Free Comic Book Day!!!

Today was a blast! More fun was had than I ever expected. I took a bus up to Vancouver, WA to sign issues of ZFW with Josh Cantrell at The Odyssey Comics. Josh had to leave early to go help some kids. He's a giver like that. But fun was had nonetheless. Of course. It was Free Comic Book Day after all.

I got to talk to a bunch of interesting people about most of my favorite things; comics, art, movies, video games. There wasn't nearly enough discussion of Hume's "A Treatise on Human Nature," but I'll let that one slide.

The best part of the entire day had to be seeing all the small, small children being brought into the store by their parents who had no notion of what a comic really is. The blank look in their eyes was a dead give away. The questions about certain characters they had only heard about from their children were also a giveaway. But the looks of wide amazement from all the little ones was amazing!!

I was drawing a picture of Spider-man when a small boy came up with his mother, who was explaining to him some of the process in making a comic. I helped her out and talked about my own process. The boy was fascinated. As they were leaving I gave the drawing to the lad and his eyes went wide. He took it and ran up to his father and started waving it around. That was pretty sweet. I freakin' love kids!!

I also got to talk to a few artists and writers about their craft and explain my own. It's great getting to listen to people's different perspectives and, hopefully, learn from each other. I met so many nice people today.

Speaking of nice people, Tam, the owner, was super nice and accommodating. He was constantly checking on me and making sure I had food and drink. Two more of my favorite things. This was probably one of my best experiences on the other side of the table. I want to extend a very large "Thank You!!" to Tam and everyone else at The Odyssey. It was a glorious day indeed!!

I can't wait to do more signings and attend more conventions. I love interacting with people. Of course it helps that they are all, simply by being at these signings, into the same things as me. I hope everyone had the best Free Comic Book Day ever!!

It's a New Chapter

I let my publisher know that I won't be working on ZFW once I finish up the first trade. It was a tough decision. Josh Cantrell, the writer and publisher of CEP, and CEP, themselves, have been super kind to me. Just giving me the opportunity to draw for them was something that I will cherish forever. They gave me my first foray into the comics world. But beyond that, they gave me a ton of freedom. They let me combine or remove panels to help story flow and never asked me to change anything. Very different than the horror stories I had heard.

I have also kind of built a relationship with these characters. I've drawn 100+ pages of these guys running around killing zombies. I've been refining their details and think they will always feel somewhat special to me. I'm going to miss these guys!!

But I am looking forward to pursuing some of the stories I have had for the past few years that I have had to put on the back burner while drawing ZFW. My wall has been covered with the same character sketches and other designs for a story I started over a year ago. It's time to really jump in there and start developing these ideas so I can get them out and start on all the other ideas I have floating around in my noggin.

I remember hearing a quote by Michael Jackson where he said he had to keep producing new work because there were always new ideas popping up in his mind that also needed out. If he didn't create as much as he did it would all become over whelming and flood his mind. That is how I feel. These stories have been sitting and stewing for way too long and have to be told, have to be set free, out of my mind.

I'm also wanting to get back into painting and showing work in galleries. I got a small taste of this lately and it reminded me how much I used to love working with paint, developing concepts and techniques, even designing and putting on an art show. I am looking forward to applying the same kind of work ethic I have had toward comics these past two years to painting for galleries and painting my own comics.

I'm also looking forward to writing more. Not just on my comics, but also philosophically and scientifically. I have folders full of different subjects I have been wanting to write blogs about that I haven't had the time to focus on. I want to write "kids" books breaking down certain concepts to a level anyone could understand. With the help of cute pictures, of course. 8) One of the first things I am going to do is to turn all these writings into zines and pass them around town and at the Portland Zine Symposium with the possibility of publishing them at a later date. With all I see happening in the future I think it's going to be a super fun year!!

Again, I thank everyone at CEP for letting me work with them. I hope I can still do some covers and other projects for you. I'm also still going to be there to help promote ZFW and hopefully have a few drinks after the cons. Spread the Love!! 8)