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.

It seems whenever you come to a point in life where you have to make decisions, whether they’re BIG decisions or little ones, you inevitably find yourself drawing some sort of lines. These aren’t lines on paper, but rather metaphorical lines that you’re drawing into those spaces in your life between the old and the new, or the stressful and relaxing. My own lines have been sort of zig zagging every which way for a few months now, in ways that required me to really focus and find a way to draw straight lines, but I think after a lot of struggling, I finally found a good ruler to use in the short term, and hopefully after a short period of time I’ll be able to set it down again and get back to some freehand drawing

The transition back into the working world is going moderately well so far. It’s a job that I know I can do, and I’m not running into anything that is really mind bending and causing me problems yet, so that’s a huge plus. It’s also nice to be able to put in my hours, and LEAVE when it’s done. Hoping I can get all the hours I want when football season rolls around soon, but that’s still kind of up in the air right now. I know I’ll be able to get game days and at least one practice day off, but hopefully I can get things worked around the other practice and stuff. we’ll see. It’s going good as I said, and it’s going to be nice to have steady money coming in again for a change.

I wanted to wait until after the weekend of the 4th to really get moving on stuff again, but I may have to man up and just start DOING things again before then. So much to get started on here. I’m going to really start moving on my creator owned project here, as well as some other things with DJ Coffman. Working on a cool pitch now with writer/creator Eric Hobbs. It’s a great little story, weaving elements from various sources like Neverland, Oz and others into a gigantic, all ages, adventure that looks to be something very special. Artist Derrick Fish is doing some absolutely amazing work on this so far. Some of you might know Derrick from his webcomic work on Dandy and Company. I’ve been reading that forever, and was excited to see his name and his work on this project and get a chance to work with him. We’re doing some really great work together, can’t wait to show some of it later.

As for my own project, I’m going to share some new stuff soon from that. However I’m NOT going to be sharing the name again any time soon. Needless to say, in the last week, I went to see if the domain name I wanted was available for it, and it was. This morning, it’s been registered and has some template thing installed on it and mysteriously has no contact information, no links, no content, but a header and a flaky looking “this belongs to me” tagline. Probably a coincidence, but in a day and age where people just scoop up domains for things left and right in hopes of selling them off, it just as well could be someone hoping that I’ll shell out money for a name I was going to build an IP around.

On the homefront, things are great. We’re getting a lot of little things around the house and yard done that we’ve been meaning to, and enjoying spending time just hanging out this summer so far. Not going to baseball/softball 5 nights a week and weekends is a HUGE bonus as well. Leaves you with a lot of free time in the evenings that’s for sure. Just in the last 3 days, I’ve put in a screen door in the garage that my wife has wanted for 3 years (evidently so I can now hear the speakers from the garage stereo better, which I guess is partly true) put landscape lighting around the water garden/pond by the patio with the wife, finished laying a natural stone wall on the backside of the burm by the pond, and trimmed all the grass in the front yard. that doesn’t even take into account the consumption of extra greasy and crispy onion rings, the graduation party with a live band, playing Lego Batman on the pS3 with my son, sleeping in late on Sunday, having friends over for a 4th of July PRE party, party on Saturday night etc….. so life is definitely good. The only thing I could complain about is that I’m still owed a lot of money from one comic publisher, but really…if that’s the worst thing going on in my life, I’m lucky. I’m sure that situation will be resolved one way or another, hopefully in the next several weeks or in the next month. It needs to be resolved so I can get on with my life. Something I’m making an effort at doing. And while things are hectic, it’s a good hectic now, and I’m enjoying it.

So I’m going to get working on some things that I feel good about now, and hopefully….set that ruler aside and find time to start drawing some of my own lines.

coloring live tonight till I crash, working on a page from the official Flobots webcomic, and probably Take a Chance #5.

Watch live video from jembury’s channel on Justin.tv

Watch live video from jembury’s channel on Justin.tv

figured that I’d set up a virtual table for the upcoming Facebook Comic Convention in March. Head on over to my page and join up, Jason Embury’s virtual table for the Facebook Comic Convention.

not much time for that much rambling right now. Working on Take a Chance #5 right now, as well as starting colors for 1001 Arabian Nights: Adventures of Sinbad #9, cooking dinner and taking care of a sick wife, running kids to basketball games and practices, and trying to find time to get some gaming in still. Not to mention planning out the rest of my year so I can get some personal projects completed too. and boy is that Prince of Persia for PS3 is addicting for some reason (i’ve got to get back to it some time soon here), and I’ve found myself playing some OLD SCHOOL Castlevania lately on the Wii. Who needs sleep right?

so with deadlines out of the way on Monday, I took all of Tuesday off for the most part aside from a logo design I had to get done. I took a good portion of yesterday off, started colors on a pinup commission of Jean Grey/Phoenix, watched a bit of a Dylan Cole Gnomon DVD, and tried to get my body back to feeling somewhat normal. Still have a shoulder that is now only KIND OF sore, but I also have a kind of sore neck now, and I pulled something in my ribs of all places, while turning over in bed the other night. Talk about lame. However the upside…there is one I promise, is that I feel almost completely recharged mentally.

On the agenda today, more digital inks on Take a Chance #4, finish up the commission pinup, and get some of the flats for TAC4 pages I have back already dropped into my files for color scheming. I’m still in really good shape here for a somewhat EASY 2 page a day schedule on that book as I’ve set aside time to do NO other comic work for the next 2 weeks really BUT that book. I deserve a small break in my coloring schedule after 2 completely busy and insane months of cranking out pages.

My daughter lost her first bball game yesterday by a large margin, but she was one of the 3 girls who actually scored any points (the team only had 5) and I think…I’m going to leave it at that. It will be a long year for her, there will be a lot of unrest and turmoil within that team, and it won’t change until they all get on the same page and really start to care about the game. *edit* I just typed a bunch of crap about parenting, pride, and respect that I’m going to delete as it contradicted me not leaving it at that.

On to the art related stuff now. Somewhere in the last 2 months, I think it was after I passed 70 pages worth of work just after the New Year, I came to realization. I like to paint more than I like to color. I’ve been trying to paint as much as the comic page will allow, but sometimes pages just don’t make sense for that type of thing. I really got to do a lot of it with the giant sized Grimm Fairy Tales issue in Decemeber, I’ve been getting away with it on some pages for the Take a Chance book, a couple of pages in Herbert West 3, but not many really in Grimm Fairy Tales 35 which is what I wrapped up on Monday here. So as I sat there yesterday, after realizing that I had done almost 120 pages in about 6 weeks (which included some commissions) but basically almost 6 books worth of work, I was feeling an odd mixture of pride and disappointment. Sure that’s a LOT of work. MOST of which I’m proud of. But honestly, I felt more like a machine set to automatic at times than I did any kind of artist. So I started thinking hard about what it is that I enjoy the most in my work, and it’s really the painted elements. When they’re present that is.

So I’m contemplating things here now. Do I see myself as a top tier colorist at Marvel or DC some day? Because really that is probably the only way I can continue this as a career in the future. With the comic industry shrinking, and it was already small, I can’t answer that question really. There are some amazing artists working there already as colorists, and on a GOOD day of mine, I can come close to them. On a consistent, page by page basis though, I fall short. So I wonder if that is a circumstance of my own creation sometimes. Would I be able to aspire to BETTER work if I only did about 44 pages a month? I damn well could come a LOT closer than when I’m doing 90 pages a month, that’s just the truth of the matter. I know I have the drive, and when it comes down to it, the confidence in myself and my abilities to get to that place, but it comes back to the question, is that what I REALLY want? I don’t know many people coloring comics that make a living doing it WITHOUT working for DC or Marvel. The fact that I’ve been able to get by for going on 3 years here doing just that, is still kind of hard to figure out. With the changes to the market that have taken place over the last 3 years, and the changes that are occurring now, it makes me wonder how feasible it’s going to be for me to keep making the kind of money I’m making now WITHOUT moving on in my career.

Without rambling too much more this morning, because I have some things to do today, here’s where I’m at. I’m thinking of really making a push towards matte painting and concept art here. I really think that it’s something I can excel at. Looking at what I’ve done in the last 6 months, I think that I have a much higher upside if I were to focus more of my energy into that, than if I was to continue to sit here and crank out 80-90 pages worth of comic work a month. I’m seriously considering enrolling in some of the Gnomon online workshops that they offer for things like that.

HOWEVER, with the way the economy is right now, the fact that my wife’s job is tied directly to the automotive industry as a 2nd tier supplier, and with so much uncertainty in THAT, I’m not sure that I can justify turning DOWN any work that comes my way. Especially when I can GET that much work, and have smaller publishers willing to pay my page rate, outside of the Big 2 in the comics industry. I offer something that evidently JUSTIFIES my page rate or I wouldn’t keep getting work.

It’s a tough position. It’s hard to find people to talk to really in either industry, that I can relate to. My situation is really, honestly, pretty unique. I’ve talked with a lot of colorists, comic artists, concept artists and designers, and really….just looking around, I sit at home scribbling all day and make money without really working for any BIG name companies. Things just end up working out somehow in the end every time for me. We all take different paths in life. I guess it comes down to which fork you end up taking in the road sometimes. My problem I think is that I’m at a crossroads here now and it feels like there are about 10 different forks in that road of life. Which one do I take?

I think I need more coffee this morning. That’s about the only thing I’m sure of today.

snow day = no school. It’s a bit more complicated than that really. We’re getting a decent snow storm today, some freezing rain, ice, and LOTS of snow. Somewhere between 8-12 inches by the time it’s done (which doesn’t factor in the ice all over everything I’m guessing) So no school today, which is fine with the kids I’m sure, and my wife now gets to keep all of the vanilla/chocolate/sprinkled covered pretzels she made last night, which I’m sure makes HER happy.

I’ve got one BIG deadline out of the way this month. I’ve got a couple days to finish up 6 pages of another book here, and then a 22 pager due by the 2nd of January, and yet another book due by the 13th of January. so really, I’ve got 3 more deadlines in the next 30 days I guess. Nothing wrong with being busy this time of year, or in this economy period. I just hope my body holds up over this stretch. It’s tough with the holidays and family this time of year to work this type of schedule. There’s just so much other things that you have to juggle on top of work. It can wear you down, if you let it

Alright, off to work here, after I get another cup of joe.

So, there’s a great new superhero comic debuting this month from author C.E. Murphy and published by Dabel Bros./Del Rey (coincidentally the same Del Rey where C.E. has multi novel deal) The are is amazing, penciled by Ardian Syaf with colors by yours truly. You can order directly online from HeavyInk.com for a discount on the book, subscribe to it as well and it will be shipped each month with your order.

So head over to HeavyInk.com and order your copy today.

That is all for today, I’ve got a busy day here getting 4 more pages of the Grimm Fairy Tales 2008 annual colored for Zenescope. I will leave you with the cover art to Take A Chance #3 which you can preorder right now as well though. I think Ardian and I did this cover in under 3 hours all things considered. Not too shabby!

forgive the spelling mistakes today. just finished an all nighter, literally, and I could care less about how many spelling errors I make right now.

just wrapped up colors for Beyond Wonderland #4 with Nei Ruffino, Garry Henderson, and Blond (who came on at the last minute to save all our butts) The issue is made of complete AWESOME in my opinion, Dan Leister did an amazing job on the art for the book.

Put on a pot of coffee for my wife who’s waking up in about 5 minutes now, thinking of cooking a huge breakfast, and then crashing till the afternoon once these high rez files finish uploading. I probably won’t take off the entire day today, I’ll squeeze in another page or so I think likely as not. Strangely, not too tired right now, so if I can’t fall asleep I may just stay up all day and dork around.

this week, have to get the rest of our xmas shopping done, for the kids. I have a couple things left to get my wife, but I think we’re planning on heading into town on Friday to do shopping. then I’ll probably take the kids either Saturday or Sunday to pick up gifts for her.

It’s pretty apparent that I’m jumping all over the place right now too. It’s been really refreshing to have so much work lately, regardless of how busy it seems I am. I’d much rather be swamped right now, than be out of a job like so many other people. I think I’m doing some good work too, at least it seems that way to me I’m pretty happy with what I’ve been cranking out, and I’ve been cranking out a LOT of stuff. The first issue of my Dabel Bros. comic, Take A Chance is out this month. Can’t wait to get a copy of that and check it out, the art is fantastic, and I love the concept of the story (and the writing)

K, I’m losing it, it’s time to wrap things up, and get something to eat here, I’m starving!!!!!!

Was a long day yesterday. Took my daughter to get her braces on yesterday morning. It was probably the LEAST stressful appointment I’ve ever taken her to for anything. She did a really good job of not getting too worked up, and she seems to be taking the right approach to getting braces. She likes them, and isn’t all upset about having to get them either, which is a good attitude to have considering she has to wear them for almost 2 years She toughed it out at school yesterday, and is still a little sore today as well, but she’s doing a good job handling it, and I’m proud of her.

It was a late night last night. Went to see the MSU/N. Carolina game at Ford Field with my son and his friend and his dad and brothers. Was a good time, and the kids had a blast. MSU got TRUCKED by 35 points, and they embarrassed Detroit, the auto industry, MSU and the LIONS on ESPN this morning when they played the highlights of the game, but the kids enjoyed going and staying up so late on a school night. My son was dragging this morning heading to school, and I won’t lie, I’M tired myself this morning too. I took some pictures, and shot a couple of short videos as well.

I finished a painting commission yesterday that I’ve had for a couple of weeks, and it turned out good I think. I’ve got 4 days less to finish my Grimm Fairy Tales annual here, but I’m DONE with prior commitments and stuff now until I’m finished with the book, so I’m looking to knock pages out like nobodys business the next week here. Then I have 6 pages left to finish up issue 3 of Take a Chance, then I MIGHT be tackling Grimm Fairy Tales issue 35 before the end of the year as well. So things are definitely busy on the work front. Somewhere in there, I have to find time to take the kids xmas shopping for their mom too.

I need another pot of coffee today for sure, and maybe another piece of the AWESOME peanut butter/chocolate fudge my wife made. mmmm, mmmmm good!!!!