Andy's Art and Whatever

Comic Cons

2009-08-29T11:43:00.000-07:00

I wish I could go to more comic cons, and more specifically to an Anime con of some kind. But I never know about cons until like a month before they’re about to happen and by then it’s too late. Not to mention flying out, renting cars, hotels, food, gas, the table fee, etc all add up to A LOT of money to spend at one time, which I never have. Nor can I plan very far in advance because I never know what I’m gonna be doing a year from now.

So far, the only comic con which is convenient for me is the Minnesota Comic Book Association’s Comic Con. It’s free for comic artists such as myself to attend. That means I don’t have to pay $150 or more for half of a table. Seats are provided, and there’s even food for us too. Every other comic con I have gone to have not had tables and amenities for free.

I really like going to comic cons too. It’s the one time where it’s ok for me to just geek out over comics/movies/games/art/etc. It’s fun and I get to meet a lot of new and interesting people. I want to go to more of them, but I never have the time or money to attend. There’s a con I’m going to attend in October, but after that I have NO IDEA what I’m gonna do next.

I wish comic conventions would give us artists a bit more of a break and let us attend these things for free or relatively cheap. I mean, we’re the reason people are COMING to the comic cons (well, us and the crazy merchandise) so we should be treated with a little bit more aplomb.

This all came about as I was looking over the list of Anime Cons for the rest of the year and thinking how I can’t attend any of them. I find it interesting that they listed my old college’s Schoolgirls in Mobil Suits class as a “con” when it’s decidedly NOT. If it were, I’d go back there cuz it’s easy to get to.

You know, people always talk about the EVIL of money... but honestly... money makes things SO much easier... If I had the money, I’d be advertising the HELL out of my work, I could attend comic cons and see my family more often, I wouldn’t have to scrape pennies for dinner each day, I’d be stress free from bills, and I could indulge my gaming interests to keep me occupied so I wouldn’t get depressed. I don’t need A LOT of money to be happy... but just a smidgen more would be very helpful...
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My books in Print:
Formera Volume 1 - $9.95 http://www.amazon.com/Formera-1-Andrew-Dobson/dp/0979787467/
Formera Volume 2 - $9.99 http://www.amazon.com/Formera-Two-Andrew-Dobson/dp/1934985074/
The Adventures of Alex Ze Pirate on Amazon.com - $19.99 http://www.amazon.com/Adventures-Alex-Ze-Pirate/dp/1442146451/

My Official Website: http://www.andysartwork.com/
Follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/AndrewDobson6

Ponyo

2009-08-24T10:40:00.000-07:00

I just saw Ponyo the other day, finally! I might have some spoilers, but I’m gonna try to not, so read at your own risk.. lol

First, I want to saw that as usual, the animation is top notch. It’s also a little weird too. I mean I know most of his movies are weird, but this one is pretty darn weird if you ask me... Right up there with Spirted Away and Howl’s Moving Castle.

Story-wise I was a little bored with the movie. It’s sweet and cute, but it’s never all that scary or intense. It also takes it’s time going from beginning to end. This is certainly not a movie you want to show a kid with attention deficits disorder. At one point we even heard one of the parents in the back of the theater snoring. Also, nothing really climatic ever happens in the movie. I kept waiting for there to be some tension but there never was.

Miyazaki makes movies for the age group of the main character. Since the main character in this movie is only 5 years old, this movie is just a lot more sweet and innocent I guess. I guess it’s kinda like Totoro in many ways in how innocent and sweet it is, but even still... Totoro had some tension with the girl getting lost. I left the theater feeling just kinda... blah about it. I liked it, but it certainly won’t be making my top 10 Miyazaki films list.

Don’t get me wrong, it was a nice movie and I did enjoy it. In fact I noticed a lot of interesting little things which I doubt anyone else would. For example, the backgrounds looked almost like colored pencils, and a lot of the “straight” lines were very crooked and wobbly. There also didn’t appear to be any extensive use of computer graphics in this film. And what I mean by that is that all of the ships and the effects looked to be hand drawn. In an American film, those would’ve all been done as 3-D models with a cel-shaded effect. But here, you can see the line width vary and wobble as the ships move slowly by. Things like that remind you of the craft of the film and it gives it a special little charm.

The English dub is alright. It’s nothing spectacular but it’s not horrible either. Some of the voices felt a little weird, and there was a weird mixing of proper Japanese speaking (san, sen, sensei, etc) and American references (“let’s go to LA”). For some reason, dubbing girls in Anime is either hit or miss. I wonder why that’s so hard to do?

Overall... It’s a sweet film, and it’s fun and cute, but it’s not exactly mind blowing. Lol. It’s imaginative in a way that most kids movies aren’t anymore.

Unsure what to do with pictures

2009-08-18T09:06:00.001-07:00

I’ve noticed that a lot of the times when I make a new picture, I tend to have problems with backgrounds. See, when working on a comic I understand the importance of backgrounds and I do include them in the panels even if I don’t want to draw them... But when I work on just a picture of a character or a fanart or something, I tend to focus on the characters themselves and completely forget about the background until I’m done. Sometimes I get so far into a piece that I actually finish coloring it before I realize the background is missing. I’ve tried fitting in backgrounds digitally, or by whipping something up quickly, but it never really “works” you know what I mean? Unless the picture was started with the background clearly in mind, it’s always hard to fit a background around an already drawn character. The perspective, camera angle, and image constraints are all there and it just makes things more challenging.

So quite often I end up with nicely drawn pictures of characters, with no backgrounds. I’m in such a boat right now. I’ve got several pictures that I’ve done at work the past few days and they’re all of characters in poses... but no backgrounds for them. I feel kinda “cheap” about throwing in a colored square or pattern or something arty like that. I wanna post the pictures, but I don’t wanna post it if it’s not “complete.” I hate having to go back and retouch up a picture once I’ve finished/posted it.

That brings me to my question. What should I do? Should I post them incomplete, or should I post them with a background “of sorts” to fill the negative space, or should I actually work really hard and make up a background to fit each individual picture in excessive detail?

Nyx Quest: KindRed Spirits

2009-08-10T22:24:00.000-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_Sc6c6Sbpc

WiiWare has been getting some really great games lately. Nyx Quest (originally titled Icardian) is a beautifully crafted masterpieces of a game and it’s only $10 for download. Not to be confused with Nintendo’s own Kid Icarus, this game tells the story of a friendship between a god and a mortal in ancient Greece.

Icarus is a man from Greek mythology who made a pair of wax wings and flew up to meet the gods. There he met the lovely Nyx and the two became close friends. One day, Icarus sensed that something wasn’t quite right on earth. He descended back down, and was not heard from again. Nyx decides to go in search of him and discovers that the wold has been laid to waste by the blazing sun, controlled by the god Hellion. And so begins the Nyx’s quest to find her lost friend.

Because she’s mortal on earth, she can be hurt by all around her. The scorching sands, the flying harpies, spikes, and crumbling ruins all stand in her way. She can fly, but only for short distances and she has very limited abilities at the beginning of the game. But Zeus and many of the other gods help her along the way and grant her special abilities to help her in her quest.

The game is a 2.5-D sides-crolling platformer puzzle game. That’s kinda a mouthful but it’s the truth. The characters and environment are all 3-D, but you operate in a 2-D plane. You move Nyx with the nunchuck and jump and fly around the stages like a platform game, but you also solve puzzles move heavy blocks, flip switches, and all sorts of things while you platform. It’s as much a puzzle game as it is a platformer and it does the job splendidly.

Some of the abilities the gods give you are to be able to move large blocks by pointing at the screen and holding a button. There’s a strong vibe of an earlier WiiWare title “Lost Winds” throughout this game (and indeed later on you even get to control the wind to a degree). It’s very unique to be solving puzzles by pointing at the screen with one hand while you move your character and navigate them through the puzzles with the other. For example, to cross a stretch of burning sand you might have to stand on top of a large block and drag the block through the sand with the WiiMote, while your character jumps and dodges obstacles which get in the way by using the Nunchuck.

There are only 12 levels (with a 13th level hidden for expert players) and though that might SEEM small, the levels themselves are broken up into sections (with save points) and are immensely huge. It’s not uncommon for 1 level to take a good 15-20 minutes to get through, and you’ll probably be redoing some parts a lot until you figure out the puzzles. So on average I think overall it’s a 3-8 hour gaming experience depending on your skills. If you’re like me you’ll keep coming back to it in short breaks and that could take you longer.

The gameplay is also very relaxed, while being tense at the same time (if that makes sense). There’s no time limit rushing you, and you can explore and work your way through the levels at your own pace... but there are traps and obstacles (especially in the later levels) which will really test your reflexes and ingenuity. So while you can be very calm while playing, you can also be very nervous and tense inside.

I would like to point out that it’s very refreshing to see a female character being used as the only player. I do not think that I would have enjoyed this game quite as much if it had been a male lead to be honest. Nyx is very tiny on the screen so you never really get a good look at her, but her movements are very fluid and well animated.

The environments are gorgeous too, in a somber depressing sort of way. All of the worlds have a lot of depth and character to them, and the particle effects, depth of field, and bloom are used creatively and do not overdo it. It’s a simple game with a simple style and it’s just very pretty to look at. The music is an eerie piano/harpsichord-like melody which blends well with the ruins of ancient Greece.

My gripes are very few. But they’re all very minor gripes.

I wish that we could see Nyx in the game a little bit closer up. It’s such a personal journey for her character so it feels a little odd to be controlling her from so far away. The only time you can really see her detail is on the channel screen on the Wii Menu (not in game).

The text on the screen is difficult to see on a standard TV because of the font they chose, and because sometimes they fade in and fade out too quickly to read. The in-game text is controlled by the A button, so you can read and re-read it until you’re satisfied. But the text for the cut scenes are not and I frequently found myself only a few words into the sentences before it faded away, forcing me to guess what was going on. Very seldom I found the text reaching so far to the sides that I actually couldn’t see the first couple of letters of each line. I imagine this is not a big deal on a wide screen or flat screen TV. But on my little standard TV it was kinda a burden.

The levels themselves are each different from each other visually (the final level looks NOTHING like the levels at the beginning of the game. However the desert sand, the ruins, and the blazing sun and heat kinda make everything feel very much the same. You won’t notice the changes in each level until you start to compare mid levels to previous ones. The progression is very subtle. I kinda wish there was just a tiny bit more variation in the visual design.

There are boss battles periodically throughout the game. Each one is slightly different from the last, and some of them will repeat later in the game, but with your newer abilities they feel different (which is good). While the journey through the game gets harder and harder, I found the final boss battle to be rather easy by comparison, which left me feeling a bit disappointed.

The only other thing I can think of is that I wish there were a little bit more in side quests. There are ancient artifacts of the gods sprinkled throughout the 12 levels which offer some challenges, and collecting them all unlocks the hidden 13th level... but aside from that there’s very little to do once you’ve beaten the game.

Thankfully though, this game does not leave you hanging. Lost Winds, which has a lot in common with this game, felt more like it was only 1/4th of a game. Almost like they just allowed the first level for download. You fought 1 boss and that was it. Game Over. Nyx Quest is not like that. This is a complete game from start to finish, and I applaud the efforts of the developers to achieve so much in such a small amount of space.

The game is so well polished I really can’t think of anything else to talk about. The puzzles are challenging but not insulting to your intelligence. They gradually get more and more complex and challenging over time, but the challenge never rises sharply and you never really get stuck. The animations are smooth and fluid. The graphics are crisp and clear and well rendered. And the story is sweet and heartfelt. Overall this is a fantastically amazing game. Buy this one if you have the points for it... it’s WELL worth it.

Graphics 8
Music 7
Gameplay 9
Story 8
Replay value 6

Nyx Quest is a WiiWare title available for download on the Nintendo Wii’s Shop Channel for $10 (or 1000 WiiPoints).

Watchmen... ooookayyy...

2009-08-06T11:34:00.001-07:00

I missed seeing Watchmen in the theater, so when I saw it available for RedBox Rental, I was overjoyed. Everyone around me said how fantastic a movie it was and how great a comic book adaption too. Nothing but praise from the fans. It’s technically stunning with visual feasts for the eyes and a moral message too. It’s epic, it’s edgy, and it’s smart. It’s everything that I should enjoy in a comic book style movie...

... so why did I not like it?

Well... here’s my breakdown of why I think it didn’t strike a chord with me...

1. None of the characters were likeable. You have to have SOMEONE to root for during a movie, because if none of them are enjoyable then there’s no emotional connection with the audience. Just when I thought I would like a certain character, they did or said something which completely pissed me off. None of them were redeemable.

2. It was overly graphic and violent. I’m sure the reason behind that was because it’s trying to make a commentary on society’s violence at large, but some of the stuff I saw I really didn’t need to see. It was just plain disgusting in it’s graphicness, and it was violent towards animals too (which is an immediate gut dislike reaction.) “If you kill an animal in a movie you’ve automatically lost 50% of your audience” as someone famous once said.

3. It was slow. The overuse of slow motion throughout the entire movie made it feel like it was longer than it actually was. Within the first 15 minutes I was getting bored with it already. I can understand using it from time to time to punctuate important pieces of information... but for almost the entire movie? That’s far too much. When everything is important, nothing is.

4. Lost allegory. The story takes place in a “what if” scenario (an improbable one at that) which didn’t really connect with today’s social feeling. I dunno, this is the hardest one for me to pin down... but the closest I could find to anything relating to today’s news topics was someone mentioning socialism towards the beginning. I guess it just didn’t feel “relevant” to me. Maybe if this was made in the 80's when it was set, it would’ve been... but for today.. I dunno...

So... that’s my verdict. There was a lot of stuff that could’ve been trimmed, edited, cut, and simply not used at all. None of the acting was bad, and the special FX were top notch, and the writing was good and the story was epic. By all rights it should’ve been an awesome movie. But in the end it just left me feeling empty.

I’m not trying to be negative... I just didn’t like it. And I don’t understand why so many comic book people were holding this movie up to such a lofty pillar of accomplishment. It was so-so, and nothing more. Am I alone in this thinking? Am I just overtly cynical? What did you think and do you agree with me?

I’m back!

2009-08-05T08:51:00.001-07:00

I’ve actually been back for a couple of days now, but oh well! If you wanna know how our concert went, check out my last journal.

It was really nice going back home. I had a book signing at the local public library, where I met a couple people I hadn’t seen in close to 15 years. I sold a lot of copies of my book, and generally just had a good time.

I got to visit John Adam’s tomb. How many people can say “I got to see a presidential tomb today?” lol. Also got to see his birthplace and summer home too. It’s kinda sad how much civilization has encroached around those buildings... back in the day it was just open field. Now the street comes right up to almost in front of their door and there’s a Dunkin’ Donuts across the way. Sigh...

My cat was cared for while I was away, so he wasn’t TOO annoying when we got back. He did wake me up yesterday at 7am though...

It was also right back to work for me. The very next day after the trip I was back at work. No rest for me. Sigh... I’ve got so much I need to catch up on and get done.

Anyhoo... I’m back... I’m working... and I wish the trip was longer...

Depeche Mode Concert

2009-08-03T16:24:00.000-07:00

I know of Depeche Mode through my girlfriend. It’s one of her favorite bands and this past weekend we got to see them live in Boston. Actually it wasn’t in Boston, but for Londoners like them it’s close enough to consider it so.

We arrived fairly early, bought a coupon for a CD of the show, a T-shirt, a large pretzel, and a beer (which I didn’t drink). We found our seats pretty easily, and we got a very good view of the stage from where we were. We intentionally bought seats on the left side of the stage knowing that Martin Gore would be on that side, and we both like Martin more than Dave.

The band that opened is called Peter Bjorn and John, and they were pretty good... just not exactly the “Depeche Mode” type of music. The people there really didn’t give a crap about them, which made me feel bad because they weren’t awful or anything, just more happy go-lucky. At one point the singer jumped off the stage and ran through the isles singing. My girlfriend stood up to take pictures and since she was the only one standing up he looked at her and smiled, which was cool.

After the opening band we waited for 40 minutes before Depeche Mode finally came on. I’m not as big a fan as my girlfriend is, so there were a couple of songs I had never heard, but for the most part I knew them. They played a lot of their best hits and really got the crowd going strong.

The stage was rather small, as was the outside theater we were at. They had a huge TV like backdrop which displayed either pre-recorded videos for the songs, or used the camera crew there to show the group for all to see. The backdrop also had a round half circle which also was a TV and was kinda part of the larger one behind it, so sometimes there were interchangeable elements going on which was kinda cool.

The crowd got so worked up, they had 3 encores, which seemed to me to be a lot but I guess is pretty normal. Dave really did his best to work up the audience and several times during a couple songs tried to get everyone to sing along. Martin looked stiff as a board from his shyness which was funny and cute to see.

Overall, it was a great show. I just had a few minor problems which were more personal than anything else.

The first problem was the group of 3 people sitting in-front of us. They were SO into EVERYTHING. Even just the temp music playing between the opening band and Depeche Mode, they were grooving to that too. When Depeche Mode finally came on they were almost uncontrollable. They were waving their hands, jumping up and down, and being just downright obnoxious. I mean, I understand it’s a great show and all, but seriously... 3 hours of that? Calm down and let us enjoy the show already.

Also it was really confusing because there was a young girl, a young man, and an old man and I was trying to figure out what the heck their relationship was. The young woman seemed to have come with the old man, but she was dancing and being very provocative and suggestive with the young man AND the old man. I dunno what was going on but it annoyed me a lot. I’m such a prude.

The second problem I had was with the music itself. It was far too loud during the middle songs. It started off just fine and I had no problem with it, but about halfway through someone must’ve ramped up the audio because the bass was just unbearable for me. The concrete floor was shaking like jello and my heart felt weird and several times I had to sit down and cover my hears because of a splitting headache. I’ve never really been to a “rock concert” before so I guess I didn’t understand what I was getting into. Next time I go to one, I’m gonna bring some earplugs so I can enjoy the music without all the trouble.

Aside from that, it was a really good show. We’re trying to order the CD of the concert, and maybe I’ll be able to listen to some of the songs I had to cover my ears for. I did enjoy it, I just didn’t know what to expect since I’ve never been to a concert like this before. I’d upload some pictures too, but my camera had a really hard time focusing and they come out very blurry. Le Sigh...

Motivation and Vacation

2009-07-29T00:17:00.001-07:00

Just because I’m super obsessive compulsive, here’s a couple youtube videos of my Mii playing Wii Sports Resort (actual journal below).

Skydiving
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EKkZNHtHoCg
Swordplay
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAxdmJsysDg
Archery
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5KTsbB55u30
Island Flyover
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BG1cRKyvUU0

I’m really enjoying Wii Motion Plus. I wish there were more games out right now which used it, though. Aside from a tennis game and a golf game, there’s really nothing coming out for a while and that’s kinda annoying. Of course I’m even MORE psyched now about the eventual Zelda Wii title since I know how swordfighting and archery will work in the game (or at last a template of how).

I’ve been having a really rough month motivational wise. I just can’t get myself through my work, and it’s really frustrating. I’ve got a 2 part Pirate story planned which I wanna start working on, but I’m gonna be leaving for a mini-vacation in a few days... so I can’t start too much right now. Also, I still haven’t colored in the 2nd Pirate story yet. It’s all inked and scanned and ready and it’s really really REALLY easy to color... so what the heck? Why haven’t I done anything?

I hate feeling unproductive. I’m so used to making tons of work at once that when I have periods like this where I don’t do much at all, I feel really useless and depressed. It’s hard coming out of these spells. I can at least claim the fact that I made a Mario and Link pixel art out of those plastic beads you iron. Remember those? They’re like little colored beads and you line them all up and then iron them and they melt and fuse together to make “art”? Lol. Well I made a Racoon Mario sprite and a Link from the original Legend of Zelda sprite. They’re really cool and it’s kinda neat having these pixelated sprites that I can actually hold in my hands. Lol. I wanna make more now but I used up all the black on Mario... :- (

This is kinda silly, but I really like the fact that in Metroid Zero Mission for the GBA you can go back to Mother Brain’s hideout AFTER you defeat her. I LOVE it when games allow you to free roam like that. I wish I had Metroid Fusion (and another GBA) so I could link the two up. I think you get something if you do that, though I don’t know what. That game has kept me busy at work all this past week and kept me from getting too depressed. I think Metroid works best in 2-D form. I love those games so much more than the FPS “Prime” series.

I’m doing a big book signing in Massachusetts on Saturday. If anyone has some free time and live in Massachusetts, you should definitely come out and say hi! I’ll have more details tomorrow.

Tron in Wonderland

2009-07-25T11:57:00.001-07:00

So I just watched a couple of trailers for some new movies coming (coincidentally both by Disney) which were advertised at the recent Comic Con. And here’s my impressions of them:
________________________
Alice in Wonderland
I’m honestly getting sick of both Tim Burton and Johnny Depp. The novelty of Johnny has worn off considerably because of the slew of movies he’s been in lately (Pirates of the Caribbean, Sweeny Todd, Willy Wonka, etc) and his “fantastic” performances have started to dwindle and just be... well... kinda the same thing we’ve already seen. I especially do not like the design of his Mad Hatter character, with that horrible shock of flat red hair. I just don’t see him performing this role any different than when he did Jack Sparrow or Wonka. In fact it almost seems to me like a mixing of the two.

Likewise for Tim Burton, the twisted macabre worlds that Tim Burton create all look... well... like the same thing we’ve already seen. Everything is just basically “Nightmare Before Christmas” over and over again.

Some of the effects in the trailer looked interesting and I’m curious to see it in 3-D... but some of the other effects just look awful. I don’t like the Cheshire cat, nor do I like the queen’s ungodly huge head. I understand what they’re trying to do (which is imitate the original caricatured drawings from the book) but if that’s the case, then shouldn’t Johnny’s head be equally huge?

There’s something about the way Disney does computer animation which bugs me. It’s like everything is TOO smooth when it moves it’s obvious every time what’s fake and what’s real (more on that in the next section).

Finally, I’m not all that impressed with the way that Alice looks. Alice is the most important character in the movie and she looks awful to me. I don’t know what it is, maybe it’s the hair... but something about her just doesn’t appeal to me at all.

I dunno... I’m sure people will be praising this movie and hyping it up and all kinds of stuff... but for me, it just seems like a mediocre movie and not worth seeing it in the theater even in 3-D.
________________
Tron Legacy
I remember the first Tron quite fondly, especially after I saw how they made the movie. Pretty much the entire movie was rotoscoped (traced) to add those glowing effects on their suits. And the computer animation at the time was revolutionary and incredibly time consuming. It looks dated now, of course, but it’s got a certain “charm” about how primitive it is.

Flash forward to now... The trailer shows a character in an updated outfit fleeing from some bad guy. He pulls a matrix move and gets into a light-cycle (which also is updated) and they speed off for a chase around a semi-transparent and mimalist world. Eventually the bike gets blown up and the guy is confronted by his pursuer who promptly kills him.

With all of the CGI effects, I dunno... It just doesn’t look “right” to me. It’s got all of the glitz and glamor of a PS3 game, but with the retro visuals of an 80's computer, and something about that just isn’t working for me. The things which should be “digital” aren’t, and the things which shouldn’t are. And once again, the effects are too “smooth.” Especially when dealing with the human characters, where it’s quite obvious that certain shots are entirely digital. Their movement just doesn’t look realistic, even for the simplest of things.

There’s also some old guy watching from a tower and, correct me if I’m wrong, but was that suppose to be Jeff Bridges who took the guy out? They made a point to lighten up his face inside his helmet before killing the guy... but honestly I couldn’t recognize him. I only surmise that it’s suppose to be him.

I dunno... overall I’m not too thrilled with either of these BIG BLOCKBUSTER TITLES! Is it just me, or does anyone else out there feel this way?

Vacation, Book Signing, Wii Sports, and MORE!

2009-07-23T12:03:00.001-07:00

Next week I’m gonna be going on a much needed vacation to see my family. Skype helps me keep in touch with them but I just haven’t been able to visit in such a long time. It’s going to be so nice to get away from it all and be with family for a change.

While I’m back home, I’m gonna go see a Depeche Mode concert in Boston. Theoretically we’ve got seats which put us on the Martin Gore side of the stage. Here’s hoping... *crosses fingers*

Also, I’m gonna be doing a book signing and lecture at my local library for junior and high school kids. Maybe I can pass on some of my experience and wisdom to them, although I have a feeling it’s simply going to devolve into a geek-out session about comics books and manga. Lol. Not that that’s a bad thing mind you...

I was apprehensive about going on this trip because it’s for such a long time and I don’t want to leave my cat all alone with no food (timed dispensers are far too pricy for me right now), but one of my girlfriend’s coworkers is nice enough to come over and look after him while we’re gone. Yay.

I wish I could bring my Nintendo Wii (and more specifically Wii Fit) to show to my parents. But they have a strong aversion to Nintendo and anything video game related. They go out and exercise regularly and do workouts and the like, so they can’t see what sort of benefit Wii Fit would have... even for a social phobic individual such as myself. Sigh... I think that if they just TRIED the darn thing, they would really find it interesting and have a lot of FUN with it. But whatever... I’m not lugging that thing through the airport.

I’d really think they’d get a kick out of it if they tried Wii Sports Resort, which is coming out this weekend. I’m planning to buy it when it comes out and have saved a few bucks just for the occasion. It’s kinda annoying that Wii Motion Plus has been out for almost a month now, but the one game which showcases everything it can do hasn’t come out yet. Of course I really wanna try the sword fighting game, and also the paddle boat game. Those look like the most fun. Archery too for that matter. Le sigh... Sunday just can’t get her quick enough...

I showed off my “Best Laid Plans” to my parents and girlfriend and they both didn’t like it. Not so much the story but the ending. And sadly I couldn’t agree more, which depresses me. I’m gonna have to go back and redo the last panel. I think I can modify it to work better with just a few edits, but it’s against my nature to go back in the first place, so I’m really struggling with it.

The next pirate story is gonna be fun, but I need some help. Does anyone speak “britspeak”? I’ve got a character that I want to talk with a heavy British dialect and slang, but I myself am ignorant of how to do that. Whenever I try it sounds more Australian than British. Does anyone know of a website which translates into slang or could help me or could someone volunteer to give me advice?

Michael Jackson 1958-2009

2009-06-25T20:04:00.000-07:00

I’m sure by now everyone’s heard the news... that Michael Jackson has passed away. I dunno about the rest of you, but this was a complete shock to me, especially since I had only just recently been getting into his music.

For me, it’s been a mixed day of emotions. I’m sad and depressed over the passing of such a great musical legend, and I’m angry and pissed off at my co-workers who did nothing but make snide ridiculing comments and jokes about his death.

Anyone who’s done a little bit of research on Michael will know that a lot of the tabloid headlines were exaggerated and false. It’s a shame that such a great man was forced to go into seclusion and practically give up music simply due to the media’s unrelenting slander. He’s had a hard enough life as it is, and him dying only a few weeks from a comeback tour just makes it even more tragic.

Say what you will about the man, but I believe he wouldn’t hurt a fly. As a child he had to endure a lot of abuse and as a grown man he simply wanted to make sure children were treated right and grew up having the fun and love that he didn’t have. But when you have tons of money and popularity, it naturally draws ire and unwanted attention. It didn’t help that he had a disease which bleached his skin, forcing him to get surgery turning him white and creating an endless array of wild rumors about his personal life.

In the end though, regardless of what’s true and what’s not... his music did indeed inspire and touch almost everyone. If you listen to any current music, chances are that the bands behind them were in some way affected by Michael Jackson. And “Thriller” is by far one the greatest song I’ve ever heard.

Don McClean’s song might have been about Buddy Holly’s death... but for me.. Today is the day that the music truly died.

Rest in Peace, Michael.

Pirates now on Amazon.com!

2009-05-07T09:45:00.000-07:00

I’ve been slow posting here. My bad.

It’s taken me close to a month, but I’ve finally finished putting together a new comic book compilation. “The Adventures of Alex Ze Pirate” is now available on Amazon.com! (Links at the bottom)

For the past year I’ve been making Pirate comics and posting them on the internet in-between working on “Formera volume 2.” Since “Formera volume 3" is temporarily delayed, I had some time to put all of the comics I made into a book. Ze Pirate and her motley crew have gained a little bit of a following over the year too. You might’ve seen some of her comics randomly appear on my front page from time to time.

http://www.createspace.com/3380583 The Adventures of Alex Ze Pirate - $19.99
http://www.amazon.com/Adventures-Alex-Ze-Pirate/dp/1442146451/ The Adventures of Alex Ze Pirate on Amazon.com - $19.99

NYC COMIC CON!

2009-02-09T11:21:00.000-08:00

I’m back! Wow... what a crazy weekend this was. I’m gonna try to talk about everything that came up, so this is probably going to be one super LONG journal...

DAY 1
The first setback was that I almost missed my flight. I arrived at the gate to my plane when the doors were already closed. Technically it’s illegal to re-open them (for security reasons), but they somehow were able to get me on board. I was very lucky. The next flight wouldn’t have left until 1pm, and the convention would’ve been half over by the time I got in. I made it onto the flight safe and sound, but my luggage wasn’t as lucky. My bag lost a wheel in the hurriness to get on the plane. Ugh.

After arriving in New York, it was quite easy to take a shuttle to the hotel. But from the hotel to the convention... the proved to be a bit more difficult. I asked around and everyone told me where to wait and said the shuttle came once every half hour. Well, I waited for 40 minutes outside in the cold before I found out that the shuttle actually STOPS briefly in the middle of the day. In desperation (because the comic con had started already) I was forced to take a cab. Lo and behold the cab ride only cost $6 plus tip. If I had known that I would’ve just taken the cab in the first place!

By the time I arrived at the convention the booth was already set up. It was a pretty small space. Maybe 8 x 8 feet? I set up my banner and we re-arranged the table to have a spot to put my books I brought. Then my banner broke. I guess the glue that was used to hold the banner onto the metal rod wasn’t the greatest and we had to perform surgery quickly to fix it. Now it’s got a big ugly black duct tape mark on the top holding it together. Sigh... but whatever.

Our booth was so small and there were so many of us, it was nearly impossible to stay with the booth the whole time. Including all of the creators, our publisher, and their wives/girlfriends... there were 9 of us total. I didn’t need to bring a chair like I thought I was going to have to, because there wasn’t any room to sit really.

Right away I had my first customer. And it was a bizarre encounter. A man walked up and pointed to our sign and said “Alterna Comics?” “Yes” we said. “Do you guys publish Formera!?” They all pointed to me and I beamed back “YES!” He approached the table and asked “When is book 2 coming out?” To which I pointed at the stack of book 2's and said “It’s out now!” Then the man promptly walked away! I think all of us were a little taken aback by that because of how odd it was, and it put a damper on my experience for the rest of the day.

By the end of the day I was beginning to get overstimulated from the convention and a little bit frustrated with our group. Formera was the only “all ages” title on sale amongst a bunch of more dark humor, violent, psychologically charged stories, making it really hard to convince people who were my target audience to come up and look at mine specifically. Also, the other guys were so enthusiastic and would jump immediately on someone if they started looking at the table, and I’m so quiet and meek sounding, it was hard to compete with them. I am not great at selling myself.

The man who wrote “Jesus Hates Zombies” was such a celebrity at our booth. He was shaking hands, chatting it up, looking at portfolios, and selling copies left and right. Of course if you hear the name of a comic book called “Jesus Hates Zombies” you automatically know exactly what it’s about. Whereas if you hear the name “Formera” you have no idea, and I have to explain it and by the time I’m done setting it up, they have no interest. BTW: “Jesus Hates Zombies” sold out. It’s one of our best sellers (which is awesome for the guy who wrote it and the company) but it kinda made me a little depressed because of how great it was doing and how sucky I was doing.

As the day wrapped up, we closed the booth down and I took a shuttle back to the hotel to meet my mom and aunt. We went down to the hotel restaurant and ate a very expensive meal. And then I tried to sleep. Which was hard because my aunt is getting over a cold and she snores really loudly (plus I’m in NYC and there’s cars honking, people yelling, and sirens wailing at all times of the night too).

DAY 2
I woke up a little late and after getting ready I arrived at the convention just as the doors were opening. Luckily with a creator badge I can walk right up the steps without having to wait. My mom and aunt weren’t as lucky and they had to wait for 40 minutes in line before they got inside the convention.

The table layout was changed again. This time for the better. I think the craziness that was Friday made it hard to figure out the best way to set up the booth. Saturday we had a much better idea of how to make it look, and the layout complimented everything nicely.

However, it was still hard to sell books for me for the same reasons I already talked about. After a couple of hours of struggling I got fed up and went away with my sketch pad to take a break. There was no place to sit behind the booth and I would’ve felt unproductive just sitting there while everyone continued to be aggressive about their books. So I found a nice quiet corner and started to make some doodles about the comic con and about how I was feeling. (Those will be posted soon)

While doodling, I started talking with a girl who was seated nearby. We chatted about the convention, and I explained my lamentations about my situation. After describing Formera to her, she became interested (plus she had seen how I draw) and it ended up having me lead her back to the booth and she bought both copies. That made me feel very good, mostly because I was able to sell a book without being so forceful and energetic. I was just being myself.

I think if I ever go to another convention, I’m just going to sit in Artist Alley. In Artist Alley I can just be myself and talk with people about stuff and promote my book without having to be so “in your face” about everything. I like talking with people about comics and art and I really didn’t get to do that during this show. I also wouldn’t have to compete against anyone else either. I liked the guys I was with and it felt to me like backstabbing if I tried to take a sale away from them. I don’t like competing like that, and I think Artist Alley is just more in-tune with my personality.

Ths show ended much like the first day, but I was so worn out and exhausted that I left a little bit early. The first thing I realized when I got back to the hotel was that I was missing a sweater. I had brought 2 sweaters to wear and for some reason I was missing one. Then I realized what happened. When I went to bed the night before, I took my sweater off and left it on the sheets. In the middle of the night I tossed and turned so much that it got mixed up with them. So when the maids came in during the day to give us new sheets, they took the old ones (with my sweater) away with them. Sigh. We called the managers and if they find my sweater they’ll FedEx it to my parents. I have a feeling I’ll never see it again, which is a real shame cuz I liked that sweater and I don’t exactly have a huge wardrobe.

That night we walked around trying to find someplace to eat. Our hotel is very close to Time Square, so there were humongous animated lights everywhere. We eventually settled on T.G.I. Fridays, which also was expensive (Cuz we’re in NYC). We ate, walked back to the hotel, and again I had a hard time sleeping.

DAY 3
In the morning I packed up everything I had brought with me and put it in my giant blue duffle bag that’s missing a wheel. I dragged it to the shuttle bus and for the last time took the shuttle to the convention.

This time I arrived VERY early. I was there a good hour early and the booth was still closed when I arrived. It was also really refreshing to be able to walk so freely around the convention floor. I haven’t really talked about this, but the convention floor itself was humongous! And when there were millions of people going to and for, it was nearly impossible to stop and relax. You were constantly moving and being herded along like cattle or sheep. It was insane. So to be able to wander around without that fuss was very refreshing. It even ended up with me finding a new Indiana Jones hat and buying it!

By the time the doors opened, my group was still not here. I had uncovered some of the table, but not all of it because I didn’t know what to do with the money or ledger or anything. At 10 minutes past, they finally showed up. Turned out to be a problem with the trains and traffic making them delayed. We quickly set up shop and so began our final day.

Day 3 was “Kids Day” and my last opportunity to really try to sell my books to my target audience. Feeling a bit more confident with my Indiana Jones hat, I started to be a bit more aggressive about selling my book. I had brought along a huge pile of postcards with my book info, contact info, and other stuff on it and for the past 3 days I had been handing them out in stacks. I finished giving away my cards right away, which gave me a handicap because now I couldn’t give people a card of my book if they were interested but didn’t have money to buy right then and there.

For the past 2 days I had sold a grand total of 7 books, while titles like “Jesus Hates Zombies” flew away like wildfire. My mom and aunt helped me out by buying a huge chunk of my inventory so they could promote my new book to all their friends and their kids and stuff. On one hand I was definitely happy because I sold a lot of books, but on the other hand I felt a little like I didn’t really do the work selling like I should have. So I felt kinda conflicted. If my mom and aunt hadn’t been there, I would’ve been one of the 3 bottom selling books on our list.

A friend from College who is now living in NYC arrived to the convention, and I left the booth to go hang out with her. We reminisced about old times and she took me around and introduced me to a lot of people she knew from the comics world. Half the time I had no idea who they were and unfortunately with my selective memory I can’t remember any of them anymore either. After roaming around for a while, it started getting late and I had to head back to my booth to pack up.

The show wasn’t ending for another 40 minutes, but my mom and aunt were picking me up and driving through NYC to get to the airport and who knows how long that was going to take. So with some brief words I dismantled my banner, packed up the remaining books, and headed out to the street.

We used my little phone GPS system to help us find the best way to the La Guardia airport, got lost, found a new way, and eventually got there. After getting checked through TSA, I was at my gate about an hour early (which isn’t THAT bad). The plane was late though, so I ended up sitting there for almost 2 hours before I got to board the plane and fly home to Milwaukee.

RETROSPECT
Overall, I think it was a good comic con. It was extremely overwhelming and I don’t think that I want to do another show quite like that for a LONG time. As I’ve already said, my quiet personality was in strange contrast to how loud and forceful you have to be to really get peoples attentions and sell our books. I think also one of our hindrance is that we were a booth and not individual artist tables. We were lumped right between a bunch of other publishing companies and they would just let people come up and look through what books they had for sale. But since we were all individuals trying to sell our books at this tiny booth, we were constantly competing with each other and I think that kinda hurt us a bit.

For the next con that I’m going to attend, I’m definitely going to go alone and be in the Artist Alley area. It’s just much more congenial to me. I’m the type of person who likes to talk and develop a friendship before I try selling you something. I can’t just sell right off the bat. It makes me feel cheap and unethical. Lol.

The show was so huge and insane, and I wish I could’ve seen more of it. There was a 50 minute preview of the new Pixar movie “UP” which I missed. There were tons of new video games to try out. A 25 year TMNT celebration show. There was a big Ghostbuster section previewing the new game (complete with an ice sculpture of Slimer). Rockstar, Nintendo, and Microsoft were all there in some shape or form. It was so HUGE I don’t know if I can accurately describe it without showing you all pictures. But don’t worry, pictures are coming. I’m gonna post some sketches I drew and some pictures I took while there. So keep a lookout.

Oh and I can’t begin to describe how many people were there in costumes. They were trying to break the Guinness world book of records for number of people dressed up in video game costumes at one time. I think the record stands around 400 something... I dunno if they broke it on Saturday or not, but either way there were some very creative costumes too. Sometimes going to comic cons is just fun to look and point at costumes and say “I actually GET that obscure comic/game reference!”

Maybe next year I’ll dress as Mezteck....

Formera Book 2 Finally Arrives!

2009-01-31T18:05:00.001-08:00

Yes! It’s True! My books finally came today! The reason they were taking so long was just a simple error in the address. Yay! It’s here! And the book looks AWESOME!

I don’t know if Alterna is using a new printer or what, but this book just look so much better than the first book. The quality of the printing just feels better, and the fact that I colored the whole book in color and reduced it to b/w gives it a much richer feeling. There is a TINY bit of stretching on some pages due to the size format of the book, but it’s nothing that detracts from the story and only really noticeable to me (cuz I drew it and am picky about tiny things like that lol).

I’m so happy it finally arrived! I’ve re-read it several times today. I wrote the first book in a size that was not all that much smaller than what the actual print size was. As a result, you can notice a lot of mistakes and poorly drawn stuff in the first book (in my opinion). It’s a good rule of thumb to draw at about 120% larger than the actual print size. When the images are reduced, squiggly lines look smooth, detail blends together, and small imperfections disappear. It’s a trick all comic book artists live by.

For book 2 I started using larger paper, knowing that it would be reduced eventually. I also started using different sized pens. A .08 for the gutters, word balloons, and anything up close. A .05 for the main artwork and anything in medium focus. And a .03 for anything in the far background or to add detail. It’s such a simple thing, but it really paid off in the end.

I think this is, without a doubt, the most professional looking book I have ever done. Even the story flows better too. I took time to develop the characters more and to explain some of the plot. This slow down works in great contrast to the urgency of the ending and it makes the book just feel much more solid than the first book which (to me) felt far too rushed.

So I am very happy! Being able to see the book in print gives me insight into how to work on producing Book 3 and any other book I might want to make on my own. I can’t put it down! Gyaah!!!!

Comic Tricks I Live By

2009-01-27T09:10:00.000-08:00

*Sorry, Another LONG Read*

Everyone has their own way of telling a story, and in comics there are literally an infinite variety of choices in telling your story. Over the years I have tried many different methods and techniques. Some worked for me, and some didn’t. So I decided to make a list of 10 rules that I try my best to follow whenever I write comics. Maybe in this way I can identify what I can do to improve, and possibly give you all some insight into my comic process.

1. Eyes and faces are the window into the soul. I try to put a lot of care in choosing the right facial expression for any given scene so that my characters feel more alive. I don’t like using “stock” expressions like they have in a lot of Japanese Anime, but they can be useful if used in moderation. This does, however, make me not focus on the rest of the bodies and as such my anatomy work is not as perfect as I’d like it to be.

2. This is probably the most important one. Stories are driven by characters, not ideas. In other words, you can have the most epic story in the world, but if the characters are wooden and unappealing, then everything else falls apart. Many a summer blockbuster movie has failed because of this problem. Too much emphasis on the glitz and glamour and not on the characters.

A helpful trick I have found is to give each character some random positive and negative qualities. These + and - traits help you predict how they’ll react to different situations and will allow them to sometimes make up their own minds rather than you forcing them to follow a set story. Always give your character 1 crazy trait about them, because everyone can relate to knowing/being someone with an irrational trait.

Example: A character who really loves cheese will react differently than one who once accidentally ate a moldy piece of cheese. Already in your minds eye you can imagine how each one would react if someone handed them a huge hunk of cheese.

3. Catch your readers immediately. Always start off with a bang. You need some sort of hook to draw the readers in before you start elaborating on your story. I like to start my stories right in the middle of an action and not explain it right away (such as the opening sequence to Formera which still has yet to be explained). If you read the first issue of any series, a main problem is usually established immediately, but then takes a back seat for a time, while characters are developed and explored.

4. Take time between actions. This has been the hardest for me to work on. It’s very tempting, when drawing a comic, to want to keep going with action because it’s the most fun to do. But taking time away from the action, slowing things down, pondering important moments... these are all very important to the flow of your story.

I like to use Jeff Smith’s “Bone” as an exemplary example of this. He can spend several pages in his stories with very little camera movement (if at all) focusing on his characters (be it arguing, or doing something by themselves). This lack of camera movement forces you to focus on what DOES change between panels, and it makes you more aware of the characters personalities, much more than if the camera kept on trying to find the most dynamic angles.

Which brings me to...

5. Don’t be afraid to keep things simple. Another thing I’ve had a hard time forcing myself to do. When I began making the pirate comics for the internet, I deliberately kept things simple. I used a single fixed camera angle for nearly all panels, and I kept the pages to a simple 8 panel layout. By doing this, I was able to focus on the characters personalities and make them easier for new readers to identify with.

6. Try to make everything clear. This is a very important rule, which I dedicate a lot of time to. I want the actions in every panel to be as clear as possible. I try my best to choose the most direct, simple, and explanatory moments for all of my stories. You have to remember that sometimes your audience may not be on the same page as you are. You know where your story is going, but they may not, so it’s important that they can follow without being hindered by confusing layouts, awkward camera shifts, inconsistent information, etc.

However, this sometimes causes a problem for me. Because I focus so much time on making everything clear and concise, I have a real problem with breaking out of the panels and doing more elaborate layouts. Panel bleeds, characters overlapping boxes, elaborate page designs... all of this is very challenging for me to focus on because it goes against my strict “make things clear” rules. I don’t like doing abstract stuff like that (so girls manga would be a very difficult style for me because it’s usually abstract and emotional rather than concrete and practical).

7. Important actions/information should be in larger panels. This just helps the story flow better. If a very important piece of dialogue or action happens in a small panel, it’s sometimes easy to overlook and readers might not attach any importance to it. So always try to have the most important thing on your page be in the largest panel.

That brings me to this fun little trick...

8. Leave the reader hanging at the end of each page. For book 2 of “Formera” I started paying a lot more attention to the page numbers and always ending the odd number pages (the right side) with a little hint of something to come. This causes the reader to want to flip to the next page and see what happens. It’s a simple trick, but one which is very VERY useful. For “Formera” book 1, I wrote it as a web comic, and as such EVERY PAGE was designed to have some sort of “OH NO!” moment ending it. When reading it as a book, it makes the pacing a lot faster and more urgent, which isn’t always a good thing. Lol.

9. Seed your comics. I like to leave deliberate plot holes in my stories when I write, because often I have no idea where it’s going when I begin anyway. I make vague hints of stuff, reference to things, or have a character do something unexpected. When I have enough of these little “seeds” planted throughout the story, I then begin to go back and explain them. It would be best to write the whole story out first, and then go back and plant these seeds BEFORE you start drawing your comic... and my method can sometimes lead to really challenging explanations if you planted a wrong seed early on. But it works for me, so do what you think is best. When you plant little seeds at the beginning of the book and eventually pay them off at the end, it makes your stories feel much more unified.

10. Don’t be a slave to the closeup. It’s very tempting when writing comics, especially as I love to focus on the emotions of the characters, to focus a lot of attention to the faces. If you do this, however, you’ll get nothing but closeup shots and your comic can feel claustrophobic. Do some establishing shots to allow the reader to understand where all the characters are in the scene, and to be more aware of the surroundings too. Drawing backgrounds shouldn’t be a chore. They should be fun to do. Think of the environment as a character unto itself. It needs it’s share of the spotlight too. That’s what I’m trying to do with world of “Formera” in my books.

Finally I just wanted to say, don’t stress out about consistency. Your fans are going to find mistakes no matter how hard you try to keep things 100%. You could go over and over and over your comic with 3 or 4 different people 50 different ways, but someone out there will probably be able to find a small drawing mistake, an inconsistent background, a color error, etc. Don’t let it get to you. You’re human, and humans make mistakes. I have problems with this because I like to focus on the characters and what’s going on, and little nitpicky details like that bother me. I try to find them beforehand, but sometimes I just miss things and some fans can be really persistent about them. Just do the best you can and don’t worry about what they have to say. (Of course I don’t mean to ignore mistakes completely either lol)

So there you go. There are some tricks and techniques that I like to follow. They’re pretty general, but if you have any questions feel free to ask. Also, check out Scott McClouds books “understanding comics” and “making comics” because those go SO much more into detail about things I’ve touched upon here. They are the comic bibles, and a lot of their information can be used for film too.

Personality Test

2009-01-25T13:43:00.001-08:00

This is gonna be a long read, and you can probably skip a lot of it too. I took a personality test which was rather uncannily accurate and I thought I’d share it with you all. If you don’t want to read the long description, you can skip to the bottom and just read my responses to it.

*****************
The Nurturer
(Introverted Sensing with Extraverted Feeling) or (ISFJ)
“As an ISFJ, your primary mode of living is focused internally, where you takes things in via your five senses in a literal, concrete fashion. Your secondary mode is external, where you deal with things according to how you feel about them, or how they fit into your personal value system.

ISFJs live in a world that is concrete and kind. They are truly warm and kind-hearted, and want to believe the best of people. They value harmony and cooperation, and are likely to be very sensitive to other people's feelings. People value the ISFJ for their consideration and awareness, and their ability to bring out the best in others by their firm desire to believe the best.

ISFJs have a rich inner world that is not usually obvious to observers. They constantly take in information about people and situations that is personally important to them, and store it away. This tremendous store of information is usually startlingly accurate, because the ISFJ has an exceptional memory about things that are important to their value systems. It would not be uncommon for the ISFJ to remember a particular facial expression or conversation in precise detail years after the event occured, if the situation made an impression on the ISFJ.

ISFJs have a very clear idea of the way things should be, which they strive to attain. They value security and kindness, and respect traditions and laws. They tend to believe that existing systems are there because they work. Therefore, they're not likely to buy into doing things in a new way, unless they're shown in a concrete way why its better than the established method.

ISFJs learn best by doing, rather than by reading about something in a book, or applying theory. For this reason, they are not likely to be found in fields which require a lot of conceptual analysis or theory. They value practical application. Traditional methods of higher education, which require a lot of theorizing and abstraction, are likely to be a chore for the ISFJ. The ISFJ learns a task best by being shown its practical application. Once the task is learned, and its practical importance is understood, the ISFJ will faithfully and tirelessly carry through the task to completion. The ISFJ is extremely dependable.

The ISFJ has an extremely well-developed sense of space, function, and aesthetic appeal. For that reason, they're likely to have beautifully furnished, functional homes. They make extremely good interior decorators. This special ability, combined with their sensitivity to other's feelings and desires, makes them very likely to be great gift-givers - finding the right gift which will be truly appreciated by the recipient.

More so than other types, ISFJs are extremely aware of their own internal feelings, as well as other people's feelings. They do not usually express their own feelings, keeping things inside. If they are negative feelings, they may build up inside the ISFJ until they turn into firm judgments against individuals which are difficult to unseed, once set. Many ISFJs learn to express themselves, and find outlets for their powerful emotions.

Just as the ISFJ is not likely to express their feelings, they are also not likely to let on that they know how others are feeling. However, they will speak up when they feel another individual really needs help, and in such cases they can truly help others become aware of their feelings.

The ISFJ feels a strong sense of responsibility and duty. They take their responsibilities very seriously, and can be counted on to follow through. For this reason, people naturally tend to rely on them. The ISFJ has a difficult time saying "no" when asked to do something, and may become over-burdened. In such cases, the ISFJ does not usually express their difficulties to others, because they intensely dislike conflict, and because they tend to place other people's needs over their own. The ISFJ needs to learn to identify, value, and express their own needs, if they wish to avoid becoming over-worked and taken for granted.

ISFJs need positive feedback from others. In the absence of positive feedback, or in the face of criticism, the ISFJ gets discouraged, and may even become depressed. When down on themselves or under great stress, the ISFJ begins to imagine all of the things that might go critically wrong in their life. They have strong feelings of inadequacy, and become convinced that "everything is all wrong", or "I can't do anything right".

The ISFJ is warm, generous, and dependable. They have many special gifts to offer, in their sensitivity to others, and their strong ability to keep things running smoothly. They need to remember to not be overly critical of themselves, and to give themselves some of the warmth and love which they freely dispense to others.”
*****************

With a lot of that, I totally agree and see a lot of myself in it’s description. The only thing which made me chuckle was the part about having beautifully functional homes. My house is a disaster area and I really need to get a jump on cleaning it up. Otherwise, this thing is pretty darn accurate to how I feel.

I can totally see myself at work and being underappreciated even though I do a lot of work (in past jobs at least) and also in how I tend to have problems dealing with negative comments about my artwork. I do have problems with saying “no” to people, and I don’t like conflicts. Although, I am a lot more ready to jump in and voice my opinion than this thing makes it sound like. I can think of several instances where I have butted into a conflict to protect others, and it’s a personality trait which I have been applying to Darian of my Formera series. The idea being that maybe through him, I can learn how to control it and be a better person. Hmmm...

I dunno. I just thought that was interesting. It’s almost kinda scary how accurate it was.

You can take a similar personality quiz to what I took (mine was on facebook and then I looked up the results on this website) to see what you are: http://www.personalitypage.com/indicate.html

Formera Book 2 On Sale!

2009-01-18T11:52:00.001-08:00

Book 2 of Formera is currently available! I was wondering what was up with the release date, cuz it was different on Amazon than it was in other places and I wasn’t sure which was right. But now looking over the links I see that it was some of the old review sites which confused me. They still say the 28th is the release of Book 2. So the date must’ve changed and I just got confused. Sorry everyone!

So book 2 of Formera is available and you can order it online, or go to a local comic book store and if they don’t have it, they should be able to order it. There are a number of reliable places you can order it online. The most reliable would be of course to go through my published Alterna Comics directly. But Amazon and Barnesandnobel.com are just as good. I’ll provide the links below just in case:

http://www.alternacomics.com/formera.htm
http://www.amazon.com/Formera-Two-Andrew-Dobson/dp/1934985074
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Formera-Volume-2/Andrew-Dobson/e/9781934985076

If you live in the UK or Europe, ordering online is the best way to get a hold of a copy. Both Formera books are available on the UK version of Amazon.com and I do believe that Alterna ships worldwide. But let me just double check to be sure.

Book 1 is, of course, available on all of the same websites, and also a number of online download site too (such as http://comics.drivethrustuff.com/ ) in case you can’t afford much.

So there you have it.. Book 2 is out... Now I really gotta get cracking on Book 3 so that it can come out soon too. I’ve written 3 chapters so far, so about another 6 more to go... then I gotta ink it, color it, resize it... oof...

And once again, I know where I want to go with the story, but I’m not sure of how much is going to come out in this book and what to end it with or how much to tell. They say that writing is an organic process, and I dunno about that cuz it’s pretty calculated to me...

My First Bento Box

2009-01-09T22:17:00.001-08:00

[IMG]http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i52/TomPreston/MyFirstBento.jpg[/IMG]

Top Tier:
Sticky Rice with Raisins and Cheese cut to look like the Triforce. Hotdog Octopus and grapes.

Middle Tier:
Rasins, Prunes, and a Cheese Stripe

Bottom Tier:
Egg shaped like a bear, Onigiri with Salmon inside, more Hotdog scraps, and a fortune cookie.

These boxes are pretty small, so even with 3 out of the 4 filled with food, I was still a bit hungry afterwards. The Onigiri was quite delicious, especially with the cooked salmon inside. It was like eating a really big sushi almost. Surprisingly the sticky rice with cheese and raisins was quite good! As were the hotdog octopus.

I was running really late, so I wasn’t able to use the “official” hotdog octopus device, and instead cut them with a knife myself. It worked almost as good.

Well, I’m happy with my first Bento Box. It was probably one of the healthiest meals I’ve had in a long time (especially with all the McDonalds we’ve been eating lately ugh). I can’t wait to try and make something different tomorrow when I have more time to work on it.

Black Ice

2009-01-03T23:58:00.000-08:00

It’s dangerous. Just had a little accident tonight. As I was making my way to my car, I slipped on some black ice. I tried to stop my fall by reaching out for the car next to me’s hood, but my hand slipped and I ended up scraping my knee and falling upon my right hand. I’ve fallen down several times before, but I don’t think I’ve ever fallen quite so fast and hard before. I laid stunned on the ground for some minutes, trying to get the wind back in me enough to get up and go back inside.

Got a nice scrape on my knee now, making it hard to sit down, and my fingers on my right hand are numb and swollen. Ugh. Good thing I’m a lefty when it comes to drawing...

Interview!

2008-12-31T07:53:00.001-08:00

Last month I was asked to do an interview for a website dedicated to comics. I did so, then completely forgot about it. But I just got an e-mail which informed me that the interview is now public! Woo! Check it out!

http://www.jazmaonline.com/interviews/interviews2008.asp?intID=288

Fun Christmas Facts

2008-12-25T07:47:00.001-08:00

I thought it would be fun to post some facts about Christmas on Christmas Day. Originally I thought it would be simple things like the origin of the tree and santa and stuff. But the more I read about some of the origins, the more compelling it was. Christmas is infinitely more bizarre than even I could imagine.

Now, some of this might be a bit mean sounding. It’s based on facts, and I tried my best to translate the facts without indulging in social commentary too much. I found them from a variety of sources online, but mostly from a Jewish website. Remember, I’m not hating on Christmas (Read the end of my journal for proof on that). So without further ado, here are some fun Christmas facts that might surprise you:

*****Saturnalia*****

Between December 17th to the 25th, Roman courts would be closed and a law which stated that no one could be punished for damaging property or injuring people during this week long period gave rise to the holiday Saturnalia.

Much like the “Feast of Fools” in the Hunchback of Notredam, the Roman authorities began the celebration by choosing an “enemy of the Roman people” and nicknaming them the “Lord of Misrule.” Each community selected a victim and encouraged the person to indulge in food and pleasures during the week. At the end of the week (December 25th) the Roman Authorities came back and would brutally murder this man/woman as a sacrifice. The idea being that they were destroying the forces of darkness and evil.

Other fun customs of Saturnalia included going from house to house singing naked. Frequent accounts of Rape and deplorable sexual activity. And consuming human-shaped biscuits (a symbol of the sacrifice to come).

*****Christianity Takes Over*****

Around the 4th century CE, Christian leaders imported the Saturnalia festival in an effort to convert the large pagan masses. They promised the pagans that if they converted to Christianity, they could continue to celebrate Saturnalia. However, there was nothing intrinsically “Christian” about Saturnalia. So to remedy this, they named the concluding day, December 25th, to be Jesus’s birthday. This was met with mixed success as it did indeed convert the Pagan masses to Christianity, however the holidays continued to be celebrated with excess drinking, sexual indulgence, and singing naked in the streets for years to come.

*****Warped Customs*****

Many of the pagan customs were adopted by the Christians. Singing in the streets turned into Caroling. The Pagan worshiping of trees turned into Christmas Tree decorating. The human shaped sacrificial effigies consumed during the holiday turned into gingerbread men.

Even the use of Mistletoe comes from Druid mythology: The god Balder was killed by a mistletoe arrow by his rival god Hoder while fighting over the female Nanna. The druids use to poison their human sacrifices with Mistletoe. The Christian custom of “kissing under the mistletoe” is a later synthesis of the sexual indulgence of Saturnalia.

One of the most depraved customs of Saturnalia was intentionally revived by the Church in 1466. Pope Paul II, for the amusement of his Roman citizens, forced Jews to race naked through the streets of the city. An eyewitness reported, “Before they were to run, the Jews were richly fed, so as to make the race more difficult for them and at the same time more amusing for spectators. They ran… amid Rome’s taunting shrieks and peals of laughter, while the Holy Father stood upon a richly ornamented balcony and laughed heartily.”

Also the most common “Lord of Misrule” sacrifice tended to be Jews. And after the conversion of the pagan holiday into a Christian one, Jews continued to be the brunt of many festive activities (like the run mention above). So remember that December 25 was a day on which Jews were prominently shamed, tortured, and murdered.

(I’m sorry that last line sounds very lecture like, but I can’t express it any other way. It’s sick and it’s sad, but it’s true and I wish it wasn’t)

*****Christ’s Birth date*****

Christ was not born on the 25th. There have been many attempts to solidify his actual birth date, but with little success. Some have placed it around March, others around September. The 25th was chosen, as mentioned above, as part of the Saturnalia conversion and also to correspond with the winter solstice.

*************************

Now I wrote a lot of that just to give some interesting facts that I found out about Christmas. I’m not saying that you can’t celebrate Christmas or enjoy it. Christmas IS a wonderful time of forgiving and understanding and it’s very satisfying to know how far it’s come from these rather unsettling roots.

I personally LOVE celebrating Christmas, despite what some of you might think over that stupid “Seasons Greetings” cartoon. While I did grow up Atheist at home, we celebrated Christmas along with everyone else. We had a custom of opening 1 present on Christmas Eve, which just enhanced the expectations of the day to follow. I remember fondly of waking up early and looking through my stockings and waiting for everyone else to wake up. We wouldn’t open presents until my brother awoke, which tended to always be late for some reason.

After opening our presents we would chill for a few hours until the rest of the family arrived. My job was to go around and sort the presents brought by relatives and make huge piles of gifts for everyone. My mom and my Aunt would go prepare food during this time. When there was no more work to be done in the kitchen, we proceeded to open all of our presents. There was no order to this, we all just opened willy nilly and the end result was usually a huge clutter of paper on the floor.

After the second present opening, we would adjourn to the dinning room and have our 1-2pm meal, which usually included a Turkey, Cranberry from a can, A HUGE portion of stuffing (mostly for me), mashed potatoes, greens, squash, and probably some other food I’m forgetting. Once that was over with, we all proceeded to just enjoy the satisfying full feeling. Some of us, like my grandpa and me, would take quick naps.

So I have nothing wrong with celebrating Christmas. I enjoy it. It is, however, still fascinating to learn the origin of Christmas. I knew that a lot of customs were from pagan practices, but I wasn’t prepared to find some of the stuff I did. I didn’t know about the sacrifices or the debauchery. And it also gives me a greater insight into why, if you’re Jewish, you might rightly be offended by the continued use of “Merry Christmas” day in and day out. I don’t want to start another “seasons greetings” argument, but you gotta admit that this gives a very good reason to back up my statement.

Either way, Christmas is a time when pretty much everyone comes together and celebrates, Jews too occasionally. People from all over the world of different backgrounds celebrate Christmas. I think I mentioned before that Japan, which is not a predominantly Christian country, celebrates Christmas because it’s fun and enjoyable. You’ll find many Manga and Anime which celebrate the spirit of Christmas, rather than the whole Christ is born thing.

I hope that didn’t put too much of a damper on all of your holiday spirits. I just thought it was interesting. Everyone have a happy holiday. Merry Christmas and Happy 5th day of Hanukkah!

Happy Hanukkah!

2008-12-20T08:27:00.000-08:00

Seriously. I’m going to go celebrate Hanukkah this weekend, so I’m gonna be gone for about 4 days. But before I left I just wanted to say a few things.

1. I honestly didn’t think that people would be SOOOOO offended by my little comic called “Seasons Greetings.” It was just drawn because it’s some odd thing that I do to mess with people on a day to day basis. It’s fun and some of the reactions from people are hilarious. That’s all it was meant to be. Stupid fun.

To be perfectly honest I am a bit surprised by a lot of the “hate” comments I got for it. I mean, I drew a blasphemous picture of JESUS FIGHTING A DINOSAUR with a friggin’ SWORD for crying out loud, and even had the audacity to title it “Jesus HATES Dinosaurs.” No one bats an eye. But if I mention Seasons Greetings and suggest people should be a little more respectful of other religions (or lack thereof), suddenly it’s the Apocalypse!

I never intended it to be a politically correct message, although through a lot of the fighting, that’s what it started to turn out to be. I’m glad that some people were able to just look at it and laugh at what it originally was meant to be... a cheap laugh.

2. I’ve uploaded my final video game review for the website that’s launching this weekend. I wish I had a link to give you all, but unfortunately I don’t and I won’t get back until after it launches, so I’ll just update you all then. Danny and Spot are going to be moving there so any further comics I have of them will probably be posted there instead of here.

3. I didn’t have time to finish a picture that I really wanted to get done, but it’s just incredibly cute and I hope that you all don’t mind waiting until probably after Christmas before it’s done.

4. Here’s something that I, while during the fighting over my “Seasons Greetings” post, found to be slightly relevant.

“To the man who loves art for art’s sake, it’s commonly in the lowliest manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived.”

Think about that quote for a minute. What it means is that while Art tends to have a lot of high-brow amazing work, it’s usually the low-brow stuff that gets any recognition. A painting hanging on the wall of a museum will receive less attention in comparison than a hot new Comic Book, for example. Both could feature a naked woman, but only the comic book will receive the crazy attention and media sensation for it.

After the fuss made over my stupid cartoon, I began to think about this quote a lot. I mean, there’s GOT to be better painted stuff to fuss over than a silly little scribble like my cartoon.

I dunno. What do you think that quote means? Do you think it’s true or not?

Small things that bug me

2008-12-08T07:44:00.000-08:00

Ever notice how it’s usually not the big things that piss you off during a day, but the little things? Those small insignificant irregularities that you shouldn’t worry about, but you do anyway? Well here’s a couple of my own recent irritations:

Arlo and Janis
This comic pisses me off whenever I read our newspaper. Out of all the comics I’ve read over the years, this one consistently makes me go “what the ****?” And it’s really a combination of a lot of things. Mostly storytelling failure. When you have only 4 panels to tell your story and have a joke in the end, you have to be as clear and concise as possible. But for some reason, Arlo and Janis always seem to be missing a vital clear clue to help you “get” the joke. Here, take a look at this recent one for example:

Now read that and tell me what happened. I know NOW what the joke is, but I’m curious to see if you guys can get it too. I might hate how the camera in Get Fuzzy breaks the 180 rule all the time, but even then it’s never had an unclear joke. I can still follow it, even when odd things in the drawings occur. But not with Arlo and Janis.

Pokemon on the DS
I just recently beat the game and have finally figured out how to transfer my 495 pokemon from Leaf Green to the DS. Now I have EVERY GOD DAMN POKEMON on Leaf Green (action replay for the win). When you transfer from the GBA to the DS, you can’t go back, so it’s a one way ticket. Imagine my dismay then, when after I started transferring some of my best pokemon from the GBA game, I realized that the DS actually doesn’t have enough ROOM for all the pokemon in the storage banks. Now what kind of ****ed up logic is THAT? A game who’s logo is “Gotta Catch Them All” making it impossible to actually OWN all of them?

And to make matters worse, you can’t transfer pokemon that know an HM move. Why? Why can’t I transfer those? All your pokemon that you use while on your journey in Leaf Green have to have those HMs to make it though the game, and you can’t delete HM moves, so that means that you can’t transfer the pokemon that you actually CARE about. So should I transfer all the pokemon I can? Or should I not? I spent A LOT of time getting all 495+ for the GBA game and it’s nice to know “I have every one pokemon all in one cartridge.” But I can’t do that for the DS game... is it worth it?

So those are a couple of annoyances. Sometimes ya just gotta write these things out and get them out of your system.

3-D TV

2008-12-01T10:25:00.000-08:00

What do you all think about the idea of 3-D television? I know it sounds a little hokey and science fiction like, but the reality is that it’s already here.

In case you haven’t noticed, nearly all animated films for the theater are going 3-D. The next big ones Coraline, Monsters VS. Aliens, Pixar’s UP, and Astro Boy, are all taking the leap. Also, Pixar is going to be re-releasing Toy Story and Toy Story 2 in 3-D. I’ve even heard word that Disney is going to somehow release Beauty and the Beast in 3-D, though I am not sure how that’s going to work...

But the biggest news is that 3-D TV is already here, and you don’t need glasses. Apparently Phillips Electronics has already developed the first 3-D TV, although I still haven’t been able to figure out how it doesn’t require glasses. These TV’s are already on sale for $3,000. But as you know with most electronics that price is NEVER gonna stay that high. I wouldn’t be surprised if in 2 years we see a 3-D TV at Wal-Mart for under $300.

Even cooler, however, is that this special 3-D TV that Phillips has developed can turn any already 3-D source into 3-D images on the screen. In other words, say you hook up a Ps2 to your new TV, it can somehow read the date and generate a second image (2 different views are required for any 3-D effect to work) in real time and present the game in 3-D! How cool is THAT? That means that you can play any of your video game systems in 3-D without buying some special device to do it for you. Just plug and play!

Seriously I am excited for this stuff and I really wish I could see one of these 3-D TV’s in action. But what do you all think? How would you feel about having a 3-D TV?

PS:
On a side note, advancements in Holographic technology have taken a huge leap forward. Scientists have been able to create the first hologram that can re-write it’s data in under 2 minutes. That means a new 3-D image is displayed every 2 minutes. That might seem slow, but if they keep working on it, I’m sure they can bring that down to 1 minute, then 1 second, then 24 times per second... and soon we’ll have holographic TV displays too!

Holiday Wish List

2008-11-24T12:32:00.000-08:00

I don’t expect to get any of this stuff, but I thought it would be fun to make a wish list of what I either really, really, want or desperately need. Here goes:

-A George Forman Grill
Specifically the kind that the grill comes out and is dishwasher safe, making cleaning a breeze. I have a George Forman grill, but it’s 6 years old and it’s crusty and gross and you can’t use soap to clean it. I like cooking meat, but the frying pan sets off the smoke alarms and in the oven takes forever.

-Rock Band 2 for Wii
I was thinking of Guitar Hero World Tour, but I think Rock Band has a much wider selection of music to choose from.

-Wii Games
—Wario Land: Shake It (cuz I love 2-D)
—Bully: Scholarship Edition
—Trauma Center: Under the Knife
—De Blob
—$50 Wii Points card for WiiWare and VC downloads

-A new External Hard Drive. Mine is only 30gigs, and of that 30 I have 2 left to use, and I need 1 to run my computer. So more memory is always welcome. Plus I don’t want my old hard drive to crash like my LAST External Hard Drive did... Damn Death Star...

-New “Indiana Jones” like hat. I wear a hat a lot and it’s how many people identify me. Last week my hat finally broke it’s rim and I almost lost my P-chan pin. I need a new hat.

-More Blue-Line Comic Paper. It’s expensive stuff... $24 for 24 sheets? Wow. But if I wanna make comics, I gotta work on the pro stuff.

-Renewal to Nintendo Power. Ok so I don’t really NEED this... but I like to feel secure that my subscription isn’t going to run out...

-A Tablet PC. Yeah I know I’m not gonna get THIS for a while. Costing well over $2,000 this is by far my most fantastical dream. Owning a Tablet PC would just be AWESOME... being able to draw RIGHT ON THE SCREEN would just make doing artwork so SO much easier. Especially if I wanted to do paintings.

-A Widescreen HD-TV. Again, don’t need, but would be nice to have eventually... especially as everything is going HD anyway.

-A Widescreen monitor for my computer. I had one, but as we all know, it died about 2 weeks ago just a few days past it’s warranty. I have a replacement, but it’s not widescreen and it’s a tube, so the quality is a little lacking. I miss having my wide screen monitor.

-A Printer. I have a scanner/printer combo that I’ve had since 2000. It’s worked fine till about a year ago. Then the printer started crinkling up the paper as it took it in. Now it doesn’t print at all. For someone who’s always making new artwork on the computer, not being able to print it out and have a version I can take around to conventions and stuff is quite the handicap.

-A LARGE scanner. I know there are scanners larger than 8x11. I need one that can scan in one of my blue-line comic pages. Something large enough to scan in 15x20. That would be ideal. Because right now I have to scan my blue-line artwork in parts and stitch them together.

-Some Comics
— The rest of Ranma ½. I’d really like to get this before they go out of print.
— Some Batman or Superman or something. I don’t know really, so that’s kinda hit or miss.

So there are a few things I wish I could get this Christmas. It ain’t gonna happen, but it’s nice to have a list I can refer back to when I have some extra money. Sigh....

Bolt Review

2008-11-23T18:55:00.001-08:00

MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS

I saw the trailer for this movie during Wall-E and have wanted to see it for a long time. I don’t watch TV, so I never saw any previews for it and always thought it was the next Pixar movie. Turns out I was wrong. It’s a Disney movie (kinda like Chicken Little) which kinda turned me down as their movies have kinda stunk lately. But it IS produced by John Lassetter of Pixar fame, so that made me curious again. Today we finally go to see it. In 3-D no less.

I have to say that the 3-D really made this movie a bit more special than if it were just 2-D. The first 5 minutes of crazy action really brought you into the movie with the depth the 3-D gave, but it was the emotional journey of the characters which made you completely forget it was 3-D and just enjoy it for what it was, a really good movie.

At times it kinda felt like a hodgepodge of various sources. The main female protagonist named “Penny” who has a special dog and fights an evil corporation who have evil cats? Hmm... kinda sounds like Inspector Gadget.

The notion that a film company is taking great lengths to keep a character deluded and not aware of the fact it’s all fake? Kinda sounds like The Truman Show.

A character who’s from a hit-TV show who’s totally into his role and doesn’t know that he’s not real? Kinda sounds like Buzz Lightyear.

A bunch of GodFather-like pigeons? The sad stray Alley Cat? Goodfeathers and Rita from Animaniacs.

But aside from the hodgepodges of other sources, this movie is still really enjoyable. It’s not crazy whiz-bang-in-your-face like so many other movies have been (including Disney’s own recent CG movies) and the characters develop nicely and it’s a joy to watch them all interact with each other. Bolt is especially cute to watch and you just feel so much sympathy for him towards the end when he thinks he’s lost the love of Penny.

There are some great character animations throughout the film, including an overzealous uncaring agent, a crazy enthusiastic geeky hamster in a ball, and a bunch of forgetful pigeons. The animation is really spot on, and sometimes you forget that you’re watching a cartoon, which is wonderful. While the story may not be 100% original, it was still very entertaining and enjoyable and definitely worth watching again.

I guess my only real gripe is that I won’t get to see this movie in 3-D on DVD. The glasses were fantastic in the theater, but I doubt they’d be as good at home. On a side note: I think 3-D animated films are going to be the next big thing. It seems like everything is going 3-D now. We saw 4 previews for upcoming animated films, and all of them were in 3-D. It makes me wonder if it might be possible to do a 3-D 2-D animated film without it looking flat... after all, they did it just fine with the “Nightmare before Christmas” and that was never meant to be in 3-D... so why not? Something to ponder I guess....

Back Again

2008-11-18T11:44:00.001-08:00

Well I’m back from yet another trip. Sigh... I wonder when I’m going to get some time to work on all these projects which are starting to pile up?

Went to Minneapolis to attend my girlfriend’s nephew’s birthday party. 9 screaming rambunctious kids running around with little to no way of restraining them for 6 hours? Ugh... fun but exhausting.

Tried to rent a Red-Box DVD for the first time ever and I gotta say that I am largely impressed. You’re given till 9pm the next day to return the movie, so if you can watch a movie within 24 hours, Red Box is certainly a cheap alternative to Block-Buster. I was able to rent “Wall-E” and “Forbidden Kingdom” for $2.06! Wow... That would’ve cost me about $10 at Blockbuster since they’re New Releases and they would’ve been only overnight as well. (Also since I don’t think many people use these machines you can find brand-new releases in stock whereas at Blockbuster or Movie Gallery they would be sold out) So yay!

I’ve also gotten some offers from some different places over the weekend too. One place wants to use an image I made in a book, and another ... well I guess I can’t really say too much without knowing for certain yet... so let’s just say... I got some potential art-related offers which might help me in the long run. Lol.

I also don’t think I’m gonna go anywhere to celebrate Thanksgiving. My family is all out in Massachusetts, and with all the traveling I’ve been doing lately, I’m starting to get really sick of going anywhere. Not to mention I’ll be working, probably hard to get the time off, and why bother anyway, as it pays more as a holiday to work. I need the money. Sigh...

Winter depression is starting to set in on me... just gotta keep my chin up and focus on what’s around me rather than what’s unknown ahead of me. Sigh...

Back in Action

2008-11-07T11:50:00.001-08:00

Isn’t Craigslist wonderful? Within 24 hours of my other monitor crapping out on me, with the assistance of my girlfriend, I was able to secure a new 17'’ flat screen monitor for a mere $35. Just hooked it up and after a few adjustments to the resolution, I am back in action.

What a crazy week it’s been eh? Comic Con on Sunday, Election on Tuesday, dying computer on Wednesday, and buying new monitor on Friday. The first African-American president along with a severe blow to gay rights activists, coupled with some of the highest percentage of unemployment seen in a century. Wow...

Well I can’t stay and chat but at least I’m back up and running. Although I gotta admit that I was spoiled. This new resolution, although technically is still quite large, feels kinda like I’m looking through a tube or something. Sigh... I liked my wide-screen monitor... oh well...

Art theft?

2008-11-05T22:05:00.001-08:00

http://www.capsuco.com/product_info.php/cPath/1_24/products_id/427?osCsid=7d100372d067f6d89f9b2d424f0a7b4f

What the F***?

The worse thing is that since Mario is not my own character, there’s probably nothing I can do about it. But even still... holy hell...

The company, as far as I can tell, is based in Malaysia and the person answering the phone kept hanging up on me and spoke very little English.

Thanks to the person online who found this rip-off. I am in the process of trying to get it taken down, but as I already said... I dunno if I’ll be able to...

History in the Making

2008-11-04T23:21:00.001-08:00

It’s not often one gets to witness history being made. Many times the important or significant event does not seem as important or significant at the time, and it’s only later in hindsight that we come to realize how monumental it really was. Other times the important event is over played and publicized far beyond what it should, which dulls down the impact. But then, there are times when a truly significant moment unfolds and you just know that no matter what, it’s going to have a huge impact upon our future generations. Tonight was one of those nights.

Of course unless you’ve been under a rock, you know now that Barack Obama is our new President. I heard the announcement today while I was at work, and I was able to get off just in time to hear McCain’s defeated speech. While walking to the car I could hear horns on the road beeping triumphantly, and I could see crowds of people on the sidewalks jumping, cheering and laughing. Shortly after picking up my girlfriend from her work, we both sat and listened to Obama’s acceptance speech live on the radio.

Today was seriously one of the most surreal days I have ever experienced. From waiting in line in the morning to vote, to the bits and pieces of information that trickled in while I was at work, to the final moment when I heard that Obama had one. It ended almost a good 4 or 5 months of worry, doubt, fear, and dread that I have been experiencing. It was like someone just took a weight off my back.

Now I just wanted to point out a curious thing I noticed while listening to the defeated speech and the acceptance speech. I noticed that Obama mentioned how John McCain had served for America and put up with a lot of stuff and fought valiantly, to which he got cheers and applause. But the moment Obama’s name came up in McCain’s speech, there were loud groups of people booing, hissing, and shouting negative things. That struck me as a little odd and it can really show you the difference in mentality between the republicans and the democrats. One wants to extend an olive branch to the other side, while the other side wants to cuss, point fingers, and blame. That’s a little sad.

I liked the story at the end of Obama’s speech which talked about the 106 year old black lady who has been through so much in such a short amount of time. I think that was a nice touch and it perfectly summed up the achievement of this win.

Of course there’s a lot to be done now. Obama may be our next president but we don’t know if he’s going to be able to live up to his promises, if he’s going to be able to fix our economy, or possibly fend off another potential terrorist attack. Time will tell I guess, if Obama’s got the answers to all those things.

At the most, I would like to see Obama restore the balance of power in the government which has been for so long screwed up thanks to Bush. When 9/11 happened, Bush acted so fast that it was hard to truly understand what he was doing, and soon enough, he has had more influence and power than anyone EVER should have. I would Like to see Obama bring that tip of the scale back to normal so that BOTH parties have equal shares and say, the way it’s suppose to be.

All I can say is...

I’m just happy Palin’s not in a position of power.

Boston Comic Con

2008-11-04T05:10:00.001-08:00

Wow. Just... wow. This has to be the best Comic Con that I’ve gone to thus far. All the previous comic cons I have rarely sold anything, and very few people ever came up to say “Hi” or to look through my art and stuff. Most of the times I would get bored sitting there all day long. But not in Boston! It was jam packed with people, and they weren’t shy about coming up and engaging in conversation.

I was able to sell a lot of books, and I even sold a couple prints I made up which I had no intention of selling. Lol. I had made up some art folders for people to look through with the original drawing on one side of the book and the finished colored print of it on the other. But so many of the colored pictures were drawing attention, that I actually sold some of them to people. Which if fine for me, cuz I can always print up more. Lol.

It was a good time had by all. I would go into insane detail but I’m really really tired right now and I gotta go vote for the presidential election. I’ll catch ya all later.

Boston Comic Con

2008-10-29T11:29:00.000-07:00

Hey every body! I just wanted to update you all on the Boston Comic Con. It’s coming up quickly!

Boston Comic Con
Sunday November 2nd
10am-5pm

Back Bay Events Center
180 Berkeley Street
Boston, MA
corner of Berkeley & Stuart St.

$10 Admission
children under 10 free

http://www.bostoncomiccon.com/

I am going to be attending as a creator (and my name is listed with a link to my art on the Boston Comic Con’s website) and this will be the first time I get to meet in person with my publisher. All this time, from the first initial talks, to the publishing of Formera, to working on Formera book 2, we have been communicating via e-mail (what a wonderful world eh?).

But for the first time now I will get a chance to meet my publisher in person. I hope it goes well. Lol. Anyway, I will be bringing my portfolios of comic art for people to browse through, my giant Formera Banner, I will be selling copies of my book AND doing sketches and art for people who come up and say Hi (prices will be listed on the table.)

I have to fly out the day before, and won’t be getting in until Monday night, so I won’t be online for a while during that time. I can still receive e-mail though. I’ll probably make up another “comic on” page like I did for the last one so you can all see what was going on if you can’t attend.

I hope it’s a lot of fun! And I look forward to seeing y’all there!

I’m insane.

2008-10-29T11:15:00.001-07:00

To give you an idea of how insane I am, I am currently working on a new picture. As many of you know, I enjoy drawing large groups of characters in large scenes (some examples would be my “Nintendo Karamari” picture or my “FLCL,” and “Hayao Miyazaki” tributes). This new picture that I am working on tops all of them.

Why?

Because it’s Pokemon. That’s right. I’ve decided to draw EVERY Pokemon creature from every game and lump them all together into one large image. THAT, my friends, is INSANE!

I’ve only drawn 52 of them so far, aided by the games and many players guides, and I am getting a little weary already. I may stop at 151, cuz I don’t know how much more of this I can take, and I don’t know how much more my computer can handle. To make things easier, I have been drawing each pokemon separately. Then in Photoshop I resize them, and place them anywhere I want. This gives me a lot more freedom to be able to move them around as I add more pokemon. BUT that also means that each pokemon has it’s own layer. And right now with 52 layers, it’s starting to become a little hard to manage and my computer doesn’t like it. Lol.

Not to mention once I finally get all the pokemon where I want them, I’m going to have to go in and shade every god-damn-one. That’s going to be one hell of a task right there... Ugh...

Why do I do this to myself? Honestly... any sane person wouldn’t attempt this, or would fall back on an easier idea (such as just using the in-game art instead). But nooooo... i gotta draw them from SCRATCH... oy vey...

8 Days Left till Election...

2008-10-27T09:42:00.000-07:00

And I am starting to feel even more apprehensive about it. Last week it looked a sure thing that Obama was VERY far ahead of McCain. But now, as the days dwindle and time starts running out, it’s starting to look a lot more even, and that’s got me scared.

My fear is that a lot of people who initially said they would vote for Obama are going to chicken out at the last minute. Not only that, but there’s the huge evangelical and military vote that’s kept Bush in office. Although, on the flip side, we’ve got a huge majority of minorities coming out to vote this time around, which just might work in Obama’s favor. All in all, it’s going to be tight, and I think that anyone who thinks Obama will win without any problems needs to stop and look at the big picture.

I think we’ve been getting a little cocky about Obama lately. His campaign has been doing so well and has been so much farther ahead than McCain’s for so long that the idea that he might not win is almost absurd to some people. But I think it’s important to remember that it’s not a sure thing yet. We need to keep plugging on because if we become overconfident, our adversaries might be able to use that to their advantage.

I keep saying this will be the last political journal, but I can’t help myself. This has becomes such a big deal in my life right now I can’t escape it. I can’t even really concentrate on my art because of it, and I have a comic book convention coming up this weekend too.

I don’t know why this is so important to me, but this whole race with Obama VS McCain has really stopped my life and I’ve been more focused on politics than I ever have been before. It feels like there’s so much at stake, yet I question whether that’s true or not. I do not want McCain in office. Everything I’ve seen, read, and heard about him just rubs me the wrong way. And I especially do not want Palin to be vice president. She’s almost worse than him in many ways, wanting to take away rights of the people and being downright ignorant on a lot of important issues.

Obama’s made it this far, even with everything McCain has been throwing at him left and right. I just hope that he can make it to the end. There are a lot of scary people out there... vindictive, hateful, and scary people...

Newspaper Comic Strip Drama

2008-10-26T13:01:00.001-07:00

I like reading the newspaper comics, even though I hate most of the comics in there. Just for the heck of it, I’m gonna review all the ones that appear in our Milwaukee Journal. This is going to be a LONG journal, so if you see a strip you don’t care about, just ignore it and skip to the bottom of the page (unless you like reading long journals like this. lol.)

Baby Blues:
It’s ok, sometimes it’s funny and it’s interesting that the cartoon characters are growing up, but the addition of a “baby” to keep the title “baby blues” kinda annoys me. If that keeps up, soon the family will have like 5 or 6 babies in the strips lifetime.

Crankshaft:
It’s alright. It’s not always hilarious, but occasionally the “grumpy old man” humor is worth it. Plus they have more interesting plots such as bank robberies, comic book selling, and race discrimination in baseball.

Mutts:
I hate mutts. It’s never funny, and the drawings look like rip-offs of Krazy Kat. It’s also one of the only animal rights comics I’ve ever seen.

Garfield:
Garfield is getting to the point where it’s been around so long, the jokes are falling flat and are repetitive. You all know what I mean. But the spot-on hilarious drawings, occasionally funny jokes, and the fact that Jon is now dating Liz and is getting more screen time is keeping this strip around. I like the joke about the suicidal giant cookie dream.

Hi and Lois:
I’ve never seen anyone laugh at Hi and Lois. This is one of those 50's/60's comics that have been around FOREVER and are never going to change. They’re more or less there because people EXPECT it to be there.

Luann:
I flip-flop on liking Luann and being annoyed with Luann. There are some stories that I am very interested in (such as their house burning down), but then there are ones which annoy me (such as when Luann was considering getting a tattoo). More often than not it seems the jokes rely on the “hot” factor of Brad’s girlfriend and Luann’s naive innocence rather than any real character development.

Marvin:
Another sarcastic baby strip... ugh... I sometimes get Marvin mixed up with Garfield because the characters look like they’re from Garfield’s world.

Frank & Ernest
I like bad puns. This strip has TONS of bad puns. I like this strip.

Pickles:
Another old people comic. It’s alright, but it doesn’t have the sharp wit of Crankshaft (if you can call Crankshaft sharp). It’s more mellow innocence than anything else, which is probably why it’s stayed around for so long.

Zits:
Hit or Miss. Most of the time it’s just stereotypical teenager garbage. Sometimes it can be very funny, and it’s occasionally one of the more surreal comics in the newspaper (as is evident by a recent talking foot comic).

Beetle Bailey:
Drawn by the same guy who does Hi and Lois, this is another series that I honestly don’t understand why it’s still going. World War II ended over 50 years ago, yet it continues to go on and on in Beetle Bailey. Not to mention it’s one of the more blatantly racist and sexist comics in newspapers today. The only comic I know of in which the artist was forced to put his characters through “sensitivity training” to keep going.

Pearls Before Swine:
Hit or miss. I want to like Pearls before swine, but for some reason it doesn’t really connect with me. It’s also one of the more “chatty” comics, relying more on dialogue than actual art. In fact, many times I’ve noticed that all the panels are just photocopied and the text is the only thing changed. I hate “talking heads” comics like that. Yet I feel sympathy for the pig, and I like the Crocodile’s attempts to eat the Zebra.

Get Fuzzy:
You know, it’s weird. I LOVE Get Fuzzy, but I hate reading it in the Newspaper. As a stand alone comic in the paper it’s very wordy and uninteresting. But as a comic book compilation I get more milage because I can read each strip from page to page. Many times there seems to be no “joke” at the end, which makes the comic book compilations feel more like comic BOOKS than anything else. Either way, it’s still one of the most edgy comics in Newspapers right now, and Bucky is just hilarious to read.

Grand Avenue:
I hate the art. It’s just sarcastic kids living with the grandmother. Never very funny and did I mention I hate the art?

Mother Goose & Grimm
Occasionally funny to me. It’s another one of those bad pun series. Sometimes they are really good, and every now and then they go into a Far Side mode and tell jokes with one panel (which is refreshing).

Baldo:
I like baldo. The art is very well done, it teaches kids about Spanish words and phrases, and the jokes tend to be spot on. My only regret about this comic is that like Pearls Before Swine, many of the time the panels are just copy and pasted.

Sally Forth:
I started by hating Sally Forth. In every god damn comic, no matter what situation was going on, no matter what tragedy was unfolding, none of the characters ever lost their sarcastic smile from their faces. There was a whole series (i think it lasted a year) in which the husband lost his job, was destitute, started going a little insane, didn’t shave, was depressed and sad.... and yet... he never stopped smiling. NEVER!!!!!!
I started reading Sally Forth because I hated it so much and I was always poking fun at it. But now it’s starting to grow on me, which disturbs me greatly. Also, I think Hil’s best friend is a lesbian.

Jumpstart:
Innocent humor comic. I have nothing against it, and nothing to say either. It’s alright, but it’s never really caught my attention.

Between Friends:
Aside from Sally Forth, this is the only other comic that I try to follow religiously. The story going on now about an abusive husband and her friend trying to help her has taken a turn for the worse and it’s pretty darn rare to see anything of the sort in a newspaper comic. I can’t think of any other strip besides “For Better or Worse” that would attempt to addresses such issues in a tasteful manner. The only thing that bothers me is that many of the women are drawn similar and sometimes I get confused about who I am reading about. Also, the main protagonist’s nose is point when seen at a 3/4th angle, but has a sharp ledge when seen from the side. Strange inconsistencies like that throw me off.

Daddy’s Home:
I never knew that it was possible to draw all men like lesbians. Kudos for this strip in showing me that I was wrong.

Arlo & Janis:
Part of making a successful comic strip is putting all the right pieces together. Whenever I read Arlo and Janis I always fee like I’m missing something. I don’t know what it is, but many of the strips just fall flat and I either can’t figure out what the **** they’re talking about, or the panel transitions from one to the next make no sense to me.

Curtis:
I like Curtis. I like the style it’s drawn in. I like the stories that they’ve told so far. I like the characterization of them all. My only fear is that it’s going to fall into a rut like Garfield and start becoming repetitive. The idea that Curtis had to go back to school for the summer because of bad grades was also something I don’t see in comic strips either, so that was refreshing, AND it led to some interesting side stories.

I refuse to review “Bizarro,” “Family Circus,” and “Ziggy” because those are not comic strips. Comic strips are sequential art. These are just single panel cartoons, which by the definition of sequential art, are not comics. They are cartoons. Also... I hate Family Circus and it infuriates me to no end that the greatest Disney Animator alive today (glen Keane) is related to the writer of the strip (Bil Keane).

So now that I have totally wasted your time with this pointless review of my local newspapers comics, what do YOU all read? What comics in the newspaper do you actually look forward to reading, or read without the gag reflex? Do you disagree or agree with some of my reviews?

Lately...

2008-10-24T09:47:00.001-07:00

I dunno why, but lately it’s been hard for me to get back into a creative mood. There are a lot of things around me which are distracting me from being able to sit down and draw and color like I use to.

First it was the whole moving situation, but that was a month ago so I should be over my slump now. Then it was the comic convention, which I was a little creative at, but not very. Then it was this whole NYC trip, which thankfully has come and gone. Now it’s the Presidential Election and the Boston Comic con which is sapping up my will to draw.

It may be that I am just in a slump right now. I seem to go on these cycles of being overly productive, with being totally lethargic and unproductive. It’s for this reason that I like Sherlock Holmes, for he too had vices like this (although he got out of them by doing drugs).

The Election too is drawing up a lot of my attention. For the past month and more, I have been reading, searching, watching, and listening to anything I can find that has to deal with the Presidential Election. Recent issues with my Obama drawing have only intensified my interest in this race, and not a day passes where I don’t try to keep up with the events. My mind dwells upon it when I am suppose to be working or drawing, so it makes it hard for me to concentrate. I will be very happy when this election is finally over. Even MORE happy if my candidate wins.

Then of course there’s the simple lack of time to do anything. While I have plenty of time at work to draw, I have almost zero time at home to scan and color. This puts a huge damper on any efforts I may have to work on anything as in the back of my mind it keeps saying “why bother? You won’t have time to color it anyway.” I do believe I have a very mild form of depression and this is it manifesting itself. As we move into the winter months, this will probably only be increased.

I’ve been forcing myself to work on some things though, even if my brain tells me it’s pointless. I have been slowly retooling my website and updating it. I have a new opening page and I added a page (and blog) for Formera as well. A little bit here, and a little bit there, and soon my website will be totally redone. Hopefully I can work on this just in time for the Boston Comic Con.

Finally, money problems always seem to linger upon my mind. If I can’t bring my bank account positive by the beginning of November, I won’t HAVE a bank account.

All of these worries I think are putting so much pressure upon me that I don’t have the energy to pick up a pencil and draw whatever I want. Instead I have been spending the bulk of my time at work playing Pokemon on the DS. The only good news with this is that I got over my stumbling block and have actually started making progress in the game. All of my Pokemon are at level 30 or above, and I am now heading to the second lake, where Team Galatica are suppose to be doing some evil or something. The turn based action of Pokemon is perfect for a job where you are constantly being interrupted by phone calls. You can put it down at any time without worrying about someone hurting you or falling off a platform or whatever.

So anyway... that’s what is new here... I’m not asking for any help or anything. I just felt the need to get it out and write it down. Maybe doing so will get me out of this slump.

The Longest Day

2008-10-20T19:19:00.001-07:00

I am sooooo tired. I hope to sleep in tomorrow, but I gotta work, so I doubt it...

Last night I flew in to New York City’s LaGuardia Airport. I took a shuttle over to the hotel my parents had reserved for the night, only to find out that they wouldn’t let me stay without my dad’s credit card. Half and hour and a fax later, I was given a room where I settled in for bed.

But I didn’t get much sleep. I had a train to catch. At 6am. Meaning I had to wake up at 5am. Did I mention I got into the hotel at midnight? Yeah... I got no sleep...

I called a taxi and got dropped off at Grand Central Station, picked up a ticket, and was on the platform waiting for my train... 45 minutes early. Damn it... I could’ve slept in...

I took the train north out of the city, to some place along the Hudson river called Pookipsie or something where I got off and met the publisher.

She drove me through the town, giving me lots of details about FDR (Franklin D. Roosevelt) who apparently use to live out there, and finally we arrived at her home tucked away in the woods with a nice view of the lake.

We ate a nice breakfast (eggs, tea, and toast, with fresh picked berries) and then got down to business. I had brought along my book “Formera” and “Andy’s Hat” and some of my portfolio work. This was a children’s book publicist, so she wasn’t so much interested in my cartoony, anime, graphic novel stuff (which sadly made up the bulk of my work). But she WAS impressed with some of my paintings such as “Red Riding Hood” “The Professor” “One Girl in all the World” and “Home for a Rest.”

She seems to think that I have the talent to go far, I just need to reign it in a bit. Right now I am kinda all over the board (which is very true, I do everything from Nintendo fanart and stupid comics to serious paintings and illustrations, to animation, 3-D, video games etc...). She wants me to try and do a few full page illustrations you would see in a children’s book, with lots of detail and a much more... sweet tone to them. No violence, No Drama, No Anime (or ninja crap). Just sweet wholesome emotional energy that everyone can identify with. And I think that’s a worthy goal.

I gave her those pictures so she could use them if she wanted, and let her keep the books too. My goal now is to try and make some more children’s book style artwork, which I think I can do. There’s a possibility I might be able to do some jackets for pre-adolescent books, which would be awesome. All in all, it was a really good meeting and despite how tired I was, I am glad I went. I can’t wait to try some of the stuff she suggested and to get back to work drawing.

After our meeting she dropped me off at the train and I just barely had enough time to get back on. However, we talked too late and as a result, I missed my first plane back to Milwaukee. Instead of hiring a cab (which would’ve cost $$$ and gotten me just in time to miss the flight) I took the bus to the airport. It was much more leisurely like and I got to behold New York a bit more. Even still, I had a good 3 hours of waiting at the airport before I finally got on the plane.

So since about 7pm last night until right now, I have had nearly no sleep at all, and have been all over the place. I am tired, jet-lagged, and exhausted from stress. I am going to go to bed now.

Art is suppose to create controversy

2008-10-19T08:26:00.001-07:00

So, I just thought I would talk about a few things to wrap up some loose ends. The first is my Obama picture. I sent the picture to my parents, who thought it was great. They printed it out and took some copies with them and lo-and-behold they ran into someone who is close personal friends with Joe Biden. She was given a copy and there’s a slim chance that Joe will get to see it, and if Joe gets to see it Obama might just get to see it too. So that’s pretty cool, although I will be immensely embarrassed if Obama DOES get to see it. Lol

Since posting that picture I have gotten 3 types of responses. Ones in support of Obama and think the picture is great. Ones who aren’t supportive of Obama and think it sucks. And ones in which they want to kill me. Seriously that last one surprised the heck out of me. Here’s just a sample of some of the hate responses I have gotten since I posted the Obama picture online:

“He's a musliam. he's up to something. I have feeling he's working with Osama Bin Laden with something. But the Goverment might kill him just like JFK
I don't know why everyone wants to vote for him because they think Obama is 100% black. Obama is half white and black and brought up in the life of a musliam world.
de ja vu of 9/11 anyone?????? “

“I'll fucking rip your head off. FUCK THAT TOWEL HEAD “

“FUCK YOU SAND NIGGER LOVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! people like you who who the world trade center bombed. I hope you rot in hell. America is for IN GOD WE TRUST not no fucking Mahuma.”

“You don't know any fucking real fucks your belives are wrong and twisted. Fuck you mother fucking redneck, farmboy. I hope you get shot. “

So yeah...

I really did think we were a LITTLE more civilized than that, but apparently I was wrong. It’s sad really, and kind of scary, that there are some people in the world who are like this.

Since I’ve posted journals showing my support of Obama, many have tried to persuade me to vote for McCain instead or at the very least, give reasons why Obama sucks. That’s natural and I expect that. But let me just outline a few things which I agree on that Obama is offering.

Obama, in the last presidential debate, wants to help our economy by creating more jobs here. One of the ways to do that would be to get rid of the tax break companies get for doing stuff overseas, and give them a tax break if they do it here in America. That would encourage companies to stop sending all their work overseas, which affects ME personally in a big way.

When I graduated from College in 2004, I had a BFA in classical 2-D Animation. That was right when the 2-D animation industry crashed and Disney fired all their animators in favor of doing their 2-D work overseas. Because Disney did it, other companies started to do it too, until there was practically nothing left for me to even try. I’m too young and inexperienced to get a job at Disney, but this crash made it so that there weren’t ANY jobs available to me. I struggled for a good 3 years trying to find something before settling down on my Comics instead. I am a true-blue animator at heart though, and if I was given the opportunity I would LOVE to go back to animating. What Obama is suggesting would stimulate the animation industry in that we would want to hire people here in America... and if there’s a chance for that to happen, I want in. McCain is not proposing anything of the sort.

There are other things I agree with. I agree with his decision on abortion. Now I honestly don’t know how I feel about abortion, as I CAN see both sides to the issue. But people are going to get them whether I like it or not, and whether it’s outlawed by the government or not. If someone wants to get an abortion, it’s not up to me to tell them they can or can’t, that’s their own personal problem. BUT... I do think that we should keep it legalized because if someone DOES choose to get an Abortion, I would rather a doctor, who is capable of what they’re, doing handle it. Obama wants to keep it legal, McCain wants to take it away (which in fact would put MORE people at risk). So I agree with Obama. (Also, if you’re gonna give me that pro-life crap, you better not be eating hamburger or cheese or chicken or anything that comes from another animal cuz otherwise you are not “pro-life”).

I’m not going to go further into detail on anything because I really do hate politics and I hate the inevitable flame wars that ensue whenever anyone tries to express their own opinion. And seriously... just because I believe some certain things, doesn’t make me a bad person nor should I be receiving death-threats over a stupid cartoon. Heaven forbid I be allowed to say something personal in MY JOURNAL. What a concept.

Sigh... anyway... yeah... those are a few reasons. My mind is kinda shot right now, so forgive me if I didn’t put any of that eloquently. I am going on an overnight trip to New York City tonight and I am a little nervous. I’ve only ever been there 3 times before and this will be the first time by myself. I hope it goes Ok...

Boston Con and Commissions

2008-10-14T09:59:00.001-07:00

November 2nd is looming up fast and that means the Boston Comic Con! I will be attending that Sunday as a creator along with my publisher and other Alterna Comics artists. This will be my first time that I’ve actually MET my publisher in real life, largely due thanks to the convenience of e-mail and the internet. I’m gonna bring my portfolios of artwork, just like at the Minnesota comic con to browse through, I will be doing art-sketches, signing books, etc... It’s gonna be FUN! Hope to see some of you there!

Speaking of my book however, we’ve finally got a rough estimate for when Book 2 of Formera will be released. It’s looking like it’s going to be January. It’s a little sad because that’s AFTER Christmas, and Christmas for ALL companies is a big time to sell. The good news about this is that it is still going to be published in-time before the big February New York comic con in 2009, so at least I will have the book for this event! I was worried I might not. When I have an exact date, I will definitely keep you all posted!

Also, I just wanted to remind everyone that I AM open for Commissions right now. After the comic con in Minnesota I am going to just go back to my standard rates which are $30 for a fully colored digital picture, $15 for B/W line-art, and $5 for just a sketch. It’s the best time to ask for a commission for me right now because I am done with moving and I haven’t begun working on Book 3 yet, so I have plenty of time at work to draw and create. Just send me a note or better yet, send me a e-mail and I will get back to you as soon as I can.

Other than that there’s not too much else going on right now. Been playing MM9's downloaded content quite a bit, been unpacking boxes and putting stuff away, and been just generally feeling much more “at home” here than at our old place. I’m still trying to draw Super Hero’s, though the work has been a bit slow lately. I’m just not a big enough fan of Super Heros to put in too much effort. I’ve been trying to color the Super Man line art for almost a week now and struggling hard with it for some reason. All the colors are roughly there, but I just can’t grip my head around finishing it. I don’t know why...

Anyway, that’s what’s up. Comic con in Nov. Book in Jan. Commissions open, and still drawing!

MCBA Fallcon 2008

2008-10-08T10:43:00.000-07:00

I wrote all this out as soon as I got home from the convention so it would be fresh in my mind. But somehow during the rebooting process while getting my internet re-connected today, my computer mysteriously deleted this journal, which really pissed me off. I’m gonna try to re-write it again, so please bear with me:

My girlfriend and I flew out on Friday night at 10pm for Minneapolis. We stayed at her dad’s house overnight and first thing in the morning they dropped me off at the Minnesota State Fair Grounds for the convention. The first stumbling block I ran into was that for some mysterious reason they seemed to have lost my name on their register. Apparently going back and fourth between PC and MAC computers caused some problems for them. But it was easily remedied, and soon I was off to my table.

The Lupus foundation was one of the sponsors of this convention and unfortunately for me I got wedged between two Lupus tables. The other guy at my table probably didn’t expect anyone to be sitting with him, because he spread out and was using most of the space, and on my right was the actual donation table. So between the two, I was so tightly squeezed in that I barely had enough room to put my elbows up. Not to mention the fact that I was situated between these two charitable things, probably made it harder for me to get customers or people to come up and say Hi.

It wasn’t all bad though. My table was set right beside the “fortress of solitude” or the “break room” if you will. Inside they had cakes, chips, soda, coffee, salads, sandwiches, and tons of sitting places in case the craziness outside ever got to us. It was also one of the places where people in costumes changed into other costumes, so frequently you would see people in there putting on their makeup.

My table was also right next to Peter Gross and Barbara Shultz, two of my former MCAD comic professors and professionals in their own right. So it was nice to be able to reconnect with some of the people from MCAD there.

There were a lot of people in costumes at this convention, and unlike most conventions, some of these costumes were pretty damn GOOD. I took pictures of them to pass the time away in my little niche.

The first day was pretty boring really. The chairs were uncomfortable and my squished area attracted little attention. I think people attend the first day at a comic book convention to snatch up all the comics and action figures they can find, then on the second day they’re a bit more relaxed and willing to chat.

I sold a few drawings (one really elaborate one of Samus fighting Ridley from Metroid), and sold a few books too, but nothing substantial. And so few people came up to say Hi, that by the end of the day I was feeling pretty depressed.

The next day was raining, and I arrived so early they had not yet opened the doors for us, forcing me to take refuge under a stair well. Once inside, I quickly made my way to my table and set up my area before the other guy showed up. I was able to spread out and actually occupy more than 1/4th of a table to a full fledged ½ of a table! Believe it or not, but I think it made a difference!

The second day went a lot better. I got to talk to more people, and I got to sell more books. I met more people from MCAD, including Marvelous Patrick and Tyler Page. There were more people in costumes, and better food this time around too. I was also interviewed for a PodCast online, though I am nervous about it.

The auction for the art cards was on the 2nd day too, so that was fun to watch as people dug their hands into a large tub and took away with them one of the sketches that we all contributed too. Somewhere out there, 5 people have my pirate sketch cards...

I am not fond of Star Wars really, but I have to give props to “The Force” cosplay group. They had some really intricate and elaborate costumes from Star Wars that they made all on their own. It was particularly hilarious when a guy in a storm trooper outfit would stand perfectly motionless along side mannequins, and when someone would come up to them he would jump out, scaring the crap out of them! The days were punctuated with little bleeps of screams of this sort.

As well as the 2nd day was going, I sadly had to cut it short. I wanted to get home as soon as possible and the prospect of having to wait until 3pm the following day, while my girlfriend was already home, depressed me. So I packed up and left early to take the 3pm flight home. I got the last seat, and it was a little tight getting in, but I made it home, safe and sound!

Preparations for Moving

2008-09-26T11:34:00.001-07:00

In 2 days, I will be moving to a cheaper apartment. It’s about dang time!

We’ve transferred the electric bill, rented a truck, arranged pickup times for the keys, arranged walk-through times for our old place, paid off bills, etc...

Out of all the moves, this has to be the one in which I worry the LEAST about money, oddly enough considering that I am deplorably negative in my account. We’ve boxed a lot of stuff up, but for the most part we’ve been pretty slack in packing. I think that since the new place is so close, and most of the stuff we have was never unpacked in the first place, we’re planning to just move everything without much packing at all. I hope it works... we only have 2 days for the truck, and the 3rd day has to be spent in cleaning this pig-stye up. Lol.

I haven’t been working on much on purpose. I don’t want to spend all day drawing at my job, and then come home and color and post online obsessively when I should be packing for the move. So I won’t be working on anything until after this whole thing is finished.

I have no idea if I am going to be back online. We’ve arranged to get our internet setup on the 29th, but who knows when we’ll actually GET it. Then almost immediately after the move I have the Minnesota Comic Con the following weekend. So I guess this might be one of my last journal posts for a couple weeks.

I’ve been making up folders for the comic convention, showcasing my art. Hopefully at the last minute I’ll be able to buy a portfolio for my larger comic art... sigh... so much to do in so little time...

Mega Man 9 + Sick

2008-09-22T13:59:00.000-07:00

It’s day 3 into my sickness. I started with just losing my voice, but today I started getting the shakes, sweating profusely, and feeling very very cold, along with the usual aches and pains of my joints. I’ve taken some medicine, and I feel better now, but this seriously couldn’t have come at a worse possible time. We have less than 1 week now to pack everything up for the move and on my ONLY two days off from work, I’m sick on the couch unable to do much at all.

The good news, however, is that Mega Man 9 was released today, so while I am unable to really do much, I can still play video games to pass the time. I just want to say right now that Mega Man 9 on the Wii is pure 80's fun! This game is HARD as HELL and after an hours playing I have only been able to beat 2 of the 8 bosses.

Thank you capcom for including a “save” feature and for including a shop which allows you to purchase E tanks. I’ve been able to muscle my way through most of the levels due to the fact that I have so many E tanks in reserve. Heh.

I loved the old school Mega Man games, and this is like a fan-service-shout-out to all of us retro 80's gaming fanatics. I really really hope that this game does well to justify more sequels in this style of gaming. I would love to see a Mega Man 10 or 11 in NES style graphics too. Or better yet, a 8-bit or 16-bit sequel to a game series that never really made the jump beyond the SNES, like Adventure Island. Or a totally new game in 8-bit graphics! I tell ya, the potential is limitless now.

Anyone else been playing this game yet? And if so... what do you think and how far along are you?

What’s New?

2008-09-03T10:19:00.000-07:00

Aside from Super Mario RPG finally getting a Virtual Console release? Not much...

I have begun working on translating “The Exploits of Arsene Lupin” into a comic book. I have written 17 pages so far of the first chapter. I want 25 pages, but I’m not fixed on page length with this story, so I can go for as long or as short as needed. I am aiming for 25, but it’s ok if I’m off. So far it’s coming along nicely, although there is most certainly going to be a lot of reference research needed for it and I’m going to have to start tightening up my art before I get started on the inking process. Many of the panels are actually empty right now, mostly because I am just trying to fit the text from the book into the appropriate panels, so that the flow is not interrupted.

I think in the end this is going to help improve my art and better prepare me for what I have planned for Formera Book 5 (if I ever get around to getting that far in the series).

Speaking of Formera, my Banner (which I posted here last week) is coming along nicely. My aunt is getting it printed up and we’ve been able to see a full sized “test” page. It’s gonna be GINORMOUS! And it looks AWESOME! I’m sure this will help attract attention at the next comic con!

Oh yeah. The October Comic Con is coming up fast, but that’s not the only one I’m going to. There’s a Boston Comic con coming up, and one in New York in 2009. I don’t have too many details yet, but when I do I’ll be sure to keep you all informed.

I’ve also been encouraged by many people at the GameTrailers forums to continue to do Danny and Spot comics. The people in the Wii forums are not as objectionable as the ones in the general section. Curiously enough, Malstrom (who is a prominent anti-hardcore and pro Wii character) has one of my Danny comics up on his page. Lol. If you’re curious take a peek. Read some of his articles too... they’re LONG but they’re worth it.

http://malstrom.50webs.com/

Mega Man III on your Cellphone

2008-08-26T09:33:00.001-07:00

So... many arcade games on your cellphone have not translated over very well. Slow graphics, poor programing, and bad button mapping have made some awesome games just downright shit on your phone.

But things seem to be turning around. Sonic the Hedgehog is actually VERY playable, using only 1 button to jump and the keypad to move. This button schematic is what more games need to incorporate.

Mega Man is not new to phones either. He’s had Mega Man 1 and 2 on the phone prior, and both games, while decent adaptions, had horrible button mapping. For example if you wanted to jump right you had to press 3. If you wanted to jump up you had to press 2. To jump left press 1. That’s already annoying and frustrating. Making tight jumps on platforms with a button scheme like that is just downright impossible. But luckily, Mega Man III changed that.

Taking a nod from Sonic, Mega Man now only uses 1 button to jump, 1 button to fire, and one button to slide. Simple. Easy. Effective. All of the stages are represented almost 100% perfect, and if you’re a fan of the old NES classic, you won’t be disappointed. There are also a few changes which help you along.

There are checkpoints, naturally, so you don’t have to redo the whole level over again if you die. Those damn disappearing + reappearing blocks are just static platforms now and you don’t have to worry about them giving away underneath you. The game automatically saves if you beat a boss, so even if you die you won’t have to redo all of the bosses over again. After each Dr. Wily stage your health and weapons power come back so you don’t have to “conserve” energy like you did on the NES.

Of course there are a few minor faults too. Some enemies are almost impossible to hit. Some jumps can’t be made, forcing you to wait till you have the Rush Jet to fly over them. And some bosses seem to be ridiculously hard, even with the right weapon. The music, while very faithful adaption of the game, fades off and then replays instead of just having a continuous looping audio file. There is no sound FX. And finally, the biggest fault I think, is that the ending has been changed somewhat to fit better with Mega Man’s time line.

Overall though, for a cellphone game, this is DEFINITELY worth it. Seems like the little blue bomber is making a comeback recently!

Rough Times

2008-08-14T09:05:00.000-07:00

Bills are piling up. Deadlines are drawing near. Sleep is almost non-existent. This is turning out to be a really shitty month for me.

I’ll be moving to a cheaper apartment at the end of next month. But for some crazy reason, everything seems to be due THIS month. I got an outrageous electric bill which if I don’t pay 2 days ago, they’ll cut my power off. I got loan payments that are automatically deducted from bank accounts that are negative. I got car problems. I got work problems. I got sleep problems.

To pay just the electric bill alone... I am selling off nearly my entire DVD collection. Anything which isn’t a special ED DVD or a import is being sold. Sadly I’ll probably only get $25 bucks for selling close to 100 DVD’s. Sigh...

This month fucking sucks.

On the plus side... I’m almost caught with my book. I’m halfway through coloring chapter 7 and I’ve almost finished inking chapter 9. If I can finish those by the end of next week I’ll be doing good. But if I loose power... who knows when I’ll finish.

I’m gonna put my “real life” comics on hold for a while. As much as they are fun to do and allow me to take breaks while coloring Formera... I’m just really starting to run out of time.

I can’t wait for this month to end, cuz I’ll have so much free time to draw and do whatever I want!

WiiFit - 1 week update

2008-08-03T15:59:00.001-07:00

So I’ve had WiiFit for officially one week and I’ve been working with it every single day. I set a goal when I started the game to loose 10 .lbs in the span of 2 months. I felt it was a relatively realistic goal.

Today I beat my goal.

I have actually lost 10 .lbs in the span of 1 week! Of course it’s not entirely WiiFit which did it. Part of it I think goes to the elliptical machine which I worked out on every day while my Mii was “jogging in place.”

So there you have it... I’ve lost 10 .lbs. I’m still considered “obese” by the game’s standards, but I’ve set my next goal to loose another 10 .lbs in 2 months time. Hopefully, If I keep at this, I just might get under “obese” and into “overweight.” LOL.

So hardcore gamers can kiss my ass. This game rocks and it’s helping me get in shape. No FPS is gonna do that for me.

PS: I’ve also found that the Yoga workouts help me regulate my breathing, which in turns helps me sleep better at night. Score another one for Nintendo.

Public Domain Books?

2008-07-29T09:39:00.001-07:00

So an idea I have been throwing around lately is to illustrate some children’s books. Of course to publish a completely new book from scratch is a little daunting for someone who’s only gotten ONE book published before. Then I started thinking about books which are not copyrighted...

Public Domain books are quite plentiful. They are books which have stood the test of time and are readily available on the internet to download. Some of the more common and famous books that are now public domain include the works of “Sherlock Holmes,” “Alice in Wonderland,” “Beowulf,” “Huck Finn,” “Tom Sawyer,” “Treasure Island” and many other famous stories.

It might be a fun idea to illustrate some pictures for a more well known story. The only problem is... most of the stories are from the turn of the century and the old English is sometimes a turn off. None of them really “appeal” to kids or teens today and at best I would probably sell about 5 or 6 copies to my closest friends...

On the other hand, it certainly would give me experience working on illustrations for other people... And it would help me understand the printed book format better, which in turn would help me in choosing the appropriate moments to illustrate.

I’m unsure about what to do. Just out of curiosity, what old books have any of you read that you would recommend? Perhaps seeing what other people like to read might help me gauge what would be a better sell.

Then of course there was the CRAZY idea that instead of just illustrating these stories... I do them COMPLETELY as a graphic novel from start to finish. Of course this gives me undo amounts of insane work, especially with my Formera Book already taking up too much of my time. But again, it was a thought which crossed my mind.

So to the community... what do you all think? Should I illustrate a famous story? If so, what would you like to see?

WiiFit

2008-07-27T23:27:00.001-07:00

So it’s taken me a tad longer than most to finally take the plunge and buy this game. $80+ is a little steep for a video game and that was my one reason for avoiding it. However, with a little extra in my pockets this week, I was able to find a used copy at a local GameStop and thus finally committed myself.

First of all, to all those “hard core” gamers out there who scoff at this game as being casual and not as “deep” as their beloved shoot-em-ups... this games is actually remarkably difficult. Who would have ever thought that trying to maintain your balance could be so challenging? It may LOOK like you’re not doing much on that board, but inside your mind you are struggling to get all your muscles to stay in a perfect formation. It’s one of those games where you can honestly say “it’s a LOT harder than it LOOKS.”

The WiiFit board is not merely a fancy scale, but in fact a remarkably sensitive and amazing piece of design. It can measure from 4 different points allowing the game to be able to accurately read not JUST how much pressure you’re putting on it, but WHERE that pressure is being applied to.

Now, some people may not WANT to do exercises or Yoga, but I gotta say that after 30 minutes of this game I was working up a sweat (which only goes to show how out of shape I really am). The yoga was like doing a personal one-on-one session. The trainer will tell you how to pose, and WHY you’re posing, and then you mimic it along with the trainer. It’s a very healthy regiment they have and the on screen visual prompts help you keep breathing correctly and staying focused. It’s a great way to get someone not use to Yoga to give it a try.

Of course Yoga isn’t ALL it can do. You can set goals for how much weight you want to loose over a certain amount of time (which of course the game indicates that WiiFit alone will not loose weight and that by watching what you eat will help lol), you can do strength exercises, compare how you are doing with friends and family, and then there are the GAMES.

Using the WiiFit board for games is a lot of fun. As with WiiSports, WiiFit has a few games which are more or less introductory ideas that other more experienced developers will hopefully latch onto and utilize. There’s a jogging game (incidentally the only game which doesn’t use the WiiFit board) in which you put the WiiMote into your back pocket and jog in place. Depending on how hard/fast you jog, the faster your Mii will run in the park through some rather nice scenery. That one certainly works up a sweat.

Then there’s a couple skiing games which obviously was a precursor to WiiSki. There’s a table-tilt game in which you have to navigate different balls to a goal by shifting your weight to move the table (something I’m sure a new Super Monkey Ball will eventually employ), and there’s a hoola-hoop game where by swinging your butt around you catch more and more hoola-hoops.

All of the games are fun and well crafted, much like the games on WiiSports. Since I’m rather overweight (according to the game) I intend to stick with it and see how, by “training” each day and by watching what I eat, much weight I will actually loose. I know this is not meant to be a supplement to an ACTUAL workout... but it certainly is making the idea of working out a lot more fun. I am not sorry I bought this game and I can’t wait to see what else Nintendo comes up with.

The Dark Knight - Spoilers -

2008-07-21T20:41:00.001-07:00

The first thing I’m gonna say is that this movie is fucking AWESOME. This is, by far, the BEST comic-to-screen adaption I’ve ever seen. THIS is the way Superhero movies are suppose to be done. X-Men and SpiderMan tried to be “more serious” but The Dark Knight blows them all out of the water.

I really do not want to spoil anything for anyone, but it’s hard to talk about this sort of movie without revealing much, so I’m gonna try to not spoil anything but I can’t guarantee it.

Alright, now that that’s out of the way, on to the main event. Heath Ledger as the Joker was just awesome. It’s really even more disheartening to know that Heath is dead and that we’ll never get to see him play the Joker again. His interpretation of the Joker was just such a joy to watch on the screen, but always in the back of your mind is “I’ll never get to another performance like this again.” He made the character come alive like no other, and you almost can’t wait to see another scene with him in it, because you know he’s gonna steal the show.

That being said, he’s not the only great thing about this movie. One of the things that struck me right away was the fact that I actually care about Batman himself. Usually with super hero films you don’t really give a shit about he hero cuz you know he’s gonna live and make it through to the end. But this time around they’ve made not only Batman interesting, but Bruce Wayne interesting too. They’ve given him more to think about, more emotion to deal with, and that just makes him all the more interesting. If you don’t give the hero a choice, there’s no suspense and that’s something the other batman movies lacked... he’s just batman, we don’t really see him MAKING those choices to be batman. He just IS. So to see that happening here was very refreshing and it helped the movie overall.

Now, I’ve always been suspicious about having 2 villains in a superhero movie. Perhaps that stems from the original batman movies in which super villains teamed up to stop batman and they kept adding more and more and more as the movies went on. Technically speaking this movie has 3 villains, and it’s none the worse for the wear. It all flows seamlessly together and it’s done far more convincingly. The only regrettable thing is that if there is a 3rd movie, we will not be able to see the Joker at all.

Looking at the movie in terms of a film maker, I honestly can’t find anything to nitpick. My only beef was that the pounding soundtrack sometimes was so loud it was a strain to hear some of the dialogue, but I know that was just the theater we were in and not a problem of the film making. I liked the way they edited the movie, although I was beginning to notice they kept doing the same “tricks” throughout the film (having 2 or even 3 separate storylines inter-cutting with each other to build suspense.) That’s not a bad thing, after all the comics are done that way too. But for a 2 and a half hour movie you can start to realize it towards the end.

All in all... this movie ROCKED. I can’t stress that enough. If you haven’t seen it, go see it on the big screen. It’s WORTH it.

Mockups

2008-07-19T11:36:00.001-07:00

I’ve been having trouble getting back into the “zone” to work on my Formera book since I got back from Massachusetts. So one of the ways I tried to help get me interested in working on it again was to make a mock-up of the book.

I went out to Office Max and bought a black 3-ring binder and some transparent sheets to hold the artwork in. Then while I was at work I went through page by page and laid out the book exactly how I would be seeing it if it were done. This has proved to be enormously helpful because now I can flip through my inked artwork and see how my layout choices worked and how the story flows.

I’ve discovered that if I want to have something shocking happen, I should probably draw it on an even numbered page. This is because the first page of a chapter is always on an odd (or right) side and the even pages are on the left. So you want to have the suspense lead up to the end of the right side, then when you flip the page on the left is the shocking event. It’s a simple thing, but one you don’t really notice when you’re making pages individually and not considering the overall layout.

I was motivated enough to ink the borders of chapter 6 last night too. Now all I gotta do is the art inside, and that I should be able to finish tonight or tomorrow. If I keep this up, I should be able to whip through the last few chapters of this book relatively easily.

I’m even thinking of taking this mock-up book one step farther... and to print out the colored pages. Because I do not have a printer, I was thinking about doing this at Walgreens as photos. Send all the artwork as photos and have them printed up at about 4x5 (which is only a tad smaller than the actual Manga Sized book will be) and then put them into a small photo album so I can see the “finished” book before it comes back from the press. At about .10 cents a page and 168 pages, that comes to $16.80 which is far from expensive. Best of all, it could be done in as little as 2 hours lol.

But before I go that far, I gotta finish the damn thing and get all the pages colored, so this will take while.

Here’s some more good news though. I went into Borders Bookstores in downtown Milwaukee yesterday and asked the help desk if they would be willing to put my book Formera in their Manga section. The store manager came out to talk to me and it ended up with him taking down my information and saying that he will try to get some copies in the store. So hip-hip hooray! My books will be on sale in downtown Milwaukee’s Border Bookstore!

One small step...

The Legend of Zelda Nintendo Power Comic Saga

2008-07-18T09:04:00.000-07:00

When I was growing up I loved Nintendo Power. Remember, we didn’t have the internet then, and if we did it was only like 2k per second so it took FOREVER to do anything and connections were lost easily. So the only way you enjoy Nintendo and Nintendo related information was through Nintendo Power. It was an awesome magazine, but then when Issue 32 rolled around... something changed...

Inside the magazine there ran, side by side, a Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past comic and a Super Mario World comic. Both of these were tremendous influenced on my artistic style and they ran for a good 12 months before concluding.

Then, after they were done, they bound them all together and made Mario and Zelda comic compilation books. I eagerly snatched both of them up and I cherished them both very dearly.

But then in college I made friends with this one girl. She was a bit nutty (having multiple personalities) and as a friend I let her borrow a lot of things: 3 Harry Potter books, a white loose shirt I bought at a Renaissance Festival, and sadly... my Legend of Zelda comic book.

The longer we were friends, the worse it became. And the day that she threatened my girlfriend was the day that I cut all ties with her. It wasn’t until a few months later that I finally remembered that SHE still had my Zelda comic book compilation.

Today, I had some extra money, so I thought I would treat myself to a little something and re-buy the comic for my collection. I called Nintendo directly (which is how i got it the first time) and asked if they still had it. (BTW: the “on-hold” music for Nintendo is Link galloping into the sunset.) They didn’t have any more copies.

So I tried Amazon.com and found it right away.... for $92. Since I was only expecting to pay about $20... that was a bit of a shock for me. I searched eBay and found it for $6. I bid on it, and was promptly outbid. We kept at it till it got to about $30 and I realized it was futile.

I’ve searched and I’ve searched but I cannot find this book anywhere. It’s extremely rare and it upsets me greatly that someone has my book that I’ll never see again.

Now someone WAS nice enough to scan in every single page and post it all online, and You can download it all as a PDF and junk... but dang-nabbit... I want the BOOK. I want to be able to HOLD it in my HANDS! You can’t do that with a PDF. It’s not the same. And I can’t print it out either since the resolution isn’t that great either.

So here I am now, rather depressed that this book will never again pass before me. I can’t spend $92 on a comic book that’s only about 100 pages in length. I’m a little angry at my ex-friend who stole it (even more so knowing that if we ever DID meet again, she probably wouldn’t believe that I let her borrow it and somehow thought that SHE bought it, which is exactly what happened when I tried to get my Harry Potter books back). Sigh...

Fatal Errors Suck

2008-07-17T08:25:00.001-07:00

You would think that I would have learned by now to save more often, especially as someone who has grown up with Windows and Dos, which were both prone to crashing a lot. But sometimes, when you’re in the middle of working on an artwork, you don’t want to take the time to stop and save... you’re too “into-the-moment” as it were, and stopping to save would pull you out. This is even more true on my computer where stopping to save means a 15 minute intermission from whatever it was I was working on.

Needless to say, I had just finished coloring an illustration and was just about to put ONE more layer on (the color layer which unifies all of the hues) when I got a fatal error message and PFFT: Photoshop crashed.

I had not saved ONCE.

So now it’s back to the black and white lineart that I started with... At least now I know what to do and I can probably whip out another color version pretty fast since there’s no uncertainty anymore. But even still... it’s frustrating and there’s no one to blame but myself for being stupid enough NOT to save somewhere along the way...

Back

2008-07-15T09:06:00.001-07:00

Well I just got back from my trip home to Massachusetts. It made me realize how much I hate Milwaukee and by the end of the trip I really didn’t want to get on that plane and fly back here. Oh well.

I saw a lot of really awesome artwork, including some original “Winnie the pooh” drawings that were used in the first Winnie the Pooh book. I got to meet some famous people too, saw an awesome presentation on how a book was made from concept to final product, and met a childhood friend.

I learned that I had a bit of a positive impact upon his life and it was my love of drawing Nintendo characters which prompted them to look at art and think about becoming an artist too. We hadn’t spoken in a good 15-18 years, so it was cool to see that I had such an impact on someone from that early of an age.

I saw a lot of interesting things which have inspired me to use for Formera, took a lot of reference photos, and generally had a great time. I miss my family and I miss being able to go home.

Starving Artist

2007-12-10T16:28:00.000-08:00

I can’t believe it actually came to THIS last week... I actually was spraying baked potatoes with "PAM" because I was out of butter and wanted some "flavore." Wow... i am POOR! Lol

anyway...

AlternaComics has come out with a small anthology of short stories to help promote their authors and artists. I sent them one of my short stories a long time ago and heard nothing from them about it so I assumed it wasn’t good enough or something... lo and behold it made it into their second anthology... AND no less than the FIRST COMIC IN THE BOOK! WHOO HOO!!

So if anyone is interested check out "Alterna Tales Anthology #2" from http://www.alternacomics.com/ to see my comic! It’s my short, but grim, story "Teddy" about a young girl who is led away from the mall by a sex molester and of the gruesome revenge that is exacted when her teddy bear gets mad. It’s short... a mere 4 pages, but it was difficult to write and I think it’s one of my more powerful works. I’m sure that it’s up for free on wowio.com so if you can’t afford to order a book, check it out for free!

Other than that... usual crap... I have 3 days to get $20 into my bank or else Wells Fargo will close my checking account and I won’t be able to re-open it for 5 years. Sigh... I’ve tried to get commissions to pay it off, but PayPal takes too long so I’m probably gonna have to hock some more of my DVD collections... I already had to sell one of my Sherlock DVD’s, which is so sad for me cuz that was one of the things I swore I’d never sell... but times are rough and I can’t justify having it...

I can’t wait until I get paid this Friday... not only will I be able to buy FOOD for the first time in like 4 weeks, but I’ll be able to finish my Christmas shopping, pay off my loan bills, and buy a tree! It’s my first time celebrating Christmas where i actually will be able to buy my girlfriend some PRESENTS! In the past I’ve either been able to get her ONE thing, or nothing at all. This year is going to be different!

Anyway... that’s what’s new... I’ll keep ya all updated on anything else that might come up...

Oh yes, one more thing... can anyone here encode into Quicktime’s Sorensen(spelling?) video format? I want to send my Demo Reel to Pixar Animations, but they require that it be in Quicktime format, and unfortunately I do not have the software (nor the ability to pay for it) to convert my AVI file into a MOV file. So if anyone could help me out, it would be MOST appreciated...

Old School

2007-12-02T14:44:00.000-08:00

Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston.

Two of the greatest animators who have ever lived. I discovered them while I was taking animation classes in college and every new facet of their life i uncover just makes their work even more fascinating and amazing to me. Between themselves they animated almost all of the most beloved scenes and moments you can think of in Disney cinema. The two nearly single-handedly animated the Jungle Book by themselves! So common are they that many people don’t realize that Frank and Ollie are actually TWO words instead of 1.

You might’ve actually already have seen them before and not even been aware of it. They are featured as cameo’s in both of Brad Birds first 2 films "The Iron Giant" and "The Incredibles" and they’ve been referred to many times before in numerous Disney cartoons over the years (such as Micky Mouse going to see Dr. Frankenollie in "Brain Drain"). In "The Iron Giant" Frank and Ollie lend their own voices to their animated versions of themselves playing the train conductor who tells the villain that he hit a giant metal man. In "The Incredibles" they are two old men who watch the happy ending and comment "that’s old school!"

I’ve thought about drawing them for a long time, but yesterday inspiration just struck... I drew this illustration inspired by the many caricatures of them I’ve seen.

Frank was difficult, because I didn’t want to just use the same caricature I’ve always seen, and many different variations and components went into his final design. He’s got an odd mouth and a rather wide smile which make his features hard to draw.

Ollie was by far the hardest to draw because I couldn’t find any good reference pictures of him. I’ve got the documentary "Frank and Ollie" which helped, but he’s so much taller than Frank is, yet he’s always drawn with such a round face. Finally while watching "Peter Pan" i found my way out of my difficulty. Ollie was the lead animator for Mr. Smee and when Smee tilted his head just right in this one shot, he looked just like Ollie! So my version of Ollie is actually a slightly modified version of Mr Smee from Peter Pan!

This was a labor of love and I’m really proud of how it turned out. I don’t normally go to the trouble of painting my cartoons like this, but it gives it such a nice hand-drawn and old fashioned calming feeling to it. I’m so proud of it... it’s just a shame that so many people don’t know who they were and so won’t be able to appreciate it. If you ever get a chance, look up that documentary! It’s well worth the $10 it’s going for!

Link Plays Wii Sports!

2007-11-26T15:35:00.000-08:00

I was bored the other day and watching my DVD of "The Legend of Zelda." For those of you who don’t know, back in the late 80's there was the "Super Mario Bros. Super Show" and every Friday they would air a "Legend of Zelda" episode. Only 13 were ever made. While it doesn’t resemble how Link is now, and many kids might be annoyed by Link’s perverted jerky manners, there is a certain charm about it and it got me thinking that I’d like to see this version of Link again sometime.

So then I thought... well... what could Link do? I’ve watched all the episodes so many times both as a kid as now as an adult that I know nearly all the dialogue from the show. Rackin’ my brain I came up with three different possibilities. The first two weren’t possible because of background noises or music which, when edited, sounded weird. But the final choice was perfect. He says his lines with no background music what-so-ever.

Then I went about using my girlfriend’s digital camera to record the video files. They were a little cumbersome because of their small size and occasionally they dropped frames. From that I sketched out Link and animated him. I wanted to keep his animation far from smooth and make it look like he just came out of the cartoon. His face is really difficult to get right though, so this is more or less MY version of him.

I had to go through frame by frame for the first shot of link and make a black and white mask of my body so I could put link behind me. That was tricky and took a lot of patience (which I don’t have much of) but it yielded some excellent results.

I didn’t really have an ending, but unexpectedly I got some good reactions and that sufficed for an ending. The Wii was taken with a digital camera and then erased from the scene (because I didn’t have a tripod to hold the camera steady). A few finishing touches to the animation to make it blend in better (blurring, color correction and the like) and finally add in a few old-school Zelda Sound FX and Ta-DA!!! Link from the old 80's cartoon is sittin’ in my living room playing Wii Sports!

I really miss that show. It was one of the shows that defined my artistic style and was a big influence on me as a kid. And I’ll miss the days when Link was brown/black haired instead of this pretty boy blond he is now. Oh well... as an artist I can at least draw him the way I remember him and hopefully not incur the wrath of Zelda fans.

Demo Reel

2007-11-26T11:32:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone, my name is Andrew Dobson and I’m a comic artist.

A little about myself, I’m a graduate of the Minneapolis College of Art and Design where I went for 4 years, receiving a BFA in Animation. Luck ran out on me when I graduated, however, and I have been unable to find an animation job to stay afloat. As a backup plan I’ve been making comic books!

I’ve self published a couple books on lulu.com, but my biggest triumph was when AlternaComics decided to pick up my series Formera. It’s currently being published through them and a big compilation book of the first 12 chapters or so will be coming out at the beginning of the new year.

To kick things off here, I’m going to post my demo reel. It’s a collage of all my animation, illustration, video game, and comic art work.

I hope everyone likes it!

I’ll be updating with artwork and miscellaneous things that happen to me. So see ya around!