Hi, and welcome to Celine's journal!

Who I am: An artist. What I draw/paint: Character design, fantasy art and somewhat sexy looking stuff. :D And babies.

Web presence:

☆ Website: http://www.purpletophat.com
☆ myspace: http://www.myspace.com/purpleceline
☆ facebook: http://www.facebook.com/people/Celine-Chapus/775505306
☆ Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/purpleceline

☆ List of physical stores carrying my work: http://www.purpletophat.com/stores.html

☆ Commissions: Currently full up, will reopen slots in June 2009!

☆ Shows: I will be sitting at my table in Artist Alley @ Supercon in Miami, June 5-7 2009!

I will also be sitting at Artist Alley @ Comic-con in San Diego, July 23-26 2009!

This from distaff_exile who reposted from someone else.



If you are reading this right now, you have more luxury than someone in Iran could ever hope for right now. If you are watching TV or a video on youtube, updating your status on Facebook, Tweeting, or even texting your friend, you are lucky. If you are safe in your home, and were able to sleep last night without the sounds of screaming from the rooftops, you need to know and understand what is happening to people just like you in Iran right now.



They are not the enemy. They are a people whose election has been stolen. For the first time in a long time, a voice for change struck the youth of Iran, just as it did for many people in the United States only seven months ago. Hossein Mousavi gained the support of millions of people in Iran as a Presidential candidate. He stands for progressiveness. He supports good relations with the West, and the rest of the world. He is supported with fervor as he challenges the oppressive regime of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.


On Friday, millions of people waited for hours in line to vote in Iran's Presidential election. Later that night, as votes came in, Mousavi was alerted that he was winning by a two-thirds margin. Then there was a change. Suddenly, it was Ahmadinejad who had 68% of the vote - in areas which have been firmly against his political party, he overwhelmingly won. Within three hours, millions of votes were supposedly counted - the victor was Ahmadinejad. Immediately fraud was suspected - there was no way he could have won by this great a margin with such oppposition. Since then, reports have been coming in of burned ballots, or in some cases numbers being given without any being counted at all. None of this is confirmed, but what happened next seems to do the trick.

For more information:
PICTURES:
here and <a="http://www.flickr.com/photos/mousavi1388/sets/">here</a>
NEW INFORMATION:
Here - near constant updates
Here - ONTD_political live post
ON TWITTER: REDACTED due to security concerns


دنیارابگوییدچطورآنهاانتخاباتمان دزدیده اند
Tell the world how they have stolen our election
________________________________________________________________________


Times like these, I am so glad I live in a country where my vote still counts. However imperfect things may be right now, it feels like we're actually slowly moving in the right direction. Others may not be so fortunate.

Went to this lovely French restaurant right across the street from the Goddess Store tonight. Nummy from appetizer to desert, and I really enjoyed the decor. Was also wearing my new hardware and faux leather platforms--which are arguably some of the most comfortable super high heels I've ever worn.



An incredibly sweet person included me in their SuperCon report, with a picture and a pimpastic link. Thank youuuu. <3

Speaking of sweet people, thank you to doortoriver for snagging my username during the great username rush over @facebook tonight. I couldn't make it back home at midnight, and it appears 500,000 usernames or some ridic number like that were recorded during the first 15 minutes. Therefore, my facebook url now is: http://www.facebook.com/purpletophat :D

Woo, I woke up at 1pm today :) Guess I was tired, and it's no surprise. Florida SuperCon was a success I didn't expect, and a wonderful experience all around. I got to sell things, network, run around being a weirdo as well as making new friends (*waving at silvertales*). It was also the first con that my parents attended, and I'm glad they saw me, er..thriving in my natural element. XD



( You know the drill: three million pictures under the cut! )

My neighbors' constant doodling inspired me to do the same, so I spent some time sketching what I believe will be my next color piece.



( Cut due to potential N-completely-SFW, depending on your sensibilities. )

Bed now, as I've got work tomorrow. ^^

I can haz real banner now. <3 <3 <3

A quick look at my calendar tells me I last updated about a month ago. Let me assure you that I'm very much alive and more or less well (if you don't count that one time where I thought my teeth were in danger of falling off in mid may--long story, my teeth are actually okay) and getting ready for the insanity I know my life is going to become in the next few months.

On the work front:

1. Con time is upon me again and I'm going to be at Florida Supercon's artist alley this upcoming Friday and weekend! Is anybody else going? I hear Bruce Campbell and that dude who plays Viktor Krum will be there :)

2. Time to get this train under control again. Commissions are closed until August 2009, so I can finish all previous projects, make people happy and move on to the next thing.

The last commission I finished was a rush order completed in March, for koudelka's wedding. Her fiance made the super sikrit order, plied me with pictures and I prayed I wouldn't screw it up. Thus:



A watercolor commish this time.

( Detail and wedding ceremony pic under the cut )

teilea, I have absolutely not forgotten about you.

3. On a sadder note...Lipstick Lingerie had to close its doors on May 24th. I know--I'm sure the store would have made it through the recession if it hadn't been so young--it certainly had the necessary appeal and a growing clientele. However, the decision was made. While it left a little hole in my heart, I'm better for the experience, since I got to meet, play and work with Naydi.



ILU, Naydi Santana. This is far from the end.

Life and other things:

1. I'm about to do something a little nuts. More on that later.

2. In anticipation of said nutty something, Jeff had me over for a couple of days at his place in Miami, so I could regroup, breathe a little, and draw on top of a building listening to awesome DJs while gazing at the South Beach night skyline. If I hadn't made this fact obvious before, I must say it again: I have, like, the best coworkers in the history of ever.



The streets don't look too mean here but as always...



..we fight crime.

( More crime fighting under the cut. Sort of. )

3. I saw the new Star Trek movie twice. Yeah. It was that good. I hadn't seen such a concentration of hot and badass in a movie in a long time, and I might as well come out and say that I've become a Spock/Uhura shipper overnight. OH NOES, like I even have time to draw fanart about cool aliens and their headstrong human women these days. Not fair. Stop being hot and chemistry laden, you GQ mofos. That goes for you too, Captain Kirk. Argh.

4. This. On repeat, in my ipod. I bought the studio version, and it's a piece of art.

And I think we've more or less covered the past month. I gotta get my show ready now. :D Aaah, the days where I'd freak over a three hour art walk gig are long gone.

So my life has been a little crazy insane of late (actual relevant info forthcoming in next posts, I swear XD) and I haven't updated in a month but--I've just been informed that my artwork briefly appeared in the 3rd episode of an LA crime show called "Southland".

Backtracking in order to provide some background on this: lingerie store Bizzy B of Hollywood in CA



ordered a couple of big prints from me last year so they could put them up in their fitting rooms.



Next thing I know, the whole thing ends up on NBC. Okay, so it's not like the camera focused on my art specifically or anything, but as doortoriver tells me, this really was a directorial choice. My stuff was deemed appropriate enough to hang there in the shot. T__T

Episode link: http://www.hulu.com/watch/69629/southland-see-the-woman
You can catch glimpses of the three prints between 16:50 and 17:40. This segment appears to be about a transexual who works in the store and is being harassed by a couple of unsavory individuals. The cops try to help.

( Screen caps because damn this is the first time I'm on teeeveeeeee )

Thanks to ojouchan for the heads up, and for sending my butt over there in the first place. :3

Happy Birtday to soldurios!



Today also coincides with a rather momentous (if all too brief!) episode of my life, which is the second anniversary of my first solo art show (speaking of that, soldurios, that 2007 birthday snakie sitting on your shelf? Was drawn during that show :D I believe there's a picture of that somewhere...) at Enchanted Deva's, with Captain keltickalypso at the helm. :D Aaah, good times.

I was just informed that I was selected to sit in Artist Alley @ Comic-con in San Diego. YES, THAT ONE. Their 4 day memberships are already sold out.

Also, many apologies to all for the radio silence. I'm finishing up a tightly deadlined project and rushing to complete the next commission whenever time allows (teilea, that would be yours :D)

With added bonus of C. Bale. This is so on. And I'm glad to see Marion Cotillard getting roles. :)

Post #2 for MegaCon 2009! This post features pics of my lil 4 foot table, friends old and new, and other tidbits from the con.

I must say I was nervous at the thought of attending any artist alley, which may be why I put registering off for so long. Now that I think about it, I have no idea what I was worried about. I emailed the very helpful con's assistant director in late december, and she informed me that they only had 2 half tables left. I took the plunge...and here's what we have so far:

+Made up for table cost.
+Made up for Loan's ticket cost.
+Made up for hotel room cost.
+Made up for other trip costs.
+Made a little profit.

Oh gods. I'm so happy and grateful for all my customers, I can't even say.



( Photo heavy post under cut, you know you want to see it :) )

And it's a wrap. As I'll never forget my first solo show at Enchanted Deva's, I'll never forget my first table at MegaCon's Artist Alley.



*goes back to woooork*

I'm baaack. :D

MegaCon was a blast and I can't believe how much fun I've had there--perhaps because it's the first con I went to not as a cosplayer but as a vendor. I felt so NAKED. lol. As one might expect, I took three million pictures even though I spent most of the con time sitting at my table. This first post features general con pics and cosplayers.



And here it starts. At least for attendees. I came in through the back, as you'll see later.





Yes indeed, here I am :)

( 24000 attendees, baby )

Second photo post with artist alley and friends pic up later today!

Last day. Off to the con center now!

HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY TO isako

Day 2 of MegaCon. I hear hordes of rabid fanboys and girls are heading this way. Good thing I managed to sleep enough last night <3

ALSO. Everything is BUY 2 GET 1 FREE at mah table. And a free notecard with every $20. [ /marketing]

*hugs all* *runs to breakfast*

I've barely slept, but I'm all set and ready to go! Anyone wants to see me, I'll be in Artist Alley, Brown section, table 1A :)

MegaCon starts tomorrow!

Still printing, oh gods. I have no idea what's going to happen but I'm spazzing out like a spazzy mad thing. Also, I'm working on completing my display. Not too bad, considering that they're essentially glorified cardboard boxes with laminated paper taped on them:





An earlier design, without the logo.

I've had virtually no time to sit down properly and draw, so I had to make do with my wee sketchbook at the restaurant the other night. Say hi to teenage!Joss. Joss is one of my favorite original chars. Ties weren't actually around back when he was 17 years old, but I was doing an exercise in alternate universes. (yes, isako, he's sporting Sven!hair.) He grows up to be huge and bearded. :]

I am printing prints like a mad thing. So far:
-120 notecards
-50 11x14 prints

My business cards just arrived today! All 1000 of them. They're beautiful and professional looking and durable. Bye bye do-it-yourself business cards.





Lookit that pretty semi-gloss.

Also, have some random Moka love:





I just can't handle his cuteness, really.

1. I got my MegaCon pro badge in the maaaaail. It's really official now, I'm going. Time to make prints. :D

2. Purpletophat.com has been updated with "Sanctuary". Check out the sweet fancy updates doortoriver made to my shoppe pages.

3. So to reward myself for not having lost it during the Holiday season or given up on everything else, I went shopping. More specifically, I let myself buy the two items I'd been drooling over for a while.



and



which I picked up while hanging out with my sweet coworker Lindsay over at World Market. I love World Market.

4. Last Friday was Lipstick Lingerie day. ( Blah blah blah )

5. Okay, can people just stop calling Christian Bale a crazy douche now? :( ( LJ cut because I am way too invested in this for what it is )

ETA: Because it takes high class to apologize, no matter what anybody might say about it. http://www.cinematical.com/2009/02/06/christian-bale-apologizes-without-dropping-the-f-bomb/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qbkziDbnCsI

Working title was "Cocoon", and I've been working at it on and off (well, mostly off...) since september 2006. O_o; doortoriver says that it represents my growth--perhaps she's on to something.

( Sketch & detail under cut )

I feel pretty awesome now and am going to take a little break to cook something. And maybe head to one of the stores with new prints. Then it's back to work, because it's not like these commissions are not gonna draw themselves. XD

PS: Prints of "Sanctuary" available soon on the site, that goes without saying.

OMGs you GUYS. I just finished painting "Sanctuary", formerly known as "Cocoon". I am besides myself. DONE. AT LAST, DONE.

*runs off to copyright* New art post SOOOOOOOOOOOOON.