I think everyone has wanted to be a pirate at one point in their life. Especially when you’re a child. Thrills, excitement, danger, sword fights, and all of the swashbuckling fun that goes with being a scallywag. There are very few adventures you can undertake as an adult that hold that kind of wide-eyed wonderment, and even fewer jobs you can wind up having that fill you with that enthralling sense of fascination.

I’ve been very, VERY lucky the last 3 years of my adult life to have such a job. But I’m not sailing the high seas, raising a flag with a jolly roger on it up the mast, drinking obscene amounts of rum or pretending like I know how to handle a sword (well…that’s not entirely true, I do enjoy drinking obscene amounts of rum now and again) No, I’ve been coloring comic books and doing illustration and digital painting commission work, but mostly coloring comics.

So while that can be a pretty exciting job, that allows you a lot more freedom and the occasional moment of wide-eyed wonderment, it can also at times be the thing that causes the kind of stress which drives you to want to drink obscene amounts of rum for one reason or another. Trust me on this.

Taking into account all of the positive and negative aspects that come along with being a freelance artist, it is still almost like stumbling upon buried treasure when you come across a project that gives you freedom, enjoyment and offers you the opportunity to grow as an artist. So I was more than a little wide-eyed with wonder when I was given the opportunity to work on my next comic coloring project……

Neverland.

THE Neverland, of Peter Pan fame. My absolute favorite story of all time. Everything that you ever dreamed of doing when you were a child, meeting Indians, giant pirate ships, rescuing maidens in distress, fighting pirates and fighting WITH pirates, living in a treehouse, mermaids, fairies, sword fights, danger, excitement, and lots and lots of FUN. Especially when you take into account the fact that THIS version of Neverland is going to be a darker, more twisted version of the classic tale, complete with all sorts of new interpretations on the characters we all know, and introducing some new ones as well. All of the things I love, and an opportunity to really showcase all of the strongest elements in my work.

You can read more about the series here,

Neverland Interview

and yes….Captain Hook……

….if you’re listening, I really DO want to be a pirate.

been working like crazy here the last 2 months, and running around on top of it all.  Finally finished another concept piece for my personal project though.  It’s finally moving in the direction I want to end up visually I think now, which is part animated/part painted.  I’ve been writing more script the last couple of months than I have been doing artwork, but now that I’ve finished this piece, I’m moving on to more design work for the various locations in the story, the other characters, props and things.  In my copious “spare time” of course.  Enjoy!

Larger version can be found here.

redesign of the site and blog happened at a good time. I’m swamped right now. Working on editing and designing TWO graphic novels, both over 100 pages long, potentially coloring some interesting new projects, doing a few commissions, and working on my own creator owned project more here. Still, I’m getting a lot done this week, and am scheduling work for June. So if you need a colorist for your comic, a digital painter or concept artist for an upcoming project feel free to get in touch. We’ve been making due here somehow, but it would be nice to line up enough paying gigs for the entire summer, that’s for sure. The search for a day job is going absolutely nowhere right now, so that would be one less thing to worry about.

Can’t wait to start getting actual pages done for the Rift in Time project. The script is really writing itself and I’m having a blast with it. Very fulfilling, and it’s going to be a great all ages kind of project, very visually appealing, fresh and fun I think. A distinct animated kind of Don Bluth look to it all as well.

back to work here, just taking a short break to fill the void with a progress report.

Finally found a good printer to produce my digital paintings on canvas in spectacular fashion. I’ve spent the better part of 6 months looking for just the right place to produce high quality work, at an affordable price. There are only 2 paintings up in the store now, however I will be producing on average hopefully 1 new painting each month (maybe every other month) for the rest of the year, most fantasy or sci-fi based works, branching out into different color schemes, themes, etc…..

Visit the store now!

So, the store is now live. High quality canvas prints are available on matte canvas, gallery wrapped and constructed with sturdy wooden frames. Vibrant inks, fade resistant up to 100 years. I’m also going to be offering commissions on various themes, genres, etc….so if there’s a particular type of painting you’re looking for, feel free to get in touch for a custom quote.

Visit the store now!

so every one of my books I’m coloring is on hold for one reason or another right now. I spent the weekend away with the wife for our anniversary and also contemplating my future artistic focus. Also spent the latter part of yesterday, and some time this morning doing the same thing-trying to figure out what direction to take. Every move that I’ve made the last few years has worked out eventually for me, and has met various levels of success. I’m not worried about branching out, or changing directions really. After all, art is art. Whether it’s comics, painting, mixed media, writing, whatever. It all amounts to the same thing, expressing your creative voice and telling a story. I seem to be able to do that in a few different mediums, all with varying degrees of competence. Right now, I’m getting togheter some digital paintings for an exhibit next month, working on a mixed media piece (paint and iron on canvas, ) as well, and also picking some pen and ink drawings I have framed to go in said exhibit. Versatility isn’t something I’m afraid of, and actually, it’s probably one of my strengths as an artist. That, and selling myself. I’m not bad at talking up my work and BACKING up that talk. So I’m going to go with the flow here, speak my mind, follow that artistic voice wherever it leads, and see what happens. I’m not really afraid, I think it’s more anxious/nervous kind of excitement more than anything. that whole, starting a new job feeling that you get sometimes. Of course, money is nice too, and I need to be VERY conscious of that, but I think that will work itself out for the best as well. Being timid doesn’t ever get you where you want to go. Fortune seems to favor the brave and bold. So holding yourself back isn’t a good option, but is a simple trap to fall into. I think in some ways I fell into that trap for a while, and I’ve been holding myself back. It’s time to turn the table, break that mold and get some things done i think.

yesterday was a crappy day motivationally, until after dinner. Today, I’m completely jazzed. Been working away at wrapping colors on a book due next Wednesday, I’ll likely be done a few days earlier at my current pace. Been inking pages here as well this week, and been burning some midnight oil to fit in some super secret project that DJ and I are pitching, I mean working on as well. ahem…

needless to say, this project is pretty fun to be working on, and hopefully one day in the near future, we’ll be able to start sharing a whole new universe of stuff with people. We’re both pretty jazzed about the possibilities, and if I’m being totally honest….it’s pretty top notch stuff. In case you didn’t know, DJ and I are the art team that brings you Hero By Night, which just happens to be the #1 superhero comic on the internet. Is it possible that we could be bringing you daily updates of something soon? It could very well happen. Stay tuned.

So today I have 2 more pages to get to from the Big Badz mini, if not 3, then I have a page to ink, and 2 more pages of pure AWESOME to start coloring, and a new website to start setting up too and doing graphics for. I’m glad that I’m energized enough today to tackle this stuff.

As Gerard so wisely pointed out yesterday to me, all I needed was to have my tummy start rumbling for honey and I would be sure to find my way again, just like Pooh bear. Sorry, you have to have had little kids in the house at one point to understand the Winnie the Pooh references I guess

Working hard today here in the studio. However I’ve also really been thinking a lot about my future creative endeavors here. There are a lot of ideas I’ve been kicking around here in the last month or so, on my own and with others. I think I need to find time to meditate and just really lose myself in thoughts for a while in the next few weeks. All of these thoughts are eventually leading me back to the social responsibility that all artists should be striving for and what I can do creatively to achieve that higher ground of creativity, where meaning and importance is the underpinning of any creative endeavor I undertake. What can I bring to the table in any given project? How can I develop a unique creative voice in every aspect of my work, while maintaining integrity, quality and productivity?

Is social commentary, or spiritual commentary for that matter even, something that has been lost in mass commercial art? Or are those things just being written off as marketing and cheap advertising now? In this age of instant information and gratification, does anyone really want to REALLY THINK for themselves anymore? I keep thinking that people by and large don’t WANT to think anymore, they want to be TOLD what to think. Or failing that, I think the internet and it’s instant ways of interaction has changed the WAY people think so that now everyone thinks that it is THEIR opinion that matters. That being able to be anonymous and have a website or a blog gives them some sort of assumed authority to speak their mind, even when what they have to say is completely wrong or completely misinformed. I think that you can see a noticeable change in society in the last 10 years if you look at the way people interact with one another in real life. There is far more rudeness, far more people who think they are better than everyone else, who think THEY are right and everyone else is wrong. Is this tied to the fact that as the internet has morphed into this unfathomable monstrosity that it is today over that period of time? Or is that it has allowed anyone with an internet connection and the free time required to become whatever they want online and say whatever comes to mind, however wrong, misguided or assholish it might be? I don’t know, but I have a suspicion that I could say that I think this is exactly the case. However wouldn’t I then be just another asshole posting my opinion about people I don’t even know online?

So I’m going back to pondering these things and where I want to go creatively in the future while I work today.

—————-
Now playing: Smashing Pumpkins - Death From Above
via FoxyTunes

this week has felt almost like a soap opera in some ways. today, took the wife into the ER this morning because she was slumped at her desk crying with a headache when I got back from dropping the kids off at school. Was not a good thing to witness. She barely ever cries, so I knew it was pretty bad. After much diagnosis and stuff there, they finally hooked her up to an IV and got some pain medication into her to help out. she SAYS she’s doing much better, she ran my son up to guitar practice for a half hour today. We’ll see. I just got dinner going here, and I have 3 pages to color today. 11 pages done at the end of today, half a book in 3 days. I do indeed love this new Cintiq because I think it really IS making me faster and better.

In related drama, mortgage is due next week, and medical bills and all SORTS of other stuff the week after that, and I’m HOPING HARD that my next check will be here before then. In fact, I pretty much need my next check to come about a week after this one gets here. I definitely need to get some more funds in here before the 10th of March, or I just won’t be able to go to Wizard World LA on the 13th. It seems like a long way off, but I’m going to be hunkered down here for at least 3 weeks working on 2 books that are both due next month. So before I know it, it’s going to be the 2nd week of March I think. ugh.

I’ve put the kids on notice today as well, on the way back from picking them up from school. ANY sort of crap behavior, arguing, fighting, bickering, complaining, that they’ve been doing for the last few days, will NOT be tolerated the rest of the week. Usually they get a warning and a chance to correct whatever they’re doing. Not right now, I’m just too stressed to deal. So they’ve been told that ANYTHING that they know they shouldn’t be doing, is landing them in their bedrooms grounded for a week. I don’t have time or patience anymore this week to deal with it. So we’ll see how much fun THAT is the next couple days. K, fast typing aside, I’ve spent almost 5 minutes on this post, time to find my energy pack and get to work!

So today marks the day my artistic life changes, for the better. My new 20 inch widescreen, Wacom Cintiq will arrive today via UPS. I just checked the tracking number, and it’s says, “OUT FOR DELIVERY” Anxiousness doesn’t really do justice to how I’m feeling right now, so I won’t even both describing the indescribable.

Haven’t mentioned this yet, but everyone has probably noticed by now, the new site layout. Just a basic wordpress template now, but it strongly mirrors the color scheme I was already implementing in my new portfolio site redesign (which may not see completion until MUCH later this year at my current rate of productivity) Earth tones, greens, blues, beiges, burnt umbers, subdued warm colors, all seem to be my favorites. I went with a solid black background over a year ago on my site because it was easy, and a lot of artists use black on their sites because it acts more like a matte around a picture for your art. However, I’ve got plans in the works for a much more scaled down, streamlined, Zen-like portfolio site. Something much more soothing to the senses.

My agenda today, includes: a healthy diet of classical music I think, to help inspire and soothe me since I’ve felt better honestly, finish the last page and a half of colors for the Hero By Night free comic book day offering, go in and fix some colors and make tweaks to at least 3 or 4 pages from issue 1 of Take a Chance, and start getting pages from the Hotshot and Mighty Girl graphic novel cleaned up and shipped out for flatting so I can start jamming later this week on colors for that. My goal for the week is to finish making all the changes to that first issue of TAC, upload high rez files for the letterer to make her changes, and as unlikely as it may sound, cleanup/ink 22 pages of HS&MG and start inking pages from TAC issue 2. I’m banking of course on an INSPIRED effort on my end once I get my Cintiq set up here, completely uninterrupted work time, very little in the way of unexpected family crises, and a juggernautic injection of stamina and good health. I suppose I’ll find out just how much power there is in the whole mind over matter thing fairly soon. I’ll be sure to report on how THAT goes.

haven’t slept good in over a week here.  My mind is just racing with thoughts at night now.  From work to family things to creative things…it’s nuts.  I’ve never had this problem before really either.  I can totally understand why they make sleep aid medicines now

It’s Friday.  Which means that most people are rejoicing at the end of another week.  Not me.  Tomorrow will be an even busier day, and likely a day that I don’t do ANY work, just family stuff.  Sunday I plan on working though a few hours towards the afternoon/evening time.

Aggravated the side of my hip/back/BUTT that bugged me for a few weeks there, again last Saturday.  It was just starting to come around and feel a LOT better.  So last night I did some “self diagnosis” with the aid of some medical sites and some threads on forums where other artists have had similar problems.  So now when I eventually DO end up making it to the doctor, we’re going to talk about RSI (repetitive stress injuries) because it seems that’s pretty much exactly what’s wrong with me.  I’m right handed, so my right arm/wrist/shoulder/neck area gets sore from the same motions everyday, and the opposing tendons and muscles in the lower left side of my body feel the same stress (if not more)  There was even one horror story from a guy who used to work at Industrial Light and Magic, and had this weird sort of CONTORTED tendon thing happen in his forearm and stuff from constricting his drawing motion to a little wacom tablet.  Which brings me to my next point, I’ve been thinking, saving, dreaming, hoping, researching, getting a new Wacom Cintiq for a while now, in part to make me even more productive, but also in LARGE part so that I can start drawing/coloring/painting, normally again, and using my entire arm and stuff and not just little movements from my wrist.  Today isn’t a great day for pain really, last night I stopped working at dinner after a mediocre day because it hurt so much.  Today isn’t as bad as last night, but it’s only 10am too

Also, I’ve been looking around the net for pictures of studios/people or companies that have a Cintiq work environment, so I can get an idea as for the best set up for my studio here.  So if any of you out there reading this own or use a Cintiq, and have pictures of your work environment, give me a shout will ya? :)  Back to the grind.