Monster Girl Challenge Week 2

It's been around a week since my first round of monster girl post. Here's what I've been up to this week.

#8 Allie the Alien loves laser tag.

 

#9 Petunia the Centaur likes to pick apples.

#10 Slimy the slime girl. She likes to be pampered at the spa. 

Mud baths are her favorite!

#11 DJ Roba the Robot . She loves techno music.

#12 Naga the half snake girl. Snake charmers beware, 

she'll charm you with her belly dancing.

#13 Chacha the canine girl. She loves long runs in the park.

#14 Cynda the Cyclops. She loves 3D movies.

#15 Octavia the octomaid. She enjoys bring in the 

Grand Supreme Queen title at every pageant she enters.

#16 Grayce the gargoyle. She can hold a pose 

better than any other model on the runway.

#17 Yeti, she loves to snowboard.

 

#18 Nessie. She likes go tubing on the 

river when she goes on vacation.

#19 Dullahan the headless horsewoman. 

Her ponies always get pampered.

 #20 Selkie the seal who sheds its skin to become human. 

Selkie loves to surf, and why wouldn't she with her natural wetsuit.

#21 Eshne the dragon girl. She loved to LARP

 and always plays a knight.

 

#22 Minnie the Minotaur . She loves mazes.

#23 Frannie aka the bride of Frankenstein. 

She's celebrating her upcoming wedding.

Enjoy!

 

Story Telling - Building a Brand

Earlier this week I started taking an online class by the Crafty Chica. I was working on the first assignment when I found myself sidetracked. What was suppose to be research on blogging turned into brand research. I started finding brands that were similar to mine. Much larger, but similar. I found myself asking what is my brand, what is Studio Longoria. I decided a few months ago that what I really wanted to do with Studio Longoria was focus on the characters that I love to create. That meant more drawing, more painting and more plushie making. As I started researching these other brands I saw something that my brand was really missing. Something I knew I was missing, but just never sat down to take care of. I was missing back stories for my characters. Who are these creatures, where did they come from? I've set out to answer these by putting together a little book. I've even created an alter ego, a character that explores other worlds and finds these creatures which I create. I'm pushing myself to create daily, to write, draw and tell the story of these creatures. So far so good. I'm four stories in, and I even designed the cover for my little creature book. I still have lots of stories to tell, but I'm taking my time. It was hard to write at first, but now the stories are coming to me much faster. I thought I'd share a few shots of the book so far.

     

I Love Comic Books!

I know it's probably something you don't hear girls say very often, but it's true. When I was younger my dad would buy me comic books. I'd look through them amazed with the illustrations, truthfully I didn't always read them , I just LOVED the illustrations. I'm a fan of both DC and Marvel comics but Superman has always had my heart. When I was in high school I would practice my drawing skills by drawing the images from my comic books.
This summer I took my kids to the comic book shop for the first time. I think I enjoyed it more than they did. I'm actually looking forward to them going back to school so I can head over there and really look around. I didn't purchase any comics, I went on a mission to find a Munny figure, which I did.
Back on track, comic books, I love them. I MADE ONE! Two actually. My mom had been telling me that I should write a book about my Cucuy characters. I had a few customers mention how cool a comic about my characters would be. I finally sat down and started drawing. At first I was going for a children's book, building off the story line my mom had in mind. I just wasn't feeling the story book format. That's when I decided I had to turn the story into a comic book.

It's not a full size comic book, but a cute little mini comic book. I've decided I'm going to make it a monthly series. I have two completed as of this week. Issue #1 has been for sale in my shop for a few weeks. Issue #2 will be for sale September 1st.

I'm growing addicted to creating them. I have the story line for Issue #3 in my head. I hope to have a chance to draw it out this weekend. I also have a few other series in my head, I think  Luchamals (masked wrestling animals) will be next.

Steps 3 & 4

Yesterday I shared the digital drawing stage of my design process. Today I jump ahead to share the prototype stage. The prototype stage is actually stage 4. Step 3 is printing the designs onto heat transfers and pressing them to white cotton fabric. Step 4 is taking the fabric, sewing and stuffing the plushies. From here I decided what needs to be changed or improved on. I also use this step to decided whether to send the design to be printed on fabric by the yard. For those wondering who I use for my fabric printing, I use Spoonflower.com , I've been very happy with their work. Pricing may seem high, but when you think about having your very own designs that no one else can buy it's worth it.
Here's a peak at some prototypes. 

 

I couldn't resist taking a picture on the beautiful new plates my parents bought us for Christmas.

 

Taco

 

Avocados

Hope I didn't leave you too hungry :)

Yummy New Collection

The beginning of the year is usually a slow time for craft shows and festivals. I've decided to take this time and work on a new collection of softies. I'm only in the drawing stage, these are only concepts, but hopefully in the next week or so I will get them onto the computer, redraw them in illustrator and start printing and sewing some prototypes. Here's a peak at what I've been working on.

 

Taco

 

Raspa (snow cone)

 

Chili & Jalapeno 

 

Empanada (My favorite pastry!)

 

Avocados 

(Please excuse the poor photos I took them with my phone.)