Have Fun!

I know, I know -- I haven't posted in a while. It's been very busy here, what with getting the new house in shape and starting teaching and all. I'll try better, I promise.

Back in August I was hard at work on entries for two competitions -- next year's Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta commemorative poster, and the logo for Santa Fe's 400th Anniversary. I've since heard back officially from the Balloon Fiesta. They didn't select my image for their poster next year, but they are interested in making it a t-shirt. So that's a nice consolation prize. The Santa Fe 400 people I haven't heard back from officially, but the word is that my entry wasn't one of the finalists.

So, I didn't hit two home runs, in terms of outcome. But I did in terms of my happiness with the final work.
I'm only putting portions of each image up here, since I'm going to be selling one to the Balloon Fiesta and the Santa Fe logo may indeed end up being picked -- until you get official word, nothing is certain.

With both entries I went with my newly-discovered woodcut technique. I'm really happy with both results. Originally the Balloon Fiesta poster was simply drawn in black outline and colored -- the woodcut effect adds a whole 'nother dimension to the work, making the drawing style as interesting as the subject and the composition.

I had a blast putting these entries together. While keeping in mind what I thought the judges would be looking for, I still went with what I wanted to do. I felt much more freedom than I have in a while with most of the work I've gotten. I definitely have to enter more of these competitions in the future. Even though I didn't win (although I didn't lose, in the case of the Balloon Fiesta entry that's going to become a sold piece!) I came out with some great portfolio examples.

But of course, it occurs to me that I can apply this sort of freedom to my other work, too! If a client calls and says they want such-and-such, I need to feel free enough to suggest they look at other solutions, too -- and then show them what I mean. I need to ask for more freedom -- "would you mind if I went with more of this sort of direction? I think it would work really well here." I'm not just being paid for my hands, but for my judgment too -- I need to exercise it more. It'll make me more in demand, and besides, it's more fun.

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Monday Morning Marty -- 9-10-07

We're still pretty busy with the new house, and my new teaching gig (more on that in a subsequent post) so I'll take this opportunity to post another close-up from the Santa Fe Animal Shelter illustration, this time in color.

As you may notice now that the color is in place, this image is meant to have a "Wizard of Oz" feel to it, what with the yellow brick road and all. But it's also supposed to represent New Mexico, so the yellow brick is really adobe.

This isn't the entire image, but a close-up showing Marty and some other, fictional dog. The colors are accurate to Marty, for those of you keeping track of such things.

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New Jazz Age story starting today!

Sorry I haven't posted in a while. Last week my wife Jennifer and I bought a house, and we've been working hard on it all week. Well, she's been working a lot more on it than I have. She took the week off from work, whereas I wasn't able to get a similar respite from Annie, so I worked at that, at the new house and at the new class I started teaching on Tuesday. Busy week!

Today marks the beginning of a new Jazz Age story on GraphicSmash.com. Jazz Age is the story of a group of adventurers fighting supernatural threats in 1920s Boston. Only this story doesn't take place in Boston, but in the fictional town of San Pedro, Arizona. This story was originally published in print in 1990, years before I ever visited the Southwest; I'm relieved the setting feels as close to passably authentic as it does.

The Jazz Age series usually runs in full color with a new strip every week. Last year I decided to take a rest from the weekly duties by re-running the original print series, with one page every weekday. The print series originally ran as black and white; I've added some color to most of the pages since the Internet is in color nowadays.

The cover to "Owtsiders Go! Home!" part two of "The Flowers of San Pedro", runs today; the issue begins on Monday. And all the previous issues -- this is issue four -- of the original series, and all the stories I've done for the website, are there as well, free for all.

Enjoy some fun adventure reading this weekend!

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