Some “News”
It’s been a little while since I’ve given much of an update on things, aside from being wait listed for several conventions. So I didn’t see you at Comic-Con last week and I won’t be seeing you at Stockton-Con next week. Bummer.
What have I been up to? As far as comics, I’ve been working on some art prints and fulfilling Kickstarter commission rewards. That has been fun, and I’ve got ideas for quite a few more prints. And no, they will not all be based on 80’s childhood memories. Plus I’ve still got quite a few commissions to finish. I’m working on a cool one at the moment inspired by a Disney/Pixar property. So look forward to that.
This commission has gotten me some attention, and it looks like I may have some customers looking to have me draw their pets in the near future.
And that’s cool with me. It was really nice to see how happy the owner of this dog was to get this printed on a huge canvas to hang up in her apartment. So if I can bring that kind of joy to someone I’ll gladly draw their pet.
I haven’t done much in the way of drawing any proper comics. I’ve been doing whatever I can to promote Two Drink Minimum. That’s been going fairly well. We’ve gotten a couple reviews on Amazon, though it would be great to get some more. We’ve got a couple reviews soon to come from some online comic reviewers, which I’m looking forward to. We were featured on the podcast Drinking with Comics, which was really cool. I have an invite to go down there and be interviewed, so hopefully I can fit that in at some point.
To be perfectly honest though, I wish the book had gotten a lot more attention by this point. If anyone has any suggestions please let me know. Also, you will have my eternal gratitude if you spread the word about the book with your friends and family.
Oh, and for everyone who reads the comic online only, look for the last page to come out tomorrow morning!
I’ve been meaning to get back to some sort of a weekly schedule for Optimistically Cynical. I just have to sit down and brainstorm a few ideas to get me rolling. I’m looking forward to it though. The response to that comic was very positive. Plus it was very fun to make, and full of very personal jokes that I enjoyed sharing. I love that it ended with this punchline:
There’s been a little progress on the next Black Snow book. Mostly from Alex working on an outline. Speaking of, Alex arrived in town a couple days ago. It’s only his second time coming back since he moved to Baltimore about 2 years ago. So I’m really looking forward to seeing him.
Hopefully we’ll get some time to work on comic stuff. Though I’m guessing we’ll mostly just hang out and catch up. I’m going to be bluntly honest with you here: communication with Alex has been really limited, and he has become very difficult to work with. He was not the easiest guy to work with when he lived 10 minutes away from me, but now that he is on the opposite side of the country it feels near impossible.
Why? I think it’s a lack of motivation on his part. It’s not that he lacks enthusiasm for Black Snow, per se. He always seems eager to keep it going when we discuss it. The real issue is getting him to sit down and work on it. Or getting him to commit to a schedule.
I plan to talk to him in person about it, which is the way I typically handle these things versus sharing them with anonymous internet readers. But I felt I should share it with you all now because I’ve had a number of people asking me about the next book and what’s going on. So now you know.
Hopefully we’ll have a great time hanging out, we’ll have a therapeutic talk about the future of our comics, and we’ll both leave happy. We’ll see.
In non-comic news, and shockingly I do have a non-comic life, I’ve been very busy. As always, my full time job at an internet marketing company keeps me busy, though the workload has been particularly heavy lately. And it looks like it will only be getting heavier for the foreseeable future. My side work, which is of a similar nature, has also picked up lately and has been cutting into what would normally be my free time.
The thing that has been really taking up my time lately is preparing to buy my first home. Which is a big deal. How did this happen? Aren’t I usually griping about being poor?
I was given a generous loan from a relative that I used to pay off my credit debt that I got into from all my son’s medical bills while we diagnosed his Ketotic hypoglycemia. I also had enough left over for a down payment. So now I’m slightly less poor. Though I’m much too poor to but a home in San Jose. Or most of the Bay Area, really.
Which means that I’ll likely be moving out of the area in the near future. It looks like I’ll be heading a couple hours up north to the Sacramento area. An area I never wanted to move to, as it’s not known for being very nice. Oh, and it’s really hot. Plus it will put me hours away from most of my friends and family.
But it’s what I can afford for now. Plus the surrounding cities that we are looking at are actually pretty nice. And some of my wife’s family is moving to the area, so we won’t be all alone. Some of my side of the family has even talked about moving there in the future. So it could work out nicely. And hopefully give my kids a stable environment to grow up in.
Oh, and today I’m leaving for a 3 day family vacation in the Delta area. So I’m hoping to get some nice family time and just get away from everything for a few days.
So that’s what’s been going on with me. How about you?