Baseball! Last year I did a drawing to commemorate Strider’s 200 Ks now it’s Sale’s turn. I’m trying to squeeze at least a little bit of enjoyment out of this busted Braves team this year. The season isn’t over but it’s getting pretty painful watching them limp towards the finish.
DRAGONCON
New Subscribers
A big welcome to the 30 new subscribers from the show who walked away with a ribbon. It was great to meet you and I hope you stick around for the shenanigans.
Commissions
Here are my commissions from the show. I particularly love the Vertigo piece with all the lost edges.
Balrog
I sold the Balrog illustration! It has been a goal of mine for the last 6 months to sell a single piece of art for four figures—more on this in the philosophical rant.
Swag
A particular element of DragonCon is the swag. Here is my swag from this year.
One of my CLB fans gave me these slick fantasy-themed baseball cards she made. You can see more of her card and team designs on her Instagram here.
Show assessment
The show was right on par with last year, which is actually a bit of a bummer. Because I had that one huge sale it means that overall sales were way down. On an initial assessment, I think this is because I did not have a new book. Next year I have at least 2 maybe 4 new books coming out so I’ll keep an eye on that and share more later.
PROJECT: LAKES
I just completed the pencils for Project Lakes. The title sequence (pages 2-3) is still giving me some trouble. but I think I’m close to a solution. With that said, I am moving right along into inking the other 26 pages.
Inking is my favorite part. It is very zen and I can kinda turn off my brain. I feel a tremendous sense of accomplishment when I finish inking a page especially if my nails are covered in ink at the end of the day.
PROJECT: COAL
I am doing a test page for a new Project, code name “Coal” this month. The creators are excited to have me on board but they want to see what their world looks like in my style before we officially collaborate. I am excited about this book because it’s an all-ages book like Project Lakes and I should be able to jump right in after finishing Lakes.
WATCH: 3:10 to Yuma (2007)
I love me a good old-fashioned Western. This is a remake. I had not seen the original and didn’t know anything about this one going in, which was a real thrill because I did not have any expectations. There are some very poetic deaths and fantastic dialogue. I’m not completely satisfied with the ending. There is a moment in the final shoot-out where a character makes a decision for reasons despite their stated morals and I didn’t buy it.
LISTEN: Manchester Orchestra
I could have sworn that I wrote about this band before, but I was talking to be good friend, Keith, over the weekend and he is also a huge fan. Their sound is folksy and orchestral. They did the soundtrack to Swiss Army Man, an indie film that I really like.
READ: Animalia
Written and Illustrated by Greame Base, this and all of Base’s other works were my favorite books as a kid. I now have the privilege to introduce my own children to the books and they similarly love them. Animalia is an alphabetical allocation of allusive animal artworks, accented by alliterated anecdotes.
PLAY: Blockbuster
Blockbuster the Movie game is a group party game that is a sort of advanced charades. One movie you describe with one word, one you quote, and the third you have to act out. This game had us rolling the ground laughing. I would highly recommend it.
Celebrating Success.
I find it very difficult to celebrate achievement.
Earlier this year I set a goal to sell a single piece of art for 4-figures. Last weekend I sold a single original artwork for $1,100. This is almost twice my previous highest price point and initially, I felt nothing. Actually, I didn’t feel “nothing” (too many double negatives) I specifically felt dissatisfied. My brain immediately went into self-destruct mode.
“The buyer is already a fan of yours. You’re not expanding your fanbase, who cares that this guy who has already bought tons of art from you is dropping a bunch of cash on you. Your fan count hasn’t changed. Plus! The show is slower than usual, so even with this huge sale, you are only going to total about the same as last year, so it’s just a neccessity not a blessing that you even managed to sell it at all…”
And on and on…
The conclusion on my Patreon
Cheers,
&