Free Halloween themed Wallpaper!

The best holiday ever!

Free Autumn Wallpaper!

Free summer wallpaper for your phone…

Happy Thanksgiving!

This cartoon didn't make it to instagram. I saved it as a .gif instead of a movie file, and insta kept uploading it as a still. When I went back to save it a different format the file imploaded. :( Oh well.

What is Trashpanda.to?

When I was working in a street level shop we got a large number of walk-in tattoos for popular cartoons —mostly anime. To me that’s almost like getting a sports team or band logo. I’m not a huge fan of fan tattoos so I decided to create my own character for flash. I new I wanted it to be a raccoon because I feel like the raccoon is the Toronto mascot.

So than I instantly thought of that super cute asian raccoon character…what was it called…PUSHEEN!!!

…opps, Pusheen is a cat. A cat that looks like a raccoon.

Also, I learned that Pusheen isn’t asian, it’s created by a New York based artist. And then I started to think… “omg I there is an endless source of inspiration here!” It only takes me 30 minutes to draw Racheen, which I thought would subtract from the stress of having to come up with a story for my instagram everyday.

I really enjoyed drawing Racheen which, somehow is still not as cute as Pusheen even though it started out as an almost direct rip-off. Before I knew it I had variations of Racheen, and then I started to make a few small web comics as well, and figured out how to animalité oUnlike the Pusheen comics, they aren’t based off of cat behaviour but the behaviour of Torontonians, and Toronto hotspots.

I never ended up using Racheen for flash, as I have a direction I want to take my tattooing. I still use Racheen for extra content and infographics so I created @trashpanda.to on instagram. There’s not much there right now but eventually I want Racheen to be an instagram tour guide —where every cartoon is tagged at a different Toronto location.

Free summer wallpaper…

I learned how to animate so I could add a little sparkle to the @trashpanda.to comics

July Reflections and August Goals

I cant believe July is over already! I feel like the summer is passing me by and I’ve barely done anything that can only be done when blessed with this miraculous weather. I’ve been at the new spot for most of July and it’s been a huge change. There was one day when my horoscope was, “You’ve worked so hard to be exactly where you are.” I didn’t realize it till I read it but it couldn’t be more true. In my first shop the artists came in for appointments and left when they finished for the day while the apprentices stayed behind. I was finally free to work whenever I wanted, and that’s what I imagined my life would be like when I became a tattooist. It’s also scary because at my first job the artists didn’t have to book their own appointments, there’s no one doing that for me. Ironically, it was my job to book the artists —but let’s be real, it was their stellar work that was doing the bookings. My social media reach and engagement was also higher using the brand’s new mascot Racheen and the pre-planned posts and stories. However, I still suck at engaging…maybe I should take my phone off silent…

…So I guess my goals for August is to be more organized with my admin tasks, contact all my clients, pull off a full month of pre-planned social media, and hopefully put on my big girl pants and get over my social anxiety so I can respond to clients faster.