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.

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).

Its been a while since I posted because ever since I got this new computer with Vista I haven’t been able to use my scanner. Epson refused to update the driver because they apparently feel that my 8 year old scanner is too old and I should go buy a new one. I held out, but now I’ve got a back log of images. This was a test scan from my sketchbook. Big thanks to Coire for the inspiration. Jason gets a girlfriend. Personally, I think she’s too good for him.

Here is a rough test shot. I’m working on imbetweening right now and then its off for compositing. Many thanks to Senor Chad for his technical advice. Click the pic below and wait for a bit for the movie to load. I was too lazy to add a preloader.

I finally created a comics page that has pretty much everything I have done over the past couple of years. The infamous and failed sleeping book is up as well as various odds and ends. Myrva is the only finished story, but I’m still at work on Lulu & Mitzy. Spread the fun.

It’s been a super long time since I posted last because I completely fawked up my website trying to be fancier than I was capable of pulling off. So here I am! Back to square one. I’ll be updating some stuff - adding a comics section and a place to stuff all of my Robo 3000 related work.
In the space between webpage meltdown and now I have been very busy. I’m halfway finished with a comic called Lulu & Mitzy about two prostitutes living in the Tenderloin area of San Francisco (basically a block from mine and Yo’s apartment). Its a comedy and I’m more than satisfied with it. I like the characters a lot and look forward to developing them more.
I sent a bunch of finished pages to publishers last week and am keeping my fingers crossed. If none of them pick it up I’m going to definitely look into self-publishing because I really believe this title will do pretty well. I mean, who doesn’t like prostitutes?