New music

No new art yet, hopefully this weekend. I realized I need to re-letter a bunch of the pages because I saved them all at the wrong resolution. Poop.

This week I heard new albums from my 2 favorite bands of the 80's Guns n' Roses and Def Leppard. There's already a thousand reviews of the long-awaited G n'R album, so if oyu want sophistication, go read one of those. My average guys' opinion is it could have been better for the 15-year wait. There were a few good songs to start off, and musically, it's a good album, but I feel Axl's screeching ruins a lot of it. Plus, Guns of the 80's was more than Axl. It was Izzy, Slash, Duff & Steven too. This feels like Axl and some band.

Some better news is Def Leppard just put out what may be their strongest album since Hysteria. No kidding! Songs From the Sparkle Lounge starts off with a strong, modern, yet classic Def Lep sound, and keeps kicking all the way through! I've heard the past few albums, X had a few good songs, and that was it for me. 1999's Euphoria sounded like recycled songs from Hysteria. On this new one, the guys sound more modern, but recognizable. "Love" may become my favorite song on the disc, as the band seems to channel Queen (minus Freddy, of course!).

Black Friday, indeed!

I was reading yesterday of a death in a Wal-Mart in NY, where a worker was trampled to death by people rushing in the doors as he unlocked them. Another incident involved a shooting in a Toys R' Us. How shameful. People in the Wal-Mart turned violent when asked to leave because THEY KILLED SOMEONE!

I dislike Christmas shopping. I like Christmas, I'm not a Grinch. I hate the over-commercialization. Every year I more and more want to forget it all, I'm not participating in it, and go volunteer and give to really needy people.

These incidents make me more determined to never participate in Black Friday. I'm thinking of asking my wife to give any remaining shopping money for me to Compassion International. These kids are in need. No one I normally give gifts to is in need as much as children who have to live on pennies a day, in filth. Please give if you can!

Even more art? What's going on?!

Page 24 inked. All by me. I'm liking the inkwash I've used on the past few pages, but don't think it came out as well on this page. You can compare to the pencils I posted a few weeks ago. 1 more to go!

Tampon shopping:
Face it guys, one of these days you'll have to do it, if you haven't already. Your wife or significant other has been shopping all week, and forgot that one thing, on purpose, one might think.

My wife was sick in bed today, and guess what she needed? Guess where we were just the day before? You got it. As I received the news, I had to begin planning. A guy can't just go and buy feminine products only, I started making a list of things I could buy to hide the "stuff" in. I don't care what it was, I had to get something else. A lobster, shoe polish, a gouda cheese wheel, anything to take attention away from "it".

I managed to come up with a modest list of things we for real needed. It can't be too big of a list, because you have to go through the self-checkout. There's nothing worse than locking eyes with the cashier while "it" goes *beep*. No way. You might say, "Oh, Tommy! Girls understand and might think you are so brave for buying "it". Aha! but what do you do when you choose the grandmotherly cashier (safest bet), and suddenly switches with a guy cashier. You leave, quickly and quietly. Yes, even if your stuff is already on the belt.

So I got some other stuff first, so I could hide "it" underneath. Then had to scope the aisle out before making my approach. Hmmm...toothpaste...mouthwash...casually looking...target sighted! Made a quick but non-attention-getting grab, and coolly stroll away.

turns out I had too much for the self-checkout. there's no limit, really, but they only give you like 1 foot of space to set your scanned items in. So I found my grandmotherly cashier, prepared to drop all and go at the sight of a dude. Played it cool, because if she saw me sweating, it was all over. Made it through without incident, until I thought I'd say hello to a high-school classmate I recognized. Then I saw what was sticking out of the top of the bag. Changed my mind, went home.



Listened to the new Jack Johnson today, liked it, need to have a few more listens before I could comment. Jack, you too may be called upon to buy "it". Be ready.

Cover for Children of Light #2 by Eric Merced. Coming your way soon!! Doesn't it radiate awesomeness?

New Children of Light pencils by Papa Nate

I'm getting near completion of CoL #2, hopefully in a month or 2. I've got 1 page to pencil & ink, and inks to finish on 1, and lettering for 5 or 6 pages. The awesome Eric Merced has agreed to do a cover which I'm always excited about! I am working more lately, knowing I'm close to finishing has lit a fire under me, and I've been working almost every day on the art. Hopefully it'll become a habit!

Listened to the new Guns n Roses today. At 1st, I thought it could have been better for 15 years in the making, but I'm really diggin' it now. Might be worth buying.

Got Starbucks for the drive to work and listened to Jack Johnson & Friends: A Broke Down Melody (find it yerself, I'm tired of linking). Makes a snowy drive nicer!

Sketch and The Lord's Table

Here's a sketch of Page 24 of Children of Light. Note how I patched the pages together hastily due to having to work with a small scanner. Someone else was supposed to do this one, but they disappeared on me. Mouselad, where are you?

I started a new online course from Setting Captives Free, The Lord's Table. I realized a need to get control over my eating habits (gluttony) before I become a mentor for SCF. Day 1 is today, so we'll see how it goes!

My 1st comic appearance

A few months ago, I got to meet Adam Withers & Comfort Love, a great husband/wife art team at Wizard World Chicago. I had been reading their comic, The Uniques, and got to talk with them for a while about the comic and art. They offered to put my family in the comic since they liked us (they have put a lot of their fans in the comic, actually, because they're cool like that!). We're the family in the last panel giving the police a statement. You should become a fan today, and maybe you can be in the comic, too. You can download it for only 99 cents and read the rest of the story.