Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving holiday. It was pretty good over here with just the family and a friend over. Lots of food and leftovers for days. We don’t know how to cook lite.
And I haven’t worked since Wednesday. I finished corrections on Devil Dinosaur #2 on Monday, and got the first round of character drawings to O'Reilly on the same day. Didn’t expect anything from Marvel or Oreilly until after the holiday weekend, but they both surprised me with new pages, and a list of revisions on Tuesday and Wednesday. Well due to the holiday they'll have to wait.
What’s interesting is that I meant to work on Friday, and today (Saturday) but maybe the weeks of grinding to meet everyone’s deadlines, and all the cooking and eating left me so tired on Friday! It was one of those days where you look at the drawing board and just shake your head. Concentration wasn’t at peak level, and there was the distraction of the refrigerator repair man having to come over and fix our barely cooling fridge. We started to notice that it wasn’t really cold on Wednesday, so that night I arranged for a Friday service call. The repair didn’t take that long and wasn’t much of a distraction from work, but my body and brain seem to want to stay in vacation mode. I can hear my brain now, ”Hey, the kids are on vacation, why not us?”.
I also tried doing my daily YouTube Short drawings, but even that got derailed. Sure, I got interrupted by the repairman, but going back to finish the simple drawing was a chore, and I still haven’t finished it. Today we took the kids to see the Christmas trees and gingerbread houses at Disney’s Grand Floridian and Contemporary resorts. By the time we got back and I ate dinner… work? Gah. Tired, and my feet hurt. Tomorrow I’ll grind away. Tonight I’m writing this draft for as I sit in bed. It would probably go easier if the energy levels were higher. I could leave it. I mean , it’s Substack, not a Marvel or DC deadline. But I’m learning that I have to hit these blog and video deadlines like they’re real. Well I guess they are, but they’re self imposed and if I miss them won’t have editors and art directors yelling at me, and later pulling work from me. I should meet them, right?
I guess this sense of derailment happens to all artists. It’s happened to me before. Happens to all of us. Sure we love to draw, paint, etc, but it’s real hours of work, and sometimes you’re just wiped out and need a breather for a day or two. You feel guilty that you’ll fall behind, won't get paid, whatever… It happened to Picasso, Monet, and Rockwell right? Artists block and just exhaustion. The eternal conflict between wanting to work and wanting to relax. Oh well… Sunday is back to work day.
It’s now Sunday. Well…. I got some work done. YouTube and Substack. And then the bathroom shower and its needing regrouting. Part of that got done. Still have hours in the day… time for work tomorrow,
Oh, and here’s a drawing of Bob Iger that I did last week. He’s back at running Disney. The leader of the club. After the news, my wife suggested that I draw him for my YouTube Shorts channel. Sounded like a good idea. The drawing turned out fine. Iger doesn’t have extreme features, so he was tougher to draw than I expected. And of course I had to throw in some Disney Parks, Marvel and Star Wars imagery. Walt Disney World blue name tags signify Walt Disney Legacy Award. I’m still exploring the tone layer effects in Clip Studio.
Meanwhile…
Here are some recommendations for the week. Things that I’ve found enjoyable and interesting this week.
ANDOR. This prequel to the Star Wars film, Rogue One explores the origins of Cassian Andor and the Rebel Alliance. Sounds pretty cut and dry, right? Well yeah, but this series on Disney+ leans far more into the political intrigue and machinations of financing a rebellion than you’d expect. Star Wars films have at times hinted at the politics of the Empire, but never like this. I started the series a few weeks back, and watched basically while I worked. I found it ok. Some great set pieces, but just ok was my initial reaction. Since I was working at the time I wasn’t paying full attention. Some friends online had raved about the series, so I went back to complete it. While I still haven’t finished the series (I have about 2 episodes or so to go), this show has gripped me. This show has no lightsabers, Jedi, Sith, talk of The Force, or any of the stuff we generally associate with Star Wars. Instead we have spies, rebels, bribes, mercenaries, prison breaks, over the top nasty Imperial leaders, and all the other stuff that goes with forming a rebellion. Recommended.
L.A. CONFIDENTIAL. Varese Sarabande has just released an expanded edition of Jerry Goldsmith's 1997 Oscar nominated score for L.A. Confidential. It’s been a while since I've seen the film, or sat and listened to the score. I loved the film and enjoyed the score on the original CD, but that disc is a short 30 minutes or so. I look forward to exploring the expanded edition. It’s a great neo-noir companion piece to Goldsmith’s Chinatown. It’s also notable that he scored this soon after his scores for The Public Eye and City Hall, both of which have neo-noir themes, and similar sounds. L.A. Confidential is on a limited edition CD directly from Varese Sarabande, and all the titles mentioned are available to stream from Spotify/Apple/YouTube Music/Qobuz/Tidal. Click on the cover art to hear the score.
RRR (RISE ROAR REVOLT). A 2022 Indian film that as iMBD put it, is “ A fictitious story about two legendary revolutionaries and their journey away from home before they started fighting for their country in the 1920s”. Uhhh… yeah. That’s it. Never mind the crazy OVER THE TOP nature of the film. Everything is at level 10. It’s insane. Our main characters fend off thousands of protestors, tigers, exploding trains, and have a dance off. Of course they do. You have to see it. It’s wild. Available on Netflix.
Thanks for your time. I’m still trying to figure out a schedule to post.. I’m thinking Wednesday and Sundays, but time will tell. Hope to see you then.
JMJ
Working through the holidays and distractions
Glad you had some down time. The brain needs to rest.