Sakura-Con 2014 - PREPARE!

Lately, I've had TWO HUGE projects on my plate. And as of tonight, I'm done with ONE of those projects (at least, done until the second project is over). And that one huge-but-now-completed project?

PREPARING FOR SAKURA CON.

I've dedicated this last week to wrapping up all the art, designing, and ordering necessary to be prepared for the Con coming up in April (the weekend after the wedding reception for my brother, which is the OTHER huge project I'm working on - I know, right?!). I'm exhausted and excited.

Oh! So here's my latest piece JUST COMPLETED yesterday - inspired by the movie Spirited Away:

It was a massive struggle and didn't turn out how I had planned, but I'm really happy with how it did turn out (and the fact it turned out at all, to be honest!). It was the last piece of art I planned to have complete for Sakura Con and I feel like it's a strong addition to my collection.

I also updated several of my pieces to prep them for printing - including changing this piece up a bit so that the message I wanted to capture is literally part of the art now:

The shape of the crop and the yellow/purples of the text/boxes was, funnily enough, inspired by the fact this Con is always over Easter weekend (the colors I picked feel Easter-y to me and the oval crop shape was me thinking about an egg). I like the spring feel and the overall lightness visually that the crop and text ended up giving it.

I also designed/ordered new bookmarks to bring - they were a big hit last year!

My little prints of Ludo from the movie Labyrinth sold really well last year (surprisingly!), so I took a chance on creating a Labyrinth-themed bookmark with him on it (third from the bottom for those who don't have a clue what I'm talking about). Even if NONE of them sell I love how it turned out and will personally use my stock of them to mark my own books ;-)

It's a weight off my shoulders to have all this stuff taken care of and at the printers. Fingers crossed everything prints well.

Now my plans are to sorta relax tomorrow, allow myself to do a couple of fun things, and switch gears so I can really get into reception planning. I'll probably do some shopping for the reception decoration supplies I need, but other than that I'm going to force myself to take some time off or I know I'm going to burn myself out.

Phew. I'm going to bed.

~m.d.

Spirited Away © Disney