It is just the internet, world....

I stop using it (which I probably will) I'm sure you'll go to work finding a replacement that much faster. Get on it. I leave and sit on my ass for the next two decades growing old, World keeps turning. Baddah boom.

How to Be a Master Strategist

If you want to Master Strategy....Always have Goals, and Always make Lists with sequential steps to achieve those goals. Easy, right?

That's odd....

By some cruel twist of fate, I seem to have deluded myself into thinking that the INTERNET community is some kind of actual "REAL" community. What a cruel joke.

Dunno about you, but I enjoy QUICK and PROMPT message board, cell, phone, and email responses...

don't other people?

Honestly, I HATE waiting days, weeks, or months on end for a response to my queries. I'm not the patiently waiting type.

Inbred unoriginality

A lot of art on DeviantART has a very in-bred feel to it. A sense of artists ripping eachother off where no one's actually trying to develop a real actual storytelling style. Copying can help you learn to draw, but it's important to be original too.

Lectures in Screenwriting...Tape Recorder

I find having a tape recorder in your house with you and recording random conversations you have with people is a good way to practice writing observational dialogue between 2 or more characters. If you want to write dialogue like a Tarantino or Kevin Smith, tape recorders help...It's very difficult to remember random casual in person conversations by ear alone. One needs the aid of technology. I have an MP3 recorder but it kind of sucks and doesn't capture sound like my tape recorder does. 

Maybe I'm biased in favor of my own race, but....

What the hell happened to Michael Jackson.

He spent the last half of his brief life looking like he got hit by a Freight Train. And it's all thanks to WHITE people.

Let's face it, the black community is hospitable. They're welcoming and compassionate. They accept anyone who accepts them.

Black people don't do things like THAT to Michael Jackson

That dishonor of doing shit like THAT to Michael Jackson, King of Pop, belongs to WHITE PEOPLE.

WHITE PEOPLE are FUCKED UP.

BASIC FACTS.

And here I thought EVERYONE already knew I was an expert at animation production including "pre & post"

Well you learn something new all the time I guess.

Either make a Clone Double rip off of Barack Obama and don't credit him for it, or YOU FAIL THE CLASS!!!!!

And now it's Preview Time....Today We Bring to You a Special Treat:

A photo of the FIRST draft of my 4,000 page multi-medium epic manuscript!

BEHOLD MORTALS!!!!!

Thank you Hypergraphia! You're a blessing.

I'm writing and drawing the Great American Graphic Novel. But I'm doing it my way. In scraps.

Y'know

You can MAKE a show that disses me blatantly. There's nothing STOPPING you technically....

Just be sure to NEVER visit Florida.

My lawyers and the FBI tell me I now have to WARN people online when their life's in danger before they do The Stoopid Show.

My father just died. Don't feel sorry for me or anything...

but NOW WILL YOU WATCH MY SITCOM!!!??? Cries like a bitch.

Wisconsin...WE HAVE A VISUAL!

So technically we'll be touching down rather soon.

HEY CARL! WHY YOU SO LAZY!?

"Hey Dad, why'd you sleep in so late? You didn't wake up until at least 3:20 this afternoon..."
"Yeah, JOE. I HAD TO WORK! I HAD TO GET UP AT 3 IN THE MORNING!! I DON'T GET TO SLEEP LIKE SOME PEOPLE. I WORK, UNLIKE YOU!"
"Oh, I don't need to work, I'm unable too. I take medication that forces me to "sleep". Remember?"
*Cary grumbles incoherently, like a Republican Mummy*
Heh heh.

Well....

Technically, American politics don't matter to me...

I'm leaving the country in 4 years or so, maybe for good, so no big deal to me. Not like I'm living here anymore. Why live in a place that SUCKS?...I'm paying for my books with Yen of course...

Not bad for a guy who isn't being paid anything....or getting laid.

But yeah. So far, for the year of 2012, I've completed over half-a-thousand pages of artistic and literary work this year alone.

I've completed a total of 600 pages  between the Months of January and August in 2012,

Off to a GOOD start.

You Know, Sometimes I Take My Insider Knowledge For Granted

I COLLECT Insider knowledge about media and pop culture.

And sometimes I forget it's insider knowledge in general. And people try to exploit this knowledge I share. But in a totally sellout selfish way. 

Perhaps I should explain

The last ten years have been a period of refinement and study for me, in preparation for the task of gathering manuscripts, resumes, portfolios, and other employable or recruitable documents together, slowly, gradually over time. I went to college in my early years, but it didn't work out in the way I hoped. I dropped out the first time. Everything that could have gone wrong DID. So I was returned to my parents house or my main home, and did the only thing I could do at the time. Train and practice drawing and writing, in monk or reclusive style isolation in the middle of the suburban southeast for 10 whole years, teaching myself everything I felt I need to know, from drawing anime and manga and animation and comics, to screenwriting, fiction writing self-confidence, patience, and hard work, WITHOUT a teacher or mentor for the most part. It was a beautiful thing seeing myself improve, evolve, and progress, slowly, over time, while retaining learning relatively quickly, assuming I put my mind to the task.

I'm just now starting to get serious with my life. Finally, I'm ready to start actually living a REAL life. And not just a phantom-like internet presence devoid of social interaction in person. 

Sometimes, when the weight of the world is on your pen.....

It won't actually slow it down! Quite the contrary! It will speed it up and KEEP it in motion!

YEAH. Learned that one because sometimes I DO have the weight of the world's troubles on my pen!

I learn from the best! Myself. And anyone else who's prolific.

Typical Blog Update Times (LIsten Up)

• Tuesday and Thursday mornings, when anime is on TV.
• Saturday (Mostly)
• Evening and Afternoon. 
• Sometimes in the Middle of the Night

Board @ Work Again

To answer the question I know you're asking, yes, that is indeed Rin and the Ito-Ryu in a scene from the Blade manga, IN STORYBOARD FORMAT. Yes, I went there. I MENTIONED Blade.

Just some training for my goal of eventually submitting my portfolio to CalArts, some years from now. I am doing this thing for the long term afterall. I wonder if getting national press coverage and publishing and artbook on Amazon will help me in that goal. I'm a newb. Definitely not an expert at that sort of thing, knowing exactly how college submissions work.

Still a pretty good start if I do say so myself. I REALLY like how Rin's hair and face turned out in blue ink.

Freestyle Hip-Hop Anatomical Study, Provided by Beastie Boys

Soundtrack to this Art Piece, Beastie Boys, "Root Down" and "Sure Shot", the mother/father of this sketch.

Dah Ninjah. ...

Stats of my sites....

According to my SocialBlade statistical information I read....

I have just 1 year left until my YouTube videos will have received half-a-million (or 500,000) views.

I should celebrate, when that happens.

Japanese Books and Self-Publishing (aka world manga Dojin and Dojinshi)

More and more up and coming Japanese and French auteurs and Design artists from the international anime, manga, and art community are turning to self-publishing through sites such as Lulu and international self-publishers. Even some famous artists like LeSean Thomas are doing it. The Japanese prefer to refer to this genre and medium of comics as "Dojinshi" and the artists/writers who produce it as "Dojin".

I predict that within the next ten years in Japan, America, and Europe, we'll be seeing more and more self-published Dojinshi comics and art books. Self-Publishing is nothing new to America (We don't generally refer to self published art as "Dojinshi" in America, but on a technical level, in many ways it's the same thing, an entryway to bigger things in comics and manga), but I don't know if international self-publishing actually has a history or if digital self publishing in Japan is a new phenomena. I sense a potential publishing trend there. Self-Publishing is also popular with webcomics artists, like myself and Raynart, whose work (Rayart's) I love and have already bought off the Lulu.com site and cherish my copy of. Raynart is an anime pioneer. The artist's real name and gender is unknown, but I'm pretty sure Raynart is a girl right around my age. He/She's always been one of my DeviantART friends. I'm a big fan.

But a few notes on publishing in Japan, my experiences with it.

True, I've never sold any copies of my book in Japan, but that doesn't upset me at all. I publish (or should I say "self-publish"?) for the privilege of being published anywhere legitimate really. But here's some advice to aspiring art and writing comics and animation publishing pros of the future:

Publishing traditionally through mainstream American and Japanese publishers is great, but if everyone rejects you as they did me, you have options. You can self-publish and still receive international distribution through online bookstores such as Amazon. and Amazon of Japan. That's what I did. Japanese Amazon caries my book just like the American Amazon does, because I use Amazon CreateSpace, which is something young and new authors might want to try that isn't just Kindle or Lulu.

Some Decent Digital Self-Publishers that are worth checking out if you want to self-publish:

I can think of 2.

http://www.lulu.com
http://www.createspace.com (in association with Amazon)

To the potential Japanese readers in this blog, there is a distinct cultural difference between traditional American self-publishing and Japanese Dojinshi self-publishing. New school Japanese self-publishing leaves out two main traits found in traditional Dojinshi. With newer Japanese self-publishing, much of the eroticism and fanart qualities found in traditional Dojinshi are both missing for the most part, and are replaced with a higher amount of original work that's considerably less pornographic, if at all. American readers never grew up associating porn or fanart with DIY self-publishing, but instead associate it with books such as Cerebus, Scud the Disposable Assassin, Spawn, and Bone, which historically have been intended in a Western context that is considerably more literary and commercial.

A WHOLE LOT of artists that hope to be published in Japan fail and never succeed at it is because they only want to publish their manga or whatever if SOME ONE ELSE does the publishing and business and promotional marketing work, where you have to format your own book using digital files and PDF documents.

Some artists say "Why should I have to do all that? Why can't someone else? Man, I'm an artist, not a BUSINESS ENTREPRENEUR! MAN! I JUST WANNA DRAW/PHOTOSHOP DOJINSHI FANART!"

But the truth is, if you want to reap the real rewards, you DO need to go the extra mile (see Dave Sim's biography for starters. As he was one of the first successful comic book self-publishers back in the day, and still is as he runs the Aardvark-Vanaheim publishing company, a self-publisher he founded over 30 years ago.

If you want to publish your art and succeed in any legitimate way, you need to understand the PUBLISHING and BUSINESS / MARKETING aspects of Japanese and American comics, NOT just the drawing process. More knowledge pays off eventually.

Self-Publishing is not the most popular or thought of thing by young Japanese and American and French artists, but it IS an option. Even if you only sell copies to your friends and family, that's still a wealth more than most aspiring writers and artists. You have your name, pride, easier distribution, and dignity. Sweet, right?

But if you do want to be taken seriously by retails, my advice would be, ALWAYS have an ISBN number. NEVER misplace or mistype your ISBN number. This is very important as a self publisher. If you want your work carried in retailers, whether online or in actual stores, the latter of which my work pretty much isn't, you NEED an ISBN I.D. It's a business thing.

HOWEVER, if YOU DO decide to venture out into the world and universe of SELF-PUBLISHING, you must always remember: DON'T PUBLISH SHIT. Only publish your best, and most detailed and appealing work. You've got to be you're own harshest, but also most realistic critic, and be self aware of when you DO make good art and writing. Self-Publishing MUST HAVE self-objectivity. Because there WON'T be an editor and publishing house there to hold your hand and tell you this or that drawing sucks and isn't ready to be published. Autonomy of Aesthetics is an absolute requirement. You HAVE TO do your own thing (not mine or someone else's) and YOU HAVE TO HAVE A HIGH STANDARD of REAL QUALITY ARTWORK. You have to HONESTLY answer to yourself, if I saw this book i did, and it was made by someone else, would I honestly shell out my own money to buy it because of my burning passion for good art that wanted that good art book or comic so bad. Does it "Look Pro"? If your honest answer is "yes, I myself like my work and I do not honestly believe it sucks and no one would by it or edit/publish it" then you're on your way. BUT ONLY if you honestly like your own work. If you hate your own work, you're screwed, man! In publishing, the honest, truthful answer about what's REALLY APPEALING IN ART is "No one else is ever going to objectively like a piece of art that you honestly OBJECTIVELY don't like yourself." Remember that.

Whoa! I had no idea how fun shopping in Tokyo and Paris WAS!

The things you find from looking up Parisian and Tokyo-based bookstores in Tokyo and Paris, France, from online. I found all SORTS OF Japanese artbooks with kanji AND English Titles printed on their covers for certain anime (only 25 American dollars not counting shipping & handling. BIG TIME Collector's items!). Great, GREAT stuff. You don't even have to be a master of the Japanese language to order it.

I guess I just realized there was something to the whole "ordering from Amazon.co.jp (Japan Amazon) and Amazon.fr (French Amazon). I learned it's possible to find bookstores WITHIN Tokyo and Paris that are American friendly! NICE! But I'm also learning the Japanese and French languages in my spare time. 

Just in case the language barrier kicks in.

Will I Turn My Latter Years into a Globetrotting Epic Adventure Where I meet a Lot of New People

I was forced to be holed up with no money and friends or human contact for the most part, with no one I could related to outside of the internet community)....

for 10 WHOLE YEARS!!!!

OF COURSE I'M GOING TO DITCH MY HOMETOWN and TRAVEL FAR AND WIDE.

I WILL GO WHEREVER THE WIND TAKES ME...

JUST AS SOON AS I HAVE THE FREEDOM TO DO SO

DUH! "Well, Gee, what's JM gonna DO now that he's been locked away from society for an entire DECADE? I'll bet he's just gonna stay put right where he is. Be a slave to his family and The Man FOREVER"

Yeah, THAT'S DOABLE! NOT!

The Friend Den

I visited my best friend's house today, and I realized something. Chris is the best friend in the world. They have the best,  biggest HOUSE in the world. They're the best FAMILY in the world. Auugghh!! My friends are TOO PERFECT. If I was anyone else and had this information, I'd HATE ME! I'd be so jealous! No WONDER some people are so jealous of me.

I don't HATE geeks. I defend the weak from the predators as far as geeks and bullies are concerned. Or at least, I did in middle school....For instance, in middle school, one time

When I was 11 or 12 My gifted class was at a seperate middle school. And there was this one kid, by the name of Tommy, who I always sympathized with. He was one of the three most picked on kids in my class, purely because he was one of the least attractive looking. He was a ginger with groaty kind of out of control hair. Like carrot top,  but not as UGLY.

Well anyway, they would make us have gym class in school for our gifted program, back in 92, 91 or so. And we were jogging track in a group, with kids from our school, and kids from my school.

When we were in the middle of jogging rather slowly, Tommy was minding his own business, when one Prickish seeming kid with straight black hair who looked all "normal" (for a bully) turned his head and took a glare at Tommy. He then lurched around all creepy and aggressive and predatory like, swooping in like a hawk on Tommy or something.

"Hey RAT FACE!!" he yelled right in his face. I saw the whole thing and was jogging 3 to 4 feet away in the crowd. This bully didn't care about me. I didn't stand out.  But TOMMY did.

I then proceeded to lose my cool and get mad as I found this furious kind of anger taking over my mind. Was this.....The Power of Sympathy. "I like Tommy, he's smart and tries really hard, and no one respects him and everyone makes fun of what people would now call his ginger looks. I intervened on Tommy's behalf. I knew Tommy was too terrified and afraid to say anything back. He had a vulnerable look on his face, humiliated. I Felt REALLY BAD FOR TOMMY.

So I rushed up to the bully real stealthy like, and got right back in his (the bullies face).

"HEY DON'T SAY THAT TO HIM. DON'T PICK ON HIM. HOW WOULD YOU LIKE IT IF SOMEONE DID THAT TO YOU LIKE I'M DOING AND GOT ALL UP IN YOUR FACE?? HUH!?"

That shut his ass up right quick. Talking back to a bully that wasn't even targeting me, but a kid I felt sorry for. And that was my first experience with talking back and intimidating a bully right back. Speaking their own language.

I HATE bullies. I don't "worship" nerds or anything.  But I know how hard nerds have it in school. Tommy wasn't at all a nerd to me. Especially not after I saw him have to endure THAT. The THINGS he must of had to go through growing up. He never did anything rude or wrong either. Never even cussed or anything.

THE END.

Not Really....

Not really at the center of the universe of money or my own free will....

But is ANYONE at the center of the universe with such things. Kinda doubt it.

You'll have to pardon my "outbursts"

Yeah,  I care about money too, idiots, but I also care about the survival of mankind, and the Middle East. A tad bit more important than obsessing about money in my opinion.

Coolness Factor

Let's face it. I'm definitely not as cool as Jhonen Vasquez or Naruto. But I'm definitely on my way....

Fun Trivia Facts You Probably DON'T KNOW About the upcoming Disney XD Show: Randy Cunningham: 9th Grade Ninja (Subheader: Why it's easier to NOT hate Disney XD)

Here's some reasons why RANDY CUNNINGHAM will be WORTH WATCHING alongside Motorcity and Tron: Uprising. My new motto for Disney XD is "#XDLookForThePitchBlack" Heh heh : P

Tron and Motorcity have proven their metal as great, well made, innovative, and entertaining shows, and while Randy Cunningham is getting promoted, the current commercials don't do the show justice. Watch the OP on Youtube (which is now up) and you'll see what I mean.

Two of the most notable (and concealed for reasons unknown to me) aspects of the show (and this is a whopper of a tidbit) is that Randy Cunningham's character designs were provided by NONE OTHER THAN JHONEN VASQUEZ (as confirmed by Mindspill), which they are LOOSELY based on (clearly not intended as a ZIM clone, to the point of being unrecognizable for what they actually are!) I shit you NOT. 

And secondly, Jhonen isn't the only auteur contributing material to Randy Cunningham. The theme song animation sequence is quite awesome as well, and as I found out by reading Mindspill, Passion Pictures, the mastermind animation studio that's similar to Titmouse, or probably its Brit Equivalent (they animated every last one of the Gorillaz music videos Jamie Hewlett directed, INCLUDING "Clint Eastwood")

The things they don't tell you in commercials. Sheesh! LOL.

There, edited in some links for proof, for the skeptics in the audience. 

Favorite Illustrative and Animation Artist of the Moment?

I gotta say, I stumbled across the website of Steward Lee, and his stuff reminds me of my own. I LOVE his ACTION DRAWINGS! I'd LOVE to work with him on something one day...

So yeah! I'm finally starting to have favorite artists who aren't just creators and character designers.

I'm finally starting to develop an appreciation for artists who fill the more so-called "obscure" roles in animation production. Storyboard artists, writers, producers, production designers.

Some of my current favorite Animation Artists and Writers...Feel free to Google and observe them. I do.

Writers:

• Yoshiyuki Tomino
• Jeffrey Scott
• Seth MacFarlane
• Matt Groening
• Mike Judge
• Michael Ryan
• Michael Reeves
• Seth Green
• Matthew Senreich
• Jhonen Vasquez
• Douglas Goldstein
• Hamid
• David Willis
• Thomas Romain
• Dai Sato
• Shinichiro Watanabe
• Chiaki J. Konaka
• Aaron McGruder
• Chris Prynoski

Production Designers:

• Syd Mead
• Ted Blackman
• Thomas Romain
• Corey Jackson ("Indigo")
• Jhonen Vasquez
• Katsuhiro Otomo

Storyboard Artists:

• Katsuhiro Otomo
• Steward Lee
• Thomas Romain
• Disney
• Bruce W. Timm
• Glen Murakami
• LeSean Thomas (or at least I'm pretty sure he storyboards)

Not gonna lie. They're pretty much all geniuses when it comes to their specialties. Highly innovative laborers.

SIGH. So many artists. Such a miniscule amount of architectural, production design, and perspective knowledge....so little time

Dear DeviantART,

Honestly? I don't give a shit how realistically you draw anatomy in PHOTOSHOP. Stop selling out. Draw some background and production design fer Christsake!

Don't any of these newfangled cartoonists and aspiring manga-ka anime artists in their 20s / teens even know the first thing about composition and perspective? About placing a character in an atmospheric and contextual SCENE? The JAPANESE sure as hell do. So how do you plan to impress them if you can't even get perspective right. You think Japanese professionals, or ANYONE at the top in animation and comics, CARES that you only know ANATOMY and COSTUME DESIGN???

I KNOW THESE KIDS can draw anime anatomy. But 95% of the artwork on that site has no background. They're all afraid to draw buildings or mountains or grassy fields or towns or Tokyo or WHATEVER (!), They're afraid to study landscaping and architectural photography and sketching, because they seem to be afraid people will think less of them if they attempt a background and fail. Look, it's not that bad. You wouldn't BE SO BAD at backgrounds if you drew them half as much as you drew female anatomy. Are they really that scared of drawing badly. Hell, you all know how good I am at cities. Well most of you do. But I didn't always draw in perspective. I used to draw cardboard boxes in my panels TOO, kid. Until I actually worked at it.

Contrary to popular opinion online, Drawing things in perspective, with backgrounds, in a fully fleshed out scene, and with scenery of some sort, whether made up or from photographs WON'T KILL YOU. It will only numb your brain for a few weeks and make your brain hurt a few times until it's chemicals reconfigure themselves to accommodate your newly found knowledge of three dimensional forms on a ground plane. ANY Background is better than no background. The more you draw backgrounds, the better you will probably get at them...Just like the French!

You Need a Staff to Make Anime and Animation, Which is Why I Wouldn't Even Bother CALLING It "Real Art"

Art is made by Individuals and NOT COMMITTEES

I REPEAT

Art is made by individuals, NOT COMMITTEES!

Anime and Animation is about as "creative and artistic" as a factory made candy bar or automobile.

Which is to say not really at all.

TEAMWORK isn't art. It's just teamwork.

If no one person can claim authorship of it, it ISN'T ART.

Don't be fooled by the hype and slick Asian marketing.

Art is only art if it's all on the page. Art is only art if it has the fingerprint and soul of ONE artist on it, and ONE ARTIST ONLY!

KATSUHIRO OTOMO is one of the most real and authentic artists in animation and comics
because he DOES DRAW ALL THE DETAILS HIMSELF AND EVERYTHING ON HIS OWN
just like his influence MOEBIUS did. They're good examples of REAL artists.

Me And My Popular-Yet-Controversial Manga-Comics Style

Some people hate calling my work "manga". As a matter of fact, many anime fans outright refuse to make such an association. They say my work is "ugly" and "too simple" or "too western".

That's partially because my work ISN'T entirely manga. There is also a lot of Western Cultural Symbolism and elements there. From Pulp Fiction and Kill  Bill to Sin City and Johnny The Homicidal Maniac.

I go with what LOOKS GOOD. Not style conformity. 

I take a lot of influence from the Japanese, but I'm not out to "prove" I'm Japanese, because I'm not. I'm American. But I'm not "inferior" to the Japanese in any way either. I love Japan, but I'm not out to prove I'm "from Japan" or "am Japanese" in anyway (like some wannabe creators do) either.

Okay. I'm nice and sweet again.

Lessons my published artbook taught me...

My "personal philosophy" towards artbooks (of which is a business I participate in on some level) is this. Art books are true art, in a publishing sense and in a design sense. It shouldn't just be about raw supply and demand. Artbooks should be about aesthetics. NOT JUST BUSINESS. After all, why even CALL IT an art book if it isn't about the art? That's just stupid.

Sin City comic books isn't a style...

It's a future GENRE. Well, at this rate it WILL be a subgenre one day if I have anything to say about it.

There are so many millions upon millions of drawings used in TV and Feature Animation that People Never See! Shame really

Animation is great because it has whole archives, just whole studios somewhere, overflowing with beautiful and complex "hidden and secret art". ESPECIALLY in Asia.

If I were a Publishing God or Editor God, if I had my way, EVERY animated show from every COUNTRY would have it's own art book, along with every detailed video game, anime series, and French animated series and comic book. Who cares about sales! Don't these animators and designers in the industry want people to see their work in print??

To the American Manga Student who has a teacher(s) who doesn't like anime. How to deal with it...

If you have a teacher at your school or college, or a mentor who hates anime, as some do (Disclaimer: Not all art teachers hate anime, only some). 

I suggest not trying to convert your anti-anime teacher to anime. If someone doesn't like anime, trying to get them to watch it is pointless. They probably won't. BUT, you can do the smarter thing. Try to make you're teacher aware that there are just as many technical elements that can be learned, studied, and reverse engineered from copying anime drawings as any other style of comics and animation. 

Any teacher who actually knows what he or she is talking about should know that art students can learn from ANY art style that exist, no matter which country or time period it comes from, how new to the establishment it is, or how commercial and established it is. Teachers should ALWAYS encourage learning, and not just be biased against something because it's pop culture or foreign or whatever reason that particular teacher has for not liking certain styles, whether it's indie comics, pan-asian cinema, or European and Asian literature, whether graphic or narrative. 

Favorite Designers, Illustrators, and Concept Artists

Favorite Designers, Illustrators, and Concept Artists

• Moebius
• Tim Burton
• Yoshitaka Amano
• Jhonen Vasquez
• Yoshiyuki Sadamoto
• Hiroaki Samura
• Enki Bilal
• Min-Woo Hyung
• Shigeru Myamoto
• Katsuhiro Otomo
• Dr. Seuss
• Yasuhiro Nightow
• Frank Miller
• Thomas Romain
• Frank Frazetta
• Syd Mead

NO TIME

Okay, okay, I admit, Today hasn't been a bad day, per say...

I guess I just NOW noticed I'm ranting online a bit too much. My venom is pretty dangerous. It's dangerous to try to get me to secrete that venom. My blood is made of it after all.

God forbid someone is unaware of my power level and truly angers me on purpose. I'd like to warn people how dangerous bullying and teasing me like a know it all is. But some people just got to learn things on their own. Possibly by dying or being severely injured by their own karma misfortune at the hand of having slighted me or anyone/thing I like. Just ask my gay stalker. He apparently has a de facto restraining order issued against him I didn't even KNOW about and no one told me about...until I read about it. Or the guy who tried to clone me, but had his cloning laboratory raided....by the FBI.

I do nothing to said people. That would only make their self-inflicted misfortune worse. They kind of all do themselves in eventually. Still, sometimes I wish I could warn the media and public about the whole "playing with the power of fire" thing.

"World's "Greatest" Dad". Gee, "Dad".....

Think you could have at least TOLD ME you signed up for a youtube account IN MY OWN HOUSE???

Yeah, it's not like I ALREADY HAVE A YOU TUBE account with HALF A MILLION VIEWS AND ENGINEERED THE ENTIRE SITE or anything....

I appreciate my family thinking so "highly" of me....

I knew there was a reason I was seeing so many ANNOYING AS FUCK Romney adds in my videos....

Let's face it. Romney...IS FUCKING ANNOYING.

Oveheard Conversations ABOUT ME With Angry Across-The-Fence Neighbors

"YEAH, I SEE HIM THERE. FUCKING FAGGOT ASS DICKNUT. Sits around his Mom's house all day, doesn't work, doesn't have a job. Fuck his lazy faggot ass."

Wow, what a good Carl impression! Kudos my friend.

Encyclopedia Sub-Genres in desperate need of existing....

Lambiek, Wikipedia, and Animation Magazine aside, why is there no definitive...


World Encyclopedia of Animation, Comics, Manga, and Anime Auteurs, Animators, Directors, Producers, Writers, Filmmakers of Designers???

From ALL MAIN countries and industries / communities / mediums that produce comics and animation

Hurricane Jay?? Who the hell is that!!??

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Jay_Myers_(Hurricane_Jay)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Tropicaljay

What I Value...

Money is good. I value money, too. It comes and goes. But...

But what I really value and get joy from is appreciation, flattery, and compliments. What can I say. I like being flattered. I appreciate people who show open appreciation of me. That's my human nature. I've always felt very insecure about myself. Praise and flattery help me get through the day.

Not Much

I find myself, sitting at my computer desk, often, just crying in the dark, unseen, thinking about how much some people appreciate me and think I matter, in six continents. This newly discovered appreciation brings many a tear to my eye. Yes, my success has brought MANY a tear to my eye.

High Points of Parallax.....

Yeah, it's been a pretty wild ride working on Parallax and End Times. The project has had it's shares of ups and downs and production adventures.

With some of the ups being

• Speculative audio readthrough feat. Steven Jay Blum (Toonami, Cowboy Bebop) as the "speculative" voice of Mono Jubei
• Getting an ad featured in a recent issue of Animation Magazine
• Distributing local printed issues to shops
• Getting to show some early conceptual art of Mono to Jhonen Vasquez

But now that I've done those things, should I just continue developing sequential art, should I finish the script, or am I missing something. Tough call.

Code Lyoko: EVOLUTION

http://www.codelyoko.com/?lang=en

Yup, there's an official Code Lyoko: Evolution site now. I can't help but wonder why Cartoon Network didn't sniff that one out before I did though.

So I was talking to a friend one night....back when I was attending school...

"You're gonna rule the WORLD one day, Joey," she said.
"Heh. That's pretty funny thanks, I guess"

My Horoscope Warned Me About....

The futility of trying to get around the traditional and established "good old fashioned" Hype and Marketing Media System (Commercials, conventions, articles, interviews, press releases, TV Shows on Networks, Mainstream Publishers, news, magazines, mainstream websites, agents, producers, connections, contracts, submissions processes). And  believe me, I'm a big DIY player.

In the beginning I did almost everything IN my power to avoid getting sucked into the mainstream traditional business hype machine.

Trying to take the more unconventnional, progressive, and modern PR approach to promote myself had its ups and its downs. (everything from Blogging, tweeting, website publishing, internet, email, Instant Messaging, branding, message board posting, chatroom using, web 2.0, social media hyping, online video broadcasting, uploading.) In terms of ways I've used to promote myself, my art, and my writing, anything not yet well documented in a lot of business and entrepreneurship books (but will be one day), I've tried. But you can really only stay broke and evasively maneuver around the Traditional Media Hype Machine for So Long. 

Why did I go to all this trouble to use innovative, hands on, and personal marketing strategies? Why go to all that trouble to promote myself, my art, and my writing the non-traditional non-established way.

Well, I guess I'm just a big time risk taker. Plus I didn't really start off established.

The former method of PR is the most powerful. It's worth the most amount of money in the eyes of business, and it offers the largest return on investment most of the time. It's inclusive, and is built on close and formal relations, not casual and non-serious ones. It's also harder to penetrate, getting into the fame  game the old fashioned way, by hiring a staff.

The latter method is not half as established, and not as trusted by many. I question whether it's possible solely on the latter group of options in GENERAL

INVADERS, CORPORATE ESPIONAGE, and IDENTITY THEIVES: PC Spyware and Other Such Things: Defensive Countermeasures YOU or anyone else can take against them

Nows the part where things get interesting:

Regardless of how much anti-virus, anti-trojan, and anti-malware software you use, you'll still get attacked by people, without your knowledge if those jokers have any say in the matter. They'll still have access to all the inputs and outputs of your computer (i.e. according to the IT Security Handbook: Keyboard keystrokes, screen display images, microphone, webcam) (Essentially these spies, crackers, and social engineers want anything that can ruin you, i.e. the destruction of you and your friends and family's sanity and privacy. Anything they can brag to their little online circle jerks about "having gained access to". These people who do this sort of thing to the comps of others play for keeps, if my experience in dealing with them is any indicator, and it is). It's impossible to quarantine entirely. Some PC viruses always remain untraceable and undetectable.

However there is one trade secret I learned about them by talking to a private investigator about them. Unplug the wires of your laptop. Doing so cuts unsolicited "access and entryway" to a victim's PC off entirely. Wireless PCs (and signals that use sandbagging (Chrome / Mac) will not be detected or infiltrated by Trojans. A wireless, battery powered PC is a SAFE PC. Fake I.P.s help too but they're not as important as going wireless. Most PCs have a built in fake IP address anyway.

TAKE THAT HACKER FUCKERS!!!! HAHA AHAHAHAAHAHHHAH!!!!!

And so, THEN the Boss said to me....

Whine all you want. We ain't paying you SHIT for your SERVICES you provide us and we never WILL pay you...

AHAHAHAHHAHAAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAH!!!! I'm not getting paid again. So then, we all had a good laugh. Well, except me of course. I felt depressed as SHIT!

Drawing On Command.....Realistic Goal or Non-Realistic Goal

There is definitely a difference between drawing randomly and without consistency for months and years on end, and drawing on command. I've seen plenty of artists at in drawing classes who have actually trained and practiced their art so much, that have mastered their talent so much, they can actually appear to turn their talent on and off, and draw masterworks on the spot at will. This is one thing many professional artists are able to do. Unfortunately, I've never had this ability. Half the time, when I try to force art out of myself, I end up drawing...like a 12 year old. But if I keep at it, I can usually get some actual good artwork out of myself and onto paper after numerous failed attempts at sketches.

Artists who can draw on command at will are powerful indeed. They are like a lightswitch, or faucet. And most of the people who are that way, and who do have it that easy certainly don't have a hard time finding work, as being able to draw actual good art on the spot (and not bad) can make one very employable.

And then there are other artists who are like nature. Measurable and powerful once they've done their thing, but very hard to foresee.

I'm the latter not the former, because if I was the former kind of artist, who could draw well on command, I'd adjust my entire schedule around the times I knew for certain I'd actually manage to get good drawings out of myself.

At times I actually do wish my drawing process was as predictably reliant as certain other professional artists. 

Odd Little Things

I always found it odd how people have never regarded criticizing or showcasing my copper skin pigment, my writings, or political affiliation as highly as my sex life or criticizing my artwork, weight, or hair style. If it's physical, people care. If it's intellectual or cultural, people just don't seem to give much of a crap. Do most people even know what adoption is, let alone multiracial adoption. My parents, god bless em, never played the race card in my life, and it didn't seem to matter with the people I knew personally either. That stuff is only something someone cares about when your famous: Your physical characteristics. Hell man, I'd even go so far as to say that my adoptive parents didn't even know what interracial adoption was when they adopted me. My skin color was invisible to them and my friends and family for the most part, other than as a side note. Something thought but not said. My parents have never once used the term interracial parents, children, or adoption the entire time I've known them. The only reason I'm aware of interracial adoption is because of the internet, when I researched and looked it up on Google one day. Other than that, I'm ALL AMERICAN.

It almost seems like, traditionally speaking in society, that's the opposite of how your normally treated in pop culture and society

Charting the Progress

Been doing some math with random charts, charting my output of art and drawing.

On a typical month, though I've only now started checking my progress, I'm averaging around 2 drawings a day, on AVERAGE, which amounts to around 60 pages of sketches and art per month, for me, on a normal month.

Why yes, indeed I do, like the other 4 million people....

Technically, yes I own my share of martial arts items. I own 2 full size wooden kendo blades which I use as reference for my artwork (quite a bit lately). And I own my share of martial arts publications and literature. 1 technique book, 1 Martial Arts Encyclopedia, and 2 Martial Arts Dictionaries, full of terminologies. I'm an avid student of Martial Arts and its various schools. For a while after I stopped being a little kid, I stopped studying the Martial Arts. Specifically Tae Kwon Do. But I got bored with martial arts in my later youth, but I'm back again

Fame = Jerk

Come to think of it, being in the spotlight ISN’T glamorous anymore. The only people who get mobbed by paparazzi nowadays are people who are in the tabloids to begin with. From Tiger Woods to Charlie Sheen. The only people who are famous and talked about are the infamous celebrities. So if you want attention, be infamous or antisocial. If you WANT TO be in the spotlight, BE the bad guy.  These days, "celebrity" is just another word for "bad guy" and "jerk". When's the last time you ever heard of an actual likeable superstar? For the last decade, never really.

There's no such thing as an artist who does all good drawings, just artists who hide their bad art well....

ALL ARTISTS, I REPEAT, ALL ARTISTS, HAVE AND WILL DRAW BAD ARTWORK.

No artists (no matter how young or old, dumb or smart, Tokyo to California) gets it right every time.

Joke of the day! :
"Hi, I work at DeviantART, and your drawing failed because it didn't make me wanna whack off to it".

The Only Reliable Person in Your Life on a Good Day, is You

Relying on others to deliver at important times in your life inevitably leads to misery and disappointment. Don't rely on other people, much, if at all.

Learn to rely on yourself, 24/7. Other people will only disappoint you on every level. 

Don't rely on other people, the media, TV, business, entertainment, strangers, or your family for being or becoming content, happy, vindicated, respected, well-liked, important, influential, powerful, or even satisfied.

You can't rely on anyone to make you successful and satisfied but you. 

Most books and comic books disappoint on every page.

Most TV's disappoint on every channel.

Why? Because YOU'RE not the one in  charge of them.

You have to be autonomous, or you perish, emotionally and eventually physically as well.

Grown ups don't rely on other people for either happiness or survival.

Only losers rely on other people for everything.

People who rely on other people to find happiness, NEVER DO find happiness. 

The Other, as it's known in philosophy, is disappointing  by nature.

Does a beard benefit an artist?

Currently, I have more beardish facial hair than virtually all my favorite professional artists. I'm quite hairy.

Let's Duel!

Careful! Don't Get Cut!

Anti-Marriage

Glad I'm never getting married. Marriage is evil. It's for suckers. I'll die before I ever get married. Seriously. Very much so.

Fear Not YouTube Fans....I'll Probably Upload Many more Video Clips and [maybe] Episodes of Shows and Anime Openings at some point in the future...

Honestly, it's not a matter of being in short supply. It's a matter of finding suitable material to broadcast, not an actual lack of material. I have hundreds of hours of anime and Chinese and American cinema footage ripped and preserved from famous movies and TV shows and special interest DVDs in my big ol' "DVD Wallets Booklets." Takes me forever to comb through. I can't help but think I could benefit from showcasing it online or through Windows 7 Shared video file network, if given the right venue. The audience potential online would be HUGE. Maybe even huger than my already popular YouTube channel. I guess we'll just have to see which film, video, and animation showcasing options become available technologically in the future. It's my own private video collection, but I'd love the opportunity to share it with the world. Gotta wait for technology to catch up to me I guess before I can upload, share, and showcase. 

Need to Hire a Freelance Publisher or Broadcaster? How bout me?

That's right, I do freelance work, available to anyone, anytime, anywhere, through the internet 24/7, at the following email:

spindack@gmail.com

I'm cheap and can work pretty fast, in terms of creating internet or digital content, be it publishing a video, or making a booklet.

You know me, I'm open to opinions (EVEN if they're wrong!...)

So tell me....




HOW is this only for nerds again? I forget.

Sorry, but NO ONE in Hollywood and L.A. is "irreplaceable", no matter how much they get paid or how famous they are....

As YouTube has efficiently demonstrated by replacing half of them already...

Yeah, you should BE a LITTLE disappointed...

After all, I don't accommodate my entire life to "quality user experience" My life doesn't revolve around y'all. It's kinda the other way around if we're being realistic. Lookit that TV schedule for Christ sake.

 

In the Future....It won't be ALL fun and games...

In the future, animation studios worldwide will be run and operated like small governments. Actually that's kind of how it is in some countries. They call those operations "committees" in their native tongue.

How to Draw Manga, The JM Way...

Here's My Story of My Career As a Manga-Cartoonist So Far

I have some formal artistic academic training. Not a lot. I attended an art school temporarily, but I used the opportunity primarily to socialize and enjoy myself, not so much working and studying. I've received mentorship in classical animation and traditional fine art, and I've gotten some training by taking some still life and life drawing classes in painting and charcoal at the local Florida Community College, Valencia and the Crealde School of Art.

My first mentor I had hated anime with a passion. He would always say "it's all the same shit" and refer to it in derogatory terms. For as long as I've been pursuing manga and anime, I've had to pursue them independently from my formal education for the most part, on my own, and I've had to teach myself how to draw in that style, and train myself independently. Like almost any skill, the more you train and practice and make attempts to pursue it the better you get. I had a DeviantART account for a while, but I did not enjoy how the other users treated me there. I got some hostility, and some people on that site openly discouraged me from pursuing anime just like my old teacher did, only with different motives and reasons for doing so than in the previous incidents. There's good artwork online, but it's not good for emotional support, unless it's one on one email correspondence with friends.

I learned anime and taught myself how to draw in the manga style by studying my general comic book and manga collection, and copying from and emulating the artists I admired. I also pursued webcomics and self-publishing, perhaps permanently, perhaps temporarily. I'm still deciding.

In terms of drawing anime, Teachers discouraged it, my peers discouraged it, rivals in media discouraged it, the media discouraged me, mocked and ignored me, my friends and parents mostly discouraged it. And the market and the Japanese creative community definitely discouraged it and the pursuit of world comics-manga (You know "Back off, sucky and primitive foreigners! Manga is our thing (not yours)!"), with low sales and a lot of public otaku and fan backlash against the genre and medium of world manga in general. The media discouraged it. Some of them mocked and insulted me and my style. I've been through my share of criticism. But I choose to continue in my studies because on a personal level, I like it, and I only really listen to my conscience, and it tells me drawing manga is the right thing to do.

My choice to pursue work as a manga can has been an almost universally unpopular one. With many people attempting to uncharacteristically write me off as a "foolish American amateur wannabe". But popularity is not the reason you do something like this. And it's not like anyone's stopping me from working if I actually do choose to work. On the plus side, since everyone does write me off, it frees me up to pursue my own original vision and style, and do things my way, in my personal and mostly private style.

But enduring hardship in some ways just serves to make you work harder and be more diligent and self-made. 

Teaching Yourself How to Draw Manga and Anime

Learning and teaching yourself how to draw anime and manga is fun. And in time, if you keep it up and don't get discouraged, it does get easier. It took me 9 years of training and practice at drawing manga in my sketchbooks and on websites until I actually got to the level of comfort at drawing manga I've attained now (I started drawing manga seriously around 2004). I've been drawing manga for 9 years, and I started off as an extreme amateur. I've improved though. And yes, the process does get easier and less stressful. The key is to be diligent and persistent and never give up, because great things wait for you on the other side...

Preview of (My) Graphic Novel [coming soon]

Comic Book Version Coming Soon

Lessons in Teamwork - Support Groups - Do YOU Have Any (other than me)?

Support Groups Are Important.

No, not THERAPY, that's not what I mean.

I'm talking about COMMUNITY, whether online, on TV, on screen, or in your town.

Teamwork in support groups is good. For when you get lonely, or tired, or feel persecuted or penalized by others. 

Identifying a support group, locally or in the media really isn't all that hard. 

Just ask, Do I FEEL supported by these people? Are they nice to me? Do they give me honest feedback? Do they make me feel LESS isolated and not more. This can apply from anything to business to websites to media groups like YouTube and Twitter, to TV shows on television that make you feel included in their little teams. 

It's always good to have support. It helps combat bullying and social phobia and anxiety.

Best advice I've gotten on drawing comics recently?

Yeah, I got my art critiqued by a Top Shelf editor online at one point, and he shared some good experiential knowledge with me in his response to my email correspondence with him.

The number one thing I learned from a real life professional comic  book editor is the following secret about actually drawing comics:

Drawing (in general, sketching and full page illustration) and sequential art or comics artwork are not the same thing. 

Just because YOU can draw a full page sketch or illustration does not mean your comic book pages will look even HALF that good. For all we know, you could kick ass as an illustrator but really suck OUT LOUD as a comic book artist. I know I used to.

I've gotten better at drawing comics because I've been DRAWING COMICS and SEQUENTIAL ART, and not one image illustrations and sketches. 

Comics Training: The Ultimate Self-Teaching Challenge

No ones going to sit your down and teach you how to draw a comic book. You can read books and tutorials, but unless you attend the Joe Kubert school, that's about as far as you're going to go in terms of knowledge. With animation you might get a bit more lucky, as there's plenty of stuff and people out there to teach you about drawing animation. Not so with drawing comics and manga. If you know other people who draw comics also, consider yourself one of the lucky ones, as most independent comics drawing is a solo venture. 

What you produce here and now, on the spot is the best of what you can do ever, PERIOD!

For how you draw here and now, this minute, this moment is the basis your foundation will be built upon. The only real way to learn is by getting your hands dirty and doing. Only after you've dug the ditch will you truly know what it's like to have mastered digging ditches (i.e. finishing comics).

Drawing comics, if I'm going by my personal experience, it doesn't get any easier (you still have to force yourself to develop habits for it and train to do it), but you do get better at it. 

Unless you're really good at and have a really high aptitude for teaching yourself things, The first 100 to 200 pages of comics are going to be brutal. Brutally bad. They most likely won't go anywhere and won't look good in any way. And this is made even worse if you came up or are coming up from the Boondocks like I did and have where you live in and were raised in a noisy, unpredictable, un-supportive, and openly hostile environment that mostly isn't even conducive of creativity (i.e. pretty much anywhere that's not France, Tokyo, and L.A.). But struggle and self expression can make pretty good bedfellows, so don't give up on making comics just because the people around you don't support you in any way. Part of what makes good art is the war and the struggle that goes on behind it in the background. What matters is the final illusion, not what's surrounding you and your environment right now. The vision in your head trumps your visualization of your current reality any day. Because reality sucks ass and fantasy rules. 

Comics. Planning your pages...

Comic book pages need to be planned, if they're going to have any kind of structure  going on.

Comics really should have some kind of pre-written script for each page. It's more work to write out details of the page, but writing effort can really guide one page into the next, which is kind of the whole point when you're drawing comics. 


There's a REASON it's called "story", even if it's comics: Because it has WORDS. It's near impossible to construct a literate comic book narrative with just art, and without words. Words are necessary, especially if the comic has dialogue and tells a narrative. 

Man. I really gotta finish my graphic novel, and i mean SOON!

All the "graphic novels" on the top selling spots on Amazon? Nearly all GARBAGE. Those books SUCK!

Let me first tell you WHY the Amazon America graphic novel bestseller list pretty much sucks.

What I DID find on that list contained nothing new or innovative. Tired old comic book franchise based books that offer nothing new, nothing we haven't seen in the last hundred years of comics.

Then there's the adaptations of popular movies and TV shows. The only reason they're ON the bestseller list is because they have the name of a TV show on them. Or the fact that it was drawn or written by the CREATOR(s) of said show. Brand name recognition and all that. Why do I want to READ a TV show. There's a void of creative interpretation and originality there. Just more of the same you can already get on TV.

What original comics I DID see on that list (ranked at number 36 or lower on the list of course) was thinly veiled product placement.

One of the only current graphic novels I DO like would be "Understanding Comics"  by Scott McCloud. But I've read my favorite parts of that book at least 30 to 50 times already, and I know those lines by heart already. Wake me up when Scott McCloud release a NEW academic work that isn't promoting Google.

But I digress. 

Bottom line: Nothing new!

Obscure...things

Was digging through my old comics boxes. Turns out I have a Honeymooners comic  book, that was published in 1987, that I bought in 2001!

How'd that happen? That comic is dated as hell!

I am a proud Scorpio, but if you wish you could be my friend, you should probably be a Virgo, Aries, Sagittarius, and/or Leo. NOT a Taurus. Unless you're a famous Taurus.

Based on the Zodiac signs of the people and friends I actually like. I'm not too fond of Geminis either, especially my adoptive parents, who are both Geminis. Geminis make good "romantic peers" though.