The Whole "Power Lust" Thing....The Real Truth: Chi Energy = Power

The truth about me and power is, we're good friends. Yes, I'm very powerful. But truthfully, I'm not technically obsessed with power. I'm just very good at controlling power, and I'm good at sensing and being aware of chi, energy, or "power levels" in things and people when they cross my path. I have a certain kind of psychic or 6th sense for spiritual, emotional, and physical power. I'm both very powerful and very aware of power, especially power in others. 

Clocking in At The End of the Month

Okay, if I count the amount of Art Journals, Sketches, Drawings, Comic Book Pages, Script Pages, and Fiction Pages I've created this month, between July 1st and July 30th.....

My output amounts to around 215 pages of art and writing material for the month of July, so that's 1 month of output and productivity I've been keeping track of so far. 

So technically I'm producing a book a month for July. 

Followers: Put the Peddle to the Metal

"Huh. They still followin' us?"
"No. Pretty sure they're not."
"Good. I think we LOST EM in all the subplots."

Random JM Art Lesson: Artwork With "Appeal"

There's a qualitative element of drawing which I like to call "appeal". If a drawing has beauty, is aesthetically pleasing, or is dynamic and pleasing to the eye in general, than it has appeal. Appeal is not to be confused with detail or complexity, as there are plenty of detailed drawings that are still nonetheless very aesthetically unappealing and ugly. When you draw, it helps to be objective. Do you get a gut reaction from your art that tells you in your gut your drawing is pretty to look at, fun to look at, or aesthetically pleasing in some way? Then yes, your artwork or a part of your artwork has appeal. Don't just like drawings because you drew it yourself. You have to be able to objectively sit back and say, if I was a stranger who never saw any of my work before, I'd still say I like the way this artwork piece looks. THAT...is the nature of appeal.

Manga and Indie Comic Books, and How They're More Alike Than We Think

Article:

American Indie Comics & Korean and Japanese Manga

Seperated At Birth?

Similarities and Commonalities

Growing up, the two types of comic books I read the most were not fantasy and superhero, but instead black & white, pen & ink indie and manga comics. It wasn't until after I had been reading both for a while that I noticed how similar they were in certain ways, particularly in format.

·       Both used finely drawn and rendered pen and ink artwork

·       Both were designy and stylistic

·       Both could be dark and fanciful

·       Both used a lot of  black ink and a technique I would later come to know as "spotting blacks"

·       Both were in black and white and used black and white artwork for the majority

·       Both dealt with mature and adult subject matter like violence and sex

·       Many indie comics creators such as Frank Miller, Scott McCloud, Jhonen Vasquez, Paul Pope, and Rob Schrab modeled their sequential art after the kind found in manga.

·       Both mediums, genres, and style use a creator-friendly approach, where the creator approaches panel design like a filmmaker and auteur.

The main difference between the two "different" mediums was not so much format but genre and style. Their design forms looked different, and yet they share so many similarities. 

Manga and American indie comics are often one and the same, especially in format. 

First 500 pages are free

After that, you can buy the printed version...

Drawing and Writing

Writing has always come naturally to me. I'm naturally inclined to write, just as I am naturally skilled and talented at writing and words and driven to write. I don't need a million compliments just to know I can write. 

And yet I have such a difficult time drawing much of the time. I'm not naturally skilled at art the way I am with writing. Drawing is 100% work. Writing is 100% play. It really is that simple.

Drawing Progress comes slower than literary progress. 

Dy-No-Mite!

So I had this dream, where I was demolishing my neighborhood in the middle of the night.

I was filling random empty houses up with lots and lots of dynamite sticks and bombs, and then getting really far away and lighting the fuse.

I got to watch a great many of the houses in my neighborhood (the ones I really, really hate) get blown up with dynamite.

BY ME!!!!

YEAH. I'm Wile E. Coyote, bitch.

Honestly, I HOPE punk kids confront me next time I'm out in public....I've been waiting...

I've been WAITING to punch someone in the f ace who recognizes me from TV (and wants to confront me about it) for a LONG TIME NOW. I can actually punch really fast now. If I punch you in the face, I might just break your nose. Wouldn't try it if I were you, neighbor.

Unfortunately

Yes, I AM in a co-dependent relationship with my family. They hire a lot of doctors and teachers to pin the blame of this co-dependent relationship on me, unfortunately, but fortunately I know better than to accept those kind of lies, especially since these people are being paid by my parents to feed me this bullshit. I depend on my adoptive family for too much for me to ever be comfortable with or accept.

Well, if you REALLY want to draw and choreography people wielding swords....

You could always own your own wooden or steel swords (either is appropriate) and shoot some self-shot photos of your SELF wielding swords for reference, in photographs. No makeup required.

That's my technique for drawing sword fights anyway.

Pokemon and Bleach Must Die.

And I mean, like, RIGHT NOW! This Garbage Needs to Stop or BE STOPPED.

Wow, I Lost 152 POUNDS!.....

And all I had to do was STOP taking my court-mandated medication!

Wake Up United States....

.....This is the first time I've ever seen this many delusional people in the media.

You bastards and bitches need to WAKE UP!

Let's face the facts.

If people don't have jobs now [and they DON'T of course]

Why and how the fuck would anything be different a decade from now, and suddenly everyone gets laid and gets high paying jobs.

If it ain't happening now, it ain't happening INDEFINITELY!

CORPORATE AMERICA? Well they're full of shit

No money now means no money ever.

Stop dreaming. It's ANNOYING.

"I Don't Want to Actually Work to Achieve Anything"

....Coming This Fall to a TV Set Near You

Differences of Influence

There's a difference between being acknowledged for being influential, and just plain being influential without being acknowledged by anyone.

My influence is the latter. It's unacknowledged and unknown. But it's there anyway.

Not all power and influence is something people are aware of...or that anyone acknowledges.

Influence is an intangible concept, therefore it isn't always quantified.

That's life.

Well, you WON'T find me on Anime News Network, DeviantART or Wikipedia...They all fired me, now i am a SAD Panda.

But you WILL find me on Google, YouTube, Uncyclopedia, and Animation Magazine.

Eh, I'll take what I can...

So, how much money do you make as a (part-White, part-Tunisian, part-Berber, Part-Mongolian, Part American, Part British, and Part French) comics and animation writer anyway?

Hmmm. Good question.

I believe the answer is "not much".

F**k, I kind of hate certain things about the weekend

I hate the fact that I don't get any emails from anyone on Saturday and Sunday usually,
at spindack@gmail.com.

Weekdays may suck, but at least most businesses and email senders send you stuff on weekdays. Well, that's what they do to me anyway (send me stuff).

Mysterious Secrets of Internet Commerce: How People Make Money Online

People who run websites get paid the same way Television executives do....

By how many people visit their sponsors.

It's not about selling products or charging you money for a product for people who entertain you online or on TV.

It's about viewership numbers / clicks, sponsorship patronage.

That is how TV / Internet people get paid, by sponsors.

The logic banner ads and TV Commercials go by is similar:

The bigger the sponsor, the more the sponsor pays the people bringing in advertising dollars

Growing Into an Adult Inventor-Engineer-Broadcaster

Growing up as an adolescent, my ultimate professional goal growing up was to "Make a real anime" "or a facsimile French or Asian-American Co-Production Replication Thereof". As a young adult, I must have repeated that career goal (I want to make an anime, I want to make an anime series co-production") in my mind endlessly. I was obsessed with finding the means to the end.

So when I realized that the process of making real anime was either impossible or one of the tallest orders imaginable for someone of my stature, size, age, nationality, ethnicity, track record, WHATEVER(!), I decided I could do the next best thing.

So I invented a new way of broadcasting and WATCHING anime, on the internet, almost by accident by uploading the contents of a DVD I edited together with downloaded content I found on a pre-existing video content website. Lo and behold, my insane scheme to change the way people watched anime WORKED, of all things.

And the REST....is HISTORY.

Saying most modern animation is animated with Flash is only HALF the truth...

True, the Flash is used to actually make things move, but studios seem to always forget to mention most digital art is drawn straight onto a computer screen using a digital pen (also known as Wacom) to draw each character design and animation cell. Wacom pens (usually Bamboo) and tablets make the actual linework. No wonder I've been progressing with digital art so slowly. I have yet to buy my own Wacom pen and tablet. I have the digital software, but not the digital pad and pen. Can't afford it yet. But SOME day...I will.

The Power of Loss

Sure, my ability to take those in power with a lot of power out of power, has given me a considerable amount of social power. But it's not like you can buy food and shelter with that kind of power. That kind of power doesn't earn you any money. If anything it means you have a lot of future enemies...


That saying "To the Victor Go the Spoils" doesn't come from nowhere. And technically, I've been a victor of ALL my confrontations and struggles. I've WON all of my fights. And I've fought some of the nastiest monsters in social existence. At least according to the media anyway.

Hmmmm.....

Disney Junior or Adult Swim? Disney Junior or Adult Swim?

Mickey Mouse Clubhouse or Squidbillies? Mickey Mouse Clubhouse or Squidbillies?

Both would be age appropriate.

Dear LORD such DIFFICULT LATE NIGHT VIEWING DECISIONS!

Yup. The buck stops here. heh heh.

My Best Friend

My best friend has been my best friend since preschool. So we've been friends for over 25 years. Went to the same preschool and everything. My success kind of makes things...weird with us.

Everytime he calls me on my cell every few months or so from up North, he goes on and on about my art book, Art Manifested, and how much of a fan of it he is, and how much he loves my work. He even goes so far as to constantly bring up the fact that he wants me to sign both copies of the artbook for him.

The compliments are nice, but I've never seen someone so close to me so enthusiastic about my creative work, other than my second best friend back in middle school who was into drumming and drawing just as I was and for art still am.

I sure do have some happy friends.

-JM

I always get the cool personality profiles online, yet my private life can be so boring! It's a little weird.

For instance, I'm into new age stuff.

In Astrological terms, I'm a Scorpio on a Sagittarius cusp.
In the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, I score a 50/50 NT / NF Rational / Idealist,
I'm a general INTP Architect/Thinker or INTJ Mastermind/Planner
And in Numerology, I score a 4/22, or "Master Builder"

I like reading personality reports online. It's always fun to learn new stuff about yourself and your personality

I score as being in the minority genius analytical and mystical type on most of those personality tests.

Says here in this Keirsey Temperament book, "NT's are just as reluctant to ask for credit for their intellectual products as they are to falsely give credit to others. Credit is a problem for them that they are usually unable to solve"

"Technically, I'm an Author" A Brief Bibliography of JM

Bibliography

1.     Book-Zine

2.     Animation Magazine Ad for Parallax

3.     END TIMES

4.     MANIFESTO VOLUME I

5.     MANIFESTO VOLUME II

6.     COMMENTARY

7.     Art Manifested (Artbook)

8.     Variety Hour

9.     The Phantom, The Voice, and the Phone

10.  Shadow Walker

11.  December Waits

12.  The Essays: A collection

13.  Parallax Pilot Script

These comprise the bulk of my written and illustrated literary work


Some are available to purchase. Well, ONE of them anyway. And some got scrapped.

NOTICE: MANIFESTO UPDATE

Siste Blog JM's Manifesto Quotes has been updated.

Sometimes You Lose Touch....

Sometimes I forget this isn't regular TV and local radio, and I forget that I DO in fact have an international audience of people from all over the world. This blog is worldwide, which is exactly how I intended. But because of the lack of reader feedback, if I went by comments alone, I'd think I didn't have any readers....But I do.

These blogs have readers in the United States, the Ukraine, Russia, China, Hong Kong, the UK, Germany, Canada, India, the Netherlands, and the Philippines. That's pretty cool

Anime

I like anime, but I wouldn't dare call myself an anime fan, as that term gets a rather bad rap lately, in both America AND Japan. Japanese anime fans, or so-called "otaku" however, are 10 times more infamous than American anime fans, as anime doesn't have anywhere near as many criminally infamous fans in America as it historically has in Japan. Anime is kind of the rock-and-roll music of Japan. There's a certain amount of obscured controversy associated with it in Japan.

Calling yourself an "anime fan" or "nerd" is kind of a risky venture lately, as both phrases are rather loaded terms, particularly on the internet (which is why I shall not go there).

Now here is an essay of why I fear and hate sex. Oh wait, you mean I DON'T hate sex? I'm confused.

How to Get Pencil Mileage, The Marvel Way

Just Do it. Do the Work. Surprisingly, the act of attaining pencil mileage IS that hard...

Truth is, one could write numerous books on the art of the start in comic book page drawing. Sure, you've got to create a page and take it one to four panels at a time, even for long stories, but there's a lot more to it than that. That's the problem with books that teach how to draw comics. Truthfully, if you have what it takes to draw 1 finished or sketched and roughed out page, you have the potential to draw a lot more than that. One could author NUMEROUS books on the hazardous challenge of comics book fatigue and inertia. Truth is, getting experience in comics is one of the easiest things in the world, if you're approaching it the right way, meaning you're actually bothering to make the EFFORT to build and design some pages. The fastest way to get ahead of the rest of the industry is to stop talking sh*t like the rest of the industry, and actually make the effort. Even if you're just trying to draw comics by making the effort of putting pen or pencil to paper, the fact that you're pencil or pen is connecting with paper, that puts you ahead of 60% of everything else. You're number one weapon for battling competition IS the process of drawing new comic book pages. Opening a BOOK on comics making isn't making comics. The only way to survive in comics is through the attainment of pencil mileage. How to gain such experience is easier than it sounds, assuming you don't make a big deal about it and waste your time accumulating much ado about nothing. 

Rest Assured, My Loyal Audience. More Mono Stuff Is Being Produced

Yup.

Yoshihiro Tatsumi, you have INSPIRED me...Thank you...

I just got A Drifting Life in the mail today. It's Great! I LOVE IT! It's like a Japanese version of Craig Thompson's Blankets, which I also own and cherish. I love big thick books, and Drifting Life delivers. Simple artwork to emphasize dialogue and plot, Tezuka style! Up till now, I wasn't even aware there was an alternative manga scene in Japan,  but apparently Yoshihiro Tatsumi is a leader of said movement. I will cherish this book.

In other news, I'm also considering getting some of the manuscripts I've written reviewed by some editors. I also got my complimentary copy of Animation Magazine in the mail. The one that has an ad for my project in the middle-end of the issue for Pitch Party.

-JM

Why comic books (classic, mid, and modern) in America are different than animation....

Unlike animation, which is a group effort, comics offers one advantage to modern television animation.

Unlike animation, for American comics (webcomics notwithstanding), all the production is done in-house.

Comics aren't outsourced. They may be weird, but they're a 100% American product that isn't outsourced.

People who DON'T outsource:

• Pixar
• Star Wars
• Marvel
• Image Comics
• SLG Publishing
• Oni Press
• Williams Street (Toonami and AdultSwim promo material, and Adult Swim shows that aren't anime)
• Windsor McCay
• Walt Disney in the 40s
• Hollywood Live Action

People who DO outsource:

• Pretty much all Los Angeles based 2-D TV animation studios in their post-production departments

You want something done for more money, ya gotta do it YOURSELF


That's a good thing.


Animation wasn't always so heavily outsourced. It gradually shifted into a kind of LA-based status quo.

And now it's time for another boring session of "HOW TO DRAW COMICS THE JM WAY"! Hey all right!

Okay, here's how you can draw exactly like me (i.e. the most glamorous and expensive supplies in the world).

FIRST, you uh, you need yer pen.

Like so...

Then, you need everything else....

Clipboards and wooden boards in general are good for keeping your paper in place.

Paper like...

This here HP Printer Paper. Disposable, but efficient, especially when you produce a million pages of notes and artwork a month for your crazy art theories, strategies, thumbnails, and sketches, as I do.

And then you're gonna need to store all those thousands of pages somewhere.

Most of this stuff can be bought at Staples and Office Max. Nothing fancy shmancy for me.

And so, that's that.

That's how you can be me. 

Figured I may as well give advice because everyone tries to anyway, even WITHOUT my advice. Suckers. 

Non-Google Website Recommendations...

If you're in the mood for good, international French and Japanese art, there are 2 main sites I've found that deliver ten times over on finding new generation international art from France and Japan, that's untranslated, (but you don't really notice it being untranslated because the art is so good)

For Japan, there's an art book site that goes by the name of Halcyon Realms: http://halcyonrealms.com/

Last year, I think, in 2011, I ordered an artbook from Japan, about Ogura Hiromasa, a Japanese production designer. The title is Of Light & Darkness. The book is read right-to-left, and is in kanji. Great book!

For France, there's Amazon France's Comic Book Section: http://www.amazon.fr/bd-bulle-comic-angouleme-livre/b/ref=amb_link_84604713_1?ie=UTF8&node=301133&pf_rd_m=A1X6FK5RDHNB96&pf_rd_s=left-2&pf_rd_r=1N00K29MT1NMYWN8FKP1&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=291812947&pf_rd_i=301061

GO AWAY FAME! NO ONE INVITED YOU!

(Begins running away from it)

What do you got, Char baby? What do YOU got?

I've accomplished plenty of crap by the age of 28 that people would know if they knew I was the one who did it. But unfortunately, all my accomplishments were incognito, and none of them had my regular name on them. So really, I HAVEN'T accomplished anything by the age of 28. Not if we're talking about mindshare...

Eragon is finally on CN!

Speaking of Eragon, I do like that movie. I haven't read the book series yet, But I like the book's author, Christopher Paolini, too. Aside from the fact that he in some ways has a face that looks just like mine, he's the exact same age as me (28), and He was born on the same day, the same month, and the same year as me (November 17th, 1983). So he and I share a birthday and we're both fantasy authors. We're both Scorpions.

Is that a SIGN? Or just a cool coincidence?

Man I'm hideously freakish looking....But on the plus side...

I've put design before myself and my family. I've put my art and writing before family, naturally. 

Perfectly fine, but I look rather hideously freakish lately. Naturally, TV doesn't help.

I've done some amazing things with art, literature, filmmaking, comics, and technology....I'm a genius.

But at what cost?

I'll tell you at what cost. At the expense of my  body. At the expense of my looks. 

All this intellectualism and focus on creativity and intelligence has mutilated my body. 

I'm now a mutant.

Oh well, I can live with that. But yeah, not the best looking scientist. Then again, that's kind of what happens to most geniuses, engineers, and scientists. They end up physically mutated. That's the price of being a visionary. You neglect your body language and health.

Science is a very cruel mistress to the physique of the scientist. It's one of the prices of ingenuity.
It doesn't look good in real life. It only SOUNDS good in theory.

Oh well...

Quite frankly I'm not an artist trying to be an engineer, so don't treat me as such.
But I AM an engineer trying to be an artist, which will inevitably make people treat you like a freak.

Everybody cares about artists.
No one cares about the lives or accomplishment of engineers the way they care about artists.

Engineering is not GLAMOROUS, and it WON'T MAKE YOU FAMOUS.
But it does alter the  fabric of reality, time, and space in a big way.

No, I DON'T look normal.
No, I DON'T LOOK LIKE an ARTIST. I'm not a long haired brunette bitch.

I LOOK LIKE an ENGINEER.

Newest Art Technique: Black Flames

Using fractal lines to draw free flowing exaggerated fabric.

Black Flame. It is Quite Metal in my opinion.


Finally I get to combine my Stylistic-but-Eccentric Notan Fashion Sense with my Mad Cartography Skills! Fug yeah man! FUN!!!!

Still Working [sort of]

Well, I've been doing a lot of art journaling. So far I've got around 90 pages of printouts, new artwork, and new writing.

I drew this thing today,

so I haven't gone completely defective....Good old Jubei Chan....

How did you become such a Master of Fast Timing and Pacing, Jubei?

So THAT's why they put my face on TV but refuse to make me a showrunner...It all makes sense now...

If I GOT A SHOW, that would probably result in the END of TV as we know it. Or not. Just a theory.

Good at sketching, but not good at polishing your drawings? Feel like your draftsmanship is mediocre, but still able to do cool concept art?

Well I have just the job for you my friend?

If you draw like me, but don't know how to animate, but are equally bad at cleaning up your drawings, do what many artists in animation do (even for the more detailed projects this counts as a job)...

BECOME A STORYBOARD ARTIST!

Storyboards are often rough and unrefined. But the really cool part is, in some ways drawing storyboards is similar to drawing cartooning and comics!

Even shows like Dragonball Z have certain panels and camera shots in their storyboard (THE Storyboards, the ones used in the shows) that look like a Danny Antonucci napkin doodle! Every show and movie has simple boards (except ones storyboarded by Katsuhiro Otomo, cuz he does very detailed storyboards)

Storyboards are often not detail heavy. But they are style- and storytelling-heavy.

Perfect job for the cartoonists who don't know how to clean up...like me.

I'm a bit like Mike Tyson, but with comics

Now that I think about it, no one HAS survived a direct hit from an encounter with me.

I'm proud of that record and I plan to KEEP it that way too.

That's how the action biz is. I'm a Scorpion.

That means, like MANY Scorpions, I get my ass kicked day and night, EVERY DAY by MY OWN family and neighbors, and local community. That's how the Southeast is apparently. They beat you up with no remorse. But when in my element, on the screen/page, you step to me, I obliterate whoever's in my way. I script and storyboard fighting and action better than most. Definitely an asset in comics.

If I actually had a spare moment to myself, in my own fucking house...

If I had a spare minute or two of uninterrupted time when I wasn't being pestered by family, or other people LIKE my parents, I might actually be able to draw more comics to post online....

But such freedom is not a luxury society and my own family and local community provides me with unfortunately. Apparently I don't have any freedom in my own house of all places, so comics production has come to a halt. Life is just getting in the way.

Maybe one day life won't interfere with my work so much I can one day finish a graphic novel or comic book issue that's actually not scrapped together and un-publishable looking. But the forecast isn't looking promising. Not for the next year or few anyway.

--Sincerely, the Management.

Until those circumstances change, feel free to enjoy my blogging and tweets, which is kind of just throwaway material in my eyes...

Well you've gotta hand it to the media...

When they blacklist famous people....they really blacklist famous people.

They don't skimp on you. They go ALL OUT.

Actually, honestly, I have been known to be absent from certain websites even when I'm the biggest topic of discussion there....

What can I say? Not a big fan of the limelight. I'll often leave places even when I AM the center of attention there.

Not sure why I avoid real praise. I guess I just like being behind the scenes, not on stage...

Good News! My series concept got featured in Animation Magazine's July/August Issue. Want proof? Here ya go.

Animationmagazine.net

I entered the 2012 Animag Pitch Party this year. You'll be able to see my entry showcased at the Comic-Con 2012 Animation Magazine Exhibitor's Booth, along with all the other entries, the entries that won (not myself), etc.

That sounds good to me that my artwork will be at Comic-Con 2012 (Exhibitors Booth 1535).
Parallax technically debuted as a webcomic,
so it seems appropriate it'd be at a comic book convention.

Being A Blogger is Easy. It's all in the Momentum...

Being a professional writer or Blogger is easy. It's a mixture of being a writer and a talk show host.

It's not a matter of coming up with anything new or having something to say. When you write everyday, you always HAVE something to say. You never run out of things to write about. I never run out of steam. This is kind of what I was born to do. I've been writing my whole life. I just haven't been doing it with an audience until just recently. I've never gotten writers block. Ever. I let my keyboard fingers do the walking.

Even when I have nothing to say, I still find myself unconsciously coming up with numerous things to write all day (and at night too sometimes).

Thoughts on Building and Running an Animation Studio

How to Found and Run an Animation and Multimedia Studio / Publisher

First off, websites and TV have one of many things in common: The "Hiding Behind The Screen Illusion" Effect.

We see what's on screen for both TV and internet websites, but that's all we see. How it's made, organized, funded, managed, delegated, and operated remains a mystery to the viewer.

In the best case scenario, you don't know the production staff is there.

In the worst case, they make their presence brutally obvious, even to the point of seeming childish (We'll call this Deviant Teenage Screen Syndrome) TV is the opposite of this.

There could be 1 person behind the website or TV show, or 1,000. 1 or an Army.

It could be produced from an office, or it could be broadcasted or published by a kid in his bedroom. Most of the time we don't really know which it is.

Hollywood Studio Producer vs. Solo Home Studio Producer: Compare and Contrast

Too many kids growing up on animation, when they think animation, they think teamwork, they think what I'll refer to as the Disney System or the Marvel Way of Production, where it's an assembly line operation, the same kind of operation that's  been running most of traditional Hollywood and Los Angeles since the early 1900s. This is always what we mostly see in DVD documentaries, even in anime. The 1-person home studio demo reel pilot model of animation and comic book production is underappreciated and underrated. But one advantage that method of production has is it costs nothing or almost nothing, and it can be more efficient and faster in some instances, no teamwork required.

The former is all of what we see on TV. The latter is half of what we see on YouTube and Online

RE-Reading "Making Comics" Favorite New-er Scott McCloud Quote

Scott McCloud - Commentary

Style and the Four Types of Storytellers

"Style isn't really something you can choose off-the-shelf like a scarf or a pair of socks. It's roots go much deeper than that. And you don't always "choose" your style. Sometimes it chooses you.
"Style" usually describes surface details like Line Quality, a way of drawing faces, or one's use of dialogue.
But mannerisms like that are just byproducts of the artist's attempts to present the world as they see it. -- And to capture the aspects of comics that may have captivated them as readers.
Behind that struggle lies their fundamental outlook on life and art --
-- A Statement of their passions and priorities --
-- An echo of the times Times and Places they've come from --
-- And a signpost to Where they want their chosen art to Take Them.
Discovering your own "style" is a deeply personal process which can take years, and it can't be taught in a book.

There are The Classicists, The Animists, The Formalists, The Iconoclasts


The Classicists
Values:
• Mastery of Craft
• The Quest For Enduring Beauty

The Formalists
Values:
• Understanding of Comics Form
• Experimentation with the Comics Form
• Loyalty to the Comics Form

The Classicists and Formalists share a focus on Art for Art's Sake


Classicists

• First is the devotion to Beauty, craftsmanship, and the Tradition of Excellence and Mastery.

• The desire to create art that our descendents could dig up in a thousand years and still think "Hey, This is good stuff!"

• The understanding that Perfection may not be attainable in this life -- but that that's no reason not to Strive for it

Formalists

• Then there's the devotion to Comics Itself, to figure out what the Form of Comics is capable of.

• The Eagerness to turn comics inside-out and upside down in an effort to Understand the Form's Potential more fully

• The willingness to let craft and story take a Back Seat if necessary, in pursuit of New Ideas that could Change comics for the better."

Secrets of Marketing: From A Market Master

Wanna know what sells?

Ease, effortlessness, peace, and happiness.

Wanna know what doesn't?

Awkwardness, spite, and real life confrontation. The butting of heads.

Argue, confront everyone, raise a ruckus, and your numbers will go to zero soon enough.

Confrontation doesn't sell. It's not generally popular.

And there's a good reason for that.

Vertical Integration and Blog Organization

So I'm organizing and vertically integrating my blog. It's more efficient now, times a million. 

The thing is, I'm in charge of around 5 different blogs if you don't count twitter and my YouTube Channel. 

Having links to the series of blogs at the top of each page makes it easier to navigate from site to site. That way I don't have to check my dashboard or type in a URL just to drift from site to site as the blogs owner.

I'm not updating my less popular sites as much as I'd like to, but those blogs will be updated more often in the future at some point. I've got a lot of material on my computer to publish...eventually.

The Subjectivity of Money

Laws are set up to limit us.

Constitutional Amendments are set up to limit AND help us.

Because all laws, including copyright laws, are man made, they are flawed just as man is flawed, and therefore not exempt from scrutiny.

We get certain things for free. We get paid for certain things. And some of us charge money for certain things. Again, just because people yield to these often obnoxious and silly demands dreamed up by the government, the senate, lawyers, and big business, that doesn't change the fact that they're founding nature is subjective.

Why do we have laws? Who's supposed to follow them? And when is it okay to break them (see segregation, slavery, and genocide)

Truth is, what people choose to charge and claim and not to charge and claim is subjective.

There may be laws in place, but because time changes reality and society changes, and the laws governing reality are created by individuals whose wills and decisions are governed by their own personal human all pervasive subjectivity, and the subjectivity of whatever the generation in power is, all governing principles are vulnerable to change.

Is it right to charge money for water and electricity, when people die without it? Is it okay to NOT give things away to the third world because it's "our property" even though sharing "our property" with "The Other" creates a greater sense of equality?

The same theory applies to licensing property on the internet.

I AM SMARTER THAN THAT!

What I preach is not anarchy. It is a literal interpretation of utilitarianism. 

*Goes Snoozin'*

Wake me up when YouTube and Twitter allow user accounts to utilize HTML.

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Look people, I don't know how much this new video technology is worth, but....

I'm not stupid enough to think it's anything resembling a small amount. Not when you consider how much Google paid for youtube. Look it up or ask your friends if you don't know.

And with that, debate class is in session. 

The Monetization of YouTube, Twitter, or any other social or media site the Internet is not set in stone, but it is evolving. That means how people get paid is evolving too. Or at least in a fair and just business world that is what it means. 

I'm of the type of group that believes if someone makes a video of any sort online, and that video is original or re-packaged as to be different and not the same as before, that person who made that happen, the video Creator, should  be fairly compensated. Who the **** was the person who said the internet should be like America's Funniest Home Videos on Crack. I'd like to shoot that person, the fool. That **** ain't the truth. AMV makers are like hip-hop musicians. They're creating art too. They're taking samples to make their mixes too. And by that logic, if their video does well, they should be compensated with any advertising revenue their video and channel accumulate. That's work too. I don't see why you should "not" be paid for it.  If you're creating market value, you should be allowed to share in your own market value YOU'VE created. Just because YouTube or any other websites not paying you doesn't mean your worth any less than me or anyone else. Let the online ratings decide who deserves to be compensated and who doesn't, by the number of views their ad-supported video gets.

Okay. Class Dismissed. Now get out there, and make me some cool videos to watch.

If you do something obscene and evil and mean, no that's not worth anything.

But if it's innovative and creative and new, it has a market value, or at the very least it should be negotiable.

Heh, heh

Disclaimer: I own nothing related to this video other than the Flash video file I uploaded and the 5,000,000 views I earned from uploading that file, since I'm the one who uploaded it where YouTube showcased it, not the anime company.

fess up dood. joo had ah helpin hand in this video thingie. But that's not a bad thing dood!

C'mon internet otaku. Give yourself a LITTLE credit. Don't let anime brainwash you into thinking you don't contribute. Believe in yourself like I believe in myself.

Still convinced "anime owns your youtube channel"? I got $0.75 spare change in my pocket leftover from my own thing that says otherwise.

YouTube accounting has more to do with private negotiation than public opinion. HINT HINT.

Ah yes, YouTube

I'm a  big fan. Especially since that site makes up the bulk of my royalty income.

Digital File Ownership: The REAL POLICY

No legal documents have been instituted by congress saying one way or the other of digital ownership.

So if you want to know the real truth, You CREATE or INVENT or ENGINEER it, YOU OWN IT!

That includes digital files of your favorite shows. Do you own  the show, no, but you own what you DID create, which is the digital video file. You CREATED that file on your computer, therefore you own it. Just like if you make your own computer from scratch, you shouldn't have to pay Microsoft or Apple for your OWN WORK. Unless someone commissioned you to invent, engineer, or create that video file, if you created it on YOUR home computer, it's yours. It's YOUR PROPERTY, NOT a media company/studio.

See "Fair Use" Clause of Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

Possession is nine-tenths of the law. You own the files you created and store on your computer. Their in YOUR possession. They're YOUR property. It's like creating art or writing content. You create it, you own that too.

Horoscope time!

You can create cooperation with amazing ease, even among those coworkers who were previously plotting each other's demise. Oh, and during your lunch hour, offer your services as a hostage negotiator.