There is some illustration work near the end of this post, I just wanted to talk about something first…

You all know how I’m a digital artist first and foremost. I don’t really do much that isn’t digital. It’s just where I’m most comfortable. It’s where I got my start and what I’m most familiar with. And of course it’s so easy to drown yourself in familiarity.

Not that I haven’t ever drawn on paper. It’s just extremely rare since I find it entirely intimidating. Maybe drawing with pencil isn’t so scary, but when it comes to the inking, it frightens the heck outta me. I don’t have the steadiest hand, and I panic and make mistakes. I know that mistakes are good and you learn from them. I guess that’s my biggest and probably most irrational fear - that I WON’T get better and I’ll find out that I’m just a big phony and can’t actually do any of this.

Some years ago I drew a series of faeries on paper in pencil. I used Victoria Secret models as my models for the “bodies.” I was really pleased with them. I scanned them and put them up on “Elfwood,” a fantasy-art site. I got a lot of slack for not inking them, but I never dared to ink them for fear of ruining my beauties. I think I HAVE to scan them in and put them up later this week just so you can see.

Everyone’s going to be yelling “but you just HAVE to PRACTICE” at me and I know they’re right. I’m just a big ‘ole chicken.

That being said, I have decided I really want to give it a go this summer. I wish I could take an art class to learn pencil and inking techniques, but it’s not feasible right now. But I’m going to look into it for the spring.

Man I wish that I had figured out what I really wanted to do when I went to college, and did a graphic design degree instead of a Comp Sci one. *sigh*

Anyway, before I go on and show what I’ve been working on, I have a question for the other artists out there. What kind of pen do you use to ink? I need to know what specific TYPES of pens you use, since brand names mean nothing (since I probably don’t have the same brands here), and also because I haven’t a clue. Felt tips? markers? I have no idea!! And what is this “Indian ink” I read about?

Okay, onto the fun bit. So I decided to do a little fun sketch on paper in pencil and do the rest digitally, just to see what I could do. So here’s the original drawing scanned in:

Once I scanned it in I decided to do some “digital inking” in photoshop. I’ve never done this before. I draw everything directly in illustrator. I decided to give it a two-toned style (if that’s what you’d call it…)

I had a lot of trouble figuring out what to do with the eyes on that one. I think it’s obvious, because they look odd. Anyway, then I decided to do it in color:

The coloring really isn’t anything new for me, since I do that often. Not to mention the coloring is fairly simple too. But it was fun to color something I originally drew on paper.

I like it for the fact that it was the first time I tried something like this. What I don’t like is that the lines just aren’t smooth enough. I know a lot of people who use this methon and their lines are slick as anything. I’m wondering if maybe I should have scanned in the image to a much bigger resolution than I did (it was already big, but still…), so that when I inked it and shrunk it down, it would have come out smoother.

Now I just wish I could do that kind of inking on paper.

I drew the above image about 6 years ago. I found the illustrator file recently, and decided to put it together and color it for this post. If I were to draw it today, I probably would do it differently. But I think it was good enough to post here!

Aerosmith is my favorite band. They have been since I was 12, and probably will be forever. But they are much more to me than just kickass rock music.

When I first discovered them, I was just about to turn 13. Cryin’ and Livin’ on the Edge were the current hits, and I was already in love. My best friend had already bought Get a Grip, so when I stepped out to buy my very first Aero album (on cassette) I wanted something different. I knew nothing about the band, so I just blindly chose a tape and bought it. That tape was Permanent Vacation and remains my favorite Aero album to date. It became a permanent fixture in my walkman until I branched out to buy more. After that I bought Toys in the Attic, and soon after I was getting my hands on every album possible. They had already had more than a dozen by that time. And so my love affair with Aerosmith began and it hasn’t quit since. From those first years of listening to every tape non-stop, and learning to do the logo so that it could be found all over my school papers, binders and backpack, to going to concerts and record signings over the years, and up to today, when I bought Aerosmith Guitar Hero. I was so excited about it when I walked into that store this morning! I felt like I do when a new album comes out! I haven’t played it yet, but I have the whole weekend!

As of today I own numerous copies of Aerosmith CDs, including all albums, some double or triple according to different continental releases, bootlegs and singles. Plus the Pandora’s Box and Box of Fire boxsets, and a Shadowman comic book that features the Bad Boys of Boston. I’ve been to 11 concerts and even seen Draw the Line, an Aerosmith tribute band, on numerous occasions at one of my favorite rock clubs in Jersey, the Wreck Room (now closed ).

To say that I’m a big fan is an understatement. And I think you can agree. But now to get to the deeper bits. Now you’ll read why Aerosmith has become much more to me than just the music.

Story #1
One day in the fall of ‘94, I was 13, I was listening to Rock in a Hard Place and flipping through the album cover. I was paying special attention to the band members because Joe Perry and Brad Whitford had left the band by the time that album was made. I noticed one of the names was “Jimmy Crespo,” which I found amusing since “Crespo” was my mom’s maiden name. So I took the album to my mom to show her, just for fun. “Look mom! This guy has the same last name as you!” She looked at the name and then the picture and said, “I think that’s my nephew!” Turns out I had a cousin I never knew about. The last time my mom had seen him was more than 10 years previously. He was butting heads with the family because he wanted to be a rock musician, and they weren’t all too pleased. No one knew where he was or had heard from him in all that time. But my mom still had an old address of his, so she decided to write him a letter.

About a month later we got a call from his wife. And she confirmed it all! He definitely did play in Aerosmith and he was so happy to hear from the family. I talked to him for a while and they got me tickets and backstage passes to what would be my very first Aerosmith concert (first concert in general too!) a month later. I got backstage and met the entire band and got pictures with all of them. My best friend and I ran out of there screaming with joy! A couple of years later, Jimmy started playing in Rod Stewart’s band, so when they came to NJ, Jimmy got my whole family tickets so that we could finally meet him. We went backstage and I met my cousin for the first time, and my mom met him for the first time in over a decade. It was brilliant! And, as far as I know, because of all of that Jimmy was able to finally get in touch with his family again. And I still have contact with him today. He now plays in a band called Phoenix in Las Vegas.

Steven and me in ‘97 the second time I had backstage passes, I was 16

Story #2
By the time I had found out about Jimmy, I was a member of Aero Force One, the Aerosmith fan club for about half a year. I loved having penpals and they had a penpal section in the quarterly newsletter. Right after I found out about Jimmy I sent in an ad to the newsletter to get penpals. I knew that writing that Jimmy was my cousin would get me a lot of letters, and it did! I got over 30. I answered every single one, even though most of them were from people who wanted tickets (argh). I kept up with a lot of people for a shirt while, but they soon dropped off, and I was down to 3 which I wrote to for the next 4 years. One of then was a guy in Sweden… (see where this is going??)

Fast forward about 3 years and I decided it would be grand if I invited this guy in Sweden over so that he could finally visit NYC, which he had talked about a lot, and so that he could take me to my senior prom. To my utter amazement he accepted the invitation, and after just about 4 years of writing to a fellow Aerosmith fan I finally met him for the first time. Within a day I realized we would be the best of friends. A week later, we were more than that. 2 weeks after that he decided he’d move to NJ. And now, 10 years (almost exactly) later, here I am in Sweden and married to him.

Of those 11 concerts I’ve been to, 9 have been with him. The signings and tribute band all happened after we got together. We’ve pooled our CD collections together to create a mega-Aerosmith album collection. We have numerous autographs from when we met them separately and together. It’s great to be with someone who shares the same feelings as I do about the band and the music.

So there we have it! Loving Aerosmith has brought a family member back into my family, and it has resulted in me meeting my soulmate. Without the band my life would be entirely different right now.

And at this very moment I’m going to log off, get a Corona, and fire up ^A^ Guitar Hero. The perfect game for a fan like me! (Besides, if we don’t get to play soon my Aero-lovin’ husband is going to have a fit.)

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And so I continue my concert madness summer! I thought that after seeing Kiss, the other concerts had much to live up to. As cool as Kiss was, the Lenny concert this past weekend takes the cake so far!

This show was in the way south of Sweden, but Lenny Kravitz is far too good to pass up, so we didn’t mind. Besides, it was in Helsingborg, a town we’ve been to before and love. So we decided to make a weekend out of it.

We had perfect weather, so the 6 hour drive was lovely. I love that drive becasue you drive down along Sweden’s second largest lake, and pass large farm fields with windmills.

And Helsingborg is right just a ferry ride away from Helsingör, a Danish island, with a lovely little “old town,” Hamlet’s castle and giant glasses of öl (beer).

But, of course, the biggest even was the Lenny Kravitz concert! Turns out Lenny was staying in our hotel, and he checked out just minutes before we checked in! But we caught the sax player on the way out and talked with him a bit. He was really nice and it really got us hyped for the show. By a stroke of luck we arrived to the venue just a half-hour or so before the gates opened, and still were among the first in line! Because of this, we ended up being front row and center! And of course, it was Lenny so it was SO COOL! He did so many great songs and played for 2 hours and 40 minutes! And I got FANTASTIC pictures!

Any of the upcoming concerts I’m going to will be hard pressed to match this one! Lenny even came out and grabbed my hand (among many others)! And one of the sweetest bits was right at the beginning of the encore, when he announced that a fan came up to him earlier in the week and asked if he could propose for him to his girlfriend. So Lenny announced it then brought them both up on stage and sang to them before the proposal. I have video of it that I took and put it on youtube right he-ah.

Anyway, it was definitely a show I won’t forget, and has earned a spot in my top 5! Next show? Kylie Minogue! (which was actually last night. So I’ll post, with pictures, about that over the weekend.)

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created completely in Photoshop

I did the illustration in color, which I think turned out pretty cool, but then I started to play around with it. And when I got to the one above I just stopped and thought “This is it!” It makes me think of the Wizard of Oz, when the tornado was coming to get Dorothy’s house.

I’ve always been intensely fascinated by tornadoes. So much that they have been popping into my dreams quite often for as long as I can remember. The most recent one was 2 nights ago. In that particular dream I it was approaching me on my walk to the subway, and the sky was a bright pink and purple. And I remember running around trying to gather up everyone I loved. I don’t quite remember what happens after, though. Anyway, that’s why I decided to do this illo.

I’ve never seen one in real life. I’m from New Jersey and we don’t have them there. It happens, but very rarely. And here, in Sweden, even less so. I am grateful for that, they are very frightening! But I really would love to see one… from a safe distance of course In the meantime, I can watch extremely cool videos of them, like this one. I realize they cause terrible destruction and ruin lives, of course. But you can’t deny that nature is sometimes most captivating to watch (from afar) when it’s at its most destructive.

The whirlwind began Thursday evening when a couple of the guys from KISS were in town doing a signing. My hubby really wanted to go to that, and wanted me to go to take pictures. Which I did, even though they didn’t come out so great. But we met a guy while waiting in line who helped the time go by faster, and who we spent much of the rest of the evening with discussing our favorite bands.

Then Friday was the concert!

It was in Stockholm Stadion, which is an old open air stadium near the city center. It’s a cool place to have concerts, but you just have to hope and pray that it won’t rain. So far this year we are having a warm and dry summer, so we were very lucky. It was HOT all Friday, but fortunately the evening had cooled down enough that the. Of course, being how we’re way up north, the sun doesn’t go down until around 10pm these days, so it was pretty light throughout the show. But the temperature was perfect. And we had some visitors flying over the stadium too!

Right before the show started they played The Who’s “Won’t Get Fooled Again,” and when Pete Townsend does that famous scream into the mic, the dropped the KISS curtain over the front of the stage.

Björn Gustaffson stood right next to me for about 5 seconds, before he pushed on through to the front somewhere. So I snapped a pic of the man and myself instead…

And just as I did that the show started! And it was SO GREAT! It was the first time I was able to see KISS, and hopefully not the last! We had so much fun screaming and singing loudly to all the songs. It went by SO fast, though. But what I thought was REALLY cool, was when the concert was over, the first song they played over the speakers as we were all getting out of there, was God Gave Rock’n'Roll To You, and the whole stadium was singing along as we walked out.

Ah… good times!! So it was definitely a KISS-inspired weekend. Even my Thursday (so late it turned into Saturday) comic was touched by KISS!

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Well, the Eurovision Song Contest… whoops sorry! I mean the Eastern Eurovision Song Contest is over and it was a bust! I think Western Europe took a wrong turn somewhere and ended up at the wrong contest. Clearly we weren’t wanted there.

OK in all seriousness…

The first couple of hours were great with the performances. All my favs did an excellent job, especially Sweden. Charlotte did amazing! The singing was on and the energy was great! Much better than at the semi-final! I ended up voting for the UK and Norway, my two favorites other than Charlotte. But then the results came. And I just deflated. It was more than just disappointing. Well, here is how all my favs placed.

Ukraine - 3
Norway - 5
Turkey- 7
Iceland - 14
Sweden - 18
UK - 25

ARGH! Kudos that Norway made it so high. She was my absolute favorite for the night. Such a great song. A real song. Something you could easily hear on the radio and buy on a CD. That is rare in Eurovision. So it’s great that she got so high. But let me be a bit cynical and say I think the only reason she did so well was because she was the last to perform and fresh in everyone’s minds. Because, obviously, having a great song, singing well and performing well is not actually what people want.

Instead, Russia won. Russia. Russia. Which their cheap-sounding song and ridiculous ice skater. I keep going over and over and over in my head HOW they could have won. Was it because of the ice skater? Must be. Because the song was boring. And the singing? Terrible! The guy could barely even pronounce the words, and he sang in that awful vibrato the whole time. I just wanted to smack him. I never ever thought he’d win. He song is, at most, entirely forgettable.

Ah but he won, and no amount of complaining will change that.

And Sweden came in so low! Which I really don’t understand. For the first time, I really had faith in Sweden’s song. For the first time I really believed Sweden would do well. Last year, when Sweden sent The Ark, I laughed when we got low points because we deserved it. The Ark! PLEASE! But not this year. I was utterly shocked. I was convinced we’d make it to the top 5, if not win the whole damn thing. But maybe it’s too “old fashioned” a song, and people don’t want that anymore. In that case, maybe we should have gone with BWO as was my first choice.

Well anyway, if there was ever a high point, it was when Björn Gustafsson presented the Swedish voting results. He sat there and blatantly mocked all those countries who choose presenters who can’t speak a word of English but pretend they can. For the record, of course he has no problem with English. He’s Swedish for goodness sakes! I don’t know if any of the other countries understood that he was joking. But that’s the fun of it! It was the good hard laugh I needed by that time of the evening.

12 points to Björn Gustafsson!