Atlanta Steampunk Exposition...it's fancier when you spell it out.

My hubby and I will be at Atlanta Steampunk Exposition this weekend. I will have my available sculptures with me, my inventory is a bit small because I have been working on several custom sculptures this month, but I have a few little guys for you. I will also have my Art prints, coloring/children's books and new Christmas cards available at our booth. My husband will have all his books there and will be signing them so make sure you stop by to see us. :)



Hope to see everyone at the convention.
Thanks for reading!
~Caralyn

It's Christmas Time in Lithia this Weekend!

Hello Everyone!
Just wanted to let you all know I'll be in Lithia Springs this weekend for CHRISTMAS IN LITHIA! A fun craft show with lots of Holiday goodies.

I will be there with my Art Prints, Coloring Book and Children's Book available AND I am hoping to have some new Christmas cards available at the show.

My husband will be there too with copies of all of his novels, including all 4 of his Winston and Baum series.

Also my talented sewing sister will have lots of hand sewn bags, purses and totes.

FUN FUN! Make sure you make your way to Lithia Springs High school to come see us at our booth.
Thanks for reading!
~Caralyn

Dragon Con has Come and Gone

Another Dragon Con is over. Had a great show; almost all of my little Steampunk and Fantasy animal pals found new homes. I got a huge response over my newest gallery pieces, several of my large sculptures sold. Got to meet so many interesting people and hang out with my Con Buddies. A Big Thank you to everyone that came by my booth!
Dragon Con was alot of fun, I can't wait to see everyone next year.
Taking a small break from sculpting but only for a a week or two so don't worry, I will be back to work soon. :)
I'm still updating my Etsy store with the pieces that were left after the Convention and my newest Prints but I should have all my available pieces listed no later than tomorrow.
Until next time DragonCon!

Thanks for reading!
~Caralyn

Here Comes Dragon Con!

Three months of sculpting my little fingers to the bones is coming to an end, but my work is not over yet. Now comes four crazy days of long nights, early mornings and Sci-fi and Fantasy Geekdom as far as the eye can see. Ladies and gentleman...This...is...DRAGON CON!!!
I never seem completely ready for this weekend, it comes up so fast, leaving me with a to-do list only a quarter way finished. BUT alas there is no stopping it, so me and my little creations step into the Artshow ready for the on coming Fandom Storm. It's not all work and no play though, looking forward to seeing all the awesome costumes, re-connecting with Con-buddies, the fun parties and convention swag, Oh yes the swag. :D But enough about the craziness of the show, you wanna know what Mystic Reflections is gonna have for you this year, right?!

I got another small army of cuteness for ya. These little darlings will be available for you at my vending table.

Steampunk Animal Pals

Sweet little Dragon Pals 

Cthulhus or Cutethulhus as I call them. :)

Pocket Watches. 

I will also have several books available at my table, my Henna Dreamers Coloring Book, The Adventures of Mend children's book and my hubby's novels, including everyone's favorite Steampunk Adventure series, Winston and Baum books 1-4.

Adult Coloring book, Henna Dreamers

Winston and Baum novels and my cute hubby. :)

Childern's book I illustrated in 2014. 

I will also have pieces for auction as always. Here is just a few of the newer pieces that will be available at the show.

Check out my previous blogs for step by step on making these sculptures. 

Alrighty, unless I am forgetting something that'll do it for the exciting pieces I will have with me at the convention. Wanna know how to find me at the show, my little pals and I will be at the Hyatt Hotel in Atlanta GA September 1st - 4th.

Hyatt hotel map of the Dragon Con Artshow

Still packing and tagging all of my little creations so I'll get back to it and I hope to see you all at Dragon Con this weekend! And The Adventure Begins Again!!! :D
Thanks for reading!
~Caralyn 

Illustrating a Children's Book

  Twenty-four pages, front and back cover, three sketched rough drafts, over a Thousand hours, lots of hair pulled out and several "do-overs", these are just some of the ingredients that go into illustrating a Children's Book...and I thought illustrating my husband's book covers was a challenge, Whew.
How did this all start, you may ask? Well you have to met the authors first, in my case this encounter took place at Sci-Fi Summer Con 2014, where I met Jay and Katie Barber, a fun husband and wife author duo.
They have written several fantasy novels together despite having two kids and a few cats at home.  Their six year old daughter, Maya, wanted to hop on the author band wagon. She had been creating adventures for a unicorn character named Mend. Trying to encourage her daughter's passion, Katie helped Maya compile the stories together. All they needed now was an illustrator and I was delighted to take on the task. But I had never done a children's book before, needless to say, I had alot to learn.
Designing the characters was the most fun, getting to be creative with Maya's ideas and imagination.

After receiving the sketch approvals from the authors, I began the coloring process. I scanned each of the pages into Photoshop, where I do most of my coloring. Here's a link to show a bit of my Coloring process. 

I have just recently started using "layers" in Photoshop, this was a life saver. Editing text and changing colors or character positions happens plenty while working on a picture book, and making edits after the coloring has already started can be difficult, but layering my images made it much easier. Coloring always takes the most time, but all the detail that is put into each pixelated brush stroke is worth it, once you see the finished piece.

FINALLY I was done and able to get the coloring approved...only a few edits to be made after that :)
Adding the text comes next. Katie and Maya typed up the story so I was able to copy and paste most of the text, with some adjusting of the background and the margins, the book was coming together. Final edits and image tweaks have been made all this week and the proofs for our book have been ordered from the printers.
It has been a long, challenging process, where I have learned so much. I don't want to toot my own horn but I may have patted myself on the back for a job well done. :) And I'm super excited to see what started with the imagination of one little girl, end up on children's book selves all over. :)

"The Adventures of mend" should be available October 15th. You can pre-order it here. :D

Thanks for reading!
~Caralyn

Speed Colorer!

Hey People! Sorry it's been so long since I last blogged....funny how my to-do list seemed to grow this year. Anyhoo, I have been diligently working on a Children's Book I was commissioned to illustrate. It's a cute little tale of a Unicorn and a fairy that learn about helping others. This adorable story was written by a mother-daughter collaboration, Katie and Maya Barber. Katie and her husband have written several books together, check out their Facebook page.
So since I have been putting alot of time into the pages for the book, I thought I would post a video for you all to show you a bit of my Photoshop coloring technique. The video is me coloring Mend the unicorn and it is sped up...I don't really color that fast or I would've been finished by now LOL :)
Enjoy!
Speed Coloring Children's Book Video
Music in the video by Kevin MacLeod

I am getting ready for the Dragon Con Art Show that is coming up in the beginning of September so keep checking my blog and Facebook page for the pieces that will be available at the show :)

Thank you all so much for reading.
~Caralyn

Why Hello there 2015 :)

Super Excited for 2015! 
Looking forward to the projects I have planned for this year. I have a whole bunch of new animal pals planned along with plenty more Dragons, not forgetting Steampunk Dragons and Pocket Watches. I have a few more Framed Sculptures that I will be working on and hopefully, I will be able to color the mountains of Sketches I have waiting on me. AND we might be seeing a few of those sketches make their way onto T-Shirts EEP! :D
Also, I have had a lot of you ask about sculpting tutorials so I am planning to do some step-by-step art videos for you, walking you through creating my Dragons and Animal Pals.

Last year I put off some of my commissions, but this year, I should have some of my schedule open up so I can start taking requests again, just message me on FaceBook or email me at mysticreflections@gmail.com 
I am currently working on the art for a fun children’s book, I won’t give you too many details yet but I’m super excited about it and now that the holidays are over, I will be able to put more time into it. I’ll try and post plenty of progress photos along the way :) 

If things go as planned, you will be seeing a lot more from Mystic Reflections. Can’t wait to see what this year brings! :D

Thanks for reading!
~Caralyn