2010 Goals - Scorecard

Around this time last year, I went public with my goals for 2010. I think it’s only fair that I publicly acknowledge whether or not I met those goals. So, here goes.

Some of them were accomplished and some of them were not. But I can say with all honesty that the reason I wasn’t successful with some were do to my success with others. I was amazingly (thankfully) busy this year. As you can tell from my blog posts alone. In 2009, I had 84 post, as of right now I have 123. So, I was crunched for time, but I did try. Here we go…

Redesign my website. Started out big at the beginning of the year and then fizzled out. Lately I’ve just been directing people here since it’s more up-to-date.

Spookytown. Yikes, this is my biggest disappointment. I didn’t even finish drawing it much less scanning, coloring and lettering. I did take them to set up the lettering for every page, so there’s that.

Sketch Cards. My biggest success. I started the year never having been on a sketch card set. I finished the year having been on eight. Dead@17, Empire Strikes Back, P’ups, The Pro, Mixtape, Hack/Slash, Clone Wars, and Domino Lady / The Spider. And already in the works for 2011 is Lady Death, Bettie Page, Thor, Captain America and Marvel Beginnings. Part of that goal was to get in sets for DC, Marvel and Star Wars. Two down, now to get DC.

I’ve done so much of them that I have to cut back. I already reluctantly turned down Sheena for 5finity because f time restraints. So, I think this year you might see less of them from me.

Publish a sketchbook. Done and done. I was very pleased with myself for this one. I had wanted to do it for some time. It was a lot of work to compile and I think the end result is pretty nice. Hey, you can buy it online you know.

The Complete Shades of Blue. Goal un-achieved. I thought Jim had the lettered files from all the issues, but it turned out that he didn’t. But, he’s actually having them re-lettered (and colored) to put them online. So maybe you’ll hear something about that later.

So there you have it. Two for five. But I can proudly say that the failed ones weren’t failed to due to laziness. And like I said I a year ago, even if none of these silly things got accomplished and my family was still healthy and happy and was able to support them, the year would be a success. Unfortunately, we lost a family member this year, my cousin Aggie, who we all miss. We also lost our 12 year old cat Frankie. But mostly 2010 was kind to us and we appreciate. Look for my 2011 goals coming soon.

Shades of Blue - Phil Noto

Something cool to share. A pin-up of Heidi from "Shades of Blue" done by the greatness that is Phil Noto. I've had this since 2003. I never got a chance to put it in one of the issues and it's just too darn rad not to share. I met Phil at a convention here in Dallas, he's a really nice guy. I remember him and Adam Hughes riding with me to a party a friend of mine was having downtown. Man, that seems so long ago. Anyway, enjoy.

2010 Goals

This year I hadn’t planned on having any resolutions, but then I thought that maybe I should. Help keep me in check, you know? But maybe they should just be “goals” instead of resolutions”. I always have a ton of things I’d like to accomplish in my daily life, whether big or small, and getting them done usually falls down to how much time I have. Spare time is a remarkably foreign thing to me. I never have nothing to do. Ever. I can’t recall the last time I twiddled my thumbs or tapped my fingers on a desktop.

So here are five things I’d like to do in my professional life in 2010. By the way, we are calling it “Twenty Ten”, right? Just want to make sure I’m down with the cool kids.

Redesign my website. Ugh. Most of the content on there is 3 or 4 years old. Except for the comic book page, which I updated it in 2008 (Go me!). Good grief, in my bio I don’t even have a kid and we still have 3 cats. Currently, I have an illustration site as well as a design site and my plan is to merge them back together. The good news is that I’ve already started on this project and my hope is to have the new site up by the end of the month. Side note, did I just use two Charlie Brown phrases in this paragraph? Ugh and Good Grief? I ‘m pretty sure I did.

Spookytown. This year: Finish drawing it. Scan it. Color it. Letter it. Publish it or get someone else to. Not too lofty, right? I should mention that I have Ideas for other books pinballing around in my noggin. A monster story based in WWII, a crime drama, a 60s era space program story mixed with a love triangle, and series based on characters I’ve had since the late 90s. And I can’t even start any those until I get Spookytown out.

Sketch Cards. I started doing sketch cards recently and I found that enjoyed it. I want to get involved in that community and get into some actual card sets. I can tell you that I’m participating in an upcoming one, but can’t say who it’s for just yet. Stay tuned. But I also want to get into a set put out by big players. Marvel, DC or Star Wars. To have my work in an officially licensed product from any one of them would be a dream. I have some contacts; I just need to work on more samples. If anyone reading this would like me in one of their sets, let me know.

Publish a sketchbook. With on-demand printing sites, what’s stopping me? Only time, as mentioned above. I would love to have a book to sell at shows. Draw a bunch of new pin-ups, gather up past ones and put ‘em in a book man! Sounds simple enough.

The Complete Shades of Blue. This is something Jim Harris and I have talked about doing for a while now. Putting everything Shades of Blue into one big book. Every issue, the DWP shorts, the unpublished Devil’s Due short, the mini-comic, pin-ups, web strips, ads, everything. And we’ve toyed with the idea of a new story to go in it as a bonus.

Of course, there are also personal and family goals. Keep providing for my wife and kid is pretty major. Getting back to the gym is cliché at best, but since Junior came along it’s been hard for us. Also, little things like organizing and developing the hundreds and hundreds of photos we’ve taken since, oh I don’t know, MAY of last year. Man, when you have a kid, the camera is always clicking. Going to Colorado didn’t help either. Reorganize my studio. And in area of low-budget films, my buddies over at Dog Food Productions and I want to participate in the 24 Hour Video Race again, get our past stuff on dvd and produce at least one other film.

Well, there they are. We’ll see how I do as the year progresses. Oh yeah, I just want to go on record as saying to 2009 was pretty good to us overall. I’m thankful for a happy and healthy family. And if I can still say that at the end of 2010 and not even one of my silly professional things gets done, then this year will have been just fine.

Has Disney ripped-off "Shades of Blue" with "Bolt"?

Who knows? But man, that costume looks really, really similar to me. Combat boots, stripey tights, black shorts, tight t-shirt. Am I imagining this? What do you think? Call the lawyers?

Girls From My Past

Well, my comic book past anyway. Some of may know, but most of you probably don't, that I used to draw a comic book series called "Shades of Blue". It was created and written by Jim Harris and I worked on 13 of the 15 issues of the series. It was about a teenage girl named Heidi, who woke up one day to find that not only had her hair turned blue, but she had electrical powers as well. Long story short, villains started popping up in her town with powers and her two best friends talk her into becoming a super hero if only so they could be side kicks.

It was a lot of fun to work on and recently I realized how much I missed drawing the characters. So I thought I'd draw Heidi and K.T. just to see how they'd look if I was drawing the series today. This wasn't meant to be some super cool drawing or anything, just an exercise in visiting the past and seeing how time has changed how I draw. Anyway, hope you like it. I had fun drawing it. Man, I miss those crazy kids.

Shades of Blue Volume 1

Devils Due Publishing, the guys who bring you the G.I. Joe comics, got together with Jim Harris (creator of Shades of Blue, my old comic) and struck a deal to publish the entire 15 issue run across three mini trades. And now the first one is available for purchase.

"Shades of Blue" was about a regular teenage girl named Heidi Paige, who wakes up one day to discover that her hair has turned blue and she has the power to control electricity. When other people in her town turn up with powers, her two friends K.T. and Marcus talk her into becoming a superhero to take on these new threats.

Not only does this book collect the first 5 issues of the original Amp Comics run, but it also features a rare short from Digital Webbing Presents and an all new 8 page story which sheds light on Heidi's origin.

Get a copy from Amazon today!