What a year it's been

As 2009 comes to a close, it's time to look back at what I've done.

A year ago I was sick to my stomach as I uploaded the strips of Precocious' Gender Wars arc. Precocious was about to become REAL! I didn't know what to expect as I jumped into the competitive world of webcomicking. I knew cartooning is what I wanted to do, and I knew it would be a long, tough trip to get myself to a point where I could possibly do this for a living. I needed to build a reputation before I could start THINKING of doing something special.

Now a year has gone by, and I confess that this year has only enabled my dream. I have lots of wonderful, proactive readers. I have a product that I feel is strong. I am good enough to do this. I've still got a LONG WAYS to go, but I have hope! One year only proves that I'm serious about this. This next year is proving that I'm worth the investment!

It's time to reach higher. I've been content to let my product speak for itself, but now I've got to promote myself and push this further. I've got to set up that store and see if/what I can sell. Ideally, I should start work on putting together the Precocious book. (That terrifies me!)

This will be a year of transition. I need to find the right path to success, and I can't sit around and wait for success to find me. It's a scary journey, but one well worth taking.

2009 was the hardest year of my life, but it may also turn out to be the most rewarding. Here's hoping for great things in 2010!

You do the action, I'll sketch

I've decided to turn procrastination into a positive thing: I'll sketch! Sketching is so helpful! I get the practice I desperately need, I can work out new ideas and tougher poses before it's go time - and I can look busy when mentally I want to do nothing! It's also something I can do and still appear social!

Today was a family day. The lovely Donna came down from Delaware to take grandma out to lunch. While they were munching and chatting, I hung with the mini bro and sketched up a storm while he played Uncharted 2. I'm a turn-based game player, so a 3d-fest like that is way beyond me. It was fun to watch, though - as I sketched! Later on, it was movie time with Grandma and Donna - Julie and Julia - and I sketched the whole two hours! I was a social sketcher!

Sure, I *should* have been painting or working on the New Year's Copper Road, but that requires my full attention and some alone time. This was not an alone time day. This was a fun family sketching day!

(There are still a few hours post-midnight for me to Copper Road.)

I don't know what to do with myself

I am now in DC, and will be here into the new year. I'm happy to visit the family people, but this place is always hard on creativity. All you ever want to do here is relax and eat fattening food! But I must fight on! I do this blog for a reason: The daily deadline ensures that I'm always creatively active! (Because the daily comic isn't enough?) The handful of you who read this are a bonus.

Today I sought inspiration by assaulting my sketchbook with adorable horrors. I had no direction, and nothing worth sharing appeared for quite a while. I cycled through characters, but none of them popped! Panic set in. I wasn't drawing poorly, but I wasn't drawing anything exciting. Oh, inspiration, where are you?

I started playing around, trying to draw "furry" instead of "cartoony" - and failing hard. Sorry, furry fans, but I'm not really that great at anthro art. When I set out to make a comic I had Peanuts in my mind - I wanted a cartoon style, so that is what I learned. I'm weird like that. Most people who draw similar things grew up with animals and slowly cartoonified them. I took cartoony drawing and added just enough to make the animals (kinda) recognizable. I wanted cartoony, with an adorable furry coating as a bonus!

While I do want to keep working on drawing anthro stuff, just for the challenge, I'm proud of the style I have. My big-eyed, fuzzy children are what I wanted to draw. In the end, they're not very "furry" - but that was never the goal. I'll just have to master that LATER. For now, enjoy my cartoony badassery!

Continuing to work

Aaah, there we go! It took all day, but I inked a week of strips! This will give me a nice buffer that I can squander while I'm visiting the grandparents in DC. It's always a joy when I'm far enough ahead that I don't have to lug expensive equipment around!

In DC the goals will shift to painting commissions, comic scripting and general visiting behavior. I hope to get ample progress done on all three fronts. Oh yeah, and I need a new year's Copper Road. Four fronts. I always forget about Copper Road. (I'm like Bud that way.)

Returning to work

Well that was a fun diversion, but it's back to the grind! New Year's a-comin' and I've got to have strips ready! It's about time for for me to switch the date over on all my files - and finally move said files to an appropriate directory!

There's a lot to do for the new year, most of which will be the subject of procrastination. The transition will be the easy part. The "put it off until next year" will be hard. I need to update the archive page, redo the cast page and, of course, finally get a store for Precocious. That will take a lot of time, and I'm not yet sure where it'll come from. Ahh, but the new year is for PROGRESS, and progress I shall.

Chrispmas v Christmas

Happy various holidays to all! I've tried to avoid it and deny it as much as possible, but as December 25th moves closer I have to admit it: I'm trapped by the holidays too.

The Paulsen family, for the most part, has canceled Christmas. We have no tree, exchange no gifts and refuse to be jolly! But we are not alone in this universe, so compromise is needed. Our solution: Travel around and have various dinners with various family members. The only pressure is getting there... which *is* annoying, considering we're scheduled to have a little icing on our what. Tis the season!

During this traveling, I might not get the time to do my bloggery, so forgive me if I go silent for a day or two. Precocious is far enough ahead that no one has to worry. That's my holiday gift to myself!

And now, the rest of the painting!

I have successfully made a portrait of someone's mom! I told you I'd pull it out and I did. In your face, everyone! Next step: REWARD!

Next next step: MORE WORK! Aww, man. I want to be lazy and goof off! But I guess I've done that for... most of my life. I'll goof off by MAKING COMICS! That'll show you!

FACE!

I am one important step closer to finishing this commission: The face is practically finished! I say practically because I still need to touch up the eyes, but I'm close enough that celebration is in order!

Once the face dries, I aim to go back and work on the hair and *maybe* the dress. Still iffy on what colors to use, but I have to make that jump today! This sucker needs to be delivered in time to be a Christmas gift! (No delivery until I get PAID though! Daddy needs his paycheck!)

When this painting is complete, it's on to fun Precocious painting commissions. And perhaps that Bob Marley mural. Man, when did I become a professional painter?

Snow day!

I got a lot accomplished yesterday! I finished all the strips for 2009! Also, I used up all my creative energy in the process. Thus, today is a snow day! I've done next to nothing, and I loved every minute of it! Enjoy this sketch of Bud and Casey, cuz that's all you're getting today.

Let it blizzard! Let it blizzard!

There's a reason I always doubt the weather report. Winchester is located in a unique space - the Appalachian mountains are placed just so that they deflect clouds away from the town. Big storms with big promises often end up bouncing to the north or south. There was one year when a blizzard dumped a foot of snow to the north, south, east and west of us. We didn't even get flurries. It's a horrible fate for a school-age kid who had a habit of not doing his homework. Salvation ruined by a barely-passes-for-a-mountain! If you're a kid in Winchester, you learn quickly you can't count on mother nature to give you a break.

This current storm began the same way. Last night I checked the radar and noticed it was dumping snow everywhere around us - but there was a tiny hole in the storm directly over Winchester. Same old, same old. I went to bed when an inch of snow was on the ground, assuming we'd get a nice moderate snowfall while the rest of the state was smothered.

I was wrong! Overnight and this morning, the storm overpowered the mountain and caught us up with the forecast. There is a LOT of snow outside right now - and more to come? Dang. As you can see in the picture, the snow shovels used this morning are about to be lost as the snow keeps coming and coming. I guess this is the yearly epic storm after all.

Of course, I am well beyond school age at this point, so much of the fun of snowfall is lost on me. Now I have to worry about how long it'll take for the roads to clear up so I can make contact with friends again. I am bound to go stir crazy here after a few days. C'mon, VDOT, do your thing and clear a path to my door!