Interview

 (I intended to post this a few days ago, since it originally started running on Tuesday,  but it has been a blitz with clients this week.)

I was the subject of a short interview with Psych Central, a top online psychiatric resource website. I've done a fair number of client projects that involved psychiatric-related cartoons, (including illustrating a recent book for two psychologists)...and a couple of those cartoons are featured.

It was flattering to be asked to do -- and fun to answer some rather creative questions. It's running in two parts, on successive Tuesdays.


http://blogs.psychcentral.com/therapy-soup/2010/09/the-cartoonist-is-in-therapy-soup-interviews-mark-hill/#comments

Fire news: Much better finally

Friends and clients have been asking about the nearby fire and whether it has affected our family. A couple of folks said they checked here, so I thought I'd add a blurb to say that things are fine.

The fire started Labor Day morning, apparently after someone who lives in a mountain home let a barbecue fire pit get out of control. We noticed the cloud of smoke and saw it grow as the day went on, with shifting winds. The lack of rain, (less than a tenth of an inch in the past month), made it worse. The area in question is about 15 miles away from town.

In the morning on Tuesday and Wednesday, the smoke was fairly noticeable outdoors. (We were running the central A/C, and thus filtered the air, so we couldn't smell the smoke when indoors.) No morning walks with the pooch, though after the breeze got going, the smoke cleared out after noon. Julia was in school nearby with everything as usual; just no outdoor recess on Tues & Wed.

I feel very sorry for the people who are displaced and/or lost their homes. 169 homes were destroyed. I can't imagine what those people are going through. Miraculously, there has been no loss of life or even serious injury.

With the help of some much-needed rain on Wednesday night, the fire fighters made good progress over the last two days. It looks as if the fire is mostly contained. http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_16050812?source=rss

Book Signing Update

                                            
Well, as I had hoped, (being a happy introvert most of the time) the Barnes and Noble book signing was rather sedate. Other than a few dozen people strolling in to buy books and chat, it was never overwhelming in terms of a crowd. The store manager had a table for me, with chairs set up for an audience at the opening, (and a presentation.) But there was no need for the chairs, because I chose not to do an illustration presentation.

Over the three hours, I think I signed 30 books...more than I thought would sell, given that the book signing was only publicized in the Boulder newspaper, (and also considering that I was not the book's author, but simply the illustrator hired by the publisher.)

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Update: (9/7) Pelican Publishing contacted me today, saying that the Colorado Springs Barnes & Noble would like me to do a book signing in December.  Barnes & Noble colorado-springs-co/signing The Denver Post and Rocky Moungtain News are running articles on the signingm and the book store is guessing it would have a more sizable audience  I initially turned it down, but the publisher convinced me to schedule a day in early December. It should be fun, and besides, Colorado Springs is beautiful in Dec...(I can take the family to the Broadmoor, ride the Pikes Peak Christmas train, etc.)

Barnes and Noble Book Signing

This past year I illustrated a book that is currently being published by Pelican Press and will be released this week. (The title is currently being changed by the author) This Saturday, (8/21), I’ll be doing a book signing at the Barnes and Noble store in Boulder. http://storelocator.barnesandnoble.com/event/3053496

I feel a little out of place doing the book signing, since it's not really my book. I feel that the author deserves full credit for the themes covered in it. But after some reassuring from the folks at Pelican Publishing and Barnes and Noble - that signings often feature book illustrators - I begrudgingly accepted their invitation.

My guess is that I'll be sitting there for three hours reading a book.

Thus far the book has stirred up some interest from a couple of newspapers. A local columnist called to interview me about the book and its illustrations while I was out of town this week, giving me a 24-hour window to talk with him...and I missed it.

So, enough babbling about promotional events...and back to the drawing board, where I am happiest.

A much needed breather

Pant, pant, pant. --The sound of the caged animal, catching its breath.

After over two years of what seemed to be a constant back-logs of clients, working many weekends, taking artwork and computers with me on vacation, etc., things have finally calmed down a little. Over the past few weeks, work has entailed 7 or 8-hour days instead of 10-12. I don't know if it's summer break for some of my clients or just a lull, but I'll take it.

So, with that extra time, I have been able to devote a little more time to other things, (working in the yard, biking and swimming with my daughter, buying a new car & restoring an old one...and also creating a new website.)

Lastly, it was nice to take a vacation last week without having to work during some of it in the hotel room. My folks came out to Colorado for a visit, and then we went with them on a trip to the Lake of the Ozarks--an truly beautiful area where we boated, water skied, tubed, etc. In addition to being a chance to relax and spend time with a few generations of family, it was lots of fun. (Julia spent probably six hours of every day in the several pools, water slides, etc. at the resort...literally wrinkled like a raisin when I dragged her out to go to dinner, etc.)

I always come back from vacations feeling glad that I took them. I feel refreshed and ready to go, I'm more efficient, all of the things for which vacations are intended. But as silly as it sounds, I dread getting prepared to take them, as I do not want to interrupt my regular routine. It always seems like I have something to do here, and I feel like I'm behind schedule when I return. It's also hard to get into the 'vacation mindset' at first and let go of the magnetic grip that my work and studio have upon me. Same for you?

Fortunately this time I felt no guilt about going and came home with a broad smile on my face.

Which leads to one final note before signing off...

I have a powerful desire for a balanced life. (Most people I know share that pursuit.) Yet, everyone I know is busier now than they were five years ago or even two years ago...and much of that comes from technology and connectivity. I do not want my life reduced to a blizzard of snippets and snapshots on a blog, Twitter account or Facebook page. The maintenance of such things can be like walking against a gale force wind. You never get ahead of it and it is always there waiting for more.

And with that, my apologies for not making typical or regular blog or twitter posts, or Facebook entries for friends and family. Instead, I plan to start spending some more time here with two or three creative outlets purely designed for fun. (More on that soon.)

New Wacom tablet

Wacom just introduced two new Cintiq tablets, and the most interesting model is a portable. All I can say is, wow, it looks terrific! (In addition to my wife, it appears to be something to drool over.) I'll have to add it to my new technology list for next year's tax write-offs.

I currently use an Intuous 3 every day with my desktop Mac. I also use it with my MacBook at night on occasion, just sitting on the couch next to my daughter. (If I have tight deadlines, being at home with the family is better than working long hours alone.) I also then bring the Intuos and MB along with me when traveling to take care of clients while away. It works very well, but it takes some initial adjustment to draw with your hand on a tablet in front of you, while looking up at a screen several inches away.

This sort of a tablet would allow for more direct hand-eye coordination, and given its relatively tidy size, I imagine it work well in and out of the studio. $1000 seems a bit steep for such a small unit…but then again, it’s about half the cost of the full-size model. It's sure to sell — and like the Intuos, it has no real competitors in the market.

A great editorial cartoonist was lost today. Doug Marlette was killed in a car accident this morning. He was an influential cartoonist who won a Pulitzer Prize in the 80's. Unlike most editorial cartoonists, he hit both political parties hard and wasn't afraid to be controversial, (as evidenced by the above cartoon.)

Though I didn't know him, I met him briefly at an AAEC convention a few years ago, and he was very kind to me, (a young, unknown cartoonist.) His work had a unique look to it, with brush strokes you could identify instantly. His writing was top-notch.

He also created a comic strip called "Kudzu" which was syndicated nationally. (I liked it enough as a kid to buy in book collection form.)

A big loss. My thoughts and prayers go out to his family.

OMG!

Paris is Free! Paris is Free!

Those were the headlines on Yahoo news this morning. I thought perhaps France had ended some tyrranical rule I had otherwise missed hearing about. ...But no, it was the end of the spoiled heiress' stay behind bars.

I'm sure Paris will tell the eagerly awaiting media that she has learned many lessons, has seen how the "other side" lives, is remorseful, etc., etc. Then, we'll hear about her new book about her jail stay, or perhaps even a line of clothes created in honor of it.

The evolution of craft

This is my Dad, to a "T". Seriously. He hates computers and the Internet.

I just had a brief discussion about new technology with a fellow cartoonist, (Mark Anderson), and we introduced each other to new gizmos/tools, (or write-offs). So, I thought I'd expand on that subject here and detail how the "craft" of cartooning has changed with technology.

I used to be a purist, with all my work done in india ink on paper. But with client deadlines overwhelming at times, I decided to try a digital drawing tablet for inking over my scanned sketches in Photoshop...and later, after becoming more comfortable with the hand-eye coordination differences, sometimes sketching into Photoshop, with no scanning.

I traded my first tablet in for a Wacom Intuous 3 a couple years ago, when it debuted on the market. The main innovation over the well-liked Intuos 2 is that you can program the buttons and touch strips to zoom in and out, increase/decrease your brush/eraser diameter...and also handle functions like switching among brush types & paint bucket, and stepping backward and forward in time with your non-drawing hand. It all becomes a big time saver, in addition to the time and materials saved by drawing digitally.

Recently I've been drawing some things without sketches, because with quick steps back in time possible, every stray stroke can be removed easier than erasing. It's scary in a way how the process has evolved for many cartoonists, (as well as animators and illustrators.) Still, if a client wants frameable, original art, then I break out the india ink and bristol -- and happily oblige them.

The other half of cartooning, the ideas, (the more important half, I think), hasn't evolved at all with technology. The only innovation worth mentioning is Microsoft Word...and it isn't much help in actually finding the spark of humor or cleverness needed to fuel a good cartoon.