One Starving Artist

Sketchcards for Cancer!

Peter Foglesong — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 03:39:08 +0000

Blue Line Pro has recently announced it’s 3rd annual Sketchcard Benefit Auction!

The concept is pretty simple: Blue Line Pro provides blank sketchcards to artists, who then fill them up with awesome art and send them back. On April 3rd, 2010, they will then auction the cards off, with all proceeds going to help the American Cancer Society.

They’re always looking for more artists, of any and all levels of skill and experience, to participate. In addition, they of course need people who want to bid on the art, so please spread the word to anyone who might want to pick up some reasonably priced original artwork while also helping out a really great cause!

For more information, or if you’re an artist interested in participating, please check out these two web pages for details and contact info:

Comics For Cures

Comics Mentor

Local Arts & Crafts

The next meeting of the Spokane Comicsmiths’ Guild is this upcoming Sunday, the 20th, at 3 pm. This meeting will be at one of the member’s homes, NOT Merlyns, so please leave a comment here or by e-mail for more information and directions.

The next meeting of the Spokane County Library Crafty Club is this Friday, the 18th at 7 pm, at the Spokane Valley Branch.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Peter Foglesong — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 08:22:35 +0000

I hope everyone has a very Happy Thanksgiving! Jenny and I will be spending the day at her parents’ house with her family, and then probably head back to Coeur d’Alene on Friday for the big Festival of Lights downtown on the lake front. Should be fun.

We’ve got a bit of a jump on the holidays and have already put up our Christmas tree and decorations (what few we have), and have Christmas music on rotation. The snow’s not really sticking yet, but I’ve got no worries about it being a White Christmas (hopefully not quite as bad as last winter, though).

Arts & Crafts

Peter Foglesong — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 06:46:50 +0000

Just a note for any Spokane locals who might be reading:

The next meeting of the Spokane Comicsmiths’ Guild is this coming Sunday the 15th, at Merlyns, starting at 3 pm. Anyone is welcome, and we’re always looking to meet other local artists, writers and creators.

Also, the Spokane County Library Crafty Club is tomorrow, Friday the 13th, at the Moran Prairie branch, starting at 7 pm.

Feel free to leave a comment if you would like additional information about either event.

Sick Days

Peter Foglesong — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 10:03:29 +0000

Jenny’s been knocked out with something the past couple of days – we think it’s probably the flu, but doubt if it’s of the swine variety. She called out sick to work Sunday and Monday, but she is starting to feel better and will probably be going back to work tomorrow. I’ve been doing my best to take care of her while she recovers, although I’ve caught myself coughing a little bit and my head’s hurt off and on, so there’s still a chance I’ll get whatever she had as well. Great.

Sunday was our monthly meeting of the Spokane Comicsmiths’ Guild, our local artist/writer group. We had a good turnout, and made some headway on a lot of group organizational type stuff. The main thing is that we will definitely have a presence at the Emerald City ComiCon next year in Seattle. We’re still ironing out the details, but I’ll post up some specifics as soon as I’ve got any. Should be fun.

Wednesday Stuff

Peter Foglesong — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 08:09:39 +0000

Jenny has a mandatory library “Staff Day” on Friday (her usual day off), so she took today off from the law firm, which worked out well. We both had haircut appointments this morning, and then headed over to The Comic Book Shop to buy some comics.

We actually didn’t get this week’s comics, as we got to the shop before they officially opened and they were still sorting through the new books out today. But we left our subscriptions pile up for almost 2 months, so we had quite the sizable stack waiting for us. Maybe we should get back into the habit of actually picking up our comics each week again….

After some time at The Comic Book Shop, it was off to lunch, and then some much needed grocery shopping. Then back to the apartment so we could meet with the office and sign our new lease. We’re locked in for another full year – so we’ve got 12 months to get some more income coming in and find a better place to live, so we don’t have to stay here any more.

We eventually got a hold of our friend Jamie, picked him up, grabbed some dinner, and came back here to watch a couple of movies. We saw Meet the Robinsons, which was hilarious and highly recommended; and Illegal, a classic Edward G. Robinson courtroom drama, which was also quite good!

What’s Happening…

Peter Foglesong — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 20:56:19 +0000

Yesterday was Jenny’s father’s birthday, and we spent most of the day over in Coeur d’Alene with her parents. We went to see the Surrogates with him – which was a pretty awesome sci-fi flick (based on an equally cool indy comic). Glad we got to see it in the theatre, though I think it could’ve been a bit longer.

Then after the movie the four of us went out for Thai food at the local Thai Bamboo (which was, of course, delicious), and then caught up on a bunch of recorded TV from the past week. A very fun and relaxing day!

The library is doing sort of an “employee exchange” program, where they’re moving some people to different branches so they can see how things might be run differently and meet other co-workers. So now Jenny is working up at the North Spokane branch once a month. Her first day was this last Thursday, and she really enjoyed it, although it does mean a much longer commute (like 45 minutes instead of 15).

Otherwise things are going OK. Jenny had her year review at the library, which went well and got her a raise (yay!). The temperature is dropping, and even dipping to freezing occasionally, but the apartment seems to be holding the heat pretty well. Maybe those new energy-efficient windows they installed actually work.

I’ve been working on some commissions and tinkering with one of my comic ideas. Doing the 24 Hour Comic Challenge has definitely been an inspiration to get back to work on it – hopefully I’ll have more concrete news on that relatively soon…

Jenny’s been working on a bunch of cool crocheting projects, which we really need to take some pictures of and post up. It would probably help if we had a decent digital camera, since right now we have 3 old ones that all only work about half the time.

Local Arts & Crafts People: The next Spokane Comicsmiths’ Guild is on Sunday the 18th at Merlyns, from 3-6 pm. The next Crafty Club meeting is on Friday the 23rd at the Spokane Valley Library, and starts at 7 pm. Feel free to leave a comment if you’re interested in more information.

24 Hour Comic Book Day

Peter Foglesong — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 09:30:50 +0000

…was Awesome!

The 24 Hour Comic Book Challenge was held this last Saturday, October 3rd, simultaneously testing artists around the world as they attempted to create a 24 page comic, from scratch, within the span of 24 hours. I made it to 17 pages, which I’m quite happy with – hopefully next year I’ll make it all the way to 24!

We had a great turnout at our local venue (Spokane’s Merlyns), with lots of prizes, goodies and food donated by local businesses, raffles, and even a coloring contest for kids. There were a lot of participants who showed up for a few hours and had to leave, but I was one of the few die-hards who stayed for the whole 24 hours (in our case the official time was 10:30 am Saturday to 10:30 am Sunday).

The whole experience was a ton of fun, and I’m already looking forward to next year. We’ve also got our next meeting of the Spokane Comicsmiths’ Guild coming up on Sunday the 18th. The meeting will be at Merlyns and runs from 3-6pm. All artists and writers are welcome!

I’ve posted my comic up at my deviantArt page, here: My 24 Hour Comic!

And I also drew up 4 Star Wars pictures for the kids coloring contest, which you can see here: Star Wars Coloring Pics!

I Want….

Peter Foglesong — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 01:01:36 +0000

The Microsoft “Courier” Tablet Concept

I’m a fairly OCD person when it comes to organizing, and make lists for everything to help me remember what I’m supposed to be doing most days. Because of this, I’ve taken to having a little Moleskine notebook with me everywhere I go. I use it as a day-planner/calendar and also jot down notes to myself so I don’t forget ideas I have.

I’m also (not surprisingly) a very visual-based person. I like making sketches, drawing out ideas, and I’ve often wanted a more intuitive system for digitally combining my notes, sketches and ideas into a cohesive, yet easily manipulated whole.

So when I saw the pictures and video showing the concept for the new Courier from Microsoft I was seriously geeking out. I even had an idea for something similar to this a few months ago – I then heard about Apple’s rumoured tablet which sounded close to what I wanted, but wasn’t quite…. and then I saw this on Gizmodo the other day.

It’s obviously just in the concept stage right now, and I have no idea if/when it’s released whether it will live up to my expectations. Ideally I’d like to be able to use it for sketching, finished artwork and writing, but there’s no word yet on hardware specs or what software it will use, so for now I just have to wait and see. But it’s definitely got my hopes up, and I’m still geeking out about it, so I’d thought I’d share…

Trying to Blog More Often….

Peter Foglesong — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 09:05:57 +0000

Nothing too crazy going on at the moment, although I did apply for a job today (Monday) that I think I’ve got a decent shot at. I actually applied and interviewed for the same job a few months ago, and was in the running for it, but apparently it’s open again so I figured I should go for it. It’s part-time at the library, and seems perfect for me, so I’ve got my fingers crossed.

Jenny was feeling sick today, and her throat was really sore, so she called out for both of her jobs to rest up. I stayed up really late last night getting my application ready, and then went to turn it in first thing this morning, so I was pretty exhausted too, so we both spent a good chunk of the day asleep. Exciting, I know.

Yesterday was our monthly artist meeting, and this time it was a BBQ hosted by one of the members (Erik Thompson, who doesn’t have a website yet, or I’d link to it because he’s an awesome artist). The BBQ was a ton of fun with a lot of great food, and we ended up staying there pretty late (hence me not getting started on my application till even later).

Our group was also out at the Spokane Main Street Fair last weekend. We’ve got a couple of photos of us up over at our blog: Spokane Comicsmiths’ Guild Blog!

The next big event for the Guild is the annual 24 Hour Comic Book Challenge, which is on October 3rd. Last year’s challenge was actually what got us all together in the first place and sparked the formation of our group. Hopefully we’ll end up with even more members, since we’re expecting our biggest turn-out yet this year.

Otherwise, things have been going all right. The weather has been pleasant, not too hot and occasionally rainy. Us both being sick off and on is annoying, of course, but we’ve still been keeping busy with art & crafts stuff.

Plus the Fall TV season is starting, so we’re getting all of our favorite shows back, plus a couple of potentially good new ones. Maybe I’ll use an entry to just run through all the shows we’re watching now, which is probably too many. But at least we don’t have cable or we’d most likely be glued to the couch…

Comicsmiths at the Spokane Street Fair!

Peter Foglesong — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 01:18:09 +0000

I’ve mentioned in other blogs about our local artist/writer group, which we’ve named the Spokane Comicsmiths’ Guild. We now have a blog set up for the Guild, as well as a deviantArt page and Facebook group, so everyone can keep up with what’s happening with the group and it’s members. They’re new, and very much works-in-progress, but it’s a start, as we had several people asking if we had a website for the group at our last event. Here’s the sites:

Comicsmiths’ Guild

deviantArt Page

Facebook Group

Members of the Comicsmiths’ Guild will be at Merlyns tomorrow (Saturday the 12th) after 3pm as part of the Sustainable September Main Street Fair!

We’ll be drawing free sketches for kids between 4-6 and taking sketch commissions for others. There should also be a variety of prints and original artwork for sale as well. If you’re a Spokane local, swing by and say Hi, meet the Guild and pick up some art!

In addition to the Guild, Merlyns will also be host to local members of the 501st Legion from 2-4pm. Get photos of yourself with stormtroopers and more of the Galactic Empire’s finest!

The Street Fair will also feature live music, entertainment, sustainabilty info, kids activities, bike tune-ups, food and fun! In the street – 0 block of West Main, 3-8pm.

Also, I’m still sick, or maybe sick again, I’m not sure. I had what I think was a sinus infection about a month ago, before I got my wisdom teeth out. I think I shook that, but now I’ve got some cold-type thing. I’ve been a wreck the past couple of days, sleeping for 1/2 the day, wiped out with no energy, head stuffy, runny nose and sneezing, and my throat’s been really rough and scratchy. Fun.

So it’s been a lot of rest and juice and soup, and not much getting the things done that I need/want to do. The sooner I’m over this the better….