After all the shenanigans of the holidays, I made the biggest gamble of my life and moved to the other side of the planet, to Melbourne, Australia!

The sequential art community is thriving and rising in Australia, and the economy is healthy. It seemed the best idea to move there. ...Also, some of the best humans ever live there.

We got to go to a Japanese Summer Festival!

It's a gorgeous city, with modern architecture and historical sensibilities in harmony. It's very green, very beautiful. I can't wait to settle in here better. I've only been here ten days or so, but it's starting to feel like home.


Art has been on a bit of the backburner as I hunt for a day job and re-gather my supplies. (You can't take it with you, you know.) But I did manage to get this started:


Let's see where this goes, hm?

XOXO
~Lilly

I wanna be beside her!

So I kinda went to Paris.

I had been before as a young teen, it was wonderful to go back at 21 and experience it from the viewpoint of an Art School graduate.

Here's a selection of my photos... It was COOOOLD, but wonderful. I became a very successful hunter-gatherer!
So, that was Paris! Now to organize my artwork...

XOXO
~Lilly

Finished!

Wow, I survived my last quarter at SCAD!
All things considered, everything went better than expected!
While I was an art nun, I did manage a social life too, cuddling kitties and hanging out with friends. It was a very low-drama quarter for me, and a perfect way to wind up my college career.

AWA wasn't as successful as I hoped with the AA, but I heard much the same story from everyone. It was just a hard con in general.

Classes were tough but awesome, mostly self-driven, which is more like the real world I'm about to face!

Here's some artwork I produced during the quarter!

I had the awesome opportunity to do some mascots for Blasphemina's Closet! She was a delight to work with, and these were so fun!

A page from my "Spectagirl" story, which I wrote for my Senior Project class... I'm afraid it won't be finished, but it was fun and different to work on.

A page from my childrens' book, Bree the Starstitcher. I decided I'm going to do this in marker instead of watercolor, but I'm still fond of this one.

Now I have Paris to look forward to!

XOXO
~Lilly

Pre-AWA Art Dump

Here's a mini art-dump, as I've been plowing along making AWA things.

A kind of mori-ish girl. IDK. I kind of wanted to do some Showa-era illustrations.

Fairykei counterpart! She's cute but kind of vapid... I'll probably redraw her!

The Haute Couture Ladies of Avatar. I'm pleased with this, but it took an INORDINATE AMOUNT OF TIME TO DO, seriously WTF.

Here's what everyone's wearing, BTW!
Toph: Alexander McQueen RTW Spring 2009
Katara: Elie Saab (Collection escapes me ATM)
Azula: Elie Saab Couture Fall 2010
Suki: Valentino Couture Spring 2009
Ty-lee: Betsey Johnson TW Fall 2008
Mei: Alexander McQueen RTW Fall 2008
And, for whatever reason, I cannot remember who Yue's wearing. I want to say it's either Saab or Valentino. Could be wrong.

Robins as Birds on a Wire! I kvetched a lot before I figured out how I wanted to do this... And otherthanTim'semblembeingonthewrongside I'm really pleased with it. IDK.

Naturally I had to do one for the fandom of my heart, etc. I made very few prints of this, obviously, since, really, who will buy these. Pretty much nobody. Also the end of the scarf looks like a hand wiggling its fingers at Miharu in a dastardly manner. ROFL.

Also, a bazillion style-centric chibis. We weren't allowed to do fandoms, so I did these.
I made two Gaga chibis as stickers. IDK. If I can't use em, I'll put them away.I made Fairy Kei bows, too.(This was in progress. I added some pearls and such, too.)

In other news, we got a kitty!

After a summer of denying it, my Dad caved when this handsome boy came slouching up to our door. We dutifully returned him to his owners... But three weeks later, he reappeared! We knew we were supposed to keep him. He's friendly and affectionate, and a real charmer. He's also super-athletic and active, which my parents are still getting used to! I'm glad I'll be leaving him to take care of my mom while I'm gone. His name is Jack, and he's named after the character in Mom's book right now. (Jack Buchannan, Jack's namesake, has an identical cat in the book, named Charbon, for "Charcoal" in French.)

And... Speaking of. I'll be leaving for Melbourne roughly January 25! Since I graduate, mom and I decided it was stupid of me to hang around the US for no reason, so right after the holidays, I'll fire like going out of a cannon. I don't know how long it'll be till I get internet after that... It's surreal to think about. But I'm also very excited.

I don't know if it's just fear for the really hard classes, my last quarter, being so very close to Magna Cum Laude, or simply fear of social life or something. I just want to stay here and work.

I've hammered out a Senior Project I'm excited about. A Steampunk Mahou Shoujo story about an Indian girl in the 1900 Parisian World's Fair. It involves mechanized transformation sequences and enchanted glasses. I'm scared to take the Childrens' Book class, and I am thoroughly convinced I'm going to have my rear-end passed to me by the Illustration Department. And then there's Math.

I think what'll bridge the gap between Social fears and School fears is basically vowing myself as an Art Nun. To only focus on my artwork and my projects, to devote my time only to classes, and making a powerful Senior Project that can speak for itself. I made the decision to leave my Lolita and my Dolls at home while I work on my last quarter. (Odette and Sylvana are going with me- one as a model for AWA and one as a muse, but they'll be more or less out of the picture, and Laksha and the boys are staying home. No, they're not very happy about it either, ROFL!) I brought a bit of felting should I absolutely break down and want to play with fabric, and embroidery floss, if I want to embroider, but my major is SEQA and I should devote my time to making comics. When I get out of school I can play with fabric, but it isn't wise right now with everything else going on.

Here's to surviving and thriving through another quarter at SCAD!
XOXO
~Lilly

Post-New York City Art Pile!

Now that I've been home a while and have had time to plow and pick through my NYC sketchbooks and things, here's a long-overdue art pile!

Looked at waaaay too much "Madonna and Child"-esque art. Not that I mind.Her eyes were based on sculptural sketches by Lee Bontecou at the MoMA.

The theme of my paper for Art History was the "Memento Mori."
When I was trying to explain what I meant, I drew this for my class.
Also, high five I am morbid.

One of my sketches from the front row of "A Little Night Music."

A cute creepy girl. I wanted to devise a pet for her, so I asked what kind of pet she should have.
Among the suggestions were: a lemur, a snake, and a chupacabra.
A bit of Sailor Moon doodling. The bigger drawing is a sketch for one of my AA prints of the three Serenity princesses/queens/etc brushing hair and tying odango.

I also had to create a four-page comic. This was inked and inkwashed, then printed on brown paper, with white charcoal for highlight, then added selective color digitally. (That sounds an awful lot more complicated than it actually is!)

This is Page One! Read the rest over here on my DA.

Alrighty, kidlets. Till next time!
XOXOX
~Lilly

Then am I dismissed?

Hey, everybody! Been a while, huh? Not really! As some of you who watch Pink Like Me (does anybody??), Mysterious 'older' entries have appeared in New York. While they were back-dated, rest assured they were written while I was there, and simply needed to be arranged and formatted. Phew!

It's been over a month since I left, and I'm almost done working off all of my assignments! Phew, phew. Now, this might just be me being silly. But, I bought... well. A MASS of books, as you probably could tell from reading. When I got home, I gathered all of the books up, and made an inventory. And, here they are!

Children's Books:

• The Duchess of Whimsy by Randall and Peter de Seve
• Spiderwick's Field Guide by Tony Diterlizzi
• Princess Bess Gets Dressed by Margery Cuyler
• A Practical Guide to Vampires by Lisa Trutkoff Trumbauer
• What Could Be Better Than This? by Linda Ashman and Linda Wingerter
• Periwinkle Smith and the Faraway Star by John & Wendy
• The Gentleman Bug by Julian Hector
• The Princess Gown by Linda Leopold Strauss
• How a Robin Saved Spring by Debbie Ouellet and Nicoletta Ciccoli
• Princesses are NOT Perfect by Kate Lum and Sue Hellard

Graphic Novels:

• SWAN 15
• Bride of the Water God #2-3
• Madame Xanadu - Disenchanted
• Madame Xanadu - Exodus Noir
• Batgirl Year One
• Joy Ride by Carol Lay
• Graylight by Naomi Nowak
• House of Clay by Naomi Nowak
• Marvel Fairy Tales
• Mouse Guard, Fall 1152 by David Petersen

Reference Books:

• How To Make Books by Ester K Smith
• Gothic: Dark Glamor
• High Style - Metropolitan Museum
• Mucha - Taschen
• Rococo - Taschen
• Belle Epoch Dover
• 1920s Dover

Japanese Books:

• Tiny Garden
• Spoon
• G&LB 36
• GosuRori (unsure of link)
  

Comic Issues:

• Red Robin 13
• Joker's Asylum II: The Riddler
• The Last Unicorn #1
• Red Hood: Lost Days 1
• Sky Doll 1
• Legends of Mouseguard

That's... 37 Books. Uh. I think I have problem. I'm a bibliophile like my mother!
Alright. Back to work with me!
XOXOXO
~Lilly

Anime...NEXT!

You didn't think I was going home after New York, did you? Oh, no, there was one more leg! AnimeNext was at the end of my trip. Although I wasn't at the Artist Alley, and I wasn't cosplaying (the first con I've been to in a LONG while where I didn't), it was the only con I was going to make it to this summer, so I was eager to see people!

It was a bit of a mess getting out- I had to ship 26 pounds(!!!!) of books home! There was no way I would've made weight limit keeping them with me, much less zipping it closed! So off they went! I wrestled my baggage to Penn Station to take the train to New Brunswick Station- I got there in the nick of time, and had to stand most of the train ride, but all was well! I made it to the con in one piece and quickly got registered and on my way.

The first thing I did, literally within the hour of my arrival, was buy a pair of pink antlers from my friend Nyssa. She makes THE most adorable things, truly. Go see her Etsy! But without a cosplay, I felt rather naked, so clearly antlers were in order!

I had been cosplaying a respectable, mature college graduate, with my blacks, browns and muted colors for most of the trip. My, was it refreshing to be in bright pink again! I got to visit my darlings from SCAD, and also played Cosplay Maid helping my friend Ginny and her crew get ready for their masq skit that night. I cut bangs, sewed buttons and pinned and snapped and generally attempted to make myself useful!

I was again, the official picture-taker. If I can't be in costume, I try to at least be the one taking photos! My friends are so fun to photograph. I sent Ginny off to do her skit, and curled up in my room with miss Lina (who was also there!) to read comics, watch movies and eat pizza. (First time I ever ordered pizza by myself, woohoo! I am lame.)

Soon Ginny came bursting in, trophy in hand, and much screaming was had. She had won best in show after many years of trying! It was pretty awesome. We ate cookie cake, lots of pizza, and, well. They drank. Lots. At some point in the night, Ginny returned, very excited that she had won measuring tape as a prize. Much, much fun was had. And the best part? I actually got to sleep in the bed instead of the floor!

Early morning brought more photos, laughter, hugs, cuddles, and nerdiness. Exactly the way I wanted to end my trip. Goodies in hand, I was popped back on the train to New York, and then to JFK, to fly home. Naturally, I passed out for about three days after that! And am still in recovery, and likely will continue to be! But it was a brilliant, amazing two weeks, and I can't think of a better way to crown it than with a fun, mellow con.

Thanks everyone, for making my New York adventure one I'll never forget!
XOXOXO
~Lilly