The Sum of David

Pittsburgh Society of Illustrators is presenting four lectures this year called “Speaking of Illustration” to showcase nationally and internationally recognized illustrators. The first was on Saturday night and featured Jacob Thomas, an Art Institute of Pittsburgh alumnus living in New York as a professional freelancer.

He grew up in a small town, joined the Coast Guard for a while, went to art school and then (successfully!) made The Move to New York city where he spends his days making a living doing illustrations. He’s relatively young — as in, freshly into his thirties — and he has done so much in his years since leaving the Art Institute. His clients have included The New Yorker, Bath and Body Works, AIG, Forbes Magazine, Esquire, The Art Institute of Pittsburgh, Wall Street Journal, Vibe Magazine, ESPN Magazine… and more. His work has been recognized by NY Society of Illustrators, CA Illustration Annual #46 Cover, CA Fresh Section, American Illustration, HOW International Design Annual, Print’s Regional Design Annual, and Semi-Permanent.

So yeah, he’s got it — how do the kids say it? — going on.

It’s one thing to read about people that succeed in their fields; it’s another thing entirely to hear them speak about it in person… with a slideshow, no less. Thomas was casual, funny and came across as very approachable. His style is fun and fresh, with strong inking and vivid colors that smack you in the face (in a good way). There’s also a surprising amount of motion to each piece, which I find fascinating, and a yummy gritty quality that makes them more real.

As robust as his career has been so far, he was clear at the end of the presentation that his journey has taken a lot of hard work. He showed an abbreviated version of his process, a painstaking combination of hand drawn artwork and computer work. Plus, in the wake of many rejections over the years, he’s just kept trying which should be a lesson to everybody. I certainly saved it somewhere in my brain, and plan to pull it out when I get my next 20 rejection letters. In fact, I wrote “TENACITY” on a piece of 17×11 paper and hung it in my studio when I got home.

And, seriously: I thought I was goal-oriented, but this guy puts me to shame. He is a To-Do-List Master. Coast Guard in Hawaii? Check. Art school? Check. Professional New York Illustrator? Chickity-Check.

I originally moved to Pittsburgh to attend the Art Institute in the hopes of becoming an illustrator. Between you and me, I only took Graphic Design because it had two Illustration electives. Not one of the smartest decisions to base my education on, but thank goodness it all worked out. I found my illustration class to be lacking, although not because of the teacher: my brain just wasn’t ready for it yet. Around the same time, I broke out of my blood-feud with computers and fell in love with design. Six years later, I find myself full circle, designing for a living and doing illustrations on the side.

Sooo… semi-professional Pittsburgh illustrator? Check-ish. I’ll take it.

This was a great event. PSI plans to do three more of these, and I hope I’ll be able to make them all. It was insightful, interesting and the inspirational jolt I’ve been looking for since finishing my novel. It got me excited to create again. And I’ll definitely be on the lookout for more of Thomas’s work.

*All of the images in this post are Thomas’s. I don’t know the legality of posting them here, but I’m happy to remove if I’m contacted to do so.

A fair warning. For the sake of humor, this may be sexist for a moment.

It amazes me that many men spend so much time trying to appear rough and tough and, well, manly, only to revert back to a child’s mentality when they are hit with a cold:

I don’t like to adhere to stereotypes, but it’s like this was filmed in my living room. If I was in Britain, of course, and married to that guy from Hot Fuzz.Josh is nearly back to 100%. He’s kind of like Wolverine when it comes to illnesses, so *shing* and a couple days of hibernation put him back up to functioning levels. I, on the other hand, have apparently become susceptible to things settling in my lungs, so I’m nursing my third round with bronchitis in six months.All that aside, we celebrated Josh’s birthday last night at the Carson City Saloon. Thanks to everybody that came out! I knew the night was a success when he came home at 2am, intoxicated to spins on $4 pitchers of PBR, and fell asleep with a big grin on his face.

Be sure to tell him happy birthday, and be sure to do so loudly.

Josh Sager posted this on his blog first, but I must also share. I think most people would be able to identify with at least one aspect of this video, and probably more if you’ve been in school in the last ten years.

Alas, I’ve never had the pleasure of the classic, college lecture where you and 200 of your classmates fill an auditorium to learn for grades; but I know without a doubt that it wouldn’t have been conducive to my education. It certainly wouldn’t have done anything for me socially. I was never a class star, but having some level of human interaction with teachers fought my natural instincts to wallflower. I have seen speakers in the lecture setting, but that was for undocumented personal benefit, without any sort of papers or class submissions for grading. Seeing what I do of Josh’s workload as a teacher, I can’t imagine having to grade for that many — his time is consumed so much as it is trying to grade for classes of 20 to 35.

He’s been preaching about education’s outdated model for a while now, and his position lends itself to some flexibility in how the information he needs to share is broadcast. He’s always stretching the model a little. I imagine a 4+ year institution would be much, much harder to stray from the system that’s been making it money for decades and possibly longer.

I feel that all levels of education — K-12, technical or traditional college, etc — should above all instill the desire and ability to continue learning after you leave the institution, despite the major or whether you actually acquire the piece of paper that said you were there the amount of time you intended to be. I suppose some of the kids in the above video must have that drive out of necessity, but does surfing the web and facebook for hours a day allow for that urge to foster?

I’m not looking for answers, exactly. It’s merely food for thought. In my humble opinion, it is an individual’s responsibility to continue their own education after leaving whatever formal schooling they are able to secure for ourselves; especially when some fields — like graphic design — that degree means significantly less than your talent, potential and portfolio. There’s independent legwork needed in growing/maintaining knowledge, whether personally or professionally.

On a related note: After being involved with two Podcamp Pittsburghs (+ one bootcamp), I have finally begun to embrace one of the featured medias discussed there. Again. Podcasts pretty much rock my world, and once upon a time, I had subscribed to several. But they began to steal room on my hard drive, I wasn’t listening to them as much as I should have and, lamest of all excuses: my iPod didn’t have a screen. I never knew what I was listening to.

Between you and me, I still don’t know the names of half the songs in my library.

I was planning on taking a brush up course in French in the next six months. Instead, armed with a shiny new screen and some inspiration, I checked to see if there were any “Learn French” podcasts out there. iTunes lists nine beautiful options, and all are free downloads. There’s german, spanish, japanese, and more. I’m test driving two of them right now, and I may just start at the beginning to get my brain back into the swing of things. There’s a broad range of levels, too, depending on where you’d like to start.

J’adore l’internet.

Mr. Baconpants moves faster than maximum warp. Here’s a little vision of the Apacolypse I’ve deemed “Dance of Destruction.”

What better way for Cthulu and our future artificial masters to decide humanity’s fate than by dance? I submit that this will be how all conflicts are solved in the future. Be able to say “I told you so” during our unfortunate end. Available at Chestlaser.com.

Besides the disturbing Valentine in the last post, I’ve been keeping myself busy-busy with life in general. Here’s the current skinny.

Writing: I’m nearly halfway finished with The Sum of David’s sequel.

I’m beginning to think I started the story too early, which means I’ll end up cutting/condensing the first few pages. The story will take as long as it takes to tell, however, so page count is really secondary to my concerns, even though I do want to keep it about the same size as TSoD. We’ll see what happens. In my experience, this stuff usually works itself out. And trimming is always easier than having to add and recalibrate a portion of the plot. For a while, I was actually more worried about…

Well, it isn’t writer’s block, exactly. It is more like the Midas touch, except everything produced via my fingertips is stinky poo instead of wonderful shiny gold. I had a very successful write-o-thon last weekend, but haven’t been able to do anything worthwhile since then. The dialogue is wooden and fake, the action forced, and any dramatic revelations seem out of character, over-acted or blah.

This was in a blog draft I wrote last week in an effort to confess some sins and refocus. To my surprise, it actually worked. I got some solid writing in Saturday and Sunday. There are some points that I know will shift in the revision — and that’s a bummer of a feeling, when you’re putting down words and you know for a fact they aren’t going to stay — but it’s not the verbal vomit like it was last week. Whew!

Illustration: I’ve got lots on my plate, but in the most wonderful way. I’ll post current projects upon their release. For the moment, you should check out Chest Laser, an online independent clothing store. Matt Gondek has created two nifty designs so far (including the logo), and more products will follow as the store expands.

I’ve got a couple ideas slated as personal development on my agenda, too. My character designs need a little more variation, for example, so I’ve got an idea for a series that should stretch my abilities on that front. It will still be that ‘cute evil’ style I happily fall into, but hopefully in differing shades. I’m also looking forward to working with some fresh people, and that will be exciting. Who knew people would actually want the stuff I love to do anyway?

Dance: My plan to take one class a month is still on track. I’ve taken four classes at PBT since the new year and I’m loving it.

*Illustration at top is a chapter icon from The Cauldronborn. The story should probably never see the light of day, but the icon is nice — it heads a chapter where the protagonists visit a fortune teller that sees into the future by throwing a tantrum over her freshly baked cookies. Then she eats the cookies and goes into a trance. …it doesn’t have to make sense; it’s the future, maaaan.

Wikipedia is the downfall of my productivity at work.

I will read about most everything with some level of interest, although history oftentimes wins out. Why? It’s the stories, made even more powerful because of the reality behind them. My genre of choice might be fantasy for entertainment, but I can’t ignore the human factor of our past — the actions, inactions, passions, and what people are willing to risk their life over.

I did some link hopping from a chocolate company to underground teaching and opened up a facet of WWII knowledge that I’d never thought about or been aware of; concerning a subject I most certainly take for granted everyday.

In 1939, the invasion and subsequent occupation of Poland marked the start of World War II. The Nazi doctrine determined that the Slavs would serve as manual labor to the Germans, and they did not require an education. All education in the country was banned. The punishment for breaking Nazi law was, as in so many cases, death.

However.

Those who escaped the deportation to concentration camps or the Nazi’s murder of the nation’s leaders, politicians, artists, and potential trouble-makers organized a network of underground universities. They arranged lectures in basements and crowded apartments. Underground printers were established to provide them with materials and books. In 1944, there were hundreds of teachers and thousands of students. High school students risked their lives to learn grammar, geography and mathematics, receiving certificates from their “non-existent” schools that they could use to enter “non-existent” colleges.

The moral of the story? Knowledge is power. The Nazis understood that, seeing as how they tried to take it away from the Poles; and the Poles recognized what losing education would mean and held onto it even at the risk of execution. Whether it’s formal or not, don’t take your access to information for granted — you never know when you won’t have it anymore.

So far, this is my favorite design that I’ve done for WearPittsburgh.

There’s no way I can describe it any better than Woy does on the website:

We’re proud to present the newest addition to the WearPittsburgh family: Mon Valley Mullet Reserve!

Mullets first settled in Pennsylvania in the late 1970’s becoming a prime breeding ground, reaching a zenith during the Great Camaro Upheaval of 1982 when the new model was introduced. As mullet numbers diminished nationwide, more and more mullets congregated in the lush, fertile Mon Valley. Their numbers are hearty and continue to flourish even today.

It’s business in the front and party in the back in Pittsburgh’s best kept natural preserve!

Get yours today!

What does our big planet spinning in the same place that it did 365.25 days ago have to do with self-improvement?

Well, nothing, of course. But I’m a big believer in goals and progress and productivity, and January 1st seems to be as good a place to start as any. Actually, I’ve been wanting to jump-start my creative stuff into a monthly project-oriented structure anyhow, as projects with a defined beginning and end, so I’ve set up a few goals.

1) Finish the second novel in the “Sum of” series. My soft deadline is actually May 1st, which will be the 2 year anniversary of the completion of the first book. And, reaching far into the future: conclusion of the series in Christmas of 2009. That second part might be kriz-azy, but finishing the 2nd by May isn’t out of the question. I’m about 20% of the way through it, and we’re just about to get into the fun, juicy bits, so writing will become more fun even as it becomes more challenging.

2) Design a font. I’m a graphic designer by trade, and although I really do enjoy my day job, I’d like to inject my designing life with some… well, life. I crave some adventure, some funkiness. I think the first step of that will be exploring some of design’s roots. Since type is such an important part of it, let’s start there. After seeing the Helvetica documentary and realizing that there really are humans designing those beautiful, wonderful tools I reach in my design pocket for on a daily basis, I think I should give it a shot. I am fully aware that the results won’t be Frutiger, but it will be a learning experience to cherish and I will get some real love for letterforms again.

3) Hop the pond. Josh and I didn’t take a honeymoon after getting married because we didn’t want to go into ridiculous debt to do it; but saving up for a trip is a different animal. I’ve been to Paris once before and loved it. It’s home of the Louvre and Art Nouveau, after all (c’est magnifique!). A couple of years ago, we picked up The Da Vinci Code on CD for an overnight emergency trip to Chicago, and Josh has been as equally enamored with the city ever since. It means passports and brushing up my poor francais (c’est tres mal!), but it will be an adventure to remember.

4) Fix the freakin’ dishwasher. This is not creative, but I’m tired of washing dishes when there is a perfectly good, if currently inoperable, machine inches away.

5) Read one young adult fantasy novel a month. Classically, I have a hard time reading while I’m writing, but I think the benefits of reading more in the genre I’m trying to get published in are too important to ignore any longer. That fact goes without saying, really, and now it’s time to really implement. Plus, I have a library card now, and I intend to milk it for all it’s worth. If I pick up a new book every time I return one, I should blow past twelve books, but let’s start small — I can always devour more later.

6) Finish Marley. I began a large-scale art piece for a character from The Sum of David almost three years ago. It’s digital, so it’ll cost some money to get it printed, but it’s time to close this project out.

7) Shadow Skull. This is an art project I’ve planned since I started the aforementioned Marley. It’s a good idea and right up my alley, style-wise, I just need to do it.

Send out 15 query letters. Or, rather, go until I am able to get representation for The Sum of David. 15 is a nice high number that should keep me sending them out.

9) Make some more hats. Mr. Baconpants is opening an independent store online in 2008 and I’ve got plans for making stuff. I like screenprinting a lot, and wouldn’t mind doing some more hats to sell to the public. Besides, it give me an excuse to do little vector drawings… and I heart Adobe Illustrator.

10) Make this site something worth looking at. Because let’s face it, she is not the prettiest girl on the bus right now. She’s not a three-eyed, multi-tentacled demon with fangs, but still: makeover! I need to get more of a handle on this web stuff anyhow - for instance, I have no idea why Goal Number Eight is a happy face wearing sunglasses. I should probably know why that is.

So there’s ten of them. I’m sure more will be added as the year progresses, but we’ll start here for now. Onward!

Seeya, 2007. Welcome, 2008. May your arrival shower happiness and success on the multitude of humanity. And me.

It seems my webhost has been behaving naughtily toward my human playmates, so we’ve moved; and I figured we’d migrate the blog to WordPress too, for good measure. I’ve moved last year’s posts into these archives, so you can still read all that 2006/2007-y goodness. I’m still figuring out some of the site’s visual formatting, but so far I like it!

And in light of the new year (and a new site/domain for this blog), I’m copping out the way many a television sitcom has: let’s take a look back at 2007.

The completion of a novel, The Sum of David. I’ve now refined this MS to the point where I feel comfortable submitting to agents for representation, but 3oo-odd days ago, it fulfilled it’s original intent — as a Christmas present for my teenage brother. It took 2 years and an immeasurable amount of coffee to complete, but I had a blast creating it. An interesting tidbit? Seth hasn’t read the last two novels I’ve written for him. I suppose this should upset me, but I honestly have so much fun doing them it’s not really an issue. Besides, he’s sixteen. There’s girls, clothes, video games, driving, Steelers and Beavers… generally, bigger fish to fry.

The second “release” of the above novel. I posted a chapter a week for most of 2007, along with some kind of insight into each chapter’s writing,  characterization or description. After copying and pasting the posts from Blogger to WordPress, I found the following conclusion to many of the 53 chapters: “This is was a fun chapter to write”. I think I said that on at least 15 of them, ha!

Josh and I did a Sketch-off. The rules were that we each had to post a sketch a day for two weeks. The wager? Niether of us can remember, but it must have been serious — we might have pushed the midnight deadline on a couple, but we completed all 28.

We (that’s you, me, and a large chunk of the world’s population) completed the Harry Potter series. I provided a spoiler-free review of the experience. It’s probably one of the best written posts on here so far, and involves only the tiniest amount of Rowling FanGirly-ness.

There was more excitement than the fun listed above, of course. I made a hat. I helped throw a righteous Halloween party, and we did a fundraiser for Big Brothers, Big Sisters. There were two Creative Marathons, two Doughnuts and Arts, and two Podcamp Pittsburghs. It was a busy, busy year. Here’s hoping 2008 is even better!

I’ve got some really great projects coming up in the very near future. I’ll be happy to post when they are complete and/or unwrapped in the hands of their new owners.

Recently completed: since we were very bare bones about our wedding in June, we didn’t spend any money on photographers. Instead, the photographers and contributing family graciously accepted beer in exchange for the pictures. As a result, I’ve spent the last 5 months gratefully sorting through the over 2,000 pictures. I finally whittled the number of photos down to under 200.

Mac’s photo software, iPhoto, is easy and convenient to use. It helps you organize all your photos and also allows you a drag-and-drop option for creating picture books. I’m sure there are other services online that will allow to do the same, but Apple’s proved so easy I thought I’d give it a try. We got one book for us and one for each of the moms.

The only thing that concerns me is the they wouldn’t take the photos as CMYK, which is the color mode I’m accustomed to using for photos for print. It rejected the images until I converted all to RGB, so I’m wondering how they will actually print… The examples I’ve seen at CompUSA looked crisp and bright and beautiful — hopefully there wasn’t any sort of mass production voodoo happening there and our books will turn out just as nice. If they look good, I bet I will be doing more of these picture books.

I’m also planning another custom book, this time as a compilation of my MySpace blogs over the years. I started posting on 2004, and even though MySpace has outworn its usefulness to me, I would hate to lose the memories from those frequent posts — I did over 400.

Lulu.com allows you to customize a book and print as many as you want, including the magic number: one. I’m formatting all those entries into a printed journal that I can stick on my bookshelf and laugh at in ten years. Or in five years. Or tomorrow.

There are a two ironies here. One, that I’m printing something that was originally in an online format. And two, that I am self-publishing two personal books… even while I am seeking professional representation for my would-be second profession. Hilarious.