So I was contacted by Random House Australia, and they’re going to be printing Amelia Atwater-Rhodes’ “The Shapeshifters” in Australia/New Zealand. They want to use my work “Dirige” for their covers as well! Hooray!! I’m so happy and excited.

I called the art gallery/business I visited last week, and it seems they still haven’t filled the position. So, here’s to hoping they call me up! *crosses fingers* I’m still looking around at other potential jobs, since I don’t want to hang all my hopes on just one location.

On Sunday, I went down to Miami to spend some time with my parents and my best friend Chris. Sunday night we went to the movies to see ‘Shutter Island’. It was pretty intense. It’s the kind of movie that you need a really strong stomach to watch. I don’t mean in the sense of gore or bloodshed, but some of the subject matter is just… wow… like a punch in the face. I thought it was really great, though. The story was definitely unique and gripping. Now, I’m even more interested in buying the novel it was based on to see what might have been edited in the film.

Right now, the hubby is over at our friend’s house helping her out, since she is very pregnant and has a busted ankle. I would have gone with him, but I just wanted to enjoy being home today. I’ll be going over there tomorrow.

Anyway, I must continue my commission work. Ciao!

Art, Audi, Family, Friends, Fun, Job, Life Art, book cover, chris, Job, miami, shutter island

Yes, yes I am lonely. Why? Cuz my hubby has been away at his dad’s house for the last few days and I want him back. Now, preferably. Thankfully, he just called me and let me know he’s on his way. Yay! While I do enjoy having the bed to myself, I do miss having him in the bed with me. Awww. How romantic. =P

I’ve got some great news. Amelia Atwater-Rhodes and her agent seemed very happy with the book cover, and after fixing just a few minor things, I’ve sent off the (hopefully) final revision. Wee! I’m so excited. Plus, I’m so grateful because we really needed this money. Things are getting tougher every day.

I’ve sent out a BUNCH of resumes and job applications in the last few days, but I’m most excited about this one job in particular. An artist with a studio literally down the street from my apartment needs someone to work in-house with digital photography, Photoshop, event planning, etc. I am planning on going down there tomorrow and dropping off a resume in person to accompany the one I sent via e-mail. I am really hoping that they haven’t gotten someone to fill in the position already. It pays $10/hour, which is excellent considering right now I’m making $0/hour. Haha.

I’ve also entered a contest on deviantart.com being held by a OOAK (One of A Kind) miniature and figurine sculptor. The premise of the contest is to use a photo in her gallery of her dolls and create a digital work with it (meaning a photomanip, digital painting, mixed media, etc). You can see my entry here: Fairytale. I REALLY hope I win, because the prize is either a custom doll, or the cash equivalent once she sells it on eBay. To be honest, I’d rather have the money since I could definitely use it more. Thankfully, the lovely lady holding the contest is understanding of this, and said that if the winner prefers the money, that it would be totally fine. Here’s to hoping I win! *crosses fingers again*

Still busting my butt on those commissions. The hardest part is actually finding the stock. The three ladies I have left to do commissions for had A LOT of demands for their works, so it’s taking longer to finish them. *sigh* But, that’s OK. I don’t mind a challenge.

Anyway, that’s all for now. Now, just gotta wait for my hubby to come home. Ciao!

Art, Audi, Job, Life, Love Art, Audi, book cover, Job, studio

As soon as you think shit has hit the fan, a shining ray of light comes beaming right into your eyeballs.

Random House has contacted me about making another book cover for them, and this time they wanted an original artwork based off of a concept for Amelia Atwater-Rhodes upcoming novel. I’m SO excited, and I feel so truly blessed. I’m so grateful that fate has granted me three book covers with my art on them. I’ve pretty much finished the artwork, but I am just waiting for an OK from the last model. As soon as I get hers, I’ll send the preview along to my contact at Random House, and see what they think.

Valentine’s Day is coming up, and I have a feeling that nothing particularly special is going to happen for it. (Yes, I know I have a hubby to spend it with.) The thing is, he’s never been much for celebrating it. But, we’ll see what happens. Perhaps he’ll surprise me. Hehe. Speaking of which, Audi and I will be driving down to Miami this weekend for Valentine’s Day.  Hooray for visiting the family.

Anyway, that’s all for now. Ciao.

Art, Audi, Love artwork, Audi, book, Family, valentine's day

Oh boy, life has been hella interesting lately. My computer caught a nasty virus. Long story short, I ended up having to just salvage all my important files and wiping the hard drive to install Windows XP again. Much thanks to my amazing and wonderful Audi for helping me out. I LOVE YOU, BEBE!

Now, while the situation might sound really bad, I think it might have been a blessing in disguise. I basically got a brand new computer out of the deal. Sure, I have to now re-download and re-install a lot of programs that I lost, but none of my photos or files were lost. I am now going to be EXTRA careful on the interwebz.

The only downside is that I didn’t have a computer for about a week, so I lost a lot of precious time that could have been spent working on my commissions. I’m right back in the groove now, though, and I’ve been working on the group shot. It’s almost done, actually. Right now I am in the process of finishing up the details. The hair has been the most aggravating part, but I have a feeling they are all really going to love it. Sorry, ladies!!

I’ve applied to work at Publix and at Gamestop. Both are pretty much in walking distance, so if I get a job at either, I’ll at least be earning a steady income. I’m going over to my cousin’s house tomorrow, and she said she’d print out the Job Application Form for Gamestop. I’m mostly visiting though for my grandmother. She’s been missing me a lot and has been asking when I’ll be able to pass by again. Awww. Hehe. So, I’m sure she’ll be very happy to see me tomorrow.

Ohh! And I played the demo for Bayonetta. HOLY MOLY!! That game is the very definition of the word EPIC. Now, I REALLY want to get a job just so I can have enough money to buy the game. Haha. So nice to see I have my priorities straight, huh? Forget the light bill and the rent and food… THE GAME. Haha. I’m nuts, huh?

Anyway, I am off to work on those commissions some mo’. Ciao!

Art, Audi, Family, Job Art, Audi, Bayonetta, commissions, computer, virus

Yes, indeed it was a very busy day today. I woke up around 11am. Of course, this was after taking a 3-hour nap, being awake for 7 hours, then taking another 3 hour nap right after… Heh. My sleep schedule is fucked, I know. I installed the part I’d bought from my friend Dave, and… the car still accelerates on its own! Apparently, changing the mass air sensor did NOT fix the problem. So, that means that it might be a vaccum leak, or a problem with the fuel injector. I really don’t know anymore. My uncle suggested just taking the

My hubby and I also finally ran those errands that we’d been putting off for days. He sent some Magic cards to a friend in Miami, and I sent a package to a buddy of mine that I know through deviantart.com. She had bought a Fella doll (Fella is the site mascot and they sell stuffed toys of him on the site) and sent it to me. I in turn would send it to her for MUCH cheaper shipping than what deviantart charges. I only paid $11 to send it to her in Romania, whereas deviantart charges almost $60!! It’s highway robbery.

Thank goodness though… we have less things to stress over now.

Our friends Arthur and Ellen invited us out to the local county fair. We drove over to their house and then we all went together in their SUV. The fair was actually a lot of fun, and nothing like the fairs I am typically used to. I didn’t get any souvenirs or anything, unless you count the ticket stub. We also didn’t ride anything; we mostly just went for the sites and the food. They were also giving the H1N1 vaccine for free in one of the main buildings, so all of us except Ellen got the vaccine (she’d already received it previously). Considering the vaccine costs $20 and the entrance was $15, we basically got a $5 discount on the vaccine shot. LOL.

I put up a new website layout a few days ago, and I also re-arranged some of the information and images on different pages. It was time for some clean-up and TLC. I figured now would be the best time to do it, since I am going to be very busy in the next few weeks with commissions.

I also put up all the prints that I’d gotten through deviantart up on my walls. I made a sort of mini-gallery right behind my computer. You can see it below:

My goal now is to get even more prints so that I can make the collection more impressive.

I can’t think of anything else to discuss, so… ciao!

Art, Audi, Entertainment, Friends, Fun, Life

So I wrote all this in my deviantART journal, but I figured it would be good to post this all here, too. A lot of good news coming my way, and here’s to hoping this year is just as eventful and fruitful as 2009.

 I was contacted by a metal band from Nottingham, UK called Martyr Defiled about doing the art for their upcoming August CD release. They want the front cover, back cover, a 12-page booklet, and the front and back design for the CD. I’ve already sent them my price, so here’s to hoping they say Yes.

I’ve been in Miami since Sunday visiting my family, and while I had plans with one of my best friends that got canceled, it actually turned out OK, anyway. A friend of mine and some of her gal pals want some very witchy portraits done of them. So, what I’ll figure I’ll do is create a series out of it. I’ll be going over to my friends house on Wednesday to take all their photos.

I got the part I needed to fix my car. Thankfully, a good friend of mine who works at NAPA Auto Parts was able to get the part for half the price I found it for everywhere else: $50. Now, I can finally have a working car!

Someone bought my 2010 calendar recently, and it allowed me enough money in my deviantART.com dollars to buy the very last Birthday Gold t-shirt available in Women’s Large. Now, large is too big on me, since I’m a small/medium up top. My mom can just make it smaller for me, so it’s no big deal.

Art, Family, Friends, Job, Life

I can’t think of a title, so… that’s the best I got.

So we’re in the new year, whoop-dee-doo. Same shit, different year, I say. It’s becoming harder and harder to get a job, especially where I live. It doesn’t help that my car is still out of commission until I fix it. Thankfully, my uncle came by the other day and checked out my car. He found what the problem was… an over $100 problem. I’m hoping that our friend who works at an auto parts place can get the part for cheaper. Once we get that, the car should be good as new.

I’ve been really active on deviantart.com lately, and I recently received Senior status. Senior status is given to those artists on the site who have given a lot back to other artists, have created exceptional work, or have just been a driving force and powerful influence in the community. I was shocked and honored to have gotten it. However, every positive is balanced with a negative, it seems. I entered a contest run by the site’s staff for the new videogame that’s coming out soon, Darksiders: Your Last Days. I was quite disappointed with the entries that were chosen. In fact, I was completely dumbstruck. Some of the entries had almost nothing to do with the actual theme, or were poorly done, or could have been replaced with MUCH stronger entries. Even my hubby, who is brutally honest… even to the point that he says things sometimes that hurt my feelings, agreed with me. Whatever, is all I can say.

I just finished another commission recently, and I’ll be uploading it to my website soon. It came out pretty damn cool, considering I used all my own stock and painted a lot of it.

I’m still hungry, so I’m gonna go get a late night snack. Ciao.

Art, Life, Rants Art, commission, contest, darksiders, new year

My car is pretty much kaput until I can take it to a mechanic. And since I don’t really have the funds for a mechanic, it’s basically sitting out in front of my apartment, collecting bird poop and falling leaves. Hooray. The problem with it is that it accelerates on its own. After much research through forums and websites, it turns out the problem could be one of many things; the fuel injector is malfunctioning and giving too much power, or the Cruise Control is stuck, or a vacuum hose is leaking, etc etc etc… All I know is, I’m not a frigging mechanic.

I’ve been doing some cheap commissions lately, since we really kind of needed some income badly. I don’t regret turning down that job with Olan Mills, because I know I would have HATED getting up just to go stand at the front of K-Mart to convince people to buy photos. No thanks. Let the little old lady who’s retired and bored and had her interview right before mine have THAT job. So, basically, here’s how the commission prices go:

Commissions for <b>$5</b>:
- Photo retouching (Using a photo of you, your friend(s), or a loved one and making it look professionally taken; Image MUST BE High-Res.)

Commissions for <b>$10</b>:
- Portraits (Using a photo of you, your friend(s), or a loved one and making it special; Image MUST BE High-Res)
- Digital Art Piece (A simple digital work in a style of your choosing; dark, surreal, fantasy, etc…)
- Tattoo Designs (If you’ve got an idea for a tattoo, I’ll draw it out for you.)

Commissions for <b>$15-$20</b>:
- Uber Portraits (Using a photo of you, your friend(s), or a loved one and making it extra special; Image MUST BE High-Res)
- Specialized Digital Art Piece (A work based off of your own personal idea or concept, done in my style)

So, if anyone’s interested, just email me at neugotisch(a)hotmail.com. I’ve added three of my latest commissions to my website, in case anyone is interested in seeing what kind of results you’ll be getting.

As far as personal stuff, things are fine. I’m going to be heading down to Miami for Christmas, and I hope that these last few days of the year are kind to both me and Audi (as well as everyone else, of course).  I seriously can’t believe a DECADE is so close to ending. Cripes, where does the time go?

Anyway, I guess that’s all for now. Ciao.

Art, Audi, Family, Friends, Life Art, Audi, christmas, commissions