It’s been a frustrating day. Work hassles (people not communicating, people not organized, people not doing what they said they were going to do), sleep schedule kind of out of whack and now I have a piercing headache.

This is not my planned start to a new year. I’m feeling irritable.

Only two good things today:

– I’m ahead on the work stuff I have some semblance of control over.
– Talking to my Mom tonight. They wanted to see me on Sunday, which usually entails me driving in to Oshawa. When my Mom told me they’d be happy to come to my place instead I was pretty shocked. Then she says

“I think your father wants to play more Nintendo.”

Awesome. My Dad the nerd-in-training.

It’s been interesting getting feedback from all of you about the pic I posted up the other day. Some LJ posts, some e-mails… lots of opinions.

Several mentioned that the character/face doesn’t feel like a typical/comfortable/proper Jim pic, which I find weirdly neat because there is no Jim look. I don’t have a style at this point.

The only ‘body’ of work I’ve done my own way is Makeshift Miracle and that’s 3-4 years old – it’s not even how I draw any more. I’ve worked on so much client work that I don’t feel like I have a look of my own at this stage. The Animation course taught me how to adapt my artwork to fit a production style. That adaptability has been a boon to me work wise but now it’s left me without a strong sense of what I want my personal art to be.

I seem to toggle between a whole bunch of influences. Ever since Makeshift ended I’ve been searching for an approach that I can build on to take my personal work to the next level. In the end I’m the only one who can judge what that’s going to be but it is neat hearing what all of you think.

Here are some older test pics I’ve done as I stumble around trying to find things I like:

A mish-mash of manga/animated/illustrative stuff. All of them are pretty different from each other, all of them competently done. Instead of polling people to see what they think I should just choose something and run with it but creative hesitation has crept in and I’m a bit stuck. There’s no right answer. My flexibility/inability to stick with one look is making this harder than it should be.

I need to tell a new story in 2007, that’s the core of this… the rest is annoyingly mutable.

I’ve been using the holiday break to draw for myself, trying to solidify ideas for stories and experiment with some styles and designs to see if I can find something that clicks for me.

So… what do you guys and gals think of this experiment I put together tonight?

It’s a tight pencil sketch with rough blue lines removed and texture/tones added in Photoshop.

I need an approach that looks good but won’t be brutally labor intensive since I’d have to try and balance doing pages for a story with my teaching, coordinating and tons of Udon responsibilities in the new year.

This look is way more manga-inspired than what you’ve seen from me before, which I think is a good thing. I don’t want to be typecast as far as what I’m capable of. I want to simplify without losing a sense of good drawing underneath. Working with just a couple tones for highlights and shadows might force me to stage better and think more carefully about mood. When I wake up maybe I won’t like this piece at all but right now it’s working for me.

Your thoughts are appreciated.

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.