doodles on paper

Do NOT read this Blog!!

2009-01-12T15:43:00.002-05:00

I've gotten my sitemeter count for the past two weeks and it's been zero both times. Usually it runs around 14 a week--at least that's been the average for the past year or so.

I can't say that I blame people for not having interest in reading this blog, seeing as I've lost interest in writing it. Not completely, I am, obviously, writing it even now--but for the most part it seems like the day of the blog has passed for me.

This is darn shame though, considering that I've got several new projects pending and I'd really like to talk about them. I'm developing a coffee table edition book for next Christmas season along with my wife (who'll be creating an accompanying CD) and a couple of friends that I hope will be along in other capacities.

At the same time I'm re-developing The PLUS for a new web-comic along with a couple of those friends. Hoping that will be a fun and profitable departure for all concerned. I've got several stories already in the thumbnail stage, and ideas keep coming. That's good.

And I'm also working on another comics project with a different writer of some note. But I don't want to say too much about it until it's a little further along.

I don't know. Perhaps when all these bits of "creative jello" are a little more congealed then I'll talk about it more, and all of the blog fans will come back. But for now it seems a little melancholy to consider this blog unread for two weeks running.

If you do read this Blog again, I hope it will prove uplifting to know that in spite of my lack of participation in said blog recently, I do have enthusiasm heading into this new year. Not the slop that they're trying to sell in the mainstream media (think how many unsold "Barack Obama" collectable photo albums are still sitting on the shelves at the grocery stores across America). I have "Hope" but it's not coming from politicians or media manipulation, but from God and all the good things he's given me.

Here I come a politic-ing so fair to be seen…

2008-12-22T11:56:00.002-05:00

This morning my wife, Karin, was reading in Judges and found the name "Barack" means "thunder bolt".

"How delightful!" I mused as I was getting in the bath, "thunder bolts are Brief, Noisy, and Cause a lot of Damage."

Karin called my Dad on the phone and told him what I'd just said. Dad said, "Put it on the news and let it go around the world!" (Probably the most positive affirmation I've gotten from Dad in a month or so).

Now, this isn't to say that I'm going to be down on Mr. Obama. He's in a tough position. Everyone who has ever been President of the United States will always be next in line to be "worst President EVER". And by the time he leaves office, he too will have been (at least in some people's minds) the worst ever. Even George Washington faced this (it's true).

When one is elected President they are actually being elected official scape goat. Not a job I'd want.

And Mr. Obama is already facing criticism from both sides about nearly everything he's been doing during his transition. Some of it has even come from me.

But, as a gesture, I'd like to extend a Merry Christmas to the President Elect. And I'd also like to ask him (if he reads this) to tell his staff to quit emailing me (see last post).

Voters against Spam!

2008-09-12T20:07:00.002-04:00

When I began this blog, I intentionally stayed away from the topic of politics, and while I don't intend that this blog should become the typical "I'm right and you're wrong" political mish-mash--I'm going to tell anyone reading this a couple of things.

One: Early in the summer I was asked if I would care to send both Mr. McCain and Mr. Obama a note about what I thought were important issues they should address in their respective campaigns. Being a Christian in more than just name, I felt that it was my duty to do so, in hopes that either or both might take these things to heart.

A week or so later I began receiving e-mails from Mr. Obama's campaign asking for contributions. I got no confirmation that he'd even read any of what I'd written to him either by personal e-mail nor by his public statements about what he stands for.

I began by simply discarding the e-mails as they came. A minor annoyance as they came perhaps one or two a week. Then they went to daily. Then twice daily! I began pressing "report spam".

But apparently AOL will not honor "report spam" on politicians (at least not liberal politicians).

So after months of this abuse of my inbox, I decided to actually look at one of Mr. Obama's e-mails. Nothing of a great shock therein, his usual vague statements about "change".

Well, I've got "change" from Nancy Pelosi, Mr. Obama! I used to get dollars, now all I get is change. I don't need any more of that kind of change.

Anyway, I found an "unsubscribe" button in the e-mail and went there to unsubscribe. Bearing in mind that I had never "subscribed" to begin with. But when I went to submit my "unsubscribe" there was a video of Mr. Obama that had to be downloaded before it would allow me to submit.

I'm on dial up.

I've tried this approach several times and each time the result is the same. Today I attempted to respond to "info@barackobama.com" and got an automatic reply that said they didn't read letters sent to that address, that I must respond through the website comment page.

So I went there.

Same jazz. A video is downloading and my comment won't go through until it's done.

Does Mr. Obama's campaign think that I'll change my mind if I sit through another one of his vague speeches? "Oh, my! What was I thinking? No, please fill up my inbox with your semi-daily comments about nothing! I can see it all so clearly now!"

During all of this, Mr. McCain's campaign has not cluttered my inbox with letters.

I did get a very nice letter from Elizabeth Dole the other day, asking nicely if I'd mind if she sent me an occasional update on her campaign. "Why, thank you for asking, Mrs. Dole, I think I would like a note or two from you, since I actually plan on supporting your re-election campaign."

Two: This is all pretty silly stuff though, as I figure the race is over already. When Sarah Palin stepped up on the platform, that was it.

Everyone is talking about the lady. Everyone on both sides is talking about her.

Good for her.

I hope when she's President she'll do something about inbox spam.

"Orphan Works" not addressing important issues!

2008-04-20T19:02:00.000-04:00

Steve Haynie, treasurer for the Southeast Chapter of the National Cartoonists Societty, just sent this link on the "Orphan Works" legislation that is being discussed in Congress. You'll recall that this was a hot topic in 2006 that got dropped when that Congressional session ended, but it's back.

http://www.copyright.gov/docs/regstat031308.html

You may want to look at this testimony from a representative of the Copyright office at length. It's about 20 minutes worth of read (and like most "legalese" may cause mild headache and dizzyness in those of us not accustomed to its use).

While I have to respect that the Copyright office has done some to address concerns about throwing the doors open to copyright abuse that were inherent in the 2006 version of this legislation, the couple of bones they seem to be offering to the "other visual artists" (I have to say I sort of resent being listed as a sub-category of Photographers) don't appear to truly address the issues.

First of all they have allowed for owners of works that are not truly "orphaned" that are "mistakenly" used by another party to be "reasonably compensated". The rate of reasonable compensation appears to be set at $200. While this might be true compensation of some works at this time the Copyright office seems unaware that visual artists usually price their work by applying any number of criteria for the use.

Additionally, this "improvement" has a loophole that you might miss if you don't read carefully. If the "mistaken user" (I didn't notice a lot of use of the term "infringer" in this testimony) removes the offending work from use "quickly" he or she is not liable for that resonable compensation. In other words if some advertiser lifts your work, runs it during the Superbowl, you find out about it and they never run that commercial again, they don't owe you a red cent. At least that's how I read this.

There seems to be a rather Pollyanna-esque view on the part of the Copyright office that nearly all of the people clamoring to use "Orphaned Works" are museums and libraries. I'm not sure, but I suspect that most of us "other visual artists" would not mind if museums and libraries used our works even if we clearly hold copyright…unless it's uncompensated print sales, and things like that. This view ignores the fact that in the past twenty years that advertising agencies have resorted more and more to clip-art rather than hiring illustrators for unique creations. While this has offered them a greater profit margin, it's been rough on those of us trying to sell those illustrations. However, some of us have managed to get our work used in spite of this mentality, while others have adapted and packaged works for use as licensed clip-art.

This legislation seems to open the door to abuse by almost anyone in the advertising field. Offering them the opportunity to A) use any work they happen to see in their own local market hoping that the actual copyright owner will never be aware that their work has been infringed upon, B) that if caught they can hopefully argue that they were unaware that the work was NOT in public domain, and if all other remedies fail they can C) pay a minimal rate arbitrarily established by the Copyright office and not reflecting any of the criteria normally used to negotiate compensation.

In other words, this legislation says to would be art buyers: "Big sale on art today! All pieces just $200 (if you get caught)".

I am also particularly upset by a missing part of what should be inherent in Copyright protection; the right to associate my work with movements, products, or persons that I wish to be associated with. This is the cardinal rule I look at when negotiating any contract. I have never been simply a "gun for hire". I debate long and hard with myself before agreeing to work on any project, no matter what kind of compensation I am offered. By my reading, this legislation in no way addresses that right.

Actual news and some thoughts

2008-01-23T12:39:00.000-05:00

I have three (count 'em THREE) comics coming out in 2008 and the year's just begun.

First off, Transfuzion Publications

http://www.transfuzion.biz/

Is releasing "Saint Germaine: Tales of an Immortal" which is already in the January Previews catalog and will hopefully be in a number of regular book stores as well. This TPB collection of the Saint Germaine series (originally published by Caliber) features a good 40 pages of my art, in a story about Casanova.

Second, Azzurn Publishing

http://www.comicartistsdirect.com/index.html (look for the ads center page)

Is releasing "Adam Among the Gods". This book is all my pencils and inks, done in collaboration with my webmaster, Gary Scott Beatty, who also happens to be owner and publisher of Aazurn Publishing. I hope a lot of people will be buying Aazurn books, because then Gary will be able to pay me to do more! Look for Adam in the February Previews.

Third, (an outgrowth of the first event)

Negative Burn

http://www.desperado.lightcubed.com/BOOKS/NegativeBurn.htm

Will be featuring a never before seen Saint Germaine story in the May issue of that anthology. If I understand it correctly it will be a Caliber reunion story. What happened is Gary Reed (not to be confused with any other Garys that I work with) got in touch with Joe Pruett after we worked out the deal for the ST.G TPB. Gary realized that we had another ST.G story that had never been published. Well, what we had was 18 out of 24 pages. Gary talked me into doing the last 6 pages and I just finished that up Friday. I scanned all the pages on Monday and they'll be lettered (in all likelyhood by Nate Pride who did a bang up job on my work at Caliber) and solicited in March.

The interesting thing is that I actually drew the bulk of the story back in 1998, after doing the bulk of the Casanova issue mentioned above. Someone else was supposed to do the framing art, but for one reason or another couldn't complete that assignment. So Gary had me draw some additional pages to "Casanova's Lament" and that was ST.G issue #9. I was set to draw the additional pages of the "new" story when Caliber went out of business. Now ten years later I found myself trying to draw in my old style.

To make things even more interesting, the story is about reuniting people after a long time apart. So life does imitate art!

Look for this "Caliber Reunion" soon.

I hope everyone reading this buys 200 copies of all of these soon to be released books. That would make a huge contribution to paying off some of my bills. Think about it. ;)

More Sunday School (for those who care to read)

2007-09-18T10:56:00.000-04:00

This is the Sunday School lesson I taught on Sunday March 11, 2007. I know it's been a while since then, but if you read my last post, I decided to run these here (after the fact) because I've been spending a lot of time doing them and as a consequence have had little time to write a blog. Hopefully they'll be helpful to someone.

James chapter 1: 19-27

• “Mirrors”

James 1: 19 “…my dear brothers…”

As in last week’s lesson, I was tempted to pass over this statement--as if it were a mere pleasantry. James here identifies with all believers in an exceedingly intimate way.

The ironic thing is that I was tempted to pass over that phrase, in spite of the fact that James immediately follows it with “Take note of this: everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak…”

But I wanted to get to the part where I got to speak! Is that human or what?

So let’s go back again.

Last time we discussed James’ radical statement about being a slave of God, slave to Jesus. Here he calls his readers (us) “dear brothers”. Isn’t this like saying, “I’m a slave--you be slaves too” ?

Q: How do we act as slaves?

A: By being “quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry”.

Remember that I said last week that James is sort of self-outlining. He achieves this outline by anticipating his reader’s questions and following up quickly with answers to those unspoken objections.

Q: So why should we be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry?

A: “For man’s anger does not bring about the righteous life God desires”. (vs. 20)

Now if I were listing sins in the order of most grave to least down to most minor I don’t think that

• Not listening
• Speaking too quickly
and
• Anger

would top my list--that is, prior to reading this closely. I do all three of these constantly--and practically consider them virtues at times, not vices. But James lists these three, (perhaps summed up in the term “impatience”) first.

Let’s back up again:

What did James speak of in the previous section? Remember that this letter wasn’t written to be read over several weeks time, it’s all one short letter to Christians, and meant to be taken in close context.

James just told us about Persevering with Joy. Summed up in one word: “Patience”.

vs. 21 “Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you which can save you.”

This is both a practical statement AND a high theological concept.

IF we discard moral filth and humble ourselves we are going to be less frustrated by our selfish desires (remember them?) and consequently NOT be easily angered, NOT be quick to speak, and have the Patience to listen to both God and man.

We need to listen to God--we all know this--and I’ll submit that this is the primary meaning of “listening” that James is speaking of here. But sometimes I wonder if I don’t have a harder time listening to men than God. Which probably means I wasn’t really listening to God in the first place.

Guess what? James anticipates this in…

vs. 22 “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.”

The word here obviously indicates the word of God (the written word, since James says, “Do what IT says”, not , “what HE says”. This should silence any talk of “ongoing scriptural revelation”).

vs. 23 “Anyone who listens to the word and does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.”

I look in the mirror in the morning and I see a man with hair sticking up--I’ve got glop in my eyes, dried drool on my cheek, maybe one of those breath right strips on my nose, I don’t know where my glasses are some days…Karin says it’s cute--but I don’t want to go out in public like that. I want to be prepared if I meet anyone.

I’m pretty sure that this is what James is talking about. We’re disheveled, and we look into the mirror to see what we look like so that we can begin to put things right for the day. And notice that this is a daily thing.

Just so, a Christian looks into the word to get a good look at himself and begin the day’s work of putting things right.

vs. 25 “But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it--he will be blessed in whatever he does.”

We need to look at our “reflection” in the Perfect Law.

Let me digress for a minute. In James’ time, mirrors were highly polished pieces of brass, hardly a perfect reflection. The fact is, even now mirrors are less than great. We think they’re pretty swell, but you’ll notice that there’s some distortion caused by the glass interfering with the silver backing. In fact mirrors used for artistic purposes or photography have the silver on the facing side, otherwise you’ll get a double image.

But James re-affirms the scripture as “The Perfect Law”.
Q: How Perfect is the Law?

A: It can give freedom.

We tend, as humans, to think of law as being restriction. But God’s law isn’t about restricting us, it’s about freeing us to be what we were meant to be.

Let’s give this a context. The speed limit on the bypass is now 60 m.p.h.. Sometimes I am in a rush--okay, MOST of the time I am in a rush, and that speed limit seems like a restriction. But suppose I carelessly exceed that “limit”, get in an accident, and wind up in the hospital or the grave. The “restriction” had the power to keep me out of the hospital or grave, making me free to continue living my life.

God’s law is like that, only much higher. What seems like a restriction here and now opens to a freedom I probably can’t anticipate--especially if I am, what?

• Not Listening
• Busy Talking
and
• Getting Angry about the “injustice of it all”

vs. 26 “If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless”.

Have you ever noticed how people with a bunch of bumper stickers aren’t usually too pleasant to be around? The couldn’t sum up their complaint in just one sticker, so they add another and another, until the whole back of their car is one big quilt of vinyl? Do you ever seek out a conversation with these people? Or do you see their car in the parking lot at Ingles or Bi-Lo and think, “be on the lookout for that guy!”

Q: Why do we do avoid the opinionated bumper sticker guy?

A: Because he hasn’t “gotten it off his chest”.

He doesn’t feel better-- he’s in the grocery store somewhere waiting to pounce on the cashier, or the stock boy, or the manager, or you and me!

Of course there’s two problems with this observation:

As soon as I began writing down the “bumper sticker analogy” I thought about my own car. “How many bumper stickers have I got?” I asked myself. “Five, but that’s not so many,” was my answer, “and mine aren’t all opinionated like that other guys!”

So my bumper stickers express no opinion at all? Of course they do!

Let’s see, I’ve got one for Denmark, that’s where Karin’s family comes from. I liked visiting there, although it had it’s problems. That sticker says to the world, “I’ve traveled outside the U.S., so don’t think I’m too provincial.” I’ve got two Route 66 stickers. Those say, “I’m a bit of a traditionalist, and don’t mind driving my car anywhere I want to go.” I’ve got an Apple Computer sticker that says, “I like a computer that doesn’t require programming skills on my part.” And I’ve got a Ron Jon Surf shop sticker that says, “I wish I could surf, or want you to think I can.”

If you count my antenna topper (that would be number six),that says, “I like fast food, and I’ll even eat hot dogs.”

So I guess I’m a loud mouth too.

The second problem (a function of the first) is that I can’t be doing any listening if I don’t even want to meet the guy who I think has “a chip on his shoulder”, and all those bumper stickers.

Remember that James told us to be quick to listen. I think that I need to learn to listen to both God and men.

vs. 27 “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.”

I should define the word “religion” here. This refers to outward acts of religious devotion. The sad fact is that it’s very easy to appear religious--particularly in the eyes of the world. Dress up, go to church on Sunday, drop something in the plate…if you’re rich or a politician you can throw a fund raiser.

But James tells us we should “look after widows and orphans in their distress”, and then keep ourselves “from being polluted by the world.”

Remember before, James told us to “get rid of all moral filth”, why?

So we can:

• Not be angry
• Not speaking quickly
and so we can be
• Listening

How are we to know about the distress of the widow and orphan if we’re trying to fill ourselves with our selfish desires--failing to do so (which is inevitable), getting angry (as a result of our failure), ranting about how unfair it all is, and not listening?

James seems to be re-affirming the statement Christ made in Matt. 6:3

“But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing.”

As humans we want to do our sinning in secret and our religious acts in a big way. But Christianity says, “keep your religious acts to yourself, and confess your sinfulness openly.”

It’s an upside down thing, this faith of ours. Seems to me this mirror we’re looking into is like a fun house mirror--except it’s showing us that we’re the ones that are actually inverted.

While I was making my notes on this, a young boy was in the same hallway talking to his mother, “I want my toys--I want to go home to my toys.” His mother replied, “I want a good boy, who’s going to have a birthday in three days.” “Yeah, but I want my toys!”

This fellow was tired after a long day, and his mother was being exceedingly patient with him (his baby sister was asleep on her shoulder). “We’re going to go home tomorrow and then you can have your toys, AND then you’re going to have a big birthday party too.”

God treats us with great patience. We’re too busy talking to hear him saying, “we’re going home soon, and then it will be better than you can imagine.” “Yeah, but I want this thing right now.” God replies, “I don’t think you should have that thing right now, it’s not the right time.” “Yeah, but I want it anyway.” And so it goes.

My Sunday School lessons

2007-09-09T15:05:00.000-04:00

Anyone who's been paying attention to this blog since around March will notice that I haven't been posting as often as all that. (Not that I posted that much to start with). The main reason being that I've been teaching Adult Sunday School at my church (Covenant Presbyterian Church, Waynesville, NC) since Sunday March 4 of this year. Not satisfied with a traditional "quarterly" I opted to write my own notes for the class, thereby guaranteeing that I'd have a lot more work to do each week.

For months now I have been considering simply posting some of the lesson notes that I have written. For various reasons I have put this off, but now I'm going to do it. Today's post will begin my class notes from the epistle of James. If anyone cares to read these notes, fine. I hope you get a great deal of information from them.

I don't offer them lightly, but I'm also hoping that this doesn't open a can of worms in which everyone wanting to discuss comparative religion begins posting comments and e-mailing me day and night.

I'm not going to pretend that these notes are all encompassing. I'm writing simply from a Christian perspective, and even within Christian circles there are often disagreements on some of the finer points.

I also realize that I am departing somewhat from the stated purpose of this blog, wherein I proposed to ramble about my life as an artist and musician. Then again, since this Sunday School class has become something very important to my life, and as it affects my creative output as well, it is relevant to my "day job".

With that said, here are the notes:

Sunday March 4, 2007

James chapter 1: 1-18

•James 1:1 “A Strong First Impression”

I was tempted to say the meat of this first passage was in verses 2-18 but then was caught short by my own familiarity with this sort of salutation. It occurred to me that I was jumping ahead.

James is making a radical statement here:

“James, a servant of God…”

Familiarity has dulled our response to these words. Here a man is claiming to be a slave of God Himself! It is unlikely that many Hebrews living at this time would have thought in these terms; i.e. “I am proud of my slavery!”

Recall that the Pharisees claimed they were “slaves to no one”(John 8:33), in spite of the occupation of Palestine by Rome. So for any Hebrew to announce proudly his slavery would be a radical idea at the time.

If that’s not outrageous enough, he equates God and Jesus Christ (recall that you can’t be a slave to two masters, so this statement can only be taken as affirming the Deity of Christ).

This statement to a Jew during this time would be analogous to a British citizen coming to the US now and calling us “colonists”. It would rub us the wrong way. We might laugh it off, but we’d want to make sure that this Briton would know that we were no mere colony of the United Kingdom by the time we parted, right?

Historical context: The Nation of Israel had existed in various forms for nearly 1500 years at this point. The remnant of Israel had returned from Babylon 400 years before-and in spite of occupation by Alexander’s army and then the Romans, the Jews still considered themselves a free nation.

So James makes two outrageous claims here. (1)He’s a slave to God, and (2) God and Jesus are one in the same. I’m not sure of the construction in Greek but I suspect that these are actually reversed: “God and Jesus are the same, and I am a slave to God.”

Considering the political climate of the time James had signed his own death warrant with this salutation. He had offended both the Jewish rulers and the Roman government with this statement.

•Who is this James?

Probably NOT the Apostle James. Apostle died in A.D. 44, or about 11 years after Christ’s resurrection. The James here is writing to the “tribes scattered among the nations”, a reference to the first persecution (Acts 8:1).

The other two James mentioned in the NT did not have the standing in the early Church or the authority that seems apparent from this letter. In other words, they’d have likely identified themselves more clearly in the salutation.

Most likely this James was the eldest of the brothers of Jesus. He doesn’t actually say this, but the evidence is pretty good. (Seven qualifications found in NIV intro to James).
So if we assume that this is that same brother, what do we know about him from the Gospels?
(Matthew 13:55) He is listed first among Jesus’ brothers. So if he wasn’t the second son he was the most prominent.
(John 7:2-5) He and his brothers doubted Jesus initially. Typical of brothers, and reminds me of how Joseph’s brothers treated him.
(Jude 1)You’ll recall that Jude was a younger brother of Jesus, and in his epistle identifies himself as “brother of James”.

•James 1: 2-7 “Happy Trials”

vs.2 “Consider it pure joy…” How often do we do this? I know I don’t. When I face “trials of many kinds” I pout, grumble, mope, complain, rant, etc. But James says I should consider it a joy--PURE JOY! Delight in it.

But James is a practical man and doesn’t simply leave us with an empty platitude. He goes on to tell us why.

vs.3 “Because…” Very important word, “because”. He gives us the reason for the trials: To develop perseverance. But what good is perseverance?

vs.4 James really anticipates these questions well! What good is perseverance? It’s making us, “finished, mature, complete, not lacking anything.”

We all know what it’s like to be younger than we are now. And we should have some idea by now that wisdom is a result of experience, and time is required for us to have experienced things: When we were infants we didn’t know not to touch a hot stove. By the time we reached 5 we only touched one by accident, and then thought it was the end of the world. Now as adults we avoid hot stoves when we can and cope with a burn if one happens.

This is a simple material example of perseverance growing wisdom, and James wastes no time in connecting wisdom to perseverance:

vs. 5 “If any of you lack wisdom…”

This is often pointed to as one of God’s sure promises in the Bible. “…he should ask God…and it will be given to him.” But people often say that’s all you have to do, ask and BOOM! You’ve got it. But why then does James go on?

vs.6 cautions us “…when he asks, he must believe and not doubt…”

What is meant here by “believe”? Is it scrunching up our faces trying to force ourselves to believe something that defies our senses? Is it like clapping our hands in hopes of making Tinkerbell get well?

Of course not--People who truly believe in something don’t go around saying “I believe, I believe, I believe” in some sort of self-hypnotic mantra.

How do believing people behave?

They’re quietly confident--they can face any trial that comes their way with Joy and Perseverance!

vs. 9-11 James goes on to give us some specific examples.

Notice particularly the voice of belief in vs. 11 “…for the sun rises with scorching heat…” James speaks with complete confidence that as certain as the sun rises and flowers wilt, so our destinies are sure.

vs. 12 James sums up the principle. The result of blessing with the crown of life has resulted not from one instance of faithfulness, but a lifetime of smaller cycles of Trial-Perseverance-Blessing arriving at this ultimate blessing.

vs.13 “Tempted” here is the same root word in Greek as the word for “Trial” in vs.2-3. The distinction is that “Trials” are defined as external difficulties (like getting burned by a hot stove) and “Temptations” are our inner moral struggles, as in vs. 13-15.

“…no one should say God is tempting me…” Why? I actually hear this sort of thing a lot, from the unsaved and the Christian too.

First off we should recognize that God is Holy. Temptation doesn’t work on God because it has nothing to offer to God, no way to appeal to Him. (We attempt to drag God down to our level when we think that He could be tempted). God doesn’t hunger or thirst, he doesn’t need a house, or a bigger car. He has all the power, knows everything, etc. God doesn’t have these sorts of desires. (Admittedly, Jesus did face temptation in the desert, but this was his Human nature, not his God nature).

But we have desires aplenty. And they affect us.

vs. 14 “…each one is tempted when his selfish desires drag him away…”

Selfish desires drag us away -- away from what? The confidence that God has provided, and is providing, and will provide what we actually need.

That’s why James tells us in

vs. 16-17 “…every good and perfect gift is from above”. Everything else comes from selfish desires.

And finally James shows us the ultimate perfect gift:

vs. 18 “He chose to give us birth through the word of truth…”

Would I be digressing here into Calvinism to point out that I often tell friends that to be “born again” is nothing that we ourselves do? We had little or nothing to do with our first birth, how can we have anything to do with our second?

We have to look at all these words through fresh eyes.

We could look at life in the darkest of terms. Every single one of us is going to face difficulties in the near future, if we aren’t facing them right now; but as Christians we know that beyond those problems we have “the crown of life” waiting.

Can't imagine what's keeping that artwork from showing.

2007-09-05T18:11:00.000-04:00

Maybe now it will display? Hmmm?

Things we do for art, again.

2007-09-03T16:37:00.000-04:00

Artwork by James E. Lyle (Based on a publicity photo, presumably copyright by Ms. Eden, but used here only to demonstrate the technical ability of the artist).

Why do I do the things that I do? Good question…darned good question. Wish I had a good answer, but I don’t.

Above you will see (at least if the image hosting worked out as it has mostly in the past) a picture of Barbara Eden, rendered by me in “bing salad” colors. If you don’t know what a bing salad is, then you simply need to get down to the south sometime and experience one. (Hint: It’s not named after Bing Crosby).

Anyway, I did this piece last week. I had some other stuff I should have been working on, but I didn’t get to it.

I told myself that I was doing this piece for money. And that is, at least in part, true. I’m hoping it will sell on eBay at as high a price as the Lynda Carter piece did at Heroes Convention back in June. Barring that I hope that it will at least impress someone enough to convince them to commission a similar piece.

But there are some differences:

First off, Barbara Eden is not known for playing a comic book character. True, there have been “I Dream of Jeannie” comic books, but they were spin-offs of the TV show, not the other way around.

Secondly, this piece has no “hook” aside from the weird color interpretation. The Lynda Carter piece, besides showing her in the Wonder Woman costume she’s known for, had also the pop-art addition of a Che beret. That seemed to sell a lot of people on the piece. Whether they saw the intended satire or not I cannot say. But it seemed to work.

Third, the bidding at Heroes Convention was for charity and there were a lot of high spirits involved therein. I was pleased to know that my piece there went for $1700, but was also embarrassed a bit by all the adulation.

So it would be easy to say that I simply did the piece hoping to cash in, personally, by doing so. But I’ve got no guarantees that anyone will even care. I’ve had auctions crash and burn more often than I’d like to admit.

I will admit that when they crash and burn, I often accompany them emotionally.

Every time I put a piece up for auction on eBay I get the same feeling that I did in elementary school when I got up to bat in softball. I was usually picked last and calls of “easy out” still ring in my ears (Charlie Brown and I were obviously separated at birth).

So why do I do it? Why put myself through all that, again and again?

Because of the occasion of adulation. I may be embarrassed by it, but I also love it. In fact I very often would prefer to impress someone with my art than make a lot of money. Fortunately for my finances I’ve been doing both a lot more lately.

But I’ve also been experiencing a lot more clients walking away. I suppose it’s part of the percentages. That is; if I’m doing more work, making more money at it, then it stands to reason that I’ll have a larger number of clients that will walk away not completely satisfied.

The last client to drop out, did so a couple of weeks ago and it brought me down. It was affecting my work, and so I tried a couple of pieces. I thought I’d take another stab at a 60s Black Widow (before her hair turned red), and posed out a couple of figures that I thought worked. But I got halfway through both and was completely disappointed with the results.
I even tried to use Barbara Eden as the face for that Black Widow piece. I figured it was a natural.

But it stunk.

Okay, so I had all this research on Barbara Eden and an itch to draw her face. This is the result.

So far my wife, Karin, is impressed…and also my student Cierra. They both liked the art, so I figure I’ve got a chance. I sent the scan to my agent on Friday, but I’d forgotten that he was away at Dragon*Con this weekend, so I haven’t heard what he thinks yet. We’ll see.

After taking a couple of days away from the studio, I have to admit that it looks better than I thought it did originally (and I liked it before). So maybe it will sell.

When Steve Martin got the Mark Twain Award for American Comedy he said, “this award is our nation’s highest award for comedy…next to money.” (I laughed and laughed).

Putting a piece of art on eBay is sort of like that. I want people’s approval and adulation (this is a character flaw, I admit), but if that approval results in them giving me their money then I feel exonerated. If it ends in them giving me a lot of money then even better.

Not that life is about money, or adulation. But my experience says that being an artist means needing a certain amount of both.

The trick is not needing so much of either to get by. That I have to work on.

Gypsy Bandwagon Update!

2007-08-24T16:31:00.000-04:00

Time to update on the Gypsy Bandwagon show!

As you may have read (if you didn’t check the last entry, below) my preparations for a GB show often seem to start off rather…leisurely. But things have picked up since then.

On Tuesday I practiced drums for around two hours. Then I restrung one of my mallets, that will be needed when we play “Theme from Gypsy Bandwagon” and “Full Rigged Ship” tomorrow night. Can’t risk an equipment failure.

I did other stuff, but that was art related and office related. Hardly relevant to the GB show.

On Wednesday I got the “official” play list from Lance via e-mail, and made my own based on it. My personal play list has to contain more than just the song name, because I am constantly switching instruments during the show. Most folks must figure, “well he plays drums, how hard is that?” But with GB there is always a tweak here and there. I don’t just play the trap set.

I’ve got the Djembe too, which was added to the set up when I joined the band. ( I’d never set eyes on one previously ). So I have to know if I’m playing the Djembe alone, or with the trap bass, or tambourine, or hi hat ( by foot pedal ). I have to know if I’m using light or heavy sticks, mallets, rain stick, jingle ring, etc. So my notes have to be pretty copious in that way.

Not to mention that the sets and arrangements are always changing. I’m not complaining, but Lance and Carissa keep Karin and me on our toes. I’m always being asked to back off here or there, or bring more energy to this part of a song. A lot of times this happens only in rehearsal, but more than once we’ve done it mid-show! So my playlist has to have everything as neatly notated as possible so that if a change does come midway I can adapt.

Anyway the set list took some time. Then I had to practice for an hour or so.

Then Karin had to go practice in Cashiers, NC for a performance on Sunday morning. While this isn’t directly related to GB, it is an issue, since we’ll be playing from 8-10 pm on Saturday at Purple Onion, then leaving out as quickly as possible so that we can drop all our equipment at the studio and get some sleep before getting up at 5:30 am Sunday to load Karin’s harp and hit the road for Cashiers. So the drive out there Wednesday evening was a “dry run” for that.

Thursday I came in to the studio and ( again ) beside my art duties I wrote down a new song I’d been working on for GB to perform at some future date.

Last evening was our first rehearsal proper for the show. Lance and Carissa showed up here at the studio around 6:40 pm and we worked on material, new and old, until around 9:30. I did get a chance to play my new song for them, and it looks like we might do it! Lance complemented it for being “melody-driven”. Not bad for a drummer.

Today I have to pack up all my drums as well as Karin’s equipment ( Bass, Mandolin, Fiddle, and all assorted accessories ) and get them ready to go to Lance and Carissa’s so that we can practice all the songs we didn’t do last night ( and any that didn’t come off last night ). Once we’re done with the second rehearsal I have to break down the drums again and pack the car for the show tomorrow.

We’re supposed to pick up our friend Courtney on the way there. I don’t know if Courtney counts as a “groupie” per se, but we’re picking her up and Lance and Carissa are driving her back home after the gig. It’s been a while since any of us has seen her, so it will be nice.

( I’m pretty sure that Lance is working on some groupie jokes even as I write this…so look out, Courtney! )

We thought we’d get a break on Monday. Only Karin got a last minute gig for Lake Junaluska Monday night. So it looks like we’re going on to Tuesday before the “tour” is over. We may not be a big name band, but between gigging and roadie-ing I’m devoting a lot of time to music.

This has nothing to do with GB, but my studio is crawling with tiny ants. I should probably do something about that.

I exercise in a most unusual way.

2007-08-20T16:58:00.000-04:00

I exercise in a most unusual way.

Most reading that will not get the reference, so why did I use it? Just me being obscure.

The reference is to a song by “Wall of Voodoo”, an 80s band, famous for the tune “Mexican Radio”.

Speaking of obscure bands, Gypsy Bandwagon has a gig this Saturday night at The Purple Onion in Saluda, NC. And I’m getting ready for that gig.

Which brings me back to exercising in a most unusual way. I don’t have a clue how other bands get ready for a gig. I’m sure, like GB, they get together for at least a few rehearsals before the gig proper. But what the individual members do to prepare mentally is possibly, even probably, much different than what I do.

What I’ve done, at least enough to call it a routine, is pull out a bunch of “inspirational” videos by other bands. I’m a pretty visual sort of guy (recall that I’m an illustrator in my other identity), so this makes sense to me.

So on Friday and Saturday nights I reviewed “U2: Rattle and Hum”. Sunday at lunch Karin and I watched “The Partridge Family” pilot (all inspiration is not equal). Last night I looked at a batch of 80s videos from MTV (how much hair did we have back then?). As the week continues I’ll doubtless watch various other films and videos that may or may not include; “Oh, brother where art thou?”, “The Monkees”, “Newsboys: Down Under the Bigtop”, “That thing you do!”, etc.

I’m pretty eclectic.

Saturday night I also came over to the studio (where Karin was, working on her MySpace page) and plugged in the electric guitar (with effects) and jammed along with old records of Cheap Trick, 'Til Tuesday, The Clash, Thompson Twins, and (you guessed it) Wall of Voodoo. Those old 45s still sound pretty good to me.

Today I’ve been inking some more on the pirate novel illustrations. I’m very far behind on that project, so it’s a good thing I’ve gotten some more done. (Hi Tim!)

While I’ve been inking I put on GB’s album “Stole My Mule” and harmonized to the tracks where I was supposed to.

So far I’ve hardly touched the drum set. You have to work up to these things.

I just recalled that I did drum briefly on Saturday when I came into the studio to do something that was going to take a couple of minutes. I guess I sat down and drummed to “Voices Carry” while waiting for something to upload, download, or scan. I don’t recall what.

But other than that, I’ve not drummed in weeks. Not consciously anyway.

I do it unconsciously all the time. I suppose that’s how one becomes a drummer. Anytime a song is in the air, I find myself either drumming along or thinking of how it would be improved if done another way. I beat on the steering wheel in the car. I raise a cloud of dust from the floor mats doing bass beats. I have worn a spot of carpet away at my drawing table doing beats with my feet.

One reason I haven’t actually sat down to drum yet (it is, in fact, why I’m not drumming now) is that Karin’s got a student next door playing harp. She’s had students all day, and I hate to be bashing away at some piece and throwing them off their rhythm. So I have to wait until the students go away to get my proper practice in.

Of course today that will be impossible. Karin’s got students until 7pm, and seeing as it’s our 19th Anniversary today, I’m hoping to sweep her away to a fabulous (low-to-mid-priced) dinner and maybe a movie (we’d do more, but we’ve been in a budget crunch since mid-July).

Perhaps I can pull the Djembe over into a corner and do some hand work, now that I think of it.

Anyway, the point is, I do things to inspire me to do well as drummer for GB. The things that inspire me are usually listening to and watching bands that are stylistically pretty far away from the GB sound.

For the record, I do not listen to a bunch of gypsy music or celtic music. Playing it with Lance, Carissa, and Karin is a lot of fun, but it’s not my listening style. I’m sorry if that disappoints any GB fans. (There’s what? At least one of you looking at this, right?)

Of course I did just listen to “Stole My Mule” (the whole thing, start to finish), so that counts, doesn’t it?

So, now I’m going to take the next step and look at the artwork on the cover, and reread the liner notes!

If you're going to swipe, swipe big!

2007-07-13T13:02:00.000-04:00

Artwork by James E. Lyle. Batman and all related characters copyright © and trademark DC Comics, Inc.

“If you’re going to swipe, swipe big!” That’s what I told my buddy Aaron when I showed him the pencils for this piece. In comics they don’t come any bigger than Frank Frazetta, and I have been dying to do a swipe of one or more of his Famous Funnies covers for the last 5 years, ever since I saw some of them reproduced in a auction catalog.

But it wasn’t until Jim Amash and I were talking at Heroes Convention ‘07 that I really thought I could pull it off. Then later that day I bought a set of EC Picto-Fiction reprints that contain a previously unpublished story with Frank Frazetta art. The story was “Came the Dawn” from Shock Illustrated #4, and it showed a lot about Frazetta’s process that I hadn’t previously known, and I got real inspired.

One of the scariest images in my childhood was the cover to an issue of Batman that I’ve never owned. In fact, I’m not even sure what issue it actually is. I saw an advertisement for it in a copy of Detective Comics I bought second hand at a school rummage sale when I was in elementary school. (Even then the book was coverless, dog-eared, and around 10 years old. I thought I’d found a golden age copy for a steal of a price at 10¢. Turned out to be a 1963 book done just before the “new look” came to Batman). The image was of Batman transformed into a monster hanging from the top of an Empire State type building fighting against airplanes in King Kong style. As a second grader I was pretty timid and this image haunted me. But even then I didn’t like the style it was drawn in.

When I saw Frank Frazetta’s cover to Famous Funnies #213, over 30 years later, I got that same creepy feeling. And I suppose that’s what finally clicked to create this image. Batman transformed into a monster, but drawn realistically.

I’m inking the image as I write this. Frankly, I’m so excited by the work that I had to take a break before my hands started shaking and I ruined the piece. It will be my masterpiece, I’ve no doubt.

This piece will be super clean as my commissions have been since I did my tenure with Buzz Setzer mentoring me about eBay sales. “Art collectors hate white out!” he always tells me, and so I don’t use it anymore. I have also learned that art collectors prefer no paste up when they can get it. So I’ve learned to reproduce logos by hand. Not too hard since I did that for two years when I worked full time in a tee-shirt factory art department (before computers were in common use).

Before I forget, I chose this logo simply because it’s my second favorite Batman logo of all time. First favorite goes to the late 60s logo used during the Infantino to Brown/Giella period of Batman. This logo I like to refer to as the “transitional” logo. There was a period there where the logo on Batman just couldn’t seem to make up it’s mind. Somewhere in the 210s to 220s this logo appeared. On the cover of 223 the lettering appeared “naked” (with no bat around it) and then for a while, in the 230s the word “Batman” got squashed up into the upper three-quarters of the logo to make room for “and Robin” down below (apparently Robin’s departure from Wayne Manor was actually hurting sales and the logo change assured readers that the “teen wonder” was actually in this issue). There was even one issue of Batman with a Neal Adams cover and a much older cover logo that hadn’t been used since the 40s! But with issue 241 the new “pointy eared” logo made its appearance and was used almost constantly from that point on until the 400s (only losing its place on the cover of 366 because Walt Simonson did such a great job of building the word “Batman” into the artwork that it didn’t need a logo).

Don’t get me wrong, I liked the “pointy eared” Batman logo when it first came out. It just suffered from overexposure. So my second favorite Bat logo got relegated to covers of “The Brave and The Bold” in reduced format next to who ever was guest starring in that issue.

When I was working at that tee-shirt factory, we got the license to do some Batman night shirts, and being the resident Batman nut they gave me the opportunity to pitch some designs. This logo was in the official Batman movie style-book and I told them that this would be a big hit with all the comics fans, particularly if we used a cool color scheme. This idea was rejected, along with most of my other pitches on that project. So using it here may be part of my outrage at them for not using it then.

So the next question has got to be, “why Batgirl, and why not the TV Batgirl since you’ve had so much success with that?” Why Batgirl? Because I couldn’t think of a more effective Batman character to have threatened by this monstrous Batman. Why not the TV Batgirl? Well that’s because of the cover to Detective Comics #371, “Batgirl’s Costume Cut-Ups!” A story in which we fans learned that Batgirl’s costume is subject to runs. There’s simply something goofy about that, and I wanted to incorporate that into this image. Yvonne Craig’s costume may be a lot of things, but it was pretty obviously run-proof. Not so the comic book Batgirl.

Or did you mean, “why THAT Batgirl”, instead of the new one? I don’t like the new one. Sorry. And while I like Oracle okay, I’d rather have Barbara out there doing the Batgirl thing. I’ve got a chip on my shoulder about it too. It always bugged me that the writers and editors made Barbara Gordon a boring character and then blamed her for being that way. She started out interesting. She was a librarian who put on a Bat costume and looked really great in it. That was interesting. And the costume was interesting. Black and sleek with hints of yellow and blue.

Then they decided to make it gray, and make Barbara a congresswoman. Booorrriing.

Which is not to say that I thought “The Killing Joke” was bad. But it was more of the same for Barb. She even looked old in that book. Older than Batman. “Ho-hum, life sure is dull after you’ve been a congresswoman, guess I’ll read another book.”

When you make the day job more interesting than the nighttime adventures what do you expect the readers to think? The Clark Kent paradigm works. He’s a wimp when he’s Clark, and he’s interesting when he’s Superman. Barbara was powerless and boring as a librarian, but powerful and attractive as Batgirl. That was the point.

Makes me wonder what the point is of having her cowering at the feet of this monster-Batman. Hmmm. That’s going to take a while to figure out. I run the risk of being in the position of Spinal Tap trying to defend themselves over “Smell the Glove”. But she’s still on her feet! She’s got a look of concern on her face, not total abject fear. We all know that if this were the comic that she’d find the antidote and change Bruce back before the tale was over.

Another reason comes to mind. Back when I was first trying to become a comics artist., (around 1980) I drew a sample cover based on an idea from my sister-in-law. The idea being that Batman has so played the “creature of the night” angle that a little kid who didn’t know who Batman was would be scared of the Dark Knight. I thought this was pretty good stuff and showed the cover to Rich Buckler who was a guest at a show. He said the drawing was okay, but there was a “sort of taboo in comics of showing little kids being threatened”. So I never showed the art to any editors. But Batgirl is no kid. She knows Batman, and so this is a call back to that idea too. The idea that Batman can be scary at times, can I make him even scarier?

So what’s with the tattered cape? That goes way back too. When I was a kid I was a big Batman fan (what? You’d guessed already?) Even as a preschooler I saw Batman in everything. I thought the Traveler’s Insurance billboard in my hometown was somehow related to Batman, because I didn’t get that umbrellas weren’t scalloped to resemble Batman’s cape. Scallops have been a big part of my design sense ever since. I still love umbrellas as a design motif; black, satin, scalloped. The say, “Batman” (or “Penguin”, which relates to Batman, so it’s the same thing).

A lot of other designers have seen this potential in scallops. The designers of the Fokker Triplane for example. The designer of “Birdie” from Airboy obviously got this. In fact it seems pretty obvious that the Penguin was just an attempt to get more scallops into Batman comics.

When John Byrne took over Superman in the 80s he made Superman’s cape tearable. I got what this was about immediately. If you can’t scallop a cape (like Batman’s already is) then you tear a cape. The design possibilities become myriad at that point. So when I did T.H.U.N.D.E.R. at Solson I made sure that NoMan’s cape was tattered.

With this image, I wanted to make Batman more and more scary. So I added the tatters. Tatters are, simply stated, very complex scallops. At least that’s how I draw them.

Now, why did I do the complicated Wally Wood styled background? Well, for one that was in the Frazetta piece. But there’s more to it than that. I always feel like the Batcave should be more complex than is usually shown. It should have myriad passages like no other secret base in the whole of comic-dom. The agents of AIM should see the Batcave and drool. Modok should see it and think, “I gotta get me one of THOSE!”

So I figure this is an unused corner of the Batcave.

Why the water on the floor? I can’t explain why, but I keep thinking of the line from Thomas Dolby’s song “Weightless” and the line, “she went to the basement; fruit juice everywhere!”
Well, actually the line is, “she bent to the basin, fruit juice everywhere.” But when I first heard it the line was the former. So I’ve always thought of the line meaning a basement full of fruit juice. If I color the piece that liquid will probably look like orange or possibly cranberry juice. The trick will be to keep it from looking like some bodily fluid in the process.

Speaking of bodily fluids, what’s up with the Batarang dripping grue? I have no idea, other than it’s just supposed to be creepier than if it was just a Batarang alone. It’s not Batgirl’s blood, there’s not a scratch on her. Other than the runs in her outfit (which is, admittedly, a difficult proposition) she’s intact.

Funny how that word “creepy” keeps coming up. I have considered that this is sort of like a “what if?” proposition. That is, “what if Jim Warren had somehow gotten the rights to do an issue of Creepy Magazine featuring Batman?” This might have been the cover. Frazetta would have drawn the most amazing Batman covers ever. But he never did. So I get to. Okay, nobody assigned the work but me alone, but I’m still having fun with it.

Now, getting back to the whole thing of swiping from a Frazetta piece. My wife even asked me, “can you do that?” My response was that Howard Chaykin did a number of covers to American Flagg! that were direct swipes from Harvey Kurtzman covers. So I guess I can.

Actually there’s a long tradition of swiping poses in fine art. One of the most obvious would probably be “The sleeping Venus” by Giorgione in 1509, the pose swiped by Titian in 1538 for “The Venus of Urbino”, and much later (1863) appropriated by Manet for “Olympia”. So I defend my choice of appropriating this pose.

Summing up; What’s the point of it all? The point of it all is to have fun. If I can’t own a Frank Frazetta piece I can make an approximation of it. That’s one of the great things about being an artist, anything I can visualize I can, in essence, make my own by simply drawing it. Sometimes this is a curse. In situations like this it’s a real treat.

Hope everyone enjoys it. I’ll be working on the inks and enjoying them.

Deadlines

2007-03-20T18:05:00.000-04:00

Why Deadlines are our friends.

The name “deadline” seems pretty intimidating. It always has to me, anyway. Ever since I first encountered the concept sometime in my early teens as I was grasping the various concepts associated with my chosen field of drawing stuff.

So it doesn’t surprise me that we have expressions like “the dreaded deadline doom” in our society. But I’ve come to realize just what a boon deadlines can be.

I just finished one up, in fact. Yep. I just finished another series of illustrations for Weekly Reader Corporation (the little darlin’s just keep coming back for more, and I couldn’t be happier about it). Burned a disk, packed it up and sent it out via UPS to the WR folks in Stamford, CT. (I won’t tell you who, what, or how much…sorry, some things are still private).

But I will tell you this, I got the job about 22 days ago, and have been on the work pretty much since then. I was glad to get the work, as I had just gotten back from MegaCon in Orlando…which did not go as well as I had hoped it would.

So I went from discouraged to full out elated in about two seconds when WR got in touch.

But, unlike some other clients, WR is a breeze to work with. (I should mention that this has been my experience at WR throughout my time doing freelance there. I’ve worked with three awesome art directors so far, and hope to do more there in the future). I think it helps having a tight deadline.

This one was extremely tight. Four illustrations in 22 days may not seem like much to some, but recall that these each had to be presented to the publication every step of the way: I had to turn in thumbnails, get those approved by art director and creative director (and probably editor too); go to pencil roughs, get those approved; do the inks, get the okay; then do all the colors, and make sure those were good.

There was not a lot of time for rethinking things along the way. Every step had to be pretty much on the mark, every time. So I’m proud of what I’ve done. And I’ve even managed to keep several other freelance projects going at the same time.

Hopefully, this will mean that I can pay my taxes on time.

I’d like to publicly acknowledge my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ for making it all possible, and keeping me healthy during the drawing phase (because I couldn’t afford to be out sick or the whole thing would have fallen apart). I’d also like to thank my wife for doing her part to keep the food coming, and getting me to our chiropractor and massage therapist a couple of times during it all.

I was talking about deadlines.

In this case the deadline was my friend (although at around 11 this morning it was looking pretty evil when my CD burner was acting up). If the deadline hadn’t have been tight I might have been asked to make major changes in my art.

Not that WR has ever done this to me! (I like working at WR and don’t want to mess that deal up, that’s why I keep coming back to this point).

I hate making changes over and over. That is extremely frustrating. I’ve had clients who want to micromanage and they drive me nuts.

Almost as bad is the client who has an artificial deadline that is much too tight, and then when you do as good a job as you can during the time given…and that job sort of stinks because you did it too fast…then the client sits on the job for another six weeks! If I’d had a week more to fix that job it could have been great. But the artificial deadline messed it all up.

But I still like deadlines. They give me the right to say, “that’s good enough, I can go on to the next thing!”

For instance, I’ve been writing my own notes for a Sunday School class I’m teaching. I write my notes on Sunday evenings, visit with my minister on Monday for lunch and run those notes by him, then type the notes up during the week, usually finishing up on Saturday sometime. Nice and neat.

My minister, on the other hand, (who is very candid about his process, so probably won’t mind me saying this here) gets up around 4 a.m. on Sunday to get his notes together for his 11 am sermon.

It’s not that he procrastinates at all. He’s been working on that sermon all week. I see him on Monday and he’s working on it even then. He is so conscientious about it that he just has to do that extra work every time.

I told him yesterday, if it comes down to that for me, I’d better start using a lesson quarterly.

But I’ve been doing the deadline thing for so long now that it’s begun to be easier for me. I get to the target date and I can let go. That’s good.

That’s not to say that I’m not a little nervous right now waiting to hear if the overnight package got to Stamford okay. But the creative thing is done. For good or ill, the art is “in the can”.

Now I can get to work on other stuff.

5 Possible Reasons they killed Captain America

2007-03-08T11:43:00.000-05:00

Before getting to work today, I thought I’d procrastinate a while.

It’s the professional thing to do (as I was noticing while reading the latest issue of “The Cartoon!st”, the official publication of the National Cartoonists Society).

Anyway, rather than read all the exploits of my fellow cartoonists, or do all the work I have to do (several illustrations for READ! magazine, a CD cover for a metal band out of San Francisco, and a bunch of illustrations for Kaso Comics) I thought I’d comment on the “Death of Captain America.”

Needless to say, I am pretty cynical about this move on Marvel Comic’s part. You wouldn’t catch DC doing this sort of stuff with Superman! Oh, wait, they already did…

Anyway, I thought I’d list off five possible reasons that Marvel chose to kill off one of comic’s most beloved characters.

5) Is Joe Simon’s lawsuit for the return of the rights to Cap settled? I never saw the end of the thing in the comics press, (since that was about the time I got really ticked off about the whole process of trying to be a full time comics artist and decided to actually make a living as an illustrator). If Joe’s still got a case pending, then I can see the wheels turning at Marvel. “We own the TRADEMARK on the name. Joe created a particular character, which he may or may not own the COPYRIGHT on. So we kill off Steve Rogers, wait a while, and then come out with the ‘New-Improved Captain America’ !” (possibly a more PC version, see below).

4) Marvel simply didn’t know what to do with Cap any more. He’s a non-PC character in the hands of more or less PC editors and publishers. You can’t make a character like Steve Rogers “politically correct” without scrapping the entire continuity of the past. Joe Simon was quoted on the news show I saw (on a Fox station BTW) as saying that he isn’t happy, and that America really needs a character like Cap right now. I agree. But a compassionate conservative like Cap just doesn’t fly with the Marvel editorial slant, and so he’s got to go.

3) They were concerned that DC’s “52” was, in fact, outselling Marvel’s “Civil War”. (To be honest I have hardly touched either series myself. Both appeared too grim to even consider, and so I’ve only paid a little attention to either. I have to say that the art has been nice, what I’ve seen of it, on both maxi series). Also, it should be noted that “52” is a weekly series, while “Civil War” has been a regular monthly; so any talk of “outselling” on DC’s part is primarily a numbers game, although if we’re just talking in the sense of moving tons of paper around, then DC has won this hand.

2) They thought it would get the attention of the news media (it did) and help them sell a bunch of comics.

1) They thought it would sell a bunch of comics.

There you have it. A brief, cynical, analysis of the latest event in big-time American comics publishing. I’m not buying a copy myself. I can imagine that even now the comic shops are posting “Sold out of the Death of Captain America” signs on their doors.

I’m not saying that it isn’t an interesting story idea. What I am saying is something my wife mentioned just last night; “why is every storyline lately about death?” I’ll go further than that, “why is every storyline lately about VIOLENT death?” We need more life in comics. We need more life in the media in general. Sad state of affairs.

I dream of working without interruptions…

2007-02-02T13:40:00.000-05:00

I dream of Jeannie is a property of Screen Gems Productions. Artwork by James E. Lyle

The image above has almost nothing to do with what I was going to talk about today. But since I get more people looking at stuff when I include artwork, this is what you get.

The piece above was done around Christmas of this past year, for my friend and patron, Tim Chandler. He was going to give it to a friend as a present. So I happily took his money and turned out a pretty decent piece, if I do say so myself.

Now, as to what I was going to talk about.

There's a great paradox in being a freelance. You'd think I'd be constantly drawing. But then I have to do a great deal of self-promotion. During the times that I have a lot to draw, I have little time for self-promo, and then I get done with whatever assignment I've been working on, and have to get back onto finding jobs.

Preferably I'd spend my days drawing. The fact is that I'm sitting here with a piece on my drawing table that needs inking, and I'll get to that in a few minutes. But right now I'm blogging. I function that seems contrary to that ideal of actually drawing.

However I have to eat. A function neccessary to my continued breathing. Which is required if I want to keep on drawing.

So the idea of me simply sitting at my drawing board all day drawing, is unrealistic at best.

The piece that I'm currently working on is for a lady in California who wants her boyfriend drawn on a comic book cover as a surprise. Since I'm giving little detail here, I'm sure I won't spoil the surprise.

After that I'm supposed to be doing a number of mini-portraits of famous people for the "Character Counts" School Agenda people (Alliance Publishing). You may have seen the "Character Counts" banner in front of a school in your district. I was shocked and pleased the first time I saw one. It's kind of nice to see something that I've worked on actually having an impact somewhere.

But in between jobs I have to make sure that I'll have more work in the future. So earlier this week I ordered a copy of "The Artist's and Graphic Designer's Market 2007" (got a good deal on Amazon.com, of course). I wrote an art director who had just informed me that a piece we'd worked on together WASN'T going to see print after all (it's not her fault, and we're hoping to work together on something else soon). I just wrote my buddy, Butch Guice, hoping he might have a contact or two for me…

This sort of thing goes on and on. It's becoming second nature to me. It's sort of like digging around in dumpsters for scraps (not to cast aspersions on any of the people mentioned above). But what truly amazes me about it, is I took so long to develop this skill.

They call it "networking". Pretty funny name for it if you consider the above analogy. And I have adapted slowly to the idea. I see young artists every day that seem to know more about networking than actually drawing, and I envy them! Then again, if I'd known better how to get work back in my 20s I might neve have worked as hard at learning to draw.

I'm sure I've still got a long way to go in both respects, but at least I'm out there trying.

Now I have to stop doing the self-promo networking thing and get back to drawing.

The lady's a Tiger!

2007-01-30T18:08:00.000-05:00

image © copyright James E. Lyle

My buddy, Matt, e-mailed me today and reminded me of the fact that I hadn't posted much artwork here lately. Not in so many words mind you. He was talking about other stuff (like maybe even some paying gigs for me as an artist). But he did remind me. So, being as he's the guy who got me started with this whole blogging thing I thought I'd better upload an image to ImageShack® and see if I could actually still do this sort of thing. We'll see. I'm pretty rusty.

After some fiddling, an image is up! Hooray!

Okay, now about the image. Several years ago on Halloween, my wife, Karin (the famous one in our family, but not the punk guitarist of note) was teaching late. I was bored and decided to design a costume I thought she'd like. This is the result. It was done in color pencil on a sheet of tracing paper, then affixed to a sheet of illo board and scratched with an x-acto knife to make the whisker effects.

I'm still proud of the results after all this time and actually still send this out as a portfolio sample from time to time. In fact, I'm doing that today, between everything else.

There's been a lot of "else" lately. Which explains why I haven't been blogging. Which brings us full circle.

Now I have to go check an e-mail from Matt. Go figure.

I wondered why my head was spinning!

2007-01-24T17:45:00.000-05:00

Okay, I've made a point not to let this blog become a political thing. There's just too much of that sort of thing going on, and frankly I'd rather not become part of it. I have my opinions and I vote my conscience. However I can not be quiet about the latest outrage from the "New" Congress.

Sorry guys you blew it.

Perhaps one can debate stem cell funding.

Perhaps talk radio annoys some.

Perhaps some would like to enact "hate crimes" legislation.

But to introduce language into the Lobbying reform bill that would strip citizens of their right to petition the federal government…no, you aren't getting off that easy.

Sure, the language WAS stripped out of the house bill before the bill passed (and lobbying reform is a good idea in my book), but that the language was even introduced is an insult to everyone who claims to be a Democrat! In fact it's an insult to everyone who claims to be an American.

I am insensed (can you tell?) that we have elected officials in congress who swore to uphold the constitution, who apparently haven't the foggiest idea of what that document declares.

Embarrassing isn't it?

I understand that the Senate version of the bill may re-instate the offending language.

You might want to reconsider your vote from November.

I expect I'll be slammed with protests about this post. But I'm still right.

Rough Draft of what I'm sending out to papers

2006-10-24T14:31:00.000-04:00

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.
###

What do you mean by "Country" ?

2006-10-19T12:41:00.000-04:00

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.

Creating Comic Characters

2006-10-10T12:16:00.000-04:00

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.

What I did over my summer vacation.

2006-09-20T10:56:00.000-04:00

“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.

Thinking I'll go out for Pizza

2006-07-10T18:48:00.000-04:00

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?

Doodle Stands Up

2006-06-13T18:53:00.000-04:00

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!

The New Cars "controversy"

2006-06-05T15:56:00.000-04:00

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.

Not too HTML savvy.

2006-05-22T18:36:00.000-04:00

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.

Criminals Beware!

2006-05-06T20:00:00.000-04:00

“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

Bacteria, Bachelorhood, and Blogs

2006-05-05T18:17:00.000-04:00

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.

On the off chance that anyone's looking

2006-04-07T17:54:00.000-04:00

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.

An apology of sorts

2006-03-29T18:59:00.000-05:00

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.

Visit to the VA hospital, etc.

2006-03-28T12:21:00.000-05:00

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.

The Rock Star Life is not for me!

2006-03-21T19:05:00.000-05:00

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.

Stress!

2006-03-13T17:47:00.001-05:00

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.

Going to a convention, the Guest's perspective.

2006-02-17T18:27:00.000-05:00

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!

Simon Says

2006-02-02T13:12:00.000-05:00

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.

Holy Hues!

2006-01-31T18:28:00.000-05:00

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!

Tarheel Artwheel does Cartwheels for Art Deal

2006-01-26T12:34:00.000-05:00

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.

Hey I drew something!

2006-01-23T17:46:00.000-05:00

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?

Uncle Biscuit on Uncle Biscuit

2006-01-20T15:42:00.000-05:00

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.

A goul named Sven

2006-01-08T19:21:00.000-05:00

The Chicago area is home to a lot of stuff. Da Bears, Da Bulls, Da Cubs (and you have to pronounce the “s” sound as a “ce” sound if you want to do it right).

The Chicago area is also home to my wife’s family.

And then there’s Sven.

Although I grew up on B-horror shows, it wasn’t until I was in my late 20s that I discovered “Mystery Science Theater 3000” and for a long time that show eclipsed all other B-flick venues in my admiration. I still love the show, but enough time has gone by that I’m beginning to see the beauty of similar programming on the local level.

A few years ago I discovered Sven. It took me a little while to warm up to the guy. But, now I can say I’m a devoted follower of “Svengoolie” on WCIU-TV (26 in Chicagoland). Every time I visit my in-laws I search the listings to find out when Sven will be on.

A bit of a task, that. WCIU keeps moving the poor guy around! Last night I managed to catch half of “The Magic Sword” before punking out and going to bed (hey, I do like to make Sunday School when I can). A very hilarious episode, based on a decidedly bad movie. A movie that I’m pretty sure every local horror host has either aired or is planning to air.

In fact some of the same films have run on Sven that were just a few years ago sent-up by MST3K. Guess what? It makes no difference! It’s like seeing a different production of Hamlet. Well, maybe it’s more like seeing another stand-up routine where the comic does an imitation of Shatner…

The point is, that Sven brings something unique to his host segments, that the Minneapolis crowd wouldn’t have.

Not to say that my opinion of the “Film Crew” (née MST3K) is diminished by this in any way. But Sven has an act that is all his own.

So why am I bringing this up? I wish that I had the influence to get WCIU to realize what a gem they have in this Berwyn-bashing clown! I don’t need to see “Elimidate” or “South Park”, get to SVEN!

Sven should be on a little earlier in the evening, or back in the afternoon. And WCIU should definitely consider licensing out the guy on DVDs! I’d buy them.

Anyone else out there who feels this way should let WCIU know that Sven should be on earlier, and more often! They could put him in repeats like FOX or WB; show him in his regular Saturday time slot AND repeat that episode the middle of the next week. I wouldn’t kick.

Of course the problem is I’m in Illinois about four weeks a year. I wouldn’t have much pull with the station.

The fellow who plays Sven also shows up on at least two other shows on WCIU. Appearing as himself ,Rich Koz, on “Stoogeapalooza” and I also saw him a while back as “Stu Dent” on WCIU’s “School TV” in the afternoon.

I figure it this way “Rich / Sven / Stu” is probably at least part owner of WCIU. (Anyone who knows different, let me know). He’s probably filling a dozen hats over at the UHF outfit, including acting as host to any show that needs hosting, and probably cleaning the restrooms when everyone goes home. So he’s probably just dying (get it?) to hear from a bunch of fans who are demanding his show go back into a more prime time slot!

At very least the Chicago Tribune should take notice and bother to put the program name (“That’s ‘Svengoolie…Ess, vee, in, gee, owe…’”) in the TV listings, rather than “movie, channel 26”. And any of you fans from elsewhere who find yourself in Chicagoland should definitely bother to dial the show up when you’re here.

http://www.wciu.com/shows_svengoolie_bio.asp

(sorry gang, my HTML skills are not up to par, and my notes are back in WNC. Try the cut and paste route).

48 Hours, Bah! Humbug!

2005-12-21T11:19:00.000-05:00

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

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

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

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

The first quarter of the program dealt with this question.

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

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

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

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

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

Mark doesn’t give an account of the Nativity.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Scrooge at least knew when to repent.

Uncle Biscuit Rides Again!

2005-12-20T11:53:00.000-05:00

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Enough on that subject.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

As a public service…

2005-12-05T17:22:00.000-05:00

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Step four: Read the "re" line closely.

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

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

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

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

But I digress…

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Haberdashery and other things

2005-11-29T12:22:00.000-05:00

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

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

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

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

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

Musical thoughts

2005-11-23T18:17:00.000-05:00

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Whine, Whine, Whiiiine!

2005-11-18T12:24:00.000-05:00

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

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

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

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

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

A lot's been happening

2005-11-10T11:48:00.000-05:00

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

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

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

Hope you enjoy this nice Black Canary art.

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

I am not Tom

2005-11-05T17:06:00.000-05:00

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Red letter day!

2005-11-04T18:15:00.000-05:00

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

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

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

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

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

But on to other stuff.

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

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

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

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

EXCELSIOR!

(D'oh!)

Why does it take so long to be creative?

2005-11-03T18:16:00.000-05:00

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

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

A pigment's progress

2005-10-28T15:10:00.000-04:00

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

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

Artwork © James E. Lyle

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

Artwork © James E. Lyle

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

But I really should get back to work.

Another day, another image

2005-10-27T18:42:00.000-04:00

Artwork © James E. Lyle

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

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

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

Today's the Day!

2005-10-26T12:39:00.000-04:00

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

Artwork © James E. Lyle

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

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

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

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

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

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

The interim

2005-10-25T11:33:00.000-04:00

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Seems I'm still playing cheerleader

2005-10-17T19:46:00.000-04:00

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

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

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

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

It's nice to have friends.

Getting adjusted to a sharp learning curve

2005-10-13T13:55:00.000-04:00

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

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

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

Today I find myself working on

2005-10-12T15:34:00.000-04:00

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

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

I feel less clueless today, I must say.

2005-10-11T21:12:00.000-04:00

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

So here I am. I suppose I will adapt.