So I've been having trouble with my asthma the last week, maybe change of weather, probably because my dog insists on sleeping on my bed when I'm at work. Either way, I've been waking up several times at night, needing my inhaler. Well, last night, I ended up with some bizarre dreams, mainly because I probably felt really uncomfortable not being able to breathe during the night.
I just can't understand people who deliberately ruin their lungs, being able to not breathe is a nightmare. It's like wearing a plastic bag on your head some days.
Saturday, November 29, 2008
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Thrifty
A friend at work collects old lunch boxes, everyday he has a different lunch box. The lunch box thing got me thinking, I should buy a couple old lunch boxes and repaint them! So I started the hunt today at the Christian Thrift store by my home. I did not see any lunch boxes unfortunately, but I did find something! Super Mario All Stars for Super Nintendo! The game generally goes for $20.00 on Ebay, and I picked it up for $3.00. I was pretty stoked, this has four Super Mario games on one cartridge.
Looking around the thrift shop made me think about how easily we toss things out, and buy new junk, just to toss that out as well. There were many nice and functional things there. I saw a French Press for $3.00! It looked brand new, and those generally go for $20.00 at Target or other stores. I may go back and pick it up for a friend. They had many bags as well. I'm thinking of going on a trip this summer or spring, I'll definitely be heading to a thrift store for a bag to pack my stuff, why pay $50.00+ for something new in a chain store, when I can spend a quarter of that in a charity based store.
I think a lot about how much I spend, and how in the past I burned through cash on ridiculous things. Nowadays, I buy my books either used, marked down, or with a coupon from Borders. I buy my graphic novels either used from The Comic Shop, or I buy several at a time through instocktrades.com, which has free shipping on $50.00+ purchases, no tax, and generally a markdown of 30%. I rarely eat at fast food these days, preferring to buy from the grocery store and spend a couple extra minutes to prepare something.
I'm sure others are feeling the effects of our current economy, the dollar really doesn't go as far as we'd like these days. I'm not trying to be preachy or anything, I'm just trying to share the ways I am being frugal.
Looking around the thrift shop made me think about how easily we toss things out, and buy new junk, just to toss that out as well. There were many nice and functional things there. I saw a French Press for $3.00! It looked brand new, and those generally go for $20.00 at Target or other stores. I may go back and pick it up for a friend. They had many bags as well. I'm thinking of going on a trip this summer or spring, I'll definitely be heading to a thrift store for a bag to pack my stuff, why pay $50.00+ for something new in a chain store, when I can spend a quarter of that in a charity based store.
I think a lot about how much I spend, and how in the past I burned through cash on ridiculous things. Nowadays, I buy my books either used, marked down, or with a coupon from Borders. I buy my graphic novels either used from The Comic Shop, or I buy several at a time through instocktrades.com, which has free shipping on $50.00+ purchases, no tax, and generally a markdown of 30%. I rarely eat at fast food these days, preferring to buy from the grocery store and spend a couple extra minutes to prepare something.
I'm sure others are feeling the effects of our current economy, the dollar really doesn't go as far as we'd like these days. I'm not trying to be preachy or anything, I'm just trying to share the ways I am being frugal.
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
CLOUD NINE!!!
So last week I mailed out a bunch of copies of my 24 hour comic (printed, folded, stapled, cropped, it looks nice all together) to a bunch of mini comic/zine distros, people into mini comics, and I even sent it to the Isotope Mini Comics Annual Competition. I actually found out about this competition a couple days late for the event, but I decided to send it in anyway, just to see what they thought. Here's the email:
Jesse,
I just received and gave a read on your SOLAR FLARES book. It's a nice looking book thanks for sending it!
This year's Isotope Award competition was pretty fierce, I saw more amazing books from first-time comic creators than ever before, and I think Jonas Madden-Connor's OCHRE ELLIPSE (our 2008 winner) is definitely something really special. You can check out more about his work here:
http://www.family-style.com/mumblingmynah/
http://thedailycrosshatch.com/2008/10/17/ochre-ellipse-2-by-jonas-madden-connon/
We give out this award annually, I'm proud to say that the attention has helped get each of our five previous years winners picked up by pretty major indy publishers. We definitely do everything we can to make this award more than just a nifty trophy, I always consider my
winner a little like Ms America, and make sure every reviewer, news source, and publisher I know of gets their hands on a copy and gets a chance to talk to the winner if they want to. It definitely makes me happy to see both Joshua Cotter (2004 winner) and Danica Novgorodoff
(2006 winner) have gone on to get Eisner nominations for their next projects. So yeah, pretty cool!
But I digress. Here's really what I'm writing you to say:
#1. You've got a pretty sharp looking book despite cranking it out in just 24 hours. Very impressive!
#2. If you put some time into your submission for next year (and submit the book on time - laugh!) I wouldn't be surprised to see you ending up as a finalist.
#3. And seriously... keep up the excellent work, man!
- James
http://isotopecomics.com
Yeah, so I am pretty excited about this!!! :)
Jesse,
I just received and gave a read on your SOLAR FLARES book. It's a nice looking book thanks for sending it!
This year's Isotope Award competition was pretty fierce, I saw more amazing books from first-time comic creators than ever before, and I think Jonas Madden-Connor's OCHRE ELLIPSE (our 2008 winner) is definitely something really special. You can check out more about his work here:
http://www.family-style.com/mumblingmynah/
http://thedailycrosshatch.com/2008/10/17/ochre-ellipse-2-by-jonas-madden-connon/
We give out this award annually, I'm proud to say that the attention has helped get each of our five previous years winners picked up by pretty major indy publishers. We definitely do everything we can to make this award more than just a nifty trophy, I always consider my
winner a little like Ms America, and make sure every reviewer, news source, and publisher I know of gets their hands on a copy and gets a chance to talk to the winner if they want to. It definitely makes me happy to see both Joshua Cotter (2004 winner) and Danica Novgorodoff
(2006 winner) have gone on to get Eisner nominations for their next projects. So yeah, pretty cool!
But I digress. Here's really what I'm writing you to say:
#1. You've got a pretty sharp looking book despite cranking it out in just 24 hours. Very impressive!
#2. If you put some time into your submission for next year (and submit the book on time - laugh!) I wouldn't be surprised to see you ending up as a finalist.
#3. And seriously... keep up the excellent work, man!
- James
http://isotopecomics.com
Yeah, so I am pretty excited about this!!! :)
Monday, November 3, 2008
Daily Sketch Catchup!!
First off, I'm writing a bunch of ideas I've had for comics down into some books, and breaking them down into lengths to see what would be a quick one shot comic, or a short run, or something ongoing to kind of guage what I should be doing. I kind of want to print a book similar to my last comic, but with 48 pages or so, with a couple stories in it... I'll be working on that for the time being.
I've been drawing almost every evening, but I don't keep up with scanning as often as I should. Here's a few:
Francisco Valerio, from my 24 Hour Comic... I might actually finish a couple comics with him, people seem to respond to it.
Francisco is a little to strong, beefy, gallant, and confident here. It reminds me of Flash Gordon, and I want Francisco to be a little more lost and apprehensive.
Francisco Valerio running from a moon Zombie.
sketch from last night...
Doctor with a reanimator lab coat...
I've been drawing almost every evening, but I don't keep up with scanning as often as I should. Here's a few:
Francisco Valerio, from my 24 Hour Comic... I might actually finish a couple comics with him, people seem to respond to it.
Francisco is a little to strong, beefy, gallant, and confident here. It reminds me of Flash Gordon, and I want Francisco to be a little more lost and apprehensive.
Francisco Valerio running from a moon Zombie.
sketch from last night...
Doctor with a reanimator lab coat...
Saturday, November 1, 2008
Spreading my comic to friends and strangers alike
So, I've been reading about zines for quite some time, but as far as I can tell, they are near impossible to find around town. The reason I got onto a zine kick was because of last year's 24 Hour Comic Day. I wanted to print my comic, and then I started reading online about mini comics and the zine subculture. I want to get into that, and share my comics on a more peer to peer basis.
I personally believe my printed 24hr comic looks really cool. Yes, some of the art is cheesy, but that's due to time constraints. I'm talking about the overall package. Its manga sized, 5"x7.5", full bleed, and strict black and white. The cover is #90 cardstock, and the inside pages are 24# paper (a little thicker than generic printer paper), double sided, and saddlestitched. I figure if my rush job 24 hour comic looks this nice, imagine actually spending the time to make a nice comic, utilizing screentones and grayscale effects, more time on the layout and design, everything!
This idea is really kickstarting my engines on getting comics out there. It wasn't expensive either. Honestly, if I buy the cardstock and heavier paper and have a print shop print on that, I think I could get even a better deal.
So, getting back to spreading my comics. With my 24hr comic, I have sent it to friends all over the world (seriously), and even to some zine places, and zine fans, in hopes of catching someone's eye. Some strangers out there will be getting a random mini comic in the mail, and I hope they enjoy this random surprise.
I'm thinking if I pursue this, I'd like to offer these comics on my website for sale via paypal. I have tons of ideas, and now I have proof that a nice looking comic can be made from home, so there is nothing stopping me from making my art. NOTHING! :D
I have several one shot stories that I'd like to render into a mini comic, as well as several longer stories. This practice could also help me build a portfolio to attract the eye of a real publisher... Hmm.. This also means that I'll have some comics to hustle at next years Spokane ComiCon.
I personally believe my printed 24hr comic looks really cool. Yes, some of the art is cheesy, but that's due to time constraints. I'm talking about the overall package. Its manga sized, 5"x7.5", full bleed, and strict black and white. The cover is #90 cardstock, and the inside pages are 24# paper (a little thicker than generic printer paper), double sided, and saddlestitched. I figure if my rush job 24 hour comic looks this nice, imagine actually spending the time to make a nice comic, utilizing screentones and grayscale effects, more time on the layout and design, everything!
This idea is really kickstarting my engines on getting comics out there. It wasn't expensive either. Honestly, if I buy the cardstock and heavier paper and have a print shop print on that, I think I could get even a better deal.
So, getting back to spreading my comics. With my 24hr comic, I have sent it to friends all over the world (seriously), and even to some zine places, and zine fans, in hopes of catching someone's eye. Some strangers out there will be getting a random mini comic in the mail, and I hope they enjoy this random surprise.
I'm thinking if I pursue this, I'd like to offer these comics on my website for sale via paypal. I have tons of ideas, and now I have proof that a nice looking comic can be made from home, so there is nothing stopping me from making my art. NOTHING! :D
I have several one shot stories that I'd like to render into a mini comic, as well as several longer stories. This practice could also help me build a portfolio to attract the eye of a real publisher... Hmm.. This also means that I'll have some comics to hustle at next years Spokane ComiCon.
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