My 2017 Year in Review

2017 was one hell of a year, and with the new year just around the corner, I wanted to take a moment to reflect on this year that will go down in infamy for me.

12 Glimpses of My 2017

During 2017, I created easily over 100 pieces of original art in a variety of mediums!  Here are twelve of my most memorable moments:

1. Gemstone Lions: One of my first major projects of 2017 was to get up-to-speed with molding and casting again, and I started off by molding an existing magnet I'd sculpted, never expecting in a million years that people would enjoy it so much! I casted and painted dozens of different lions, and love thinking of all the places they traveled to!
2. Fire and Ice Phoenix Skulls: I did a number of molding and casting projects this year, including dragon claws, fractal romanites, obelisks, jewelry, and more, but my phoenix skulls remain some of my favorites. I had a lot of fun creating teasers and accessories for them, and they helped me to level-up my product photos.
3. Walnut Spiral Stone: I combined my interest in exotic woods and art in various ways this year, including creating some resin and wood inlaid pieces like this walnut spiral stone. I'm definitely planning on following-through with similar exploits in 2018 once I'm physically capable!
4. Hummingbird and Kitty Memorial Sculpture: There is so much time and emotion poured into this sculpture, and I learned so much from it. It was a gift to my mom to celebrate the life and love of her dear kitty Auggie, and I challenged myself with it for sure, much to my own detriment. I'm generally pleased with how it turned out, but the methods and materials I used made me fight uphill both ways, so I ended up getting a lot of project fatigue working on it because I couldn't do much on it per session because of materials working against me. I learned a lot, though, and I'd like to do more with air-cure materials at some point. My only regret is that because of the timing of my injury and move, I never got good photos of this piece, but I hope to at some point since I probably poured more time into this project than any other art project in 2017.
5. Dragonfly Mangrove Mandala: I did a number of paintings on stained wood panels this year, and this commission was one of my favorites! It was a fun take on the "mandala" theme that's been running through much of my work during the past few years.
6. Poppy Fox: I did a fair number of watercolor and gouache paintings this year, and "Poppy Fox" ranks among my favorites! The idea had been running through my mind for awhile before I sat down to paint it, and it ended up being the last piece I completed before my major injury.
7. My Major Injury: I feel like 2017 could have been the year to break me, but I wouldn't let it, not even with a major leg/ankle/foot injury like this. My physical mobility and energy are still very limited from this formative hit in July of this year, but even as it is, I wouldn't let it define me.
8. Fall Lion: My art output took a drastic hit after my injury, but around the time I was scheduled for my third surgery, I mustered up enough energy to paint this little leaf-maned lion and his cardinal friend and later put it up for auction to help offset my medical bills. I was truly touched by the reception it got.
9. UV-Reactive Charms: In the time after my injury, I had little periods where I could sit at the computer, but only for about 30 minutes at a time. Rather than use this time to relax and play video games like any sane person would, I used the time to design a number of new products for my art which I hoped people would enjoy, including stickers, magnets, pins, and UV-reactive charms. The charms were some of my favorites.
10. Fall Hummingbird - This was another concept that had been swimming around for a time before I finally sat down and painted it. I loved the idea of naturemancer crafting creatures from natural materials.
11. Gemstone Wolf: A commissioned piece in a similar style to my gemstone lion. I really enjoyed the opportunity to infuse personality into this piece and get back to sculpting after many months away from it.
12. “Sashah's Song” – Mixed Media Sculpture (Work in Progress) and Novel Progress: I started this sculpture way back in late 2014, and it's gone through periods of heavy work and delay in favor of other projects, but it's hardly forgotten! It stalled at one point because I needed to work with resins as well as more complex molding and casting to continue working on it, and at the time I acknowledged there was a very real possibility of damaging it if I didn't take awhile to step back and skill up before continuing work on it. That said, 2017 taught me a lot, and I'm hoping to continue work on it in 2018 and hopefully finish it off! It's a sculpture of one of the lead protagonists of my stories, who happens to be a werewolf enchantress. She's been a labor of love, and I figure I'm around 200+ hours in at this point, and there are a lot more photos of her over on my Twitter accounts @KLeCrone and @Vaeflare. To date, this is very possibly the art project I'm proudest of so far! Along these lines, this year I made an absolutely *massive* amount of progress on the first novel in my series, and I'm thrilled to report I am ending the year at over 100k+ words into it! This milestone means a lot to me, especially with the numerous setbacks I've had this year and the variety of projects and obligations fighting for my time. Woo!

My 2017 Year in Review

The good:

• Really felt the self-love this year, even when it seems like my life careened off the tracks in July. This can be a hard one sometimes, especially when I’m not in the shape I want to be in, but I know that who I am is encompassed by so, so much more than that. I tried to be kinder to myself and more realistic with my goals in 2017, and felt that really made me a happier person.
• Felt the love from the people I choose to surround myself with. In addition to the absolutely humbling outpouring of support surrounding my injury and follow-up surgeries from people in the community and absolute strangers, I grew a lot closer to a number of new friends and long-time friends this year. This has made my day-to-day so much richer and more enjoyable, and it felt like I had people there to help support me when I was down and out. I kept fearing the demons of depression might rear their snarly heads again, but that moment never came, and I owe it to so many real-life and internet hugs.
• Gave less of my time and energy to toxic people, and people that didn't positively contribute to my life and the person I want to be. This can sometimes be a bit of a hard one because I like to think of myself as a very giving person, but there comes a time when self-care needs to be a firm priority. This focus also meant I had more time and love to give for folks that deserved it a million times over.
• Celebrated 9 years with my SO and hugged him even tighter. <3 He is such a wonderful, supportive light in my crazy life.
• We bought a house! Right after my injury though. Talk about horrible timing... 
• Continued to donate, purged, sell, and gave away a dramatic number of boxes of stuff I had stored in my garage. Downsizing has been *amazing* and I'm thankful through sheer luck I managed to cull so much before my injury, because I can't lift much of anything at the moment.
• Got a promotion at work and am very pleased with my career performance and trajectory! It was difficult being out of work for months and then back in a limited capacity, but I tell you what: I felt and continue to feel SO valued and supported. It's absolutely incredible and humbling.
• Somehow, even with all the crazy, I managed what is very possibly my most productive artistic AND writing year to date! I completed over 100 pieces of original art in a variety of mediums!
• I deepened my focus in my art side-business, and managed to have a surprisingly great year of sales, including opening my own storefront, becoming more active on Instagram, and diversifying and deepening my Patreon content.
• Continued to use and update my Personal Productivity tracker to try to hold myself accountable for how I was using my time.
• Chugged away at my writing and my first draft prose for v4 of the first book in my series, ending the year at 100k+ words into "The Apprentice of Rook."
• Learned more about woodworking and molding and casting, and leveled up some necessary skills in that realm!
• Pushed myself to learn and try new things and experiment without being as concerned about if others would like it, if it's marketable, etc.
• I managed to navigate a careful line between keeping busy, but not becoming overwhelmed.
• Kept my optimism intact through a truly challenging year both emotionally and physically!

The not so good:

• Suffered a Major Leg/Ankle/Foot Injury. It's a bit comical to look back and see me say 2016 was probably my "healthiest year on record," because 2017 felt more like a dumpster-fire in comparison.
• Didn't lose weight.
• Didn't resolve a repetitive stress hand/wrist injury I previously suffered at work, and it only got worse from my heavily reliance on my wheelchair/walker/crutches.
• Didn’t finish “Sashah’s Song” sculpture, but hopefully next year!
• Didn't finish my first draft of my novel like I'd originally planned. Oh well!
• Moved shortly after my injury. This was absolute hell, and the only saving grace was the overwhelming support from my mother and friends to help get us packed.
• I took on a reasonable number of commissions, but they stretched beyond my normal 1 month window of when the original order was placed due to my injury and some compounding factors like moving, unfortunately. I am not taking on any additional commissions until these are completed, and am extremely thankful for the understanding of my commissioners while I recover.
• ...Went a little overboard buying handmade artisan watercolors as retail therapy. >_> I mean, I'm going to use them, but good lord, I bought so many...

"Mira" - A Character from my Upcoming Novel

On to 2018!

All-in-all it's been quite a crazy year, and I am hopeful 2018 is a sizable improvement over 2017! Here are how 2017 stood up to some of my goals:

1. Complete "Hummingbird and Kitten Memorial Sculpture" - Complete!
2. Complete "Sashah's Song" Sculpture - Nope. :/
3. (Re)learn how to mold and cast - Yep!
4. Keep moving forward with one or more novels - Yep!
5. Finish at least one outstanding art project and selectively retire others - Done!
6. Continue to grow my creative side-business - I absolutely did!
7. Continue to infuse my unique vision into my work - Again, yes!

Some personal things I'm aiming to accomplish in the new year include:

1. Complete first draft of "The Apprentice of Rook."
2. Continue to further grow my art business.
3. Complete "Sashah's Song" Sculpture
4. Create some new small sculptures and mold and cast them.
5. Create new wood and resin art.
6. Learn to walk again.

The recovery and creative process continues, and I've been back to making a lot of posts over on my Patreon! I generally make updates there every day or two, so if you're interested in a feed of more frequent updates from me, I would suggest checking it out! I also put together a public post on my Patreon about my 2017 Patreon Thoughts and Upgrades.

Here's a few of the main spots you can find me online:

• http://patreon.com/KLeCrone
• http://www.kimberlylecrone.com 
• https://www.instagram.com/k.lecrone/
• https://www.facebook.com/K-LeCrone-200871613293094/
• http://klecrone.storenvy.com
  

2017 has been really weird and challenging year for me with high highs and low lows. I've admittedly been hard on myself at times for my injury and it's impact on my creativity, yet, here we are, and I realize that even with that, 2017 was my most productive creative year to date. Huh! I’m eager to see what 2018 brings personally, professionally, and creatively, and I’m so thankful for all of your support along the way of this crazy journey called life. <3 Happy New Year!

My 2015 Year in Review

2015 year has been something, alright!

I'm not ashamed to admit that the first half was pretty heavy and depressing for me, as I was still reeling over the loss of one of my dear friends, Kevin Kanai Griffith. :(

I felt like in early 2015 it had to really force myself to do personal writing (and I did), but the art side of things wasn't coming nearly as easily for me, and somewhere in late 2014 and early 2015 I felt like someone had shaken me awake to get me to really sit down and think if I was happy with the trajectory of my career as a Community Manager at Blizzard. In truth, I was content and I certainly enjoyed a lot of the work I was doing, but I kept finding myself wondering if I was selling myself short by not even letting myself consider the possibility of a more creative career in the arts.

The thought was terrifying, and then after a time, it was inspiring. What could my life be like in another five or ten years if I let myself pursue the arts? Would I even be capable, qualified, or skilled enough to change careers and find success in something so different? Would I have to leave Blizzard to progress?

In the early half of 2015, I didn't talk about it, but behind the scenes, I gave it my all.

I applied to a job at Blizzard as a Media Artist within Story and Franchise Development (formerly known as Cinematics) and Video and Post Production with every ounce of passion I had. I spent countless hours on my cover letter, resume, portfolio, and then threw myself into the art test and preparing for the eventual interview.

And I got it.

And I haven't looked back.

I talked about my new opportunities within Blizzard in this blog post, but even in the time since, I've got to tell you: I am so much happier. I have so much more creative energy both during and after work, and feel like I am just buzzing with ideas. I feel like myself again, in the best possible way. I love being surrounded by so many creative individuals, I am digging my new work/life balance, and I am so excited for where the future will take me. I'm glad I dared to make the change, and that I had the opportunity to join such an immensely talented, passionate, and wonderful team.

So when I look back at the first half of this year, part of me cringes that there isn't a lot to show for it publicly, but man, if you could see all the hours and hours that went into my portfolio/art test, you would probably understand that that's completely fine by me. :)

I remember about a year ago at this time I was really struggling with whether or not to make a career change, and I'm immensely glad I did. If I had any piece of advice in all of this, it's to be willing to believe in yourself and pursue your own happiness with as much gusto as you can muster! It's never too late to follow your heart!

12 Glimpses of My 2015 Year in Review
 

This year was extremely busy, but I put together 12 of my "top" projects throughout the year, which you can see above and learn more about below:

1. World’s First Butterfly Cosplay – Part 3: Bringing Monarch Brightwing to Life: While I technically completed this official project in the middle of 2014, it wasn't actually posted publicly until May of 2015. It was definitely a fun project to try to realize Monarch Brightwing in a butterfly-cosplay-sized sculpture, but I really enjoyed the challenge! It was one of the first full-body sculptures I'd done in years, too!
    
2. This year I did a fair bit of personal writing, organizing, blogging, and a boatload of social media. I made 16 blogs in 2015, including numerous blogs detailing walkthroughs of my various projects. I'm hoping to increase that number in 2016, as well as to really kick my writing into gear!
    
3. This is one of the many composite images I created for my portfolio for my media artist job application. I spent so much time working on the contents of it, and I'm so very glad it all paid off. :)
    
4. Matt Murdock (Daredevil): Avocado at Law: I got really into Netflix's Daredevil this year, and allowed myself a bit of a breather to do some loose fan art of him in the middle of the year.
    
5. 30 Day Story-Sketch Challenge: Day 2: Protection: In July I decided to challenge myself to partake in a 30-day challenge to sketch characters and environments from a story I wrote, and would like to get back to editing in order prompt me to get back in the headspace of those characters. This is the second day's image of two of the main characters. Unfortunately I only made it about five days in before I got really sick and put the challenge on ice for awhile, but I definitely plan to give it another go next year.
    
6. 'Butterscotch' - World of Warcraft Fan Art Yak: Gah, this project was a beast! Started on November 3rd, 2012 and completed on July 26, 2015, this project spanned many years, and was subject to so much scope creep and technical hurdles that it was sometimes incredibly frustrating to keep moving forward with it, but finally, finally it is done. During the last two years, I've been trying to finish off a number of long outstanding projects and this was one of them. It was also a more than subtle reminder that money and time are hardly limitless, so it's important to make sure you're spending your time on projects you find worthwhile, and well, that you actually finish them.
    
7. “Dragon Mage” – ZBrush Sculpture: This is yet another project that had been put on ice for awhile that I finished up in 2015. I had a lot of fun with the patterning on this fella. :)
    
8. Sculpture: "Friendship": Amidst a lot of really time-intensive projects (like the job application, Monarch Brightwing Sculpture, and Yak project), when Cindy visited me this year I was somewhat emphatic that I wanted to to a project we could actually complete during a few days, and this ended up being just that. :) I'd long wanted to experiment with a particular type of air dry clay, and had a wonderful time sculpting with my seester! <3
    
9. Demon Pig from 2015 BlizzCon Sketch Group: I enjoyed working at the BlizzCon Art Gallery this year as well as at the BlizzCon Sketch Group. The theme for the sketch group was "demon + pig" so I had fun with it. :)
    
10. Crafty Secret Santa and "Sailor Usagi": This year I hosted a special Secret Santa-type exchange for crafty people that you can read about here, and by and large I feel it's been a great success! My own giftee enjoyed (among other things) Sailor Moon and rabbits, so I forged her interests together into a fun little sculpture gift. It was a lot of fun to be able to allow my creativity to go wild on another short-form sculpture!
     
11. Jeweled Lion Sculpture (Work in Progress): While it's not done yet, in late December I discovered yet another abandoned project from many years ago (2011), and I decided to take a break from my other projects to try to and make it into something with a bit better form. I'm looking forward to finishing it off!
     
12. “Sashah's Song” – Mixed Media Sculpture (Work in Progress - Current as of December 17, 2015 - Photographed by Dana Bishop): I started this sculpture way back in late 2014, and it sat around for the bulk of the year before I got moving again on it in the later half of 2015. It's a sculpture of one of the lead protagonists of my stories, who happens to be a werewolf enchantress. Much like the Yak, this project has encountered numerous technical battles along the way, including not fitting properly in a home oven, which meant I had to build an oven to bake it, so... suffice to say, she has continued to be a labor of love, and I'm really hoping I can finish her off in the near future. :) I figure I'm around 106 hours in at this point, and there are a lot more photos of her over on my Twitter accounts @KLeCrone and @Vaeflare. To date, this is very possibly the project I'm proudest of so far!

On to 2016!

All-in-all it's been quite a year, and I can't wait to see what 2016 holds! Some personal things I'm aiming to accomplish in the new year include:

1. Complete "Sashah's Song" Sculpture
2. (Re)learn how to mold and cast
3. Finish one or more short stories
4. Keep moving forward with one or more novels
5. Learn some new art materials (CX5, I'm looking at you!)
6. Finish at least one outstanding art project and selectively retire others
7. Sell some new personal art
8. Continue to infuse my unique vision into my work
    

Conventions/Festivals I Am Planning to Attend in 2016

1. February - The Southern California Writer's Conference
2. May - Lightning in a Bottle
3. July - San Diego Comic Con
4. August - PAX Prime (Planned)  

Thank you for all your support in 2015, and thanks for joining me on my creative journey!

World’s First Butterfly Cosplay – Part 3: Bringing Monarch Brightwing to Life

Back in 2014 when I was still a Community Manager, I worked on an official project relating to a character for the Blizzard game Heroes of the Storm, and due to one thing or another, it took over a year for all the requested blogs relating to the project to finally be published on the official site, but at last in May of 2015, the final blog and photos were posted on Battle.net, and I wanted to share the final results here for posterity as well :)

Originally I shared with you how this project began and the various stages required to sculpt the Monarch Brightwing sculpture that will serve as the base of what may very well be the world’s first butterfly cosplay!* In the second part of this blog series, I showed you the colorful and creative steps that followed, and in this blog, we’re putting it all together and bringing Monarch Brightwing to life with a live monarch butterfly from my home garden!

 

The in-game model is seen on the left, and my sculpture is seen on the right. All it needs now is a regal monarch!

Where We Left Off
 

When we last left off, Monarch Brightwing was all painted, sealed, and ready for her guests, and it was time for everything to come together to complete this unique take on cosplay!  Here are the final results:

 

Did You Know?
 

Monarch butterfly populations have plummeted so much in recent years that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service now believes there might be reason to protect them under the Endangered Species Act.

You can learn more about how you can help raise monarchs and milkweed plants at MonarchWatch.org.

All monarch butterflies used in this project were hand-raised and released into the wild after photographing.

Outtakes!
 

Things don’t always go as planned when you’re working with one (or more!) live subjects, so here are some of my favorite outtakes of Monarch Brightwing and her fluttery entourage.

 

 

 

I'd highly recommend checking out the original blogs which are posted directly on Blizzard's website because there are a lot more photos and details about the process there (and with much better formatting)!

World’s First Butterfly Cosplay – Part 1: Sculpting Monarch Brightwing

World’s First Butterfly Cosplay – Part 2: Painting Monarch Brightwing
World’s First Butterfly Cosplay – Part 3: Bringing Monarch Brightwing to Life

If you're interested in finding out more about Heroes of the Storm, you can learn more about this fun team brawler here on our official site. And if you work at Blizzard or manage to get a tour of campus, you can see this little guy currently on display at the Blizzard Museum!

Do you have any questions about painting materials, the creative process for this project, or raising monarchs? Let me know in the comments below!

As this project was done on-the-clock for work, all photos of Brightwing and my Brightwing sculpture are Copyright Blizzard Entertainment. All standalone monarch photos are copyright Kimberly LeCrone.

* - As far as we know! 

Onward to New Opportunities within Blizzard and BlizzCon 2015

 Onward to New Opportunities within Blizzard

It's been an incredibly busy year, and among the plethora of activity during 2015, I accepted an exciting new position at Blizzard as a Media Artist within Story and Franchise Development (formerly known as Cinematics) and Video and Post Production, which I started in early June. At the time I was also supporting the launch of Heroes of the Storm while I slowly transitioned away from my various Community Manager responsibilities behind-the-scenes.

I made this announcement official back in August with this goodbye post on the official Heroes of the Storm forums, and I wanted to share it here as well:

ONWARD TO NEW OPPORTUNITIES WITHIN BLIZZARD 

For over six years I’ve served on Blizzard’s Community Team, and together we’ve shared many adventures across the sprawling realms of Azeroth, Sanctuary, the Nexus, and more. From Diablo III design discussions to Warcraft fan art features and contests, I’ve enjoyed connecting with so many of you online and in person at conventions, but alas: my time working in community is coming to an end as I explore new opportunities within Blizzard. 

I’ve loved community work and all its intricacies for many years, way back even when I was making World of Warcraft PvP videos, blogs, and fan art in my spare time, and being ingrained on Blizzard’s Community Team has been a wildly fulfilling ride on so many levels. So it was only after a lot of profound soul-searching these last few months that I came to realize that what I was craving was to move in a more artistic direction professionally, which would ultimately take me away from the Community Team and onto the creative powerhouse known as Story and Franchise Development, which houses Video and Post Production, Blizzard Animation, Visual Media, Creative Development, and more.

On one hand, I couldn’t be happier for this opportunity, but on the other, it is with a bittersweet heart that I will have to step back from the usual Community Manager duties, blue text, and flavorful Twitter Takeovers. But fear not: I won’t be far! :)

I know I’ve said it many times over the years, but I wanted to thank all of you for your passion for all things Blizzard, and for continuing to offer your insight and feedback so that we can make the best games and community we possibly can. It has been an absolutely wonderful journey thus far, and I’m excited to see what the future will bring with so many developments on the horizon.

Be kind to each other, keep in touch, and I’ll see you at BlizzCon!

<3,

-Kimberly “Vaeflare” LeCrone

P.S. – Velociraptors are still the best dinosaurs.

You can read my goodbye post here on the official Heroes of the Storm forums

My time spent in my new position been absolutely wonderful. I adore my new team and my responsibilities, and I relish the opportunity to be creative in my day-to-day. :) I can definitely tell you that after over six years as a Community Manager with Blizzard, it was a welcome change to step into a full-time artistic role once again, and I'm incredibly thankful for the opportunity to switch careers (of a sort), and yet still stay within the same company I know and love.

It was super exciting to see my name in a new section of the credits for StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void as well!

BlizzCon 2015
 

Nearly every year, my employer (Blizzard Entertainment) puts on a massive two-day convention celebrating all things Blizzard. It's a fantastic spectacle to see, and it's been wonderful to spend time connecting with players from around the world (I believe something like 25,000 people are in attendance: wow!). You can find out more about BlizzCon here, and if you're unfamiliar with Blizzard Entertainment, you can find out about them here.

This year's BlizzCon was a little different for me, however. Whereas I used to have one set of diverse responsibilities for BlizzCon as a Community Manager representing one or more franchises, instead this year I had the incredible opportunity to see some of the many projects my new team and I have been collaborating on up on the big screen during the opening ceremony and during panels: crazy! You can watch the action-packed opening ceremony here:

Congrats to everyone involved in making BlizzCon 2015 a jam-packed success! Now it's time for me to watch the VODs of all the panels I missed... ;)

Did you tune in for BlizzCon? If so, what was your favorite announcement?

Nature, Art, Writing, and the Possibilities Approaching "Balance"

The smile of someone who is at present, exceptionally busy and craves balance.

The last few weeks have been exceptionally busy for me, and amid the general craziness of life, I've been doing what I can to work towards getting things back in balance.

I went on three separate trips (one for work and two for pleasure), which meant a lot of the productive creative schedule and routine I had going was interrupted by travel and an assortment of adventures. It also meant that the time I've had book-ended around these events has definitely been a lot more jam-packed than usual, and even with other busy periods on the horizon (BlizzCon, I'm looking at you here), I'm understandably eager for things to settle down so I can dig back in to personal projects with renewed gusto.

Travel Tidings

 

Seeing friends from near and far on my adventures to Seattle, San Diego, and San Francisco was a wonderful breath of fresh air! It's always such a blast meeting up with old friends and new friends alike to get together and be raptors just have fun and be myself. I certainly wish we had lush woods or towering redwood forests a bit nearer to me! They were exceptionally calming places to visit.

Art Adventures in all Shapes and Sizes!

It seems that part of my methods of trying to obtain a state of zen and stability during times like these is three-fold: 1.) Increased cleaning, 2.) Increased organization, and 3.) Increased beautification. I've been doing a lot of all three of these things these last few weeks, and one of the more notable examples of this is my tenacity for getting some art up on walls both at work and at home.

The first of these pieces was a 30 x 40 inch all-acrylic painting that you can read about here. It's one of my favorite paintings that I've ever done, and I've had it up on nearby walls for many years since, but it's never been framed. The few times I'd looked into getting it framed, I'd simply balked at the price and told myself I'd get around to it "some other year." For some reason, I thought it was time to finally dig in and "git er done," as it were. I was very pleased with the result, which I've hung above my desk at work with a bit of overhead accent lighting. :)

"Ethereal Tree" Completed on April 6th, 2006

 

I also attended the first class of a "Sculpting the Figure from Life" class held at Blizzard last week! I'm really having fun working with Chavant NSP hard clay, and am eager to see how this personal project evolves in the coming weeks!

The bare bones of my next sculpture.

I also decided it was high-time I get to hanging up some of the loads of framed and matted original art I have at home! Here's a glimpse at some of the many pieces that are now hanging on the walls. You may notice a bit of a theme of familiar characters running through them, and that's no coincidence: over the years I've often commissioned artists to create their own interpretations of my story's characters. In addition to being gorgeous to look at, their presence on my walls also reminds me on a regular basis that I need to keep on writing so I can share my stories with others out there so others can see why this motley crew means so much to me!

Art by Gabby Vee, Malikaa, Emma, Kimberly Swan, MurderousAutomation, Caroline Muchmore, Nambroth, Sixth Leaf Clover, Cara Mitten, myself, and many more.

I also hung up a few more pieces of art in my art/writing/parrot room above the cork-board that acts as a repository for reference images for my various projects. I will also be the first to admit that having a (much) less writing-only laptop and little area all to myself has really helped my overall productivity.

Art by Kharnage, Emma, Tessa Thornberry, and Cynthia Reep.

20,000 Words... 30,000 Words... So About That Writing...

The first three paragraphs of "Secrets of an Accord," still sitting in their first written draft, eagerly awaiting editing.

A few weeks ago I hit a pretty big milestone for me concerning my next novella, "Secrets of an Accord": I broke 20,000 words on the first draft! In the weeks that followed, my rush of productivity continued, and I'm actually sitting at over 30,000 words now. By my estimation, I should be well over 60% of the way through the first draft (hopefully further). Below is an spreadsheet chronicling one of my recent productive weeks in early September!

This, this was a good week.

Unfortunately, since the last few weeks became unexpectedly (and sometimes mind-numbingly) busy, I've decided to push back my next milestone for "Secrets of an Accord" to November 1st, at which time I hope to have the first draft of it completed so I can start editing it. While a part of me is sad that I wasn't able to meet my initial estimates for my given milestones, I'm also increasingly aware that as the scope of this project has grown exponentially in size, so it makes logical sense that the time to complete it will also increase. 

Looking Ahead

The weeks ahead are due to be busy, but I'm aiming to do my best to keep moving forward with my various creative projects, and I'm looking forward to sharing them!  How are you doing on your own projects and hobbies?

World’s First Butterfly Cosplay – Part 2: Painting Monarch Brightwing

This dragon of a project was relates to a character in the upcoming Blizzard game Heroes of the Storm. Last month I shared with you how this project began and the various stages required to sculpt the Monarch Brightwing sculpture that will serve as the base of what may very well be the world’s first butterfly cosplay!* In this second part of this blog series, I wanted to show you the colorful and creative steps that followed.

The first in-depth blog covers the beginning stages of my Monarch Brightwing sculpture, here! There are also some photos of monarchs tossed-in for good measure, and I strongly encourage you to check it out if you’re curious to learn more about monarchs or find out more about how I approach sculptures!

Likewise, I recently posted the second blog in the series, which covers all aspects relating to the work that went into painting the sculpture. I'd highly recommend checking out the original blogs which are posted directly on Blizzard's website because there are a lot more photos and details about the process there (and well, much better formatting)!

World’s First Butterfly Cosplay – Part 1: Sculpting Monarch Brightwing

World’s First Butterfly Cosplay – Part 2: Painting Monarch Brightwing
World’s First Butterfly Cosplay – Part 3: Bringing Monarch Brightwing to Life

 

  

At last Monarch Brightwing was finally ready for her butterfly cosplayer! In the next blog covering this quirky project, you’ll witness everything coming together, butterfly and all, to complete this unique take on cosplay! You can check out some teaser images below.

 

 

 

If you're interested in finding out more about Heroes of the Storm (the game I work on), you can learn more about this awesome team brawler here on our official site. 

Do you have any questions about painting materials, the creative process for this project, or raising monarchs? Let me know in the comments below!

Onto World’s First Butterfly Cosplay – Part 3: Bringing Monarch Brightwing to Life! 

As this project was done for work, all photos of Brightwing and my Brightwing sculpture are Copyright Blizzard Entertainment. All standalone monarch photos are copyright Kimberly LeCrone.

* - As far as we know! 

My 5-Year Blizzard Sword

I don’t usually post much about work, but just recently, at last, I received my Blizzard Sword! Thanks for five awesome years, and here’s to many more! :D

You can read more about Blizzard Entertainment’s snazzy Service Awards here.

If you're curious what working at Blizzard is all about, make sure to check out our new Career Site! There's also a neat video that just went up this week that shows a great look behind the scenes and glimpses into the many faces behind our games as well as our core values and culture. You can check it out below!

If you have any general questions about what life is like at Blizzard, don't hesitate to let me know!

World’s First Butterfly Cosplay – Part 1: Sculpting Monarch Brightwing

While I’m usually quite content to separate my full-time work at Blizzard Entertainment with my personal projects, every now and then, the two are bound to overlap!

While numerous people have dressed up as butterflies, how many actual live insects have dressed up to mimic video game characters? In a recent blog series that I posted on the Heroes of the Storm site last week, I went into detail on a unique project that may very well result in the world’s first butterfly cosplay!* I thought that some of you would enjoy hearing more about it here as well. :)

How it all Began…

From the first time I saw Brightwing snacking on Uther’s corpse (you can watch the video here!) , I knew that she was a hero I could get behind. The mix of her sugar-sweet personality with just that *touch* of something dark and sinister amused me to no end, and it was a treat to work on her Hero Week blog and Twitter Takeover!

But as soon as I saw her Monarch Brightwing alternative skin, something clicked.

…because by pure happenstance, I actually raise monarch butterflies!

 

And I wondered… was there a way for me to combine my love of both?

A Plan Takes Shape

In addition to raising monarchs, I also do quite a bit of art and writing in my free time. This personal interest in art is one of the reasons I’m so passionate about sharing the work of our creative community of fan artists, cosplayers, musicians, machinima artists and more. I genuinely love sharing their hard work and ingenuity with other Blizzard players!

In time though, the more I thought about it, the more I thought it would be a fun challenge to try and have a live monarch butterfly “cosplay” atop a wingless, scale Monarch Brightwing sculpture, so that the wings of the butterfly could act as the “wings” of the resulting sculpture. I talked to some coworkers about this fun and quirky project, and after getting folks like Samwise onboard, it was time to get to work!

 

The first in-depth blog covers the beginning stages of my Monarch Brightwing sculpture, here! There are also some photos of monarchs tossed-in for good measure, and I strongly encourage you to check it out if you’re curious to learn more about monarchs or find out more about how I approach sculptures!

  

I'd highly recommend checking out the original blogs which are posted directly on Blizzard's website because there are a lot more photos and details about the process there (and with much better formatting)!

World’s First Butterfly Cosplay – Part 1: Sculpting Monarch Brightwing

World’s First Butterfly Cosplay – Part 2: Painting Monarch Brightwing
World’s First Butterfly Cosplay – Part 3: Bringing Monarch Brightwing to Life

If you're interested in finding out more about Heroes of the Storm (the game I work on), you can learn more about this awesome team brawler here on our official site.

Onto World’s First Butterfly Cosplay – Part 2: Painting Monarch Brightwing! 

As this project was done for work, all photos of Brightwing and my Brightwing sculpture are Copyright Blizzard Entertainment. All standalone monarch photos are copyright Kimberly LeCrone.

* - As far as we know!