DRAWING BOARD DIARY #2: "JOYRIDE!" Part 2

Tuesday, November 4, 2019 10:07 am

NOTE: Just a word of explanation here. This month I'm trying to focus on posting more on my various blogs and a lot of that effort is me trying to finish the numerous posts I've started earlier, either begun months or even years before. This is one such post.
Originally started back in June, it covers a number of topics I was preoccupied with back then, but eventually, we'll get back to where my head is now in November. Hope that makes this post more comprehensible... maybe?


Sunday, July 7, 2019  8:18 pm

...So, I'm trying to get my shit together as usual.
This post is pretty much a follow-up to this post, hence, "Part 2."

The main subject to these two posts is I'm just fucking trying to draw a comic book page. That's it.
I'm also trying to just get into a rhythm of drawing ANYTHING, too.
The last new thing I drew and finished, I think, was the movie poster to Rhonda and Mark Parker's* feature film, MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE, back in August 2017. Actually, I'm amazed I pulled that artwork out of my ass; okay, I slightly missed the deadline originally established by Rhonda, but made their premiere deadline, at least.
But, I digress (as usual), dammit!

I want to draw a comic book page (or pages), now.

The first "Drawing Board Diary" (DBD) post talks about a couple ideas I had for a short story, but of course, I keep expanding on the ideas, my usual m.o.
Anyway, I'm still trying to settle on a story to do.
I also have this weird sci-fi thing called V IS FOR VOID I came up with, a sort of variation on another idea called SPACE JUNK. If anything, VOID is a re-iteration of JUNK, although JUNK was originally a single character idea with one or two peripheral characters, and VOID was focusing on a couple or at least two characters.
I think my problem is my lack of confidence to commit to an idea and just DO IT.

I also have a few unfinished drawings/and or ideas I'm thinking of finishing:

1. Gorilla Ranch Girls (GODLAND fan art)
2. Beatbox-ish fan art (mostly just a pig with a mohawk and funky glasses and then overly drawn out of desperation). Here's a really crappy picture of it so far:

3. Re-make of my one-page comic page story, "Karen's Dilemma"/INTERPLANETARY ROMANCES debut.
4. This drawing I JUST started a week or so ago in my sketch book, a woman holding a pig and...? It was something I was drawing but had no idea what I was doing. I then started thinking about it and came up with a name for the two characters, CRANBERRY AND CAMEMBERT, and they're encountering wild outer-space aliens: Truffids! Get it? Triffids + Truffles? Camembert's the pig. Pigs and truffles? Yeah? No? Er...

November 5, 11:26 am

And... we're back.
Yeah, so... I'm re-reading this stuff from about 5 months ago and basically, my mindset is always the same in that I'm thinking of a project to work with a certain amount of obsessive intensity and then, just as quickly, another idea comes along and I more or less abandon completely whatever it was I was so devoted to and preoccupied with for a short period of time (day, weekend, week, month(s)).
Besides these drawing projects, I also have notebooks that I accumulate, feverishly write in ideas for new projects, which I then inevitably forget just as impulsively and reflexively.

grrrrrr...

November 7, 2:28 pm

Well, I haven't done much of anything today. I start work at 4:00 pm today and this morning I had hoped of getting something done by way of household chores before work, but then I started watching TV while eating breakfast, then I fell asleep abit, but mostly I'm looking at the weather outside and we're having our first light, wet snow of the season and I'm, like, crap. I have to work in this stuff tonight? Guh. Just not in the mood, yet.
So, I really shouldn't be on the computer, either. But let me do a quick cut and paste here and then I'll move on.
I actually started another post as well a few months ago and I'm just going to add it to the end of this post because it's all about my art goals for the year. I actually made a list:

February 6, 2019

GOAL 1: Put together my drawing table.

GOAL 2: Finish my story for the Apple Corps Comic.

GOAL 3: Create a piece of merchandise for Society 6.

GOAL 4: Finish THE CAT'S MEOW.

GOAL 5: Finish SWAMP SQUAD OF THE DEAD.

GOAL 6: Illustrate Visual Encyclopedia for JOURNEY OF THE AVENGER.
Part 1: Do 10 illustrations.

GOAL 7: Update my Portfolio.

GOAL 8: Create a website for my work.
-Before I buy a domain, etc., I must have at least 10 individual cartoons of TABLE SCRAPS ready.


Thursday, August 8, 10:53 am

Okay, here's an update sports fans: I HAVEN'T DONE JACK SHIT ON ANYTHING YET.
And, that's still a good list, so I'm not going to amend anything.
Meanwhile, tomorrow is the beginning of the 2019 Buffalo 48 Hour film project and I'm heading up Team BM-VM's efforts to make an entry this year.
I still have a bunch of last minute preparations to address before tomorrow's start at 7:00 pm, but this is my game plan for the rest of August:

1. Aug 9-11: Focus on the Buffalo 48 Hour Film Project

2. Starting Aug. 12: Focus on drawing. Attempt to do a drawing a day (give or take). When I get to 10 drawings, re-assess my progress and speed.

3. Aug. 23-29: Enjoy the Buffalo Dreams Fantastic Film Festival.

So, the seven goals seem solid enough.
And as for my plans for August, well... I did #1 and #3.

I'm thinking of calling this month, #BetterNovemberThanNever, as a way to justify finishing up some artistic loose ends, like Inktober drawings, for instance.
NOTE: JOURNEY OF THE AVENGER is a sci-fi/adventure book that Sam Qualiana wrote and is currently re-writing. It's his first effort and he had compiled a reference of strange creatures and aliens that populate his novel, with drawings by him (and some by his brother) along with descriptions. I saw it and I thought I could do a better job of illustrating the creatures and he said sure, give it a shot. So, that's yet another project I impulsively forced myself upon.

Anyway, I should get going.
More later.

*local filmmaking pals of mine, writer/director and cinematographer/editor respectively.

P.S. BTW, I don't know what the (occasional) deal is with Blogger. Every now and then, I'll make corrections to a post and thoise corrections don't seem to stick. So, if you're wondering why sometimes font sizes don't seem to be consistent from one blog to the next, it's not intentional! I try to correct it and it seems to have gone through, but then when I look at the actual blog, it hasn't. No clue why. So, similarly, I tried to correct the colors of the font above where I list my art goals in February and then comment on it in August. I tried to make them all blue, but obviously, for some reason, Blogger has different color schemes in mind. Whatever.

MY SUMMER 2019 BUCKET LIST

Thursday, June 13, 2:01 pm

Okay, I'm just taking five minutes (if that) to start yet another (possibly unfinished) post.
I'm taking five from cleaning up the house. My wife's upstairs working on cleaning and other things and I'm focused on the garage area (sun room, TV room, downstairs bathroom).
I more or less finished the sun room, which was mostly vacuuming, and now I'm slightly goofing off before getting into the TV room.
Mostly, I want to say "out loud" that I'm going to make a comic book this summer, somehow, some length, some way. I'm going to be fucking SIXTY YEARS OLD in pretty much eight months! So far, for my 59th year on this earth, I've notched a couple good personal accomplishments.
First, I directed my first play in 14 years: ANNAPURNA, a two-hander starring Lisa Ludwig and John Profeta and produced by the New Phoenix Theatre in downtown Buffalo. Although I was very stressed out during the entire rehearsal process, it wound up doing okay. Getting a 4 out of 4 star review in the Buffalo News didn't hurt, either.
Second, shortly after doing the play, we finally sold our old house in Lockport! We moved to our "new" house* in the fall of 2017, but the old house sort of became this albatross hanging over our head for, like, 21 months. Part of that delay was mostly my fault because I still had a bunch of cleaning and moving to do. My wife moved her stuff out but my belongings were so disorganized she left that entirely up to me. Plus I had some additional cleaning up of areas in the old house, too. Anyway, due to circumstances (like going back to work when we moved in 2017) and mostly my dragging my feet, it just took forever for us to finally wrap things up in Lockport. And, boy, did that pose problems, mostly financial as we were then saddled with the expenses of two houses in that period of time. About the only positive aspect of that situation was in 2017, when friend and actor John Karyus needed a place to stay briefly before he left the area to move back to L.A. (long story) and we let him live in the old house from, uh, I think, a few weeks in November to very early December. And it was during that stay that just before he departed for the West Coast, I shot some footage of him (and me) for a ridiculous and spontaneous movie idea called THE RESURRECTION OF THE BLUE AGOUTI. But, that's a whole other (and currently unfinished) story. ANYWAY, I finally got my shit together and this past spring got around to doing what I had to do at the old house, then Amy and I finally got the house straightened out to have a realtor come through and we put the house up for sale and it sold.
It sold.
IT SOLD.
We weren't exactly confident that that was going to happen, what with no home-inspection, and selling it as is, warts and all. We sold it and we also made a small profit, in terms of what we were expecting and the bills we had to pay, but the upshot is: no more mortgage to worry about, no more Lockport utility bills, no more going back and forth to Lockport to cut the grass and shovel the snow, etc. That era of our lives was finally over and we could finally MOVE ON.
So, two huge accomplishments!

Now, I'm just trying to capitalize on that sense of achievement and keep the "momentum" going this year, dammit!
Alright, gotta go.
More later.

Friday, September 27, 5:04 pm

Well, summer's over, man!
And even though I didn't work on a comic book at all, let alone complete one, I DID work on and direct this year's Team BM-VM entry for the 2019 Buffalo 48 Hour Film Project. It happened the weekend of August 9-11. Our entry was called THE CASE OF THE MISPLACED HERRING.

Meanwhile, I still have to get into some sort of habit/routine of doing artwork and making films.
ARGHHH.
But back to housecleaning.
(I know, I know! Two and half months later, and I'm still doing housework!)
Still, I did a short film and it was for the Buffalo 48 Hour Film Project. Yay! That's accomplishment #3!

Friday, November 1, 1:56 pm

Howdy.
Okay, well, this year is just hurtling along.
And I'm still looking to get into some sort of regular work routine. "Work" meaning drawing regularly, writing regularly, filmmaking regularly. Plus my regular household chores AND finishing up with the various stages of remodeling on our house.

Getting back to drawing and artwork...
So, I've done a lot of squat so far this year in that area.
More recently, I was hoping to do something for Inktober 2019 and I did nothing. Well, I started three drawings and jotted down ideas for other prompts. But I didn't finish penciling any of the drawings and I didn't get close to even inking, the whole purpose of the month-long event! But, also, I hoped to get some work in on the my Apple Corps Comics story. And update my portfolio.
Yes, I'm just re-hashing here what I haven't done so far this year.
Which hasn't stopped me from having new, additional ambitions: possibly being a guest artist on a Numina Comics comic, and inking some pages (officially) for Mark McElligott and John Warren's comic, GOOD CREATURES.

Re: the Numina Comics thing.
During October, I got re-acquainted with local artist/writer Aaron O'Brian on-line mostly through Twitter and followed his daily progress as he did Inktober 2019. Which he did! I know Aaron mostly through the Visions comic anthology from Queen City Book Store (a local comics shop owned by Emil Novak, Sr., whom I know through the store and then through some filmmaking projects he did years ago (THE ACCUMULATOR and BANSHEE) that he enlisted me to help him with, and then BM-VM which he introduced me to). Aaron had a self-published comic he did called RETURN TO SNAKELAND. Anyway, I wound up re-checking the website to Numina Comics of which he is one of the creators. I guess they started it in 2017 and as far as I can tell, they haven't created an actual full issue yet. There is an introductory on-line comic, though. So, I'm wondering if they could use an artist..?
Of course, I should NOT be one of those artists because I NEVER DRAW. But that fact NEVER stops me from suddenly having some ambitions to get involved, my usual impulsive, unrealistic, over-extending m.o.
In addition, there's GOOD CREATURES, the comic that Mark and John are doing. And I'm wondering if they could secretly use the help of an inker over Mark's pencils?
I think both of these are legitimate ambitions, BUT before I officially ask both parties and offer my services, I should:
1. FINISH MY ACC (Apple Corps Comics) COMIC BOOK STORY.

So, there's my first goal in order to achieve yet another goal.
Of course, I've already insinuated myself into Sam Qualiana's affairs by asking (quite some time ago) if I could adapt his short zombie film, SWAMP SQUAD OF THE DEAD (to which he said, "Sure!" and I promptly did NOTHING with it). Or Steve D'Addieco's short comic story from the mid-80's (!), THE CAT'S MEOW, that I've been meaning to illustrate. Obviously, I need to do some shit first before I move on to other projects.
And I should move quickly if I'm serious, because re: GOOD CREATURES, Mark is cranking out the pages and John is cranking out post-production: inking, lettering, coloring, publishing. They've already published two comics so far.
So...
TIME WAITS FOR NO MAN, motherfucker.

Sunday, November 3, 9:15 am

Speaking of Time, today is Daylight Savings and so we all "gained" an hour. Yay.
Oh, some catching up: Who is Sam Qualiana and Steve D'Addieco? What are Apple Corps Comics?
Why is my computer table only standing on three legs? Oh, sorry, that last one's a new topic (but something I do have to address today before my table goes boom and my computer goes, well... I need to address this issue TODAY...  stupid wood screws...!).
NOTE: My apologies if I'm repeating myself (and I'm sure I am) for the following background info. I'm sure the Apple Corps Comic Book Club and Sam and Steve's names have come up before somewhere at least once in previous blog posts, not necessarily with THIS blog, but maybe here, too. Anyway, some catching up:

1. Apple Corps Comic Book Club: I've mentioned this group before in previous posts, but myself and another artist/aspiring cartoonist, Pam, have been supposedly working on a comic book for well over a decade (!) with no comic book to show for it yet (!!!). We call ourselves the Apple Corps Comic Book Club. We both used to work at Great Arrow Graphics (aka GAG. I left there in 2003), a greeting card company that prints all their cards through silk-screening. We started a comic book group there called the Crabapple Club (don't ask!) and the additional members were Joshua Hrizak, Dan Clark and Will Rice. Well, the group eventually fizzled out but Pam and I tried to continue and fulfill the goal of making a comic book and we've met infrequently ever since. "Apple Corps" is a nod to that original group ("corps" being a homophone of "core", get it?).

2. Sam Qualiana is a WNY filmmaker who I first met at the first Buffalo Screams Horror Film Festival (which eventually became defunct, but also evolved into the current Buffalo Dreams Fantastic Film Festival). Sam and I became friends through the local filmmaking community and he actually became our trusted cat sitter when we were living in Lockport. He's perhaps most famous for this Youtube trailer of his first feature film, SNOW SHARK: ANCIENT SNOW BEAST (815,000 views!). He made a number of short films prior to SNOW SHARK and one of them is a compact, straight-to-the-point, effective short zombie film called SWAMP SQUAD OF THE DEAD.

3. Steve D'Addieco is my best friend from high school. He's still my best friend, but I've been shitty staying in contact with him consistently over the years. Although we did see each other last summer to celebrate our 40th high school reunion which he couldn't actually make (so we met halfway in-between just to catch up along with another classmate). He also was a Marvel comics fan (thanks to Bruce Allen, another classmate, for introducing us!). During high school we talked about doing a comic book together, something called Dimensions, an anthology comic. I think I may have roughly drawn a page or two for a couple stories. One was called, I think, "Life: A Universe Away, A Thought Away," and then there was this barbarian character we were talking about called Myrak of Cyrania and the story was sort of a cross between sword & sorcery and The Tempest. Steve actually went to film school and has written a few unsold screenplays. Post college (well, maybe during), Steve wrote this comic book script for me of a short story called The Cat's Meow. We're talking over thirty freaking years ago! I actually started drawing it a couple times back in the 80s and then again around 2000 when I was working at GAG. I took some pictures of GAG colleagues Jim Cole and Joel Menter as references for the two characters.
Still never finished it. One of the big drawing albatrosses around my neck. Still have a few cool ideas for illustrating the story. And, I think I actually found the script to the story while cleaning out the house for moving. Now, if I can remember where I put it...

Okay, I'm going to post this for now and just move on.

* Our new house is pretty much my family's home since 1969. We moved there and I lived there pretty much through the rest of elementary school (I was 9 when we moved), middle school and high school. I lived in Pittsburgh for two years (1978-80) when I went to the Art Institute of Pittsburgh, then I moved back home for a couple more years (I can't remember exactly how long). My parents stayed there until they both passed (my mom in 2007 and my dad in 2016). And then I inherited the house outright. But we remodeled it before moving in. So, that's the "new" house.

DRAWING BOARD DIARY #1: "JOYRIDE"

December 22, 2018

It seems I've started another project.
A one-page comic book story.

The last time I did a complete one-page story was almost 40 years ago. And I wrote and illustrated it, pencils and inks, in one day. Approximately within 11 hours.

So, I’m CAPABLE of doing this.

The main purpose for me writing this post was to try and come up with a one-page comic story plot-line and then try and finish it before 2019 and to detail my thinking process and progress. So, this is my little diary of how I'm trying to go from Point A (My Idea) to Point Z (My Completed Comic Page). That is my goal and that is my deadline.

This time, I actually have a little more space to work with. The space I worked with before was closer to a square, dimensionally, and now I’m using 50% more space than a square, my dimensions being 10”x15”. Also, in that first cartoon, I opted to add a “cover,” since it was a comic genre parody, and that also ate into my story space. This time, I’m devoting the entire space to the story. So, that should allow me a little more breathing room. I’ll take that as an asset.

Anyway, I’m going to try and figure out a beginning, middle and end to a story right now.
Okay, here was the original idea (SPOILER ALERT! Actually, this will be my last "Spoiler Alert" because I'll be giving away plot points left and right throughout this post. So, hopefully I WILL finish this project and if I do, I'll post it and then add a link back to this post in case you want to read all the behind-the-scenes crap. So there.): A young, attractive, and spoiled couple borrow/steal a Chronocycle - a motorcycle time machine - and go joyriding through time. As they do so, they show their disregard for the past and anybody else. Finally, they visit pre-history, and while there, the young man is killed and the woman, who doesn't know how to operate the cycle, is left alone thousands and thousands of years in the past. The End.
Since then, I've been thinking about that ridiculous story line and I was thinking of making the woman a sort of pre-feminist, so perhaps setting the couple's original era is the 60 or 70s. And, also typically, I've been thinking of continuing the story, i.e. complicating my original creative intentions - a simple one-page story, natch! - which is how I typically, compulsively, perpetually start a billion ideas and projects of varying degrees of interesting potential yet NEVER FINISH ANYTHING.
So, in an attempt to stay on track, I'm allowing myself this out: this is the first episode. There! Easy-peasy! If I WANT to continue her story, it will have to be in a follow-up episode or episodes.

I've come up with the couple's names, Sergio and Francesca.
And then I impulsively and nonsensically decided to make them Italian and set it in Italy so that I can have them speak Italian! I think the idea of them being glamorous and fashionable just seemed Italian to me, hence.
But, then I felt I couldn't reconcile Francesca as this character I was thinking of, so now I'm contemplating a whole other additional idea. Adding a third wheel, Beatrice, Francesca's childhood friend who now lives in the States and is visiting. Bea is not very confident and a more overt victim of gender politics and the general culture. But, for contrived reasons, all three wind up going back in time, and to Bea's horror, S and F get killed, and Beatrice winds up abandoned in a strange land and in a time nowhere near her own.
That seems more interesting to me (and maybe cruel, too, considering Bea's fate), but I can't cram that all in to one page. Or maybe even two, which is what my cheat was going to be.
So, I'm thinking...
I don't know what I'm thinking.

Okay, I do know this. I want Sergio to be killed by a prehistoric, carnivorous kangaroo.
There. I said it.

Other inspirations/points of reference: Chester Brown's YUMMY FUR comic. The first issues contained short segments that seemed totally non-connected, but eventually they started to make connections and developed into the long-running story, ED THE HAPPY CLOWN. Part of me is considering doing the same thing with this story and maybe, eventually intersecting with yet another, and arguably more involved, time traveling concept of mine, TIME COFFIN: THE ETERNAL JOURNEY OF DR. ANACHRONIA SANDS.
Part of the YUMMY FUR attribution is the nonsensicality of the vicious Jurassic kangaroo, so to speak.

Anyway, no matter how nonsensical my ideas, for some reason I feel they won't seem as terrible when finally presented on the finished page. It'll just be, you know? It is what it is. That's the theory. Sort of like the Indian Superman and Spiderwoman movie from 1988. you look at it and wonder, understandably, "What the actual F?" yet, it is what it is and there is joy in accepting its weirdness for what it is.

Oh, also, I had this idea to have "Joyride" in Italian. When S and F talk, it's in Italian. Not translated, just leave it as is. Of course, I don't speak Italian at all, so the dialogue will all be badly google-translated Italian. Plus, I came across this link for Italian slang, for additional authenticity.

December 23, 2:05 pm

OMG, I’m SUCH a loser!

Ah, I’m just kvetching about how hard a time I’m having trying to come up with a simple plot for this one-page story. Perhaps I can ask Laszlo for help.

I don’t know. I feel like I’m stuck on a perpetual loop of failure every time I want to do a comic book page, etc.

I’m trapped and I have to bust out. That’s the only solution. Even a really SHITTY comic book page would be a success. Start SOMEwhere. Then IMPROVE.

FUCK ME.

Alright, I have to go to work.

December 25, 11:42 pm

Hey, Merry Christmas.

Well, I seem to have survived getting to and through the holiday. But, boy did I spend money in the last couple weeks! I have to spend the next month saving money and also replenishing the funds I borrowed from our savings for the holiday.

Meanwhile, I really cleaned up loot-wise today. But, that’s not really news. Historically, I do well gift-wise on this holiday.

But, getting back to the subject at hand… re: this fucking comic page I’m trying to do.

December 28, 4:46 pm

Meanwhile, of the few fragmented 2018 resolutions I could possibly (maybe) complete, we still have housecleaning to do in preparation for visitors tomorrow after I get home from work. Oy.

I was hoping to have watched 100 films this year; I would have to watch 11 in the next 3 point something days. I wanted to have posted 50,000 words total on my various blogs; I’ve only reached half that amount. Argh. Oh, and also do a new one-page comic thing.

So, we’ll see if how many more films I can cram in (not eleven, that’s for sure). Let’s see if I can get to 30,000 words, maybe 35,000. And I’m still hopeful about the comic page.

Now, let’s do some vacuuming!

10:17 pm

Well, I did some vacuuming in our TV room and on the main floor of the house. Did some cleaning, some laundry, but was also kind of distracted.

December 29, 2:51 am

OMG, what am I still doing up??? I have to be at work at 7:30 this morning! Can’t believe I’ve been wasting time on the internet the last couple hours.

Plus, I should’ve washed some of my work clothes and I never did that. I’m such an idiot! I could’ve at least done THAT and then, even if I wasted time metaphorically jerking off on the computer, I’d at least have the wash done. Ugh! Stupid stupid stupid.

Okay, I just put a load of clothes in and in about an hour that cycle should be done and I can put it in the dryer. THEN I can go to bed and get up in a couple hours (around 6:00 am).

Alright, stay focused.

There are a couple things I can still do cleaning-wise while I’m waiting for the wash to be done.

Like…. Clean my bathroom and the downstairs litter boxes.

Okay. I’ll be back.

Oh, but first: another idea, “Segue”. I have an idea to do a page of just transitions, for lack of a better word.

I’m trying to think of an ending.

Basically, I start with one character and setting and then transition to another character and setting, yet the two juxtaposed scenarios are related.

The trick is coming up with transitions that don’t seem completely arbitrary.

For instance, I’m thinking of starting with a guy at his drawing board and he’s looking at a big fat blank sheet of paper (hmmm, wonder where I came up with intriguing scenario..?).

Then, we see the shadow of his nearby window cast across his drawing table.

It’s night-time but there’s a full moon brightly shining. The cartoonist turns to look out the window and his shadow is cast across the table. We see the shadow change from man to beast.

Then we see his feet walking.

December 31, 12:04 pm

Ah, screw it!

I’m apparently totally incapable of writing a one-page comic story!

I always keep adding ideas and complicating the basic concept. I don’t develop ideas, I make them more freaking convoluted!

Even when I compromise (i.e. change my own rules), like, “alright, maybe two pages, tops!” even then I can’t stick to my own guidelines.

So, I went from coming up with a non-linear story idea (more or less) and trying to keep it to just visual transitions, and now I have this much longer idea that also introduces my cats as characters. Then I tried to return to the one-page concept again by saying, okay, let’s make each page be a chapter. Or each two pages be a chapter. But the “story” is starting to get away from me, or should I say plot and introduction of characters.

In fact, now I’m thinking this might be my Apple Corps Comic story. Originally - well, actually, no, that’s not totally correct – when I last thought about my ACC story (that’s more accurate), I went from a sci-fi parody called “Close Encounters of the Furred Kind” which introduced my cats as characters as well, to a spaghetti western parody called “Once Upon a Time in the Backyard.” Aside from loose ideas for either idea, I hadn’t progressed too far with it. This supposed one-page story I was working on now, "Segue," which wasn’t going to be TABLE SCRAPS-related (TABLE SCRAPS being the title for my anticipated comic of stories featuring my cats), is now turning out to be yet another TS concept, but ridiculously I’ve gotten much further with it. So, I’m not killing two birds with one stone, I’m just slowly getting around to, uh, choosing a bird to kill in the first place, apparently. And, since the number of pages I need for my ACC story is (at least) 12 pages, I think this might be that story. For now, I’m still calling it “Segue.”

Cripes.

Alright, I have to fill the bird feeders and finish beta-ing a FROZEN fan fiction story by my friend Laszlo. I’ll be back. Oh yeah, I have a day off to end the year and a day off to start the year. Yay!

Oh, a weird idea. An obvious reference/homage to Acme products used by Wile E. Coyote, et al in the Warner Bros. cartoons, I’m going to have my cats use various products from the Chinese Li’l Xing-fu Toy Company. Visually, it’ll be modeled on Fisher Price products, but also part of the idea is Sanrio’s Hello Kitty products, which are ubiquitous and also weirdly far-ranging beyond just kid related merchandise. The Li’l Xing-fu (which means “joyful or happy”) logo/mascot is a perpetually laughing and joyous, chubby panda cub.

12:59 pm

Well, I did the bird feeders.

Since this one-pager is now a full-blown story and an intro to my TABLE SCRAPS comic, I’ll elaborate more on that universe. Here is the breakdown of the cat characters and some ideas I have for them or want to explore with them (so far):

ARGYLE – Modeled on our one male cat, Finn (short for Phineas, natch!). Argyle is fat and his main focus is eating. He’s also not the brightest bulb. Both of these ideas are based on the real-life Finn. I’d like to expand and elevate these ideas hopefully to more comic effect. In “Segue” I also wanted all three cats to be playing with some kind of Li’L Xing-fu product, and I had the toughest time with Argyle’s fixation. I thought about him wanting to put together a puzzle but he just has no clue how to do it. He doesn’t start with the frame or the outside of the puzzle - you know, looking for and putting together straight-edged pieces first - he just keeps picking up arbitrary pieces and then can’t match them. Mostly he buys these million-piece puzzles because he likes the pictures which are primarily of this glamorous feline celebrity he has a crush on, a seductive looking Siamese cat (no name, yet). So, that’s one running gag. When Argyle isn’t thinking of food, he’s thinking of this cat.

DAISYCAKE – Modeled on Minnie (short for Minerva). Daisy’s character looks the sweetest because she’s also dressed in pretty girly dresses and has a big decorative bow in her hair, but she’s clearly psychotic, gun and weapon obsessed, and hates mice. The mice in the comic are to Daisy like the Yancy Street Gang is to the Thing in the Fantastic Four. So she owns guns of various degrees left and right and is constantly practicing with them on mouse targets. Her guns are Li’l Xing-fu brand.

SPARKLE – Modeled on Velvet, our sweet, neurotic, long-haired black cat. Sparkle’s go-to expression is wide-eyed with her tongue sticking out based on the real-life Velvet. She likes to write fan-fiction, the specifics I’ve yet to figure out. She writes on a Li’l Xing-fu plastic typewriter.

NARRATOR/MONTAGUE FLAXBUTTER – The Narrator, a rooster inspired in part by Masterpiece Theatre’s Alastair Cooke and also the Mary Tyler Moore Show’s Ted Baxter. Namely, Monty would love to be Alastair Cooke in presentation and personality, but in reality and execution he’s more Ted Baxter. Fortunately, he has Hattie as an assistant. Vain and easily flustered, Monty wears a variety of toupees. I’m thinking of having a running joke where he interrupts the narrative constantly but from various specific perspectives: as archivist of the strip, as general foot-noter, etc. But each POV is a different get-up, so he’s constantly getting into different costumes, much to his sweaty consternation.

HATTIE - A young hen who seems somewhat relegated to assisting Montague constantly behind the scenes although occasionally spilling INTO the scenes. She’s much more together and composed than him, wears glasses, a bit chubby, sexy in her togetherness but not overtly glamorous. Eventually, you realize she’s got much more going on than Montague. Further ideas: she hosts her own horror show and dresses more vampishly, but still wears glasses. In fact, I had this weird idea where she doesn’t normally wear glasses, but when she does have to appear in the strip, self-consciously puts glasses on. It’s like her getting into make-up. Also helps Montague with various other behind-the-scenes tasks linked to the narration, like researching footnotes, etc., and a running-gag of him wearing actual different hats for different narration tasks which Hattie helps put on his head as she assists in his frantic costume changes (hence, “Hattie”). Although, I think she personally likes wearing different hats, so she’s forcing her fashion tastes on Monty. But she usually wears a cap behind the scene, and then something dressier when officially appearing. I like the idea of her character already but I’ll have to be patient and introduce Hattie later. I think I have too much going on already in this “Segue” story.

Arghh, I really should get to Laszlo’s story. Dammit!

January 1, 2019 10:31 am

Happy New Year!

OMG. So, I re-read this post in the hopes of wrapping things up, since it is 2019 now, and simply continuing writing about my work-in-progress efforts in another post or posts. But, I'm realizing I have two, maybe even three, different projects that I talked about here.

"Joyride" started out as a possible one-page story, then I stretched it into a two-pager, then it became a sequel to a longer idea: to clarify, I think "Joyride" would establish the characters of Sergio and Francesca and their impulsive, spoiled, amoral nature, then they find this time-traveling motorcycle and joyride through time recklessly and irresponsibly for the hell of it. I then thought about a darker ending to this story but it seemed like I needed more pages to accommodate such an idea. So, as a possible solution for the story, I added a third character, Beatrice. So, now I'm thinking "Joyride" could actually be a self-contained 2-page story, and then I continue the concept by adding Bea to the mix. But, things become complicated between the three characters during the time-traveling journey and they wind up in a prehistoric world. There, S and F will die and Bea will be trapped alone. How fun! Actually, the idea of this modern woman starting to experience the feminist movement in the 60s/70s and now thrown into a situation where she has to rely on herself to survive sounded like an interesting idea. So, that's the third idea, and I'll call it "Stranded" for now, with Beatrice trying to live and survive in this savage world.

"Segue" also started out as an attempt to be a one-page story, supposedly simpler in concept then "Joyride" and then, of course, it blew up big time and went in a completely different absurd direction. Now (I think... we'll see how long this lasts), it's going to be my Apple Corps Comic story, about 12 pages long, and also be an introduction to my proposed webcomic/comic series called TABLE SCRAPS featuring at least three cat characters based on my own cats [NOTE: We actually have four cats at home, but I have problems trying to figure out how to use our fourth cat, Pixie, as a character in the comic. Pixie's personality just seems different enough to be problematic. She's sort of the Zeppo in this mix, though for different reasons than the actual Zeppo, at least for now.].

So, where does that leave me?
Even though I started "Segue" because I had problems trying to end the "Joyride" story, re-reading my ideas and then considering "Joyride" as a prequel to a longer story with Beatrice in it, "Joyride" now seems like it could possibly be done as a two-page story, my original goal (well, sort of).
"Segue"'s weird evolution from a stand alone short comic to now the introduction to a regular comic series wasn't my goal, but it just worked out that way.
Therefore, I'm going to try and follow through on both "Segue" and "Joyride." I'll chronicle my progress on both counts via further Drawing Board Diary (DBD) posts, with the subjects being whichever story I'm working on at the time.
Let's see if I follow through on any part of this process, shall we?

Meanwhile, I did get to Laszlo’s story and he did post his latest chapter to his Frozen fanfic. You can check out Chapter 6 here.

(to be continued)

Another Episode of New Project Roulette: news of my latest impulsive compulsion!

November 29, 2018  12:26 am

Well, for starters, I'm tired. And even though I don't go to work until 4:00 tomorrow afternoon, I can't really sleep in tomorrow morning because I have to take my car in to Walt's Garage in Kenmore when they open by 7:30. I need an inspection this month.


10:08 am

And... we're back!
Not just back to this post, but also back from Walt's Garage.
I more-or-less lucked out that I could pass the inspection without any real additional expenses, other than a much needed oil change as well. So, $60. Although, on the horizon - namely, January 2019 (i.e. after Christmas shopping) - I should look into replacing my rear tires and also getting a battery. Urg.
The usual game of Life, etc.

But, that's not what I'm here to blog about!

As I've been mentioning in my most recent blog posts (which you can see the links for on my A Rambling Wastrel, I* blog in the margin under "2018 50K Writing Challenge"), I've been checking out the various posts I've started at all three of my blogs and trying to finish some of them off in an effort to tie up loose ends and also move towards my goal of writing 50,000 words for the year. This has forced me to sort of check out the previous content of my own blogs, something I kind of took for granted.
I think my general mindset towards my three main blogs is that I never really post enough content to justify any sort of readership, with the exception - arguably, possibly, maybe - of my movie blog, Behold! the Wannabe Filmmaker/Etc., which, although, is also woefully poor in consistent updates, at least does have a handful of movie reviews, so there is some genuine content that is useful to any possible readers. And, that impression of my blogs having inconsistent postings (at best) is fairly accurate when I look at the posting histories for my blogs. I've never posted even once/month at any of the blogs, let alone all three, and even if I were to accomplish that - posting monthly - even that is the barest minimum output. Yeah, of the three blogs, over the past decade, it seemed 6-8 posts was generally my maximum number for the year, but not the norm. Apparently, I'd post less than five times, and most likely even post only once for the year. Or not at all. One blog had a stretch of a few years with zero activity. So, Time flies and seems to be getting away from me, at the very least example, in terms of producing content for my blogs. Except for one year, 2007, when I had 22 entries at A Rambling Wastrel, I*. But, checking some of my posts, I see why I was so arguably productive. At the time I was trying to both 1) lose weight and 2) write a post a day (the so-called "365 challenge"). So, I attempted posting weekly weight updates and also just tried to write daily content.
Obviously, that didn't work, except for creating 4-5x more blog posts compared to my other two blogs. Of course, that ain't saying much.

Anyway, moving on, it's interesting reading some of these past posts and seeing where my mind was at. Some of the details of my life or some of the things I was thinking/obsessing about, sometimes I've completely forgotten them. On the other hand, some of the posts are sometimes very deja vu. I'd read it and then think, "Didn't I just read the same idea or subject elsewhere on my blogs, but from eight months ago, or two years ago? Or, uh... last week?" Perhaps, instead of "deja vu" I should call this Kimmel's New Year's Resolution Syndrome. It seems every damn year, my resolutions are essentially reiterations of the previous year's resolutions. The same with my blog posts: I post so infrequently, I think I don't progress too much in my writing, so I'm always hovering around the same frame of mind when I do get around to writing, so the same ideas still wind up on the page. If that makes any sense. Actually, I know what I'm trying to say here and... it's actually incorrect. Just because I write infrequently doesn't mean when I do write I have to start all over again. But, that's what I seem to be doing. My mindset kind of stays the same. I'm not moving forward creatively, which is why my basic set of creative objectives always stay frozen in time.

*sad face*

As for forgetting things, well, I'm not really surprised, in theory. The main reason I started these blogs was to chronicle parts of my life because I tend to act (and remember) impulsively, and I remember seemingly only in short-term mode. Sure, "short-term" is subjective in terms of how long that means. I'm thinking the short-term is becoming to mean something VERY short-term. I just can't remember shit anymore.
Which is another reason for me to grab more sleep in general, in order to improve my memory and also my health. Ahhh... I'm a self-destructive schmuck.

Anyway, there are concerns or obsessions I seem to have (mostly about projects, ideas I have) that I repeat here in my blogs, but these projects never seem to come to any fruition, because eventually I lose interest, or more likely, I compulsively latch onto another obsession and the previous subject never surfaces again.

Typically for me, whenever I'm trying to work on a creative project, that usually means it's either a comic book or film. If it's a film, I'm then typically operating under a tight deadline, like, trying to come up with a short film entry for a BM-VM film contest. Or, if it's a comic book idea, then instead of a deadline, my mood is simply being just sick and tired of not having produced any drawing or writing and so I impatiently want to "whip" something out comic book-wise. Even if it's just one-page. And in this case, my own example of success in terms of producing something relatively quickly happened only once, and, like, 35 freaking years ago, when I was a graphics editor for the Buffalo State College Record, their school newspaper. On this fateful day in the early 80s, I created this elaborate comic strip in a single afternoon, from blank page and idea to finished product because I had to in order to make the day's deadline. You can see the comic at this post.
But, years later, as my artistic inertia has set in and I produce any kind of art so infrequently, the idea of my creating another finished page of comic art seems like an elusive holy grail, but somehow also achievable because, I did achieve it once with that damn first offering of Interplanetary Romances.
Dammit!

Anyway, that history of mine is a paradoxical albatross/talisman for me: my past heroic accomplishment(s) haunt me because I can't seem to live up to it/them, but they also give me hope because I have physical evidence that I CAN produce art when need be. I just need to get back into that cycle of self-discipline.

Bla bla bla...

Having said all that, here's my "latest impulsive compulsion."

So, recently, I was having my usually frustrated, impulsive bouts of trying to come up with a quick idea to draw something. It was for this year's Drawlloween/Inktober and I had a drawing idea that was inspired not only by Warren magazines and Heavy Metal magazine covers, but especially fueled by the influence of Eerie Publication covers. I think I craved the artistic excellence of Warren/HM, but was entertained by the ridiculous excess (and cynicism) of the visual overload of a traditional Eerie Pub cover, where usually three (or more) different types of monsters (traditionally a vampire, wolfman and Frankenstein's creature) somehow co-exist and intermingle, and also scantily clad and screaming female victims are subjected to some atrocity, like being hatcheted, eaten, ground to meat, etc. So, my idea was basically a sexy female "Angel of Vengeance" type from the future rescuing scantily clad women from the likes of a bulging-eyed vampire and a werewolf, while Frankenstein's creature is being decimated by the Angel's laser/flamethrower device. The elements to this composition just sounded pleasing. But, the scenario seemed like it could have some narrative legs, too. And after thinking about it, I came up with the idea of the Time Sarcophagus. So, now I also had a comic book story idea, or at least a character for such a story. (NOTE: Originally I called it the Time Coffin, which I think sounds better than Time Sarcophagus. Unfortunately, doing a little research on the internet, Time Coffin is also the name of some foreign metal band, I think... So, I didn't want to potentially confuse anybody by adding yet another time coffin to the mix and the internet, so i changed the name. However, the positive consequence of a different name is that I think the concept of a sarcophagus pushed me to imagine a much grander and ornamentally denser visual representation of this time machine. Hey! I just tried to find a link for this supposed Time Coffin metal band and I couldn't locate it! Maybe I made it up! Or something, but, hell! If there is some sort of something using the name of Time Coffin, it's apparently not as obvious to google as I thought. Meaning, I don't feel like I'm stealing the name (I came up with it on my own, anyway) NOR infringing on "their" territory, since I can't readily find "them" on the net, anyway. So, I'm back to using Time Coffin as the title! AND I'm still keeping my more elaborate ideas for decorating/designing the time machine, the heck! #OldGuyDoesLittleHappyDance).

So, this whole initial thought process came up during October. Time Sarcophagus still takes up my thoughts. And as 2018 counts down, my anxious interest in creating some new kind of comic book art before the year ends has also been increasing in intensity.

And yesterday, at work, for the first time I had a strange calm and a rare sense of self-confidence that I could pull this off, writing, drawing, then self-publishing an issue of Time Sarcophagus.
So, yay for that wave of self-confidence. To be honest, I don't know where that attitude came from, but it was distinct and enjoyable.
Having said that, I still haven't drawn anything yet.

BUT, while I was at Walt's this morning waiting for my car to be inspected, I did spend some time thinking about ideas for a time sarcophagus comic and writing them down. And, I was rather impressed with myself, so to speak. not so much that I was having great, brilliant ideas, but that I was having some constructive ideas that would be good material to work with on a variety of levels, narratively and artistically. I had a number of workable ideas to set up my basic premise for the main character and the strip. I also had some interesting ideas I could play with in terms of a story arc to further develop the main character's personal dynamics and history. I also did a little organizing of some other project ideas, although superficially so in comparison to the work I did for Time Coffin.
I have so many notebooks filled with ideas and notes for various projects, comics and film, I try to focus one notebook to a project, but I'm not organized/disciplined enough to do that. But, I'm going to keep trying.
I tore out one page of very brief notes on my Apple Corps Comic story, "Once Upon a Time in the Backyard" (and which I still have to really get going on) and put that page into another notebook which I established as my Apple Corps Comic story notebook. I also found a brief description for another comic book story concept, Interminable, and I wrote down some structural ideas for that project. So, my time spent at Walt's was very productive, I thought. Which was both a positive and joyous realization, but also a little slap in the head, because my productiveness this morning underscored why I need to develop a discipline to set aside time and WORK on my art projects on a regular basis because the advantage of working with a set amount of time to sit back and explore, etc. is undeniable. Instead, I blow my free time on watching porn lately!
Porn videos!
WTF, Kimmel! What. The. Fuck.
I confess this dark preoccupation I've been having with a lot of shame. I need to just stay away from that stuff because it becomes all-consuming and contaminating, especially of my time, not to mention my general outlook.

Well. THAT took a dark turn, didn't it? Sorry.
Anyway, I really don't have time to waste. If I'm not working on my art projects, I should then be cleaning up my work space, in order to better work on my art projects! And if I'm not cleaning up and organizing my work space, I should go to bed. OMG, this post took forever partly because I was zoning out and dozing off at times.
Grrr...
Alright, I should go, there's other shit (chores, etc.) I NEED to do before I go to work today.

(... to be continued...)

Meanwhile...

November 20, 2018  11:53 am

...still haven't found those damn batteries.

OCTOBER 2018: DRAWLLOWEEN/INKTOBER

Friday, Oct 5, 2018  9:38 pm

Dear Diary:

So... the difference between “theory” and “execution,” “imagination” and “reality.”

Ugh.

But I’m getting ahead of myself.

For the last few years, every time October has come around, I’ve thought about trying to participate in either the Drawlloween or Inktober challenges. This year is no different. In fact, I’ve mentioned that I was going to attempt this drawing quest to Lady Bleudragon, my fellow comrade in comics creation (theoretically... maybe more on that later) and Zombie Dawn, a horror movie blogger who I’ve met on-line this year thanks to Mermaid Heather, another horror movie blogger. Dawn has been discovering her inner artist this year, and considering the Halloween themes that come up during Drawlloween (well, duh!) and Inktober, I thought she might be interested in these interactive events, hence.

Anyway, getting back to me. In the past, I’ve talked about doing one or the other challenge, but I really never produced much at any time. This is similar to my attempts at doing the NaNoWriMo challenge in November in past years, not much has come of it. But, hell, what else is new (for me)?

But, this year was a sort of weird moment in my life, partly triggered by my having my 40^th high school reunion over the summer. In addition, last September I started a new job as a "shopping cart attendant" at a local grocery store. After over a year of unemployment (July 2016 – Sept. 2017) after the company I worked at finally went under (a weekly shopper paper that I worked at since 2003), getting this grocery store job was an interesting experience. It was humbling because it was a sort of entry level job, at least that’s how I thought of it: usually high school/college age students work the job and here I was some 57 year-old doing it. But, it was also kind of great to be working with younger people. And interacting with customers. And working outside constantly. And walking a LOT. So, all these elements combined into an intriguing dynamic. And after a few months, the physical aspects of the job made an impact: I lost about 15 lbs.

So, anyway, all that made me feel like I was starting over again. I was leaner, I was working with youthful people and feeling some renewed confidence in my abilities at work. Plus, my 40^th reunion made me extremely nostalgic for those times I went to college: first, to the Art Institute of Pittsburgh (a 2 yr. Associate's Degree in Visual Communications that I didn’t finish) and second, to Buffalo State College (a Bachelor's Degree in Design, which I also didn’t complete... hmmm, a running theme through my life, it appears).

AUGHHH!!!

I’M writing this and I'm boring the SHIT out of me!

Maybe I’ll get back to what I was saying, but right now, know this: I had all sorts of plans to draw and/or ink every day this month and it’s Day 5 and I’ve done ZIP so far.

This diary exercise is meant as an accessory document to chronicle my efforts, besides just posting these supposed drawings, etc.

Tuesday, Nov 20  8:04 am

HAHAHAHAHA!

Really? A month and a half later?

Well, I'm just looking at some unfinished posts I've started (oh, this isn't the ONLY one).
Let me wrap this up real quick.
I didn't draw ONE DAMN THING all October.
Lots of ideas. No follow-through.

However, not to end on a completely (and typically) depressing note, last night was the November meeting of the Buffalo Movie-Video Makers and I actually finished an entry for our annual Shorty Film Contest!
The film was called THE MAGIC ROOM.
Whenever there's a film contest at BM-VM, I always have some sort of idea of a contest entry leading up to the deadline, but I rarely follow through. Part of this is my traditional inaction, but part of it is also my tendency to always have large, impractical ideas and not really enough time to properly complete the idea.
Anyway, like the one film I did for a Shorty Contest years ago (NOTE: A so-called "shorty" is a short film no longer than 5 minutes)(and it turns out it was five years ago. Holy crap! Time freaking flies, yo!), this turned out to be another effort where I'm mostly shooting documentary footage (i.e. birds in the backyard feeders).

Ultimately, the positive takeaway from this was; I FINISHED AN ENTRY (technically) AND SCREENED IT AT THE MEETING LAST NIGHT.
YES!
That's always the biggest hurdle.
I need to keep jumping over this first hurdle: finishing an idea, following through on an idea.
the next step is assessing what I've completed and improving on it.
As it is, I'm already thinking of "remaking" THE MAGIC ROOM, because the film I finished (barely) last night before going to the meeting was deeply flawed on several levels, technically and aesthetically. But, I won't go into that now and especially on this blog. If I do post something about me kvetching about the film's "defects", it'll be over at THIS blog o'mine.

Alright, I'm going to end this now before I go meandering in another direction needlessly.
Maybe my next post I'll actually get around to discussing "the difference between 'theory' and 'execution,' 'imagination' and 'reality.' "
Although, hell... I feel that's a running theme through my life as well, not so much the difference but the creative tension between both... what?...disciplines? Methods of approaching things? Let's go with method of approaching things. The constant creative tension between my methods of approaching things and only focusing on the safer and comparatively lazier activities of theorizing and coming up with ideas and rarely exerting myself consistently to test/practice these theories or make tangible these persistent but non-existent ideas.
More later.