Sorry....

Shit, I need money. Not just because of the whole shitload of xbox games coming this way, but also because we have to eat, pay the vet and pay the bills. This year has cost us, insulin pens en extra medication (not completely covered by insurance), severe dental care (broken front tooth, not completely covered by insurance), 2 bicycles (and then some repairs, wheels, tires etc.), new refrigerator, up to 500 euro’s veterinary costs and if that was it, we would have managed, but it isn’t. More and more surprises came our way, none actually ended up as financially favorable and off course my wife lost her job because some idiots think it’s okay that you’re too old and too expensive at 31.

So funds are … lacking … at best.

for sale...

So being in a shitty mood as of late I have decided to change some things one of which will be felt throughout my circle of acquaintances. First, as you may have noticed I decided trying to make money on my artwork (deviant art, spreadshirt). And as much as I love you guys, really I do and I feel honored to have been asked for various projects the past few years. But today I have taken up my last free-of-charge gig. From now on all new projects regarding writing, blogging, designing tattoos and doing Tarot readings (though all made promises will of course be kept) will have to be paid for. I am in no sense greedy, but I am spending a lot of hours on good will and charity and I can’t keep it up anymore. Also, how can I expect to make money on artwork I am handing out for free elsewhere?

Because of my health I have little time besides my day job and what time I spend awake I am going to invest smart by either doing what’s good for me or doing what’s good for paying the bills, which is also good for me. Maybe when things start looking up again I can start picking up favors and freebies again, but for now I am sticking to commitments already made or paid jobs.

I am truly sorry, but I feel that over the past years I have built some skills, which have cost me time and money and even bits of my physical and mental health (headed towards a burnout on more than one occasion) and like any job which costs you time and requires some skill I feel a compensation is not unreasonable… and to be frank, I really need the cash too. It's messed up feeling like shit asking for money for time and effort you invest, but I do and I AM sorry.

So there it is, me being a whiney biatch again… 

Nocturnal Lure designs T- Shirts

Starting today I will be trying to make a few extra bucks by selling t-shirts via Spreadshirt.

I’m going to do a trial period and I am curious to find out how this will turn out. Many people have asked me for T-shirt designs, but I have never been able to actually deliver on this demand. From now on I at least I can answer, yes… you can have a t-shirt with that design.

Further information on this and how to order will follow soon. For now, you can look at the first simple designs here NocturnalLure.spreadshirt.nl

 

Yes I do need the money, but my main motivation is to promote and share my artwork.

so full I feel empty, poem

I’m so full I feel empty

So please let me be

I don’t feel like feeling

But stay close to me

I just want to sleep, deep beyond dark and light

Continual dusk, no day and no night

Clouds in my head and mist fore my eyes

Comfortably numb in self force-fed lies

Too much effort even, to give up the fight

Fantasy in ballpoint

I consider myself to be somewhat of an artist. I have had expositions and done some design work, other than that hundreds to over a thousand people are walking around with tattoos designed by little old me.

Now I can handle all sorts of materials, watercolors being a favorite… but somehow I can’t seem to find the time to paint much, so since a few years most of my “work” is quick ballpoint or pencil sketches done at work or in public transport. The drawback is that I have little time to do sketches or studies, so anatomy-wise for instance I am making little progress in developing my skills. This is one of my new years resolutions, to invest more time in my artistic skills, both in drawing and painting as well as training my tattoo skills.

Here’s a few of my quick sketches, if you have me on facebook it’s nothing new though, enjoy!

 

Da Vinci inspired tattoo set-up

Wings are a recurring theme  in my art work, most of the time they are connected to some sort of creature, angels, dragons and faeries, I draw them a lot, I'm a sucker for fantasy.

D&D- esque desing for online store

Dragons, claws, wings. Inspired by "DragonOrb" the name of my wife's online shop

Sharing my "appreciation" for unicorns and carebears.

I did this to shock and annoy, didn't get the reaction I wanted though, maybe I should have drawn more blood.

Somwhere between Alien and a Dr Who episode

Dr Who fans have probably seen the episode "silence in the library", which was an inspiration for this image. A skull in a space suit felt like a very powerful symbol to me, the protective suit becomming a prison. In my mind this is the result of some sort of alien infestation, some sort of evil fungus like mass creating webs in space from which they slowly digest their victims, quite probably keeping their dinners alive through the process.

Not my first Dragon queen

 I like drawing women and while I try to keep the eroticism of the female form I always try to empower them in some way, making them warriors, demons or goddesses. Where the contrast between power and vulnerability creates a powerful tension.

Rising frome water, I use that a lot

I imagined her as flying underwater, like a stingray or something. But in the end, having wings drove her to reach for the sky. As she emerges from the water, she is enchanted by the sensation, the lack of pressure from the deep almost unbearable as her whole skin is tingling from the soft winds and water droplets falling from her body.

It takes patience, but you can draw on the train.

The abuse of power always lurks, this is a sorcerer or wizard with a lot of power. He has lived beyond the years mother nature would have given him, his immense power unnaturally prolonging his life. The more he cheats death, the more he fears it. I did this drawing on the train and used the accidental lines created by the movement of the train to create a sort of underwater like flow that would be created by the magic surrounding this wizard.