I am now officially a Classical Music Composer, too.

I officially  became a classical composer, and composed my first one-note piece of classical music, digitally, on my digital music composing software, less than 2 hours before the start of 2014.

This marks the dawning of a new era for me as a filmmaker, animator, cartoonist, and musician.

A more digital era for me than ever before.

Slowly I am acclimating to the new method of being creative with traditional artistic and expressive media.

The Digital Way.

Happy New Year 2014 Everyone!

That's a pretty cool email, Pandora...

That Harvey Danger song was no accident.

It wasn’t something that just happened.

It was the product of your 14 Thumbs Up and 4 Thumbs Down in 2013. A year-long musical journey across all your stations that brought songs like Homework by The Dust Brothers into your life. And made not-so-favorites like Keep It In The Family by Anthrax a distant memory. All thanks to your thumbs. Your thumbs helped create a musical roadmap that led you to more likely-to-be-liked music. Eventually leading you to enjoy the magic of Flagpole Sitta in a way that only you can.

My SLG e-mail Submission

I submitted my concept to SLG last month.

Waiting for a reply.

Wish me luck dear constant reader!

I'm not counting on acceptance, but it would be nice to get some feedback, and know for certain whether they're interested in End Times, as I've had a few other side projects in the works that I have been working on during the time I submitted my work to Slave Labor Graphics Publishing.

It can kind of get a little stressful. All this nerve wracking anticipation....

Skipping out on Japan

My working in L.A. has very little to do with being "lured away from the anime industry by the evils of Hollywood",

And has a lot MORE to do with Japan's own discriminatory anti-employment attitudes towards American foreigners and fans. If you WANT to work in L.A., (and you work hard) you still can to find highly profitable employment there, to this very day and well beyond it. IF your work fits in. Not so in Japan. There's no opportunity for American artists in Japan BECAUSE of discrimination in the anime industry.

There are a lot MORE opportunities to work in Canada and America.

In terms of Japan's attitude for America. Their culture's perfectionism has gotten in the way of its accessibility to the outside and especially WESTERN world.

There is still PLENTY of opportunity to draw cartoons in the west, including action cartoons modeled after anime. If you like to draw anime and action cartoons and Japan rejects your work or refuses to employ you as it does many, make the kind of cartoon you would in Japan if given the opportunity, but with an American studio (i.e. DC Animated, South Korean Studios, Rough Draft, Marvel, SYFY, Nickelodeon, CN, etc). There's a growing market for mature action animation in America, Korea, and France.

The more Japan rejects Americans creative and business offers for collaboration on film and broadcasting, the more desire there should be in the hearts of Westerners to develop and build a functional and competing American market that serves the same demographic and genres that is funded by America and Pan-EurAsian Producers.

If artists and writers can't make anime with Japan, what the hell's stopping people from making and developing action, fantasy, and science fiction cartoons (both CGI and 2D) With OUT Japan.

I'm a big fan of the "If you don't want to help us make some we'll make our own without you guys. Screw you guys, I'm producing my own" attitude.

I did it with YouTube and internet broadcasting. I can do it with animation too. I hope.

This Blog Made in U.S.A.

As much as as I want to promote cross cultural transnational harmony, in a business and higher ups sense, TECHNICALLY, if it's a foreign market, it's a COMPETING market. Not necessarily a friend. 

Just like if you're working at Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon is a competitor, not a  friend. 

It isn't racist to compete against foreign businesses. That's just how business is. Sports is the same way, with the Olympics. Countries can admire and copy each other, but technically they're all still competing with each other and playing for their own team. That's what art and commerce is now.

Hollywood live action movie studios and American video game companies have done a MUCH more efficient job of keeping in step with Japanese competitors overseas than TV networks ever did. TV Networks in America like Fox and NBC and Nickelodeon often fail and suck quite hard at keeping in step with the quality of Japanese animated programming in the way companies like Valve, Lucasfilm, and Paramount do....

As much as I hate to judge things and projects based on initial appearance, the visual quality of art often DOES come down to work strategy and the volume of work put into it. You can  tell which artists are putting in thousands of hours of labor and who's phoning it in, with the exception maybe being people with inner demons and psychological problems plaguing them (yours truly).

You can tell who's trying and who's not just by looking at the final illusion and image of the art. The hardest working artists draw the most amazing art. The laziest artists draw like children. 95% of the time.

Masculinity, or What's Left of It

Pretty much the last great arena of Roman style machoness and masculinity still exists in a few places:

Hero Comics, Action Movies and Cartoons, Sports, Music (rock, metal, hip-hop, rap), Military, White Culture, African American Culture

They have  not gone unchallenged.  But then again, when is the last time historic masculinity (The Male Spirit) went unchallenged.

If you're "Too Macho" They label you a  "racist hateful bigot rapist" in the media. Anything to demasculate you.

Well FUCK THAT NOISE. Guys still need to feel like guys. Well, sometimes anyway.

My work has ALWAYS been pro-man. Pro-masculine. But not Anti-Woman.

Yes. I DO Finish What I Start....Sometimes

Life online is always so depressing around Christmas and other major holidays...

It's like DETROIT. It's a friggin GHOST town.

In Publishing, Relationships Matter

As much as talent, hard work, willpower, networking , power, fame, money, and social climbing factors into Los Angeles, young people forget or are unaware that, anime productions are often built primarily on relationships among the people that make them. The insider knowledge is you must never get teamed up with someone, people, you don't like. If you ARE teamed up with people you don't like, it's a recipe for disaster. People will be able to sniff out bad chemistry, and treat it accordingly. Anyone will work for and with you, if you have a good relationship with them. If you don't....fuggetaboutit!

places to sell your digital comic books online....The New School....

I can think of a few:

Let us see:

There's Diamond Comics new division: www.diamonddigital.com

Comixology: http://submit.comixology.com

www.lulu.com

And last but not least, Amazon Kindle Comics Creator

Those are all pretty much your best bets for online distribution

AKIRA IS ON TOONAMI - NOW SMALL DEAL. But HERE IS MY SMALL TRIBUTE TO THE MAN AND MOVIE AND BOOK

Because I'm a Sicko and I LIKE that kinda thing!

You're so Jealous babe. Ya know.

The List that MUST BE MADE: VIVA LA LE FLLLLLANIMEY!!!!!! GOOOOOOAAAAALLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LOL! LMFAO.

W.I.T.C.H. One of the greatest, most lesser known great cartoons of the modern era of all time. Disney TV animation both national and international at it's FINEST.

The design is so alive, soulful, cute, and appealing! I LOVE IT!

Greatest TV French Cartoons of All Time:

Reigning Champs

OBAN
VALERIAN AND LAURALINE

BOTS MASTER

WITCH

CODE LYOKO

BASQUASH!

MARSUPILAMI

TOTALLY SPIES

MARTIN MYSTERY

REDAKAI: CONQUER THE KAIRU

CHAOTIC SEASONS 2 and 3 (well, it LOOKED the part anyway

Magi Nation

Monster Allergy
The Mysteries of Alfred Hedgehog

Skyland

There are more than you think and remember her in the aughts TV generation. We are legion!

Can we get a NEW CARTOON FRANIME NETWORK OF JUST THESE SHOWS, PLEASE?

SOMEONE, ANYONE???


NEVER FORGET!

Apocalypse Rap

On my best days in my life

I like to prophesize

How the world might end one day

But never to epitomize

The Fundamentalism of Doctrinary Claims

Cuz I'm Looney Wit The Tunes,

Not the End Times Game

But you see life ain't a game

I just starts off that way

When you're just a little kid,

you don't know what to say

So stick a fork in my body

Cuz I'm almost done

Well not really

Got a couple more hundred miles left to run

Staying healthy with the martial arts aerobics

Gotta stay tough

Bein' Healthy and Strong,

You just can't git enough!

West side to the Northside

To the Eastside to Midway and South

Cuz I'm never ever Lost

But I do have a Mouth

Justice Rap

All the mass of homies

Altogether gathered now

People out in the streets

Dyin' like it's a protest

to try to oust dictators

Let's take this revolution

and turn it into somethin'

Let's put it on a website

And see what it's about

Cuz internet inquiry

They'll tell you all about

That is where you can find me

Split Atom Spin and Dack

Goin' Incognito

Be usin' Nom De Plum

To protect reputation

Megalomania

Phantom Supa Hero

Or maybe Ninja-Man

Take that one as you mean it

Then give it back to me

Like I gave it to you

Just like when you gave your

You're fuckin murder spree

Killin up some homies

Like it's deliverance

A plea of In-San-Ih-ty

Guess that's your Breaking Bad Defense

But if I'm comin' for you

There'll be no stoppin me

So I can stop you once again

From More Killing Sprees

You're attitude not likin' it

Don't talk that way to me...

SInce She's Been Gone

Since she's been gone

It didn't begin as the easiest of times

hard to forget

When she reached out to me

With the power of kindness

Saintly, but identifying secular

A blessing shielded by beauty

For once in a life

She will never leave

My thoughts and feelings

And every woman I see

Hides a shadow of her

As she is long departed

But not forgotten

Barricaded in the past of my experience

But never my memory

As I will always love her

For the muse met me

Not you

Planting the flower of kindness in my heart

As I watch the world grow Dark and Hateful

Generous enough to light the world

That if she ever stopped

All would go dark

From December Until May

Don't mean to complain

But there's some things I  can't explain

Pulsating in my brain, Slowly

Driving me Insane

Don't know what to say

But if I did I would explain

We should probably all fly up in a plane

Never doing it in vain

So bring your explanation

For all this complication

Tearing up the radio station

What more is there to say

Than you should hope and pray

For brighter sunny days

From December until May

Give or take a day

Much to Your Dismay

So what I'm trying to say

Is there isn't much to say

Just shining down some rays

On another bright and sunny day

Come by and say hey!

Body in the Wake

Leaving a trail of bodies in his wake

He stood on bloodied ground

As the sins of his forefathers laid humanity bare

Look over me, from a mansion in the sky

You hide it so well

For someone with everything

So, why do you choose to be friends with nothing

And no one,

My famous friend

I don't watch videos of myself

But YOU DO!

Odd how that works out, eh?

Spytastic in a totalitarian bureaucratic feminist totalitarian regime of the Left

The commie has become the pervert

But why exactly?

BORN IN THE USA!

I want your body girl

You smokin' up that  grass

But you're a tad on the danger side

No thanks, I think I'll pass

Sex Sex Sex Sex

Go watch some Spongebob

Like the complacent majority pigs

Burn an American Flag

of Chemical Castration

and masturbate compulsively

Wreckless Abandon, that's just majority

Ghetto Assed Buiscuits

Throw the Democracy, At The Republicans

Smoke weed, don't do it, but say you did

Whatever you say about me, doesn't change those facts

That I'd like to kill you, you punk ass bitch.

Look at the texture of my pants

To suck the semen out of your ass, which will be grass

Let me tell you something pal, the news it never changes

But with a face like that, you are defining strangeness

ba la la la.

la la la la

Don't ask your master for permission! You must kill your master!

For when he lynches you, there won't be resolution

Just name calling, and burning crosses

In your front yard. In your back yard.

Just with in ear shot

Well, is that okay?

But never mind

For all is said and done

And when all is said and done

It's real,  but it's been fun

In the world, of no solitude.

la la la la

la la la la

Bye

Distractions Abound....

In this day in age of media that works at the speed of light, it's important to realize that we're so saturated with media and communication that if you have a public forum, there's a high likely hood there will  be a million and one things, events, and people all coming atcha at the same time.....

But I believe it's important to remain focused. When you work it is important to focus on one task at a time. People may work 25/7, but the mind can only focus on one thing at a time. The mind functions in a linear manner, therefore focus is sequential, not nonlinear.

I think I'm just gonna let that one sink in for a little bit.

Okay, back to watching the Yu-Gi-Oh movie on YouTube. Damn, it's long but good.

Hey, all right, another random Tarot Deck Card reading!....DRAW! Wait....

Oh no!!! The "Fool Card"???!!!!

AGAIN!!!!??? That's like the 50th time THIS WEEK!!!

GODDAMIT!!!!

An Essay - Rise of the Transnationals: The Fall of Xenophobia in A Digital Age

Rise of the Transnationals

An Essay

Online, on the internet, anybody can talk to anybody if they know the URL or email or @Name! Which could have potentially resulted in some social catastrophes and international incidents many a time, but for the most part, never did. The internet doesn't just bring people together. It's  bringing the entire world together, to form some kind of new hybrid technological and digital cultural Pangaea, with long term worldwide ramifications, especially on current culture, current society, and has many future implications. It's easier to be international and harder to be a racist or nationalist than ever before, as everything has slowly come to be integrated, leading back to that Digital Pangaea concept I am proposing to Thinkers, Historians, Cultural Analysts and Scientists of the WORLD'S future. Not just America's.

The internet is making us less racist or xenophobic, and more like that global village Marshall McLuhan tried to tell us all about. The internet has fought off terrorism, big brother, bigotry, xenophobia, espionage, and censorship like no medium before it, and maybe none after it. If any major media medium DOES in fact come after it, which scientifically speaking, will always be a possibility, especially when you think about the fact that less than 30 years ago the only thing technological we all used were traditional phones (NOT smart phones), televisions, radio, news, and compact discs. My how the world has changed. Will THE WORLD manage to keep up with technology itself when so much of it can't afford technology half the time with some exceptions? Hard to tell. That's a "global resources issue"

What this cultural phenomenon of the world coming together I've been seeing is something I've decided to call and refer to as "Trans-national culture". Trans-national media. Transnational society. Transnational issues. Trans-national dialogue. Trans-national socialization. All the kids really like that last one. Those same kids will travel to those very countries they discover through the internet some day. Not "Just Us". Not "Just Americans". But the internet makes culture portable, as impossible as that sounds. Japan was a pioneer of media encouraged tourism. Not just Los Angeles and Disney.

Bottom line: The foreign world seems just a little less foreign. More like a LOT less foreign

International Cultural Shoutout of the Week! Whatup Malaysia!

I must be doing SOMETHING right with Malaysia, as I've had 149 readers there in the last 7 days, reading more writing in this blog than any other of my top demographic countries, even the United States and Germany.

Essay: Bandes Dessinee [BD], Manga, Anime, and Cultural Preferential Bias and Treatment of a Gaijin Auteur

Essay - BD and Cultural Identity

There's a difference between the way I discovered Saturday Morning Cartoons and the way I discovered BD and French animation. I didn't know it at the time, but on a biological and genealogical level (weird as that may sound) I have more of a genealogical connection to BD as an artist than I do Japanese anime. There is much French heritage in my family tree. It's a spiritual and genealogical connection there. My attraction to Japanese, and Korean manga and anime is emotional and intellectual. My connection to French BD Comics is spiritual. I sense a soul there. A real soul in the pages of Bande Dessinee. I feel a real soul in Bande Dessinee the way I sense it in anime and manga, but not in most American animation or comics of the modern post 2002 era.

French comics culture has embraced me and my design sensibilities for comics and animation, without even ever having seen me in their country in person. My spiritual creative presence is there without me even having been there. France has embraced many of the design archetypes I created early on, on a profound creative and intellectual level, in a way Japan never did. 

Archetypes like:

• ·       The Otomo Moebius influenced layering
• ·       "Masking" as Scott McCloud calls it (detailed backgrounds/props layered over cartoon characters)
• ·       "Guns, Swords, n' Trenchcoats"
• ·       Organic Architecture
• ·       Dystopian Dark High Fantasy (HP Lovecraft, Jhonen Vasquez, Blade Runner
• ·       Warrior on a ledge, looking down on a cityscape horizon below
• ·       Post Apocalyptic Science-Fantastique
• ·       Marv-esque Protagonist
• ·       Detective Stories
• ·       Emphasis on Science Fiction and Fantasy-Fantastique Graphic Album Episodic Tomes

A lot of these elements I drew in my work without having seen any French comics  beforehand. It was a coincidence I drew that way. Unlike certain Japanese artists of the current era, I wasn't ripping competing artists off. I was trying to create something original. Something I could call my own. The French just happened to really like my way of doing things in comics, more than the mainstream American way half the time. The American mainstream often fails at imitating my artistic and literary storytelling and archetype style the way the French mainstream does. American artists copy me and don't go beyond, and half the time they lose the appeal of my initial work that made my work appealing to begin with. French designers copy, but they keep the spirit and appeal intact.

The Japanese embrace some but not all of these archetypes. The French embrace all of them. The two countries are both highly ranked in the international community, but they do have their differences and similarities. They both influence each other and have borrowed from one another with mutual respect for a long time now. My respect for Japan is not as mutual as my respect for France. The Japanese cartoonists often parody and mock me and my work on TV and online in a way the French cartoonists almost never do. There's a respect and credibility I have there, that I almost seem like I have in France that doesn't seem to exist as much in Japan yet.

Japan. France. Thank you for your love. I love you. Moi.

How come no one told me how awesome Canadian bookstores were?? A lot, if not all Canadian bookstores (especially ones in French-Canadian regions) are modeled after French bookstores to please their customers. French-Canadians. A demographic that almost doesn't exist in America. There's one store in particular over in Toronto (Canada, North America) that I discovered while doing research on modern Bande Dessinee articles online. Labyrinth Bookstore. Their shelves are stocked with all sorts of stuff that no one sells in the States. I'll be checking that out more in the future. I'm so jealous of that comic shop owner. They have access to so many beautiful artworks and books! Why do we not have that here!

American Otaku Superhero Fanboy Stereotype: "But Nobody in America LIKES French Comics. They're pretentious and lame!"

Correction. People in North America DO like French Comics. Certain PARTS of North America like French Comics. The United STATES "hates" and discriminates against French comics. Canada has many French  citizens and LOVES French tomes and comics! That's part of North America whether people want to acknowledge it or not. There are even stores in Canada, such as the famous Labyrinth Art Comic Shop, which specializes in stocking and selling French Tomes and Asian art books equally, to the point of not even bothering to specialize in comics from the United States. And I can't help but agree with that sentiment, considering how SHITTY the artwork in current comics in the U.S. is compared to current story and art of comics from France. They are clearly superior to U.S. comics, especially most current ones with rare exceptions. 

If there WERE shops in the United States that were modeled after Labyrinth up in Toronto, who knows. French comics might rival manga in popularity. On an international level France (especially locally) already DOES closely follow the U.S. and Japan in terms of sales and popularity worldwide.

Except in France, it's more purely about art and story in comics than anywhere else in the world, INCLUDING Japan! Which is a country HEAVILY influenced  by France.

Viva La France!

However, it is painfully obvious French culture isn't popular in the United States BECAUSE OF RACISM, Xenophobia, and DISCRIMINATION.

What a sad state of affairs the U.S. is in...that they can't appreciate a culture that transcends their own on numerous levels. ESPECIALLY COMICS!

The Florida-France Connection

You know,

As a long time resident and denizen of Central Florida, I've suspected for a while now there's some kind of historical, cultural, or social connection between Florida and France.

There's a connection there that I can't entirely explain. I don't know a lot of current people in either location, but Florida has French cafes, Florida TV got that "Cinemoi" channel. And then there is AirFrance, which is somewhat local. There's some kind of connection there culturally and socially,  but for the average Joe (pardon my French) it is hard to define.

Today's Online Research Topic? Burne Hogarth. Here is what I know about The Man

One of the most versatile and influential draftsman and illustrators of all time. Up there with Frank Frazetta, in terms of just how much he influenced the anatomy and artwork of all you're favorite superheroes and the comic books they appeared in, and continue to appear in.

Me personally? I'm a Hogarth revivalist. Hogarth is more relevant to American traditional comic  book artists and fine artists. I learned light, shade, shading shadow, anatomy, and clothing, wrinkles, and drapery, all from the textbooks of Hogarth. Except I don't call my Hogarth influenced anatomy studies superheroes. I just call mine "Heroes". "Super" is kinda pretentious nowadays.

On top of all that, Hogarth was a founder of one of the most influential art, animation, and cartooning schools and colleges of all time. The New York School of Visual Arts. A place many modern animation greats went to.

The Now Moment: A Spiritual Means to an End

Those who seek rewards in the afterlife strive to be good people while still alive, but not for rewards while still alive. This form of reward seeking as a spiritual pursuit that transcends life and living in this lifetime is the basis of all religious and spiritual thought, and is often embraced by those who HAVE nothing while they are alive, which is not to say this belief is entirely wrong, but religious life considers life a means to an end of rewards after death as this mortal life offers them nothing most of the time.

Those who do not seek to attain paradise after death as most do, (the secular world) will seek to attain "real estate" in Paradise while still alive, with material possessions,  career advancement, pleasure, power, influence, fame fortune, popularity, authority, respect, and status. People who seek this latter group of attainment for the most part do not put much stock in what happens to them AFTER they die. They're either afraid or in denial there is any existence of anything or any continuation of existence or feeling after death, so they set out "live life to the fullest cuz there ain't nothing waiting for you afterward". This latter group tends to follow the most ruthless trail while alive. This group considers life a means to an end while still alive, often because much prosperity has simply been given to them on some level.

The problem with both groups is both the secular and religious world have grown into a form of existence in THIS lifetime that says "Keep your eyes on the prize. The prize will be awarded to you either while you are still alive or after your dead, on a spiritual level. Both encourage one to neglect the true meaning of life, which is living and taking action in the Now. Living in the Moment, from moment to moment. No one on earth or in the history of earth is as powerful as someone who has truly acknowledge, realized, and figured out how to live in the Now Moment.

Clearly, some people have some shall we say "Identity Projection and Displacement Issues". I Don't know you. I've NEVER known you...

Nor have I EVER been "affiliated" or "associated with" you and your butt ugly spectacled name / face.

Don't pretend like I've "heard of you" or "know who the fuck you are". You're clearly full of bullshit.

I've never heard of you, nor do I ever want to. Nor does anyone ELSE want to now or ever.

Don't think you can fool people into thinking we're affiliated just because you stole/forged my name and/or face.

Thanks.

GORE

THE STOOPIDEST GORY MOVIE IN THE WORLD!!! COMING SOON, to SYFY.

Animation vs. Webcomics: WHY MUST THIS BE????!!!!!

Truth is this. I am indeed a great artist, author, cartoonist,  and comic book artist, but I may never be an artist with a licensed online comic. I don't have a choice or say so in the matter. Webcomics never get licensed into animations. It sucks, but there's this barrier out there. Tokyo and Hollywood kind of hate webcomics. INCLUDING MINE. So FUCK THAT NOISE. The next best thing I could probably do in response to such an offensive maneuver Mastering Comic Books Made For Kindle, for $0.00. OR, I could just settle for the webcomics animation fail parting gift and consolation prize, The Lovely Parting Gift of free ubiquity and omnipresence in mainstream and independent media, new and old, being everywhere and everyone, in every country, in every state, in every region, on every show, in every movie, on every website, many videos, in every book and comic book, 24 hours a Day, 7 Days a Week, 4 Weeks a Month, 12 Months and 365 days a year, EVERYWHERE. Yeah, I guess I am that awesome!

NELSON MANDELA, PEACEMAKER, NOBEL PRIZE WINNER, MARTYR, AFRICAN PRESIDENT, FORMER PRISON, 1918 - 2013

NELSON MANDELA

PEACEMAKER, WORLD ICON

1918 - 2013

RECENTLY UPLOADED TO DEVIANT ART: PRODUCTION DESIGN [CITY]

Newest DeviantART upload. Technically, this is actually a pencil illustration.

BUT, I decided to scan it in through black and white to create the illusion of it being done ink.

I GUESS we can call it "digital ink"

NO FREEDOM. YOUR CLOTHES SUCK. Fashion Design, Page 1

.....Experimenting with Fashion, and whatnot. I am quite fashionable!


Soundtrack:

Jay-Z - "Dirt off Your Shoulders"

Steven Page - Page One (Solo Album)

Yes, my YouTube and Blogger accounts HAVE been neglected unintentionally. Thanks for noticing!

I'll get back to business as usual once the holiday slush is over. Maybe before X-Mas. Maybe After. Who knows really, which leads into my latest theory about life I've been developing in my head for the last 6 hours. But I'll elaborate on that theory later, about "Precision in life", or LACK THEREOF.

How to Handle Criticism of Your Work....

I was very sensitive to criticism early on. I was a delicate flower. Really, I was....Until I got criticized publicly A LOT.

The key is not to "overcome criticism". That will never happen. You never WILL completely get over it. There will always be those one or two slanderous or negative comments you hear on TV or online that will keep repeating themselves in your mind.

The key is managing how you DEAL with it. Coming to terms with public sentiment towards your work. Artists may WANT TO be as respected as Miyazaki or whoever, but unless you have the courage, patience, and fortitude to hold out and wait an eternity to build your career up to that level, which takes dozens upon dozens of years, even a quarter of a century or more, you'll never make it that far unless you have some kind of self-made system going for yourself. Some artists do. Some artists don't. That's just how it is.

But yes. The criticism never does stop. As long as your aiming FOR the TOP, there will be criticism of you. Often from people who have what amounts to the exact same goals as yourself. But if someone is saying something nasty about you, they're that much further from ever achieving their OWN goals. Those who can, do, those who can't, criticize.

Here's the thing about success and fear. And don't be fooled by celebrities who look confident, stable, independent and fearless. Performers who have been performing for 60 YEARS still can be found throwing up in a bucket backstage before a concert every night. Success can and will scare shit out of almost anybody. At some point, if you truly want to be successful, you have to know your  fear. Know what humiliates or terrorizes you, because unless you're one of "the lucky ones", you WILL have to confront your fear and embarrassment. Successful artists must deal with fear. Successful, CONTROVERSIAL artists must deal with fear AND humiliation much of the time. Even if its just people motivated by petty jealousy or sabotage. Be it a fan or tabloid reporter.

Article - "Just what the hell is indie and alternative manga?

Not to be confused with similar, but more popular genres of manga, gekiga / doujin / doujinshi, - drama pictures and dialogue, fan comics

There ISN'T a Japanese equivalent term for indie manga yet, because formerly, indie, independent, "alternative", or underground and indie comics was a largely American term, describing comics made to emphasize innovation, creative experimentation, design, and many storytelling elements outside of the Western Comics mainstream, like odd topics, or black and white panel artwork, for instance.

Well known American indie comics creators include Paul Pope, Jhonen Vasquez, Chynna Clugston-Major, Evan Dorkin, Ted Naifeh, JR Goldberg, Phil Hester, Judd Winick, Matt Groening, Rob Schrab, Jeff Smith, Stan Sakai, Mike Mignola, Andi Watson, Scott McCloud Doug TenNapel, Jim Mahfood, Dave Sim, Jamie Hewlett, Todd McFarlane, Sam Keith, Frank Miller, Frank Cho and many others. Publishers include Dark Horse, Image, Oni Press, and Slave Labor Graphics (SLG). Famous Independent Manga creators include Hiroaki Samura and Katsuhiro Otomo. Artist known for being innovators and pioneers, who have respectable reputations, but often do not dominate retail sales. Not all indie creators online and off must have a small audience overall, but most do not have a large audience.

Techniques and elements: Indie comics have been known to use such elements and techniques as, Decompression, noir, grittiness, horror and macabre, black and white art, literary emphasis, embrace of certain subcultures (like goth, slacker, fantasy genre, alternative music, or hip-hop)

The GEN anthology which recently came out was one of the first Japan based manga trades and anthologies which embraced indie comics culture from a Japan-based perspective, from various lesser known Japanese creators and cartoonists.

Independent Manga Scene

I seem to have an emerging reputation in the national and international independent manga scene. Books like A Drifting Life, AKIRA, GEN.

The national cultures may be different, but I love me some gekiga! I also love independent manga. I'm actually pretty good at drawing it, as it seems to have turned out.

Surtur's Fire-Blade - Mono's Special Move

Number One Mistake

Number one mistake we make as authors. Putting too much weight into your own reputation as a newcomer, or an obscure brain.

Never assume you're audience has already heard of you. Chances are they haven't, but it just LOOKS that way.

"And You Can, Too!" ...Not Really.

The "Anybody Can Do It, Too" Gimmick

Truth is, everybody or anybody CAN'T do it. The minute someone tries to rationalize the success of something I do for a living with "Hey, Joe did it, that means ANYBODY can do it" style sloganeering, head for the hills. Run away, because they're trying to swindle and con you. That's "Motivational Feel Good New Age Hippie" psychobabble, that for the most part is BULLSHIT. REAL success takes talent, and it will NEVER be available to everyone. That's the words of someone trying to make a fraudulent, slogan-based sales pitch profit by trying to take shortcuts to a fatter wallet by liberalizing the truth of what I do, which is you'll never get to my level unless you're as innovative or ingenious as I am. That's a polite way of saying I'm a loser and I "got lucky" and "have no real talent". Further bullshit sloganeering. That's denying me the credit I DESERVE. Nobody said the REAL truth was supposed to be pleasant, or attainable. Success and getting to the top is NEVER easy. And that's how people want to see it happen. "And You Can Too" is classic con-man scam-speak. 

My Management Style

MY particular website management style comes with growth, wealth, communication, transparency, and diversity.

Secrecy About Financial Status Leads To Wealth (probably)

There's a correlation there.

Blabbermouths and know it alls never actually get rich.

Nobody ever gets rich by babbling. You get rich by taking action, and acting upon intentions and habits.

The richer the person is, the more secretive he's forced himself to be.

Nobody ever because a billionaire by being honest about how much money he had.

Don't you JUST LOVE IT.....

When your family openly has household conversations where they project their feelings about YOU, into numerous phone and kitchen conversations that "aren't" about you but really ARE on a subconscious level?

So. Fucking. Annoying.

Ta-daaaahhhh!!!! FORBES

Forbes wrote an article about me.

RIGHT HERE.

Upon the Publication of a Kindle eComic Book

Upon the publication of my Original Kindle eComic, I couldn't help but notice what a little amount of PR and promotion Kindle eComics get. Other than Goodreads and a paid PR website, you're pretty much on your own. And by "on your own", I mean anyone actually discovering your work directly, and that hardly EVER happens with Kindle books. The biggest brands in books are the only ones that see the light of day for the most part.

Ce La Vi.

So Art Manifested, my art book....

Only registered me selling / earning around $7.60 through Amazon royalties....Of which I've seen none of.

Only problem? Amazon "ain't paying me jack shit until I earn $100 or more". And we all know I'll never sell THAT many.

Yeah, good luck with that J

The CALLOUSES. THEY ARE GONE!! PRAISE THE LORD!!!

What have we learned?

Never bother to see a pediatrist or have callous surgery on your feet....

When you can restore  the skin on your heals by restocking the blade in your ped-egg...

Adsense is DEAD! Long live Sponsify

NT

30th Birthday

This day, Sunday, November 17th, 2013, has turned out to be one of my most rewarding, stable days ever.

I've only been 30 years old for just under a day, and ALREADY I'm liking it more than most of my 20s combined. So rewarding. I'm actually enjoying life again. 

Living at home is feeling like less of a prison sentence and more like living at home. 

To me 30s are feeling better than my 20s as there's less conflict and struggle involved. There's been less conflict, well, for the moment anyway.

Well....

So much for the whole "made at the expense of anything resembling a social life" thing you claimed was happening. Now you know LOTS of weirdos!

The Next Generation of Artists. The Publisher-Artist DIY Generation...

What I see: The future of Comic Book Distribution (Artist-Author becomes Publisher)

Nowadays with the current landscape of comics publishing, the support lean towards things like Amazon Kindle, self-distribution (to a degree) and self-publishing through print on demand.

In the future, there's a high likelihood, that in order for an artist to succeed in comics, one will have to be not only versed in how to Draw and/or Write and CREATE comics, but also how to self-print, self-publish, and self-distribute your own comics. It's a business LABYRINTH with many DEAD ENDS commercially in many ways,  but the rewards of success are great.

The line between what's saved in your manuscript documents on your computer and what's on your Lulu or Kindle storefront will become  blurred. Visibility of lesser known literature will increase, much like what has been happening with YouTube and video. That will probably happen with publishing too, in time, depending on the marketing and distribution strategies of the big mainstream publishers outside of Amazon (i.e. Marvel, DC, Dark Horse)

Great options for the DIY generation of Authors and Comics Creators

·        Ka-Blam (Print on Demand)

·        Amazon CreateSpace

·     Amazon Kindle (Worldwide distribution, Amazons in 12 countries across America, Europe, and Asia)

·        Graphicly (Distribution across multiple platforms costs $120+)