As Always, Everything Has Changed

Wow, it's been a very long time since I've posted here. It's amazing to see how far I've come since October.

Josh(My boyfriend of 8 months now) and I moved out of our cramped one-bedroom apartment not to long ago and got our first town house. I'm so very grateful for the life we have now. Those first few months of living together were difficult at times. We were selling as much of our stuff as we could at first to pay for rent and groceries. Hoping we would find work or a steady paying gig soon. But we were still very happy. Now we have an abundance of food and we no longer have to worry about paying bills. We've even managed to pay off some of our debts.

I finally came out to my Mom about studying and practicing Buddhism(although not of my own accord). I'm still a Christian, but I'm also a Buddhist. I've meditated since I was 18 and was always afraid to tell my mom or to try and go to some Buddhist classes in my area. But now that my Mom has found out and has had time to cool off, I find that I'm not really pressured about my beliefs now and we both have a good relationship again.

Also, I quit Robot Cowboy Studio's(the studio I shared with my friends Will, Amber, Kiki, and Syd a few months back. It's on the other side of town and I don't have a car. Plus, I had a few months where I had no money to pay them rent, so it was really only fair that I quit so I could pay them back. Now I have a great studio in the 2nd bedroom in my apartment with new equipment like a 12wx Cintiq, a Large Format Printer, and more that help me do job even faster. I even have a GIGANTIC foam bean bag chair in there for when I need to take a break.

Working from home definitely has it's benefits. I get to cook every night now and bake on the weekends for a boyfriend who loves my cooking and tells me so every chance he gets.

And now I have a steady gig with a Textbook company working on a Freshmen Orientation Graphic Novel for colleges. I have a great boss and I get to work from home and make enough money to feel like I'm contributing.

I'm still not without my issues or dilemmas, but right now life is so good, that I thought I'd take a moment to realize how my life has changed and how grateful I am for everyone and everything in my life. When I look back on where I was just a year ago, I see the dramatic changes I went through that seemed so subtle and unnoticeable at the time. Having to leave my old apartment and move in with my Mom again, Quitting Convergys, Finishing my first education comic gig for a new client, joining Robot Cowboy Studios with my art friends in town, Messaging this really nice guy on Facebook about coming to the Lubbock Sketch Club, finally agreeing to go out on a date with said guy....etc. Small decisions that have taken me far away from the dreary life of the Technical Support phone agent for Comcast/Convergys High Speed Internet, living off of banquet meals and wondering how I was ever gonna get what I wanted out of life.

This serves as a reminder to me: No matter how hopeless or how sad you seem.... Within a year, that could all change. And when it does, you won't even realize it until after it's happened.

Everybody have a great week! I hope you all have something(s) to be grateful for as well!
Best,

Rachael

“Follow your bliss and the universe will open doors for you where there were only walls” --Joseph Campbell

The Spirit

Here's my most recent and most successful attempt at a watercolor painting so far. With this one, it felt like something finally just clicked in my head and made figuring the whole thing out easier.

The Spirit is a great character and his creator, Will Eisner, has been a hero of mine since I was a young teenager. Don't let the gawd-awful Spirit movie fool you, the Spirit was a class act and the revived Spirit comic book that comes out from DC Comics is great. I've been reading it in trade and so far my favorite run on it has to be Darwyne Cooke's, so I highly encourage everyone to go pick it up. Good times. :)

Ok folks. Just have time for a quickie, so I better go. I have a book that's near completion on my drawing table that I need to finish up, so I'll blog again soon.

Have a grateful day!

Rachael

Quote of the day:

"And Now.

Now is all we have or so they say.

And I am either thrilled

To be the one that's in my shoes.

Ot tethered to the tyranny of all of my to-do's.

No wonder no one gets to far from loneliness.

Oh here I go, I'm rolling up my sleeves.

Cause this is where I start deciding

Everything is alright and--

Oh, if it all comes down to expertise

Than this would be the book I'm writing:

How to take on terror till you find out that your brave.

How to watch the sun go down

And how not to behave."

--"How Not to Behave" by Christine Kane

Sketchcard: Poisen Ivy and 21st Birthdays

It's kinda sneaked up on me, but in ten days, I'll be 21. It's hard to believe a year has gone by so fast. My twentieth year was a great one and it was one filled with LOTs of changes, exciting opportunities, many firsts, and a few stupid mistakes that have helped me to grow and learn more about myself and my limits. 20 was a hell of a year for me, and I'm grateful for every single day of it--the good ones, the utterly amazing ones, and even the stupid ones and the bad ones. If anything, it was very memorable.

So I'm looking forward to being 21. Not so much because of being legally allowed to drink and purchase alcohol(well...ok, maybe just a little. What 20 year old doesn't look forward to that?--rhetorical), but because I cant wait to see what new possibilities this next year will bring. :)

On that note, I have no idea what I want for my birthday. Friends and family have asked me, but other than a car, modbook, xbox 360 elite....I cant think of anything I really really want(and all of those things are way to frickin' expensive, obviously. : P ). I've never really expected presents, so I'm always a little happily surprised when I get anything, even if its a 5 dollar toy. Presents are great, but I'd just be happy if a few close friends were able to hang out on the b-day.

Still, when people DO ask I never know what to tell them. But my friend Lauren had an idea: Since it IS the big 21--ask for alcohol. Raspberry liqueur, Liqueur filled chocolates, Jack Daniels, Amaretto, Mascotto wine, Champagne, a pack of wine coolers,etc. The last thing I want to sound like is a lush and it will take me probably a whole year to even work through even a small stash, but I can't think of anything else to ask for. There's not really anything I need or want other than the things I already have.

But even if I get nothing, I'll still be a very happy and lucky girl. I already have more at the age of 20 than I could ever have asked for. :)

Alright guys,

Hope your loving life and remembering to be grateful!

Until next time,

Rachael

Dustland Adventures

Just thought I'd post character designs I came up with not to long ago for a story I was planning to do....well, less of a story really and more of a concept.

I'm not much of a writer, but I just had an idea for a failed anthology I wanted to do and the first image that came to mind was this little boy in goggles, the dusty wind flying through his hair, riding a motorcycle with an old worn out biker.

Maybe someday I'll find the guts to sit down and actually write out a mini-comic for this image, but until then,I'll just enjoy it for what it is(and hope that you guys do to): an idea.

Cause thats where all stories start with an idea, right?

Alright guys,
Have fun and stay passionate.

Rachael

Space Pilots And Learning Something New

So heres another attempt of watercolor painting I did a few months back. (With plenty of coaching from my friend Will Terrell. Thanks Will!). I've really have been trying hard to start doing full-on painting without using inks and, at first, it was really really hard. It's so much different than anything I'm used to. Even when I was back at Harrison Arts School, I mostly worked in graphite. But the more and more time I seem to practice, like with anything else in life, it starts to make more sense. It gets easier to spot my errors and find ways to correct them.

Learning anything new can seem impossible at first. But having someone around who has experience in whatever your weakness is can prove to be a huge asset. Surrounding yourself with people who are much better or skilled can be uncomfortable or daunting, but it can reap huge benefits when you both find you have something to teach each other. If I hadn't kept pestering Will for painting advice, I'm sure this would have been my last attempt at watercolor painting and it wouldn't have turned out half as good as it is now. It was frustrating, but very worthwhile to learn. And I'm still learning...

So at least now I have plenty of watercolor sketches to share with you folks over the upcoming weeks. As always, more to come....

Better get back to the drawing board.

Later Folks!

Rachael

SKETCH DUMP AND UPDATES!

Mary Marvel

Nightwing

The Seductress

Falcon

So, I know it's been MONTHS since my last update, but life has been rather crazy and busy once again. I finished a 40 page graphic novella for Harvard Business school in about six weeks, went through a month of burnout, and then more projects started pouring in again. And even though I've been living back at home with Mom again these last few months, my social life has been good....and the love life even more so. :D All of my time is spent drawing or goofing around at the end of the day with the Boyfriend, so happy times. :)

Right now I'm running on a deadline crunch and I have things that HAVE to get done PRONTO on my drafting table....but I have a new laptop and I just got a new scanner(issues with the old one working with Vista..ah Vista. ), and we finally have internet in the studio....so I'm running out of excuses as to why I can't update this blog. It's about damn time I just buckled down and posted something, so here ya go.

The first three painting were done on sketch cards(baseball card sized bristol paper) and the last is one of my first attempts at a watercolor painting from a few months back. As always please feel free to leave a comment, criticism, or any sketch requests in the comment section. Much more to come.

Alrighty, I better get back to work.

Have a great day everybody!

Rachael

Supergirl And Staying Busy

Hey guys, sorry for the lack of updates. Life has been hectic and insanely busy this last month, and I've only had time to work on job-related art(which I can't post here, unfortunately), so right now I'm throwing this piece up. Between cut-throat deadlines and moving out of my apartment(it's....complicated, to say the least. Long story short: my last roommate moved out and I'm not making enough yet to afford a two bedroom place on my own.) and into my grandmothers--and then into my mothers house a few weeks later, I didn't have a lot of time to get on the computer.

Thankfully, I'm starting to see the finish line on one of two of my projects and now that I'm done with moving craziness, I'll be updating on a regular basis again. My friend Will has been giving me small tutorials on watercolor painting(without going over the painting with ink. A new for me.), and so I'll have some mini paintings to post here soon. If I get a great enough response to some of the sketchbook paintings(hint hint. Comments, please!) , I might turn them into full sized paintings & prints for sale. I'm thinking of either that or doing just one big hardcover sketchbook eventually, so let me know which you guys would prefer. Lots of stuff in the works here.

Alright guys, I'm out for now.
Hope your all having a great week and staying inspired.

Rachael