Man, Fuck Cancer.
I woke up pretty sick this morning. Kids came over yesterday and one of them had a 102.2 temp. Thus I got up with a big time stuffy nose and sinus pressure. So I got up at 4:30 in the am and got the sad news online that David Bowie is no longer with us.
I will not pretend that I was the world's biggest Bowie fan but I have a few of his albums. LOW, EARTHLING and of course ZIGGY STARDUST. Tons of his single songs from "Let's Dance" to "Space Oddity." I dug his work but never drilled down on it like I probably should have. I recently thought, man I really should check out more of his obscure stuff. I got time and now some motivation to do so.
Death needs to stay the fuck away from our music icons for a while. Ornette Coleman, Scott Weiland, Lemmy, now this. Fuck. And I know his music touched millions upon millions. He was an artist, in every sense of the word. A true inspiration to tons of musicians, including Scott Weiland. The dude leaves us behind a massive catalog of music, including a new album just released a couple days ago. He worked right up until the end. He probably died with some lyric notes and a microphone in hand. And you'll never find a better looking music icon than David Bowie. No one comes close. Handsome dude.
He will be greatly, greatly missed.
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Well, 2016 seems to be coming right out the gate with some cool events to come that include me. Some conventions have approached me and I approached a couple new ones. Like I stated before, I am gonna try to focus more on Horror Conventions and Small Press Comic Shows this year and maybe next year. So I am avoiding any large pop culture based comic show for a bit. I'll miss my friends there, but I just feel like trying these out for a while in an attempt to gain new readers and try out other genres. So here are my confirmed 100% dates for the year so far:
FEB. 27th. MSU COMICS FORUM. Snyder/Phillips Hall. - I usually start out my year with this nice little show in East Lansing. Come on out and see me and my friends there. Info: HERE
MARCH 5-6 FANTASICON, LANSING, MI - I got offered a table at this new pop culture show here in Lansing so I agreed to try it out. Should be fun and some cool guests! Check it out HERE
MARCH 18-20 HORRORHOUND CINCINNATI - I will be going to help some friends be venders and doing the show as research. If all goes well I will be at the Indianapolis Horrorhound show later in the year with my new horror comic. Details on the show HERE
APRIL 9-0 S.P.A.C.E. SMALL PRESS COMIC CON COLUMBUS, OH - A show I have considered for years but now am finally gonna trek down and do it. All comics. All small press. I'm looking forward to it, greatly. Details on the show HERE
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Lastly I would like to talk about this:
In the past few years I have focused heavily on print sales of pop culture characters and properties to add to my table along with my comics and graphic novels. While they have sold well and I have gained some new followers of my work through them, I know my passion is really not in them. There has been debate for years about the legality and the sanctity of doing these things and I have sided with both camps on the issue. But at the end of the day, it is up to the individual to decide what they want to do. Its up to the artist behind the table to show what they want to put forth into the world. And as much as I like the drawings and concepts I made using these characters, and some are fun to do, in the end, I find it a distraction from what I REALLY want to be doing.
I was happier when I was just drawing comics. It was more filling when I was writing stories that meant something to me. It got me the most attention. That attention has waned in the last few years with the rise of thousands of newcomers wanting to tell their stories too. A great thing. But I feel like a lot of the loss of momentum is my fault for not evolving as an artist and a person. I put my dreams and my stories on the back burner. And after dealing with my life crumbling apart, I was left to get into emergency mode and rebuild. I'm now in a stable place and can say, "What now?"
So I soul searched. Where am I going? Why am I doing this? Do I even enjoy this anymore? So I backed off and seen what I would do if I was bored enough. It was a grand experiment to not FORCE myself to draw or color pages, but just to see if I would do it because I enjoyed it. And I did. Its slow going but the drive is still alive in me. I have a list of comics and stories I want to get out into the world and I feel like the fuse is finally being re-lit.
In 2015, I started work on STARSLAM 2 and got the majority of the art on it done. Only a handful of pages are left to pencil. I have been in the coloring stages on it since September. Every day I get closer and closer to it being finished. I still have a lot of mountain to climb, but climb it I shall. And you will hear about it first, right here.
After that, its a couple smaller comic projects and a pinup book I have been working on for about two years now. Then finally Pleasant Life 2 will get rolling again. And I will finish my couple novel ideas that I have started and haven't finished yet. The motion is set on everything I want to get done.
There will be no time for anything else but MY work. And with all this focus and attention going into my comics, my stories, my characters, I have decided to stop working on prints. I will not be selling them at the conventions from this point forward.
I do have a stack of prints left that I have to do something with, so here's what I propose: For every person that comes up to my table this year and buys one of my graphic novels, they get one of my 11x17 pop culture prints for free. This is while supplies last and they will not be reprinted. The only place you will get prints from me beyond that is at a horror show, to help offset my lack of comics work for the moment. And that will be the couple horror prints I have in my arsenal. But once my stuff gets rolling, they will be retired as well.
So yeah, no more prints at comic shows. No judgement to those who choose to make prints a part of their table. Its just not what I want to do anymore. I don't enjoy it. I don't want to be in a covers only band. I want to make my own music. I hope that makes sense. I will still do fan art in some capacity if I feel like it and maybe put it in an art book or online fun thingie. But that is all the attention its getting.
I say all of these things knowing that I am taking a major risk. Print sales have boosted my cash flow at these shows and I will have to work extra hard to make it up by turning people on to my comics and books. But I always enjoyed it more when people chose to buy my books over my prints. I'd rather them read my stories than have this disposable kitch type of item. Congrats to all who got some of my prints in the past. You got some rare shit there, made with pride of course. I don't want to discredit what I did. But I'm just saying that from this point forward, my dedication returns to where my heart is.
Anyway, thanks for reading. Onward and upward. Let's kick some ass in 2016. And goodbye Starman. Many Moonage Daydreams ahead for us all.
--T
