Summer 2010 Wrap-up

Some art, some photos, all good.

Even though I got "restructured" in July, this summer hasn't been bad. We've got a good amount of savings and the freelance jobs are trickling in (including one big potential job that will bring in at least a mortgage payment). Lots of resumes out, and a couple of bites, so we'll see...

Anyhow. The highlight of the summer, as always, was hanging out with the Step-Mother-in-Law's family at their camp on Brant Lake, NY. I've mentioned before that they are the coolest, friendliest and most accommodating folks I've ever met, so if you add that to a trip to a lake in the Adirondaks, you can see why it's the highlight.

There was lots of waterskiing (not by me, I'm awful at it) and the Step-Brother-in-Law (SBiL) bought a keg of Rock Art Brewery's Ridge Runner and much beer was had by all. I'd like to show you some of the skiing photos I took, but they're of folks who aren't me, so I want to keep them private, sorry.

The Step-Mom-in-Law (SMiL) took me out for a sailing lesson and man, was it ever-so-slightly scary. The winds were... variable. They'd come over the mountains around the lake and muck about for a bit blowing hard in one direction, then another and then they'd stop for a few minutes before going again. Veteran sailor that sh is, SMiL was laughing and calm the entire time. I was trying hard to figure things out. More than once I dumped the sail when it felt like we were going to go over. We weren't, of course, and because SMiL is a good (and former professional) teacher, she only laughed a little bit. Here's the little Dolphin in the morning waiting for the wind:



Another highlight was SBiL's dogs, Kermit (brother) and Thumper (sister). Being Lab/Border Collie mix dogs, they're full of energy, but Thumper never slowed down the entire time. She was like a six-year-old kid, either full speed or stop. Whether it was a frisbee or a tennis ball thrown in the lake or simply flipping panfulls of water into the air, she would always tire out the humans first.

OMG WATER!




TENNIS BALL!


Kermit was more sedate, trying to reconcile his Labrador Retriever instincts with the reality of ducks.


On the art front, I'm finishing up a new Obscure Tale. This tale is slightly different and features characters that may lead to their own title. I'll be posting a cover soon, but other than that it's a surprise!

I was sick most of this week. I get this cold/flu/allergy type thing whenever the seasons change from winter to spring and summer to fall. It's weird and annoying, but it goes away. I was not in the frame of mind to work on the new OT, so I did some sketches of my favorite (and most ill-used) Marvel character Rahne Sinclair/ Wolfsbane. I plan on taking one of these two sketches and fleshing it out into a fake cover. I've found m work has been a bit static lately (why didn't you tell me?) and thought I'd get more dynamic. So, I grabbed a Stikfas figure and my Burne Hogarth book and went to work. Thoughts? Sweet Enemy prefers #1 as a better use of the page, but I find that the pose in #2 looks more realistic and less balletic.

#1


#2



I also gave a "comic book basics" workshop/demo at my local art supply store which seemed to go well. I learned a lot while trying to figure out what to teach.

I think that's all for now. There were some other things, a trip to Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome with my dad, a fun visit with my niece, and a 'guys weekend' at Brant Lake, but I don't want to bore you.

pax.

Listening to while posting. Nothing, actually. I'll leave you with Brant Lake at 7 AM:

Whew!

It's been a while, hasn't it?

Well, I've been busy. Firstly, I've got four resumes out for design jobs. I had five, but I got my first rejection on Monday. It was quite polite and much better than my first rejection after my first layoff back in 2003. Then, I'd been contacted by a design firm for some contract Flash work and went in for to discuss the project. When I got home from the interview, there was a phone message waiting for me that they wanted me to come in and interview for a full-time position. I was psyched! I went in and all went well. Then I waited a for a call or email. A week went by and I called only to be told the boss was in a meeting. I waited three days for a return phone call and then called again. Again, he was in a meeting. I never heard from them after that. They're out of business now, btw.

I'm also trying to get some freelance work. A local print shop sub-contracted me for some re-design work and it went well. However, I found that years of working in the web world have degraded my meager print separation skills. The piece I did had to be sent back to me twice because I had trouble setting for full bleed. The press person had to talk me through some stuff and I docked my own time accordingly. That was something they didn't teach at school. We learned composition, type, image, concept and what have you, but separating for print, spot colors and designing for low-color? Nope.

I'm finishing up a big discount website for a local artist and have an interview with a potential web client next week. Man. I wish I could get some print work...

In the art side, I'm working on two projects that I can't show yet. The big one is a new Obscure Tales story from Andre Zero (based on a suggestion by Vermont artist Justin Athreton). I can't show any of it as it's to be a surprise. I think the idea might have legs and branch out into its own title.

The other is a piece for someone who doesn't know it's coming, but, may visit this site; so I can't post that either.

I'm nearly finished up a graphic guide to 24 Hour Comics Day Events for our upcoming event. It's a six-page comic about how to enjoy a 24HCD event. That I can and will post when I'm done.

Well, that's all. Art soon! (btw, I found that photo in a BIG box of prints when I was cleaning my studio. I have no idea when it was taken or even where it was taken. I only hope Sherm made it on time)

listening to while posting: "Music:Response" by Orbital

more USCG-ish stuff

When I came up with the rescue craft in Death of a Friend, some might have thought I'd modeled it after the Samson from Avatar.

However, while I was modeling it after a previous design, it wasn't James Cameron's, it was mine. In 1994 or so, I started what was then an ambitious project: a 16" x 20" gouache illustration. It was meant to depict Air Station Kodiak in the near future and in the starring role was a SAR rotorcraft I designed, the HH-90d. I never got farther than transferring the image to illustration board and painting the cockpit, though. I only mention it today because, while cleaning up our 'library' I found the 16-year-old sketch (sadly, the unfinished painting is lost). Embiggen it, it's bigger.



Overall, it looks pretty good, but there are a few things wrong with it. Most obvious is the lack of true perspective. Each item is on its own plane almost as if I was using the ancient Egyptian canon. Also, was my lack of futurist vision. As of 2003, the building you see in the background is no longer the helicopter hanger; I'm not sure what it is. It's been around since WW2 and there's no real reason to think it'd be around in another twenty years. My retcon is that it's not the future, it's an alternative 1994! Trivia: I had a friend take a photo of me in my flight gear standing by a fire bottle for reference.

I'm considering seeing if I can make it work, but the perspective may bug me to much.

listening to while posting: Sweet Enemy using the vacuum cleaner on some sort of dirt.

Happy Coast Guard Day!

I had to be reminded of this by a former Marine. Sheesh.

That's a photo to commemorate the day. It's of the "Helo Side" night shift at Air Station Kodiak, Alaska (c. 1992). The helicopter (or "helo" (HEE-low) as we called it. Never 'choppers or 'heli') is a Sikorsky HH-3f. It was introduced to the USCG in 1968 and retired in 1993, much to my dismay. The replacement, the HH-60j was smaller and made me airsick. Man, I miss that bird.

I'm not in the photo, but I was stationed there and this was taken in the last week before I rotated to USCGAS Traverse City, MI. I was an Aviation Machinist Mate (fixed engines and rotor systems) and a Flight Mechanic (the guy that works the hoist and directs the pilots over victims). Man, I miss that job. The stories were always more interesting to other people than my graphic designer stories.

The guy on the left on the ICS (the headset attached to the helo), was my best friend "Murray Lopez". He was an Aviation Electronics Technician then and he's the one who invented the name 'Arkonbey' and allowed me to co-opt it. He's still in and is a Chief Petty Officer now and is nearing (or has past and is ignoring) retirement age. We're the same age, btw. All you have to do is your twenty.

The photo was taken by a good friend who, in a poem he wrote for me when I left Kodiak, described himself as 'my elusive friend'. He was a very interesting guy, almost a beat and he seemed out of place as an Aviation Machinist Mate. His name was Ron Klassen and if anybody knows him, please have him shoot me an email. I'd like to buy him a beer and tell him I still have the copy of "The Prophet" that he gave me as a going away gift. I hope you're doing well, Ron.

Now, since I must post some art, here's a piece of fanart I did last year. It's a sappy little thing dedicated to my favorite New Mutant, the much under-used and ill-treated Wolfsbane. She's chilling with her BFF Mirage



listening to while posting: The end credit music to All Creatures Great and Small running through my head.

hey, bud.

One of the things I'm going to try to do now is practice drawing at least a half-hour to an hour ever day. By practice, I mean drawing something that gives me trouble, not something for fun. Yesterday, it was Faces That Don't Look At Least A Little Bit Like Me. Most of mine do. So, I grabbed the flyer for the UVM Lane Series I had hanging around and drew the most interesting face I could find. Then, I tried to extrapolate on that face and draw it in another aspect. I think this worked pretty well. But, it was a nice clean headshot to work with. I think I might make him the villain in the new thing AndreZero and I are working on. If AndreZero agrees...



Right now, with all of my 'free time', I'm working on getting advertisers and stuff for our 24HCD. I've also written a Welcome Comic featuring the Strongman from the poster. It's working pretty well. Six 5.5" x 8.5" pages. Hope they like it!

Listening to while posting: "Meatball" by Atom and His Package

The time nears...

Sure, it's months away, but we have to get this year's 24-hour Comics Day at Artists' Mediums going strong early.

Here's the poster. Designed and drawn by yours truly and over-painted by Sweet Enemy (who is also the assistant manager/head framer at Aritists' Mediums). We're going to be raffling off the original with proceeds to benefit the Williston Community Food Bank.



In other news, I've been "restructured", so things are odd. I suppose that means more time for art after I've updated my design portfolio...

In the immortal words of Les Claypool: "Funny thing about the weekends when you're unemployed; they don't seem to mean quite so much. 'cept you get to hang out with your workin' friends"

And, while I don't want to overshadow my work, you have to check out Michael Cho's Superboy cover. It's so nearly perfect that it left me stunned...

Um... Well. So, there it is.

I'm back. I actually got back Wednesday...

Let me preface.

Kick Enemy Men (KEM) and I have been doing outdoor stuff together for years. In 2004, we attempted, for the second time, to climb Mount Kearsarge in New Hampshire. It's not a large mountain, but it seemed to have it in for us. The first time, we were turned back by ice and snow falls on the main ascent and spent the night near a pond at the base. This time it was raining as we left our vehicles and headed in. As we reached the pond, the summit was socked in and the rain was steady. We decided to set up camp; in 40°F and rain in April. Our shells wetted out, our gloves wetted out, our rain pants wetted out. So, we crawled into the tent to spend the next fourteen hours playing chess, reading and sleeping.

It was not fun.

On the way out, we both discovered that, at the trailhead, each of us had wanted to pack it in and head back to KEM's place. However, neither of us wanted to be the "wuss". From that day on we decided that, when we were camping, either of us could call an end and the other could not complain or question or mock. So far, we haven't had to use the Kearsarge Protocol.

Until now, that is. This trip as a Kearsarge Moment. There is a short version, but it doesn't illustrate the comedy of errors and good luck/bad luck that was this trip.

KEM picked me up on Sunday and we drove back to his place in ME. The next morning we packed up, checked our gear and set out about 9 AM. Look how damned hopeful we were! I'm on the right and that's my bike and trailer behind us (man, it looks hot already, doesn't it?)



The first ten miles were warm, but not too bad as that leg was on a winding road among the trees. Then we hit Rt. 26 proper and there were no trees within meters of the road. It began to get uncomfortable. At about thirteen miles, we stopped for ice cream and not just because the place was called Smedberg's (fantastic ice cream by the way. Worth stopping for at any time).

Then, we began chugging along as the heat rose to 93°F. At about twenty-six miles, KEM blew a front right tube on his trike and we pulled over to repair it. Luckily, the blowout had happened at a section of tree-shaded grass on the side of the road (the only one for a bout a mile in either direction). Then, the fun began.

I pulled his tube and found that the problem was an old patch that had given way. He'd run this patch for hundreds of miles and now it gives out. Not on his training runs this year, now. KEM's got a spare tube so we decide to swap tubes and patch the bad one at our leisure that night. Good plan, except for the fact that the new tube is a Schrader valve and the rim is, for some reason, drilled for the narrower Presta valve. (For a commuter bike, it's better to be drilled for Schraeder. You can put a Presta valve through a Schraeder-sized hole, but not the other way 'round). So, we decide to patch the bad tube. I grab my patch kit, which I checked before I left. Here's the thing though. I checked the glue by squeezing the tube. It gave. The thing is, vulcanizing cement doesn't harden, it contracts. So, when I went to squeeze out the glue a puff of air was all I got. Embarrassing for a guy who's been riding for over twenty years and has worked at two bike shops.

No problem. KEM has a kit. I prep the tube, slather the cement on, grab my largest patch and slather the glue on. I press the patch to the tube, but it doesn't seem to be vulcanizing. The patch won't stick to the tube and the patch won't even come away from the cellophane backing.

We're both getting a little testy. It's stranger to see KEM testy, usually nothing phases him, but the heat has never been his friend. So, I try a small patch. It goes on perfectly, then fails as I test fill the tube. I put another patch over the failed area and IT fails on the test pump. I put a third patch over the failed area and install the tube. The reasoning is, the pressure of the air pushing the patch against the rim might help keep it from failing. Also, this is the last try, if it fails, we're done. I pump the tire up to about 3/4 normal pressure and it holds! Only to fail the moment I start putting the valve cap back on.

KEM was less than happy. He pulled out his phone and, of course, no signal. So, as it was his tube, he was elected to ask the nearest house for help. The resident was a crusty old Mainer with a pickup who said he was heading to Wal-Mart and would give KEM a ride. I gave KEM $10 to slide to the guy and lay down for a good nap in the (strangely bug-free) grass in the shade. KEM scoured Wal-Mart for 20" Presta valved tubes, but there were none. Such is the fact that most Wal-Mart shoppers don't know there are more than one type of bike valve that KEM had to pull apart the un-labeled packages to check. After four, he gave up and called his wife, H.

H arrived in the not-reliable Volvo wagon and we loaded up KEM's trike. We still hadn't reached a Kearsarge moment, so I suggested that they head to the next town, Bethel, where we knew there was a bike store, while I would ride on. KEM would buy a proper tube and then either wait for me, or have H drive back to meet me. Then we would make the decision to go or stop.

I watched them drive away, hopped on the bike and headed out. It was hot and difficult. I had to stop once at a gas station for two quarts of PowerAde; one of which I chugged immediately. I logged another sixteen miles for a daily total of 42.5. KEM and H showed up and KEM called a Kearsarge, ending the trip. It turns out that 20" Presta tubes are very rare. So, the bike store guy drilled KEM's rims for him and now he's ready for any style tube.

I was not unhappy about the Kearsarge. I could have continued, I still had the stamina, but it would have been a Trial rather than Fun. This trip was not the masochism of a race, it was to be a leisurely bop around Northern New England. I was disappointed, but not unhappy, if that makes any sense.

We loaded up my bike and trailer in the back on the passenger side and H had to lie down on the deck next to KEM's trike on the driver's side. It was awesome of her, btw. Sure, she's under five feet, but that's still awesome. I lent her my camping pillow to mitigate her discomfort. With my 50lb dry bag on my lap, we headed back to KEM's house.

That night was for stretching, shower, water, dinner, Tour de France coverage and sleeping. The next morning, H took KEM's car to work and we thought it'd be okay to ride ten miles to play some disc golf (a sport at which KEM excells). This was a mistake. It was a hot ride, and a hot round of disc golf. Neither of us was too happy to get back on our rides, but there could be no Kearsarge Moment when they were the only way back. We bought extra GatorAde at the clubhouse and hit the road. The ride home was brutal. We had to stop numerous times and KEM had to walk his bike up a major hill.

Back home by 2 PM for more stretching, shower, water, dinner, Tour de France coverage and sleeping. If the day did one thing, it showed us that stopping the trip was the right choice.

The next day, we headed back to my house along the same route we tried to ride. We stopped at some interesting places. Including one thing that KEM missed driving by twice on Sunday and I missed once. I'd noticed (and stopped at) when riding to the bike store, but that was because I was going 11 MPH. Strange we missed it, as it is rather singular:



I wanted to send KEM back home with a maple/pecan pie from the local piemaker down the street (the plan was to have such a pie waiting for us at the end of our trip, courtesy of Sweet Enemy). However, when we got there, they were OUT OF PIE! Gahh!

So, I sent KEM off with my thank for the delivery and the promise of a check to pay for the rental car (long , uninteresting story).

What makes this interesting, is that the tube failed at the perfect place. At the only shade for miles. In front of the house of a helpful guy. Within easy range for our "sag wagon". If it'd happened near the bike store, we'd have likely continued and been miserable. We might not have thought to call a Kearsarge if not for the impetus of the blowout.

We think we may have been a bit ambitious and rushed it. We're planning a three-day two-night 40 mi/day trek just in VT in Sept. For practice. Then, in the spring, we're trying again.

Listening to while posting. Nothing.