Things to Notice

Yesterday's Gibberish: I'm going to be playing around with some different coloring styles. While I've liked what I've had going on for the past while now, half the reason I started this thing was to experiment with my art. So, I'm doing just that. I plan on some more limited palette ones such as yesterday's. From there, who knows? Possibly some solid colors with colored lines, sharp angles and whatnot. I just keep seeing all these great artists out in the world and feel inspired to try new things.

Changes: Once I figure out this whole podcasting/recording thing, I plan on replacing Gibberish with beautiful pieces of writing (of course Gibberish will still run on its site, so don't worry; it is not stopping). I'll basically be taking a snippet of something, a paragraph or two of what I consider to be gorgeous writing. I'll tell you right now, there will be a lot of David Almond and Ray Bradbury up there. I think all of us, as writers and readers, need to appreciate the sound of the written word--and not simply in poetry either. Prose should sing. Prose should move with the rhythms of love, anger, sadness, and hope. Words are instruments, and I for one love their sound.

My "beard": There will be new pictures on Friday.

What Technology Just Can't Do...

Yesterday, I worked on arts for a sizable chunk of time with a good friend of mine. As much as I love my tablet and using the digital medium to create my arts--since I can do things digitally that I'd have no idea how to replicate with paints and canvass--nothing, and I mean nothing, can replace the feel of paper under your hand, pens and pencils and markers at your disposal. Sure, you can pick all sorts of colors, even the exact shade that you had in mind, via your digital arting media, but there is something so wholesome about grabbing a new marker, a new pen, another sheet of paper. Plus, unlike digital arts, this is much easier to sell.

Do you like the above? (Click it for a larger image.) You may own it for $20.00--more if you want it framed.

The Things I'm Doing

New Novel: So far, I've been able to plug away at the 1,000 words a day goal I set. Feels good to get into something new, and to already feel the pieces falling/clicking into place in my head. Already had a few character surprises, as one of them is nothing like I initially envisioned. Whatever, though. It's all about going with the flow, right?

Bring the Ink, Issue 1: It's almost finished and ready to rock your October. Not sure when tomorrow it will drop, but it is scheduled to drop on the morrow.

Book Proposal: I'm pulling together a proposal for a VERY different project than what I normally write. It seems to be shaping up better than I'd hoped, but who knows. All the work might be for not. More on this as it develops.

Waiting: Still no word from the agent-hopeful. It's only been a little more than two weeks since I mailed the book out--plus I heard that she's been busy moving or something. Regardless, I still feel the pressure.

Arting for My Friend: Still plugging away on his graphic novel. Fun stuff, but quite a bit o' work.

Broken-Hearted Bear: With the help of a few other artists and writers, we're building an on-going webcomic for Bring the Ink. I hope it will start in November.

On the Back Burner: The first volume of Gibberish; the collected group of my and Logan's reviews for the defunct Filmmedium.com; two ideas for webcomics/graphic novels; and my want to just watch movies and play video games.

Lit Journal Submission Opportunities

Today is a day that needs to be completed while working on other things. Many, many other things. So this is simply a plug.

Poets, Short Storiests, Essayists, Comicists, Artists, Bring the Ink needs you. A lit mag is only as cool as its submissions. So please, send something cool. Cool is good. It will make people read your work--and our mag. Check it out, and read some of our current material.

Gibberish tomorrow. More busy-ness, too.

Out and Away

I am in Colorado right now, hanging out with my wife after five years of marriage.

In my absence, I leave you with the below pic of a new comic I'm developing with a few artist/writer friends of mine. It will be hosted at Bring the Ink. He is called Broken-Hearted Bear.
p.s. I'm still looking for two or three more artist/writers to join the team, so contact me if you are interested in working with this character.

+Angst Over Easy (Guest Comic by Erik Jagger)+

Archive

And to cap off the week of guest comics is Erik Jagger.

For those of you who don't know him, Erik Jagger is an amazing artist that tried his hand at webcomics--and puts most of us to shame. His comic, Agonizing Trifiles, promises to be one of the cooler comics on the web. And even if that doesn't tickle your fancy, Erik has animations and many other pieces of art at his site. Be sure to check them both out and drop him a line. He's a nice guy that would probably like to hear from you.

Thanks for partaking of the guest comics this week. I hope you enjoyed them as much as I did. There is some awesome stuff out there produced by truly amazing--and friendly--people, and I'm sure any and all would love to be told as much. See you back on Monday.

Gearing Up

Things are starting to speed up as my final residency and impending graduation are mere days away. I've got my lecture to finish, a webzine to edit, and guest comics for Gibberish to pull together.

I feel like my days have shortened, and they only seem to be getting shorter. I suppose this will be for the better though, as I will have less time to be stressed out about everything--especially as the projects are backing up.

Once I officially have my master's degree in hand though, I'm hoping to get back into my novel, revise it up, and send it back to the agent that is interested in seeing a revision. Also, I'm hoping to start work on a collection of Gibberish. The comic is a mere two weeks from turning one year old--amazing, I know--and I think I now have enough for a collection. Would anyone be interested in owning such a thing? I figure it will probably run about eight bucks for Year One, should be in color, and probably be around 120 pages. Any interest in having such a thing would be invaluable info for me, so please, drop me a line, leave a comment, whatever, just let me know if you'd want such a thing.

In the meantime, I continue to plug away, work on my art, and stress over these final moments of schooling.

Gibberish tomorrow.

Melted My Own Face

My friends and I are working on putting together an online lit mag that will be starting up shortly, and with all websites, we needed artwork. So I got to work on the above. I can honestly say that I've never had anything turn out so well. Usually the image in my head to what comes out on the page ends up being entirely different, but this time it all worked out.

Since our site will be on the slightly darker side of things, I wanted to keep the tone a bit darker, though with a light-hearted hint. I figured what better person to look to for inspiration than Ben Templesmith. So, Ben, this is my tribute to you.

Really, I couldn't be happier with the final product.

Also, we'll probably be taking submissions for our site VERY soon, so be thinking about that and I'll probably give out all the details on Monday.

Have a great weekend.

Seem To Be Drifting

Lately I seem to be drifting from my writing to my artwork--which is silly as my writing is so much better than my art. Really, though, I've been having a good time doing this stuff though.

I spent most of yesterday working on my friend's graphic novel, and I had a blast doing it. Of course, I'm not going to stop writing or anything--especially with the potentially awesome connections I've made--but the arting is a great time, and something I've been obsessed with, finding new artists (the above actually was discovered via Penny Arcade's plug), watching different demos and techniques through YouTube, trying different styles. It's all good. All good.

Hopefully, if he's cool with it, I'll try and show you a page or two of the graphic novel I'm working on. It's been a challenge trying to pull entire pages together, but seeing it all together is wonderful.

Gibberish tomorrow.

Pretty Much Nothing

Some more experimenting with drawing in the "hard-line" style. I'm not sure if this guy is supposed to be a hero or a villain. I figure that either way, he's a character that I'd like to do SOMEthing with in the future--even if he is simply a guest star of a Gibberish--or a series of Gibberishes. Whatever. He'll be back. That's all I'm sayin'.

Other than that, I really have nothing to report or plug. Haven't found anything fantastic in the last few days, or have I done anything noteworthy. So this is all you get, a sketch and a small rant.

Gibberish tomorrow.

Art Can Be Pretty Cool

Maybe I'm not the best artist in the world, but you know, I--generally--have a very good time doing what I do.

As you can see, with the above, I tried working on more of a background for my pic. More often than not, my characters simply float in space or on a tiny pad of shadow to "ground" them. But as I work on my friend's graphic novel, I've become more and more aware of grounding my characters and people in an actual PLACE. So here is my attempt based on my mis-hearing another friend. (She said back-packing through the forest, and I thought she said "Cat trekking through the forest." Don't ask me how I confused the two.)

I think a bit of my Friday funk has passed--for now. Hopefully it will continue to get better as I come closer to finishing a few more of my self-inflicted projects. Then I can take on more...

Gibberish tomorrow.

I've Ruined Everything

I'm letting my nerdiness show on this one--taking the time to create an avatar for an online game that matches the art-style AND color scheme. Wow... I'm a geek. BUT, geekiness aside, I'm quite happy with the final product. Plus, this was one of the most enjoyable artwork production in awhile, and I'll tell you why.

I was talking with one of my friends last night, and I realized that what I've done with my life is basically ruin everything that is, or once was, fun. Through schooling or my taking on a ton of self-inflicted projects (really, I only have one commitment outside my dozens of projects), I've managed to turn all of my hobbies and pasttimes into work.

It sucks.

Because of film school, I dissect most movies I see with a critical eye. Because of my Master in Creative Writing, I can't read a book without noting how, or why, an author is doing what they're doing--and if they're not doing what they're supposed to, it drives me nuts. My art changed from a bizarre pasttime into working on Gibberish, painting for profit, and crafting a graphic novel. And writing, too, with all that stuff with the agent and such, I now feel like I'm doing this for money instead of just for fun.

What makes this all so frustrating though is that it's not like I'm not having fun with each of my projects--my mind just gets too wrapped up on the deadlines, the craft, the "tangible" reason for why I'm doing what I'm doing. Perhaps I just need to take some time off. Push off on some sort of bizarre pilgramige to let my mind settle back down, forget the worldly reasons for what I do, and shift back to just having fun. Because what good are hobbies if they aren't fun?

For the moment though, I've got rockin' out music and an old NES copy of Spy Hunter to keep me entertained. Yeah Spy Hunter... Do do, do do, dunn-a-la do do...

More Stupid Crap

Yet again, I've fallen prey to stupid time-wasting devices. This time it has taken the form of Utopia Kingdoms. Nothing particularly special about the thing, but it helps pass the day. The main thing that drew me into the game was the artwork. I'm a sucker for cartoony goodness. And as with most of these types of games, you can create/post a custom avatar. Since I chose to be a Troll, I figured I needed a troll avatar. The above is the initial sketch for my avatar. I'd hoped to have it inked and colored last night, but I got side-tracked by the ever-evil Catan. I'll be sure to post the finished shot.

This got me to thinking though, how often does someone/anyone want to have a custom avatar that not only is what they want, but it also FITS with the overall design scheme of the game? Basically, I decided that if there are any of you out there that play any of these types of things and want a custom avatar, I'd be willing to put something together for a small fee, probably in the range of 5-15 bucks, depending on the style and intricacies. Feel free to contact me with any questions or commissions, I'd be much obliged.

In the meantime, more Gibberish tomorrow.

Maxx UP

More of my new art attempts. Thought I'd try out the Maxx as Sam Kieth is one of my favorite artists and writers. His comics are just... awesome.

Also, if you haven't done so, go see UP, and soon. While I might need another viewing to solidify this in my brain meats, I really think it is my favorite of the Pixar pics. It seems to have an added sensitivity and more emotional impact than the others. Plus, it's just plain amusing, from the crotchety old men to the annoying child. Pixar really should be proud of this one.

That being said, it's really not a kids movie either. Sure, it has the action sequences and jokes for children, but the overall themes and ideas behind much of the film are very adult--not anything grotesque, but they just aren't topics and issues that a child really knows about or can fully understand. Maybe I'm wrong, but I still give kudos to Pixar for making a film so sensitive and simultaneously heart-warming. And if it doesn't give you an added appreciation for your significant other, there is something wrong with your black, black heart.

Gibberish tomorrow.

Growth

I spent a good chunk of yesterday perusing the awesome art highways that the internets have to offer, mainly going through Matias Basla's list of artists, and I realized that my art has suffered from a common plague: sameness. It has been some time since I last had any real growth in my art. Basically, I tend to draw the same types of characters in the same types of ways in the same types of positions. To remedy this, I've decided to devote myself to drawing more dynamically posed figures AND using straight lines for awhile.

The above is my first attempt at doing this, and I hope to keep adding new sketches or work as this progresses. There are just too many super-cool artists out there, and I'd be a fool not to learn something from them. So expect some new arts from time to time as I muck through this new venture, and if there is anything/anyone that you'd like to see me draw, drop me a line, and I'll do what I can. I figure the more I draw from what someone else wants, the more I'll be able to break out of my own pre-conceptions.

In the meantime, have a mighty fine weekend of relaxing, and I'm assuming, seeing Up. See you Monday.

Now on to Another Adventure

It's not all that different from the last version you saw, but I'm calling it done. This was a rather fun project to work on, and though I was more than a little frustrated at first, I'm pleased with the final result. As I said before, I'm not sure if I'm going to do this on a regular basis, but I'll probably work on something from time to time. For now though, I think I'll go back to actual paint and canvas--as I can actually sell those.

In other news, I saw Night at the Museum: Battle for the Smithsonian the other day. I'll admit, it has problems, but if you ignore the logistics of the thing, it's actually quite fun and entertaining--especially if you like Hank Azaria. If you like the first one, this is enjoyable and not a complete re-hash of the first. But if you didn't care for the earlier night excursion, this one won't change your mind.

Also, a good friend of mine has a comic coming out today, The Legend of Isis from Bluewater Studios. As he says, it isn't high-brow literature, but he said it was a good time to write, and he's got his name on a published comic--much more than I can say for myself. If you're into comics, you should go out and purchase this. I demand it.

Gibberish tomorrow.

Almost Done

This thing is just about done now. I've had a few moments to work on it here and there, and it's coming together much better than anticipated. Other than the jewels on the crown--I need to look up some reference points--this is pretty much done. I'm going to add some light shafts breaking through the dirt, but that's about it.

Overall, I'm pretty happy with the result, but I think I'm going to stick with the traditional painting for awhile--it's much easier to sell. And if for some reason you'd like a print of this, I can have that arranged.

And for the moment, I'm trying not to burst from joy. Some nice things have been said about me, and they may lead to some awesome news for Friday--or possibly not until next week. Either way, look for some developments on the Click-Track Heart front.

Yard Work, or How I Spent Most of My Sunday

I intended to have pictures for this and will probably post them on Wednesday. My yard was ridiculous and it took close to three and a half hours to put together my mower, mow the yard, and rake up the leavings--and we have a rather small yard. But I suppose that's what happens when I wait until the grass, in places, reaches my knee cap--and I'm 6'3". Luckily, the Nebraskan sky was cloud covered and cool, otherwise, I might have died.

In other news though, I went to a reading/art show, Look Both Ways, on Saturday night, where my mentor, Karen Gettert Shoemaker, and others read their ekphrasis writings while standing next to their chosen artwork. It was quite entertaining and seemed like a cool project to be a part of. In fact, I'm keeping an eye out for such a joint venture, as both my writing and artwork selves would love to have the chance to participate.

Lastly, I just found out that one of my favorite bands is releasing their album over here in the states. It comes out on May 19, and I suggest you all go out and purchase it if you like music in the vein of Massive Attack and Sneaker Pimps--or if you're into Depeche Mode or Placebo (I'm not particularly into the last two bands, but IAMX's music has oft been compared to them.)

For now, have a good day, and come back for Gibberish tomorrow.

Digital Painting

As you can see, this is still a work in progress, and for the most part, I still have no idea what I'm doing, but I think I'm starting to get competent in my incompetency--if that makes any sense. I call these things PeeBees, somewhere between Slimer from GhostBusters and an Isz from The Maxx by Sam Keith. They like shiny things and live in the ground along mountainsides. Perhaps I'll write an illustrated story with these things sometime... or just let them take over a Gibberish or two, either way, the PeeBees have invaded my noggin' and have yet to get their pinkish little mits of my brain meats.

Talking about the art style itself, the whole digital painting look, I'm still not so sure I'm sold on the thing. Granted, I'm nowhere near as good as some of the others--including this one, which is one of my favs--but I just feel like it looks too "realistic" for my style. I suppose it's hard to mix cartoons and reality without losing too much of one or the other, and I likes me cartoons. Maybe I just haven't given it enough time--which is probably the case--but I don't know how much I like this aesthetic. I'll keep playing, for awhile, and try and mix more of this technique with my own goofings-around, but I can't imagine this will be a media I will persue for very long--at least the serious side of things.

Anyone have any thoughts? Do you like what you see? Like my other stuff better? Or is it too early to tell?

I'll try and post the progression of this piece, and maybe I'll like it more as I press on.

Thanks much, all, and have a good weekend seeing Wolverine. Hopefully it won't suck as much as I fear it will.

The Internets Never Cease to Amaze Me

I've always known that there are a ton of tutorials out there, especially on YouTube, but I've never really taken any time to try and watch any of them. I've been remedying that recently, and holy crap, there is a lot of good stuff out there. Especially by way of painting/coloring in PhotoShop and like programs. I've particularly enjoyed ones by www.idrawgirls.com. This guy might be a bit confusing to listen to--as he often seems to forget to narrate as his painting is playing out--but just watching him is inspiring and gives all sorts of good ideas.

Also, I discovered this collective of people documenting the zombie apocalypse. Lost Zombies is what it's called, and it seems like a cool project to be a part of. If I didn't already have so much on my plate, I'd love to contribute. And even if the theme of zombies doesn't float your boat, you have to appreciate the general idea/structure of the thing.

To me, this is what the internet is all about, sharing info, the cool stuff that you've learned, and working together to create something truly awesome and could never have been accomplished without a communication device such as this. Truly, we all need to get over ourselves and start more collective/collaboration projects.

Any ideas?