Category: Blogposts

Today I attended a wonderful workshop today dealing with chemistry in classroom.  It was lots of fun and reminded me of an old character I created almost a decade ago- Dr. Roswell W. Gigabyte.  The silliest thing about this character is I really never drew him, I had instead created the character out of clay and he hung out in the Computer Lab of the school I worked at.  He ended up being something I placed in photos I took at school as kind of a “Where’s Waldo?” activity for the students… It helps a lot if the kids know that they are supposed to look for a character.  Roswell met a horrible end when I was teaching a class in clay animation one summer and left him (and all the other characters I had made) in the backseat of my car… yuck!

There are some days you just feel like a dinosaur…

It has been a long week and I decided since I have a workshop to attend tomorrow I needed to quickly get my required drawing done and relax.  I started this doodle somewhere around 8:30 PM  I’m posting it at 9:15 (ish) 45 minutes for a colored doodle.  Not too shabby.  While the race is always won by the quickest, sometimes it helps.

What Ho!  It’s time for an adventure!  While I never played a fighter/warrior in any roleplaying games I decided a happy go lucky guy with a sword was an interesting doodle for today.  As for role playing in “Advanced D&D” my best character was an assassin (Lawful Evil). Sneaking around removing obstacles (and characters who got too full of themselves).  In College we played MERP (an off shoot of ICE) and I played a magic user with a lot of sword skills.  He usually wandered around with a katana (c’mon Highlander was big) looking like a low level adventurer until a fireball came rushing towards the unaware evil creatures.  That was one thing I did like about those games… we weren’t allowed to have evil characters since we were out battling evil.  When I tried WOW I ended up with a rogue and a wizard.  I stopped playing because it got pretty repetitive, and I don’t play well with others.  I’m looking forward to getting back into roleplaying sometime, just don’t know when.

Almost 4 years ago I did something scary… really scary.  I started this comic strip.  Today I again was told by the Professional review board for the San Diego Comic Con that after reviewing my work in their eyes I am a Professional.  I, once again, am in shock.  When I went out to visit my parents over the holidaze I was reminded that I tend to talk down about myself… It’s just the way I am.  I always know I can do better.  You just have to look at the beginning of this comic strip to see that.  To have some people look at my art and say “he is worthy” just blows my mind.

As for today’s comic… If you’ve ever seen me at a Comic Convention this is how I tend to look.  This drawing is basically “who me?”  Which was how I felt after getting the email today, reading it over and over again.  The shirt is actually a scan of the shirt I have, because anyone can wear a Hawaiian shirt.

Today was a day of meetings, so instead of relaxing and getting mentally prepared for the first day back to school (Weather Permitting) I bounced around planning meetings.  One of these meetings got me thinking about this challenge and how to best address some things that I know I fall into.  Instead of drawing an action pose, or something interesting, I draw a guy… standing… looking awkward or cool or something.  You see the Indy Webcomics Group is planning on a session for teens on drawing comics… and we talked about adding emotion and facial expressions and life to your drawing.  So today I decided (after getting home for my next meeting  & dinner) to in the short time I give myself for these things, draw something not just a character standing… my solution- three monkeys standing!  Still working on some things and hopefully in the next 18 days and beyond I will continue to work on creating more interesting images.  But for today, this will have to do- I’ve got to get ready for what the day will bring me tomorrow- and yes, I’m afraid… very afraid.

Will our hero rescue the beautiful princess? Find out on today’s episode of “As the Planet Turns!”

So while there are pictures of me reading comics early on.  I recall a well read issue of All-Star Comics in my grandmother’s house in the room I always slept in when I visited.  For me Science Fiction and Fantasy has always had a place in my life, from watching things like “Earth vs. the Flying Saucers” or the Flash Gordon serial with Buster Crabbe.  All this said if you were to ask me what was the defining comic story for me it would be Alex Raymond’s “Flash Gordon”.  When my family moved from San Francisco to Los Angeles I recall that my dad bought my brother and I bound editions of volume 1 and volume 2 for us to read on the drive down.  I was hooked by the beautiful artwork, and the compelling story, from that point on I worked on gathering the rest of the story, What happened in the Forest Kingdom?  The Caves?  Did Flash Gordon ever defeat Ming the Merciless?  After years I was able to get the story to (*spoilers*) Flash Gordon heading home to Earth with Dale, and Dr. Zarkov.  Later after moving on my own and feeling nostalgic, I was unable to find those original volumes (1 to 5).  I finally found some reprints that continued the story up until Alex Raymond left the strip… Now I just need to go back reread them.

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!  I don’t know what to draw!  OK I actually sketched out a bunch of things and decided to settle with the doodle of me running screaming from… I don’t know, another snow day?    Actually this is one of those drawings I need to keep working on since I tend to draw talking heads so something in action is not something I typically do.  I figure as I close in on 1/3 mark of this challenge I’m going to start coming up with a list of things that I would like to practice to help me become a better cartoonist.

As for the conservative attire- I do think I still own a navy blue blazer (it’s a wardrobe staple), grey dress slacks and a white dress shirt.  As for the tie… Even with Matt Smith’s departure from Doctor Who- bow ties are still cool.  I think I was around 16 when my grandfather came out for a visit, during that time I spent some time talking with him about stuff (I was 16 there weren’t that many serious thoughts in my head).  By the time he left I had been taught how to tie a bow tie.  The funny thing is that I remember in college years later having to learn how to tie a regular tie.  A double windsor is much nicer than a four-in-hand, but when given the chance I will always wear a bow tie.  When my grandfather passed away I was grateful to be able to pick a few of his ties which I will never part with.