SF Zine Fest - Our First Show

This weekend we'll be vending at the 11th Annual San Francisco Zine Fest.  Held in the SF County Fair Building at 9th and Lincoln, the Zine Fest always holds a special place in our hearts.

The Zine Fest was our first foray into any sort of vending situation, and we only got into it because Monkey's manager at his retail job was the chief organizer.  Monkey started helping out organizing the event, and soon Monkey + Seal was born.  We really ended up coming up with the name in a sort of spur-of-the-moment panic as we realized we had to turn in something for registration.  

When we first started, we didn't have shirts, or prints, or ties.  We didn't accept credit cards, or have originals for sale.  Heck, at the time, we didn't really even know how to paint.  We managed to get a stamp made, and literally stamped all our business cards for that show.  

All we had were two mini-comics and two zines. And a few left-over buttons. We still sell some of them, and they've sort of become Monkey + Seal classics: The Story of Seal, and The Bad Date Zine, Vol. 1.  Seal finished her comic the night before, and we ended up going to the 24-hour FedEx Kinko's down in the financial district around 2am in order to print and trim the comics in time.

We didn't have a tablecloth, so we grabbed a big piece of green felt that we originally bought to make stuffed monsters.  Now, our bright green tablecloth (along with the bright, saturated neckties that we sell) is usually how people find us.  

Monkey assisted in a bookbinding workshop with the amazing Aaron Cohick of New Lights Press, his first workshop teaching experience ever.  Now Monkey has taught screenprinting, bookbinding, and is teaching a Marketing for Artists class this year.  He's also gone on to run the workshop program at Big Umbrella Studios.  

We've also met a lot of great people at Zine Fest, and we think you can really feel the communal, supportive atmosphere at the Fest.  I think among artists, there is generally a supportive vibe, but at some of the bigger shows more money can be at stake and sometimes a competitive vibe and big egos can creep in.  

So while its too late to get a table (or half table) at this year's Fest, we highly recommend getting on the mailing list so you can be first to sign-up next year.  There's also no jury (unlike a lot of the bigger shows), so it's good chance to get your art out there in a safe space. 

So we hope you join us at the Zine Fest this year (this is our fifth year vending) to share in a bit of the creative magic.  Come and get some ideas, see how little you need to get going pursing your dream.  And of course, there's always Monkey's Marketing for Artists Workshop Saturday at 1pm to look forward to as well.  It's free!

Hope to see you all there!

Jumping In: Our First Craft Fair...Sorta

Monkey + Seal get a lot of questions regarding what it was like to show at our first craft fair. Believe it or not, we started out very humbly, with only two zines and two comics. Monkey had a little comic called "Comic Shorts," the first issue of "The Bad Date Zine," and his "True Ghost Stories" zine. Seal had the beloved "The Story of Seal." That's it. Oh yeah, and we had lots of 1" pinback buttons.

However, even though the SF Zine Fest where we got our humble origins was all the way back in 2007(!), we constantly have had "new experiences" at craft fairs. We had our first Alternative Press Expo, our first Bazaar Bizarre holiday show, our first anime convention, etc. etc. Each time, we find a new audience, new vendors, and new experiences in terms of setting up our booth, new product, signage, and all the other stuff that we think about when we sell someplace.

One thing that we have never done before, however, is do an out of town show. All of the places we've sold have been in the city limits of San Francisco. This is mainly due to the fact that we don't own a car, so we haven't been very keen on racking up transportation costs to vend elsewhere. However, during the summer of last year, Monkey heard that Spectrum (a very competitive illustration/concept art annual) was going to have their first conference, and were looking for vendors.

Monkey jumped at the opportunity, and the two of us decided to throw our hats in the ring and see if we'd get in. We did, and now we're busy preparing for what is easily the biggest show of our lives. It's a three day event in Kansas City, Missouri, where we will be vending next to some of the biggest names in the fantasy art arena. If you know anything at all about fantasy art, we're down the isle from JP Targete, Chris Rahn and Jason Felix, and we're about 8 booths away from James Gurney. Also vending will be people you just might have heard of: Dan Dos Santos, Stephan Martiniere, Julie Bell and Boris Vallejo, Todd Lockwood, and just like a bajillion other awesome artists who we look up to and are inspired by.

Suffice to say, it's hard not to be intimidated by the competition. Not only that, we're having to learn how to manage booking airfare and hotels, getting our goods over to Kansas City, etc. etc. However, we're doing our best to set ourselves up the best we can for success and even though we're "not ready," will we ever be ready for this type of competition?

Although it's terrifying, expensive (more on that later), and difficult, no matter how tight our portfolios are, no matter how prepared we might be, it'll always be a new type of event, and we will never be truly ready. So, we can just do the best we can and go for the gold. Just like everything else in life, sometimes you have to make that deadline for yourself that you can't escape and just go for it. Sure, maybe your first mini comic might not be very good. Sure, maybe your first convention experience will lose you money. Sure, maybe the first gallery you submit to might turn you down. However, if you constantly wait until you're "ready," you'll have missed your opportunity. Better to live with no regrets, than to wonder "what if?"

So, here's the part where you can help us "totally pwn" (Seal just stared blankly at this phrase) this Spectrum Live! event. We're bringing a bunch of new products, and since this is easily the most expensive event of our careers (with travel and lodgings, shipping, etc., we're at around almost two month's worth of rent), we're offering you all first dibs on some of our newest stuff to help offset our costs. We weren't really going to launch any of this until after we "tried it out" at Spectrum, but you all are our supportive fans, and we wanted to let you get it before anyone else did.

So help send us to Kansas City, and check out all the new stuff here. As a preview of what's to come, we've got a brand new tie design, two new Monkey prints, two new Seal prints (one of which is being released before the show that it's in even opens!), and our Create or Die shirt, re-released in a classic black and white version.

Live with no regrets, and grab some great stuff while it's on sale here!

Last-Minute Handmade Love

Hi everyone!

We just wanted to give you a head's up on our next show! We'll be taking part in the "Last-Minute Handmade Love" trunk show!

We'll be showing along with some other pretty fabulous vendors the weekend right before Valentine's Day! Woot!

We know you've probably been looking for that special gift for that special someone, whether it's your partner, friend, parent, or child, there's something for everyone!

Looking for that last-minute Valentine's day gift for your sweetie? Look no further than Big Umbrella Studios' trunk show "Last-Minute Handmade Love!"
Featuring some of the most awesome handmade artisans from around the Bay, don't miss your chance to find the perfect gift that you've been holding out for at this two-day show.

Saturday, browse the magical wares of Nerd Jerk, Heathered, Compass Rose Design, and Etta + Billie.
On Sunday, find joy in the majesty of Twinkie Chan, Mangosteen, Crooked Sister, and Monkey + Seal.

Saturday, Feb.12 & Sunday, Feb. 13 from 12-5pm
Big Umbrella Studios, 906 1/2 Divisadero St., SF, 94115
www.bigumbrellastudios.com

Nerd Jerk: http://www.etsy.com/shop/NerdJerk
Heathered: http://heathered.weebly.com/
Compass Rose Design: http://www.compassrosedesignjewelry.com/
Etta + Billie: http://www.etsy.com/shop/ettaandbillie
Twinkie Chan: http://www.twinkiechan.com/
Mangosteen: http://www.mangosteenoakland.com/
Crooked Sister: http://www.etsy.com/shop/crookedsister
Monkey + Seal: http://www.monkeyandseal.com/

So we hope you'll stop by and grab a bite to eat (there will be food carts) and don't forget to say hi!

Big Umbrella Studios! Bazaar Bizarre!

Yay! Lots of Monkey + Seal action coming up this week! We're going to be vending at two different shows this week (!) and we'd love to see you there! Both are free to attend, so we'd love you to stop by and say hi!

The first is going to be at Big Umbrella Studios at 906 1/2 Divisadero St (x McAllister) this Thursday (the 9th!). Not only will we unveil our new workshop program for 2010, but there will be some live painting, and Monkey + Seal will not only have set up shop, but there should be some other great stuff for sale by the other artists!

Additionally, we'll be doing live screen printing for a new shirt design! Fancy! Hint: If you want to bring your own shirt (as opposed to buying one from us), we'll knock $8 off the regular shirt price! We would probably recommend a red shirt. Especially if you like angry pandas...

The Big Umbrella Show goes from 5-10 and we'd love to see you there!

And for everyone who wants to shop handmade + local this holiday season, we'll be vending at Bazaar Bizarre this weekend! It'll be at Fort Mason in the Herbst Pavillion on Saturday the 11th from 12-5, and Sunday the 12th from 12-6. The show is free and there will be over 150 vendors to choose from - holy moly! We, of course, would love to see you at the Monkey + Seal booth, but you should definitely check out some of the other awesome vendors.

There is also a pretty awesome Cocktails and Crafts party Saturday from 7-10pm at the same location where there will be hands-on workshops, and tons of sweeeeet goodies! Tickets for this special event are $10 and you can buy them here.

Just to avoid confusion: During the day, it's free, during the night, you gotta sign-up and pay. Yay! Oh, that rhymes...

Anyway, we'd love to see you at the show so please drop by and say hi!

Monkey = APE?

This weekend, Monkey + Seal will be showing at the Alternative Press Expo (aka APE) at booth 532 (see map below)!!! We'll be showing alongside other SF Zine Fest co-organizers Family Style (booth 207) and Two Fine Chaps (booth 305) and Goteblud (booth 428).


There will be plenty of other awesome exhibitors as well, and the workshops this year will be all focused on creating comics! Monkey will definitely be trying to sneak away to go check some of those out!

Monkey will be showing off his new crude/rude/crazy comic "The New Tweeb Bible of Sensitive Emotional Feelings about Sensitive Feelings, or, Wholesome Parables to Live Your Life By, also known as (A.K.A.) The Nu Mortality (on Sexy-time with Animals), a Collection of Comics by Rick Kitagawa," which possibly has the longest title for a mini-comic ever (and actually has nothing to do with bestiality). He'll also be selling some new postcards of his art, and of course we'll have our screenprinted shirts and ties, and Seal's fine art prints.

SF Etsy Trunk Show - Woot!

The #1 biggest danger for Monkey + Seal when they hit up craft fairs is that they are introduced to other artists and crafters with totally awesome things that we end up wanting to buy. There is always usually a little bit of down-time at any show, and naturally, we like to see what other people are doing. This is when the danger beings.

At the Artist Xchange gallery (at 3169 16th St x Guerrero), the SF Etsy Street Team had a Trunk Show on Saturday. Fortunately, Monkey + Seal were juried into the show (by the founder of the space, Scott Mitchell!) and we had a little mini table (there was only space for 20 vendors...but each space was only 3 feet! Eeeeep!). We managed to make do (leaving our larger prints at home) set-up wise, but the small space made for lots of looking around. Not only was there some good art on the walls (Monkey especially liked this Western Addition painting by Jon Ching), but the rest of the SF Etsy team brought their awesome stuff, and we ended up splurging a bit (although it was super reasonably priced) on Heathered's frickin' awesome narwhal hoodie pictured above (apologies for the lame phone camera photo).

We were also tempted by a whale print by muddipuppy, and by our friend Alana's (of Etta + Billie) darned awesome soap, but we managed to restrict ourselves to the hoodie.

Overall it was a really awesome experience as we got to hang out, meet, and bond with other team members. A special shout out to Jen (from Mama's Magic Studio) and Kendra (from Kendra Renee Jewelry) who did most of the organizing of the event, and to our neighbors Lauren of Crooked Sister and Jeanine of CraftyGirl05!! It was great spending an afternoon with everyone, and thanks to everyone that stopped by!

PS - If you missed yesterday's special Tuesday post about Chris Guillebeau's Empire Building Kit, you have until 9am PST Thursday to buy and still get the special guide to local markets! You can read a more in-depth review here!

Gratitude

Monkey has been doing a lot of reading the past week, and constantly, he's stumbled across the notion of gratitude being one of the main forces that moves the universe. Being grateful is definitely difficult when you're facing tough situations, but really, if one can manage to do it, one will definitely enjoy life more.

Whether or not you believe in the power of positive thinking, or visualization, or the Law of Attraction, or any of the new-age, life coaching movement stuff, the sheer logic of being grateful for everything in your life will lead to much more happiness.

If anything, Monkey + Seal have found that when we stop and think about it, we have much more to be grateful for than to be angry or frustrated about. Yes, in the past week Monkey lost his wallet on the bus, and Monkey + Seal got news of not being juried into Spectrum and not getting into the SF Renegade Craft Fair. Also, some of our student loans' grace periods are ending, so we'll have large loan payments to start paying off.

However, Monkey had his wallet returned, there's always next year for Spectrum and Renegade, and Paper Hat Productions (which is basically Monkey + Seal) is working on their next art riot extravaganza. Additionally, Seal just finished some freelance work, we got to go to our good friends' wedding this weekend and take a small mini-vacation, and we somehow managed to run into a friend when we went shopping for Indonesian snacks! Additionally, we have jobs and a cozy apartment in one of the most awesome cities in the world, and we're pretty healthy, and get to follow our dream of becoming professional artists. We could go on and on, but we're sure you get the picture.

Anyway, it's a proven fact (although don't ask us for citations, sorry) that negative events affect us about 10 times as a positive event. No wonder its so easy to get bogged down in the negative. But we find the trick is thinking about all the other good things in your life (that we often take for granted) to say "hey, although xy and z sucks, we've still got a,b,c,d,e,f,g,etc. going for us."

So, to wrap things up, don't wait for Thanksgiving to be grateful for all the little things in your life. Make it a daily habit and your life will be way more fun and meaningful!

Thank you AOD attendees! Next show announcement!

First off, a huge thanks to everyone who stopped by the Monkey + Seal table at the AOD con this weekend! A special shout-out to our buddy Seichi who selflessly let us borrow his car for take-down on Saturday and all-day Sunday. You rock!

Second, we would like to announce our next show: Noise Pop 2010's Pop N' Shop! We're super excited to be able to sell alongside SF Etsy friends Sagehealer and BeyondWonderland, and other fine vendors such as 3 Fish Studios, and the Milk & Eggs Co. It'll be on Saturday, February 27th from 12-5 at the Verde Club at 2424 Mariposa in San Francisco. Admission is FREE so be sure to stop on by! Woo!

Process Post: Skyace Wasteland and Thank you Plus Secret Event

Thank you everyone for supporting us at the Center for the Book's Holiday Craft Fair. It was cold and rainy, but still a fair good showing. Monkey sold some ties and met some awesome people while Seal was madly working on some tight deadlines for the painting below.

MonkeyandSeal are cooking up a soon-to-be announced secret event so please be on the lookout and keep your March open! Thank you.

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Seal's Process: Part II of the Tyger Tyger paintings

This illustration was painted in acrylics. I had in mind an old rundown power plant wasteland with a wooden railroad going through the mountain passage. I wanted to get the feel of "after a rain" so I tried to paint cool lighting without any direct sunshine. Below is the in-progress step-by-step painting process.


The relatively finished piece above. The thumbnail below. In the thumbnail, I mainly wanted to design the shapes and rhythm of the piece before any details. The plane wings point downward, with the vertical power plant columns on the right holding the main mass of the painting, and the railroad points upwards back towards the plane.
So below is my initial setup. I have my thumbnail on the corner of my in progress painting. A book of clouds above so I can reference color and shape. Each different storm cloud have different shapes. I still struggle with painting clouds, but they're fun.
I generally try to paint from background to foreground, meaning sky, ground, then whatever is in front. I do the biggest shapes first, the plane being the smallest is last. Although I broke my own rule by painting the hazmat sign first before the shape on the left. It was just too tempting. I like how old signs have rust color and peeling paint job. I actually lost the original shape of the mountain behind the powerplant. Something I am still trying to fix. Thank you for visiting!

1 more day till Handmade Ho-Down!

Monkey and Seal can hardly contain their excitement for tomorrow's Handmade Ho-Down: Urban Craft Fair. This is the first ever Etsy-sponsored, urban craft show that Monkey helped to organize. They're will be live art, live DJs, booze, and 55+Crafters and artists selling handmade goods.

They are both excited to see all the DIY goodies, connect with other artists, and meet all the awesome people that will come by their booth (#41). They would like to take this time to thank and recognize all of their supportive friends, family, and colleagues who helped to make it possible. They look forward to seeing you tomorrow.


Yesterday, Seal spent 5 hours at the Geary Print Shop printing 650 copies of the official 2009 Handmade Ho-Down Zine. So be sure to pick one up on your way in. We are still always in need of volunteers, so if you have 1-2 hours of your time, please email Monkey at info(at)monkeyandseal.com We, and the rest of the committee would really appreciate it! DIY kids like us depend on your good will to make this event successful.

Last, but not least, Seal would like to introduce Monkey's new tie designs that will debut tomorrow.




Thank you and we hope to see you tomorrow at 1015 Folsom St. 6pm!

Reminder + Process: Coloring in Photoshop

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First off, as a reminder, our very talented Seal has been invited to showcase her artwork at the Saida Glide fundraiser event tonight at Sugar Cafe (679 Sutter St. at Taylor) in San Francisco. There is a fashion show at 9:30, but the event goes from 7pm til 2am. We'll be there from 7 til at least 11pm, networking, trying to sell our art, drinking, and doing some drawing.


Seal will be selling some fine art archival prints (giclees) for $25 of two of her newest work , as well as the original painting for the swamp house for $325 (or for $375 framed). Monkey might also go guerrilla-style (or is it gorilla style?) and sell some small prints and stuff for kicks (he'll have to wait and see how things are there).

Hopefully you'll stop on by and say hi!

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So today's Saturday process post is by Monkey. He'll be briefly explaining the basics of coloring in photoshop.

Hi everyone! So today I'll be explaining a bit how to do color a scanned line drawing in Adobe Photoshop. Examples of work I've done (and stuff that is suited for this sort of digital painting are things like:
and Notice both are really graphic with mainly solid linework and flat color mixed in. The way one does this is you start with a line drawing (I tend to do mine in a sketchbook or on paper as I don't really like to draw digitally if I can help it) that you scan in. After you scan it in, I usually clean up the half-erased marks and play with the levels to get my lines darker.

Here's my cleaned-up line drawing for the Handmade Ho Down poster and flyer.

You can see in the scan above that I actually didn't draw the flag logo yet...the logo was created the same way as I did the poster/flyer, but since it was already done I didn't want to redraw it, I left the top of the big flagpole off (I inserted it later digitally). Sometimes this is good if you already have an image that you're planning to work in - for me, leaving spots obviously blank is a good reminder that something needs to go there.

So here's where you start setting up PS to make coloring easier. Assuming all your lines are connected perfectly in your scanned drawing, you could just use the color bucket to paint large flat areas in your drawing. However, if you zoom in, you'll see that it'll eat into some of your linework, leaving it jagged at times. Thus, this is my preferred method. It's not quite as quick, but you'll get smoother lines.

What you do is first, right-click (or ctrl-click for mac mouse users) on the background layer (which should have your image in it if you opened it up in photoshop to start painting). Click on the "duplicate layer" and create a "background copy." Then, drag it on top of your background layer. Now, select your background layer and create a new layer between them. Select the background copy. In the photo below, it's labeled "Layer 1." Go to the little drop-down menu above the layers palette and change the layer property from "normal" to "multiply."
What multiply does is literally multiply the colors from that layer with the colors on the layer below it. Thus, any white space on your background copy will show pure color beneath it. Any blacks will show black. This allows you to paint on the sandwiched layer without affecting your original drawing. The only drawback to this is that you can't really use your paint bucket since this layer that you are coloring in is just an empty layer. However, like I said, it preserves your line quality, so it's almost like a coloring book where the black lines always stay on top of your coloring.

You could just create a multiply layer underneath the background layer, but I like to have a copy of the original drawing in case I need to make changes. This way, I can edit the drawing on my copied layer, and if I don't like it, I can always go back to my original background layer, make a new copy, and start from the original drawing.

In the screencap below, you can see which layer I'm painting on. Also, I felt it was prudent to point out the brush setting I use. Since I paint with a tablet (to be honest, I don't know how you can do digital art with a mouse), I have shape dynamics on, with size jitter at 0% and it being controlled by pen pressure. This way, the harder I press the fatter the line (to the max pixel size that my brush is set to), and the lighter I press the finer the line. This replicates brush control in real life - if you want to make a thinner line, you just use the tip of the brush. I also have the minimum diameter set to 0 so that I can use very very faint brushstrokes to make tiny, thin lines.
Also, note that I'm currently painting in RGB mode. This is great if you never plan to print out your illustration, but if you want to print it, BEFORE you start, change the mode to CMYK. Believe me, it'll make everyone happier.


So, after a lot of coloring and adding text and resizing things and moving things around, the little octopus guy turned out like this:
I ended up painting in the flag for the big logo, and replaced the hand-drawn SF Etsy flag with the actual logo. I also extended the pole and added the Etsy logo.

Anyway, that's it for now, and if you have any questions feel free to leave them in the comments and we'll get to them as soon as we can. Also, don't forget to show up to the Handmade Ho Down on December 3rd to meet us in person, check out our art, and see the grand premier of Monkey's new silkscreened ties! Thanks for reading!

The Handmade Ho Down!

So Monkey has been hard at work as part of the organizing committee for the newest craft fair in town (at least, if you live in San Francisco): The Handmade Ho Down!

We're going to hosting this at 1015 Folsom, a nightclub that will be transformed into a crafting extravaganza! It's going to be held on December 3rd, from 6pm til midnight! There will be music, live art, and tons of awesome vendors of handcrafted goodies!

We also got sponsored by Etsy itself, so you know it's going to be good. On top of that, we're also putting this on to help raise money for Draw Bridge, an organization that organizes art programs for homeless children in all seven of the Bay Area counties! Awesome! They'll have a gift-wrapping station, so come and do some handmade holiday shopping and then get your gifts wrapped to support an awesome cause!

Of course, Monkey + Seal will be on hand with new products! Woo!