Thanksgiving Mutant Ninja Turtles

This year we had set up a table for 21 people, outdoing the 19 people from two years ago.  That's just crazy to me, but some people think it's normal.

Spending time with a larger family allowed me to hang out with some of my youngest cousins.  Brothers Matthew and Zachary are recent converts to the clan of the Ninja Turtle fans, so we had a lot to talk about.

"Do you know Krang yet?"
"No, who's that?"

"He's a brain."
"Yeah, I know him!"

So this was an 11 x 17 bristol sheet out of my larger sketchbook.  India Ink and brush, I'd like to say it was an hour job but it may have been an hour and a half last night.  After spending so much time trying to explain graphic design and "selling yourself" to a wary and tryptopan besieged crowd, it was nice to just relax with Leonardo and Raphael.

This was actually kind of a portrait of Matt and Zach but don't tell them that!

- J.

(update):  So I've begun work on adapting this into a poster for some upcoming shows.  Definitely intend to show it at Rose City Comic-Con, and possibly as soon as Emerald City at the end of March.
Did a little "research" of the more modern version of the characters (that means I watched a few new cartoons) and found out that the kids won't know "my" Krang, but instead that they will know the "original" versions from the comics in the really early 80's.  That's cool, they're better than the goofy little guy from my childhood.  I never really liked that dude anyway.   

Scaly Job

Yesterday one of my personal mentors asked me,
"What was the best job you ever had?"

That's simply an impossible question to answer of course, but if you try to
determine which job led to the strongest period of personal growth for me,
it would be easy to suggest that my time on a processor ship in Alaska
was a milestone, if not one of the most formative periods of my life.

Ugly, nasty, horrible work.  Dehumanizing, is what one man called it.

A processing ship is anchored in one spot, and the workload is 24 hours a day,
seven days a week.  The shifts vary depending on position... my own job
required a 12-12-18-12-12-18-12 hours schedule.

When you slept, you didn't sleep well.  When you awoke, you were still
covered in the scales of the fish you had handled the day before.

Carpal tunnel syndrome?  Only time in my life I've EVER had it.  Weary.  Dreary.
 
After 2 weeks of working on the "gut line" (I'll spare you the details)
I was promoted to Quality Control.  My job became determining the quality of salmon and
to grade each fish appropriately into one of four categories.  The speed of work was literally
fish fish fish fish fish (basically at the speed you can say it out loud, that was the speed of the work).
______________________________________________________

There were no breaks.  Sometimes, when those of us upstairs did our job exceedingly well, we would back up the workload of the folks downstairs and then we would have a pause in the action.

Occasionally, my boss Ben King, whose physical presence and personal character were completely unmatched by all but a few men I've known, would halt the line and come upstairs. 

Picture this, if you will:

Every minute which passes, the company is losing MASSIVE amounts of money, if the line is not moving.
Yet this man would come up to the line, call a "HALT!" as loud as possible, and then turn on me, personally, each time, and feed me my ego right back into my ear as loudly as he could, so that 50 or more men could hear him.  It was always so frustrating, and I felt it unfair because it was my opinion that my observations and pace of work were stronger than the other Q.C. men. 

A year later, after the horrible death of a mutual friend from the ship, my friend Mike S. (who was a better expert on meat quality because he was a career butcher but never did make it to Q.C.) told me that Ben King did that to me on purpose, that there was no way to tell which of us working the Q.C. position was making mistakes but that I was the only one who could take the pressure and keep working harder.  The other guys in that position would crumple under the strain of the yelling but that I just got mad and worked harder. 

I don't know if that's true or if Mike was trying to make me feel better but I choose to believe that it's true.

This is a short story which is a true story which occurred to me upon this ship.   
It is "unfinished" because it's actually a longer story but I rushed the art to be able to present it at the Spokane ComicCon in May 2012.  I will one day revisit this piece.

- J.

The Meaning of Life

The Meaning of Life is very real.  It exists and you can see it with your own eyes if you have the strength to perservere and ascend to it.

Recently I took a short drive to the place where you can find it, and have it revealed to you.  It has been many years since I first did this, though I internalized it over a decade ago.

It is, absolutely, one of my favorite pieces of art ever, anywhere in the world. 

If you do not know the meaning of life, I cannot tell it to you.  Nobody can.  It has, however, been carved in this stone monolith in downtown Spokane.  If you can find the floating stage in Riverfront Park, you can find this tower.  Climb it, and YOU will know.

- J.

Project Management Part Two

There was a great deal of pressure on this project.  The pressure was on with multiple major projects and more of them coming in from all sides, not only for the sign maker who contracted me but also in my own personal business.  In addition to this, I had completed projects which needed reconciliation and which were increasingly overbearing on my income.  Totally a 90 hours of work sequence for several weeks, with long travel distances.   The travel was my favorite part.

You know what?  I had a cassette player in my car, and I played this same funk cassette over and over for five or six weeks in a row to and from this place to relax between engagements and obligations.

How this started out was really kind of strange.  One day I was wearing my thinking hat and teaching people how to line dance in the middle of a hot fairgrounds.  We had about 15 of us instructing a line of (oh, I don't know) 400 people or so.  Line dancing is fun.  People who really know how to do it say I'm not good at it though.  The heat was, for me, unbearable.  I had gone through four or five containers of this sickly sweet lemonade in a plastic pineapple.  When the event concluded I walked away to sit down and get ready to walk through the art hangar.  I had a message from a business owner I had never met, cold calling me to come in and work in two days at 9 am.

"You saw my work?"  "No, you were recommended."

"Ok!"

Project Management Part One

Back in the end of August of this year and through the end of September I took on my biggest independent contracting gig EVER. 

>(And that is saying something after the campaign which I built a website for, doorhung for, met with radio folks for, built signs for, and even more!)<

This local shop needed help with a huge series of similar but separate jobs which I was tasked with organizing, designing (and re-purposing old designs), utilizing and setup of the plotter, and the actual physical construction of the end products, which were gigantic signs.  Big huge gigantic signs.

The signs were all for installation in a variety of locations, and for a variety of purposes.  Some required different materials for food grade only purposes, and some were just for labeling machines and tools.

These pictures above are of the charts which I devised to maintain the project openly and so all other people in the store could tell what it was that I was doing.  The processes were all separately recorded.

Each line item on the chart is a separate gigantic pvc sign, or in MOST cases three to five of these signs.  The pieces all flow to the right which indicates completion. 

One of these line items was 37 small signs.  So the numbers above are falsely misleading.  There were probably 100 signs or so.

- J.

Bug in the Jar

This is a piece I created for trade of services for some new friends of mine, Jay and Evelyn Larsen.

Barring final confirmation of details, it's all done now.  It was back in September when I agreed to complete this piece, but the idea was solidified about a month ago, and the project time has been over the last two weeks, a little bit at a time.

This was bright, flashy, and fun to make.

Jay and Evelyn are class-acts when it comes to bargaining for work!  I will absolutely be ordering more from them in the future, in fact I already have my next idea in mind.  Check them out at www.larsengeekery.com

- J.

Lot-Zilla

This design is pretty fun. 

The client came to me with this concept, and it was fantastic to see that it was
such a well thought out description of what he wanted to see.

This design is actually VERY small, as it is specifically for a deeply-cut metal
pin with color inlays and a clearcoat, as I understand it the process.

Here is the final design.

When the pin is manufactured I will update this entry with the link to where you
may purchase it, and also a finished photo of the pin itself!

Exciting!

- J.

Reggie's Corvette

Animations are fun to make.  This one was from what I would term "not recent" but I don't think it was very long ago that I had made it.

At the time I was managing and building my own online forum for localized discussion for a group of involved citizens in the area, and as an incentive to join I was making these little avatars to drum up enthusiasm in my site.

If you ever decide to put aside your graphic design career to focus on arbitrarily maintaining and promoting a site which you don't really need taking up hours per day of your life, be sure to use it as an excuse to produce stuff as OFTEN as possible!

- J.

This is the image I chose to use for my new November Month Challenge.

I'm really very concerned by the amount of time the November Challenge takes to complete.

This challenge is something which takes 30 days and which takes a great deal of planning.

Ready set let's go.   Here are LAST year's directions, this is my second time around.

- J.

24 Hour Krys

This morning was the first free time I had to work on the 24 Hour Comic from, what, 9 days ago?  Geez.  There you have it though.  So what I did was take my single unfinished page and finish it.

Previously I was at 15 hours, so now I'm at 16 with this page finished.  Two pages are 3/4 way finished being penciled at an hour there too, so that's 17 hours.  Those two are a centerfold double spread which means I can begin to determine page numbering, of which there is none "concrete" yet.

Tomorrow ostensibly is a BIG project day for one major contracted project which has been concluded and restarted, so we're going to try and make it all in one big sitting.

- J.

Snake Eyes 3

What got me to thinking about this character is the "acting" which good writers can get him to do.

This guy is a mute, right?  No speech abilities, no grunts.  Occasionally breath noises under exertion but not really often.  Little quiet steps like a small cat, silent weapons.

Well, the impressiveness really pays off with that sort of thing pretty quickly.

So tonight I'm doing the new piece for this... it occurred to me that he should actually be in the midst of a thought-out routine of motions in such a way that you can try and interpret what he might do next.  I will update this piece tonight again within an hour or so with the final step in the process up.

- J.

Snake Eyes 2

This guy is either one of the least popular, or most popular characters of the 80's.

I greatly appreciate the complicated history presented by him,
which is quite strongly offset by his silent, straightforward action hero tendencies of him.

It is almost as though he already made all of his choices in his past,
in his history, and now all he has to do is sort out all the problems as they fall on him.

This was drawn for a fan of my art online 6 years ago but I've always liked the motion of it,
and I colored it today to match yesterday's post.  Tonight I'm drawing and tomorrow I will
color another, 3rd drawing of this same guy.

- J.

Snake Eyes

Action Pieces are always good for me to make.

When left to my own storytelling devices, protagonists often end up lonely
chain smoking depressants, staring out the windows at the scenery.

Then someone says, draw a ninja with an orange gun, and suddenly:

Action!


- J.

(I meet a gentleman named Brandon Jerwa a lot, and he liked that I made all the tools orange.  I won't bother with the significance of that.  The next two days I'll put up two more of this character while I'm working on my 24 Hour Comic.)

Scary Cops!

In the midst of the madness which has been the last few months of my workload,
Rose City 2012 looms large as the highlight of the whole delightfully manic rush.

Many of the best discussions I enter into occur at the Portland cons, since it seems
I never know how to skirt controversy and confrontations, and this show was no exception.

Here is a piece I did on 11x14 inch paper, penciled and inked in a brief period of time.

It was a huge rush, and those kinds of projects always are interesting to view after the fact.

A fun conversationalist Eli wanted to have a rendition of an idea he had been working on
for an outside project, so I put together an illustration based on his desired imagery.

A father of several girls, and an active political activist, he wanted something to portray how
aggressive cops can ruin the dreams of young girls.  Scary aggressive cops?!

I can draw scary aggressive cops all day!

If this is interesting to you, check out PolitiK: Police State which is for sale and also
you can read it FREE online on my other site, because free is the way to be.

- J.

311 Band Tribute Cover

This is a piece I've been working on for a little while.  It's been 90% of the way done
for a long time so I chose to finish working on it today and move it on to the client.

This week was supposed to be the time we were printing his band tribute book however
we had to delay it for a little while, so I'm finishing the cover off and presenting the
whole package of page templates and educational supplemental material to him today.

311 has a pretty diverse cast of band members, and it was fun learning about them, for sure!

I'll be excited to showcase the finished product one day when we determine the interior contents
and put together the pagination.  It is my understanding that we are almost completely finished
with the interior contents.  My task has been to provide guidance on the process and all design.

- J.

24 Hour Comics Day

Done.  Check.

That is where I am right now.

At this point, every ongoing project which is currently active
is either completed or one sitting away from completed.

Every one.  My brain is not on fire, it is tired.
Today is the first day of autumn on my calendar.

This weekend was the 24 Hour Comics Challenge.  It was hosted again by the most awesome Adventures Underground.  There were fewer people this year than prior years, but a lot of people
stopped by to hang out for a while.  A veteran of the Spokane 24 Hour events Jesse Acosta
jammed out for a while with us, and produced a lot of material for his own projects.

Recurring local veterans Ellen Kramer and Oliver Poesenauer showed up, and a lot of people I didn't get to meet.  A happy couple were there together drawing forever too, and a local graphic designer named James brought his time delay camera so maybe those will be fun shots to see some time.

My goal from early on was to focus on drawing full pages fast, but being careful and detailed and
not trying to hit under an hour a page as with previous years.  The plan as it progressed was working
out well.  Fatigue set in and the lack of any music...

At one point I had planned to leave for a few hours and go draw at another location
but I didn't, and I believe this narrative could have used a little input from there.

Each page is finished but for the head I was drawing of the main character when I decided to punch out.  So I'm at 15 hours in, with 13 pages done, which is really about at the NORMAL rate I make pages.  If you look at my older 24 Hour Comics such as This, This, or This, you can see where I cut the fat a little to make up lost time.   I didn't want to do that this year.  I wanted solid, reproducible impressive artwork that I could be proud of, with no "24 Hour Hurry Up Faces" in the crowd.

The final two pages I will show were dream sequence stories which I had invented into my story for
earlier on in it to add cheap fast "inventory" shots into the narrative to speed up production.  So on some level I was fighting with myself to actually make pages I really, really was proud of and also
fighting to make 24 pages before leaving.  While the art which came from those two pages was okay,
it was really an unnecessary and difficult departure from the story which I had intended.

This week I will be finishing this story at 24 pages of quality, and go back and touch them up,
and then will put it up online at PolitikComic.com after which I will go back to the narrative in the
currently online comic Homeland and touch it up as well.  These are actually the same story although it probably doesn't look like it.  

Here is the cover and one page from the story.

- J.

Rocky Job

When I was a younger man
which is just beginning to mean something
there was a job I chose to undertake.

They were building an enormous home
nobody among the laborers then knew just what the value was.

It is my understanding that I could venture an accurate guess.
The guess of a laborer's real estate understanding is not important however.

At the time I was a subcontractor for a labor procurement firm.

High in demand, I was.  For what I was expecting, how could I not be?

My job was to carry small boulders in a wheelbarrow from the bottom of the hill to the top.
Raining, muddy, it was both of these.

The plywood was slippery under the thick soles of my rubber boots.  On my knees, mud in my eyes.

Occasionally, rocks fell out of my wheelbarrow.

The sun would come out, and the board dried up quickly as the surface water rolled down
the board and then off.  The mud in my gloves, thin in the water which had collected
inside my rigid leather finger holes.  Grit under my nails.  Pickle fingers, pale and cold.

Working is hard.  This is how you build large houses.  You have to put your back into it.

In life, many people will stand around watching you lift and bend while they smoke,
laughing at you.  Do not let this dissuade you.  They are not building their home.

 Those who expect you to labor for nothing, they are only building walls around themselves.

- J. 

Metamorphosis of the Metaphor

The Metaphor has come up to the newest level of it's evolution into sustainance.

Once it reached above the fenceline the weather turned big time,
so I thanked it for it's massive productivity and then cut it loose.

Now alone and on its own after the separation
it's time to hang it out on a line and give it time to dry up.

The seeds are really good.  They are tiny, but if I got one out of seven
of these plants to grow, then if I save 1/3 of these seeds
then when I harvest them NEXT year I could get a dozen or more sunflowers.

That's pretty cool.  When the work you have done starts to pay off, and it has taken
a very long time for results to occur, you know things are looking up.

- J.

Trust, Friend, Bully

Judging a man by his character can be a difficult thing.

Some people will trick, flatter, and bully their way into just about anything for free.

It is often hard to tell how to resolve issues like this however
luckily, most of the time a little patience will reveal an ambiguous man's true character.

_______________________________________

Three weeks ago I had a young man at convention ask me
How do I protect myself against people stealing my work or taking advantage of me?

Well, someone who wants to do you harm, or is only out for themselves
will always try to take advantage of you
and make you feel guilty for it.

Those are simply character traits which you can't always see coming.

You can avoid people of low character by learning to spot telltale signs like:

-excessive flattery
-overbearing guilt trips
-ambiguous threats
-unspecific agreements
-handshakes every other sentence

After talking to this young man I chose to share some of the life lessons which I learned in my 30's and which I wish that I knew when I was 10 or 15.

Trust is about ways that you can interact with people which will make them feel valued.

Friend deals with understanding the difficulties presented by those who you let into your life.

Bully shows some sure sound ways to understand if you are dealing with a
common schoolyard bully.

These were also part of a "throw down" challenge to a friend of mine I have mentioned previously.  I'll detail that down the road when I mention Jet City.

These are test models for a younger age group presentation, will be available free online soon,
and are available online now, here.

Enjoy!

- J.

Checking in with the Metaphor

The metaphor has grown to a pretty good size.

It is struggling I think.  A soil/sand mixture is the place where I have planted it and it is
suffering from thirst, possibly got planted later than it should.

There is a lot going on with it though.  The birds like it and it's still alive.

The head is drooping because it grew quickly and is tired.

As it continues to grow in stature and resiliency and proves out well it's promises,
the whole thing will bear forth something new and exciting.

Lots of projects all at once right now.

It's all terribly exciting. 

- J.

My Brain is on Fire

On occasion I will fall into such a work trance that my whole body begins to tingle.

Do you understand that moment, when your fingertips go cold, and your veins begin to feel like fiery goats-heads are pulling on the insides of their passages?

Let's use these moments to surge forth the necessary steps in our project problems, let the manic energy give us strength of physical momentum to carry us along. 

Today will be a very good day.

Today let's say is Pilot Light day.

- J.

Spacy Collaboration

Collaboration is interesting, watching one person's ideas literally become a different person's thoughts and dreams.  Sometimes, what the other sees...

...completely affects yer own processes.

It is from time to time acceptable

to think the same thoughts,

        to view the same 

                   sights,

                          and to

                               consider

                                      the other 

                                             view.

                                                  - J.

A Brief Professionalism

Professionalism can be a difficult thing to pick up on, and to explain to people.

Professionalism is a daily marker of focus and consideration. 

Key to this whole concept is the understanding that other people are unique and powerful too.

Maybe they don't know it.  Perhaps they forgot, or nobody ever told them.

Planning ahead and asking for help is part of it.
Mentoring and considering others with respect.
Confidence and self respect.

Charts too.

I often forget how to do these things but probably other people do too.

My metaphor is growing rapidly.  It is reaching above the fenceline.  Now it will get sunlight twice as long every day.

It is planted in sand and the water just leaks through.  If anyone knows how to nurture one any farther than this, it would be a great time to be my sunflower mentor.

- J.

Figure Drawing

Figure Drawing is good for you.

Every time that I am in a slump, or an artistic valley, or just really not producing work on par with what I SHOULD be doing, it's always a good idea to do Figure Drawing.

While I can't speak for all artists, it is true for me that I no longer actually see arms, or breasts, or noses, but that it all breaks down into shapes.  Distances.

The place I do Figure Drawing at every so often these days is unique in that it's actually clothed models which may be a first for me.  Additionally, the artists are all more mature and the sessions are REALLY long.  It's a good mix of experience in there, a lot of good work is produced.

My goal with this stuff has never been fancy looking finished pieces, but learning and understanding the figure more.  This session actually really gives people time to make a finished piece and that's nice.

Most of my interest in models these days revolves more around getting ideas on how people dress or groom themselves.  Sometimes it's hard to understand what someone might wear or shape their hair like if you are trying to imagine what they are thinking.

How do you imagine a character you are not supposed to understand?  As a writer, it doesn't make sense.

During the Rose City Con last weekend, I stood in Greg Rucka's line of fans to ask him how he writes a character with a deep understanding of who they are, and how to create a character you don't actually understand... not as a writer, but as a person.  How do you know when you are ready to commit to writing that character?

He gave me a solid answer, based on his brief understanding of my situation.  Organic works are okay, he said, and characters can change.  The character in particular whom I thought would be a decent representation of what I had in mind, he let me know, was fully formed before he went into it.

That's helpful.  If I need to spend more time with the gal in mind, I probably should.

Follow your gut instinct.

That's really helpful, and NOT the only lesson I picked up that weekend, though it's the only one I can share with written word (perhaps).

So, I need to write comics with her.  Take it off the pedestal and play with it.  I can roll with that.

There's a preview up on my comics page of another corner of that story, but she's not living in that segment.

She will be.

It's organic.

- J.

Big Meat

Yeah, that's right.

It IS art.

You know what's funniest about these?  I was driving around with my wingman Will and we see this ENORMOUS potato.  Why? 

Who can say?  It doesn't matter.  It was the levity needed during a serious conversation and it was one giant ass spud.

Maybe five minutes later there was a big weiner too.

I don't have the picture of him climbing on the potato but if he reads this and sends it to me then I'll replace my pictures with his.

- J.

Rose City 2012 (4)

"People are Piranha"

That's what someone told me a few months ago.  I was working on a tattoo design for her, and since I was just doing it on a handshake, without any formal agreement, I ended up putting in about 20 designs and not making a cent.

What!  Yeah, I know.  Shame on me.

So at Rose City 2012 I visited my friend S. Mann at her booth and saw that she had produced a RAD wood press litho piece with piranhas.  "Love piranhas."

My first instinct was to go, "oh, too bad it's a piranha, because that has negative connotations for me."

That's right, I'm a tool.  How could I let a former experience which went bad affect me so much?  Oh, well, I got my head straight and snapped that baby up.  Why let ANYTHING cause you to feel so, so upset?

Anyway, I'm glad I got that figured out.  S. Mann creates the self-published comic Eyebot which only gets more interesting as you go.  Something tells me there's a lot more going on here with this story than I could even guess at.  As a fan of post-human technological speculation I'm really intrigued.  You can see S. Mann's work (including gallery paintings) at http://artsymann.com/.

Not personally sure what this whole Face Book thing is, but there's something like that available as well!
https://www.facebook.com/pages/SMann/206132482735976

People are not Piranha, not unless you let them be.

I'd like to thank Cori B. too, who has helped me to get a lot of PolitiK and my other comics online.  I LOVE webdesign, but it's a lot of hard, monotonous tedium, and without her help only 3 of my comics would be online.  She's put in a lot of hours of time helping me get stuff put online and duplicating my page designs over and over to help me get that comics site to where it is now.  That was just wearing me down, and since she helped me get that stuff going I was able to move on to my portfolio site and my "meadow" site.

Thank you.

- J.

Rose City 2012 (3)

Collaborative Works

In the past, I have eschewed collaborative endeavors due to bad experiences.  However, there simply is no good reason for that.

It has become my determination that I will now consider collaborative works.  The reason for this change in my work philosophy is simply that such work is valuable as a learning tool, and also that I now have the confidence and knowledge to go into a project with another, without getting busted or taken advantage of.

So, if a person brings me a sample, of either art or also writing, and wants me to either write, or draw, their work, then we can together learn to collaborate, write contracts, and complete something.

I will not work on any project with another creator for more than a small, fast project.  It will not be an extended partnership.  This way, it can be like "courting," as my new friend Richard suggested.

At first I told him that's not how it works, but sure, I can see that.  Easy in, easy out.

Let's make something together.

- J.

Rose City 2012 (2)

Extra worn out right now.  Just time to talk about this piece briefly.  This was one of my new thingies I trotted out for Rose City.

If you're old like I am, you'll remember Ollie North.  Finally somebody recognized him at Con which was pretty awesome!   Notable guesses included Andy Griffith and W Bush.

To call him controversial is an understatement.  To some, he's a hero who took the fall, to others, a war criminal.  Hmmmm.

Contrast that with V, who has a similar dual nature.  Terrorist, or freedom fighter.

It's all "paradigm."

One of my buddies directed me to the trailer of Call of Duty Black Ops, the videogame trailer.




"They could be anyone."  That scares the tar out of me.  It's meant to be scary.

So, that's were that imagery is derived from.  As soon as the video concluded I launched into the print.  If you can believe it, I actually made it something like a day before a family member's wedding in the bride's mom's basement with glittery black acrylic as my "india ink" and a variety of brushes and pens.  The original is 11x17.

I don't think people are scary.  Pretty much everybody I know is basically a down to earth, simple person.  Everybody wants to have the same comforts and securities in that deepest part of their cores.

Why the fear mongering?  It's not just one source which does it... everyone is supposed to be afraid of something.

Of all the wacky stuff  I've done that everybody raises their eyebrows over,  Paradigm is my favorite, because it really is closest to explaining my worldview.  Most of the time, I feel that I misrepresent my intentions by accident, due to poor focus.  Working on that.


Nobody wants to be told what to DO.  Well, unless they're banner waving partisan-apt people.

This is the cover to PolitiK: Paradigm.

It's actually originally a 3.5 by 3 foot watercolor heavy paper stock which I painted for the North Bank Artists Gallery in Vancouver Washington back before first moving to Portland and beginning my comic book study stuff there.

Now it's a nigh-postage stamp size cover to my little zine.  I think I'll try to make some as prints for the Jet City Con, in Seattle in a little under two weeks.  I'll be excited to see everyone who shows up there.

- J.

Rose City 2012 (1)

Just got back from Portland.  I'm probably more exhausted at this minute than I have been in a very long time.  That's maybe saying something, I think.  



I got a new hat.  My favorite hat got left at my buddy Dag's house by accident, so I picked it up at the First Thursday fair in Portland.  It was a super convenient find cause I was mad at myself real fierce for not having my good luck charm on me.  I was spending that day with  my old bud Mood and his pals Tuan, D., Petie, and Samhir.

 

 My favorite part of the weekend was my wife's reaction to a homeless man's sign.  He was going for one and he got it.  His sign said something fairly much like:

Please Help!  

Ninjas stole my girlfriend

and I need to collect 

ransom money quickly!

(or learn kung fu).

Since random inspirational cards are frequently to be found scattered around my home in times of stress or overwork, I thought I would leave her one for in the morning.  It's taking up her whole front seat.

It was a good weekend.  Off to bed now.  Early morning.

- J.

Elite Marketing

This was part of a marketing campaign which was brought to me.

- J.

30 Characters

Last November I took part in the 30 Characters Challenge online at 30 Characters dot com. 

It was one of the most difficult challenges which has ever presented itself to me, in a similar vein as to making a 24 Hour Comic, which also is hard.

Many of them are sort of fun, and a few are dreadful as can be.  Lots of them are actually people I know, or sort of knew at the time.

The intention was to make each one funny and engaging.  I wanted to avoid genres such as superhero or cowboy unless done in a heavy lampooning manner.

Here's a few of my favorites:

http://www.30characters.com/2011/12/01/j-james-final-characters/

They all have funny descriptions but you can go read them yourself if you would like.  As of the moment I am posting this, my final index is all available still on the front page of www.30characters.com where it has been sitting in plain view for random passersby for 10 months or such.   I expect it will be pushed away pretty soon into obscurity since it's about time for the next competition. 

- J.

Captain America

... throws his mighty shield.

A new clip of the Avengers premiered last night online.  It's likely gone by now, and if you are into it you'll see it on blue ray, but MAN, that should have been in the movie.

This quiet, serene series of moments where Steve is walking through his new life, remembering old friends and old love, viewing old film clips, and having a brief moment of realization that he needs to move on and let old times go.  There were very few words, it was powerful storytelling.

I made this for a young relative of mine.  He was going out for Halloween dressed like Captain America and didn't have any shield.

WHAT!  NO SHIELD!  Gotta rectify that situation.

So this was my solution.  Heavy foamcore so it's light enough for a kid, thick straps with buckles on the back so that it won't fall off.  It was painted in about three hours.

Concentric rings are funny things to paint.  There is not actually any shadow or curvature to the surface of the shield, that is only indicated through the painting, as well as the inset rings.

- J.

A Brief Metaphor

This is sort of how my drawing for a living is working out for me right now. 

I made this.  It was the only one of nine which I planted and today it's opened up.  Little late in the season I'm told but it's the only one so that's okay with me.

- J.

My Sustainance

Zach and Emily Kosta are the organizers of the long time running Craft Night Art Night in SE Portland.  Every Thursday night from about 7 pm to close, the event is held at Bar Carlo at 6433 Foster Road and is open to artists and crafters of all ages who would like to come and hang out, create something within a community of like-minded folks, and have a drink.

More recently, they have been organizing formal gallery showing at that location.  The current show is themed "Food," and you should go check it out if you are local.

When I first heard that the theme was "Food" my immediate thought was a couple embracing, something maybe a little zen/meditative.  Two people sharing an aura in one of those light-vein new agey things.  They would be sustaining each other. 

The situation was saddening to me, because there wasn't have enough time to do anything... the ideas sort of came at the right time for it to work out.  A few hours either way and it wouldn't have gotten done.  It was totally being taped up by myself and the shipper as the mailman was standing there with his fists on his hips.  When I painted this was all obsessing on symbolism after returning home from the Zine Symposium.  This was painted a day or two after it I think. 

I wanted a happy gory something.  A thing uncomfortable but warming in a way.  That is what this is.

This piece was put together pretty rapidly.  It is acrylic on canvas with mixed media for the framing materials.  It is currently a part of the display at Bar Carlo.  I think it dried in the mailing tube so go see it before it all falls apart!

- J.

Green Lantern Alan Scott

Alan Scott is the original Green Lantern from DC Comics.  He is to some degree, the Superman of the original generation of superheroes.  Barrel chested, wealthy like Batman, and really mostly a fist fighter despite his ring powers.



Overshadowed unfairly by Hal Jordan, the "movie face" of the Green Lantern name, Alan has definitely got one of the best costumes in all of superhero fashion.  I was commissioned to create this eight foot tall and four foot wide piece during a moment in which the Alan Scott character was being re-imagined, complete with a new costume (which is really pretty good as an update).  I intentionally chose to use the original uniform over the new since I consider it fascinatingly unique, and it predates almost all superhero designs so it is as raw and original as it comes.  It's always been a favorite of mine.

He is unique from other Green Lanterns due to his status as a team leader of the original World War 2 superheroes, the Justice Society of America, and now team leader of a world in which "more recognizable" heroes are all dead, which I think is a downgrade in stature.  At the same time, it is basically his Silver Age status restored, so whatever... I'll let others argue that one out!

This was originally commissioned as a stand-up for portrait opportunities, as seen at here on my portfolio and is now available due to popular demand as a lithograph poster of 11 by 17 inches size.

Hot on the heels of the Green Lantern movie, the character Green Lantern is now a household name, and with the media attention given to the New 52 DC relaunch and Alan Scott in particular, it's well past time Alan got the attention he deserves as the most stand out Green Lantern.  Hopefully he becomes the most popular GL.

This piece was a commissioned piece for Adventures Underground in Uptown Richland, purveyor of fine music, books, collectibles, and more!

If you would like to purchase an 11x17 lithograph print of this, it is available in my shop here.

- J.