2008 is here, and I’ve gotten caught up enough with work, and taken enough time off to enjoy family and relaxation here, that I can look back on the great things that 2007 brought to me, and look forward to what this year has in store. I’m not a big list guy, but there will be lists in this post just to make it shorter. Get ready to scroll down!!! So first up, last year.

2007

Family wise we had a great year here really I think. We accomplished a lot on the home front such as: a new stone patio in the backyard, retaining walls around the burms behind our waterfall/pond area, put in a fire pit off the patio, planted more trees in the yard, got our basement almost finished, got the pool table set up and re-felted in the basement, painted both of the kids bedrooms (which involved a lot of hand painted silohettes and things on the walls, an entire wall of giant Kracken tentacles and a treasure map in my sons room, tiny little stars, custom shelving, borders and 4 different colors of paint in my daughters room) watched both the kids play baseball and softball and be successful, found time to fit in a real family vacation for the first time in a couple years, and generally just really made this house start to feel like it’s our home now instead of just being the “new house”. So in that regard things were hectic and busy as ever, but also fun and even relaxing at times.

I met a few people in 2007, that I’ve come to regard as friends as well. GOOD people first and foremost, and all of that has nothing to do with them working in comics, but everything to do with them just being real people without any sort of agendas or anything. Hard workers, and people that share a lot of things in common with me. People like Dan Forcey, Rob Richardson, Jason Maranto, Dale Mitchell (a.k.a Adam Black), Carly Wagner.

And lest I not forget my long time buddy DJ Coffman. DJ and I have known each other for a long time, but this last year I think we really started to become not only better friends, but a sort of Batman and Robin type of act. We share a lot of the same philosophies on life and family, politics and spirituality, and of course comics. I honestly probably owe a large part of my current happiness and success in comics to DJ. I was working as a colorist in the industry before I started coloring his Hero By Night book, doing various things at Image including a stint on Shadowhawk right before, but having him ask me to color HBN was probably what really solidified my financial situation enough for me to hone my craft, make more connections, and become good and fast enough to make a living coloring comics all day. I have had an immeasurable amount of fun working with him over the last year, creating an enormous body of Hero work, talking shop, bitching about things that seem lame and petty, and as stupid as it sounds…..looking to the future and dreaming. He has a lot of big ideas, and big goals, as do I, and I think I’ve seen enough of this industry at this point, to know that we have a real chance of making those things come to life some day.

In terms of work, 2007 was really a breakthrough type of year for me. This was the year where I really transitioned into coloring comics full time. The year started with wrapping up colors on the successful Hero By Night mini-series, started coloring the new KISS comic KISS 4K, which also allowed me to color the Guiness World Record largest comic book ever, doing some digital painting commissions, creating some card art for Fantasy Flight Games, working with some extremely talented creators on various projects…..Also starting with Wizard World LA, where Hero By Night debuted, where the KISS comic debuted, where I signed a lot of autographs and such, went to dinner with Scott Rosenberg (who was a real genuine and nice guy) and had a great time. I went to all of the Wizard World conventions this year, met some other great creators, publishers, fans and people in general. I met a lot of cool people and generally had a blast.

By the time summer rolled around I was busier than ever here. In May I started as the VP of Creative Development over at the new publisher Big City Comics. I had met Jeff Kaufman in LA, signed up to color one of his books shortly after, and then as his plans changed and we talked more and more, I decided to come onboard and help him coordinate things, find talent, and make the comics he was producing the best they could be. So here I was, trying to coordinate things with Diamond, design ads and promotional materials, color 2 Big City books, as well as the KISS 4K comic. It was a great experience, I learned even more about the comic industry, met even MORE great people, but I realized after a couple months I was really stretching myself pretty thin trying to be a colorist AND be on the editorial/administrative end of things for a publisher, and it was having a negative impact in my life (and on my health) I decided to step aside and continue just coloring for them after a period of a few months, and really focused myself on doing some outstanding coloring work on their Dragon Cross title, providing near painted pages at times for that first issue. Literally the week I finished the last page of Dragon Cross #1, a series of things happened rather quickly: first, my lucky 3 legged chinese frog who holds in i-Ching coin in his mouth and sits on the top of my desk had the coin drop out while I was dusting. THAT DAY, I got a call from my editor on the KISS comic, and was informed I had been let go as had then entire creative team on the book. Well, evidently I hadn’t put the right side of the coin back in the frogs mouth, so I immediately rotated that coin. I’m not sure which happened next, but I know that a check I had been expecting to come the week before, and NEEDED to get to me that week, didn’t show up. So THAT wasn’t a lot of fun, and again, the coin got rotated in my lucky frog. The next day, I had gotten offered enough work for the next 6 months here, and that frog hasn’t been TOUCHED since. All of that happened some time towards the end of August/beginning of September I think.

So as September got underway I now had several things going once again, had gotten back into a much saner schedule work wise, and the quality of life started to improve dramatically for me here. DJ and I were working on the new Hero By Night webcomic coming out 3 times a week, had started planning for the upcoming ongoing HBN series launching in December, I was starting work on an 88 page graphic novel, and things were going fairly well. October and November were much of the same thing, with a trip of WW Texas thrown in. As November close, I found myself finishing colors on HBN 1, steadily working on my graphic novel, and ignorant of what December was about to blow into the studio. One day, early in the month, I had just finished putting in about 8 hours here, it was around 4pm I got a call from my EIC over at Platinum, and was asked how many pages I could get one overnight for the KISS one-shot KISSmas special book, written by Chuck Dixon and drawn by Tone Rodriguez, I guess they had some problems with scheduling and stuff or whatever, and the book had to go to print the next day. Well I thought about it some, told them I could do 6 pages, hung up, thought about it some more, talked to my wife, talked to DJ, decided I could in fact probably do 13 of the 15 pages they needed for the right price. So I called back 15 minutes later and agreed to do 13 pages. I then proceeded to knock out all 13 pages, with the help of some VERY wonderful and reliable people who were able to flat for me, and low and behold from 5pm to 11:45 am the next day, I did indeed to get all 13 pages done, after which I proceeded to eat lunch, lay down long enough for the phone to ring 3 times, the dogs to go crazy and get absolutely NO sleep before heading up to the gym and coaching my daughters basketball practice for almost 2 hours. So I took the next weekend off basically, then did another 11 pages of my graphic novel, wrapped up the HBN webcomic for the month, started issue 2 of the HBN series, heard from an author in Ireland that I had colored a book for in late 2006 that my services may be needed for the remaining 5 issues of her story as she was working out the kinks in a deal with a major BOOK publisher and distributor for her series, then around the 18th got a call from my buddy Rob who informed me his book was going to be late if it wasn’t done by the 4th of January because they had a colorist drop out after issue 2. This was the Dragon Cross book I had to leave to take all the work I had signed on for at Platinum. Rob is such a good guy, I saw how issue 2 had turned out, I had just done essentially half a book overnight a week or so earlier, I still felt bad for HAVING to leave his book, so I agreed. Lo and behold it’s January 2nd, I was able to take time off to spend with family on Xmas and New Years, and I only have 3 1/2 pages left of issue 3 of Dragon Cross, and the whirlwind that closed 2007 will have come to an end. WHEW!!!!!!

Which leads us to….2008

I’m not sure about doing resolutions this year, life is a spontaneous, ever changing thing. But I do have some goals for this year though, which if you want to think of as resolutions I guess they could be seen that way. In no particular order:

1- Find more time to create art for just me. I have a couple of projects I’m working on right now of my own that I would really like to find time to develop and produce. I also would like to find time to set aside for working in my sketchbook every day, for throwing around some colors in a traditional way (i.e. with markers or real paint)

2- Finish losing the weight I wanted to lose last year. I lost 15 lbs in 2007, I have about 10 more lbs to lose to get to where I wanted to be in 2008. I think I’ll get there by the end of the year though.

3- Become a better digital painter. I made some great strides this year, I really did. From taking 2nd in a Gnomon School of Visual Effects monthly digital art contest and winning lots of great training DVD’s, to painting my first comic cover (Dragon Cross issue 4) I have a vast amount of potential for growth, more than I EVER saw for coloring comics when I started. So I really want to take the steps to become an even better painter this year.

4- Learn a new software program. The likely candidate will be Painter X, however getting my hands on Maya or a similar 3D app would be nice.

5- Paint the elvish script around the decorative ceiling shelf in our living room for my wife, and include a large celtic/elvish design motif painted on the ceiling for her. I told her that I didn’t want to do anything this year but mow the lawn, however if this is ALL I have to do extra, then I can count myself lucky!

6- I have a comic coloring related goal I don’t want to mention really. I’ve established myself this past year as being undeniably GOOD and reliable. IF I can make as much progress this year as I did the last year and a half, I can approach being great I think. I know that may sound selfish, but I think all artists want to be more than just good, it’s in your nature as an artist. That’s all part of it though.

7- Make more connections. I made some great connections in the comic industry this past year, as well as in the digital art community, the concept art and gaming industries, and I want to further those connections this coming year. Being a freelancer isn’t easy, but having a larger pool of editors, publishers and potential employers that know your name is always a good thing.

8- I want to start to step back a bit and give my kids more freedom. NOT an easy goal, and hard to explain, but my wife and I have always been VERY involved in our kids lives, making decisions, coaching sports teams etc….. I’ve come to the realization though, especially as my daughter is in that pre-teen stage now, that we really need to start letting the kids, mostly HER, start to become more independent, and either succeed or fail on their own. I think we’ve done what we can to make them strong enough to handle things, and we’ll obviously still be guiding them, but the only real way to learn some things is through adversity, and learning to deal with that adversity on your own (especially when you get to be a teenager) They are both at the absolute top of their classes in school academically, they both have reading levels that are FAR beyond their grade level, and they both are good athletically as well. It’s hard being a parent, but I think if we don’t start to step back a little bit, that what will happen is that the kids will start to RELY on us to be there for them at all times, and the fact is, as a parent you CAN’T solve all the problems.

9- Relax more. Deadlines can be stressful. I need to actually eliminate some things from my daily routine here, and add some others in order to accomplish this. I’ve moved away from meditation a lot in the last year or so with how busy things have been, but I really feel I need to get back to that a lot more. I also need to do things like read more, find more time for family and doing brainless activities like watching TV, and playing some video games now and again, playing pool. Sadly deadlines drive your life as a freelancer, and living in the state with probably the WORST economy in the nation right now….you take whatever work you can, when it’s there. I’m extremely blessed to do what I do for a living, but I can’t be content. If I were to have to go FIND a job out in the “real world” right now, there is NO WAY I could find something that would pay me as much as I’m making now (which is kind of sad) There are just no good jobs to be had, so for me to be able to work from home, remotely, and for employers that are from all over the world, is really something of a miracle.

10- Become a better person. Don’t get me wrong, regardless of the few people out there that may think I’m a jerk, I’m really a good person. There are certain things I want to work on though for sure. I think we probably ALL have this goal somewhere deep down, for some it might be buried in their sub-conscious, but the bottomline is just being the best person you can be. A better dad, a better husband, a better friend, a better brother, a better son, a better artist, a better citizen….that’s a lot of hats for any of us to where, and yet finding the BALANCE is the key. At 31 I think I’m just starting to get the right weights on each side of the scales, now it’s just a matter of adjusting the scales until they’re balanced.

Whew. That’s it I guess, probably some other things I want to do I’m not mentioning, I’m probably forgetting some things too. But in a nutshell, that’s pretty much it. I’d like to look back NEXT year at this time, and say that I was able to make progress on each and every one of those goals if not accomplish them outright. Hopefully everyone else can think of at least 10 things they can work on or strive for in the coming year. I’d like to throw world peace on there somewhere, as a lot of us would I’m sure, but working on being a better person will have to suffice as a write in for that one. Happy New Year everyone!!!

lots to do today.  A really GOOD day today, will mean I can take it somewhat easy tomorrow though, and take all day Thursday off of course.  I usually just sort of kick back and take whatever gigs seem to present themselves to me, but man….I am sort of pulling for this limited series gig though (primarily because the first issue is already in the can) and it would mean, 4 or 5 months next year where I’d have 2 or more books on the shelves every month.

Was kind of tired yesterday, probably was a bit harsh on the WW Texas show. I think part of it was probably me to be honest, I might have had expectations after hearing good things from several other creators about the show, but I had heard some bad things too.  Whatever the case, it was cool that it didn’t take forever to make the rounds on the floor, but there were a lot of empty seats in artists alley it seemed like.  And while I did say that having all that other stuff at the show, the jewelry and whatnot, seemed kind of out of place, I didn’t really LOOK at much of it close up.  Save for the Himalyan salt rock lamps.  I took a flyer for my wife, and those things were cool looking.  I think she’s even thinking of ordering one.

I did a few sketches that were sort of out of the norm too, one fan had brought her sketch book and some reference for some minor background character from Jack of Fables over at Vertigo.  Not only had I never read the book or heard of it really, but this guy was a minor character.  She just had this whoel book she was taking around getting filled up of different renditions of this guy. Was neat to see some MUCH more talented artists tackling that character though, my rendition held up I think though.

k, 3 pages to color, and a webcomic strip, time to hop to it.  As a side bar, I love NFL football!!

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Now playing: ESPN Radio
via FoxyTunes

Wizard World Texas is this weekend.  Wrapping up a page of colors today, then packing and stuff for the show and unwinding a bit tonight likely.  It’s been raining, snowing or sleeting here all day. Kind of nasty weather.  In a way, I’d rather not travel right now, and just sort of spend a weekend unwinding, but I’m kind of looking forward to the show, as a way of NOT doing much of ANYTHING.  I don’t know that I’ll even bother with a sketchbook or anything, I may just sit there like a zombie all weekend and just bullshit with people.  Going to be a LONG day tomorrow as  I need to leave about 2 hours before my flight takes off at 8 in order to get to the airport and do the security thing etc….  so it’s an early bedtime tonight for sure.  Oh, before I forget again since I forgot already yesterday,

Two books are on the shelves now at your local comic shop (most likely) that have my colors in them.  Tempest #1 and Dragon Cross #1, both from Big City Comics.  Scoop them up and enjoy my pretty crayon work if you get a chance :D  Also, the new hardcover Hero By Night trade should be in stores next week (and hopefully AT the show this weekend if you’re in or around Dallas/Arlington/Fort Worth Texas and plan on stopping by)

That’s it for me, time to get jiggy wit it.  There’s something wrong with using Will Smith lyrics while listening to classical music, but I’d rather not get into all the things that are wrong with the way I do things I don’t think.

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Now playing: WCPE
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back in action.  Got everything colored on time just like I wanted to (translated to Monday, and only 24 hours behind the final couple pages of inks getting to me) Took a bit of a breather yesterday to get some things done around here.  Was up early today to get my work done, so that I don’t have to work much if at all tonight, my daughter’s birthday is today.  I’m getting old, or feeling that way every year she adds another digit to her age.  And then again, I’m not THAT old myself.

Trying to get 2 pages a day done here, on top of getting a week or two ahead on the Hero By Night webcomic so that I don’t have to do anything when we get back from Wizard World Texas.  Speaking of that show, I’ve got 11 pages of Hotshot and Mighty Girl to get done before then.  So I need to hop to!!

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Now playing: Garbage - Shut Your Mouth
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BIG update! Our collected HARDCOVER trade of the original Hero By Night mini-series will be out in November, and debuting at Wizard World Texas! That’s right, I said hardcover

OUT OF THE LAIR AND INTO THE NIGHT…AGAIN!
Hero By Night Returns as an Ongoing Series

LOS ANGELES, Calif., October 23, 2007 – Platinum Studios Comics (www.platinumstudioscomics.com) and DJ Coffman are proud to announce that Hero By Night is back! The winning comic book idea from the inaugural 2006 Comic Book Challenge (www.comicbookchallenge.com), launched in March 2007 as a four-issue series. Due to overwhelming demand, the critically acclaimed SOLD OUT comic returns in December as an ongoing series.

The new series focuses on a young Jack King who struggles with the pressures of being a superhero in the modern age while battling the worst Steel City has to offer. The comic also follows Jack King’s predecessor, David Day, as he attempts to reconcile the faded memories of a forgotten past.

“I was thrilled with the overwhelming support and popularity of the first Hero By Night series,” says creator DJ Coffman. “With the help of my co-writer, James Patrick (Death Comes to Dillinger and Crackurz), we’ve expanded the Hero By Night universe and added a whole new opportunity by following the continuing story of David Day. I’m proud that this comic will appeal to comic fans of all ages.”

In addition, for both new fans as well as those familiar with the story, Platinum Studios Comics will release the Hero By Night Trade Collection this November. The HARDCOVER trade collection of the original four-issue series includes an added storyline that reveals what happened to the previous Hero By Night, David Day, after the Steel City explosion in 1956, and it will be available for only 12.99! Fans can also check out over 300 pages of background story for FREE of the Hero By Night in the form of webcomics at http://herobynight.com.

Hero By Night #1 (OCT073736) Co-written by D.J. Coffman and James Patrick, with art by D.J. Coffman and colors by Jason Embury, will be on comic stands this December. Tell your comic retailers to order now!!!

Also, international fans can order the book from Comicsnow.com, and a huge discount and get very affordable shipping. http://www.comicsnow.com Just enter Hero By Night into the search menu.

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Now playing: The Shins - Turn On Me
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BIG day of celebration here. Today marks the 1 year anniversary of Hero By Night. In the last year, DJ Coffman (creator/writer/penciler/inker/letterer/all around JUGGERNAUT of HBN) and myself, have cranked out the equivalent of over 300 (three HUNDRED) pages of Hero By Night comic book pages in print AND online. ALL of which you can read for free…. And that leads perfectly up to my next announcement

Today is the first day of our Preview week of the new ongoing Hero By Night comic book over at herobynight.com Head on over and check out some AWESOME action this week from the opening sequence of the new series. You can also ask a local comic book retailer to carry Hero By Night for you, the order code for issue 1 is, OCT073736. Good stuff there. We’re taking a break in the middle of the current HBN adventure webcomic to give you a daily dose of preview goodness this week, but we shall return next week with all new HBN webcomics, MWF and really get back into the search for David Day storyline.
Today I can also announce that I have begun coloring the new graphic novel, Hot Shot and Mighty Girl from Platinum Studios Comics. Penciled by Billy Penn, this is a very cool looking book, and I can’t wait to be able to show off some preview pages. Billy has a really cool style, and there’s something about teenage superheroes that everyone seems to really love.

Wizard World Texas is coming up here pretty quickly, so I’ve got to buckle down and get quite a bit of work done before I fly down on the 16th for the show. Chances are VERY good that we’ll also have those SEXY hardcover trades of the original HBN mini-series with a BONUS 5 page backup story that will let readers of the series AND the webcomic know exactly what happened to the original Hero in 1956. The current webcomic continuity leads RIGHT up to that very moment. I can’t think of too many superhero comics (if any), where you can buy a print book at your comic shop, and THEN get even MORE story, backstory and characters IN continuity for FREE online. It’s one HUGE world that DJ has created for HBN, and there is a lot of material for new readers to jump into and immerse themselves in.

Alright, off to work here.

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Now playing: Pete Yorn - Life On A Chain
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the space between insanity and genius is said to be fairly small.  likewise, I think the space between being busy and being overworked is so small as to be almost non-existent at times.  Have a ton of things to wrap before Wizard World Chicago on the 12th of August, including finishing up colors on Dragon Cross 1, as well as cover colors for at least 2 of our books at Big City Comics (3 cover colors if I can’t find another colorist for one of the titles before then)  Wrapping up the colors on the Hero By Night trade paperback coming out this November tonight.  We’ve got to get a bit ahead on the new Hero By Night webcomic that will be launching on the 13th of August and running through November.  There are times where my head is so full of things right now, that I’m not sure I could fit any more into it.  And then, inevitably, I end up cramming even more stuff to think about in there somewhere.  Not a huge surprise then to know that I’m forgetting things lately, the problem is, I’m not entirely sure of what it is I’m forgetting

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Now playing: Smashing Pumpkins - Slow Down
via FoxyTunes

With the prospect of being involved with a project or two to submit to the new ZUDA Comics venture by DC when it goes live in the fall, and Wizard World Chicago coming up here in the next month, I’ve been gearing up my old portfolio in the last month or two with some relevant DC related material. Here’s 2 of the 3 pages in this Batman sequence from HUSH, pencils by Jim Lee, and inks by Scott Williams. 3rd page is almost done too, and I’ll post that when I’m finished as well, but deadlines have once again creeped up on me. And I don’t make excuses for anything, and have never missed a deadline before, but having just sprained my wrist yesterday…I’m finding it slow going here to get things done. oh well, no one ever got what they wanted without a little sacrifice right?

well, a couple pics, a WHILE ago now I was here (see below) in Philly for Wizard World. A blur of a trip, but lots of fun nonetheless.

after I got back, finished our patio out back (pictures to come soon) baseball game for my son on Monday, softball game for my daughter on Tuesday, baseball again on Wednesday, had some bad things happen in the REAL world this week as well, and of course…coloring. and more coloring, not to mention administrative stuff and marketing stuff for Big City Comics. My copies of KISS 4K number 2 came on Friday, and surpisingly, they look fantastic (all things considered) So last night, after a LONG day coloring, and my daughter having her first boy/girl pool party, what does my wife do when she comes in the studio at around midnight and asks that I turn down my music……doesn’t WAKE ME UP, but instead, takes a nice picture of what I look like after an 18 hour day, and being wiped out from allergy meds. You can say I’m either working HARD, or hardly working, and both would be an apt assessment of what’s actually going on here Need to remember to take my camera to Chicago and Orlando (and Baltimore if we do end up hitting that show as well)

I’ll be at WW Philly this coming weekend, June 15-17th.  If you’re going to the con, stop by and say hi.  I’ll be navigating between the Hero By Night table, which I’ll be manning with HBN creator DJ Coffman, and the Big City Comics booth most of the weekend.  You’ll be sure to catch me at one or the other so long as I’m not off getting a beverage or some food or something stupid like that.  Also at the Big City booth will be publisher/writer Jeff Kaufman, penciler/writer Rob Richardson, and painter Elvin Cintron.  With our lineup being solicited in the September Diamond Previews, we’ll have banners of our upcoming books on hand, and yes, we are looking for another top notch penciler to pick up the reigns on one of our flagship titles, TOTEM. So if you’re an aspiring penciler and think you can mimick the style of Mario Gully for at least half an issue until we wrap issue 2, swing by and show us what you got.  See you all this weekend!