimes you start off normal...and then you get abstract along the way.IDK why I'm into doing abstract stuff lately. Final image can be viewed here: LINK

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I've entered another DA contest and decided to try something a little more abstract. Head over to my DA page to see the image better and leave a comment if you like.
Transform by ~Bone-Fish14 on deviantART
Retro by ~Bone-Fish14 on deviantART

This was the original colour set-up I had. I think I still like this version better, so I've uploaded it to DA as well.

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Finished.

Still in progress. Probably won't have a chance to work on it again till Monday. April has been randomly busy for me.

Also I'm not sure if I'm supposed to say...but since I already made a twitter post about it.....I won $500 for entering the "Shattered Sky" DVD cover contest. I was in 1 of the 5 top place spots. This was the image they chose: Link

Subaru Canada Contest

Subaru Canada Contest by ~Bone-Fish14 on deviantART

This is for the Subaru Canada Contest and each positive comment counts as a vote. If you like this piece and have a DA account, I would be extremely grateful if you could take the time to leave a short comment :)

If I get into the top 10, my art will be displayed at the Toronto Auto Show! And will have the chance at winning a cash prize!

Contest Closes Sunday Feb.5 11:59pm

Shattered Sky Contest 2012

Shattered Sky Contest 2012, a set on Flickr.

Whispering Light Contest

I entered a web banner contest a few weeks back for Whispering Light music studio and my design was chosen. Whispering Light Studios is home to two indie musicians; Native American Flutist, Kevin Village Stone and Classical Guitarist, Lindy Day. They are in the process of renovating their site, but you can visit their old website and their Etsy store to see their work.

They also took the time to write a blog post featuring some of my work which was very kind of them and I really appreciate it.

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On another note I'm still looking for work. Feeling a little disheartened but trying to not let it get to me. I started working in 3D again today; I haven't actually used the program for months but it feels like I'm just picking up from where I left off. I'll post what I'm working on when it's finished....which will maybe take a week since the pc downstairs is slow and I have to send it to my friend to render. But I'm starting with something simple and straight forward just to refresh my memory of how to use the program.

Steveston’s 2nd Annual Grand Prix of Art

I recently participated in Steveston’s 2nd Annual Grand Prix of Art. which you can read about here: http://grandprixofart.com/our-mission/

"The concept of the Grand Prix of Art is to promote local arts in a fun and interactive manner. Artists from around the province are invited to participate in a day of Plein Air painting in Steveston. Participating Artists will be allocated a location in Steveston where they will have 3 hours to complete a work of art, before returning them to the shipyards for display."

Here is my piece which was sold at the event:

I had a lot of fun despite the rain and will probably participate again next year.

Update Time

I don't want it to appear like I have abandoned my blog so I'm going to try and get back into updating it more frequently.

Honestly not much has happened after completing my grad film. I have submitted it to the Ottawa Animation Festival and I will be submitting it to one in Calgary soon. I don't expect it to get into either one but you never know. I would really like to just put it up online in a few different places because it may have a better chance of finding an audience. But I will hold back on that for now and wait about a year before I go do that. When my film is online I will post it here.

I have been trying to rid myself of the art block I've had since 2nd year university. It feels like it is slowly lifting, but as soon as I think that, its back and I'm sitting here doing nothing. I've been taking a bit of a break since finishing my film to see if that would help, and to a certain extent it has, but it is going to be a slow process. Hopefully I will snap out of it while I update my portfolio this summer.

Anyways on a high note I won an honourable mention and a cash prize for a contest I entered earlier this year. The "Historic Steveston Contest" was launched to find an artistic pattern to use in a new scramble crosswalk planned for an intersection in Steveston Village: http://www.richmond.ca/news/city/stevestonscrambleartwinners.htm

And now for something completely different... I'm going to be selling work at UBC at an anime convention. MiniComi: http://minicomi.orangesanctuary.com/MiniComiInfo.html I will post some of what I will be selling once I finish them.