Just a quick update to why I haven't been blogging a lot this month --"Real life" has been crazy-busy, mostly having to do with my last semester of #libraryschool.

Earlier this month, I was studying for Orals.  For our program, in order to graduate, you have to take a hour long oral exam in front of two faculty members where you talk about topics such as your professional philosophy of librarianship, ethical issues such as intellectual freedom and access to library resources, programming and outreach, and digital library collections.  The biggest hurdle is that there were no notes allowed (which totally freaked me out) but I passed!  So, as long as I get passing grades in all my classes this semester, I will be graduating with my MLIS degree in mid-May.  ^_^

And then, I've most recently come back from a spring break trip, in which my family was able to visit my grandparents for the first time in several years.  They don't have internet, so it was nice to relax, take a break from school, spend time reconnecting with my grandparents and other family members, and to be "unplugged" for a bit ...

1. Hakari Mikagami

Finally, I haven't posted about creating costumes a lot, but one of my good friends commissioned me to sew a Hakari Mikagami cosplay for a upcoming anime convention --I'm hoping to have that done next week.  I've never played the video game this gorgeous prosecutor is from (Ace Attorney a.k.a. Gyakuten Saiban) but her outfit is really awesome-looking and I'm excited that I've gotten my very first cosplay commission.

I've seen other bloggers do monthly "wrap up" or recap posts, so I thought I'd try it out this month ... because it sort of fits with my topic today. =)

In March, by participating in several blog tours (two which included book giveaways), I was able to interview Dani Pettrey (one of my fave romantic suspense authors), Ruth Logan Herne (my Seekerville friend and prolific author), and reviewed Rachelle Dekker's latest dystopian, The Calling.

So while I didn't really post a lot this month, I have a backlog of book reviews that I'll be working on writing up --including part two of Jill Williamson's epic new fantasy novel!

Finally, the reason for the title of this post.  Some of you may remember last year when I reviewed J.L. Mbewe's fantasy novel, Hidden Secrets.  Well, Jennette is running a birthday bash on her blog and had a story contest where she asked her readers to write out a scene in which you remove Desmond, "the other half" to protagonist Ayianna's upcoming arranged marriage.  So, I've written my first fanfiction drabble and decided to eliminate Desmond from the story ... Project Runway style. ;-)  You can take a look here and please vote for my story (before Friday) if you like it.  The winner gets an ARC of the sequel Darkened Hope, which released later this year and I really want to find out what happens next!  ^_^

1.  Image (c.) Capcom Co., Ltd.

The final covers from The Heart of San Francisco trilogy

For this week's "Wordless Wednesday" I was inspired by Julie Lessman's guest post last week when she wrote about her original ideas for The Heart of San Francisco trilogy's book covers.  It stuck with me and I knew I wanted to try my hand at sketching some ideas of what it might have looked like had they gone in that direction.  Disclaimer: It's been awhile and my Art Professors would be very disappointed that I haven't kept up with my daily drawing journal.  These are quick sketches, only about 10-15 minutes spent on each one.  I'd love to revisit these later (maybe once finals are over)!

My Love at Any Cost cover concept art

"For book 1, Love at Any Cost, I envisioned the blonde heroine—Texas cowgirl Cassie McClare—in a full-length, off-the-shoulder evening gown with her hair piled high in the Gibson style of the day, looking over her shoulder at the reader with a Mona Lisa smile. Very sweet and elegant, but with a lasso—which is an important part of the story—in her hands behind her back that trails to the floor."

People are one of the more difficult subjects to draw ... I couldn't find a good photo or reference image to work from, so the figure is definitely off. It isn't quite what I had in mind, but when your art is frustrating you, it's best to take a break and move to something else.  Fortunately, Alli and Megan turned out much better.  =)

Pose concept for Alli in Dare to Love Again

"For book 2, Dare to Love Again, originally the ebony-haired heroine Alli McClare wanted to take up boxing because she wanted to learn to defend herself after being attacked one night in the Barbary Coast where she volunteers at a school for the poor. I saw Alli in the same kind of flowing dress as book 1, in full-view stance with head cocked as she looks at the reader with a coy smile, a pair of boxing gloves dangling over her shoulder. In the final book, however, Alli learns jiu-jitsu rather than boxing, a self-defense technique popularized by Teddy Roosevelt who was the U.S. President at the time."

I love how Alli's pose turned out and her figure is much more proportionate.  I'd probably want to have her hip cocked a bit more and have an added tilt to her head so she looks more sassy!

Megan's got her glasses again!

"Book 3 [Surprised by Love] is an ugly-duckling-to-swan story about the auburn-haired heroine Megan McClare who wore Coke bottle glasses as a child before she is transformed in Paris while attending school for a year. I thought it would be cute to have Meg holding eyeglasses behind her back or against her lips as she gives the reader an innocent look, once again in full evening dress or even a Gibson style skirt and blouse."

I decided to not go the evening gown route for Meg, though if this really was a cover series, it would look out of place compared to the other two ... I think it was since she was holding the eyeglasses, the blouse and skirt felt like it would go together best (and a hat, as a nod to the final covers).

The Lunar Chronicles Sticker Entry by TheArtistLibrarian on deviantART

As promised, my design for Marissa Meyer's The Lunar Chronicles sticker design contest.  I wasn't selected as a finalist, but I had fun coming up with my "word art" inspired design.  I haven't worked digitally in awhile and I forgot a lot of stuff (plus I was working in Photoshop a bit more than I have before).  It made me want to make some blends/collages for my computer desktop wallpaper (maybe How to Train Your Dragon 2 themed).  Voting is closed, but you can look at the finalist entries on Marissa Meyer's blog.

I chose words I thought were unique to the TLC world[s], and that described the series and main characters such as Cinder, Kai, Cress, Scarlet, Winter, etc. I originally wanted to use a symbol for each titular female, but ultimately I decided to only choose the slipper to represent Cinder, since it is an iconic part of her cover and she is the main protagonist of the entire series.  Analyzing it now, I think my design is a bit too busy for a 1" - 3" sticker, I don't know if the words would be able to be read that small, but I might expand it into a wallpaper later.

Edit: Whoops, well ... this was going to be a Wordless Wednesday but I forgot to click "publish" after scheduling this post, so, let's call this Fandom Friday? =P