Sketchblog Edition 110: Cleansing

So yes.
It's been a crazy past couple of days and I've had kind of a rough day today,
but as it went on, it got increasingly better.

I've been granted a table at Savannah's Mini Comics Expo,
which will be held in the Pirate's House,
and so I decided to not only sell my own comics,
but sell some merch for Rain Dance, Nate's movie, as well!
So!
Be on the lookout for me if you're in the area and stop by to support Rain Dance!



We also had our first Clean Up and Ink & Paint Interest Meeting on Sunday,
and had a great turnout of fully enthusiastic artists!
Here, have a not-so-clear Toon Boom tutorial.


Today, Lilly and I ran some errands,
which included picking up fabric and merch supplies from JoAnn's,
where this happened:

Back at home, Nate dropped by to say hi and hang out with Lauren and I,
and also deliver me some delicious fudge.
I gave him a Cadbury Egg.
We were both delighted.

Then I drew more gender-benders.

Here's Bridget:

And now, as promised, the amazing Josh Brock:

I think he makes a pretty hot woman, don't you? :B


Catching up on the last of February's sketches,
here's one for Tyler!
It's all three evolutions if Jake were a Pokémon.


And finally, Lauren requested all the Eeveelutions in one horrific chimera.
*shudder*



That's all for today!
There will be more gender-bends to come, though,
and tomorrow starts the new batch of free sketch requests,
which you can find out more about and request by reading this!

Thanks for reading!

Love you all,
and goodnight!

<3,
Emily J. Sampson


p.s. Lauren and Nate and I were talking about how awesome it would be for all of us to move to California together and create a powerhouse of creative production.
I want it to happen,
and will do everything in my power to make sure it does,
no matter what. :)

Sketchblog Edition 109: Gingerbreading

Leave it to Comics Art Forum to get me pumped about art again!

What a crazy couple of weeks!


Let's start this sketchblog with a sketch request from Tyler.
A cactus in a speedo.

This is a true story of an event which occurred in Byte Café,
which still delights Nate every time it comes up again in conversation.
Poor unfortunate man...
all he wanted was a packet of mayonnaise.


Ever get that urge to draw something you see in your head?
Does that urge ever come to you at a quarter to 5 in the morning when you're just getting around to getting to bed after a long day of working on commissions?
Because that happens to me all the time....

The cutesy girl character makes another appearance on this page from Phil Craven's workshop at CAF.
There are also some TAoCKF sketches in there,
including a new character (who doesn't make an appearance until much later),
and a gender-bended version of Chester. :3
There is also a Moofin bird,
which is from a story my dear friend Maggie wrote for my Randomia universe.
There are also some other random derpy sketches.

The second workshop I sat in on was Kristian Donaldson's.
He showed us how to use Google SketchUp to set up a scene for your comics.
Mind.
Blown.

After that, Lilly and I grabbed some lunch from Papillote,
where this happened:
I was thrilled, obviously.
So I promised I'd make more sketches and some better pictures so Ann could use one as her profile picture. :P

After lunch we returned to Norris for a group portfolio review with Phil Craven.
He thought this was the best piece of my portfolio out of the bunch. :3


Later, I napped, and had Inception-like dreams within dreams.
It took a lot out of me but eventually I woke up and met up with Nate and Lauren Duda at Mellow Mushroom and had some delicious pretzels.
They managed to convince me to return to Monty with them,
where the subject of gender-bending came up.
I showed them the gender-bended me that Tyler drew ages ago when we went to Macaroni Grill...

...Which had led me to draw a gender-bended version of him....

...Which in turn inspired my friends to request gender-bended versions of people we know.

So here's the first batch of many more to come!

First off, Nate:

Next, Lane:

And then Lauren Duda:

Here's Grant:

Nate requested an alternate version of himself, with nicer hair and no glasses:

My dear friend Jenny Plyler:

An angry Drewseph:

And finally, my Lauren:


That was a splendid conclusion to the day,
as Monty seems to consistently be providing lately.

If that's not enough for you,
since I don't have a free sketch request for you today,
here's a page of guest sketches,
by Tyler, Lauren Duda, Lane, Nate, Stephanie Wang, Grant, and Daniel Woodling.



That's all for tonight!

Thanks as always for reading!
Love you all,
and goodnight!

<3,
Emily J. Sampson

Sketchblog Edition 108: In My Dreams

Not much to say about today.

Got a message shortly after getting up.
Nate and his roommate Rose,
along with Drew and Alex,
were going to an Indian buffet and invited me to go with.
Lilly opted in and we met them all at the mall,
during one of the nicest days of weather yet,
only to find the place had closed down.

So then we went to Seasons of Japan instead!
It was tasty delicious,
but soooooo much food...
Nate and I both ate too much methinks.

After picking up my Tobi from getting his battery charged
(and quite the struggle getting him out from the garage at the shop, with no help at all from the girl that works there >:[ ),
I went over to work at Monty.
There, Tyler gave us quite the lecture on double-spacing after ending a sentence,
which Nate and I didn't agree with.


Apparently there's someone dubbed the "Pizza Fairy,"
who usually visits Monty during finals week and gives out free pizza,
but I guess he was making an exception today.
Just in time, too.
My friend Jen and I were about to eat cafeteria food,
when we heard he was making a visit.
Lauren, Jen, Lane, Other Lauren and I formed our wolf pack and went on the hunt.
It took us only moments to find him and devour the pizzas he brought.
It was a massacre.


Later,
Nate bled all over the place.
I mended him.
He'll survive.

Drew requested a Zombie Evee for the free sketch request of the day,
so here it is:
I don't get to draw disgusting things that often,
so this was lots of fun.
Morbid.
But fun.


As an added bonus today,
have this Guest Sketch,
done by the amazing Nate Swinehart.

It is an accurate depiction of myself.
*nod nod*




Thanks for reading!
Love you all,
and goodnight!

<3,
Emily J. Sampson

Sketchblog Edition 107: So Close And Yet So Far

WUFF.
Okay.
There was a bit of a delay,
but I have a good excuse.
...
Alright, it's a lousy excuse,
but life got crazy on me for a bit there.

Things will get better though.

Anyway,
here are some sketches!
(And the other stuff I promised you is coming soon!)


This is truth:


I've been getting lots of commissions lately and other side projects,
and life in general has been distracting me from my webcomic and my thesis,
so I figured I'd get some practice in on drawing Emma and her wonderful mouth expressions.

I don't think I ever explained the idea behind Emma and Chester.
Emma expresses all her feelings in her mouth,
while Chester usually keeps his mouth closed,
and expresses his emotions through his eyes.
It's a fun little experiment,
and I'm enjoying the challenge of utilizing it. :)

So for a few days my body almost completely shut down on me,
and it got so bad that one morning,
when I stood to take the first step of the day,
my right calf just entirely gave out and I practically fell to the floor.
The whole day I had a slight limp.
I must have slept on it wrong or something....

Here's a little Valentine's Day present for all my TAoCKF fans!
It's been a while since I drew Emma and Chester being adorable together. ^^


Another adorable couple are the owners of my absolute favorite (and hands-down best) restaurant in Savannah:
Papillote!
I give you: Ann and Hervé.
Sorry... it got a little rushed toward the end,
but I promise I'll be making a nicer version of this sometime...
and maybe even color it!
Also, that is my favorite thing they serve that Hervé is holding:
Chocolate Mousse.
Ohhhhhhhh boy.
So good.


In other news, I had a really weird dream last night.
It was an alternate telling of the story Sleeping Beauty.
In my dream, the Prince and Princess were both weapons designed to go to the highest bidder,
and they got their memories wiped before they were sold so that they were obedient.
It's a concept that intrigues me,
and I want to work with it.
Anyway, here are rough sketches of what they kind of looked like in my dream.

The Prince reminds me a lot of Ergo Proxy.


There weren't many more sketch requests,
but here's a Pika-T (combination of Pikachu and Mr. T),
for Reed.
Enjoy!


This wasn't really an official sketch request,
but Ian McGinty had wanted me to draw him a Breloom a while back.
I just modified it to fit this month's sketch request theme.
Here's a Durrloom!


That's all I got today!
Thanks for your continued patience as I deal with life!

Love you all,
and goodnight!

<3,
Emily J. Sampson

Sketchblog Edition 106: Every Moment True

It's been.... quite the day.
It turned from bad to good quickly and I am relieved for it.

I have to confess, I've been reading a lot of Hark, A Vagrant by the tremendously intelligent and talented Kate Beaton lately, and I think it's starting to influence my own style.
Is that bad?
I don't think so.
If you find something you like, and you feel you can incorporate it into your own style,
why not?
Utilizing your influences is an integral part of developing your own style.
Just don't blatantly copy.
Make sure you know what you're doing and why.
*nod*


I have been waiting for this package from my family for weeks,
and let me tell you,
it could not have come at a better time.
COPIOUS AMOUNTS OF CHOCOLATES.
GODIVA TRUFFLES, no less.
Valentine's packages from home are always the best.


So I won't lie,
it's been a rough year so far.
And these past few weeks have been especially harsh on me.
I was just telling my best friend that I have been feeling very overwhelmed,
and that I was drowning.
That I just wanted to know that I was making a difference in someone's life somewhere.
I wanted to know I was important.

Then today,
I got a phone call from my dad.
It was normal chit-chat at first,
and I didn't tell him how I had really been feeling lately,
but he somehow picked up on it,
and minutes after he had hung up,
he called back.
And it was the best thing he could have ever said to me right now...


I got some stuff done at home,
ate a quick dinner,
and skittered off to Monty (on my Tobi, yay!),
where this was happening:
I don't think I want to explain what was going on to cause this,
but maybe it's the right thing to do.
Drew is doing an experimental animation that requires skintones and body types and textures and whatnot.
So of course... people had to take their shirts off.
It was inevitable.
And I am fine with that.

(Later, I would realize that the reaction face I drew of myself was identical to Wort from Sword In The Stone.)

Later, there was dancing.

And dumplings.
So, I won't lie.
This actually kind of terrifies me.
But it terrified me when it happened in real life,
so I guess it's an accurate depiction of true events?
Dumpling Nate is scary. @^@


Today's free sketch goes to Vawn-O-The-Dawn,
who came up with "Duggoogle,"
the final evolution of Diglett.
I don't think it's much of a step up.
Some of the heads aren't as fully evolved as others....


That's all today!
Thanks for reading!

Love you all,
and goodnight!


<3,
Emily J. Sampson

Sketchblog Edition 105: Forward Motion Sickness

That's right, folks.
NEW SKETCHBLOG.

Took me long enough, yes,
but it's here,
and that's what matters.

I can't even begin to tell you how crazy these last couple months have been.
When was my last upload?
I don't even remember.

But in the past month and a half,
I've gotten 4 commissions,
applied to Pixar,
started a series of storyboards to put in my portfolio
(which I will post here when they're done),
been recruited as an ink and painter, concept artist, voice actress, and merchandiser for my friend Nate's film Rain Dance,
had my moped stolen,
had my moped found,
had my moped fixed for much money,
gotten only a little headway on my thesis,
and spent many grueling hours in the animation building with some really awesome people.
Oh yeah, and I'm buying a computer and Cintiq eventually, maybe.
If you want to help me afford this Cintiq without having to move back home,
you can commission me or buy my stuff!

That being said,
here are the sketches from...

JANUARY:

Got an idea for a new story...
Trying to figure it out.
The main character owns a werepug.

I made a penguin hat for Monika.
She loves it.
I will post the pictures of everyone in their hats soon.
(Hats are also available for commission!)

There was a day in which two of my favorite gentlemen were quite sad at the same time.
So this happened....
I wish.
My favorite part is the skipping.


The free sketch theme for January, in case you forgot, was Chimeras.
I really enjoyed it and was sad to see it go so quickly,
so I may do a sequel of it next month.
Be thinking of what you want! :)

cat-unicorn-bluebird for Eldaglass

gorilla-spider-kiwi for oepn

Flish, a combination of a fish and a bird, for Sharra.

pig-cat-penguin for dead2

moose-kangaroo-jellyfish-sheep (my personal fave of the bunch) for Elaine
I want to draw him more..... O___O

Jen requested a Derpshark-horse. :)

parrot-narwhal-badger for theartboss

My totally awesome roommate Lauren requested a Secretarybird (one of my favorite birds EVER) combined with an octopus and an elephant. Quite the challenge.
The elephant is in there, believe me.

Here's another one for Jen Hochman, simply because she's so awesome.
She wanted a cat-dragon.
It was hard to make it look NOT like Toothless, but here it is anyway.


That's it for January!
Here are the sketches for...
FEBRUARY:

As I stated previously,
I have been spending much of my time in Monty hall,
the animation/digital media building.
Mostly for friends.
And Cintiqs.
And long hours.
But mostly the friends.

I am ashamed that this conversation really happened exactly how it is portrayed.

Lauren and I invented a new species of creature,
called the Woogies.
They are adorable.
With their big hands and their poof tails and their parachute pants.
Yes yes.


Oh hey look,
more creatures.
Also, have some teeny sketches of some old characters of mine from my story Tsubasa No Negai.
I like Cashew Bunny and his rolling friend.

The following also happened just as you see it.
Long story short, Nate is awesome.

We went to a presentation by a guy that did a lot of effects stuff on Iron Man,
and seeing all the concept art he was given made me want to draw bulky roboty biomecha suit things.
Then I remembered...
I cannot draw mechanical things.
Oh well.
Practice practice!
I will get better!

After that I felt like I should draw something more organic,
like hands.
Then I remembered...
I haven't drawn hands in forever. D8
These are not so great.
I need to exercise my drawin' hand more.



February's free sketch theme is Rejected Pokémon,
ones that just didn't make it past the conceptual stages.

Dead2 gave me the concept for "Chikia," an extremely dangerous Pokémon,
extremely dangerous indeed.

I'm surprised nobody's thought of this one before.
Crash requested "Charbender," a mix between Charmander and Bender from Futurama.
O___O

Capsize-Beautiful requested a Pokémon that gains its super-saiyan powers from standing in front of the microwave for long periods of time.
It may have rippling muscles and a power level over 9000,
but it's very much radioactive.

BigB89 requested "Sharktapus."

My favorite so far is the kitten with yarn Pokémon,
requested by Alice.
It's a fat bean with legs, and completely useless.

The happy-go-lucky computer mouse Pokémon with special ability "Double Click" goes to Blue-Pilot.

Lastly, poor "Slugwarth"...
goes to waiting4wings.
Apparently if I were a Pokémon trainer,
I must have had some horrific accident that left me with a horribly mutilated left hand.


That's all for now!

Next time I will promote Nate's movie with excessive derpy cuteness!

There are also still some slots open for this month's free sketch requests!
CHECK IT.


Thanks for your patience!
And thanks for all the support from my friends! :)

Love you all very much,
and goodnight!

<3,
Emily J Sampson



p.s. CONGRATULATIONS TO MY SISTER AND HER BOYFRIEND FOR GETTING ENGAGED.
The children must call me "Uncle Emily."
No exceptions. >8[