Blogging Takes The Back Seat

Since July of 2007 I’ve been committed to posting something new every weekday. It’s a lot of fun and I’m glad that so many of you have found my humble ramblings helpful.

However, there are only so many hours in the day and lately I’ve been feeling the squeeze. I’m blessed with a lot of wonderful people and projects to fill up my day. At the moment it’s overflowing. I’m about to start work on a very large animation project which, along with my regular client work, will mean spending many evenings and weekends at the drawing table over the next three months.

At the same time my baby daughter is becoming a toddler, which means Daddy needs to be more available to spend one-on-one time interacting with her. I believe strongly that there are few things in life more important than family, and I want to be careful not to fall into the trap of putting my career ahead of time with my wife and daughter. Especially when I think about how fast she will grow up. It would be very easy for me to become a workaholic dad, and I have to work hard to guard myself against wasting time on things that ultimately aren’t that important. If it’s a choice between my daughter or this blog, my daughter wins hands down.

I’ve given it a great deal of thought and decided that, for the time being, it will be unwise for me to keep blogging at my current pace. I’m pushing the limits of my schedule as it is, and something’s gotta give.

I’m not giving up blogging. I still plan to post regularly, it just won’t be every day. Some weeks I still may write five posts, other weeks I may only write one or two. I want this blog to remain a fun project and not turn into a heavy burden. I’d also rather write a few quality posts than a lot of mediocre ones.

To my regular blog readers, I want to say thanks for your interest and support. I hope you can understand where I’m coming from, and I hope you will keep enjoying this blog. It sounds cliche, but I really do appreciate the fact that so many of you take time to read my ramblings. I look forward to rambling even more.

Superman: Cover to Cover

My wife and I are having a garage sale this weekend and I’m unloading a few art books. While thumbing through my collection I came across a terrific book for Superman fans: Superman: Cover to Cover

Superman has always been my favorite Superhero. I fell in love with the Christopher Reeve movies and started reading the comics as a young preteen in the mid-80’s. In sixth grade I saved up enough money for a year’s subscription to Superman (I think it cost $9.00). Every time an issue showed up in my mailbox it was an indescribable thrill. I was practically walking—no, running on air all the way home from the Post Office.

Thumbing through Superman: Cover to Cover brought back a lot of memories, and at the same time showcased some astounding artwork. It’s no secret that comic book publishers save the best artwork for the covers. This 240-page hardcover book, printed in full-color, showcases over 270 of the greatest Superman covers of all time. Samples range from the early drawings of Joe Shuster (Superman’s co-creator) all the way to the modern painterly stylings of Alex Ross. It’s not just a hefty dose of nostalgia; it’s also a who’s-who of DC’s greatest artists. Some of my favorites such as John Byrne, Curt Swan, Neal Adams, Dick Giordano, Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez, George Perez, Jerry Ordway, Gil Kane, and even Adam Hughes all have samples showcasing their best work.

The book has only a limited amount of text, but every few pages features an acclaimed Superman writer, artist, or editor commenting on his/her favorite cover. There are thoughtful mini-essays from industry giants such as Alex Ross, Jerry Ordway, Janette Kahn, Mike Carlin, Marv Wolfman, etc. Even movie directors Richard Donner and Bryan Singer share a few thoughts.

One of the challenges of creating new adventures for Superman is that he is literally the perfect superhero. His powers are virtually unlimited and he has no character flaws. While I find his strength and character refreshing in our cynical age, nevertheless it creates a problem: How do you create worthy challenges for someone so fantastically perfect without getting absurd? Thumbing through the book, it’s fascinating to see how Superman’s creators dealt with the problem through various story lines, some mundane and others outright bizarre. It’s also fun to observe the various twists and turns the Superman mythology has taken over the decades. Superman has at times been ultra-cool, other times ultra-corny. His story lines have ranged from the brilliant to the bizarre. But he was always the model hero every kid could all look up to.

There’s a lot to admire about Superman, although one of my favorite aspects was his having a secret identity who was his complete opposite. I always loved the idea that Superman was strong and secure enough on the inside to dress up as a nerd reporter and let other people think he was a total buffoon. At least, that’s how he was portrayed by Christopher Reeve in the movies. Whenever I would do something embarrassing or other kids made fun of me, I took comfort in his example and realized that I didn’t have to let it get me down. Ultimately it doesn’t really matter what other people think. I could be strong on the inside even if everyone on the outside thought I was a fool. It was a good lesson that helped me get through some difficult moments, and still helps me today.

But I digress. Superman: Cover to Cover is a perfect item for any Superman fan to add to his collection.

Loads of Logos

Like logos? You’re gonna love this.

My friend Sherwin Schwartzrock is a super-talented illustrative designer. One of his specialties is designing logos, and he’s very good at it. Several of his logos will be published in the newest edition of the Logo Lounge series, Logo Lounge 5.

To celebrate, Sherwin recently created a poster showcasing nearly 200 of the logos he’s created over the last few years. Give it a looksee over at his blog.

RSS Basics: How To Never Miss A Blog Post

Blogs are becoming more and more popular. Not only are blogs popping up literally by the millions, but blog readership is skyrocketing too. Chances are most of you have at least one favorite blog that you read on a daily or semi-daily basis.

Most people still read blogs by typing in the URL and actually visiting the blog website to see what’s new. Problem is, not all blogs update themselves every day. (Even this here blog has seen a couple of hiccups in the posting schedule over the last week or so.) It can be disappointing, maybe even frustrating, to visit a site only to find there’s no new content. Wouldn’t it be great if you could know instantly when new content has been added to your favorite blogs without actually visiting their websites?

Have no fear. RSS can help!

What is RSS you ask? It stands for Really Simple Syndication. Here’s how it works:

Every blog has something called a “feed”, that is, a list of all the latest posts. Every time a new post is added to the blog, the feed is updated immediately. By subscribing to the feed, you computer can tell you when your favorite blog (or blogs) have added new content. It’s very similar to how your computer checks for new email messages. In one click you can download all the new content from your favorite blogs.

All you need to get started is an RSS reader, which is a software application designed to read and organize RSS feeds. Google and Yahoo! both offer free RSS readers. If you have a Mac you already have an RSS reader in Safari (if you use OSX 10.4) or in Mail (if you use OSX 10.5), although in my experience neither one has proven to be overly reliable. My favorite RSS reader is NetNewsWire. There are many other options as well. Just do a Google search for “Free RSS Reader”.

Once you’ve set up your RSS reader, simply tell it which blogs you want to keep track of. Most blogs have an RSS symbol that looks like this:

Just click on the symbol, or look for the words “RSS feed” (or on some blogs it may say “XML feed”, but it’s the same thing). Your blog reader should latch onto the feed, and from then on you can read all the latest posts using your RSS reader. It will download and organize the feeds in a way very similar to how your computer downloads and organizes your email. Its much faster and easier that visiting each blog directly, and it will help ensure that you never miss a blog post.

If you want to give it a try, my RSS icon is at the top of the page just beneath the cartoon pig.

Happy blog reading!

National Cartoonists Day

In case you haven’t heard, today is National Cartoonists Day. It’s been pretty hard to miss with all the National Cartoonists Day sales at the Mall. I think government workers get the day off too.

Seriously…The Yellow Kid, the very first color comic strip, was first published on May 5, 1895. Gradually the comics became a staple in every newspaper in the country, and hence today has been designated as National Cartoonists Day. Although the internet revolution has created an uncertain future for comic strips, it’s hard to dismiss the impact they’ve had on American culture. I grew up on classics such as Bloom County, The Far Side, and Calvin and Hobbes. Maybe later today I’ll pull out one of my old paperback collections and read through it for old times sake. My hunch is the humor will still hold up strong.

Of course, cartooning goes far beyond the newspaper funny pages. Animation, greeting cards, children’s books, illustration, even toy and game design, are all heavily saturated with the work of talented cartoonists.

So don’t forget to hug a cartoonist and tell them how much you appreciate them!

Link: The Next Big Thing…Not!

I’m still under the gun with deadlines, so unfortunately no time today to write a “real” blog post. Instead, I’d like to refer you to a new post from my friend and fellow artist/blogger Tom Richmond:

The Next Big Thing!…Not

Tom writes about a common problem for freelancers: The client with a big idea but no cash. His post really hit home with me because I regularly get approached by entrepreneurs who need some free artwork to pitch their children’s book or novelty product. They promise I’ll soon be rolling in the dough, except they usually have no experience, no money, no connections, and no publisher/distributor. While I’m always flattered to be asked, such requests almost always wind up going nowhere and are really just a waste of my time.

(Besides, I never do free or even discounted artwork for such projects. If they really believe their idea will make them rich, they should at least have enough confidence to invest in payment for the artwork.)

Tom summarizes the issue well, and I’m sure some of you will be able to relate.

Thoughts on Life Drawing

The human form is one of the hardest things for an artist to master. It is incredibly complex—the hundreds of bones and muscles in the body can twist and pull into an infinite combination of expressive poses. In addition, people come in all sorts of shapes and sizes. It’s important for an artist to study different body types so he can convincingly illustrate characters with variety and personality

The best way to master the human form is simply to draw it…again and again and again. To keep my skills from getting dull I regularly attend drawing co-ops in my city (a co-op is simply a group of artists getting together to draw real live models). Although I’m a cartoonist, I consider life drawing to be one of the most important and helpful exercises I can do. The more I understand the human form, the easier it is for me to simplify and exaggerate it with cartooning.

It’s hard to understate the value of drawing from life. Photographs can be helpful, and there are some good reference books out there for artists. But because photos are 2D they tend to flatten the form. Also, because a photograph is permanently frozen it can suck some of the life out of a pose. For the serious artist, nothing beats the freshness and energy of drawing from a live model. Drawing from a photo is like eating reheated leftovers rather than fresh food hot off the stove.

However, as much as I believe in it there’s one part of the life drawing tradition I’ve never understood.

Misc. Links

This is shaping up to be one of my busiest weeks as a freelancer in quite a while. This blog is a big priority for me, but clients always come first. In lieu of writing a fresh post today, I’m forced to do some recycling.

Here’s a few interesting links I originally posted way back in 2005/2006, which you may or may not have seen. Hopefully I can write up a fresh blog post tomorrow:

Animation Podcast - A terrific collection of interviews with some of the industry’s top animators, past and present. New episodes are few and far between, but they are always worth waiting for.

How To Be A Cartoonist - A helpful article by Chris Browne, the artist behind “Hagar the Horrible”.

Evolution: The Case Of The Exploding Bugs - Piggy-backing on last week’s post about Expelled!, Ben Stien’s excellent new documentary about the battle between evolution and intelligent design, here’s a short but fascinating video clip from a series called “Incredible Creatures That Defy Evolution”.

Fi-Fi’s Mind Reading Tricks - See if you can figure out how it’s done!

Photoshop Contest - Participants were asked to “update” iconic or classic photos using Photoshop. Fun stuff!

Interactive Facial Anatomy for Artists - Artnatomy is a fascinating website that uses Flash to help artists understand how the muscles of the face communicate emotion.

Deadline Crunch

I’ve got a mountain of freelance work to do this week, so unfortunately there is no blog post today. Should have something tomorrow, though.

Before you leave, don’t forget to visit some of the fantastically awesome Art Blogs listed over in the left-hand column.

Illustration Friday: Wrinkles

Illustration Friday is a fun website for artists. Every Friday a new topic or keyword is posted, and artists are encouraged to sketch or illustrate anything they want to based on that topic. Some artists (such as Guy Francis) will really get creative and treat it like a professional assignment, putting a clever or goofy twist on the theme. There aren’t really any rules, so you can take any twist on the theme that you’d like.

I wish I had time to take part regularly, but I don’t. This week’s theme is “Wrinkles”, and I couldn’t pass it up. I love drawing old guys; their faces are so full of character. So I’ve cobbled together some misc. sketches of elderly men from my various sketchbooks. Some have appeared on this blog before, but at least one (upper left) is new.

Hopefully in the near future things will slow down enough for me to really sink my teeth into an Illustration Friday project. It would be loads of fun.