Working For Yourself: A visual tour

My perception is that people think working for yourself is like this:

When actually, it's a bit more like this:

Here I am checking my email.

Saying yes to last minute projects,

and basking in the freedom from a normal 9-5 job.

This has been a public service announcement, paid for by the council of people who never leave the house because they're on a deadline.

Small Fans

Hello!

I've recently received a nomination for "Tiniest Fan", and her name is Ellie.

Ellie's Mom wrote and said:

"Ellie wants to touch these giraffes every time she passes them in the hallway."

Look at that small hand!

Thank you, Ellie & Moms. I am honored.


Also, I have my first hat-pasted-onto-owl submission from Sylvie in Portland (who is small, but I'm not sure how small, so until I have this confirmed, I'm going to guess {from photos and clairvoyance} she is about four years old). :

My friends were so torn when I asked whether or not the calendar owl should be wearing a mouse hat (like really, really surprisingly strong opinions on both sides) that I ended up putting a special "cut & Paste" mouse hat in the back of the calendar, so that everyone can make their own decision on the matter.

You can see the cut & paste area here, at the bottom of the calendar in this picture I snatched from Buy Olympia.


Okay. I think that's it.
Off to draw a dog as the Virgin of Guadalupe and a cat sitting "Like People".

What a life, over here.


Take care,

n.g.

p.s.
I once again horrified a room of teenagers today by revealing (both verbally and by example) that acne continues well into your thirties.
Sorry, students, but someone needed to tell the truth on the matter!


p.p.s. Did you know I am on twitter? Follow me: @nicolejgeorges .

Tattoo Talk, or "Tat Chat"

Hello!


Have you ever wanted to get a tattoo of one of my drawings? I say do it. Just do it, and then send me a picture.

I am not trying to be presumptuous.
Maybe you hate my art and you just visit my blog to feel superior. Maybe you think tattoos are for circus freaks.
Whatever your vibe is, I thought of this post because someone posted their giant , beautiful back piece on my FB wall, and my very humble owl is sitting in the center.
This made me want to do a tattoo round-up.

Here it is:

It's not creepy, it's nice.

Speaking of tattoos & not being creepy, I have a tattoo based on art by my friend Ryan Jacob Smith, who recently moved back to Portland. Check him out!
(below is an example of his art, not of the thing I have)

Also, my tattoo artist Dan Gilsdorf has just relocated to San Francisco for the year and is taking walk-ins. Make wait-listed Portlanders jealous by strolling in there and getting some of the nicest work from Dan on the spot! He'll be working Mondays and Tuesdays at Black Heart Tattoo in SF, & Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays at Freddy Corbin's Tattoo 13 in Oakland.

Look at how nice he is!

Okay. Take care and keep your tattoos covered in sunscreen this summer!

n.g.

p.s. Do you want me to draw a custom tattoo for you? If so, check out the pet portrait page on my website. The same prices and process applies. It's a little expensive and takes forever, but I am happy to do it.

p.p.s.
On a very non-tattoo note, I wanted to tell you about my new favorite thing to get in the mail, that being chocolates from Lagusta's Luscious.

Look at how nice she is!

Lagusta is located in New York and makes "heartbreakingly delicious and painstakingly made by hand" vegan chocolates which you can order by mail or receive in person!
She is also a feminist and has an entire line of chocolates named after her feminist heroes. Can you get better than that? Oh, you can. You can add this to the pot:
All our chocolate is organic and fair trade, and more than 95% of our fresh ingredients are certified organic. We are a completely vegan business using 100% post-consumer recycled paper and packing materials. We compost all kitchen scraps, use all eco-friendly cleaning products, and generate almost no waste! We make all our chocolates in our lovingly renovated chocolate shop, carefully built with the most eco-friendly materials our budget could buy. We walk the walk!
So....
I recommend to you the rosemary sea salt caramels, the furious vulvas, and any of the truffles. Bon Appetit!

Recent Pet Portraits & Commissions

Updates from Home

Hi Everyone.

1. I have officially been home from tour for a week.

2. My computer promptly caught viruses/had hard drive failure upon my return, and was taken to the kind surgeons at Red Star Machine Works, where a hard drive transplant was performed. It is now as good as new, giving me the joy of listening to podcasts whilst working on comics (instead of listening to NPRs coverage of the oil spill and wanting to jam my brushpen into my eye as a result).

3. If you emailed me over the past month about anything, like zine distribution or pet portraits or even just a love/hate letter, I will get to it I Promise.

4. I almost forgot to tell you that my friends Ariel and Aron Nels Steinke got married recently and I made them this portrait as a gift!




5. You can order Dope Flounder, the comic I submitted to for Free Comic Book Day here . Subscribers, I may try to wrestle some of these out of the hands of Tugboat Press / Sparkplug Comics for you. We Shall See!

6. SUBSCRIBERS: I put out 20 copies of issue 17 of Invincible Summer for tour, but I have to say I really want to make it better before I commit to making enough copies for the world. I appreciate your patience!

7. Turning in my graphic novel on June 1st. Aye yay yay.

Take care.

xoxo
n.g.

P.S. I got my hands on a copy of The Unsinkable Walker Bean by Aaron Renier, and I can't recommend it highly enough! Run don't Walk to pre order this young pirate adventure, or sit on your hands until September & snatch it up in person!