08.30.05 - Home & Sick >>

Toronto was fun but now I'm sick. Not sleeping or eating properly before, during and after this weekend kinda took it's toll. Slept for most of today decided to ease into catching up on e-mail. I have another Mastermind page to pencil but I think I'm gonna leave it till tomorrow. I can't focus yet and my head is super congested.

I did a bunch of sketches in Toronto. The first half is here. I tried using coloured markers this time around and I thought they turned out well. I'll post more later this week. Most of the people I met in Chicago earlier this month were in Toronto so it was cool to see everyone again. Some old friends from high school dropped by and that was really cool. I also caught a glimpse of Crispin Glover (you are my... density...) and the chick who played Dianna Troy from *tar Trek. Elvira was also there without all her makeup and I thought she was pretty cute. I'm all conned out now and need sleep.

08.25.05 - Up and away, again!!>>

I'm getting packed for Toronto right now. I have a 5 o'clock flight later today. I hate flying but it seems like I've been doing a lot of it this year. The more I fly, the more I'm nearing the one-in-a-million-chance time I go down in a flaming ball. Think of me if I don't make it back.

I finished Destroy All humans the other day and I'm making good headway in Devil May Cry 3. It's been entertaining but it's also straining my patience. I need a game I can master in about 5 minutes and has great game play and easy controls and has lots of replay value and is cool looking and worth my money and that is just a good damn game. Oh, wait. I have Katamari Damacy!!!

The horror story I was talking about is being solicited in PREVIEWS right freakin' now! Go preorder. I also did a cover for their book "JENNA". Here is a scan of the page they're on:

Click the above image for a larger version of the JENNA cover.

I'll be back with a ton more sketches from Toronto so I'll make sure I get those up. I'm still figure drawing on occasion so I'll throw those up as well.

I watched "Contact" last night. It was on TV so I couldn't resist. I dunno what it is about that movie but it's great. SO great. The ending is a bit disappointing but the build-up is phenomenal. So many ups and downs, the screenplay is next to perfect. The look and feel of the movie is pretty slick as well. I like. Btw, where the hell is Jodie Foster nowadays?

See ya in a few days.

08.17.05 - Chicago II / thumb sores

More sketches from the con here. It's been getting pretty hot in my apartment lately. I'm on the brink of getting a fan so I can work more comfortably during the day. We'll see. Hopefully I can ride this out until the fall.

I bought 3 PS2 games while I was back in Toronto. Katamari Damacy, Destroy All Humans and Devil May Dry 3. I've been enjoying Katamari's minimalism. It's one of the most entertaining games I've played recently. The screaming people and the various sound effects are hypnotic, along with the bright colours and awesome game design. Destroy All Humans has been alright. I've only played it for about an hour and the controls are a bit complicated but I'll stick with it. Running around and tormenting hicks with anal probes is alright by me. Finally, Devil May Cry 3 is, like, impossible!! I'm only on the 4th mission and my life viles are already up to 5000 a piece! WTF! I may have to start that game over and spend less on the healing and more on the killing. The various fighting styles and upgrading of Dante is pretty cool. I love gunslinging with the shotgun. Dude! I need to use that in BFX. His personality is a lot more fleshed out in this game and I enjoy his badass attitude.

08.08.05 - Up and back: Chicago

These last few days have felt like weeks in a good way. Being back in Toronto and chilling with the folks was a nice change of pace for me, not to mention the wedding in Ottawa (congrats B.rads!), his jam at the cottage and the drive there and back care of XGeoffX and Karen. We hit a nice hefty storm on the trek home which gave us quite a light show. You don't see lightning like that in Vancouver. I've been so caught up with work and crap this past year that it felt like time had slowed down just for me. Props to time continuum.

Just before flying out to the con, my buddy Ming and his posse at Curry's in Markham hooked me up with a nice discount on some supplies which I tore into at Chicago. I did about 20 sketches and remembered to take pictures of most of them. You can check out the first half here. I will upload more later on.

So, yeah. Chicago! Where to start... I've experienced this circus twice before but never behind the table meeting and greeting fans. Traffic flow was pretty good considering my table was in the back corner of one of the sub-artist's alleys. I was painfully unprepared, though, and wished I'd brought at least a banner with my name on it and some tape. I'll make up for my misses later this month at the Toronto con.

Above: Arthur and his wife Neelam setting up

It was great to see father-daughter combos who were into Mary Jane and telling me how it was something they could both share and talk about. Lots of people also complimented me on Sidekicks and asked if I were doing more. I couldn't really say except there was the possiblity of future issues;) I stayed put for most of the con, busy drawing and signing books but took most of the last day off to walk around so I apologize to those who stopped by while I was gone. I met a lot of Tokyopop artist's and editors and was amazed at their wicked cool booth in the corporate area. Most memorable meetings were with Steady Beat (out this October) artist Rivkah and MBQ (out NOW) artist Philipe. The energy and passion they both showed for their work and comics in general was amazing. If you ever get a chance to see them at a con I highly recommend chatting with them.


Above: My shared table with Arthur

Above: Me sketching

So, all-in-all a great con. I managed to make back most of my expenses for this trip, made some new and saw some old friends. Oh, kudos to the Horhaus guys for the nice sketchbook they gave me. They do a podcast called The Horcast (which can be found on itunes) which I listen to each week. It's one of the few I listen to and they talk a lot about their process and experiences within the comics industry and mix it up with lots of interesting and thoughtful Q&As with creators. We talked about doing one on BFX while I'm down in Toronto in a few weeks so I'll let you know if we get that worked out.

Currently watching: reruns
Currently reading: the 2006 IKEA catalogue
Currently eating: turkey sandwiches, chicken soup w wildrice
Currently listening: podcasts - the Horcast, Gutterfly Radio
Currently drawing: BFX2 week twenty-two, Mastermind, Amazing Fantasy cover
Currently wanting: a 2 bedroom apartment
Currently toiling: over picking up painting again, catching up on e-mail
Currently waiting: for my paycheck
Currently downloading: Monster episode 57