Hey cool...! Since when can we post to the frontpage once a week??

Anyway I'm gonna be exhibiting art at the The Edmonton Expo's Artist Alley THIS UPCOMING WEEKEND, so if you're close to Edmonton Alberta, drop by and say hi! I'll try to give out free swag to all my NG bros. Probably a button or an extra print... YOU CAN PICK! (just remind me when you get there or we'll probably stare awkwardly at each other and WE'LL BOTH BE SUPER CONFUSED FOR A COUPLE SECONDS)

I'm pretty sure admission is 25 bucks at the door, and they're open until 7pm on Saturday (5pm on Sunday).
If you've never checked out a Comic Con before, come check it out! There are a lot of sweet rare vendors, celebrities, awesome cosplays, not-so-awesome cosplays, lots of fun! c:

[ EDMONTON EXPO WEBSITE ]

Ron Perlman from Hellboy / Pacific Rim is gonna be there and I'm totally gonna go get his autograph. :D'

SO YEAH, COME ON DOWN. IT'LL BE COOL!

It's pretty much over now, but feel free to ask anyway.

[Ask Sab Anything]

Hey YOUS GUYS! Just wanted to say THANKSto all those fine ladies and gentlemen with EXCELLENT TASTE who ordered my artwork recently. I raised an extra 400 buckeroos to put directly towards my last year of university, so THANKS AGAIN! It put a nice big dent in my bill for art supplies (it's over 500 freaking dollars of new supplies this year), so I'M FEELIN' GOOD!!

This semester is going to KICK MY ASS, btw. If anyone is worried that I'm dead, I'm still around; just maybe not posting artwork that's not related to school. Seriously; you've never seen chaos like this upcoming semester. I can handle teaching 50 teens how to draw and meet project due dates, but when it comes to meeting MY OWN art-related deadlines, I'm APPARENTLY a masochist. (JUST DO AS I SAY, NOT AS I DO.) ;_____;

Anywho; Just thought I'd update you guys.

If you recently hired me for a commission of any kind and you're waiting to hear from me, FEAR NOT. I have you all well documented. I'm working on a first come first serve basis, so regardless of if you've paid in full or not, I'm getting the oldest stuff done first.

P.S: I STILL WANT TO DO SOME KIND OF A NEWGROUNDS ART COLLAB.
IF YOU'RE DOWN FOR SOME KIND OF A GROUP PROJECT, PM ME WITH YOUR IDEAS!

Want some signed Sabtastic originals up on your wall? Wanna gift it to a friend? I'm selling my leftover artwork to help pay my school tuition in September, so you'll be helping me out A LOT by placing an order! :)

5$ will get you a small 6x9" signed card-stock print of your choice (about the size of a post card)
10$ will get you a medium 8.5x11" signed card-stock print of your choice (standard letter/paper size)
20$ will get you a large 11x17" signed poster of your choice (longer and wider than the previous)
25$ will get you an extra large 18x24" signed poster of your choice

[CHOOSE YOUR PRINTS HERE]

Shipping and Handlingchanges depending on where I will be sending your artwork, so please add that on to your order, because I'll be mailing them all personally:
$2.00 - Canada
$3.00 - United States
$4.00 - Mexico
$6.00 - South America
$10.00 - Europe + Surrounding Countries
$10.00 - Australia

How to order:
1. Choose the print you'd like to order from the list [HERE] on my DeviantART account
2. Send me a PM or e-mail me at sab0d@hotmail.com
3. Be sure to have Paypal set up so I can recieve your payment (my paypal is: sab0d@hotmail.com, with a zero) The payments and prices are all listed in Canadian currency, but paypal can convert that for you.
4. DO NOT SEND PAYMENT until I've confirmed your order, just in case I'm sold out of the print you want.

EDIT: Moderators found! No more volunteers needed at this time.

Looking for THREE VOLUNTEERSto help me moderate the new Twitter page for the Newgrounds Art Portal...! I literally just created the page, so it needs a little TLC.

So far for moderators (aside from myself) we have:
Zombiemonkey / @ZombieMonkeyNG
EthanAlways / @EthanAlways
TheInnerScience / @Science_The
GentlemanTrooper / @GentTrooper

PM or tweet me if you're interested and provide a brief explanation of what you'll do as a moderator. Non-Newgrounds members will NOT be considered. I basically want three people to help keep up regular posts, sort through feature requests, and actively search for other Newgrounds artist posts on Twitter or elsewhere.

Feel free to follow us there: @NG_Artists!
This is your chance to get more familiar with the art community here on Newgrounds and follow your favourite artists! :)

Alright so about two weeks ago, I posted six very misleading thumbnails to my art gallery for a kind of half-assed survey. The prank was by no means a serious survey, but it was made to narrow down what kind of female artwork the NG art portal appreciates more. In total there was a thumbnail of: 1. naked boobs, 2. a panty shot, 3. a suggestive mouth, 4. a bikini bottom shot, 5. a colourful eye, and 6. a woman's face. None of the artwork involved male subjects, so unfortunately I'm only going to be focusing on pinup art involving women. The whole thing was also meant to shed a little bit of light on how to get the most views possible without necessarily being the best artist ever. After two weeks, I stopped recording stats, so that's what the image below will reflect.

All in all, I'm really happy with the results LegolaSS and I gathered from this survey. Big thanks to him by the way, he volunteered to track views and scores for two weeks straight! The artwork created this HUGE dialogue between myself and the people who found it, and a lot of you offered your opinions and perspectives that I hadn't considered before, so thanks a lot for taking part and giving me the chance to get to know you all better! ...

ALSO I'M REALLY SORRY if I just pissed you off by tricking you over and over. 3:>
I PROMISE that the next pieces of art I post will be real! haha

_________________________

TIPS, TRICKS, AND OBSERVATIONS:

+ Most of you probably already know how to crop your artwork strategically, but anything that looks like nudity, cleavage, a camel-toe, or a butt is guaranteed a few extra clicks.
Apparently on Newgrounds, according to this study; boobs are preferred.

+ An 'A' for Adult rating doesn't hurt your chances for getting more views, either.
The 'A' rated art submissions got at least 2-5 THOUSAND more views than the 'E' and 'M' rated thumbnails in this series.

+ In general, fan art that involves popular characters from games, movies, or tv shows will attract people from outside your webpage via keyword searches. Try creating content based on a fandom you enjoy.
In this case, Princess Zelda and Sailor Moon were the top contenders. They earned an average of 4.5 THOUSAND more views than the no-name characters.

+ Put a lot of effort into making your thumbnail look visually appealing and don't make it too vague. It's one of the key things that draw in your viewer (on Newgrounds, at least). Think ahead about where and what exactly you want to put in your thumbnail, and spend a little more time fine-tuning it.

- As predicted, the two thumbnails that only featured a face or an eye did the worst in terms of views (compared to the more adult ones).

- The two thumbnails that did the worst were also no-name, made-up characters. The popular characters from tv shows and games did much better.

_________________________

Sooooo... That's pretty much it! Hopefully all of this wasn't just completely obvious and useless to you. The picture below should be the most helpful.

WHY THESE RESULTS ARE SKEWED:
Certain thumbnails got featured/front-paged and some did not
Followers / Fans who have me favourited could have viewed the images without seeing the thumbnails at all.
The images were not all given the same maturity rating.
Some viewers may have looked for the rest of the fake thumbnails on purpose or viewed / voted multiple times.
Results could have been less skewed if I posted from a fake / new account.

DISCLAIMER:
Lemme just say that views aren't everything. Quality artwork will find its way to the top regardless of content, and you really shouldn't just pander to a specific audience because all you want is page views. Focus on your interests and talents, and cultivate the things you're really passionate about. If that happens to involve boobs and butts, then power to you! This was all just for fun and just a satirical, sociological observation, so I don't wanna hear about anybody's panties getting in a bunch because I'm subliminally calling certain types of art unpopular.

So about a month ago I finished this super intensive art class for University, and I've posted a few of the art pieces from it!

We did a bunch of life drawing with nude models, some self portrait studies, still life, and tried out a couple of unfamiliar mediums like Ink and Gouache. Most of the artwork was drawn in charcoal, since it was a drawing-focused class, so you'll notice it's all pretty rough and un-polished. We had really strict time constraints for a lot of the artwork, too. The class was only five weeks long. Hope you like those...! :3

AAANYWAY, all of that's a little further back in my gallery.

The art I have posted NOW is a Newgrounds exclusive that you won't see posted anywhere else, so go have a peek! ;)

[ QUICK LINK TO MY NG GALLERY ]

Let me know what you think! I wasted a ton of time on it for no good reason, so hopefully everybody doesn't rip me a new one.

BELOW: A little doodle of another work in progress. Kind of an art nouveau rip-off for practice.

So I finally mustered up the courage to animate something super short for practice in Flash CS3...!

I've got a really good teacher this time around, so hopefully it won't turn out to be complete garbage. lol
The whole animation is only going to be about 25 seconds long, featuring Pokemon (Haunter and Gengar).

I really like how easy the characters are to manipulate in a cartoony style (as opposed to drawing convincing human characters). The whole thing should HOPEFULLY be done when my spring classes are over in MID JUNE. I've even got a few more Pokemon team commissions in the works, so my gallery's just going to be FULL of 'MONS next month.

IN OTHER NEWS, I'm taking a really cool drawing course right now and it's super intensive!
Just out of curiosity, would any of you like to see the final work once my course is over? ... It's more charcoal and graphite studies, and I never really got the vibe that Newgrounds cares about that stuff. Should I spam the portal with it anyway, or just post a journal entry with all of them linked elsewhere?

Hey! Just a heads up that I'll be heading out to the NG Headquarters in Philly again this year! Hope to see you there!

I'll be there Monday April 29th - Sunday May 5th, so that means I won't be able to make it for the Pico Day meetup! :( If any of you decide to stay a little longer, though, I'm sure I'll seeya around the office or at Stamper's--where I'll be staying.

Be sure to drop me a line if you're gonna hang around in Philly! I'd love to hang out. This time around I'm planning to go on adventures and see the sights, so you'd be more than welcome to recklessly meander around PA with me while I do that.

________________________________________
P.S. The reason I'm being lame and not going to Pico Day on time is because my 23rd birthday is on the same weekend and I missed visiting with family/friends last year. Couldn't talk my way out of work either. </3
P.P.S: BIG THANKS TO JakBaronKing FOR THE EARLY BIRTHDAY PRESENT! <3 He gifted me the points to download a copy of Battleblock Theater!!
P.P.P.S: Check out my sweet new shades! Vnzi made 'em! Ask her nice and I bet she'll make you some, too!

HAY GUIZE.
Here are a bunch'a things I've been up to lately. Feels like I'm due for an 'update' journal post.

NEW / UPCOMING ART I'M WORKING ON:
I have a ton of side-projects going on now that I'm taking a break from doing commissions! ... It's kind of a relief to work on personal projects at this point. I feel like I'm finally getting the opportunity to TEACH MYSELF things that I actually want to learn. Never seem to get the time to do that anymore. It's always artwork FOR someTHING or someONE lately. :\
Anyway here they are if you're curious:

a. Inspiring Friends/Artists/People (Tribute Pic) (some NG people included)
b. Sketches from my latest Art Book (mostly pinups)
c. Indigo-Go's Drawing from Majora's Mask (obligatory Zelda fan art)
d. Valentine Pinup (kind of NSFW)
e. Some silly caricature practice.

WELCOMING MY YOUNGEST SISTER TO NEWGROUNDS:
My (other)younger sister joined Newgrounds! Check out her work here. She goes by pwneropwnage. Both of my sisters are artistically inclined, and frankly, I'm glad they are, because we all kind of work off of each others talent. (in case you aren't sure, the other one is Mel/Pickletoez) PwneroPwnage mostly works with Paint Tool Sai and a Bamboo Fun graphics tablet, but I'm personally making it my mission to convert her to Photoshop. Some of the subject matter she likes to draw relates to: Minecraft, Endermen, Original Characters, and Homestuck!
Drop by some time and give her a nice Newgrounds welcome!

INTERVIEW:
I recently got interviewed! TheInterviewer/The-Great-One kindly asked that I answer some questions, SO IF YOU EVER WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT THE REAL, DEEP, MEANINGFUL, INNER WORKINGS that is Sabtastic you'll find it right over here. haha
But in all seriousness I'm a very boring person, so sorry in advance about being so lame.

MAKING MY FIRST NEWGROUNDS GAME: WANNA BETA TEST?
Still working on publishing my silly little pigeon poo game to Newgrounds. MSGHero and I are working out the bugs and adding in some fancy bells and whistles so it's not such a 'bare bones' game. You guys are gonna like it... (I hope)! c:
Actually while we're on that topic, PM me if you're interested in beta testing. There isn't much to add at this point, but we're still nit-picking, so it never hurts to get another opinion.

And lastly; here's some sweet fan art from my good friend Art-Calavera on DeviantaART.
He's awesome and you should go look at his stuff.