I have only sold 7 of the books, but I was excited to get this finally accomplished, so I got some stuff…
Check it out, grab some & represent your favorite maze artist. 🤣 Drink from your matching coffee mug while you solve mazes.
Speaking of the latest maze book, the proof came the other day. It’s bigger & better than the last book. It looks great inside. It even includes the maze solutions. I ordered a handful to pop into some of those local little free library boxes so some people can maybe find some unexpected fun!
Thanks to everyone has bought one so far! Even if it’s not for you, I’d dig if you could even just share the link.
Well then, it’s finally here. I finished maze book number two! This one is better than the last one, I promise. The first was sort of a test run just to see how Amazon KDP works. I wholeheartedly appreciate everyone that bought that book, but this one just objectively looks better and much more time was put into its creation. It ought to be much more challenging and enjoyable, IMHO.
This book a collection of a bunch more larger mazes, and a few small ones that I have been drawing since late 2023. There’s no common theme other than most of the mazes have a silly vibe. A few have no vibe at all. There’s aliens, rodents, yard work, holiday stuff, rock n’ roll, a treasure map, food, retail aversion, gross stuff, & more.
You Can See Yourself Out: A Collection of Fun, Irreverent, Festive, & Wild Hand-Drawn Mazes (Front Cover)
I hope you consider picking up a copy for yourself, & maybe even one for a friend? If not, just sharing the link to someone who you think may enjoy it, or just sharing it in general would be awesome.
The link is https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0F9Y7SFXS and I’d love if you could share it, review it, favorite it or save it to a list… anything to help even if you’re not interested in a purchase. You could give me a good (or terrible) review or add it to your list on GoodReads too, if that’s your thing.
I had fun making a collage with punk ‘zine vibes for the cover. I busted out the mixed media, printed on weird paper, got two cutting, ripping, & coffee staining… and unearthed the leopard & cheetah print tape.
All of the mazes were hand-drawn, scanned in, edited (& “solved”) in paint.NET, & put together with Open Office. I haven’t stepped into the world of digital drawing yet, and I like my free programs. Someday, I’ll probably dive into GIMP a little more.
I love drawing the mazes, and it’s a great creative outlet like blogging or making music or playing out live. I’m sitting on a pile of old ones that I can convert into a book… but I need to make sure they’re all solvable and do the solutions.
Some are too big to fit on my scanner, and scanning with my phone has less than desirable results… so I’m gonna have to go somewhere like a FedEx Office store and hope they can help before they all disappear. I have a problem picking up any notebook that catches my eye and is the right price, regardless of size & paper type. I like the feel & the calming of pen on paper.
Because I have been excited about this, and I made a small collage with leftover bits, I popped up some new merch designs in my TeePublic & RedBubble stores with that new collage & the book cover images. I do have some older designs there with a few of the mazes that are featured in this book too. If you have an account & follow me on either of those sites, it may help my stuff get seen a bit more. I’d appreciate any form of liking/sharing/tagging if you’re so inclined!
In fact, check out all these designs from or inspired by the book, you can get them on all kinds of merch at each store! (I ordered a sticker, a magnet, a coffee cup, & a hoodie so I’m already in the hole.)
TeePublic is having a sale, and they encouraged me to spread the word. I did on various social media platforms, and Ill post those here. I’d appreciate a share if you have the time or are so inclined, and it would be cool if you’re inspired to pick something up for yourself or as a gift!
There’s also always my RedBubble shop and Maze Book, too. (I’m still slowly working on a 2nd book.)
Apologies for the shameless pug, but I have to get the word out somehow. I don’t pay for advertising, as the artist profit for print-on-demand services is pretty small. If I can simply fund my creative outlets, it’s a nice lil’ personal win.
So, TeePublic is having a sale, which means you can get my art on all kinds of stuff for cheaper than usual. It's mostly mazes, but I may occasionally do other silly stuff.tee.pub/lic/AiXeLsyD13Check out some unique stuff for yourself or for your holiday gift list! Maybe share too, please?
Sometimes you get goofy ideas. Sometimes you follow through on them before anyone tells you no.
For some reason, Ohio Valley Style pizza has made the rounds as “Pittsburgh Pizza,” and that’s fine with me. We just had Beto’s the other night. For me, it’s delicious, inexpensive, and filling. It seems to be rather polarizing. I know DiCarlo’s & Police Station Pizza have their followings, too.
And, now that design is available on all kinds of stuff in my TeePublic & RedBubble shops.
Check it out, and tell your friends. Buy it on something you dig it. Both stores have T-shirts, stickers, magnets, hats, & so much more!
Of course, I really enjoy Aiello’s, Badamo’s, Slice, & Italian Village Pizza, too. Also, if you catch a Fox’s on a good day, it’s pretty good too! There’s room for all styles at the table.
Hit me up in the comments with your pizza manifestos because people seem wildly adherent to their opinions, and drop your design critiques too!
If you’re taking advantage of Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, or Cyber Monday sales… take the time to consider some of my Christmas themed maze T-shirts from Tee Public or Red Bubble!
You can customize the color of the shirt, choose from many styles, and get the same designs on all kinds of merchandise like coffee mugs, stickers, and pillows.
I was going to share some mazes for Thanksgiving, and I realized I have a bunch of them. I did some quick dirty coloring of some old ones. I am sharing new ones that will be in my second book, some from the first book, and I have some that are loosely related to fall or Thanksgiving dinner.
Please, use them to have some fun this holiday season! They could be placemats, an activity for those that aren’t cooking while they’re waiting for dinner or for company to arrive, or used as a game to see who finishes first. You could use them to make place cards too if you wanna get creative!
If you complete the mazes by printing them out & solving, or on your phone/tablet/PC with a drawing app, share it on you preferred social media platform & tag me! I’m @AiXeLsyD13 on pretty much all of ’em. (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Threads, BlueSky, TikTok, Tumblr, YouTube, etc.) I’d love to see a video of a race to complete the smaller easier ones… and I love to see solutions! I like to draw mazes, not so much solving them.
Mmm, Thanksgiving dinner. Stuffing is my favorite. I need to figure out how to do a stuffing maze.
You can solve these while listening to one of my Thanksgiving playlists on Amazon or Spotify, or while talking about what you’re thankful for! I love the reflection this time of year.
This year’s turkey maze:
2023 Turkey Maze
Thanksgiving-ish themed mazes from the upcoming book:
Turkey Giblets Maze & Corn Maze …Maze – from my upcoming second book.
Newly (& quickly) colorized old Thanksgiving themed mazes:
Fresh takes on old Thanksgiving Mazes
Random older related mazes:
<shameless plug> The turkey from this year and the “giblets” maze are also available on some cool merchandise from my RedBubble and TeePublic shops too. Why not get a turkey maze T-shirt or an apron with the giblets maze? You can get both designs on hoodies, pet bandanas, stickers, magnets, coffee mugs, and even a damn shower curtain if so inclined. </shameless plug>
🦃 UPDATE! 🦃
After posting this, I found an OLD turkey maze of mine on Pinterest, so I downloaded & edited it a bit. So, here’s one more:
So, Amazon has October Prime days now on the 11th, & 12th, and the behemoth has cleared the path for other online retailers to trudge along on their wake.
I don’t think my book will be on sale, but if you haven’t bought it yet… let a few brothers hold $5.99 and add it to your cart with all your other stuff! Jeff Bezos and I need your financial support. He needs to build space ships, and I need to pay medical bills and buy LEGO sets.
In slightly cooler news, TeePublic and RedBubble are offering site-wide sales:
TeePublic touts “up to 35%” on October 12th-15th & October 26th-29th.
RedBubble touts 20% on October 9th-14th & 30% off on October 23rd-27th.
If you have thought about grabbing some stuff from either one of my shops, now would be a great time. The T-shirts, stickers, and magnets are cool. I hope to order mores tuff to check out the quality. You can get wall art to clocks, to tote bags, to mugs, to shower curtains!
If you have not thought about it, now would be a great time to think about it.
They’re good gifts for people that have everything.
I recently published my first maze book (via Amazon KDP), have sold a few copies, and thought some people here may want to support a local artist. I’m already working on book № 2!
The first book is packed with easy-to-solve mazes, and I think it would be enjoyable for kids as well as adults.
I had my youngest drop a copy in one of those free little library boxes nearby over last weekend. Hopefully someone out there locally picked it up & is enjoying it already!
I also put together some designs to be printed on merchandise, and I’m trying two different shops online right now. I’ll be uploading more themed designs as soon as I complete work on my 2nd maze book.
I have sold a few T-shirts, and bought some stickers and a magnet for myself. Between the two shops you can get everything from coffee mugs and pillows to shower curtains or clocks featuring my designs.
Check out my first #maze book! this was a test run, I plan to do more. can you spare $6 to help fund some art? If not, it’s cool… maybe just share the link? https://wp.me/pwqzc-3ba I am super excited to get this out there. How do you share a damn link on here?
Let me set the stage… On my last ER trip, I was wearing “lounge” pants with a stretchy waist and drawstrings. After the mandatory 4 or 5 hour wait, I was called to go back. I was drawing mazes to pass the time, so pen & notebook in one hand, and phone in the other… I involuntary dropped trou as I marched toward the beckoning healthcare professional at the double-doors.
Luckily for me, any semblance of shame I had was gone years ago, and I have voluntarily de-pantsed myself in areas ranging from stages to bowling alleys for my own bemusement.
Luckily for my peers awaiting medical treatment, I was not going commando.
This leads to walking around in public today, hands full, and pants trying to shimmy down my waist. Thankfully, I was able to wiggle my decidedly unshapely hips like Shakira to keep everything in place.
Tightening my belt really isn’t helpful to my situation with the inflammation, and I don’t want to hinder the process of everything moving through my digestive system like some hyper-loop Maglev. I have dropped 25-ish lbs., so my clothes are as loose as my bowel movements.
Should I rock the Robin Williams suspenders look? The Amish look? The old man potbelly look? The Blippi w/ a bowtie? I like the mod/skinhead look, but few people know their roots go back to the mods who liked soul and reggae and can only think of the mostly bad connotations with that word & style. Go full hipster/craft brew enthusiast?
Can I pull off tucking in a T-shirt? Do I need to start wearing button downs and polos?
World (and Lunar) Domination 