Saturday, March 31, 2012

The Hierarchy Works like this...

Most people, even the rebellious, while caring, are not free thinkers, are not leaders. They are followers, and they consider whatever their favorite show is to be what leads them.
  • Generally speaking, if a cartoon show makes it on TV and has enough ratings, it will have followers and fans somewhere.
  • If a comic book creator makes it past the editors desk and gets published in any type of mainstream way, it will also have some form of popular following.
That leaves the people aspiring to do such things without much, if any real support from anyone. It's not an easy road to go down, not an easy journey. But if you DO somehow make it to the bulletpoint side, generally you won't have to try very hard to do much of anything. People who reach bulletpoint status generally have everything handed to them. Finishing a project is hard. STARTING a project and seeing it through till completion is even harder. It's a hard journey, and many are overlooked, but some do eventually make it, assuming they finish a project and know what to do with it.

Generally speaking...

There are only 5 titles you need to know about to "totally sell out" to cool Japanese and American teenage otaku kids online these days (the supposed "IT Crowd"), and those 5 titles would be...

  • Naruto
  • One Piece
  • Bleach
  • FMA
  • Dragonball Z
Just make a fanart or fan AMV of one of those and You're In Like Flint! Yeah! lol.

 

Outsourcing Our Animation: Not Really Necessary in Reality

I’m like Pixar and Adult Swim / Cartoon Network. For the most part, I don’t endorse outsourcing in animation. The only reason America plays any anime on American TV in the first place is because it’s to ignorant to learn how to make its own cinematic and literary animation of that variety of its own. Apparently, American producers are too ignorant to figure out how an anime or manga could be made in America. Well, American manga more closely resembles Japanese products than American anime does. Unless it’s French with Franime co-pro, in which case the resemblance is uncanny

Well, since the Naruto Shippuden dub aparently may have gotten cancelled from Disney XD's Lineup...

Guess I'd beter get crackin' on buyin those DVD and manga releases, huh?

Friday, March 30, 2012

Credibility is in the Eye of the Beholder: They kind of have credibility, and they kind of DON’T also.

That describes probably just about EVERYBODY working in showbusiness. Every successful entertainer and media figure who’s successful in any way, generally doesn’t have credibility everywhere (no one is loved by all people), but rather, some people have credibility some places, yet no credibility in others.

For example:
Seth MacFArlane: Does he make more money than hell? Yes. Has he been on Inside the Actor’s Studio, and the Emmys? Yep. Do his shows have a viewership. Does he have a Wikipedia page? Yep. Could he ever write a successful NOVEL? Doubt it. Could he ever make an actual anime, or have ANY respect from me or an anime fan of most sorts? No way in HELL. Is he considered highly annoying? Kind of yes, kind of no.  But his shows are VERY Annnoying, but also VERY funny at times.

Cartoon Network: Does it have tons of viewers? Yes. Does it have a religious cult following among its fans online? Yes Does it have anime credibility anymore? Open to debate. Certainly not as much as it used to.

Musashi Kishimoto and Eichiro Oda: Are they rich? Yes. Do they have internet fans the world over, and more fan devotion than most creators? Yes. Do their shows succeed in America as much as Family Guy? I like them a lot better than family guy, but then again, who am I anyway. It really depends on who you ask…

Obama: Republicans and Good old boys? No / Democrats and Blacks? Mostly.

So yeah, now a days, it truly is hard to have your cake and eat it too, even when your on the very top of the food chain. Never forget that. Go where the love is.

Today, I write like: Mark Twain


I write like
Mark Twain
I Write Like by Mémoires, journal software. Analyze your writing!

Sometimes I really HATE being adopted...

It often seems like my birth father had all the respect in the world when he was alive. Me I don't get ANY respect, so on some level the ties to my real family have been severed.

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

mmmmmm-hmmmmm. I wonder...

Considering how conspicous my presence seems in the States, I can't help but wonder if I'd stand out more or less in the oh-so famous and well known countries of Tunisia, Mongolia, & Morocco than I would here, (ok, so maybe they're NOT so famous) where everybody sort of AUTOMATICALLY resembles me on a biological level. The most "famous" person from my descendents historical home town was Genghis Khan. Clearly not a warrior, guy, whatever, to be messed with. Clearly. How do you explain somethin like THAT to people?? You DON'T explain it. That's "how".

Let's move there and FIND OUT! Yeah! I'm driving!

You mean I look Exactly Like Harry Potter, but with a Jewfro, Middle Eastern Person Skin, and a light beard....

Well WON'T I be a hit with the ladies!

Why is it always...

so obvious that the ones most hell-bent on exposing others are also 95% of the time the ones doing the primary corrupted corrupting into corruption to begin with? Answer me that riddle, huh GOD!

Like the bible says,
it's the Blind leading the Blind.
The Guilty Leading the Guilty.

And just how do you actually spell the word "Blind" anyway, as the talk shows in Florida ask?

You spell it like THIS:

Meaning


Uninformed and incompetent people leading others who are similarly incapable.





We don't need no water let the motherfucker BURN, BURN motherfucker, BURN.

"Burn"

This world rejects me

This world threw me away

This world never gave me a chance

This world's gonna have to pay
I don't believe in your institutions

I did what you wanted me to

Like cancer in the system

I've got a little suprise for you
Something inside of me has opened up its eyes

Why did you put it there did you not realize

This thing inside of me it screams the loudest sound

Sometimes i think i could
Burn
I look down there where you're standing

Flock of sheep out on display

Saw your lives burned up around you

I can take it all away
Something inside of me has opened up its eyes

Why did you put it there did you not realize

This thing inside of me it screams the loudest sound

Sometimes i think i could
I'm gonna burn this whole world down
I never was a part of you burn
I am the agent i never was a part of you burn

I am corruption i never was a part of you burn

I am the angel i never was a part of you burn

Of your destruction i never was a part of you burn
I am subversion i never was a part of you burn

Secret desire i never was a part of you burn

I am your future i never was a part of you burn

Swallow down all that fire













You Lose Some, You Lose Some

I'd love to buy a comp with a better security system against Intruders. But unfortunately THAT kind of computer would cost over $1,000. I don't MAKE that kind of money. You need a job to buy a computer like that. I don't have a real job either, so no computer for me...to defend against future threats to my livelihood and reputation with. No job, no computer security. They're both tied together, and no one will ever just give a person like me that kind of money or security. It really is a vicious cycle, technically speaking. People attack you, and you want to defend yourself, but that costs money, and no one other than me seems to realize money equals surival from attacks. Poor people like me have no defensive barriers, whether they want to defend themselves from intruders or not.

Pretty much how it works, folks.

$ = Defense.

The most $ People = The Most Well-Defended (for the most part).

I sure wish I could afford a Strategy Business and Social Defense Budget, but I guess that's just too rich for my blood.

The "Oppression" of Success

Let me explain why signing a contract, for anything creative, would be a bad thing for me at this point in my career. A Non-disclosure agreement for anything other than one of my inventions would make it impossible to continue doing what I’ve been doing online, which is shoot my mouth off, and post my opinions about things. Just talk. When you’re under a non-disclosure agreement, it’s technically a violation of contract to talk about anything you make money from that isn’t an invention made by an inventor (i.e. me). And my non-disclosure freelance patent agreement I signed with my patent attorney last year when I was in the midst of negotiating my potential terms, was just as airtight. But I never talked about it at the time, just as my contractual obligation required of me said to do. I did my job.

Gettin Older! I'm With Adulthood.

I'm turning 29 this year! That's 1 year away from 30! Whoopity Doo!

I like getting older and being an adult.

Not going to be 28 until November though.

Aging and Comics...

One thing I've always wondered, but never find anything on the internet for is the question "How old are most professional comic book creators/writers/artists when they reach their goals, the start of their career, or their peak."

For novelists, the age seems to be mid-life. But with many mainstream comics publishers and animation studios in the 40s and 80s, the age seemed to be somewhere around 18 or 17, or 21 for some of the famous comics and animation names of today.

'Tis a mystery. Maybe one day someone will crack The Batman Age Code.

I know a lotta readers and otaku anime fans are going through that oh so LOVELY time of life we call PUBERTY and therefore only wanna talk about AGE if SEX and SEXUAL RELATIONSHIPS are involved, but get your prepubescent noses out of the yaoi tabloids, girls! This is success and WISDOM and EXPERIENCE we're talking about here, girls. I know fans have NONE of that, but still, I can't help but feel age is an important topic to address in terms of discussion of career success.

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Because Dragonball Z was and still is the most watched animated series in the history of the world, that means 2 or more things, let's do the math...

If Dragonball Z is the most watched cartoon in the history of the world...

That would mean that internationally, Dragonball Z has the largest audience viewership overall this side of YouTube, probably partially BECAUSE OF YouTube.

Therefore, if we do the math, we can deduce from the facts by putting 2 and 2 together, and we realize, because DBZ is anime, Japanese television animation (NOT American) has the largest viewership internationally, in the entire world. Anime often doesn't get the largest ratings in America, but because of the fact that anime has such a large audience base worldwide, INTERNATIONALLY, not just nationally, that would make anime the most popular form of television animation ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD, IN GENERAL. There ARE NOT American animation conventions, other than as a novelty sideshow at Comic-Con and the like.

So, thereFORE, if you want to create the next GLOBAL FRANCHISE (not just Family Guy or The Simpsons or SpongeBob, or Disney), there are some elements you need to be familiar with that shows like Dragonball Z mastered. First of all, the only shows that SELL to an international audience are in fact the only cartoons that don't Lecture or or Talk Down To a Global International Audience. One of the least pleasant elements of American Animation that can really make an American animated series BOMB internationally, especially in Asia, is condescending and racist racially based stereotypes. Yeah, racism. Not gonna go over well in the international world selling market. Animation with real international world credibility has always promoted diversity and tolerance and compassion. Racist and Stereotypical American animation and TV writing and acting and design is JUST THAT: Ignorant American shit. And that's Exactly how overseas viewers see it too. But you don't have to take MY word for it.

A a show with a Worldwide Global Franchise Audience in America, Europe, and Asia (among other places) needs to speak a global visual iconographic story language, and that language is:

Action. Adventure. And a sense of anime aesthetics (i.e. a visual and literary influence) inspired by whichever animes and mangas the creator and creative production team behind the show like.

Categorizing the Apocalypse....

There's the Black Death Metal Apocalypse, The Anime Apocalypse, Those Gay Assed Zombie and Vampire Apocalypses (sellout!), The My Little Ponypocalypse. And the conservative nutjob Rapeture and Rapeture Preppers.

Mmmmmyeah. I don't recommend those last three.

Did I cover all of them? Good.

I knew my adoptive brother was strong, but...

Working a transient job...at a gym? Tough guy, eh?

Monday, March 26, 2012

Gritty Black Noir....aren't really Eastern Concepts...

It's really more of a Western Civilization thing. Kinda like the PC revolution and alternative rock.

Building an American Manga...In 2012 (After the Bubble Burst)

I'm an indie / self-publisher (so far at least)...Most people don't consider my comics manga, but they ARE still comics, and I do derive tons of aesthetic influence from manga and anime.

Because I'm not really much of an actual popular creator, I don't get paid like some comics creators do. Most likely, I'm a "Manga-Ka Hobbyist". I'm not a creator of the commercial variety. Actually, I never was one of those to begin with. Creators like myself are producing comics based on passion and drive alone, never money so far. Creators driven BY money are finding it tough to produce anything OR survive, online or anywhere else. But because I don't rely on profits of the industry for survival, I exist in a comics publishing context OUTSIDE OF industry sales. You'll only do it forever if you're doing it (comics) for free. Which I AM. Industry sales don't affect my productivity because I'm not involved in industry figures or sales of comics in any way really. I'm getting older, but am I worried about quitting? No.

I'll be drawing comics and manga (more than likely) in 2012 and beyond for MANY years. The American manga industry is only partially built on money, and it's a very small amount. American manga is like American indie comics. It doesn't rely on sales to continue being produced. Just encouragement, positive reinforcement, and passion, and passion is the only aspect of comics making NOT in short supply of those three things lately.

Sunday, March 25, 2012

Yo Ho Yobbledee-dee, it's the PIRATES LIFE for me! Yaaaar!

Thank you Bit Torrent. From now on I'm watchin Anime at The Pirate Bay!

Yaaaar!!! S'good fer ya! Yaaaar!

Saturday, March 24, 2012

Addiction to ME and MY FACE is a funny sort of thing...isn't it?

I like Cheese, I like Cheese, I like Cheese, I like Cheese.

Yeah, you wanna quit, dontcha! But you won’t. You SAY you will, but I know you won’t.

We all know YOU'RE fulla shit. At least in terms of quitting....keeping tabs on ME.

So I ordered a digital comic from Comixology today...

The comic itself (Beyond the Fringe 5A), was great! I have no complaints for the comic, it was twisted and good like a lot of things I'm into. Once I get some actual real money, I'm sure I'll start ordering from Comixology and Graphic.ly more often...

Friday, March 23, 2012

"The Investigation" Pg. 2


I Speak in Zen Riddles

I'm no longer concerned with animation and my involvement in it currently. For the moment, it could be the Future, but as far as I know it also might not be.

Animation is the Potential of Tomorrow

COMICS is NOW. NOW I'm drawing comics, NOT animation. The only way to truly embrace tomorrow is not by concerning yourself with it. All you can really do is focus on what you're doing TODAY, in the Now. And for me, comics are now, so that is what I'll focus on now. I'll burn that animation bridge if and when I actually come to it.

Comics takes a lot of focus. It's a Primary Focus. Focusing on the potentials of a Secondary Focus (animation, anime) really only detracts from the Primary Focus, which is comics. The more distracted you are from your job drawing comics now, the worse of a job you'll do, primarily because you're distracted by What Ifs that don't apply to the task at hand. That would be Comics.

Here's how our industry works: Los Angeles was built on pre-existing connections. People who sell movies and TV ideas generally already have industry connections. You know, people who work at studios who buy and sell ideas.

You don't already have connections, it's generally a hazardous thing if you move to Los Angeles hoping to selling something without already having connections and having done the networking beforehand.

So where does that leave you if you're creative, want to do creative work, but have no connections? Simple. That's essentially what the comics and literary industry is for: Books and comics are a perfect fit for creative people without connections (who go through agencies and publishers' submissions process. That's pretty much how it works.

A) Finish a first or final draft of a project in book or comics form.
B) Get representation and publish and distribute
C) If producers in Los Angeles are interested, they buy the adaptation rights to your property from you.

Strategy in Comics Making Essentially = "How To"

One of the number 1 mistakes artists (including me in the past) make when attempting to draw comics and sequential art, is thinking you can approach a page merely with “talent and artistic vision and intuition”. One thing many young artists and writers overlook in their process and technique is the importance of STRATEGY. "What is strategy and how do you define it?", you ask? Simple: A strategy is a technique, a method, and a plan. Strategy is the HOW of things. When you look at “How-To” tutorials online, you’re essentially learning about basic strategy. If you don’t have an actual PLAN you use, learn from other artists, or make up to assist your process in constructing sequential art pages, you probably won’t FINISH the page(s), because there won’t be anything cohesively organizing the components of your art.

Strategy = How

If you don’t know HOW to construct a comic book page, you probably WON’T construct a comic book page. Strategy involves analyzing difficulties and problems along the way, and problem solving by finding solutions to problems that are stopping you from achieving your goal (In this case, let’s say the goal is to produce a page of sequential art). Bottom line? If you have a plan, problem solving process, and approach, or technique, and know HOW to do something, then you already HAVE a strategy.

Failing to plan is planning to fail.

Thursday, March 22, 2012

[Ratings Report: High Ratings for this post] Writing Pictures That Tell A Story, Chapter 1, "The Investigation" pg. 1


































Word of advice to OTHER artists who see this. Don't read Blacksad, whatever you do. It will warp your mind into scripting & drawing comics made of PURE AWEOME...Like this!

OK, now about the technical elements of my approach to creating this page. Between the years 2002-2012, until THIS page actually, I had consistently tried (and failed) to draw a comic book page on computer printer paper. Lesson learned. Computer Printer paper SUCKS, in terms of page and line and pencil led or ink textures, and printer paper will FUCK UP your comic book pages. This is partially because printer paper wasn't engineered for drawing on, it was engineered for printing ink patterns on. Printer paper = fail. For this page, I used a mechanical .7 pencil (that's right, it only LOOKS like ink on screen. If you scan a pencil drawing to your computer in black and white mode, it tends to automatically "look inked"), and for my paper I used the sketchbook texture paper I always used when using special paper: Strathmore Drawing Paper, Medium Surface, ring binded. This page was the first page attempt in this particular sketchbook so I suppose I'm off to a pretty good start. Bottom line, non-specialized non-art paper can really ruin a good attempt. Yes, the right paper WILL make you a better artist. The Right Tools are important. I've used the Wrong Tools in my art for long enough to know how frustrating using non-drawing paper to draw with is.

Everything seems to be going digital in publishing.....INCLUDING posthumous stuff....

Decades from now, after or before I die, due to how long the manuscript for my journals has become, if it was printed and published traditionally, it would look like a collection of Encyclopedia Britannicas! It really is that long! Or very close to ending up that long some day. All my offline journals have been written digitally and stored in a word processor on both my computers.

I suspect that due to how difficult printing copies of my journals in book form would  be, it would probably be better to publish them digitally online someday, years or decades from now, probably for SOME kind of historic literary and artistic online author archive. Everything I write or draw and scan onto a computer will be available online some day. Have fun waiting around for that day to come.

This is a pretty Left Brained Art Blog, so...

I'm making some adjustments. In the future, these entries will probably shift to something resembling more of a visual mode, with more imagery I find here and there.

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Not getting a whole lot done today...

Probably because I spent the majority of my time hanging out with my oldest friend, who I've known since preschool. He was visiting our old neighborhood today and was in town for a change. He moved up north a while back. It was a nice change of pace. I don't have many friends, but the ones I do, most of them I've known since childhood.

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

New Studies From The Time Magazine Show That Obama Isn't to Blame for You LIving With Your Parents, but rather the fact that....

You never finished your fucking MANUSCRIPT AND FUCKING SOLD ANYTHING TO ANYBODY....primarily because Cartoon Network simply wants to keep selling you THEIR OWN SHIT...Not mine.

There, problem solved. Your welcome, Obamacracy.

Well, there is a good side to my experience points...

End Times / Parallax / Chronicles, in OTHER news...

I'm currently sitting on somewhere between 10-12 solid storyline ideas for Chapters/Episodes/Volumes/Subplots/Whatever the hell I'm going to ultimately call it. At this point I don't know what the hell kind of medium or genre Parallax belongs to. Probably a bunch of different ones. The good part is, it's adaptable to ALL KINDS of mediums/media/genres. The bad part is, it's hard to pin down and define, and therefore sell. I do see it as having the potential to one day be some kind of media franchise. But that's not going to be for a while, if at all really.

I'm independently developing outlines, scripts, novelization, character designs, production design, storyboards, and some rough comics interpretation. I'm doing a lot of the pre-production work singlehandedly, mostly because I'm a control freak with a singular vision for the whole series of books, chapters, and episodes.

Jesus Christ I am so sick of seeing nothing but fanart....

Why do almostn no artists draw anything original or make anything up anymore? That's all I see online is "fanart and doujinshi" of whatever's trendy in the animation and comic book world. Just re-interpretations of copyrighted and pre-existing characters. Why do people think it's so hard to make ideas up? Or characters for that matter. Originality matters to me, that's why I'm dissapointed nearly every time I'm on an art site. No one's using their imagination. Remember that thing?

Sunday, March 18, 2012

On the Plus Side, in Retroville, on Boomerang and 90sAreAllThat....

The original pioneering cable animations shows, Doug, Beavis and Butt-Head, Dexter's Laboratory, Johnny Bravo, and Cow & Chicken aren't just back on air, which is a wonder in and of itself, but on top of all that, they're even in heavy rotation in primetime and late at night. I'll admit that element is pretty cool. In the last few years, I was very vocal about missing Beavis and Butthead, Doug, and Dexter on various message boards. Like, usual, I did my big or small part to make the miracles and magic happen on air.

So in a way, Mission Accomplished, at least on my part. Now if we could just get more action and adventure and science fiction fantasy cartoons made...

Saturday, March 17, 2012

Why there isn't much Asian-related Academia in the United States, or Asia for that matter...

There's a story there, not many people in America are aware of. There's a reason Asia does not have much official academia of the arts (martial, filmmaking, or animation) in America or Asia.

It has to do with secrets and tradition.

In Asia, knowledge is considered Sacred and Mystical, in much of the past, and still to the present, not much if any of the top knowledge of Asia was meant to be taught to dirty heathens, foreigners, or outsiders.

Asians teaching Asian academics in American fields is rare, precisely because that form of "knowledge sharing", historically speaking, was considered taboo in China and Japan. Teachers and Teaching of the mystical, martial, and technical variety are considered VERY taboo to historical Asian culture. It wasn't until Bruce Lee and a few others (in the field of martial arts especially) BROKE the taboo, and taught westerners what was previously "secret techniques" and "sacred knowledge"

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

And NOW we're getting to the GOOD stuff...."Water"

Finally got to do a finished art. Well sort of. I could clean it up more, but I believe it demonstrates my most recent manga fighting concept...


"You put water in a bottle, it BECOMES the Bottle. You put water in a cup, it BECOMES the cup...
Be Water, my friend"

-Bruce Lee

SHONEN is for STRONG MEN who don't need that fancy stuff. You call that THROWING A MANGA PUNCH??? That's not how you throw a punch!

THIS is how you throw a punch. Actually, a FLURRY of MARTIAL ARTS PUNCHES, to be precise and specific...


It's a trick animators in Japan and manga-ka in Japan invented. This one of my first attempts of an American interpretation of it. Keep in mind, it's a LAYOUT. I haven't fleshed anything out yet, like the circles. I call this technique, "Fist Mapping". Somebody's getting K.O.'d, heh heh : D

Authorship Note: Please Note, if you're wondering where I thought of this technique, it came to me when I analyzed one of the numerous series of VIZ BIG DBZ manga trades, towards the later issues, Akira Toriyama himself used the technique a lot (for all I know, he invented it, or at least pioneered it), but I didn't realize it was drawn that way until I real sat down, and studied-analyzed the fighting styles of DBZ. The Naruto Manga-Anime is also famous for this subliminal technique. I sense many American studios, if they find out about this technique, might also swipe it for their TV shows as well, and who could blame them. It's a great technique, but I don't own it. It's like costumes. It's more of an Eastern Animation archetype than an actual design form. Kind of like thin swords. Hard to do because many people don't know this technique exists, or don't know how to draw it, because they're so used to seeing punches and kicks move in shows like DBZ and Naruto at a million miles an hour.

The Science of it boils down to a motion mirage. Instead of drawing one punch in one panel or cell or frame like they do in Superman or Batman, etc., comics and animation, the comic artist or animator or storyboard artists draws 2-6-7 moving blurred out (by speed line) arm and fists punching all in one cell. You THINK the animation reel is moving a million miles an hour, but what you're really seeing is numerous punches and kicks on screen at a time. If you're a new generation Shonen or Seinen artist in America, I recommend experimenting with said technique and seeing what YOU come up with.

All you have to do to achieve this technique is draw a bunch of circles floating next to a warrior or fighter's torso, but don't draw the arm itself. Just draw parts of the arm and flesh out the circles into fists, and connect em all with "speed lines" as they call it in the manga industry. Not too tough to learn if you really want to and/or try to.

Your Welcome!

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Business Model

I've wanted to develop a animation-&-comics production studio and small business model (that deals completely with independent comics, adapting comics to animation, international animation co-productions, and digital media) for a while now. But to develop a business you need funding, and I'm afraid I'm fresh out of that. So it's a waiting game, in some ways. In the meantime I produce My Own Material, where I create the material that may found and guide the staff of those studios and company (or companies) some day.

In the meantime, I've done a few interesting things in my spare time.

In 2011, I was working as a freelance stay-at-home inventor-engineer, working pretty closely with a patent attorney, filing for a patent. The entire tech industry is technically a form of American manufacturing. Computers and Tech is a Giant of American Manufacturing. The patent attorney I worked with was employed by HP (actually, he still is). My primary mode of communication with my patent attorney during the patent application process for one of my inventions was by phone and email. In a way, in many parts of the tech industry, communication, for how electronics gets made, is a lot less direct and in-person than animation is. I in fact did not have to meet anyone in person, and I didn't have to attend any corporate business meetings. One of the pluses of being a freelance inventor.

Twitter = Profitable...for someone...

I do paid links. And  I did get 60 paid link clicks from my Twitter account. Twitter is actually one of the places I DO make "theoretical" money. From paid links. I don't know if they'll ever do "Twitter Feed-Banners", but they should. That would be hella awesome.

Sorry, my diagnosed entrepreneurial internet tendency is acting up again....

Monday, March 12, 2012

More Anime Studies...


Probably one of the prettier portraits I've done. From Neon Genesis Evangelion paperback.

Newest Costume Design - Ink Study



Based on the pencil sketch drawn earlier today. A mixture of Digital and Hand-based inking

How to Draw: Shoulder or Wrist (probably wrist)


If you want your drawings to have appeal and detail, draw with your wrist (Not your shoulder). Illustrators draw with their wrist. Animators draw with their shoulder. Drawing with your wrist gives you more control over your lines, and more control over texture and small details.
When I drew with my shoulder I achieved none of this.
What I’m saying is, when you’re drawing on paper, Wrist, not shoulder.

Some teachers will try to teach you the OPPOSITE of this method. But those teachers are ANIMATORS, NOT illustrators, and that is why they prefer shoulder to wrist.

Bottom line? If you want real control over your own lines, draw through your wrist. Shoulder won't help you, especially if you're the analytical, technical artist, high I.Q. type, like myself

Here's an example: I drew the Paul Pope fanart sketch rendition below through the process of ONLY using my wrist, never my shoulder.

I like how it turned out.

Also...

2nd Attempt, drawn entirely with wrist (not) shoulder

Gendo Ikari

Wrist drawings help with line control, delicacy of line application, and textural control.

AND....3


I decided to take a stab at drawing Mono Jubei in a more American-Comics oriented style, which basically means I don't care if it looks eloquent or not and can go abstract on the fabric, instead of conservative...

Saturday, March 10, 2012

R.I.P. - Moebius

Jean Henri Gaston “Moebius” Giraud
Genius

May 8, 1938 — March 10, 2012

How does one Moebius’s younger and newer fans go about writing an article on Moebius exactly?

His Works in comics and production design for science fiction films, of which he became a visual grandmaster, are vast and numerous. The art team that worked on Blade Runner took much of the inspiration for Blade Runner's city and architectural design from Moebius' illustrations, comics, and books. As did George Lucas in many of his Star Wars works.

Moebius primarily lived and worked in France, primarily in the subgenre of French Comics, but through his vast amount of detail-and-imagination oriented artwork, he attained an iconic status among the comics community, as one of the Grandmasters of Architectural design and detail, primarily acknowledged for the most part by fellow creators, authors, manga-ka, production designers, and authors in France, America, and Japan. While alive, he maintained open communication with such famous Japanese and iconically respected creators as Hayao Miyazaki and Katsuhiro Otomo, both among many others of whom his work influenced…heavily. If it’s cinematic and hyperdetailed, chances are Moebius had a hand in its creative design influence in origin, considering he was one of the originators of the postmodern and contemporary detailing-&-perspective technique.

It’s not easy to quickly describe Moebius’s visual style, seeing as it encompasses so much and covers so much ground.

For the last decade or so, Moebius practically went off the map, in terms of PR. Hardly anyone was publishing new articles about him. Translated American editions and art books of his work have been notoriously expensive and hard to find online, let alone in a bookstore. I was well aware of Moebius prior to his death by at least 2 to 3 years, which makes the timing of his passing seem all the stranger to me.

Moebius was truly a God, Pioneer, and Revolutionary of both comics and animation. I still remember first reading about him being described that way by Scott McCloud when I read Understanding Comics in the year 2000 or so, completely unaware of how obsessed with his work as an artist I would become in my adult years. But he was humble, and people do not consider him one of the egotists or boasters, precisely because that is NOT what he is. With Moebius, it was always about the design, the architecture, the perspective, the vision, and the art…for starters.

Here’s to many more years and many more awakenings to getting lost in the imaginative and vivid worlds Moebius created. Under many different names. Moebius's literary imagination of Visionary Creativity in sequential art, animation, literature, and filmmaking (for both television and cinema worldwide) (i suspect) is destined to live on, for many decades, if not a lot longer, whether it's in Paris, Tokyo, Los Angeles, or any other world cultural megahub for that matter. When you're as good as Moebius was and is (and Moebius was that good) history will not forget the legend your vision attained.

UPDATE TIME! Keep your eyes pealed

It's Saturday. I'll PROBABLY be doing a Moebius mini-essay write up later today, as Moebius has been a STRONG influence on me and my work as a cartoonist during these last few years. His very recent death must signify something, though I'm unable to derive the big picture out of his passing as of today.

-J.M.

Hmmmm...

I wonder who Nicole is...Oh wait! I remember now, she's the on that's hotter than you other girls reading this.

Just a former gal pal. You know, nothing out of the ordinary. Well, she's been my gal pal at one point, borderline romantic. Nothin special. Just a hot girl I used to spend time with in art school.

Now I know it's going to give some faggots a sad bear face when I say this, but

SHES 30. And she's NOT yours. Yep, she's mine. Back off. I'll save the real freaks for you. I know you like freaks.

Ok. Discussion over.

Friday, March 9, 2012

How To Categorize My Comic Book (&/or) Manga Work....

Well, first off, I'm an American born and based Cartoonist of ambitious sequential art projects of various type, genres, and styles. I write my own stories, but I'm also a general, illustrator, author, and writer, as I've already written a 6,000 page journal, and a 200 page art book, the latter work being sold on Amazon.

I love manga, and it's definitely the "in thing" right now. I believe Americans can draw manga like the Japanese do in certain ways (perhaps not in terms of culture), but at least in terms of format, style, design, storytelling, and pacing.

I do hope to draw trans-genre comics that can be interpreted either way. The artwork I produce is in black and white primarily, so it could either be an independent American comic book series, OR a manga series, as both are in black and white, going for a kind of goth-noir "Frank Miller meets Jhonen Vasquez" artistry thing.

Other characteristics of my work that appeal to both manga and comics fans is the action elements. Lots and lots of action like Shonen Hero Books, and then there's the science fiction, cyberpunk element, and depth of field in certain instances, as well as an illustrative quality, with many full page stand alone images.

I didn't set out to draw this way. This is just what emerged from my sketchbooks, over time.

"What kind of anime fan are you?"

I represent the kind of anime and manga fan who aspires to make his own version of comics at some point. Not “one day”, because that day is today, not “some day in the distant future”! There’s nothing stopping me from drawing comics right here, right now. When you graduated school a long time ago you tend to have that kind of freedom.




Thursday, March 8, 2012

Has Late Night TV and the Overnights on Cable TV Always Been This MORBID?

If you browse through a digital cable TV program description listing on all the academic and grown up channels, a good 1/3 of them will have all this morbid crap written into show descriptions. Everywhere you look, it's almost just like reading a black death metal and/or gangsta-rap lyrics sheet:

Everything listed reads like "crime, justice, law. Deranged neighbors, deranged people, deranged family members. Murder murder suicide murder. Homicide, rape, pandemonium and destruction. Death terrorism, death, death, death, sex change operation, kill, kill, kill.

Is this supposed to be the "New American Dream" we're selling on TV. All this morbid crap. Kill and torture and mutilate everyone regardless of gender or age? Kill Thy Neighbor.

ALMOST As bad as daytime reality TV shows and sitcoms. Daytime is gross and tasteless and crass and cruel and chauvanist. Nighttime is just morbid crap. Oh boy! What fun! Suffering! Sounds like such fun, TV!

Get a clue.

Monday, March 5, 2012

CHANGE: We ALL want and need change in our lives.....But Change does NOT come easily. It never has.

Listen otaku. I know how much we anime and animation fans and aspiring professionals want and pray and wish and hope for active change in our lives. But I learned something important today that changed my outlook, on human nature.

Human nature doesn't change, especially not quickly.

Here's how you can answer ANY question about your future (says the psychic).

Let's go with the question "Where will I BE in my life 10 or 20 years from now?"

"Where you'll BE..." "Where your "destiny" will take you is probably exactly where you already are...UNLESS some radical shift in the market happens, but even then it's doubtful everything, from human nautre to most people's life and career path, will actually change that much.

Bottom line:

Wherever you are now is where you will be 10 to 20 YEARS from now as well
(95% of the time)

I'd love to be all idealistic and preach radical change, but radical change isn't realistic. How things are now, is! Do what you already can do, not what you've always "wanted to do". It will be much more likely to pay off doing what you already know how to do or are already doing. There's plenty of tactics for change that we already KNOW how to do, that's available to us, but we're ignoring it in favor of idealistically dreaming and fantasizing about ourselves in the so-called "Ideal Future". The future builds on the present, not the other way around.

It's the Newtonian Law of Inertia as applied to idealism and Taking Action Socially or in terms of Work and Career. Dreams in motion tend to stay in motion. Ambition's action at rest tends to stay at rest.

We want things to change, we WANT to change our ways, we WANT to change our lives, and transform our lives and habits, but unless we do small things now and take the initiative with the resources available to us NOW, those hopes will NEVER be realized. 4 Yer Healthhhhh

One of the best things you CAN do, if you're feeling stuck or stranded, as I have felt much of the time, is not to be complacent, but focus on the work and labor you CAN do. Exploit and profit from the strengths YOU ALREADY HAVE, stop focusing on the talents you think you might one day want to have, or eventually MIGHT have. Idealized assets do nothing more than distract us from our tangible ones we actually do have that we can all build upon.

Business Term I thought of: Reputation Franchise, Reputation Brand. The Ultimate in Self-Promotion

While, true, my real product is not a bestseller, and I don't own a media franchise, I own my likeness, and reputation, which can be a Franchise and a Brand unto itself!

Want proof:

I have prominent personal and public accounts active and established on a whopping SIX (6) out of the TEN (10) Most Popular Sites In the World, Out of the Entire Internet and World:

  • Google. Facebook. YouTube. Blogspot. Twitter. & Amazon

My reputation is in people's thoughts, if nothing else, so I have a certain amount of mindshare online. Thought Equity is VERY valuable to me.

Sunday, March 4, 2012

So THIS...


...Is now what's being Broadcasted Live and Uncensored by, by moles?
 ...on all the BillBoards of Times Square?

Like, WOW! I, like, totally DIDN'T know that! That's actually pretty cool.
Yup Looks like Everybody is aware...
of the DragonBALL Z Kai OP!

Huh huh huh. MOLE. Heh heh heh

BITCH, I'm so ICONIC...

Bitch, I'm so iconic you may as well already be broadcasting the contents of my computer screen on the JumboTron 500 in Time Square. Why would that be any different than how famous I am now?

Fuckin' IDIOT!

Sheeyut! Bitch, I'm So Famous....

Bitch, I'm so famous, I don't even NEED PR to be beloved and famous. Bitch I'm so famous and in demand, I have an instant audience of 50,000 marketing moles broadcasting my messages just by TURNING ON MY COMPUTER, without even GOING ON THE INTERNET. BITCH!

BITCH! TOP THAT!

That's right. You'll NEVER top my DIRECT AUDIENCE communication. People are beating down the doors of my house on an HOURLY BASIS just to broadcast and hear what I have to say! BITCH!

TECHNICALLY, I'm not officially for or against ANYone really. I react to other people BASED ON how you treat ME, first and foremost....

Hell, I've ranted about Viacom when it sucked plenty of times, but even Viacom has done it's share of good in the past, animationwise. They employed my boy Jhonen at one point, and as an executive produceer he hired one of my favorite production designers in all of animation, Corey Senderov Jackson who did much of his best work on Zim. Sadly, Corey's site is down and he vanished. No one knows what the hell happened to the guy.

Respect is earned by Loyalty,

You WON'T HAVE TO BEEF WITH ME if A) You don't say may name, like an idiot, and B) you show respect and loyalty, the same way I do to everyone else. Respect is not a 1 way street. Especially not with me.

Saturday, March 3, 2012

New Background Design: Science-Fiction



OEL U.S. Publishing Market

Me myself? So far I'm primarily, if not entirely, self-published.

However, if you like to draw Manga and live in North America, though Tokyopop, the number one publisher of OEL Manga folded, there are still places that will publish American manga-ka. Two main names that come to mind (who publish world and OEL manga) are Seven Seas and Yen Press. I'm sure they still get at least some submissions, if not a whole lot. And Self-Publishing through CreateSpace or Lulu to develop a portfolio of books is also another way to go about "breaking into" American manga.

But the most important part is that you at least try to draw every day if possible (even after your published), and put a lot of time into your drawings. Manga isn't AS hard to draw if you're willing to invest the time needed to draw the amount of detail manga requires.

Friday, March 2, 2012

News: "Art: Manifested", My Book, Now Available Online at Amazon Japan

This is the first time anything I've ever published has ever been distributed officially in Japan, in anyway whatsoever. Pretty exciting for me, when I think about the fact that I've wanted to draw manga for a long time now. This technically is an art book with manga sensibilities, so I think some manga fans in Japan interested in the designs of American Cartoonists and Designers might dig it.

LINK AVAILABLE HERE

Pleasant Night People...

It's ACTION TIME! OEL Action Manga Prop Study!

Random Handgun study, for an OEL Action Manga series I'm working on...

The Only American Manga-Ka Anyone’s Heard of

  • Nyanko-Chan
  • Piro
  • Felipe Smith 
  • Lindsey Cibos
  • Jared Hodges
  • Paul Pope 
  • Adam Warren 
  • Svetlana Chamakova
  • Bryan Lee O’Malley

 

Thursday, March 1, 2012

So....

Been arguing with my bodygaurd, er, I mean older brother recently. He really needs to find his own place to live...eventually. It's cool that he always wants to share his firearm collection with me. It's cool and all, but y'know, time to man up, bro. That's what we (his family) keep telling him anyway. He's a man like me I guess. But you're not a full fledged man until you own your own place in some way. That's just my opinion though.