You saved MY Saturday, too!

Let's get this part over with—yes, I know I mindlessly, carelessly smudged up the drawing and then sort of gave up on making the car look nice. There.

Memorial Day weekend, I was headed up north to spend time w/my family and work in my dad's woodshop. If you check my Facebook, you can see the two case pieces I made.

Stopping for gas on my way out of town, I noticed a cute fellow dressed all cosplay for (I hope) the anime con that was in town. He finished pumping his gas, and got in his car, leaving his tall ice coffee on the roof.

Part of me desperately wanted to see how it would play out. But, the nice guy in me (well, maybe 2/3 the nice guy...) knocked on his window, and then reached up for his coffee and handed it to him. 

"Dude, thanks!" said he, "you totally SAVED my Saturday!"

Well, no, thank you, for brightening mine.  

Attention gamers/anime fans, do you recognize this character? If it's not a Gatchaman member, Sailor Moon or Pikachu, I'm lost.

In and out of sleep confusion

Toronto boys

this scanned poorly, didn't it?

TCAF 2013 report

The last time I attended a comics festival was NY Comic Con 2011—18 months ago! 2012 was completely con-free for me. It felt good to step away as I turned to designing and building furniture, but at the same time, I miss the camaraderie of the shows and seeing my friends!

This year, dear Monica Gallagher was exhibiting solo at the show (she used to have to sneak in on my table...sorry TCAF) and Greg and I decided to tag along for a Toronto good time!

I saw some nice comic work, talked to a few creators I hadn't met before, and attended some panels. All and all a good time.

However, the stand-out cranky moment was attending the "book design" panel, which was supposed to focus on everything but the creation of comics themselves. So excited. The panel was a great line-up and I have much to learn here.

It was awful.

Mostly due to the moderator's questions... such as "What's your dream comics assignment?" and "What would you be doing if you weren't a graphic designer?" and for a panel about design, no visuals was a no-no. It ended up the panel bitching about past failures and hyping successes. My favorite, they told us not to break the design rules, but never told us what those rules were.

On to the Q&A. I asked if they ever test different covers at trade shows, A/B test, or focus group test...or do they go with their gut (see the NYT article about how the re-issue of the classic GREAT GATSBY cover was outselling the movie poster cover like ten to one)? 

I won't name names, but the first response was "Thank GOD we don't!" followed by a rant about focus groups. Ooops, guess this big deal in the publishing world doesn't even known what A/B testing is? The next response, "you have to just trust your instincts." Uh, you might be wrong? The whole point is to test two, and see which sells better. I don't mind the fact that they aren't testing covers, but the venom unleashed at the question was absurd. I'm not a beauty school drop out, but a marketing professional with, hrm, 14 years experience.

No wonder why the industry is floundering. 

Eesh.

Here was my Saturday:

5:45 awaken by sunrise (despite the blinds on my loft's 25 windows, the light can't be stopped).

6:00 walk Mr. Darby, coffee, cereal

6:45 bring my car up to the flea lot (it was full of Pier's stuff) and unload at his space.

7:30 start to bring my stuff to the flea

8:30 all set up...hang time

9-1 sell stuff at my building's flea market.was exhausting. I sold about 2/3 of my stuff, so it was a good sale. I had hoped to make a bunch of custom pieces of furniture, but in the end, I only had time to make 2 case pieces (one sliding-door cabinet 38" x 12" x 20" and one open bookcase 38" x 12" x 20") for me, so I could sell off a bookcase I don't like/want (38" x 12" x 40").  Maybe for next year's flea. Check the Brickbottom flea's Facebook page!

1-2 break down the flea

2-4 errands

4-6 reorganize

6-7:30 clean (this was a big deal since Thurs-Fri I had new windows installed and was prepping for the flea. I also trimmed back my beard w/the electric shaver, always messy and I cleaned my bathroom. I wanted to shave off the scruff, as I have a business trip to NYC on Mon-Tues).

7:30-8 take recylcing out, take trash out. warm up leftovers.

8-9 eat dinner, do dishes.

I'm tired! Time for bed! What did you get up to today?

Crystal

For my birthday, I went to see a psychic!—I wanted my palm read, primarily. Maybe tarot cards read.

I was hoping for a dark and creepy experience. I'd had my palm read twice before, and my tarot cards read once. It's fun!

You may recall, I'm a bit embracing of death. I mean, it's going to happen, right? So, I didn't tell this to Crystal, but my main objective, aside from the creepy experience, was to chat about death.

As soon as she said, "I work with the light, not the darkness," I knew I was in for disappointment. She told me I'd live a long life and and moved on—that was the last mention of death! 

She focused and career and money (yawn) and relationships. I told her I was meant to be alone. She nearly cried at that, and told me I had a soul mate, and wanted to help me find him. She asked me if I had any dreams, and I started telling her about my recurring nightmares, and she wasn't interested. In hindsight, I think she was asking about the hope sort of dreams not sleeping dreams. 

Without even telling her I mostly wanted to talk about death, she declared, "you're so negative."

What a dull experience. Thanks, Yelp!

Surf's up—RIP Annette

Sad news about Annette last month. 

The most popular original Mouseketeer, she was re-invented as a pop music star when her fans demanded it. Then re-invented as an unlikely beach babe for the Beach Party films when Disney Studios didn't know what to do with her. Then retired from acting when she was pregnant with her first child...all by age 24. 

I am a fan of the way she carried herself in Hollywood (not all former Mouseketeers have such class, eh Brit?), but particularly as someone who lived with MS for many years. For those of you who know my family, you know why.

I took my time drawing this and adding color. You know I haven't been drawing much lately due to my newfound hobby of DIY. Yesterday I spent the day designing and building a cabinet, but had to bail for now until I figure out how to make the door. Anyway, I converted the line color of Annette in P-shop, then colored the sand and towel using the chalk function in Painter, and then sky and water using the watercolor function (never tried that before!), then back to P-shop to add the color to Annette and the beach ball.  Considering how rusty I am, not too shabby.

Rest in peace, Annette.