Vinny #1: Coming Soon!Posted by Joie on July 9, 2009
Vinny the Vampire by ArguingIdiots.com is approaching release! It will be available to purchase online and in person (if you’re local) in approximately one month’s time.
Watch ArguingIdiots.com, as Vinny’s online debut will be in two weeks!
I’m so excited!
JoieArt Gets a FaceliftPosted by Joie on July 6, 2009
I’m messing around with the layout for the site this evening, and like what I’ve got so far. It’s a theme called Pink Orchid that I’m modifying to meet my own needs… and so far it’s looking ok. I’ve got a lot of color and layout tweaking I’d like to do, but I’ve run up against one major issue…
What to do for the header image? I’ve pondered it for awhile now, and any input anyone has would be greatly appreciated. I have tried several pieces of my own artwork, but none of them seem to fit the 1020 x 145 pixel size that I need. I’m hoping one of my readers has a brainwave, because my own brain is still fried from the holiday this weekend. Dodging green mortar fireworks was not particularly what I had in mind for “fun,” hehe.
For those of you on RSS Feeds or email, check out the new layout here: JoieArt.net
Vinny #1 Cover In-ProgressPosted by Joie on June 30, 2009
Here’s some in-progress shots of me working on the cover to Vinny #1. Thus far it’s done in all watercolor on bristol with small amounts of graphite.
And yes, I’m left-handed.
Joie Brown on TwitterPosted by Joie on June 25, 2009
That’s right… it’s happened. I started a Twitter account to help keep my blog and website updated, fresh, and interactive. I had originally sworn to never have a Twitter account, but… well… I did it anyway.
Please feel free to follow me! I’ll be Tweeting website updates, random art-related thoughts, and other creative and artistic activities that I’m currently up to. Check it out! JoieArt on Twitter.com
As for Vinny news– I’m working on the logo as we speak, and once that’s done I’ll be finishing up the front cover! The lettering is almost complete (it’s about a week behind schedule due to technical difficulties), but then it’s off to the printing press!
It’s official– Vinny is being self-published by Arguing Idiots and will be available to purchase very soon. There is a website dedicated to our favorite vampire in the works, and of course I’ll have more information as I get it!
Not DeadPosted by Joie on June 24, 2009
It’s certainly been awhile since I’ve updated, but I want to let everyone know that I’m not dead. I’ve been dealing with a lot of things, but mostly I’ve been recovering from a rather severe injury and haven’t had time to do a lot of art (much less update my blog). For those curious: I will be fine, I just need some physical therapy and healing time.
Vinny #1 did not quite make it to HeroesCon with the writers, but it is just days away from being sent to the printer– I’m so excited! More info tomorrow. Just thought it might be good to warm the old blog back up with a short post about where I’ve been hiding.
Vinny Pencils: CompletedPosted by Joie on April 28, 2009
I am pleased to announce that I just put the final pencil stroke on page 20 of Vinny Issue #1! I am very excited to be finished with this project, and can hardly wait for its release! The book still needs to go through post-processing, but will be completed and ready by HeroesCon in June. My editors will be taking the fully printed book with them to start getting the word out at the convention. If you’re attending, keep an eye out for those two scoundrels wandering the halls.
This was a major milestone for me: it’s the very first comic book that I have ever penciled, and the first one to ever be completed! I am very excited to see where it goes. I should have some inked, lettered, and processed pages to show in a week or so as a teaser. More information to come. Please stay tuned! Thanks to everyone for the support you’ve given me for this project over the past several months.
Announcing: JoieArt.comPosted by Joie on April 10, 2009
I’m posting tonight with some fantastic news! For a very long time, I’ve wanted the domain name JoieArt.com, and it’s finally mine! When I was coming up with a website domain name years ago, JoieArt.com was unavailable, so I ended up with (as some of you very longtime readers will remember) FracturedFantasy.com. That was my website for over three years, until it occurred to me to see if JoieArt.net was open.
Of course I wanted to satisfy my curiosity, and found out that JoieArt.com was registered to someone through an Australian domain registrar. In all the years that it had been registered, I never did see any content on it. I finally got some guts and put a domain backorder watch on it fifteen days before the registration expired. I was really saddened when it got renewed, and forgot all about it.
Then, about a week ago, I got an email from my own registrar telling me that the domain I’ve been watching had its renewal reversed, and was going into a redemption period. SCORE! I got even luckier when just three days ago the domain was released and my backorder watch nabbed it for me. It was like being a little kid and being given a GIANT lollipop. Oh yes.
So now I’ve got both JoieArt.com AND JoieArt.net. Good times. I just have to decide which I want to be my main domain name, and which one I want to just be a forwarding domain. I kinda like .Net, personally. Anyone have an opinion?
And for anyone keeping tabs, FracturedFantasy.com is still registered to me, and yes it does point to this website now. I’m such a domain hog.
Just PencilsPosted by Joie on April 2, 2009
I know I’ve been really quiet as of late, but that’s because my life has gone into overdrive. I haven’t had anything new to show because I’ve pretty much been exclusively working on Vinny to try to get it done before my deadline.
Vinny Page One © 2009 Joie Brown, Josh Copland, and Matt Garth
I finally got some pencil scans back from my editor (because I sadly don’t have an 11″ x 17″ scanner yet), so I thought I’d share them with you. These are the final pencils for Vinny pages one through three. The pages are straight up graphite with the blue line guides still visible. I did not take them out in Photoshop thinking that they might be interesting to look at. See if you can follow the story without any dialogue!
Vinny Page Two © 2009 Joie Brown, Josh Copland, and Matt Garth
The completely polished and ready-to-send-to-the-printers pages will look very different. They will have lots more black and grey to them (plus lettering), and I’m really excited with how they’re turning out. I’m currently on page 12 of 21, which means I’ve finally passed the halfway mark! And none too soon, either. Working on this comic has been a great trial-by-fire for me in regards to learning more about comic books, time management, and deadlines. Sure it may have helped me into a quarter life crisis, but maybe it will help me out of it as well. I hope.
Vinny Page Three © 2009 Joie Brown, Josh Copland, and Matt Garth
In regards to my Snippets projects and Etsy.com storefront: I’m still trying to work out the kinks and get things set up. I hope to have more information about both of these very soon. Stay tuned, and sorry for the long delay in between posts.
SnippetsPosted by Joie on March 14, 2009
I’m pleased to finally share with you all a side project of mine that I’ve been laboring on for the past few weeks. The economy is hitting everyone hard– including us artists. I’ve been pondering this problem for awhile now, and it is really frustrating. Artists want to sell their work. People want to buy artist’s stuff.
Unfortunately, there is sometimes a hold up in that transaction because art is not always as affordable as we’d like. Artists pour hours and hours into art: perfecting those small details, using expensive supplies and utilizing years of practice and honing of their craft to create images. Some even say a tiny piece of the soul latches onto the items that artists create. A lot of people don’t understand that, and thus do not understand why art has to be so expensive.
Obviously that means that most artists cannot drop their prices and still be fairly compensated– but the economy is preventing a lot of people from buying that piece of art that they truly love because they’re strapped for cash. It’s a tough situation that’s located between a rock and a hard place. What can you do?
Well I brainstormed a solution to that problem by creating something I like to call “Snippets.” Snippets are small pieces of art created on a 4″x6″ card. Small means less materials. Small means less time. That means more affordable! Someone could own an original, one of a kind piece of art for something that fits more easily into their expenses!
Snippets are small snapshots of something. It may be a subject matter, it might be a thought or an idea. It’s a small peek into something that the artist may have been thinking about or inspired by at the time. I frequently have urges to do just a little something here and there, and this is the best outlet possible.
Here are the first three in the series, with four and five being finished up just as soon as I’m done posting here! Click the thumbnails for larger images:
Each snippet is original and one-of-a-kind. No prints will be made from these tiny pieces of art. Each is something that I felt I wanted to paint on a whim at that moment. Each one is hand-signed, titled, and numbered with what Snippet it is in the sequence. I’m going to offer them for sale at a reasonable price, and I’m really excited about it!
Think of it as an economic art stimulus! Information on buying coming soon as I set up shop. More Snippets to follow as well. (And no, they won’t all be dogs, either. Expect some interesting new things… in addition to my usual ballerinas, mermaids, and twisted story tale fare.)
Mermaids and Nerds with CorgisPosted by Joie on March 13, 2009
Tonight I bring you some of my activities of late. Last Saturday a colleague of mine and I had a long studio day complete with a sketch brainstorm. During these sessions, we randomly choose subjects and then do timed sketches of them. This activity been very successful in the past– Redneck Pigs was actually born from one of these sessions. If I can find the original sketch, I’ll post it here at a later date. Needless to say I was very eager to get started because I was hoping for some great inspiration for personal art.
Mermaid Song Sketch – Graphite on bond
Our first subject was “mermaid” and I was surprised with how much I liked the sketch. I feel like the lines are very graceful and lyrical which lends itself perfectly to the subject matter. I do believe I have a basis for a new painting! Expect to see this drawing again in the near future.
Nerd with Corgi – Graphite on bond
Another subject later on in the evening was a “nerdy kid.” I took the liberty of making an extremely bookish nerd girl complete with sidekick corgi. I enjoyed this a lot too, and it may hopefully turn into something as well.
And of course, this past Tuesday I finally got back to the Gaijin Studios figure drawing class for the first time in about a month. I had newsprint this time instead of drawing paper, and was wildly unhappy with the outcome of my drawings. The newsprint I purchased was really waxy and just wasn’t taking the graphite well. Unfortunately I ended up hating almost all of my drawings with a passion. I’ve only got one worth showing this go-round.
Figure Drawing – Graphite on newsprint
Come back tomorrow for more on what I’ve been up to outside of Vinny. I’ll have lots to show!
