Back from DA' CON!!!

Man, where do I begin?

I just got back from a helluva Comic-Con. I saw some old friends, met some great new ones, ate great food, drank beer, ate gelato, finished and showed the first sequential pages I've done in years!






I picked up some great software advice from Durwin Talon, one of my true mentors, and shared a funny story about my good friend Jeremy Mullins with one of his old students, Rashad Doucet. I saw a ton of celebs, showed work to Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, and Disney Ink, and even went to a casting call for a friggin' reality show!

I went into this year's Con in a different place mentally. Having recently been made painfully aware of just how precious life is, I was in kind of a "don't care, just enjoying life " mood; I didn't stress (much), and I 'll admit got a lot more enjoyment out of the entire experience. What's funny is that I put some pretty decent work out there, and made some decent networking moves to boot. I even helped my new friend Natacia Manabusan with fleshing out a great business idea she has. While I do regret that my friend Lee wasn't there this year, and would've liked to hang out with my boy Zak a bit, it seems that the Comic-Con I went into sweating the least turned out to be one of my best.

Go Figure, huh?

WONDERBOY!!

A while back, I was contacted by a friend of mine, Dave "the Big Wheel" Wheeler. Dave is putting together a book of different artists' sketches of his character, WONDERBOY; the proceeds will go to the HERO INITIATIVE in the memory of three people: the late great artist Mike Wieringo, Dave's old Prof. and my dog, Jeremy "Sweetwater" Mullins, and last, but not least, his father, who recently passed away. (If you're reading this and don't know what the HERO INITIATIVE is, then you should be ashamed. Get off your funny-book lovin' ass, look it up, and give, bitch!) As soon as he asked, I was in...

As you can see, I'm still having a ball with my Cintiq. I still haven't got the hang of it to my satisfaction, but Dave was happy with it, and that's what's the most important to me...

So, a while back I blue-lined out an alternate avatar for the web. It spent time on the clipboard, in the backs of various and sundry magazines and sketchbooks, Starbucks, the weekly Poker game, the Bar, EVERYWHERE!! I finally got down to putting some real detail to it; I figure it should be my first real project using the Wacom Cintiq I picked up a few months back...

...Not bad for a first try, As I write this, I think I'll come back occasionally and re-work it as a test of my proficiency. Ya think?