Anke

NOTE: I know I stil owe stuff, I'm sorry about that. I got sick and had to catch up with classes, and things spiralled out of control. I'm writing my last exam on Monday, and I WILL take care of everything afterwards.

Me: 24, female, German, student of computer science, fan of comics and fantasy and to a lesser extent science fiction.

I live in a suburb, a small village, with no useful shop (or post office) in comfortable walking distance, which sucks. However, having a garden is nice. I like taking photos of whatever grows there (including weeds) or animals that show up (butterflies, wasps, spiders...)

I got into this mail trading via ATCs because I love small pictures you can store in an album or a box easily.

Rock, hard rock, 80s, oldies... I like melodies and nice singing voices, and more or less upbeat mood. Some of my favourite artists at the moment are Queen, Meat Loaf, Edguy, Herbert Grönemeyer, Bon Jovi, Lost Horizon.

I also like movie scores, and sometimes think I should give classic/symphonic stuff a try.

General trend: I'm very fond of fantasy that is not "yet another Tolkien clone", and that is at least somewhat funny. Terry Pratchett's Discworld series, Steven Brust's Vlad Taltos series, Walter Moers' Zamonia series, Good Omens, the Miles Vorkosigan novels by Lois McMaster Bujold (though those are scifi)...

When it comes to comics I mostly stick to manga, and I have a strange liking for westerns (for example Blueberry or Iron West). The series that got me into comics was Elfquest, and it still has a special place for me because it is what got me into drawing.

my librarything

Popcorn-cinema! Adventure + Fun for the win, and a bit of action can't hurt! Examples: Indiana Jones, the original Star Wars movies, Back to the Future, Gremlins (part 2 even more), Princess Bride, Little Shop of Horrors, The Good,the Bad and the Ugly and so on and so forth.

I mostly draw, preferring graphite pencil, ink liners and Copic markers. Lately I started lugging around my digital camera and taking snapshots of interesting things I come across.

Occasional crafting binges include knotting friendship bracelets (or bookmarks), crocheting, paper making (as in making from pulp, not colouring), and paper crafts.

Themes of interest in no particular order

• Nature
  • Animals, wild ones more than pets, particularly ones you don't see all the time. I also like reptiles, insects, spiders etc.
  • Particularly owls, chickens, kingfishers, wolves. Very particularly Owls.
  • Plants, particularly old trees or delicate leaves
  • Landscape, up to astronomical photos
• Fantasy (including not too gory supernatural horror), fairy tales, mythology, science fiction, steampunk
  • But I'm tired of "hot babes", which particularly fantasy art seems to be full of.
• old and/or unusual buildings, ruins
• Some vintage themes (I consider "vintage", say, 1940s or earlier)
  • tall sailing ships, steam engines, other vintage technology
  • (reproductions of or images in the style of) old book illustrations, maps...
  • old photos like street scenes, people in uniform or working clothes, people DOING something
  • But the apparently very popular "woman looking into camera" portraits seem rather boring to me, sorry.
• weird and/or funny stuff - two of my favourite artists are Ursula Vernon and Paul Kidby
  • I'm very fond of cute stuff when there's something to make it funny, weird, unusual, anything - but something like Hello Kitty "just standing there", not so much
• comic & cartoon styles, particularly black & white ones
• calligraphy
• black and white art
• traditional/ethnic/folk art from wherever; art nouveau

Colour wise, I particularly like (in no particular order) blues, greens, "fire"-like combinations in red-orange-yellow, earth tones, and stark black and white contrasts. Vibrant colours or pastels doesn't matter. In essence I like anything apart from overdoses of pink.

Dislikes

• glitter that is not sealed well
• sexual themes, including pin-up girls/boys
• crude jokes, including anything playing on stereotypes
• overly girly-girl stuff and other kitsch (floaty hearts, Precious Moments, pink-based colour schemes, etc)
• angsty stuff (not self-pity focused dark/gothic themes are OK, though)
• body care products, makeup, perfume; incense or anything else scented
• jewellery apart from small button badges, lapel pins and charms

Notes

If you find something that might fit my interests, or maybe not, don't worry - the very worst that can happen is that it ends in my "stuff to offer for trade" box after I thank you. ;)

I don't drink tea or coffee. Food is very hit-or-miss, and I'd appreciate that if you want to send me snacks or something, you don't make it the main content of the package.

I don't mind religious items in principle, but please do not send anything claiming exclusivety for one religion, or that puts people down. (Stuff like "only through Jesus we become truly human", for example.)

Some items of interest

• ATCs, bought or handmade bookmarks and postcards, other small art
• postage stamps (I collect), artistamps
• interesting playing cards, particularly aces of spades
• zines

• small button badges, lapel pins

• Copic Sketch markers in the colours Warm Gray 2, 4, 6, 8, 0, 10 (I can only get the regular markers of those colours here, not the "Sketch" version with the brush tip :( )

As to art supplies in general... I don't use embossing powder, goggly eyes, brads and other smallstuff like that often, so I like getting some samples you might have leftover.

For the really dedicated and/or desperate for ideas: There's a wishlist of art supplies and bits and bobs on my website.