Let's Make It Official

Things have been quiet around this blog lately because I've moved on from blogger to tumblr. I realized today that I never officially posted to say that I wouldn't still be posting here. I chose to move to tumblr for a couple of reasons: one, their upload process is faster, and more importantly two, they have much higher image resolution (and don't muck as much with the resolution YOU set). So, since this is in fact an art blog, I figured it'd be better to use a service that keeps my images looking as true to how I made them as possible.

So, the new blog is: vanessamakesthings.tumblr.com

I will eventually, probably sometime this December or January, have a full website going as well. I'll update here when I do! See you there!

Girls of Fashion: Day 3

In honor of the Brave teaser, I decided to make a girl with red hair, too.

Fashion Girls: Day 2

Another fashion girl. The image quality is a lot higher on tumblr, so I might eventually transfer all my sketchmonths onto there. Currently, I'm just double-posting everything. We'll see...

Finally, a new topic: Fashion!

Sorry for the delay in getting these up here. After school let out for the summer I was finishing up a comic and then went to Maui for two weeks. Now that I'm back, I'm getting back into the swing of things, and enjoying being able to devote a lot more time to my own personal projects. This sketchmonth's topic is inspired by an assignment I had last semester where I had to make some fashion illustrations. I had so much for doing them and I have so many inspirations that are fashion related that I decided to make this month's (July, I'm starting early) topic fashion illustrations. I'm also using this as excuse to use my tablet every day. Cintiq, I'm afraid I've fallen in love with you.

Sundress

Not a sketchmonth related thing, but this was an illustration I did for a final project I had this semster. I'll be posting more of them soon.

Short Hiatus

In order to finish up some intense projects, I'm going to be putting this blog on hold for a month. After the semester is over, I'll be on a two week vacation, so after that I'll be starting up again here with a new topic. I'll still be posting bits and pieces of what I'm working on over at my other blog. See you guys in a month!

Cars: Early End, Review, and a Severely Allergic Story

So rather than post a bunch of half-hearted crap, I'm deciding to end this category a little early. Though I'm enjoying drawing cars, I'm not in the mindset to be super creative with my directions right now, so I'm basically just doing the same thing over and over again and I don't think I'm getting out of it what I should. Oh well, part of the point of doing projects like this is figuring out what doesn't work. As Edison said, "I have successfully discovered 1000 ways to NOT make a lightbulb."

In a somewhat related vein, I have a lot more answers regarding my health problems I posted about last time: I have iron-deficiency related anemia and I am apparently allergic to damn near everything.

Yesterday I had an allergy test done, which involves somewhere between 70-100 substances scratched into your back with a needle while you wear this silly little half-shirt. It feels somewhat akin to pricking yourself with a sewing needle, only about 100 times. Even before the nurse had completed the test my back was itching like crazy and I started to have giant hives. Normally you wait for 15 minutes to let your body react before the doctor comes in, reads the size of the reaction, and determines how allergic you are to each thing. I made it about 7 minutes before the nurse went out into the hallway, where I could hear her going, "Um, I think you should come in here." By this point, my back was itching like crazy, I was nauseous and flushed, and both of my forearms were bright red and covered with a rash. The doctor came back in, speed-read my back, and then said, "Well, you're definitely severely allergic," and then to the nurse, "Will you get some epi ready?" (Read as epinephrine.) Dear lord, I thought, laid down on the little table and presented my shoulder for a giant friggin' needle. "I think it's ironic that on epi-pen packages they say step 1, inject yourself with adrenaline, step two stay calm," I joked with the nurse as she injected me. "Yeah," she said, "That's not going to happen."

Yeah, it's not is right. Epinephrine is just adrenaline, and when you already have plenty of your own pumping around in your system (and you're small), a giant dose of this in your arm makes you shake uncontrollably and cry uncontrollably - talk about embarrassing. You're aware that it's superficial, that you're not actually that terrified, but your body is convinced that it is, and it makes you freak out. So I laid there, shaking like crazy for about 20 minutes before this strange sense of, "Hey, it's gone," came over me and the rash had disappeared, I could breathe totally normally, and was only mildly convulsive. I was, to be frank, impressed. That, combined with the zyrtec I was given, made me feel drained, shaky and exhausted for hours (and unbelievably forgetful - in about three hours I left my cellphone or purse in three separate places). I think I slept around 20 hours yesterday and today.

The funny part? I wasn't even tested for shellfish, the thing I already have an epi-pen for. So here, for shits and giggles, is the entire list of my allergies in decreasing order:

shellfish (shrimp), dustmites, grass, trees, cats, dogs, cockroaches (ew), ragweed, lettuce (who knew you could be allergic to lettuce!?), broccoli, walnuts, corn, oats, oranges, acacia gum, almonds, bananas, barley, cashews, cherries, cinnamon, grapes, spinach, and pineapple.

Fun. For now, I'm cutting all of them (besides my doggies!) out of my life and then with some of the lesser ones near the end of the list, I might try to add them back in one at a time to see if the chronic hives return. Suffice it to say, I have a pretty clear idea where the near-daily hives were coming from!