Maintaining the equilibriam

So the holidays are here and with it comes the typical craziness. Last week and this week I had off from Dowling. But as I have been told, nature abhors a vacuum and my time has been quickly filled.

This week I will be working more at the gym, to cover for the boss being away. Also there is plenty of Pronto comics work to be done, as well as new illustrations I want to make. One gift that I got for Christmas this year was a new light box. This will help me out a lot in my illustration career.

As I have learned over time, illustration isn't about art for art sake, it is about art for deadline sake. Being able to make the best image, the fastest and delivering high quality under deadline. In the time which I returned the previous light box to my former freelance boss and now, my ability to turn out illustrations has slowed down.

Granted this is also due to a very busy schedule and my involvement with Pronto, but not having a light box does slow things down as well. So this week, I am sure, will fly by as quickly as all the weeks previously and next week I will be back to work at Dowling.

Its beginning to look a lot....

So is everyone dug out? One hell of a storm huh? I, like everyone, else spent Sunday shoveling snow. The day before that I opened the gym and fielded questions about whether or not we would be open on Sunday.

What parts of my weekend were not devoted to white powder I spent either dealing with Christmas things or just organizing my area and general cleaning. It is not one of the more glamorous aspects of being and artist, but it is necessary.

One of the benefits of this though, is that it feels like my mind got cleared out a bit more, which allows me to focus on more productive activities, such as the several new idea's I want to work on for illustrations, a couple of new blog/rants I want to write and of course the ink samples i am working on. The inking by the way I think is looking quite good and I need to finish up the last couple of test, scan them and send them the to penciler.

Slightly productive

Though my schedule sometimes seems to get in the way of me doing what I want to do, a great paradox, I was able to find time last night to put out more content and start on another alcohol review. last night I was able to do a late NY Times round up blog, type up two new articles for helium and did some research and notes on a bottle of white wine.

Since it is Wednesday, I will be writing up the Pronto Comics blog and enjoying some times to do other things. Tonight I have one of my last shifts at Dowling, for the fall semester. The shift looks like it will consist mostly of cleaning the studio and getting it ready for the winter interim session.

Also on inking front, I have (mostly) finished one ink study for the new anthology and will be starting a second page study soon. Once the studies are done, I'll move onto the actual inking of the pages.

Another day, another...

There is not much for me to write about today. The schedule is pretty normal. I have projects to work on. One good thing is that it looks like my first foray into coloring comics might happen. It is pretty likely that I will be helping out on a friends new book as an inker/colorist.

Aside from that there isn't much news to discuss. I am getting ready for the holidays and running around even more like a mad mean then usual it seems.

All I can say is that I will be looking forward to a little but of down time, in the near future. Might give me a chance to work on some, long postponed projects.

Meeting today

As is my Thursday routine, I got up and opened the gym today. What is unusual is that I won't take my post opening 4 hour nap. I have a meeting today in the city with the new editor and chief of sexherald.com the online adult magazine that I do alcohol reviews for.

Last week I got a call from them explaining that there is a new editor and the she would like to meet the writers, so I scheduled this meeting for today at 3pm. I am not sure what she will want to talk about, I am guessing it is mostly a meet and greet and just a general "get to know you" casual meeting. Either way it should be interesting.

Also last night I was able to get some inking done for the sample I am putting together. Now I just need to set some time aside to color it, then it can be submitted. I am hoping to be able to do it tonight, since I told the guy I would have the sample done today.

Aside from that there are other personal commitments that lay before me today which need my attention. As usual it will be busy, but I wouldn't have it any other way.

Running around today

Wednesday has become the closest day that I have to off. Well that is not entirely true, Tuesday morning to Wednesday evening I have off, I believe I calculated it to about 32 hours or so. Yesterday after I got off work I took my new car to get inspected and then went home to take my post-opening nap. When I got up I ran an errand or two and then went to Adelphi to see what was going on over there.

When I got home I published another Sunday Leftover blog on redgage and then a new food blog. I got some time to do a little inking on a sample page. So it was a roughly productive day.

Speaking of productivity I've learned more about myself in how to be productive. It requires a lot of discipline, which for some might be a no brainer, but can be easier said then done. The thing that I have learned is that I need to ignore or put aside all the distractions that the Internet can provide. Which is difficult because it is pretty hard to not watch TV, or go on certain sites that are pointless, in terms of completing a task.

Now I have been able to do this when trying to complete most things. I feel I have been able to keep track of my personal responsibilities and content. The only area in which I feel I am linking is in inking. I still need to find time and work on these new pages, but I will get it done.

Today I have some more errands to run and then I am going to Dowling to work from 6 to 10.

We've got inking to do

Well it looks like I will be developing a nice inking portfolio, all with in a year for the last comic con. I won't go so far as to say that I am impressed with myself, but I would say that I am happy that I am working toward my over all goal. After my last Pronto Comics meeting it look like I will be inking at least 3 stories for the next anthology. There are also possibilities that I will be working on the Space anthology as well and even on some possible solo projects.

Needless to say, I am living part of my dream, making comics. The next part of course is to get paid to make comics, but hey, gotta crawl before you can walk.

On another upside I am able to update my website again, so I have added new articles and a new video to it. I even started working on fishy suicide again.

There is a slight downside though. I was so busy this weekend that I still haven't made a food blog post, done my Sunday times round up and I need to get a booze review out.

So as always, though some areas of my life are moving along in developing, some others are still rocky and need smoothing out. However, I feel confidant that I am slowly moving out of the building phase and into the maintaining/growing phase.

Gotta do some inking

So my schedule is pretty much back to normal, which I like. As much as I like holidays, I hate playing catch up. Anyway I now have a newy car, completely registered with NY state. Getting this car up and running though has taken up a lot of my time, and since I only get so much, I haven't had the time I would like to spend on inking new work.

Anyway, tonight I've got a Pronto Comics meeting, so i'll show the penciller the ink tests that I've done and we'll discuss ideas then.

On an up shot, I've been more productive on the internet front. I've been able to update all my sites. I added new video and articles to my illustrations site, added new facts to Ed White Facts and even started working on fishy suicide as well. All in all I am pretty pleased with it. Now I just need to get myself in order in terms of info for Pronto Comics. I only have a couple of things that I want to update and then i can focus again on inking and keeping a regular schedule.

Early mornings, mid days, late nights

Last week was Thanksgiving and though I enjoyed my holiday very much, the rest of the week wasn't as relaxing as I thought It would be. I still spent a significant amount of time working and due to finding a new car, I didn't have the time to do a lot of things that I wanted to get to.

But such is life.

The good news this week is that I have found a car and I am now in the process of registering it, getting insurance and so on. The bad news is that this also takes up a good amount of time.

Aside from this, my regular schedule is back and I will be working at Dowling tonight. Luckily it won't be like yesterday, starting at 5:30 am and ending at 11 pm (with a break in between). Other then my paying work schedule, I have plenty of inking coming my way. I am currently doing a lot of ink studies for the first page of a new anthology story. So busy is still my middle name.