The Sum of David

It’s not a pony or a wii, but I hope she still likes it…

I got a sugar high just making this. I can’t take credit for the poem, I found it online. And although a seven year old won’t appreciate the illustration all that much (at least not now), she’s also got a new friend to accompany it:

I mean, dang: that’s just adorable. Cloud by My Paper Crane, purchased from Pittsburgh’s Handmade Arcade. Seriously, go there and try not to buy something. Super cute!

I discovered Scott C’s illustration style when I stumbled onto Double Fine comics a couple years ago. I’ve been following him since, but I only discovered his blog by accident yesterday.

I don’t know what it is about his style, but it fills me with so much delight I want to squeal. All the time. Don’t believe me? Check this bodacious piece of awesome, from a show he was last weekend called Crazy 4 Cult:

Or, this, which was made for a show called I am 8-bit, that yes you can cut out and experience in 3-D (!):

It’s like his inkpen and paintbrush are gushing with the obvious magic of his imagination.

Which is what I’m doing — gushing, that is — but dang, go look at it.

I met half of my goal. My intention to edit through The Sum of David’s sequel twice before Sept. 1st didn’t go quite as planned, but I made it through once.

And I rewrote the ending, and it was a toughie. I kind of cried a little.

So there. I want a cookie.

Now I have a binder full of my efforts (all 215 pages of it) and a big, nasty red pen that can’t wait to *slash! slice! boom!* through it. Let the slaughtering of words begin!

Also: I really need to hash out a title for this manuscript. I can’t keep calling it The Sum of David 2, that’s just silly.

Also also: I’ve been working on some illustrations that I can’t wait to show off. It’s pretty much the best stuff I’ve done in a long time. Maybe ever.

And I bought a suitcase. I’m going to paint it. You can’t stop me.

I have rediscovered an old love. Chris Brogan twittered about an interesting project called the PBJ campaign. Can eating a PB&J for breakfast every day help the planet? Basically, the idea is that if you replace one meal with an all veggie meal, you remove the ecological stresses of raising the animal you might eat for that meal.

Let’s be honest. I’m a carnivore. I tried to vegetarian a few years back when I was trying to lose some weight.

I made it to lunch.

But I like the Earth, and I like PB&J, so I thought I’d try it out. So my new favorite breakfast is PB&J on some nice seedy wheat bread and a piping hot cup of coffee.

Other nice things to try: a PB & banana or a grilled PB&J. Also, my dad used to make a  concoction he’d dubbed a Thundercat Sandwich - mix peanut butter and honey in a bowl before putting it on the bread. That’s crazy, blow-your-mind good.

And it helps the Earth. Go, Earth!

Once upon a time, two cute boys misread a bumper sticker as “Pray for Zombies”. Many giggles were had, and a few months later, this poster was born as a birthday present.

As far as commissions go, this has definitely been one of the most fun. I’ve never been a huge zombie fan — they tend to be too much gore, blood, gore, body parts, gore for me — but I had a good time doing this piece. I don’t know which one is my favorite. I love that doggie, but Undead Granny has a certain charm about her too.

Will she eat the kitty? Who knows?

Well, from what I understand Lazarus did it first; but Jesus made it cool.

So I was catching up with Justin last week and he asked, quite casually, “So what’s your next deadline for David?”

Ha.

I’m one goal-oriented sucka*, so my brain kind of stalled for a second when I realized I hadn’t set one yet (What? Preposterous! Unconceivable! I’ve been done for almost two months!). While my mind was sputtering (what is it now…? June. Or July? And then, what’s next: August? I mean, there’s like 200 pages, so that’s how many pages per day? Yikes!) my mouth responded with a cool “Uh, September 1st.”

Ha.

One way I make sure I meet my deadlines is to tell people, so I have to burden some self-imposed shame if I don’t make it… so I guess Sept 1st is now official. If I’d thought about it for longer, it might have been October 1st, or maybe even November 1st; but now it’s September 1st, which is sooner. Like, 30 or so days sooner. And I wrote SIX WHOLE LINES this week. Yeeg.

Which brings me to consider the illustration work that is eating all my Writing Time. So, in light of that: I’m taking a month off. Dammit. I will not be taking any new projects in the month of August, so if you want to commission me for something pretty before then, please let me know soon. I’ll be a wild, drawing, burn-me-out-to-blindness machine until July 30th. At that time, I will trade my Wacom for some good ol’ fashioned keys. Illustrator will be turned in for basic Word. And exhaustion will once again be based on the brain and not my eyes because of my ITTY-BITTY-MICROSCOPIC-SPECIMEN OF A COMPUTER SCREEN.

* See also: crazed, obsessed

If you sliiide your gaze to the upper right-hand corner of my site, you’ll see a Portfolio link for my illustrations.

Madness!

My 27th birthday came and went last week. To be honest, I sometimes forget exactly how old I am. If asked, I will undoubtedly pause and think about it. And then Josh will correct me when I guess wrong. (In my defense, I’m usually only a year off. They all started to blend together after 23.)

Anyway. I’ve been struggling for a couple months now with my various activities — Design, Illustration, and Writing — and how they affect my life and balance with one another. And there’s a battle going on.

Design will always be Priority #1. It’s not only my bread and butter, but I lurve it. I love creating visual solutions, and drooling over other people’s work. Package design, a good logo, a beautifully integrated illustration or an amazing commercial… it all makes me warm and fuzzy inside. There are so many wonderful ways to conquer the same problem — that is, communicate a message in a unique and memorable way — and I haven’t found them all yet. There’s nothing else I’d rather spend 40 - 60 hours a week doing. Illustration is that back-burner love that has fallen back into my lap, which is lovely. And writing is something I’ve been doing for years, and I’m only recently feeling ready to explore the professional end of it.

This is where my conflict lies. I have three things that I love to do, and so I divide my time amongst those three occupations. I understand the idea of wearing many different hats, and I’ve been juggling all three competently enough. But does splitting my time between those three somehow rob one of them of the potential to be the best it can be?

For example: if I’m never published, will it be because I didn’t give writing the due concentration it needed?

I never want to stop pushing myself, and I love them all. But I have to wonder if I’m sacrificing the quality of one to pursue the others. So what matters most here? Quality? Or quantity? I would usually say quality… but when the quantity is improving the quality of life as a whole… where does that leave things?

This is heavy thought for a beautiful Friday. Let’s have a donut.