In the past 2 weeks I've accomplished 2 goals that I've been putting off for 2 YEARS. Firstly, I finally had some business cards printed. It's going to be so awesome to hand someone a card now instead of scribbling my contact information onto a post it note or God-forbid, napkin. Second, I finally made my own website!! This is probably the biggest news since you're pretty much a nobody in the art world these days if you don't have your own website. I will say that making the business cards was a lot easier than making the website. Mind you, I didn't make it from scratch but even using a template was a major pain in the butt. My computer would slow down like crazy every time I'd start to work on designing my website so it took about 4 days (and 3 template changes) to finish it. But I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out and all of my friends have been telling me that it looks awesome so I'm happy. It you'd like to take a look, just go to:
www.iggystarpup.com
In other news, I recently did my first photo shoot as well. I know how important image is for an artist so I thought it was about time people start associating my art work with me. So I asked my friend, Mr. Daniel Funkhouser, if he'd be able to take some photos for me to promote my business and he obliged. Next on the order of business was to get the perfect DRESS. For ages and ages I'd been wanting a Wednesday Addams-esque dress but I had never been able to find one. I rarely order cloths online but I thought I'd take a chance this once since I wanted this photo shoot to be perfect. I did a search for black and white peter pan collar dresses and found the most amazing dress on Modcloth. It was a little more than I normally spend on a dress but I figured I'd wear it forever so it would be worth the money. Also, Modcloth has a handy dandy feature where real women post their size and how the dress fit them "in real life". Everyone concurred that this dress was true to size and that they absolutely loved it. That was enough for me so I went ahead and bought it. I am super happy with this dress and am now a forever Modcloth customer.
Anywho, I'd been working on one of my anthropomorphic animal illustrations of a kitty wearing a black and white peter pan collar dress sitting on a tombstone in a grave yard. Since I'm using "Courtney Doom" as my professional name I thought, "That would be a cool idea for my photos!" So I asked Daniel if he knew of any interesting cemeteries around town and he said he did. We got there around dusk and I was kind of nervous since I'd never really modeled for anyone before but he did a good job of making me comfortable. It helped too that since I was going for a gothic look I didn't have to smile for the photos. We only had about an hour before the sun went down but Daniel said he thought we'd gotten some good shots. Since I had had to sit so long without moving though, I had become a perfect buffet for all the local mosquitos and went home with about 10 bites (but it was worth it.)
My friend finished editing the photos a few days ago and sent me over the best ones and I couldn't be happier! I love how they turned out. I'm very lucky to have so many super talented friends that are able to help me out with stuff like this. Very lucky, indeed.
So yeah, I hope that the combination of the business cards, the promo photos and the website finally being out there that I'll see an increase in my audience and ultimately in my sales. Being a professional artist isn't easy but I think I'm doing a pretty good job.
Wish me luck!
Mwah!
Today I'm going to do sort of a time capsule post so years from now I can remember what I was into when I was 29. It's interesting to see how parts of ourselves tend to remain constant while others seem to be constantly changing.
My Life in 2013:
Favorite Films: The Big Lebowski, Amelie, Howl's Moving Castle, Bridesmaids
What I was listening to: Phoenix, Two Door Cinema Club, Foster the People, Ellie Goulding, Florence + the Machine
What I was reading: 1Q84, Kafka on the Shore, Harry Potter (always), Game of Thrones, and Rebecca
Shows I was watching: Frasier, IT Crowd, Orange is the New Black, Adventure Time, Game of Thrones, The Big Bang Theory, Sherlock
Trends I was into: peter pan collars, bright colored tights, baby bangs, cat eye glasses
Trends I hated: neon everything, floral everything, long hair with one side shaved
What I was driving: Buick Regal
Who I was crushing on: Benedict Cumberbatch, Tom Hiddleston, Aidan Turner, Richard Armitage
Games I was playing: Animal Crossing: New Leaf, Wind Waker HD
Best Friends: Ashley, Rosalynn, and Melissa
Favorite Restaurant: Krua Thai
What I was looking forward to: My Europe trip in April 2014
What I was most proud of: my business/audience growing, getting active and healthy
Dream Pet: PUGS!!!
Favorite color(s): turquoise, dark purple, mustard yellow
Most Used Words: dude, yay!, bummer, kaykay, cute
Favorite Food: Cashew Tofu
Pet Peeve: people being on their phone when you're hanging out with them
People I admired: Hayao Miyazaki, Jennifer Lawerence, Twinkie-Chan, Kristen Wiig
