Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Monday, October 29, 2007
Podcast and Career Day
First order of business: Podcast! Yes, I've been recorded and I'm now available (at your convenience) for download at www.comixology.com ! One of the perks behind written interviews is that they tend to edit many of the "ummm..." bits out of your conversation. Not so on a Podcast! So enjoy the smooth sound of my voice as I stammer through a half-assed synopsis of my graphic novel.
Next: Halloween is the big day! Chiaroscuro will be in stores on the 31st, Woo-hoo! I have my advance copies piled up next to me looking slick as all get out.
And then there's Career Day. Well, it was.... Interesting. I was asked to speak at my old High School to the students about my careers in animation and comics. There was 3 sessions of about 40 minutes each, between 20-40 students in each session.
I remember being in high school all to well. There's the little cliques; the metal heads, the cool alternative geeks, the smart asses and the disinterested. Snarky kids and some kids with a genuine interest, but with no teacher supervision in the room: just me. Yar. Not a lot of questions were asked, most kids seemed vaguely interested in computer animation and little else. I don't know that I was of any use at all in getting kids excited about pursuing the arts, but I tried. I would run out of things to say after 30 minutes and then with no questions, just sit back and watch the clock.
Except the last session. There was a kid who came in who clearly had social/mental issues. He spoke too loudly and with no inflection, interrupting everyone and becoming irrationally hostile towards me for no real reason. It was odd having to deal with this poor kid in a polite manner, as I said there were no teachers present. It was nearly impossible to speak to the rest of the kids while he shouted weird things at me with a big smile on. When the session was over he got up in my face with a fist raised yelling "You haven't seen the last of me, I'll have my revenge! Why don't you got to Hollywood, we don't want you here"! Really weird. I feel bad for the guy, it can't be easy getting through the day in such a manner.
It's also strange to find that all those lousy children's cartoons I worked on over the years are the stuff these kids grew up on. Ouch.
Next: Halloween is the big day! Chiaroscuro will be in stores on the 31st, Woo-hoo! I have my advance copies piled up next to me looking slick as all get out.
And then there's Career Day. Well, it was.... Interesting. I was asked to speak at my old High School to the students about my careers in animation and comics. There was 3 sessions of about 40 minutes each, between 20-40 students in each session.
I remember being in high school all to well. There's the little cliques; the metal heads, the cool alternative geeks, the smart asses and the disinterested. Snarky kids and some kids with a genuine interest, but with no teacher supervision in the room: just me. Yar. Not a lot of questions were asked, most kids seemed vaguely interested in computer animation and little else. I don't know that I was of any use at all in getting kids excited about pursuing the arts, but I tried. I would run out of things to say after 30 minutes and then with no questions, just sit back and watch the clock.
Except the last session. There was a kid who came in who clearly had social/mental issues. He spoke too loudly and with no inflection, interrupting everyone and becoming irrationally hostile towards me for no real reason. It was odd having to deal with this poor kid in a polite manner, as I said there were no teachers present. It was nearly impossible to speak to the rest of the kids while he shouted weird things at me with a big smile on. When the session was over he got up in my face with a fist raised yelling "You haven't seen the last of me, I'll have my revenge! Why don't you got to Hollywood, we don't want you here"! Really weird. I feel bad for the guy, it can't be easy getting through the day in such a manner.
It's also strange to find that all those lousy children's cartoons I worked on over the years are the stuff these kids grew up on. Ouch.
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