Was a busy weekend decorating the house, setting up the xmas tree and working here. Wanted to take as much time AWAY from the studio as I reasonably could with a deadline only 2 weeks away here. Still a few things on my mind this morning as I prepare for another LOOOONNNNGGG day in the studio here.

First off, I didn’t get a chance to sit down and really express what I was thankful for this year, even though I may have done that in my head the last few days. So here goes…I’m incredibly thankful for such a beautiful, loving wife (even though when I say that out loud it always sounds like kissing up or sarcasm it’s not, I genuinely mean it) I’m thankful for the 2 kids which have caused me to age prematurely, start losing my hair, turn the hair I DO have still to gray..just kidding. I’m incredibly thankful to have 2 very intelligent, well mannered (when they want to be) talented, loving children. It makes the difficult job of parenting that much easier, because everyone knows I’m unfortunately not the most patient person in the world, even though I try to be.

I’m also very thankful for the job that I have, even WITH all of the ups and downs that come with being a freelance artist. I’m afforded the luxury of working out of a beautiful home, having my own studio right off the upstairs living room, and being able to spend my days coloring comics, creating artwork and painting. It’s been a hectic, rollercoaster ride of a year here, however I am looking at my 5th straight year of growth since I started freelancing, and I’m actually making more money than I have at any other job I’ve ever had before. It’s encouraging to keep setting the bar higher and higher, and somehow finding a way to get over it. It’s not easy by ANY means, but it is rewarding.

other things that I’m trying to file away this morning….I’ve got 14 days to get 41 pages of comics colored here for 2 different books, and a painting to finish before Wednesday. Lots of work. I can do it, but thankfully we got the house decorated for Christmas over the weekend, the tree is up, and all of that is out of the way. The only other real tricky part over the next 2 weeks is this Wednesday. Taking my daughter to get her braces in the morning (which won’t be nearly as bad as she thinks), then am headed down to Ford Field with my son to catch the MSU vs. North Carolina basketball game which doesn’t start till 9pm. Going to be a LATE night. Then it’s JUGGERNAUT mode until I’m done with deadlines and hopefully, HOPEFULLY, a little time off this year for the holidays. I’ve got a staircase and railing in the basement that needs painting, and some other things I’d like to get done around the house, in addition to being able to just relax with the family this year.

k, time to get things going this morning, finish the page I started at 7:30 and find a groove.

been one of my longest breaks from blogging all year. Things have been super busy though with school starting up again for the kids, between volleyball games for my daughter, football practice twice a week for my son, in addition to a football game, and then watching the game film with the other coaches……oh, and I have tried to actually WORK this month for a change too, not to mention looking for more work. I’ve also decided I think that if I have to mow the yard one more time this month, cuz it’s growing like it’s on steroids, we might just landscape the ENTIRE damn thing with rocks, mulch and various shrubbery, flowers and more trees and call it done.

How busy is it really? Well I’m up at 4 or 4:30 in the morning the last 2 days because I can’t sleep for thinking of all the shit there is to do when I get up. Which naturally leads to me dragging my arse out of bed, and starting to get said shit done so that I can basically stop working by 3 and start running around. Today though an honest to goodness nap might be in the cards (seeing as how the couch in the upstairs living room is just outside my studio)

Kind of feeling like I’ve got no time to work on any of my creator owned projects anymore either right now, which is creating a huge drag on my motivation to do any work. This whole financial mess that the country is in, seems to be affecting just about every industry, comic books included. I’m waiting on money here again this year, not the first time, probably not the last time, and definitely not a surprise. It seems that almost all publishers, with the obvious exception of Marvel or DC, are really struggling to make ends meet for themselves these days. I’ve even heard rumors that Diamond is having trouble paying publishers on time. Not sure of the truth in that, but boy if that IS true, and I’ve heard that from quite a few people now in the industry, it’s no wonder so many publishers are struggling. Which in turn, makes it painfully obvious why creators are struggling as well. Maybe another good example of why the logic of one major point of distribution is faulty. If Diamond was to start struggling themselves, then everyone they distribute for would be boned (retailers, publishers and creators) Just seems like a real rough time for everyone outside of the giants of the industry, and makes it that much harder for guys like me, who’ve been making a living coloring now for over 2 years without ever having worked for said giants before. It’s not impossible to find work right now, but it sure as hell ain’t EASY for me either. Still, I think I’m pretty lucky to make the kind of money I make, have virtually NO expenses working from home, be able to set my own hours, and get to do so much family stuff at the same time (when I don’t have a pressing deadline)

So, it’s almost 5:30, and I didn’t really mean to turn this into a big complaining post, because at the end of the day, I certainly have FAR less to be complaining about than a lot of other people. I think I’ll try to get a couple pages colored here by lunch time so that I can fit in that nap I’m already thinking about now.

It’s been a long time it seems since I’ve redesigned my main website. I had plans to get to that in January, as I do every year. It’s just getting so cluttered it seems, older work in lots of places, and just generally not feeling very user friendly. Sadly, it’s looking like all that web design stuff is going to have to wait. I’m extremely busy here, trucking away coloring 3 books right now, and also inking AND coloring another. It’s a damn good thing that the 4 projects are not ALL monthly books, there’d be no way I’d be getting it all done. Things are getting crazy enough as it is. WWLA is coming up next week, looking forward to being able to head out there. I’m in need of a recharge I think. I’ve been feeling a LOT like just being lazy lately, and my creative energy has just been so low that it’s actually BEEN HARD WORK to stay productive and keep on painting an coloring here. It seems like the winter is dragging on here, and I’m tired all the time. Maybe some day, we’ll be able to afford to pack up and head somewhere with palm trees and warmer weather during the winter, once the kids are all grown up obviously. I think it would a lot easier to work and stay refreshed if it wasn’t so damn cold and gloomy out so much during the winter. Or I could just be cranky and in a bad mood lately too, that would explain a LOT of things as well.

So, the website thing, is on my list. Not sure if it’s in the top 10 things I need to accomplish before December just yet, but it’s at least ON the list now. Hero By Night seems to have moved into the top FIVE downloads on Wowio now. I’d say we’re surprised by that, but I think we’ve always known that there was a good chance it would be that popular there, so we’re just quietly pleased I think. Alright back to work here.

Dishes are tricky. I’m convinced that they wait until the day of the week that you least feel like dipping your hands into sudsy water, hunting around and trying to avoid whatever sharp objects might be lurking beneath the bubbles lying in wait, and then they decided to band together and form a greasy union of filthy, grimy DISGUSTINGNESS which you will undoubtedly have no other choice but to dip your hands into. So that being said, today was just such a day. But I vanquished them nonetheless, and now I sit here looking at my 3rd page of colors today, which is probably about 3/4 of the way done, thinking to myself that I have no real desire to finish it right now.

Today being the first day of course this week, and really in the last week entirely, that I’ve felt somewhat decent. Not 100%, dance on the couch, jump on the bed and declare my undying devotion to being alive type of healthy. But decent. Not feverish, not hacking up my left lung, or stopping to blow my nose every 2 minutes. So that being said, I think another early night of turning in and perhaps reading in bed for a bit is in order. I’m confident I can get the rest of this page done tomorrow without any problems, and also likely finish my 3 pages I had set aside for tomorrow on top of it, if not more. Fridays are days the wife does not work, which means I do not leave to pick up kids from school, which means that my routine such as it is, stays intact for most of the work day. Of course this also means that I have to hit a good groove by somewhere around 10:30 or 11 am. If I can accomplish to trick myself into being productive by this time in the morning, I feel wonderful at around noon or 12:30 ISH when I break for lunch, and when I get done eating said lunch, I come back and just get right back into that groove without noticing that I was even gone.

Also it was Valentines Day today. A very happy one to those of you who are enjoying it, for others it has been a struggle. My wife has had a particularly rotten day today, for which I feel sorry for her. Her computer was on the fritz again, her pretty much NEW computer, she was on the phone with tech support in MALAYSIA today (not a great improvement from tech support in India by the way, other than she was only the phone for TWO hours instead of SIX) Lots of other little things seemed to have gone wrong for her today, the kids not listening the earlier part of the evening of course being the fuel which burnt up any remaining feelings of wanting to do anything but lay on the couch in her robe. Understandable. Kids have a tendency to DO that to a person quite often if one isn’t careful around them.

Dang it, I sat here typing this up, thinking that page would somehow miraculously disappear (or at least have the good will to save and close itself out) but nope, still there. It’s a good page, I can’t complain really that much about it. Still 3/4 of the way done though, so it didn’t finish itself either. I’m guessing that it’s waiting on ME to do something about finishing it, and yet…I’m going to have to disappoint it. I’m ready for bed.

so yesterday I had a REAL sore back, still sore today, but I realized it was likely a combination of having slept on it wrong the previous night, and also the height at which I was working with my new Cintiq. So after getting some things done, I HAD to rearrange my entire studio so I could work on the Cintiq in a more comfortable way. Pretty much 90% of my work day is spent coloring or painting digitally now, and I would be in for some serious health problems if I hadn’t gotten this Cintiq and been able to get it set up so that it’s as close as possible to working traditionally. Having it on my drawing table is a great idea of my wife’s, and I have to say, so far so good. It’s like I’m working on a regular piece of paper almost it’s so comfortable. Also, finally got around to stealing my buddy DJ’s idea of wallpapering his wall with artwork. Mine is mostly fantasy oil paintings and LOTS of color too. So without further ado, here’s an impromptu studio tour.

First up the Nap Room (or movie room, depending on the time of day) The couch for power naps and thinking, and the chair for sketching and writing and stuff.

The entryway to the studio,

Computer area, complete with notepad for writing down ideas and stuff of course, art ref books, graphic novels, and my Imagine FX magazines.

The new Cintiq setup, much more comfortable, the beginning of the wall of art as wallpaper, some traditional tools, a Pantone flip book for color scheming, various supplies, comics and books, and of course my Cintiq.

Talking to Bob a few weeks ago about our mutual obsession with Batman, so these pics are for him. I had to split up the mini-shrine when I rearranged things, so first, the batman shelf, limited edition metal sculpture, 42 of 1200, various action figures, including the limited edition Rise of Sin Ztu videogame Batman (or however you spell that name),

Limited edition, gold trimmed collector plates, my 3 legged lucky frog, picture of my beautiful wife, my son dressed up as Batman for Halloween when he was 2, etc……

Hero By Night hardcover trade, limited edition with silver foil flames instead of blue, signed by CEO of Platinum Studios Scott Rosenberg (thanks for mailing that out to me Scott ) Displayed in a wonderful silver framed shadow box with glass case my wife got me for Xmas (thanks honey)

The ever growing wall of HBN comics. From right to left, the original HBN mini-series, including all issue 1 variants, issue 1 of the new ongoing series (soon to be joined by issue 2 once Fed Ex comes today or tomorrow), a Tiki-God clock which I refuse to set at the proper time of day, because I really could care less about what time it is and I doubt those Tiki-Gods care either, a few toys and HBN trades.

hope you enjoyed this short little visual tour. I’m off to get more coffee and get to coloring now!

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