Saving Memories

Being self-employed is terrifying in it's inconsistency.

So I have been dropping flyers around the place for number 2 of 3 business. VHS to DVD conversion. You can't be an artist all the time I suppose.

There is something very satisfying about seeing your work in print.
Also its very nice to not have to get someone else to design things for us.

Here's our flyer.
And our website (matchy matchy)

So hit me up if you need any kind of advertising material put together.
... or you know, if you have videos that need converting let me know. You have my number now...

Dude sings like a lady

Sometimes I am super glad for the internet.

When I was living in Taiwan someone gave me a mix tape (okay it was a CD, but mix tape sounds better) and there was a song on it that I loved and learned all the words to and was like super geeky about.

I didn't know who sang it or what the song was called but due to having Mandarin powers (diminishing by the day) I turned to the all-knowing Google and found them, my new most favourite Chinese band (sorry Jay Chou) - Sodagreen.

Turns out the female singer who I thought was amazing was actually a male singer (oh dear)

This is the first song I ever heard of theirs and I like it a LOT. 

So that's my soundtrack for the week. Today I've had Simon and Garfunkle songs in my head, so they'll be next I'm sure. 

And this is my link up with the awesome Jess of A Heart Full of Frost.

Check her out!

Australia

I'm an import to this burnt land, but I like it here.
With all it's fierce weather and deadly animals.

So happy Australia Day folks.

((This is one of the ideas I drew up for one of the books I'm illustrating at the moment. Totally appropriate for the day I thought.))

You love gifs, don't deny it.

A while ago, on a previous blog, I mentioned that I have bipolar disorder.

After a long time of thinking it was totes normal to hate on myself (for any reason possible) and draw emo things, it was a revelation to know that actually it's totally uncool and I shouldn't do it.

While it still sometimes sucks ( a little or a lot) most of the time my attitude about being bipolar is kind of like...

... you know. Whatevs - It's how I roll. 

This post isn't actually about being bipolar, it's about when I had kids, and about art, and about fears, and whatever else.

When I had the Angel I was terrified that I would get post natal depression, and when I instead got a placid baby who I liked pretty much straight away I was pretty pleased. Two years later when the Samurai showed up, I wasn't worried. I was going to have a baby, take a few days off and get back to art and looking after the Angel and studying medical terms and all sorts of 'not related to baby' type things.

I left the hospital the same day that he was born feeling all tough and womanly about my staunch reaction to child birth.

And then I got home and went to bed and fell into what I would deem to be a self inflicted depression.
I wasn't connected to this squishy little guy, I never managed to get everything done in the day that I wanted to do, he was always (always) hungry and feeding him was a painful trial...
I felt guilty for saying anything about it, and just stared at his little face hoping for some kind of revelation - before going to make dinner, or clean something, or sit on the computer, or do something else that would take me away from him.

Dummy.

I was distraught that he wasn't like the Angel, that I didn't love him the same, that I couldn't 'figure him out.'

Then I realised that I didn't know him. He was just new and hadn't been around for the two years I'd had his brother.
I slowed down, spent more time with him. Realised that he whinges because he LOVES being around people and chatting and laughing and staring into peoples faces. After the first few weeks he even started sleeping through the night (um way to become the favourite - jks!!)
He's awesome, and super cute and totally different to his brother which is fantastic. I love his guts.

The moral of the whole story, or perhaps a moral of this story is that while I may be able to shrug about how I deal with my mood swings and bipolarity, and while I know that I don't need to hate myself, I can still draw emo drawings.

Shunning sadness and irrational desires to cry has meant that I put away a lot of the things that I did at that time to cope for things that actually worked.

For example.

Listening to sad music while sad - not helpful
Complaining to equally depressed friends while depressed - not helpful
Cutting off all my hair and/or dying it yet another colour - not helpful
More earings? - NOT HELPFUL
Watching world movies - not helpful

See?

So while I still love Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, I'm hardly going to rely on it to help me manage my emotions. Rather I'll go for a run or better yet, call my husband for a whinge and then go have a sleep.

I stopped drawing my emotions around the same time that I was diagnosed, and I shouldn't have. Drawing allowed me to constructively express myself without wearing down my loved ones with constant complaining.

So this is what I did today.

Because sometimes I need reminders of things. I will always know that I love my son, but the story of how I figured that out contained important lessons for me, and those I might forget.

A proposition

I would love to be a children's book illustrator.
It's actually a dream of mine.

Writing children's books? ... not so much.

It has come to my attention that there are a lot of people out there who write little stories and poems and make up stories for their kiddie winkles and sometimes even write them down.

So here's the plan:

 Send your stories to me.

*Jedi hand gestures*

Tell me whatever specific visions you have for your words and I will illustrate them FOR FREE.

THEN, I will get them published and sell them in the hopes of making back whatever fee I would have charged you for the illustrations in the first place. I will send you digital copies of your newly illustrated book, so you will have a FREE copy of your FREE illustrations (of course you can buy a book if you want to) and I will plaster your name around the interwebs.

You will end up with a lovingly illustrated book (did I mention it's for free?) and I will end up a better illustrator (hopefully!).

So that is the plan. 

You in? (say 'yes'!)

Email me at eleanor.mccomb@gmail.com if you want to send me your work or if you have any questions or if you just want to say ... Oh hi!

p.s. I am glad to know that there are slightly more than two people following the blog and if you are a blog stalker like me, feel free to follow me with your google account - get clicking at the bottom of the page. Or give us a shout out if you follow by email. 

Ride Sally, Ride.

As a foreword to the quote below I would just like to say that I think it is lazy to quote people about whom you know nothing. Google it people. Really, it isn't that difficult. 

Sally Ride is someone I knew of without Google's help. She's awesome and so I have no qualms about quoting her... she's also right. Adventures are scary. 

Ky got into film school. 

I'm excited for him, and terrified at the same time because I will be stepping up to work from home, while looking after the Angel (hah!) and the Samurai. In less than two weeks he will be a full time student and I will be a full time artist/mum/businesswoman... so I am really pushing myself to get my head out of the safe 'dabbling with etsy' mentality and into the actual 'real life' of building a brand, making money and you know... being successful.

I really appreciate all the support that I have gotten from friends and family to build my confidence as an artist and designer and while there are only a couple of people who follow this blog (sup Jess and Tara!) I still have confidence that I can make a go of it and live the dream of doing something that I love to support my family. 

So while I am still studying to be a medical transcriptionist, I do not love it, and I will be happy to cast the keyboard aside in favour of paintbrushes and pens or even my tablet and stylus (despite how noobish I feel when using it) 

So. 2013... come at me bro.