Other things linger around, screaming for attention but nothing is REALLY in that phase where you sit down and work it out.
Ideas and sketches are still just getting thrown into the pot, simmering below the lid.

It’s a phase to watch movies, read books and GEAR up with fresh stuff I think.

With things the this for example:

A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson.
I picked it up because I was looking for books about forests and all kinds of tree things and I’m glad I did!

It’s a fun read and I understand now why every bookstore on earth has 2982 books of Bryson on the wall.
His humor is surprisingly mean and dark and the books is full of facts about bear horror stories, the Appalachian Trail and why it’s unwise to eat Snickers in the wilderness.

THE GUARD
I had this film on my desk for a while, not really ready to watch it until last weekend.

And I get the good reviews now.
It’s fun, moves fast and Brendan Gleeson plays a character that is so much fun to watch that he could easily carry his own TV show, t-shirts or at least one more movie.

I had some bright moments last week, here is one:

Another one was POWERING through BATMAN “Arkham City” and getting the biggest headache ever from it.
Screw Detective vision!
And Batman is kind of a dick in it by the way.

I also doodled this:

Videogames, videogames..
LETS TALK ABOUT MOVIES!
Who loves “Raiders of the lost ark”?
If the answer is “me!” then take a look at this gem:

Raiding The Lost Ark: A Filmumentary By Jamie Benning from jambe davdar on Vimeo.

It`s everything you ever wanted to know about this movie and more.
It has interviews, behind-the-scenes videos and even storyboard sequences that never made the final movie.
Some fun stuff that I got out of it:

- Indiana Jones was first called Indiana SMITH
- This documentary contains test footage of Tom Selleck and Sean Young rehearsing the “bar scene” where Indy meets Marion for the first time
- The famous fight scene in the market (where Indiana Jones pulls the Gun like a bad ass) was so quick because of Harrison Fords diarrhea!
Who would have thought!

But I finished the first chapter of my current comic and I felt the need to REALLY finish it and add color to be able to march on to the next.
Most of the weekend was spent trying to figure out swatches that work together and work on a screen as well as in printing (and that I can do quick) but I think I`m happy with the result.
I was close to doing something monochrome first but I think its nicer this way, here, a page:

OTHERTHENTHAT

More comic stuff comic up,
Karagöz with some amazing people (Thomas Wellmann, Nadine Redlich, Max Fiedler, Olaf Albers)

Neufundland with some of the funky people that brought you THE GRUFFALO.

AND I`m working on a Comic for a couple that is getting married this year (think Adriane Tomine`s) that should turn into fun stuff.

Mediawise,
Buying “how to books” is something I wanted to stay away from for a while (I get sucked into reading instead of DOING)
BUT they talked about “SAVING THE CAT” on the Making Comics podcast and BAM, it was ordered.

And its good!
It`s actually way better than I thought.

It gives solid advice, especially when you are working on stories in the background and if your stories are having some weaker spots in them. He is good at giving the tools to point them out.
It offers a lot of REAL tips and concepts that ring very true when looking at standart hollywood movies.
And thats also the biggest gripe one can have with the book. Its about BIG hollywood movies.

Not about expression or telling stories from “left field” or with structure that is different then the 3 act standart.
The author LOVES movies like “Miss Congeniality”, “Legally Blonde” and “Four Christmases”.
They, to him, are perfect in structure and development of character.
And that might be in a Hollywood sense, but to me personally, they are also bland, washed out and very forgettable.
Having something super polished and fitting makes it also uninteresting if you are looking for more then just sound/something moving in your movie experience.
And when he mentions a left fielder like “Memento” he does it with a sour tone and “Well how much money did it make?” commentary.

So yeah, good book. Very good in showing WHAT IS IMPORTANT but also a bit icky because of the stuff it actually promotes.

I would buy it again but it would be sad if someone would actually just want to DO THAT.
It`s a great starting point and knowing the rules makes it good to put your own spin on things.

And thanks to all the colouring, this movie got watched:

I thought I had seen most of Carpenters movies from his “golden years” but I missed this one.
And ho, is it terrible!
Its fun!
But its also terrible.
Super bad dialog full of clear and unhidden exposition.
Characters that are flat and talk like robots.
A Donald Pleasence that mumbles and seems drunk.
A main guy that has less charme than a east german apartment block.

BUT
It also has some good Carpenter tunes.
It is weird and somewhat gory.
And the basic premise is interesting.

Oh and it has Alice Cooper playing a zombie-hobo that kills someone in a pretty fantastic way.

Hope everyone has a good week!

Something unique about Skyrim made it sink deeply into people that normally do not play Video Games.
Or into people that normally “could care less” and are not into RPG`s.
I`m not sure what it was.. its open world design that forces no story on you that you do not want take part in? The feeling of really playing “your” character? Art and scenery that you actually wanted to walk and traverse around in?

Whatever it was, it somehow hit a nerve and it was one of the best gaming experiences in recent years.
The perfect game to not move for a whole weekend and just consume sugar and cake.

Now it`s all about Dragon Age 2 when i`m not working on the Comic and I`m already a couple of hours in.

And speaking of the comic, CHAPTER 1 = done!

Now color and then onwards.
Way-too-small-Sneak-Peak:

Here is a doodle I just did for a SKYRIM TUMBLR

Hagravens, the cool witch hippies of Skyrim land!

And here is a sneak peak to something I just worked on but I`m not clear if I can show it yet:

Adventure Time, the show with characters that look like they are having FUN!

Being busy is not an excuse anymore and there will be SOMESORT of update every week.
Even when its not a fun fresh blog-comic, some movie or a book can always be reviewed and I hope its going to be a entertaining read.

OK!
Now that this is out of the way, what has been going on lately?
Lets get into the meat of things!

> Animation by day, comic by night is still the main course for most days

> And speaking of comic, that is going strong but its always a weird dance of 2 steps forward, 7,4 steps back.
- Characters change who they are and require new story arcs,
- Drawings need touchups on earlier pages and dialog gets written and re-written.

> TCAF seems to be a good deadline to get the first issue ready for

> Getting married is pretty great and should experienced at least a couple of times a year

> I`m now actually trying to GAIN weight instead of cutting it for Jiu Jitsu.
I felt small in the last competition and gaining weight is more fun then actually working on technique and skill.
All hail to organic almond butter, second fillings and handstand push-ups.

> I`m reading a lot of books and I`m watching a ton of movies thanks to the Metro in Toronto and thanks to inking sketched out comic pages

> I wish I had owned a Xbox360 when I was out of work at the age of 5. That would have been some fun carefree playtime.

Hello 2012, you are going to be super good and I like your name even though the Mayans thought that you would be the last one of your kind.
But they also had no idea what a blog would be, so screw them!

OK!

Now back to FLASH and animating stuff!

here are some panels that died during the 3982 revamping of the story.

May they rest in peace or get reborn as a nice animation fragment or cubistic picture on a galleries wall.

It’s that slippery slope between feeling happy that you are busy and the feeling that you are spreading yourself too thin OR that you are not working on the things that make you really happy/rich.

Conversations that lead to getting infected might start like:

Good day!! We are company XYZ, we L O V E your style and we would like to work with you!

We need XYZ done yesterday, there is no budget available (seeing that this is a pitch)
and we need the XYZ to be technical and 100% correct.

We basically want your style… but with someone else’s way of drawing.
It’s important for us that you have fun, but do it quickly, don’t focus on making it look good and do it just like the scribbles our CEO has drawn on a dirty napkin.

SO YOU START DIGGING:

“So I need to get that stuff ready, as well as scribble for the other pitch they had mentioned…
But I can’t forget to work out some story kinks on my own project. That needs to get
printed soon and I have no ending yet…”

“I also need to update my blog”
“Blog story X and story Y have been sketched already and just need inking…
Z still needs a better panel layout…”

And I can’t forget to go out and do some sketching… Life drawing is scheduled as well…
This friend of a friend also wanted a drawing of Superman and SuchandSuch was asking if I could make a small quirky Icon for his/her tumblr.

“?”
What’s this rusty old thing down here?
OH… my online portfolio.
I really need to spend some time on that!

And because this is not enough stuff that is going on… one more thing!

“XBOX DATING TIME!”

Oh the troubled life of a cartoonist.

I`m working on my comic, getting close to finishing issue one, but to keep this blog alive and pumping, some tidbits from the real world.

I had planed to make it only ONE comic (one update) but the topic is bigger and I wanted to take more time. So here it is, the center of nearly every conversation I had in the last 3982 hours, PALEO PART 1!