Available for Commissions!

YES!

With all the free time I have due to working part-time for right now, and the need to pay for table spaces at Artist Alleys coming up next year, I am now available for anyone to commission my work! Isn’t that exciting?

I have no limits of how many commissions I can take right now, though if I get absolutely swamped with them, I’ll keep you guys posted about what I’ll do then.

Please keep in mind, though:

I work in traditional media ONLY. These commissions will be made with pens and Copic/Prismacolor markers unless you ask for a watercolor sketch (which I can do. Those will have the same prices as the color marker sketches).

You will get a scan of your commission put up on deviantART and here on my blog. If you would like the original shipped to you, I can do that, but it’ll be an extra $3 for shipping costs. If you do NOT want your commission posted online for any reason, I won’t post it, but I will have to ship your commission to you so you’ll get it somehow.

Black and White pen and marker work:

$5 bust for one character (+$3 for each extra character). No background.
$7 half-body for one character (+$5 for each extra character). No background.
$10 full-body for one character (+$7 for each extra character). No background.
Backgrounds are an extra $5 for each of these.

Copic marker and pen, or Watercolor, work:

$8 bust for one character (+$6 for each extra character). No background.
$10 half-body for one character (+$8 for each extra character). No background.
$12 full-body for one character (+$10 for each extra character). No background.
Backgrounds are an extra $8 for each of these.

I CAN do special requests that do not fit these, such as comic pages, paintings, or landscapes. Just ask and we can discuss it.

Samples can be seen throughout my gallery on deviantART.

General Info:

PayPal MUCH preferred. But you can pay me in the form of giving me an iTunes gift card, as well, if that’s your thing.

I can draw fanart AND original characters, your own or otherwise. But please be kind and include references of who you want me to draw. :D

Please no furries, mechas, or porn/fetish. Cheeky or risque is ok, but I have to approve of it first.

Speaking of which, I have the right to refuse to do a commission, if I think it’s too vulgar or difficult to draw.

Prices are all in US Dollars.

Please pay up front, no half now and half later. If for some strange reason I ABSOLUTELY cannot finish your commission, I will refund your money to you in full.

If you are interested in asking for a commission, please email me at kelcidcrawford @ gmail (dot) com.

Thanks very much!

"Brody and Lisa" Preview, and Some New Characters

I finally have internet back in my apartment! It’s not the best, but it’ll do.

In the meantime, I just heard back from the editor: IF-X, the anthology I contributed art to, is now off the printer! I’m ordering my copies soon for you guys to buy! Prices will be posted soon.

Here, though, is a four-page preview of the comic I contributed to the anthology. It’s called “Brody and Lisa,” and it’s a mini-romantic-comedy about a girl who discovers her boyfriend is a werewolf, while keeping a secret of her own…

To see the pages, just click, and they’ll expand to the screen.

Oooh, snap! What will happen next? Well once I get the books in, you can order one yourself and find out.

I’ve also been sketching up some new characters. One of them, Auxaton, just popped in my head, inspired by a dream I had a few days ago. The other one is part of a new challenge I’m embarking on. I’m calling it my Daily Character Challenge.

Yes, there are tons of daily character challenges out there, including the official one at 30characters.com. But I’m doing this challenge for me, because:

  1. For some strange reason, I love imposing challenges on myself.
  2. Creating characters has lately been a stalling point for me, and I would like to get back into the swing of things.
  3. Composition is another weak point of mine, I feel, and I would like to practice it.
  4. Two words: Copic. Markers. THEY MUST BE PLAYED WITH.
  5. In creating new characters, I would like to try a few new styles and see what works and what doesn’t.
I’m not counting Auxaton for the challenge because his character sheet took at least 3 days to do, so it doesn’t fit the Daily Sketch criterion.
Here, let me show you:
I loved drawing his “What the Hell?” face on the right hand side, towards the middle. I still get a giggle every time I look at it.
Auxaton’s mini-biography is on the deviantART page. If you’re interested, you can find it here.
Tomorrow I will share the characters I have drawn so far in the name of the Character Sketch Challenge!
In the meantime, Don’t Forget to Be Awesome!

Not Moving to WordPress.com

So you know that post I made about how I was going to move my blog over to WordPress.com?

Ignore it. I’m staying here.

Blogger is a much easier interface to use than WordPress. I just played around on the WordPress.com site and it’s a right PAIN IN THE ASS to get anything accomplished. Domain name transfers? Oww. Makes my brain hurt. Design? I can tinker with the code and widgets easier on Blogger than I can on WordPress. I can get the look I want here without too much hassle.

Don’t get me wrong! I’m still planning on getting my own hosted blog sometime in the near future, if only because I’m tired of the little Blogger bar at the top of my page. I could get rid of it with a new blog design, but that’ll take some goddamned effort on my part.

All in all, though, I prefer Blogger. I don’t think I’ll leave it anytime soon.

Apartment-Hunting for the College Grad 101

I am writing this post for all my fellow college graduates who have not had to do any apartment-hunting on their own before. Everything in this post is stuff I learned the last few days, and I hope to keep adding more to it as time goes on. I hope you find this information useful when you’re starting out.
The best places to look for apartment-listings are the Classified ads in the Sunday Newspaper. Seriously. I know no one reads them anymore, but I swear they still exist if only for the soul purpose of helping folks like us find a new place to live. Circle the apartments that catch your eye and call the numbers on the listings to see if they’re still available and interested in renting. Also, ask if you can get a tour of the place. I’ll talk more about that in a minute.
When you’re looking for an apartment, keep in mind:
  1. The Neighborhood: is there a lot of crime there? How close is it to all the important stuff like grocery stores and your workplace? Are your neighbors nice? Are they old or young? Do they have lots of parties?
  2. The Rent: This is exceptionally important. Not only how much it is, but what utilities are covered on there (water, sewage, trash, gas, etc)? I’ve found that most times, rent covers everything but electricity or gas, and you’ll have to call the electric and gas companies separately to work out a plan to get any. If you find a place that has rent that covers electricity or gas, be sure to double check and ask.
  3. Parking: especially for those of us with cars or bikes, is there a place to park them? You don’t need a garage unless you absolutely want one. It’ll help, though, if you can keep your car close to your apartment. Are there other places to park, like parking lots in front of the building? Does parking get full quickly?
  4. “Not Metro Approved”: I came across this quote a couple of times in different listings, and if you don’t know what it means, here’s what I know: in the Sandusky, OH area, “Not Metro Approved” means it’s not low-income housing. THIS IS GOOD. The only people who get low-income housing are people on welfare or who are otherwise people you wouldn’t want to associate with because of drugs or something. If you find a listing for an apartment that says, “Not Metro Approved”, it’s usually a good sign. Still don’t discredit listings that don’t have that. Just take a good look at the neighborhood and the apartment and talk to the landlord.
  5. Washer/Dryer or Laundromats: I have been warned that to find an apartment with a washer/dryer hookup is exceptionally rare. If you can find one, and it’s in your budget, GET IT! Otherwise, see if there’s a laundromat close-by. (As an aside, if you can hang-dry your clothes, do it: not only does it save you quarters, but it saves energy and your clothes themselves. Those lint traps you see in dryers? That’s all the lint falling off your clothes when you dry them. That’s right: your clothes are falling apart in the machine. Hang-drying them will help make sure your clothes last longer. If you have to machine-dry larger things like jeans, towels, or bedsheets, that’s fine. Those things are sturdy enough to withstand dryers.)
  6. Your Budget: The most important, and this was something my mom told me (and since she rented apartments for years before she got into home-ownership, I can trust her on this): Your rent, including gas and electric, should not exceed how much you make at your workplace in two weeks. So let’s say I work at a job that pays $8/hour and I work 40 hours a week. In one week, I earned $320, and in two weeks, that’s $640. So my rent then, including gas and electric, should not exceed $640 dollars. AT ALL. If you stick with this system, it’ll work like this: If you work a job where you’re paid every other week, your first paycheck of the month can cover rent, and your next paycheck of the month can cover stuff like saving it back, groceries, and stuff like phone or internet bills, as well as fun stuff.
Above all, TALK TO THE LANDLORD. It’ll help to establish if you like the person, and if you like them and they like you, the renting experience will be easier to live through.
Also, if you possibly can, TAKE A TOUR OF THE APARTMENT. Figure out if it’s too big or too small, too noisy or too quiet, who your neighbors are, what’s close by your apartment in terms of laundromats, entertainment, grocery stores, etc. If you have a lot of things close to you, you can save on gas for the car by walking to places. Also, look out in prospective apartments for things like cracks in the walls, air that leaks through windows (during wintertime here in Ohio, that can be a boon to your heating bill), what appliances are in the apartment already like refrigerators, stoves, etc.
Ok, that’s all I have for now, and that’s just what I’ve learned. If you folks have any helpful suggestions about apartment-hunting that I haven’t covered, please leave a comment below. I read every one of them. And if they’re really helpful, I’ll add them to this post.
Thanks a lot, and good luck!

A Character in the Works

I mentioned in yesterday’s post that I’m working on entirely too many comics. One of the ones I mentioned was a second draft of a story I called “The Messengers.”
Well I would like to share some concept art of one of the characters of the story with you.
In “The Messengers,” he’s mostly an extra, but he becomes a main lead character in the graphic novel I’m planning to make as a sequel to it.
His name is Clow.

He is a Hane’Hashne, a powerful spirit akin to a god. His job is to deliver dreams to people in the worlds that he watches after. He is also a spirit of love, causing others to swoon over him or pine for the lovers that they have. He seemed to get a particular enjoyment out of that.
The surprising thing to me is that as a person, Clow is nice. He doesn’t look like a nice guy, but he is. He refuses to get rid of his mohawk or piercings, though.
The problem is I haven’t quite figured out what motivates him. That’s a problem. I find myself looking at him, thinking, “What motivates you? What keeps you moving forward? What are you chasing after, and why?”
I still haven’t quite figured out the answer yet, but when I do, the story will be easier to understand.