Monday, June 30, 2008

Dudes. I totally put a PugFish in my book. JUST FOR YOU.



Check the previous post to find out where to get one ^_^

Friday, June 27, 2008



Book cover is done! Looks like I got revenge on that pesky 'pus, eh? So now is a good time to mention that I am printing up 200 of these books with the intent to unload ALL OF THEM at the Con in a month. Which means, now is your best chance to get one as I am selling pre-orders on my etsy site. They should be shipping July 19 if you order before then. They are $15 and looking to be 20 pages (24 if I can rock it), full-color and measure 8.5'' square when closed. If I do go up to 24 pages the price will stay the same though :)


All proceeds help me to buy groceries and maintain my shreds of sanity :)

Thursday, June 26, 2008



Another one for the book! It's a total play on Rockwell's "Going and Coming" piece, as shown in the process shots in my SB. The extra guest on the car is Anchiwa Won Topeteka, the imaginary friend of my brother and I when we were little.

Any feedback is welcome - just trying to tell better stories with my art ^_^ On a side note, remember that piece I did with the Octopus? It appears that the hills in the part of Big Sur that inspired it are on fire ._. The skies are smoky over Berkeley too, I hope everything is brought under control soon.

Saturday, June 21, 2008

Again, no art in this post (and that will again change this week!) but I had to put up this snippet from The Republican about my work in the Girls Girls Girls! show at I/O:

"The problem, if it could be called that, with a gallery show of women creating pinups is that it can become queerly misogynistic. If a woman creates an image of a bare-breasted women centaur whipping another woman on all fours, is that subversive progress or a profiteering regression?

That's a question that ripples through this show, most of which includes clever, sassy work, like that of Steph Labaris, who draws precious art like "My Little Pony," and, in her free time, creates kinky bare-breasted centaurs."


So how about it guys, am I part of the problem or part of the solution? ;) And it appears that they spelled last name wrong - I should be used to it by now but I hope no one googles this "Labaris" chick. She sounds dirty.

Friday, June 20, 2008

This was the last game that I was the Lead Artist for while I was at LeapFrog - I designed the entire look/feel of the world, characters, props, buildings, UI... basically everything until we hit vertical slice, then the rest of the asset creation went out to other talented artists once I established the design. It's basically a wandering sort of game where your super hero chick earns points by doing good deeds and solving math problems. It's LeapFrog guys, of course there are math problems

I love love love doing non-licensed stuff like this so it was a real treat for me. All of my assets were created in Adobe Illustrator and exported to Flash.







Hope you guys like it, despite the predictable cuteness factor! And oh yes, I managed to smuggle not one but TWO unicorns into the game - the hippocampus atop the fountain and the ki-rin on the Dojo mat ^_^

To anyone who has ordered a copy of Sketch or Swim: I have run out of the first edition but the second edition is in print as I type this! It will ship in a couple of weeks, so I apologize for the delay :) The new book is also on the way, it's shaping up to be 20 pages and an inch bigger all around than Sketch or Swim is. I will post updates on that soon!

Friday, June 13, 2008

Remember I said I would make up for March's lack of a Steph O' the Month?



Here ya go. Inspired by my trip to Big Sur on my birthday :) I have some room for tweaks before this goes into my book (incidentally, I will be altering this comp to make the book's cover) so I am open to all feedback. I am trying to push scale, depth and composition in my work now. I gotta do more multi-figure comps and environments if I'm gonna get to where I need to be. :D

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

No new art in this post either (yet!) but a heads up to check out Girls Girls Girls at The Io Gallery if you happen to be near Connecticut this weekend. I have those Smutty Centaurs (Smut-taurs?) hanging there among the amazing works of Olivia and Julie Bell. I feel like but a tiny foal in a herd of thundering... awesome artist lady peoples.



I found the gallery's description of me to be amusing:

"Steph is seriously cute as a button and her work reflects her sunny disposition, beaming smile and love of mildly afflicted animals. To know Steph is to love her."

Looks like I better bust out more emo art, I'm going soft! ;) Once again, I wish I could go in-person but both my energy and checking account is tapped-out from this weekend's journey to the Midwest.

More artage soon <3

Friday, June 06, 2008

Dudes. In LA. Go to this Saturday night. Srsly.



I've got 2 pieces hanging there, being The Princess and the Pauper. I wish I could go but I am about 2500 miles too far east of the gallery at the moment D:

Unrelated: my brother is having a reading from "The Velveteen Rabbit" done for him at his wedding tomorrow. I can't even tell you how fucking amazing that is to me. <3

Thursday, June 05, 2008

....aaaaaaand here's that other piece! These were way too much fun to do and a reminder that I gotta pick up the brush more often. :)



I will be out of commission until Tuesday, as I will be in Minneapolis for my brother's wedding! I don't get to see my family much (been 6 months since my last visit) so I am very excited. Big grats to Bill and Shanna for tying the knot, I promise to behave and be a good bridesmaid.

Speaking of family, sometimes I forget that they look at this blog. Hi everyone, I like to draw porn! Hope that doesn't make you wanna see any less of me ^_~

Monday, June 02, 2008

Done! COlors were mangled on the scanner but the real deal looks nice at least. Here's hoping she sells in a couple weeks! Now it's time to bust out the second piece.