Blog

  • Journal – 1/19/13

    “Oooh Soouuuuperman!” A little girl at Barnes & Noble blurted that out, (she was on the floor in an odd posture that only little kids adopt, flipping through a large format photography book) to no one, she was just delighted and needed to get it out. This struck me for two reasons, her tone, and her unfiltered joy at seeing the character. Her tone was like what you’d hear when a kid sees Santa Claus, and her joy was instant. This is a character that’s 75 years old, and still has the power to make a kid involuntarily squeal out his name.

    I just wanted to make a note of that brief moment, I want to remember the power that a great character can have, and redouble my efforts to create something that is that durable and wondrous.

    Anyway, it was week three of the job search and lordy, is it a grind. Keeping my fingers crossed that this won’t be a protracted campaign, and that I can find an excellent team to join soon.

  • Journal – 1/16/13

    Ah, snow…or at least the threat of snow! We may actually get some kind of measurable precip tomorrow, and it’s nice that winter is coming out of hiding. This is the third week of my job search and if nothing else, it’s proving to me the power of online job boards. Monster, Career Builder, Indeed have provided an ludicrous number of incoming queries. It’s also proving to be a real challenge to keep focus on both the job search and my writing (and other) goals.

    My, what a dull entry, my apologies. I’ve gotten out of the habit of ruminating “out loud” so to speak, and need to get back into the groove. Bear with me, it’ll get amusing soon!

  • The Eighth Circle – Working

    Hey, I like working as much as the next guy, but sometimes I just shake my head ruefully.

    (These cartoons represent my terribly unsuccessful attempt to establish a syndicated cartoon strip, “The Eighth Circle”. To prove that I could actually cartoon while remaining employed, I took a weekend to and did a humor “boot camp”.)

     

  • The Eighth Circle – Romance…well, maybe not

    Ain’t nothing funnier than people in love, except maybe, people trying to get love or get rid of it.

    (These cartoons represent my terribly unsuccessful attempt to establish a syndicated cartoon strip, “The Eighth Circle”. To prove that I could actually cartoon while remaining employed, I took a weekend to and did a humor “boot camp”.)

     

  • The Eighth Circle – Those wacky animals!

    Sure, anthropomorphic animals are an old gag…but it’s still funny!

    (These cartoons represent my terribly unsuccessful attempt to establish a syndicated cartoon strip, “The Eighth Circle”. To prove that I could actually cartoon while remaining employed, I took a weekend to and did a humor “boot camp”.)

     

  • Journal – 1/8/2013

    I’m sitting in a coffee shop, surrounded by delightful aromas, and an eclectic selection of my neighbors. As best I can figure, the couple sitting next to me, a nebbishy bespectacled man and an attractive (but rather severe) woman, are engaged in what sounds like a Russian tutorial (she’s teaching him). Looking to my right, the Red Velvet Muffin and Coconut “Gluten Free” cookies look tempting, but the sandwiches are past their prime. The rest of the shops denizens range from Pacific Rim hipsters, earnest young professionals, and a well-wrapped octogenarian reading the Post.

    I mention all of this, primarily to illustrate what a terrible choice the coffee shop was for doing graphics preparation for this site. For the most part, all of the art I created for the original version of gregggillis.com is still viable, but there are a slew of images created for much lower resolution monitors. Whatever, just need to muscle through, so I can finish the migration and get back to just having fun with the site!

    Today marked day two of my employment search, I’m gratified by the number of opportunities that are available, now I just need to plow through ‘em all and find the gem. Hope you’re having an excellent Tuesday, and look forward to chatting again soon!