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I noticed on Instagram the hashtag “#Inktober”, which turned out to be artists creating on inked piece per day. I was just beginning my year of retraining, and this offered some much needed rigor. I decided to explore the inking styles of the master comic book artists I have admired over the years, and this turned into a rich experience. Beyond learning who used what tools for what effects, I began to learn how rapidly (most) approached the task of embellishing. It was clear their mastery was not only of form and storytelling, but hitting deadlines!

Click on any image to launch the gallery viewer. (more…)

Authors Note: Forgive me, this is going to be hilariously self-indulgent, but I need to walk myself through this process periodically to get my head straight. I share it in the off chance that, perhaps, you go through similar struggles and might pick up something useful.

There’s one predictable paradox in my life, and that’s if I feel like I don’t have enough time, it means I’m not doing enough. And I’ve been feeling like I don’t have enough time.

You’d be right to guess this isn’t the first time I’ve come to this realization, and I’ve learned the only way out is action – not a furious, flailing action but focused, mindful, plodding, sacrifice-ladened action. (more…)

I wrote this back in July, the recent murders at Umpqua Community College in Oregon prompt me to repost it. The frequency of these events just emphasize the need to go beyond the guns/no guns arguments, this article in Forbes does a better job of it than I do, but here are my thoughts… (more…)

For whatever reason, I’ve not been cleaving to my higher angels during this sabbatical (just beginning week 5) – behaving more like a man on vacation, than a man on a mission. I’m willing to chalk it up to a passive aggressive response to having worked two years without a vacation, but the proof will be in the pudding. (more…)

(Read the overview for the basics of this 90 day push.)

Time for Changeup

There’s no good reason I keep meeting these goals, but I’ll take a bad win over a good loss any day. That doesn’t mean I’m satisfied with my performance, and I need to keep my head clear and adjust what isn’t working to not only succeed, but get that elated feeling of leverage that’s eluding me.

(more…)

“Writing, to me, is simply thinking through my fingers.” – Isaac Asimov

Couldn’t have said it better Isaac, I think I’m going to use that as the mission statement for this Journal. About ten years ago I feared (in a real way) that my imagination was “broken” for lack of a better term, so I set out to prove it wasn’t by undertaking significant project in the form of novels.  (more…)

(Read the overview for the basics of this 90 day push.)

3 for 3 This Week

All in all a good week, but I have room for huge improvements. My planning wasn’t solid, my weight scale’s battery died and I didn’t remedy that till Thursday and I got an unpleasant surprise at the first weigh-in. Had to scramble to make weight on Saturday, but with a long session at the gym was able to hit weight. Also my focus on the editing task wasn’t anywhere near as sharp as it needs to be, which I’ll attribute to making the transition back to my earlier wake-up time. Overall my mental toughness needs to improve. (more…)

A memoir of obsession

Due to my own arrogance, poor decisions and surrounding myself with knuckleheads I had the pleasure of experiencing grinding poverty in my early twenties. The slow slog back to non-bum status had me working two jobs, the “real” one as an illustrator/graphic artist for Amtrak and to make the rent I worked evenings at the gym. (more…)

I might be overstating.

It’s President’s Day and I’m stuck in my apartment looking out my ice encrusted windows like a sad puppy in a pet store. Why? The scheduled delivery of my mattress yesterday was cancelled due to mechanical failure (a fact I was informed of at the end of the four hour delivery window) and would have to be rescheduled to today. It’s just about the fourth hour of the five hour delivery window and I ain’t feeling all that great about how I’m going to sleep tonight! (more…)