2017.

Holiday season was a whirlwind that I'm barely coming down from. I completely overextended myself in October and paid the price for that (mental exhaustion is a thing, folks) and then the holiday season finished me off. This was followed by birthdays and Valentine's Day and dog sitting (plus we got a new puppy and Almond joined Obedience School) and I'm essentially drained but mending. Long story short: sorry for the absence.

But I haven't completely been out of the game. I've been working on things.

So one of my goals for this year was to focus more on galleries. I love cons but they're hit and miss right now as the industry goes through a shift and I'm still kinda trying to figure out what's best for my business before I do a bunch. I will be at Lubbock-Con this year though, but that'll probably be my only one. I pretty much barely broke even on Hub City Comic Con and figured I'd lay off cons a bit after that.

We will be at Staple 2017 but only as attendees! I love that show so no matter what, we're going.

With that said, galleries give me a lot of freedom to paint what I want and let me shake my wrists out, so to speak. I don't have to worry about what sales and if anything is cost effective or how many I can reproduce. It's a one and done and I can spend a lot of time on something and not feel bad.

We started the year off with a Bad Luck Gallery at Star Books & Comics for my birthday (January Friday the 13th. Lucky me!) and for it not being on the First Friday Art Trail, the house was packed! I'm so happy so many people were able to come out for it and it shows that as long as you have something interesting, people will come.

That gallery actually got extended to the end of February so if you haven't checked it out, go!

March I may be speaking at the Lubbock-Con Artist Workshop covering the business aspect of art. So conventions, galleries, online stores, etc. It's the side that rarely gets discussed but is extremely helpful for anyone who ever wants to get into art professionally or even just on the First Friday Art Trail. So if you want to get the details, go to Lubbock-Con's Facebook page and find the event there.

April! Ladies Night 3rd Anniversary! Can you believe we've gotten to do 3 years of Ladies Nights? That's nuts. We're finalizing the date now but we have a neat artist lined up that I've featured before so I'm excited to see what she can bring to Ladies Night! Keep an eye out on my Facebook for the official date announcement and event!

Also, big shout out to Star Comics for always letting me run crazy events and being super supportive. Best people ever. Seriously, I could not do any of the stuff I do without them being willing to partner up with me.

May is Lubbock-Con! Feel free to refer back to said Facebook page for details!

And then June 2nd, there's a little movie you might have heard coming out. Wonder Woman? Yeah, we're doing an artist collective gallery for that! We'll have about 20 different artists all submitting pieces dedicated to the Amazonian herself. It'll be on the First Friday Art Trail so go see it! I promise it'll be cool as hell.

There's a few more things in the works, but that's all for now. If you have commissions with me, Sorry!! I'm getting back into the swing of things and am working on getting them sorted. My projector that I use to blow up my sketches also went on the fritz but I'm working on it!

I'm also looking into getting my Inktober works in a sketchbook and as soon as all my inventory is replenished, the Etsy store will be back up with all those.

Thank you again to everyone that's stuck by me and liked my work and just been completely supportive.

-Sam <3

Community to the Max

Con season for me has wrapped but things haven't slowed in the least. I'm currently staring at my To Do list and there's at least 10 paintings on there that need to be done within the next month. But I'd rather be busy with my art than not have anything to do at all.

There's a lot going on in town!

First off, Lubbock-Con's Geek Garage Sale is next weekend if you want to check that out. It'll be at Tornado Gallery from 5pm to 10pm September 24th! So go by and raid through all the geek treasures that have been donated.

Next is something I'm super excited to be a part of. September 28th at 50th Street Caboose at 6pm, Lubbock-Con and I will be hosting an Artist Dinner! We're looking for local artists that are wanting a platform to get their art out, opportunities to show, and ways to get their name out! We'll talk about becoming a Lubbock-con featured artists and getting new talent in for our events! So check out the event link and come by!

October 1st is Ladies Night! We'll be featuring artist Indri Himawan! She'll be there selling prints and will have free limited Ladies Night posters. Lubbock-con will be hosting a costume contest, Jo De's will be selling comic book flowers, and Kayla Crow Photography will be taking pictures of the event! It's our last Ladies Night of the year so come out and celebrate with some geeky ladies!

The following week (told you there's a lot going on) is the First Friday Art Trail and on October 7th Star Books & Comics Downtown will be having a Halloween Artist Collective! Me and a bunch of other artists will have Halloween themed pieces up for display and sell! It'll be a spooky good time so make sure it's a stop during the First Friday Art Trail!

If you happen to be in San Jose, California (YEP) on October 7th, Anno Domini gallery will be part of the South First Fridays Artwalk and will be hosting an Art of Zine exhibit! I'll have both my sketchbooks and #Workcomics there on display and for sell! Neat, huh? If it's in your neighborhood, go and see (and maybe take pictures for me pleeeeeeeeeeease).

The next day October 8th, Lubbock-con is hosting Nerd Prom 2.0! Tickets are $5 and can be purchased at Star Comics and the event will be at Backstage. Me and the other featured artists will have special prom art for sell and you can also purchased limited prints! Get dressed up and party your nerd heart out!

Take a breath.

The NEXT day October 9th (can you see now why my To-Do list is so long?) is my Fall Pokestop Art Drop event! Everyone demanded it so we're doing another one before the year is out. We have even more artists this time and all the art will be Halloween themed because October, duh. Check out the event link and make sure to follow so you can get updated when the art starts to drop and get sneak peeks at the art ;)

Aaaaaaaaaaaand that's it. For now. After that, me and Rony are taking a big trip to Seattle for a week to relax as a mini-vacation, followed by a wedding, and then I'm working on a bunch more personal art and jewelry and writing! I can relax in time for the holidays.

Thanks so much for everyone support and following along! We've really grown in these past few months and I'm starting to make goals for next year. More paintings, more writing, more community events, and maybe a patreon? Who knows. Gotta work work work...

See you around town!

-Sam <3

The Slow End

...of my convention season. Not of me but I mean, you never know. Ama-Con is done and the prep for Hub City Comic Con begins. HC3 will be the last convention for me for the year, but not the last thing I do. Between two different gallery showings, Ladies Night (see Event calendar for details), conventions, and Geek Girl Brunch, my plate has been very full.

Better to be busy than to have no work, right? Right? Somebody?

First up, GGB had a Book swap brunch and then the following a Pokemon Go meet up. Both were awesome and had a great turnout. We've even started getting a tiny bit of press about our events and ended up with a crap load of sign ups.

Ama-Con was a wonderful experience this past weekend and it was great to have people come up and say they had previously met me at "insert convention" and loved my stuff. It feels like I'm starting to get a bit of traction after almost a year of entering the convention circuit.

Hub City will be my one year con-iversary actually so maybe it's time I add some new stuff. I'm working on a second sketchbook since I started getting requests for another one. Debating if I should make it of my fan art sketches, originals, or both so feedback would be nice.

And because Overwatch is a black hole that keeps sucking me in, expect some stuff from that.

I'm working on getting the Eevee set as a keychain version for those who either don't have their ears pierced to wear the earrings or boys. Boys, you can wear the necklace set. I promise you'll still look cool. I'm also finally getting the Starter Pokemon drawn out and done to add to the Pokemon set.

Also debating on doing some Pokemon Go Team flash art but don't quote me on that. They take a while.

Besides that, I have a lot of paintings to work on for the Suicide Squad Exhibit and for the FFAT at Star Comics Downtown. Ladies Night is this Saturday and we're starting to move to having a featured artist for each one. This one we're featuring Kyanne Birley who has previously helped out at the event! So come out if you can!

Gotta wrap everything up everything before family vacation (so much traveling. So so much. What is life)

If you have a request for something you'd like to see at Hub City Comic Con or just in general, let me know! I'll see what I can do!

Until next time

-Sam <3

Ladies Night! One Year Anniversary!

Ladies Night 2016. You ready?

It's been a whole year since we started Ladies Night at Star Comics. It's been a crazy ride. I remember when we first started. I had emailed Robert, the owner of Star, asking if they'd ever done anything like it before or if they would ever do one. A few comic shops I'd known of in other towns had done Ladies Night so why not ours?

He wrote back that he was interested and we set up a meeting to talk about it.

Then we went to Staple, were dazzled by everything there, and then on Sunday, the day we were supposed to head back to town, Austin Books & Comics were hosting their own Ladies Night. Rony graciously sacrificed his sleep so I could go, offering to drive the 6 hour trip afterwards. A friend of mine and I went, met some of her friends, we all shared recommendations and talked with people there. Some of the guests from Staple were there too so it was a magical time. And I knew what I wanted for our Ladies Night.

We had no clue how big it was going to be. At the time, it was hard to gauge the nerd community. This was before the Lubbock-Con events started or our first con and everyone was still scattered. I just wanted some people to show up. We planned stuff for the kids, snacks, I made stickers and buttons. I stressed out a lot.

And then the day came, we figured out our first set up and low and behold, the place was filled with people! Like could barely move filled with people. We gave things away, sold out of little tote bags, the line to buy comics was to the door. It was crazy.

We built it and they came.

Our 4th Ladies Night is coming up on April 2nd. We've gotten a rhythm down. Make a place girls can talk and read and meet other girls, give the kids some activities. Give girls the space to talk without judgement and have fun. That's all I wanted.

So if you haven't come to one of our events before, come check it out and meet some other geeky ladies. We promise we're nice. Ask each other what comics are your favorite or recommend titles if they're new.

Thanks for supporting this little thing of ours. Hopefully we can keep doing it in the future :)

-Sam <3

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

Ladies Night 2.0

This past Saturday was once again Ladies Night at Star Comics. Planning this event wasn't nearly as stressful as the last one but that may have been because in between multiple road trips, having Geek Girl Brunch's prelaunch brunch, getting #workcomics ready for print, and getting the sketchbooks done, I was all out of stress. I think the most stressful part was getting the art for the flyer just right. I redid it 4 times in about just as many different styles. I'm glad it turned out so well.

Also I didn't bake this time so that took a load off my shoulders.

With this Ladies Night, we changed the format a bit. We raffled off the posters instead of giving them at the door (there was still a line waiting), snacks were put outside to make room in the store, chairs were put out there so people could sit and chat, at the kids table we set it up so they could make their own superhero masks, and we had two featured artists, Koolaid Girl and Kyanne Birley (she dressed up as Lumpy Space Princess!) Allison Terry Images was our event photographer for the night and did an awesome job, getting us some wonderful pictures. Even the local newspapers photographer came by and took some pictures of the event and its attendees.

With Lubbock being a college town and Summer essentially being off season, we didn't have as many people as our first one, but it didn't really matter. We still had a pretty big turnout and the ladies stayed almost the entire time, more space making it easier to chat and browse. The artists had prints for sale and did sketch requests most of the night while people snacked and found something new to read. I saw a lot of ladies from the first event and got to talk to more than a few. It felt more relaxed and comfortable. More like what I had first imagined: a space where girls can just come and chat with other girls with similar interests and find something new to read.

 I think that's my primary goal with the Ladies Night. To give women and girls of all types, transgendered, and non-binary identified a place to go to relax and talk and not feel like they're outcasts. I want to give female artists and photographers and vendors a platform just like I'm trying to give the attendees. Comics are for everyone, not just boys. Nothing is "just for boys." And if a little girl can learn that later on, maybe that'll give her a little empowerment later on when things get tough.

All in all, the night was a success. I'm happy and tired and forever glad to have been given the opportunity to do these events. Free stickers and buttons were grabbed, the posters were raffled, and there were plenty of cute little girls and awesome costumes through the night. Both our artists did tons of sketches and people walked away happy with some new art. Comics were read and suggested. It was a good night.

Much thanks to Star Comics for supporting me and hosting the event. They are continuously rad and so so so so so awesome and definitely helped me to not stress out too much! Thank you to our incredibly talented artists, Koolaid Girl and Kyanne! People loved you and I am grateful to have you both! Go check out their websites to see some super cool art. Thank you to my former roller derby teammate and awesome friend/photographer Allison Terry! These images are gorgeous! If you are in Lubbock, you should definitely get her to do some pictures for you! And thank you to my boyfriend for being our security again. Sorry you couldn't come inside but I appreciate you!

And now it's on to the next thing. Geek Girl Brunch Lubbock launches August 22nd and Hub City Comic Con is the weekend after that. Working on a lot of art and merchandise to get ready and we're getting the art prepped for #Workcomics to get printed. I'll put up more information about that soon! If you aren't aware, I revived my old Youtube channel where I do vlogs and talk comics and stuff so you can check that out.

Time to get back to work.

-Sam <3

Ladies Night is back!

Ladies Night is coming back to Star Comics! So many people loved the first one so we brought it back and are doing things a bit differently. We'll have two local artists, Kyanne Birley and Koolaid-Girl, tabling with art as well as a few freebies, snacks, a raffle for posters, and of course, comics! It's going to be a ton of fun and we hope everyone will be there! I will be organizing the event along with Star Comics and will be there if anyone would like recommendations!

This is going to be a blast again :)

-Sam <3

Star Comics presents Ladies Night!

Save the date for April 25th! Star Comics and I will be bringing you their very first Ladies Night! An after-hours event for women and girls of all ages to come and mingle and chat with other comic loving ladies just like you! If you've never been to a comic shop, didn't know Lubbock had a comic shop, or felt too scared to go into one then this event is just for you! Even if you haven't read comics but are a bit interested in getting started, we'll have a ton of comic recommendations to help get you started!

We'll have snacks and punch, freebies, door prizes, mystery grab bags, and really awesome deals for the night! There will be a free button with any purchase and the first 20 people get a limited edition print by me!

So please come out and support Star Comics first Ladies Night and let's pack the house! Women read comics too and it's time we show them just how many!

I hope to see everyone there and check out Star Comics at their Facebook page!

-a very tired Sam (it's so very late)