In a year of already three deaths, I was hoping to not have to write another one of these again for a while. Though the present memoriam is not for someone who was as close to me as my grandparents or my mentor and friend, Bill Baker, the death of C.J. Henderson (on July 4, 2014) still came as a shock. I didn’t know him very well, and though he never remembered me from a previous encounter, our creative paths seemed strangely entwined. Not to mention, he gave me a few pieces of helpful advice over the years, and I was there with a roll of tape when he needed it most. (Read more…)

Independence Day is just around the corner (well, State-side, that is), and so is my return to conventions. As I mentioned early in the year, I took the first half of the year off (from public appearances) to concentrate on my new teaching post, the classes I had to take to add a teaching certificate to my BFA and my graphic novel, Chadhiyana: In the Company of Shadows (posting weekly on chadhiyana.com). Now, summer is here, the graphic novel is moving smoothly and the Boston Comic Con is roughly one month away. (Read more…)

My first year of teaching full-time is over, and with it my Alternate Route classes as well. (In New Jersey, as in many other states, you can go to school for a teaching certificate if you have a Bachelors Degree, but only in subject areas where you have enough credits.) Both my last day of work and my last Alternate Route class were yesterday, though my students were done last Friday. Now I can sit back and as many teachers do, reflect on the year past. (Read more…)

I’ve been mentioning for some time now that I was hired to illustrate the cover for Jerome Mark Antil’s second Pompey Hollow Book Club novel, and I’m happy to announce that this month, The Book of Charlie: Spirit of the Pompey Hollow Book Club, is finally available through Barnes & Noble and Amazon booksellers (from Little York Books). It’s my third cover illustration, but arguably, the most “visible” of all of them. I’m very proud of it, and according to the book’s author, the critics like it too. But even more than the accolades, or the job well done, the most rewarding thing about this particular illustration job was what I learned from it. I thought I’d share that this week in honour of the book’s release. (Read more…)

My apologies, again, for last week. I was feeling very ill and having trouble keeping up with work and school. I’m better now and back on track. Last week’s page for Chadhiyana: In the Company of Shadows is coloured and the new page went up yesterday. And, for you Chadhiyana fans, I have some other good news: if you like to read your comics digitally, Chadhiyana (the first comic) is now available for digital download on IndyPlanet.com (for only $0.99)! (Read more…)

My apologies for a lack of blog post this week. Since last Tuesday, I’ve been feeling very ill and have had difficulty concentrating on much of anything for long periods of time (which contributed largely to the inked, but not coloured page this week on chadhiyana.com). I finally got checked out today. All’s well, and I’m on my way to a full recovery. I’ll be back next week with a proper blog post and finished Chadhiyana: In the Company of Shadows page. Until then. I hope you are all doing well!

So! Since there were some decent responses to my poem, “When You Die?” (see my A Bit of Ghoulish Poetry entry from two weeks ago–though the responses were mostly on deviantART and my social media sites), I got up the confidence to enter that and two other lately created poems into a poetry contest held by WILDSound. As I’ve said in the past, and despite having two poems-as-comics published (including “Diwali” in Steampunk Originals volume 1), I always thought of myself as a decent poet, at best; however, the responses were encouraging, and I’m beginning to feel a little differently now. (Read more…)

It’s difficult to decide what to write about first. Not because there’s any apprehension whatsoever concerning what I’m about to write. Rather, of the three events (if you will) which occurred since Monday, it’s difficult to decide which is the most important. To put one before the others would immediately place it above the rest in the reader’s mind–something I wish to avoid entirely. So, in an effort to not so much as allude to being more proud of one over the others, I’ll merely write about them in the order in which it came to my attention. (Read more…)

In light of my blog post two weeks ago about my afternoon stroll through a graveyard with my girlfriend (which you can read here), I thought I’d share a humourous poem about death I’d been working on, on-and-off, for a couple of months. It was a bit experimental. I held myself to the strict rules that each line had to be seven syllables and always a question (given, some of the questions fit the term loosely). And then, of course, I like to rhyme (even if it’s not the fashionable way to write poetry in the Modern Age). I don’t write poetry very often, and I think I’m a decent poet at best, but I do love a good poem, when it’s well written. I hope you enjoy this one. I’ll be sure to upload it to the writing section posthaste. (Read more…)

It feels like forever since I’ve drawn Chadhiyana. I know the name of the graphic novel I’m working on is named Chadhiyana: In the Company of Shadows, and it is a Chadhiyana graphic novel; however, for a number of reasons, I decided not to have the title character appear definitively until a little into Chapter I (you can read some of those reasons in yesterday’s blog post on chadhiyana.com). So it’s been months since I’ve drawn Chadhiyana at all. I’ll admit, it was nice to draw some other characters for a while, but in truth I’ve missed drawing Chadhiyana, and I’m excited to be rendering those familiar features again.  (Read more…)