Christmas went well. It was a nice visit with family – great food and wonderful company. The yearly traditions we have in the family around Christmas have become familiar and comforting. With my brother and cousin’s kids now in the mix the holiday meals are bigger than ever and it’s clear we’re all getting older but not necessarily in a bad way. Being able to slow things down and visit with the family as the year ends is something I never want to take for granted even though it happens every year.

Mom and Dad got me a lot of domestic stuff – tea towels, kitchen knives, that kind of thing. I know they wanted me to start looking for a house this year but my head and heart wasn’t really ready for it. Now that the book’s out and breaking even and work is stable at the studio and college I can concentrate money on the house possibilities here in Toronto and really dig in to the search. It’s a big step but I think I’m finally ready for it.

Relaxing at the apartment has been nice. I’ve been digging in to video games here in a major way and finally playing some games I’ve had here but never even cracked open until now.

Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess- The game is super solid. Great gameplay and a really well-tuned difficulty setting; Not frustrating but also not too easy either. I’m slowly working my way through it and savoring each part rather than just blasting from area to area.

Okami- This game was a Christmas present from Capcom and I finally tried it last night. Wow! Okami’s incredible! The art style is stunning and the story and gameplay are incredibly engrossing. This is easily one of the best games I’ve played on the PS2, right up there with Ico and Shadow of the Colossus. Even though the Wii has been grabbing my attention for weeks this game will easily keep my PS2 from gathering dust.

Elite Beat Agents- IGN gave this their DS Game of the Year award and considering the amazing titles released for DS in 2006 that’s pretty high praise. After trying it I can see how addictive it can be. The ridiculous storyline set against an ingeniously simple-to-learn-but-hard-to-master play style completely kicks ass. After doing the tutorial mode I was a bit skeptical but once it got rolling I was hooked. If you have a Nintendo DS you should try this title with your headphones securely in place and your groove in check. I can’t wait to play it with other people on wireless multiplayer.

I had a fantastic visit with my parents on Friday/Saturday. We finished up their Christmas shopping, had a nice dinner out, chatted out family Christmas traditions and how the year went.

When we got back to my apartment, I showed Dad the new Nintendo. I’ve heard about all kinds of people getting their family members hooked on Wii Sports and I’m a firm believer in what Nintendo’s doing with this console release, but seeing it first hand was still quite amazing. Dad really enjoyed Bowling, Tennis, Baseball and Golf. He tried some mini games in Rayman and enjoyed those too. We were both laughing and having a blastthe whole time. Before this, the only video games he liked at all were Tetris and Bookworm – now he’s bugging my Mom wanting to come back and visit again. Very cool.

I also showed Dad episodes of Heroes and got him horribly hooked. As they were leaving I joked that he was a full blown nerd coming out of his normal guy shell and that I’d have him reading comic books and playing D&D in no time.

I’m just finishing packing up my things for staying at my Grandma’s for the next two days for Christmas celebration. I hope every one has a great time and gets a chance to see their friends and family.

Not Me: Gonna book my BC vacation!
Zub: Oh, cool! When’s that happening?
Not Me: January
Zub: Who do you know in BC?
Not Me: eh?
Not Me: I mean Burning Crusade… duh 😛
Zub: Oh, right…
Zub: You fucking nerd.
Not Me: LOL

You know you have nerds for friends when they plan their fleeting vacation time around video game releases.

I’m okay with not playing World of Warcraft at this point. Heh.

I woke up and eased into starting the day, which felt really nice and relaxing. After a brunch-esque meal I settled in to read American Born Chinese by Gene Yang. ABC was another one of the launch titles on Modern Tales back when Makeshift was there and I was excited to see how the story ended and the look of the work all collected.

It’s an absolute knockout and completely worthy of the National Book Award nomination it received. It’s a beautiful story that will surprise you with it’s meaning as you progress through it. What looks like disparate plot elements at the beginning sweep through to a simple but meaningful finale. It’s one of a handful of graphic novels that can stand toe-to-toe with any novel for youths as worthy literature.

I don’t read many comics nowadays with so much going on and I pimp very very few – so take this as a full-on pimping. American Born Chinese is one of the best books of the year.

Things are almost calm now. The semester marks are handed in for Seneca, projects are pretty much wrapped up for the year at Udon (after a crazy push last week), almost all the X-Mas social gatherings I committed to have happened and my holiday shopping is practically done.

whew

I’ll post my thoughts on the year just before the month’s end. It’s been a memorable one, that’s for sure.

While I was doing some Christmas shopping today I saw that Metal Slug Anthology had finally arrived in stores. I caved instantly… the game is absolute shooter glee. Glee, I say. 7 Metal Slug games ported pixel for pixel to the Wii all on one beautiful disc.

Tomorrow afternoon a pile of the students and some of the instructors are meeting up for a sketching session and I should be there. It’ll be nice to see the crew out of their classroom confines and well rested for a change.

Gotta love working digitally when it comes to illustration jobs.

Based on client revisions, I just tore the head and arms off a character illo, resized elements, gave the character a whole new head and then painted and color corrected it so you can’t tell where the changes were made. Traditionally that would have been a complete nightmare. In Photoshop it took about 40 minutes.

Whew. Here’s hoping they approve version 2. 🙂

Frank and I found this last night as we prepared for an evening of drinking hanging out:

Two new wallpaper images from pin-ups in the back of the Makeshift Miracle book. Look at the beautiful artwork! My friends rock!

Eric Kim pin-up – 1600 x 1200

Noi Sackda pin-up – 1600 x 1200

About a year and a half ago, Erik and I discussed the fact that Udon needed to diversify. The comic book market is unsteady, even as it grows in certain areas. It’s still profitable, but being able to cover ourselves with a strong variety of other creative design work would definitely keep us healthier and more viable into the coming years. It took a while, but the Udon Entertainment site finally became a showcase for the many types of things the studio can do, showing off our impressive client list and skills.

Between the summer and now, it’s gotten kind of nuts. Major clients we would’ve had trouble getting a hold of a couple years ago are calling us, offering us some great projects – toy companies, movie productions, video games, all kinds of stuff. It’s really becoming a matter of picking which ones are viable based on time and budget. That doesn’t even include our own projects or the entire line of manga and artbooks we’re translating for release next year.

I talk to people and they ask me if the company is alright because our comic output is slow and we’re not doing a regular series for Marvel or DC anymore. Let me assure you – we’re fine…. more than fine, bursting with ridiculous things on the go.

I received an e-mail last night from a client I would’ve eaten my left leg to get when I started managing projects at Udon. They want us involved with design on their 2007 line of products. It’s kind of surreal and awesome.

I’m not posting this to brag – it honestly seem important for me to mark this point in time. We talked about diversifying and now we’re doing it. When you’re in the midst of things you can lose track of progress like that. This industry (now entertainment, not just comics) is so chaotic that you can forget accomplishments because you’re always overlapping into the next set of tasks that need to be completed – you’re never done.

So, I guess what I’m trying to say is, take stock of what you’ve done this year and keep building.