This Week In Perpetual Motion 02: The itch is back

So, this week...let's see...it went by really freaking quickly. I'm not sure why, but it flew. I'm still making my way through Princess Candy 03. I had a page with a classroom scene, a lot of kids and a lot of desks. It took way longer than the average page, but it's done and I'm happy with it. I love it when the effort pays off and you can be proud of the finished product. The other cool thing this week happened two posts ago, The first two Princess Candy books are available online. I'm dying to see the final printed versions of these, so I'm wicked psyched that they're available. There are quite a few really cool looking books from Stone Arch Books in their fall catalog, so I'm excited to be a part of that lineup.

Comics, eh? It was about two years ago that I hung up my comic-making hat and decided to focus my artistic endeavors on the children's illustration market. I refocused my portfolio, started sending out samples and advertising in that market and within the last year it's really been going quite well. It's kind of funny then that I'd end up doing kid comics for a publisher shortly after giving up on my own comics. Well, I shouldn't say "giving up", just shifting them in the priorities list. I have to say, working on these books has really given me the itch to get back into my own titles. In fact, for the last couple weeks I've been dusting off some old concepts and doing some writing. My own comics are going to still take a back seat priority wise since self-published mini-comics don't exactly feed a family of 4 (soon to be 5 any day now), but I'm making some time for them between paying gigs. You won't see anything for quite a while, because I'm going to get them buttoned up story wise before I even start producing pages, but I'll keep you updated on the progress. I'm pretty stoked about getting back into them, at least on a part time basis. My main focus will still be on children's books because I just love telling stories, no matter who they're directed at.

Ramble, ramble. I'm very tired so I'm not going to go back and read this before I post it. It might not make sense. I've still got a long night of work ahead, so I better get to it.

Excelsior.

Professor Xavier is a Jerk

Yes, yes he is.

Princess Candy Books available online

The first two Princess Candy titles, Sugar Hero and Marshmallow Mermaid (painstakingly illustrated by me, artfully authored by Michael Dahl) are available on the Stone Arch Books website! If you have a youngster in your life who likes things that are awesome or if you are a kid at heart yourself, head on over there and order six. You can put them in the gift bags at those posh dinner parties you're so fond of throwing. Or just keep some out on your coffee table to show off your intellectual prowess. Whatever the end use, they're the perfect addition to any home, sprucing up libraries and living rooms the world over.

This Week in Perpetual Motion 01: It Begins!

So I decided to start a little something on the ol' blog. Every Friday I'm going to give a report on my work week... the freelance stuff I've been working on, what I accomplished, what I had actually wanted to accomplish, what worked, what didn't, new projects that come up, new contacts, cool things I find out in the freelance world, maybe some ranting, etcetera and so forth. It's more or less a record for myself, so that I can remember things from week to week since my brain has basically become a revolving door of information rather than the inescapable steep trap it had once been. Of course I hope my loyal reader and any of you who may have wandered this way looking for explosives and sweet ninja boots will enjoy it as well. Maybe we'll all learn a few things on the way. Probably not.

Now obviously an idea this incredible couldn't have germinated in my little ol' noggin all on it's own. In fact, I decided to do this after getting hooked on a new (new to me anyway) podcast this week, Art & Story.

It's hosted by Mark Rudolph and Jerzy Drozd, two freelance cartoonists and illustrators who share a studio and drop lots of knowledge about their chosen profession. Thay talk alot about comics and the process of creating them. They aso have daily episodes called Art & Story extreme in which they discuss their work day and other topics. That's the one where I took the update Idea from, only I'm not going to do it daily since I don't share a studio with anyone and only a day's worth of update would be dull from just little ol' me. These guys are not dull however, they're really informative and a lot of fun to listen to while you're up into the wee hours working on comics.

Speaking of working on comics, I'm full on into Princess Candy book 3. I've managed to get a few pages done this week, the above little peek is from the first page. That's going to be the focus of my freelance work for the next month and a half. Once the fall hits, my schedule is pretty open, but I'm hoping that it fills up again like it did last fall. Things have been hopping since right after last year's local SCBWI conference. That's also coming up in September and I'm pretty psyched for it. I'm planning on attending, so if you're a member, maybe I'll see you there.

Oh, yeah...the San Diego Comic Con is going on this week and I'm sad that I'm not there.

That's all for now. Until next week,

Excelsior!

My Summer Song

So every summer there's one song that will capture my imagination force me to fall in love with it. It doesn't have to have come out that particular summer, but if I heard it during the summer and it got into my head in such a way that it crowds out love for other music, then it becomes the summer song. That one up there has the title for my 2009 summer song. It's "Parentheses" by The Blow. About three days into the summer, I knew this simple little pop ditty was it. I love her voice (I have a soft spot in my heart for female vocals, which is my explanation for my obsession with Karen Carpenter, which we shall now never speak of again) and the lyrics make me smile. The video could be better. I'm not too into the animation. None of the fan-made ones were much better, so this is what you get.

Past honorees of the hallowed summer song title have been "Where it's At?" by Beck, "I Want You Back" by the Jackson 5 and Esquivel's "Mucha Muchacha."

Other music that has been getting me through late night drawing sessions:



Architecture in Helsinki: I didn't know I loved this band. I know that now. I also love this simple video.



Fleet Foxes: These guys are really awesome. They harmonize very well and the songs have an earthy quality to them. This video in particular kind of blows my mind.

There's way more, but this post is getting long.

I'm going to go eat.

Super Best Cover Version Supreme

ka-pow.

Hai Karate

When they took his woman, they didn't count on him not rollin' over like a chump.

The Professor in

ENTER THE DJ
Flying Fists of Hip Hop Fury

Sorry, the letterbox thing got me thinking about the cinematic possibilities.

uhhh... ya got any gum?

I just finished penciling 3 pages for Princess Candy and I'm going to bed before 2 a.m. for the first time in quite a while. Yaaaay me!

Here's a little Spidey I drew at work the other day, waiting for a humongous file to save. I scanned it in last night and colored it up when I needed a break from drawing tales of middle school superheroes.

I totally love the Spectacular Spider-Man cartoon. I never saw a full episode until recently when I got a dvd from the library and it's a lot of fun. A very pure incarnation of Spidey's world. It looks great too.