Card me!

So there's a chance I will be able to get some business cards printed up for cheap... if I get something together by tomorrow morning. Ok, sure, I'll put in a little bit of effort for that.

They say a good business card demands attention, and I needed a good image to use... HEY, I KNOW! (I just hope it comes off as metahumor and not pure desperation.) Eh, it's not the greatest card out there, but it didn't take long to make and that's what matters.

I really should design a more professional card for my fine art side. To the heap of priorities it goes! If I get a moment later, I'll try to knock one out. For now, it's heap time. I have a cast page that needs updating and a comic buffer to build. And letters to write. So. Many. Letters. WHY ARE DAYS SO SHORT?

I have a new toy!

Behold: Yet another artist's tool has been added to my inventory! I can has projector! (Thanks goes to Darc of Code Name: Hunter for the recommendation.) Now I can... project things!

First project: Throwing Max and Dionne up on my wall to start on my next commission project! Turns out I have no idea what I'm doing with this thing, but it was cool to have the device anyway! After doing it the inefficient way - this thing doesn't seem to have a focus, so I have to MOVE THE WALL - I got it all to work. Turns out all I need to do was accidentally knock it on the floor and have it fall apart. Oh, *that's* how it works! (Reading the instruction manual never entered into the equation.)

Actual work on the painting begins tomorrow, I assume. I say assume because today I assumed I'd get Sunday's Precocious done. Then I slept past my alarm. SEVEN HOURS past it. Ye gods! I think that's a record. Well, I have nice long night of consciousness ahead of me in which I can catch up...

I like your money!

Yes, friends, I'm thinking about merchandising again! I do it for SCIENCE! Wait, no. I mean MONEY! I do it for money.

Don't expect anything soon. I still haven't picked a store! Both Zazzle and Cafepress have disappointed me in their own ways, and I'll have to decide which evil is lesser. There's also the case of getting some finalized designs. So far I have some ideas and nothing more.

Before you ask, I can't do the bulk printing thing quite yet. Printing 100 shirts is all well and good, but that involves some up front case and, y'know, a guarantee of selling shirts! I'll have to be a bigger shot than I am now. (Or get more fans with LOTS of disposable income.)

Old habits, but goodies!

I am repeating myself here, as this is the same process that I go through with any painting. Too bad for you! Blah blah blah blah!

I'm really fumbling around wildly with this one, and having a rather good time doing so! I have only the loosest sense of where things are going, but I haven't destroyed it yet - that means it's working!

I was worried starting out today, as the basic structure looks really nice, yet totally incomplete. That means each time I add something, it starts out by distracting. Purple as an addition was a risky choice, as I had planned on using it for the background, but I think it works decently. Not GREAT, but good enough for now.

So, I then turned to my old fix for everything painting: BLACK AND WHITE! (It's how to view the world, kids!) Well, I only got through the black stage - my now-purple hand taught me it was best to let each layer DRY first - but it looks much better with the more confident lining. Next comes the whitening. I'm unsure as to where it will go, so I put it off for the next time!

Tonight, I shift focus to grad school again. I have an essay to write! (And, uh, several letters I've been putting off.)

The path to victory

No pretty picture today. It's been one of those days when you could put a gun to my head, demand I draw a cartoon critter and promptly blow my brains out with disappointment as I failed again and again. That's not to say I haven't been doing anything. I did finish a comic, which means my basic obligation to the world has been filled. Victory! I just didn't produce with pizazz today.

Maybe I have a lot on my mind. I'm starting the push for grad school - finally - and the anxiety conquers all! There's no doubt that I'm grad school gold - I'm dedicated, talented and hungry to learn more! The problem is this is the *recent* me. The me before the ADHD diagnosis and treatment wasn't the most reliable person, and HIS damn transcripts are going to travel with mine. I hate that guy!

I dream of getting into SCAD's sequential art program, which makes every step of the way THAT MUCH MORE IMPORTANT! NO FRIGGIN' PRESSURE OR ANYTHING! I want to do Precocious for a living, and I know it has the potential to take me there. What I need is help in refining my technique and LOTS of learning on the business side of things. (Note to self: Get hot art management girlfriend ASAP!) I also need the art boost that comes with being surrounded by one's peers. Sure, the webcomickers on Twitter are nice, but nothing can replace the wonderful feeling of working in a studio with other awesome artists. One day I will be art commune cool!

At the moment I am succeeding in spite of myself. This is why all my updates and projects move so slow - everything I do must be 100% self-motivated. Daily updates are the test of my willpower, and sometimes there's nothing left in the tank to do the website upgrades or t-shirt designs. (I tried and failed some more with those today. Blah!) Some days motivation just isn't enough. I hate those days, but I can't be awesome all the time, can I?

Now that I'm heaping even more onto my plate - FREAKOUT ENSUES! Today I didn't handle it well. Too much took priority - I need to write some very important letters, I need to write my statement of purpose, I need to write and draw a Copper Road, I need to write a blog, I need to update the cast page, I need to keep Precocious going - I sorta shut down with it all.

Tomorrow starts a new day, one in which I will be good and break things down into digestible chunks. Precocious is covered. Copper Road can wait a day if it must. The website updates can wait another day. The blog might even get sacrificed for a day. I have to focus on what is the most important - which is ALWAYS the hardest stuff to do. Basically, tomorrow is gonna SUCK!

Easily distractable

I swear I had this painting ready for bloggery on time! It's just... shiny objects and other things distracted me until my "it's midnight, update the comic!" alarm went off. Whoops!

Granted, what I have to offer isn't anything magnificent. It's merely the first stage of adding color to the latest piece. I wanted light, muted colors to serve as connective tissue. What to do with 'em is still up in the air. The joy 0f paint is that I am free to play around all I want - and if it doesn't work all I have to do is paint over it! Where I go next will surprise even me!

Oh, Bob...

So today in the Twitterverse, the lovely Danielle Corsetto of Girls with Slingshots showed off some of her Shepherd drawings. Once of which bore the unmistakable of ass of Bob, the walking blob that was Shepherd's standard drawing model. That frightening old man was the only one willing to work Shepherd cheap, I guess.

Ahh, the memories that flabby ass brought back! I wanted to share *my* Bob ass with Danielle, but unfortunately I could not find the Bob drawings I wanted in time. I tore the place apart, but the pad containing those "special" drawings was not to be found! On the way, I did find less-impressive Bob-drawings, like the one above, but the moment had passed.

I'll have to seduce you some other way, Danielle!

From chaos comes creativity

See, I told you there was nothing to worry about! From garbled beginnings comes seductive form! We're still very early on with the bugger, but I like where this is going! I drew a lot of nifty stuff and cherry picked the best to form the backbone of the painting. Who knows what it'll end up as, but I'm already more optimistic with this one than with the last trouble child.

On another positive note, by working on this painting it means I am now over halfway done with my painting series! I may fail in all my other new years resolutions, but at least I'm on pace to succeed with this one.

Another ugly beginning

Worry not, citizens - they all start this way. It'll be fantastic soon enough!

The latest anxiety is now in display, as the painting begins. This time, as mentioned, it's concern for others! The game of social interaction is a dangerous, rewarding and insanely complex one. Each new connection leads to many others, and it all weaves together in a wondrous way!

That's what I'm going for, at least. I'll settle for the painting being pretty.

Another anxiety conquered!

At long last, the painting of frustrations is coming to a close! As suspected, the background was holding me back. I swapped it out for pale umber - also known as the color of Jacob - and it works much better. It's not perfect, but saves me the time and pain of mixing a color. Now I have to do some white and gray touch-ups on the edges and I'll be ready to throw it on the heap.

This isn't my best work by far, but it'll look nice next to the others. There's no time to dwell on it, the show must go on! It's time to start a new painting - one with blue this time! (I think my refusal to use blue in this one caused the frustration.) So now the questions is... what is my new anxiety.

Well, that one is clear. My favorite person in the world, Dana, just gave birth to twin girls - two months prematurely. First: CONGRATULATIONS, DANA AND JASON! SMART PEOPLE HAVE PROCREATED! THE WORLD NEEDS MORE OF THIS! Second: Ack! The girls are doing as well as can be expected - but it's certainly causing some concern.

Needless to say, the family is in my thoughts. I'm going to stand back for this one and give them some space. They are surely deluged with family and well-wishers, and my best gift at the moment is to not add to the craziness. Is this a good friend thing to do? I dunno. I'll be there for them soon enough.

So I guess my option here is to take out my neurosis on painting - where it can't harm anyone! (Or help anyone.) Woo!