Surrounded!

Robots don't stand a chance.

This Week (and last) In Perpetual Motion 05: It Baby Time!

So, last week there wasn't one of these here updates because, well, we had a baby boy! By we, of course, I mean my lovely wife gave birth and I stood there staring in amazement at her awesomeness as she did so (for the third time!). Everybody is home and happy and healthy and wicked rad. I'm so blessed with an beautiful family and I try to remind myself of that everyday. I took about a week off from work, with the exception of some freelance that I worked on whilst everybody else was sleeping, so there is very little to report on the art front. Please forgive me internet. I think I've got a pretty good excuse.

This week I've gotten back into the swing of things a bit more and I've been getting more done. As deadlines loom I'll be cranking away on stuff for the next couple of weeks and I'll post stuff as I can. Right now though, I'm wicked tired so I'm going to bed before this post begins to ramble too incoherently. Actually that last sentence may prove that I'm too late already.

Here's one of my favorite panels from the current Princess Candy book that I'm working on.

This Week In Perpetual Motion 04: The New Phonebooks Are Here!

Big news this week... My copies of the first two Princess Candy books arrived in the mail and they're wicked awesome. Just look at the awesomeness in the above photo and that's just the sweet, sweet hardcover. Seriously, they look great. The colors are vibrant and just jump off the page. I'm totally stoked. I don't think I've ever been happier with how my work looks in print. Plus the design of the book is great from the title page to all the back matter stuff.

I finished a bunch of pages for book 3 this week, which is still coming along nicely. My new Intuos 3 has been a big too, so I'm glad I bought it. I plan on putting in a lot of hours this weekend so hopefully I can crank out a few more. Now I'm off to color a couple pages before bed.

I did this sketch of my Yeti character last night. I've got some big plans for this dude.


See, no harpoons this week.

Headin' for my beddin'

After a long night of drawing the adventures of an 11 year-old, super heroic girl, I did me some sketchin'. Brush pen on a paper bag from the comic shop.

'night.

Redevelopment Project

Building on the past for a better tomorrow.

This Week In Perpetual Motion 03: Sha Na Na Na

Not much to report this week, despite the fact that I'm a day late doing so. One would think that the reason it took me a whole extra day to write about my work week was that it had been a rather eventful one, but not so. I was busy yesterday, and most of today but not with work... more like husband and dad type stuff. You gotta do what you gotta do, and I'm a happier man for it.

Work continues on the new Princess Candy book and all is well on that front. I got me a new toy this week... a Wacom Intuos 3 tablet. It's the 6" x 8" one and it sure is purdy. I'm still breaking it in, but the bit that I've used it has been great. I did the first two books without a tablet as my old Graphire didn't like my iMac. Plus the graphire only had like a 4" x6" area anyhow and I never got very comfortable with it. I like the new one better already.

Ok, the work week must continue, so I should get back to it.

Next week, I won't use an image with a harpoon in it.

Excelsior!

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!