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.

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.

I’m not a big Valentine’s Day person. I do like the idea of appreciating your loved one. I understand that sometimes life gets in the way, and taking a day to remind someone how much you care is not only vital, but necessary to maintaining a healthy relationship. I like chocolate. I don’t mind the color pink. It’s all the other stuff that bothers me.

However. Instead of droning on about the nauseous feeling I get every time I walk into a drugstore in the two weeks before this silly, disgustingly consumer-driven holiday, I have a present for all of you:

I’m afraid I can’t offer much explanation. He loves you… and so does his tapeworm. Or his tapeworm loves you and is speaking through his host body. There’s really a number of ways to translate this, and they are all disturbing. Feel free to pass it along to all those people in your life that you care about. Happy Valentine’s Day!

One of my goals this year (did I list it in the last post? I don’t know) is to do more freelance.

Luckily, the universe read my mind and in entered WearPittsburgh. If you haven’t heard of it, Wear Pittsburgh is a clothing company that creates Pittsburgh specific clothing. My personal favorite is Reserved Parking, which is even more beautiful if you are accustomed to the domestic habits of those more tightly packed neighborhoods around the city. I can relate to that pain: nothing pisses you off more than going home and not being able to find a parking space within four blocks of your home. Especially in the winter. In Pittsburgh.

Although I can’t take any credit for bringing that slice of genius into visual interpretation, I’ve done a few other designs. The first was released yesterday and refers to a section of town:

Squirrel Hill. Get it?

I’m a transplant to Pittsburgh. I moved here for college and simply never left. It’s home. I love the idea of embracing all the idiosyncrasies of the region, and Pittsburgh has plenty. Whether it’s putting fries on sandwiches, enjoying our favorite potato-stuffed pasta, or our beloved PennDOT (that’s a joke that practically writes itself, over and over), we’ve got plenty of things to celebrate as ours, and only ours. Keep your eyes on Wear Pittsburgh!

I think we can chalk Saturday’s show up as a success. I saw a lot of familiar faces and met some new ones… My bee costume was fun, even if I didn’t get to use all the pieces I wanted to and my wings gave me a horizontal dimension that I’m not accustomed to: I kept hitting people with them. Working the door ended up being nice, too, because I got to see all as they filtered in and the hallway serves as an almost safe haven for people that want to talk while the bands are playing.

My “rotting zombie” pumpkin won a prize in the pumpkin gallery (the “zombie” part being intentional, at least - yum!) and I sold two of my four pieces of artwork. I did the three of them specifically for the show:

The digital color is unfortunately over-simplified and flat. I had intended on shading them, but (of course) ran out of time. Regardless, they were fun to do and I intend on watercoloring the originals eventually since I put them on fancy paper. The cowboy is my personal favorite.

I took Friday off of my real job to spend the day writing. I’ve stored up some vacation days, and need to use them before the end of the year… not to mention I’d like to take advantage of the productive energy created by NaNoWriMo!