Ellen Million: Artist, Writer, Project Enabler, Creative Force of Nature. And, Mom.

Projects:

Currently in crowdfunding: Sketch Tarot! - Sponsor a card or pre-order a deck at a steep discount today!
Coloring Books - Highly detailed coloring books for grown-ups. (By many artists!)
Sketch Fest - a monthly prompted 48-hour creative jam for artists around the world.
Portrait Adoption - adopt a pre-finished character portrait that will be exclusively yours! (By many artists!)
Ellen's Escape - my personal webpage and an archive of pretty much my entire artistic journey.
Torn World - a shared science-fantasy world.
Etsy - digital stamps (digi stamps) and coloring books.
Patreon - support Ellen and get monthly surprise goodies!

Other links of possible interest:

2015 goals
2014 goals review
Chopping Block of 2010 - an interesting snapshot at all of my projects of that time, including several that did not survive the cull.

Ellen elsewhere:

Ellen Million Graphics at Facebook
Ellen Million, Artistrix at Facebook
Sketch Fest at Facebook
Torn World at Facebook
Ellen Million at Facebook - mostly a feed of this journal.
@ellenmillion at Twitter - almost entirely a feed of this journal. (Has been hijacked by hackers. See my business twitter: @ellen_million)
@torn_world at Twitter - updates for Torn World
ellenmillion at Deviantart - very, very rarely updated
Elfwood gallery - oldest gallery of my work (aside from my personal site, above).

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Addicted to Amazon prime? Just hate paying shipping?

I am liquidating my Amazon Fulfillment stock!

Use the links below to get the last few books I have available there at the same price as the webpage, but pay no shipping with Amazon Prime (or by purchasing enough to qualify for free shipping). Disclosure: these are affiliate links. You can also view everything at my seller page.

Wild Teas of Alaska (10 left)
Garden Sprites (3 left)
Christmas Sprites (3 left)
Splendid and Scaled (7 left)
Fishtank Fantasies (5 left)
Feathered Fantastic (7 left)
Equine Enchantment (8 left)
Fairies and Friends (2 left)
An Alphabestiary of Clockwork Devices (7 left)
Fantastrix (2 left)
Wildflowers of Alaska (4 left)
Dotminatrix (5 left)
The Collected Faeries of Victoria Griffin (2 left)
Fishpond Fantasies (5 left)

I will still have coloring books available on Amazon after these are sold, but they will be shipped directly from me. And they will not be this cheap - I'm taking a hit on these to save myself having to pay to remove or destroy them before storage fees hit. Mitzi's books will continue to be available through Amazon Prime, as they continue to do well enough to be worth it.

Also, I would very, very much appreciate your reviews and comments at Amazon! Even mediocre but honest reviews will help legitimize a product, and that really matters for a small business like mine. (And of course, if you share your raves, that's even better...) You can leave a review if you purchased through a Kickstarter or through my webpage, as well. If you have a PDF copy, you can also review that, just specify what format you have and how you got it.

Thanks!

Originally posted at Dreamwidth: http://ellenmillion.dreamwidth.org/1609672.html

Who stole June? Seriously, wasn't it JUST here?

We worked on the woodshed this weekend, and got it braced and all the purlins on. The only things left are roofing and siding. (We also found out that someone stole a bunch of stuff from my yurt, which was less wonderful. :/)

The three of us also braved the fourth of July madness at Pioneer Park (Alaskaland!), and that was a very mixed bag. We went to hear the 1812 Overture, which is Guppy's very favorite song, and the band was not bad. While they were playing Sousa, there was a bald eagle cruising around overhead, which was pretty epic. We had ice cream cones first, and then of course, Guppy did not want to sit still, and later there were tears because we went hunting for a balloon after they had given them all away. It was a billion degrees and there were so many people it made my skin itch.

Lots of art things to share over the next week or two! So many! Let's start with the all-#junicorn round-up:


(Photo updated to show sold cards, and also the four that were on my scanner bed still...)

Many originals are still available, plus bookmarks, magnets, and signed prints! For a larger look at each image, and pricing, the landing page is here: http://ellenmillion.dreamwidth.org/1604777.html Just let me know what you'd like via email or PM, and I'll send you an invoice which you can pay by Paypal or credit card. I'd also take a check, if you want to mail one.

Originally posted at Dreamwidth: http://ellenmillion.dreamwidth.org/1609300.html

Christmas is galloping down on us! I still have unwrapped presents, and half the things I planned to do this week are not done (and probably won't be), but I am still feeling... good. I don't know if it's the extra 39 seconds of sunlight since solstice, the walk that Guppy and I took out in the woods, that I'm shaking off the last vestiges of this cold, that I put the last careful lines on a lengthy commission, or it's just that I'm finally feeling Christmas spirit, but today is a lovely, snowy day and I'm full of cheer and goodwill.

*throws tinsel everywhere*

I also got a new offering up at Etsy - a collection of mermaid designs, which is a steal at $10 for 10 designs: https://www.etsy.com/listing/487447436/mermaid-coloring-pages-for-adults-10

Friday night before Christmas Eve is a ridiculous time to release anything, from a strictly commercial standpoint, but it's the time I had.



Now I'm going to make some delicious dinner and throw more logs on the fire.

Cheers to all!

I'm very sorry for delays in communication this week. My Monday ick turned out not to just be woodsmoke, and blossomed into a miserable cold on Tuesday. I felt considerably better on Wednesday, though I sounded quite rough. When I got up this morning, I had pain in my ears, so I took a sudafed that knocked me for a serious loop - I keep taking my temperature because I've had hot and cold sweats, dizziness, and brutal exhaustion that I didn't have before taking the sudafed. On the plus side, my sinuses are dry and my ears stopped hurting. I'm not entirely sure it was worth it. I've been just crawling through my morning chores, not helped by the fact that poor Guppy has caught it, too.

At any rate, I'm feeling behind on things and I'm quite dismayed that we're 9 days off from Christmas. What?!

If you, like me, are scrambling for last minute gifts, I've got a way to give a whole lot of people a great thing in one fell swoop: a Gift Certificate to EMG. You'll make my day, you'll support an independent artist (or several!), and you'll make the recipient's day, by giving an art gift without having to wonder if they have wall space for that print, or if they have that coloring book, or if they need a character portrait for their RPG campaign. It's even a great gift for an artist, as it also includes the EMG-Zine anthologies, stuffed full of business and technical advice for artists and writers.



/holiday shill

Now I'm going to go feed us some lunch and wash some dishes.

As the subject says, it's chilly today. I've kept the home fires burning (quite literally), and we've had a crafty day inside. I got my inbox beaten back by several hundred emails, Guppy has been playing with her "Letter C bag" (a Literacy bag that the preschool sends home with us full of games and books), and I've been working on commissions. I have my last sketch laid out for the first segment of a big project, I finished a big chunk of a full page thing, and I got the rough sketch of a logo.

I also got a new collection of Christmas Dragons up at Etsy for download - make Christmas cards or crafts, or just color them for fun: https://www.etsy.com/listing/480961034/digital-holiday-dragon-coloring



The ACEO print sale at Sketch Fest has ended! I will be printing prints this week and sending them off to their new homes.

And in milestones, I programmed a page (a fairly complex one, no less) without testing it once during the writing, and it worked flawlessly the first time. That NEVER EVER EVER happens. I'm not sure what to make of it. A sign of the end times??

Today, we got SNOW.

It was a stay at home day, which was nice because everyone always forgets how to drive the first day of snow, and Guppy wasn't feeling very good, but had a quiet day to recover. We had a crackling fire and I did some laundry and we made a Halloween wreatch from a craft kit. We watched Incredibles, and I snuck in an episode of the Flash while she was napping. I did a lot of artwork that I feel tremendously good about today, and wrote a hard email that I feel was appreciated and also programmed a fab new toy to play with at Portrait Adoption:

http://portraitadoption.com/novelgenerator.php

The idea occurred to me a few days ago, while I was noodling around with things, and it turned out to be relatively simple to write up. I would still like to make a button to share it on social media, and possibly also save your results, but I'm not quite sure how to make that happen. I have a few ideas I could poke at if it's something people decide they want.

THere's also a new sampler page up at EMG, for the Wild Teas of Alaska: http://www.ellenmilliongraphics.com/coloringbook.php?id=75


Guppy was feeling enough better at the end of the day to walk up the driveway with me. She was all smiles and glee until I wanted to take her photo, of course.

Looking ahead! I have a few things on the calendar to share with you!

October 30 I will be at Sipping Streams from 1-4 for a fabulous coloring party! Tea, finger food (OMG, so good), a face-painter, free pages, and a chance to use my own high end coloring tools. Don't miss it!

Nov 5-6 I will be at the UWA holiday bazaar, sharing a table with laylalawlor. I will have painted ornaments and any coloring books that I personally am in.

Nov 11-12 I will be at PopCon at UAF. As time allows, I will be doing on-the-spot commissions of ornaments and sketches.

Nov 18-20 is Sketch Fest #81!

I'm also ruminating something fun and Sketch Fest related for Black Friday...

I always feel sort of weird asking, but it would mean a huge amount to me if any of you who own my coloring books - pdf or print versions - would review them on Amazon. All the new ones are sitting there with zero reviews, and even the new covers of Fantastrix and Dotminatrix have only one apiece. Reviews MATTER for Amazon sales, and I'm trying to get all my ducks in order for the upcoming holiday season. Be honest about your source, if you aren't a verified buyer (ie: I got a PDF copy through the Kickstarter, or I bought directly from her site, or this was a gift) and do not review if you are one of the artists in it, but even less-than-five-star reviews give a product legitimacy and I will be wildly grateful. My stuff at Amazon

In related things, I have only ONE copy of Steam Dreaming remaining (but Amazon has three!), and less than ten of Scheherazade's Shimmy, and less than five of Apples and Roses.

I actually have several new pieces up at Etsy as individual downloads since I last updated here, including Bearing Gifts, Christmas Kitties and Junicorn 1, which was much requested...


Original available at my page: http://ellenmillion.com/artpageview.php?id=321

Locals! Come see me on Friday, October 2, at Woven Sylver, upstairs in the Coop Plaza mall! I will be selling art and coloring books between 5-8!

Yesterday was preschool, and despite being still a little under the weather, it was a good one. I finalized the sketch I was working on and got it about 25% inked at the tea shop. I also approached another store about carrying my books - they were enthusiastic, but have to apply to corporate for approval. Cross fingers for me! This could be awesome! Guppy reported a fun day, too. When I picked her up, she was very happily sorting green tomatoes off of frozen vines. I am going to have to figure out how to make green tomato salsa or something else delicious.

She has also figured out how to master tools and climb up on the counter...



The cold is definitely abating, in both of us, but we're going to take an easy day today with lots of TV anyway. Tomorrow is a field trip for her, and it might be wet and cold!

Now, though, we're going to bake something. I haven't decided if it will be muffins or cookies...