(Photo taken right after we finished setting up. The Market didn’t open for another couple hours.)

On June 14th Sarah and I ran a booth featuring my art at the Fremont Sunday Market. We had made prints, buttons, key chains, stickers, zines and posters. It was the first time we had done a market and the first time we’d sold merch in person since we’d been to comic conventions decades ago. It was fun. It was hot. It was educational. There’s nothing like doing something to discover what you hadn’t realized you needed to do.

Now we’re working on better ways to present our schtuff, not just so passers by can see it more easily but also to keep it from getting blown over by the wind. The breeze that day was minor but it was enough to keep knocking over our displays. We’re also figuring out what other schtuff to offer. Most of what we had featured our girl, the Mighty Nizz. She looked good and she got attention but we realized that, by only having Nizz images to see, it looked like we were just selling kid stuff.

The folks attending the Market are looking for all kinds of different things – tasty food, cool clothes, snazzy jewelry, this, that, the other thing and stuff they didn’t know they wanted. As such, it was to be expected that most people walked on by. Those who stopped, those who Sarah talked to when she was out and about, those who asked me what I was drawing – they liked what they saw and all of them went away with info on how to find more of our schtuff online. For that, the day was a success.

Last week and next we’re working at rearranging our presentation and getting new schtuff together for the next Market. I’m having fun laying out and printing zines. We having a bunch of postcards printed using images from my archive of illustrations. Sometimes that means I have to add new art to the illustration so it fits the 5×7 aspect ratio of the postcards.

For instance, this illustration was originally done to wrap around a mug.

We wanted to make it available as a miniprint so I added some forest above the bridge.

Then there’s my tribute to the cover of Abby Road – Yellow Brick Road – also originally designed to wrap around a mug.

So this that works as a miniprint I’ve added a glimpse of the Emerald City.

I’m not posting the progress spreadsheet this week. There’s been a lot of progress but it’s been on things that aren’t on the sheet. If you’re in the Seattle area this Sunday, please join us at the Market.

Otherwise, see you in seven days!

Ooops.

I didn’t mean to let this much of a gap go between newsletters. The first week was an accident. We were busy and I forgot to write one. Then we were busy and I just didn’t write another one. Then … hell, I’m not sure what happened then but May went by fast.

As I said, we were busy. Sarah has been writing essays and fiction and she’s begun to record youtube videos. And cooking. And working with a time bank. And twisting her ankle. (Gravity loves her and calls her earthward far too often.) We’re both prepping for selling at the Fremont Craft Fair this coming Sunday, June 14th. We’ve got a canopy, weights to hold it down and a lot of prints and posters of the Mighty Nizz. We’ve got a way to take credit cards. This will be the first time we’ve tried selling directly to the public. We’re going to have fun. The plan is to sell at the Fair every other week on Sunday. I’ll still be delivering mail the rest of the week. Once we get used to it we intend to attend every week.

I’m continuing to post daily on my Tumblr, Blue Sky and Substack accounts. And, of course, I’m continuing to draw.

A good friend is in the process of setting up a tiny home. Last week she sent me photos of how she is decorating it.

Redbubble notifies me when someone orders one of my designs so I saw that someone had ordered large stickers. I never thought they’d be used this way! So fun!

I hope that the last few weeks have been good to you. I will post again next week. I might even manage to write a bit more. In the meantime, here a few more creature designs for The Surrilana Depths.

See you in seven!

There are three sorts of days each year when I feel like I’m actually doing something for America and my community as a mailman. One of those days is when I deliver mail-n ballots. The second of those days is when I pick up completed ballots.

The third day is the second Saturday in May. That is when we carriers pick up bags of non-perishable food left by our customers as part of Stamp Out Hunger: the National Mail Carriers Food Drive. That happened last Saturday. My customers left out enough donations to fill two parcel hampers. Not bad.

Sarah has been busy working on our websites and stores and a youtube channel. A glimpse of that can be found on her website. And cooking. And busily working to make community connections. Busy. Busy. Busy.

What did I get done? Here’s the spreadsheet –

I’ve continued to post older illustrations to my substack, bluesky and tumblr accounts every day. New projects are in the works. Because of course.

One of the projects I keep noodling away at is The Surrilana Depths. Given its length it will probably be a long time before I’m able to start posting pages but I do have concept sketches I can share. Surrilana is a Lost World. Lost Worlds mean prehistoric creatures, weird creatures and/or both. I’m playing around with the idea of animals that have evolved from stock that secretly survived the asteroid’s impact 65 million years ago.

There have been a lot of weird animals on this planet since fish decided that the ocean was too cramped. And similar animals have evolved to fit similar niches at different times. It’s hard to invent an animal that’s too weird to exist.

Time for me to get back to the drawing board.

Have a great week! See you in seven!

Sarah is doing much better. She has no more need for heavy painkillers and she’s much happier because of this. And so am I. She has more doctor’s appointments today but none that will require surgery. At least not tomorrow.

I’ve got today off so, once we get our errands done I hope to get more art done. As I do every day so I guess that’s not news.

Not much to say so … have another couple portraits of the Beastgod of Skull Island.

The above image is inspired by Willis O’Brien’s unmade King Kong vs Prometheus film.

And this one was inspired by my opinion of scumbag bigots.

Have a great week! I will see you in seven!

Last week, on Monday, Sarah had dental surgery. She normally has quite a few aches and pains in various body parts but this was agony. Fortunately I’d taken the day off and, with the wonders of modern pain relief we were able to make her somewhat comfortable. She’s been feeling a little better every day. That’s good. She’s been able to talk almost normally since Wednesday. Also good. Finding things she can eat is a challenge but we’re managing. The healing process is supposed to take about six weeks. We can do it!

While Sarah was getting horrible things done to her mouth I sat in the dentist’s waiting room reading a book. King Kong. The 1932 novelization with the Frank Frazetta cover.

While looking for this cover online I found an earlier version of the image – this was used as a cover for Creepy #11, published in 1966. I’ve read that Frazetta sometimes painted over older paintings. In the newer painting the woman and the log in the foreground look like they’ve been updated a little.

I prefer the original Creepy cover. The color is more dramatic. The paperback cover does feature a larger ape so it’s a more accurate depiction of Kong.

Anyway, the novel. The novel is in public domain so anyone could make an adaptation or a sequel of it. I’ve had a love for the King Kong story and a desire to do some sort of adaptation and sequel myself. The 1933 movie is still under copyright so, to do a Kong story, one has to avoid anything that is movie specific.

There are differences. There’s more character development of Anne and Jack at the beginning of the book. The end of story in New York seems rushed and perfunctory. There’s a suggestion of the spider pit sequence but not enough to suggest that there was big sequence in movie. The biggest difference, for me, is the time I had to digest the story. Movies are time oriented. Until recently you had no control over how you watched them. They start, they run and then they finish. Books, however, are read at the speed of the reader. If I find a part more interesting I can reread it. I can skip to the end. I can set it down for a month and pick it up again. Most notably, I can think about what is written.

I don’t remember him doing it as much in the movie but in the book Denham spends a lot time talking about Beauty and the Beast before they get to Skull Island. Maybe Delos W. Lovelace, the writer of the novel, was trying to foreshadow Anne meeting Kong. As someone who knows the story, it seemed like Denham knew a lot more about Kong and the island than he ever admits. He claims that he needs an actress because his financiers want a woman in his next picture. Pretty faces bring in bigger audiences. Yet, Anne is only actor on the ship. He claims that no “white man” has ever been where they are going. He mentions Kong but doesn’t say what Kong is. Some sort of legend that might not be a legend. He says the map he’s following was made by a sailor who picked up some Skull Island natives who were somehow set adrift and all of them died but one. He’s brought gas bombs to subdue large animals. He seems overprepared for someone who has previously only encountered 20th century mammals.

It’s not that Denham comes across as a villain. Later films will portray the Denham character as, at best, kind of a sleaze. The 1933 Denham is reckless but it’s obvious that, in the film, he’s considered admirable. In the novel, once they get to the island, Denham never seems like he’s got another agenda. He works as hard as anyone else to rescue Anne.

Still …

I keep telling myself that I have other projects that with greater priority. So I satisfy myself with the occasional sketch. 

Or two.

I don’t think anyone will mistake me for Frazetta. I’m okay with that.

Oh yes, the spreadsheet –

Better luck next week.

For you, I hope the next week brings you joy in whatever form you find it.

I’ll see you in seven!

Sometime this week, in a snarky mood, I posted this to one of my social media accounts – “If I sometimes seem to have an ego about my art, it’s not because I think it’s the best stuff ever. It’s that I recognize than no one else’s work sucks in my unique fashion.”

Later that day I had an insight into why so many generative AI boosters seem to take it personally when other people object to the use of AI, when AI use is denigrated. Part of the process of learning is being terrible at the thing you are trying to learn. Most creative types are their own worst critics. They may not think their work actually sucks but they recognize that there is always someone better, always more to learn.

I think the folks who have leaned into using AI are afraid to be bad, to not have skill or talent. Like my friend who has written a lot stories (and paid to have a few illustrated) but hasn’t let any remain available, they aren’t willing to put out art that isn’t perfect.

The saddest thing about using AI to create art is that the user never learns to actually create art. In fact, research seems to show that AI users become less creative, less able to solve problems – dumber and dumber.

So I guess I’m glad I’ve been cursed with enough of an ego to be terrible at things and to enjoy myself while I work to be less terrible.

Last week I posted character designs for Bastard Destiny. This week I’m posting scans of the pencils of the original first eleven pages of the story.

I’ve added four pages to this sequence and have a rough plan on how the rest of the story will go. I’m having fun. If the result is awful, well, it will be done. And awful is subjective. I’ll leave it up to the world to decide how awful or not it actually is.

If you’re currently avoiding doing something that you’ve wanted to do but you’re afraid you’ll suck at it, I strongly encourage you to go forth and suck, suck, suck. Have fun while you hoover! The world needs more nonsense.

See you in seven!

I’ve now been back at the day job for a week. I’m feeling the usual aches and pains that come from mostly sitting and driving for hours. Neither my shoulder or my back are adding to those complaints so I guess I’m officially healed. I am trying to using to use my left arm as much as possible. And be more careful about how I pull heavy boxes out of the back of the truck. So far, so good.

Progress on my art projects has dropped quite a bit but that was to be expected. I get a little bit done every day. Eventually that adds up to finished illustrations and that gets noted on the spreadsheet.

If you’ve been taking note of my progress spreadsheet you’ve seen “Bastard Destiny” making progress. I hadn’t planned to add anything else to the spreadsheet until I finished at least one of the projects that are already on it. As with most of my plans I was compelled to make it more complicated.

Over at my Substack account I make daily posts featuring art from my computer archives. Last month I posted the art from an abandoned project I called “Barbarians vs Dinosaurs”. It was the first eleven pages of a graphic novel written by a fellow that I used to collaborate with a lot. He had story ideas, he usually paid me and … none of those projects were ever finished. We had agreed that I could use the art on a new project if I came up with a new story.

Outland Saints is one of those. Sunk Cost Elegy is another. Bastard Destiny has become the third such revival and, honestly, it’s the easiest. Unlike Saints there’s no dialogue to rewrite. Sunk Cost has a hundred pages requiring a lot of story restructuring and additional art. Assuming I try to use all the existing art.

The original idea behind “Barbarians vs Dinosaurs” was to have a company go questing for a cure for a plague. They would go to a distant land where the people coexisted with, and often had domesticated, dinosaurs.

When I posted these character sketches (and the penciled pages I will post next week) I was just filling space. I’ve already got two projects that feature dinosaurs. Adding a third seemed like I’d be typecasting myself.

But there are no dinosaurs in those first eleven pages. The new story didn’t have to feature dinosaurs. It could go in new directions with new creatures! Thus have I given myself more work.

I went back to work on Saturday. It was sunny and beautiful and I had enough parcels that I had to get out and walk now and then so I didn’t spend the whole day sitting down. I was tired and a little sore at the end but it was the usual tired and sore. My shoulder was fine. It was fine when I woke up on Sunday. So far, so good.

I like my route. Most of the time I enjoy the job. It does mean that for at least nine hours a day I can’t draw so my works in progress chart won’t be showing as much progress week to week. Drat.

Sarah spent a good part of last week wrestling with webhosts and WordPress and finally got a working versions of her website going. Check it out!

Last week I posted updates on the character designs of the three main Bakketes, characters in The Surrilana Depths. I wasn’t satisfied with those versions. They looked too human. It’s the eyebrows. As far as I can remember, humans are the only animals with eyebrows. So I took another pass at them.

Baku:

Pasho:

Kian:

These versions work for me. I will probably make some minor tweaks before I start drawing the graphic novel but nothing major.

I hope your week went well. I hope your coming week is better. Stay safe. Stay sane. Hug someone who needs it. Hug someone who wants it. Don’t hug a grizzly bear.

See you in seven!