[ Sabtastic's Drawing Feed ]

I'll have the finished piece posted soon!

Probably one of the scariest experiences I've had on Canadian public transit. This happened to me and three other friends back in late 2009. We were about 18. I wrote a paper about it for a journalism class and recently found it again, so I had to share.
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The 4 to Capilano was just about to leave West Edmonton Mall. My friends and I, four of us in total, boarded the bus, making our way to the back. Of the 9 available seats, 5 line the very back of the bus facing forward, and 4 face each other, bordering the inside walls. Alex took his seat on one of the inside 4, exhaustedly stretching out and throwing his bag into the seat beside him. Samson took a corner seat, closest to the window, while Taylor and I, a couple at the time, sat side-by-side, just next to Samson. A short time passed, as we waited for the bus to take off. Just seconds before it departed, a thin, middle-aged woman boarded the bus. She was dressed in very smart attire: grey stockings, heels, a black blazer-poncho, with graying blonde hair. She quietly took a seat across from Alex, directly facing him. There was nothing out of the ordinary about her.

Without exchanging glances, almost in comic unison, the four of us took out headphones and began listening to our own individual music. Samson, being the comedian of the group, yanked a headphone from Taylor's right ear. With no time for Taylor to react, Samson shoved a blaring headphone back in, from his own iPod. Death metal in one ear clashed with indie rock in the other. Samson blurted the statement, "This'll make your head explode!" Taylor, about to verbally back-hand Samson was interrupted by the elderly woman:

"I'll make your heads explode-every last one of ya!" Exclaimed the woman angrily. We paused, looking at each other, puzzled, unsure of whether or not she was trying to crack a joke. Unsure of how to react, we chuckled, assuming her wildly unexpected statement wasn't serious. The rant began. "It was all Samson's fault", recalls Taylor, thinking back to the situation, "This kind of stuff is always Samson's fault."

She began to rifle through her purse. Between angry mutters, she removed a hair straightener, as well as a piggy-bank-sized white porcelain ghost. "Snip! Snip! Snip! Snip!" she said while she rummaged. We listened on, confused and shocked, while adamantly avoiding eye contact. Placing the ghost in the seat beside her, she suddenly pulled long, razor sharp hairdressing scissors out of her bag. The kind with the rounded finger loops and startlingly pointed ends. 'Oh crap.' I thought. She began repeating the chant, snipping the scissors in our direction. "Snip! Snip! Snip!" I was frozen in fear, being seated closest to her at no less of a distance than 5 feet away.

Halfway through the 30 minute armed rant which involved hemorrhoids, Satan, whipping, cannibalism, and many other lovely things, she placed the scissors back in her purse. Alex, a particularly long-legged fellow, uncrossed his leg. Unintentionally stretching out a little too far, he kicked her foot. The talking stopped. The silence sent my heart rate through the roof. We all sat there anxiously, waiting for what she'd do next.

An empty beer can rolled with the lurching turn of the bus and was stopped by a nearby passenger's foot. I hadn't noticed him up until this point. The poor bastard was so terrified, he was reading The Life of Pi by Yann Martel-upside down.

Sure enough, the talking started again, only this time, kicked up a notch. A sudden jerking motion made by the woman caught my peripheral vision and I flinched, briefly making eye-contact with her. At that very instant, her hateful rant was funneled in my direction. She began muttering furiously about how I was all sorts of four and five letter words, then began repeatedly striking a pole on the bus with the back of her hand. A high-pitched 'ding' reverberated for every strike of her hand as the bones in her finger impacted with the stainless steel. She was hitting it surprisingly hard with her knuckles, even drawing blood. She started to force her own blood out with one hand, massaging it from her knuckles and pointing it in our direction. "See this? It's too pure for you! I bet you want it, but you can't have it!" She hit the pole a couple more times. "Think this hurts?" She then smudged the blood on the pole, wiping it on the chair she was sitting on. She then proceeded to remove a diamond ring and rolled up a sleeve, still making sure to point her wounds in our direction, showcasing them to our mortified gaze. Scraping the ring up and down her arm furiously, she began to draw blood on her forearm as well. At this point, I couldn't control the shaking of my hands, I looked up to notice another passenger approach the empty seat beside me. All of us simultaneously attempted in vain to signal him away, but he took a seat anyway. Immediately he realized his poor choice in seating, and pulled out a cell phone, pretending to be busy with a conversation, as he looked away in shock.

Finally, after a painfully long 30 minute bus ride, we arrived at our destination. Cautiously, we walked past the rambling, bleeding woman who luckily had put away her hairdressing scissors, which was our main concern. She muttered at us while we walked past her, single file: "Yeah, that's right. You leave." We did, gladly.

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TL;DR version:
No. Fuck you. Suck it up and read.

So as of today, I'm back full-time at the University of Alberta...! WWWwoooOOOOooooo... :I
Taking my third year of Secondary Education with a major in Visual Arts and a minor in English.

That's a Bachelor of Education, for you who care --
And I'll have a DEGREE IN B.ED AT THE END OF THIS. HAW HAW HAW!

I'm doing my "Introductory Practical Term" or IPT, which is where they throw us wannabe teachers into a school and see how well we teach. I'm super psyched, but I'm terrified at the same time. I don't technically start that part until November, but something tells me that the inner-city high schools I'll be teaching at are a hell of a lot different than the teensy little small-town schools I went to...!

So yeah, I'm probably not going to be updating a whole lot on here for the next little bit. Just a heads up. This one's gonna be a doozy!

Anyway, I really hope everybody had a decent summer!
Hope you all do well this fall -- whether it be in school, your careers or hobbies, etc.

Don't be afraid to hit me up with a PM while I'm in school, by the way...! I may be busy, but I'll still read your message!

Cheers.

So I finally got myself one of those new fangled Cintiq tablets...!! The 22HD one that swivels!
I saved for two years using money from the art commissions I did, so it's really gratifying knowing that 'my art' paid for something expensive that I really wanted. ^^ ...And the bamboo fun tablet that I got from Newgrounds in 2009 is serving a better purpose...! I've passed it down to my youngest sister who's drawing up a storm as we speak. :P

[ Watch this little Cintiq Tablet Product Demo ]
If you're into digital design/animation at all, you'll be drooling by the end of it -- these things are like the CADILLAC of tablets.

I'm finally selling some 'Sabtastic' originals, by the way...! If you're interested in buying some signed artwork prints from me, now's the time! It's super cheap, and all of the proceeds will be going towards my education / art supplies! There are stickers, buttons, posters, small card stock prints, and medium ones! ^^

[ Check out that Sabtastic Merch ]
(Sorry in advance, but it's on DeviantART. haha)

I also finished those Pokemon rageface stickers--- and they're for sale, too! (photo below)
Contact me by PM or e-mail if you're interested in having some mailed to you for a couple bucks. They're 2 dollars each, but if you buy 3 of them, it's 5 bucks (Canadian).

...Enjoy the rest of your summer, guys! <3

Update:

Spots are all taken!! Sorry if you missed the boat..
I won't be opening up commissions again for a while. Starting up my second last semester at University in September!

Thanks everybody!!

F.A.Q:
Want more than 2 characters?
It'll be 5 dollars extra per character.

How big is the sketch going to be?
9x6" card stock paper.

1. killerbunyy - vulpix duskull and wiglytuff
2. tammohawk - Female Demo Girl: TF2
3. tzarsectus - Helena Harper: RE6
4. zukahnaut Jareb and Miroto (OCs)
5. zukahnaut Hrothgar and Zukah (OCs) Drinking
6. closerrook's 3 OCs at a Tavern
7. wanderingtempest Tex and The Ego
8. ekrisshomaru Homestuck Troll Vriska Serket
9. TheifToASlave's OCs TJ and Ren
10. LegolaSS A Llama and Sabtastic wearing Aviators

Hey folks! On August 11th and 12th, my sister Pickletoez and I will be teaming up to do our first ever art booth! The event is being held at Grant MacEwan City Centre Campus in Edmonton Alberta [where's that?], so if you live nearby, come and check it out!

HOW MUCH IS IT TO GET IN?
Weekend: $45.00
Saturday $30.00
Sunday: $20.00

WHICH TABLE WILL YOU BE AT?
[map of artists alley]
My sister and I will be at table 5 and 6, right by the doors! We lucked out with this spot. Hopefully we won't be too hard to spot amid all of the other seriously talented vendors. Drop by and say hi! We don't bite!

[take a look at the other artists who will be there, too!]

WHAT WILL YOU BE SELLING?:

SUPER CHEAP ART COMMISSIONS
(See attached image below or view a larger version here)

LARGE, MEDIUM AND SMALL POSTERS
OF ALMOST EVERYTHING IN MY GALLERY
5$ for a 6x9" card
10$ for an 8.5x11" picture
20$ for an 18x24" poster!

WEATHERPROOF LASER CUT STICKERS
[CHECK OUT THE DESIGNS]
1 for $2.00
3 for $5.00
6 for $9.00

LARGE 2.25" AND SMALL 1" BUTTONS
[LARGE BUTTON DESIGNS] [SMALL BUTTON DESIGNS]
$2.50 for a large pre-designed button, or 3 for $5.00
$1.50 for a small pre-designed button or 4 for $5.00

Custom buttons can be drawn and made on the spot for a little extra!
You an also request to make your own, so don't be afraid to ask! I'll provide the cut paper.

IF I CAN'T GO, CAN I STILL BUY STUFF?
Absolutely! I've never done this before, so I've made a LOT of merchandise. Assuming there will be leftovers, I'll put it all up for sale right after Animethon to get rid of extra buttons, stickers, posters, etc... So stay tuned!! The rates will be the same, and you will need to have a paypal address to purchase anything!

AND WHEN THE HELL DID IT BECOME AUGUST?? UGH.

Hey you dudes!

Guess who officially got accepted as an artist for Anime-thon...? And guess who got sexy lady prints piled high?! YEAH I DID.

It's like a small-time comic con, but obviously more focused on Anime. It only costed a total of 60 bucks for the table and a weekend pass, so I figured this would be pretty good practise to see if people dig my work enough to buy it! My sister Pickletoez and I are teaming up, so we're covering all the bases. She's got the super 'kawaii' stuffs, like Totoro, Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke, Adventure Time, and I've got the artwork related to video games, like Left 4 Dead, Zelda, Pokemon, and a couple of obscure Animes.

We've ordered two custom button-presses (small + large) too, and they're amazing so far. I can't get enough of these stupid things. That, and I FINALLY PRINTED MY WEATHERPROOF LASER CUT POKEMON RAGE FACE STICKERS. YEAH BUDDY!

Anyway, my big days are August 11th and 12th...! If you live in Alberta, Canada, you should totally hit me up and make arrangements to check out my booth! If not, just wish me luck!! I'll be selling off the leftover product online once it's over.

ALSO, NEKOW DID THIS FOR ME: ISN'T HE THE BEST?
GO CHECK IT OUT + LEAVE A NICE REVIEW!

[ CALGARY 2012 MEET THREAD ]

Anybody live in the western end of Canada, or the Northwest end of the States??

YOU SHOULD GO, TOO!

I've been drawing for the past 8 hours... lol

[ SUPER SLUMBER PARTY FAN ART ]
[ TAKE ME TO THE DEMON BOOBIES ]

I blame Pico day for the first one.
I'VE BEEN TAINTED. D:

Made it back in one piece from Pico Day! Yaay!
Here are the photos I ended up taking... And a link to facebook, just for shits!
(Feel free to tag yourself if you're in anything)

[Sab's Pics from Pico Day]

I had a blast. Everyone there, even though they started out as complete strangers, were more or less BFF's FOREVER by the end of the trip... And some of them only got to hang out for one or two days! The whole Pico Day experience was really inspiring too. It really got me out of a rut and made me eager to learn new things from all of the ridiculously talented people there.

I ended up Staying at Stamper, Mike, AlmightyHans, and Oney's classy new place. They were awesome hosts. The house itself was this really awesome 7 bedroom place, and throughout the Pico Day weekend, there must have been at least 10 people there at all times.

Over the 5 or 6 days I spent there, I had time to check out some local attractions, like the Mutter Museum (bizarre corpses and stuff), try authentic Philly cheesesteaks, discover how cool 'Wawa' convenience stores are, and how much it sucks that Canada doesn't have them. I got to test out JohnnyUtah's Cintiq tablet (It's now MANDATORY that I get one because those things are fantastic, and I was accused of being a terrorist by TD Bank while I was there too. lol They refused to take my apparently shady Canadian currency when I was driving around with Mike, because my name came up on some OFAC blacklist... I don't even have a criminal record, n'or have I ever travelled to the states ...!! I had a connecting flight in California once, but holy damn...!

Anyway, my birthday itself was pretty fun, because I share it with some really cool people, and it was on Pico Day this year!
Redminus and Tom Fulp!
Tom's birthday is actually on the 30th, but Pico Day is his big day too, so it was really neat to celebrate at the same time.

So.. .Yeah! During the last few days that I was there, Stamperand Hansended up buying themselves a sweet new fire pit, and we it was so fun and relaxing that almost literally just sat around talking until I had to leave for Canada. It was so unbelieveably chill. Mike was there, Oney, JohnnyUtah, AlmightyHans, Happy Harry, his girlfriend Sucho and MasterArdvark--
We all swapped stories and made dick jokes. It was a gay ol' time.

TL;DR: I really hope I can go back there again soon.
I really felt at home, and I had a blast. Thanks for the birthday wishes, everybody! <3