Zub Tales

I’m on my flight to San Diego today!

I’m excited, nervous, electrified, tired, and everything else in a big jumble.

I had been waffling back and forth about whether or not to do some new artwork and brush up my portfolio. On the one hand, I’m not sure I could get professional comic work, on the other, I’d kick myself if there was an opportunity and I didn’t have anything to show.

I gave myself 6 days to pull stuff together, but noodled away the first few. Then, on Sunday I exploded on a good groove of drawing bliss and am happy to report that I’ve got some decent artwork to take with me. It may have slightly melted my brain with some late hours, but I did it. Walking back from the studio in the middle of the night after getting photocopies of my work, I was exhausted but pleased with myself.

It felt great because I’ve been trying to evolve and this feels like a good step.

I always felt like I was just a “talker” in school and for a quite a while afterwards. That I knew what I was talking about drawing-wise, theory-wise, but couldn’t put it down on the page. Teaching reinforced that because talking was almost all that I did… talk. I talked, and the students were an amazing audience. It felt great in many ways but also made me feel like I was all talk, and minimal skill to back it up.

So, I pushed myself to draw more; More life drawing at the school and the web comic. Ways to stop talking about it, and start doing it. I always wanted to be thought of as a reliable artist instead of a creative flake with a big mouth. It wasn’t perfect, but the schedule of the comic helped me a lot. Working at the animation studio here in Halifax has helped a lot too.

There’s nothing quite like drawings = money = food & rent to inspire 🙂

When I sat down to do up some comic book samples, I had a nagging feeling like I was going to let it slide. I could just go to Comic Con, socialize and still be happy. I could push down the little voice that would say “you should have brought artwork” and pretend it wasn’t important.

But I didn’t. What I pushed back was my fear of doing it. I sat and drew 3-4 hours at a time, only stopping for meal breaks or to run some errands with Gal. I could have used my time earlier more effectively, but at the end I was ON.

It feels good. Really good. Gal realized how important this was once I got the drive going and she was really supportive and patient as I chugged away at it. She sat on the couch and we talked about all sorts of things to pass the time. Silly stuff, like “Where do you want to travel when we’re rich some day?” and things like that.

The funny part is that now that I did that, I’ll be okay if I don’t get work from it. It’s not that I need a second job. I just wanted to do it, to have it and know that I have work I’m proud of to be critiqued if the chance comes up. That’s enough. Now I can enjoy the convention and not worry about it.

I’m packing all that I need into my backpack so that I won’t need to check any luggage or haul things around. Portable Jimbo, as it were.

Wish me luck as I go through two long stopovers. I leave Halifax at 2:15pm and won’t be into San Diego until 9:45pm because of the waits at each stop. I’m packing a good read and my sketchbook to help pass the time.

Digital Camera, check.
Sketchbook, check.
Portfolio, check.

Big smile, check 🙂