New Website! New Directions!

In case you haven't noticed, the website got a new look! I'd been meaning to redo the site for the longest time and finally sat down and worked on it all day. It's been a while since it first launched and my limited knowledge showed, but I think now it's fresh and reflects my current tastes a lot more.

Growth! It's a thing!

The business has been going through a lot of growth lately as I move everything more towards what I want it to be now that I've got experience. So what does that mean?

• I will be phasing out certain jewelry and product. 
• Switching from 11x17 prints to 8x10
• Not as many conventions
• More galleries
• More sketchbook art
• Splitting the blog into two categories: News and personal blogs. 

I loved making jewelry but the effort to make everything was exhausting and I was starting to feel like I had too much product all over the place. So I'm cutting it down to just the ones that do well or that I really like (If there's a certain piece you like, let me know!)

It's more of a cost thing with the prints. 11x17 prints are expensive to buy unless you buy a bunch in bulk and I have too many designs to do that. It's cheaper and easier for me to do 8x10 which means more will be available and I can actually sell them online!

With conventions, I happened to start at a weird time. Suddenly everyone was getting flooded with conventions so I had a lot of options but now it's too saturated and I'm realizing that I'm not getting the return I want to for the stress that I'm experiencing. I love them, but I think I like attending them more. So I'm sticking to only a few I know I can do well at and isn't out of the way for me.

Galleries were always my main goal and with the art scene growing in town, I got very lucky. I get to do exhibits and galleries with Lubbock-Con and now I'm organizing Star Comics galleries. I even have a few other group exhibits I am participating in outside of that. That's also what pushed me away from conventions. I have to be focusing on all the galleries I'm in!

Sketchbook art is kinda a given. I need to practice more and I like experimenting at a smaller size than I'm use to. The more I do it, the better I'm getting.

And last, the blog. I stopped doing as many Vlogs on Youtube because of the time it took to edit, but I still want to share my personal life and experiences and thoughts. I also left Tumblr because I got tired of the format and the fight for Likes and Reblogs. So since this is my website and in part, what I'm selling is myself, I decided to host my own blog here. Posts that are just news and events and updates of that sort will be on the News page and personal posts will be on the Blog page.

We're planning on moving to Seattle next year so I wanted to log our time prepping for that, some of my personal struggles and thoughts, rants, and things I love, but didn't want to bog down the actual business news so this works best!

Lots of changes but I think this will be good. I need a routine and this helps my art and business further.

Thanks again everyone for sticking around and supporting me!

-Sam <3

Tis the Seasons

Hello everyone! Anyone else kinda enjoying the chilly weather because I know I am! (My utilities bill is so low right now I want to cry.)

This is kinda an update to let everyone know what's happening!

As the holiday season approaches (my very first one as a shop), things are going to get crazy. Already there's been a slight influx in orders so as we get closer to Christmas, be patient with me. I'm only one person (plus a boyfriend). I'll try to list a cut off date for orders to get to you in time for Xmas once I figure it all out.

The good part is that new product is coming! New art! If you missed out on a Ladies Night poster, we'll have the print version up soon! I've already listed our new Batarang Bat Symbol Necklaces for the Batgirl in you and soon will be putting up some Sailor Moon crescent moon circlets in Silver, Gold, and Black. We're in the prototype stage for those, a Steven Universe Cookie Cat necklace, a new version of Witch Bitch and some other spooky necklaces, and Sailor Moon Compact Necklaces in 4 different versions. Rony has been very very very helpful in getting those designed so thank him when they're done.

I have like 3 events coming up soon. If you live in the Lubbock area, Lubbock-Con and Star Comics are partnering to bring you Nerdsgiving! It's a potluck! I'll be there selling stuffs! Maybe even new stuffs! And then after that, we're off to McKinney,TX for G33K3! We'll be there Friday, Saturday, and Sunday so there's your chance to save on shipping costs. And then we're back in Lubbock for Lubbock-Con's A Very Merry NERDsmas!

And then I'm going to sleep the sleep of queens until my birthday and the next round of conventions.

Also, there may be a few changes to the website. EVENTUALLY, I would like to change the design but that's on my Good-Luck-Getting-To-That list. But we're going to start a Feature Friday post where I share my favorite independent shops/artists/people/stores for you to check out because there's a lot of wonderful ladies, local and online, that I've had the chance to meet and want to give a shout out to. Look for that this upcoming Friday!

Before I leave you, thank you to everyone that has supported and purchased and shared my things since we've started up! It's kinda been a whirlwind since we launched (shout out to Kelly Sue Deconnick and Wil Wheaton for sharing my Be Terrifying necklace and giving me a small aneurysm with how much traffic they sent my first week) but I couldn't have asked for a better start. Yall help feed me and keep me going and help get me to my goal of doing this full time. So thank you very much <3

See you Friday xoxo Sam

Ladies Night is getting Spooooky

Ladies Night is back at Star Comics Saturday, October 24th! And we're having a costume contest! Because why, not. It's Halloween. I've been extremely lucky to have been able to do these events and have met a ton of awesome geek ladies through this. So please, support this so it can keep happening and we can keep making sure our geeky ladies have a fun, non-judgey, safe place to hang out with other geeky ladies and meet new friends!

(Also, this flyer came out really rad thanks to my boyfriend, Rony Dixon, and his awesome graphic design skills so pat him on the back)

Mark your calendars and we'll see you there!

-Sam <3

Lubbock-Con presents Nerd Prom 2015!

Fun fact, the entirety of my Junior and Senior Prom was spent mostly at the table with my friends, eating from the chocolate fountain. Chocolate fountains are my weakness. But besides that, prom was pretty uneventful since I didn't really like the music or theme or most of the people. So now, as an adult, it's kind of exciting to get to go to prom again because it's going to be a Nerd Prom!

(And most of my friends will be there)

The other exciting part is I will be a vendor at it! I'll be there with some of my jewelry and prints along with an exclusive print I'm doing only for the event so quantity will be limited if you wanna snag one of these!

I'll even have a few new designs to sell if you wanna see some new stuff first *winkwink*

Tickets are only $5 and going fast. You can pick them up at Star Comics 2014 34th st Lubbock, TX and the event is 21+ because there will be all the alcohols. Check out Lubbock-Con's facebook for more details!

Dig out your old prom attire or cosplay it up and come as your favorite geek couple. Maybe you'll win Prom King and Queen and get some cool goodies.

Prom is this Friday so go get your tickets and stop by!

See everyone there -Sam <3

#Workcomics Vol.1!

I believe it was almost a month and a half ago when we got the harebrained idea to turn my daily work doodling into an actual thing. A book! A comic book?An art book? Well, all of those combined. We looked at different printers and figured out how we wanted it to look, how much it would cost, what size was it going to be? Well, I'm proud to see, it worked out. #Workcomics Vol.1 is here and in my hands and I'm so so happy

Isn't it cute?! (And the paper is so nice, like omg) And its the color of the actual post-it notes! Not only that, we kept all the creases and folds and tiny cat teeth mark the originals had to authenticate that yes, these were really post-it notes and yes, my cats really like to steal them.

These may be the only run of Vol.1 so they are limited in quantity and over all, just limited edition. Vol. 1 covers from April to June from when I first started it to about when we started getting the book ready for print.

The front cover is actually the very first #Workcomic I ever did and the back is brought to you by Lubbock's very own Star Comics who were gracious enough to sponsor the book so we could get it made. They've been so so so supportive of all my weird ideas and projects (like wanting to start a Ladies Night then wanting to make a baby comic book) so I'm incredibly grateful to them. Thanks, guys!

The books will be available to purchase online September 1st on my Etsy shop when it goes live again and they'll be $10. If you are in Lubbock this weekend, I will have copies at my booth for Hub City Comic Con so you can get them in person! And first! We are limited to roughly 45 copies so get them while you can!

And to celebrate the release, on September 1st I want you to do your own #Workcomic. Doodle at work (don't get in trouble though) either on some paper or a post-it note and hashtag it #Workcomics so I can see. You can tag me on Twitter @Raico13 or Instagram @ Raicodoll. It's like an art day!

Thank you so much to everyone who has supported me and this book! And now, back to prepping for the convention!

-Sam <3

4 Days! Ahhhhh!

I don't know how I did it in high school. Staying up until late in the morning then getting up early. I do it now and I feel like an extra on the Walking Dead. Since the end of July as I get more and more stuff prepped for Hub City, I've slowly been moving my bed time back. Midnight, 1230, 1am, 2am, ?????what is sleep??? Even more surprisingly, I haven't even been drinking coffee. Or soda. Just water. What is happening to me?

Anyways, here's a map of where I will be at Hub City Comic Con

But I just have 4 more days of prep work and it'll be here! And in one week, the Etsy shop will be live again! With all new stuffs! All the charm necklaces will be listed with some new additions like:

(They'll also be available in stickers)

And also new stickers with my face on them:

and then this little guy:

because why the heck not. Donuts and cats are cute.

Stickers sheets, individual stickers, Charm Necklaces, Keychains, buttons, sketchbooks, #Workcomics, all the stuffs! And still more to come because I'm an over achiever and can't stop working. I will update you all with more info later, along with a recap of how our launch brunch went this Saturday at Geek Girl Brunch Lubbock and with #Workcomics info when we get the book back from the printer.

SO MUCH STUFF. IT IS FILLING THE HOLE WHERE SLEEP WAS.

-Sam <3

New Things!

Everything is finally starting to settle down at the new apartment and ramp up when it comes to work. I will have another post soon about all that though! Exciting news though!

First, sketchbooks are coming soon along with new prints in the shop! Working on a lot of new art to get ready for Hub City Comic Con so be on the look out for that update! I will mostly have 4x6 prints but if people want bigger sizes let me know and I'll make it happen!

Second, if you use to follow me on Youtube when I did vlogs, well I started them up again!

Third, after a lot of shopping around to find a place online to get #Workcomics printed, everything kinda left me disappointed. It's apparently hard to find a reasonably priced picture book that is post-it note sized. So we went local and after some back and forth and some amazing support from Star Comics, #Workcomics will be out in print! I'll have my own comic! In paper! With my name on it!

It'll cover 2 months of doodles and comics so roughly 60 pictures! We're getting everything set and I am having to getting a whole lot of post-it notes scanned and cleaned up, but I should have them for Hub City Comic Con at the latest. They'll be available online as well :)

I'm still working on getting some buttons, stickers, and other things made and put online but I'd rather put everything up at once then slowly one thing at a time.

Progress!

-Sam <3

Website is Live!

We're official! Raicodoll.com is live and I can't to bring you some new updates and plans for the new year! I will do my best to keep this up to date and most information will come from here! If you need to contact me, hit my About me page! Pages featuring my artwork are organized by fan art and original art and my shop will be active soon! (Etsy is live currently) Conventions are being planned though currently the only one for 2015 as of today is Hub City Comic Con in August.

Cross your fingers for an exciting year and hope to be bringing you more news!

-Sam <3