Christopher narrated this episode of Not About Lumberjacks (NALStories) himself, but since it was his first sci-fi story, and it was a bit more involved sound-wise, I helped with… not really characters, but more vocal effects.
One voice is obviously me (just a bit higher pitched). Another uses effects, but is still mostly recognizable as me. The one in the middle, you probably wouldn’t know unless you read the credits (and is the result from the day I recorded – see the photo to the top right of this entry).
We had a great time working on this – I’d say “together,” but that’s giving myself too much credit. Christopher obviously put the MOST time and effort into this episode. But I went from originally not wanting to even know any hints about the story, to helping him with the three extra vocal parts, selecting sounds and effects (seriously, who knew there were so many options for pings or “chimes”… you could get lost for so long picking things).
You can listen to Rockbitershere, or on your favorite podcasting app (be sure to add Not About Lumberjacks to your listening queue!).
The biggest exciting thing for us is we have finally set up a semi-permanent recording booth space. But, I’ll go into that more in another post soon!
I must say though… I really, REALLY enjoyed throwing myself into this part. Hope we can share a bit more about it in the future (only so many bits make it to the final cut – this is a story narration podcast, so there’s a fine line between focusing on the story, and adding so much sound that those take over).
I’ll leave you with this photo of me, surprised I didn’t pass out, because I pushed through the “voice” I was doing to the point of running out of air and holding it for a clean take. OOF!
I ended up taking December 2022 off, due to decorations causing quite the chaotic mess in my already chaotic home. I was slowly starting to figure out how to reorganize my living and workspace in our way-too-small for us apartment (more on that another time), so I wouldn’t have to keep taking Decembers off due to decorations relocating rest-of-the-year items. I intended to get back to working on some of my personal art in January….
And then one of the tools I use for doing art stopped working. My scanner/printer.
I did eventually get another one (this time, it has a dual paper tray that I originally wanted – no more swapping out between 8.5×11 and 11×17 paper!), but it was HUGE so it ended up going to another spot, and I definitely had to keep reorganizing and moving things around. I’m not fully finished – I’m trying to figure out how exactly I want things set up or organized so I don’t feel like I’ve got to move my entire living room around just to work on something, all while making sure I have space since I had to squeeze my work area into a small corner. But I didn’t get back to art as quickly as I’d hoped.
Unfortunately, I also got a bit overwhelmed by too much: online, real life, cruddy and blah mood stuff. And it affected me. I didn’t want to do art. When I did finally want to do art, I didn’t know what to work on (my planned projects were too important for me to go near while in this sort of mood, and I just felt uninspired by any other sketching or doodles).
Honestly I was starting to almost feel lost. Like I didn’t remember how to draw, or if I even ever wanted to draw anything ever again.
Ouch.
Finally, I did manage to just sit down and scrawl out some goofy, cartoon doodles to make myself realize that yes, I did want to keep drawing (even if only for my own joy). And then while looking at photos friends posted, I finally felt inspired!
I started with a friend, Dianna, and her rescue chicken, Sweet Dee. You can find the images and details about the black pencil portrait sketch on this page here.
Feeling a bit better and more “myself,” I picked a photo of my friend and the founder/head of the sanctuary I help (The Farm Micro Sanctuary) posing for a selfie with Jack the Goat. I did a little more detail and finished her portrait in pencils. Images and details about her portrait on this page here.
I normally don’t draw portraits in general, nor do I take commissions (I’m really hoping to start working on personal art that’s been waiting in piles or in my head for a few years now). I also don’t typically draw in pencil very often! It’s usually brushed ink. But I am hoping to get back to painting more often as well, so it was a good way to ease back into drawing again.
Hopefully the weird moods (not to mention technology! Ugh! So troublesome having to replace expensive stuff when you’re not planning on it or need to replace other things too) will stay away and I’ll be able to focus on all of my goals, art, voice work, health… so many things I’d rather be focusing on. 😉
Some of my “real world” portfolios and sketchbooks laid out in a pile.
I originally started sharing new art from when I started drawing fan art inspired by The Hobbit movies on my deviantART site. I created it to more easily find other fans who were inspired by the movies, as well as to be more easily found by them. Once I started creating fundraiser art for sanctuaries, I just added them there as well. I didn’t have any art galleries on my CFGriffith website – only older websites. So it just made sense to keep adding things there.
More and more though, I’m finding I don’t like the changes being made to places like dA… especially if there are automated things you can’t get better control of, like who can view a drawing or not once some non-human has accidentally deemed art that’s safe for all audiences as “mature” (man, someone needs to adjust those settings… LOL!!!!! A lot of art is getting censored that is laughably way off the mark).
I’m also finding myself being more social with other artists (regardless of how or what we create) on actual social media. Plus, that’s where it seems most people who would be interested in anything I create now will actually find me. And since it seems all things lead back here, it makes sense to actually put them here.
Since I want to go back to using my website more often, I figured I might as well finally create an art gallery here. I finally finished moving all of the fundraiser animal sanctuary art here (although I might add extra images over time as I come across them, like the finished merchandise, or progress photos, or my thoughts/process etc).
Although the pages are technically being stored in my “art” section in the “hobby” category for my organization with all the topics I’ve posted here over the years, you can get to them all (including costumes, and any collection of photos) under the “Image Gallery” link on the heading. Until I change the theme, you can also find them easily on the right sidebar too.
Will I eventually delete my dA? I’m honestly not sure. The current plan is not to do that – so many people found me through there, and I’d hate to just disappear without warning. I might add a note on my profile mentioning I’m no longer going to add new art on there, and where to find me. The point is, the movies – and my fan art – came out many years ago now, so those images were watermarked with my dA url as well as my website url. The ones getting added on THIS website’s new gallery will most likely just be resized smaller versions with those same watermarks just to keep my job a little lighter with moving things over (not to mention, keep things clear where they started over the years).
Those old website galleries I mentioned? I’m going to keep the domain name, but I’m thinking of doing away with the hosting to save money. They really don’t represent me, or my current interests anymore since it’s been SO long ago. Will I move all of the art from those to here? Ick. It honestly gives me a headache thinking about it. While I’m at it, how far back do I go? Scan drawings from my childhood? (Actually, that could be fun to do a post about progress over the years, but those sound more like blog posts.) I might just add a landing page, maybe with a few of those drawings put together for visual recognition, and a link to the newer galleries.
Honestly, I think the main cut off should be the art that is “newest,” and got me BACK to working on art again. That would be the Dwarf/Hobbit movies fan art. So I think that will be the cut-off point going back… for a “full” gallery, I mean.
So if you follow me on dA, keep in mind you might not see anything new again, and if you have been following me here (thank you SO much for your continuing support!), don’t be surprised if you see things shifting around and changing a bit as I shuffle art, collections, and tidy up!
Looking forward to the New Year, not just to get a fresh space online, but as I figure out how on earth my husband and I can do all the things we do (art, podcasting, waaaaaaaay too many things with waaaaaaaay too many gadgets taking up space) in our way-too-tiny-for-us apartment, but still feel like we’re not living in a storage unit that requires moving furniture to draw, enjoy a fireplace, or do laundry.
It’s been a busy time for me despite being so quiet here!
Not only was yesterday the release of my most recent design to help an animal sanctuary raise funds, there was another release that went out at the exact same time (great timing, Christopher! LOL).
This past week, I narrated a new story for my husband’s audio fiction podcast and it went online this weekend. It’s called “In the Margins.”
The story description:
“When Kenna Baynes discovers a strange book in her college library, she finds something in the margins that changes her life forever…”
Christopher Gronlund, author of “In the Margins.”
It’s been a while since I recorded narration or voice work regularly, and I do hope to change that (along with a lot of other things I enjoy working on or doing – especially as the weather starts cooling down, and I change from wanting to find an ice cave to hide in to feeling energized and happy again).
I’m hoping to help narrate a series he’s been working on over the years, at least to have it handy for him to use however he wants as well as give me practice. I would definitely like to learn to use the recording equipment myself, and take the raw files and edit them in the software he uses. He’s pretty much always been my sound engineer and editor, so to speak, and I don’t want to always have to rely on him all the time if I need to record something or even more importantly: seek out more regular voicework on my own!
I still haven’t worked on those voice reels I’ve needed to get online (I have a link to all of my work for the time being until I do get actual voice reels online). There’s just been so much other stuff for both of us to do, and since we want to record in the quietest space we can, there is always setup and breakdown of the various “soundbooths” we use, as well as the recording equipment.
Anyway, give the show a listen – or really, any of the episodes. There’s a wide variety of short stories on there!
The sanctuary I volunteer with as an artist and board member (I would help out in person, but we’re in entirely different states/on different sides of the country!) is celebrating their 1 year anniversary as an official nonprofit.
We decided to celebrate with a party, and releasing a new shirt fundraiser! This time, we used Jack as the subject (who is turning 1 year old around this time as well), and I was inspired by a silly batch of photos where he is wearing sunglasses someone put on him earlier this year.
Sketch transferred to 9×12 Bristol in blue pencil using my lightbox, then inked with brush and pen, finally color and text added last in Adobe Illustrator.
I mentioned a few days ago why I was slow to update this blog about a new drawing and fundraiser design (today/May 2nd is the last day to order, by the way!)… it’s also why I haven’t created any new art for a while. I’m also slowing down on updating some of my personal social media…
Yes, you might remember I’ve done two designs for them before (Dancing Fern and Ambassador Arlo), and I had frequently chatted with the founder about promotion and social media. I’ve helped so much, they voted and decided to just bring me onto the team officially!
They are located in Indiana, and of course I’m in Texas, but although I wish I could help out in person and get tons of video and photos myself to let them focus on the animals, this is actually something I can help with online. Since, you know… it’s FOR online!
I am hoping to get caught up and more settled into my role (we are still getting a few new things set up, working out our system, and coming up with various ways to promote the sanctuary and build up following), and I definitely intend to do some more art. Especially for TFMS. I will still help do fundraiser art for vegan farmed animal sanctuaries (as that is my focus, since my time is limited), but obviously I will take my volunteer position seriously and prioritize it. I still would love to get to some of my personal art as well. Until then, I’m enjoying creating videos and brainstorming ideas!
Just thought I would take a moment to share the news (it’s actually been a couple of weeks now)!
I’ll do an entry in a few days explaining why I’ve been especially busy with other things lately, but I got SO distracted that I didn’t realize until there were only 3 days left in the shirt campaign that I had shared it everywhere except my website!
Description written at beginning of 2022 (artwork only just went online mid-April 2022): I’ve really had a hard time getting back to art after the holidays. I had/have TOO many projects all screaming for my attention. Just when I thought I’d decided on an order to get going, I got distracted by far too many other things (I’ve taken over a lot of the cooking and meal planning as well as chores and trying to reorganize things)… and then there’s the shared laptop my husband and I have to drag back and forth. After a chat during lunch, my husband challenged me to draw this silly goat, and I couldn’t get the idea out of my head. So I started and finished it in a handful of hours! King Kurloz lives a wonderful life at the Sowa Goat Sanctuary, where he has discovered the joy of having his hooves rubbed – and in fact is VERY demanding when his caretakers are near him. LOL!
Sketched straight to 11×14 Bristol in blue pencil, then inked with brushed and pen, and text added last in Adobe Illustrator. The fundraiser can be found here: https://www.bonfire.com/king-kurloz/
This was QUITE the project for me! I was asked by Foreverland Farm to create a design for their new arrival – a wild horse, who had been removed from his land… but now he has a home, and caring humans who will treat him with care and respect! And, he has a name: Daryl Hannah!
FLF wanted to go for a vintage mustang shirt look, but the printer we use has certain limitations, so this is what I came up with to help evoke memories of that style of art!
Sketched in blue and black pencil on rough drawing paper, then enlarged, transferred to 11×14 Bristol paper with blue pencil. Inked in brush and pen, scanned, and colored in Adobe Illustrator, with much of the background created in that program. The fundraiser can be found here: https://www.bonfire.com/forever-wild160/
My husband and I sponsor a goat named Arlo Goathrie who lives at The Farm Micro Sanctuary. When we found out that he is going to be an ambassador to let people meet a goat, and help explain what the sanctuary does for at-risk farmed animals, I just knew I had to help put together a little design for my sponsor-boy! This was inspired from a photo I had seen of him nibbling on a leaf that was almost as big as he was at the time. He’s still a bit small, but is adorable. I think people will fall in love when they meet him!
Sketched as a quick thumbnail in blue and black pencil as part of a group of ideas for the sanctuary to choose from. Enlarged, printed out, and transferred to 9×12 Bristol in blue pencil. Inked with brush and pen. Finished and colored in Adobe Illustrator.
You can get your shirts here until the end of March!
Just jumping on here really quickly to let you know that I did the full narration for a new story on writer Christopher Gronlund’s Not About Lumberjacks podcast. It’s called “Revisions” (link here).
Here is the description from the page:
“An author tries to finish construction on her recently-deceased mother’s home while writing her second novel — the follow up to a New York Times Best Seller.”
Christopher Gronlund, writer of Not About Lumberjacks
I’m still working on art and getting things organized, but we are pretty happy with the recording setup we have in our little place. When you don’t have enough room for everything you do, you make do with what you’ve got! Very pleased with the sound we get – we always try our best to get good quality in our creative endeavors, but we also always have fun!
