Blog| Fresh Start

I've gone through a lot of blogs. I was part of the Xanga craze, Livejournals, Tumblr, even the journal section of DeviantArt. Blogs aren't new to me. I've always needed some form of written release, being an introvert and all, and blogs are ways I can word vomit and get it all out. Raicodoll is my art, my videos, my events, but most of all it's me. So let's get to know each other a bit better. Blog I shall. If you just like seeing my art and or going to the things around town I host, that's fine. The News section has my non-personal stuff. That's cool. But if you don't mind a bit of word vomit and venting, then read on!

In October, after the weekend from hell (that is, the three event weekend where I attempted to kill me and fellow artists with exhaustion), me and Rony spent a week in Seattle for a conference he was attending. Seattle had been on our list to visit for a long time. Companies we loved were located there, it rained all the time, it's a very artsy town and it wasn't a desert.

Visiting Seattle was magical and we fell in love instantly.

Cut to this year. You can only grumble that you miss a place so much before finally just saying, we should move there. Before, moving to Seattle was kinda a lofty dream we would say when the weather was too hot and the wind threatened to take the fence down the block. But after a few google searches and some research, it wasn't impossible.

We made a plan. Two years max we'd move. After some re-budgeting, it was cut down to one year. We'd move in one year.

And that's the plan. We're going to get rid of all our non-essential things, save a ton of money, and pack up all five animals and a trailer and move everything up north! Which is wonderful and exciting but also terrifying.

I've lived in Lubbock my whole life. My whole family is in Texas, at most 5-8 hours away. Moving across the country is a brand new experience. Plus I'm a natural worrier so yes, I am already preparing for this move over a year in advance. Everything feels final. Final birthdays and holidays and events. Things I have created I now have to figure out what the future holds for them.

It's a bit daunting. In the end, I think it's a good decision for us. Sometimes you just hit the limits of your growth and have to move to a bigger sandbox. It's scary and uncomfortable but it'll make you better.

This weekend we're having a garage sale to start getting rid of the junk we've hoarded over the years. I'm purging what I can and deciding what makes the cut to stay. It's refreshing, like de-cluttering your life. Everything will be a new start and I think I'm excited for that. As much as I love what I do, it'll be so nice to start over back at zero and not have any pressures.

For now, I'm going to enjoy life here, doing what I love, and making memories. There's a lot planned for this year and if I'm gonna leave, I want to leave while things are good.

-Sam <3

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

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

Free Art and Pokemon

So I've been playing around the idea for an art drop for a while, but mostly didn't go through with it because I kept getting stuck at "what would I be promoting with it?" The answer is me. I'm promoting myself. I forget to do that sometimes.

So because I'm a masochist, I'm holding an art drop event this Saturday. And because I can't do anything small, I got a bunch of other artists to participate too.

Since Pokemon Go is all the rage (is that what the kids say?) we're going to be hiding free art at various Pokestops from 1-6! The artists will post in the Facebook event hints to where they hid it and hopefully people will find it!

If you'd like to get updates on what's dropping and where or just follow the madness, RSVP to the event page! Hopefully this goes well and lots of people get some free art and we can support local artists!

In other news, I lost a lot of my sketches so guess whose drawing like crazy to try and get together a new sketchbook for Hub City Comic Con.

The answer is me. Of couse.

-Sam <3

YC3 & Live Art Event!

Hello, lovelies! Lots going on this month! Free Comic Book Day just wrapped up and now it's on to the next thing. This weekend we will be at Yellow City Comic Con with the wonderful Mrs. Fortune's Millinery at table B2! Come out and say hi!

Between moving the house, getting the office unpacked, and trying to con prep, there's a lot happening but I'm excited to come out and see everyone! After this convention, I'm hoping to get a lot of new product and art out so some designs may go away. Get them while you can!

We're also excited to be pairing up with Lubbock-Con again and doing a Live Art event! May 21st we're kicking off a series of Artist Workshops put together by them to let people know what goes on behind the process of putting our art together and to allow people the chance to learn. To start it all off, we'll be holding a live demonstration at Star Comics' second new location in the downtown area! So come out to 916 16th st! It's part of Mad Hatter's House of Games!

Facebook event and info here.

Keep an eye out for more events and things we're participating in. Lots and lots happening in town!

Until then, I'm going back to unpacking and prepping for this weekend!

-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

Lubbock-Con 2016

So my plan for yesterday was to sleep and sleep and sleep and not leave my house because I was exhausted. Instead, I slept really late, ordered Chinese food, figured out my budget to restock my entire inventory, and started organizing the merch I had left for Staple. Lubbock-Con wiped me out, which is a good thing. Because it was pretty damn amazing.

Lubbock-Con was this past Saturday on the 20th at the Civic Center and happened to run not only during the pancake festival (which draws in an enormous crowd all day) but also the Little Mermaid musical. So think a crap ton of families wanting food and another crap ton of families with little kids dressed as mermaids and then an unholy amount of nerds and cosplayers all mixed together.

I was busy all day.

Set up was Friday night after I got off work and after that, my plan was to pull an all nighter to make sure I was prepared for Saturday. Mine and Rony's friend, Erica (Koolaid Girl Art), shared my table with me since it was her first con and first time selling. She's done our Ladies Nights at Star Comics before but hadn't ever made prints and sold those. She had far less stuff to get together than me since she doesn't try to make 10000 different things like I do (because I'm an overachiever) so she mostly helped me set up.

I didn't go to bed until 4am and that's because I was too delirious to see what I was doing and almost cried when I realized I needed to cut out Jolteon charms and oh god why did I make the design so spiky??? Woke up at 7am, panicked because I didn't finish, got dressed, and booked it to the Civic Center at 8am for pre-show finishing touches.

The line for the pancake festival which started at 7am was already long as hell and there was a line forming for the con. I scratched my display since a last minute trip to Michael's ended up with me buying new jewelry displays and quickly redid everything!

And from the time doors opened at 9am, I didn't have time to even breath. Instantly, we were busy. We got wiped out of dollar bills early, panicked, got some dollars back, and then almost cried when Rony showed up with a few more because why do people always pay for small stuff in 20's???

The entire day I only got to get up and walk and go to the bathroom once and it was during the Miss Lubbock-Con pageant when everyone was too busy watching to come by. Said hi to people, bought some Sailor Moon merch and a cupcake, ran back so I could prepare for Round Two.

I didn't even have the chance to take pictures of all the cool cosplayers. It was pretty awesome. Erica was busy all day doing sketch commissions and selling prints and every time I would finish one Eevee Necklace, another would sell out and I'd have to make more.

Everyone was super nice and excited and even though I was dead tired, it was a ton of fun. Everyone seemed to having a blast at the con and it was crazy how well organized everything was considering this was a con debut. (And we got free lunch which I was super grateful for because I was going to starve if I couldn't leave the table)

Overall, this has been the best con I've been to and a great start to the year. I'm sold out of almost everything which is mind blowing. I'm very excited to have been a part of it and can't wait until next year. Everyone was happy, business was good, and I had a lot of fun. Thank you to DeNae and the whole team that put this on and have been so welcoming and supportive of this little business of mine! You guys are great!

Now onto the big one, Staple.

After I sleep a bit more though.

-Sam <3

And it begins!

The busy season has started. Birthdays are wrapping up and con prepping has begun. Plus it's Valentine's Day season! (Hint hint: my flash art makes for a good present. Get them while they're fresh)

In case you didn't know, I'll be having some of my art up at Tornado Gallery as part of Lubbock-Con's exhibit for the First Friday Art Trail. You can find more info here on Lubbock-Con's event page so come by and see me! I'll try to bring some prints to grab but I'm hoping to have some new stuff to showcase. Cross your fingers!

Lubbock-Con is fast approaching on the 20th and there's still plenty to get done, in addition to Staple being only 2 weeks after that. Lots and lots of prepping to do. Business cards have been order, we're working on a new banner, and maybe some 11x17s???? Maybe. Depending on my budget, I would like to have some made.

So much to do. Overwhelmed? A bit. Not as much as I thought, but mostly because I've been putting a lot of my stress into working out so I'm surprisingly chill.

Cross your fingers this goes well.

-Sam <3

Happy New Year's Eve!

2016 is soon upon us and I have been stuck inside my house for five days straight due to a blizzard. Yep. But it was a nice little break even if me and the pup did go a little stir crazy not being able to leave. So with a new year, new projects and new things to work towards! I'm hopefully going to be working on a few new illustrations and paintings (I miss painting a lot) and new jewelry designs as well as packaging and redoing my banner for conventions.

Maybe even some polymer pieces too :)

But for now, I'm enjoying the holidays and will be visiting family this weekend and soon enough, my birthday!

I just wanted to give yall a little update. I'm working on the next Feature Friday and will try to have that one out for next week!

Stay warm!

-Sam <3