Hey all, So life is always busy, especially around the holidays. But to make it even busier, my next GI JOE issue (#13) is coming out Dec. 16th!!! IDW is double shipping this month and I will be up in Chicago again doing a signing with my good friends at the Graham Crackers store in Wheaton Illinois. I will be there Wed. Dec. 16th from noon to 8pm. I recently got to do another variant cover with GCC that would be an exclusive cover to their store. It was fun to work on, and was neat for me to see this cover compared to the covers I did for issue #1.

Im always trying to get better, to improve. I dont know if it shows, but thats my attitude anyway. Im looking forward to this run (#13-#17) coming out over the next few months. I havent had anything in print besides trades since August. But this will keep me on the shelves for the next 5 months atleast.

The longer I work on Joe, the more and more I love it. I was ecstatic to begin with, but I've really gotten into the characters of my childhood and there have been some recent pages that just screamed "This is the GI JOE as I remembered it!!!" So those have been exciting days where I really felt like I was living my dream. Getting to draw each day as a career, and on something that makes me feel as excited as a kid again to do it. Now, ask me again in a few months as Im getting my taxes in order and you might get a different opinion of my job. But for now...Life is too good.

Also to note, my website is currently under construction for redesign, and to basically make it easier for me to actually update it. Im hoping it wont take too long.

I will be at the Richmond,Virginia Comic Con this coming weekend. All the info is here if you are close enough to attend [link]

They have an outstanding guest list this year! Including Larry Hama and Chuck Dixon from GI JOE! As well as many of the Tsunami Studio guys [link] and other amazing artists. Check out the site for a full list of guests, you'll be amazed how this growing show got so many good artists and writers to attend.

Im looking forward to it, hopefully I'll see some of you there!

Hey all, well its been quite a while since I updated. Mostly due to a heavy work load and not feeling like I had anything profound to share I guess.

But as it turns out this week, I will be at the Savannah College of Art and Design for their Comics Art Forum! Any chance I get to come back to Savannah is a complete blast. Its always a nolstagic experience for me. I just got in yesterday and we have a panel discussion tonight with the other visiting artists. Then tomorrow and Sat. I will be doing a presentation for the students and portfolio reviews in the afternoon.

Over all it should be a fun weekend, and hopefully I can still be productive with work in my down time. If you're a student or an alumni and you have the chance, you should swing down and participate!

As for work, I've been busy with the penciling duties on my next run of GI Joe 13-17. And I've had the chance to do covers for each of the books. Thats been an interesting step in my career. Getting to do covers on a regular basis is alot of fun, obviously, but also quite challenging. But all together by the end of this month I'll have penciled and inked 20 covers for GI JOE in a little over a year.

So in one of my recent deviations there have been some comments on figure construction and laying out your action poses. Bringing a sense of dynamic action has always been a struggle of mine and something Im continually trying to work on.

brought up a good point about taking photos or even a video of yourself doing the action Im trying to represent. While if this was strictly referenced or light boxed it could infact stiffen my art, but if used as a loose guide for construction, my figures could look more sound.

This also brought up my concern about time.

"This is a really good suggestion. And while Im sure it would improve my art. I simply never think to take the time to do that kind of thing. Its always quicker to try and work it out on the page. And with the amount of projects Im on right now, I never feel like I can take that kind of time for a single pose.

Its a conundrum. Do I take the time to get better, or do I take the time to crank out the work and over the course of time try to apply new techniques and get better.

You run the risk of just doing job after job and not improving, then when work dries up, you haven't improved and adapted your art to remain viable. Or do you run the risk of blowing a deadline to nail that one pose just right page after page. However, by doing so you would in theory nail that pose or one like it the next time and maybe improve on that. Continually challenging your work.


All of that while considering no one reading this book will spend more than 5 seconds reading that panel anyway."

I dont think there is a definant answer, but I do know there are a lot of exercises I could be doing with my art to improve, but I dont devote time to it for fear of missing my deadline. Or because I took on too much work and am always trying to play catch up.

Pipe in and let me know your thoughts on this? Its been on my mind quite a bit.

Okay, well so there is this thing apparently that someone started and should be killed for, where your "friends" tag you and out of obligation to that said "friendship" I must tag others aswell. So now they can look at me with the same annoyance that I revere specifically for that guy who tagged me in the first place.

Good times.

The rules:

RULES
=====
1. Post these rules.
2. Each tagged person must post 8 things about themselves on their journal.
3. At the end, you have to choose and tag 8 people and post their icons on the same journal.
4. Go to their pages and send a message saying you tagged them.
5. No tag-backs!

8 THINGS ABOUT ME
=================
1. I love soccer/football/futball and have since I was a kid. I played in community leagues, HS, and College.

2. I don't have a toe nail on the big toe on my left foot. Its just not there and it will never grow one (TMI!!!!)

3. I went on a mission for my church to Houston, Texas when I was 19.

4. One of my first inspirations for wanting to be an artist can be attributed to the AHA video "Take on Me" where the guy's drawings come to life. Man, I loved the 80's

5. I'm from a very large family. I have 5 brothers and 3 sisters. I'm right in the middle though, #5 in the line up.

6. I come from a family history of artists, my Dad has a degree in architecture, my grandmother is a painter and sculptor and my grandfather built and restored old ornate frames. Creativity was always incouraged in my house.

7. I met my wife in High School and we started dating when I was a Senior. We dated for 4 years and have been married for 9.

8. When I was 4, I was trying to do cartwheels in the living room and hit my head on the coffee table. It knocked me out and I woke up when they were stitching the gash on my head at the hospital. I still have a scar over my left eye. My son just turned 3 and I can assure you we dont let him play near the coffee table.

The following friends can thank this guy for starting this crap.