Thursday, December 20, 2007

Topps Lord of the Rings Masterpieces II sketch cards!




I'm finally getting around to posting something here. Sorry for the long delay, very long hours working these past few months so updates are sadly few. :D

I might post some of the other work I've been doing soon...hang in there!!

Thank you!
Leah

Wednesday, December 05, 2007

Brief updates!!!

Where to begin..
A lot of work going on these days, enough to exclude me from most other life activities. haha!!

So, I'm just finishing the last of my extra 103 cards for Topps Heroes set and those should be off in the mail in the next couple of days.

I'm also finishing Strictly Inks' Big Screen Doctor Who cards (35 total from me) and will be starting my Lord of the Rings Masterpieces II shortly (106 from me). Indiana Jones Heritage cards will be arriving on my doorstop too (56 from me).

I'm also getting through my personal commission list, apologies to anyone for the longer than normal delay.

You can see most of the cards on my MySpace or DeviantArt pages.

I'll be working on some larger pieces in the upcoming months including a larger R2D2 and a larger portrait Eowyn. Very excited about those.

~~

I currently have samples sent in to Topps for inclusion on the Indiana Jones Heritage set up for auction on eBay! Three day auction ends Friday.

Also on the auction block three of my six returned Lord of the Rings Masterpieces I (2006) cards.

Here are the links for both...

Indiana Jones cards (three left):

Indy
Marion
The Monkey

Lord of the Rings Masterpieces I (2006) part of my returned six...
Elrond
The Ring
Frodo and the Ring


Also you can do a search for any of my work by going to ebay and typing in Mangue. Should bring up anything I've done, minus the Mangue beauty products and the music! ;)

Thanks a ton!
Leah

Monday, October 29, 2007

C3P0 Up For Auction!

This is the final of my six returned cards from Topps Star Wars 30th Anniversary cards.  It is my top favorite of all the cards I did for the series...and I'm almost sad to see it go.    Need vs. Want.

Auction ends November 3, 2007 at around 3:15pm Pacific

See Threepio Auction!

Thanks to everyone for their support, whether bidding or not!!

Leah

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Help Cheeta get his star!

Cheeta the Chimp needs your help to get a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He deserves it!


This retired movie star lives and paints in Palm Springs where he helps raise money for the primate sanctuary, CHEETA


Please, add him to your friends on MySpace, add it to your blog or journal or any of the forums you visit regularly and spread the word! Go Cheeta!!
Thank you!
Leah

Tuesday, October 16, 2007


I was on the hunt for my Elvish name and had used a name generator to find something...well...fellow artist and friend, Connie Persampieri, steered me towards a more realistic approach to finding my name! All in fun of course.




First one has to find the meaning of their name(s) and I'd already known what they were, though she provided some as well. There was no word in Quenyan (High Elven) for Mango (Mangue) so I took my maiden name of Battle (formerly La Battaglia) and used that instead. Leah means (among a few other things) "meadow", La Battaglia means "Battle" but has also meant "warrior", since battle did not come up in the first Quenyan language dictionary I found I chose "Warrior".


Leah/ La Battaglia = Meadow/Warrior = Laide (which originally came up as Lairë / Ohtatyaro ...which after Connie's help with endings, basically dropping the last vowel of the intended word and adding one the following:




wen - maiden

iël - maiden

më - agentival

iën - daughter of

riël - crowned maiden

riën - crowned woman




I came up with Laidiël Ohtatyariën




Other meanings of Leah are "Cow" (none too flattering) or "weary" and in Assyrian (Aramaic/Neo-Aramaic) it means "mistress" or "ruler". Cow in Quenyan is "yaxë"; there is no word for weary or mistress in High Elven; ruler is "cáno", "cánu" or "tur ".


I found the word for Battle in another Quenyan dictionary and it is "mahtalë"



So, I could also use


Yaxë...Yaxmë Mahtaliën (might generate a laugh or two from some...Cow, daughter of Battle) :P


or


Cáno...Cánwen or Cánmë Mahtaliën

Tur...Turwen or Turmë Mahtaliën



There wasn't an ending for a married woman, only a maiden or a crowned maiden or crowned woman so I just combined whatever sounded good. :P And I'm sure...for all the experts out there...I mangled the Elvish language, but I had FUN doing it. :P

Connie provided some cool links which were helpful...for those of you wanting to look...


http://www.tengwar.art.pl/tengwar/ott/start.php?l=en - once you've done all the translating you can see your name in Tengwar (written)




But I also found links that were helpful...











Monday, October 15, 2007

Brief Commentary on HS Reunion

This past weekend I attended my 25th High School Reunion. Part of me really wanted to see how everyone was doing, what they were doing but another part of me wanted to get an idea of how people had changed, not physically (which matters so very little), but mentally...in their attitudes towards fellow students.

Overall I had a good time but I was very disappointed in a few people who never outgrew the puerile behavior of those high school days...by ones 40's it really is inexcusable and it says SO much about people.

~~

After picking up lunch for my son and I at Pierre LaFond Market, my best friend, her husband, my son and I met at Manning Park for the "Family Day" picnic and walked in together. I was completely under the weather and certainly wasn't my shiniest self but I really wanted to be there and have a good time.

As we came into the event site my son quickly headed over to the bouncy castle they'd set up (Thank you!) and spent most of the rest of the event time there. We introduced ourselves to the gals (fellow classmates) who'd arrived around the time we did (or earlier) and sat ourselves at a central table nearest the west side of the park, close to where people were entering.
Since I wasn't feeling my best I tried to rest a little and eat a little something before meeting/or re-meeting the others.
I then chatted with a few people and a few people came up to where we were seated and chatted with us for a little while. I have nothing but kudos for those persons. There were, however, a select few who, echoing their high school selves, couldn't bring themselves to anything but a slightly forced "hello" or nothing at all.

I felt considerably better (though still a wee bit blah) for the dinner portion of our reunion that evening but I didn't gain my momentum until after a little food and a Margarita, the first in a long, long while. The dinner was held at El Paseo Restaurant in Santa Barbara, it has a long and varied history but remains one of the loveliest restaurants in the area, it's virtual plein air atmosphere lends to it's rustic beauty and history. Can't say much for the food or service but they do serve a delicious Margarita.

I picked a table where one of our yearbooks had been placed (5-7 tables had such), again close to where we could see people coming into the restaurant. Again, the people who had been nice in high school were nice at dinner but time and time again people (beyond those who were at the picnic) would sit down and realize it wasn't the "IT" table and would leave to go somewhere else...in FACT the two seats across from my friends and the seat next to me were empty the entire evening...every single other seat for our reunion was taken...every last one except those three.

I didn't want to leave my friends too much as the only reason they were there (my best friend was a fellow '82 graduate) was because I wanted to go. My friends weren't feeling their best either so didn't get up much and didn't want to participate much...which, of course, doesn't help to draw people in.
This was, unfortunately, far too much like high school and only proved to us that no matter how much time passes, and how different one may from their high school self, other people still have their preconceived prejudices and never mature correctly.

I can almost guarantee that the people who were treated like crap in high school by a small to
fair portion of students (like ones mentioned above) never think to attend reunions because they feel in their gut that these events have a reputation for attracting people who were in the upper echelons of the high school hierarchy.
I, for one, thought this a partial myth and was only too happy to prove it completely wrong. Much to my disappointment the myth is mostly true.
To be fair a small portion of people who'd been nice in the past were nice presently but these were people who we knew would be that way, they were mature young people back then and they grew into mature adults. Then there were people who weren't the best in HS but, at the very least, made an effort this go around. But the same people who were cruel and super click-y in high school were the same ones who made no effort what-so-ever to be genial to anyone but their close friends from HS or those students who went on to become well-known, etc.

So, either they feel so bad about the way they treated us in high school that they couldn't bring themselves to face us or they had absolutely no clue who we were (which would be so very difficult to believe considering how much they called us names/tormented us/ridiculed us) OR they simply continued to be as puerile as they were 25 years ago.

For the people who just couldn't get past their puerility...how very sad, your children will likely grow up like you and treat their classmates and others the same as you treated some of yours...perpetuating a long-held tradition of picking on those different than yourselves.

For those who were all about reuniting in friendship, YAY!! Super Kudos ladies and gentlemen, you've matured into productive and healthy adults and a pat on your parents' backs for raising you properly!! You guys and gals RULE!

Monday, October 08, 2007

Chicagoland Entertainment Collectors Expo - CECE

My first convention as a guest went very well and I had a terrific time! I was asked to do the cover art for the Expo's very first program (see above) and it turned out rather well.




I met a lot of wonderful people including, of course, the wonderful Paul and Diane Maiellaro who put on the intimate affair, Cherie, Vincent, Luis and Ben (with the magic hat and the David looks...except with a little bit of beard action) who were more than helpful as well as so many other members of the staff, Scott and Ed to name just two (I know I'm forgetting people...sorry), who worked their tails off to make sure everything ran smoothly.

The fans were just as pleasant and I talked and talked in between the sketching...boy did I talk.

Two Big Productions (Victor Layne and Larry Snodie) were conducting/filming interviews of all the guests and I found that both Victor and Larry were HUGE horror fans...Victor and I subsequently had a LONG conversation about all the terrific films from Hammer Horror AND a bonus of old and new Doctor Who talk!!
Also had a lovely chat with Gene from Alien Entertainment Company about Doctor Who...whom I also purchased a gold toy Dalek with Mutant Reveal for my son as he's been using R2D2 as a Dalek substitute for most of the year, which is simply wrong. :P

The celebrity guests were wonderful...
The coolest man in the world, Ernie Hudson, my good friend and voice of Salacious Crumb/the Gremlins, Mark Dodson (finally!). Forever young Ron Palillo (author/playwright: The Lost Boy) who had a seemingly endless supply of natural energy (of which I wish I'd had from day two onward) and stories. Erin (Moran) and her husband Steve who were such a blast! Larry Thomas (Seinfeld) was great! I had a nice conversation with C. Andrew Nelson spoke briefly with Corin Nemec, heard some interesting stories and trivia from Larry Storch and his sweet wife who were directly across from my table in the convention room. And I cannot forget to mention the lovely and charming Cindy Morgan!!!




~~

Also this month Non-Sport Update Magazine did an article (by Ryan Cracknell) on the Women of Sketch Cards which included interviews with me, Cynthia Cummens, Rowena Pagarigan and Connie Persampieri. To read the entire article please purchase a copy at http://www.nonsportupdate.com/ ...




More to come!

Leah

Heroes Approved Cards




Hiya!

These three cards represent part of my approved cards for the Topps Heroes set coming out later this year. I'll post more later.
LM

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Topps Heroes Preview Sheet!


Topps/NBC/Universal released the Seson One Trading Cards preview sheet (see above)
And, what a nice way to start the day, I found out that one of my cards was included on the Preview Sheet!
Peter Petrelli (in blue, bottom, second from the left)
My guess at this time for a release date is sometime in October. I heard somewhere that October 15th was the latest but one can never be too sure.
I drew a total of 56 cards for this set (many of the artists did around the same amount).
Thanks!
Leah

Thursday, August 30, 2007

Star Wars 30th Anniversary sketch card auction

Obi-Wan Kenobi - eBay Link

As listed on eBay. :D







This Obi-Wan Kenobi is
original artwork drawn directly upon an official Topps Star Wars 30th
Anniversary sketch card and is not a printed reproduction, it is a
one-of-a-kind, there are no duplicates, and is one of only 70 drawn for the set.



Winning bidder must pay within 3 days of auction end and
insurance is required. Insurance cost
will be calculated based on winning bid and card will be shipped via the USPS'
Priority Mail. The card is housed in a sturdy toploader and will be wrapped,
boarded and bubbled.



This card will be shipped within 5 days of cleared payment.



Thank you!





LMangue-Art

Friday, August 24, 2007

Star Wars 30th Anniversary sketch card auction

The auction has begun for the first of my returned six out of Topps 30th Anniversary Star Wars collectors card set.
This is a 5 day listing and will end at around 1pm on Wednesday, August 28, 2007

CHEWBACCA AUCTION

Good luck!! Happy Bidding!
Leah

Tuesday, August 07, 2007

Star Wars 30th - 6 Back

My Six Return Cards from Topps Star Wars 30th Anniversary Collectors Card Set

Topps Star Wars 30th Anniversary Cards

Topps new set of collectors cards is now out and about and sketch cards are starting to pop up on eBay, a few of my 64 cards have surfaced there already.
As of today I have yet to receive my "six back"cards. Hope they arrive soon! I'll link everyone up when I get my cards up for auction.

Here's a link for my cards!

Here's a general link for 30th Anniv sketches

Have fun bidding! Let me know if you win one!

Thank you all very much for your support!!! It's meant so much to me!

Leah

Thursday, June 28, 2007

Gladiator


5" x 7" Gladiator Commission

More arty goodness!!






HI! Been way too busy for my own good. Here are my latest commissions.

Saturday, June 16, 2007

Recent sketch card commissions 3









Celebration IV - Los Angeles


From left to right (left photo): Joe Corroney, JAKe Steel, David Rabitte, Cynthia Cummens, Jeff Wedding, Roninspoon, me, Justin Chung & Abel Peña.

From left to right (right photo): Jeff Wedding, me, Cynthia Cummens, Roninspoon, Joe Corroney (front), JAKe Steel, David Rabitte, Abel Peña & Justin Chung.

These photos, courtesy Chris Edwards, were taken during Celebration IV in Los Angeles over Memorial Day weekend. We'd taken the subway to Hollywood, had a decent meal at Mel's Diner and wandered over to Mann's Chinese Theatre.

Recent sketch card commissions 2







These are some of my cards for Topps' Star Wars 30th Anniversary collector's card set. I did 70 total for the set.

Recent sketch card commissions