Well, finally decided to update all my fans (both of you) on what I am currently working on. There are several projects I just recently finished up and am working on a new one now. I just wrapped up doing the pencils on a short story for the Sky Pirates of Valendor Anthology. The story revolves around the pirate queen Murderous Meg and you get to see exactly WHY she is the pirate queen. She definitely didn't sleep her way to the top. The anthology is in the final stages of production and should find its way to the printers very soon.

Another project that just wrapped is the latest volume of ICONIC, an anthology put together by members of the Comicbook Artists Guild (or CAG for those of you in the know). I did the pencils on the bumper pages between each story and they are put together in a very unique way. The book has a really cool ending. It should be shipping pretty soon from the printer so I'll update when that happens.

And what is taking up a lot of space on my table now are extra pages for the Sky Pirates of Valendor Trade. It's sort of like a Director's Cut in that there is going to be bonus material and extended scenes. Hey, just because it isn't a dvd doesn't mean we can't do it, too. There are a lot of extra pages we're putting into it so even readers who picked up the first series can get the trade and read it for all the cool extras. I can't say too much but one thing I am excited about is the extended fight scenes. A giant bear with a big hammer is just too cool.

Painting-wise, I've got a new one on the easel. It's just something to work on in my almost non-existent spare time. We'll see if I can finish it within the year. The painting is pretty big, around 26 x 36 inches or so. The scene is of an oriental dragon and a geisha/sorceress standing in a summoning circle in a Japanese garden. I'll upload some 'in-progress' shots when I get to it.

I don't have any concrete plans as of yet for any cons but we'll see what the summer brings. The second series of Sky Pirates will be gearing up this summer so that is what the future holds (at least, that I know of). So that is my update. If my editor allows, I'll try to post some teasers soon.

So everybody out there keep drawing and peace out. Laters!

I have a new topic I wanted to throw out there and hey, I needed to update my journal anyway. The topic is critiques and are they appropriate? This is related to a journal entry on another deviant page and it brought up some interesting points. The main one is this. If someone posts a new piece of art, is it appropriate to offer a critique if they did not ask for one? Some people say yes, others say no. I am going to lean towards the yes side here but I think it is conditional.

The problem is that (and I am sorry. I don't know any other way to say this. Children cover your ears) there are too many dumbasses on DA. These dumbasses will do one of two things. They will 1) offer a critique in just the rudest fashion that doesn't offer anything useful to the artist. And 2)the people offering the critique don't know what the hell they are talking about. Let's call these people primary and secondary dumbasses.

I will give an example of each, taken from this very site.

Example 1) There was this art piece of a cat girl, done in a very elegant yet fun style. It was on someone else's page. She wasn't nude or erotic or anything like that. It was just a pleasant picture. Someone commented that the girl looked fat, was kind of ugly, and that they didn't like the colors that were used because 'cats don't have blue hair'.

This is an example of a primary dumbass. That critique had absolutely no relevence. It was completely pointless.

Example 2) I posted a piece here one time and someone commented that the anatomy needed work, that the ribs did not look like that, one arm was too long, blah,blah,blah. I picked up my anatomy books and double checked. I reviewed what some other artists had done with similar poses. I checked my PHOTO REFERENCE. It was all correct. So I went to the commenters DA site to look at his work. It was like someone had given an autistic child a pencil and free reign. I didn't comment. I just laughed and went back to my work.

This is an example of a secondary dumbass. He might have had good intentions but was too dumb to realize that he didn't know anything. In his defence, many artists have been there at one time or another when starting out.

So I am starting to lose track of where this is going so let me just get to the point. Critiques are appropriate of course if someone asks for one. Hell, critique away but do it in a positive manner. Don't just shred their work and their ego at the same time. If they become professionals they'll have editors to do that. But if someone does NOT ask for a critique and you just can't seem to stop yourself from giving one, it had better have relevance and you'd better know what you are talking about.

In other words, don't be a primary or secondary dumbass.

The economy sucks so I am offering a special on commissions! I do pencil sketches, inks, watercolors, and digital colors. Basic Prices are below:

Pencil Sketches:
$20 for single character with no background
$30 for single character with detailed background
An additional $10 for each character after the first.

Inks are an additional $5 - $10

Colors:
Digital Colors: $10 - $20
Watercolors: $15

Some examples:
A single character with no background, penciled and inkd, is $25.
A single character with background, penciled and inked, is $30.
A single character, penciled, inked, and digitally colored with white background is $35. With a color on the background but no background pencils is $45.
A single character with background, penciled, inked, and digitally colored is $60.

(Here is the fine print: Prices are adjustable depending on job specifics).

Well, now that I am rested and before I forget all the sordid details, I 'd better do my write-up about WW Texas so here it is. This past weekend was Wizard World Texas which was held at the Arlington Convention Center. It was my first time at this show as a professional and it was a great weekend. My good friend Everett Soares, the creator and writer for Sky Pirates, flew in for it along with his wife Susan Soares, who is our Promotions Goddess. They brought along Liz Ortiz, a guest artist and member of the Comicbook Artist Guild. We had a table on the backend of Artist Alley. Several comments were made during the weekend about how most of the traffic went to the other side of the Alley where Frank Cho was sitting. I really can't blame the fans. That's where I would have been, too. But we still had our share, enough to keep us busy selling books and doing sketches.

Friday was a typical slow day. Everyone was browsing around and doing their best to see what they were going to buy on Saturday. Did a couple of sketches. I need to do a shout out to Mike Champion and Chris Summers, friends of mine I hadn't seen in awhile. Chris is a colorist and regular at WW Texas. Mike was a newbie, first-time artist behind the booth, and kicked serious ass doing commission sketches. Although, Mike, next time remember how much you are charging to do that detailed full body pin-up of Boba Fett! LOL! Anyways, after the show we all invaded Joe's Crab Shack where we got to catch up and had a really great time.

Saturday was the busy day. It was crowded and we had a ton of people stopping by the table (although not as much if we had been on the same side as Frank Cho). I don't think Liz and I stopped drawing all day long. Then the guys from Heroes 4 Heroes stopped by and invited us to the Live Art Show and Auction after the show. Now that was such a cool experience. First time doing something like that. I wish I hadn't have been so damned tired. We walked in and scored a spot at one of the tables (thanks to Ev) and turned out a couple of pieces for the auction. Hopefully Sue will send me a pic of it so that I can post it. The professionals at the easels were producing some really cool and amazing stuff. But exhaustion claimed us so we soon left.

Sunday was a looong day. Not much sleep the night before so I was dragging most of the day. But we got through it, finally got the table packed up, got everyone safely back to the hotel where we said our goodbyes. It's always kinda sad having to leave friends that you don't see but maybe twice a year. Those kinds of frequent visits should be reserved for your extended family that you don't like and only see during the holidays.

Here is a list of some of the highlights from the weekend:
1. "Mmmmm, Beerfest."
2. Ev getting his hands down Liz's pants (you had to be there to know).
3. Ev spending $20 on a Neil Gaiman book for a reference for Death and then she wasn't even in the book. I smell eBay!
4. Liz wearing her earplugs and still being able to hear every word you said but when she took them out, she couldn't hear a thing.
5. Mike staying up until 3:00AM doing a detailed pic of Boba Fett for $5.
6. Chris' son making $21 from doing sketches of HALO guys for a buck! Way to go!
7. A weekend that once again proves that spandex is not for everyone.
8. Freezing!
9. The Heroes 4 Heroes Live Art Auction. Way cool.
10. Ev once again being the recipient of the Sunday Weirdo.
11. Getting nominated for Best Indy Artist on Project Fanboy (I think I know who to thank for that, too).
12. Doing the free sketches for the kids.
13. She-It. No one really knows.
14. Finding out that there is no bean dip in Rhode Island (gonna have to send some to you guys).

I know I failed to mention about a dozen more things but its all kind of a blur now. So here is to Ev and Sue for making it down and getting to hang out together again. Glad my daughter didn't drive you crazy. And to Mike and Chirs, good to see you guys again. Can't wait until HeroesCon at Charlotte in June!

As a cardinal rule, I don't get involved in flame wars on forums. I simply don't feel the need to waste my time reading and responding to some idiot's warped personal views. But after reading a series of posts on a board I occasionally check out, I came across something that, as an artist, offended me to the core of my soul. I am not going to give any specifics but there may be a few of you out there who recognize these statements and what board they came from. These are quotes that came about from some guy trying to find a comicbook artist and had a publisher offering $5 per page. The guy acted like it was gold nuggets he was handing out and got pissed when someone remarked how cheap that was. Here's some quotes the guy made.

"Artists like you and he who think that publishers should throw obscene amounts of money at them and who promote ridiculously high pay rates are clearly both greedy and arrogant."

"Artists are only one half of the creative team, do they desurve to make so much more than the people who do the real work? NO."

"Artists are not paid by the hour; they are paid by the page and given a deadline. And the reason for this is simple; you are doing something that you enjoy to do and would do anyway even if you weren’t being paid for it. In effect you are being paid to skillfully pursue your hobby."

"writing, unlike art is something where the more time that you put into it the better it is."

"I never said that artists were disposable. But generally it doesn't hurt things to interchange them. You guy's are really kind of like batteries. The machine doesn’t work without you but one can easily replace another."

"Artists over rate themselves and put themselves above the real creators."

"You and your peers expect people to pay you more than your actually worth. $5 a page is bloody decent and i'll tell you why. 10 pages is $50 do 20 and youve made $100. i know that you over rate yourself and expect people to bend over backwards to meet your exploitative and insanely expensive pay expectations, but the fact is that you should not be valued more than the writers.
you arrogent artists arent so special that you desurve to make so mutch more or to expect to be paid extravogently."

I had to stop reading at that last one. And remember, this guy was trying to find an artist to work for him.

In the world of fine art, you occasionally meet someone who thinks far too highly of their own work and thus exaggerate their value and worth. In the commercial field, this isn't really the case (although it can be on occasion). It is not the artist who sets a price, it is the industry. We love what we do, that is true. Our art started out as a hobby. But a hobby doesn't pay the bills so naturally, just like everyone else, we would like to make as much as possible. But what really got me about this person's statements was the casual disdain they seemed to have for us artists. There was a complete lack of respect and understanding that truly offended me as an artist.

So my response to anyone with this kind of attitude towards me and my kind is this: Everything that you see and touch and own was created by an artist. That computer you are sitting at? If it wasn't for an artist, you would be typing on a box if wires and computer chips. That car that you drive to work? It was designed by an artist. That flat screen tv that you are so proud of and looks so good hanging on your wall? Guess who. You know the Batmobile that you really love and geek out over and wished you owned one? Yep. Artist. We aren't important? Then think about this. No matter what is build or who built it or what it's function is, an artist designed the way it looks. Think about that the next time you are listening to your cool looking iPod.

Me and my kind are the artists, the creators, the ones that define how the world you live in looks. Deal with it.