71 - All about ME!

it is my newsletter afterall.

I want to use some Gold Leaf in my organic series. Here I am testing it out. The edge isn’t as crisp as I want, so i still need to do some testing…

THE DANG MOUNTAIN TOP

Shameless plug for my other Substack with artist Keith Browning. The Dang Mountaintop is a blog where we challenge each other to do the coolest illustration based on a monthly theme, last month was Bicycle. I just asked another buddy and he might be joining also… Okay, I won’t mention it again, subscribe or don’t.

NAUTS #2

I am back at it with Mike making another installment in the Nauts franchise. Nauts #2: Stowaway. We just finished the thumbnail stage. Here is a sequence I am excited to draw.

Project: REVOLUTION

New project siren! I got contacted by a prestigious historical press to work on a graphic novel adaptation of a book about the Revolutionary War. The year of course is fitting, we doubt it will come out this year, but if I put my nose to the grindstone, maybe it will be out in time for Christmas? Here are some character designs.

CINTIQ

Okay… so I mentioned that it was acting all funny… well, I replaced a cord, and it acted fine for about 2 weeks, and then the issue started happening again. So I replaced one more cord, and now it appears to be fine? I’ll give another update if it reverts to its glitchy ways.

CLB

You guys are not ready! I got a legend to do a cover for the book. I rebranded the logo. Here is the new CLB logo for the print edition:

I have finished coloring all the pages for the first print run coming this summer, and I just finished penciling issue 2. I plan to continue posting pages to Webtoon next week, just in time for MLB spring training.

WATCH: Wake up Dead Man

I am a Christian and was a little nervous about watching this and just grimacing through two hours of bible-bashing, mocking “blind faith”, and an emphasis on hypocrisy as if that were the preferred outcome of a Christian worldview. Instead, this movie presents a balanced critique and defense of Christianity. Apparently, the director, Rian Johnson, was raised Christian and left the faith, and this film is him kinda processing all that and struggling with questions of faith. At the core, the movie is a whodunit, and it delivers on that front with some wonderful twists and turns. I did clock the perpetrator pretty early, but it was still a great ride.

READ: The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow

Okay, so this year I have decided on a silly reading theme. I plan to read 12 books, one a month, and here is the kicker: Each must have the name of the month I read them in the title. January was a treat because not only was January in the title, it is the first name of the main character and, wildly, the name of the audiobook narrator. (I did listen to this one)

tTTDoJ is a thrilling coming-of-age story. It’s hard to say if it is more science fiction or fantasy. Harrow does a great job of placing the reader in history and the world(s) she builds feel real and lived in. I don’t understand the main villain’s motivation. I would sum it up to madness, but that doesn’t quite work either. Other than a slightly weak villain, I loved the journey and definitely recommend this fantastical read.

LISTEN: Cartographer: Grief Keys

I am honestly very biased, this is a friend’s musical group, and i did the album artwork. It is wonderfully atmospheric and choral while also having some wicked riffs and drumlines. I listen to it while I write often.

PLAY: Azul

Another Christmas gift, what I love about this game is that it is fairly low-key, and you can come back from behind pretty dramatically. It has tons of tactile pieces, which are really fun to play with. The scoring is a little tricky, but once you get it, it flows.

All about me.

I have started writing a memoir.

I truly don’t think anyone under 45 should publish a memoir because, my goodness, what could you possibly know or have experienced that is worth sharing? I’m 32, and I know I’m an idiot. But I have decided to start writing it all the same.

I have found myself in several memory loops where I think of one childhood memory, and it jogs another, and I hope not to lose any of them, so really it’s just me jotting everything down while it’s 20 years fresh instead of 40 years old.

One of my favorite autobiographies is Tick, Tick… Boom! by Jonathan Larson. In truth, I never saw the original musical; I was first introduced to it by the 2021 film of the same name. It breaks my rule by being a specifically pre-30th birthday autobiography, but that is really the reason I have decided to start writing mine now. I want to capture my naive 30-year-old idiocy while I am in it, not projecting from an older mindset.

I am currently working on a graphic novel adaptation of a soldier’s memoir (Project: Revolution), but that one was written by the author as an elderly retired veteran, not whilst in the trenches. I want to write while in the trenches.

One way that I have already been writing in the trenches is my daily sketch journal.

I don’t think I have shared much about this Today’s Sketchy, but over the last 12 years, I have drawn a log of every day on a 4x6 piece of sketch paper. Here is my February 9th for the last 12 years.

You can see that some are very vague, and I have added more text and images over time for clarity. It has become a habit of daily life, the first thing I do in the morning. One great thing to come out of it is the honesty of my record-keeping. There were a few relationships that I recorded as the best thing since sliced bread, but later realized that I was looking through rose colored glasses. My journal captures the rose color. When I look at the drawings, I feel the innocence and joy that I did at that time, despite what I know now to be true.

Anyway, what’s the rant?

Write your story. There were several people close to me who passed away last year that I would give anything to go back and record an hour chatting with them, telling me stories. As much as legislation, politicians, power, and money all make things happen in society, stories are what truly shape the world. Stories make a difference.

Write what you know, and who do you know better than you? I would hate to miss out on the next Confessions, Anne Frank, Maus, On Writing, or Cheaper by the Dozen just because you didn’t take up a pen and tell the world a little about you.

Again, stop consuming. Create. Write your story.

Cheers,

&