DXS Machina

One day left! Threadless is offering T-shirts for 9 bucks each. I’m kind of bummed that all of the shirts I want are still out of stock or currently not a color I like. But I thought I’d share the sales page if any of you guys out there wanted a shirt from Threadless at half off.

This weekend was sort of crappy, most of my plans fell through. I had to cancel going to AnimeFest which sucked but was probably the best thing considering the emergencies that cropped up. Sorry to anyone who thought they be able to bump into me. I was really hoping to be there.

I also had to replace 2 tires on my car which turned out to be a good thing though expensive. One of my tires was worn down to the metal on the inside so they had to adjust my alignment as well. It was a good that I hadn’t decided to drive to Animefest in my car. The plus is that my car feels a lot smoother though not as smooth as I’d like. But I think it’s because I need to replace the other two tires. This time though I’m going to look for a better deal instead of rushing out. Still I did need the tires replaced, I’d hate to have a flat on the road. I suck at putting on tires since I have a real hard time turning and tightening the lug nuts. =/

One good thing that happened though is they extended the gallery show I’m in. I currently have some of my art for sale at the Hideout Theater/coffee house downtown. All the art is going to be up for September as well, so I extended my area and put up some more art. Please check it out if your in the Austin area.

I wish I didn’t have such a hard time focusing. I feel like I have too many things to keep track of but I have plenty of time I’m just bad at organizing myself. It’s really frustrating. I am however starting to reorganize my living space. Which is a good step forward.

So I have things that I need to get rid of.

Does anyone local to Austin need a laser printer? I have a small Black and White one that I no longer need. It still prints fine but it needs a new toner cartridge. It’s a Lexmark e310, I’m willing to sell it for like 15.00, I just really need to get it out of the house. Please comment and let me know. =D

For a Limited Time Only!

Be My Chum!

Tags: Conventions, News, Rambling by Diana Sprinkle
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*FIXED* I’ve been hitting my head against the wall here but why are the titles to the items in my shop showing up next to my images instead of actually under them?

http://www.ghostcircles.com/store/

Someone who uses CSS more then me, please save me. It wasn’t like this until I updated WordPress and now I can’t figure out what part of the code needs to be murdered. Maybe I just need to get a more current theme or something but I still want to know whyyyy. Hates. Also the shop part of my site has a different font for no reason I can see. It’s using the exact same theme as my main site but the fonts are different? Why?

Edit: Really? Really CSS? “Display: block;” is what i was missing? Why did I have to put it on all the link attributes in theme?? Even on Hover? I’m figuring there’s a overall link thing I should have added it to but hey it works! I will not look a gift horse in it’s mouth.

I did manage to fix the new products part of the front of the shop so that the next page bits actually work. Which was frustratingly easy and yet completely unintuitive maybe even unsatisfying simple.

I survived Anime Overload and I sold a chunk of the manga/artbooks/crap from my room that I brought there. I still need to move more of it so I hope to post a list of stuff here for you guys. I have high hopes that you fine people may want this stuff and I can send it far far away from me.

They asked me if I wanted to come back and I wasn’t sure. On one hand I never want to move that much stuff into my car and down the road to a convention center in the middle of the Texas heat. On the other hand I sold about 30% of the books/toys I brought. On the other other under hand, dear god please no, also 30% was probably most of the good stuff people there would ever want.

I have the strong desire to shove the rest of my manga in a dumpster but the effort is probably too much. Right now boxes of it are downstairs looking accusingly every time I go down there. They are waiting to go back in my room where they will box me uncomfortably into a smaller and smaller space. Help.

Tags: Conventions, News by Diana Sprinkle
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Continuing my streak of only letting you guys know where’ll be appearing the day or two before the event. I’m going to be at Anime Overload all this weekend in Austin, Texas. Though instead of being in artists alley I’m going to be set up in the dealer’s area selling not only my art but a large chunk of my manga/comics/book collection. Please come on by and check it out if you’re in the area. I’m right behind Lah deh dah, the people who are selling wigs. I will have the new “Circle of Cute” Shirt and bunch of other things I have yet to post to my site because I have been busy and other lazy excuses like that. Hopefully my stuff will sell and my house will get a little less cluttered. =D

Tags: Conventions, News by Diana Sprinkle
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Oh my god. I’m covered in manga and comics. I’ve been clearing out my shelves tonight trying to figure out what I’m going to be selling at this small Austin anime convention this August. I bought a dealers table so I could sell off used manga and comics along with my normal artwork. And I don’t think there’s anyway I’ll even have enough table space for all of this stuff. I’ve covered a bed in books and a chair in art books and I still have 2-3 large boxes on the floor and I haven’t even touched the doujinshi stacked in the corner of my room. I’ve been collecting this stuff since before 1995 and was only able to sell some of it at A-kon before they made it so you couldn’t sell this stuff in Artist Alley.

This is like a fire sale type situation. I already did like 3 runs to Half Price Books at the beginning of the year so it’s slightly crazy to still have this much stuff. I’m really afraid of what will happen when I do clear a path to my comic collection. That stuff is getting sold away if possible.

I really need to just get rid of this stuff. I need more space and I’ve got to get a handle on my collecting because I’ve built up a lot of stuff. Is anyone looking for anything? New or old, lord knows I might have it.

I might put up a list or photograph the spines of this stuff. More likely I’ll probably take the lazy path and just make some grab bags for the convention.

Also does anyone want Hello Kitty or random journals for cheap (like 3 for 8$)? I have a ton of them lying around empty because I love buying pretty/cute journals and I always THINK I’ll write in them and to be honest I just don’t. Sure here and there I start one or two but most of the time they are just in my room looking pretty and gathering dust.

I’m just covered in stuffffff. I’m not even going to go into my art supply pile. T_T

Tags: Conventions, News, Rambling by Diana Sprinkle
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My birthday was last week and I forgot to mention it because I’ve been struggling to get ready for all of the conventions coming up soon. I’m not really prepared for the cons but I have so much new art that I think I mostly just need to make sure everything is printed up and ready. Though I could use a few more painted pieces like the Pancat and the House Mouse to go with all of the flat shirt colored art I now have.

Speaking of shirts I may have one of my designs up for sell in the next few weeks. I’m just waiting for conformation that it’s going to be printed and what day it’s going to go up.

Oh man, I have this super big blue and white cat stripe painting. And last week I finally set up a space in the garage to seal the thing and a huge thunderstorm rolls in and totally ruins it. Well some of it was my fault but I don’t think I caused it to buckle and warp. I blame the heat and humidity. I sort of freaked out because that has never happened before with any of the other images. I was really upset and sad but I figured I’d just go ahead and keep putting the sealant on, it needs about 3-4 coats to really get everything covered right. It ends up with a nice glossy shine once everything dries and it looks amazing. So, I dishearteningly finish the sealing hoping that since it’ll be under glass that no one will notice the rippling. I brought it inside 4 days ago and what do I see today? The damn thing isn’t warped anymore. What? Was it playing a game on my emotions? Shakes fist at own painting!!!

I have no idea how to scan it. It’s really large. I might do it in pieces that is if I want to hate myself.

My Convention Schedule for the summer is as follows:

A-kon: June 2-4th in Dallas. I have a table in the Komik Market and art in the Art Show.

Anthrocon: June 24-27 in Pittsburgh, PA. I’ll have a table in the dealers room and art in the Art Show.

San Diego Comic Con: July 21-25 in San Diego. I’ll be sharing a booth with my friends and will have art in the Art Show.

I’m going to be hitting some other smaller conventions in the Texas area after summer but I’m mostly excited to see how things go for these main three. Sales have been picking back up on my art in the last year so I’m hoping that this trend will continue to grow. Which reminds me I am the worst person about updating my site other then my weekly stabs at the derby. I’m hoping to fix that before A-kon with at least a new site theme. I need to overhaul the entire site but that might have to wait until after the convention season.

Just to liven up this journal! A piece of art I’ve been working on, Bunnies 4ever or Infinite bunnies. It’s like my stripe cats only it’s bunnies and it’s not a stripe across the page. I sort of want to make a real painting of this but I’d need something to transfer the image onto the canvas/board. Hmm. Anyway! I’ll post a finished computer colored version when I’m done.

Tags: Animals, Art, Conventions, News, Original Art, Rambling by Diana Sprinkle
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I just finished a huge cat stripe painting and I have no idea how I will seal the thing. It’s 20″ x 30″ and light blue. I have a huge table that I can lay it out on and drop cloth to protect the floor but nothing big enough to cover the painting so that I can keep the cat hairs off of it. Stupid cats. I might need to buy a bigger can of sealant too and some large brushes to really cover this thing quickly so that I don’t have brush strokes showing up on it.

Might need to go talk to an art store person who knows what to do just to be sure I don’t mess up my image.

I’m not even thinking about how the hell I will ever scan something THAT big. Maybe I’ll take a photo of it. =/

Staple! was pretty cool. Me and Shawnna didn’t get much sleep before the con and we were sort of late to set up but it was a nice relaxing convention. Sells weren’t great but I think it helped me figure out how much to charge for my tiny paintings. I sold mostly the ones with bunnies on them, which I thought was weird until mom reminded me that Easter was coming up.

I’ll put up a chunk of the remaining paintings on Etsy. I’ve been wanting to try that site out for awhile now. I’ll put them also up as small prints because I think they are adorable.

I’m trying to be better about scheduling my work. I always feel so listless since I don’t have a job that I get up and leave the house for, so I end up keeping terrible work hours. So, I’m trying to make myself follow these guys awesome schedule. I work really well to it, I just tend to fall off the horse if I don’t watch myself like a hawk.

Tomorrow I’m going to be working on getting some of my old Woot designs cleaned up and submitted to other sites. Then I plan to make a bunch of these random shirt ideas that I’ve been thinking about but have been too distracted to get to. Lots of puns and cats!

I just finish another Lolmart cat shirt which hopefully will go up soon. Maybe this week or next week. I’ll keep you guys updated. It has an adorable kitten on it. =D

Oh, also I made a shirt for Shirt Woot’s “Luck” Derby. It’s a funny take on the idea of Cloverfield. This was suggested and influenced by an image of Bassanimation’s version of the Cloverfield monster. Look how cute: http://bassanimation.deviantart.com/art/Cloverfield-84878831

Vote: http://shirt.woot.com/Derby/Entry.aspx?id=40154

How to purchase this shirt:

Only the top 3 shirts will get made into shirts. Click on the link and hit the “I want one” button on Shirt Woot.

If there is no vote button to click on:

To vote on the derbies on shirt woot you have to have an account that has bought at least one thing off of any of the woot sites (woot, shirt.woot, or wine.woot).

Maybe something from the Reckoning: http://shirt.woot.com/Reckoning/

Once you have bought something you can cast a vote for however many designs you want.

Oh and voting ended on this shirt but I forgot to post the shirt I did for last weeks Derby: The New Vintage.

More art and stuff sooon. =D

Tags: Animals, Art, Conventions, News, Original Art by Diana Sprinkle
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Some of the wood art I made currently on display at the Blue Genie Art Bazaar.

Orange Cat, 4″x4″ heart shape acrylic painting.

Heart Rat, 4″x4″ circle shape acrylic painting.

I had a lot of fun making these little paintings. And it’s helping me use up the paint I have left over from back when I use to paint cells(animation type cells) as art pieces. I have these two absolutely gigantic plastic containers of paints that I hardly use. It’s fun to get back to a more hands on art making after spending so much time with the computer programs.

These paintings are still up for sale at the Blue Genie Art Bazaar in Austin, Texas. It runs to the 24th of Decemember. Check it out if you’re in Austin.

Tags: Animals, Art, Conventions, News, Original Art by Diana Sprinkle
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Sorry, I’ve been sort of silent for a week or two but me and Shawnna have been setting up and preparing art for our space at the Blue Genie Art Bazaar. Which is currently running all the way up to December the 24th.

I’m so excited. So, if you’re in Austin, Texas please drop by the bazaar and check it out. Free Admission and there’s a bar so you can shop and drink!

I’ve made a bunch of new wood art and little cute magnets and ceramics for the show. Which now that I’ve managed to un-bury myself from work, I should be posting as the days go by. I think I’m really getting the hang of the wood art. Though looking around at some of the other artist stuff I really want to try using resin to seal some of it. The show is so inspiring.

I also have been working on more shirt designs. This weeks Shirt Woot Derby theme is Birds and I just happened to be working on a messed up version of the ugly duckling. I like to think of it as THE UGLIEST DUCKLING.

Vote for it here:
LINK: http://shirt.woot.com/Derby/Entry.aspx?id=37909
LINK: http://shirt.woot.com/Derby/Entry.aspx?id=37909
LINK: http://shirt.woot.com/Derby/Entry.aspx?id=37909
LINK: http://shirt.woot.com/Derby/Entry.aspx?id=37909

You’ll need to have bought something from any of the 4 Woot sites to vote. Maybe my friend’s X-treme bear ATV shirt, now back in stock: http://shirt.woot.com/Friends.aspx?k=10653

Tags: Animals, Art, Conventions, News, Original Art by Diana Sprinkle
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Woot! I got into the art show I had tried out for! Awesome! I’m going to be one of the artists participation in the Blue Genie Art Bazaar along with my friend Shawnna. So, that means I’ve got to get my shit together and make a lot more cute stuff to sell. I’ve been working really hard on doing more little wood paintings so I have a few of those done. What I really want to do is another Pathtag or two and Christmas Card design. I have a lot of planning to do, I’m not good at planning. Makes a list.

Then, right after Blue Genie I have 4 conventions all in a row. The beginning part of 2010 is going to be REALLY busy. =D

In other art news I did an image for this week’s Shirt Woot derby: National Parks, which is a really tough theme. I decided to do floating rocks because I really like the idea of rocks floating in the air.

Larger Version, too big for my site’s formatting!

But I think Shawnna’s Exploding Bear shirt design is the best in the bunch! So, I encourage you guys that can vote(you have to have bought a shirt to vote… oh shit yeah Miss monster has a shirt up for sale on Shirt Woot today! So if you want an awesome shirt you can buy hers and then vote for us in the derby), to vote for both me and Shawnna! Or hell, just Shawnna! I give you a link!

I also just put up a shirt design on Threadless that is so cute it hurts. I’m still waiting for them to approve it but here’s the link: http://threadless.com/submission/235163/Cute_Has_a_Flavor

Tags: Animals, Art, Conventions, News, Original Art by Diana Sprinkle
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Oh my god, my order of Pathtags came in today just in time for AnimeFest. I hadn’t mentioned ordering them cause I wanted to see what they turned out like before I talked about them. But they turned out so awesome and they actually glow in the dark!

I had a set of them made from these little circular doodles I’d drawn for the Catalyst folio that just didn’t get done in time. So, I have a Sun Cat and a Moon Cat. Pathtags are about the size of a US quarter and are made from metal so they are very sturdy. The images are based off of my cats when they are sleeping and stretching.

Here’s an image of the Sun Cat’s blueprint:

And here’s how the Pathtag turned out:

Special on this tag: The cat’s orange colored enamel GLOWS IN THE DARK, limited time only.

BUY SUN CAT!

Here’s an image of the Moon Cat’s blueprint:

And here’s how the Pathtag turned out:

Special on this tag: The cat’s light blue colored enamel GLOWS IN THE DARK, limited time only.

BUY MOON CAT!

Now I just need to make a large sign for Animefest for these guy. So much to do!

Tags: Accessories, Animals, Art, Conventions, News, Original Art, Store by Diana Sprinkle
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