Teefury

Happy Birthday to MissMonster! Have any wisdom to impart to the world from your X years of experience of life?
My old lady wisdom is: Don't take no guff off no one. But also don't be a pigheaded arrogant dummy: learn to listen and be a better human being.

Was there a period in your life you can look back on and think, man, that sucked?
Certainly! Back when i was a cocktail waitress at a snooty wine bar with these awful self absorbed meathead bartenders ..that sucked pretty bad. That and about three years ago when i had a series of bad roommates/bad neighborhoods/bad apartments. Working a full time creative office job with no real creativity allowed then coming home to work on freelance until i went to bed sucked.

Is now the best time?
So far, yeah! The only time better was being a kid with nothing to do but go swimming and draw comics. Every year i get older, i get happier.

Teefury just turned 2 recently. You were there with us near the start. Can you give us a recap of the last couple years?
Hmm, i think the Tentatiger was the first? Or maybe Totem? Learned a lot about how picky people get over $9 shirts, haha. Made some friends, got some new fans and every shirt printed here has been top notch so i keep coming back for more. Teefury has been really, really good to me i love you guys.

I am uncertain, but you have tattoos all over. Any plans for more?
 Not all over! My arms are almost fully covered and my sides are tattooed. After that id like to quit, i don't want to tattoo my legs or chest. Maybe more backwork but im undecided ( i like to see my work) I don't want to fill things up too fast, im still young and it would be a shame to run out of room too soon. My next tattoo will be finishing up my left forearm. I asked Paul Komoda, an exceptional artist, to draw the design for me. It's going to be a large monster head that wraps around my arm so it looks like my wrist is growing (vomiting?) from his mouth.

What was your first tattoo?
 My first official one is my Thundercats piece, haha!

Is it as addictive as they say?
I was told "it's addicting" when i got my first real tattoo. But i didn't go back under the needle for 6 years. Its not something I'd generalize...some people just like getting tattoos and others just want one.

You make alot of products. What has been your favorite piece of art you have ever made?
Ever? Oh man, that's tough. I have to say i was really tickled with the Ada Rotbeest Fetal Chimera sideshow gaffs i made not long ago. I thought the backstory, the packaging with the sweet wooden boxes and the custom wax seal came together well. It got some amusing reactions from people. Half wanted me to make them into chocolates and a very, very small percentage got offended over them. Success!

Who is your favorite artist at the moment?
 I have been going nuts over Keith Thompson's work. He did illustrations for a neat Young Adult book called Behemoth. His stuff is so grotesque and clever...and i love the rendering.


Any advice for aspiring artists?
 Work hard, work every day, don't be a dick to people...you never know who's watching and the internet does not forget. Networking will be very important.


What do you think you will be doing 20 years from now?
 I have no idea. I hope making larger, crazier art.

Do you sleep? You seem to just work and work.
 Haha, i do sleep but sort of poorly. I'm actually going to have to tone it down a bit, i have been putting an enormous amount of pressure on myself for the last year or two and it's starting to wear me out. Turns out I'm human after all!


When you do relax, what do you like to do?
 Read, hang out with friends, clean


Anything specific you would like to talk about?
 If anyone is going to DragonCon in september I will have dealers table there! Come by, say hello. I'm also going to be doing a team up with www.geekyclean.com soon! Awesome soaps!

If people want to follow your work and life, where do you post the most?
 I always post on http://missmonstermel.livejournal.com/ but my twitter account usually gets the first peeks at new work or announcements: http://twitter.com/missmonstermel 

Shout outs?
Hi Mom!