samilikestodraw-blog

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Head’s up y’all: I’ve re-branded. Check out my new Tumblr!

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A pretty fun commissions I got during my limited slots on my Facebook page! Happy Father’s Day Tre!

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Phew! It’s been a while since I’ve posted any work. Been super busy and been off/on with any art. 

Here’s a commission I had earlier this month as a wedding gift! She wanted to surprise her soon-to-be husband (but they are married as of last week!) since he’s a huge Chicago Cubs fan. I’ve gotten feedback and he absolutely loved it! I’m happy I could make their wedding a little extra special. :)

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For my friend Nikki of her corgi, Lottie. 

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I really enjoyed doing this one! I ended up using a screenshot from Q*bert for the background and taking it from there. She loves Q*bert, and my commissioner wanted to surprise her for Valentine’s Day. This was also great practice for me since I’ve been off commissions for over a month (and still am sadly), and also to prepare for the upcoming Louisville Retro Arcade Expo in March. I’m on a vendor table waitlist...but I’ll still have some things prepared. :) 

Also...the score is her personal high score!

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Hi there! I get asked the brush question quite a bit so I thought I’d throw together a quick tutorial for what I did for the Sphynx sketch. 

I’m entirely too lazy to make my own custom brushes, so what I do instead is screw around with Photoshop’s brush settings. You can do quite a bit with what they give you. Kid you not half the time I press random buttons to see what happens. 

**NOTE** In this guide there are several brush selections that are from random brush sets I’ve collected..they may not be strictly default so don’t panic if you can’t find the matching one. Do your best with what you have!

Thanks and good luck!

**EDIT** If you can’t read my scrawl in the preview image just open it up in a new tab, should give you the full size ;)

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Fan Art Incoming Shortly

The chibi fanart is all getting re-done digitally before I re-print them and put them up on RedBubble. Some new fan art will be posted as well, plus some typography posters. Here’s what to look forward to:

Bob’s Burgers Legend of Zelda League of Legends The Lion King Snow White Cinderella The Little Mermaid Lilo & Stitch The Indredibles Star Wars Q*Bert Dig Dug Super Mario Luigi’s Mansion Space Invaders/Galaga Pokemon And many more!

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Commissions re-opening soon!

January hiatus is over! The website is getting another re-vamp, and so will my Tumblr. New business cards too once my current stock is gone! Prices are also getting re-worked, and new examples that will be easier to follow and explain prices and workflow. I’m shooting for mid-February, and will also have some new fan art pieces up for grabs. I’m going to give RedBubble another shot...see how it goes.Those of you that have already messaged me about commissions during January, I will be reaching back out to you soon!

My current stock of prints are still available over on StoreEnvy:

http://samilikestodraw.storenvy.com/

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Did a little crafty thing during my art break. Found the crates for a couple dollars and I had some fake flowers, white paint, and a couple coke bottles. :) Used a couple horse ornaments we had and decided to give them new homes since they are too pretty to pack up with the holiday stuff. I was going to wrap the bottles with twine but the look is growing on me.

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This was the holiday card, featuring of our furbabies, for this year. I hope everyone had great holiday!

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i'm getting a bit discouraged about my art .. idkk when i draw i don't really feel happy looking at it anymore and i dont know how to improve .. what do i doo ooo

If it helps at all, this happens to me ALL the time. Honestly, it’s a very normal part of being an artist

Art block/burnout is kind of like being sore after exercising. It’s an opportunity to rest a little while your muscles expand. If you are getting frustrated while drawing, take a break and go do something else until you can’t help but want to draw again.

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Redbubble Update

So, I finally got a response from them. Unfortunately, it was a blanket, automated response slapped with a name on the signature. I have replied, further elaborating on my questions as the don't seem to be actually checking the email. I also checked with a personal artist friend of mine who also sells fan art (also of Disney), in regards to Fair Use, and agrees my art on Redbubble should NOT have been taken down, and not handled in the way they are currently. So...below is my reply. Let's see if I actually get an answer. "This doesn't entirely answer my question though. 1. Out of 300+ other works of this character on your site, why was mine targeted? 2. Of the 11,000+ other works with Disney tagged alone on Redbubble, why was mine targeted? 3. Did Disney contact Redbubble in association to MY WORK SPECIFICALLY? Because according to the first email, it was "due to past complaints", which leads me to believe this was not a cease and desist to my fan art specifically. OR did another user report my work for some reason another? If Disney hasn't approached about my art specifically, to my understanding, it is still under fair use/parody since it is my interpretation, and a combination of franchises that would not have happened otherwise. 4. If Disney is taking down Marvel fan art, why has my Spiderman post been up since June with no issues? 5. Why was my art removed ENTIRELY instead of just having products disabled, or the art set to private? Deleting it entirely is a bit extreme, and quite frankly, uncalled for. While I appreciate actually getting response, I would like my questions answered as this is not legal advice. Now, I love Redbubble products, but if this is how you treat your customers and art-providers, I will take my business elsewhere. Thank you, Samantha"

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Prints Temporarily Offline

My prints on RedBubble are currently set to Private while I work through this issue with them. I doubt I’ll get a response, but we’ll see! Apparently, someone got a bit trigger happy and reported my Dr Who/Deadpool image for copyright (parody/fair use anyone?), and the image was COMPLETELY DELETED. Not set to private, so the submission is still in my portfolio there, but removed entirely. 

So, I’m a bit upset. Okay, that’s an understatement. I’m absolutely LIVID. 

I emailed the DMCA at RedBubble in response to the take-down asking, “There are 377 images of Deadpool on your site available for products. Have these been addressed as well?” Not even mentioning the 11,000+ works just tagged “Disney”. I also pointed out that I highly doubt all of these posts have exclusive permissions from Disney for their parody or fan art work, yet they still allow it and have it posted for their sales. I asked, “Why was I targeted?” (which leads me to believe someone deliberately reported it), and “If Disney has an issue of artists posting parody/fan art of their characters, including Marvel, how come you haven’t contacted me about my SpiderMan image that’s been up since June?”

UPDATE: I actually just checked the Deadpool search and it’s down to 357...so something must be going on...maybe? Valid questions, that I doubt will get answers. Of course, their email for the take-down was “due to past complaints”, and not a direct cease and desist. So, do I plan on re-posting my images? You bet your smart ass I do! In the meantime, I do have my own personal stock of prints (except “Puddin’”, that’s getting printed this week). You can find them over on my little, teeny shop on Storenvy. Each print comes packaged in clear wrap and chipboard to stay protected, and a business card! I can also add anything to your print if you’d like (signing it for example). There are also prints on my Storenvy that I will NOT be posting elsewhere. 

samilikestodraw.storenvy.com <--- Click this thing