Sketches for my Big Project

This is Isaac. He is a small boy. Click to see full.

A Ladybug

I drew this with a pencil at Jacobs apartment tonight, after a few hand sketches. He gave me a sheet of bristol so I made this. Enjoy! I might go back and tidy it up and maybe color, although I might use the original as a practice canvas for oil painting. Click to enlarge.

Comic ADDstravaganza!!!!

I lack the ability to concentrate on a single project, so I will be posting these comics I am going to try to get published on the UTD Mercury. They are about life as a commuting student at UTD. They will definitely venture out past just that aspect, so look forward to hijinx and danger!

I am also working on finishing Imaginary Stitches and starting a new story tentatively called "The Elevator," and also working on concept art for the book I will be writing. That one is my grand project that will take a couple of years, seeing as it requires research, and many many many sketch books. I will be keeping people informed.

From the best show ever...

Found this today. Colin Meloy either taking my phone or giving it back.

That's my hand!!! Wooo

WOO!

Okay, so it has been a few months since my last post, and not much has happened besides a really really really good show.

I got to see The Decemberists here in Dallas this past wednesday. Needless to say, the show was amazing, as the band itself. The latest album, The Crane Wife, is perhaps the bands most well-rounded album, having a circular, epic feel that leaves wanting to listen from the beginning once it is over.

Colin Meloy, with his prowess at the art of showmanship, made the show a spectacle to be seen. Even though my guest to the show didn't quite appreciate it as much as I did, my appreciation for the show was worth the entire 40 dollars I paid. I can proudly say Colin Meloy made a phone call from my phone to my sister during the show and sang part of "The Culling of the Fold" into it. IT WAS AMAZING!!!

The next page of the comic might go up over Thanksgiving, once I have free time. I'm looking forward to that. Either that, or I will cut this particular story short and write stand alone stories.

Time to relax.

I have not even started working on the next page of IS. But be assured that before long you will see the next issue. In the meanwhile, I have been sketching alot. I am ridiculously tired right now though. I built a pinhole camera and have been having fun with that. Also expect some product photography! Right now, I need a drink.

I started my Teach For America application yesterday. I can't believe it. Last year of my undergraduate education. Life hasn't turned out the way I thought it would, but rarely anyone's does.
I am torn between applying for the big city that never sleeps or a rural area in South Dakota Native American reservations.

WOO WHO!!!...?

Here is page three. Enjoy! Page four will most likely be a week from now.

EAT THAT POOR SELF-IMAGE!

Wednesday, I can say, was productive.

Comic was inked, scanned, arranged, flattened, colors removed, ready for painting. Photogram ideas floating around my head, fixed the light leak on the bellows to my new (to me, anyways) camera, taught Jacob and John how to set up the dark room, and John was there for clean up. Went and picked up Days We Would Rather Know, a collection of poems by Michael Blumenthal. Amazing, go pick up a copy. The way things are going, time will run out for me before I finish life. Imaginary Stitches is tearing out my stitches. This is, however, a lesson in writing. I need to write in images, and make each one meaningful, and make every part essential. Perhaps every page in this comic is essential, but I feel it moves too slowly. Maybe that's just the me that wants everything fast speaking. I need to slow down and breath and go to sleep soon to wake up, bright and early, to go learn to be a poet, and come back and paint all day long. Paint Paint Paint! Comic might be done tomorrow evening. As long as I don't die, it will be here before the weekend!

AAAGHH!

I am so behind schedule for the comic. This week, although I will try my hardest to get it done as soon as I possibly can, seems to suggest that the release of page three will not be until Friday. I am so tired. I've been up since six and working pretty much non-stop. I got home at around 7 and have been organizing my room as a studio and bedroom. At least I have an internet connection now. This will make uploading things easier. Huzzah!

Today's thing to think about...

I need to talk about Vera Brosgol some more. More specifically, her one page work in Flight Volume Two, "Salmoning."
There's plenty of times I always wonder if I'm going down the right current, or if I took a wrong turn somewhere, and I can't turn back and go the right way. Well, besides the deep philosophical implications of this work, the work is truely Vera Brosgol creating beautiful work.
Go buy Flight, all three volumes so far, and read all the rest of the stories. I can't promote this series enough. So go buy them.
Click on the title for a link to Vera's "Salmoning" from the Flight 2 preview site.

The now deleted idea...

Was total bullcrap. I'll be working diligently and producing artistic works with literary value no matter how much time they take, although you can expect something weekly.

Page 2!

Page two, still on wednesday, as promised. I need to start working on page three immediately to get it done on time for early wednesday next week. Without further ado...*artstuffs partially contributed by the talented Claire Brown.

So Far, So Good.

Page two progress is going great. Scanning right now. I'm much happier with the new drawings, and I even had time to do a sketch! I drew this and then played with some prismacolor pencils, so I didn't color all the hair. This took about 3 minutes. I hate coloring in hair by hand.

I can't get no satisfaction

...from looking at page two, so I am going to redraw it and rescan it. I'll be working on this all day today, so late wednesday (afternoon or evening) might be when page two will go up. Hopefully I will be happy with it.

Quick drawing of the day!

I drew this today, pencilled and inked, trying to draw something heartfelt. I don't know about anyone else, but there is something about public transportation, listening to music, and holding hands that makes my heart hopeful. Someday. Well, yeah, this is kinda cheesy, but I'm a pretty cheesy fellow.

I'm back!

The last couple of days have been hectic. Miserable, I might even go as far to say. But I've started page two and should pencil and start inking tomorrow. I do, however, have class from 9 to noon, so I should be going to sleep soon.
I'm looking forward to "Project: Romantic." You can find a link to a preview by clicking on the title of this entry, or clicking here. My favorite page is Part IV of "Kingdom Animalia Illustrated."



























Sometimes you see things that make you laugh at the heart break you've been through, and that helps. But enough emotional talk.
I am nearly finished with the comic paintings I'm doing of Claire and Caroline. They are the actual real life incarnations of Shelly and Amy, respectively, from John Allison's Scary-Go-Round. Seriously. So I might take them to the imaging people before I give them the paintings, or if that fails, take them up to school and use the copy stand. I'll have to get good slide film and scan them on my computer once they are developed. I will not, however be putting them on here, for I think that takes away their value. Caroline will be posting hers on her myspace, however.
With that said, I can't wait to recieve my copies of Flight 1 and 2, and I'll have to re-order volume 3 since it got water damage tonight. Grr!

It's Wednesday!!

And as promised, here is page one of Imaginary Stitches. Expect page two next week.

Something good to listen to.

The broadcast I heard this last saturday of This American Life on the radio was perhaps the most touching program I have ever listened to. "Last Words." This is all I can say about it. Go listen to it. You can find it here. Although morbid, powerfully thought-motivating.
Expect to see a comic on death after Imaginary Stitches, the first page of which will go up on Wednesday, and a new page will be added every wednesday after that.

The First Story's First Page.

I finally got one page of the first story completely drawn, inked, scanned, and colored. Scanning took longer than I though it would take, mostly because i had a very hard time lining up the parts of the scan. My flat bed scanner has a recess where the glass is, and when the top is closed, the flattener pushes part of the board in and it creates a curve, distorting the scan. then it's nearly impossible to the all the lines to match up. I finally got it to work by scanning in two parts, not using the flattener, and putting part of the board on the outside of the scanning area. I spent a couple of hours in this step.
The first story I've decided to illustrate (my mom used this word for what I'm doing, I liked it better than comicking) is Imaginary Stitches, one of my better short stories. I wrote this one last summer. If you have read the story, good for you, but if you haven't, you'll get to see it in living color!
Anyways, I haven't yet decided a schedule for the comic (although for sure I've narrowed it down to one update a week, at least for now, as it takes me forever to get a single page done. I might increase to two a week once I get the hang of it), and I'm still working on ideas for an actual website for the comic. I don't want to put up the first page yet though, maybe tomorrow. In the meanwhile, here is a sneak preview at perhaps my serial comic, which will be a factual account of my life. Seriously. (Character based on me, although I did take some flattering liberties.) Click to GRANDITIZE IT!!!

This is another test. I was messing with creating the lines in their own layer, and checking how color was going to work. This was done using the trackpad on my powerbook. I definitely need a drawing tablet. I might have to go buy one right now.

I might as well get started.

Today I purchased a copy of photoshop and a scanner, which will double as a tool for my photography and my comic art. I haven't started coloring yet, but I scanned one of my test drawings and tested photoshop's ability at removing blue lines. It works.

Seeing as I am not going to school for drawing and classical animation, I have taken it upon myself to learn from others by reading what they have to say and seeing all the wonderful works. I, being the sappy sap that I am, have fallen in love with Vera Brosgol. I did not know this until today, but she is the author of "Return to Sender," a wonderful comic that was never finished. I was first introduced to the comic last year when Sarah showed it to me. I also found out Vera drew the "Skeletor Tries His Luck" sketch, which was Sarah's AIM icon for the longest time. Who would have known I'd considered Vera Brosgol as one of my top favorite artists. Check out her art and animation at www.verabee.com.

The point of this entry is clear. I am going to start inking "Imaginary Stitches" (and continue drawing it) as soon as I get a desk, which should be this weekend. If not, I'll keep on working on the floor.

Classes start next Thursday. I'll be buying a large format camera soon, and cheap 35mm film to do those annoying introductory assignments.

Stay Tuned.

Coming to a Blog Near You!!

My latest endeavor into the realm of the arts has been one that I've been wanting to do for a while, but only until a few days ago had the time and funding to start. Well, half start.
I recently started creating graphic short stories (as in comics, not the bad kind of graphic) based on my short stories I've written over the last couple of years. That's only half of the project, however, as the other half is creating a comic that I update regularly. This probably will not go up until I have made several episodes, after which I will have gotten the hang of making them, and will be able to post them twice a week and keep up with the production of new episodes. This, of course, involves time to write, time to storyboard (or plan a layout, since comics are pretty much fully fledged storyboards), pencil, ink, scan, and color in photoshop. I expect this to take up a large portion of my time, which unfortunately, still being in school (one more year!!), i might not have enough of. Also I lack a scanner and a copy of Photoshop (both of which I plan to buy as soon as I recieve money from the school).
Also, on my lists of projects (forced upon me, but which I will complete fully willingly) are the assignemts for the two photography classes which I am taking. I am in the process of buying a large format camera (also waiting for school money), which will be an excellent way to be able to divide my time between the two classes. I hate having to take out an unfinished roll of film because I need to change from color to black and white, or vice versa. So expect great things from those projects as well.
Third on my plate for this fall session, I will be writing poetry. I plan to incorporate this poetry into both my other projects (if it is any good, I have not taken a poetry class before, except what we went over in middle and high school for a week each year). There will be photographs based on my poetry, and maybe even comics based on it. I guess we will have to wait and see.
This, along with work at Mad Science, is probably all I will have time for this fall. I don't plan on socializing much, unless of course I meet a special lady, in which case be prepared for works inspired by her as well. But until further notice, all works will be inspired by my ex, Sarah Ferguson. Yep, the Dutchess of York. Nothing like a little heart break (coupled with a few martinis, or course) to get the creative process rolling.

Music

Have you ever had an album that when you listen to it, it is as if the artist was writing the soundtrack of your life? Everytime you listen to it (which is as often as possible), you find yourself relieved that someone's situation is the same as your own. And you listen to it over and over. As soon as you buy it, you listen to it on the way home, and at home, you put the cd on your computer and let it play on repeat. As you fall asleep at night, you let it lull you to sleep. And in the morning, it is the first thing you hear, and it invigorates you, whatever the songs may be about, whatever you have been through, this constant reminder of that event that affected you so deeply, a death, a break up, the music helps heal you. You realize that someone else has been through this, and you feel comforted by the fact that your heart is not the only broken one. Do you have an album like that? A song which captures your soul?

A True Story

I was not born into a wealthy family. For most of my life, I grew up in a home that struggled to get by. It wasn't because my dad was lazy, or because my mother did not keep a budget well. My dad is actually one of the hardest working people I know. He was a Baptist preacher, but worked as an electronic technician during the week. My mother spent our income wisely. We always had food on the table, and we were always warm in the winters. No, we struggled because we always seems to have luck against us. I mean, I was raised into not believe in luck, but as life would have it, something always happened to set us back.
The summer before the fifth grade was one of the worst I remember. My dad had been offered a job at a church a long way from the town we had grown up in. Moving there would change everything. New schools, new friends, new attitudes on life. The church had arranged for a parsonage, but before we could move in, it had to be remodeled.
After several weeks of staying with an old lady from the church, the house was nearly completed. We moved all of our belongings into the house. A problem with the plumbing meant anyone who needed to use the bathroom would have to walk to the church. For my mother's sake, we stayed at the lady's house one more night.
It was on the television, in the papers. Reports of arson, a house burned down.
We lost everything. Literally, up in smoke. All of our belongings were scorched: clothes, furniture, memories, our bright future. We had nothing but what we had with us. But we survived. We did not live a life with any luxuries for years. We accepted charity, my father took a job as a janitor at the school I attended. He always had a smile on his face. I cried late at night sometimes.
We lived in the housing projects for a while, we could not afford electricity for a few months. We borrowed the neighbors and paid them with what we could.
Eventually, we would be able to afford a small mobile home, and a rented lot in a trailer park. Sometimes we could not afford food, and we did not qualify for assistance from welfare, since both my parents were employed. My mother worked as an assistant at the county offices, filling out documents, running numbers. My dad did not want to mop floors anymore. He took the biggest risk of his life. He quit his job and attended the university in town full time. Now all the financial burden was on my mother. I thought my father was lazy, I thought we was being irresponsible. My mother spent hours at work, making barely enough to get by. Most of our food came from the local food pantry. My dad bought expensive books and sat around reading them for long hours. I resented him. He did no work. I cried late at night sometimes.
My father graduated from school when I was a freshman in high school. Four years had gone by since we moved from our comfortable life near family, near old friends. In all those years, we were never hungry. We were never cold in the winters. At last, my father had completed his schooling. When he started, he barely could speak english. He had trouble communicating, and sometimes he still does. But he graduated with a degree in sociology. He found a job as a counselor for underpriviledged children at the elementary school my little brother attended. Throughout all of this, our parents never enrolled us in this program. We were poorer than these at times, but there was hope at the end of the dark tunnel. both my parents were employed, and we managed to get by, buying our own food, our own clothes.
My parents are getting along well today. They still live in the trailer, but we recovered after those long, painful years. Thinking back, I cry late at night sometimes. We made it. We made it.

I love a girl who burned my heart down. As the walls of my heart crumbled into glowing embers on the bare floor of my soul, I became enraged. I had built that love up, I nurtured it from it's weak, infantile days. And now it smoldered, ashes blowing up into the air, a pile of soot, black and soon cold. As I grew to accept this pillar of nothingness, something I did not expect happened. A phoenix. In it's eyes was a dim glimmer. A revived hope. Although everything I had was lost, here is a new chance, a clean slate. My love for her is stronger than it was, a renewed emotion. So I wrote her a letter. I wrote her my heart, I wrote her my secret. The clouds of smoke that once blackened the sky were gone. I would do anything to make this last. I still wait for a response. I still wait.

ever night

The small rectangular window
let's me see this machine's wing.
Outside the sun is setting
red, like crying eyes.
I last saw you on the other
side of the world. The sun rose
from cold, windy eastern skies
yellow, like your hair.
The words you said are with me still.
The touch of lips to lips gone.
And you interred lie sleeping,
black, in ever night.

the kids were sick.

the kids are sick
they cough in bed.
they toss and turn.
fevers cause images
in their heads to burn.
the kids are sick.
their sheets are wet
with sickly sweat.
and I? i wait.
burning foreheads.
the kids are sick.
the sun rises
and bodies are still
and everything says
they're sleeping, so still.
the kids were sick.

A short story that I am writing right now!

"I never really thought it would be this hard." Melissa took of her apron and threw it over the recliner. Several pens fell out of the pocket.
I picked up the pens. Two of them where Bics with blue caps, and one of them was a novelty pen I had bought her on my trip to Seattle. "You just have to tell them what you think." I put the pens into the apron pocket and hung it on the coat rack.
Mary had wavy blonde hair, and when she worked she put it up. When she got home she would untie it and wave it around to untangle it. "The thing is, I can't." She ran her fingers through her hair.
...
to be cont.

Another Rant

Today I will rant about the objectivity of women in today's society. In particular, I will bash the AXE company, since it has been brought to my attention that their advertising not only puts men in a fantasized control over women, but that this power is granted by a spray which can be bought at the store for about five dollars. Are there really men out there who think this way? Are there really women out there who let themselves be portrayed in this way? Why don't the good guys and girls say anything about this? Why is this company putting out commercial after commercial? Are there people actually buying this product for the reason that it was portrayed? Are there people who buy this product, despite of the way it is advertized? Why support this product, and this portrayal of women as an object? I don't know about you, but I know I will not purchase this product, or any other product which degrades the equality of man and woman. That is all.