about
sketches+studies
unfinished doodles
heads+humans
drawings from life
pixels+paint
'finished' pieces
points+paths
vector illustrations
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everything else
Story Sketches
crowdfunded illustration
Sketchfest
a monthly sketch jam
Picture Books
storytime!
commission me
get a story sketch
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Welcome to the online home of story artist Marika Purisima — better known as Meeks.
I hope that you'll enjoy your stay. :) Follow the links on the right to browse examples of my art, learn a little about me and my work, and find out how you can get involved in my ongoing projects!
Lorelei has a Dream. Help us share it with you!
latest art posts:
story sketch: catching the fehinnan weapon
This is a sketch of what was voted by readers of Karen Wehrstein's Philosopher in Arms to be Chevenga's coolest move in the Arkan war. After another battle lost to Chevenga's army, a fleeing Mahid has thrown a Fehinnan weapon, a delicate sphere which, if shattered would release a deadly gas, killing rider, horse, and anyone else unfortunate enough to to be close enough. Chevenga barely manages to catch it intact when his horse helpfully rears up and throws him off...
This picture is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License, and may be freely used under the terms of that license with a link back to mikaspace.net Please see terms of use for details.
Click to sponsor this sketch and support the artist!
Feedback and contributions of any amount are greatly appreciated :)
We made it!! Thank you all :D
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update: teddy's terrific travels
I'm going to consider this one finished, and move on to the coloured version, unless you guys find something that needs to be changed. Many thanks to ![[personal profile]](http://s.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
the_vulture for his ongoing support! comments
another portrait, and some news!
It's been quite an eventful day. When last I posted, Lorelei's kickstarter project was halfway through the allotted time, and just 36% of the way to its goal. It didn't go up by much yesterday, and ![[livejournal.com profile]](http://s.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif){kind=small}
ego_sideways and I were getting just a teensy bit nervous.
Well, last night, a patron who chooses to remain anonymous contacted us with a generous offer: they will match all pledges and increases in pledges made in the next week, up to a total of $3000. The announcement this morning prompted a flurry of activity, and I'm happy to say that we're back on track, with $4859 pledged! That's over $1600 dollars in one day.
That also means we need just a little over one thousand dollars in new pledges over the rest of this week to make it to our goal. If you know anyone who has been considering backing this project, but has not yet done so, please encourage them to do so now!
In related news, Lorelei's friend Tanuki Jiro (seen in my previous post wearing a dragon mask for new year) now has his own Facebook page! Lorelei herself also has a page, in case you haven't seen it. :)
And finally, as tempting as it was to spend the day mashing the refresh button to see if the kickstarter total had gone up, I did manage to finish and upload a second painting to EMG Portrait Adoption. Ellen says that her goal of 12 new portraits this month has already been met (and far surpassed!) so I think I'll put the third one I'm planning on hold for a few days to do some long overdue Story Sketch updates.
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The halfway point
We're two weeks into the kickstarter campaign for Lorelei has a Dream, with two weeks to go, and $3247 pledged so far! Activity on the project has slowed somewhat since the excitement of the initial launch. I'm told that most kickstarter projects have a bit of a dead period in the middle, but that doesn't make it any less nerve-wracking! On the plus side, it's encouraging to note that we haven't passed a single day without gaining any new backers.
I did get this finished up, so I bring you (somewhat belated :P) Lunar New Year greetings from Elder Days Story time!
And that it gives you great stories to tell."*
Happy Year of the Dragon!
*couplet by ego_sideways comments
status: failing to stay on-task
First, here's the Portrait Adoption piece I mentioned last night:
It's not visible to the public yet, but those of you with PA accounts should be able to see it if you login. I've got another portrait half done, and a third one planned by the end of the month.
My task for today was supposed to be finishing up this picture of Jiro, Hippo-Birdy, and Lorelei to send out with the kickstarter update I'm planning to e-mail tomorrow. I haven't done that (yet! I will get to it!) Instead, I got started on it, and then thought to myself "It would be really useful to have a 3D model of that dragon mask to use as reference..."
Whups.
Out came the fimo...and away went my work day, so instead of a finished illustration, I now have this (apologies for the grainy phone pic):
And I wonder why my to-do list never shrinks. :P comments
Update: Lorelei has a Dream
The Kickstarter project for Lorelei has a Dream has now raised $2931, from 62 backers. Sincere thanks to everyone who has pledged so far, and to everyone who has helped spread the word! We still have $6069 to go, and 19 days to do it in so please keep sharing the link!
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Status and sketchfest
This may sound a bit silly coming out of a SketchFest weekend, but I feel like I haven't been very productive lately. It might just be because so much of my time has been filled with things that aren't art, or maybe it's just that many of the projects I have planned right now are self-directed rather than collaborative. Actually, that's probably what it is...the need to communicate when other people are involved in a project gives it a sense of urgency and makes it feel more like 'work', no matter how much I enjoy it. Oh Brain...*sigh*
I managed to do eight pieces for SketchFest 23 (without losing any sleep this time!) That brings my total for the month up to 20, so it's not like I haven't accomplished anything. :P 
prompt: Flying cat, with halo
prompt: turtle vs hare
prompt: keeping warm
prompt: Grumbly Bear
prompt: Bark
prompt: "no, really!! I'm a dragon!!"
prompt: zebra in a herd of cows
prompt: Combine "monster" and "house slippers" comments
status, with art!
I really love that SketchFest has been extended to 48 hours. It keeps me from panicking if I can't get started on it right away. ^.^ I'm getting a late start this time because I wanted to get this done from the last session before starting a new batch:
I'm back home now, with no plans to leave again until April, so it's back to regularly scheduled posting for the next couple of months! I've got plenty of stuff to catch up on, but if you have any new prompts you've been holding on to, feel free to post them!
Project update:
The kickstarter campaign for Lorelei has a Dream is at nearly a third of it's $9000 goal, after one week. Many thanks to everyone who has backed the project so far! Reminder: I am offering bonus Lorelei sketches to readers of my blog who pledge $35 or more. Just PM or e-mail to let me know who you are. We still have a long way to go, so please keep boosting the signal! comments
Lorelei has a Dream. Help me share it with you! :)
Regular visitors to mikaspace may recognize Lorelei the bespectacled bibliophile hedgehog. The first story book featuring the prickly little heroine has been available as a pdf ebook for awhile, but after several months of planning, ego_sideways and I have begun a kickstarter campaign in the hope of funding a print edition.
We're happy to offer rewards to all our backers, including e-books (which will soon be available in iBooks and Kindle Fire compatible versions), signed first editions, Lorelei puppets, custom artwork, and author readings! Readers of my blog who pledge $35 or more can get a bonus Lorelei doodle if you PM or e-mail to let me know who you are!
Dreamwidth won't let me embed a video without a paid account, so please click on the cover image for more info:
For those of you who prefer to try before you buy, you can also read the complete story online at http://www.edstbooks.com !
Feedback and signal boosting are greatly appreciated, so please check it out, even if you can't afford to donate! comments
status and sketchfest
I will be boarding a plane later tonight to go visit my family, and will be returning on Jan 18. As usual, I will be bringing my laptop, but I may be a bit slower to respond to messages due to the presence of live people.
The 48-hour SketchFest was quite a success! I did 12 paintings for it — enough to make up for missing last month. Coat of Arms has already sold, so I'll be cleaning it up to print, and copies of all the others are available through the SketchFest site.
prompt: Coat of Arms
prompt: Tomboy turned princess
prompt: hot babe in fancy ball dress
prompt: umbrella spirit (karakasa)
prompt: Sometimes you have to kiss more than one frog, to find your prince. =D
prompt: At odds: Flapper in a Corset 
prompt: Shopping Centaur
prompt: A Caterpillar, scared of heights...
prompt: The giant's sneaky dragon trap
prompt: Flower Eaters
prompt: The Furry Thief
prompt: Two centaurs pulling a wagon
In case you missed it, I did a guest post at ![[community profile]](http://s.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
poetree On Illustrating Poetry on Friday last week, with some commentary on each of the poem-based Story Sketches I've done so far. Comments on this post will be counted toward this week's icon draw! (Which I'm postponing for a couple of days since I didn't give you any art to comment on until now. :P)
Signal boost!
Thecrowdfunding community is seeking nominations in six categories for this year's Rose & Bay awards. If you know of any great crowdfunding projects, feel free to suggest them! Personally, I'd love to see more people and projects from outside lj/dreamwidth get involved in this!Speaking of crowdfunding,
aldersprig has a new idea for a project involving mini-stories on postcards!ariestess 's monthly one-card-draw is open for a couple more hours (until 8PM PST). She's got a few decks to choose from, and donors are entered into a draw for a more in-depth reading.Updates from my own projects:
My Inkling fundraiser is now at 40%! Thanks to all who have contributed so far! :)
Story Sketches tips: $10
All artwork on this site is the property of Marika "Meeks" Purisima and may be freely shared under the terms of a creative commons attribution-noncommercial-noderivs 3.0 unported license unless otherwise specified.
