The clouds above

There are endless metaphors to describe life. It's a game, an up hill battle, an endless repetition of change. Today is not the same as yesterday and tomorrow is guaranteed  to be nothing like today. As you look back through what ever struggles you have faced you must take that strength with you as you move forward. The past few months have probably been the toughest challenge that I have ever faced personally. I'm made it through this hard time though; slowly climbing the hill. It is a daunting task but I know I'll reach the hill top at some point. But I also know that I'll face even harder challenges in the future. I just hope the next time around I'm able to climb above the hill top toward the clouds over head.

Until today I could remember the last time I laid in the grass and looked up at the clouds. It was a simple reminder to never take life too seriously and enjoy the little things in life.

Comic Test Pages

So I have the first chapter numbnailed out and decided to draw the first few pages. Im looking for some feed back. I like the style for the most part but I need to invest in a new felt tip pen to ink the pages. I thought I would like the straight pencil look, but I'm not sold on it yet. Also, I feel like I need to add more background to the panels. Thoughts?

Off to night shift

I'm going to night shift in January. I was beyond pissed when I found out. Bu the small light at the end of tunnel is that my job will be a lot less time consuming while actually at work. This will allow me to have more time to work on drawing. My goal is draw up the first chapter of my comic within the first couple months.

I found time!

I'm I'm It feels like forever sense I've posted anything on here. I found some free time over the past couple days and did a few sketches.

I made these pencil drawings after I made the ink sketches below.

I think I like my ink sketches better then may pencil sketches.

My wife had a cake project she was hired todo. I was drafted to make these figures for the top of it. Apparently they are from a game called Five nights at Freddy's.

And finally, this is an older collage I made from newspaper pictures. I added the wording in the middle.

Keeping the flame alive

I had some one at work ask me what I wanted to do when I was in college. My immediate answer was that I wanted to be a professional artist. I wanted to spend my days hidden away in a studio drawing, painting, and sculpting with the hopes that someone would pay me to do just that. But here I am, it's been three years sense I graduated. God I hate myself for how much time I waisted when I was in school. I could have done so much, but I procrastinated and lost focus on that goal. It's as if my years in college never happened, as if they are events from another life time, another universe. To say that this does not sadden me would be a complete and total lie. But that does not mean that I am not happy with where I am. I have invested time into starting a family and found a stable career path to follow. I am blessed by the fact that my new career path will allow me to retire as early as 45. I have to remind myself of this fact because it will allow me to pursue any path I wish at that point. I could go into teaching, create a graphic novel, start a business, I can do anything! But until that point I have to keep the flame of creativity burning. Maybe I can foster a sense of creativity in my son. I look foreword to the future and the endless possibilities that it holds.

Graphic Design Full Time

At least for the next two weeks I will be diving into my first experience with working full time from home. The construction companies I am doing graphic design work have decided to allow me to work full time as I transition from warehouse work to a state job. Right out of the gate there have been a few challenges. I've set my computer up in the living room so that I can keep an eye on mason while jackie does other things around the house. This location of my work space prevents me from being side tracked by Warhammer models (those little buggers have their way of just jumping into your hands). But the added distraction of dirty diapers and feeding time is now a factor. Over all it keeps me accountable for the time I spend working.

The main projects that I have been creating are "Selection Documents" for the different products they offer. Basically they are digital sample boards. The biggest struggle so far has been translating the list their venders supply, with the samples on the vender websites.

The kitchen company actually had me rework their website. It wasn't a "code from scratch" website. They had paid a graphic design company thousands of dollars to make a crapy four page website. In a matter of three weeks I was able to make them a more functional website from one of those drag and drop website builders. It amazes me how small businesses would fork over a large sum of money to a small time firm to build an "original" website, when they could pay something like $100 a year for a site they can build themselves, or have a student organize.

As I move foreword, I hope to continue working with these companies and possibly expand my cliental. I am looking into a couple local companies that are looking to hire graphic designers, but for now I'll stick with the freelance work and the state job.

Time is Money

With a baby on the way, I find my time is better spent working on freelance graphic design work, rather than my painting. Its been quit some time sense I have just picked up a brush to work on anything. This is the unfortunate reality of the real world. My artistic spirit is not dead, nor am I saddened by this reality. I am over joyed about becoming a father. But the fact remains that I must spend my "free time" working on freelance projects. Right now I am only working on selection documents for a remodeling company, but once I get the chance to fully create something original, I will share it on here. That also goes for any paintings I may do. I still hope to sell paintings one day, but for now I must follow the money towards graphic design.