Zub Tales

Waking up to a real Canadian December.
Panaramic view I composited from 3 digital photos taken this morning.

I threw my back out on Saturday morning. I walked around the Bayview Shopping Mall after having brunch with friends and a dull hurt flared into full-blown agony, leaving me mostly helpless for the rest of the weekend. This morning it’s a quiet little throbbing rather than a full on tortured pain. In the end, it’s my own fault. Stress and a lack of looking after myself coupled with a lack of doctor/chiropractic visits for a couple years played out its revenge upon me. I couldn’t have made it through Saturday without Gal’s help. She was very patient and understanding, especially since she’s been warning me that this was going to happen for some time now with the way I was buzzing along.

Sunday was weird. I had art deadlines for this morning and knew I had to get things done even if my spine was all messed up. Luckily I have a special ergonomic stool that keeps most of the pressure off my back so I could lean over my drafting table to get work finished.

I was determined to do some kick ass artwork for the latest Exalted book. My post on Friday about the forums still lingered a bit and I’ve wanted to push myself more anyways. Funny enough, even with brutal back pain, I really pulled it together. Maybe the pain was a zen-like motivator, I don’t know. All I know is that this weekend I pulled off two of the strongest illustrations I’ve ever done. I showed Brian later in the evening… he approved them and was genuinely impressed. That felt good and gave me a chance to relax for the rest of the night.

I wish I could post the art here to show, but it’ll have to wait until the book’s in print. That’s one of the strangest things about freelance illustrating. People are constantly commenting on my “latest” work, even though it’s actually a few months old. By the time most of it sees print, I’m knee deep in all sorts of other things.

Taking an idea from the mighty ghostyo… I finally started to reread XXXXXXX from the very beginning so that I’d have it fresh on my mind. Next year, Udon’s releasing an XXXXXXXXXXXX after negotiating it back and forth for some time with XXXXXXXXX. It was tense for a while, but now that the contract is all wrapped up I’m super excited and can’t wait to tell people about it. Once the initial story arc has been approved and preview artwork is finished (probably mid January), then I can finally let everyone know. The fact that I’m in charge of the whole thing makes me giddy and terrified all at the same time.

Anyways, that’s the update.