Merry Stupid Christmas!

This was my gift to my beloved man friend for Christmas... But watch out, because we've already started to make up a fantasy backstory to go along with it! Hope everyone has a sweet holiday.

End-of-Season Captain Cards!

For my captains, because they're cool.

Prog shot: Cats Who Swim

Working on it... Makes me feel a little less chilly, anyway.

Bridezilla

A card for a friend who is getting married... It's actually not indicative of her character at all, but she requested to be portrayed as a giant maneater/destroyer. I had fun doing it!

Happy 100th Post, ME!

More cards!

A new roller derby-themed card... For the rollerfolk. Maybe soon I will add some men's derby items... Would dudes love a "derby boy" t-shirt, card, or poster?

And now you can seriously get an ALL THE CARDS package through my Etsy store... I might hate you a little if you buy one because it means a buttload of work for me, but what the heck.

http://rhodaperdition.etsy.com

Corey Gets His Wish

My Etsy store is up! Now you can buy cards if you want to! Or don't buy cards if you don't want to! BUT AT LEAST THERE ARE OPTIONS!!!

http://rhodaperdition.etsy.com

Cards!

Braaaiiins.... Booooooze.....

Things I Do For Me!

I just finished this as a personal piece for my portfolio. I've sort of got a break between jobs, so I'm taking the time to weed out pieces I don't like and create new ones to replace them. I've got another fancy portfolio piece on the way, but it'll probably be another week or so before I finish.

I'm a whore!

I'm launching a campaign to enter every contest or call for entries that I possibly can. It's part of the grand scheme to become a real illustrator instead of someone who hides away and draws like some kind of hermit monk. Above is my entry for the Buy Art Providence button campaign- Every time you buy a handmade item from a particpating retailer in Providence during the holiday season, you get a cool button that says "I BUY ART". So every year Buy Art Providence picks five button designs to produce and distribute. This year I'd like to be one of the five!

Also, and update: That WFTDA t-shirt design didn't get picked. Oh, well! I will just have to produce and sell the shirt for personal gain now.

Welcoming Committee

Holy Matrimony, Batman!

A wedding portrait commission from one of my derby pals... She's tying the knot this week. Congrats, Rose!

Poppa Chester's proud of you.

Championship bout flyer! Text goes on the right side, but I don't have all the info yet, so I'm not going to get all involved with graphic design just yet. I'm just psyched about the Cheeto-colored tigers... It's rare I get to do something THAT orange.

WFTDA T-shirt Entry!

So, the Women's Flat Track Derby Association is holding a design competition for a new t-shirt to add to their merch arsenal for the 2009 tournament season- Regionals are in September, and nationals a month or two after that. I knocked out a design and submitted it, and hopefully it'll be up for the vote next week! If that's the case I'll be posting the link shortly. Woot!

Stitch and Bitch!

At Waste Not Want Not! Y'all come!

Shameless Promotion

So, my friend London and her army of do-gooders have just procured a retail space for their charity shop project, Waste Not Want Not! All this month they are hosting special events and workshops on selected evenings, one of which is a weekly haggle-fest with local folk hero Violet... Waste Not Want Not is located at:

232 Westminster Street
Providence, RI 02903

I'll be posting other flyers for WNWN as I complete them. I realize that my lack of posts lately could be construed as a dry spell for art-making, but I've been so busy, I swear! It's just that most of my projects can't be posted on the interweb just yet. Boo!

Happy Father's Day!

Honor thy father... or ELSE, SUCKA!!!

Show Me the Money.

Today my new team, the old Money Honeys, goes up against my old team, the Mob Squad, in our first home bout of the season. Hot damn, dude. I hope I don't get skate-raped for being a turncoat!

Happy Mother's Day!

Mr. T pities the fool don't treat his momma right. I, for one, agree with him.

Birthdays, Friends in Need

So, I haven't posted in a while. I've been away most weekends due to roller derby events, and working on other projects during the week. More about this stuff in a future post. I would really like a slow period. Still, I found some time to make a couple of greeting cards- Some friends are going through tough times, and another had a birthday recently. So, hang in there, friends, and happy birthday!

Seasonal Paper Doll?

I am stressed and sad.

Happy Birthday, Whip Tease!

Sketchy New Haven!

This past weekend was nuts! It included a laundry blitz and a whirlwind tour of Connecticut, both courtesy of my man Jeff. Saturday he announced a bout for Pioneer Valley Roller Derby in Enfield- possibly the world's worst derby venue ad most definitely the coldest. I'm sure the Alaskan roller derby thinks to heat the rink.

The next evening he emceed New Haven's first Dr. Sketchy session, organized and produced by the lovely Polly Sonic (http://pollysonic.com/). It was far more heavily attended than Polly thought it would be. The energy was great, and I got some pretty good sketches out of it. I even managed to make an earnest effort the whole way through, unlike the last time I mixed drinking and drawing. You know... The time when I discovered the next morning eight solid pages of poorly executed vaginas. Ha. Anyway, good times had by all!

"Grandma" is Accepted!

SOOO... Back in January Oni Press and WFTDA (Women's Flat Track Derby Association) put out a call for entries for a roller derby comic anthology, intending to pair written stories from WFTDA members (rollergirls, coaches, refs, announcers, managers, etc) with Oni Press artists. I submitted a script, but since I'd always wanted to make a roller derby comic, I took the script and furiously illustrated a 9-page comic just in time to make the deadline. I just found out my story will be included in the book, though in what incarnation I'm not sure. Will they use my comic pages, or will they use just the script? Whatever happens, I'm just really excited they liked my story and super jazzed that Providence Roller Derby will be represented.

(But I seriously hope they use my art. If not, I'll be kind of sad because all the PRD cameos I put in the draft will be wasted!)

Red, White, BLUE, Hello!

I decided today I know much less about Adobe programs than I thought. I may need to take another class or two. Hopefully this will be good enough for the screen printers! Sigh. I'm an okay artist, but a terrible designer. I think I'm getting dumber as time goes by.

Ancient Rome... It's Not Like Home!!!

Season schedule- Text yet to be added. Whew. Painted that shit in two and a half hours. I haul ass when I have to.

Derby 2009

OK, so- Above is my submission for the 2009 season schedule poster. I have since figured out with the help of a friend or two that Roman numerals, while cool-looking and theme-appropriate, will look like gibberish to most people. I have to say at first glance, I'd think it was weird too. The other issue is that instead of four bouts like in my design, there are eight. Would it look the same if there were eight diagonal comet tails attached to the PRD logo? Could you even read them? Ugh. Graphic design is hard.

The next is my proposal for a new Riveters logo. Personally I would keep the old logo- I'm not saying that because I did it... In fact, most of the stuff I did from 2004-05 in terms of branding and logos for PRD are kind of embarrassingly rough. What I really mean is that consistency is the key to establishing an identity. I think that changing the logos every couple of years or so does nothing to establish branding but in fact does the opposite. We'll look like a league that's amorphous and has not only an identity crisis but a high turnover rate. Dukes posted something on the forum a while back to the effect of: Keeping the original logos acknowledges that PRD was here before us and will be here after we're gone. While it's true that an organization is defined by the people who comprise it, I think she's right. As a founding member I'd like to think that the growing pains, difficulties, heartache, and hard work we went through to establish ourselves left a legacy for future skaters. The aesthetic should reflect this also.

Anyway, If I had to do a new logo, the sketch above is the direction in which I'd take it. Once more I've given the Riveters a logo without a single roller skate on it. Partly it's because these logos are almost always used in the context of roller derby and are recognized by the derby world at large and don't need a pin-up girl on skates to drive the point home. I don't want our league to be represented by another pin-up girl on skates. Riveters helped the war efforts by working in munitions and airplane manufactories. That is why the original logo has smokestacks and an airplane. The woman represented in my sketch is not a sex symbol- She's a worker and she made those goddamn planes. My grandmother was a riveter for a short period of time during the war and I'm pretty sure she didn't do it for the outfit.

I'm Not Above It

My Favorite Holiday

Go out there and get some action, superstars! And celebrate those you love.

Sappy Birthday!

I go syruping in my thong ALLLL THE TIME.

Back on the Boat

I started working on the boat again this past week. Mike is working on refitting the holds with some sweet carpentry and Cap'n James is readying the old tub for her haul-out next month. I'm helping out a little with some of that but mostly I'm doing bosun's duties... a.k.a. fiddling with string.
At first it was hard to recognize the ship. She's all shrinkwrapped like she was last year, but this time the masts are gone so I can't see her from the bridge anymore. I actually panicked walking across on my first day back because I thought maybe she was at another dock across town or something. James and Mike think it looks like a kid's clubhouse right now and when Heather mentioned she might stop by, James scrawled a message on the door. I guess I'm officially a woman now, because if I were still a girl I don't think they'd let me in.
Working under the winter cover is pretty durn cold. I dress for work in sooper dooper insulated coveralls that make me feel as if I should be blasting off into space or rolling around in a snowbank like that kid in "A Christmas Story". No workwear company makes these for women so I've got the smallest men's size they can make. Apparently "short" covers men from 5'0"-5'7". James and I totally have matching outfits now, but he looks way better in his suit than I do. Asshole.
...
No, wait, I mean thanks for giving me my job back, James. You're a kind master!

"Grandma" Preview

Whew. So. That's done. I swear I've had Europe's "The Final Countdown" on continuous play in my head for the past few weeks as I've been furiously drawing and inking my roller derby short. My only day off was this past Saturday when I skated with Connecticut Rollergirls as a guest player in their recent expo bout. It was a welcome break to actually skate with cool girls in a bout rather than draw cool girls skating in a bout.
Tomorrow I have to finally leave my house ("Sunlight, hisss! It burns!") to scan and mail the pages with super duper Fed Ex quickness. I think I might still have time for a nap.

Also-- Considering the amount of snot that escapes my nostrils on a regular basis during practice, would it be imprudent to practice with a head cold? Just wondering.

Nanananana ROOSTER!!!

The Doom Song

So, Sarah Doom, the founder of Providence Roller Derby and my first derby mentor, is moving away from Boston to new frontiers. She's also retiring from derby for the time being, so I made this as a keepsake gift from PRD.
I learned a valuable lesson by doing this, and it is: Everything looks better in a frame. Why haven't I figured this out sooner??

Slap-Happy

Advice to men: Don't buy cards that poke fun at a lady's age.

Cue Up The Training Montage!

I've spent too long being a mediocre derby girl. My goal this year is to be at every single practice and train harder between practices. I refuse to be second string material! From here on in my whole life is a training montage.

Small Sketches... last of 2008!

What, oh what have I been doing with my life this past month? Well, I went down to St. Croix like I said I would, but ended up coming back to Providence five months and one week earlier than the six months for which I signed on. Long story short, it didn't work out, and I'm glad to be home. Now it's back to the drawing board, dry land, and the derby track. I will sail again, just not on that particular boat.

Stay tuned for a new 10-page mini comic!