PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
LOCAL ARTIST ACCEPTED INTO NATIONAL CARTOONIST SOCIETY
October 24, 2007 Waynesville, NC
Local Illustrator, James E. Lyle, has been accepted into the National Cartoonist Society. Lyle received notice of his acceptance at his studio in Haywood County this past Friday evening.
James Lyle (known to friends as “Doodle”) has worked to attain membership in this exclusive group since the age of fourteen, when he discovered the existence of the NCS while studying at the Haywood County Library. “I found a book called ‘How to Draw and Sell Cartoons’ by Dave Breger. That book contained, among other things, an extensive article on the NCS. I knew then I wanted to be a part of it.” It has taken him twenty-nine years to achieve his goal, but he’s glad to have finally done so.
The National Cartoonist Society is a national black-tie organization dedicated to advancing the profession of cartooning. Founded by noted cartoonist, Rube Goldberg, the group uses its skills to assist governmental, charitable, and educational institutions and to stimulate interest in the art of cartooning.
In addition to the National organization, smaller chapters of the NCS serve various regions. The Southeast Chapter of the NCS presently serves the southern states (not including Florida, which has its own chapter). Locally the Southeast Chapter is represented by the Western North Carolina group, which meets at 7pm on the first Tuesday of each month at Frank’s Roman Pizza in Asheville, NC. Interested parties are encouraged to participate.
###
Tuesday, October 24, 2006
Thursday, October 19, 2006
What do you mean by "Country" ?
That Ain’t Country…an explanation of Gypsy Bandwagon’s sound (from my particular point of view).
Gypsy Bandwagon played the French Broad Brewery last night. The crowd was small but appreciative, and grew as the evening went on. I performed my composition, “Stateline”, and it was well received (it did help that the audience was about 50% friends and family members).
The show went well overall. The folks at FBB were nice and gave us a lot of support. We have good hope of playing there on a Friday or Saturday evening sometime in the future. So stay tuned for that!
However, there seems to be a bit of a misconception that Gypsy Bandwagon is a “Country” band. I’ve met with this misconception before, but feel that this would be a good time to address that idea.
First off I have to admit that much of my elementary school years were spent listening to County music. That was the music that my Dad listened to when he got an 8-Track tape player installed in the family car (this would have been in the early 70s).
Also, I have to admit that some of my rejection of Country music was due to simple teen rebellion.
As a child I listened with fascination to just about everything that was played within my hearing. So in spite of my anger against Country as I went into high school, I still had a level of respect for Folk music, and Western music, even as my tastes turned more toward Pop, and New Wave.
You may have noted that I separate the terms “Country” and “Western”, much like the barmaid in The Blues Brothers. I have to admit I continue to roar with laughter at that line, but there’s more than a small element of truth to the statement.
To my mind “Country” music is rife with a level of sentimentality that I find hard to take. There are great scenes of affection that make me uncomfortable, and those scenes are usually coupled with an intense negativity. Add to that the vocal and instrumental stylings known (at least locally) as “swoop and scoop” and I just don’t care much for the genre.
That’s not to say that there are not performers within the genre who I hold in regard. I have always appreciated almost any performer who can make fun of themselves or their milieu, and so I can still enjoy performances by Ray Stevens, Dolly Parton, Roy Clark, etc.
But these are the exceptions.
I think it’s important to point out that within ANY discipline, style, or genre there is a lot of garbage. Plain and simple. Even with many performers and bands there are a good number of songs that should simply never have been recorded. I’m afraid that too often we fail to acknowledge that fact, and happily make the generalization, “Oh, I like such-and-such.”
I have to confess that recently, for the sake of convenience, I have been using the short- hand statement, “I like Punk music.” The fact is, I like very little Punk proper. I enjoy a lot of New Wave bands that got lumped in with the Punk crowd, but since the average 20 something doesn’t even know what New Wave means, I feel compelled to use the other term interchangeably (at least until the conversation gets going).
But I was talking about Country music and why it isn’t the same as Folk or Western. People fail to make the distinction (just as I noted above, relative to Punk and New Wave) between the distinctions that make the genres unique.
I find this particularly annoying in some who would not fail to make a distinction between say, Beer and Ale, Marvel Comics and DC Comics, Toyota and Chevy, etc.
Even during the height of my New Wave period I was still drawn toward bands that had a certain “western” flare. Wall of Voodoo, Lone Justice, and The Talking Heads; all had references to the Southwestern U.S., and I ate this up. They were playing on my childhood love for cowboy heroes. And doing it all without the cornball accents!
Sorry if that last statement was harsh. But that’s just the way I see it.
Some of my buddies never made the distinction, and as such hassled me (as friends do) that I was listening to Country and Western. “NO!” I’d cry, and try to make the difference clear. But, sadly, I wasn’t as articulate back then.
I should also point out that even as Folk music isn’t Country (they may be related a few generations back, but they are not the same), so also are Bluegrass, Swing, Cajun, and Celtic NOT Country.
I’ll accept that Country may be made up of a lot of pieces and parts of those styles, but it takes more than a mess of vegetables and some rice to make Chinese food.
So, while Gypsy Bandwagon may play around Country, I don’t think we play Country at all. If I thought that we did I might be forced to do something drastic.
This is also not to say that other members of the group might not see it differently. Lance I know has a great knowledge of Country music, but I submit that his writing style is more Western than anything, and I can respect that.
Carissa usually talks about being a big Led Zepplin fan (ironically my favorite L.Z. song has to be “Hot Dog”, that band’s parody of Country music), but her training is primarily classical.
My wife, Karin, is also classically trained but enjoys mostly Pop Rock. Even she and I don’t always see eye-to-eye on the subject of bands. We usually enjoy most of the same songs by an act, but differ on how “good” overall that act may be.
And if Gypsy Bandwagon should find itself signed to a Country label, I’m sure I’d adapt. (“You want to pay me good money for this? Okay.”) But for the time being I’m playing “International-Western-Folk-Punk”, and that’s the way it is.
Gypsy Bandwagon played the French Broad Brewery last night. The crowd was small but appreciative, and grew as the evening went on. I performed my composition, “Stateline”, and it was well received (it did help that the audience was about 50% friends and family members).
The show went well overall. The folks at FBB were nice and gave us a lot of support. We have good hope of playing there on a Friday or Saturday evening sometime in the future. So stay tuned for that!
However, there seems to be a bit of a misconception that Gypsy Bandwagon is a “Country” band. I’ve met with this misconception before, but feel that this would be a good time to address that idea.
First off I have to admit that much of my elementary school years were spent listening to County music. That was the music that my Dad listened to when he got an 8-Track tape player installed in the family car (this would have been in the early 70s).
Also, I have to admit that some of my rejection of Country music was due to simple teen rebellion.
As a child I listened with fascination to just about everything that was played within my hearing. So in spite of my anger against Country as I went into high school, I still had a level of respect for Folk music, and Western music, even as my tastes turned more toward Pop, and New Wave.
You may have noted that I separate the terms “Country” and “Western”, much like the barmaid in The Blues Brothers. I have to admit I continue to roar with laughter at that line, but there’s more than a small element of truth to the statement.
To my mind “Country” music is rife with a level of sentimentality that I find hard to take. There are great scenes of affection that make me uncomfortable, and those scenes are usually coupled with an intense negativity. Add to that the vocal and instrumental stylings known (at least locally) as “swoop and scoop” and I just don’t care much for the genre.
That’s not to say that there are not performers within the genre who I hold in regard. I have always appreciated almost any performer who can make fun of themselves or their milieu, and so I can still enjoy performances by Ray Stevens, Dolly Parton, Roy Clark, etc.
But these are the exceptions.
I think it’s important to point out that within ANY discipline, style, or genre there is a lot of garbage. Plain and simple. Even with many performers and bands there are a good number of songs that should simply never have been recorded. I’m afraid that too often we fail to acknowledge that fact, and happily make the generalization, “Oh, I like such-and-such.”
I have to confess that recently, for the sake of convenience, I have been using the short- hand statement, “I like Punk music.” The fact is, I like very little Punk proper. I enjoy a lot of New Wave bands that got lumped in with the Punk crowd, but since the average 20 something doesn’t even know what New Wave means, I feel compelled to use the other term interchangeably (at least until the conversation gets going).
But I was talking about Country music and why it isn’t the same as Folk or Western. People fail to make the distinction (just as I noted above, relative to Punk and New Wave) between the distinctions that make the genres unique.
I find this particularly annoying in some who would not fail to make a distinction between say, Beer and Ale, Marvel Comics and DC Comics, Toyota and Chevy, etc.
Even during the height of my New Wave period I was still drawn toward bands that had a certain “western” flare. Wall of Voodoo, Lone Justice, and The Talking Heads; all had references to the Southwestern U.S., and I ate this up. They were playing on my childhood love for cowboy heroes. And doing it all without the cornball accents!
Sorry if that last statement was harsh. But that’s just the way I see it.
Some of my buddies never made the distinction, and as such hassled me (as friends do) that I was listening to Country and Western. “NO!” I’d cry, and try to make the difference clear. But, sadly, I wasn’t as articulate back then.
I should also point out that even as Folk music isn’t Country (they may be related a few generations back, but they are not the same), so also are Bluegrass, Swing, Cajun, and Celtic NOT Country.
I’ll accept that Country may be made up of a lot of pieces and parts of those styles, but it takes more than a mess of vegetables and some rice to make Chinese food.
So, while Gypsy Bandwagon may play around Country, I don’t think we play Country at all. If I thought that we did I might be forced to do something drastic.
This is also not to say that other members of the group might not see it differently. Lance I know has a great knowledge of Country music, but I submit that his writing style is more Western than anything, and I can respect that.
Carissa usually talks about being a big Led Zepplin fan (ironically my favorite L.Z. song has to be “Hot Dog”, that band’s parody of Country music), but her training is primarily classical.
My wife, Karin, is also classically trained but enjoys mostly Pop Rock. Even she and I don’t always see eye-to-eye on the subject of bands. We usually enjoy most of the same songs by an act, but differ on how “good” overall that act may be.
And if Gypsy Bandwagon should find itself signed to a Country label, I’m sure I’d adapt. (“You want to pay me good money for this? Okay.”) But for the time being I’m playing “International-Western-Folk-Punk”, and that’s the way it is.
Tuesday, October 10, 2006
Creating Comic Characters
I wrote this a couple of years back, but since I've been so busy actually DRAWING Comics lately, I figured this would be a good post for today. It's my way of celebrating my 43rd Birthday! Giving anyone who wants to read it, a little insight into my creative process.
I've given this article out to a number of students and it may be posted on the ComicArtitsDirect.com website. Frankly, I don't recall. But if you haven't read it, perhaps it will inspire something in you. If not at least I posted something.
Creating Comics Characters;
a short study in Brainstorming
©2004 James E. Lyle
1. The basis of character.
"So, how do you come up with or create comic/cartoon characters?"
I was asked this very penetrating question recently by a young cartoonist. I had to stop and think. "How do I come up with characters”? It's been so long that I've been doing this sort of thing that I had to take a moment to remember what it was like not to know. In fact I couldn't recall not creating characters, I've been dreaming them up since I could talk.
And that's when it hit me. We all create characters all the time. "Dreaming them up" is exactly the model that you should follow. Anyone who dreams, or daydreams, is creating characters all the time. You have doubtless created characters all your life. You speak to someone you've never met on the phone, or write a pen-pal, or have an exchange in an online chat-room. Immediately you begin forming a mental picture of that person. And what happens if you actually meet that person? "You're not exactly like I pictured you," is as likely a response in that situation as any. Why? Because the person you made up in your head doesn't match reality.
However, in the case of creating a fictional character you won't have this problem. Your character can be anything you want it to be!
But how to make your character the sort that will strike a chord with other people? That's the real trick isn't it?
What I suggest is that you use the same approach that you would if you were asked to write a paragraph for school: Brainstorming.
You may not be familiar with this term, and so I should probably explain it. Simply put, you sit down with a pad of paper and write down all of the things you think would be interesting in a character. You might want to do this with a friend. Just write down everything you can. Set a time limit of maybe 15 minutes, or you might be there for quite a while! Write down good qualities, and bad qualities, don't judge them…just throw them out there. You might find that you want to draw some ideas if you're a visual sort. Go ahead! The idea is just to get some ideas on paper so you can play with them.
Once you have your ideas out, then you can judge them. "Is this too much like Superman?" "Am I relying too heavily on ideas from DragonBall?" That sort of question will help you narrow your focus. You might find that you want your character to be MORE like Superman or you want to use DragonBall as your launching point. But you need to decide. Sift through your ideas and find the things that really intrigue you.
You may want your characters to be more grounded in reality, or perhaps you're more interested in the fantastic. Whichever interests you, try to create a good reason for the character to do and be what you think he should be. This is called "Motivation." Batman didn't just decide to put on a bat-suit and fight crime, his parents were killed in front of him before he took that step. Peter Parker's Uncle died before Peter ever thought of using his powers to help other people.
I'm pretty sure you know the way it works if you've come as far as asking, "how can I do that too?"
You can think of all sorts of gadgets and inventions that your character might have need of. Go ahead and draw them up. Use an encyclopedia to see if they're possible scientifically, or at least try to base them on an existing theory…it will give your character more believability. You might also think of clothes that your character could wear. Maybe you saw a great looking coat in a catalog that would be just the thing for your character. Gather all such materials in one place so you can keep them handy. This is called "gathering reference materials."
By this time you'll probably have had some ideas about characters for your main character to interact with. Who wants a hero who simply sits around all day talking to himself? You'll probably think of friends for your character, or enemies (sometimes you learn more about a hero from the villains he meets than the friends he keeps). You may think of characters that simply annoy your main character without actually being his enemies.
Like I said earlier, you may want to draw a lot during this process. That's great! Comics is a visual medium, so getting your character to look right is as important as getting it to sound right. But don't worry about getting every single detail down in the very first drawing. If you have a neat idea for a glove, then draw that. But keep all your ideas in one place so you can put them together later.
Again, look at real things. Looking at a real pair of gloves closely will show you how they really fit on a person. Don't be tempted to take the short-cut and say, "well it sort of looks like a glove," when simply looking at an actual glove will make your final drawing so much better.
I can't overstate the importance of using reference. It will make your characters more believable, and often looking at reference will give you more ideas down the line. While you're looking for a picture of that special glove you might see a suit of armor, a treadmill, or a salt shaker that will give you a new idea to incorporate in your character or the universe that your character inhabits. (I know a cartoonist who once designed an exoskeletal-suit based on an antiperspirant container!)
Once you've got an idea don't judge it as bad simply because it came from you. Certainly there are bad ideas, and you shouldn't be tempted to hurt or demean anyone with your work…but what I'm referring to is the sort of thinking that says, "that's my idea, but it's dumb. It's just like some other idea I saw earlier, and I don't want anyone to think I stole my idea from someone else." All ideas come from some earlier idea, don't beat yourself up thinking yours is no good.
Keep at it. Continue creating characters until you come up with something that really excites you. If it excites you, chances are it will excite others as well.
This may not happen overnight. It's a long process. When I was thirteen I created a character that has continued to intrigue me ever since. Every so often I pull this character out of the back of my head and play with it, adjusting it little by little. Very few people have even seen this character, but whenever I'm stuck for something to draw he's always there. Each time I practice with this character I learn a little more about how to write and draw a character. My fellow artists who have seen this character have often commented about how my work with him seems to have a life of its own. I'm so familiar with that character that it's perfectly natural for me to say, " I wonder what he'd do in this situation that I'm in right now?"
Strive for that sort of familiarity with your character and you'll be on your way.
2. Stylization of the character.
Having gathered all your reference you need to assemble your ideas into a solid form. And you will want to stylize your character in a way that best suits your, and his personality.
The great thing is we live in a time where all sorts of other cartoonist's stylizations are readily available. There are countless collections of cartoon books, that were once very expensive or very difficult to find, being published today. Many of these are available at your public library. The internet is a great source as well. You could search for weeks to find a stylization that you might want to emulate. However, you probably have a good idea of some of the styles that you find interesting…at least if you've been doing this for any time at all.
So make a decision. What's it going to be? Anime / Manga style? (Or more specifically, Shonen style). Bigfoot style? Superhero style? European style? You don't have to limit yourself to any one for the rest of your life, but for the purpose of creating a striking character you probably want to decide on one approach from the outset. Don't worry if it doesn't strike your fancy in a few months or a year. You can always change it later. But for now, deciding on a style will make things easier.
Now I'm assuming a bit here that your character will be somewhat humanoid. Even in comic strips like B.C. the Ants, Clams, Apterix, Turtles, and Dinosaurs take on more or less human characteristics. This process is called Anthropomorphism, and it refers to applying human characteristics to animals or inanimate objects. They aren't people, but we treat them as if they were. Just so, for the sake of clarity in our comic drawings we'll treat all characters with some human traits.
The human form is very malleable. What I mean by this is that no two humans look exactly alike! Even identical twins have some variations in form between the two of them. When we look at different individuals the form of their bodies and faces will be very different from one person to the next. One person may have a very long face and a stocky body. Another may have large protruding ears. Another may have noticeably smaller lips. All these variations are what goes into making each of us unique.
You may also have noticed that different people have differing expressions. A whole family may share some of these characteristic movements of their faces and bodies. Observe these variations closely (just don't make the person you're observing nervous). Learn to be flexible in your drawing of these characteristics. Just as the human form is very malleable, so should your approach to drawing it be.
Creating good characters visually, requires an ability to be flexible when drawing the human form, balanced with your ability to stay consistent. Consistency is a function of practice and repetition--
if you don't like to draw the same thing twice this sort of discipline may take a while to get used to.
When you create a new comics character, you should spend some time and get to know it. To do this you will need to draw your new character from a number of angles, this is called doing a "turn around" or a "turn". You will also need to draw your character with a number of facial expressions, called "head shots". Animators do this all the time, and may go through a number of attempts before a final version of any character is approved. The final versions of the various sketches, turns and head shots are collected into "model sheets". These are usually used by animation studios, or publishers who wish to have several artists working on the same characters, but they can be handy for even those of us who do all the work ourselves.
If you're like me you have more than one character you want to work with. And it may happen that you won't work with any one of them for months at a time. Having a model sheet around will help you remember what your character looks like when you come back to it.
I’ve included some turns and head shots from my studio’s Giant City concept. These are included to give you some idea of what both types of model sheets might look like. They are by no means comprehensive, but hopefully you can use them as a jumping off point to develop your own ideas.
I've given this article out to a number of students and it may be posted on the ComicArtitsDirect.com website. Frankly, I don't recall. But if you haven't read it, perhaps it will inspire something in you. If not at least I posted something.
Creating Comics Characters;
a short study in Brainstorming
©2004 James E. Lyle
1. The basis of character.
"So, how do you come up with or create comic/cartoon characters?"
I was asked this very penetrating question recently by a young cartoonist. I had to stop and think. "How do I come up with characters”? It's been so long that I've been doing this sort of thing that I had to take a moment to remember what it was like not to know. In fact I couldn't recall not creating characters, I've been dreaming them up since I could talk.
And that's when it hit me. We all create characters all the time. "Dreaming them up" is exactly the model that you should follow. Anyone who dreams, or daydreams, is creating characters all the time. You have doubtless created characters all your life. You speak to someone you've never met on the phone, or write a pen-pal, or have an exchange in an online chat-room. Immediately you begin forming a mental picture of that person. And what happens if you actually meet that person? "You're not exactly like I pictured you," is as likely a response in that situation as any. Why? Because the person you made up in your head doesn't match reality.
However, in the case of creating a fictional character you won't have this problem. Your character can be anything you want it to be!
But how to make your character the sort that will strike a chord with other people? That's the real trick isn't it?
What I suggest is that you use the same approach that you would if you were asked to write a paragraph for school: Brainstorming.
You may not be familiar with this term, and so I should probably explain it. Simply put, you sit down with a pad of paper and write down all of the things you think would be interesting in a character. You might want to do this with a friend. Just write down everything you can. Set a time limit of maybe 15 minutes, or you might be there for quite a while! Write down good qualities, and bad qualities, don't judge them…just throw them out there. You might find that you want to draw some ideas if you're a visual sort. Go ahead! The idea is just to get some ideas on paper so you can play with them.
Once you have your ideas out, then you can judge them. "Is this too much like Superman?" "Am I relying too heavily on ideas from DragonBall?" That sort of question will help you narrow your focus. You might find that you want your character to be MORE like Superman or you want to use DragonBall as your launching point. But you need to decide. Sift through your ideas and find the things that really intrigue you.
You may want your characters to be more grounded in reality, or perhaps you're more interested in the fantastic. Whichever interests you, try to create a good reason for the character to do and be what you think he should be. This is called "Motivation." Batman didn't just decide to put on a bat-suit and fight crime, his parents were killed in front of him before he took that step. Peter Parker's Uncle died before Peter ever thought of using his powers to help other people.
I'm pretty sure you know the way it works if you've come as far as asking, "how can I do that too?"
You can think of all sorts of gadgets and inventions that your character might have need of. Go ahead and draw them up. Use an encyclopedia to see if they're possible scientifically, or at least try to base them on an existing theory…it will give your character more believability. You might also think of clothes that your character could wear. Maybe you saw a great looking coat in a catalog that would be just the thing for your character. Gather all such materials in one place so you can keep them handy. This is called "gathering reference materials."
By this time you'll probably have had some ideas about characters for your main character to interact with. Who wants a hero who simply sits around all day talking to himself? You'll probably think of friends for your character, or enemies (sometimes you learn more about a hero from the villains he meets than the friends he keeps). You may think of characters that simply annoy your main character without actually being his enemies.
Like I said earlier, you may want to draw a lot during this process. That's great! Comics is a visual medium, so getting your character to look right is as important as getting it to sound right. But don't worry about getting every single detail down in the very first drawing. If you have a neat idea for a glove, then draw that. But keep all your ideas in one place so you can put them together later.
Again, look at real things. Looking at a real pair of gloves closely will show you how they really fit on a person. Don't be tempted to take the short-cut and say, "well it sort of looks like a glove," when simply looking at an actual glove will make your final drawing so much better.
I can't overstate the importance of using reference. It will make your characters more believable, and often looking at reference will give you more ideas down the line. While you're looking for a picture of that special glove you might see a suit of armor, a treadmill, or a salt shaker that will give you a new idea to incorporate in your character or the universe that your character inhabits. (I know a cartoonist who once designed an exoskeletal-suit based on an antiperspirant container!)
Once you've got an idea don't judge it as bad simply because it came from you. Certainly there are bad ideas, and you shouldn't be tempted to hurt or demean anyone with your work…but what I'm referring to is the sort of thinking that says, "that's my idea, but it's dumb. It's just like some other idea I saw earlier, and I don't want anyone to think I stole my idea from someone else." All ideas come from some earlier idea, don't beat yourself up thinking yours is no good.
Keep at it. Continue creating characters until you come up with something that really excites you. If it excites you, chances are it will excite others as well.
This may not happen overnight. It's a long process. When I was thirteen I created a character that has continued to intrigue me ever since. Every so often I pull this character out of the back of my head and play with it, adjusting it little by little. Very few people have even seen this character, but whenever I'm stuck for something to draw he's always there. Each time I practice with this character I learn a little more about how to write and draw a character. My fellow artists who have seen this character have often commented about how my work with him seems to have a life of its own. I'm so familiar with that character that it's perfectly natural for me to say, " I wonder what he'd do in this situation that I'm in right now?"
Strive for that sort of familiarity with your character and you'll be on your way.
2. Stylization of the character.
Having gathered all your reference you need to assemble your ideas into a solid form. And you will want to stylize your character in a way that best suits your, and his personality.
The great thing is we live in a time where all sorts of other cartoonist's stylizations are readily available. There are countless collections of cartoon books, that were once very expensive or very difficult to find, being published today. Many of these are available at your public library. The internet is a great source as well. You could search for weeks to find a stylization that you might want to emulate. However, you probably have a good idea of some of the styles that you find interesting…at least if you've been doing this for any time at all.
So make a decision. What's it going to be? Anime / Manga style? (Or more specifically, Shonen style). Bigfoot style? Superhero style? European style? You don't have to limit yourself to any one for the rest of your life, but for the purpose of creating a striking character you probably want to decide on one approach from the outset. Don't worry if it doesn't strike your fancy in a few months or a year. You can always change it later. But for now, deciding on a style will make things easier.
Now I'm assuming a bit here that your character will be somewhat humanoid. Even in comic strips like B.C. the Ants, Clams, Apterix, Turtles, and Dinosaurs take on more or less human characteristics. This process is called Anthropomorphism, and it refers to applying human characteristics to animals or inanimate objects. They aren't people, but we treat them as if they were. Just so, for the sake of clarity in our comic drawings we'll treat all characters with some human traits.
The human form is very malleable. What I mean by this is that no two humans look exactly alike! Even identical twins have some variations in form between the two of them. When we look at different individuals the form of their bodies and faces will be very different from one person to the next. One person may have a very long face and a stocky body. Another may have large protruding ears. Another may have noticeably smaller lips. All these variations are what goes into making each of us unique.
You may also have noticed that different people have differing expressions. A whole family may share some of these characteristic movements of their faces and bodies. Observe these variations closely (just don't make the person you're observing nervous). Learn to be flexible in your drawing of these characteristics. Just as the human form is very malleable, so should your approach to drawing it be.
Creating good characters visually, requires an ability to be flexible when drawing the human form, balanced with your ability to stay consistent. Consistency is a function of practice and repetition--
if you don't like to draw the same thing twice this sort of discipline may take a while to get used to.
When you create a new comics character, you should spend some time and get to know it. To do this you will need to draw your new character from a number of angles, this is called doing a "turn around" or a "turn". You will also need to draw your character with a number of facial expressions, called "head shots". Animators do this all the time, and may go through a number of attempts before a final version of any character is approved. The final versions of the various sketches, turns and head shots are collected into "model sheets". These are usually used by animation studios, or publishers who wish to have several artists working on the same characters, but they can be handy for even those of us who do all the work ourselves.
If you're like me you have more than one character you want to work with. And it may happen that you won't work with any one of them for months at a time. Having a model sheet around will help you remember what your character looks like when you come back to it.
I’ve included some turns and head shots from my studio’s Giant City concept. These are included to give you some idea of what both types of model sheets might look like. They are by no means comprehensive, but hopefully you can use them as a jumping off point to develop your own ideas.
Wednesday, September 20, 2006
What I did over my summer vacation.
“What I did over my summer vacation.” A theme by James E. Lyle
Rather than to again excuse my long absence from this blog, I thought that I’d do well to just ignore that and write this entry as an omnibus of my summer’s activities. This won’t be easy, a lot has gone on. What with many projects to illustrate, family matters to attend to, and touring with Gypsy Bandwagon--things got busy.
Let me just whiffle over to get my datebook, which I’ll use as reference, and be back in a minute.
The summer began, innocuously enough, with me raking rocks out of my front yard. Last winter, my brother did a lot of work in both my front and back yards to get his new warehouse constructed. I won’t go into details on that, but let’s just say that there are a lot of rocks churned up around here when you drive heavy equipment through a yard. Since said rocks can and will wreck a lawn mower, I felt obliged (after first wrecking my lawnmower) to get a cultivating rake and move the rocks out of the way.
This worked great, and I was getting a lot of exercise every morning until I over-raked and got a huge blister, without being aware, then bursting that same blister and bleeding all of the rake. Not fun. So my raking tapered off somewhat after that. I did manage to get my front lawn into some semblance of shape, and can effectively mow it without any more damage to the lawn mower. That was the point, and so I’m not worried about that anymore.
Gypsy Bandwagon played at Black Mountain, the first Saturday in June. That was fun. I played with a stripped down drum set up: just a djembe and a snare. When it was all done Lance said he missed my tambourine most, and so I made a note to bring the tambo along on all future gigs.
I did a lot of posing for the new comic book I’ve been working on. The book is called “Adam Among the Gods”, and I’m still inking on it now. The process I call “posing” is rather simple in a way. There’s a program for the computer called Poser (I’m using version 4) that I use instead of hiring models to get figures in the right positions. Poser has several advantages over using models: 1) I don’t have to pay models, 2)I don’t have to deal with all the headaches of having models around (not slamming models per se, I’m just commenting on interpersonal relationships in general), 3) If I don’t like the angle of a particular shot I can move the camera around…even days later, 4) I can actually build models to my own specifications! This came in real handy with the main character who is very different from the standard human archetype. But I monkeyed with the “normal” characters as well. You’ll see it when it’s done.
There was a podcast that mentioned me during the first couple of weeks of June. I got mentioned in the Collected Comics Library podcast on T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents. In fact I got mentioned a couple of times. Comes from being pals with the guy who does the show.
Gypsy Bandwagon played the second weekend of June as well. This time with the full set up at Furman University. No, we didn’t get the main stage. We were playing under a tent in the “children’s area” of the Greater Greenville (S.C.) Highlands Games. That went pretty well, except for the fact that it was 90 degrees, plus. We also had to park way out and have our equipment driven in on a golf cart. But everyone was very nice, and even the organizers of the event were swell to us, letting us take part in the catered lunch that they were having (even though they didn’t have to).
I did a number of commissions early in the summer. I got to draw the women of the Fantastic Four, a “fake” Avengers cover for the Heroes Convention auction, and another “fake” cover for LIFE magazine featuring both Silk Spectres from Watchmen! So I had fun.
I also began drawing a lot of stuff for my buddy, Joel. I’ve been doing designs with him for years, but this summer it really took off. I did designs for Caribbean Soul, Tommy Bahama, and Margaritaville! Those are still in the works, but the best part was that Joel actually came up to the mountains with his family, and the two of us worked in the studio together for the first time in years. It had been too long.
Karin and I did get out a few times. We went to Lake Lure and spent the day there. Floated around in the water all afternoon, and then took the boat ride out on the lake proper. Nice day alone with my sweetie.
Gypsy Bandwagon played the third Saturday of June at Rhone Mountain’s Rhododendron Festival. That was fun too. We followed a brass band that had about 30 members, and were followed by a hillbilly band who were a hoot.
At that time of the summer it looked like I was going to be drawing CD cover for a heavy metal band out of NYC. But the deal fell through. Too bad. I was looking forward to doing the project.
Then my Mom went in the hospital. She hadn’t been feeling great (and still isn’t well), but apparently one of the prescriptions she’s been on caused her potassium levels to drop off to a dangerously low level. She was bleeding internally, and ended up in ICU. We were all very scared. But it turned out all right. She spent only a day in ICU, was moved to the regular unit the next day and sent home the third. But a scary moment or two there.
Heroes Convention came as usual. I always say that that show is like Christmas for me. I mean that it has the sort of excitement that Christmas had for me when I was a kid. You never know what will happen exactly, and I always have fun. My “agent”, Aaron Bushy came up from Auburn with his wife, and some friends, and we were all supposed to go out to dinner at Steak’n’Shake on Saturday. Unfortunately the auction went really long on Saturday night, and we had to leave before it was over. Karin and I went to Steak’n’Shake anyway, but it was around 10pm when we got there! Yikes!
The WNC group of the Southeast Chapter of the National Cartoonist Society met in July at James Cassara’s house. We had a potluck dinner and looked at James’ extensive collection of comic artwork.
I got to submit some ideas for a future T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents series that’s in the works. I’m probably not a liberty to talk about it much, but since there’s constantly someone working on a new TA project I’m probably safe to mention that I’m still in there swinging with ideas.
Mid-July I got a call from Weekly Reader. They wanted me to do a cover and a two page spread for their second grade magazine, “Edition2”. So what could I say? Yes!!
Went to the movies two nights in a row in July. Once to see “Superman Returns”. The next night, my oldest brother and his family came up from Florida, and my nephew wanted us to see “Pirates of the Caribbean 2”. So we went out again. Had fun at both movies, but wasn’t blown away by either.
Gypsy Bandwagon played the second Saturday of July downtown Asheville, NC. The event was the 2nd Annual Wings ‘n’ Strings Festival. We got to play to a pretty big crowd, were on the main stage. And I left my gig bag with my sticks, tambo, some costume, and all my notes somewhere downtown.
I didn’t discover it was missing until the middle of the next week. But there was another problem to deal with by then, we had no water.
This began a couple of weeks of dealing with our water problems. We were expecting Karin’s brother and his family to visit us in August, and between all the jobs I was working on and the gigs with GB there didn’t seem too much time to be dealing with plumbing. But my Dad, my nephew John, and I managed to fix the water…at least temporarily. It still needs a more permanent solution, but it’s worked since late July.
Gypsy Bandwagon played in Augusta, Georgia on the third Saturday of July. I’d had to replace nearly all of my small instruments and equipment the previous week. Karin and I had been to Augusta only once before, for the 2004 Southeast Chapter meeting of the National Cartoonist Society. As it turns out, the Stillwater Taproom, where Gypsy Bandwagon was playing this night was next door to Nacho Mamas, the very place we’d had lunch during the SECNCS meeting two years earlier.
We played until 1:30 am Sunday, and then found out we had a flat tire. We tried to repair the tire using a can of “run flat”, but that only worked partially. We limped down the street to a BP that was open all night, and managed to put on the spare by 3am. We drove back home on the “donut”. Slept all day Sunday.
Karin’s brother, Per, was having car problems too. We expected them on the 24th, but they were stuck in Shelbyville (say it like Grandpa Simpson, “Shelbyville?”) Indiana with car problems. That’s okay, Dad, John and I were still working on the water. The 25th we were still working on the water, and Per, Donna, Christin, Cassandra, and Alex were stuck in Sevierville, TN with more car problems. On the 26th we had the water running, just in time as the Guldbeck clan managed to make it to our house that evening.
Karin took her family out for fun the next day, while I worked on the art for Weekly Reader, and my scanner began to act up. Friday found me desperately trying to fix the scanner problem, finally realizing that I needed to reinstall my copy of Photoshop and the scanner software. I managed to avoid pulling out all my hair in the process.
While Per and Donna went for a little alone time in Florida, we watched the twins and Alex. We took them out on the Blue Ridge Parkway on Saturday and Sunday, and then to Biltmore House on Tuesday (followed by a meeting of the WNC group).
How I managed to juggle work, the kids, and all the various repair jobs that needed doing, I have no idea. The car went back in the garage again during all of this. By Friday I had completed the job for Weekly Reader, uploaded it and still managed to spend some time with the family.
Karin’s brother and sister-in-law came back up to NC on Saturday, we took them to Church on Sunday, and then went to practice with Lance and Carissa for Gypsy Bandwagon. The kids watched Napoleon Dynamite in the living room while GB played an audience of two. Frankly, I think it was one of our best performances yet. I used only the djembe, but still managed to do a good job. Lance played several of the pieces on his new 12 string Rikenbacker, and that sounded cool. So I hope we’ll be doing more along those lines in the future.
Monday Per, Donna and Alex left for Sevierville, TN in the rental car they’d had to resort to. Karin and I were going to visit her Dad in Glen Ellyn, IL anyway, so we volunteered to take the twins with us and drop them off “on the way” in Fort Wayne, IN. We left Tuesday at 7:30 am, and actually caught up with their folks in Kentucky. We had lunch together at, you guessed it, Steak’n’Shake. We dropped the girls with their older sister, Amanda (who didn’t get to come to NC because she was working) and took off for Chicagoland. We made Glen Ellyn by 11:15 cst. A pretty good time, I think.
Next day Karin sprained her ankle while working in the garden. She had gone to Glen Ellyn with the intention of helping out her Step-Mom, and now she was laid up with a bad limp. We visited the doctor the next day and he told her to stay off it for two weeks…the length of our stay.
In spite of this we managed to make the “Masters of American Comics” show at the Milwaukee Art Museum. The idea with the show (which, I believe, is still touring) was to select 15 of the most influential Comics Artists in America during the 20th Century and put originals on display. While I agreed with most of the choices, I felt that a couple were unwarranted, and there were two glaring omissions; Alex Raymond and Hal Foster. How these two got left out is beyond me. Perhaps the organizers felt that it would have made that period of creators too heavy. But, I’m sorry, how many comics creators have I heard say, “that guy was the reason I got into comics in the first place”, when speaking of Raymond or Foster? In spite of any inherent flaws, I’m glad that we went to see the show. Milwaukee has a fantastic art museum, absolutely beautiful.
I got to cart Karin around all day in a wheelchair her Dad loaned us. People were most sympathetic, you could see it in their eyes. Karin felt pretty sheepish, knowing it was only a sprained ankle.
Our eighteenth anniversary was the next week. After much searching I had found nothing. I face this problem almost every year, and it leads to much anxiety. So on Saturday I took Karin shopping with me. Finally, after visiting much of suburban Illinois, I got the right idea and went searching for a Hello Kitty guitar.
We’d seen the Hello Kitty electric guitar earlier this year, but had no money to buy it. Turns out that it’s a hard find. Even the Guitar Center chain had only one in stock, and that was in Tennessee! We went back to Karin’s folk’s house a bit dejected, but I did manage to get online and buy one from Musician’s Friend later that evening. It arrived here in NC by the time we got home from our trip.
We didn’t actually go out on our anniversary. We stayed with Karin’s folks and her Aunt and Uncle and had a nice cake that my mother-in-law made. But the next night (Monday) we went out to The Italian Village, that famous Chicago landmark, and had a nice dinner then did a little sight seeing.
The next day we went out to IKEA. I love IKEA. It’s so weird and somehow still hip. I’ve been wanting a Stolmen system for my office for some time now, and that’s what Karin got for me as an anniversary gift. Cool, huh?
We came home the day after that…a long drive and we sort of missed having the kids with us. Karin had a rough trip home, she wasn’t feeling well. It might have been something she ate, but it wasn’t Steak’n’Shake that did it. I was fine!
When we got home we hit the ground running. The next day I was mailing off pages from “Adam among the Gods” to my publisher-editor-webmaster, Gary. I began setting up my Stolmen system, and Karin was messing with her new guitar.
I spent a lot of time in the attic over the next few days. The Stolmen system has poles that have to be attached to the ceiling and floor, since my ceiling is acoustical tile, it took a little doing to make the poles stable without destroying the tiles. I did manage, but it was very hot here in August.
We played a benefit for two men with terminal illnesses on Saturday after returning home, and then the next Monday we headed off to Augusta, Georgia to help with the Southeast Chapter of the National Cartoonist Society’s visit to the VA hospital there. It was a 4 hour drive, and we sort of missed the orientation period, but caught up with our chapter President and V.P. after lunch. It was fun. I ended up doing around 20 charicatures of patients, nurses, and others.
Since then I’ve been working on all the various art projects that have built up over the summer. I’ve been inking on “Adam”, doing more designs for t-shirts, doing illustrations of historical and contemporary figures for a school date book, working on pitches for Thunder Agents, etc. All the things that make my world go around.
I’ve also been rearranging my office space. Which is beginning to look pretty good. Since my old instructor from community college wants to bring his latest art class over to see me sometime soon, it would be nice if I can get it in order. He always tells me not to fix it up, but this time I’m trying to beat him to the punch. Maybe it will be neat for once. It’s not that important, but it would be nice.
And that’s what I’ve been doing all summer.
Oh yeah, and Gypsy Bandwagon played for Cornerstone Fellowship Church’s annual fish-fry on September 10th.
Rather than to again excuse my long absence from this blog, I thought that I’d do well to just ignore that and write this entry as an omnibus of my summer’s activities. This won’t be easy, a lot has gone on. What with many projects to illustrate, family matters to attend to, and touring with Gypsy Bandwagon--things got busy.
Let me just whiffle over to get my datebook, which I’ll use as reference, and be back in a minute.
The summer began, innocuously enough, with me raking rocks out of my front yard. Last winter, my brother did a lot of work in both my front and back yards to get his new warehouse constructed. I won’t go into details on that, but let’s just say that there are a lot of rocks churned up around here when you drive heavy equipment through a yard. Since said rocks can and will wreck a lawn mower, I felt obliged (after first wrecking my lawnmower) to get a cultivating rake and move the rocks out of the way.
This worked great, and I was getting a lot of exercise every morning until I over-raked and got a huge blister, without being aware, then bursting that same blister and bleeding all of the rake. Not fun. So my raking tapered off somewhat after that. I did manage to get my front lawn into some semblance of shape, and can effectively mow it without any more damage to the lawn mower. That was the point, and so I’m not worried about that anymore.
Gypsy Bandwagon played at Black Mountain, the first Saturday in June. That was fun. I played with a stripped down drum set up: just a djembe and a snare. When it was all done Lance said he missed my tambourine most, and so I made a note to bring the tambo along on all future gigs.
I did a lot of posing for the new comic book I’ve been working on. The book is called “Adam Among the Gods”, and I’m still inking on it now. The process I call “posing” is rather simple in a way. There’s a program for the computer called Poser (I’m using version 4) that I use instead of hiring models to get figures in the right positions. Poser has several advantages over using models: 1) I don’t have to pay models, 2)I don’t have to deal with all the headaches of having models around (not slamming models per se, I’m just commenting on interpersonal relationships in general), 3) If I don’t like the angle of a particular shot I can move the camera around…even days later, 4) I can actually build models to my own specifications! This came in real handy with the main character who is very different from the standard human archetype. But I monkeyed with the “normal” characters as well. You’ll see it when it’s done.
There was a podcast that mentioned me during the first couple of weeks of June. I got mentioned in the Collected Comics Library podcast on T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents. In fact I got mentioned a couple of times. Comes from being pals with the guy who does the show.
Gypsy Bandwagon played the second weekend of June as well. This time with the full set up at Furman University. No, we didn’t get the main stage. We were playing under a tent in the “children’s area” of the Greater Greenville (S.C.) Highlands Games. That went pretty well, except for the fact that it was 90 degrees, plus. We also had to park way out and have our equipment driven in on a golf cart. But everyone was very nice, and even the organizers of the event were swell to us, letting us take part in the catered lunch that they were having (even though they didn’t have to).
I did a number of commissions early in the summer. I got to draw the women of the Fantastic Four, a “fake” Avengers cover for the Heroes Convention auction, and another “fake” cover for LIFE magazine featuring both Silk Spectres from Watchmen! So I had fun.
I also began drawing a lot of stuff for my buddy, Joel. I’ve been doing designs with him for years, but this summer it really took off. I did designs for Caribbean Soul, Tommy Bahama, and Margaritaville! Those are still in the works, but the best part was that Joel actually came up to the mountains with his family, and the two of us worked in the studio together for the first time in years. It had been too long.
Karin and I did get out a few times. We went to Lake Lure and spent the day there. Floated around in the water all afternoon, and then took the boat ride out on the lake proper. Nice day alone with my sweetie.
Gypsy Bandwagon played the third Saturday of June at Rhone Mountain’s Rhododendron Festival. That was fun too. We followed a brass band that had about 30 members, and were followed by a hillbilly band who were a hoot.
At that time of the summer it looked like I was going to be drawing CD cover for a heavy metal band out of NYC. But the deal fell through. Too bad. I was looking forward to doing the project.
Then my Mom went in the hospital. She hadn’t been feeling great (and still isn’t well), but apparently one of the prescriptions she’s been on caused her potassium levels to drop off to a dangerously low level. She was bleeding internally, and ended up in ICU. We were all very scared. But it turned out all right. She spent only a day in ICU, was moved to the regular unit the next day and sent home the third. But a scary moment or two there.
Heroes Convention came as usual. I always say that that show is like Christmas for me. I mean that it has the sort of excitement that Christmas had for me when I was a kid. You never know what will happen exactly, and I always have fun. My “agent”, Aaron Bushy came up from Auburn with his wife, and some friends, and we were all supposed to go out to dinner at Steak’n’Shake on Saturday. Unfortunately the auction went really long on Saturday night, and we had to leave before it was over. Karin and I went to Steak’n’Shake anyway, but it was around 10pm when we got there! Yikes!
The WNC group of the Southeast Chapter of the National Cartoonist Society met in July at James Cassara’s house. We had a potluck dinner and looked at James’ extensive collection of comic artwork.
I got to submit some ideas for a future T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents series that’s in the works. I’m probably not a liberty to talk about it much, but since there’s constantly someone working on a new TA project I’m probably safe to mention that I’m still in there swinging with ideas.
Mid-July I got a call from Weekly Reader. They wanted me to do a cover and a two page spread for their second grade magazine, “Edition2”. So what could I say? Yes!!
Went to the movies two nights in a row in July. Once to see “Superman Returns”. The next night, my oldest brother and his family came up from Florida, and my nephew wanted us to see “Pirates of the Caribbean 2”. So we went out again. Had fun at both movies, but wasn’t blown away by either.
Gypsy Bandwagon played the second Saturday of July downtown Asheville, NC. The event was the 2nd Annual Wings ‘n’ Strings Festival. We got to play to a pretty big crowd, were on the main stage. And I left my gig bag with my sticks, tambo, some costume, and all my notes somewhere downtown.
I didn’t discover it was missing until the middle of the next week. But there was another problem to deal with by then, we had no water.
This began a couple of weeks of dealing with our water problems. We were expecting Karin’s brother and his family to visit us in August, and between all the jobs I was working on and the gigs with GB there didn’t seem too much time to be dealing with plumbing. But my Dad, my nephew John, and I managed to fix the water…at least temporarily. It still needs a more permanent solution, but it’s worked since late July.
Gypsy Bandwagon played in Augusta, Georgia on the third Saturday of July. I’d had to replace nearly all of my small instruments and equipment the previous week. Karin and I had been to Augusta only once before, for the 2004 Southeast Chapter meeting of the National Cartoonist Society. As it turns out, the Stillwater Taproom, where Gypsy Bandwagon was playing this night was next door to Nacho Mamas, the very place we’d had lunch during the SECNCS meeting two years earlier.
We played until 1:30 am Sunday, and then found out we had a flat tire. We tried to repair the tire using a can of “run flat”, but that only worked partially. We limped down the street to a BP that was open all night, and managed to put on the spare by 3am. We drove back home on the “donut”. Slept all day Sunday.
Karin’s brother, Per, was having car problems too. We expected them on the 24th, but they were stuck in Shelbyville (say it like Grandpa Simpson, “Shelbyville?”) Indiana with car problems. That’s okay, Dad, John and I were still working on the water. The 25th we were still working on the water, and Per, Donna, Christin, Cassandra, and Alex were stuck in Sevierville, TN with more car problems. On the 26th we had the water running, just in time as the Guldbeck clan managed to make it to our house that evening.
Karin took her family out for fun the next day, while I worked on the art for Weekly Reader, and my scanner began to act up. Friday found me desperately trying to fix the scanner problem, finally realizing that I needed to reinstall my copy of Photoshop and the scanner software. I managed to avoid pulling out all my hair in the process.
While Per and Donna went for a little alone time in Florida, we watched the twins and Alex. We took them out on the Blue Ridge Parkway on Saturday and Sunday, and then to Biltmore House on Tuesday (followed by a meeting of the WNC group).
How I managed to juggle work, the kids, and all the various repair jobs that needed doing, I have no idea. The car went back in the garage again during all of this. By Friday I had completed the job for Weekly Reader, uploaded it and still managed to spend some time with the family.
Karin’s brother and sister-in-law came back up to NC on Saturday, we took them to Church on Sunday, and then went to practice with Lance and Carissa for Gypsy Bandwagon. The kids watched Napoleon Dynamite in the living room while GB played an audience of two. Frankly, I think it was one of our best performances yet. I used only the djembe, but still managed to do a good job. Lance played several of the pieces on his new 12 string Rikenbacker, and that sounded cool. So I hope we’ll be doing more along those lines in the future.
Monday Per, Donna and Alex left for Sevierville, TN in the rental car they’d had to resort to. Karin and I were going to visit her Dad in Glen Ellyn, IL anyway, so we volunteered to take the twins with us and drop them off “on the way” in Fort Wayne, IN. We left Tuesday at 7:30 am, and actually caught up with their folks in Kentucky. We had lunch together at, you guessed it, Steak’n’Shake. We dropped the girls with their older sister, Amanda (who didn’t get to come to NC because she was working) and took off for Chicagoland. We made Glen Ellyn by 11:15 cst. A pretty good time, I think.
Next day Karin sprained her ankle while working in the garden. She had gone to Glen Ellyn with the intention of helping out her Step-Mom, and now she was laid up with a bad limp. We visited the doctor the next day and he told her to stay off it for two weeks…the length of our stay.
In spite of this we managed to make the “Masters of American Comics” show at the Milwaukee Art Museum. The idea with the show (which, I believe, is still touring) was to select 15 of the most influential Comics Artists in America during the 20th Century and put originals on display. While I agreed with most of the choices, I felt that a couple were unwarranted, and there were two glaring omissions; Alex Raymond and Hal Foster. How these two got left out is beyond me. Perhaps the organizers felt that it would have made that period of creators too heavy. But, I’m sorry, how many comics creators have I heard say, “that guy was the reason I got into comics in the first place”, when speaking of Raymond or Foster? In spite of any inherent flaws, I’m glad that we went to see the show. Milwaukee has a fantastic art museum, absolutely beautiful.
I got to cart Karin around all day in a wheelchair her Dad loaned us. People were most sympathetic, you could see it in their eyes. Karin felt pretty sheepish, knowing it was only a sprained ankle.
Our eighteenth anniversary was the next week. After much searching I had found nothing. I face this problem almost every year, and it leads to much anxiety. So on Saturday I took Karin shopping with me. Finally, after visiting much of suburban Illinois, I got the right idea and went searching for a Hello Kitty guitar.
We’d seen the Hello Kitty electric guitar earlier this year, but had no money to buy it. Turns out that it’s a hard find. Even the Guitar Center chain had only one in stock, and that was in Tennessee! We went back to Karin’s folk’s house a bit dejected, but I did manage to get online and buy one from Musician’s Friend later that evening. It arrived here in NC by the time we got home from our trip.
We didn’t actually go out on our anniversary. We stayed with Karin’s folks and her Aunt and Uncle and had a nice cake that my mother-in-law made. But the next night (Monday) we went out to The Italian Village, that famous Chicago landmark, and had a nice dinner then did a little sight seeing.
The next day we went out to IKEA. I love IKEA. It’s so weird and somehow still hip. I’ve been wanting a Stolmen system for my office for some time now, and that’s what Karin got for me as an anniversary gift. Cool, huh?
We came home the day after that…a long drive and we sort of missed having the kids with us. Karin had a rough trip home, she wasn’t feeling well. It might have been something she ate, but it wasn’t Steak’n’Shake that did it. I was fine!
When we got home we hit the ground running. The next day I was mailing off pages from “Adam among the Gods” to my publisher-editor-webmaster, Gary. I began setting up my Stolmen system, and Karin was messing with her new guitar.
I spent a lot of time in the attic over the next few days. The Stolmen system has poles that have to be attached to the ceiling and floor, since my ceiling is acoustical tile, it took a little doing to make the poles stable without destroying the tiles. I did manage, but it was very hot here in August.
We played a benefit for two men with terminal illnesses on Saturday after returning home, and then the next Monday we headed off to Augusta, Georgia to help with the Southeast Chapter of the National Cartoonist Society’s visit to the VA hospital there. It was a 4 hour drive, and we sort of missed the orientation period, but caught up with our chapter President and V.P. after lunch. It was fun. I ended up doing around 20 charicatures of patients, nurses, and others.
Since then I’ve been working on all the various art projects that have built up over the summer. I’ve been inking on “Adam”, doing more designs for t-shirts, doing illustrations of historical and contemporary figures for a school date book, working on pitches for Thunder Agents, etc. All the things that make my world go around.
I’ve also been rearranging my office space. Which is beginning to look pretty good. Since my old instructor from community college wants to bring his latest art class over to see me sometime soon, it would be nice if I can get it in order. He always tells me not to fix it up, but this time I’m trying to beat him to the punch. Maybe it will be neat for once. It’s not that important, but it would be nice.
And that’s what I’ve been doing all summer.
Oh yeah, and Gypsy Bandwagon played for Cornerstone Fellowship Church’s annual fish-fry on September 10th.
Monday, July 10, 2006
Thinking I'll go out for Pizza
Does this mean that I'm not doing much? Not really. I've been quite busy since my return from Heroes Con 2006.
The show itself went very well for me. I had a standing call for sketches for my buddy Joel over at Merritt Design. We were staying with the Merritts and as I was leaving for the show in Friday, Joel said to me, "if you don't have con sketches to do, here work on these!" and he handed me a bunch of notes of t-shirts to do.
Well, I had plenty of con sketches to do. I hardly looked up from my board all weekend.
Then it was back home to draw the t-shirts. I spent last week on that, working well into Saturday.
I took Sunday off, and today was back in the studio working on a plot for what I hope will be the new Thunder Agents book. We'll see. I'm talking to the two guys who can make it happen.
Yet somehow it seems like not much got done today. How weird is that?
The show itself went very well for me. I had a standing call for sketches for my buddy Joel over at Merritt Design. We were staying with the Merritts and as I was leaving for the show in Friday, Joel said to me, "if you don't have con sketches to do, here work on these!" and he handed me a bunch of notes of t-shirts to do.
Well, I had plenty of con sketches to do. I hardly looked up from my board all weekend.
Then it was back home to draw the t-shirts. I spent last week on that, working well into Saturday.
I took Sunday off, and today was back in the studio working on a plot for what I hope will be the new Thunder Agents book. We'll see. I'm talking to the two guys who can make it happen.
Yet somehow it seems like not much got done today. How weird is that?
Tuesday, June 13, 2006
Doodle Stands Up
Stand up routine:
I’m a comic book artist. Yeah, go ahead and laugh. I know what you’re thinking, “if the guys who read that stuff are geeks, what’s that make this guy?” It’s alright, we’re used to that reaction. We know the public at large has that opinion of us, and we laugh it off, but deep inside we’re deeply offended.
This stuff is important to us!
Like, a while back I was in the Sears Tower with my wife and my parents. I was wearing my Justice League of America embroidered shirt. I got it from a pal of mine that used to do the color design on Superboy…it’s a technical thing, don’t worry about it.
But anyway, there’s this lady behind me and she starts talking to her little girl about my shirt. “There’s Batman, you know Batman. And there’s Superman, you know him, right? And Wonder Woman, and I don’t know who that is…is that supposed to be Spider-Man?”
I wanted to turn around and say, “Spider-Man in the Justice League? Lady, there’s tourists from all over the world here, don’t embarrass yourself in front of the whole world! Spider-Man? Spider-Man’s a Marvel character, the Justice League is from DC! How can you not know that? Are you illiterate? How can you raise a kid like that?
But I didn’t. I laughed it off, but deep inside…you know, I was deeply hurt.
The summer comics conventions are getting underway soon, and I thought you might like some pointers, in case you find yourself on the same sidewalk or in the same convention center with some comics fans.
ONE: don’t mix up your Marvel and your DC characters. The rule of thumb here is, if their trunks are a different color than the tights, and the boots match the trunks then they’re probably a DC character. If the trunks and tights are the same color, regardless of the boot color then they’re probably a Marvel.
TWO: If they got a letter on their head, Marvel.
THREE: Stan Lee did NOT create Batman!
That’s probably too complex for you though, right?
If you can’t remember that, then remember this, if you don’t know the character, don’t go guessing. Don’t embarrass yourself, and one of us, by saying stuff like, “Purple Arrow, right?”
No! That’s Hawkeye!
And don’t make it worse by saying, “wasn’t he on M.A.S.H. ?”
That’s a different guy!
If you really HAVE to know who the character is, then ask. That’s all you have to do. Comics fans are only too happy to share.
Bear in mind that if you don’t really want to know, then don’t say anything! If you got some time to hear about it, then ask. Otherwise just walk away…especially if the comic person is an unattached guy and you are a semi-attractive young lady. You could be there all day!
I’m a comic book artist. Yeah, go ahead and laugh. I know what you’re thinking, “if the guys who read that stuff are geeks, what’s that make this guy?” It’s alright, we’re used to that reaction. We know the public at large has that opinion of us, and we laugh it off, but deep inside we’re deeply offended.
This stuff is important to us!
Like, a while back I was in the Sears Tower with my wife and my parents. I was wearing my Justice League of America embroidered shirt. I got it from a pal of mine that used to do the color design on Superboy…it’s a technical thing, don’t worry about it.
But anyway, there’s this lady behind me and she starts talking to her little girl about my shirt. “There’s Batman, you know Batman. And there’s Superman, you know him, right? And Wonder Woman, and I don’t know who that is…is that supposed to be Spider-Man?”
I wanted to turn around and say, “Spider-Man in the Justice League? Lady, there’s tourists from all over the world here, don’t embarrass yourself in front of the whole world! Spider-Man? Spider-Man’s a Marvel character, the Justice League is from DC! How can you not know that? Are you illiterate? How can you raise a kid like that?
But I didn’t. I laughed it off, but deep inside…you know, I was deeply hurt.
The summer comics conventions are getting underway soon, and I thought you might like some pointers, in case you find yourself on the same sidewalk or in the same convention center with some comics fans.
ONE: don’t mix up your Marvel and your DC characters. The rule of thumb here is, if their trunks are a different color than the tights, and the boots match the trunks then they’re probably a DC character. If the trunks and tights are the same color, regardless of the boot color then they’re probably a Marvel.
TWO: If they got a letter on their head, Marvel.
THREE: Stan Lee did NOT create Batman!
That’s probably too complex for you though, right?
If you can’t remember that, then remember this, if you don’t know the character, don’t go guessing. Don’t embarrass yourself, and one of us, by saying stuff like, “Purple Arrow, right?”
No! That’s Hawkeye!
And don’t make it worse by saying, “wasn’t he on M.A.S.H. ?”
That’s a different guy!
If you really HAVE to know who the character is, then ask. That’s all you have to do. Comics fans are only too happy to share.
Bear in mind that if you don’t really want to know, then don’t say anything! If you got some time to hear about it, then ask. Otherwise just walk away…especially if the comic person is an unattached guy and you are a semi-attractive young lady. You could be there all day!
Monday, June 05, 2006
The New Cars "controversy"
Time for this Todd / Cars fan to weigh in on the NEW CARS.
I don’t normally talk a lot about bands on this blog (outside of some obscure band named Gypsy Bandwagon), but this time I feel I have to say something.
The Cars have reformed as the “New Cars”. Old news, right? They’ve been on Leno, Craig Ferguson, etc. will be touring this summer with Blondie, etc. My pal (and sometimes publisher) Robert Rowe has been keeping me updated on all of the New Cars info, since we’re both fans of that band as well as Todd Rundgren.
But the press surrounding the re-formed group is mostly focused on a lot of Todd fans who can’t believe he’d join up with a commercial band. Can I just say, “give me a huge break?”
Like I say, I’m a fan of both The Cars and Utopia (Todd’s 80s New Wave version). To me, one of the tragedies of the 80s was that a lot of otherwise great New Wave bands got ignored by deejays (or maybe it was station managers) who wanted the status quo. Lost in the shuffle was Utopia. A band that was, to my mind, on the level with The Cars musically. In fact I spent a large portion of the 80s trying to promote Utopia to a level of public recognition that rivaled The Cars. Of course I was just a fan doing what I could.
Not to say I didn’t love The Cars as well. They just seemed to (in Todd’s words) “…effortlessly get on the radio.” They didn’t need my help.
But since the 90s many Todd fans have seemed to develop a “deadhead” attitude about him. They don’t want him to be commercial. They want to be in a private little clique where everyone knows the lyrics of every song he ever performed, and they can gripe about how the world hasn’t understood.
The problem, as I see it, is Todd hasn’t really tried to be commercial, at least not for a long time. He can obviously write commercial material. He can perform with practically any band he wants. But he’s mostly chosen to be a musical hermit (as his late 70s release “Hermit of Mink Hollow” should convince anyone).
I was one of the Faithful (in joke) that wanted to hear him on the radio. But nearly every time he seemed close to having a hit in the 80s, he’d somehow short circuit the whole deal and his latest single would stall at 30 or so on the charts. I have to ask the “deadhead clique” this question: what was the point of ever releasing a single if Todd didn’t intend a modicum of commercial success?”
Ah hah! Now you see. While he thought his fan base was made up of the “deadhead” mentality he played to that audience. It allowed him to continue to make music and still eat. Joining New Cars will allow him to continue to make music and also eat. Where’s the crisis?
Frankly, I am more concerned that Todd will grow weary of the New Cars in a hurry, and Kasim Sulton, and Prairie Prince will have to go back to playing sessions with other bands. They too have been unappreciated musicians, with much too much talent, and much too little exposure. I suppose that Greg Hawkes and Elliot Easton have something to lose as well, but I imagine it will be less.
If Todd walks away from this (as his history would tend to suggest he may) then Greg and Elliot can still say, “Hey! We were in The Cars!” Everyone I went to high school with will then say, “Oh, yeah! I loved ‘My Best Friend’s Girlfriend’!”
But pity poor Kas and Prairie Prince; “We were in Utopia, and The Tubes, and New Cars.” My high school chums will respond, “What? Never heard of those bands! New Cars? Is that like The Cars?”
So I hope that Todd will “drive responsibly” while with New Cars, and not blow the whole thing for four other under appreciated musicians.
As for the magazine writer who incorrectly identified Prairie Prince as a member of Utopia.
See? It’s happening already.
Just thought of this: several of Todd/Utopia’s old “non-hits” that would fit in perfectly with New Cars motif:
Drive
Black Maria
Emperor of the Highway
Little Red Lights
Last of the New Wave Riders
They might also consider some tunes by Kasim Sulton:
Drivin’ me Mad
Sweet Little Accident
And while we’re talking automotive puns, why not throw in a Tubes song?
Drivin’ all Night
I think they could keep this franchise going for some time, if they really try. There’s too much good material not to try. Come on guys, try already.
I don’t normally talk a lot about bands on this blog (outside of some obscure band named Gypsy Bandwagon), but this time I feel I have to say something.
The Cars have reformed as the “New Cars”. Old news, right? They’ve been on Leno, Craig Ferguson, etc. will be touring this summer with Blondie, etc. My pal (and sometimes publisher) Robert Rowe has been keeping me updated on all of the New Cars info, since we’re both fans of that band as well as Todd Rundgren.
But the press surrounding the re-formed group is mostly focused on a lot of Todd fans who can’t believe he’d join up with a commercial band. Can I just say, “give me a huge break?”
Like I say, I’m a fan of both The Cars and Utopia (Todd’s 80s New Wave version). To me, one of the tragedies of the 80s was that a lot of otherwise great New Wave bands got ignored by deejays (or maybe it was station managers) who wanted the status quo. Lost in the shuffle was Utopia. A band that was, to my mind, on the level with The Cars musically. In fact I spent a large portion of the 80s trying to promote Utopia to a level of public recognition that rivaled The Cars. Of course I was just a fan doing what I could.
Not to say I didn’t love The Cars as well. They just seemed to (in Todd’s words) “…effortlessly get on the radio.” They didn’t need my help.
But since the 90s many Todd fans have seemed to develop a “deadhead” attitude about him. They don’t want him to be commercial. They want to be in a private little clique where everyone knows the lyrics of every song he ever performed, and they can gripe about how the world hasn’t understood.
The problem, as I see it, is Todd hasn’t really tried to be commercial, at least not for a long time. He can obviously write commercial material. He can perform with practically any band he wants. But he’s mostly chosen to be a musical hermit (as his late 70s release “Hermit of Mink Hollow” should convince anyone).
I was one of the Faithful (in joke) that wanted to hear him on the radio. But nearly every time he seemed close to having a hit in the 80s, he’d somehow short circuit the whole deal and his latest single would stall at 30 or so on the charts. I have to ask the “deadhead clique” this question: what was the point of ever releasing a single if Todd didn’t intend a modicum of commercial success?”
Ah hah! Now you see. While he thought his fan base was made up of the “deadhead” mentality he played to that audience. It allowed him to continue to make music and still eat. Joining New Cars will allow him to continue to make music and also eat. Where’s the crisis?
Frankly, I am more concerned that Todd will grow weary of the New Cars in a hurry, and Kasim Sulton, and Prairie Prince will have to go back to playing sessions with other bands. They too have been unappreciated musicians, with much too much talent, and much too little exposure. I suppose that Greg Hawkes and Elliot Easton have something to lose as well, but I imagine it will be less.
If Todd walks away from this (as his history would tend to suggest he may) then Greg and Elliot can still say, “Hey! We were in The Cars!” Everyone I went to high school with will then say, “Oh, yeah! I loved ‘My Best Friend’s Girlfriend’!”
But pity poor Kas and Prairie Prince; “We were in Utopia, and The Tubes, and New Cars.” My high school chums will respond, “What? Never heard of those bands! New Cars? Is that like The Cars?”
So I hope that Todd will “drive responsibly” while with New Cars, and not blow the whole thing for four other under appreciated musicians.
As for the magazine writer who incorrectly identified Prairie Prince as a member of Utopia.
See? It’s happening already.
Just thought of this: several of Todd/Utopia’s old “non-hits” that would fit in perfectly with New Cars motif:
Drive
Black Maria
Emperor of the Highway
Little Red Lights
Last of the New Wave Riders
They might also consider some tunes by Kasim Sulton:
Drivin’ me Mad
Sweet Little Accident
And while we’re talking automotive puns, why not throw in a Tubes song?
Drivin’ all Night
I think they could keep this franchise going for some time, if they really try. There’s too much good material not to try. Come on guys, try already.
Monday, May 22, 2006
Not too HTML savvy.
Oh boy.
I started doing this page today and got interruped by the stupid "do you want to stay online" message that my computer throws out whenever I get involved doing anything online. Of COURSE I want to stay online! Stupid machine.
What I was trying to say when I was so rudely interrupted, and then lost everything I had typed up to that point was; On Friday I tried very hard to get some new graphics posted herein. That didn't work. Nor did the links that I wanted to lay on you. I'm not good at this technical stuff yet.
Since I doubt that I will be able to do anything near as complex today, I will simply direct anyone who cares to the piece that my agent (much more web-savvy than me) has posted on eBay right now.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ZATANNA-ORIGINAL-PEN-INK-ARTWORK-by-
JAMES-LYLE-SEXY_W0QQitemZ6630817775QQcategoryZ972QQss
PageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
You'll have to do the semi-technical thing and cut and paste the URL into your browser. No point and click today kids.
The piece (a very nice Zatanna sketch, which I managed to preview here in pencil, before losing all my powers of HTML) is getting me more response than just about anything I've ever done before. Old friends are coming out of the woodwork to tell me that they think it's swell! Thanks Pals! Love you all.
Also of note is the fact that I'm finally up on the Heroes Convention 2006 guest list.
www.heroesonline.com
(same as above)
I had a nice talk with Shelton Drum on Friday and he was very apologetic for not having me listed sooner. Seems that the show has become a monster, so far as people getting in as guests. Everyone wants to be there! Good! We'll be looking for you there.
This past weekend was a whirlwind, as Karin (my wife) was playing with two bands at the same event. She attended the Blue Ridge Celtic Festival at Blowing Rock, NC on Saturday. I got to tag along and work as "roadie" for both Celtic Knot and Bean Sidhes (pronounced "Banshee"). So in actuality Gypsy Bandwagon was there too, in spite of not being on the bill.
Both bands were well received, and the thrill of the day came when Karin got to loan her violin to Brian of "Enter the Haggis", the headline group. Seems that ETH left Asheville without Brian's violin and he asked Karin if he could borrow hers. So even when Karin wasn't on stage her violin remained! "We can't get rid of Karin!" exclaimed emcee Max from Greensboro's Oldies 93.
So I'm proud of my "belle of the ball".
Unfortunately right before the evening main event the main power of the outdoor stage got dumped with water from a sudden downpour. This made it impossible for the headline bands to play with the sound equipment. I understand that both bands were troopers and put on acoustic sets for the assembled crowd. (I missed this, as I was sleeping back at the condo).
The festivities lasted late into the night. I recovered from my overwhelming fatigue long enough to jam with CK and a member of Bean Sidhes. There are plans to get those two groups together for a proper jam sometime.
Anyway, a nice weekend, even though we're both still tired. I can't imagine how those who do music AND party afterwards can manage. All I had in the way of "party" was a couple of pieces of Lance's birthday cake. If you are considering music as a profession, you'll do well to take care of yourself and NOT indulge. Got that? Just showing up is hard enough.
I started doing this page today and got interruped by the stupid "do you want to stay online" message that my computer throws out whenever I get involved doing anything online. Of COURSE I want to stay online! Stupid machine.
What I was trying to say when I was so rudely interrupted, and then lost everything I had typed up to that point was; On Friday I tried very hard to get some new graphics posted herein. That didn't work. Nor did the links that I wanted to lay on you. I'm not good at this technical stuff yet.
Since I doubt that I will be able to do anything near as complex today, I will simply direct anyone who cares to the piece that my agent (much more web-savvy than me) has posted on eBay right now.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ZATANNA-ORIGINAL-PEN-INK-ARTWORK-by-
JAMES-LYLE-SEXY_W0QQitemZ6630817775QQcategoryZ972QQss
PageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
You'll have to do the semi-technical thing and cut and paste the URL into your browser. No point and click today kids.
The piece (a very nice Zatanna sketch, which I managed to preview here in pencil, before losing all my powers of HTML) is getting me more response than just about anything I've ever done before. Old friends are coming out of the woodwork to tell me that they think it's swell! Thanks Pals! Love you all.
Also of note is the fact that I'm finally up on the Heroes Convention 2006 guest list.
www.heroesonline.com
(same as above)
I had a nice talk with Shelton Drum on Friday and he was very apologetic for not having me listed sooner. Seems that the show has become a monster, so far as people getting in as guests. Everyone wants to be there! Good! We'll be looking for you there.
This past weekend was a whirlwind, as Karin (my wife) was playing with two bands at the same event. She attended the Blue Ridge Celtic Festival at Blowing Rock, NC on Saturday. I got to tag along and work as "roadie" for both Celtic Knot and Bean Sidhes (pronounced "Banshee"). So in actuality Gypsy Bandwagon was there too, in spite of not being on the bill.
Both bands were well received, and the thrill of the day came when Karin got to loan her violin to Brian of "Enter the Haggis", the headline group. Seems that ETH left Asheville without Brian's violin and he asked Karin if he could borrow hers. So even when Karin wasn't on stage her violin remained! "We can't get rid of Karin!" exclaimed emcee Max from Greensboro's Oldies 93.
So I'm proud of my "belle of the ball".
Unfortunately right before the evening main event the main power of the outdoor stage got dumped with water from a sudden downpour. This made it impossible for the headline bands to play with the sound equipment. I understand that both bands were troopers and put on acoustic sets for the assembled crowd. (I missed this, as I was sleeping back at the condo).
The festivities lasted late into the night. I recovered from my overwhelming fatigue long enough to jam with CK and a member of Bean Sidhes. There are plans to get those two groups together for a proper jam sometime.
Anyway, a nice weekend, even though we're both still tired. I can't imagine how those who do music AND party afterwards can manage. All I had in the way of "party" was a couple of pieces of Lance's birthday cake. If you are considering music as a profession, you'll do well to take care of yourself and NOT indulge. Got that? Just showing up is hard enough.
Saturday, May 06, 2006
Criminals Beware!
“Criminals are a superstitious and cowardly lot.” Bruce Wayne sure said a mouthful with that one. He failed to mention that a lot of them don’t seem to be exceedingly bright. I’ve often wondered what, for instance, would drive a man to counterfeit money? If you have the ability to create engravings on that level, you could doubtless find work in almost any artistic industry, at a very good wage. I’m not nearly that level of precision, and my work sells at a pretty good rate (if I could sell more it would be better…A-hem!)
But this morning there was a crime spree here in my own neighborhood. Seems that early this morning the alarm went off at my wife’s studio (located next to my own) around 7am. The criminal(s) had possibly noticed that she’s been away for several days. What they failed to notice were the signs on the doors that indicated that the place actually was alarmed. I thought they were quite noticeable, since I designed them myself. My brother, an electrician, installed the alarm system so we didn’t just post the notices for fun. (As anyone who knows my brother can attest he is extremely detail oriented, and pretty fanatical about making sure an alarm system works and can’t be tampered with).
At any rate, the criminal(s) apparently weren’t expecting an alarm, since they apparently spent the time that they could have been looting trying to disarm the system. Lots of luck, pal! The very idea that a person could in a few seconds randomly discern our combination out of the possible permutations available to our key pad…well!
So the criminal(s) split the scene without taking a thing, so far as we can tell. My brother arrived on the scene, followed by my Dad. They called the Sheriff’s office and a detective came around and dusted for fingerprints, took some tire print casts, and then told my Dad that they pretty much know who the person is.
Seems that this same person has been hitting shops up and down our section of the highway for months. He was in custody until a few days ago, when his girlfriend mortgaged her house to pay his bail. He promptly stole a car and went right back to his crime spree! Of course this is all allegation. But I’m not the police or the DA, so I can say what I want.
I feel for the girl. Her boyfriend is obviously not a good choice. She’s lost her house, since he skipped bail.
The only one who’s come out ahead in this is the bail bondsman, who now has toehold into the real estate market. Oh well, bail bondsmen have to eat too, I’m not putting them down.
What’s any of this got to do with comics? Not much. It just makes you think.
Got to break the news to my wife yet. Nothing was taken! The only real damage seems to be the black dusting powder all over the doors and keypad. I tried to clean it up today, but it’s pernicious stuff. We’ll probably have to repaint.
In the meantime, here are some more pieces that are in the pipeline. A JSA trio of beauties, and a Zatanna drawing. The JSA girls will probably be on the old eBay auction block this week, and the Zatanna has to be inked yet. That will come up in a week or so, I hope. I’m pretty pleased with them both. I think my artwork has improved markedly in the past 6 months, and that’s saying something. I thought I was doing pretty well before. Not that I’m stuck on myself or anything, but when I start doing drawings that I wish I could keep, that makes me pretty happy.
But if you’re thinking of going on a crime spree, keep in mind that even though these super-heroes don’t exist, there are those that do. They’ve got a lot more on the ball than most criminals think. If criminals are superstitious and cowardly, they’ve got good reason to be…they’re going to get caught.
Hawkgirl, Stars, Powergirl, and Zatanna are © and ™ DC Comics, Inc. Artwork by James E. Lyle
Friday, May 05, 2006
Bacteria, Bachelorhood, and Blogs
I came down with a nasty Bacterial Infection back last week, just as my wife, Karin, was planning to go visit her Dad and Step-Mom in Illinois. This infection really knocked me for a loop.
I kept thinking I was just experiencing some minor problems, related perhaps to my allergies. But by Tuesday evening (April 25) I was in pain! My body ached all over. Every muscle and joint…even my eyelids hurt. So the next day I got up and called my regular physician.
Only I haven’t had a regular physician since 2004, when my regular physician decided to go back into research. The family practice that he used to be at told me that they’d have to refer me to one of their other doctors. Okay, fine, call him and let me know when I can see him. They called back in a while and told me that none of the other physicians could see me and I’d have to wait until around 5pm when I could come to their after hours clinic.
I knew I wouldn’t be in any shape to go to that clinic. I went to the urgent care center that the county hospital runs on this side of the county. Thank the LORD, there were only two people in the waiting room.
They determined that it was a bacterial infection, gave me a prescription and sent me to get it filled. Again, Thank the LORD, the pharmacy was essentially empty when I got there. So I went home took the meds and went to bed.
Unfortunately when I took my second dose of antibiotic that evening I had a reaction. Within ten minutes I had a rash, and that was a little scary. This happens to me pretty often, so I wasn’t that surprised by the reaction, but I always worry if I’m going to have a “major” reaction. You know, the type that they always show on TV, where the patient goes into shock and nearly dies. I haven’t had one of those since I was a kid, and that was a reaction to a virus, not meds. But still, I keep a close watch on ANY allergic reaction.
Next day I called up the clinic and got them to call in a replacement drug. Went to town, picked it up, went home and went to bed. Felt terrible. Had back pain so bad I nearly threw up.
Not a fun infection at all. Ran a fever for several days, finally getting some relief around Saturday.
Meanwhile, there had been a change of plans for Karin. Seems that her Step-Mom’s own Step-Mom had passed away, and the time table for Karin’s visit to Illinois needed to be stepped up. We had been planning a visit to her folks beginning Wednesday (May 3), in time for her Dad’s birthday. But now she wanted to leave on Sunday (April 30). The thing is, Gypsy Bandwagon had a performance in Johnson City, TN on Saturday (April 29), and I knew I wasn’t going to make that one.
Karin was really in a spot. She wanted me to go with her. We haven’t been apart that much since we’ve been married. A couple of nights here and there, usually because I had a meeting early in the morning in Charlotte, or some such. So she had to make a decision, she could come back from Johnson City and get me, if I thought I’d be well enough to travel on Sunday.
I didn’t think I’d be up to travel for days to come. So she went on to the show and after the performance left for Illinois. I stayed home.
This is the first time Karin has ever left me to be a “bachelor” in 18 years of marriage. It sucks. I’m really lonely, and a good bit distracted.
While I have returned to the studio and managed to create some good work, my heart isn’t really in it. I keep thinking about her.
Well, I’m not going to go into many details about this man and his wife. Those feelings aren’t for public consumption.
As for the infection. Today I got a follow up call from the urgent care people. They were wondering how I was feeling and if the infection had cleared up. Seems that the secondary prescription that they called in had a 50/50 chance of actually working on this bacteria.
I told them I felt fine, and thanked them for checking on me. Then my mind went into hypochondriac mode. “Am I fine? I have been having some minor pain still. Hmmm…what if I have a relapse?”
So I called them back. They said if there was any doubt maybe we should do another culture to make sure I wasn’t still breeding bacteria all over the place.
It turns out I was fine. The doctor said I was clean and clear. Good news.
But Karin’s still not home. So rather than sitting at my desk working on art that’s late (relatively speaking, all my clients are being cool at this point) I’m sitting here writing my blog.
Is there a meaning to all this? Some moral that can be gleaned from my experience? Let me think…
Okay, don’t mess around with bacterial infections! Always see your doctor if you suspect that you’ll feel worse if you don’t. If your doctor isn’t available see some other doctor. If you get a reaction to a drug, stop using it and consult your physician. Being apart from the one you love is not fun. Waste not, want not. Allow your wife to do the things she needs to do, and you’ll be glad you did (even if the waiting for her to come home stinks).
Man! Those are lousy morals.
How about this:
At the Biltmore House there is a framed advertisement from a 19th Century magazine. It’s in the staff dining area, and it cracks me up every time I see it. It’s a cartoon of a man sitting at a table and the caption reads, “The wife is away, but there’s Kellogg’s Corn Flakes in the cupboard, Hoorah!”
I haven’t even looked at a Corn Flake since Karin left. No Corn Flake could console me.
I kept thinking I was just experiencing some minor problems, related perhaps to my allergies. But by Tuesday evening (April 25) I was in pain! My body ached all over. Every muscle and joint…even my eyelids hurt. So the next day I got up and called my regular physician.
Only I haven’t had a regular physician since 2004, when my regular physician decided to go back into research. The family practice that he used to be at told me that they’d have to refer me to one of their other doctors. Okay, fine, call him and let me know when I can see him. They called back in a while and told me that none of the other physicians could see me and I’d have to wait until around 5pm when I could come to their after hours clinic.
I knew I wouldn’t be in any shape to go to that clinic. I went to the urgent care center that the county hospital runs on this side of the county. Thank the LORD, there were only two people in the waiting room.
They determined that it was a bacterial infection, gave me a prescription and sent me to get it filled. Again, Thank the LORD, the pharmacy was essentially empty when I got there. So I went home took the meds and went to bed.
Unfortunately when I took my second dose of antibiotic that evening I had a reaction. Within ten minutes I had a rash, and that was a little scary. This happens to me pretty often, so I wasn’t that surprised by the reaction, but I always worry if I’m going to have a “major” reaction. You know, the type that they always show on TV, where the patient goes into shock and nearly dies. I haven’t had one of those since I was a kid, and that was a reaction to a virus, not meds. But still, I keep a close watch on ANY allergic reaction.
Next day I called up the clinic and got them to call in a replacement drug. Went to town, picked it up, went home and went to bed. Felt terrible. Had back pain so bad I nearly threw up.
Not a fun infection at all. Ran a fever for several days, finally getting some relief around Saturday.
Meanwhile, there had been a change of plans for Karin. Seems that her Step-Mom’s own Step-Mom had passed away, and the time table for Karin’s visit to Illinois needed to be stepped up. We had been planning a visit to her folks beginning Wednesday (May 3), in time for her Dad’s birthday. But now she wanted to leave on Sunday (April 30). The thing is, Gypsy Bandwagon had a performance in Johnson City, TN on Saturday (April 29), and I knew I wasn’t going to make that one.
Karin was really in a spot. She wanted me to go with her. We haven’t been apart that much since we’ve been married. A couple of nights here and there, usually because I had a meeting early in the morning in Charlotte, or some such. So she had to make a decision, she could come back from Johnson City and get me, if I thought I’d be well enough to travel on Sunday.
I didn’t think I’d be up to travel for days to come. So she went on to the show and after the performance left for Illinois. I stayed home.
This is the first time Karin has ever left me to be a “bachelor” in 18 years of marriage. It sucks. I’m really lonely, and a good bit distracted.
While I have returned to the studio and managed to create some good work, my heart isn’t really in it. I keep thinking about her.
Well, I’m not going to go into many details about this man and his wife. Those feelings aren’t for public consumption.
As for the infection. Today I got a follow up call from the urgent care people. They were wondering how I was feeling and if the infection had cleared up. Seems that the secondary prescription that they called in had a 50/50 chance of actually working on this bacteria.
I told them I felt fine, and thanked them for checking on me. Then my mind went into hypochondriac mode. “Am I fine? I have been having some minor pain still. Hmmm…what if I have a relapse?”
So I called them back. They said if there was any doubt maybe we should do another culture to make sure I wasn’t still breeding bacteria all over the place.
It turns out I was fine. The doctor said I was clean and clear. Good news.
But Karin’s still not home. So rather than sitting at my desk working on art that’s late (relatively speaking, all my clients are being cool at this point) I’m sitting here writing my blog.
Is there a meaning to all this? Some moral that can be gleaned from my experience? Let me think…
Okay, don’t mess around with bacterial infections! Always see your doctor if you suspect that you’ll feel worse if you don’t. If your doctor isn’t available see some other doctor. If you get a reaction to a drug, stop using it and consult your physician. Being apart from the one you love is not fun. Waste not, want not. Allow your wife to do the things she needs to do, and you’ll be glad you did (even if the waiting for her to come home stinks).
Man! Those are lousy morals.
How about this:
At the Biltmore House there is a framed advertisement from a 19th Century magazine. It’s in the staff dining area, and it cracks me up every time I see it. It’s a cartoon of a man sitting at a table and the caption reads, “The wife is away, but there’s Kellogg’s Corn Flakes in the cupboard, Hoorah!”
I haven’t even looked at a Corn Flake since Karin left. No Corn Flake could console me.
Friday, April 07, 2006
On the off chance that anyone's looking
I understand that some people actually read this blog.
Okay, it's your life, why not? I mean I actually WRITE this blog, so who am I to criticize?
Anyway apparently some people do read it, since I met one of them this morning. And the other night my pal Matt told me he'd read my last entry. So there are people that do that sort of thing. Anyway for those of you who do, I've got a piece up for sale on eBay right now.
It's that piece I posted last time. But since I've been so busy working on stuff that I can't post yet since it's for other people (see the last entry as well for more on this effect), I'm reposting the image up above.
Now I'm going to see if my HTML skills are up to par and try to post the link to the eBay page.
Wonder Woman on eBay
So, anyone going to go look? Feel free to bid if you like.
Tuesday, April 04, 2006
More Wonder to post
One of the disadvantages of being very busy is that it’s difficult to do the work and still promote yourself.
Now honestly, I’d prefer not to have to do the “self promotion” thing at all. Sitting in my studio, working away on my little drawings and having someone else to do the horn blowing has always been my vision. Of course there are a few problems with that view already. First, there’s a level of self inflation in me wanting someone ELSE to do my promotion; as if even that were beneath me. Secondly, I’d have to convince someone else to have faith in my ability as an artist that I often lack myself. Third, who knows my work better than me? (Besides GOD, but he’s not likely to be writing a blog about my work.)
So, if I want to be truly humble, I pretty much have to do this myself: revealing my self doubt when the time is right, and speaking of the faith I have in my own abilities when that’s appropriate.
But I was speaking of the difficulty in being both busy and self promoting. I’ve been very busy lately. I’m inking an issue of Drastik for Robert Rowe, a self published writer from California. I’m also working steadily away at “Adam Among the Gods” for Aazurn Publishing, run by my webmaster over at ComicArtistsDirect.com. I’ve also got another PLUS™ story that I’m supposed to be working on for Joe Pruett at Desperado Publishing (although that’s a verbal agreement, and no deadline’s been set). So pretty busy, right?
There’s a problem with all of this. I either can’t, or don’t want to post work from those books here to promote myself. They’re all good pages in their own ways. I’m not saying that they don’t deserve public view; but they are each part of a greater work, and I don’t want to post them out of that context. Furthermore, Drastik and Adam are properties that I’m working on for other folks, who hope to sell them to the public at some point. I don’t want to spoil anything for them. (It should probably be noted that Robert and Gary are both such nice guys that they’d probably both say, “Oh no! Go ahead and post those pages if you want to!”)
But I still maintain that out of their proper contexts they should not be posted here. There are some fine points that I won’t go into relative to posting of those pages, but for now I don’t intend to post them.
Another difficulty that arises from being busy is that sometimes you get paid to do a job and then the money runs out before the work does. Many times it’s a half down, half on completion situation. So what do you do for rent when the money does run out?
I think I may have arrived at a solution. Not that it’s original with me or anything, I’ve seen other guys doing it, I’ve just never really applied the idea practically to my own needs.
What I’ve got in mind (and we’ll see how it plays out in days to come) is that I’ll work on the comics assignments during the week. Giving them as much time as I can in a day, and then on Saturday crank out some commission type work for art fans. I attempted to do so this past Saturday, and the result should be posted here somewhere.
I chose the WW subject again, simply because I had a third rough left over from the last time I was doing WW art. I did one for a commission, another for a friend’s Christmas present, and the third just languished in my notebook for the past couple of months. So I had an easy time pulling it out and inking it up this past Saturday. The colors…well, I fudged a little of my schedule to do those. Did those yesterday after I finished up inking a page of Adam.
You may note that the coloring technique is completely different from the one used on the last WW piece I posted. I just wanted to see if I could do something more traditional, and this is the result. I’m proud of both approaches, and since neither is for an actual WW book, nor are they intended to be displayed side by side (although that’s not a bad idea, when I think about it) I figure why not?
Anyway, hopefully in the next few weeks I’ll be able to turn out more work like this. I’ve got a long list of suggested characters from some brainstorming my agent and I did last year. I’ve got to get past the Batgirl and WW figures and on to some other subjects, just for the sake of variety.
If you see me at a show I may have some of these for sale. Or they may go up on eBay. Don’t know yet. Haven’t heard back from my agent. In the meantime enjoy.
Wonder Woman is ©DC Comics, Inc. Artwork by James E. Lyle
Now honestly, I’d prefer not to have to do the “self promotion” thing at all. Sitting in my studio, working away on my little drawings and having someone else to do the horn blowing has always been my vision. Of course there are a few problems with that view already. First, there’s a level of self inflation in me wanting someone ELSE to do my promotion; as if even that were beneath me. Secondly, I’d have to convince someone else to have faith in my ability as an artist that I often lack myself. Third, who knows my work better than me? (Besides GOD, but he’s not likely to be writing a blog about my work.)
So, if I want to be truly humble, I pretty much have to do this myself: revealing my self doubt when the time is right, and speaking of the faith I have in my own abilities when that’s appropriate.
But I was speaking of the difficulty in being both busy and self promoting. I’ve been very busy lately. I’m inking an issue of Drastik for Robert Rowe, a self published writer from California. I’m also working steadily away at “Adam Among the Gods” for Aazurn Publishing, run by my webmaster over at ComicArtistsDirect.com. I’ve also got another PLUS™ story that I’m supposed to be working on for Joe Pruett at Desperado Publishing (although that’s a verbal agreement, and no deadline’s been set). So pretty busy, right?
There’s a problem with all of this. I either can’t, or don’t want to post work from those books here to promote myself. They’re all good pages in their own ways. I’m not saying that they don’t deserve public view; but they are each part of a greater work, and I don’t want to post them out of that context. Furthermore, Drastik and Adam are properties that I’m working on for other folks, who hope to sell them to the public at some point. I don’t want to spoil anything for them. (It should probably be noted that Robert and Gary are both such nice guys that they’d probably both say, “Oh no! Go ahead and post those pages if you want to!”)
But I still maintain that out of their proper contexts they should not be posted here. There are some fine points that I won’t go into relative to posting of those pages, but for now I don’t intend to post them.
Another difficulty that arises from being busy is that sometimes you get paid to do a job and then the money runs out before the work does. Many times it’s a half down, half on completion situation. So what do you do for rent when the money does run out?
I think I may have arrived at a solution. Not that it’s original with me or anything, I’ve seen other guys doing it, I’ve just never really applied the idea practically to my own needs.
What I’ve got in mind (and we’ll see how it plays out in days to come) is that I’ll work on the comics assignments during the week. Giving them as much time as I can in a day, and then on Saturday crank out some commission type work for art fans. I attempted to do so this past Saturday, and the result should be posted here somewhere.
I chose the WW subject again, simply because I had a third rough left over from the last time I was doing WW art. I did one for a commission, another for a friend’s Christmas present, and the third just languished in my notebook for the past couple of months. So I had an easy time pulling it out and inking it up this past Saturday. The colors…well, I fudged a little of my schedule to do those. Did those yesterday after I finished up inking a page of Adam.
You may note that the coloring technique is completely different from the one used on the last WW piece I posted. I just wanted to see if I could do something more traditional, and this is the result. I’m proud of both approaches, and since neither is for an actual WW book, nor are they intended to be displayed side by side (although that’s not a bad idea, when I think about it) I figure why not?
Anyway, hopefully in the next few weeks I’ll be able to turn out more work like this. I’ve got a long list of suggested characters from some brainstorming my agent and I did last year. I’ve got to get past the Batgirl and WW figures and on to some other subjects, just for the sake of variety.
If you see me at a show I may have some of these for sale. Or they may go up on eBay. Don’t know yet. Haven’t heard back from my agent. In the meantime enjoy.
Wonder Woman is ©DC Comics, Inc. Artwork by James E. Lyle
Wednesday, March 29, 2006
An apology of sorts
Me and my big mouth…well, keyboard anyway.
I have to say that I am surprised. Honestly, I had no idea that my words could have an impact in any way. It’s an illusion recently shattered, and the shards are hard to dispose of.
People actually read my blog? And they are affected by it? Hard for me to swallow, considering my relative inability to affect people when I feel like I’m trying very hard to. I suppose that’s what was getting me down, and consequently some stuff I wrote on this blog made the impression that I didn’t have ANY fun playing with Gypsy Bandwagon at Jack of the Wood.
I apologize for this impression. Playing with GB is really a lot of fun. I love being with Lance and Carissa, as well as my wife, Karin (who is in the band too). But the time demands were too much on me two weekends ago, and I let my poor mood affect what I was writing about the band.
I recall that after the Beatles' famous Shea Stadium concert that George Harrison was supposed to have said, “That’s it lads, I’m not a Beatle anymore”. This quote shocked me when I first read it. But one had to wonder why he kept playing with the band for years afterward if that’s what he really felt.
Now, far be it from me to go from saying that my words are insignificant to comparing myself to George Harrison. But then I have gone and done that, haven’t I? Well, only in the sense that I am a human being, capable of saying things I don’t really mean, or never really intended when I am in a vulnerable mood. Any other comparison of Gypsy Bandwagon members to any Beatles will have to be left to future generations. (This is a joke BTW, I expect future people to say, "Gypsy who?")
The point is, I like playing with GB. But in the week leading up to the gig at Jack of the Wood we’d had two deaths in the family. We also have been having issues with several of our friends, and as noted before, stress was beginning to get to me.
So if anything that I wrote in a previous blog reflected poorly on my band mates, or on Jack of the Wood as a venue, I apologize. My mood was not their fault.
I’m working on it. I expressed some of my frustration to Karin, Lance, and Carissa this afternoon when they were here in my studio. It surprises me just how much stuff could be dredged up by the death of two Aunts in a week’s time. I’m finding that stuff that I thought I was done with has come back to haunt me, and other stuff that I thought would affect me more hasn’t.
It’s not that I’m angry at my Aunts, or members of my family. Nor with the band. I’m finding that I still have anger at an unnamed educator who’s class I had the displeasure to attend. I mean, where’d THAT come from? I thought I was done with that. But the mind is a strange thing, and it seems by stirring up my childhood emotions about my love for my Aunts, that a lot of other stuff got stirred up as well. And it’s made my days difficult. Aside from the one nightmare about the unnamed educator, the nights have been pretty uneventful.
Fortunately the weather has turned. God has been gracious and we’ve had two beautiful days in a row, and I’ve gone out walking on the Blue Ridge Parkway both days. So now I’m sore physically, but not so much emotionally.
I’ll keep at it.
But to sum up: sorry that my mood affected the blog entries. I had no idea that anyone was paying attention, but I will try to measure my words more carefully from now on.
I have to say that I am surprised. Honestly, I had no idea that my words could have an impact in any way. It’s an illusion recently shattered, and the shards are hard to dispose of.
People actually read my blog? And they are affected by it? Hard for me to swallow, considering my relative inability to affect people when I feel like I’m trying very hard to. I suppose that’s what was getting me down, and consequently some stuff I wrote on this blog made the impression that I didn’t have ANY fun playing with Gypsy Bandwagon at Jack of the Wood.
I apologize for this impression. Playing with GB is really a lot of fun. I love being with Lance and Carissa, as well as my wife, Karin (who is in the band too). But the time demands were too much on me two weekends ago, and I let my poor mood affect what I was writing about the band.
I recall that after the Beatles' famous Shea Stadium concert that George Harrison was supposed to have said, “That’s it lads, I’m not a Beatle anymore”. This quote shocked me when I first read it. But one had to wonder why he kept playing with the band for years afterward if that’s what he really felt.
Now, far be it from me to go from saying that my words are insignificant to comparing myself to George Harrison. But then I have gone and done that, haven’t I? Well, only in the sense that I am a human being, capable of saying things I don’t really mean, or never really intended when I am in a vulnerable mood. Any other comparison of Gypsy Bandwagon members to any Beatles will have to be left to future generations. (This is a joke BTW, I expect future people to say, "Gypsy who?")
The point is, I like playing with GB. But in the week leading up to the gig at Jack of the Wood we’d had two deaths in the family. We also have been having issues with several of our friends, and as noted before, stress was beginning to get to me.
So if anything that I wrote in a previous blog reflected poorly on my band mates, or on Jack of the Wood as a venue, I apologize. My mood was not their fault.
I’m working on it. I expressed some of my frustration to Karin, Lance, and Carissa this afternoon when they were here in my studio. It surprises me just how much stuff could be dredged up by the death of two Aunts in a week’s time. I’m finding that stuff that I thought I was done with has come back to haunt me, and other stuff that I thought would affect me more hasn’t.
It’s not that I’m angry at my Aunts, or members of my family. Nor with the band. I’m finding that I still have anger at an unnamed educator who’s class I had the displeasure to attend. I mean, where’d THAT come from? I thought I was done with that. But the mind is a strange thing, and it seems by stirring up my childhood emotions about my love for my Aunts, that a lot of other stuff got stirred up as well. And it’s made my days difficult. Aside from the one nightmare about the unnamed educator, the nights have been pretty uneventful.
Fortunately the weather has turned. God has been gracious and we’ve had two beautiful days in a row, and I’ve gone out walking on the Blue Ridge Parkway both days. So now I’m sore physically, but not so much emotionally.
I’ll keep at it.
But to sum up: sorry that my mood affected the blog entries. I had no idea that anyone was paying attention, but I will try to measure my words more carefully from now on.
Tuesday, March 28, 2006
Visit to the VA hospital, etc.
Been doing a lot of work lately, but not much I can post. Sorry. I've been hard at work inking some pages for the next issue of Drastik. That's been fun and challenging. I finally got started on that book "Adam among the Gods". It's for Aazurn Publishing AAZURN and is coming along pretty well. I was asked to draw it in a 50s Curt Swan sort of style, and so I've been digging for that sort of look in all of my comics. I don't have a lot of mid 50s Swan, believe it or not! I did manage to find some of his 60s work, and the 70s stuff on Superman was at hand. But I've also managed to incorporate some sensibily of Al Parker's illustration work from the 50s. Thank goodness for Vincent DeFate's "Infinite Worlds" book. Anyone with an interest in Science Fiction illustration owes it to themselves to get a copy of this book. I found out about a few years back in an old SF magazine from the mid 90s, I went looking for a copy on Amazon.com and got one for $11 plus postage. Considering the amount of inspiration I've gotten from it, it's one of the better buys I've ever made.
But the real story here (as indicated by the Title above, see also: "getting to the point") is the visit to the VA hospital in Asheville, NC this past Saturday. I went with several other members of the Southeast Chapter of the National Cartoonists Society SENCS
Bruce Higdon (our chapter President), along with his son BJ, Jack Cassady (our former chapter President), David Barbour, Mike Mikula, Karin and me all went out to the VA to draw cartoons for the Vets. It was a great time. Which is something for me to say, as I hate hospitals in general. We got a chance to say "thanks" to all the Vets for their service. We met guys from WWII, Korea, Viet Nam, the Gulf War, Afghanistan, and Iraq. Everyone was in good spirits, and we were greeted with great enthusiasm by everyone we spoke to.
We hope to be able to visit again soon, but that will depend on the VA being able to allow it. It's sad to say, but since the terrorist attacks began security has been an issue, even in VA hospitals. Between myths about the Vets (i.e. All are disgrutled and bitter), terrorists that might take advantage of the Vets, and misguided individuals or groups that might use the ill to make a political statement, it's hard for volunteers to volunteer. I'm not complaining, mind you. I understand why the VA has to have the rules. But I think that if we, as a nation, treated the Vets with a bit more respect things would be better.
So, today's moral: Thank a VET! You'll be glad you did.
But the real story here (as indicated by the Title above, see also: "getting to the point") is the visit to the VA hospital in Asheville, NC this past Saturday. I went with several other members of the Southeast Chapter of the National Cartoonists Society SENCS
Bruce Higdon (our chapter President), along with his son BJ, Jack Cassady (our former chapter President), David Barbour, Mike Mikula, Karin and me all went out to the VA to draw cartoons for the Vets. It was a great time. Which is something for me to say, as I hate hospitals in general. We got a chance to say "thanks" to all the Vets for their service. We met guys from WWII, Korea, Viet Nam, the Gulf War, Afghanistan, and Iraq. Everyone was in good spirits, and we were greeted with great enthusiasm by everyone we spoke to.
We hope to be able to visit again soon, but that will depend on the VA being able to allow it. It's sad to say, but since the terrorist attacks began security has been an issue, even in VA hospitals. Between myths about the Vets (i.e. All are disgrutled and bitter), terrorists that might take advantage of the Vets, and misguided individuals or groups that might use the ill to make a political statement, it's hard for volunteers to volunteer. I'm not complaining, mind you. I understand why the VA has to have the rules. But I think that if we, as a nation, treated the Vets with a bit more respect things would be better.
So, today's moral: Thank a VET! You'll be glad you did.
Tuesday, March 21, 2006
The Rock Star Life is not for me!
Been so long since I posted here. A lot has happened since the last one. Most notably Gypsy Bandwagon's debut at Jack of the Wood in downtown Asheville, on Saint Patrick's day.
I have a bunch of notes from sitting there for hours waiting on Karin, Carissa, and Lance to return from the other gig with Celtic Knot. But they aren't the sort of thing I want to share with the world. Mostly about boredom.
Ultimately Lance and I decided (after the gig) that two shows in one night is too much for any of us. Even those of us who only have to sit and watch instruments for hours on end.
Guess what we did the next day? Celtic Knot went to play a fund-raiser in Tryon, NC. I went with them (I actually drove the biggest part of the band). Way too much for one weekend! Especially after getting home at 3 am the night before.
But it wasn't over yet. Karin had to play with Bean Sidhe (Banshee) on Sunday evening! By the time it was through there was not a nerve left. It's not that the company was always annoying (although there were some encounters over the weekend that I don't care to mention), but it was just too much of…well, everything. I needed time to unwind.
So I took yesterday off. I couldn't think straight. I just barely got some tax forms taken care of today. I can't imagine what they would have been like if I'd tackled them yesterday.
No. The Rock Star stuff's not for me. I need to be in my little studio drawing more often than I have been. Today was a relief. I just went back to inking. It was a blessing.
Of course, there is a Gypsy Bandwagon show at Lake Junaluska on Thursday. I may be able to handle it by then. I mean, I did manage to put my drums back together today, rather than leaving them scattered on the floor after dropping them off Saturday morning at 3am. I had thought that perhaps I'd never be able to look at the drum set again. I haven't played it. But it's all together if I want to.
Don't know how some guys do it.
I have a bunch of notes from sitting there for hours waiting on Karin, Carissa, and Lance to return from the other gig with Celtic Knot. But they aren't the sort of thing I want to share with the world. Mostly about boredom.
Ultimately Lance and I decided (after the gig) that two shows in one night is too much for any of us. Even those of us who only have to sit and watch instruments for hours on end.
Guess what we did the next day? Celtic Knot went to play a fund-raiser in Tryon, NC. I went with them (I actually drove the biggest part of the band). Way too much for one weekend! Especially after getting home at 3 am the night before.
But it wasn't over yet. Karin had to play with Bean Sidhe (Banshee) on Sunday evening! By the time it was through there was not a nerve left. It's not that the company was always annoying (although there were some encounters over the weekend that I don't care to mention), but it was just too much of…well, everything. I needed time to unwind.
So I took yesterday off. I couldn't think straight. I just barely got some tax forms taken care of today. I can't imagine what they would have been like if I'd tackled them yesterday.
No. The Rock Star stuff's not for me. I need to be in my little studio drawing more often than I have been. Today was a relief. I just went back to inking. It was a blessing.
Of course, there is a Gypsy Bandwagon show at Lake Junaluska on Thursday. I may be able to handle it by then. I mean, I did manage to put my drums back together today, rather than leaving them scattered on the floor after dropping them off Saturday morning at 3am. I had thought that perhaps I'd never be able to look at the drum set again. I haven't played it. But it's all together if I want to.
Don't know how some guys do it.
Monday, March 13, 2006
Stress!
I haven’t blogged in forever, it seems.
MegaCon went well, but then things have seemed to change abruptly. My wife, Karin, and I were both commenting on the suddeness of change. That and the fact that usually it’s only in extreme retrospect that one notices the major changes. September 11, 2001 nonwithstanding, usually you look back a number years later and say, “my, things sure have changed!” This year is different. I’ve even made a note in my calendar that says, “the month everything changed.”
Sad to say that MegaCon wasn’t what I’d hoped it would be. Not a slam on MegaCon per se, nor anyone associated with it. But while Friday February 24 was a pretty good day as convention Fridays go, both Saturday and Sunday were slow. I did meet a particularly good artist, Alecia Rodriguez and her husband Raphael on Saturday, as well as meeting Chuck Dixon on Sunday. But I could have done that just hanging out. I didn’t need to spend both days languishing behind a table to meet them…well, maybe.
But after coming home I noticed a definite change in things:
1) My daily schedule has changed. In times past I have had, for lack of a better term, gaps in my daily schedule. Often I would finish up with one job and then have time to kick back and think about it before proceeding to the next. Sometimes I even found time to clean my office, arrange files, or maybe write in my blog. Since the first of the year I’ve found less and less of that time. Quite frankly, I now end my days by saying, “it’s time to go home, leave it until tomorrow.” In times past I would not have left an inking brush uncleaned before heading home. I have now left my brushes uncleaned several times, simply because I am too busy to make sure they get washed.
2) More emphasis on Gypsy Bandwagon. This is not to say that I am abandoning my art. As noted above, I have had more work than ever this year. I have several pieces pending at all times. But the evenings are taken up with practices. Spare moments involve either listening to old tracks to refresh my memory, or working on new pieces for the band. I’ve spent more money on the band lately than I ever expected to, buying equipment, costumes, promotion materials, etc. The interesting thing is that it seems to be paying off. Gypsy Bandwagon is playing “the” gig in Asheville, NC this weekend. We have the Saint Patrick’s show at Jack of the Wood. Imagine my surprise.
Gypsy Bandwagon is becoming the topic of discussion everywhere I go. And it’s not always me that brings it up! The WNC meeting of the Southeast Chapter of the National Cartoonists Society was spent, in part, discussing my band and the upcoming show. I’m flattered and embarrassed at the same time. I didn’t mean for the meeting to go off in that direction. But the guys are very supportive.
3) Family changes. I was thrilled to have the opportunity to spend some time with my oldest brother while we were in Florida. We ended up going to the Melbourne Zoo and kayaking (Melbourne’s Zoo is the only zoo in the U.S. with on-site kayaking) around the place. Very fun, and a nice time with my brother. I also got to spend some time with my sister-in-law, just talking. In fact Karin and I spent a couple of extra hours talking on the morning we were leaving, and got back to North Carolina very late.
We hadn’t expected to see them again so soon. But my Aunt Audrey passed away last Wednesday, and the “Florida Lyles” came up to the funeral. Afterward my brother tagged along on a road trip I had to take to Tennessee to deliver a rush job I had taken on before realizing that my Aunt was as bad off as she was.
So just when we were all settling in to coping with Aunt Audrey passing, my Aunt Barbara passed this morning. The family will have to deal with that this week.
4) Changes in friend’s lives also challenge us more now than ever. In the past couple of weeks another big change has been brewing. A good friend, who’s been attending our church since childhood has a family that is being completely drawn into a well known cult. As a consequence, she is getting dumped on more than ever. Things have never been that good for her to begin with, but this cult thing has just given her family one more reason to make a “Cinderella” out of her.
When I say “Cinderella” I don’t mean the final state of that character. I mean the put-upon girl who is expected to do all the chores around the house and is ignored otherwise. I’d like to see her break away from the family and find her own place in the world. But she seems committed, at least for now, to trying to help her family get out of this situation.
Her decision to reject their cult has greatly strengthened her own true faith in Jesus Christ. I’m glad to see that.
5) Our favorite grocery store has gone out of business. For the past twenty years this particular grocery has been a part of my life. When Karin and I were first married and we moved back to North Carolina (18 years ago) we shopped there regularly. When we lived in Salisbury we shopped at the same chain. When we visit our friends in Charlotte we shop at the same chain.
But the local franchise shut down last week. It may not seem like a big thing, but it’s almost as if we’ve moved. There are two stores of the same chain that are still close, but now rather than being only four miles away, we’d have to drive twelve miles. So we’re trying to find a grocery that’s closer that still carries the sort of foods we have grown accustom to at prices that are similar. I’m not sure how that’s going.
Additionally our credit union is situated in the front of the old grocery. So all our banking now involves an additional side-trip. Whereas, in the past, we could go and make a deposit or withdrawal then walk to get our shopping done, we now have to make a stop along the way.
So these changes are resulting in some stress. I’m not as able to absorb the stresses as I once was. When Karin and I married I moved five times in one year. I’m pretty sure I couldn’t handle that now. We just got our Christmas tree down last week. There are still ornaments scattered around the living room floor, waiting to be properly packed away.
All this and I still managed to turn out two pieces last week. That may not seem like much to some, but I consider it a triumph.
MegaCon went well, but then things have seemed to change abruptly. My wife, Karin, and I were both commenting on the suddeness of change. That and the fact that usually it’s only in extreme retrospect that one notices the major changes. September 11, 2001 nonwithstanding, usually you look back a number years later and say, “my, things sure have changed!” This year is different. I’ve even made a note in my calendar that says, “the month everything changed.”
Sad to say that MegaCon wasn’t what I’d hoped it would be. Not a slam on MegaCon per se, nor anyone associated with it. But while Friday February 24 was a pretty good day as convention Fridays go, both Saturday and Sunday were slow. I did meet a particularly good artist, Alecia Rodriguez and her husband Raphael on Saturday, as well as meeting Chuck Dixon on Sunday. But I could have done that just hanging out. I didn’t need to spend both days languishing behind a table to meet them…well, maybe.
But after coming home I noticed a definite change in things:
1) My daily schedule has changed. In times past I have had, for lack of a better term, gaps in my daily schedule. Often I would finish up with one job and then have time to kick back and think about it before proceeding to the next. Sometimes I even found time to clean my office, arrange files, or maybe write in my blog. Since the first of the year I’ve found less and less of that time. Quite frankly, I now end my days by saying, “it’s time to go home, leave it until tomorrow.” In times past I would not have left an inking brush uncleaned before heading home. I have now left my brushes uncleaned several times, simply because I am too busy to make sure they get washed.
2) More emphasis on Gypsy Bandwagon. This is not to say that I am abandoning my art. As noted above, I have had more work than ever this year. I have several pieces pending at all times. But the evenings are taken up with practices. Spare moments involve either listening to old tracks to refresh my memory, or working on new pieces for the band. I’ve spent more money on the band lately than I ever expected to, buying equipment, costumes, promotion materials, etc. The interesting thing is that it seems to be paying off. Gypsy Bandwagon is playing “the” gig in Asheville, NC this weekend. We have the Saint Patrick’s show at Jack of the Wood. Imagine my surprise.
Gypsy Bandwagon is becoming the topic of discussion everywhere I go. And it’s not always me that brings it up! The WNC meeting of the Southeast Chapter of the National Cartoonists Society was spent, in part, discussing my band and the upcoming show. I’m flattered and embarrassed at the same time. I didn’t mean for the meeting to go off in that direction. But the guys are very supportive.
3) Family changes. I was thrilled to have the opportunity to spend some time with my oldest brother while we were in Florida. We ended up going to the Melbourne Zoo and kayaking (Melbourne’s Zoo is the only zoo in the U.S. with on-site kayaking) around the place. Very fun, and a nice time with my brother. I also got to spend some time with my sister-in-law, just talking. In fact Karin and I spent a couple of extra hours talking on the morning we were leaving, and got back to North Carolina very late.
We hadn’t expected to see them again so soon. But my Aunt Audrey passed away last Wednesday, and the “Florida Lyles” came up to the funeral. Afterward my brother tagged along on a road trip I had to take to Tennessee to deliver a rush job I had taken on before realizing that my Aunt was as bad off as she was.
So just when we were all settling in to coping with Aunt Audrey passing, my Aunt Barbara passed this morning. The family will have to deal with that this week.
4) Changes in friend’s lives also challenge us more now than ever. In the past couple of weeks another big change has been brewing. A good friend, who’s been attending our church since childhood has a family that is being completely drawn into a well known cult. As a consequence, she is getting dumped on more than ever. Things have never been that good for her to begin with, but this cult thing has just given her family one more reason to make a “Cinderella” out of her.
When I say “Cinderella” I don’t mean the final state of that character. I mean the put-upon girl who is expected to do all the chores around the house and is ignored otherwise. I’d like to see her break away from the family and find her own place in the world. But she seems committed, at least for now, to trying to help her family get out of this situation.
Her decision to reject their cult has greatly strengthened her own true faith in Jesus Christ. I’m glad to see that.
5) Our favorite grocery store has gone out of business. For the past twenty years this particular grocery has been a part of my life. When Karin and I were first married and we moved back to North Carolina (18 years ago) we shopped there regularly. When we lived in Salisbury we shopped at the same chain. When we visit our friends in Charlotte we shop at the same chain.
But the local franchise shut down last week. It may not seem like a big thing, but it’s almost as if we’ve moved. There are two stores of the same chain that are still close, but now rather than being only four miles away, we’d have to drive twelve miles. So we’re trying to find a grocery that’s closer that still carries the sort of foods we have grown accustom to at prices that are similar. I’m not sure how that’s going.
Additionally our credit union is situated in the front of the old grocery. So all our banking now involves an additional side-trip. Whereas, in the past, we could go and make a deposit or withdrawal then walk to get our shopping done, we now have to make a stop along the way.
So these changes are resulting in some stress. I’m not as able to absorb the stresses as I once was. When Karin and I married I moved five times in one year. I’m pretty sure I couldn’t handle that now. We just got our Christmas tree down last week. There are still ornaments scattered around the living room floor, waiting to be properly packed away.
All this and I still managed to turn out two pieces last week. That may not seem like much to some, but I consider it a triumph.
Friday, February 17, 2006
Going to a convention, the Guest's perspective.
Convention planning 101.
Rather like the proverbial conundrum: “Which came first? The chicken or the egg?”At the end of each show you begin planning for next year’s show in that location.
Around six months before the show you begin to panic. “Did I remember to tell them I want table space?” You e-mail them. They e-mail back; “we haven’t yet begun booking tables, but go to our website in a few days and you should be able to do it through that”.
Six months minus one week. You try the website and it isn’t working.
Four months: you realize that you forgot all about it and try to recall what you were supposed to do. You actually make contact with the website and it still doesn’t work. You e-mail the convention and they apologize that the website didn’t work as it was supposed to. They say they’ll mail you an application.
Three months: Application arrives and you try to come up with a rationale for spending money on a table. Full table or half table? (This year I opted for a full table at Orlando’s MegaCon. A group which actually has a working website, BTW.)
Two months: Your check has cleared the bank, and assuming you’ve balanced your checkbook (I don’t always, bad idea) you are vaguely aware of the impending event. You begin to wonder if your car will hold up for the trip.
One month: Your passes have not arrived and you’ve forgotten if you even applied to this show or not. “Did I remember to tell them that my wife is coming?”
Three weeks: Your passes arrive and your table space is indicated. “Where the heck is section Mauve?” You check the website but the map of the convention center hasn’t been updated since last year.
Two weeks: You decide to pack everything you’ll need for the show. But suddenly you are swamped with freelance work and your wife, Mom and Dad are all sick at the same time. You spend the next few days shuttling everyone to and from the Doctor’s office and working late into the night to make your deadlines.
One week: You burn out on the freelance work and begin packing. You put everything into boxes and tape them shut so they’ll travel well. You discover a better box for every item, unbox them all and repack. You find some items you left out, unbox everything and repack a second time. You visit the bank several times to check on your checking account balance and to transfer funds, just in case. You visit your PayPal account to make sure that it’s still active. You make sure you have a number of figures pre-sketched for “spontaneous” convention sketches that don’t look like garbage. You realize that you have twice as many female figures as male and worry that the paradigm might have shifted back to heroes by now. You lament the fact that you haven’t got any new books out right now.
Three days before leaving: You worry that you might be coming down with the cold that your wife had. You take Echinechia, Vitamin C, and try to get more sleep. You begin to worry that you don’t have anything that would vaguely interest anyone at this particular show.
Two days before leaving: You are a sell out. You are a hack. You’re boring and your past work is passé. You remember that you have at least one stop at Steak ‘n’ Shake™ along the way, and things look a little brighter.
One day before leaving: You wonder if you can afford all those Steak ‘n’ Shake™ calories.
The trip to the show: You listen to music. You pig out at Steak ‘n’ Shake™ anyway. You get really tired. “Did I remember sharpie pens? I’ll pick some up at an office supply place.”
You get in dead tired after all that time on the road. Hopefully you’ve planned a day for rest before the show.
Set up day: You get on the road from where you’re staying (friend or family member’s house in the general vicinity is nice) to the actual venue a hour or so later than you’d planned. Don’t panic. The show starts TOMORROW, not TODAY. You arrive at the venue and the organizers haven’t set up yet. The union guy who’s supposed to have your table up by now hasn’t quite gotten that done yet. The air conditioning / heat won’t be turned on until tomorrow. There’s some comic book guy from Cincinnati who needs a little more sleep griping about how his shipment is late and / or trashed and how he’s going to sue the organizers. You wait for your table, which eventually gets set up (don’t try to do it yourself unless you want the union on your case!). You put up your display. Books, art, tee-shirts, CDs, whatever, go on your table. You stand back and admire it for a moment before worrying that you probably shouldn’t leave it out with all these people running around the venue. You put everything back in boxes so that potential thieves will have an easier time carrying it all and put it under your table. You go home to your friend or family member’s house, and worry that you might come down with stomach flu. You wash your hands a lot.
First day of show: Up early because it’s Show Time! But first you have to drive to the venue. The tollway is more crowded since you’re in rush hour traffic today. It’s going to take longer than you thought! You have to go to the bathroom, but there’s no exit until the convention center. Your wife tells you that she should have gone too. You’re going to be late! You stop at Stuckey’s anyway since there really was another exit before the convention center, and it’s better to have your wife on your side that have her mad at you during the show. You make the show on time (you knew you would), and have enough time to set up your table before the “advance ticket holders” come through the doors…fifteen minutes sooner than the announced start of the show. You leap behind the table as the first fan comes up to look at your wares. They think you’re someone else. You decide to take a rest anyway since you’ve been hopping since 6:30, and you really didn’t sleep that well anyway. Your wife says she needs to go to the bathroom and excuses herself just before the first actual customer comes up. He asks a million questions, you’re witty, you’re clever…he’s not buying today, but he’ll “be back”. Your wife returns and wants to know what you were laughing so hard about since she heard you three aisles away. The joke isn’t as funny the second time. The long haul begins. You sit. You fiddle with your display. You decide to warm up on a sketch or two. The first one stinks and you want to throw it out, but your wife won’t let you. You begin the second and just at a critical point a fan wants your autograph. Then someone buys a book! “Are you sketching?” someone asks. “That’s what the sign says!” you retort without sounding too sarcastic. You begin sketching. Your wife decides that it’s time for lunch. Somebody flips through your portfolio but doesn’t put it back the way you had it. Some kid tries to take all your business cards, “are these free?” he asks as his Dad puts the pile back and apologizes. “Just one to a customer, ha, ha!” Another actual fan arrives, “are you sketching?” he asks, ignoring both your sign and the fact that you are at this moment actually sketching in front of him! “I am, are you interested in something?” “How long is your list?” he asks. You don’t want to sound desperate, but then again you don’t want him to think he won’t get prompt service either. “You’d be number two on the list.” You actually didn’t have a list yet, but you hastily begin one. “Can you draw Captain Marvel?” he asks. “Which one did you have in mind?” This sparks a twenty minute conversation about all the characters with that name and the various costumes associated with them. “I’d like the late 60s Gil Kane version, “ he finally decides. “Do you have reference?” you ask, hopefully. It’s been a number of years since you saw that book and memory isn’t what it used to be. “I can get some, I’ll be back.” You wife has returned to report that the convention center has, “hot dogs, pizza, nachos, a chicken sandwich, hamburgers, and something called ‘tomato surprise’.” “Hot dog, just mustard.” You go back to sketching. “What did you want to drink?” “Oh! Um, do they have fruit punch?” “I’m not sure, if they don’t what do you want?” “Just water, I guess.” You go back to the sketch. “Are you sure you don’t want nachos? They looked pretty good.” “Oh, sure, whatever. Do you need money?” She’s gone. The guy at the next table asks you to watch his stuff so he can go to the bathroom. While he’s gone a dozen people come up and ask if the art on his table is “your stuff too?” He’s selling soft core porn and you’re embarrassed to be next to him. “No, that’s another guy’s stuff. He went to the bathroom. He’ll be back in a minute.” They wander off, not bothering to consider the work of anyone who would be seated next to a guy selling soft core porn. You want to scream, “my work’s family friendly!” but you don’t. You are just about finished with the sketch now and are pretty happy with it. Suddenly your wife returns with the hot dog and narrowly misses getting mustard all over the sketch. You ask a blessing and begin eating. Now the fans are in full frenzy. Surely if your mouth weren’t full of food they wouldn’t be asking so many questions. You sign two autographs and the smell of sharpie marker blends with the mustard on your hot dog. The fellow who’s sketch you haven’t quite finished shows up and asks how long it will be. “I’ve just got to erase the pencils, but my hands are all covered with lunch!” “Okay, I’ll come back in ten minutes!” (he has seen an old friend and wants to catch up with him). You decide that it may take a few minutes to finish the sketch after all and cram the rest of the hot dog in your mouth and choke it down with whatever this stuff is that your wife got for you to drink. (Not her fault, the convention center just ordered weird fruit punch and sold it to you for $2 a bottle). “Don’t you think you had better wash your hands?” she asks. “I dn’t hv tmmm!” you mumble through your hot dog. She thinks your tone isn’t nice. You apologize and decide that you had better wash up after all. You visit the bathroom for the first time in what seems like days. There’s a puddle in the middle of the floor that’s really questionable, you avoid it as best you can. When you’re done answering the call you go to wash up only to find that there is no soap left in the dispenser. You use hot water and regret it when you scald your hands and get a lap full of water splashed on you. There are paper towels, in a soggy pile by the sinks. You pick one off the top and hope for the best. You return to your table. “That guy came back.” “What guy?” “The one with the sketch, I told him you weren’t done yet. He said he’d come back later.” You sit down and finish erasing the piece. A hardcore Star Trek fan comes by and camps out for an hour or so, extolling the virtues of 23rd Century life. It would be funnier if he didn’t seem to be taking it so seriously. A warm body in front of your table usually helps attract customers, but once they hear what this guy’s going on about most of them steer clear. You hope that another Trekker doesn’t get within ear shot and decides to debate him in Klingon. A member of some special interest group comes by and asks you to contribute something to their auction. You try to explain tactfully that you don’t support that particular group and wouldn’t give him a donation if your life depended on it. You really wish that the group you DO support would come by and give you a clue when their auction is going to be. You suddenly realize that you haven’t looked at the program book and that maybe you are late for a panel discussion. You look through the program book in anticipation, only to be let down that you weren’t even considered. You get some more sketches, sell some more work. Your wife begins a game of Mancala with a teenage girl who’s there with her Dad, another artist. You make small talk with the pornographer on your right. You complete three sketches in rapid succession and your hand begins to ache, just then another customer wants a sketch but he’s “only here for today!” You wonder if you can do one more drawing today, it’s 4:30 and the show closes in an hour. You take his money up front and his address just in case you don’t make it. You sketch furiously in spite of customers and more people who want your signature on the program booklet. The day ends just as you hand the final sketch to the customer…eraser crumbs hitting the ground as the paper passes from your hand to his.
Tomorrow you get to do it all over again. But the friend and / or family members who you’re staying with are coming along too!
Rather like the proverbial conundrum: “Which came first? The chicken or the egg?”At the end of each show you begin planning for next year’s show in that location.
Around six months before the show you begin to panic. “Did I remember to tell them I want table space?” You e-mail them. They e-mail back; “we haven’t yet begun booking tables, but go to our website in a few days and you should be able to do it through that”.
Six months minus one week. You try the website and it isn’t working.
Four months: you realize that you forgot all about it and try to recall what you were supposed to do. You actually make contact with the website and it still doesn’t work. You e-mail the convention and they apologize that the website didn’t work as it was supposed to. They say they’ll mail you an application.
Three months: Application arrives and you try to come up with a rationale for spending money on a table. Full table or half table? (This year I opted for a full table at Orlando’s MegaCon. A group which actually has a working website, BTW.)
Two months: Your check has cleared the bank, and assuming you’ve balanced your checkbook (I don’t always, bad idea) you are vaguely aware of the impending event. You begin to wonder if your car will hold up for the trip.
One month: Your passes have not arrived and you’ve forgotten if you even applied to this show or not. “Did I remember to tell them that my wife is coming?”
Three weeks: Your passes arrive and your table space is indicated. “Where the heck is section Mauve?” You check the website but the map of the convention center hasn’t been updated since last year.
Two weeks: You decide to pack everything you’ll need for the show. But suddenly you are swamped with freelance work and your wife, Mom and Dad are all sick at the same time. You spend the next few days shuttling everyone to and from the Doctor’s office and working late into the night to make your deadlines.
One week: You burn out on the freelance work and begin packing. You put everything into boxes and tape them shut so they’ll travel well. You discover a better box for every item, unbox them all and repack. You find some items you left out, unbox everything and repack a second time. You visit the bank several times to check on your checking account balance and to transfer funds, just in case. You visit your PayPal account to make sure that it’s still active. You make sure you have a number of figures pre-sketched for “spontaneous” convention sketches that don’t look like garbage. You realize that you have twice as many female figures as male and worry that the paradigm might have shifted back to heroes by now. You lament the fact that you haven’t got any new books out right now.
Three days before leaving: You worry that you might be coming down with the cold that your wife had. You take Echinechia, Vitamin C, and try to get more sleep. You begin to worry that you don’t have anything that would vaguely interest anyone at this particular show.
Two days before leaving: You are a sell out. You are a hack. You’re boring and your past work is passé. You remember that you have at least one stop at Steak ‘n’ Shake™ along the way, and things look a little brighter.
One day before leaving: You wonder if you can afford all those Steak ‘n’ Shake™ calories.
The trip to the show: You listen to music. You pig out at Steak ‘n’ Shake™ anyway. You get really tired. “Did I remember sharpie pens? I’ll pick some up at an office supply place.”
You get in dead tired after all that time on the road. Hopefully you’ve planned a day for rest before the show.
Set up day: You get on the road from where you’re staying (friend or family member’s house in the general vicinity is nice) to the actual venue a hour or so later than you’d planned. Don’t panic. The show starts TOMORROW, not TODAY. You arrive at the venue and the organizers haven’t set up yet. The union guy who’s supposed to have your table up by now hasn’t quite gotten that done yet. The air conditioning / heat won’t be turned on until tomorrow. There’s some comic book guy from Cincinnati who needs a little more sleep griping about how his shipment is late and / or trashed and how he’s going to sue the organizers. You wait for your table, which eventually gets set up (don’t try to do it yourself unless you want the union on your case!). You put up your display. Books, art, tee-shirts, CDs, whatever, go on your table. You stand back and admire it for a moment before worrying that you probably shouldn’t leave it out with all these people running around the venue. You put everything back in boxes so that potential thieves will have an easier time carrying it all and put it under your table. You go home to your friend or family member’s house, and worry that you might come down with stomach flu. You wash your hands a lot.
First day of show: Up early because it’s Show Time! But first you have to drive to the venue. The tollway is more crowded since you’re in rush hour traffic today. It’s going to take longer than you thought! You have to go to the bathroom, but there’s no exit until the convention center. Your wife tells you that she should have gone too. You’re going to be late! You stop at Stuckey’s anyway since there really was another exit before the convention center, and it’s better to have your wife on your side that have her mad at you during the show. You make the show on time (you knew you would), and have enough time to set up your table before the “advance ticket holders” come through the doors…fifteen minutes sooner than the announced start of the show. You leap behind the table as the first fan comes up to look at your wares. They think you’re someone else. You decide to take a rest anyway since you’ve been hopping since 6:30, and you really didn’t sleep that well anyway. Your wife says she needs to go to the bathroom and excuses herself just before the first actual customer comes up. He asks a million questions, you’re witty, you’re clever…he’s not buying today, but he’ll “be back”. Your wife returns and wants to know what you were laughing so hard about since she heard you three aisles away. The joke isn’t as funny the second time. The long haul begins. You sit. You fiddle with your display. You decide to warm up on a sketch or two. The first one stinks and you want to throw it out, but your wife won’t let you. You begin the second and just at a critical point a fan wants your autograph. Then someone buys a book! “Are you sketching?” someone asks. “That’s what the sign says!” you retort without sounding too sarcastic. You begin sketching. Your wife decides that it’s time for lunch. Somebody flips through your portfolio but doesn’t put it back the way you had it. Some kid tries to take all your business cards, “are these free?” he asks as his Dad puts the pile back and apologizes. “Just one to a customer, ha, ha!” Another actual fan arrives, “are you sketching?” he asks, ignoring both your sign and the fact that you are at this moment actually sketching in front of him! “I am, are you interested in something?” “How long is your list?” he asks. You don’t want to sound desperate, but then again you don’t want him to think he won’t get prompt service either. “You’d be number two on the list.” You actually didn’t have a list yet, but you hastily begin one. “Can you draw Captain Marvel?” he asks. “Which one did you have in mind?” This sparks a twenty minute conversation about all the characters with that name and the various costumes associated with them. “I’d like the late 60s Gil Kane version, “ he finally decides. “Do you have reference?” you ask, hopefully. It’s been a number of years since you saw that book and memory isn’t what it used to be. “I can get some, I’ll be back.” You wife has returned to report that the convention center has, “hot dogs, pizza, nachos, a chicken sandwich, hamburgers, and something called ‘tomato surprise’.” “Hot dog, just mustard.” You go back to sketching. “What did you want to drink?” “Oh! Um, do they have fruit punch?” “I’m not sure, if they don’t what do you want?” “Just water, I guess.” You go back to the sketch. “Are you sure you don’t want nachos? They looked pretty good.” “Oh, sure, whatever. Do you need money?” She’s gone. The guy at the next table asks you to watch his stuff so he can go to the bathroom. While he’s gone a dozen people come up and ask if the art on his table is “your stuff too?” He’s selling soft core porn and you’re embarrassed to be next to him. “No, that’s another guy’s stuff. He went to the bathroom. He’ll be back in a minute.” They wander off, not bothering to consider the work of anyone who would be seated next to a guy selling soft core porn. You want to scream, “my work’s family friendly!” but you don’t. You are just about finished with the sketch now and are pretty happy with it. Suddenly your wife returns with the hot dog and narrowly misses getting mustard all over the sketch. You ask a blessing and begin eating. Now the fans are in full frenzy. Surely if your mouth weren’t full of food they wouldn’t be asking so many questions. You sign two autographs and the smell of sharpie marker blends with the mustard on your hot dog. The fellow who’s sketch you haven’t quite finished shows up and asks how long it will be. “I’ve just got to erase the pencils, but my hands are all covered with lunch!” “Okay, I’ll come back in ten minutes!” (he has seen an old friend and wants to catch up with him). You decide that it may take a few minutes to finish the sketch after all and cram the rest of the hot dog in your mouth and choke it down with whatever this stuff is that your wife got for you to drink. (Not her fault, the convention center just ordered weird fruit punch and sold it to you for $2 a bottle). “Don’t you think you had better wash your hands?” she asks. “I dn’t hv tmmm!” you mumble through your hot dog. She thinks your tone isn’t nice. You apologize and decide that you had better wash up after all. You visit the bathroom for the first time in what seems like days. There’s a puddle in the middle of the floor that’s really questionable, you avoid it as best you can. When you’re done answering the call you go to wash up only to find that there is no soap left in the dispenser. You use hot water and regret it when you scald your hands and get a lap full of water splashed on you. There are paper towels, in a soggy pile by the sinks. You pick one off the top and hope for the best. You return to your table. “That guy came back.” “What guy?” “The one with the sketch, I told him you weren’t done yet. He said he’d come back later.” You sit down and finish erasing the piece. A hardcore Star Trek fan comes by and camps out for an hour or so, extolling the virtues of 23rd Century life. It would be funnier if he didn’t seem to be taking it so seriously. A warm body in front of your table usually helps attract customers, but once they hear what this guy’s going on about most of them steer clear. You hope that another Trekker doesn’t get within ear shot and decides to debate him in Klingon. A member of some special interest group comes by and asks you to contribute something to their auction. You try to explain tactfully that you don’t support that particular group and wouldn’t give him a donation if your life depended on it. You really wish that the group you DO support would come by and give you a clue when their auction is going to be. You suddenly realize that you haven’t looked at the program book and that maybe you are late for a panel discussion. You look through the program book in anticipation, only to be let down that you weren’t even considered. You get some more sketches, sell some more work. Your wife begins a game of Mancala with a teenage girl who’s there with her Dad, another artist. You make small talk with the pornographer on your right. You complete three sketches in rapid succession and your hand begins to ache, just then another customer wants a sketch but he’s “only here for today!” You wonder if you can do one more drawing today, it’s 4:30 and the show closes in an hour. You take his money up front and his address just in case you don’t make it. You sketch furiously in spite of customers and more people who want your signature on the program booklet. The day ends just as you hand the final sketch to the customer…eraser crumbs hitting the ground as the paper passes from your hand to his.
Tomorrow you get to do it all over again. But the friend and / or family members who you’re staying with are coming along too!
Thursday, February 02, 2006
Simon Says
Lessons learned from American Idol:
It may come as a surprise to some that my wife and I are regular watchers of American Idol. Sometimes it surprises me as well. The early auditions can be painful to watch as hopeful after hopeful gets hurt in the process of elimination. But I think I’ve learned a thing or two by watching the show.
Over the past several days I’ve been doing something very similar. I was approached on Monday or Tuesday by a London advertising agency about possibly doing some comic book type illustrations. I was very excited by the prospect of breaking into the British market and very confident that I had a shot at this. The only other contender (so far as I knew was Scott Rosema, also at ComicArtistsDirect) and I have no problem sharing the spotlight with Scott, he’s a solid artist.
The agency art buyer sent a couple of scans of what the company was looking for. The images were of The Punisher and The Thing from Marvel. I’m not sure who the artists were there were no signatures on either piece. I have my suspicions but I won’t voice them here for fear of being wrong. They were really nice pieces and I am glad to have the scans for reference.
Anyway the art looked pretty straight forward. Black and White ink drawings that had been composited with color pencil (and maybe a little paste up of patterned paper ). Not that unusual, nor different than what I’ve been doing lately, technically speaking. My stuff is not usually that “gritty” but I figured I could adapt.
I sent back the WW and Batgirl that I recently posted figuring that they’d be able to see that subject matter would have an affect on how I’d draw the proposed pieces.
In the interim I got to watch American Idol. Last night, a very nice girl from North Carolina went to the open call in Austin, Texas. She blew her first shot due to a case of nerves, but was willing to admit that it was a truly awful audition. Due, at least in part, to her honesty and respectful attitude they gave her a chance to “walk off” her nerves and come back later. She did this, unfortunately not doing much better upon her return.
But I was greatly impressed by her attitude. She didn’t whine or complain. She didn’t curse or pout. No attempt at bravado, she simply said “thank you, it was nice meeting you,” and left. I suspect that she will go far in whatever field she ultimately chooses.
Today when I got the response from London; “Sorry, not what we’re looking for,” how could I do less? I wish I’d had as much maturity in my early twenties as that girl showed last night. But maybe now that I’m in my forties I can learn a thing or two.
I have no reason to complain. I’m swamped with work right now anyway. So it’s a blessing not to have to juggle another job. I wanted it, but it was probably not the best time for it. I didn’t go back and say, “Let me send you a better scan! That one wasn’t very high quality, this one has much better detail.” While that would be true, it would simply be a waste of time. They were looking for something different. It doesn’t mean my art is bad, just that it didn’t fit the bill.
I notice that Simon is pretty nice to the people who don’t talk back.
It may come as a surprise to some that my wife and I are regular watchers of American Idol. Sometimes it surprises me as well. The early auditions can be painful to watch as hopeful after hopeful gets hurt in the process of elimination. But I think I’ve learned a thing or two by watching the show.
Over the past several days I’ve been doing something very similar. I was approached on Monday or Tuesday by a London advertising agency about possibly doing some comic book type illustrations. I was very excited by the prospect of breaking into the British market and very confident that I had a shot at this. The only other contender (so far as I knew was Scott Rosema, also at ComicArtistsDirect) and I have no problem sharing the spotlight with Scott, he’s a solid artist.
The agency art buyer sent a couple of scans of what the company was looking for. The images were of The Punisher and The Thing from Marvel. I’m not sure who the artists were there were no signatures on either piece. I have my suspicions but I won’t voice them here for fear of being wrong. They were really nice pieces and I am glad to have the scans for reference.
Anyway the art looked pretty straight forward. Black and White ink drawings that had been composited with color pencil (and maybe a little paste up of patterned paper ). Not that unusual, nor different than what I’ve been doing lately, technically speaking. My stuff is not usually that “gritty” but I figured I could adapt.
I sent back the WW and Batgirl that I recently posted figuring that they’d be able to see that subject matter would have an affect on how I’d draw the proposed pieces.
In the interim I got to watch American Idol. Last night, a very nice girl from North Carolina went to the open call in Austin, Texas. She blew her first shot due to a case of nerves, but was willing to admit that it was a truly awful audition. Due, at least in part, to her honesty and respectful attitude they gave her a chance to “walk off” her nerves and come back later. She did this, unfortunately not doing much better upon her return.
But I was greatly impressed by her attitude. She didn’t whine or complain. She didn’t curse or pout. No attempt at bravado, she simply said “thank you, it was nice meeting you,” and left. I suspect that she will go far in whatever field she ultimately chooses.
Today when I got the response from London; “Sorry, not what we’re looking for,” how could I do less? I wish I’d had as much maturity in my early twenties as that girl showed last night. But maybe now that I’m in my forties I can learn a thing or two.
I have no reason to complain. I’m swamped with work right now anyway. So it’s a blessing not to have to juggle another job. I wanted it, but it was probably not the best time for it. I didn’t go back and say, “Let me send you a better scan! That one wasn’t very high quality, this one has much better detail.” While that would be true, it would simply be a waste of time. They were looking for something different. It doesn’t mean my art is bad, just that it didn’t fit the bill.
I notice that Simon is pretty nice to the people who don’t talk back.
Tuesday, January 31, 2006
Holy Hues!
Batgirl is © and ™ D.C. Comics, Inc. Artwork by James E. Lyle
What's this? Our Daring Delineator Dabbling in Dynamic Digitization again?
When last we left our Cartoon Crusader he had posted a particularly pretty picture of The Paradisian Princess. Now he posts a pose of the Dynamic Daredoll, known to us all as Batgirl!
Has our Cartoon Crusader flipped? Or has he simply noticed the numerous non-chalant visitors who browse his blog whenever he posts a pristine picture? Make no mistake Bat-blog-o-philes, surely the Best is yet to come!
Thursday, January 26, 2006
Tarheel Artwheel does Cartwheels for Art Deal
Waynesville, NC
Cartoonist and Illustrator, James E. Lyle, today announced that he had agreed in principle to pencil and ink a new graphic novella scripted and colored by Gary Scott Beatty. The working title of the book is "Adam among the Gods", and will take a hard look at the subject of Genetic Engineering.
"I'm very excited about the project, " said Lyle. "Gary and I have known each other for several years through the Comic Artists Direct website, but I was actually surprised when he approached me to illustrate this story. I was impressed with both its theme and execution, and I'm hoping to bring something unique to the visuals."
No schedule or publisher has been announced at this time, but considering the quality of past work from these two comics professionals the final project should have no problem finding a home.
Cartoonist and Illustrator, James E. Lyle, today announced that he had agreed in principle to pencil and ink a new graphic novella scripted and colored by Gary Scott Beatty. The working title of the book is "Adam among the Gods", and will take a hard look at the subject of Genetic Engineering.
"I'm very excited about the project, " said Lyle. "Gary and I have known each other for several years through the Comic Artists Direct website, but I was actually surprised when he approached me to illustrate this story. I was impressed with both its theme and execution, and I'm hoping to bring something unique to the visuals."
No schedule or publisher has been announced at this time, but considering the quality of past work from these two comics professionals the final project should have no problem finding a home.
Monday, January 23, 2006
Hey I drew something!
Hoping to get a new piece of art posted here today. Okay now this should work.
Wonder Woman is © DC Comics, Inc. Artwork by James E. Lyle
This piece is a Christmas gift for my best buddie's wife. She doesn't know that she's getting it (okay, so what if it's LATE? Give me a break). Anyway, the original was done almost as an afterthought, since I had just gotten a commission for another WW piece. It's as easy, in a way, to do two of them as it is to do one. I get all tooled up for one and I might as well do two or three. (That's not to say that it doesn't still take three times as long to ink them). I actually did three pencil sketches, but the guy who commissioned the first one preferred that I not do the "hands on hips" pose. He's got a museum full of WW art and so I'm sure is tired of that pose. But my pal Toni has been after me for a prototypical WW since this summer. So she's getting this piece, sans color.
The color process was an afterthought as well. I won't go into it, but I spent the better part of this afternoon doing it, when I could have been working on paying stuff. But this is promotion after all. It looks nice. So this will have to be considered advertising.
Who's next?
Wonder Woman is © DC Comics, Inc. Artwork by James E. Lyle
This piece is a Christmas gift for my best buddie's wife. She doesn't know that she's getting it (okay, so what if it's LATE? Give me a break). Anyway, the original was done almost as an afterthought, since I had just gotten a commission for another WW piece. It's as easy, in a way, to do two of them as it is to do one. I get all tooled up for one and I might as well do two or three. (That's not to say that it doesn't still take three times as long to ink them). I actually did three pencil sketches, but the guy who commissioned the first one preferred that I not do the "hands on hips" pose. He's got a museum full of WW art and so I'm sure is tired of that pose. But my pal Toni has been after me for a prototypical WW since this summer. So she's getting this piece, sans color.
The color process was an afterthought as well. I won't go into it, but I spent the better part of this afternoon doing it, when I could have been working on paying stuff. But this is promotion after all. It looks nice. So this will have to be considered advertising.
Who's next?
Friday, January 20, 2006
Uncle Biscuit on Uncle Biscuit
An interview with the anonymous fourth member of Gypsy Bandwagon.
When I was first given the assignment to interview myself for GB I considered it a challenge. Obviously, I needed no introduction to the man who is me. My own accomplishments and failings being, in a word, firsthand to me. I’d actually been called on in the past to write this man’s résumé, and so I knew a lot about me to start with, but I hoped to dig deeper with this interview. To bring you, the reader, a little information about me that you might not have been aware of.
But the assignment wouldn’t be easy. First of all I knew myself to be very reticent about giving interviews (since a disastrous interview with a high school guidance counselor that led to three years in the “stall muckers” club). At first I would only consent to being interviewed via telegraph, but later I acquiesced and decided on a “face to face” meeting with myself. The following article is the result of that meeting.
UB: So what were your first thoughts when asked for this interview?
Uncle Biscuit: It’s funny you should ask that. When I told my wife, Karin, about the interview she said, “what are you going to say?” I responded, “it depends on what I ask me!”
UB: Now, your wife Karin, she’s in the band too?
Uncle Biscuit: As a matter of fact, she is. She plays more instruments than anyone I’ve ever met before or since. And the number keeps going up. Some people don’t believe that she could possibly play as many as she does, but I’m really proud of her.
UB: What caused you to join a band like Gypsy Bandwagon?
Uncle Biscuit: That feeling that it’s not as easy as it once was to get all the spoons in the silverware drawer.
UB: Huh?
Uncle Biscuit: You know! Like maybe you’ve thrown out the carrot peeler with the pig slop?
UB: What are you talking about?
Uncle Biscuit: Oh come on! Like, as long as you’re driving around in Utah anyway, you might as well grab a chili dog at Wienerschnitzel?
UB: What’s with all the obtuse metaphors?
Uncle Biscuit: What was the question?
UB: So how did it come about, you joining the band your wife’s in?
Uncle Biscuit: What else was I going to do? Karin had been playing with Lance and Carissa Moore in a celtic band in and around Waynesville, NC. But there had been some offers to go out of town. The three of them started performing as “The Mountain Minstrels” and I’d go along with them just to be near my wife. I was afraid that if I didn’t go along I’d never see her again.
UB: But I take it something else developed?
Uncle Biscuit: Oh sure! There was a kookiness to the whole dynamic that appealed to me. I got to spend more time with Lance and Carissa and we became friends. Lance had been playing with the idea of forming a different band that would play original material. He tried a couple of configurations before realizing Carissa and Karin were a big part of the sound he’d imagined. I was busy working on the band logo at the time. I am an artist by day, you know. Lance and Carissa had commissioned the piece and I was working on it at the time. It was about then that Lance told me that they were going to try out some drummers, and to simply add a drummer’s arm hanging out of the back of the wagon.
UB: Were they considering you at all?
Uncle Biscuit: I honestly don’t know. I feel, in retrospect, that I was sort of like Mary Stewart Masterson’s character in “Some kind of Wonderful”. I didn’t KNOW I was going to get the place in the band, but I THOUGHT that I might. They tried out several drummers, but none of them clicked. There was one guy that I was almost certain was going to get the job, he had a great résumé, really knew his stuff. I remember Karin was going over to Lance and Carissa’s to practice with him and I stayed at my studio. I was on pins and needles all evening!
UB: But he didn’t get it.
Uncle Biscuit: No, whew! I didn’t realize how much I wanted to be in the band until that night, but I didn’t want to push myself on them. It was almost like having a high school crush. You know you’d like to be with a particular person, but they’re busy with someone else and you don’t want to get in the way. I kept telling myself I’d be content just to hang around with them, but I really wanted to be more involved.
UB: So you equate being in a band with being in love?
Uncle Biscuit: It’s amazing, it’s very similar in a lot of ways. I’m not going to put too fine a point on it, but there IS a lot of similarity in the give and take, feelings of mutual accomplishments, that sort of thing…Of course my WIFE is a big part of the band, so it’s not all that strange to make that comparison. So try not to read anything sick into that idea. It’s just a comparison.
UB: Let’s talk about the other members. What’s your take on Lance Moore?
Uncle Biscuit: Jock meets Poet. Odd combination. Hmmm, now that I think about it it’s more like Poet meets Jock. Yeah, put that down, “Poet meets Jock”. He’s also really good at guitar and vocals.
UB: What about Carissa?
Uncle Biscuit: She’s like an eleven-year-old girl trapped in the body of a thirty-something. No, really, she’s very silly, she’s got all this energy and when she and Karin get together it’s like hosting a slumber party!
UB: What’s your impression of the band as a unit?
Uncle Biscuit: Well organized chaos. It’s interesting, I had always been thinking of myself as more of the moody new-wave player, but never got to be in that sort of a band. GB has a sound that’s miles off of that! So when they asked me to play with them, one of the challenges was trying to figure out how the sound I was a student of would play with their sound. I had to latch onto bits and pieces of the stuff they were playing that were similar to what I’d heard in bands that I admired. I’d say something like, “I like that riff you just played, sounds sort of like Duran Duran”, or, “could we incorporate something like what The Cars did on this song?”
UB: How would they react to that?
Uncle Biscuit: With odd looks. But they actually are pretty open to my ideas. And they contribute their own wackiness to the whole mixture. I never would have thought they’d go for putting a flanger on that banjo!
UB: Yeah, what’s with that anyway?
Uncle Biscuit: I wish I’d been there for that mix. Of course if I had been the whole “Stole My Mule” album would have been waaayyy overproduced.
UB: Does having your wife in the band make it easier to get your way? Is it like having two votes?
Uncle Biscuit: If anything it probably makes it harder. No, Karin is too much a musician to let me get away with anything. She’s always pushing me to be more musical. Maybe it’s more like pulling me, kicking and screaming. I get some of the same blank looks when I bring some of this stuff up. Although she’s probably listened to more of the same tracks than I have and so sometimes I don’t have to explain it as much to her. But she would never compromise the integrity of the sound simply to please me. It needs a musical reason for being there, or a comedic one.
UB: Speaking of which, I’ve noticed that GB has more than a touch of the comedic to it. What is the origin of that?
Uncle Biscuit: My musical influences have almost always been somewhat comedic. My early childhood influences were bands like Kingston Trio, Smothers Brothers, The Monkees. I spent a lot of my school years studying comedy on television and in the movies. I’ve always been attracted to bands that don’t take themselves too seriously; Weird Al, Utopia, Steve Taylor, Newsboys, even Cheap Trick has their silly side. I’ve always appreciated an act that can make fun of itself. All the best comedy acts seem to have a musical bent as well; the Marx Brothers, Three Stooges, Crosby and Hope, Martin and Lewis…I could go on but you get the picture. I think of music and comedy as forever linked, and that’s one area wherein Lance and I hit it off right away. We started adding funny stuff to the act almost immediately.
UB: And this was accepted by the other members?
Uncle Biscuit: I think they had comedy in mind the whole time. They were actually worried that I wouldn’t work out at first, since I’d been so quiet up to that point. It’s pretty weird, I get a little crazy in front of a crowd and go through a transformation. Fortunately that’s what they were looking for. The hard part is toning it down enough for us to get through the serious stuff.
UB: Okay, I have to ask the question, what’s with the name? Is it Jimmy, Doodle, Uncle Biscuit or what?
Uncle Biscuit: What’s in a name? Would a rose by any other name not smell as sweet?
UB: You’re quoting Shakespeare.
Uncle Biscuit: Well of course! It goes back to my days in community theater. I had the nickname “Doodle” in the family since I was tiny, but when I got interested in art and theater I took it public. It was a way to distinguish myself from my older brother.
UB: Okay so what about Uncle Biscuit? Where did that come from?
Uncle Biscuit: Originally it was just “Biscuit”. My wife tagged me with that one. Then Carissa’s daughter caught it and it became “Uncle Biscuit”. But Lance proclaimed it officially at one of our early rehearsals. It’s okay with me, I don’t think it causes me to suffer from multiple personality disorder or anything like that.
UB: This interview being a good demonstration of your mental health.
Uncle Biscuit: Exactly.
UB: So how do you respond to those who would say that interviewing yourself, besides being potentially ill-adjusted, is really a self-serving egomaniacal thing to do?
Uncle Biscuit: I’m not sure I like where this interview is going.
UB: Too late, you already signed the release form.
When I was first given the assignment to interview myself for GB I considered it a challenge. Obviously, I needed no introduction to the man who is me. My own accomplishments and failings being, in a word, firsthand to me. I’d actually been called on in the past to write this man’s résumé, and so I knew a lot about me to start with, but I hoped to dig deeper with this interview. To bring you, the reader, a little information about me that you might not have been aware of.
But the assignment wouldn’t be easy. First of all I knew myself to be very reticent about giving interviews (since a disastrous interview with a high school guidance counselor that led to three years in the “stall muckers” club). At first I would only consent to being interviewed via telegraph, but later I acquiesced and decided on a “face to face” meeting with myself. The following article is the result of that meeting.
UB: So what were your first thoughts when asked for this interview?
Uncle Biscuit: It’s funny you should ask that. When I told my wife, Karin, about the interview she said, “what are you going to say?” I responded, “it depends on what I ask me!”
UB: Now, your wife Karin, she’s in the band too?
Uncle Biscuit: As a matter of fact, she is. She plays more instruments than anyone I’ve ever met before or since. And the number keeps going up. Some people don’t believe that she could possibly play as many as she does, but I’m really proud of her.
UB: What caused you to join a band like Gypsy Bandwagon?
Uncle Biscuit: That feeling that it’s not as easy as it once was to get all the spoons in the silverware drawer.
UB: Huh?
Uncle Biscuit: You know! Like maybe you’ve thrown out the carrot peeler with the pig slop?
UB: What are you talking about?
Uncle Biscuit: Oh come on! Like, as long as you’re driving around in Utah anyway, you might as well grab a chili dog at Wienerschnitzel?
UB: What’s with all the obtuse metaphors?
Uncle Biscuit: What was the question?
UB: So how did it come about, you joining the band your wife’s in?
Uncle Biscuit: What else was I going to do? Karin had been playing with Lance and Carissa Moore in a celtic band in and around Waynesville, NC. But there had been some offers to go out of town. The three of them started performing as “The Mountain Minstrels” and I’d go along with them just to be near my wife. I was afraid that if I didn’t go along I’d never see her again.
UB: But I take it something else developed?
Uncle Biscuit: Oh sure! There was a kookiness to the whole dynamic that appealed to me. I got to spend more time with Lance and Carissa and we became friends. Lance had been playing with the idea of forming a different band that would play original material. He tried a couple of configurations before realizing Carissa and Karin were a big part of the sound he’d imagined. I was busy working on the band logo at the time. I am an artist by day, you know. Lance and Carissa had commissioned the piece and I was working on it at the time. It was about then that Lance told me that they were going to try out some drummers, and to simply add a drummer’s arm hanging out of the back of the wagon.
UB: Were they considering you at all?
Uncle Biscuit: I honestly don’t know. I feel, in retrospect, that I was sort of like Mary Stewart Masterson’s character in “Some kind of Wonderful”. I didn’t KNOW I was going to get the place in the band, but I THOUGHT that I might. They tried out several drummers, but none of them clicked. There was one guy that I was almost certain was going to get the job, he had a great résumé, really knew his stuff. I remember Karin was going over to Lance and Carissa’s to practice with him and I stayed at my studio. I was on pins and needles all evening!
UB: But he didn’t get it.
Uncle Biscuit: No, whew! I didn’t realize how much I wanted to be in the band until that night, but I didn’t want to push myself on them. It was almost like having a high school crush. You know you’d like to be with a particular person, but they’re busy with someone else and you don’t want to get in the way. I kept telling myself I’d be content just to hang around with them, but I really wanted to be more involved.
UB: So you equate being in a band with being in love?
Uncle Biscuit: It’s amazing, it’s very similar in a lot of ways. I’m not going to put too fine a point on it, but there IS a lot of similarity in the give and take, feelings of mutual accomplishments, that sort of thing…Of course my WIFE is a big part of the band, so it’s not all that strange to make that comparison. So try not to read anything sick into that idea. It’s just a comparison.
UB: Let’s talk about the other members. What’s your take on Lance Moore?
Uncle Biscuit: Jock meets Poet. Odd combination. Hmmm, now that I think about it it’s more like Poet meets Jock. Yeah, put that down, “Poet meets Jock”. He’s also really good at guitar and vocals.
UB: What about Carissa?
Uncle Biscuit: She’s like an eleven-year-old girl trapped in the body of a thirty-something. No, really, she’s very silly, she’s got all this energy and when she and Karin get together it’s like hosting a slumber party!
UB: What’s your impression of the band as a unit?
Uncle Biscuit: Well organized chaos. It’s interesting, I had always been thinking of myself as more of the moody new-wave player, but never got to be in that sort of a band. GB has a sound that’s miles off of that! So when they asked me to play with them, one of the challenges was trying to figure out how the sound I was a student of would play with their sound. I had to latch onto bits and pieces of the stuff they were playing that were similar to what I’d heard in bands that I admired. I’d say something like, “I like that riff you just played, sounds sort of like Duran Duran”, or, “could we incorporate something like what The Cars did on this song?”
UB: How would they react to that?
Uncle Biscuit: With odd looks. But they actually are pretty open to my ideas. And they contribute their own wackiness to the whole mixture. I never would have thought they’d go for putting a flanger on that banjo!
UB: Yeah, what’s with that anyway?
Uncle Biscuit: I wish I’d been there for that mix. Of course if I had been the whole “Stole My Mule” album would have been waaayyy overproduced.
UB: Does having your wife in the band make it easier to get your way? Is it like having two votes?
Uncle Biscuit: If anything it probably makes it harder. No, Karin is too much a musician to let me get away with anything. She’s always pushing me to be more musical. Maybe it’s more like pulling me, kicking and screaming. I get some of the same blank looks when I bring some of this stuff up. Although she’s probably listened to more of the same tracks than I have and so sometimes I don’t have to explain it as much to her. But she would never compromise the integrity of the sound simply to please me. It needs a musical reason for being there, or a comedic one.
UB: Speaking of which, I’ve noticed that GB has more than a touch of the comedic to it. What is the origin of that?
Uncle Biscuit: My musical influences have almost always been somewhat comedic. My early childhood influences were bands like Kingston Trio, Smothers Brothers, The Monkees. I spent a lot of my school years studying comedy on television and in the movies. I’ve always been attracted to bands that don’t take themselves too seriously; Weird Al, Utopia, Steve Taylor, Newsboys, even Cheap Trick has their silly side. I’ve always appreciated an act that can make fun of itself. All the best comedy acts seem to have a musical bent as well; the Marx Brothers, Three Stooges, Crosby and Hope, Martin and Lewis…I could go on but you get the picture. I think of music and comedy as forever linked, and that’s one area wherein Lance and I hit it off right away. We started adding funny stuff to the act almost immediately.
UB: And this was accepted by the other members?
Uncle Biscuit: I think they had comedy in mind the whole time. They were actually worried that I wouldn’t work out at first, since I’d been so quiet up to that point. It’s pretty weird, I get a little crazy in front of a crowd and go through a transformation. Fortunately that’s what they were looking for. The hard part is toning it down enough for us to get through the serious stuff.
UB: Okay, I have to ask the question, what’s with the name? Is it Jimmy, Doodle, Uncle Biscuit or what?
Uncle Biscuit: What’s in a name? Would a rose by any other name not smell as sweet?
UB: You’re quoting Shakespeare.
Uncle Biscuit: Well of course! It goes back to my days in community theater. I had the nickname “Doodle” in the family since I was tiny, but when I got interested in art and theater I took it public. It was a way to distinguish myself from my older brother.
UB: Okay so what about Uncle Biscuit? Where did that come from?
Uncle Biscuit: Originally it was just “Biscuit”. My wife tagged me with that one. Then Carissa’s daughter caught it and it became “Uncle Biscuit”. But Lance proclaimed it officially at one of our early rehearsals. It’s okay with me, I don’t think it causes me to suffer from multiple personality disorder or anything like that.
UB: This interview being a good demonstration of your mental health.
Uncle Biscuit: Exactly.
UB: So how do you respond to those who would say that interviewing yourself, besides being potentially ill-adjusted, is really a self-serving egomaniacal thing to do?
Uncle Biscuit: I’m not sure I like where this interview is going.
UB: Too late, you already signed the release form.
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