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Sunday, June 15th, 2008
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2:47 pm - I must be doing something right
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Last night in Toronto I had the great pleasure to accept, on behalf of Sohmer and myself, the Joe Shuster Award 2008 for Outstanding Canadian Web Comics Creators. What does this mean, dear readers? It means we f***ing ROCK!
The Joe Shuster Awards (JSA) are relatively new, this only being their fourth year and the second in which they've had a webcomic category. Consider them the Canadian equivalent of an Eisner Award (and if you don't know what an Eisner is, or who he was, consider that your homework!). Essentially, it is the Canadian comic industry's way to celebrate our own talent and is named after one half of the legendary duo who brought the world Superman.
While there are fan favourite categories, open to public voting, most of the awards (including this one) are juried. This means there is a board of comic industry people, artists, writers, retailers etc, who review the work of the nominees and select the winner.
We were in a great select group of talent with the other finalists. I won't lie to you that I really wanted this, but with the high calibre of work up for the judging, it could easily have gone to someone else. I'm fairly sure I was a babbling idiot when I heard our names called. Since Sohmer was stuck in Montreal moving our offices, I did my best to not embarass Blind Ferret on the podium as I accepted the award. I probably did, but that's the price you pay for letting the artist talk sometimes.
Thank you, my friends, for your faith, and support.
Least I Could Do and Looking For Group are now officially award winning comics.
Later!
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| Sunday, June 1st, 2008
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1:22 pm - A bit of nostalgic rambling...
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For the past year I've been doing cartoon articles for the newsletter published by my caricature association. The upcoming issue has a theme of animation, and while I wanted to do something more directly related to caricaturing, like using cartoons as a mental reference for visual gags, as I worked on it, it turned into a nostalgic look back at the cartoons of my youth. Since it's really more of a cartoon blog post, I figured I'd share it here. Enjoy.
( Image is under the cut :) )
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| Sunday, May 25th, 2008
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10:18 pm - I'z in ur con!
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Well, that was more fun than I would've given credit for before going. This weekend I was invited to participate as a panelist at Anime North, the second largest convention in Ontario (after the Hobbystar Fan Expo in August). In my many years of convention going, this is the first anime con I've had the pleasure to attend.
I gotta admit, these people do a con to the nines!!
Not being an avid follower of all things manga and anime, my panels were about webcomics, North American comics for the manga reader, and a couple of interesting art workshops, including a digital demo (more on that later).
The con was freakin' HUGE. Two hotels and the Toronto Congress Centre were well packed with attendees. Their official attendance rate does not take into account the daily turnstile apparently, so numbers were more like 40,000 than 10,000. Programming went till 2am and attended by enthusiastic crowds.
Seriously.
Crowds.
My last panel on Saturday ended at 11pm, and we probably had thirty plus people. The 11pm panel started with many of our folks leaving but about as many again coming back in to fill the seats. In the halls were groups of fans chatting, joking, reading, drawing, waiting for other panels to begin or end, and admiring one another's costumes.
And there were COSTUMES! People in full costume walking up and down Dixon Road between the two hotels and the TCC, sitting in the grass (the weather was ideal) and occasionally firing up a boom box to dance in the corners of the parking lot. Such wonderful energy and a sense of community.
I won't lie to you - it was a real ego boost everytime someone recognized me as the artist of LICD and LfG and shook my hand, but the real rush came at my digital art demo. One hour of a standing room only crowd talking back and forth with me as I demonstrated how I complete a strip for LFG. I really enjoyed the interaction with the fans, answering their questions and joking back and forth with them. Some I had met at previous cons or on our forums.
In addition, my convention weekend was boosted by the company of Jeff Moss, webcomic writer and one of the voices of The Watchtower Podcast. No, it's not the Jehovah's Witness! It's a tightly produced, weekly half hour audio podcast on all things comic and comic related in pop culture. The two of us not only enjoyed cracking wise at some of the less appropriate costumes, but scoped out some comic shops and ate food that was probably really really bad for us. Cons are definitely an experience better shared and I was grateful he had time this weekend to join me.
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| Monday, May 19th, 2008
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9:57 pm - And now... there are two!
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I WON!! OMFG, I honestly did not anticipate it but I won the Aurora this weekend at Keycon.
This past weekend was amazing, and not just because of the award win, but that certainly put a cap on it. Keycon, Winnipeg's annual science fiction convention, has become a second fan family for Christie and I. Several strong friendships have emerged from our visits to this con. Winnipeg boasts an incredibly active fan base, with tons of volunteers, new and old, working to make this event consistently better and better. Being that this was their 25th year, they pulled out all the stops to make it that much more fantastic.
I didn't get to any of the writer panels, but I did get to spend some significant time with David Mattingly, this years AGoH. Not only an incredible talent, but a genuine and giving fellow who also teaches art. His teaching ability was in full evidence as I saw him during the 'artist jam' taking the time to show some fledgling artists different techniques, and ways for them to improve their work, both through colour theory, composition, draughtsmanship and hands on technique demonstration. He was very inclusive with every artistic soul he encountered. Such a terrific fellow!
The con also had out the talented and lovely, Liana K, a Canadian television personality, mostly known for her presence on the Ed the Sock Late Night Party. Not only is she the stuff of fanboy dreams (she looks a lot like last week's pin up) but she's smart, articulate and a TOTAL fangirl. This woman is as comfortable discussing union politics in the film and television industry, as she is debating the latest story arc of the Green Lantern Corps, the virtues of collecting action figures (she has a HUGE collection) or the roles of women in literature. Wow. A consummate professional whether introducing a science guest, or cosplaying. I've had the pleasure of meeting Liana at cons in the Toronto area and my respect for her only increases. She is one of those people who make Canadians look good.
Aside from wanting to reconnect with friends, a big draw for me this season was the first Canadian appearance of the Great Luke Ski. If you are an sf fan and don't know about this guy, you are doing yourself a disservice. Luke Ski is one of the hottest musical talents of the dementia genre. His parodies of all things fannish have earned him accolades across the States, especially through his popularity on such broadcasts as Dr. Demento, or podcasts like The Mad Music Archives with Captain Wayne. He might look like just another fanboy, but when's he up on stage, look OUT! The energy level of his performance just took my breath away. Costume changes, voice changes, props, impromptu moments between songs with the audience. He totally knew his crowd and how to best work it, even leaping down from the small stage to work the crowd directly during some numbers.
Our last night at the con had me, naturally, staying up waaaay too late socializing, sharing beverages with friends and doing many many inappropriate caricatures. Today I am home, tired but happy and more than a little wound up at the sight of my second Aurora award sitting next to the first. I am hoping to get back to Manitoba in October for the Manitoba ComicCon so I can see more of their wonderful community.
Later :)
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| Tuesday, May 13th, 2008
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10:52 am - The *uck of the Irish
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Keycon is coming up this weekend and Christie and I are really excited to get away for the weekend. The folks in Winnipeg are terrific and we've made some good friends there that will be nice to reconnect with. It's also the annual CanVention and I just found out a few days ago that I'm a finalist again for the Prix Aurora Award! Who knew? Usually I get an email or something updating me but I guess they just figured I was used to it. As awesome as it would be to win again, I have no clue as to my chances and am just happy to be in the august company of the other nominees.
The person I'm really excited to meet is the Great Luke Ski - fanboy and filker extraordinaire! I love his music so it's a treat that he'll be attending as a guest. He's also a caricaturist so I'm gonna try to convince him to join the NCN and come to that convention someday.
In other news, we've decided after fifteen years to give up our pool. The kids just don't use it the way they did when they were small and it's a large effort and cost each year to keep it open. The lining is on it's last legs and the pump is iffy so now is as good a time as any to tear it down. I've hired a landscaper to rip it out, as it is a sizeable job, and I'm hoping next year to be able to afford to put a nice lower deck down there (maybe a Florida room sort of thing). I've had a submersible pump in there yesterday and this morning and it's just about emptied the pool down to the dregs. The crew will be here tomorrow to begin the demolition. It's going to take four or five days. I don't envy them the labour!
A piece of art to leave you with - another pin up! This one was done specifically for a friend who is going to get it tattooed this summer on the back of his shoulder. I think if I can get another half dozen girls drawn up nicely I might try to put out a calendar in 2009. I've got a good idea for Jack and the Beanstalk ;)
Later!
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| Tuesday, May 6th, 2008
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12:13 pm - A dog's life :)
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Been pleasantly busy lately, as always nowadays actually, but I found some time to relax last night so I drew up a caricature of a friend's dog. :)
What can I say? I like to draw. Enjoy!
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| Sunday, April 27th, 2008
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8:31 pm - The convention season cometh!
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And so it begins. Not with a whimper but HUGE BANG!! Last weekend, the BFE crew headed down to the Big Apple for the New York Comic Con! Just the first of many we'll be hitting this season in an effort to sell some swag, promote the shite out of ourselves and hopefully create new opportunities for Blind Ferret Entertainment.
( The rest of my blather is waiting for your eyes here. )
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| Thursday, March 27th, 2008
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8:36 pm - That was a cool experience!
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I was tooling around today, running some errands and found myself at one of those lights where I had to turn right instead of left (as I really wanted to). Fortunately, being forced to take the longer route around caused me to discover that Milton ON has it's very own COMICS SHOP!!! Even cooler is that they carry my comic, "Looking for Group"! This is the first time that's happened to me, and the guy even knew the comic because he's got regulars who have ordered it in.
I wound up spending a good hour yakking it up with the dude behind the counter, Ryan (easy name for me to remember), as I strolled around and piled up stuff to buy. In typical geek fashion, our conversation bounced around tangentially from comics, to art, to Star Wars, to conventions, back to comics etc etc.
I set up a pull-box with him. This is something I've never had the luxury to do before, because I've never had a decent comic shop relatively local to me before!
If you're in the area, check out Geekdom (www.theg33kdom.com) at the corner of Main and Wilson in Milton. Buy stuff! :)
In other news, I've been working on improving my inking on the strips and I think it's paying off. So here's a quick behind the scenes of this week's strip with the sketch layer and the inks. Just because :) Lemme know if you'd like to see more of this kind of thing as it's about all I do lately :)
Later!
 
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| Thursday, February 21st, 2008
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9:50 am - Podcast shout out
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A couple friends of mine do a weekly podcast called "The Watchtower". No no... it has nothing to do with the Jehovah's Witness, but everything to do with comic books. They discuss mostly mainstream stuff, but will on occasion talk about exciting indie work. If it's comic related (gaming, movies etc) they'll toss it back and forth. A very tightly produced half hour every week. It's how a podcast should sound, instead of the rambling awkward type I seem to find more often than not.
The reason for this special shout out is that this week they scored an interview with Bone creator Jeff Smith! I adore Jeff's work. He's got such a terrific fluid line, dynamic character design and simply epic backgrounds and layouts. He recently did a four part mini series for DC on Shazam that reinvigorated the mythology of that character for me. Bone is also part of a reading initative with Scholastic books, but it's hardly a chidren's story.
Anyhow, if you enjoy comics, or Jeff Smith, here's the link to their weekly episodes where you can stream from or download the mp3.
http://noreasoncomics.com/thewatchtower
Later :)
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| Sunday, January 27th, 2008
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1:28 pm - Ever notice that not-blogging is way easier than blogging?
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This has been a pretty fun week for the old Lar, in terms of media. Or rather mediums.
To recap (because I'll be shilling them in just a moment) I draw two online comics. Looking for Group, the fantasy comic I draw, has some exciting happenings. A few months ago we did the preorder for a statuette of Richard, our evil undead warlock, and they shipped last week. On Monday my personal undead statue arrived, causing me to squee with delight. I need to do a major clean in my studio so I've got a nice area to proudly display him.
 Tuesday, I zipped into Toronto for the afternoon to take part in a 'reality' show called "Matchmaker", which airs on the Slice Network. It's a blind date sorta show, and I was hired to do caricatures of the participants and thereby get them to say the word 'boobs' quite a bit, as well as contort themselves unnecessarily in an effort to create some sexual shenanigans on camera. Not my best work, as I couldn't really ask them to sit still, but folks seemed happy enough with things and it was a fun few hours. I have no idea when it'll air, but I'll do my best to keep folks informed.
After that, I headed across town to visit my buddy, Jeff, at his work at CFRB, which is a Toronto Talk Radio show. Jeff is a behind the scenes guy for some of the on air talent and also runs a most excellent pod cast every week called "The Watchtower". No, it has nothing to do with the Jehovah's Witness, it's all about comic books! You can hear it on Punk Radio Cast or download it from their website over off of No Reason Comics. He and his co-host, Donny, let me sit in on the weekly 'cast, and make a few self promotional noises to boot. If you enjoy mainstream comics definitely check it out.
This is a caricature of Michael Coren and Stephen Ledrew - the two on-air personalities that Jeff helps produce. So now I've touched on webcomics, sculpture, television, radio, and podcasts. What's left? How about books!?
Looking for Group (I told you I was gonna shill) is publishing a lovely hardcover!!! Our first four issues bound in a dead tree edition, with cover art that I'm pretty damn proud of, and a foreword by the one and only, Brandon Sanderson, author of the Mistborn trilogy and soon to be written final instalment to the 'Wheel of Time' series. The preorder has gone really well - hell, it's blown us away :) and I'm thrilled that our work is being so well received.
Cover art for "Looking for Group: Volume 1"
The books are at the printers and should be in our hands for shipping in a couple weeks. I'll be heading off to Montreal mid-February to sign copies along with Ryan Sohmer, my writing partner. In the meantime I need to do a bit of added art which will ship with all the preorders as a 'thank you' to those fans who have pre-paid for their copies. No idea what just yet, but I'm in the mood to paint some monsters I think. Or maybe monkeys. Monster monkeys? Hmmm..... And that's the week in Lar. Lotsa late nights and cats confused by me at my desk at 3am, but damn it is fun. I'm sure next week will be totally boring in comparison ;)
Later!
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| Saturday, January 12th, 2008
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5:07 pm
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So here's what I'm thinking... I don't post enough. Nor do I draw enough. Or to be more specific, draw enough for myself. Working full time on two great comics is wonderful, but a guy sometimes needs creative downtime just for himself and not for a client or project. It's not a 'resolution' but it is something I'm going to make a greater effort on this year. Like reading more and dropping a few pounds. That probably means I'll wind up cross posting like crazy between sites, but screw it. People will deal just fine I'm sure. I often find it hard to just start talking so having a bit of art to go along with it to fill up the conversation will help. Last night, while thinking about all this, I pulled out a sketch I've been revisiting on and off of a Snow White pin-up I've been wanting to do and finally managed to finish her off to my satisfaction. She may not be as pure as snow, but I think she suits a bunch of lonely dwarves in the woods a lot better. Snow White is one in an ongoing series of pin ups I've been doing the past few years.
 For those interested in technique, this is typical for me that she is start to finish digital in Photoshop. I hope you enjoy her. Later!
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| Wednesday, January 2nd, 2008
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10:59 pm - Some musical fun
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| Tuesday, December 25th, 2007
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5:25 pm - Merry Christmas!!
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| Saturday, December 22nd, 2007
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10:59 am - Hope he doesn't mind
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A few weeks ago I found myself with an hour or so to unwind with and decided to caricature a man whose music has given me much pleasure. Tom Smith . I zapped him an email with the pic but I haven't heard back from him so hopefully he won't be upset that I've gotten impatient to share it and am posting it before getting his opinion. It is a busy time of year though and I expect he's as swamped as any of us. It's just that it seems like I get to do so little work for myself lately that I'm antsy to share this one :)
Anyhow, if you have been living bereft of humour and music, check out Tom's site, and I hope you enjoy the pic :) Later!
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1:23 am - Regarding Christmas cards
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To any friends who normally get a card from us and are wondering what's happened, no worries. It's just not done yet ;)P Yeah, this year we totally sucked at the getting it done ahead of time thing. Hopefully we'll get them out Monday, beating the technicality of mailing things out before Christmas ;D
Can I sleep yet?
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| Wednesday, December 12th, 2007
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12:24 pm - Unplanned art
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I wasn't planning on doing a pin up last night, let alone a superhero one, but it just happened. So, what the hey :) Hope folks enjoy.
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| Saturday, December 1st, 2007
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3:58 pm - Sigh....
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| Tuesday, November 27th, 2007
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11:06 am - Nature abhors a vacuum and so do I.
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Today was finally time to do some pre-Christmas cleaning. So I get stuff picked up, clean the litter box, and then fetch out the vacuum.
Last time I vacuumed, I started getting that burnt rubber smell near the end of things, and figured "Yup. Hair in the band again." Not surprising in this house. But as I was near finishing I just left off the last little bit and figured I'd take care of it next time I vacuumed. Which was this morning.
So I get out the screwdriver, flip the thing over, undo the screws, remove the plate and begin to strip hair off the brush bar. The band looks okay, so I reseat the bar and give it a few spins. Or at least I *try* to give a few spins. It's not moving at all.
Strange.
So I yank it out, fiddle around a bit. The motor end of things turns... good.... I look at the other end of the bar and... it appears to be fused. The band wasn't what I was smelling, it was the far end of the bar itself has apparently melted and fused solid, so the brush can't turn around it's core. The local appliance place where I bought it doesn't have anyone in yet who speak vacuum, so I don't know how fast I can get a replacement but right now I've got a disassembled vacuum in my living room and, oh yes, a couple of school counsellors coming over this afternoon to discuss Charlotte's progress.
LOVELY.
I can't even ask to borrow a vacuum from my neighbour because they've got central vac.
I hope these folks don't have a dust and dander allergy.
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| Thursday, October 25th, 2007
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8:09 pm - Wrongity wrong wrong-wrong
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| Sunday, October 21st, 2007
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12:28 pm - Sunday meanderings
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Hey ho,
Been a lovely last few weeks. Busy, as usual, but so much fun that I'm casting around for a word other than "work" to describe my days. "Effort" comes close but still smacks of negativity to me.
The kitten continues to be wonderful. The mouse problem has been resolved. I've been to my annual caricature convention, and then to my annual guy weekend at the cottage. The comics are doing gangbusters and I'm currently compiling book 4 of LICD and issue 3 of LFG. And yet, I'm still finding time to do a bit o' sketching just for me.
I did this the other night before bed, just to unwind and satisfy some inspiration from looking at ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) pairaka's latest doll projects. Enjoy!
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