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Coffee Kitty is NOT a Morning Cat… Uhmmm… Person
Given how sleep deprived I am this morning…
c2013 TxCowboyDancer Designs
…this design is somehow very appropriate.
Since this is only the second in this new series, here is a reminder about the format. Each post will have three parts:
- A large image of the new design (like the one to the right)
- A bit of background on how the design came about (just below)
- A few of my favorite products with the new design (just below that)
I hope you are enjoying the “back story” on the designs as I create them.
Even if you don’t visit the store and do some shopping, please hit the share and like buttons so that others can find out about my designs. Thanks!
Background on my latest design:
I don’t remember where I first saw this cat. I think it was either on Facebook or maybe it popped up in a Google search. I’ve slept since then… 😉
Following the trail back to the source of the image lead me to a website called Deviant Art; a site I had never visited before. Wow, talk about a different part of the Interwebz! LOL
This was the image that I first saw… I Need Coffee Original sketch by (by YTCyberPunk)
If you’ve never heard of Deviant Art, check it out. It is a lot of fun, but a lot of, well, deviant, in a good “artistic” way. Basically it is a place for artists and photographers to hang out and share their work, comment and critique, and take a peek at what other artists and photographers are doing.
Some of the work on the site is jaw dropping amazing. Some of it is amusing. Some of it, quite frankly, is awful. Not awful in the sense of lack of inspiration or effort but in execution—sorta baby works by artists who still have “training wheels” on their paint brushes or mouses. Mice? Miceses?
Whatever you call more than one computer mouse. But hey, art is in the eye of the beholder, and all of it is fun. Think “coffee house” in Soho with local artists works on the wall, and you get the idea… only without the coffee and it is on the Internet instead of in New York… but anyhoo…
Hmmm… coffee must be on my brain this morning… Slllllluuuuuurrrrrrrrpppppp…. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh….
You know you are truly hooked when you are only a third of the way through your first cup of coffee and there is NO WAY the caffeine can actually be hitting your system yet, but your body reacts physiologically to the mere promise of more caffeine hitting the blood stream soon. *SIGH*
I Need Coffee (by YTCyberPunk) Cleaned up Ink Version
But I digress.. I do that you know…
So… on the Deviant Art website, has a way for visitors to purchase a digital copy of the artwork for their personal non-commercial use like putting it on a computer desktop as the background. Or printing it off and framing it and hanging it on the wall.
But I didn’t want the image for personal use. I wanted to edit the design and I wanted to sell the design on products like t-shirts and coffee mugs. So, having never done this before, I said “what the hey” and took a chance. I emailed the artist and asked her if she’d consider selling me the commercial rights to her drawing, including the right to edit the drawing and add captions.
It turns out that the “drawing” was just a doodle she had done during class and that she’d never actually ever sold one of her works before and was very flattered that I liked her drawing.
Since we were both “babes in the woods” so to speak, we talked it through, making the contract up as we went. We eventually agreed that she retain copyright on the original drawing and that I would have copyright on any modifications based on her drawing.
I sent her a payment and in exchange I got a cleaned up copy of the drawing from her and the commercial rights to print the modified versions on t-shirts etc. Coolness! My first official bizness KNEE-go-she-Ayh-SHUN! Woot!
Storyline showing development of the design as I edited it
When I got the cleaned up “pen and ink” version, I decided that actually liked the original “messy” pencil version better.
So working with both the original “messy” file and the ink “clean” version, I took a bit of this and a bit of that and did a lot of clean up and editing of the “messy” version.
I added color to it a little at a time. I did some MORE clean up, adjusted proportions, shortened the height of the steam, and eventually after several hours of work with a graphics program…
Tah-Dah. I had a design I liked and that was ready to go onto products.
My favorite version is the cream colored cat. But I am playing around with the colors and will at some point in the future have a black and white version and a grey scale version as well. Watch for those. 🙂
Or I might change the color of the coffee cup or I might use the ink version. Who knows. But I’ll have to have more coffee first. LOL
I just LOVE the expression on this cat’s face. Especially since it is so close and contrasts so nicely with the big “smiley” face on the mug! Woot!
My favorite products with the new design…
I had a LOT of fun coming up with captions for the bumper stickers and mugs, etc for this design. I’m a coffee drinker and NOT a morning person AT ALL so this is a topic near and dear to my caffeinated heart. Read the rest of this entry
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What You Need to Know About Caffeine…
…using a case study of one…Moi!
You’d better brace yourself dear readers, I’m about to talk about me in the mornings….
Be afraid, be very afraid…. 😉
Actually, I’m going to talk about caffeine using myself as a pitiful, sad example of addiction.
Alas, it is true. I’m as shackled to coffee and diet coke as my Inner Domestic Diva is addicted to her tiara and bon-bons.
Sad, Sad, Sad… Sad I tell you….
Well, I’m going to try to make another attempt at knocking that monkey off my back. I did it once just before I lost my job. I can do it again! I shall overcome! I shall rise above! I shall triumph! I shall persevere.
As soon as I finish my coffee.
SLLLUUUURRRRPPPPP…… Ahhhhhhhhhhh
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Rejoice and Revel for it has been a good week!
Let the reveling and rejoicing begin! 🙂 Uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh! (doing a chair dance and the circle your fists in the air thingie!)
Ok, ok, ’nuff silliness already! This is serious stuff here! 😉 I’m following my own advice and rejoicing in the little things. Because those little things eventually add up and “Voila you have met your goal!”
This has been a good week! And I’ll get to check off some of the things on my “Check List“. So in no particular order, let’s get on to the recap.
The switch has been flipped…
The gauntlet has been thrown, the tide has turned, the balance has shifted, midnight has past, and the dawn has begun; a lot of what I’ve been doing over the past month, but especially this past week is happening in my brain rather than in the “real” world.
In other words: I’ve been “thinking” a lot. And it hurtz! Owie! I needz somebodies to kiss itz and makes itz bettersz. (Preferably some hunky guy in a speedo–Yummy!) *AHEM* But I digress… 😉 Back to the topic at hand…
It boils down to this: (1) Being healthy is now my top priority and (2) creating positive momentum is vital to working on that priority.
My health and fitness, or current lack thereof, affects everything in my life. EVERYTHING. It seems simple doesn’t it and very rational to make the thing that affects everything else in your life your top priority? Sounds good to me! Sadly, in life, the things that seems conceptually simple are actually incredibly complex and difficult to execute.
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Rejoice in the Little Things for “I’ve been a GOOD boy!”
Here’s a quick recap (my friends can stop laughing now). For those just joining the us, the “joke” is that I have a reputation for *NEVER* telling a story in 10 words when 10 paragraphs will do.
Siiiiiiiiigggggghhhh
Today’s post is all about patting myself on the back. Bravo! Cue the Applause! Yay! Woo Hoo! Yippie! Good Job! I rock! I am FAB-u-LUS!
I’ve actually done quite a bit this week towards my goal of “being healthy” and “living healthy”. Each of the things, in and of itself may seem tiny but each tiny step is still a step.
So here, in no particular order, are some of the things I’ve done this week which move me closer to my goal:
- Coffee: Finally bought a bottle of plain white vinegar to use in my coffee maker to clean accumulated oils and coffee gunk from the guts of the machine. (How to Clean a Coffee Maker With Vinegar)
.. - Morning drugs: For two weeks now I’ve been taking my morning “pills” which consists of (1) a daily mufti-vitamin and (2) my high blood pressure medication. I’m not counting this as a “done” thing yet because you really need to do something regularly for three weeks before it really becomes a habit. On my shopping list for this week is “Calcium with Vitamin D”. There is a history of bone problems on both sides of my family in the guys and the gals so I figure it is time for me to start doing the supplement. (Dietary Supplement Fact Sheet: Calcium) (Dietary Supplement Fact Sheet: Multivitamin/mineral Supplements) (18 Tricks to Make New Habits Stick)
.. Read the rest of this entry
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My Love-Hate Relationship With Caffeine
No! Don’t! Stop!
“No, don’t stop!”
Now getcher mind outta tha gutter! I’m talking about “caffeine,” not whatever kinky thing that was flitting through your mind! 😉
Caffeine how I love thee! Thou nectar of the gods that allows me to survive the morning!
Caffeine how I hate thee! Thou foul tempter that leadeth my body from the righteous path of healthy living!
My last post was a general information article about caffeine with my usual bit of comedy thrown in for good measure. Of course what other people refer to as “comedy” I like to call “my life.” 🙂 After describing a typical day in my love/hate relationship with caffeine I arrived at the conclusion that I should definitely lower my intake of caffeine.
Why you ask, dear reader? Good question. Let me count the ways:
5-6-7-8 Dancing My Way to a Healthy Me! 