Slow, Steady and clearly not blogging.

I check my last blog post, which was done at the beginning of the new year. In that time I have been slowly and steadily working on things in all areas of my life. I've done a lot of cleaning and organizing, changed a couple of things and finally got around to doing some things I've meant too for possibly years.

That being said, this has not been an easy winter. The weather has sucked and made it difficult to get things done. As we all know for awhile it felt like there was a snowstorm every week. There was a brief period there of little activity, but as I write this, I look outside and see another fresh coating of snow. The weather lulled us into a false sense of security.

Pronto comics is going well. More and more people are getting involved and we are consistently expanding. It is a good feeling, a feeling of accomplishment. My own projects though still remain on the back burner. I have realized something about myself though, that no matter what the situation of my life may be, I can't seem to do just one thing.

I look at the jobs that I work, and right now can't think of not being involved in these things, as I find them important to my life and enjoy them. In essence I am a work-a-holic and i am not sure if this good or bad.

A new year, a new, I don't know.

I don't really like to make resolutions, mostly because I am outstanding already (hears crickets). That was a joke folks.

However there is something about the idea of a new year, newness in general that makes a person want to take some kind of action. Psychologically, I guess it is a convenient transition point. A clear date in which the past is the past and there is the possibility for a clean slate. Truth be told of course, that could be any day, but socially we pick the beginning of January.

It is to this end that I find myself, reorganizing, cleaning and clearing out old things. A shedding of the past, if you will. It creates almost a visceral feeling, like a lifting of weight.

It is a motif in literature and mythology that the hero's physical surroundings is a manifestation of his mental condition. I believe this to be true in life as well. A chaotic and cluttered workspace or living space is the product of a mind in a similar state.

So as I've been cleaning I feel the mental cobwebs clearing out and ideas are coming to my mind. Ideas for Pronto Comics, my website, my schedule, new illustrations, and several other ideas. Hopefully i will be able to get all of them done this year.

Recovered

My schedule finally caught up with me, as I got knocked on my ass by a case of the flu. It came on suddenly and I didn't think much of it, just a head cold. So when I was asked to cover at NCC, knowing I had to be at Dowling by 3 as well, I said sure. I've done a long day like that many times now. By the end of the day though, I was pretty shot.

When I finally got to bed I had chills, body aches and shivers, but I still got up and opened the gym at 5:30. now one of the few up shots of working at a gym is the array of people that you meet, that includes doctors and nurses. I described by symptoms to a nurse and she told me it was the flu. As soon as I could I promptly got myself right back into bed, and stayed there the remainder of the day.

However, not to be a complete slacker I brought the lap top to bed and did some Pronto work, emailing and some other computer stuff. Also I've been able to get to do some inking, which has been fun. This group of stories have been more on the technical side, which reminds me of my patent days and makes me grateful for that training.  

For the most part though if I wasn't at work I took it easy, and slept as much as I could. Today, I finally feel back to normal.

Thankful

I had a good Thanksgiving and I hope you did too.

I spent a good part of it firing the wood kiln at Adelphi. The firing went very well. The combo of dry wood and thickened walls turned the kiln into an efficient jet engine. We achieved high temperatures quickly and used much less wood then we thought we would.

The real exciting part will be Sunday, when we unload the kiln and actually see the results. Considering the success of the firing process, we are hoping that the work will be equally amazing.

Aside from that Pronto Comics is now a publisher on Drivethru.com. It is a comic site that allows creators to sell the comics via pdf files. Its my hope that many of the creators will use this tool and start making some money off their creations and build an audience. Whenever I think of publishing or looking for publishers, m y mind immediately goes back to a graphic novel symposium I attended about 3 years ago. An editor at a publishing company made it very adamant that what they look for is...SALES!

Basically editors and companies want sure things and are not in the business of taking risks. Thus they want to know that there is an audience for the product they are putting out. To that end, I felt it is important for the creators to get their product out there to be sold.

Wood Fire

This week Adelphi will be doing a wood firing, something I have been looking forward too for some time. I've been quietly making a discreet amount of work at Dowling in order to get ready for it. Not a huge amount of stuff, but enough that it will be worth doing.

One thing that I am curious about is this Jack Troy porcelain I got to work a little with. Recently at Dowling we had a guest artist who works with porcelain and she needed some pre-made bowls to demonstrate her carving technique. So I made some bowls/cups that didn't get used and figured since it was a wood fire porcelain, to see how it does in the wood fire.

Also since I had a lot of scrap porcelain and couldn't throw it into the recycle slop, I decided to make a slip out of it. I added extra silica and wood wash to it as well. I glaze fired it first to see if there would be any effect, but nothing. So lets see what the wood fire will do.

Anyway I am exciting and looking forward to it.

Holy Sh*T 200th Post

Well I would like to thank God...



Yeah, OK, anyway back to reality.

So I was hoping that this month would be a little calmer then last, and so far its been a fifty/fifty mix. The first week of November was quiet and I was able to get a couple things I wanted to do done. Last week however, not so much. There were some unscheduled changes, unexpected sub-dates as well as some other surprise events that popped up. This week however, has been calm and I've been able to get a good amount done so far.

There has been a lot of emailing and discussing on the Pronto front. Also a good amount  of editing has been going on as well. A lot of pitches and scripts have been read, some really good ideas out there. One really big thing, is that I've made some serious headway in cleaning my office/studio. Boring as this may sound, it really is very important. As anyone out there has ever had to write a paper and needed to clean their dorm room first knows, there is something cleansing about working in an organized space.

Mythologicaly/metaphorically speaking they say that your physical environment represents your mental environment. I believe this to be true. While everything  was going on and things we so busy, I was just jumping from one thing to the next, not much time to focus my thoughts. I had to just keep moving, and the space around me reflected that. Now, I have a little more time to think, plan and organize my mind has cleared up significantly, which is good cause the holiday season is coming and that a roller coaster in of itself.

Busiest...Month...Ever

You may have noticed I haven't been writing much, (ok who am I kidding, no one reads this thing) there is a reason for that...I've been so goddamn busy I don't know if I am coming or going.

The last post I made I believe was the day after the Comic Con. Of which the bilk of the 1st half of the month was devoted, in addition to the meet and greet meeting that Pronto had several days after. All in all it was a successful turnout. With many people interested in what Pronto was doing and had to offer them.

The week after that was devoted to preparing for a showcase at The Ballroom, which went well.

Now this week, I have been subbing at NCC, on top of working my regular hours and when said and done will have worked 68 hours this week.

The upshot, I should make a nice penny.

The down, I am tired as hell and haven't gotten much Pronto/my work done.

Its all a trade off, but hey I'll be getting a paycheck. So I'm going to call it a win and go home.