Not Ready for Today

As promised, these are my cards that I made for the Artist Trading Cards, "Tim Burton" swap. For some reason or another, it looked like everyone was making cards from Nightmare Before Christmas, Corpse Bride, or The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy. Granted, those are some of Burton's best places to pull from, in terms of arting, but he's done so much that I had to represent some of his other work. And seeing as Beetlejuice was one of my favorites as a child, I had to go that route.

With the exception of pulling these things together, I--for whatever reason--feel like I have no idea what I'm doing today. I've got stuff I need to write, comics to make, and the usual tedium of work to avoid. All I'd like to do is go back home, curl up, and sleep for another few hours. That or play some more of Mirror's Edge. Seems like it will be quite the cool game, albeit frustrating.

For now, I suppose I'll do what I can and hope to get something accomplished today.

Exhausting Weekend

I've never really thought about how draining it is to hang around with people you only have a little bit in common with for an extended period of time.

Some in-laws came to visit this weekend, and while they are good people, we don't really click on every level. Had this just been an afternoon visit, or even a full day, I don't think it would've been so awkward, as by the second day, both my wife and I felt the strain of keeping the conversation going. This was only compounded by the fact that a sick baby was also on the loose. All of these things basically added up to a weekend of bad sleep, awkward silences, and a glimpse to what it will/might be like if and when we have a child.

That being said, we still got a few good games of Catan in, including a few ventures with our new Seafarers Expansion. (I swear, those game pieces must have nicotine that releases with every touch. You get to where you need your Catan fix.) Also, I finished my cards for the Tim Burton swap for the Artist Trading Card thingummy I participate in. I meant to post them, but I ran out of time to scan them. They'll probably post on Wednesday.

In the meantime, Gibberish tomorrow.

Beetlejuice, Guest Comic, and Thesis

As you may or may not remember from an earlier post, I've signed up and have been working on Artist Trading Cards. One such swap that I'm signed up for and participating in is a Tim Burton swap. Being a huge fan, I wanted to join in the fun.

After seeing what some of the others have submitted as their cards, I was noticing something rather startling: a lack of Beetlejuice characters. So I rewatched the film to get some ideas for my cards. I can't say that the film has aged well, but even as a kid I remember thinking that Michael Keaton did a great job as the ghost with the most. Seriously, this is one of the most-underated performances, right up there with Jeff Bridges' The Dude in The Big Lebowski. Keaton's voice changes, general zaniness, and random gropings make it hard to even recognize that this is the same guy that played Bruce Wayne. Good stuff, Mr. Keaton, good stuff.

In other news, I produced a comic for Michael Elder's Lost in Thought. He is the fine artist/writer that gave me yesterday's guest comic. It's a bit of a swap, and a partial payment for all his help in designing the new site for Gibberish. I plan on doing more for him too, as his characters and storyline offer up all sorts of gibberish-esque goodness. Plus, I've forgotten how much I enjoy working with multiple panels.

And lastly, my thesis is seriously one step away from being done. Once I encorporate the final changes from my mentor, it is off to my second reader, then off to the binder. And the best part is, is that this means my novel is also one step away from being finished. So be wary all you literary agents and publishers, awesomeness is on the way.

+Humalloon+

Archive

Nothing is quite like that first loss of human life...

Blogging Stylin's

I realized that my blogs tend to break down into about four categories: the hum-drum of my days, self-promotion, actual intellectual thoughts, and internet discoveries. Then I realized that the first two styles are rather annoying. So, from here on out, I'll try to keep things brief if I don't have something important on my mind or some discovery to share.

Today, though, I DO have a discovery to share with you: Artist Trading Cards. This is a ridiculously addicting community for people to have a "governed" art swap. Swapping art is one of the cooler practices in this world, and I think people are all too often too greedy to do so, wanting things like money--like anyone needs that? I figure that I'm going to be making art anyway, so if someone wants to trade me some of theirs for some of mine, who am I to argue? (Though, it should hopefully be something that both parties actually like.) Plus, with all the hosts and the diverse array of themes, I'm hoping to experiment with my art by being FORCED to try new things. I don't like being in an art rut where I just draw the same characters and figures over and over and over. So, if you're into art for art's sake, I'd suggest joining.

Hope to see you there. My handle is--gasp!--Gibberish. Track me down. Lets trade arts.