Goodbye 2011 - Hello 2012!

Time once again to look back upon the year and I'm happy to report it was, in the smooth crooning tones of Ol' Blue Eyes, indeed "a Very Good Year".

This year marked a first for me; for the majority of the year I worked almost exclusively on my own projects! It's a total dream come true and I'm very happy with the results, I hope someday this will be just a matter of fact. 

A few highlights of the year:

 - Going to Wizard Con in Toronto and hanging out with fellow Eisner Nom of 2010 Ken Nimura (I Kill Giants).

- Finished drawing the next Angora Napkin book!

- A road trip with Brenda to Ottawa and getting to couch surf and visit so many old friends.

- Seeing Metallica in Halifax.

- A 2 month summer Artist in Residence job in Summerside and getting a start on my next two major projects.

- Seeing my kids off to their first day of Kindergarten!

- Kate Beaton book signing in Halifax!

- Getting engaged!

- Christmas vacation sledding with my girls.

- The creation of Wine Club (Don't talk about Wine Club).

- Almost completing the colouring of the Angora Napkin book (10 pages to go)! 

And while no year is ever 365 flawless I do my best to make the best of things. I'm truly grateful to have such a great family, friends and time in which to work on my art. I feel so lucky I could burst!

2012 is going to be exciting! Hopefully a new Angora Napkin book will drop and I'll be well into the next project. It's unlikely I'll be able to have another self indulgent year like this anytime soon - gotta find a good paying gig as I've got a wedding to plan! 

See you next year! 

Covered!

For a while I've been wanting to contribute a piece to the "Covered" blog (artists re-interpreting comic covers) hosted by Robert Goodin but never got around to it until recently. I knew just the cover I wanted to do, if only for the simple reasons that A) I'm a huge Indy fan and B) I remember buying this issue off the spinner rack and having my 10 year old mind blown finding a letter I wrote made it into the letters page! (I think I only ever wrote 2 fan letters in my time, this one and one to 'Groo the Wanderer' - which to my knowledge never saw print).

Original cover by Keith Pollard

(Click to embiggen)

(TRANSCRIPT: 

Dear Marvel: 

   The artwork in issue #28 of INDIANA JONES was excellent, and the plot was great. But I was kind of disappointed that Indy called Alec "crazy" when Alec jumped the horse across the cliff. I thought that Indy would have done the same thing without hesitation. Whatever happened to the old "Jones luck?"

   I'm a devoted Indy fan, and this is my first time writing.

   We hope it wont be the last, Troy! Regarding your observation, we agree. If Indy had been in control of the horse, he would have done exactly what Alec did. But he didn't know Alec had the skill to pull off a stunt like that. Indy's willing to risk his own life - but doesn't like someone else doing it for him!

END)

Yes, I am the eternal skeptic. Nonetheless, I was very satisfied with their reasoning behind Indy's actions in that particular thrilling adventure.

This was a fun little diversion, I'll probably do one again someday if the notion strikes!

My Lovely Assistant

I just passed the 100 pages mark colouring "Harvest of Revenge"! My kids have taken a real interest in colouring on my Cintiq so I let them help me out now and again. Ah these modern kids and their fancy colouring books - and check out the results! Not bad for a 5 year old lefty, she even signed her work! :D

Ch-ch-ch-Changes

Sorry about the blog neglect, life got really busy – let me get you up to speed:

A freelance storyboard gig came up and that pretty much kept me sleepless for the better part of September. The rest of October was a mixed bag of unfortunate events. Lets get the bad out of the way first -

My Father, who just turned 80, has been suffering from Alzheimer’s for some time. Things took a turn for the worse as eventually happens to people struck with this miserable disease and he has had to be taken out of his home and put in a manor. My amazing mother has done well to keep him home and care for him as long as she has but despite that it’s impossible not to feel like we’ve failed him somehow. Alzheimer’s is an absolutely awful way to go, and though he’s still here and relatively well in many respects it feels like the beginning of the end. It saddens me so much to see him fading away.

Next was the shocking news of the passing of my childhood friend Craig Arsenault at age 37. He fought a difficult battle with cancer and despite all hopes to the contrary lost the game just a few days before Halloween. Craig was one of the funniest, smartest and all around good guys on the block. I have a lot of great memories of Craig, he was a big part of my young life and I’ll never forget him. He leaves behind a lot of people of loved him and my thoughts are with his family and especially his young daughter Bella. None of us ever imagines we’ll check out so young with so much life left to live, I’m sure Craig felt the same. I miss you old friend, it’s unfair we should be robber of your presence so early.

***

Now onto the good news. November, I’ve been looking forward to for some time now and it’s off to a perfect start. My girlfriend Brenda Hickey and I took a trip to Halifax for her Birthday to attend the Kate Beaton signing at Strange Adventures. We were first in line (and the line was looong we discovered when we left) and happy to leave with a freshly signed copy of her brilliant ‘Hark a Vagrant” book.

Later that evening I proposed to Brenda and she accepted! (Sorry to upstage you Kate!) Anyone who has met Brenda knows what a lucky guy I am – she’s a complete goofy sweetheart and I love her madly. The past few years I’ve spent with her have been some of the best of my life and I’m so happy to imagine that trend continuing on for the rest of my days. Thank you Brenda, I love you!!!

And as for the next Angora Napkin book? Well, I’m on page 92 of the colouring and still clinging to the remote hope it’ll all be done by years end. I’ve enlisted two helpers, but I fear this will in fact slow down progress as they’re still working on staying within the lines. Nonetheless, they figured out how to pick colours and flip the pen around to erase so you never know. Maybe they’ll teach me a few tricks!

PACE - Wrap up

FINAL REPORT

September 1, 2011

            It’s with a heavy heart I gave up my keys to the West End Cottage, 471 Notre Dame Street, Summerside. This had been my home away from home for the summer of 2011 and it was an opportunity unparalleled in my experience.

            My original and primary intention during the residency was to begin work on my next major graphic novel entitled “The Allusion of Life”. This and so much more came out of my time as the PACE Artist in Residence.

            Meeting with the people at Wyatt we planned out the two months events. I spent 2 hours of almost every day out on the streets of Summerside as part of the ‘Arts in Motion Festival’, letting people know about the PACE Program and talking about my work. This worthwhile event did much in the way of drawing people off the beaten path and into the house to see the artwork and it’s development.

As well I also held a presentation for a group of video game summer students talking about the art and design that parallels the gaming and animation industries. I was unexpectedly invited by local kids to help spray paint the graffiti wall at the park (didn’t have time unfortunately) and hosted a ’24 Hour Comic Marathon’ which turned out to be a massive success!

It’s worth mentioning this event further, as it was a definite high point of the Residency. I had a group of talented people take part (A film director, a tattoo artist, an animator from Ottawa and local comic artists) in each creating a 24-page comic in 24 hours! We livestreamed the entire event over the Internet and had plenty of people and media check in on our progress as the hours wore on. It was a lot of fun and I’ve heard some of the participants say they’d like to do it again!

Events aside, I myself am beyond pleased with what I accomplished with my time. I’ve written over 40 pages of the first draft of “The Allusion of Life”, did plenty of concept drawings and even the first 2 finished pages from the book!

Also, I began work on an “Angora Napkin” adventure comic strip - completing seven strips and numerous bits of pin-up artwork that will be included in the next book. I even managed to get in a little oil painting late one night with the company of a friend who was trying his hand at abstract art.

Some days I worked without interruption and others there seemed to be a flood of visitors to the property. Some local people came in to see what was going on after seeing it reported on the CBC, many just fell upon it by chance or word of mouth. I had visitors from as far away as San Diego, Maine, Ontario, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.

The PACE Artist in Residency program was an incredible experience; I’m excited for the next artist to be able to take advantage of this wonderful opportunity. My undying thanks go out to the PEICA, The City of Summerside, Wyatt Heritage and all the great folks who helped bring this fantastic project into existence!

PACE: August 29th -31st Schedule: FINAL WEEK!

I'm down to my last few days as Artist in Residence!!!! Wow, those two months flew by!! So, last chance to come by and see what I've been up to this Tuesday & Wednesday.

Be sure to come by the house from 4:30 6:30PM on Wednesday for a free BBQ meet and greet, check out the artwork and meet the next Artist taking over the space in September!

SCHEDULE August 29th - 31st
Monday: CLOSED
Tuesday: 9:30am - 3:00pm
Wednesday: 9:30am - PARTY!

*All time are tentative / flexible in that I sometimes need to run errands or whatever, but I'll do my utmost best to be there for the listed hours. I'll update any changes should they arise.

OPEN TO THE PUBLIC: 471 NOTRE DAME ST. next to the CREDIT UNION PLACE.
Come on down, check out the art, chat & have a coffee!

PACE: August 22nd -28th Schedule

SCHEDULE August 22nd - 28th
Monday: 9:00am - 2:30pm
Tuesday: 9:30am - 5:00pm
Wednesday: 9:30am - 5:00pm
Thursday: 9:30am - 5:00pm
Friday: 9:30am - 5:00pm
Saturday: 10:00am - 3:00pm

*All time are tentative / flexible in that I sometimes need to run errands or whatever, but I'll do my utmost best to be there for the listed hours. I'll update any changes should they arise.

OPEN TO THE PUBLIC: 471 NOTRE DAME ST. next to the CREDIT UNION PLACE.
Come on down, check out the art, chat & have a coffee!