I have finished page 96 with only 24 more pages to go! I’ve filled up two (HaHa) portfolios now and let me tell you, the feeling of holding all of that work in my hands is amazing. It’s heavy! And it feels like life gone right. Why, if I weren’t poor I’d celebrate, but that will have to wait until the book is actually finished.

I have now completed over 50 pages of Lulu & Mitzy, filling up the first of three Itoya Art Portfolios (24 acetate sheathes that hold 48 pages). It feels like a real accomplishment holding it in my hands. I want to cuddle up next to it in bed, but this strange Japanese woman refuses to sleep on the couch.

Below is a shot of my crowded and ergonomic-unfriendly desk:

-Tons of pens, brushes, pencils, and ink. Check.
-Computer. Check.
-Wacom Tablet. Check.
-Headphones for listening to The Learning Channel’s Gunfighters of The Old West while inking. Check.
-Sergio Aragone’s Groo the Wanderer issue 32 at hand for inspiration. Check.
-Photocopy of a cover of The Weekly World News for no apparent reason. Check.

All systems are go.

I have been so engrossed in working on Lulu & Mitzy that I haven’t really been able to do too much that’s postable. I work at APG, come home, eat dinner with The Yo, draw L&M until 10:30/11, watch a little TV with The Yo, go to bed, and then start the whole damn thing over again. Occasionally, I do some freelance work, like Flash banner ad stuff for birth control pills (seriously) or draw a penis in a cape (very seriously), but most of the time I’m working on the book.
However, this last weekend, I was able to spend some time working on a kinda/sorta birthday card for my pal Coire. It started out as a little joke, but then I got carried away and made a full on movie poster (see below).

I was just going to poke fun at Coire, but then I just started ripping on all of the generic, low-budget, indie romance comedies that have littered the shelves of video stores for the last decade, and usually star some slumming B-lister who might have a modicum of respect (i.e. “I remember that dude! What’s his name?”) with a small audience, like John Cryer, Frank Whaley, or Paul Rudd (who I actually like). Usually the lead male is looking awkward or embarrassed and his main squeeze either looks peeved or hapless. Some lame-ass band you barely remember does the soundtrack, and somebody who still has a career produces it or “executive” produces it, which means “I’ll let you use my name in a meeting with the financiers who will never recoup a cent from this middling shitpile you call a film.” For this one, I used Alex Jones, because he probably produced the eight of the top ten most watched ‘documentaries’ (a.k.a. alarmist rant) on Google video. What was my point? Oh yeah, it was nice to just work on something like this for fun and Happy Birthday, Coire.

After over a decade of failure, I have accomplished something! Sorta! In December, my beautiful wife created a fairly rigid and complex spreadsheet for me that laid out what I should accomplish to finish my book by the end of June. The goal for January was to finish 17 pages. And as of 10:12 p.m. on January 31 I have met that goal. I finished page 41 of my 120 page graphic novel. Now, it is drinky time. Accomplishment, here I come.

Pretty much everyone I know is aware of this by now, but Lulu & Mitzy have been picked up by a publisher. Rather than the 6-issue mini-series I had planned, L&M will be compiled into a single graphic novel, which has helped change the story a bit. Personally, I think the long format suits them and stops them from being the crass Laurel & Hardy I pictured them to be in the beginning.
Slave Labor Graphics has given the go ahead and now I am neck deep in work. I’ll have 120 pages of luscious madness completed by the end of June and the book will hit stores in late 2008. I’m really excited about this and look forward to all of the drawing and everything else that goes into making this happen. Sometimes when I am laying in bed I am eager to get on and draw the next page. Its becoming a real passion.
Babble, babble, babble. Onto the drawing.

On Saturday I colored a page of Lulu & Mitzy to see how it would turnout. Ultimately, this is how I would like to do the book, but it would be very labor intensive and cost a lot to print. If only I could hire an intern or outsource it to make this achievable. Alas, I cannot. So I fantasize.

I did a spec commercial in 12 hours. It turned out great for such a quick turnaround. Things are really picking up around here and I’m liking it!

This commercial was done in a UPA-like style and was an effort in restrain. Robo 3000 is saturated and crowded, so it was nice to try something sparse with just a couple of colors. Check it out and pass it on. Maybe I can do a whole commercial on my own.

Back in 2003 my friend Brian Vandiver and I created a strip called This Is A Low in hopes of having a syndicated comic strip. It was one of many projects that the two of us planned together, and unfortunately it met the same fate so many of our projects did, abject failure. This happens to lots of people and all you can do is throw a bunch of ideas at the wall and see what sticks.

While This Is A Low isn’t perfect, Brian and I’s little brainstorm sessions were always fun and we enjoyed cracking each other up. I hope we have the opportunity to do it more in the future. For now, I have another addition to my comic section (aka Failure Pile, to reference Patton Oswalt).

I just put up a new site, www.seanbellows.com. Its mostly my design stuff in order to help cull together some more freelance work. In the meantime, I’ve been mostly working on my Robo film and Lulu & Mitzy. I am almost finished with the first issue of L&M and look forward to working on the next one. What can I say, I love my girls. I don’t have a whole lot to post lately, but I have this oldie from a pile of sketches. It was done in acrylic and gouache. I just like the imagery.