Well, I really only spent 2.5 hours on the misinformation, then 2.5 hours the next day fixing it. Long story short, I took my phone in to get fixed and wound up getting a new phone (it was long overdue because it was really slowing down anyway). The first lady I talked with at Sprint explained things in a very confusing manner and I made the best choice from that. Only to discover charges later that night that didn't reflect what we'd discussed. Freaking out, I went back to the store the next day and the manager explained things in an understandable way, and fixed everything. He was also shocked at the near pristine condition of my 3.5 year old smart phone (which never had a case on it). SHOCKED. I treat my phones like a mini computer, not a toy. The lady next to me was arguing over how her kid had let her friend play with her phone and it broke. I just don't understand it.
Mid-Winter Throwback
Here's the edited version of Berkeley's Geek Week Comics Business Panel I was a part of just before New York Comic Con! This video features "behind-the-scenes" one-on-one interviews with all the panelists too.
Here's the full panel, unedited. Skip to 17 seconds, because they recorded us chit-chatting before it began (we didn't know! Good thing we weren't gossiping).
Maybe one day...
Astronomical!
Neil DeGrasse Tyson's "Year in Review" at the Natural History Museum.
Last week I had the great opportunity to see my favorite astrophysicist, Neil DeGrasse Tyson, at NYC's Museum of Natural History! His presentation was the "Year in Review" of a selection of key astronomical events in 2014 (and a few from 2013 and 2012, as shown above). I'm posting this on my comic blog because Neil was featured in a Super Man comic! In the story, Super Man visits the Hayden Planetarium to see light from Krypton exploding (apparently he had reached Earth way faster than the speed of light, so the explosion light is just now reaching Earth). DC Comics had contacted Neil to locate a likely red star in our sky that Krypton could be, so now there's actually a star named "Krypton!" Also the artist drew Neil in one of his signature starry vests. Not sure if this was the first comic Neil was in, as there are a few others online, but I have a feeling there are more to come!
Going with the space theme, this morning we were supposed to have witnessed asteroid 2004 bl86 fly by Earth, but noooOOOooooo, the weather had other plans.
Adventures With Intuos!
Purple Striped Jellyfish!
I've been having so much fun with my new Intuos Wacom tablet! Here's the very first illustration I did solely in Photoshop! (Well, I did some in high school with MS Paint... [cringes]). This is the Purple Striped Jellyfish - I love jellyfishes! This creature lends itself very well to the pressure sensitivity and sweeping lines that can be created using the Intuos. Last time, I was testing inking my comic pencil work, and it was harder to make the sweeping motions when tracing a line. But when drawing from scratch digitally, it's easier because your hand can just go where it wants to and isn't hindered by following lines.
Sketches of Purple Striped Jellies in the Monterey Bay Aquarium
Just for kicks, here are some colored pencil sketches I did of some Purple Striped Jellies when I visited the Monterey Bay Aquarium years ago. Now, this aquarium has the largest most awesome collection of jellies I've ever seen! Like, entire rooms where you're surrounded by huge jellyfish everywhere! I liked the Purple Striped ones because they're very colorful and flowy. They really like swimming upside down as pictured above.
Comparing the two kinds of illustration, it's always great to have a mini travel sketchbook to capture what's in front of you fast, especially when traveling. But when I spent more time with the Wacom rendering of the jellyfish, I really got to capture the transparencies of it! Yay Photoshop layers! Watercolors by hand could also present transparencies, but with a different texture and feel. Even though the digital rendering has a more cartoony look, the smoothness is closer to how the animal is in reality.
I'll probably always draw with a mix of good ol' pencil & paper and the wacom, but it worries me a bit if I may get too reliant on technology. Like, I'm locked into Adobe's pay per month program, and after learning of some cheaper alternatives, I sometimes regret it. It's an industry standard, so it's good to know Adobe programs, but the fact that they can raise the price at any time makes me worry. I guess I could always export all my files to tiffs, but that's a LOT of files...
Artist UPGRADE!
Mindy Indy's new digital tools!
I'm so super excited about some fancy devices that will help me in comic creation efficiency! For a Christmas present to myself, I got a brand new Intuos Pro by Wacom, and my comic artist friend Warner gave me his old A3 scanner because he got an upgraded scanner/printer. With these tools combined, I can conquer the world! ART BATTLING COMMENCE!
For awhile I'd been wanting a bigger scanner to scan whole comic pages but gave up because they were too pricey. Thus, with the free 8.5x11 scanner I found on my apartment doorstep (I'm too much of a cheapskate for my own good), I scanned large images in pieces and stitched them together in Photoshop. What a time waster! A few times I was able to access larger scanners for rush projects but that was lots of running around. But now I can easily scan 11x17 sized paper in the blink of an eye! Pictured above is the A3 Scanner, which uses Twain Driver. Works for both Mac and PC. Simple and easy to use because it does one thing and does it very well - scans big stuff!
I've also wanted to get a better Wacom tablet for awhile. Seeing ads for the Surface Pro 3 (where you draw directly on the screen) made me want to get one of those at first, but upon trying it out in Best Buy, it was much smaller than I expected. How can you create legit art on such a tiny screen? I've seen people do it, but it's not for me. The Best Buy techie recommended the Intuos family of tablets, and I'm pretty happy with it so far! Previously I used a Wacom Bamboo for digital coloring, but it's the most basic one (only $25). It worked well for solid coloring but I couldn't draw smooth lines for creating artwork SOLELY on the computer. Also, the pressure sensitivity sucks. And the pen nib always wore down too flat, which made my "brush" too blunt. Anyway I've been playing around with the Intuos Pro and it's pretty awesome so far! My goal is to create more comics solely digitally, which will be much faster!
It's serendipitous that I acquired these devices at the same time. As shown above, I've scanned an AER HEAD page and am playing around with digital inking. AER HEAD is drawn by hand on bristol, and is like 75% drawn, but I've had some hang-ups about changing scenes around and moving forward. But working digitally makes it SO much easier to edit! Yay for the UNDO command! And inking is pretty much like tracing with pizazz anyway. I've gotten frustrated with my traditional inking tools, like unexpected globs of ink plopping out of nowhere. Having to switch pens each time you want to change line widths (I find the brush to be too blobby for inking small works). Trying to draw a line and no ink will come out even when I just dipped it in ink. The list goes on. It'll still take awhile for me to master the Intuos and digital inking, but I think it's a step in the right direction. Mostly experimenting in Photoshop, and tried Illustrator but have had some problems. While Illustrator is great about smoothing the line, when I lift the pen from the tablet the line ends quite bluntly and not gradual like in Photoshop. Any comments on digital inking are appreciated! I've been looking at some online tutorials too.
WHOO that's a long post! So much to blog about on this topic!
Sometimes it's good to be thrifty, but when that thriftiness is holding you back from being productive, it's better to invest in tools that will make your life easier. If you're just entering a field, it's good to begin by seeing how you can get by on cheaper materials that work just fine but maybe they take more time. But once you're on the professional scope of your field, it's time to get serious and invest in some better tools. I'm not saying buy the most expensive things, because even though business expenses are tax deductible, you only have so much $ in your account. But growing in knowing yourself, your habits, and your field will help you to spend money more wisely in a way that will benefit you the most.
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Is it perpetual optimism or naiveté?
HAPPY NEW YEAR! YAY 2015!
Happy New Year! This is one of the holiday comics I created for the FD Foundation - over 100 comics and still going strong! I should really share more of these...
I was on vacation for 2 weeks in Michigan - one of the great things about freelancing is being flexible with my work hours. However, I still had to work very hard to accomplish all my projects before I left for the break! But now I'm back and the new year is off to a great start! One of my 2015 resolutions is to do even better with the business side of freelancing. I have lots of other exciting ideas and plans in the works and I can't wait to share them with you!
The Daily Misfortune continues! So my apartment building is pretty old and has these heat pipes that make such awful loud screeching noises that wake me up in the middle of the night. Last Saturday they made the place super hot! Not only because it was warmer weather outside, but those pipes were on full blast all day and night! The next day, even though the temperature outside was the same, inside it decreased dramatically. Someday I'll live in a place with my own thermostat.
POP2 (squared) Holiday Pop-Up Market THIS FRI & SAT!
I'm in another holiday market this Friday Dec 12 and Saturday Dec 13th! POP Squared is in downtown Brooklyn and is partially run by my friends at the Gowanus Nite Market! They always put on great shows! Diverse vendors, food, DJs, alcohol, and a cool artsy atmosphere!
"After the success of our Grove Alley events, the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership in partnership with the Gowanus Night Market (GNM) and Jamestown Properties introduces Pop² Brooklyn, a unique indoor holiday market experience.
In keeping with the artsy-meets-urban-style of our Grove Alley Makers Nite and Paint Nite and GNM’s past night market events, Pop² Brooklyn’s 2-day event will take place at 200 Livingston Street, a 5500-square-foot vacant commercial space in the heart of Downtown Brooklyn. The market will offer a mix of both DIY gift making stations for makers at heart wanting to personalize their shopping experience as well as other Brooklyn based vendors selling one of kind items.
As always, there will be an eclectic venue, Brooklyn Brewery beer, food trucks, our resident DJ Chela and special guest DJs on the 1s and 2s.
See you there!"
You can RSVP on Eventbrite - the market is FREE but it helps keep track of #s: http://www.eventbrite.com/e/pop2-brooklyn-tickets-13800412405?aff=es2&rank=1
The holidays are fast approaching - Hanukkah starts next Tuesday and Christmas is only 2 weeks away! Better run to POP Squared to get all the goodies for the people on your list!
As always, I'll be sketching on the spot and selling mini comics. I'll be near this cool bear mural! It's at 200 Livingston St, near trains A,C,F,G,N,R,2,3 at Jay St.-Metrotech, Hoyt-Schermerhorn. Friday hours are 4p-10p (come right after work!) and Saturday goes from NOON to 8p.
For the first time in like 8 years, I have a little Christmas tree in my apartment. It's actually a decent size - put it up yesterday. Be careful with those ornaments though!
Winter Fest This Weekend!
Get some holiday shopping done early at Winter Fest at the Brooklyn Friends School this Saturday Dec 6th! 10:30A-5P at 375 Pearl St. in Brooklyn. They'll have local artisan venders, a bouncy castle, plant sale, book fair and karaoke. Plus food vendors like Hill Country BBQ, One Girl Cookie, and many others will keep you coming back for more!
It's fun to exhibit at and go to craft shows like this because there's so much variety! Get a custom sketch or mini comic from me, character prints (FROZEN!) and cupcakes from Nadia Burgess ("ToughSpirit Creations"), and prepare to get cozy with one-of-a-kind quilts, hats, and tights. You can even buy poinsettias there! I'm sure there will be lots of interesting tchotchkes too. Check out the facebook event and see you there!
As always, I'm late at seeing movies by at least a year. But this Thanksgiving my room mate and I finally watched FROZEN! It was pretty good! I like how it emphasized sisterly love over the love of a man. It was structured very differently than other Disney movies because there was no clear villain until the end. Most of the time the "villain" was their situation. Stylistically, it's cool how the snow was rainbow colored reflecting the light and not just white.
But my favorite Disney movie is STILL "The Little Mermaid." Frozen is great, but you can't compare it to the pizazz of the "Under the Sea" animation and song (God, how many animators DID THAT TAKE?).
Happy Turkey Day!
Enjoy your Thanksgiving... WHILE IT LASTS! I keep hearing about stores having sales earlier and earlier on Thanksgiving. A few years ago I think midnight on Thanksgiving was the earliest, but now some stores will have door-busters at 5PM Thanksgiving day. It'll probably continue creeping and creeping until the entire holiday is engulfed by mad shoppers. In the future, will the amount of family members at dinner dwindle until nobody is left? And not only shoppers, but the poor people who have to work at all those places too! But maybe online shopping will balance it out. Maybe we'll all be in front of our computers/iPads/whateverthehellcomesnext getting deals over our turkey dinners. Maybe all the turkeys will just revolt. Happy Thanksgiving!
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Yet another opportune moment for A Christmas Story quote! Enjoy the heat wave while it lasts.
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I've seen a few cockroaches in my new apartment, but not enough to cause alarm. It's a pretty common pest in New York. Roaches don't "bug" me as much as some other bugs (they don't bite), and I have no qualms stepping on them with just my flip-flops. As long as they don't turn into flying, biting, nuclear-infused cockroaches, we should be ok.
Also of note, I've changed the bottom right corner to "The Daily Misfortune" finally, after realizing it said "The Misfortune Cookie" for like 2 years. Not technically wrong, but now the title reflects the web comic rather than the mini comics. Better late then never. I went through all of 2013 without changing the small date, so it went from 2012 to 2014 :P
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I'm not going to take Cold-Eeze PM again. Must've been why it was on sale. Tonight I'll try whiskey.
Comix Gab Interview
Cartoonist Dre Grigoropol of "Comix Gab" interviewed me and other zinesters at the Philly Zine Fest! A fun and informative look into the world of zine festivals and comic/zine making.
Chronological Timeline
1:00 Dre and Ken are at the Philly Zine Fest 2014!
2:30 Interview with the writer of the comic book called Comicverse: Bianca Alu-Marr
5:40 Interview with DC Zine Fest organizer Ariana Stone.
10:30 Interview with indie cartoonist Mindy Indy.
18:00 Interview with author Homos in Herstory and organizer of NYC Feminist Zine Fest: Elvis B.
23:00 First Date At The Arcade song by the Comix Gab’s house band The Yucky Nerds.
See more about Dre's post on the Comix Gab site.
This is what happened on my first adventure to Burlington Coat Factory. One of my room mates really likes it, so I was curious, and looks like you can find some good deals if you hunt... but it's a little below the bar of TJ Maxx and Marshall's - everything strewn about. You'd think they'd have more glove selection, because it's fall/winter and gloves go with coats (more so than hats or scarves in my opinion) but their glove selection was pretty small, and there were many single gloves with no partner. Said the associate: "People steal stuff." Who would steal just one glove?? Luckily I did find a pretty good pair for $10.
Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers 2 is Here!
The Power Rangers book I colored this summer is out now! "Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers Vol. 2: Going Green" can be found on the Papercutz website (and probably comic stores soon). Just in time for the Christmas/Hannukah/holiday season!
Here's a sneak peek at some of my favorite pages! This 2-page spread battle scene took FOREVER to color, but it came out awesome with the rainbow color scheme adding more pizazz. For battle scenes created in Photoshop, the penciler can copy, paste, resize, and rotate all the little army men, but it doesn't really work that way for coloring - you'll spend a lot of time just trying to get the shapes to match up. I tried it both ways, and it's just easier to paint the shapes in like normal.
This is the story Mighty Morphin Power Rangers fans have been waiting over 20 years for—the untold story of the origins of Tommy—the Green Ranger! How did Rita Repulsa choose this teen over others to wage war against the Rangers? This is the only place to find out.
I gotta say, even though Rita Repulsa is the villain, I REALLY LIKE HER! She's so funny and awesome! This is a well written story that even a 30 year old like me can enjoy.
Note to fans: This graphic novel takes place right before the classic Mighty Morphin Power Rangers episode “Green with Evil.”
Coincidentally, I had chosen to color the monster green before I knew the story was to be called "Going Green," referring to Tommy being the future green ranger. But hey, the more green the better!
Coloring water effects are hard! Papercutz had these 2 pages ready for me to color early on, and I spent lots of time playing with layering and gradients and stuff to make the water look believable and cool. Came out pretty good! But then they sent me a lot MORE pages with water (nooooo!).
I'm very excited the new book is out! And this time I colored the WHOLE 50 page story! The last story I colored, Megaforce Vol. 3, was divided into 2 stories, of which I colored one 25 page story.
Please get a copy soon and enjoy!
400 Daily Misfortunes!! WOOHOO!!!
Another reason to buy online instead of going to a mall. The Bronx Terminal Mall was designed for people with cars, NOT walking. uuuugggghhhh and it was raining hard today too. The thing that confused me the most was the 2 street levels. Upper Manhattan and the lower Bronx had to be built all crazy because the landscape is very rocky and not level. Well, now I know.
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Just now I saw a guy playing the old Sonic 2 Genesis game ON HIS PHONE on the subway! I was struck by a wave of nostalgia. But dude, he knew some stuff I didn't think about before, like he was able to get all 7 chaos emeralds in the Green Hill Zone?!! He said you had to get 50 rings BEFORE touching the swinging "save" star post thing. Somehow that went over my head as a kid - it seemed like sometimes the star post would take me to the emerald zone, but sometimes it wouldn't. To anyone unfamiliar with Sonic all this will seem like jargon. Anyway, don't we all miss those days when we could be so engrossed in stuff like video games and not have to worry about paying bills and such?
The Comicverse
At the Philly Zine Fest, I was interviewed by a cute little dragon named Ying! He came all the way from the Comicverse comic shop in outer space!
Comicverse is a weekly web comic created by Bianca Alu-Marr and Steve Peters. It's a sci-fi comic about a comic store in a space mall. I particularly like the layouts in their comics, from what I've seen so far. Looks like they have a lot of story lines too! Seems like it can be goofy but also serious at times. Check it out on http://thecomicverse.wordpress.com/
Philly Zine Fest was Phenominal!
My day trip to Philly for The Philly Zine Fest was awesome! Only 2 hours by bus from NYC (very short compared to Boston, Baltimore, or DC!). Everyone was friendly and it was great to see what other zinesters are up to! There were some political zines, feminist zines, mini comics, and lots more! I shared a table with Werdy Girl who made both comics and zines and was really nice!
The Rotunda venue was really cool with murals near the ceiling, and was a cozy space. The size was in-between Pete's Mini Zine Fest and Brooklyn Zine Fest. I sold some of my mini comics and a few prints. I didn't do any drawings like at comic conventions, but it was nice to focus on the mini comics for a change, and to see people really liking them and talking about them. Because even though at the larger shows I make $ mostly from "drawing anything," I only sell a few mini comics because they're not the main focus. And the table cost at PZF was only $6, which took the pressure off and made everything more laid back.
Dre Grigoropol (right) and her mural outside Locust Moon Comics, with Mindy Indy.
Afterwards, I went to get a Philly cheese steak with fellow cartoonist Dre Grigoropol and friends! DELISH! Then some of us went by a mural Dre had painted in the windows outside Locust Moon Comics!
Another part of Dre's mural, featuring her character "Dee" from her comic "Dee's Dream" (which is awesome!) Dee has the same hairstyle as me! Hey, she's even left-handed too!
Locust Moon is the coolest comic store I've ever been to! Artsy murals cover most walls, they have a big gallery space (featuring their new "Little Nemo" exhibit), even a couch in the front for a reading area, a big tv in the back (playing Family Guy at the time), an aquarium, a porch outside, and they had indie stuff in the front rather than the back. Not to mention the whole store is huge! Sometimes getting out of NYC is a good thing... reminds me how life is in other places that actually have space.
Then back to NYC on a late bus - so tired! Great trip, but I need to go back to see all the other cool historic Philly stuff! Oh and I didn't make it to Jersey for Super Heroes for Hospice Saturday because I didn't feel well, but luckily it cleared up in time for the Philly trip.
What the Font?
The new "Mindy indy" font!
I turned my handwriting into a font! My friend and fellow cartoonist Simon Fraser recommended this last year, and I finally got around to doing it! I've been told that the computer fonts I use as a short-cut on my mini comics don't fit with the hand drawn comic. The current comic I'm drawing ("Apartment Hunt") has LOTS of text, so this is a good time to test it out.
There are free sites that turn your handwriting into a font like http://www.myscriptfont.com/ Print out the sheet, write in the boxes, scan, upload, and voila! It did take 2 tries to tweak some weird letters, but the final result is awesome! I'll save tons of time but it'll have the warmer look of writing by hand! Also thinking about making an Aer Head font. I do pride myself on the fact that that comic is all done by hand, but as I get busier and time slips away, it's best to utilize tools like this!
If you're in Jersey tomorrow, check out the Super Heroes for Hospice show in West Orange! If you're in Philly on Sunday, check out the Philly Zine Fest at the Rotunda!
Yeah this happened. Luckily I'm pretty sturdy (also survived a freaky skiing fall last winter). Pissed me off though. See, these kind of New Yorkers give all the other ones a bad rap.
Philly Zine Fest and SH4H this weekend!
Breaking news! I just found out about the Philly Zine Fest, and got in last-minute! Very exciting! I've never been to Philly before, and am looking forward to the famous cheese steaks :) My friends Joseph Carlough at Displaced Snail Publications http://www.josephcarlough.com and Dre with her comic "Dee's Dream" http://www.deesdream.net/ along with many other awesome peopl
Philly Zine Fest 2014 will be held on Sunday, November 9 from NOON to 6PM.
The Fest showcases local artists and zinesters, as well as zine distros, bringing DIY, radical, whimsical, and artistic small press publications to the public. Ranging from bike repair to poetry to crafts, the Zine Fest is a great place to go to learn new things, connect with local writers, and get involved with creating new forms of accessible media.
It's at The Rotunda
4014 Walnut Street
Philadelphia, PA 19104
FREE and open to the public!
More info at http://www.phillyzinefest.com/ and search for "Philly Zine Fest 2014" on facebook.
And Saturday November 8th, I'll be doing Super Heroes for Hospice again in New Jersey! Lot's of traveling ahead for me :P Also FREE! 10AM to 6PM.
It's at 95 Old Short Hills Road, West Orange, NJ 07052
Super Heroes for Hospice is a charity event. Since I've first started doing this show, it's grown in popularity, and lots of my friends are in it too, including Nadia Burgess, Paul Castiglia, and Paris Cullins. See you there!
I'm never eating Skittles again.