Zub Tales

No dreams last night. Not any I remember, anyways.

I’m not asleep, but I’m not really awake. I’m wandering around the space here in a haze.

Finally falling asleep last night, I had a dream about wandering on a tapestry-like carpet filled with colors. There was pocket change woven into the fibers and I plucked some of them out but didn’t recognize what pictures or words were on them.

At an internet cafe in Columbus Ohio…

Origins is over. I’m in Columbus killing time until my flight leaves this evening. It’s weird because I booked a Monday flight so I wouldn’t have to run around like crazy yesterday and would have time to just relax. Now that I’m in the midst of that relaxed time, I sort of wish I had just booked a Sunday nighter like everyone else and dealt with the craziness for an hour or two but woken up at home. The hotel was nice and all, but I’m ready to be around my own stuff at this stage.

The show went really well. The White Wolf booth was relatively tame, especially since they aren’t selling original World of Darkness material anymore. It made the show more social, with longer interaction with less people instead of a sales driven frenzy (which I’m sure Gen Con will be).

The evenings kicked up the usual assortment of partying and stupidity. Strangely enough, the hardest partying we did was on Thursday night. Free flowing booze and intense dancing at a club we had a blast at last year. It’s been a while since I really danced like nuts and it was a good purging of the tension and stiffness of the past couple of weeks. By the time we finished and headed back to the hotel, the crew had gotten a bit rowdy, but luckily no property damage factored into it.

Friday night was surprisingly tame. Guardians of Order threw a party at a dance club and by the time we got there after a kick ass dinner, the whole crew was exhausted. As much as I wanted to go nuts again two nights in a row, I bowed out early and grabbed some sleep.

Saturday night, the Wolfies threw a room party at the hotel. Justin created a terrifying new drink he dubbed “Crowenbrau” (Old Crow Bourbon and Lowenbrau beer) which we all agreed was gag-worthy and tasted like liquid cardboard. Midway through the party we got a bit crazy. We “borrowed” a cocktail table from a wedding reception that was happening on a different floor, became the voice of God (or a quick hailstorm) to passerbys on the street below and I put Justin in a camel clutch after he lost a round of 21.

Sunday was low key, I mostly just gathered loot from the show. Board games seemed like a good idea this time, so I’m coming home with Game of Thrones, Runebound and Settlers of Catan. Hopefully I can get a bunch of people to come over in the next week or two to try them out.

As the show was wrapping up, the Lead Developer for City of Heroes stopped by and wanted to trade White Wolf product for copies of the game. Fred got 4-5 for the staff and gave me one, so when I get home I’ll be logging on to give that a try. On one hand I hope it kicks ass, but on the other I’m a bit afraid that it’ll be too good and I’ll get obsessed. In any case, if you’re playing, let me know what your server/hero name is and I’ll look for you online.

Lots of little moments and Zub Tales. Some of them won’t sound right or as amusing over text like this, so ask me in person and I’ll fill you in. Otherwise, I’ll have photos in the next day or two to show.

Okay, gonna wander and see a bit more downtown. More when I get in.

A good day leading into a good night.

Hit my deadline for Dungeon and cleaned up around the apartment. I had to do color correction with a blanket over my head and monitor because I still don’t have any drapes to put up here and sunlight on the screen makes the images look totally washed out, which would print terribly. It looked very silly, but worked in a pinch.

Then I ran errands, paid bills and mailed out packages and letters.

The Udon crew is in full tilt work mode, juggling a horde of projects. The comic book stuff is to the point that most of them are actually living at my bosses’ place this week, working side-by-side so they can get it all done. Heading over there tonight, I dropped off cases of pop for the crew and watched the tornado of work whirl around me. Erik, Ken, Arnold, Andrew, Christine, Gary and Omar all busting away at penciling, coloring and lettering pages. It made me wish we had a centralized studio space for real, even though I love working from home most of the time.

I watched Arnold and Andrew doing their digital painting and learned some really valuable tips and tricks first hand instead of just the verbal advice I’ve gotten from them before. It made we wish I could’ve redone the stuff I painted this morning, even though they turned out pretty good. Just watching those two paint for an hour or so, I feel like I can really improve my approach. Inspiring and intimidating… I’ve got to keep growing.

A bunch to do before I leave, but it feels manageable compared to the chaos that was last week.

Off to bed I go.

A tough week led into an okay weekend.

There’s still problems galore, even today. I fired an artist off of a project. Another artist ditched on a project, leaving me fuming and frantic. This is the fun side of management. As much as I’d like to just fix everything personally, I’m up to my hips in work and conventions… so much to do.

I’ve stopped flipping out about the problems and am just trying to get as many things organized as I can before I leave for Origins on Thursday at “holy shit early o’clock”.

Other things:

Thursday night was actually a breather. The LARP session went quite well and afterwards I had a great conversation with friends. Crashing out that night, it was a weird calm that I really needed. It purged a bit of loneliness I’ve been feeling and was the exhale after stress the rest of the week brought on.

The Toronto Comicon was this weekend. I stopped by the show a bit on Friday and Saturday. I finally got to see my friend Cary Nord, a comic book artist I met out in Calgary years ago. I lost his contact info when he moved and have been trying to get in touch with him for ages. It was amazing getting caught up on things and comparing where we were then to what’s happening now.

After the show, the pros and other guests went out for a get together and drank. The booze prices were outrageous and exhaustion was kicking in, so I ducked out early and chatted it up with ghostyo about stories and the comic industry. We hit a really amazing font of inspiration, brainstorming a very cool idea for a comic book story we want to pitch. Just typing about it here gets my brain thinking about it and excited. Creativity attacks at the least expected times.

Today’s goal is some digital painting for Dungeon and getting to bed at a reasonable hour.

Apparently my frustrations yesterday were the preview screening for today’s Feature Presentation.

The update on Jim’s Frustration Checklist:

Frustrations with my mistakes have blossomed into full blown unfixable fuck ups.
Frustrations with convention plans have become destroyed convention plans.
Frustrations with sleep have become a raging headache and aching body.
Frustrations with artists have become multiplied with new fuck ups. Hilariously, on top of that, the ones from yesterday still haven’t even delivered the goods.

Bureaucracy is taken care of and should get fixed.
Online anonymous people are currently being ignored.

Today seems ready-made for frustration.

Frustration with myself for making a few mistakes that I need to now correct.
Frustration with convention plans which Gala and I are trying to keep from unraveling.
Frustration with my sleep schedule, currently messed up.
Frustration with artists who hand in shit… or hand in shit late.
Frustration with bureaucracy with clients and the school I teach at.
Frustration with people online who freak out over the littlest elements with barely any provocation.

It will pass. It always does. But some days you get an extra dose of it or a bunch all at once and it digs deeper than usual.

I have to chill out, take care of each one and cross them off a list as they’re dealt with. Get that sense of accomplishment afterwards instead of the fuming I’m currently harboring.

Groggy, but listless.

People have been visiting me semi-regularily for the past week, but I still feel like a hermit for some reason. What’s worse is that a good part of me wants to be alone… I think.

No, not entirely. I wish Gal was here.

I’m finding it hard to concentrate today. Art is going well, things seem fine, but there’s a weird stillness in the apartment today. Maybe I’m just over tired.

Part of me wants to dance feverishly, out at a club. Force my body awake and drive a beat through it with a jolt of sweat-soaked movement. But it’s a weird push and pull, like I want a club with great music and only my friends there around me. A chance to recharge the batteries, without any of the irritating social graces that come from interacting with a crowd of strangers.

On Sunday, I actually did some artwork for myself. It felt good, but strange too. Artwork not for a client and no expectations except what I wanted to see. The things I’ve been drawing for other people have improved the artwork I do for myself. That’s the beauty of freelance art and stepping up to the challenge of drawing what other people want.

Minutes are ticking by and I can’t believe it’s already after noon.

I want to go for a walk… I need to get dressed first.

Working, organizing, relaxing – rinse, repeat.

Things are going okay. Hitting a bit of a routine, which is nice for a change. The current crop of projects are moving along at a seemingly steady pace and I handed in all my artwork for Aspect Fire two days early. This weekend I’m looking at some spare time and I want to do some artwork for myself, putter with a few pet projects I’ve had on the back burner.

The con season really kicks into gear later this month, and I’m excited and dreading it at the same time. It’s fun, it’s bizarre and it’ll be wonderful seeing friends from last year, but it’s stressful and coupled with keeping projects on track back at home, it’s difficult.

Gal’s burning the midnight oil at work and getting a good grounding in the company and the people there. She sounds good, a little rundown from moving into Brian’s new place and working at the same time, but good. It’s a neat experience/sabbatical/adventure all rolled into one and I’m excited to hear about her tales at the end of the summer.

A bunch of people have asked about when she’ll be back. My immediate answer is “Not soon enough”… the real answer though is “I’m picking her up from Gen Con”. So, there will be the big RPG convention, the new World of Darkness release and Gala’s send off all in one weekend: insanity.

There seems to be a weird little renewed interest in Makeshift Miracle. I checked the web traffic and the numbers have risen over the past couple of months with no advertising or promotion. The BitPass micropayment experiment I started with it last year is still bearing fruit. It’s not a ton of money or anything, but it’s a little chunk here and there that takes care of itself, which is kind of cool.

The constant barrage of drawing and painting projects seems to be improving my art. I really appreciate all the positive feedback I got about the Hookface painting in my last journal entry. It was gratifying to soak in people’s compliments after busting my ass on that. It’s definitely changed the way I work, and my pieces since then have really benefited from what I learned there.

That’s the current state of Zub. I have a swack of e-mails to respond to, so if you haven’t heard from me in a bit, you will!

A crazy couple of days here.

First things first: the weekend at Anime North.

Hanging out with Andrew Hou and Arnold Tsang of Udon

The con was a real surprise. It was really busy with 7000+ people attending. The studio sold a lot, did tons of signings and generally worked our asses off. We had some nice prices on the comics and posters we were selling and people took full advantage of it. Meeting so many people who liked what Udon produces, it made me really proud.

One of the many kick ass sketches
done by Arnold over the weekend

On Saturday night, a bunch of the guests were invited out for a kick ass dinner at a Japanese steakhouse called “The Prince”. It had incredibly good food with the chefs juggling and cooking on a hot metal surface right in front of you. The sake was flowing and people had a blast. At the dinner, I had a chance to meet a bunch of different anime voice actors, business people and Paula Lemyre, the host of Vortex on YTV.

After dinner, the staff of the restaurant asked people for autographs and sketches. I thought this was really odd, but I found out that the year before Frank Miller was there, so the staff assumed everyone at the table this year was just as famous. I ended up doing a bunch of sketches for people and luckily the liquid courage of the sake helped me pull off some pretty confident pics. It felt strange, but kind of cool.

Erik, my boss, was really happy with the hard work I put in over the weekend, so on Sunday we went for all-you-can eat sushi and got caught up on business. It’s always neat talking about the ups and downs or potential that the company has got. So many projects on the horizon, I’m excited and scared that it’s going to be overwhelming, especially as the con season kicks in.

Monday I already posted about below. Tuesday… Tuesday was insanity. Yesterday was quite possibly the hardest I have ever worked since I started at Udon… and I have the image to prove it.

Our current deadline for Dungeon Magazine (art for issue #113) was today. The full page illustration they requested was over the top fantasy craziness:

“This full-page image depicts a Huge red dragon named Hookface attacking a city best with all manner of natural catastrophes. Hookface is a mature adult red dragon with one important difference. A number of hook-like bonespurs protrude from the creature’s face. In the image, he’s coiled around a city tower screaming wildly at a crowd of fleeing citizens who crowd the foreground, running straight at the viewer, their faces twisted in terror. Possible signs of the chaos swallowing the city include geysers of steam erupting from the ground, lava spilling in from a side-street, panicked animals, and collapsing buildings.”

Chris Stevens, an incredible penciller and new member of our crew, took it upon himself to draw and ink this monstrosity. Coloring-wise, no one at the studio wanted to touch this crazy, crazy pic with a 10-foot pole, espcially on such a short deadline. Well, I guess no one can say that I let my Project Manager position make me soft… I started painting it Tuesday at 10am and finished Wednesday at 3:30am.

It was a surreal experience. I dove into it head first and learned a ton. I only stopped for food, bathroom breaks and to wish my lady a wonderful birthday.

Remember how on Monday I said I’d gotten more confidence in my digital painting? Well, this was my baptism of fire:

When it was all done. I could barely believe that I’d done it, let alone done it in one day. I learned a ton about painting and I feel like this is the springboard to better artwork for me. It feels great.. although I’m super-exhausted and NEVER want to paint under that kind of pressure again. 🙂

Today I relaxed a bit, slept a lot and am currently deciding what to make for dinner at 9pm.