I’m just going to say it. I want to go to SXSW Interactive this year. No. I really really REALLY want to go to SXSW Interactive this year. I was fortunate enough that last year I was able to attend through my day job, and I met so many amazing people and learned SO MUCH. So much that I’m pretty positive that I learned more in 5 days at SXSWi than I did in my 4.5 years of college. I thought for sure I would be going again this year, but it looks like if that’s going to happen, I’ll need your help. So I’ve come up with a deal for all of my awesome readers, family, and friends.

The SXSWi Snailbird Proposal

If you help to send me to SXSWi, I promise you I will bring to you all the latest, greatest news and education from the most awesome conference ever hosted in Austin, Texas. I will create a separate SXSWi page where I will write up all my notes, post all my pictures, and share all the downloads, tweets (both on designcoyote and rescueanimals), and resources I find. I’m even going to create a special #hashtag for Twitter usage so all you have to do is follow it to see my SXSWi tweets.

Some of the sessions I hope to go to (which is also all the things you get to learn about as well!) include: Storytelling Beyond Words: New Forms of Journalism, Security and Privacy in Social Networks, Taking Your Brand Back from Your Customers, Voices Carry: Why Authentic Brand Voices Matter, Social Media Boundaries: Personal/Personnel Policy, The State of Social Marketing, The Promise and Pitfalls of Real-Time Marketing, Social Media in the Underground World of B2B, Epic Battle: Creativity vs. Discipline in Social, Sparking Real World Action with Social Media, How Comics Journalism is Saving Your Media, Can Gaming Make the World Better?, Tech Superwomen: Mentors and Mentees FTW, and oh so much more that are on my list but I don’t have room to post.

OH! And don’t forget I would totally take pictures and share notes from speakers like Kevin Smith and Joss Whedon. Because hell yes, you know you want to hear from the two of them.

We all love learning. And you already know that I love sharing knowledge – on here, on @designcoyote, on I Love Rescue Animals, and on @rescueanimals – so you know that I’m only going to be bring you the best quality and create a stellar resource for those of you who can’t make it to SXSWi yourself. This is your chance to be a part of SXSWi for just a small donation (and some fantastic incentives).

How Much Will This Be?

I didn’t find out until today that I would have to come up with creative ways to get myself there, so the total amount of money I’m trying to raise is $950 – which is JUST the price of one SXSWi ticket. Since I live in Austin, all the lodging expenses are taken care of, and I’ll pay for my own food and goodies. I just need help getting the ticket.

What You Get For Helping!

Don’t worry. You won’t be walking away empty-handed either. Besides the shared knowledge of all I learn, you will also get an awesome incentive depending on what level you donate to. These are as follows:

$1-$15: Join the list of other donors on my SXSW page.
$16-$29: The above and an individual shout-out on the designcoyote twitter (1,700+ followers).
$30-$49: The above and a pencil sketch of your pet/favorite animal (in The Family Menagerie style).
$50-$74: The above and the pencil sketch gets inked and colored with marker.
$75-$99: The above plus a 100×100 pixels digitally colored avatar of your choice (in TFM style), as well as a shout-out on the rescueanimals twitter (17,800+ followers).
$100-$199: Be included on the donors page, receive a twitter shout-out (on both), a sketch of a pet/favorite animal, and a 100×100 pixel digitally colored avatar, and 1 month of advertising on the blog.
$200-$349: Mention on donors page and twitter accounts, marker-colored image of pet/favorite animal, 100×100 avatar, 2 months of advertising on the blog.
$350-$474: The above AND a full-colored digital illustration of your choice.
$475: SPONSORSHIP LEVEL 1! You will get all the above PLUS 6 months of advertising on the blog and a full blog post thanking you on Snailbird.
$950: SPONSORSHIP LEVEL 2! You will get all the above PLUS 12 months of advertising on the blog and a full blog post thanking you on Snailbird AND I Love Rescue Animals.

ChipIn to the Send-Nikki-to-SXSWi Fund!

So you can all help keep track of where I am in donations, I’ve set up this nifty ChipIn that’s connected to my PayPal account. Once you donate, you will receive an email from me confirming the amount and the prizes you will receive. Just click on the ChipIn widget below to donate or go straight to the ChipIn page.

What If The Goal Isn’t Reached?

Good question. If I don’t receive the goal of $950 by March 9th, all of the donations will be fully refunded. That’s right, you’ll get all of your money back and I’ll just have to wait to go to SXSWi next year. If however, it IS funded, as soon as SXSWi is over (March 13th is the last day), I will begin work on all of your prizes. It’s a win-win situation (the very best kind)!

The Final Plea

I want to go to SXSWi so much. It was an incredible experience last year and I don’t want to miss out again. I learned so much, and I feel that this year will be even better. So for just one donation, you can help send me to this awesome conference full of great opportunities and in return you get to learn all that I learn and some (you know those incentives are pretty awesome). Pretty great deal, yeah?

So please please help, and share with your family and friends! I will be forever grateful to you and so very honored. Thank you! You guys rock!

Happy New Year! Resolutions? Sure. Why not. 1. More Art. 2. Less candy (crap, failing this already). 3. Be more fit (got kicked out of bootcamp on the first day because of a hurt disc but I’m joining a yoga/stretching class so we’re doing good on this one). 4. Bring back The Family Menagerie. 5. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes (agh). 6. DANCE MORE.

I don’t think any of those need elaborate explanations. Mainly, my focus this year will be on health and personal growth. I want to be healthier both in mind and body and so I’m turning to things that make me happy. Drawing of course is good for the soul, as is dancing (and singing – which I’m quietly going to try to do more of – Ash got me a ukelele for Christmas so I’m teaching myself to play), and making mistakes is important for growing (I’m horrible at allowing myself mistakes). I have a horrible reputation for not taking care of myself physically so I’m making that a priority this year. Get healthy. Eat more veggies. Treat my body with respect. Be Good. And all of that jazz. Excitement!

I’m slightly less excited about the whole “less candy” thing.

My favorite part of the resolution is drawing more. Keep an eye on this space as it’ll be updated again in the very near future with more sketches. For now though, since really this post is about my favorite things and being happy, you should all check out my tumblr since that’s my virtual happy place. It’s full of shiny, happy things.

Oh! And before I forget. My other resolution is to join my co-editor Rondal in bringing you all awesome new content on Fuel Your Illustration. We’ve already done a great job for January and it’s only the start. Do you have ideas for content or want to contribute? Contact me or Rondal – we’d love to include you and your work! Also follow us on twitter for more artsy-fartsy updates.

And that, ladies and gents, concludes this first “life” post of the year. How have you been? Have any resolutions you can’t wait to kick into gear?

Creature Spot

Quick update! I just needed to tell you all about my absolute new favorite blog: Creature Spot. It’s basically a blog for a bunch of different concept artists to come together and share their sketches and creations and I am in LOVE with it. Amazing work and extremely inspiring to someone who once dreamed of joining Weta Workshop as a concept artist (I have no given up on that dream – someday it will happen!).

Anyway… a few favorites:

• The Explorer’s Guide to Drawing Fantasy Creatures by Emily Fiegenschuh
• WoW: TCG Cards by LD Austin
• Talisman: The Dragons by Christopher Burdett
• Dog Women, Fish Men, Cat Monkeys and Ox Horses by Ryan Firchau

Go check them out and much more over at Creature Spot!

Police Pepper Spray Peaceful Protestors

First, if you live under a rock (or another country) and don’t know about the incident of police brutality on the UC Davis campus, then read this and watch the videos if you can stomach them. I almost didn’t. I couldn’t get through the whole thing without working myself into such anger that I had to leave the room. It’s hard to watch. It’s hard to believe something like this would happen in our day.

Why? Maybe I live in a bubble. The Occupy movement here in Austin has been dramatically more civil than in other parts of the nation. While there have been a few arrests, there’s been little to no drama, and the APD has been supportive of the safety of the protestors to the extent that they willingly stop downtown traffic to allow the protestors to parade through the streets. I think this is a direct reflection of the education system in Austin and the high acceptance and tolerance levels in our liberal Texan city. We’re lucky. Some folks, like the students and faculty at UC Davis, are not. The police man who pepper sprayed the young and old who sat on the sidewalk with their arms linked in peaceful protest did nothing but prove that peace and solidarity and the strength of community can and will win out over violence.

It makes me despair in the future of humanity, but gives me hope that there are people out there who will give their all to preserve peace.

The Despicable Actions of the Administration

This arcticle by UC Davis professor Bob Ostertag is the best article I’ve read so far about the protest and why it and the actions of the administration were so horrendous. He mentions to the health and safety hazards of pepper spray and how, days after the brutal attack, there are several students who are still sick and burned from the chemicals.

“As with chili peppers, some people tolerate pepper spray well, while others have extreme reactions. It is not known why this is the case. As a result, if a doctor sees pepper spray used in a prison, he or she is required to file a written report. And regulations prohibit the use of pepper spray on inmates in all circumstances other than the immediate threat of violence. If a prisoner is seated, by definition the use of pepper spray is prohibited. Any prison guard who used pepper spray on a seated prisoner would face immediate disciplinary review for the use of excessive force. Even in the case of a prison riot in which inmates use extreme violence, once a prisoner sits down he or she is not considered to be an imminent threat. And if prison guards go into a situation where the use of pepper spray is considered likely, they are required to have medical personnel nearby to treat the victims of the chemical agent.

Apparently, in the state of California felons incarcerated for violent crimes have rights that students at public universities do not.”

The Shadow was Only a Small & Passing Thing

When using your VOICE becomes a crime so heinous it “forces” officers to use violence on children, my faith in humanity dwindles. My heart breaks. And at the same time, my spirit is uplifted by the community of people, young and old, who refuse to give in, who link arms and raise their voices louder, and who, no matter how many times they are beaten and burned and kicked, refuse to act in kind and instead remain peaceful and connected in their solidarity and beliefs. They remind me that there is still beauty and hope left in humanity and they are the ones that will save us in the end. Thank you to those old souls who know the importance of never giving up for what you believe in.

The Summer Day

Who made the world?
Who made the swan, and the black bear?
Who made the grasshopper?
This grasshopper, I mean-
the one who has flung herself out of the grass,
the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,
who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down-
who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.
Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.
Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.
I don’t know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn’t everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?

-Mary Oliver.

The Start of a Career

I keep putting off writing this post. I feel like if I actually put it down, then it’s real. Dumb, I know. Hundreds of thousands of people have already written it down. It happened. It’s over. Steve Jobs, iGenius himself, has left us.

So here’s my story. I was a freshman in high school and there was one iMac in the whole school, in the corner of my home away from home: the art room. It was a huge blue box-y thing and it kind of sucked to work with because the screen kept flickering in and out of different colors. But I was in love with it. Totally different from all the other computers at school. Sleek. Clean. I found it easier to use AND it had art software on it. This was also my introduction to Adobe but it’s not as important right now. What was important was that I had discovered a new way to create art that no one had ever showed me. On that Mac, I taught myself how to scan my artwork and draw and color and quickly took this new-found knowledge to the Photo room where I began teaching some of the other kids how to manipulate photos. I also teamed up with other geeks on learning video and movie software.

What I’m getting at is, I would not be where I am, a digital artist, a cartoonist, a web and graphic designer and social media strategist, if it hadn’t been for that Mac. I wasn’t completely in love with computers until that one. And that one changed my life. So I, much like many people I work with and many people sharing their own stories, have an entire career to thank Steve Jobs for. Oh and Pixar. Holy crap, Pixar. Thank you, Steve, for Macs, iPhones, pretty little gadgets, and some of the best movies in history.

I’m seriously thinking about getting an iDream tattoo somewhere. iDream of [Apple logo]. We’ll see. Thanks for everything, Mr. Jobs. RIP.

You may have already heard of The Girl Effect. If you don’t know, it’s “the unique potential of 600 million adolescent girls to end poverty for themselves and the world.” In other words, it’s an organization dedicated to improving the lives of young girls and giving them the means of educating themselves and working towards making the world a better place.

“The Girl Effect is a movement. It’s social change in action. It’s about you using your voice, your talents, and your community to help girls help themselves—and, as a result, everybody else.

Created by people at the Nike Foundation, the Novo Foundation, the United Nations Foundation, and the Coalition for Adolescent Girls, its purpose is to spread the word about what girls can do and to recruit other powerful girl champions, like you. Armed with the tools and the network you need to raise awareness—and a little elbow grease—you can change the world.”

I won’t bore you with any more descriptions. Just watch this.

The Girl Effect

It’s a small ripple. Helping just one girl. But that ripple grows and causes more and that one, that one counted. It’s like the Starfish Effect. Every single one matters and it makes an impact on generations. You can make a difference too. It’s our responsibility to make the world a better place and we can do it. This isn’t just about giving one girl a few more years of schooling. This is about the small that makes up the whole. This is about HIV and poverty and it’s about Human Rights and the values we place on people that are seen as different from us. This is about saving a planet before it throws itself off the edge of the universe.

This is about doing what’s right. And it starts with one girl. That’s what the Girl Effect is.

What You Can Do To Help

Raise awareness. This post isn’t just from me. Starting today, bloggers from all over the world are blogging about the Girl Effect. It’s a campaign to make people see that this HUGE issue has a simple solution. Want to help? It’s easy. Write a blog post. You can find more information about what to write and what to include on Tara Mohr’s Girl Effect page, and you can see a lot more blog posts from other folks on the campaign page.

Please join us.

Find out more about The Girl Effect:

• Official Website
• The Big Picture
• Facebook
• Twitter
• YouTube

(You hear that, Jason, I am going to irritate the hell out of you until you draw me a spider!)

Ahem. I have managed to get a few sketches out though, and while I don’t think they’re that good, they’re at least getting me into the drawing mindset. And the comic mindset as well. There’s some big motivation happening on The Family Menagerie front. It’s coming back. When? Not sure. But it’s coming. If Ash has anything to say about it. Which I’m sure she does. Though it might all be taking a back seat once we start D&D’ing next week. Oh right. Did you not know I was a nerd?

You must be new.

Where was I? ART. Have some.

Sometimes we like to chase stars. And sometimes we like to eat them. They taste like sugar. No, really. Oh but I did mention sketches. Have some of those too. Because I like to draw things like hands, flying space Stegosauruses, shy moose, and Jackalopes in hats. I’m eclectic. Did you not know that?

Seriously, are you new?

& Because you can’t leave without a Totoro

It’s been a Miyazaki kind of month and Studio Ghibli makes my heart happy. And because Ash and I are nerds and like to collect things like giant stuffed monsters and talking cats. If you haven’t ever seen a Studio Ghibli film, preferably Miyazaki, do yourself a favor and go out and rent one. Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke, Kiki’s Delivery Service… so many. Just go google them and pick one. They’re all amazing. My Neighbor Totoro is a favorite in this house. Can you tell?

Now your heart can be happy too.

While I haven’t been updating here much, I still do blog over at Fuel your Illustration. Sometimes. Rondal is an amazing co-editor and I’m pretty sure FYI wouldn’t be anywhere if it weren’t for him. Thanks Rondal! Anyhoo, here are some of my recent contributions.

Fuel Your Illustration Articles!

Webcomic Wednesday: Promises, Imagination, & Cleopatra in Space
June 29th, 2011
“Oh how I have pined for my weekly adventure into the kingdom of Webcomics. Oh Wednesdays, for too long you had lost your meaning to me. But no more…”

Colours Not Forgotten: Interview with the Forgotten Colours Crew
July 19th, 2011
“A few weeks back, we introduced you to Forgotten Colours, a beautiful and inspiring iPad app that was filled with stories and illustrations…”

Womanthology: The Not-So-Webcomic Wednesday Special Edition
July 27th, 2011
“Not to isolate the male comic book artists out there, but as a geeky girl with an intense attraction to visual storytelling, I absolutely love learning…”

They’re Not Faeries: Kickstarter & Interview with Paul Keskey
August 23rd, 2011
“When I was little, I was obsessed with the Dark Crystal (okay, maybe I still am). As I grew older, I discovered more works by Brian Froud and fell in love…”

And today’s article, a co-interview with Rondal:

Illustrate Like a Boxer: Interview with Artist Marcelo Vignali
September 7th, 2011
“This week the staff here at Fuel Your Illustration is proud to introduce a very special guest: Marcelo Vignali. Joining us from his home studio in California…”

Write For Us!

These are just my articles, there are a ton more of them over at Fuel Your Illustration by my awesome co-editor and some great guest writers. Interested in writing for us? Head on over and contact us! We’d love to hear from you.

To find the universal elements enough; to find the air and the water exhilarating; to be refreshed by a morning walk or an evening saunter… to be thrilled by the stars at night; to be elated over a bird’s nest or a wildflower in spring – these are some of the rewards of the simple life. ~John Burroughs