Merry Christmas

Well, in keeping with the Manger theme, I wanted to share our love of pets with our Christmas E-card this year!

Hope everyone has had a good year and best wishes for a great year in 2008!

Regan and Co.

My Hobby

Sorry I haven't posted (again) in a while, but the holidays are demanding. To relieve some stress and save some sanity, I've delved into an interest I've been nurturing for the last year which is terrarium building. (Since they'll be live animals living in them, you could call them vivariums)

Here are some photos of the first one I finished, a 10 gallon tank I turned on it's side and fitted with 5 living plants and a striated substrate system for drainage.

The top photo's our new little addition, Caprese (Kha-PREE-zee), and he's a Tomato Frog from Madagascar (though bred here in Texas). Right now he's the size of a very small cherry tomato, and he's bunking with the gold dust day gecko Klondike, who is also from Madagascar. They're both getting used to the their new home and doing OK so far. An interesting thing about Tomato Frogs is that they are beginning to disappear in the wild (no, not due to pet stores). Frogs are good barometers of an ecosystem, ie. if there are frogs things are ok, and if not there may be some ecological problems afoot. The species in serious jeopardy is a subspecies or cousin to the kind I have, and it could mean someday that the species may exist solely in captivity, which would be sad, but then they still discover species every day on that island, so I guess some disappear at the same rate without ever being found.

Well, that's part of the reason I've been neglectful in my blogging duties. I will be doing a year in recap around Christmas, so tune back in!

New LBKF Cover!

See the difference? Bunny's hopping instead of standing on guard! So this could be the new cover for the next few thousand book :)

Something to be Thankful For

Wow! Thanksgiving is upon us, and I'm happy to report some great news to be thankful for!

Little Bunny Kung Fu's been discovered by Borders Bookstore and they have chosen me for their "Original Voice" Award.

Here's a blurb about the award:

The Award --- consisting of a $5,000 cash prize --- recognizes "innovative and ambitious" new books and music from emerging artists, and will be presented in January to one winner in each of five categories.

Children's books is a category, and I'll be the Feb pick, so I guess Jan 09 I may win (fingers crossed).

I'm just thrilled to be going into my second major printing. I'll be tweaking the cover a little to make it a little less serious (a chance for me to include some things I've wanted to have in the first cover). They've got an order for 4500 so far! Hopefully the other big bookstores will want in on some LBKF, too, now.

I'll report when I find out more. I'm just so blown away. My own personal belief is that God is love, so when that book buyer fell in love with my book, I've got God to thank for that. Man, Life's a hoot!

Ebony and Tawny

(can be sung to the tune of Ebony and Ivory)

Ebony and Taw-ny
Live together in not quite
Harmony

Side by side
on our sofa, with Mike, Oh no,
Where is Rhi?!

*muzak to follow*


Mike with Latka, the pomeranian we're petsitting... been a little bumpy, but tonight, a reprieve.

My Birthday Wish

Yes, another year rolled by on the odometer this week, and my wish?

That People Stop Talking Through Movies in Theaters!!!

Now, that makes me sound petty, but I'm serious, it's pandemic here in Austin. And it's not like the talking in movies that I occasionally came across growing up. I don't know if Netflix or home movie watching is changing the etiquette of how people watch movies in public, but I'm paying money I worked hard for in one of my 3 jobs, and I didn't pay for the Dumbass Commentary to be playing in the seats behind me, thankyouverymuch.

What's it come to? Am I supposed to field the occupants of the seats behind us: "Hi, yes, we don't know each other, but would you say you like to run your mouth through films?" Or, Mike suggests, we make our own signs that golf officials use in tournaments "Quiet please" and then don't put them down to they do what it says (has potential).

As it is, we've already given the mindless masses the weekends and early shows, knowing that either infants or chair climbing toddlers are going to ruin it for us. So we go to the art house theaters, or a late show and crawl into bed after midnight, all because we just want to watch a movie on the big screen without someone's verbal flatulence wafting our way.

There. Is the birthday fairy listening?! Yeesh.

ps Gone Baby Gone is a great movie, just de-select the Clueless Old Ladies Commentary when you go see it.

Sorry, Mom!

Scroll down quick, Mom! Don't look!

Yes, apparently Mike and I going to a reptile Expo is a bit like an alcoholic going to Mardi Gras, though in our defense, we did leave more than we took home with us! *drum kick*

Ok, ok, there's a backstory about the hognose snake: We've been in the market for nearly 5 years. What stood in our way was that the southern and eastern hognose species were picky eaters and preferred lizards and frogs over the much easier to find frozen mice. So we had passed on the cute hognose, but then we talked to some reptile breeders who said while the other species of hognoses were finicky, the western variety is hardier and will eat mice, especially if it's only had mice. So we named our hognose Dexter, after the Showtime show by the same name that we love.

Fun facts about Hognoses (c'mon, Mom, you might like these!)

• Part of the Heterodon family of snakes, they're also called "Blow Snakes" or "Puff Adders" because when confronted, the snake flattens out his neck into a hood and hisses loudly like a cobra.
• If this doesn't work, some try to feint a strike, but since they're rear fanged, they don't actually bite (their fangs are designed to deflate frogs), so it's a bluff.
• And, best of all, if that doesn't work, they play dead. And they go all out, on their backs, belly up, mouth open and tongue out in the "Q" sign! If you turn them back over, they'll just roll back over and play dead some more. Pretty funny, huh? Dexter hasn't done any of these because he's been handled so much, but I imagine one day we'll catch him off guard.
  

Another TX Book Festival!

I'm having one of those "It's been a year already?!" days, where I realize how fast time flies. Seems like yesterday I was going to my first TX book festival and seeing Little Bunny Kung Fu early that Saturday morning for the first time, and trying not to lose it in front of the publisher, when inside I was caught between crying and shrieking.

Today was my third festival, and people came up to me while I was signing to tell me how they'd bought my book the year before and that it'd been a big hit (always fun to hear). We also heard that some signed books bought the year before brought in some big money for silent auctions they were featured in, which is great! And I'd say about a quarter of my sales today were repeat customers, one lady who almost kept the first book I'd signed for her last year, but I'd signed it to "Monica" so this year the book was for her! Those were fun folks to talk to, and they are all excited to see my next book(s) next year.

I will say, not be negative, but the TX book festival didn't get the advertising/buzz it had in years past. Jenna Bush and Kristin Gore were the headliners, but Jenna had a book signing in town just a few weeks ago. I think attendance was down today, too, but then it would when it wasn't advertised like before. I hope it's not a downward trend, because it is fun, and people really do want the festival. People from Corpus Cristi drive all the way in for it.

Well, now if feels like the holidays are upon us with the festival behind me. Whew! That year went FAST!

Happy Halloweiner!

Check out my Comic!

Yeah! I finally got the comic I worked on last weekend (19 hours straight, sorry, still sorta raw), and it's on my first official webcomic site:

http://www.webcomicsnation.com/regan/

It takes a little poking around to figure out how to navigate. Look for the "You are Here" box under the comments box (feel free to comment!). Once you see the You are Here field you can go from whatever my last page was and got to the beginning (Chapter 1). After you read the previous pages, the idea is that you'd bookmark the site (please do!), and when you check back in the newest page will be waiting for you.

After you activate the page you on by hitting "Go" or scrolling up to whatever page you want, there are some traditional buttons like forward, back, first, and last you can also use to move around. You'll get the hang of it (I mean, if I could anyone can!)

Hope you like it! :) I"ll be adding more on Monday's and we'll see where it goes.

Cover for Comic

(click on to enlarge) So here's the cover at least. Daz and Phyl are the main characters, and the rest are co-stars. Lea Hernandez, (a real life working comic), complimented my artwork at one point. She was doing a cool clay-mation project that looked really intricate. Hope I get to see it sometime. I'm playing with color, but it sort of loses something, so I may keep it black and white. Dunno yet...

Whew! The Recap!

The "Black-out" period is over, and I made it to my day job today. Man! That Sunday, I slept 10 hours, and those are day hours. Then Monday my allergies rose up against me and I got the pendulum swing from feeling on top of the world to feeling like crapolla. I've more or less evened out now, but it's a lesson that I shouldn't push myself that far unless it's for a good and/or crazy cause like 24 hour comic day.

The sad part: I didn't finish it within the official 24 period. I went 19 straight hours and my body began to fall apart. My drawing hand's nerves short circuited and I still have a tingly thumb that's not quite right yet. My eyes started seeing double from staring at my laptop monitor. And finally, while I didn't get sleepy, my brain did begin to act like a really slow processor with several virus's.

The upside: I WILL finish and post the comic here and at the webcomics.net account I've opened but haven't officially started yet. I really did like the story and it's open to continue as a weekly comic. I feel a webcomic will do me good, keep me honest and creating.

The other cool thing was somewhere in those 19 hours I gave an interview to Sean at Prism Comics. I'm a featured "Lovely Lady of 24 Hour Comics Day." Prism Comics is a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting the work of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered (LGBT) creators in the comics industry, as well as LGBT themes in comics in general. The comic I came up with has a same-sex pair of frogs living in the terrarium with all the other frogs, and that's part of why Prism interviewed me. Here's a link: http://www.prismcomics.org/display.php?id=1493

The underlying theme of "Darting Around" my dart frog comic, is that we all have to learn to share the world and get along and that no one group should think they're superior to the rest.

Now, I just have to finish the darn thing!

6 hours to go...

I don't think I'll finish in the timeline. That's not a real big deal, and there are lots of others in the same boat. The deal is I don't want to sacrifice the quality just to get it done. I'll be plenty impressed with myself if I just work for 24 hours.

I'm on page 14 artwork wise, but Photoshop started crapping out on text and may need to be re-installed, so getting the type/dialog done is iffy.

My brain's just turning to mush. Been listening to some comedians, Stephen Colbert's new book has made me laugh out loud, but it's so late that no one thinks much of it.

I'm not sleepy, which is weird at 6:16 am in the morning, having worked nonstop for 16 hours. Yeesh! I'm nuts.

Ok, on I go...

Half time

Well, half way there. And, wow... my body's not quite obeying my brain. Sorta approximating what it was told to do, but not to the letter.

My computer programs are also trying to wuss out. I'm going to push on and hope they straighten themselves out.

Gave an interview to a reporter... Can't wait to read what I said, 'cuss I have NO idea what I rambled on about!

However, I'm pretty darn proud of my little froggies. Wish they were here in person to take care of the occasional mosquito that buzzes me.

Back to work...

7 hours in

Huff, huff, huff... Ok, we have lift-off. Working on finish pages. Thinking I'm not getting to color during the challenge, but I'll come back and do it. Funny how time slips away working on logistical matters, like page size, margins, ruler guides.

I'm not sure uploading images will work from here, so sorry it's boring. I'll get a kick out of what I write later.

*insert Eye of the Tiger music*

22 hours left

still thumbnailing, but the story's coming together. The trick is knowing the end point before you run out of pages. And Eric points out if you have an extra page, it's a great opportunity for a Hostess Cupcake ad.

:)

24 hour day

well, it's started! I'm thumbnailing the comic now, and hopefully will start real pages in the next hour. The place is pretty full, and we're quietly working.

So far so goood!

24 Hour Comic Challenge

Well, I'm officially signed up for an international event that Austin is participating in called 24 Hour Comic Day (http://24hourcomics.com/). Artists start at 12:00 noon October 20th and go for 24 straight hours to create 24 pages of a finished comic to be turned in at noon October 21st. Nuts, isn't it! That may not sound like much, but it's the equivalent to a triathlon in cartooning terms. And the other fun part is you come up with it on the spot, and I'm purposefully not working on a storyline because I want it to be spontaneously caught on that day. I do think I'll base it on poison dart frogs because I've been researching them, and they're fresh in my mind (and fun to draw). What they'll do or talk about is anyone's guess!

Another fun part will be seeing other artists banging out their work alongside me. The Austin Museum of Art is hosting it and will provide space, snacks, and security during the wee small hours. How long has it been since I've been to a lock in?! (Actually... several of us in my major at Baylor would hide when they closed the art building, wait for the cleaning staff to lock up and leave then we'd pull an all nighter in the printshop and darkroom. That was a blast! Sneaking around with flashlights and code signals. Though mixing developing fumes with alcohol is not advisable!)

So think of me on the 20th, going all iron man on a comic that I promise to share here. The best of the best get published in an anthology, too, so who knows!

Our Crazy Bunch!

(Click to enlarge!)

So, I love a good parody, and this is our Brady Bunch tribute. I actually got the idea from a frame I bought at target that had little windows around a larger center one, and it made me think of the opening to the show. Funny, I had the perfect number of critters for all the frames! I also realized the ratio of warm to cold blooded is at a tie currently. I think my favorite drawing of my critters is either the Tokay's terrifying open mouth display (something we see when we try to mess with him) and Cooper the chinchilla chewing a bit of the frame. Just a little fun for me, and now I have a new wallpaper for my desktop!

Meet 'n Greet with Teachers

These are the 2 sides of a three-folded brochure I made for the event on Friday (the bottom is the outside with the far right the "cover"). Hopefully you can click on the images and see what they say. The event went well, and I hope to hear back from some teachers. I do like talking to kids about what I'm doing, since I had to learn on the go. It makes sense since the books are for them, so why not tell them about how they're made?

New Studio

Jim Henson's Fantastic World

This is an imperfect scan of a collage I did of our trip to the Muppet exhibit at the Arkansas Art Center. It was AMAZING! Part of that may be the nostalgia I have for the Muppets, but it's also a professional awe for a man who did so much to bring out the child in adults and kids alike. The Quote I had to whip out my sketch book and write down is this:
I don't know exactly where ideas come from... It's just a matter of us figuring out how to receive the ideas waiting to be heard.
-Jim Henson
The drawings shown our my sketches of his sketches, and that cracks me up! Mike, Ryan and me had a blast.

The Big Sis

Thought I'd share this on my baby bro's birthday! Hysterical, no? Now, it's been a few years, so the details are fuzzy... Ryan's crying and I appear to be holding a switch! Coincidence? And why do I look so put out if I did whack him with the twig? Not macho enough, there, Ryan? heehehhehhe! Love ya, bro!

Bro's Birthday!

Ryan, or Spencer Ryan going by his stage name, is another year older. He scored mundo points for finding out and telling Mike and I about the Jim Henson art exhibit at the Arkansas Art Center, and we three all went and checked it out last weekend.

So Happy Birthday!

Man's best friend!

Birthday photos!

(click on the image to see it enlarged, he's even cuter!) This was a small celebration today. Enzo got two birthday biscuits from the gourmet doggie bakery down the street. He also got a gorilla squeaky, a red backpack for trails this fall, and a life vest for going out on the lake this weekend with my folks up in Arkansas. He loved his presents and the attention, and new somehow what we were unwrapping was all for him. At 18.3 pounds, he's a real armful of love!

Enzo is 1!

I had to do a watercolor of Enzo and the party I'd love to have thrown him. From Left to Right, that is Georgia (not Twosers as a ghost!) a Korean Jindo dog who Jill would dogsit and Enzo would torment (she'd growl and play with Enzo at the same time, really funny). Next is Ladka, the pomeranian and then Kicki and Buddy, Jill's two Italian Greyhounds (Kicki is holding an old fashion ear trumpet because Jill thinks she's gone deaf). My parents two Cavalier King Charles Spaniels, Elle and Lucy, are next after Enzo, and then I had to have party pooper, so Ryan's cat Franklin crashed it!

At the Codfish Ball

Ok, again with the cute, but that's what the 1:2.5 ratio is all about! And if nothing else, I'm enjoying drawing kids, which before I think I could count on one hand how many illustrations of children I'd done that weren't commissions.

On a personal note, this is me when I was 6 years old dressed as a codfish and dancing in a recital to the song "Codfish Ball." All I remember are the words to the chorus:
Come along and follow me
To the bottom of the sea
We'll join in the Jamboree
At the Codfish ball

In the Box!

Ok, I know this cat girl is borderline cavity inducing cute, but bear with me. The reason I'm posting it is because it's the first totally digital drawing I've made in any program that didn't get deleted about 8 seconds after it's creation. This image wasn't drawn on paper and scanned the way I usually work. I drew this out in Manga Studio, a computer program, and by jove, I could actually draw and work with it. The scary thing is that while going through the tutorial, it said to "draw something," and this came out! I mean, what, am I not catering to my inner cutie patootie or something? So while this little sketch won't be one I brag about, privately I'll be going "Hey, I don't have to delete this!"

Chibis

Well, I've been reading more about Manga in preparation for working on Nor again. I found it interesting that the ratio of head to body determines the audience of readers. For instance this 1:1 ration (the head's as big as the rest of the body) is considered a 'chibi' and is used for cutout illustrations and children's illustration. Keeping proportions in mind should help me in my own work (I hope).

I embroider!

So sorry I haven't posted on my beloved blog. Just been busy and life's been hectic, but I'm back on the blog wagon now!

This is a sushi design I drew and embroidered on a Tshirt last weekend. I got a book, and it was fun to work on. I'll post some more soon, and will continue to share... I promise!

faun dancing in the woods

Well, this faun's had several lives, first pencil, then colored pencil, then digital. I like the silkscreen look of this and will have to keep playing with it. Hopefully I'll have a few more fantasy pieces to add when I update the website.

Camp Lizard

Finishing up Camp Lizard, and this is the Author Picture for me. I like the roughness of it, looks more personal.

Our Summer Vacation 2007

(click on to enlarge) So here's the collage I made of our trip to California. We saw Disneyland, the Getty, the San Diego Zoo, the inside of lots or great eateries, our family, and even more food! *Note: Caricatures are not true to life! hehehe!

Our Summer Vacation: Star Watching

Got to see Ryan, my brother the actor, in LA after we went through the Getty. He took us to a great pub and then out to a cool bar called the Golden Gopher. He had great stories about the city and movies. We had fun being his entourage for a night :)

Our Summer Vacation: Tink's a dude!

So we were walking around Disneyland about the time of the fireworks display, and Tinkerbell comes zipping down the cable in front of the castle. We were walking through the crowd and someone said, "Hey, they're using the dude Tinkerbell tonight." Apparently, so the people in the cheap seats can see, Tink needs to be a little more stocky than one would think!

Our Summer Vacation: Hillcrest

Ok, so why is there a giraffe in drag? Well, while walking to the restaurant in Hillcrest, an artsy part of San Diego, we passed a homeless transvestite eating a hotdog and holding a knock off Louis Vuitton handbag. Classic! Also that piece of pie was evil and decadent, chocolate mousse and creamy icing and, hand to God, orchid flowers for decoration on top!

Our Summer Vacation: Finding Nemo

The other times we've been to Disneyland, the submarine ride had been shut down. Not this year! It's back now as a Finding Nemo ride, and the wait during the day was like over 2 hours (yikes!). We love the movie and we had to ride this thing, so we formed a strategy. We got in line right before the park closed because we asked and they will finish the line before shutting it off. We only waited a little over an hour, and it was worth it! I don't know how they projected the images, but peering through the portholes, it looked like Nemo and friends were really swimming in the water in front of you. Very cool!

Our Summer Vacation: We saw Seals!

We went sailing on Tom's knock-about sailboat and saw seals hopping on and off the red buoy. Lauren told me several times on the trip that pelicans "smell kind of funny."

Our Summer Vacation: Lauren and Will

Here's Lauren losing her shoe so her prince will chase her down and see if it fits! Will behind them I remembered was infatuated with the Dirt Devil vacuum cleaner. And a Dutch Baby is a glorious specialty breakfast item that takes 45 min. to prepare and worth it x3!

Our Summer Vacation: Me and Mike

So I started doodling images from our trip, and it turned into a bigger collage of drawings. I rediscovered prismacolor pencils (which I'll write on later, heehee). So this is a caricature of Mike and I, me with my Pirates of the Caribbean Mouse ears, and Mike with his fancy camera. Mike has about 80 various Golf related baseball caps. I haven't gone back to check if this hat I drew actually exists or not.

Summer Show

This year for my summer Art Show, I'm going to frame some watercolors of my San Diego Zoo trip. I did some "live" drawing and painting on site, and Mike took some wonderful photos with his digital SLR camera. I think I may be able to find some patrons for these, and I enjoyed painting them. For my own personal show I do try to find something I really like to work on, since the rest of the year I may be obligated to work on other projects not exactly of my choosing. So, I can't go wrong with the Zoo!

California Trip!

Haven't had time to get our pictures downloaded, but Mom and Dad 2 sent this one, and I hadn't blogged in so long, I felt something needed to go up. We had a great time, and Lauren and Will are the cutest niece and nephew to be found (IMHO)!

Where to find Love!

(clickon to enlarge)
Enzo's such a lover, I had to share where he gets kisses and luvin' around town!

Scalliwags!

Me and my scurvy dog!

I did a pirate storytime and had to pose with my lil buckaneer! Mike found it all kind of creepy, heehee...

Enzo with our pets

(Click on to enlarge!)

Knitting with Enzo

Knitting with Enzo

1. First I must be measured

2. I must not play tug with the knitting

3. I have to try on lots of different sweater outfits

4. Watch out for my tongue!

5. I must not try to take take off the outfits!

Emma Test

This is Emma, a Yellow Mongoose featured in the picture book I'm working on. And I just love her and her freaky red eyes! Yellow mongooses actually have red eyes like her's, and since she's at first mistaken for a ferret from behind, when she turns and flashes these peepers, no one'll mistake her for a ferret!

Looking forward to working more on the book!

Night out on the town!

I know two little scamps who got out sometime last night and went tearing around our miniature Springfield, and they're names are Topsy and Turvy, our 2 sugar gliders!

Mike hears something and goes into the studio and they're both out and on top of their cage and they have that moment in Pulp Fiction where Bruce Willis finds John Travolta in his apartment. Then they fly off and Mike has to yank me out of bed to help catch them so he can go to work. We're unsure how they managed their day pass to Bart Simpson land, but we can only imagine what they made of a world built their size full of yellow people.

Happy Mother's Day!

It's Mother's Day and I in honor of my Mom, I thought I'd share a funny story. When I was 8 I got a parakeet named Binky (This watercolor is a parakeet, but it looks like Bonnie - Binky was blue). Mom was so excited for me, she'd wrapped up a box of bird food for me to open at the skating birthday party I'd had. She'd hidden the bird in the guest bathroom in the days before the party. When I got home I was so engrossed with Binky, I checked on him on and off all day and into the evening.

Right before bed I looked under the blanket one last time to see my new pet, and he only had one leg! In true kid fashion, I went crying to my Mommy (even though Dad was a doctor and maybe better qualified for a medical bird emergency!). Mom followed me back to my room and we uncovered Binky's cage and we looked on the bottom of the cage for the missing foot.

And then Binky wokeup and his missing foot came down from under his feathers and looked at us like we'd lost our minds!

We laughed about it, but I always remembered I could go to my Mom when the world doesn't make sense.

Love you, Mom!
(all pet's legs accounted for!)

Mom informs me of possible sibling...

Mom's watching Dancing with the Stars and had to pause and count on one hand just how many sons did she have back in the seventies, hee hee! This speed skater guy, Apolo Anton Ohno is a dead ringer for my brother Ryan (or Spencer if you go by his cool stage name). I thought this was funny since everyone thought I looked like Nancy Karigan's sister way back when. What's with us and skaters?!

red crowned crane

This is a Japanese Red Crowned Crane. It is the second rarest crane in the world, and it's symbolic of luck and fidelity in Asia. The San Antonio Zoo has a pair of these and they are so magestic and beautiful. The background is a snow landscape which is where they do their mating courtship dance shown here. The red chop in the corner stands for longevity.

Tawny Afternoon

Well, I enjoyed working on this little guy. He's going on sale tomorrow in a small show in Westlake. Mama needs a new pair of shoes!

Us at Fredericksberg

This was taken in a garden in town. Enzo got lots of attention and was a big hit with the ladies. Too bad such a chick magnet is being wasted and a happily married couple... right, honey? *poke*

Family Visit Pics

Notice the the barely held back punch! Hey, it wasn't my idea to climb a huge rock! The view was amazing, and Enzo did great. We want to go back!No, we didn't climb up to Mars, it just looks like it... and felt like it!

Some parts were really steep, like 45 degree angle steep!

Dad2 took this picture standing, not on his belly or some weird position, that's just the grade of the hill.