Zub Tales

Best Art Description ever today!

Rundown of a piece for Dungeon Magazine… 3 paragraphs describing a pic of this evil 20th level bad ass Green Hag. Her clothes, her attitude, her features, the works… then… the very last line reads, and I quote…

“Behind her crouches her pet, a massive Tyrannosaurus Rex.”

I actually laughed out loud when I read it. It’s like this little secret they just slipped in at the last moment. I thought I was doing a full body villain pic, all by herself and then –WHAM- please add a gigantic dinosaur!

My job is never dull. People could have called me today and I would’ve told them “Well, I’m drawing this decrepit evil bitch and her pet T-Rex. It’s a pretty average day at the office.”

Funny enough, I quite like the way my rough sketch turned out for it. I’ll probably post it up tomorrow, assuming it gets approved.

Yesterday went okay until the evening… for some strange reason it became a battle against blandness. I’ll explain.

Last night I wasn’t feeling particularly social, but I wanted to get out of the apartment. We originally thought it would be a perfect evening for sushi, but weren’t sure we were willing to shell out the $40 it would cost to eat at our favourite spot. Opting for Chinese Food instead, we drove in a random direction and wound up at a place called the Sea-Hi Famous Chinese Restaurant for dinner.

No.

I just add that “No” in there to clarify… don’t go to this place. The heaters were broken or not turned on, so you could practically see your breath inside the restaurant. Apparently not catching the hint, we were so hungry we sat down and ordered food. The place must be famous… it’s written on their sign.

Bland.

My God, the blandness. No spice or flavour at all in this food. We ate tasteless noodles, dry chicken with strange batter and a plate of beef that had heaps of cooked onions, but barely any actual beef. So bland, so disappointing. When the bill came, it got worse… the total was only a few bucks less than if we would’ve gone for sushi after all.

So we get home to just chill out and forget the terrible bland-o dinner. Throwing in a Korean movie a friend lent us, it started off with soldiers dying in the desert. I got the impression we were going to watch wushu ass-kickery and martial arts, instead we get people looking cruelly at each other and dying in a desert, trekking onwards… for about 20 minutes.

Bland.

We shut it off at that point, unable to continue. Browsing over the movies I’ve got, I remembered that my Dad leant me his DVD with the remake of the Italian Job. I don’t understand how this movie got 74% on Rotten Tomatoes. It was terrible! Even actors I normally like were just waltzing in with no character or zeal whatsoever.

Bland.

I can’t believe this film (which plays more like an hour and a half ad for Napster and the Audi Mini) even got made. The dialogue was unbearable! Every character saying the most obvious thing they could with no personality or subtlety whatsoever. It played like a forgettable made-for-TV flick with no violence, wit or pacing to speak of. Ugh. I went to bed just wanting to escape the bland-itude.

Today will not be bland. I defy this blandness!

Went again to Life Drawing on Thursday, but I only had about 40 minutes after taking a while to answer work e-mails and being stuck in traffic. By the time I got warmed up at the drawing board, I had to dash off to teach. Here’s the only two worth noting from the session, and even they aren’t up to snuff:

So last week I went to Life Drawing.

It doesn’t sound like a big deal, but it is. I’ve always had a love/hate relationship with figure drawing. It wasn’t one of my strong suits at Sheridan and I always loathed getting pieces together for my portfolio. When I left Classical Animation, it was one of those things I breathed a sigh of relief about… no more 1-3 minute pose nightmares or the pressure cooker of watching other artists kick my ass 10 feet away.

When I started teaching in Calgary, I was suddenly thrust into teaching figure drawing as well. It was a real baptism of fire and I learned a lot as I re-studied the figure and tried to let go of my inhibitions about drawing, especially in front of other people. I had a class of twenty-odd students who wanted to know how to draw the figure and needed me to show them it on the spot. I re-ingrained the basics and got by pretty well, all things considered. After I left Calgary for Halifax, the lack of need meant I could give it up again.

And so here we are…

I’ve felt my artwork stiffening up for some time now. Good pieces from time to time, lots of digital coloring techniques and ideas, but at the same time a loss of gesture, energy and confidence. I told myself I’d go to life drawing last semester, but it was easy to put off with everything else going on.

This time I’m attending because I want to. I’m going because I want to improve instead of just get marks or get a paycheck. I want to enjoy life drawing again and be a better artist.

Last Thursday’s session was short, and the only ‘okay’ pieces I pulled off were short gestures (1 minute poses). The longer ones (2 minutes and up) just got stiff or lost structure as they developed. This morning’s pieces went better, with a better mix overall. I’m going to try to go at least once a week, but I’m looking to do more than that if possible. I’m also going to try posting 1 or 2 per session up here as an impetus to keep doing it.

More pieces here behind the cut…

My friend Ray has been busting his ass for years to be a professional writer. He’s taken on crappy jobs to pay the bills while he toiled away with his imagination, professionally carrying himself and not losing sight of his goals… a great guy all around.

Late last year, it all started to come together, finally. He’s writing RPG material for White Wolf’s new Vampire: The Requiem line and…

*Drum Roll*

He’s writing a new comic series for Vertigo!

I’m damn proud of him. Hard work and a great “never give up” ethic has really made things come together for him. Keep your eyes peeled for this book… I think it’s gonna be the start of a healthy writing career and you’ll be able to say you were into his stuff from the start.

So, this post is a congrats to him and a lesson to you all: Don’t give up on your dreams. They matter and they can happen.

Friday night was an odd throwback. I ended up out at a rundown bar for a karaoke night with my mind solely intent on getting drunk. That hasn’t happened since the con season, and even then it’s more the environment than my desire, per say.

But Friday went amazingly well and I wanted to celebrate. The new apartment was finalized and the new project I’m heading up (which I can’t announce just yet) is now rolling forward with lots of momentum. 2005 is looking exciting indeed and I think I just wanted to cut loose. Kick back and go a bit wild for a change… and so I did. It was a change of pace, whereas back in college it was all too typical.

I don’t fully remember my duet of Bon Jovi’s Dead Or Alive, though I do remember singing songs earlier from the evening and tasting a terribly foul homebrew beer that Dan had ordered. I don’t fully recall the cab ride home. I was ill and slept like the dead. I woke up the next day quite drained, but also amused that I could rev myself up for a good time when the need arose.

Exciting times are a comin’, of that I’m quite sure.

According to these two interesting articles HERE and HERE, my web comic Makeshift Miracle is still doing pretty damn well considering I haven’t updated in many, many months and don’t advertise it a lick.

The site, according to Google’s importance ranking, is considered a 5/10… keeping pace with a swack of other comic-related sites who have actual updated content and advertising. On Alexa, it’s ranked 818,806… beating out a pile of other sites I figured would’ve kick my butt. In fact on Alexa it’s right behind Derek Kirk’s Low Bright… damn fine company indeed.

Man, what would happen if I actually started another web comic and updated the damn thing?

The lease here at the apartment is up at the end of February. On top of an unbelievable amount of responsibilities heaped on our plates mixed with personal stuff, we’re moving right in the middle of the semester. It’s never boring, that’s for sure.

Yesterday was spent searching for a good apartment. A bit closer to Seneca/York would be ideal. Being close to a subway stop and a bit closer to downtown would also be nice. Having it quiet and with no neighbors above would pretty much make it Shangri-La. Hell, while I’m throwing wishes around, let’s go for cheaper rent too.

We started searching, encountering the usual assortment of idiotic superintendents and lying ads (“well-maintained”, “newly renovated”, “beautiful neighborhood”, “close to TTC”, etc.). I would look at these places and try to imagine myself settled there. So many of them just didn’t feel right.

After searching like crazy, I think we found a new place. It fulfils ALL of the above criteria.

In fact the only thing it doesn’t have is more space. It’s smaller than the current apartment and we were both worried that the expanding amount of furniture and books here would make this new place impossible to manage. So, nerdiness firmly in my brain, we went back to the place a second time armed with tape measures and got exact dimensions written down. Then last night I built a near exact floor plan of the place in Photoshop along with squares representing the space taken up by every piece of furniture here. Fitting pieces in, rotating them in place, checking for decent space between… it’s not half as bad as we thought. If we go with this place we’ve also got a heck of a map we can use to guide the movers. Still some bits to iron out and cross our fingers, but it feels like a “home” and that’s probably the most important vibe.

On the work front, the forecast is cloudy with chances of tornado. 2005 starts off with a torrent of things to do.

Up early getting ready for class. First day teaching this semester and it’s gonna be a doozy. More later.

Have you ever read something and actually spoken out loud to yourself out of sheer surprise. I casually read some forum thread titles and when one jumped out like a searing brand I actually said right out loud “What? Oh no!”.

Will Eisner passed away last night.

I met him twice and it was a gratifying experience both times.

Two summers ago at San Diego Comic Con he was at a Comic Book Legal Defense Party party along with Neil Gaiman, Frank Miller and a slew of other comic legends. The front of the Dublin Square pub was open for all and it was jammed. All the comic celebrities were in a lounge in the back part of the pub, but you could only go back there if you were specifically inivited.

Crammed into the front barely able to move let alone get a seat, I saw Scott McCloud’s head bobbing near the entrance as he looked for a way through. Muscling my way over to him, we enthusiastically chatted about how our year had gone. I’ve known Scott since Makeshift Miracle was in swing and he’s always amazing to talk with.

Anyways, he plowed right through to the lounge area and dragged me and my friend Ray with him. Over the next couple of hours I talked with a pile of people there, including Will Eisner.

This summer past, Will was at a Toronto comic convention here as a guest of honor. Before the show opened up, I saw him browsing around the booths and we chatted about graphic novels and our favorite new cartoonists. Later on that day I sat around with 10 or 12 other artists as he chatted over lunch about finding his artistic voice and seeing the comic industry change.

A fine man indeed. The comic book industry is lessened considerably without him.

Happy New Year everyone! I hope your New Year’s Eve went well and that you’re all looking forward to better things and prosperity in 2005.

I spent a quiet New Year’s here at the apartment relaxing and actually went to bed around 1:30am. I’m trying to get my internal clock back on track for teaching again this semester and shake the grogginess away so I can really buckle down on upcoming projects.

We got in our print copies of the Street Fighter: Eternal Challenge translated art book and it creates a weird mixed bag of emotions as I look it over. The break neck pace we produced the book under was hellish at times and I’m proud of the final product. But flipping through it a few times over the past day, I’ve caught annoying mistakes that make me want to kick myself. They’re not crippling and don’t detract from the beautiful art or design, but I see them so clearly, just like people said I would. With 300 pages of material, we knew mistakes would creep into the final and it’s something I’ve got to accept, even if I don’t want to.

Working from translations and rewriting them without losing the intent or structure of the original text is a very hard and counter-intuitive way to work. The sentences didn’t always read the way English-speakers are used to and the paragraph structure of the original Japanese bounced around like crazy at times. By the time we got more comfortable with it we were 3/4 of the way through the project. We went back and reworked some of the earlier parts of the text, but re-reading it now I can still see stiff sentences or odd wordings I wish we could fix. Sigh, maybe Erik will let us tinker with the 2nd printing we think will be required by this summer after 1st print sells out.

Looking at the terrible events unfolding on the other side of the world, it’s a wise time to really look at our lives and appreciate how good we have it here. The things we’d consider a bad day like a few text errors in an art book pale in comparison to the devastating hardships the tsunami disaster has brought like lack of shelter or food and the massive potential for disease. Look to your loved ones and be thankful.