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.

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.

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

I’m going to be offering $10 sketch card commissions on a monthly basis here through my blog, and the other blogs I have around the net (I also have a link on the Imagine FX homepage for A Mirror Image, which mostly just reflects what I post here)

So here’s the details. Some time in the next week, I’m going to have a paypal button made up for the site here. You’re going to be able to click on that and order a custom, full color, sketch card, on 100 lb bristol vellum, created with Prismacolor markers, colored pencils, ink and/or acrylic or watercolor paints.

-Shipped in protective covers directly to you, for only $10.
-Any character of your choice.
-Turnaround time will be 2 weeks on these. That means that within that 2 week timeframe, your card will be created and shipped directly to you.
-Card dimensions will be standard 3.5 x 2 inch sketch card size.
-ONLY single character cards, no adult themes, keep the requests at the PG-13 level please.

If you want to get your order in ahead of time, hit me up on the blog, or send me an email. I’m only going to be offering 10 of these per month, which means that if I get more than 10 orders in a month, your cards will be done in the order that they were received, and the following month will start out with any carryovers from the previous month.

Here’s a few samples of previous cards for your viewing pleasure.

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?

catching up here, going to be REALLY interesting to see IF or how long I can keep up daily studies. I’m going to refuse to fail for a while though, if I do get behind a day or two, I’m going to try and make up for them (not including vacation time, that defeats the purpose of vacation if I have to kill myself to do something like this)

40 minutes, PS.

40 minute study of the day in PS. Not thrilled with the atmosphere behind the mountain, but that’s all the time I had today, probably could use another 10 minutes worth of refining to fix a few minor things but these are speed studies and exercises really, not trying to be perfect with everything.

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.

Finished up this sketch card of Batman while watching election returns the other night. About a half hour, done mostly in watercolor, with some ink, black prisma marker and a bit of colored pencil. You can follow the link below to the ebay store and bid on it if you’re interested. Hoping to get a few more sketch cards done this week yet, but I’ve got a cover to finish for Zenescope and a 10 page short due before next Friday, in addition to some color studies and some submission pages. Going to be another busy weekend!

Batman sketch card now on ebay!

Spiderman has always been one of my favorite superheroes. Just completed a mixed media sketch card that’s up on ebay now for sale. Check it out!!!
Spiderman Sketch Card on ebay!

More goodies to come this week yet too!