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Anne Karetnikov Illustration

Bacon

I'm not even that fond of bacon. As always, please click to see a little more detail. Anyway. Bacon is the title of my entry for Illustration Friday this week, due to the perplexing prompt of "Breakfast". I swear it's the first thing that popped into my head.

This was done with a water soluble ink pen, a water brush pen, a deep blue sharpie, and watercolor pencils, (been addicted to this process recently after finding an ink pen that bleeds quite a lot, and turns unusual colors the more water you layer on it). It was done on the couch as well, watching "6 Feet Under". I'm enjoying the show, though surprised I can handle the content, especially while I'm feeling so down.

Otherwise, I am coasting. Attending two rather intensive classes for credit before school starts up again, a children's lit class and a fantasy lit class. Both are wonderful challenges, and completely eating up my time. There's been so much on my plate recently. I'm already trying to plan my senior thesis. Where did my time at college go? I also have a nagging guilt in the back of my head that I need to finish the art trades I started up months ago on DA, and then had to put on hold until I got control of my life. I want to do them, and even though I'm way too busy, I want to finish them.

Speaking of finished, some illustrations were completed for another book to be published by Princeton University Press. Details when more is known and everything is approved for sure.

I also need to make time to do a house mural, another paid job. I want to get my Etsy work back on schedule as well. Any advice to make sales?

Speaking of overworking, I recently joined the Sketchbook project. Click for details. It sounds like an amazing project, and a great opportunity to put something of mine into a show. I can't wait for my sketchbook to come in the mail. I want to have enough time to work on it. I paid for the digitizing process as well, so if/when that happens, I'll have links.

Overall, the mood is overwhelmed, can't wait, what the hell am I doing?- all at once.

Thanks for reading. Hope I can get this blog more active, and get some more subscribers, and maybe some commenters one of these days.

Until then,
See you later, space cowboy.

Illustration Friday- Ripple

Illustration Friday's prompt for "Ripple". Watercolor, colored ink, gouache.

Simple as that. A little further from the prompt, whatever. I'm relatively satisfied. Need to clean up the scan, the line is still showing up. Hard night.

The Abyss Also...

Well, I know I'm probably chucking this into the internet void, but getting back into a pattern of blogging is good. I'm undecided as to what I want to write about, but I ruled out a few subjects that would alienate people right away.

I do think I might be up tonight watching bizarre documentaries, maybe finish listening to some audio books while I work on the new Illustration Friday entry, (despite getting no feedback on the blog last week).

On the other hand, I'm also feeling hungry, and down, so I will share a few of my time-tested pick-me-up websites, mostly of the bloggy, imageboardy persuasion.


X-Entertainment

This guy saved me from panic attacks a summer or two ago. I was inconsolable, but Matt's wandering, generation x articles about pop and nerd culture made me feel like the world was an OK place to be in. His articles and entries are wonderful rants about tiny, half-forgotten toy lines, reviews, (and tastes!) of long-expired cereal and cool-aid, horror reviews, and much more. Even when I know little of the topic, his writing sparks my interest. The website is a maze, and the articles go back about ten years, so there's so much to go through. Favorites include his vending machine spree, his hunt for chocodiles, his skeptical epic vouage to Disney, and his adventure through Easy Video, a now defunct, (I think) video rental chain that I have not visited in years. He's about my brother's age, but his childhood memories are still a familiar to me, as my childhood was full of 2nd hand love for He-Man, G-I-Joe, Transformers and even Madballs and Voltron were around the house. Sure, I didn't know what my friends were talking about, but they didn't know who Cobra Commander was either. Highly recommended. I have to do some sort of painting for him sometime.



The Sneeze

I used to frequent his blog more often, but Steve has been understandably busy lately. His old articles are still worth a look though, some entries quite priceless. The treebrain fungus, his experiment in giving his son raisins on Christmas and taping the results- there's a lot of reoccurring material there- probably what gives him such a loyal fanbase. One of my favorite sagas involved a mysterious, indecipherable drawing his father has made all his life, and a reader who wrote in to solve the puzzle. I also miss his old "Steve! Don't Eat It!" articles, as they were what lead me to the blog. He's worth the look, and USUALLY safe for work.



Engrish.com

It's simple. If you have a sense of humor, and haven't seen it yet, you must. Engrish has been a long-time favorite, despite recent changes. The mangled lines of mistranslated English text from all over the world are always worth a chuckle- it's as simple as that. Often best enjoyed with a group of people, though that's not always the case. I am often sorely tempted by their T-Shirts....



Bootleg Toys

I had long mourned this website as lost, due to problems with a certain cartoon franchise that will remain unnamed. Needless to say, I was overjoyed recently when I found it was reincarnated, more in the form of a blog, alive and kicking. There is something wonderful about looking at mangled, badly painted action figures, dolls and other probably toxic playthings meant for children. It's a fascinating world, this land of bootlegged toys. It's a tier down from the island of misfit toys (at least those were hand-crafted!), and it keeps me inexplicably amused.

That's it for the moment, I may cover other favorite image sites, and perhaps some webcomics in the future. Enjoy the links if you can, oh internet abysses. I am off to think about my painting, and hoping to post it tomorrow.

-Anne

Illustration Friday- Slither

Well, here it is, done just in time (click for a slightly larger view). The scan isn't the best (It's a tad too yellow, the actual piece looks better in my opinion), but I'm not complaining too much because I'm just glad that the old crotchety scanner here at home decided to work at all. It's done in watercolor and ink, and the original is roughly the size of a postcard.

I just had to do a Naga (Lamia to some), for slither. A slimier, spinier Naga than I'm used to, but well, still nice. They're something I've always been addicted to painting, and happy, happy me, there was a little repeating detail/pattern to be done. I have the extreme desire to paint glow-y mushrooms after this.

I hope I get everything uploaded and submitted to Illustration Friday A-OK.

Now, I might scan some ACEOs if the scanner is still feeling up to it.

Illustration Friday

A little late to the party, but as I'm starting to get more involved online again, I think I'll do this week's Ilustration Friday challenge. I need to keep working this summer, despite having a hard time getting work sold.

In other news, as soon as I get a-hold of some double A's for my camera, I'll have pinback buttons up for sale! Some are hand painted, some are made from antique children's books, some are re-purposed from junked pokemon cards. I'm also trying to figure out eBay, as I've got some old stuff I really want to sell so I can have room to paint in my tiny bedroom here at home. It's been a busy summer altogether so far, the dieting, the cleaning, the painting, the organizing. I need to get back onto DA to also finish some art trades. I really want to have commissions up this summer sometime. Ah well, back to work!

Wish me luck for the challenge. "Slither" seems right up my alley. I hope I can get it done on time!

Etsy Work

Testing to see if this works. Hopefully, I can display my Etsy work here. As one can see, (again, I hope), I have a penchant for animals, decorative fantasy, and odd looking men. I'm focusing mainly on turning out ACEOs at the moment, and thinking about filling some more frames I have laying about. I'm concerned I'm not going to see much of a market on Etsy, but maybe I'm wrong there. I might talk about some of my favorites of the new batch, but we'll see if I have time.

Upcoming for-sale Etsy work should include various Japanese creatures such as the tengu, tanuki and various ghosts and demons. I also plan on doing a few more animals I would like to illustrate, probably an opossum, a pangolin, a platypus, a dodo, and a thylacine. A few more emaciated men might appear as well. You never know.

At the moment, I am waiting for a button machine in the mail, set to arrive at some unfixed time so I can enjoy making pinback buttons; something I have been wanting to do for a few years now. I spent some time at the Cranberry Bookworm, and found some real treasures to use for the buttons, as well as an ancient book I may post about in the future. I left my name and an email with the man there, so he could contact me if he comes across illustrated books that are perhaps not sell able, but I might be able to use in artwork. It was very pleasant, visiting the Bookworm again- a place where I spent many hours during my childhood. They still have the beaten, old yellow shag carpeting in the back that I remember being vaguely afraid of as a little kid. Again, that place really deserves a review of it's own.

Aside from the business side of things, life feels odd about now. Christmas did not feel like Christmas, and New Years is a bit surreal. Enjoying spending some quiet time with my parents. I am attempting to be more agreeable. Outside of the family, social life is in purgatory right now, still recovering from an upheaval at the beginning of the summer.

In the past few days I've spent a lot of time working on the ACEOs, but I would also really like to clear the desk of the watercolor supplies and perhaps work a bit with the sewing machine and tutorials to try to make some better doll clothing. At the moment, he is glowering in his box under my desk. I have opted to name him Mycroft Eldrich, and the name has unfortunately stuck. I may be about half way to buying a companion for him- but again, more on that another day.

So-as to the slim chance of anyone watching out there in Internet land- please keep a watch, feel free to comment- I love comments- and please take a look at my Etsy shop.

Peace and Insomnia,
Anne K.