Author: maiskemble

Hello all!  It has been quite a long time since I last posted here.  As this post’s title suggests, a lot has changed for me.  I am finally a mom!!  Benjamin Lee Yoshimitsu Kemble was born September 26th, 2013 at 7 lbs 4 oz. and is going to be two months old in just a few days.

It has changed everything as many people told me it would.  I have been consumed with caring for him, adjusting to the worst kind of sleep deprivation I’ve ever experienced, along with post partum depression (that is finally gone, Thank you Lord), and also falling in love like I’ve never fallen in love before.  It is actually hard for me to remember what life was like before him.  I am at the same time facing the end of my maternity leave in just one more month and hoping I can juggle work, Benjamin, and, hopefully, a bout of freelance work!  Some of the work I did while I was pregnant is soon to be available as well.  A new company, Kayu Media, is launching their first interactive children’s book titled The Story of Rotten Lucy Grace, illustrated by yours truly and written by Julia Walton.

Also, some paintings I did for Fadenrot are now available as jewelry!

I expect that posting will stay a bit sporadic for a while but I hope eventually to get back on track with my career.

My twin, Mei, was blogged about in the Vacation Adventure Society Blog!

She drew a three-page comic with her own version of the Kill Joy comic (written by Gerard Way, Shaun Simon, and drawn by Becky Cloonan).  It took a long time for her to complete and I remember going over her roughs and talking about font types and reference (Akira manga car-chase scenes were a super awesome help- see example).
Anyway, they sought her out to get her pages posted!  Pretty rad, eh?

So, if you want to see click here.

Download the newest episodes…and check out their blog to comment.
YAY!

:)

Lots of news and more art!  Josh and I found out that we are having a baby boy just last week, I started a new book project with a new company (that for the time being is still top secret- although I was given the ok to post an occasional work-in-progress image so long as I blur any text and don’t give too much away), and I still have final images to create for Fadenrot!

Phew!

I wish so much that I could post the entire PDF of my storyboards for this story as it is very funny… and I’m pretty happy with the images.  I tried to be a lot more loose and a little more “cartoony” with the figures… I think it just fit the story more.  So far, this has been a fun project!

I’m also well into the second trimester of the pregnancy and the morning sickness is truly behind me.  That was SO hard.  Four months of being sick as a dog, and sometimes for the entire day (!!), and just in a total haze… I missed feeling normal… but as I said, I am back, and working hard!  :)  This has been already pretty crazy but at the same time, I’m sure things have yet to change… hee hee… lucky for me I have plenty of girl friends who have just gone through or are going through this at the same time.  I’m sure having a little guy to draw will be very fun, too, and hopefully, we can draw together in the future, my little bean and I… ;)

Fadenrot is always going to be my favorite client… I describe the way we work together to other artists and it is always the “ideal” situation/relationship… I get a theme (and these themes are always wonderfully inspiring and something I would LOVE to draw) and then I sketch like crazy these things that come to mind and my client picks and chooses what she likes… I do some revising, some fine-tuning, and then there it is!!  A new image for her to print and show the world!  It’s the best… especially because sketching always inspires some really great ideas for me… :)  It’s also just kind of cool to see your art on clothing!  :)

I’m just feeling very grateful, I suppose, and had to share… :)
So here are images to reflect what I am writing here…

First, our Benjamin Lee Yoshimitsu at 5 months:

Second, a single spread of my storyboards for this new project:

I already posted the sketches I made for Fadenrot so I will wait to post the final images when they are finished.

:)
Cheers!

So I know I have been a bit MIA from my blog… which is rare, but I found out several months ago that I was pregnant :o  and so I have been dealing with that along with some pretty intense morning sickness!!  I am now safely in my second trimester and feeling well enough and at a point that I can write about it.
Josh and I are excited (it was planned) and looking forward to meeting our “Boo.”  We won’t know what we’re having until a few more weeks but I really just want someone healthy!

Anyway…!!!

I have sketches!!  Lots of Fadenrot work… and some fun sketches I was inspired to do as I was watching Coraline… (I watch that movie a LOT).

Possible book project in the future with a starter company… possible other projects… lots of life changes… so we’ll see where it all leads!! I am pleased to have you with me!!!

;)

Please visit and like the new Etsy page! ;)

Let me just say that I am busy!  I wish it were more to do with freelance work, but it isn’t… I’ve blogged before about working on my mom’s house and that is taking much of my time.  However, it’s slowly… very slowly… going to get done and so I also have a strong sense of accomplishment (??).  We have for many years wanted to upgrade and renew my mom’s house… and it is finally being done.  Of course, we are also planning on selling it, too, so it may be a short lived sense of accomplishment, but I think it will still be nice to know that we DID it.  :)
Josh was saying that he thinks people get a different kind of feeling when they do things or create things than when they get the easy way or someone else to do it for them… and its a GOOD kind of different- the kind that makes you feel like you are ALIVE.  :)  I totally agree.  And its not really a pride thing either… more that you are just sort of satisfied more when you do something yourself and make something out of it.
So, that’s good…

:)

BUT, like I said, I’m still really busy!  Since a lot of time is spent working on the house, the free time I do have is spent more cleaning, cooking, and trying to sketch ideas for collectible figurines, a small project for my niece’s school auction, and submissions to publishers/magazines, etc.  I ordered postcards and have a list going but haven’t made the labels or actually sent them yet… I have sketches for my niece and more ideas sketched for the figurines…

So, I hope that this post makes some sense… I am writing it before I have to go to bed.. sigh.

Well, here are the sketches… :)