Tax Day Coupon

I don't know of anyone who is self-employed who looks forward to tax day. While people with a traditional job who had withholding taken out may look forward to a refund those who are self employed get a double tax bill because it's also when our first quarter estimated taxes are due. So to help soften the blow I got this year I'm offering a free shipping coupon good through the end Monday, April 18. So use the coupon code TAXDAY2011 to get free shipping in my shop.

Semi-Daily Sketch #2

Quick deep sea squid.

Semi-Daily Sketch #1 (Mildly NSFW)

My drawing skills have never been as good as my sculpting skills and I keep meaning to improve them. Since I have my new tablet that I can sketch with without digging out my charcoals and getting all messy (not to mention an undo button) I'm going to make an effort to do at least one fairly quick sketch everyday. I know better than to think I can actually do one each and every day, my schedule and how busy I am is very unpredictable, but I'll do my best. If I like the sketch I'll share it here on the blog. So for the very first one: here's a nude sketch based on this stock photo from DeviantArt.

Having Fun with New Toy

My Bamboo set up next to my laptop with a quick cuttlefish sketch.

Really it isn't a toy, it's a very useful tool for my artwork it's just so much fun it feels like a toy. I recently got a Wacom Bamboo Pen and Touch, it's a graphics tablet that lets me digitally draw and paint in a way that feels a lot like drawing with a pen or pencil. I've been wanting to do a series of illustrations featuring the creatures from my jewelry designs and I kept putting it off because honestly I'm just not that great with paints. I need ctrl+z in real life when it comes to painting anything 2 dimensional, painting jewelry and sculpture is a totally different set of skills it's adding color and enhancing texture I've sculpted, it doesn't deal with things like shading and perspective.

The tablet has taken a little getting used to, it arrived from Amazon last Wednesday and I produced a lot of crappy sketches in GIMP getting used to it. The tablet came with Photoshop Elements but Elements has a lot of features missing that GIMP does have or which CS5 has but neither Elements nor GIMP has (which I understand, Adobe wants people to have a reason to upgrade to Photoshop CS5 but is CMYK too much to ask for Elements?) so I probably won't use it much.

So here's a work in progress painting of a Steampunk Octopus.

Mini Stories Part III

Here are a couple more of the mini stories for my jewelry.

Steampunk Octopus

“It lurks in a crevice of the reef, an oddly shiny tentacle darts out. Ignoring the usual prey of an octopus, this one searches the sea floor for shiny bits of glass and metal to decorate its lair. Tiny treasures to remind it of the past while waiting for its gears to finally wind down.”

Steampunk Nautilus

“A solo wanderer of the sea, a relic of some contemporary of Captain Nemo or maybe even the captain himself. The mechanical nautilus makes its way through the water year after year.”

Mini Stories Part II

Here are a couple more of the mini stories for my jewelry.

Steampunk Squid
“A soft ticking sound trailed the sleek body of the squid. It was lagging behind the school of reef squid. Other stragglers were being picked off by predators but they shied away from this bizarre metallic squid with it's whirring gears on it's back.”

Steampunk Cuttlefish
“Gliding through the ocean the clockwork cuttlefish quietly whirred and clicked as it swam. Where this strange creature came from no one know, some strange creation of a mad scientist perhaps? It has been traveling the ocean for years along with it's brethren, the mechanical squids, octopuses, and nautiluses. Until the day their mechanisms finally slow down and they wash ashore to be marveled over by curious beach combers.”

A Follow Up

Okay, so after my previous post I had a few people insist that no I'm not boring and I should tell my story. Well I still insist it's not that interesting but I think I should flesh out what I wrote before.

I do care deeply about what I do, I have a strong drive to create things and I have the best job in the world because of this. The thing is, while I care a lot about everything I create the main reason I create it is that I think it's fun, or cool, or beautiful. I have sometimes done stuff that has more meaning behind it (see my sculpture Odin's Runesong) but most of it is just because the idea struck me as something I'd enjoy making.

I get asked a lot why I make so many cephalopods. Do they have some special meaning to me? The simple answer is that they are my favorite group of animals and I find them fascinating. The only "message" I want my jewelry to send to people is that cephalopods are pretty cool animals.

Mini Stories Part I

I've been doing a lot of reading recently about building a brand and stuff like that. One thing they kept coming back to was telling a story. Personally my story is kind of boring, I make jewelry of stuff I find cool and interesting. I don't do it for any deep emotional reason (beyond my drive to create) or to make a statement.

So instead I decided I'm going to write little stories about my inspiration. I've limited myself to less than 500 characters for each little vignette. First up are the Octopus, Squid, Cuttlefish, and Nautilus. I plan to also write stories about their more science fiction counterparts the steampunk, cosmic, and deep space cephalopods.

Octopus

Darting in and out of crevices in the coral reef the octopus hunts for food. Tiny crabs scuttle out of the way but not fast enough. Arms dart out and wrap around the small crustacean and pull it towards it's hungry beak.

Squid

A giant squid swims through murky deep sea waters. Many of the creatures it passes are lit up by bioluminescence, glowing in this realm where the sun's light never reached. This squid isn't interested in a meal, it's trying to keep from being one itself. Sperm whales have invaded, the greatest enemy and predator of the giant squid.

Cuttlefish

A group of cuttlefish glitter in the tropical ocean waters. It's the mating season and they are on full display, flashing bright colors to attract a mate. It will be the final act of many of their lives, the females living only long enough to lay their eggs. They will never see their young.

Nautilus

As it had many times before the nautilus rose from deeper waters that night to feed among the coral. It was an old nautilus, unlike other cephalopods it didn't die after mating once but could live upwards of 20 years, it's shell was scratched and battered by the sea. Each night the journey got harder and harder, soon it would no longer be able to evade the predators.

Quick Note

Just edited my Etsy shop to add shipping to Japan. The cost is the same rate as I charge for shipping to Europe, Australia, and New Zealand. For jewelry this is $6 for the first jewelry item and $2.50 for each additional piece in an order.

Love Is in the Air

Happy Valentine's Day everyone. Usually I'm not in the Valentine's Day mood but this year I'm spending it with a special someone and feel all warm and fuzzy about it. To celebrate, I'm offering free domestic shipping with the coupon code LOVE2011 through midnight Feb. 14th (that's Eastern Standard Time).

To use the coupon code go to Noadi.etsy.com, select the item(s) you want, add to your cart, and input the coupon code LOVE2011 in the box labeled "Shop Coupon Code" on the shopping cart page.