lauragarabedian

There is absolutely no way that this is going to be able to encompass the awesomeness that was SpectrumLive... but here is my overview anyway.

Welp. The weekend started off wish a bang... Or maybe a rattle is a better description.  Prior to my roadtrip I went to the shop to get my car checked on and one thing that I asked them to do was to reaffix the engine scratch guard cover thing that is under the car, because it had come loose.  Which apparently they failed to do.  Because about 2 hours into my 9.5 hour road trip, as I passed an 18 wheeler I hear "CLUNK... rattlerattlerattlerattle" which sounded like it had kicked something up under my car.  So I pulled over, couldn't see anything other than the loose scratch guard, which TBH looked much the same as it did before I left, so I couldn't tell any different.  And the next 8.5 hours were filled with my stopping every 45 minutes or so to stare at my car in alternating fury and concern as it was randomly rattling/making an odd whistling noise... which seemed to come from the door and the back of the car, not from the stupid scratch guard, and was not consistent in its timing.  It just happened more in high winds and there was never consistency.  So the trip took an extra hour or so because of all of the stops, and the frustration level was extremely high.

When I got in though it started a weekend of awesome.  Hung out with my awesome hosts that evening. The next morning I picked up the fantastic Echo from the airport and helped her get set up, and did the first rounds around the exhibitor space.  Lunch was spent with the awesome Noah Bradley Aaron Miller Annie Stegg Mark Winters  and Echo.  Then some more wandering about the exhibitor space and then watching the panels by the awesome Android Jones and Iain McCaig.  Dinner was spent with many of the same people who were at lunch, with the addition of John Stanko Eric Deschamps and Sarah .  Dinner was, by the way, amazing.  Really good Irish pub/style place where I had their in-house made Corned Beef (Omnomnom).  

Saturday began with portfolio reviews, Disney, Wizards of the Coast and Blizzard.  Disney was very positive, said I should do more turn around and more graphite work, but that she liked my style, my creature designs, and my believability of moments and emotions.  So yay!  WotC (Jon Schindehette) said I need to pick... creature design or illos - and if I want to do creature design I need more graphite work and turnaround, and illos need a more western flair with more interesting backgrounds and a stronger value structure (last two are actually my goals for the year so makes sense to me) if I am going to market towards them.  Jeremy Cranford of Blizzard basically re-iterated what Jon had said.. so I know what I need to work on.

Meanwhile I attended panels on Artist as a Brand, Art as a Narrative, Worldbuilding and spent lots of time checking out the exhibitor hall, and getting books signed by Brom, Gurney, and Whelan. Saturday night consisted of an awesome dinner with many of the aforementioned folk as well as the addition of Daina Stein and RK Post.  Then drinks at the Aladdin hotel, and an adventure in dropping off Echo and RK involving a camera forgotten at a bar, then art forgotten in the car, and the eventual paying of the ransom for the art with a print in the morning.  So Sunday morning I got my ransom, a print of 'Avatar of Woe' by RK.   Sunday concluded with more socializing, listening to various amazing talks and just general happiness, then the deconstruction of Echos booth and a lovely dinner with my hosts. 

Roadtrip back was mostly uneventful, luckily Sunday one of my hosts was kind enough to take my car to the mechanics where they removed that scratch guard and the car stopped making all of the awful noises, and I realized that it is broken into pieces now (thanks guys for attaching that like I asked).  And now I am onto work again.  

So got everything 'fixed' at the auto parts place yesterday.
Then learn from my dad that since it was back brakes I probably didn't need to replace them yet. And from a friend that unless it was shaking (wasn't really unless you stomped the brakes) the rotors probably didn't NEED to be replaced yet either.
So yay spending money I don't have.

2 hours out from Denver I pass an 18 wheeler, and then hear a "Whumpwhumpwhumpwhump" tapping rattle thing under my car.  Figure it blew up some rubber from the road and it bounced under my car.. sure fine, normal right?
10 minutes later I hear a tapping in the back of my car.
And so it went for the rest of the damn drive.
8 hours, stopping every 100 miles or so to stare, under it, around it EVERYWHERE, in the damn wheel wells...  at my freaking car trying to figure out what the HELL is making that noise.
Only SEEMS to happen if I am going 65 or up (speed limit is 75 in Kansas) happens mostly if there is heavy wind or I am passing an 18 wheeler.
WTF? Scaring me, and I still need to drive the 10 hours back home but can't afford to freaking pay an arm and a leg AGAIN.

Ideas?

Anyone?

Bueller?

Car went in to get tires checked and wheels rotated/aligned before the road trip.
Was reminded 90000 miles just passed.
Transmission fluid needs to be flushed.
Crap, expensive but necessary before 10 hour roadtrip.
Then they see that I need new brakes...   Apparently the last people who had my car drove it like they stole it and warped the roters...( big thanks to Mazda for not catching that - and every other f'ing thing thats gone wrong w/my car since I bought it, in the inspection I asked for)
Suddenly this month just went to hell in a f'ing handbasket.
Oh and by the way you are going to need new swaybars soon... thats the awful rattling your hearing... they'll get you to Kansas City but they are going...

Shit.

Oh... You say you haven't been used (or did you say abused) like that since I tore my tendon a few years ago?
You say perhaps I should have waited for more help?
You say that .75 ton of dirt by myself and 1.25 tons split between myself and my roommate was perhaps a bit excessive?

Fah.
We moved ALL of the dirt.

And now I hurt... in all of my core and shoulders... and my knee is confused.
Hell, my whole body is a little confused.
And mildly sunburned

But we have a GARDEN.
Two proper garden boxes... filled with tomato, cucumber, summer squash, butternut squash, zucchini, and peppers... and will have strawberries and onions and more soon. 

Now hopefully it'll all LIVE!
And then we can eat all of the things.
Yum.
and Ouch.  

So I finally had my month off from travel, and while finances have certainly been worse for not having a con (and to be fair having a LOT of other stupid expenses last month coming from becoming an official Colorado resident) the art is going so much better.  Funny how not doing constant con prep and being overly exhausted/worried has had an extremely positive effect on my art.  I'm looking at it and feeling much more confident in myself, in my work, and in my chosen profession.  I ended up taking far longer than I would have hoped on my 'Pirates Meeting' piece below, but I really think the results were worth it.  I really REALLY wanted to make sure that the client got his monies worth, that I did myself proud, and that it kept true to what was showing up in my head.  And I am pretty damn pleased.


The Pirates Meeting by ~LauraGarabedian on deviantART

The next piece up that I was pretty proud of was this caracal mage.  Doing Glowly in watercolor =hard.  As in breaking my face a few times hard. But the results seemed really worth it.  I was reminded of that thing that my art teachers always told me and somehow when I'm exhausted I always forget.  You start with the BIG brushes and work down.... Oh yeah... It helps... no really.


Caracal Mage by ~LauraGarabedian on deviantART

So yeah.  I am really freaking pleased with those pieces... one more I'll show you guys later after I upload it tomorrow that I was also thrilled with.  The other thing that has had me super pleased with these has been getting to work relatively large.  Until these pieces I hadn't had many large commissions recently (and by large I mean anything at least 9x12 - which is a decent - though really not large - for watercolors) So that was a blast too.  The first piece is 12x16 and the second is 9x12.  On my current queue are (thankfully) a few more large pieces. I am freaking loving them, a 16x20 cave scene, a 20x30 dalek, and a 10x30 (ish - size is still in flux) asian dragon. 

Anyhoo, I AM travelling again this weekend, road tripping up to Kansas City for the SpectrumLIVE convention. Not vending, but going, networking, and hopefully learning a lot.  I am really looking forward to this convention.  Panels on WorldBuilding, panels on getting started in the Sci-Fi/Fantasy world... getting my portfolio reviewed by Disney, Blizzard, and WoC... might break my brain... but in any case I am super stoked.

Whats been going on in my personal life though?  Still seeing the same amazing guy... kind of think this one is a keeper... he is one of those people who can always make me smile.  Takes care of me and recognizes the small things when I'm not feeling up to snuff.  We went and visited some friends who just (like a week ago) had a baby, so I held the tiny little thing and kind of felt grateful that as cute as he is (he slept the ENTIRE time I held him) I have not changed my mind. Still don't want one.  I am gonna kind of freak out if I ever get an urge to have a kid... in all of my life I have NEVER wanted one... I very rarely even hold them.  Tim actually even brought it up later, saying I held out for a while he didn't think I liked kids that much and to be fair I probably held him for an hour or two... but he was asleep, you don't move them when they sleep.  At least when I hold sleeping baby goats/kittens/puppies/chickens/etc I never moved them if I could avoid it... I figure its the same with babies, if they are happy and sleeping its no skin off my back to hold the sleeping thing.  And they are kind of cute in an odd squishy human way... I just don't want one.. Catch and release, its all about catch and release.   Not too terribly much else going on - I'm playing an oddly anthro seal/anemone cyborg in a Rifts game, so thats been a blast... she can go all face huggery with tons of arms and claws and sharp seally teeth when she gets scared... which makes me giggle like a little girl... And really thats about it.

I'll try and show you all some more art before I head off to Spectrum.

These are the designs (one back and a whole selection of different fronts) I think I'm going with...

Thoughts?

Hmmmph... So I sat down and tried to figure out why this last month was so godawful and figured out it was mainly due to the fact that I spent a lot of time waiting for responses.  My queue is about 10 deep or so right now, most of which are larger commissions, but some people have just been super slow to respond.  If you are reading this and on the list and tempted to answer I can pretty much guarantee you are not one of those people. As evidenced by the fact that you are a) reading this and b) tempted to answer.  So a couple pieces that I thought would be done this month didn't get done so I didn't get the final payment just because people have been soooo slooow to respond.  And I was curious how other artists handle this.  I ended up taking some emergency commissions at the end of the month because I didn't get in the work/final payments that I expected. 

Some options I have come up with...

Adding a clause in my TOS mentioning that any response going longer than a week from my e-mails will entail up to 3 weeks additional on their commission (per week of delayed response), allowing me to take other work/put other projects ahead of people who aren't responding in a timely manor.

Taking more commission slots and while telling people at the end that they are likely to BE at the end (longest wait) remind them that many people are slow to respond and thus allow me time to start on newer work.

Yell at my art desk and demand it pay me up front for the work I do.
Ehm... maybe not that one...

I don't know I mean I didn't twiddle my thumbs while I waited, I did business stuff that needed to get done I worked on some art for the AnthroCon art show, but when it all comes down to it, I didn't make money.  So, thoughts would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance,
~Laura

p.s. another reason was pure stupidity on my part, I undercharged by... 1/3 for two large pieces this month so spent a lot of my time on basically 'pro bono' work for my own stupidity.