Even more painting and zombies

Hi all!

It's been a busy week or so. Last week was the Ottawa Comic Jam's 3rd Anniversary party! Wahey, as my pal Nia would say n__n. If you go over to the new Jam site, you can ogle photos and fresh artwork as well! Thanks again for all the love and support guys--it is so much appreciated.

It's very tough for me to host things like this because I'm naturally quite shy, even though I can fake being an extrovert. I like being in a quiet, creative space, just pooting along doing my own thing. It takes an enormous amount of will to organize the Jam and keep it going--even though people assure me I make it look easy (?). So, to everyone who endures the ridiculous angst the week before the Jam and the day itself, (when I'm freaking out and crawling the walls)...and who still talk to me the next day... THANK YOU.

So! On an unrelated Jam note, I started an experimental Acrylics class at Art Mad in Stittsville, with Bernice, our lovely instructor! I had my first class last week, which was about 3 hours. I worked from a photo I'd taken last summer in Fredericton, when I'd been invited to crash my friends Rob Anderson & Bobbie Stewart's family reunion. I had a great time and got to see many interesting salads (and pick up the very cool Harris Family Cookbook, courtesy of Goldie, Nina (Maya) & Rick Stewart's hard work!)
I still would like to put more work into this, but I'm happy with how it is coming along:

The acrylics class students were all really excited and supportive of my effort, as was the proprietor of the shop who asked if it was for sale?! My Mom liked it too. She has expressed a strong opinion that I should be painting more often, and I think I'll take her up on that advice ;-) (To see more of my early efforts, check out the Argle blog here!)

I got to catch up with my pals Nadine & Westin Tuesday, which was good. We went to Carlingwood Mall and I got to browse Pet World. There were Siamese kittens, little turtles, huge hermit crabs (I do like hermit crabs!!) I saw cute Dumbo rat teenagers with funny bellies and cute 'Mickey Mouse' ears. We watched a hamster jam tons of rodent blocks into its cheek pouches 'for later'. Then I headed to the back and watched puppies rolling around. There was a giant Labrador on his back w/ massive paws in the air. He was three times bigger than Hank. Apparently I'm not permitted more puppies :-P

After grocery shopping and a stop at the LCBO, Westin & I spent time finishing a few of the Jam stories from last week. He couldn't attend the party but was keen to get some drawings in. He also received 'UNION' by Image comics as a freebie--lucky guy!

Westin and I decided we'd work on a co-written/ plotted/ etcedrted Zombie comic. I got excited and drew panel 1 yesterday. I have no clue what he's going to follow-up with, and I don't know where or how we'll host the comic so it can be read in order..but here at least is my 'Panel 1'. (Possibly we'll compile them over on Deviantart).

It was fun doing something completely different. I've never drawn a zombie story before, so it should be interesting!

Cheers, and a moment of silence for Mr. Bradbury, who passed away June 5th. I was sad to hear that he'd passed, though at 91 he had a great run! Some of my favourite short stories were penned by him; and no one can describe gothic Americana... Rockwell with the hidden razor in the apple, quite like Bradbury!

Suz.

All artwork (c) 2012 Suzanne A. Marsden (except the Ray Bradbury novel covers).

That was the weekend

So yeah, that was the weekend. Whee! The Drink & Draw Saturday night was sweet! Westin & I worked on more 'Leprecant' adventures, as well as a crazy story about ear-candling. Nadine worked on her loom and made a fantastic scarf while we watched. Pictures may follow ^__^

The next day it was adventures in domesticity, culminating with shopping. We actually got severely overcharged at Sobey's for some snausages, so had to truck back in and bring it up. They apologized, gave us the breakfast meat for the posted price as well as a free one. So that was nice. A pain in the ass, but nice.

Then I got to drink coffee, take acetaminophen and nibble cookies.

SUCCESS

Got all the artwork sent in to Brain Power Studio for the GDC stuff in San Francisco--so *huzzah*! Also, finished my application to the NFB's Hothouse 7 and got that sent off yesterday at 4pm. Whew! My hand feels like a lump of twingy-numb pseudo flesh, stretched over angry broken branches. So, I'm officially on break, heading to Westin and Nadine's place.. to eat pizza, drink blueberry ale and .. well.. yes, we'll probably do some drawing in there too!

Cheerio
Suzanne.

boo-urns

I also made yummy apple-cinnamon pancakes...but that might be for another comic ^__^
To check out Westin's cool comic, head over here! If you're keen on Palladium Books and role-playing systems, you can go on over to their site too.

Cheers!
Suzanne.

Rolling up the sleeves and gettin' 'er done

This is it, man--this is the time, now is the moment.
Friday, October 17th at 8:00pm, DragonHead Studio will transform from its usual organized mess into a razor's edge of creative instensity. We have confirmed artists, we have grub, we have supplies! We're ready!

For your amusement and to get you excited about the upcoming Event, here are some pics from last year's challenge, where much great artwork was produced and new friendships solidified! Just think, this time next year, you could be looking a sweet collection of photos from the upcoming weekend. If you act quickly, your mug might even be profiled! Ya never know...


Speaking of mugs, here's yours truly at Kanata Centrum, picking up Westin Church from the shuttle pick-up point.

The table at the studio in progress, covered in artwork, drinks and supplies. Meaghan Quinn surveys her efforts.

Left to right, Keith Savage, Westin Church, Lynette O'Brien and Meaghan Quinn, sometime in the middle of the night (probably before 2 am or so, since Keith headed off to sleep in his tent around then). Lynette had dropped by to shower us with support around 10pm, but mistakenly went to the wrong house. No one was home! Finally she heard the sounds of cussing and Frank Sinatra and made her way to the corrrect locale of the "do".

Westin catches 40 winks in the company of the world's coolest cat, Arlo, star of many of my comics. Westin's allergy medication was labouring hard to keep him going. With minor setbacks, he was still able to complete the gut-splitting tale of "Harry Hotdog in the Land of Linguini".

Yours truly, showing off the fruits of labour sometime in the wee hours of the morning. You can see by the 1,000-mile stare that the coffee had finally proved useless and the sugar crash had long ago happened. Still, it was a fun excersize!

Keith Savage (OMBRELLA) and Westin Church at Kanata Centrum, heading home after the event. Look how happy they are to escape back home to get some shut-eye! Lucky people!

Now, wouldn't YOU like to see yourself in these pics? You can! There's still a couple of spaces left if you're into it. Just contact me, via email, phone or psychic transmission. Check out the group on Facebook (24 Hour Comic day at DragonHead Studio) for info.

Confirmed 24 Hour comic artists this year include:

Suzanne Marsden:
Hostess, owner of DragonHead Studio, animator, traditional comic artist, writer.
Robert (Guang) Yap:
Animator, traditional comic artist, storyboard artist
Meaghan Quinn:
Web comic artist "Eat the Roses"
Clayton Jacobs:
Traditional comic artist, animation, novelist
Christopher Rudderham:
Web comic artist, "Sailorsun"

Participants confirmed for the 12 hour comic challenge

Keith Savage:
RPG systems inventor, animator, filmmaker, novelist.
James Fletcher:
Teacher, sculptor, member of the National Capital Network of Sculptors, Ottawa.

Check links to their work--this is going to be a phenomenal 24 Hour Comic party!

Plus, you can look forward to seeing it assembled as a documentary by talented filmmaker Randy Kelly!

Cheers, and to those who can't make it-- perhaps next year? It seems like it is becoming an annular event ;-)
Suzanne.

The Magic Cauldron online comic!

If you haven't checked it out already, head on over to the Kunstpike Art Flog for links to my 24 Hour Comics Day effort, recently uploaded to the DragonHead Studio site! Wicked :-)))

NEWSFLASH! DragonHead Studio presents Westin Church's fabulous "Harry Hotdog in the Land of Linguini". Check out the delightful adventures of a talking hotdog. Really! From the 24 Hour Comics Day party that brought you "The Magic Cauldron".