A Little Design Tweaking...

Something once more from the Iain Carson project. He asked for a more streamlined, less "puffy" design, so here we go.

And there shall be...ZOMBIES.

Dude, let me tell you: I frikkin' LOVE zombies. I'm fascinated by them: what they look like, how they decompose, how they run/walk/crawl/grunt-with-gusto, and what the causes of "zombification" is from media to media, from work to work. Most of all, I love how zombies have been used to say things about society in general. I mean, yeah, zombies are also tasteless cultural trash (or something pretentious like that), but out of the classic Western horror monsters, zombies have been used to provide the most social commentary out of anything. There are some heavy themes in Frankenstein that you just don't see in Dracula. In Dawn of the Dead, a book is hiding. How would humans survive in a zombie apocalypse? How would we behave? In our moment of desperation, at the moment that we would most need order, would we give in, or hold strong?

Man, zombie movies are like a cultural test of what our fears are as a society. In the original "Night of the Living Dead," the cause was a radiation fallout. Today? Nine out of ten times, the cause of zombies nowandays is some kind of virus. Kind of telling, isnt' it?

And also, zombies can be funny and horrifying at the same time. This might sound messed up, but a decomposed body trying to run like a normal, healthy, living human can be pretty comedic. The imagery doesn't take itself seriously. There's some room for slapstick, for some macabre humor. And that, in a way, makes the situation even more horrifying in contrast.

There's versatility in zombie media. And if I didn't have such a distaste for movie gore, I might watch more of the films than I have. But I once saw "Night of the Living Dead" (the original) when I was about five,  and it scared the crap out of me. I love that movie. But that's another post!

I also love drawing zombies. My banner up there originally started out as a zombie drawing, that looked a little like me. So I decided to make it a zombified-me, but that didn't work out so well. Now...it just looks like me after a severe accident. Oh well. Anyhoo, here's the point of this post:

I love zombie comics that are intelligent. Rob Kirkman's "Walking Dead" is a great example of what I love about what you can do with zombie stories. It's essentially a brutal, extremist, merciless survivor story. What humans are really going to do at their breaking point. Its psychological, it's brutal, and it's funny at times. Also, unlike most zombie movies, you don't want to kill (mostly) the protagonists.

Anyhoo, that's all I got tonight. A little sketch for y'all.

Tomorrow: a logo!

Behold...The Man-Bear-Pig! (Well, my version, anyway...)

Yeah, its a slow news day for me, I suppose. It's been a productive couple of days, with thumbnails among other things, but its all stuff I can't post. But hey, at least I'm making this blog look somewhat cool, yeah?

But yeah, thought I'd throw this up. Inspired by Mike Mignola's style.

Character Designs!

So, my friend Iain, who is a driven young filmmaker and probable creator of movies you will certainly see in the future, wrote a screenplay that he wanted to adapt into comics. So he called me, and voila! Now we're working together on something. And since I actually promised current artwork when I restarted this blog, here are some character designs for one of the main characters. Enjoy!

The Minicomic Project, Part 2

I finally got my sketchbook back, and with that, I can start...Part 2!

So, a couple weekends ago I went for a midnight swim with some friends. After this, feeling particularly revitalized, I wrote down the first five ideas that came to my mind. However, of those five, only one is really improvised; the other four are stories that have themes I've had on my mind forever, just dressed in different kinds of clothes.

As a disciple of Jesus Christ (man, that sounds weird, but just saying 'Christian' sounds too general), the themes of Christian living really appeal to me. The things that spiritual people are concerned with, deal with, and think about are as unique as a separate culture, and just like any culture, I find it interesting (and many times, frustrating). As someone who found Jesus and my faith during high school, there were a whole lot of things I had to wrestle with: insecurities both with myself and the standard I held myself to, a balance between being a loving and accepting person, being spineless and without a purpose to my love, and being a merciless douche about all the things I found right or wrong. Think high school, but times three for those who felt like they had to be saints in the middle of Las Vegas.

With that in mind, I came up with the character of Doug Willard, the quintessential uptight Christian freshman. He's not the stereotypical kind of Christian, who's 100% sure that whenever he verbally beats down an Democrat he's doing what Jesus would do. Doug  wants to be sure, and wants that kind of conviction, but isn't sure its the right kind of conviction he's seeking. There will be two parts about young Mr. Willard, both dealing with his introduction to a young woman with strong convictions and love for humanity...but not for God. And before you write it off, the conclusion will NOT be your normal Christian-bash-fiction, where the faithful kid questions everything and finds that God is in everyone (sorry, just ain't the truth), but it won't end with her seeing the error of her ways, either (that doesn't happen all that often either). Possible title for this will be "Doug Willard, The Monk of Santa Valle" (I'm trying to come up with a convincing name for a fictional Southern California suburb).

Another story will be a whole lot more off-beat, and lighthearted. For this one I'll be watching every classic Western in the filmmaker's library, and I'll also be reading about every Arthurian and/or English "dragon" story I can find. Why? Because, my friend, using these classic myths and legends, I'll be crafting my OWN "Knight Slays Dragon" story...set in a mythical Old West. I know, it sounds like an English project for underachieving seniors, but hear me out. I learned a whole lot about the "Hero's Journey" in my myth classes and readings, and since I scored a copy of "The Hero With a Thousand Faces," I'll be applying those principles to our classic Lone Cowboy. Yes, there will be a real dragon. But it'll be like Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid...but with magic guns and an awesome-looking mythical creature. Look for sketches on this one. Our possible name will be "Johnny Stonewall and the Silver Mine Dragon." I'm doing this one for fun. There isn't any real depth of purpose behind this one, besides a quality story with some awesomeness.

This one has a working title of "Lamaze Class," only because I haven't discovered the title yet. This one finds some inspiration in the many ideas that my friends and I come up with in the middle of a town with very little to do once the sun goes down. Here, two friends (a guy and a girl) find themselves with a lot of quirky energy, but nothing to do. So they find a lamaze class (you know, for expectant parents) and sign up, just because they can. But what started out as an afternoon joke becomes a whole lot more as...okay, honestly, this one isn't all that developed in my mind yet. Feel free to help me out. The seed of the story is there, but I wanted to explore some of the awkwardness and sweetness that comes from your closest friend being of the opposite gender.

The last one is undecided as of yet. I wanted to do something that addressed the dynamic between father and son, and how so many sons become their fathers, one way or another. But that one might be a little too biographical for me to write anything worth reading. There's being close to a story to provide depth and accuracy, then there's being SO close that you can't bear to write the truth, because it may not be something you want. Then my friend Kristen suggested a story of her taking over Dublin whilst traveling in Europe. It sounded funny, but I have no idea where that would go.

Anyhoo, that's what's floating around in my mind! Comment, share ideas, gimme links of people who did it better! Come on now, people!

'Til next time,

James

A writer said it WAY better than me...

So, last week I wrote about how hard it is to say no, and even though I meant what I said, I'm not entirely sure I said all of what I meant. But then I found this article, written by a particularly amazing screenwriter, that described exactly what I was feeling. But with punch, verve, and cursing.

http://www.deadline.com/hollywood/why-he-will-not-read-your-fucking-script/

Seriously, he describes it perfectly for people who are professionals in the entertainment industry. And I'm not even a pro yet. So tone down the anger a lot, and that's where I'm at.


Soon, I'll post up the story ideas for the minicomic project, and will post a page from another side project...as soon as Jake gets me my sketchbook.

Later guys!

This would be an AWESOME thing to do...

An idea I had a year ago, and never got around to actually doing...

Saying "No" is Hard

So, it's Saturday, and I'm taking a break from apprenticing "take-home" duties to offer up some discussion to all three of you who read this (I know I say that faux-bitterly, I really AM willing to be that patient kind of blog that keeps chugging along and gaining readers in a gradual way).

I love my friends. I come from and am surrounded by a community of generous people that honestly, I think I don't really deserve to know. You spoil me, guys. Anyway, as a generous group of people, its common practice for us to offer our talents to each other for free. You fix computers for a living? Can you check mine for viruses? What's that, you're a nurse? Can you check out my shoulder? It's all normal for a group of friends to help each other out for free. Otherwise we'd all address each other as "Sir" or "Ma'am" and refer to each other as 'clients.'

But at some point, there's gotta be a limit. If I'm a computer guy working full-time, and in my weekends and off-hours my friends were always asking me to fix their computers, at some point I would have to say no. There's a point at which working for free, when you're not motivated from the heart to do it, damages a relationship. If it comes from a generous heart, then it's all good. But sometimes people will say "yes" because they don't want to look like jerks, not because they're being saintly.

Anyway, the point. As a dude who's surrounded by entrepreneurs, and who is being trained to draw professionally, I get a lot of requests for pro-bono work. Multiples of my friends want to do comics, or want a logo, or some kind of design. The thing is, I'm pretty busy with school, maintaining my car (which is like a moody girlfriend, but without the fun parts of actually having companionship), and doing actual drawing. But I don't want to seem like a douche who's just hogging my talents and refusing to use my skills to help out my friends. So I don't say no. And end up with a bunch of obligations that I resent, or flake out on, or just have hanging on my 'to-do' list. Sometime last year, my friends all of a sudden had a hankering to do graphic novels or something, and now it seems like every week I get a "Hey, I have this idea, and blah blah blah blah would you like to do this with me?" And after a while, I said "Sure, write something, and we'll talk about it."

Now, for the most part, that stops basically everyone. Most people would love to write a comic, except for the process of actually writing a comic. Or pitch, or (insert project type here). But sometimes, it's just less complicated to say no.

I don't know. I just feel like people take my time for granted. Like, "Hey, James draws. And I'm sure he doesn't do anything with his time." That is not at all what people are thinking towards me, I know, but sometimes you can't help feeling that way.

I don't know. If you are a friend who has asked for my involvement with an idea, this is not directed at you directly. It's mostly just my mood at the moment. I have a general problem saying no. If I had all the time in the world, I would do every project thrown at me for free, but at some point I just have to budget my time and set boundaries. Maybe I just have the wrong attitude. Those with greater amounts of wisdom, experience, or a combo of the two, please feel free to give me advice.

Oh, and PDK, you're the exception. Holy CRAP is your idea amazing.

The Minicomic Project, Part 1

Minicomics--no, they're not small comics. They're comics of any shape or size, the "mini" refers to the size of the print run. So a minicomic the size of a house could have a print run of 2, that would still be a minicomic.

Anyway, minicomics. They're the mark of an independent creator, the underground counter-culture of comics, the hipster's graphic novel. I'm making pretty much all that up. I might be the only person who thinks of it that way.

Exhibit A--a minicomic. Sort of, this one had a reprint and a large run.

I'm actually pretty excited. Minicomics, since they're produced from start to finish from one person, are really personal projects, and are a great way to figure out the reproduction process for comics. Well, in the back of a dark and dingy Kinko's anyway. I first read about them (and how to make them) in the back of Drawing Words and Writing Picures by Matt Madden and Jessica Abel. I love instructional books about comics, but that's another post. In the back, there's this step-by-step (albeit a little open-ended) method for producing your own minicomics. And instantly, I thought "Hey! I have like, a million different short stories I never did! I should do those and make a minicomic!"

So, starting with this post, I'm going to be writing, drawing, and executing a minicomic. Also, I'll probably be posting some ways I could make money to FUND said minicomic. I also have to name it so it isn't "minicomic" all the time.

Next post: Story ideas!

So, back to active duty!

I'm usually considered a pretty active guy. I've known I've wanted to be an artist since I could probably read this sentence. I've pursued it into getting an apprenticeship and basically sacrificing all my leisure-teen time for the sake of having a career. But as of late...I've kinda gotten complacent. I've stopped pursuing, and instead I've just been going through the motions.

In other words, honeymoon's over.

Yep, that's right. I've compared my fledgling career to marriage. At first its new, its exciting, its filled with first-time moments and long stretches of excitement, possibility, and *cough*magic.

Yeah, I said magic. Shut up.

Anyway, this year has been hard on all of us here on this side of eternity, and that helps me realize something. This is that point in the relationship/career/life-in-general where I decide if this is really what I want. Here's where I knuckle down and COMMIT because of sheer determination...or I quit.

Now, heck, I'm not gonna go for cheap suspense and lead y'all to believe I'm going to quit. I'm not. I'm going to pursue this thing. But that means being an illustrator, and sowing seeds of future jobs, but acting now. And not just in the Studio of His Grace, Michael "MOTU" Davis. I need to chase this down on my own, using all my resources. Other people don't have the blessing of an experienced mentor to guide them, but that doesn't mean I can slack off. I need to work just as hard to go THAT MUCH FURTHER.

So from now on, this is an active blog. Ideas, stories, questions, doodles, works-in-progress...it all gets seen here.

Don't miss it!