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…)

I’ve always loved old graveyards. As it turns out, so does my girlfriend. (We’d both readily admit we are a strange couple–even considered individually.) For myself, considering my love for antiquated things and my penchant for writing gothic horror (amongst other things), I find cemeteries quite inspiring, and indeed peaceful to stroll through. Equally, my girlfriend finds them calming, and has always enjoyed history of any sort, even that of the Weird N.J. sort of fare. As such, my girlfriend and I have talked about visiting an old graveyard together for some time. (Quite the spot for a date, I must say.) So, just two weeks ago, when we had an afternoon to ourselves, she took me to one such site: the historical Brookside Cemetery in Englewood, New Jersey. (Read more…)

I know most everything has been Chadhiyana, Chadhiyana, Chadhiyana lately (and with good reason, as I’m loving working on a graphic novel for the character). So, perhaps we all need a break for this week. (Maybe not? But let’s take for granted we do.) I was recently given permission by a few clients to share with you the work I’ve been doing for them, including that oft written about, yet-unrevealed book cover illustration I completed a few months back. So this week’s blog post is about the other work I’ve been doing behind the scenes between working on Chadhiyana and to show you that Chadhiyana is not all I’m doing (though, let’s face it, it’s a lot of what I’m doing, and I’m hoping to work on her more and more for many years to come). (Read more…)