48 Hours, Bah! Humbug!

Give me Ebenezer Scrooge any day! Last night I had the distinct impression that CBS television was out to outdo the old man in Charles Dickens’ classic story.

The difference is Scrooge was simply a greedy old man who made no bones about his obsession with power and wealth, while 48 Hours attempted to couch their disbelief in pseudo-intellectual jargon.

I have to admit that I watched only a portion of last night’s broadcast. Fifteen minutes was enough to convince me that the producers of that program could use a visit from a few appropriate spirits themselves. So maybe I missed something. Maybe they had a complete change of heart after the first quarter of the program. But I doubt it.

The program began with children at a private elementary school presenting a nativity play. They were given a few sound bites. Then as if to say, “well that’s what ten-year-olds believe, now lets see what some real experts have to say on the matter”, the scene shifted to two New Testament professors. These professors were each given a massive build up, their credentials listed as if taken directly from their résumés. And then the hostess (adorned paradoxically during parts of the program with a gold cross around her neck) dropped the bomb and asked if Jesus was really born in Bethlehem.

The first quarter of the program dealt with this question.

“Are the Gospel accounts accurate?” She asked (or words to that effect, I didn’t tape the thing).

One of the experts responded with, “the Gospel accounts are very difficult to harmonize on the subject of the Nativity”. A semi-true statement, but extremely misleading.

You see, a harmony in music occurs when two or more instruments or singers are performing the SAME PASSAGE. A solo part occurs when one or the other is performing a single line alone. So to HARMONIZE means to deal with the exact same portion of something in different ways. To harmonize the Gospels means to bring two or more parallel passages together and compare the slight variations.

The Gospels do cover some of the same material when speaking of the Nativity of Christ, but divert on others. It doesn’t mean they contradict each other, it simply means that some of the material is unique to each. In other words a harmony does not occur if a solo is going on.

Matthew tells us, “Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king…” (Matt. 2:1a)

Mark doesn’t give an account of the Nativity.

Luke gives a longer account which corroborates Matthew; “Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the city of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem…” (Luke 2:4a)

The experts interviewed said that John’s Gospel, “doesn’t know anything about Jesus being born in Bethlehem”. Another misleading statement. While John didn’t spend any time at the beginning of his account on Jesus’ birth per se, he goes right to the heart of the matter, and says that Jesus is GOD. (John 1:1)

Furthermore there is a passage later in John’s Gospel that corroborates the Nativity stories of Matthew and Luke. In John 7:41-42 “Has not the scripture said the Christ is descended from David, and comes from Bethlehem…?” The text assumes that Jesus was indeed descended from David and was born in Bethlehem. That the experts glossed over this passage makes me wonder just how closely they have been reading their Bibles.

So the crew at 48 Hours went to Nazareth, and confronted a man in a market. “Did you know that many experts believe that Jesus was born HERE, on this very spot, and not in Bethlehem?” The man responded, “No! I don’t believe it.” And that was that.

Which begs the questions: What experts? Who is this man who you are confronting with this supposed fact? Why not give some time to some opposing views, rather than your two chosen cynics? What about the historical records that corroborate that a census was indeed taken when Quirinius was Governor of Syria?

But rather than answer those questions the 48 Hours crew pressed on.

The experts again linked partially true statements with misleading statements and came up with this whopper. “The four Gospels were written for different audiences” (true) “and so the Gospel writers tailored those accounts to fit their specific readers” (also true). “So the Gospels are a mixture of fact and fiction” (I beg your pardon?).

This goes back to what I said above about them not reading their Bibles carefully. According to them Matthew and Luke were making stuff up. But if they had bothered to read Luke’s introductory statements they would have possibly questioned their own motives for casting doubts on the text.

“Inasmuch as many have undertaken the compile a narrative of the things which have been accomplished among us, just as they were delivered to us by those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word, it seemed good to me also, having followed all things closely for some time past, to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, that you many know the truth concerning the things of which you have been informed”. (Luke 1: 1-4)

Here Luke is making statements that he investigated carefully and is reporting those things dutifully. Many times in his Gospel one can read the principle of being honest expounded, and yet these experts would have us believe that in the very next line Luke begins to lie to his readers?

Sounds like the reporters at 48 Hours are doing a little projection of their own faults.

So what has this got to do with my comics and cartooning? Simple, the folks at 48 Hours painted a broad and vicious characature of Christians as ignorant uneducated idiots. As a cartoonist I am honor bound to report that such broad characatures are not exemplary of the state-of-the-art. When journalists start messing around on my turf then it’s time to strike back. They cartoon, I report.

Am I writing from a Christian perspective? Sure. I’m also writing from an informed perspective…more than I can say of the producers of 48 Hours or their supposed experts.

Scrooge at least knew when to repent.

Uncle Biscuit Rides Again!

“Where have you been?” you may be asking. If anyone is out there who’s been looking to see what I’ve written lately, and hasn’t seen anything, well…

As with pretty much everyone this time of year, I’ve been busy with Christmas. But that’s a bit of a simplification.

Sure, I’ve been out there doing shopping. Karin’s played a number of Christmas services at area churches and the like, and I’ve been carrying her harp to those venues.

Gypsy Bandwagon has been booked for Christmas Eve at Westville Pub in West Asheville, NC. Lance arranged this since he felt it would be nice for people who have nowhere else to go on Christmas Eve. And Karin and I couldn’t be more excited about that outreach. We’re working on that show pretty heavily now, and with five days to go we’ll have to concentrate on it even more as it approaches.

I have admit that yesterday was the first time I picked up my sticks and drummed along with our debut CD, “Stole My Mule” (plug) to get warmed up for the show, at least on my own. But I’ve been listening to the CD in the car and on the job. I’ll, hopefully, be able to perform the pieces in my sleep.

And we’re also working on a Christmas set. We played in Biltmore Village on December 3, and so we have had some performance experience with those pieces. Since we played them four times in a row and then went to Lake Junaluska and performed an evening show with those same tunes, I think we’ll do okay. But we’ve got to fill two hours on Christmas Eve, so it may need some more material. We’re working on it.

The show will be something like a CD release party. We’ll be giving away CDs and Christmas gifts. We’ll be working up comedy to fill the gaps. It takes time to make this stuff work.

All of which might lead you to believe that I haven’t done any art. (Yes, this blog is supposed to be about my ART).

Not at all. But it brings up a very important issue. In fact I got a survey from a student in England yesterday (well I got it by way of an acquaintance in England, I assume the student is there). Anyway, the student asked the question, “what do you think of the argument that comics aren’t as important an art form as the others?”

I told him that I feel that anyone who says that really hasn’t thought about it very long. Now, I’m not trying to be “holistic”, but it seems to me that MOST artists of any stripe are involved in one or more particular discipline of art. That is to say, I am a comic book artist, cartoonist, illustrator, and graphic designer; but I have also acted, done comedy, I play drums, bass, compose pop tunes, I’ve been writing fiction lately, etc.

John Singer Sargent said that he wished “music was my medium, rather than bad paintings”. “Bad paintings?” I consider Sargent one of the best painters ever! But he would rather have been playing piano (and apparently was quite good at it). Imagine that.

So, what does this prove? Artists can’t be pinned down to one discipline. So anyone outside of creative endeavors who says, “comics aren’t important” hasn’t seen that many creative individuals love them and find inspiration from that particular medium. Anyone who claims to be an artist and says comics aren’t…well, as a rule of thumb, I’d say that person is a phoney.

Enough on that subject.

I have been doing artwork. In fact, I’ve been doing quite a bit. I’ve done several commissions over the past couple of weeks, and have interested parties for even more. I did a Wonder Woman last evening (still got to ink it). I may try to post the pencils up here as soon as I hear from the guy who commissioned it.

My agent sold my signature Batgirl art on eBay last week. That got sent out Friday.

The guy who was second highest bidder wants to commission a similar piece.

I got finished with several pages I’ve been inking for a small publisher, those also went out Friday.

The big piece I did for some lawyers in Washington, D.C. went over well. They gave me a tip and they may want more!

I’ve been working on a brochure to help me promote commission pieces. Not unlike my commissions page on the ComicArtistsDirect.com website, but for those people who might never log onto my page. I figure you’ve got to work as many angles as you can think of, as long as you aren’t doing wrong in the process.

So obviously, I’ve been at the art “grindstone” pretty much every day.

But it’s hard to keep up with it all. And blogging about it becomes another chore to be taken care of.

Anyway, a Merry Christmas to all if I don’t blog before then!

As a public service…

Today I realized that since no one else is covering this important area of concern, that it is up to me to do it. This important subject is how to take care of an overcrowded in-box. For too long this has been ignored, and today I hope to set things right and return our nation to the efficiency of days past.

We all know how it goes. You're away from your computer for a couple of days. Perhaps a long weekend is all it takes. You decided to check your e-mails and you find something on the order of 100-200 messages! What to do?

Step One: Do not panic! It isn't YOUR fault. Remember this! The tendency is to assume that every e-mail from every sender is an important message from a friend or family member who really needs your kind support and/or assistance.

This is, of course, a total crock! Chances are that even if somewhere in your e-mail list a friend or family member's screen name does appear, it's probably just a forward featuring a set of pictures, or a joke you've seen before. Most of the messages, as we know, are going to be spam of some sort.

Step Two: Identify any and all advertisements and delete them.

If some day you come to your inbox and find that you have say 5-10 e-mails to respond to, and you have some upcoming online shopping to take care of for Christmas or a Birthday, then by all means, take a careful look at these…you might save some money.

But right now you've got 100-200 e-mails to respond to!

Step three: Identify all e-mails from well-meaning-individuals-who-don't-consider-it-spamming-to-send-
you-several-newsletters-per-week, and eliminate them.

In times past people used to craft a short letter of the year's events and send this out with Christmas cards ("…Tommy graduated high school…our goldfish, Goldie, went to that big aquarium in the sky…"). But now I get rambling notes on events (sometimes very personal events, mind you) on a several times weekly basis.

You may feel guilty since you probably once said something stupid like, "Sure! I'd love to get your newsletter!" to this person. Don't worry, they too will write more.

Step four: Read the "re" line closely.

By now you have eliminated around 50-80% of the e-mails in your inbox. So you can afford to take things a little slower.

Read the line that tells you what the letter is supposed to be about.

If this letter contains a string of numbers (for example "00066045097860530xxz") after a semi-intelligent looking subject line, feel free to erase it. It is probably some on-line stock broker, and let's face it, if you're still answering your own e-mail you can't afford to take a chance on any "hot tips". Leave that to Bill Gates…and you know he isn't answering HIS own e-mail.

Speaking of Bill Gates; you can safely eliminate any and all e-mails saying "Incredible Savings from Microsoft!" or similar. They are all fakes. Bill didn't get to be fabulously wealthy by giving the consumer "fabulous" anything.

But I digress…

When reading the "re" line, also avoid things like "Hi, it's Bill, long time no see". Unless you have a pal named Bill who has until recently been blind, you can just about bet this is a cheap come on.

The problem with this part of the process is that it's more subjective than the previous steps. Perhaps that's why it's sometimes called the "Subject Line. You'll have to use your judgment here. But this 30-50% of the e-mails in your inbox could take a considerable amount of your time, until you learn the subtleties of dealing with it. I suggest you start with a short regimen of randomly trashing 2-3 of these questionables a day and increasing until you're randomly trashing 50-60% as soon as you log on. When you start getting angry phone calls from your best friend demanding to know why you haven't responded, or your spouse moves out, then you'll know to taper off a bit.

Step Five: Actually opening an e-mail before trashing it.

Up to this point you should not have opened any e-mails at all. This should have whittled the list down to manageable size. But don't give up on deletions just yet! Many seemingly reasonable people send senseless e-mails without any conscious knowledge at all. You have likely been the recipient of one or more of these. Be very careful at this point, not to assume that just because the e-mail appears to be A)Legitimate and B)from a friend, that it is indeed worth reading.

If, for example, the e-mail comes with a rainbow-color background, you can safely delete it while the background is downloading. The same goes for any e-mail with excessively large purple type. If you get one containing both, it's probably best to delete it as quickly as possible, and contact your local civil defense agency in case you've been accidentally contaminated. (Important Note: This rule of thumb doesn't apply to your spouse, or current paramour! Failure to respond to a similar note in these circumstances may result in severe loneliness for an extended period of time. You have been warned.)

Similarly, e-mails which begin with, "I thought you'd like to see this", UNLESS FROM YOUR ATTORNEY, can usually be deleted without any guilt whatsoever. The main reason being that these e-mails are like re-gifted fruitcake. Whoever sent this e-mail (generally containing a dozen or so photographs of very cute animals engaged in disgusting, but socially acceptable, behavior followed by a number of oversized captions pointing out just how cute the whole thing is, in case you missed that somehow) probably sent it out to everyone in their address book. They don't know who it got sent to, no more than they realize that they sent it to you five times in the past year!

If the e-mail begins with "IMPORTANT VIRUS WARNING! DO NOT DELETE!" Feel free to delete it. This is based on two facts. A) Usually these are fakes, blind copied to every new e-mail addressee that the Phishers can get ahold of and B) Why would your pal assume they're so "in the loop" that they'd get to word on a potentially crippling virus before you would? I mean, by the time you read their e-mail the virus has probably circled the world thirty times and infected your hard-drive at least four. (Unless you drive a Mac, in which case you're more or less immune, like me ;-)

Step Six: Read and respond to the letters that may actually have a purpose.

You've now eliminated 90-99% of e-mails that do not actually affect you directly. You may now safely respond to the remaining e-mails. Reasonable statistical data show that of these remaining letters, some may actually benefit you at some point in the near future. Many will be dead-ends. Some (if you're the sort who engages in on-line dating) may end with you knocked out in an alleyway missing your wallet. But in one way or another these e-mails have the potential to change your life. For better or worse, at least they haven't wasted your time completely.

Haberdashery and other things

The Thanksgiving holiday has come and gone, but the turkey is still in my refrigerator. Not to worry, I happen to love turkey leftovers.

Over the weekend I did two things. I made a hat, and I started another story.

The hat is for the purposes of costume this coming Saturday. Gypsy Bandwagon will be playing the "Dickens Festival" in Biltmore Village, and I felt I needed a hat. It's a top hat of the variety that you would expect from a 19th Century character. It makes me look about seven feet tall, and when complete will have a festive holiday ribbon on it. Right now it's sitting on my secondary drawing table where I am in the process of glueing on some trim to hide the seams.

As for the story I began, it's called "T.A.E." and while I haven't yet completed "Doctor Incubus", I've actually been thinking about "T.A.E." a lot longer. I don't want to say what it's about exactly, but it is a science-fiction tale that begins, more or less, at NASA during the early 60s. I should be able to get a good bit of information from my brother who works down at the space center. While he's not one of the old Canaveral guys, he's got as much knowledge about them as I should need to make this reasonably believable. Should be interesting.

Making the transition to writer of prose has been interesting too. I don't know what I'm going to do with all this stuff that I've written. I guess I'll have to start shlepping it around like I do my art. Oh well, "live and learn".

Musical thoughts

Today, I’m trying something different. Instead of typing directly into the blog editor, I’m taking a little time and typing this out in my word processor (AppleWorks 6, that came with my iMac). I’ll cut and paste it when I’m ready.

I’m also going to talk about something different than my graphic art too. I know that’s the stated purpose of this blog, but let’s face it, each of us has different facets to our personality that impact our creative work. I am no exception.

Today I wanted to talk about the Gypsy Bandwagon CD, “Stole My Mule”. If you’ve read the bio to the right of the screen you’ll notice that I am a member of GB. I got involved simply because my wife, Karin, was playing music with the two other members, Lance and Carissa Moore.

It’s a long story, and I won’t go into it here, other than to say that eventually I ended up playing drums, singing, and having a great time with the Moores. It’s a dream come true for me.

I grew up in a family of musicians. Some of my earliest memories are of my Dad hosting a “hootenanny” on our front porch, singing and playing folk tunes on his guitar. My older brothers were engaged in various musical outlets while we were growing up. In fact the three of us were The Chimpanzees when I was about seven (emulating The Monkees, of course). But we had the usual sibling stuff, and went our separate ways. I decided to ignore my musical leanings and set out to find my identity in the family by being the artist.

But I kept dabbling in music all along. When I moved into my first studio in 1985 it was supposed to be devoted to drawing comic books, but it was only a few months until I’d bought a secondhand drum set and moved that into the studio. I got a Yamaha PSS 460 keyboard a few months later and used to keep it next to me on my drawing board so that I could practice solos when drawing got boring. (This is not to imply that I can actually play a keyboard in any real way).

I even went on to join my brother, Jeff, and his buddy Brian in a Contemporary Christian band that lasted one gig.

I borrowed a Tascam 4-Track recorder from Jeff and did some experimental multitrack recordings about the time I met Karin, and sent her the results dubbed off on a cassette. She seemed to think I was pretty interesting anyway. Eventually, I ended up marrying her, so I must have done okay.

I’ve kept playing music. Jamming with various people, doing a little music at Church, that sort of thing.

But what really got me excited was the fact that I was married to a multi-instrumental musician! She got invited to perform and record with a number of people; Doug Trantham, Anne Lough, Michael Schull, Bean Sidhe, Celtic Knot…folk types mostly.

I’m not that into folk anymore, but when she’d go into the studio I’d get to go along! Fun stuff. I even seemed to have an ear for it, and occasionally I’d get to put in my two cent’s worth. It was a neat process.

Karin, on the other hand, tended to be a bit uptight. Well, she did have to pull off these performances, didn’t she? But mostly she was just into it for the performance. She simply enjoyed playing with other people, the genre was not the issue.

She would put in another bang-up performance, everyone would be amazed. I’d say, “she’s MY wife”, with a chuckle and big grin, and life would go on. The CD would come out she’d show it to a couple of friends and listen to it once or twice and then it would go into the CD shelf and collect dust.

But this time it’s different. This time she’s listening to the recording--A LOT. This time I come out to the car the CD is in the player. This time I hear her playing tunes from “Stole My Mule” for her music students. This time she’s excited.

I’m excited too. Hey! I got to play drums and sing on an actual recording, that costs money!
I’m reasonably excited to have my artwork on the CD (but then I’ve been there before). But it is gratifying that my wife, the professional musician (did I mention that my wife is a professional musician?), is actually excited about the project. That speaks well of the album. She’s turned her nose up at some pretty good stuff over the years!

Is it the next “Rubber Soul”? I can’t say that. But “Stole My Mule” has got the players excited, at very least. That my wife (yeah, the professional musician, that’s the one) wants to listen to it again and again is something like a miracle in my experience. The only other CD in our collection that has gotten as much rotation is a copy of ELO’s greatest hits, “Strange Magic”.

To be fair, I think that Jeff Lynne has put a lot more work into his catalog so far. We have a lot of work to do to match that guy, but when’s the last time ELO had a cartoon donkey on their album cover? Stumped you with that one didn’t I? Well we have two! Three if you count the back cover.

I really didn’t want this to seem like a plug for another project. It may very well be, but I don’t want it to seem like one. I’d honestly like to give everyone a free copy of the CD and see if you like it or not. But I can’t do that either. We do need to sell some copies. If anyone is interested in hearing the sound you can order copies from
Gypsy Bandwagon Website
Someday soon Lance may actually have some downloadable sound files so you can preview the CD. I don’t know. He’s been working on the site feverishly for the past couple of weeks, but won’t show any of us until it’s done. If you link now you’ll get the old version of the site, but you can bookmark it if you’re still interested after seeing the prototype.

In the meantime I did set up the tee-shirt shop for Gypsy Bandwagon at
Gypsy Bandwagon Apparel
There you can see the “Official Gypsy Bandwagon Tour-Shirt” and even order one if you like. Four hard working musicians would appreciate the business.
(Okay, THREE hard working musicians and also a drummer would appreciate it.)

Whine, Whine, Whiiiine!

Okay this is rather disheartening. It seems that Art just isn't selling much right now. I don't want to get too down about it, but that Black Canary I posted on eBay
(See the artist shamelessly plug his art) just isn't attracting that much interest. In times past a piece like this would have had a horde of buyers looking at it.

Now a lot of this could be attributed to the fact that it's just before Thanksgiving. Could be. A good bit more could be the fact that there's a lot of really neat comics art up there to be bid upon (I saw some Kirby going for tens of thousands). But then we can't all win the Kirby art now can we? So why no more interest in BC?

My friend, Bill tells me that at the gallery where he has his watercolors, that they say that originals just haven't been selling since 9/11. Hmmm. I did sell that one TV Batgirl pretty well. But maybe original sales have been off. I was selling a lot of prints at shows over the past couple of years. But my sales went off once I decided not to do prints anymore.

Still, I am getting stuff set up with CafePress to do more tee-shirts. I understand that the Gypsy Bandwagon CD is in. Gypsy Bandwagon Plug

So I'll have that stuff to push at shows. Maybe something will click. We'll see.

A lot's been happening

I've been covered up with work, which is good. I've been commissioned by a guy at…well maybe I shouldn't say, it's supposed to be a Christmas gift. But it's a pretty big connection to a pretty major fan it turns out. Nice work, glad to have it.

I'm closing in on the end of my draft of Doctor Incubus' first adventure, and have been getting good feedback, so if anyone knows of a publisher looking for about 30-50 pages of 30s Pulp-style writing (and I'm planning some illos too, of course) have them contact me.

In the meantime, my agent, Aaron Bushy will be posting this image at eBay probably today.



Hope you enjoy this nice Black Canary art.

BTW, Black Canary is ™ and © DC Comics, inc. Artwork by James E. Lyle

I am not Tom

Okay, since this came up again yesterday I suppose it would be good to deal with it. I'm not going to tell who thought I was Tom Lyle, since it happens a lot and the person who did it obviously simply made a mistake. So this isn't intended to slam that person. Really it's just to clear up as much of the misunderstanding as possible.

I recall an old episode of "My Three Sons" wherein Chip Douglas makes a date with an older girl at school. She thinks that she's been asked out by Chip's older brother, Robbie. When Chip shows up at the door she freaks. It, of course works out in the end, and Chip is assured that eventually he will be out of the shadow of his older brother. High School works like that. Eventually you get to be your own person.

However I'm not in High School and Tom isn't my brother either. Not that I'm putting down Tom's work. Far from it. The guy's nearly as famous for his run on Spider-man as Ditko, or John Romita, Sr. So why would I mess with that?

Heck! I've even done this sort of thing myself. I ran into Terry Beatty in Chicago a few years ago and went into a rave about his inking of some of Butch Guice's work. He sat there and was cool about it, then when I was done he informed me that I was probably thinking of JOHN Beatty. Of course I was! Not that I had anything against Terry's work, either. I like them both. Terry went on to tell me that DC Comics regularly mixed up his fan-mail with John's.

Speaking of Butch Guice, he's got two younger brothers, Brian (Bruno) and Jeff (no nickname). They both are really good artists as well. But neither seems to have ever taken off in the comics industry. Talk about living in your brother's shadow. It's too bad. The three of them could be the east coast answer to the Brothers Hernadez.

Anyway,Tom Lyle and I are not related (so far as we know). I see him, every now and then, at shows and I kid about how we really should do something together just to confuse the masses more.

Tom comes from (correct me if I'm wrong) Northeast Georgia, and I come from Western North Carolina. Relatively close together geographically speaking, but still a couple of hours distant. We both got started in comics about the same time in the 80s. So I understand the confusion. But it is a bit unnerving at times.

Particularly when someone e-mails me out of the blue and says they want me to work on this or that project. I have that strange feeling that one gets when handed an anonymous note from a secret admirer.

"Are you sure it's me you're talking about?"

I suppose that some guys would take the money and run. As for me, I've got too much of my ego wrapped up in this artist thing to do that.

"I think you mean TOM Lyle," I'll say. "There goes another job", is what I'm thinking, though.

Does this count as a cross to bear? I'll have to ask The LORD when I see him.

Red letter day!

Today's been really interesting. No, I didn't get much done, that's true, but I've had a number of events happening.

First off, the T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents Companion (from Two Morrows publishing, edited by Jon Cooke) got here today. I got coverage on many pages! Eight pages were devoted to the Solson "Thunder" book that I worked on with Michael Sawyer back in the 80s. But I also have art on a nuber of pages. So for anyone who cares, pages 148-155 features "our" Thunder Agents book. Page 39 has the cover of that book. Page 118 has a partially inked page of Dynamo by Lou Manna and me. Page 121 has a fully inked Dynamo page by Lou and me. Page 149 is incorrectly credited to Jackson Guice alone, it's actually his inks over my pencils. And page 158 is also incorrectly credited; while it's definitely Paul Gulacy pencils, those are my inks.

Imagine, getting mistaken for Butch Guice AND Terry Austin in less than 10 pages! Wow! Am I complemented.

Page 168 has a very nice cover piece I did (with inspiration from Lou Manna) back in '99. Page 172 has my inks over Lou again.

So, if I've counted correctly, that's 13 pages with my work on them, as well as more coverage than either Boris the Bear or ThunderBunny!

But on to other stuff.

Today I also got approached by a group who's developing an animated cartoon. They've got connections to an animation studio who has a "first look" deal with FOX. More on that as it happens.

Also got approached by some big time legal types…in a good way! I'm working out a commission deal with that contact, time will tell.

Hey! I just noticed that the Solson Thunder is even on the cover of the TA companion. Just to the right of Menthor's hand there's "our" NoMan.

You know something else I just noticed? This entry is beginning to sound a little too much like an old "Stan's Soapbox" from the 70s. So I'd better go before I start sounding too bombastic and sign off with "Excelsior!"

EXCELSIOR!

(D'oh!)

Why does it take so long to be creative?

I've been having a week of some considerable frustration. It seems to take me most of the week to get around to doing what I want. Well, not exactly. I did finish up Tim Chandler's latest piece on Monday. Then I managed to finish up some inking for a project called Drastik! On tuesday. I've done some updated art for Gypsy Bandwagon's website (still under construction by my band buddies, Lance and Carissa). I taught two lessons yesteday, and banged out about 4 more chapters of Doctor Incubus! So I'm doing all right, but today I managed to pencil a page of The PLUS for a space they're holding in Negative Burn for me, and I re-inked a Black Canary piece that I did about 3 years ago (I then made the mistake of coloring it on the board, and I haven't been able to interest one person in it since).

Anyway, I get a lot done, but sometimes it seems like I'm paddling in circles. At least I feel like I've made some headway today. I think one of the problems is that I'm going out in the evenings more lately. Monday we took some kids from church to a family fun fest (noboby actually barfed in the car, but there was that threat after all the candy they'd eaten). Tuesday we went to the WNC group of the Southeast Chapter of the National Cartoonists Society meeting in Asheville. Last night I went to jam on my bass at the library (my usual routine, except that Karin had to practice with Celtic Knot, so I went alone). Tonight Karin's playing at Lake Junaluska again. In fact I should probably go load her harp even now.

A pigment's progress

Today I got a chance to do what I really love. Inking is one of my true loves. The feeling I get when that brush hits the paper is hard to describe. I like the feel of the brush tip on the page. I like the smell of the ink and the look of black ink on white Bristol Board! I am so thankful GOD (and here I AM thinking of the Christian GOD, Yaweh) has given me this thing to do. It's an experience like no other in my book. It's a thrill to be alive when this sort of thing happens!

Not many, I suppose, wax poetic about the art of inking, but I have to tell the world (or whoever may read this): I love inking!



Artwork © James E. Lyle

So what you see here is not the brush part of the inking process. It's the pen part. For years I've done it this way. I outline everything that needs outline, I mark the areas that will get filled in with an "x" (or if the area is small a dot) and then later go back and fill it all in with a fine watercolor brush (a 2 or a 3, although I used to use a 6 until Joe Rubenstein asked me if I was "going to paint a wall with that?"). Anyway, I used to feel like I was cheating with this process. Until I read that it's pretty common, and saw some others doing the same. That's not to say I won't sometimes use a brush to outline, but usually I do pen work first then drop in with the brush. There are things that I can do with a brush that a pen won't do. The nice folds in fabric, particularly at right angle bends are best done with a brush and nothing else.



Artwork © James E. Lyle

I am beginning to feel drunk with the power of this blog! So here's another image. This one is the final image created for Tim Chandler. You can see a bit where I've modified the pen work with the brush (besides simply filling in the black areas). I'm pretty proud of this one. Nice story telling, good composition…yep a good piece.

But I really should get back to work.

Another day, another image

Artwork © James E. Lyle

This is from a book I've been illustrating for Timothy Chandler. Tim's famous in comic book circles as "The Poison Ivy Guy", but he's been working on this pirate novel for several years now. He had the good sense to buy his art in bulk. I'm owe him well over 40 illustrations that he's pre-paid for. Amazing that people like my work so much they'll pay in advance and wait for months to see anything. Tim's a patient man.

Anyway all week I've been trying to get this piece inked. What you see above is the pencil sketch done at about half size. I blew this up on the copier (darkening it in the process) and am inking it on a piece of Bristol Board using my light table. I have an "in-progress" detail that I'm planning to post here soon, but the page is almost done. I really only need to fill in the black areas and clean it up.

However, I spent all day trying to balance my checkbook.

Today's the Day!

Okay, with a set of instructions from Matt and a little providence, perhaps we'll see an image today?



Artwork © James E. Lyle

Hooray! Three cheers and a tiger for Matt! It finally worked. The image seen here was originally created in the mid 90s as a spec piece (that is, created in hopes of getting more work from it). I did it for a guy who wanted to export jackets with "nose art" to the Japanese market. Apparently nose art was big in Japan then. It didn't work out. I never saw a cent from this piece and all the schmoozing I did. So much for schmoozing.

The art was based on a photo taken of my wife when she was about 17. My Father-in-law is a pretty accomplished photographer as well as being the illustrator of Ernie Keebler for 20+ years. So when I base an illustration on one of his photos I know I'm starting from a good source.

A few weeks ago I realized that I own the rights to this piece in full. So I put the image on tee-shirts at CafePress.com. If anyone wants one, you know where to look.

A little more info about yesterday. The waiting was difficult, but I got through. Gypsy Bandwagon set up in a rush for a group of about 50 people. We didn't have time for a proper sound check, but the crowd seemed to enjoy the show. I had been nervous up to the point of actually playing, but it all went away when we started.

The group was pretty appreciative, and seemed to like the jokes as much as the music. So my contribution (besides drumming) was to make silly announcements. Come see us in concert some time and you can here them.

We made $25 each for our work. Starting a band is slow business. We went to Huddle House and blew most of the money on a late, late, breakfast. Perpetuating the stereotype.

The interim

Today promises to be one long wait. Things are changing around here and today seems like one of those pivotal moments.

Woke this morning to the sounds of heavy equipment next door. My older brother, Jeff, is in the process of remodeling the family gas station (which has been closed for a couple of years now) for his electrical business. What with the sudden change in the weather (we've gone from summer like conditions last week, to snow flurries last night and possibly tonight), and the impending performance by Gypsy Bandwagon (www.gypsybandwagon.com) this evening today seems to have "life change" written all over it.

Of course I'm a bit drowsy today, which may be affecting my mood. We were practicing with Lance and Carissa until around 11:30 last night, and then we had to come back home and unload the van after that.

I'll have to reload it this afternoon, unload at the gig, set up, play, break down, reload, drive home and unload. Ah, the life of a musician.

Oddly enough, I'm supposed to be an illustrator. As proof of that I'm supposed to have some art up on this blog, aren't I? Matt just sent me some more instructions on how to accomplish that and I'm going to go try those instructions out.

Okay, that went over as well as a lead balloon. Seems the website that I'm attempting to use to host images is "not responding". I hope this isn't the result of some hacker trying to get back at some perceived injustice. It's just immature to do that sort of thing. Someone offers a free service on the web and some wiseguy decides to crash their server.

Maybe it's not that at all. Maybe they're just doing some sort of work on the site. But from my end it's frustrating. I really do draw pretty well (cue "Napoleon Dynamite" sound track here). I'd like to have someone be able to see what I do without having to go to my other web locations.

Seems I'm still playing cheerleader

Just got done writing a long "cheer" for my buddy Matt (who you may recall has been helping me with this Blog-thing). I passed his info, portfolio, and a long letter of recommendation to another pal, Randy, who owns an ad agency not far from my studio. Maybe Matt and Randy will work together one day. And I, the ever faithful freelance will pick up some work when they are standing together at the top of a 50 story building that houses their empire. My dreams have become less grand for myself and more grand for my friends it seems.

"May I, perhaps, live vicariously through you? Thank you so much."

At any rate today I managed to work up another chapter of Doctor Incubus, as well as considerable inking for that school project. The client is now calling for more corrections to already completed art, but that's the business. I look forward to finishing the project and getting back to more satisfying work.

Speaking of work, if anyone out there cares, have you seen the label for "Crush" wines in your local convenience store? Well, I worked on that label, inking the pencils of fellow cartoonist Orrin Lundgren. Why Orrin chose me for the job is puzzling to me still. He claims that it's my ability at inking, and I've no reason to doubt that, but he's really good too. My gain I guess.

It's nice to have friends.

Getting adjusted to a sharp learning curve

I must be getting better at this web stuff. Just now I uploaded another of my tee-shirt images to CafePress.com and it went swimmingly. I got my new shop all set up and running and then notified my webmaster at comicartistdirect.com that it was there (as well as informing him of this blog so he can let people in on that). But I'm still stymied by my inability to post any of my art on this blog. Matt tells me that I can insert it from an imagehosting site, but I'm still in the dark about that.

"No,no, don't tell me, I'm keen to guess".

Anyway, I actually managed to get two posts on this thing, and both are showing. That's progress at least. In a few days this thing might even be ready for public consumption.

Today I find myself working on

Today I am supposed to be working on a job for the NJ school system. And I'll get to it eventually. I've got MLK's portrait to draw, and my photo reference is looking up at me from my computer desk right now. But I took the morning to write several chapters of a "Pulp" style story that got started this week. For someone who's supposed to be a commercial artist/illustrator/cartoonist I spend a lot of time writing. But this is the first time in a while that I've really enjoyed myself doing it. I have no grand design, I'm simply writing for the enjoyment of doing so. Still I do need to get the requisite $$$ worth of drawings done today. Ah, the joys of freelance work!

I'm also supposed to figure out how to post some of my art here. Matt's parting words last night (as he went home to his wife and kids, and I went home to my wife),"I keep forgetting there's a learning curve to this".

I feel less clueless today, I must say.

Tonight I'm working on posting here. Imagine that! My friend Matt is workingme through all this Blogging thing. (Yes I AM that clueless). Anyway, my agent told me that I should begin blogging. "Blogging?" I said, with a quiver in my voice. "Is that hard to do?" (gulping down a mouthful of water to settle my nerves). "I don't know," he replied,"but it will help you in your quest to become a well known and reasonably paid comics artist."

So here I am. I suppose I will adapt.