Thursday, September 27, 2007

I'm Baaaack!!!

I know it seems like forever since I last posted and I want to thank all of you for sticking it out and still checking in to see if I'll ever get off my lazy ass and post again. I'm shocked at how many of you did stick it out waiting for me. I don't know that I would've, but I'm kind of the easily distracted type of guy - as if you couldn't tell.


As, I'm sure you all assumed, my day job has been keeping me busy beyond almost anything else I've ever done before. But I think the results will be worth it and everyone should be thrilled when they see the show. That job is now coming to a close and I should have more free time ahead of me, but hopefully not too much. At least I might be able to make my wife happy and clean-up my desk at home. I'm starting to look around for the next gig so if anyone knows of anything - I do windows!


In the meantime there's lots of news to share. As I said earlier my day job, Wolverine and the X-Men is wrapping the first season post production and it's looking good. The publicity poster has made it to the web (I'll let you find that on your own) and there seems a lot of positive reaction to it). One of the things that has also kept me busy has been working with a writer on the first draft to a script of a property I optioned and we should have that first draft wrapped within a few days and sent out to all the people that were interested in funding the film. the script is turning out to be really good -really, really good - especially for a first draft. Hopefully the author I optioned it from and the studios will think so as well. If things go well i should be able to be less vague in the very near future. I will tell you what I told the author when I was asking for the option on his book. "This will not be your daddy's' animated film and it will have more in common with EC Comics and Anime films like Graveyard of the Fireflies and Akira then anything done in this country yet".


If this happens this could be my next gig, but I suspect I'll have to find some work in the meantime - maybe some storyboards or some presentation and design work (actually a studio has already contacted me about doing some presentation/design work for a new show, but that's still in the early stages of discussion).


More big news: after a huge misstep in publishing my next sketchbook, it should be available within a couple of weeks. My original printer had gone out of business and I had to find a new one so, on the recommendation of a friend, I went with a new printer and I got nothing but delays and excuses from them even to the point where I couldn't even get them to respond to my e-mail or phone calls. I stupidly gave them a deposit when they asked for (thankfully via PayPal) and finally had to ask for my money back (thank you PayPal) - and finally I did have that money returned. Word to the wise: never give a printer a deposit until they've at least sent you a proof. So, in the meantime, the original printer of my first book (Dreamweaver Press) went back into business and I just looked at and approved the proof the other day. So it shouldn't be long before I get a couple of boxes of books. I'll keep you updated.



Anyway thanks again for all of you sticking it out with me and I promise not to wait so long between posts and, though I'm hesitant to promise, I intend on trying to post at least one new drawing a week if not more often.


I also thought that since I'm starting receive the Academy screeners I might also include a few mini-reviews for the films I watch - especially some of the more obscure ones. But I will not give away any suggestion of how I might eventually vote.


With that in mind I saw Once. It's a small film that my wife and i both thoroughly enjoyed. It took a few minutes to get used to the accents, but it was worth the effort. I reminded me a little bit of the commitments and maybe that was just because of the location or because it involved struggling musicians. The music was wonderful and a couple of the songs found their way onto my I-Pod. The main actor's (Glen Hansard) voice and singing style remind me of Cat Stevens. The story was not typical -as is the case with many small independent films - and did not end the way I expected it to, but it was definitely satisfying.


Well, that's it for now...hopefully I'll be back soon.