My nephew's bedroom walls

For my nephew Jett's 5th birthday, my sister told him he could have his room decorated in any theme he wanted.

You know it warmed my heart when he said "super heroes!"

I was called in as an independent contractor and as a good uncle, to lend my limited artistic ability to this project. My sister wanted me to paint a few characters -- preferably those with a red and blue theme -- on Jett-Man's walls. Of course I was thrilled to accept the assignment.

I'm not done with the project yet -- the final, most important piece will be Spider-Man. I wanted to warm up a little before I got to Spidey, and I did that with these paintings of Captain America and Superman.

I'm relatively happy with the way they turned out. I've never painted a character on a wall before, so it was uncharted territory for me. The hardest part was the scale, and not being able to really see the "big picture." I drew the characters in pencil first, and then started painting. Up close, I couldn't see that I would have liked my characters to have been a little bit longer-legged. But that's OK, I can call that a foreshortening issue. I'm also not too happy about Cap's shield (I knew that would be a challenge) and I'm really mad that I chose to use that pink paint as a skin tone. That's something I'll try to go in and fix later.

I'm mostly happy with Supes, which surprises me. Such a hard character to draw. Why? Because he's got no mask! With no mask, it makes it really easy to make him look like your neighbor in a cape and tights... and creepy. But this guy looks like a kid-friendly Superman to me. And I'm really shocked that I nailed the Superman 'S' chest emblem. Sure, I can draw it, but I figured I'd screw it up painting it. Once I get the yellow in there, that 'S' is gonna look good.

But yeah, as you can see from the third photo, Jett just LOVES these paintings. Seriously, he was really pumped about them, I could tell. The photo doesn't convey that mood, but trust me, he was excited in person. He really wants Spider-Man up there pretty bad though, because Spidey is his favorite. To a 5-year-old, he probably just thinks Uncle Seth is tormenting him by not getting that one done first, but the truth is, I just really want to nail that one for his room, so I want to make sure I've worked the kinks out before I start painting the ol' Webhead.

So, have you done any similar projects? What advice can you give me? Go easy on my art I posted, really, I tried hard... I can't help it, I used the talent I was given!

The New Frontier

10-28-07
Lawrence Public Library
Circulation Department
707 Vermont Street
Lawrence, KS 66044
SETH A JONES
1409 LAWRENCE AVE #C
LAWRENCE, KS 66049
******** DO NOT REPLY TO THIS MESSSAGE ********
If you wish to contact Circulation via email, send
correspondence to circulation@lawrence.lib.ks.us
************************************************
According to our records, the amount shown below is charged to
your library account. You may pay all fees at the library or mail
a check to the Lawrence Public Library at the above address.
If you have any questions about this notice or want to check the
total balance on your account, please call 785 843-3833.
Inv #195086 OVERDUE CHARGE $2.00
AUTHOR: Cooke, Darwyn.
TITLE: DC, the new frontier
LOCATION: Adult Fiction Graphic Novels
CALL NO: GN COOKE D v. 2 BARCODE: 0130502152940
DATE CHECKED OUT: 09-08-07 10:53AM
DATE DUE: 10-06-07
DATE RETURNED: 10-27-07
NOTE: Total outstanding fines and bills $4.40
8:8

It so wasn't worth it.

...sigh.

Meme

Your results:
You are Magneto

Magneto 77% Dr. Doom 73% Lex Luthor 73% Kingpin 70% Apocalypse 70% Juggernaut 69% The Joker 66% Venom 58% Mr. Freeze 57% Riddler 56% Poison Ivy 52% Dark Phoenix 51% Green Goblin 49% Catwoman 46% Mystique 37% Two-Face 21%

You fear the persecution of those that are different or underprivileged so much that you are willing to fight and hurt others for your cause.

Click here to take the Super Villain Personality Test


And you are ---?

Tentative Toe in the Water

Here's a teaser for the latest thing I'm working on:



(I think the sound is better on this one, to be sure...)

You vets of PL may recognize the title, and if you do, great, you already know part of what's coming. If not, you'll find out soon. I'm combining so many styles of delivery and influences, it's not even funny.

Last night I began inking the illustrations, and will paint or color them over the coming week. This video will only be up for a couple of days, so if you miss it, sorry. Be advised the next version of it will be up before T-day, I think.

Deadline for zines IMMINENT!

This email just went out to the membership, courtesy of Marlan Harris, our esteemed guest-EIC...

Is there anyone that isn't going to have a zine in the next issue of the APA? That's right -- no one is not going to have something in it because everyone is going to contribute. If you can read this e-mail, you can send something in. Excuses will not be accepted.

I haven't gotten any replies to these notices I've sent out (except to add more people to the recipients-list... who also haven't much replied) so I don't know if it's because you're all so busy working on your zines that you don't have time to reply or if it's because you're just ignoring me. Trust me: you don't want to ignore me. I have a nasty way of remembering things for a very long time.

To stay on my good side, get a zine together and sent in before November 26. If you're getting this e-mail, you've done at least one before, I know you can do it again. Don't disappoint the APA. And if you haven't done one, get some writing together and I'll talk to you later about how to turn it into a zine for inclusion in the APA (if I haven't already. And if I have, you should already have some things together). You have 33 days. Plenty of time to get something together.

Get to it. You don't want to be left out on this one.

mar

Random Musing

I overheard "Hotel California" today on the radio and for some odd reason, it got me thinking, "Is this song literal (as in a story)? Or is it a metaphor for something else?" I've heard "Hotel California" more times than I could care to count as a child (my mother is a HUGE Eagles fan...I can remember listening to them on 8 track) but for some reason, when the song played through my brain today something clicked that this song just might be a metaphor. I've always assumed it was a nice little story song. I'm sure that as a youth, the concepts of metaphor, analogy and symbolism were just a bit too much for me to digest. As such, ideas that are implanted and reinforced repeatedly at said young age are very, very hard to break (this arm chair psychoanalysis was brought to you by the left side of my brain). So I never questioned the song, just went along with the image of this guy trapped in a demonic hotel. What about everyone else? Metaphor or story? Or am I the only one who is that clueless about this song (Not that I can't discern metaphor in music as I once wrote a paper in college about the symbolism and analogy in "Plush" by STP)?

Same rainbow

Here's a photo my wife took of me and Evey admiring the same rainbow (we're in the lower right-hand corner).

I know that rainbows lose some of their mystique as we grow older, but this rainbow shattered any cynicism with its sheer brilliance. At work the next day I mentioned the rainbow, and we were all kids again. Most of the people in the conversation claimed to have never seen a rainbow so intense before. And I have to agree. This rainbow was eye-popping.

I hit Dillon's for some groceries after work. And as I drove down 6th Street in Lawrence, the clouds parted and the sun shot through. And I knew there'd be a good rainbow soon. And before I knew it, there was a spectacular double-rainbow. I raced home as fast as I could, to get my daughter and show her her first rainbow -- a rainbow very worthwhile of being someone's first rainbow.

As I drove by the local TV news station, I saw a cameraman outside filming the phenomena. And as I made the turn down the alley behind my house, I saw an older couple with camera in hand, shooting the rainbow for their own collection.

I ran inside, grabbed Evey, and we began our admiration for God's (or whatever name that being goes by) handiwork. OK, Evey didn't quite understand why I had her out in the rain. Still, for me, it was a rush.

Life in Color

Lawrence, Kansas, October 17th, 2007, between 6 and 7 pm. Cross-posted from my LiveJournal. And yes, the trees were REALLY that green.

Supes Confidential for January

SUPERMAN CONFIDENTIAL #11

Written by B. Clay Moore
Art and cover by Phil Hester & Ande Parks

B. Clay Moore (Hawaiian Dick) teams with Phil Hester & Ande Parks (GREEN ARROW) to shed light on the origins of the Jimmy Olsen/Superman relationship in Part 1 of a 3-part story, in which Superman invents a way for Jimmy to signal him, and Metropolis deals with giant, murderous...toys?

On sale January 16 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US

Can't afford Kirby art?

Well, maybe instead you should buy Kirby's art.

As in, the art he hung on his walls.

Like this.

Don't know what I think of this. It's like, man, that hung on JK's wall while he drew all those FFs, Avengers, Hulks, Caps? Cool!

And yet... no one would really get it.

Thoughts?

Sweet Soul Music

I don't know what the fuck happened to soul music, but it used to be something special, right? Soul music all but died in the seventies, but lately I've been on another one of my kicks.

Today (one of those amazing but rare cool, sunny early fall days in Kansas) it's all about the Chi-Lites, the Delfonics and the Stylistics.

Got-DAMN that's good music!

Also? I want to write comic books that read like the Five Stairsteps' "Ooh Child" sounds.

Also also? I want to start dressing like them:

An email to a fellow Radiohead fan

Reason # 7,326 why I prefer to buy a CD.

OK, so I purchased (the new Radiohead CD, available via download only) last night when I emailed you. I had been drinking, of course, but was all geeked to buy the album and then download it today.

Well, I wanted to spend $12.00 on the CD. But since it’s in “pounds” or whatever, I’ve got to convert. So I went to a converter and it made sense to convert it to Euros. $8.58 Euros, I paid for the CD. Today I checked my credit card. My card was charged $18.58. Dammit. OK, whatever.

But then, this morning, I went to download. When it gave me the choice of “save,” “open,” or “cancel,” I chose “open,” because I wanted to choose WHERE I saved it. Well, nothing happens for about two minutes. I panic, and close the window and start over.

Then I re-enter the link they gave me. “We’re sorry, the link you’ve entered has already downloaded,” it told me.

So now I spent $6.50 more than I wanted to, and I have nothing but frustration to show for it.

There was an email address for problems, I emailed them my story at 7:30 a.m. and still no response.

Your Morning English Exercises

Practice your English



Brad

Comic Book Idol at CBR

Hey guys,

Something to add to your web surfing these next few weeks: Comic Book Idol 3 over at www.comicbookresources.com.

Former Pulp Legacy member J. Torres is hosting the event. The top 10 have been selected, and there are some stunning artists involved this year.

I'm also involved behind-the-scenes, as I've been hired to write the press releases on CBI3. So help me out by visiting the site and spreading the word to your comic book pals about CBI3. Thanks!