Been a pretty shitty week.  The digital canvas prints I had done arrived this week, and turned out TERRIBLE, so I got in touch with the printer and they made excuses about this or that, and are reprinting but I won't hold my breath.  I'll have to just suck it up, crack out the tubes of paint and my brushes and touch up the canvas traditionally (which is going to take likely as long to do as it took to complete the ENTIRE painting in PS) YAY!

As if that was a great thing, I pretty much may have to just swallow my pride and drop out of the upcoming exhibit I was invited to display at the end of May because I can't freaking afford to get any more work around to put in (the mixed media piece I damn near when into town to get my 40x36 canvas for and some other supplies on Wednesday is just going to be too expensive now to finish)  So THAT has me pretty frustrated.

Also, I've had to drop 2 of my books, and one of them is something that I nearly and dearly will miss, Hero By Night.  Not everyday that you get to work on superhero books in this industry, unless you work for Marvel or DC, and this was an amazing superhero book.  The reviews we've been getting for the last year and a half have been nothing BUT stellar.  Looking at major reviews sites, seeing the weeks books reviewed, and watching HBN be the highest reviewed book over stuff like X-men was a great feeling.  Knowing how successful it has been online was even MORE of a jolt of cool.  We really wanted to see it on it's OWN site, supported by ads, because that's how it could have made the most money, but just knowing that we've had more readers each month than stuff like Batman has been an enormously cool thing to be a part of.  All the emails from fans, the interaction on message boards and comments with them, talking to dads and moms and kids and EVERYONE at all the conventions that LOVE the book...it's been a great thing.  So yeah, my hands were pretty tied, and I was basically FORCED to make this decision yesterday.  Doesn't help that DJ Coffman, creator, writer/artist and all around comic book guru, is probably my best friend.  So to the Universe right now, I'm saying, "you damn well better have something better in store for me right now cuz THAT really sucked!"  I'm thinking that what that something IS, is for me to focus more on my digital painting and to finally get around to launching my OWN project that I've been working on for a long time.  I just don't know if the timing is perfect yet, because I'd like to pay my bills and mortgage this month before I start leaping off a cliff with something that has no guarantee of making me any money right away.  I am going to focus more on that though, it's part of my new direction I want to take my work so maybe this was just the final nudge that was needed (even if it felt like getting SHOVED off the cliff instead of jumping of my own free will)

So now, my Dabel Bros. book is on hold as I wait for an inker to be found and get me pages again, hopefully it won't be an entire month, my only other book, Dragon Cross at Big City Comics, is going through some major changes as after issue 5 the co-creator and artist left to pursue other things, and they had to find a replacement and scramble to get things moving.  So THAT book has been in limbo for almost 3 weeks now, not exactly sure when pages are going to start rolling in.  Billy Dallas Patton is onboard as penciler though, so I AM excited to work with that guy, cuz I love his work, but yeah.....more waiting game.

Yesterday and ilkely most of today, will be spent scrambling myself.  I have a lot of bad fortune to recover from here in short order, or things will just blow up by the end of the month.  I need to find more work, bottomline.  I know this, and knowing is half the battle right.  The thing being, I can't wait 30 or even 60 days to be paid for said work.  So most of the time I work on 50/50 terms, but the sad reality is that most comic publishers don't PAY on those terms, it's 30-60 days (if that) I've always prided myself on how well I perform under pressure (even though I secretly HATE IT) and now I'll guess I see if I can make magic under some of the most intense pressure I've been under in years here.  

I need more coffee, and maybe a shot of Baileys in it today.



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