FarFaria

http://www.farfaria.com/
Well I can finally disclose the project that detoured my progress on my personal work. FarFaria is an iPad  app full of Children's stories to delight and amuse. I was privileged to work on four of the stories.

It was such a pleasure to work on these stories. And being my first official freelance gig, I was a bit disappointed when it was over. While my heart is in my own stories, I must admit that it is a completely different challenge to bring someone else's story to life. The folks at intuary were great to work with. I do hope to work with them again and welcome any other jobs that might come my way, but I must say I am so glad to be able to get back to finishing Ouwangalaymah. 

One of these day's I hope to own an iPad and read the other stories in FarFaria. I understand it will be an app that will continue to grow as more stories are added in the future, so be sure if you are an iPad owner to download it and let me know what you think!

         

      

The K-Jewel Show was a BLAST!

I can't thank Karl Kallmann enough for the invitation which came, about a year ago, to be in this past weeks art hop gallery show at the K-Jewel studios in down town Fresno. This was my first show ever, and I am flabbergasted at the response to my work! What have I been waiting on? As a creative person who longs to actually be an artist for a living, there is a rational fear, an apprehension, that your work my not hit the mark with a viewing audience. That your hopes will be dashed, that you dreams will be squelched. We perhaps place too much of our worth as an individual in the validation of our work. That fear of failure perhaps is what has stymied me all these years. But for what ever reason, I am finally out of the creative closet!    

When Karl emailed me and asked if I'd seen the Fresno Bee yet I was absolutely blown away! My piece made it on to the front page of the life section with a header piece on the front page!  Totally unexpected! Thursday night, a couple who attended the opening told me that they came because of the article, specifically to see that piece. Boy did that make my evening! I've also been contacted by others interested in acquiring a print based on the news paper article.

  And MAN was the show busy! I regretfully, had never attended an Art hop in Down town Fresno and had no idea what to expect. It was so stimulating to see so many people take an interest in my work. and meeting the other artists was just incredible! 10 years ago when we first moved out here to the west coast, I found the work of Leonard Filgate   in one of the many galleries along the central coast.

  
       His warm and whimsical Characters from the Children's book series Rip Squeak, written by his charming wife susan, simply captivated me. We purchased a copy online for our son, never dreaming that one day we would be able to have them both sign it. And the thought of my work being hung in a gallery with his... I think 9 is the number of the cloud I'm on! I also had the pleasure of meeting Doug Hansen    a Wonderful illustrator and an instructor at Fresno State University.

We had the BEST conversation! Never let it be underestimated that when two creative minds start talking, the world can indeed be changed! We is sure feel like it can, and He has invited me to come speak to his class in November! I think I can help most by presenting my story as a "Why it is important to have direction early in your life" kind of way. If just one of his students can avoid the pitfalls of retail I will have won the world! I've got so much that I want to share with them.

And I also had the wonderful pleasure of chatting with Kathryn Pendroza  

a remarkable illustrator. She is a friendly, warm and open person. We talked about the SCBWI and critique groups, universal  travails of life as a creative and again, just so wonderful to be around like minded and friendly people.

I hope that this isn't my first and LAST gallery show. I so want to do this again, but even still, just having discovered a facet of my community that I never knew to be a vibrant as it is is such a win for me and my family. Thank you Karl Kallmann and the K-Jewel staff for being the gem you are in the cultural crown of our community.   

     

the APE experiance

This past weekend, I had one of the best art times in my life. Not because we sold out of books, because we didn't, and not because we all ended up with publishing contracts because we didn't. But we did revel in each others company. As artists, we struggle with balancing our passions as we speak with others. In the end, our friends and families, although supportive, lack the depth of interest in what we love to talk about, and after the fiftieth time we share our work with them they get a little bored with us. Getting with fellow artists and WoW! We just can't stop talking! We see things through similar filters and feel things in similar ways. That's the number one take away from this weekend for me.
We really didn't do half bad when it came to sales, yet in the long run, we're simply hoping for a self sustaining venture at present. Self publishing events are showing up all over the place, and as they do, our chances of this becoming something more improve dramatically.

Thank you again;

Charlotte Cheng  Denver Wagner       and Michelle Kondrich  for being so AWESOME to hang with!

We will have to do it again!





          

DARK MISCHIEF Kickstarter campaign

Well, it is official. The Kickstarter campaign is open for pledges!  
My story, Two White Horses was accepted for inclusion in this anthology of dark tales. I'm hoping mostly playful or low impact, haven't seen much of the other stories yet, but the artists involved in this project are simply AWESOME! I'm so excited to have my work along side theirs! Dani Jones, Kim Holm, Sarah Turner, Mark Rudolph, AP (Tony) Fortado, Mich Byrd, Dave Flora, Dirk Manning, Cayetano Garza Jr.,  Pam Harrison, Wane Spencer, Kenny Durkin, Thomas Florimante Jr., Jenni and Barry Gregory,
Even though this is a step beyond where I usually tread, I have high hopes that it will bring me one step closer to being a full time story teller. Getting in on this Kickstarter campaign is one way that you could help. Jenni has put together some awesome incentives. Take a look and see if any might appeal to you. Just contributing a dollar will put your name in the book as a contributor, and if the word is spread by everyone and we meet our funding goals, all of the contributing artists will receive payment for our efforts! I MIGHT REALLY GET PAID! YEA!!! Just being part of this project is cool enough, but man, a bit a moola would be nice too. One thing that is great about contributing to projects like this is that all creators retain 100% of their rights and can do what ever they wish with their stories.  Two White Horses will be available as a 20 page standard comic soon as well, and as a Digital down load from the new Indiplanet Digital site.
Thank you in advance for any support that you can share and I hope that you will enjoy the stories in Dark Mischief               

Preparation for a busy month

Well, Here comes October!
Every year for the last, oh, I don't know, SEVERAL years, I've been saying I'm gonna leave the Day job buy October. We I can't say with any certainty that that will be so, but I am about to take a couple of major steps in a direction that may make all my Artin around more legitimate. Hopefully profitable.
fist, I hit my goal and then some in finishing my 20 pager for Jenni Gregory's Dark Mischief   Two White Horses, (my contribution to this anthology) marks a mile stone for me personally. Stepped way out of my comfort zone and I think I think of all my books this one will attract a much wider audience.
Second, APE the Alternative Press Exposition is this next weekend.  I will be tabling with Denver Wagner, Michelle Kondrich an Charlotte Cheng   I'm hoping for a BIG weekend of connections and fun interacting with folks who come to the show.

and Thirdly, on October 6th I have my first Gallery Show ever. Here in downtown Fresno, at the K-Jewel Gallery I'm very excited. I thought that I would be nervous, but I'm really not! I feel like it's just time. Time I started to let people see what I've been trying to do in ernest since 2005. Here are the pieces I'm putting in;    

  

TRUST

Trust is like my Masterpiece. the Show is for illustrators, but I hope to demonstrate that the visual artist should not be limited by an imposition of labels. We do think deeply about our contributions. they are quite personal and hopefully thought provoking. I slip it in to the category of editorial illustration, but it is to me a work of fine art.

And other pieces will include;

Adrift

GREW

The Mayor's Wife

the final page of For the Public Good.

I had a large print made through Zazzle 24x36

plus My KnickKnack the Kat story all framed in sequence.

It's really hard to decided which pieces to include. I might try to work in a couple of the Priest from GREW, but at any rate, being my first show I can't wait to see how my work is received. I do hope that this last big push to get my work out there is met with a positive response. Either way I plan to learn as much as I can from the experience and grow from there.  

     

   

There's a new podcast in town!

Just a short note. The Illopond Creative Collective has put together a new podcast for all you creative types to stick in your ear while you work.

http://www.illopond.com/podcast/

On our first episode we have interviews with two of our ponders, Denver Wagner 

and Paul Cageggi of the Process Diary   and his web comic Pandiea 

and a very special guest, Eisner award winning author/artist

David Petersen

Mouseguard.net 

I'm really proud of how it turned out and I hope that you will help spread the word about the show.

If you get a chance to listen, please leave us a comment! I'd love to hear what you think.  

What I've been working on

September comes, and I'm sure will go with head spinning swiftness. Not only do I have my first Gallery show coming up the first week of October, the 6th to be exact, But October 1st is my deadline for my newest graphic short story. it is called Two White Horses. This is derived from what I believe to be an old Appalachian folk tale. Years ago when in I was in collage at UT Austin, I caught a PBS special, Storytellers. On that show was the most captivating storyteller I had ever heard. Her name was Jackie Torrance.   this is 26+ years ago! The story she told has been with me ever since. I've wanted to put this story into comic form for some time but was waiting for my abilities to grow to do it justice. The opportunity came for me to put this to pen only a few weeks ago.  I hope that it will be included in an anthology that Barry and Jenni Gregory of Ka-Blam!    are putting together called Dark Mischief. The other artists on this book are SO incredible! Among them Dani Jones, Mark Rudolph, Kim Holm, Mitch Byrd AP Futado, Dave Flora, I mean really exceptional talent. I am so flattered to be included, and hopefully this story will be. Not only that, but APE is on the 1st & 2nd og Oct. AHHH! anyway, like I say September is going to fly by and when it has I hope to be in a better place in my professional Art carrier. Here are the first 10 pages of Two White Horses to Whet your appetite for what i hope will be one of my best works yet.

To get the rest of the story, be sure to watch for the availability of Dark Mischief, soon from Indyplanet.com  

I hope it makes it in and even if it doesn't, I'm a thinking I will make it available other wise. Thanks for having a look!