Toothless!!!

=D

I cannot be more excited about my beloved dragon character to come back, and with none other than an older - much hotter!! - human friend, Hiccup.  It's crazy how it's been almost four years since the first film came out, and I remember how surprisingly well it did.  People loved it.  It was the story-telling, the relationship between boy and pet, the music... everything.  I think I wrote a blog post about it, too!

In other news, Christmas is here in less than 5 days, and I'm so unprepared.  The good thing is that I've managed to get a lot of drawing in between my crazy jobs in tutoring and Second City.  I'm back to illustrating for friends and doing some cover art, applying for summer art expos, and I still have to open up an Etsy shop at some point before the break is over.

Grad School App season is here, too, and while part of me wants to go for it and take some exams to qualify for Elementary Ed programs... I still feel like I'm not ready to commit to school again.  I got wait-listed for Columbia College last year in Fiction Writing, and in a way, I'm glad I never heard back, because I was just very very unprepared to jump into class again.  It had been so long since I had written anything substantial, too!  I still have these amazing stories in my head that are just itching to be written on paper as a graphic novel, or children's book, or novel series... I'm swamped!

2013 was all about "doing art" and not giving up on the craft, the same way 2012 was all about training to run for the Chicago Marathon.   Maybe 2014 will be a mix of commitment, creativity, and boldness:  finally planning out and fleshing out my novel, and looking up publishers.  I will have to network as an illustrator and understand the business -- maybe through college classes.  I will also have to decide if I want to commit as a full-time artist or just do it on the side.  MATCH Education has brought back some meaning into my life, but if teaching is what I really want to do, I have to jump in with all my energy in it.

So many decisions.