Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Taking hold

Last time I talked about how hard it was to let go of my creation into more capable hands. When those hands became too busy, I felt I had to make another decision. All along I had lamented not being able to draw Timmy, I just felt it was beyond my ability, pretty much a laziness issue. I believe that the only way to grow is to continually challenge yourself. The question is, am I up to the challenge?

I was talking with a friend about this, and he helped me realize that I should have been doing the drawing from the start. God gave me a passion and some talent to create comics, if I choose to not develop it to the best of my ability, what good am I? Every effort I've made to have someone else do the art has been met with delay and frustration. Don't get me wrong, Eric & Dave gave it their all, and I love and appreciate them more than they can know.

So Eric & I talked, and I've begun to do final pencils on the pages I posted way back sometime. It'll be a challenge, because I ususlly pencil sketchy, and then do a poor job of inking over it. We're going to try a tight pencil style, with color by Eric directly over the pencils. I'm glad Eric still wants to stay on! And if I can talk Dave into doing covers...awesomeness!

Monday, May 26, 2008

Leting go

I had a dream...or something like that. When I came up with the concept for Timmy, I felt my art style wouldn't suit the project (Maybe I've covered all this before, so bear with me). I knew a super cool artist, Dave Contreras, who did some super-cool robot comics, and I thought, "He is the artist for Timmy". I had never worked with someone before, and it was hard to give up some control of the story, but the work he gave me was great, and made letting go worth it!

I had always wanted to be a comics artist. I just never applied myself, and worked as hard as I should have, so I felt inadequate to do the job. Still it was hard letting go of something I always wanted to do. But I felt I could be happy as a writer only.

Sadly, life got in the way, as it does, and Dave couldn't commit to getting the work done, no problem, no hard feelings, Dave still remains one of my favorites. So the search began anew. Eric Merced had a style what I was looking for, so I thought, "He is the artist for Timmy". He accepted, and turned out some equally great work. Sadly, life got in the way, as it does (am I repeating myself?), and Eric couldn't commit a the time. No problem, we remain brothers!

So a year or so ago, I told myself, "I can do this, I'm good enough", and got to work on some of the best work I've done, but it was still just pretty good. I began to doubt my ability to complete the work at a professional level, and somehow talked Eric into giving it another shot. Again, he gave me some great work, but sadly, life got in the way (I'm seeing a pattern here), and Eric wanted to commit, but had to take a paying job, which I couldn't offer at the time.

I'm not putting down these guys in any way, they're both professionals, and do awesome work. The problem was I couldn't pay anything, and the guys had to make the wise choice to do paying work to support their families. I would do the same thing. They remain my brothers who I love.

So again, Timmy remains stalled in the mud. Or does it?

To be continued.

Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Killer Robot of the Week: Atomic Robo


Ok, TomTom didn't count, I didn't know anything about him. I got the Free Comic Book Day edition of Atomic Robo from Red 5 Comics. Very cool book! Reminds me of Hellboy except not as creepy, and he wears cool pants. I'll definitely be picking more of these up!

Threat level: 7 Robo seems pretty smart & tough. I wouldn't put a "kick me" magnet on his back.

Monday, May 5, 2008