Finally got around to making a feep fan page on Facebook, so if you're on there and wish to do so, befan the feeps!

I'm sure I've used that subject line before, probably also the day before a big show.

However! I now have in my clutches a batch of feep mugs, feep shot glasses, and feep t-shirts, and I did not have to sit there and crank each of these out individually. Definitely trying to find the balance here between interesting, non-mass-produced merch and things I can sell where I only have to do the work once.

For the record, all this stuff was printed by a couple of local-ish guys (they're in Lago Vista, about 40 mins. northwest of Austin), and they are both business and life partners. So the new merch supports local artists, local businesses, AND the gay agenda, all on multiple fronts.

I am a bit trepidatious about this weekend, though. It's supposed to be Austin-cold (i.e., 40s and 50s) and possibly rainy. Austinites are notoriously squeamish about any weather that is not warm and sunny. Add to that the unpleasantness of the economy in general, and we'll see what kind of turnout there is. Shrug.

AAAANNNDDD ... phone meeting with the editor this afternoon. I have no particular reason to panic about this, but for some reason it always makes me nervous talking to her. It's kind of like a performance review in a way. I expect and welcome constructive criticism, and yet a tiny part of my brain is screaming that she's going to tell me the whole thing sucks and I'm fired. I think this is the same part of my brain that expects guys I am interested in to find me attractive, and it's just as wrong about that*, so I mostly try to ignore it.

* C'mon, when was the last time I was relentlessly self-deprecating at you? It's been awhile, admit it.

Monster C! Who did not actually receive the most votes (came in second place), but whose backers provided the most compelling arguments. I spent yesterday playing around with different design ideas since I wasn't really thrilled with the background as-is. Observe the results:



These colors may not wind up being exact (I think the shirts have to be CMYK, and this is RGB), but I, at least, would totally wear this on a shirt. :) [NB: The © info will be smaller on the printed version; the size here is just for web-resolution readability.]

Many thanks to all of you for your input!

I'm changing the way I do my feep shirts (I've been doing iron-on transfers that I have to cut out by hand, switching to direct-to-garment printing that I have found to be at least as durable, if not moreso). This does require me to put in minimum orders, though, so I'm not rolling out every single design right away. Instead I'm picking four to start with, and going from there. I already have three chosen, but can't decide on #4. So please, if you would, tell me which of these you would most want to see on a shirt. Pliz to comment with your opinion, yes?

Option A:

Option B:

Option C:

Option D:

EDIT:

For reference, here are the other three:

( yet more images )

Doot doot doo. At long last, may I present you with the newly-redesigned Feeping Creatures website. My eyeballs are about to fall out of my head from staring at the screen for so long, so I'm only going to do a spot-check for uploading errors. If you find any bugs please do let me know about them so I can fix them.

There's a ton of new content, so please take some time to look around. Some sections (especially stuff in the Extras area) I hope to add to sooner rather than later, but I'm opting to focus on getting this thing live instead of perfect. I know! Unconscionable, but there it is. I hope you enjoy.

I made the very first feeps of 2008 yesterday, which has caused me to reflect on how much has changed since the first feep in 2004. My style and technique have improved dramatically, obviously (it would be worrying if they hadn't), but also my resolve for keeping it all going. There are times when it's been easy, riding a wave of positive feedback; times when it's been more like work, having to squish out monsters when I don't feel like it; and times when it's been really hard, trying to puzzle out what comes next and how to get there in an absence of information (there is no How to Be a Feepmaster manual, unfortunately).

A few lessons have been reinforced:

• If you want to be a professional artist, you have to be able to turn on the art even when you aren't feeling inspired. It is certainly easier to work with the glow of inspiration, but if you have to wait for inspiration to hit you're going to blow your deadlines and then people will stop wanting to give you money.
  
• Stubbornness is a virtue. There is, as I said, no manual, so the learning experiences are going to be particularly tough. You must be alike unto the bulldog, teeth sunk in and holding fast to the flailing bull. In other words, tenacious and possibly a little bit insane.
  
• Patience is also a virtue. Some shows will suck. Sometimes sales will suck. Giving up at the first sign of trouble, though, will guarantee failure. This is the point at which you will have to decide how bad you want it, and how hard you're willing to work for it. Me, all I have to do is envision a life spent in an office in order to get my car back on the rails. (This is not a knock on office jobs overall, it's just that the stuff I'm qualified to do I would not be happy doing for the rest of my days.)
  

2007 was the best year ever for the feeps. Here's to topping that in 2008.

First, the Good:

The Kismet Gallery sent me a letter, which confused me as the show is not over for another 5 or 6 weeks, and because the envelope contained the return postage I sent them. The note included reads, "Yo, Dude, I'm enclosing your postage, hoping you will SEND SOME MORE SHIT." Apparently they need more feeps, so more feeps I shall give them!

The Bad is actually Good for those who were inquiring about cat-sitting, but nevertheless:

When I got back from the dentist today I noticed an object sticking out of the sidewall of one of my tires. The tire is a little low but not obviously deflating rapidly, so I'm afraid to pull the object out lest it turn into that scene from Once Upon a Time in China Part Whatever where the guy pulls the straw out of his neck and his head falls off. Since it's a sidewall puncture I don't think the tire can be plugged, and while I have a spare it's in mediocre condition and not really more reliable than a punctured tire for a drive to and from Dallas. The upshot being I am probably not going to Dallas at all for Xmas. I will most likely have to get at least one new tire, and since I just left a large sack with a dollar sign printed on it at the dentist I can't afford any new tires right now.

As for the Funny, I was attacked by my shirt, whose carnivorous nature I was previously unaware of:

( Observe the offending garment )

Actually, it turns out I'm going to be leaving the feep shadow boxes at the Lowbrow Emporium for the time being. Although the show they were in is over, the owner said I was welcome to continue to display them there. Since that's way better than having them sit around my apartment, I shall leave them at Lowbrow. I'll have one of them at Wheatsville, just so I have at least one showoff piece around.

I realize this changes your plans completely, and I apologize for being so horribly inconsiderate.

And now, back to feeping.

Oh, yes, it's that time of year. This weekend is the Wheatsville Arts Festival (Dec. 1-2 at the Wheatsville Coop, 10:00 AM - 5:00 PM), whereat I shall have a booth. The weather is supposed to be gorgeous, so I expect it will be an insanely busy weekend. It would be really, totally awesome if people could come by throughout the weekend and help out a little. Specifically, I'm going to need the occasional runner to go get food, and the occasional booth-sitter so I can go to the bathroom. I would also really appreciate assistance with set-up and tear-down (mostly I need someone to help me set up the tent and tables, which means being awake and semi-functional at 7:30 AM on a Saturday; anyone? anyone? hello?). Tear-down is less painful since it happens at a time when normal humans might actually be awake, and again I mostly crave assistance with tent and tables. Let me know if you're up for helping out.

My online store is nearly devoid of feeps since I just did another restock at Sparks. I'd say if you're in or near Austin and want any feeps, either come to Wheatsville this weekend or hit Sparks since I won't be able to do any major online store restocking until next week.

For those of you not in Texas, I'm going to be in an art show at the Kismet Gallery in Troy, NY. The Designer Toy Show runs from Nov. 30 - Jan. 25. They're located at 71 Fourth St.

The Monster Mash art show at the Lowbrow Emporium is nearly done. I'm going to pick up my stuff this Wednesday (tomorrow!), so this is pretty much your last chance to see the shadow boxes up close & in person for awhile. Lowbrow is at 2708 South Lamar in Austin.

Finally, if you were considering commissioning anything from me for holiday gifts, please get me those orders ASAP. I get really, really busy leading up to the holidays and if you wait too late to put in a request I may have to turn you down. Fair warning!

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go cackle maniacally and mutter to myself about world domination. They thought I was mad! MAD!

Tomorrow (Saturday, Nov. 3) I'm going to be vending the feeps and the comics at the OUTer Film Fest, Austin's own queer sci-fi/fantasy/horror extravaganza. If I am unmistaken it's free to attend, so really you have no excuse not to go. Unless you do not find the concept of gays in space to be amusing, in which case all I can say is fine, BE that way. It's at the Austin Film Studios - click the link for times and directions and all that.

I have a wee favor to ask of you. This is one of those entirely optional things, do it only if you genuinely want to, and don't do it if you don't.

If you are so inclined, I would really appreciate it if people who enjoy the feeps would post a link to http://www.feepingcreatures.com in their blogs, and have maybe a little note saying what you like about them. A lot of people have done this already, and I really greatly appreciate it when that happens. I feel weird asking people to do it, honestly, but my business is promoted almost entirely by word of mouth. With the holidays approaching, it would be really beneficial to me to get a little traffic boost in before people start in on their gift buying.

And, as ever, if you are thinking of putting in a commission order for gift feeps, it's always good to get that to me as soon as possible. Or if you're signed up with a gift list service like Kaboodle and you want some feeps for yourself, add my site to your wish list.

Finally, if you want some stickers to hand out to people I always give those away for free. Just shoot me your address in an email and I'll get some sent to you.

Thanks in advance!

I'm in two art shows this month, and for once I'm remembering to post about them here (if you want to guarantee you'll hear about stuff like this you should sign up for my email lists, since I never fail to keep the lists informed: Feep list is here, Studio NDR list is here).

Anyway, shows. They're both group shows, so you'll have lots of very different art to look at. Oct. 2 - 31 is the Halloween show at Amy's Ice Cream on 6th Street. Go in, have some ice cream, look at the art, and then wander over next door to Sparks and buy some feeps. Reception date TBD.

Next up is the Monster Mash art show at the Lowbrow Emporium, or which there is this nifty poster designed by manlyart:



To reiterate, it runs from Oct. 13 - Nov. 30, and there will be an opening reception on Oct. 13 from 7:00 - 11:00, with a live art show and a table full of prints, shirts, feeps, and whatever else the participating artists want to bring by to sell (in addition to the art hanging in the show, obviously).

I'm working on a brand-new shadow box for the Monster Mash show, which I entirely expect to have finished despite the fact that I mucked up the frame (oak is hard; let's go shopping). If any of my photogeek friends (mybloodyself? mr_skullhead? giantrobo?) would like to volunteer to take pictures of it let me know.

Apparently someone (not sure who) made an RSS feed of the Daily Monster blog, so now you can get your morning feep slotted into your flist:

Go forth, and friend the feeps!

I just got back from Sparks, a little boutique on 6th street (right next to Waterloo Records and Amy's Ice Cream) and the location of my latest retail feeps adventure. It's far enough from The Stash that I don't forsee competition issues, and since the feeps are all handmade each shop has its own unique selection anyway. The exact address is:

Sparks Cards & Gifts
1014 West Sixth Street
Austin, TX 78703
(512) 477-2757

We're starting out doing a consignment setup. If the feeps sell well there Sparks will start buying them wholesale, so I've instructed the feeps to bug out their eyes in an extra-cute, tentacled-kitten sort of way. We'll see how it goes.

I have gone and set up an Etsy store for the Feeps, which you can observe here:

Feeping Creatures Etsy Store

Wherefore, you ask? Do I not already have a Feep eBay store? What's up with that? Well, I shall tell you.

First off, I have no plans to phase out the eBay store. It's profitable, it gets good exposure, and it's got its own set of regular customers. There's no reason to mess with it. However, in order to avoid double-selling any feeps when I'm at a show I have to take the store offline and thereby cut out the possibility of online sales for the weekend. I can't maintain two separate stocks of feeps; it would just be way too much work for the level of benefit. So I'm putting reproductions and stuff I don't cart to shows in the Etsy store. I will be making a small set of representative figurines for the Etsy store eventually, but the eBay store will still have the primary figurine stock.

I've avoided opening a second storefront for awhile because I don't like the idea of making people go to several different places to see what all I have. But the fact is, I periodically get people at shows telling me they tried to look at my eBay store but it was offline, and I definitely don't like the idea of lost sales. I'm also hoping that people who have avoided buying from me online because they don't like eBay will be more amenable to using Etsy.

I chose Etsy because it has a focus on handmade stuff and independent artists and seems to have developed a critical mass of users. I'm also hoping to pick up some new feep customers from the casual browsers on Etsy, since eBay is a bit of a noisy, crowded flea market by comparison. We'll see what happens on that front.

We're two days into ArmadilloCon, with but a single day yet to go, and it's been a great time so far. This is my third year to have a dealer's table here, and this has been the most successful year yet. This means I'll be able to pay my electric bill! Yay! (Yeah, being a professional artist is just so hip and cool, lemme tell ya.)

I had a conversation with a guy who is in the toy manufacturing business. He was really intrigued by some of my designs and wanted to discuss some possibilities. Now, nothing will teach you the meaning of the phrase "talk is cheap" like trying to market your own work. It's easy enough to talk about doing something big, but very hard to see it to fruition. This guy works mostly with massive-scale production, selling lines to Toys R Us and the like. To springboard from where I am now (mostly obscure independent artist) to Toys R Us is pretty unlikely, so I don't think of this as something that's going to lead to any immediate excitement. Mostly I'm pleased that my work has appeal to people with broader marketing power than I have, and I am content right now to learn more about the process and see what sorts of possibilities might present themselves at different levels. I tend to think of my work in a more indie vein and would expect Feep plushes or vinyls to sell better at small shops like Terra Toys or indie record stores, so I'm not sure how big chain stores like Toys R Us fit into that, but I definitely want to get more of the inside scoop on this sort of thing.

I do think it would be sort of neat to be able to pay my electric bill without having to worry about it, so I'm open to at least some level of selling out. :)

Apparently I have a table at MoCCA after all. I've been on the waitlist for awhile and had more or less decided I was doomed to languish there forever, but got an email the other day telling me they'd had some cancellations and did I still want that table? Which I do, and I readily told them so, but I am woefully unprepared for the show.

I'm going to be improvising a lot to get this thing set up, since most of my convention gear and quite a lot of my merchandise is a couple thousand miles away (I'm in Philadelphia right now, which is the only reason getting to New York on short notice is even an option). I brought all the little feep figurines with me, so at least I have the meat of my business accessible. And Jim Hanley's Universe in Manhattan has a stock of some of the bigger feeps, so this is a good opportunity to let people convenient to NYC know where they can get retail feeps.

My biggest frustration is not having any stickers to give out. I put in a big order awhile ago, but it's not even getting printed until Friday, so I won't have them for the show. Instead my plan is to give out minidrawings to anyone who wants one. So I guess I'm going to be doing a lot of quick little drawings over the next few days. Oh, the horror. :)

Hey, the Feeps got blogged by Steve Jackson Games! Check it out.

Nothing like blearily checking your traffic stats in the morning and finding a massive spike in there.

This will be of interest to at least a couple of people on my flist: my friend Kennon is volunteering to foster golden retrievers who need some work to get to an adoptable stage and is blogging about it here.

This afternoon I'm headed to The Stash, one of south Austin's funky artsy stores, to set up some feeps for consignment. They're having a grand re-opening party this evening to celebrate their move to a new location on South 1st Street, which I may or may not attend. I'd like to, but I have to spend the later part of the afternoon looking at apartments, so we'll see how my day works out.

What? Apartments? Yeah, I'm moving, didn't you know? If you didn't don't be too surprised; it only got officially decided earlier this week. For the record, it is neither a "Get out!" sort of thing, nor an "I'm leaving!" Just a nexus of events that caused this to be the most sensible option for everyone involved. I will probably have to get a part-time or temp gig to make the rent (unless I get picked up by 5 more papers and/or the consignment thing exceeds all expectations), but that was going to have to happen regardless. Having my own apartment means more space (mentally and physically) to work on art stuff and keep that going at the current heady pace; I absolutely don't want to slow that down given the current rate of progress. Plus I LOOOOVE living alone more than anything in the whole world, and it's been 10 years since that was a realistic option. I may have to get a second cat, though, since Vitamin needs someone to cast sour looks at. Not gonna worry about that for the moment, though. But it is squished into my brain for later reference.

I've already blabbed about this to a few people, usually because I happened to see them right after another email exchange with my rep. I've spent the last few weeks figuring out what needs to happen to cause the feeps to make the jump to retail (making sample feeps, putting together info packets, negotiating wholesale rates, worrying horribly that the deal will fall through).

I just got the email that Jim Hanley's Universe in NYC is interested and wants to start with a display of 16 feeps. So. Yeah. Apart from waiting for the follow-up email declaring that the whole thing was a cruel joke, I'm very excited. I'll post again when the order ships so those of you in or near New York can wander by JHU and loudly declare your admiration for the wondrous little monster figurines they've started stocking.