New Page

Just posted a new page over at Pixelstrips.

Check it out.

As I stated over at LazyComix.com... all new NYComix will be appearing there for now. It's tough to keep up on both sites, especially with a full-time job. Plus, there's some other stuff going on that I'll announce soon.

Thanks for looking!
--Gent

I'm Back and So is Randall.

So it’s been awhile since my last entry. Obviously, the holidays make everything crazy but now that it’s somewhat back to normal, regular updates should be back and running. The holidays even screwed up my Pixelstrips schedule, and I’m hoping to get a new page up there before the end of the week.

I spent the holiday in upstate New York and landed a great present that was a total surprise. My sister-in-law has a screen printing business, I mentioned a few times that I wanted to make some NYComix shirts but I never got around to making a serious order. Well, come Christmas I get a box and what is it full of? NYComix T-shirts! Pretty sweet, I think. I’m going to print a bunch of them up for the Con in February, so if anyone wants one, they’ll soon be available.

I also met up with a few friends over the holiday. I’ve known them both since I was like 13 years old and we don’t see each other as much as I’d hope. I’m down here in NYC, Mike is near Albany and Drew in practically in Canada. But an interesting thing happened during our separate conversations. They both asked me why I haven’t finished Randall.

A while back I decided that I wasn’t happy with the comic and that it was just too much of a departure from my NYComix. True as that may be, I still love Randall. It’s like my first-born. It’s the first comic I really sat down and worked on with the intention of showing it to people. It’s admit ably crude and weird in places, but I think I may just finish it up. Drew, who just gave my his first novel to read, knows what it’s like to want honest feedback from a friend, so I trust that he would tell me if finishing Randall would be a waste of time. He said I should consider is an “exercise” worth finishing. So I think I’m going to. I mean, the book is even thumb nailed through the end, so why not? On thing I don’t really understand is why people have to have a “style” they have to adhere to, I always though a good artist could do a lot of different things. An artist’s style is always evolving. Why can’t it evolve in different styles? Why are there even unwritten rules in art? The reason I love art, and comics in particular is that there are no rules.

R. Crumb has a distinct style that you recognize instantly, but look through the full gamut of his work and you’ll see the classic Mr. Natural style of art as well as cartoon work that is as strong as any you’d see in a Disney cartoon or comic. He does both equally well.

So anyway, looks like Randall is going to make a comeback. Kind of a Farewell Tour.

Although, it seems like every “Farewell Tour” isn’t an actual Farewell, so who knows.

Howard Stern

Today was Howard's last show. Listened to it here in NYC but was unable to go out to the rally... I got deadlines, man!

The man has been a part of my mornings for a looooong time. I can't remember when I didn't listen. I can't wait for the move to Sirius and I won't miss "regular" radio in the least.

Philip K. Dick & R. Crumb

R. Crumb is one of the biggest artistic influences on my work. He's one of the greatest comic book artists of all-time. Bar none.

A month or two ago I read "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep" by Philip K. Dick. The book was amazing and it quickly shot up the ladder as one of my favorite books. I'm reading another of his books right now... "The Man in the High Castle" and it's also amazing.

I'm surfing some PKD sites the other day and I ran across a very interesting comic. In an issue of Weirdo Magazine (#17, released in 1986) Crumb did an eight-page story about a "Religious Experience" that PKD had in 1974. It's an amazing story and, of course, the art is incredible. Here's the link. You can read the whole story there.

Enjoy.
--Randy

Keep On Truckin'

per·se·ver·ance n • steady and continued action or belief, usually over a long period and especially despite difficulties or setbacks

Who knew that after reaching my lifelong goal the one thing I’d need more than anything else is that? If I knew then what I know now would I still have pursued it with the same passion? If the end result is becoming jaded beyond repair is it worth it?

These are questions that I’m struggling with lately. The answers are pretty far off right now… I’m sure they’ll be revealed in time. Until then it’s persevere, persevere, persevere.


Anyway, after some shopping this weekend, I took some more pics of that great view of lower Manhattan as the N Train crosses the Manhattan Bridge into Brooklyn. No matter what else is going on, seeing this always makes me smile.

What I'm Up To....

I’ve been working on a bunch of stuff lately. With the holidays approaching, I feel like I need to get as much work in now as I can. The week of Christmas is basically a no-work week for me. Sure, I’ll be doing some lettering, but my own work will take a backseat to shopping and running errands.

I’ve got 3 projects going on right now. The first pertains to that brain I posted a few entries back. I’ve got the story written, but I still need to break down the panels a bit better. Its times like this that I’m happy to don’t work directly on the art board. I usually do a separate background, and in the case of this comic, a bunch of different shots of the main character. I’ll do this right in my sketchbook and just pick and choose which ones I like. Then I’ll scan the background and all the images and just move stuff around right in Photoshop. The main reason I do my comics this way is that I like to work bigger than the traditional comic board allows, especially if I’ve got a 6-panel breakdown. I feel like I can’t get the hatching and detail I want at that size and if you feel constrained when you’re drawing, you’ll never get your best work. I think of it as if I’m shooting a movie or something. I do as many shots as I can and then edit them together in “post”. It’s then I’ll see if I need more shots or if I’ve got enough. Sometimes I have too much. It all depends.

Anyway, I’ll do a blog entry about it sometime soon.

The other project I’m working on is my 2nd major writing proposal to Marvel. My first is being reviewed now. I haven’t heard anything back, so instead of waiting around I figured I’d better get going on another. Plus, how often does a first time writer get his first proposal accepted at Marvel? I can’t be too often. I’ve read tons of Brian Michael Bendis interviews where he’s talked about how he just pounded Marvel with proposal after proposal for like 10 years. So that’s my plan. Someone said the “squeaky wheel gets the oil” (or something like that)… so get ready for me to be squeaky. I just finished the outline for this story, so after a few alterations and tweaks, I’ll be ready to start putting this thing together.

The last thing I’ve got going on is Pixelstrips. I just finished the second chapter over there and I have no clue what story I’m doing next. I have ideas peppered throughout the stacks of notebooks I have lying around, so I’ll have to dig them out and see what strikes my fancy. You’ll find out by next Wednesday. In the meantime, feel free to head on over to my message board and post away. I'd love to hear from more people who read my stuff.

So that’s what’s happening over here at Lazy Comix.

If you just read this blog, you’ll probably be interested in one of my favorite comic blogs a great artist named Mike Wieringo. If you’re a comic fan I’m sure you’ve heard of him. Right now he’s penciling Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man over at Marvel. Before that I had the pleasure of lettering his work on Fantastic Four. That was a book I really enjoyed working on. Mark Waid wrote some fun stuff on the book, but Mike’s art never disappointed. Check it out. He always posts sketches and right now he has a few unpublished FF pages up there.

Good stuff.

--Gent

Fanboy Radio Appearance *UPDATE*

A few posts back I mentioned that I'd be appearing on Fanboy Radio. If you missed it you can now hear it for free, here. (direct link to MP3)

While you're there, click around and check out the other Episodes. Scott and the guys over at FBR do a great job. If you're a comic fan, you'll love it.

Thanks!

My Next Comic...

I realized that I've really been putting a lot of NYComix up on my site as well as the ongoing story at Pixelstrips. So I'm going to do a Non-NYComix story next... I'm just about to sit down and start drawing it. I don't know how to explain the story and I don't have a title for it yet either-- so I'll just post a bit of reference I'll be using for it.

Oh, and some great news on the upcoming NYComix Mini-Comic Volume 2. The Man himself: Jim Lujan will be contributing a pin-up as well as some other special guests that I can't quite reveal yet. Should be fun... its shaping up to be like twice as big as Volume 1. Stay tuned.

--Gent