Happy Holidays!

Just wanted to wish everyone a safe and happy holiday. And say thanks to everyone who helped make 2008 a great year. I look forward to 2009 and the great things that lie ahead. There are many doors to open and mysteries to solve.

Penguins and Kindergartners

I recently volunteered at my daughters Kindergarten class. I gave a little art lesson about creating art using the basic shapes. I brought in all the shapes you see above and we assembled Holiday Penguins. It was really fun and interesting. It was cool to see how even though the kids all had the same shapes, the penguins they made all looked slightly different.

unemployed life

Here are a few designs from one of my upcoming stories that I'm working on. That's all I'll say about it at the moment. Once I finish up with the Gabby and Gator graphic novel I'll begin working on it.

The Gabby and Gator graphic novel is moving ahead swiftly. I should have some news on that come the new year. For now though I'm just trying to get the story roughed out.

I'm currently unemployed. I finished up on the second season of Wow Wow Wubbzy at the end of November. I'm spending my time with the family. Walking my daughter to school. Doing yard work. Hanging Christmas lights. I don't have anything lined up in terms of a studio job. I have a possible freelance gig come January. But that is pretty much it.

Walrus

And the award goes to...

The Bearded Dragon

Lost and Found

Job prospects.

My car hates me.

Generica

just doodling.

Gabby

Some Gabby and Gator Pages

Here are some of the pages from my Gabby and Gator Graphic novel that is in the works. I just love drawing in silhouette. It forces you to draw stronger poses so that the drawings read without the line and detail. It's a great drawing excersize.

Misc. Designs

Misc. Designs for a project I was working on.

Post Comic Con

Well, I think I'm finally recouped from comic con. Although I basically came right home and jumped right into another project that I came up with at comic con. The image above is from that. I'm sure I'll post more once it's further along. My agent is currently shopping it around along with Gabby and Gator to various publishers. We're just waiting to hear back from them.

Comic Con - Day 5

After getting up every morning at 6:00 and going to bed every night at 12:00 or later, I was pretty much spent on the last day of comic con. I think we pretty much sat there most of the day watching people walk by. Occasionally someone would stop and look at a book, laugh, say how much they loved it, and then put it down and walk away. It's always odd to me to watch someone enjoy something so much and yet they don't buy it. Who knows, maybe they didn't have any money left or maybe since they read the whole thing they don't have to buy it. It's a mystery!

Around 3 o'clock things picked up and we made our sales.

The last day was also filled with its share of unusual people. One person said that if I was going to mass produce anything it should be the Gnome I had on Display. I said that it was already being massed produced and could be purchased at Joanne's fabrics. Who knew that a $12 store bought gnome would attract so much attention. The Gnome probably got more peoples attention than the animatic we had playing.

We had one kid walk up and ask if the Plush Peg legs Kyle and Joe made were free. Kyle just told him that it was hand made and not free. Some kids are born without common sense I guess.

All in all, Comic Con 2008 was a great year. I met a lot of great people, got my books out there and had a great time. I'd like to say, "Thanks!" to everyone that stopped by and supported us. It is very much appreciated. I'm already looking forward to next year and have a new project in the works. More on that as it develops.

Comic Con - day 4

Day four was probably the busiest day so far. It started out a little slow but picked up after lunch. I ended up selling the last of the purses and a bunch of books. Not much else to talk about. Met a lot of great people. Nothing really strange occured. A couple more people asked about buying my Yard Gnome but that's about it.

Tomorrow...the last day.

Comic Con - day 3

Not too much to report about Day three. Got up at 6:00. Coffee. Sandwich. Pretty much the same start as yesterday.

At 10:00 I had a meeting with a potential Gabby and Gator publisher. We talked about the property and where they thought it fit but that was about it. Nothing concrete really came out of the talks.

After that the day went pretty well. I sold all but one of the Gator purses. Everyone really seems to love them which makes my wife really happy. All her hard work has payed off. I only wish I had more.

Other than that I sold lots of books, plushes and met a lot of great people. At some point I'll try and post some pictures.

Tommorow...day 4

Comic Con - Day 2

Woke up at six this morning and made the twenty minute drive into San Diego from where I’m staying with family. I wanted to get there early enough to get the good parking under the convention center for $8.00. This is about the lowest price for parking you can find in San Diego during comic con. The only problem is the lot fills up fast.

By the time I find a spot and park the car it’s 6:45. I then walk to the nearest Starbucks (Which is about two blocks away) for my morning dose of caffeine. With coffee in hand I proceed another block over to the Ralph’s supermarket to get a Sandwich and some other snacks for the long day at Comic Con. I order my usual Sandwich from the nice sandwich lady. I guess I’m the only person that orders ham and cheese on wheat with nothing else. Because the lady says she remembers me from last year and gives me a free Bores Head lunch tote to carry my sandwich in. That was a pleasant surprise and possibly a good omen for the day ahead.

Now with coffee, sandwich, an apple and some Advil, I walk across the street to the It’s A Grind Coffee house. They have free Wi-Fi access. I post yesterday’s Comic Con update and then walk back to the convention center.

I get inside the Convention center at around 7:45-8:00. I put my sandwich down at the table and begin walking around the comic con floor. It’s nice to walk around before the Con opens to the public so I can look at stuff without having to wade through a sea of people.

I end up at the Vipor Comics booth discussing the death of the comic strip and the state of comics in general with a few of the guys there. Exciting conversation I know. But you have to remember it is a Comic Convention. So it’s okay to geek out.

At about 8:30 I walk back to the table and begin setting up for the day.

The Convention opens at 9:00 and the masses descend on Comic Con. It’s not long before we are making our first sales. Over all the day was very good. I sold a bunch of books, four purses,some plushes and a handful of buttons.

Day two also had its share or interesting people. The boy (maybe 13 yrs old)who had me draw on the torn piece of cardboard returned and actually bought the book he wanted on Wednesday night. I don’t know where he got the ten dollars but it was nice that he came back. It pays to do free sketches. He returned a couple of times after that to ask questions and to let me know that he was terrified of yard gnomes. He tried to cover the Gnome I had on display with one of the Gator purses.

Later in the day a man came up to the booth and was talking to Kyle and I. Everything seemed fine until he started talking to us about his 90 year old terminally ill mother. Don’t worry he said, “She’s not going to Die or anything.” He was telling us how he had bought her a stuffed Toucan named You-can Toucan. According to him she wouldn’t listen to any of her kids but if he told her that You-can Toucan said it then she would actually leave the house and do whatever it was. Which I think is great. But things got interesting when he started talking about how he’d like to get someone to illustrate some stories with this character.One of his ideas was an illustrated book called, You-can’s Beauty tips. At that point I began to look for my escape plan. I needed someone, anyone to come up to the table before he got around to asking us if we were interested in drawing the book for him. In the end he never actually asked us directly. He just gave Kyle his card and went on his merry way. Hopefully he had better luck finding what he’s looking for at one of the other tables.

The day wasn’t all strange people. I have a lot of people who return from years past to pick up the latest book or product that I’ve created. Those are the people that make me want to keep creating and putting stuff out. They are some of the nicest friendliest people around and I’m honored to have them as fans of my work.

Hopefully tomorrow will bring more of the same.

Comic Con - Preview Night

I got to Comic Con around 12:30. Where to my surprise I had to wait outside in a line just to get inside to wait in another line, just to pick up my exhibitor badge. I guess it shouldn't have been a surprise. This year all five days of the Con are sold out before it’s even started. They are expecting 125,000 people to attend this year. Crazy, I know.

After waiting in line, I finally got my badge and found my table at around 2:00. I then went down to unload my stuff from the car and begin setting up the table. The Table setup went fairly quickly and I finished at around 3:00. Then I sat around until a quarter to five when my table mates Joe and Kyle showed up.

At 5:30 they started letting people in. It wasn’t long before we had some strange people at our table. One person tried to steal one of Joe and Kyle’s books. Another wanted to know if the Gnome I brought for display was for sale. Another said that our table cover was fuzzy. To which I replied. ”You should feel my chest hair.” Okay I didn’t really say that last part.

At around 7:00 I made my first sale, a button. Woo hooo! After that I did a couple of free sketches for some kids, followed by a few more sales. Then someone else came by and asked how much the new book was. To which I replied. “It’s ten!” To which he said. “Oh man!” Then he asked if I would do a sketch for him if he gave me a piece of paper. To which I replied. “Sure!” He then reached into his bag and tore off a piece of card board. So I drew on a torn piece of card board and he went on his way, happy and content, without ever having to part with ten dollars. Life is good.

At 8:00 I met with my agent to discuss the Gabby and Gator Graphic Novel which is in the works. The meeting went well. She seems to understand what I’m going for and was very encouraging.

At 9:00 they closed the doors and we packed up our stuff. The first day of Comic Con was over. Yeah!

Tomorrow...Day Two!

Off to Comic Con

Well tomorrow morning I'm off to San Diego for Comic Con. Above is the finished painting that I'll be using as my backdrop. I'll be in the Exhibitor table area, table E01. Just look for the 3' orange painting. Hope to see ya there!

Gator and the Garden Gnome Animatic!

So here is the animatic version of my latest Gabby and Gator book, called Gator and the Garden Gnome. Enjoy!

Gator Purses

Here is a sneak peek at some of the Gator purses my wife made for me to sell at Comic Con. She was able to make ten. She worked night and day to finish these things and I owe her big time.

Only three more days till comic con.

The plush alligators are finished. All I have left to do is finish the painting that I'll be using as my back drop. I'll post some more pics of that tomorrow night.

Once again for those of you attending Comic Con I'll be at table E-0 in the table section. That's different than small press and artist alley. Just look in the guide for James Burks if you can't find me.

Comic Con Painting

So here is the rough sketch for the painting I'll be using as my back drop at comic con. The finished painting will measure 3' x 3' acrylic on canvas. The next step will be free handing this drawing onto the canvas. I'll post more pics as it progresses.

Attack of the unstuffed Gators!

I've finished sewing together all the Gators. Now I just have to stuff them and sew up the holes. This may be the last year for Gator's. It's just a little too time consuming.

My books for comic con arrived today. Woo hoo!

Frank and I are still working on the animatic that goes with the new book. All we have left is the sound. Which is probably the most time consuming part. Hopefully it will be done by the end of the week.

Tomorrow night I'll start working on a new painting for comic con to use as my back drop. I'll post some pics as it progresses.

If I can survive this week I'm really looking forward to comic con.

Gator production in full swing!

Here are some pics from the gator sweat shop. At the moment I'm the sole employee. My wife will step in at the end and help out with the hand sewing of the hole where I put in the stuffing. Otherwise these babies are made by yours truly. The last picture is how I think of ideas for Gator.

In other news, the Gator book has been shipped and should be arriving in a couple of days.

My friend Frank Rocco and I are mixing the sound for the Gator animatic version of the book.(Actually Frank is doing the mixing and I just sit and listen) Which I will be showing at comic con as well as here on this blog. So far it's turning out dandy!

My wife is also working on some Gator purses. She made one last year that everyone loved, so she decided to make a few more for this years comic con. I'll post some pics as soon as she has one finished.

Two weeks till comic con. It's a mad rush to the finish line.

the Wuzzleblog

We have a new intern at work named Viviana. She will be working with us on Wow Wow Wubbzy for the next six weeks and documenting it on her blog, aptly titled the Wuzzleblog. She will be updating daily with lots of pics and inside info on how we produce Wubbzy. You can check it out at www.wuzzleblog.blogspot.com There's also a great pic of the back of my head.

Fan Art

So here is my first piece of Gabby and Gator fan art. It was painted by my five year old daughter. It's Gabby, Gator and a pink princess. She makes me so proud.

Gator and the Garden Gnome

Well, I've finished my forty eight page beat book for comic con. I'm just waiting for a proof from the printer and then I'll order them. The book turned out great. At least in my opinion anyway. I'm thinking about making it into a short animatic with music and sound effects. Which should be pretty cool. Hopefully I'll have it at comic con. I just have to figure out if we have power or not. Hope to see everyone there. I'm in the table section on the far right side of the convention center, table number E0.

Edison

Just think at some point the incandescent idea will be no more. We'll have to only think of Fluorescent ideas. They require less energy to think up and last 3x longer.

Einstein

I'm currently reading an Einstein biography. This is my attempt at drawing him. Maybe when I have a little more time I'll do a painting.

Wubbzy Halloween song

Here is a background I did for the Wubbzy season 2 Halloween song. It's always fun to do things in silhouette. It definitely forces you to draw clear distinct shapes that read without relying on interior lines.

Slash

I was thinking about painting Slash at one point and did this sketch. It goes with the whole top hat theme I started when I painted Honest Abe.

Comic Con 2008

Just wanted to let everyone know that I'll be exhibiting again at this years San Diego comic Con. I'm once again sharing a table with my friends Kyle Neswald and Joe Olivares. You can find us in the Tables area, Table E-0. Stop by and say hello. I'll have a new Gabby and Gator beat book, more Gator plushes and most likely some of my original paintings. Hope to see you there.

Beach Sketches

Here are some sketches from a trip to the beach. The little kids are my daughter Maddie and my son Max. The guy with the shark on his head was just walking by. I don't know him.

Honest Abe!

Well after much delay I finally found a few hours to finish my painting of Abe Lincoln. Enjoy!

Some Wubbzy stuff...

Here are a few sketches from a Wubbzy song I've been trying to board called "You are you". For some reason this song really has me blocked. I just can't wrap my brain around what the images should be that go with the lyrics. Hopefully something will come soon seeing how I'm supposed to be done with it already.

Some paintings...

Here are some of my recent paintings. If you want to call them paintings. (My technique is pretty basic.) I got the urge to paint on New Years day and I painted these between new years and the beginning of February. I painted Gator first, then Gabby, followed by the Hangman, The wrestler and the last one was the guy with the cat. I'm still working on Abe Linclon. I'll finish that one as soon as I can re motivate myself. These are all Acrylic paint on canvas.