Last week, I was hired to do a promotional image for Scurry & Cover – the webcomic I’ve been doing mini comics for – and this is the result. C:
You guys might see advertisements featuring this artwork around the internet in the near future~!!

It’s a bit different than my usual. I think it’s my first time doing an abstract background like that in Manga Studio, especially for a CG-style character. Also, I tried to keep it cute and modern with a bit of traditional Japanese influence. It was fun to work on a coloured image of Nozomi for a change!

Another mini comic was uploaded to the www.scurry.ink site!
You can also now like the official Facebook page! :D

Thanks for looking everyone and have a great week! <3333

Last year, I started a contract to draw mini comics for Scurry & Cover, and the project has finally launched!!

The main comic (drawn by somebody else) updates with a full chapter every 2 months.
In between those two months, the mini comics I’ve drawn will be uploaded every Sunday!

The first chapter and first mini comic is already up, and it’s free to read, so give them a try and check back every Sunday!!! :3

Thank you everyone and enjoy! C:

And… happy New Years too, I guess XD; This is my first post of the year, oops! Sorry for the inactivity, I should have more to upload soon though.

…Even the shooting stars won’t catch up to us!

Part of my Christmas gift to my awesome adorable spectacularly cute wonderful lovely sister, Siobhan :devdashofcreativity:. :’D

Back in November, she introduced me to one of her all-time Vocaloid songs, “Skyfish”. It was adorable, showed a cute relationship, Rin and Len bickered, had themes of space, dreams, growing up… also, Len literally says Bananafish in the song. The fact that it’s one of her all-time favourite Vocaloid songs – and therefore, songs in general – meant a LOT too.

Another thing she told me about the song, was that it was severely unpopular. On NicoNico Douga (Japan’s equivalent to YouTube), the song has only 17,000 views. That’s not a lot when you think that there’s Vocaloid songs with millions of views…

So I jokingly told her that, for the Kagamine’s birthday/anniversary of creation, I would make “an awesome picture and tell everybody to listen to it so it would become more popular”. Little did she know, I would actually create it, and it would become a poster her Christmas present. :’D So, please give the song (linked below) a listen for us!

Merry Christmas, Siobhan and Happy Birthday Kagamines!!

Hey everyone!

I wasn’t sure if I should post this, but… last weekend I donated my weight in food to the local food bank. C: I took some of my savings from Ai-kon and bought food when it was on sale so that I could get a good amount of it to donate. I actually wish I could have done more, so many people are in need right now that it’s scary, but I’m planning to eventually donate again! Either another large donation, or maybe many small ones over time, depending on what the future holds.

Thanks for reading and happy holidays! <3

Hello everybody! Having a good weekend? : )

I’m finally finished my art book picture for Melon Berry Tea: Summer Showers, so here’s the final preview of it! I had some trouble with it, but overall I really like how it turned out. <333 This was my sketch and this was my line art/base colours.

I have reached the top tier for donations, so I’ll be making a tutorial/walkthrough for the book, as well as a personal page and bookmark! Yaaay!! :D

I still have quite a ways to go until I finish saving up for my post-secondary education, but thank you to all that have donated and offered support so far! I had no idea that I’d get so much support through this, it’s overwhelming in the best way possible. THANK YOU! *hugs* ♥ ♥ ♥

I may have reached the top goal for the project, but like I said before, I still have a ways to go until I reach my own goal of paying for my post-secondary education. I’m actually hoping to save up for it completely before attending, so that I don’t have to pay student loans. I’m not the only one that needs donations, either – other artists participating could use the help too!

Click here to visit the MBT donation page!

The deadline for donating has been moved from end of October to sometime in January, but a lot of artists could still use a boost! Any donation, be it $2, $10 or $50 can really make a difference. Can’t donate? Advertising the artbook is a great help too!

For more information, please read my post about the book here!

Thanks again everybody, and have an awesome weekend!!

Hello! I just wanted to post a quick notice today. C:

I have changed my deviantART username from “artigirl” to “DesignsBySloan”.

Why? Because I wanted my social media accounts to be more consistent; I wanted my username to have my actual name “Sloan”; and I thought something more professional would be nice too.

For those who are not familiar with dA:

• I’m on the exact same account, it’s only been renamed.
• Old links/URLs such as artigirl.deviantart.com STILL work, and should always work. However, if you go to that specific page, you will be sent to the new page instead (DesignsBySloan.deviantart.com).
• For more information, read dA’s FAQ on the subject here!

Aaaand that’s pretty much it. Have a great week everybody! ♥

Hey everybody, how are you? :D
I’d like to announce that I’ve been given the opportunity to participate in whispwill’s
Melon Berry Tea “Summer Showers” art book, and this is the coloured sketch I drew for the book!! It’s inspired by my love for faeries and some nature I was familiar with in my childhood. <3 The donation page is now live, so if you could check it out and possibly donate I would greatly appreciate it!!

Click here to visit the Melon Berry Tea donation page!

Want to learn more? Read below!

Melon Berry Tea is an annual art book hosted and produced by Whispwill. All the money that’s donated goes directly towards the artists that drew the artwork for said book. There’s nothing received for donating to an artist, but it’s an easy way to offer support to your favourite artist or up-and-coming artists, as there is no minimum or maximum amount you must donate. The donation period started on July 27th 2014 and lasts until October 31st 2014 to donate. After that the artbook will be prepared for printing so that it can be bought!

As the donation page says, there is a tier for each artist. I suppose the main goal would be to earn $100. This basically covers the cost of making the full page illustration each artist does.
Once an artist reached $120, they get a personal page about them in the artbook. If they reach $200, they can create a clear plastic card to be released with the book (limited edition version?). If they reach $250, they will be asked to draw a tutorial/walkthrough to be put in the book!

And like I said on the donation page, I will be putting any funding I receive towards post-secondary education, specifically business courses, so that I can learn how to run a business selling my artwork. Many people can rely on jobs like working at a fast food restaurant to pay for their groceries and bills. But due to my health, I wouldn’t be able to get a job like that, no matter how much I wanted OR needed to. Since I can’t rely on finding jobs that won’t make me sick, I’m going to make one, and business courses will surely help with that!

If you happen to be interested in helping me out, my artwork is currently in the second row (the faerie/pond) listed underneath the name “Sloan”. Just mouse over the artwork and you can donate!

Thanks for reading, and have a great day!!

–

Art-related update: You can now see some progress I’ve made on the finished picture. It’s still unfinished, but click here if you’d like to see!.

Hey look, it’s a 11″x17″ Poster I drew for Ai-kon this year! For those not familiar with the series, it’s from Beyond the Boundary/Kyokai no Kanata~ x3

This piece has it’s issues, but it’s the first poster I’ve drawn at full size. Also, while I sketched it in Photoshop, I actually did most of the work in Manga Studio 5 EX! The picture took a while to complete due to the fact I was colouring multiple characters and still trying to figure out how to use the picture. Since then, Manga Studio has become my main program, and I really only use Photoshop for post-editing. C:

Thanks for looking and have a great weekend!

Hi everybody, I’m back from Ai-kon 2014! Hopefully you all had a great weekend? :)

Our weekend was a little rough, we ended up forgetting some important things (mainly products) but in the end we had a good time. It was great seeing my old friends, as well as making some new friends! I was really happy with our products this year, too – my sister doubled her product selection, and I started selling 11×17 posters for the first time. I also sold 5×7 prints, mini (1.25″) buttons, and we had new shiny business cards. <333 I think we took more pictures this year (especially on Saturday) compared to last year. If you know I took a picture of you, feel free to send an email or note! At the moment we're just taking time to rest and unpack, but this week I will hopefully be editing the photos and replying to messages. I will also upload all the photos we took in a password-protected blog post on this site, and you will be able to find the password on the (public) Ai-kon forum to view it.

Edit: Here’s the place with the password. My post is reply #12.
Here’s my blog post where I posted the photos!

If you need to email me (for a commission, cosplay pic, etc) you can contact me through my email: sloan @ designsbysloan.com (no spaces of course).
For those looking for my other sites, these are the social media I’m using currently:
– DeviantART (I reply most actively here compared to other social media)
– PaigeeWorld
– Youtube Channel
+ more to come!

Also, just in case you got my business card but not my little sister’s, here is her website and her DeviantART!

If anybody has pictures of me from Saturday (I was dressed up as Edward Elric from FMA, kinda short/without automail) or my sister from Saturday (she was dressed as Rin Kagamine in a blue top/dress), I’d appreciate being sent the picture(s)! Thanks!

Anyways… I have a lot of big plans for my artwork and business this summer, so keep an eye on my website and/or my DeviantART journals for updates!

Once again, thank you everybody for the support, whether it was buying something, looking at our art, taking business cards, or just stopping to say “hi”. I hope you all had a wonderful weekend!

~Sloan