a mirror image... : Life

Update from the studio!

Jason Embury — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 15:05:00 GMT

Not sure if I can split my post on here, but this is a LONG one! :D

Life becomes infinitely MORE hectic once you have kids, I’m convinced. However having YOUNGER kids is nowhere near as crazy as it is when your kids get to be of an age where they’re gone at sporting events every night of the week. I’m not the type of dad who is going to miss TOO many games that my kids play in, I rarely have an excuse to not make a game since I work from home. The wife and I have decided to trade off going to the away games this year for my daughters bball team, simply because I don’t feel like shelling out $10 at away games and subjugating my son to have to travel and sit through the away games as well. The season is roughly half over, but….on the horizon is track season (and having run track and been pretty successful at it, I think I’m going to have to venture out to see how those meets go too) as well as “conditioning” and “training” that my son wants to start for football this coming fall. In addition to the time that the kids want to spend on basketball. I won’t complain, at least not right now when I don’t have any deadlines creeping up on me. My kids are healthy enough and have the DESIRE to go out and play sports, and really, that’s what is the most important I guess.

Been a LONG week in the studio. Wrapping it up by saving out high rez files and getting those uploaded today, and enjoying a semi-day off here. If I can manage it. Going well so far though. One the agenda for the weekend are 2 pages that I have to get colored by Monday, need to help with taxes (which hopefully haven’t become too complicated being self-employed), and I’d like to do some other things over the weekend as well. Need new biz cards designed and printed, need to update my portfolio with new work since it hasn’t been done in MONTHS now. Saturday is going to be an all day bball tournament for my son, so I’m planning on that entire day off as well. more after the cut….

Need to get a few more things done yet before I sit down and get pages uploaded to the server for Take a Chance 4 though. This book has been like a breath of fresh air for me to work on really, because the artwork that Ardian Syaf is going is so stunning. He’s going to go places in the comic industry, I guarantee it. Also, it’s great to actually read the script, it’s a really GOOD story (I’m sure Catie would agree with that assessment) I usually read scripts enough to get what I need from them to do my job, color keys if there are any for characters, time of day settings, things like that. However I’ve been lucky enough the last few months to read some really GOOD stories, by not only Catie, but Dan Wickline, Raven Gregory and Joe Brusha…makes a difference to ME at least, when I get a book in my hands and I actually LIKE the story and not just the artwork.

Landscape studies. What started as a goal to do one landscape study digital painting a day, has obviously fallen off track already. With the way my deadlines creep up on me and with being a family man as well, there are days that I just don’t HAVE an hour to spare. However….I’ve adjusted this goal to now reflect something more attainable. I’d like to complete 200 landscape studies this year by the end of the year. I have roughly 196 to go yet by my count. Wish me luck.

Comics. Been writing and developing some of my own ideas so far this year as well. Not sure where they’ll go, or if I’ll have time to get anything more than just a framework setup for stories that I can come back to a few years down the road and dust them off to get moving on them, but it’s more than I’ve done in the last 5 years so that’s something at least. I’ve been debating the merits of changing the way I approach projects as well, moving towards an online distribution and creation aspect much more, and possibly bringing in a partner to help get some things moving forward. I’ll have to keep you updated on that though, it’s much like being a freelancer in a lot of ways, it’s an always evolving-very fluid process.

Direction. I’m struggling to find direction in my work right now. There are different paths that I think are in front of me still, and I’m still sort of standing around waiting for the wind to blow one way or another and move the crickety little arrow signs in the direction I’m supposed to take. I already KNOW that I won’t be doing what I’m doing right now, just coloring comics, 3 years from now, because I don’t think comics will be around in the capacity they are now in that time. Knowing that is the case I’m trying to figure out what to focus on. Every path you take on the road to being an artist is different, and unfortunately, each one requires a SPECIFIC portfolio of work. I need to be versatile and able to do a bunch of different things, but at the same time, SPECIALIZING is really the best way to get noticed in any one thing. That being the case, it’s almost like you need to have a portfolio for EVERY possible thing that you can do. Which of course, requires a SHITLOAD of work to put together. Nobody is paying you for portfolio pieces, nobody PAYS you to take time off work to get better at anything as a freelancer. You have to work usually twice as hard most times if you want to add a skillset to your artistic arsenal because you can’t justify taking time away from paying work and deadlines.

So on top of all these decision, I’m also factoring into the equation…that my daughter is going to be graduating high school 5 years from now. There are things that I don’t want to miss out on, and things we want to do as a family, before that happens. We don’t get this time in our lives back. There are things that I can do now for my kids, that they will likely remember the rest of their lives as we get older. I don’t want to make sacrifices on their behalf, or my wife’s, just to make money or make myself a better artist. That opportunity will be there forever once the kids have grown up. So…likely I’m talking myself into many more sleepless or nearly sleepless nights here. Because yeah….in 5 years we’ve got a kid likely going to college (and like everyone else in America, we’re basically starting over with retirement and college savings now)

So if you know me, if we talk, email or whatever…and I seem cranky sometimes, it’s not you, it’s not really the way I am, it’s lack of sleep and stressing over things like that which are on my mind. I still like you (unless you’re one of the 3 or 4 people I think is a total ass, in which case you probably aren’t reading my blog anyways) honest.

recharged, sort of

Jason Embury — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 13:33:00 GMT

so with deadlines out of the way on Monday, I took all of Tuesday off for the most part aside from a logo design I had to get done. I took a good portion of yesterday off, started colors on a pinup commission of Jean Grey/Phoenix, watched a bit of a Dylan Cole Gnomon DVD, and tried to get my body back to feeling somewhat normal. Still have a shoulder that is now only KIND OF sore, but I also have a kind of sore neck now, and I pulled something in my ribs of all places, while turning over in bed the other night. Talk about lame. However the upside...there is one I promise, is that I feel almost completely recharged mentally.

On the agenda today, more digital inks on Take a Chance #4, finish up the commission pinup, and get some of the flats for TAC4 pages I have back already dropped into my files for color scheming. I'm still in really good shape here for a somewhat EASY 2 page a day schedule on that book as I've set aside time to do NO other comic work for the next 2 weeks really BUT that book. I deserve a small break in my coloring schedule after 2 completely busy and insane months of cranking out pages.

My daughter lost her first bball game yesterday by a large margin, but she was one of the 3 girls who actually scored any points (the team only had 5) and I think...I'm going to leave it at that. It will be a long year for her, there will be a lot of unrest and turmoil within that team, and it won't change until they all get on the same page and really start to care about the game. *edit* I just typed a bunch of crap about parenting, pride, and respect that I'm going to delete as it contradicted me not leaving it at that.

On to art related stuff now. Somewhere in the last 2 months, I think it was after I passed 70 pages worth of work just after the New Year, I came to realization. I like to paint more than I like to color. I've been trying to paint as much as the comic page will allow, but sometimes pages just don't make sense for that type of thing. I really got to do a lot of it with the giant sized Grimm Fairy Tales issue in Decemeber, I've been getting away with it on some pages for the Take a Chance book, a couple of pages in Herbert West 3, but not many really in Grimm Fairy Tales 35 which is what I wrapped up on Monday here. So as I sat there yesterday, after realizing that I had done almost 120 pages in about 6 weeks (which included some commissions) but basically almost 6 books worth of work, I was feeling an odd mixture of pride and disappointment. Sure that's a LOT of work. MOST of which I'm proud of. But honestly, I felt more like a machine set to automatic at times than I did any kind of artist. So I started thinking hard about what it is that I enjoy the most in my work, and it's really the painted elements. When they're present that is.

So I'm contemplating things here now. Do I see myself as a top tier colorist at Marvel or DC some day? Because really that is probably the only way I can continue this as a career in the future. With the comic industry shrinking, and it was already small, I can't answer that question really. There are some amazing artists working there already as colorists, and on a GOOD day of mine, I can come close to them. On a consistent, page by page basis though, I fall short. So I wonder if that is a circumstance of my own creation sometimes. Would I be able to aspire to BETTER work if I only did about 44 pages a month? I damn well could come a LOT closer than when I'm doing 90 pages a month, that's just the truth of the matter. I know I have the drive, and when it comes down to it, the confidence in myself and my abilities to get to that place, but it comes back to the question, is that what I REALLY want? I don't know many people coloring comics that make a living doing it WITHOUT working for DC or Marvel. The fact that I've been able to get by for going on 3 years here doing just that, is still kind of hard to figure out. With the changes to the market that have taken place over the last 3 years, and the changes that are occurring now, it makes me wonder how feasible it's going to be for me to keep making the kind of money I'm making now WITHOUT moving on in my career.

Without rambling too much more this morning, because I have some things to do today, here's where I'm at. I'm thinking of really making a push towards matte painting and concept art here. I really think that it's something I can excel at. Looking at what I've done in the last 6 months, I think that I have a much higher upside if I were to focus more of my energy into that, than if I was to continue to sit here and crank out 80-90 pages worth of comic work a month. I'm seriously considering enrolling in some of the Gnomon online workshops that they offer for things like that.

HOWEVER, with the way the economy is right now, the fact that my wife's job is tied directly to the automotive industry as a 2nd tier supplier, and with so much uncertainty in THAT, I'm not sure that I can justify turning DOWN any work that comes my way. Especially when I can GET that much work, and have smaller publishers willing to pay my page rate, outside of the Big 2 in the comics industry. I offer something that evidently JUSTIFIES my page rate or I wouldn't keep getting work.

It's a tough position. It's hard to find people to talk to really in either industry, that I can relate to. My situation is really, honestly, pretty unique. I've talked with a lot of colorists, comic artists, concept artists and designers, and really....just looking around, I sit at home scribbling all day and make money without really working for any BIG name companies. Things just end up working out somehow in the end every time for me. We all take different paths in life. I guess it comes down to which fork you end up taking in the road sometimes. My problem I think is that I'm at a crossroads here now and it feels like there are about 10 different forks in that road of life. Which one do I take?

I think I need more coffee this morning. That's about the only thing I'm sure of today. :D

The mandatory New Years post.

Jason Embury — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 15:28:00 GMT

I know, I know, it’s almost a week late. I’ve been extremely busy, which is of course a good thing in these troubled times. I had to go back and actually check the blog from last year here to revisit my goals I had set for 2008, and to recap them a little bit. Funnily enough, I sort of KNEW from the start that they would be hard to accomplish because life is in flux so much of the time, however I think I came away from the year having done just that. I’m going to just update my last year goals first here. 2008 goals revisited. 1- Find more time to create art for just me. CHECK. 2- Finish losing the weight I wanted to lose last year. I lost 15 lbs in 2007, I have about 10 more lbs to lose to get to where I wanted to be in 2008. CHECK. (although I seemed to gain quite a bit back between Thanksgiving and New Years :D ) 3- Become a better digital painter. CHECK! 4- Learn a new software program. HALF-CHECK. picking up on Vue 6 somewhwat. 5- Paint the elvish script around the decorative ceiling shelf in our living room for my wife, and include a large celtic/elvish design motif painted on the ceiling for her. FAIL. we put off painting the living room until this year. so it’s not exactly a fail I guess. 6- I have a comic coloring related goal I don’t want to mention really. CHECK. 7- Make more connections. CHECK. 8- I want to start to step back a bit and give my kids more freedom. CHECK. 9- Relax more. HALF CHECK. 10- Become a better person. Don’t get me wrong, regardless of the few people out there that may think I’m a jerk, I’m really a good person. There are certain things I want to work on though for sure. I think we probably ALL have this goal somewhere deep down, for some it might be buried in their sub-conscious, but the bottomline is just being the best person you can be. A better dad, a better husband, a better friend, a better brother, a better son, a better artist, a better citizen….that’s a lot of hats for any of us to where, and yet finding the BALANCE is the key. CHECK. 2008 in review. Now on to the recap. Talk about a crazy year. Work was erratic, which was complicated by an erratic financial situation as well. Through it all though, I accomplished more work wise, and had my best year financially as a freelancer. SOMEHOW. So in retrospect, I’m not going to complain about any of the problems that arose, as they were overcome through good fortune, grace, and perseverance. This was the LAST year that I coach for 6-7 months out of the year though. I think I’ve decided that I’m scaling back the coaching to JUST my sons football team for the next 2 years, and then I’ll be done likely as not. That proved to be quite an added amount of stress trying to juggle all of that responsibility on top of the hectic and sometimes crazy deadlines of a freelance career. There were times that I was completely worn out looking back. Thankfully enough football coaching came last and was high energy enough to keep me going until the end. The kids have taken huge strides this year in finding their own independence and discovering what they’re made of. My daughter is going through a lot of adversities and what not as she navigates the waters of middle school but is managing fairly well thus far. She really enjoyed playing on the MS volleyball team and the competition, and the team had a great year. She’s just now starting basketball and is loving it, I think :D My son had a really good year of baseball and the team did really well. This was also the first year that we decided to get him into football. He’s been bugging for a couple years now and the timing seemed to be right, in addition to the fact that I was asked to help coach his team. I think there was an adjustment period at first, but it was definitely something he enjoyed. He learned a LOT about himself, and I learned quite a bit about him as well from the entire experience. He seems to welcome the challenges and responsibilities that come with playing quarterback, and he’s determined to make himself the absolute best player that he can. He’s already started his off season conditioning for NEXT year, and if the kid wants to go outside and throw a ball at targets when it’s 5 degrees outside, I can respect the heck out of that sort of commitment and determination. It will lead you down all the right sorts of roads in life. My wife and I enjoyed our FIRST anniversary away all by ourselves in 12 years this year as well. Needless to say, we don’t get enough time with just the two of us when we’re running around everywhere, but it was nice to spend time together for a change without having to be anywhere at a certain time, or do anything in particular for a while. It’s amazing still, that we can both work from home and not end up at each others throats all the time :D Honestly though, we are both extremely fortunate in today’s job market to be able to have that kind of luxury. It’s one of the incentives for working hard all the time I think in some ways. I would go get a real job in the outside world again if I really had to, and I’ve been pretty damn close to having to over the years, but it’s hard to imagine having a better job than I do right now. In general, we just really kept ourselves busy, tried to handle all the obstacles that came our way, and enjoyed our time together with family and friends. So a big shout out to all of those friends and family that we enjoyed spending time with this year. You helped us get through a topsy-turvy year whether you realized it at the time or not. We don’t have anything to REALLY worry about, and our lives continue to be filled with nothing but AWESOME for the most part. On to 2009… So as the New Year gets underway, I have some of the same goals I had as last year. I’d like to lose another 10 lbs, 15 if I’m lucky, that would put me at the “;perfect” weight. Plenty of things to get done around the house obviously, when isn’t there. I’d like to really work on the RELAXING bit more I think too :D Finding more time for my own artwork, and really get at least one of my own projects off the ground this year, regardless of setbacks. Aside from all of those things, after having spent 2 years coloring comics for a living now, I’d really like to land some work at DC or Marvel I think. Something related to, or including Batman is my goal. It may not happen, but looking back on my past goals the last 5 years, there is very little that I have NOT accomplished if I have set a goal to do something. So I figure I’ll get that out there in the Universe somewhere and see what happens. :D

Monday morning meanderings.

Jason Embury — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 11:26:00 GMT

forgive the spelling mistakes today. just finished an all nighter, literally, and I could care less about how many spelling errors I make right now. just wrapped up colors for Beyond Wonderland #4 with Nei Ruffino, Garry Henderson, and Blond (who came on at the last minute to save all our butts) The issue is made of complete AWESOME in my opinion, Dan Leister did an amazing job on the art for the book. Put on a pot of coffee for my wife who's waking up in about 5 minutes now, thinking of cooking a huge breakfast, and then crashing till the afternoon once these high rez files finish uploading. I probably won't take off the entire day today, I'll squeeze in another page or so I think likely as not. Strangely, not too tired right now, so if I can't fall asleep I may just stay up all day and dork around. this week, have to get the rest of our xmas shopping done, for the kids. I have a couple things left to get my wife, but I think we're planning on heading into town on Friday to do shopping. then I'll probably take the kids either Saturday or Sunday to pick up gifts for her. It's pretty apparent that I'm jumping all over the place right now too. It's been really refreshing to have so much work lately, regardless of how busy it seems I am. I'd much rather be swamped right now, than be out of a job like so many other people. I think I'm doing some good work too, at least it seems that way to me :D I'm pretty happy with what I've been cranking out, and I've been cranking out a LOT of stuff. The first issue of my Dabel Bros. comic, Take A Chance is out this month. Can't wait to get a copy of that and check it out, the art is fantastic, and I love the concept of the story (and the writing) K, I'm losing it, it's time to wrap things up, and get something to eat here, I'm starving!!!!!!

Quick random thoughts for Thursday.

Jason Embury — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 14:07:00 GMT

Was a long day yesterday. Took my daughter to get her braces on yesterday morning. It was probably the LEAST stressful appointment I've ever taken her to for anything. She did a really good job of not getting too worked up, and she seems to be taking the right approach to getting braces. She likes them, and isn't all upset about having to get them either, which is a good attitude to have considering she has to wear them for almost 2 years :D She toughed it out at school yesterday, and is still a little sore today as well, but she's doing a good job handling it, and I'm proud of her.

It was a late night last night. Went to see the MSU/N. Carolina game at Ford Field with my son and his friend and his dad and brothers. Was a good time, and the kids had a blast. MSU got TRUCKED by 35 points, and they embarrassed Detroit, the auto industry, MSU and the LIONS on ESPN this morning when they played the highlights of the game, but the kids enjoyed going and staying up so late on a school night. My son was dragging this morning heading to school, and I won't lie, I'M tired myself this morning too. I took some pictures, and shot a couple of short videos as well.

I finished a painting commission yesterday that I've had for a couple of weeks, and it turned out good I think. I've got 4 days less to finish my Grimm Fairy Tales annual here, but I'm DONE with prior commitments and stuff now until I'm finished with the book, so I'm looking to knock pages out like nobodys business the next week here. Then I have 6 pages left to finish up issue 3 of Take a Chance, then I MIGHT be tackling Grimm Fairy Tales issue 35 before the end of the year as well. So things are definitely busy on the work front. Somewhere in there, I have to find time to take the kids xmas shopping for their mom too.

I need another pot of coffee today for sure, and maybe another piece of the AWESOME peanut butter/chocolate fudge my wife made. mmmm, mmmmm good!!!!

Monday morning musings.

Jason Embury — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 13:58:00 GMT

Was a busy weekend decorating the house, setting up the xmas tree and working here. Wanted to take as much time AWAY from the studio as I reasonably could with a deadline only 2 weeks away here. Still a few things on my mind this morning as I prepare for another LOOOONNNNGGG day in the studio here.

First off, I didn't get a chance to sit down and really express what I was thankful for this year, even though I may have done that in my head the last few days. So here goes...I'm incredibly thankful for such a beautiful, loving wife (even though when I say that out loud it always sounds like kissing up or sarcasm it's not, I genuinely mean it) I'm thankful for the 2 kids which have caused me to age prematurely, start losing my hair, turn the hair I DO have still to gray..just kidding. I'm incredibly thankful to have 2 very intelligent, well mannered (when they want to be) talented, loving children. It makes the difficult job of parenting that much easier, because everyone knows I'm unfortunately not the most patient person in the world, even though I try to be.

I'm also very thankful for the job that I have, even WITH all of the ups and downs that come with being a freelance artist. I'm afforded the luxury of working out of a beautiful home, having my own studio right off the upstairs living room, and being able to spend my days coloring comics, creating artwork and painting. It's been a hectic, rollercoaster ride of a year here, however I am looking at my 5th straight year of growth since I started freelancing, and I'm actually making more money than I have at any other job I've ever had before. It's encouraging to keep setting the bar higher and higher, and somehow finding a way to get over it. It's not easy by ANY means, but it is rewarding.

other things that I'm trying to file away this morning....I've got 14 days to get 41 pages of comics colored here for 2 different books, and a painting to finish before Wednesday. Lots of work. I can do it, but thankfully we got the house decorated for Christmas over the weekend, the tree is up, and all of that is out of the way. The only other real tricky part over the next 2 weeks is this Wednesday. Taking my daughter to get her braces in the morning (which won't be nearly as bad as she thinks), then am headed down to Ford Field with my son to catch the MSU vs. North Carolina basketball game which doesn't start till 9pm. Going to be a LATE night. Then it's JUGGERNAUT mode until I'm done with deadlines and hopefully, HOPEFULLY, a little time off this year for the holidays. I've got a staircase and railing in the basement that needs painting, and some other things I'd like to get done around the house, in addition to being able to just relax with the family this year.

k, time to get things going this morning, finish the page I started at 7:30 and find a groove.

Quick random thoughts for Tuesday.

Jason Embury — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 13:32:00 GMT

I'm groggy this morning. I have a bit of a headache as well, which doesn't mix with being groggy very well at all. The good thing is, that I don't have to go anywhere today to get to work. The roads are a mess my wife informed me after dropping the kids off at school. So once I imbibe enough coffee this morning to actually start functioning I'll be set.

Flipping through a book I just sold on ebay as I was getting it ready to mail out, I came across a great little quote by Normal Rockwell. It went something like this, "Painting is like throwing a ball against a wall, it never comes back to you as hard as you throw it. So throw it hard!" Such sage like advice there.

Colored the cover for issue 4 of my Dabel Bros./Del Rey book Take a Chance yesterday, in addition to more pages from the Grimm Fairy Tales Annual. Superheroes and fantasy in the same day, it doesn't get a whole lot better than that :D I'm hoping to get a great deal of stuff accomplished today as well, since I was planning on taking all day Thanksgiving off. Which means I have to work that much harder before and after to make up for that of course.

I'm trying to ignore the news lately, as it manages to frustrate, depress, and anger me all at once. Hard to escape that sort of real life stuff though. What would help is if checks would come in the mail on a more regular basis. Speaking of just such a thing, there SHOULD be a rather sizable check in the mail today, which would make me happy. So I'm hoping when I walk the 100 feet down the driveway through the snow to the mailbox, there's actually a check in there. Because freezing your giblets off to get the mail, and having it not contain anything to warm you up like money (or the new Victoria Secret's catalog) feels like a waste, you know?

Alright, not a whole lot else on my mind, it's sort of cluttered still a bit, and as I said, groggy. I may have to make a second pot of coffee today after I get around here. It just feels like a 2 pot of coffee sort of day today.

Quick random thoughts for Friday

Jason Embury — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 18:24:00 GMT

not much today. haven't slept well the last few days, not sure why. surprisingly I'm not a complete jerk because of it.

I've been ecstatic with the work I've been doing both coloring and painting the last 2 weeks. I seem to have found whatever it was that I had lost that was sucking my energy and life out of my work. Maybe I'm just over being burnt out and that's it, but whatever happened it was a welcome relief. I've always struggled with confidence. I think that might be starting to correct itself, and perhaps the biggest difference in my work is that I'm just more confident, or less scared of my own instincts, and that is the thing that has been showing up visibly in my work. Interesting to think about, being 32 and STILL not being completely confident in my abilities. Strange how life works, I think THAT is safe to say for sure.

a TON, an absolute TON of loose ends to tie up the next 2 days. Hope to have everything down to just manageable by next Monday. Going to be a long weekend. Really hoping that the planets align and the last check that I've been waiting on from a company that was due in September finally shows up tomorrow or at the latest on Monday. Was in the mail yesterday I guess, so that is a big improvement from where things have been at the least.

alright, time to throw myself back into some pages today and get lost for a while in them. I've decided that, being the huge classical music guy that I am, Fridays and Mondays are the best days of the week for that type of music. I think my favorite classical station right now is WCPE from the iTunes radio section. Not too much talking, or commercials, and a great variety of composers and orchestras as well. ah....Fridays.

Quick random thoughts for Wednesday

Jason Embury — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 15:37:00 GMT

busy week, busy MONTH coming up here. here's what I've got brewing inside my head this morning.

The new Cure album, 4:13 Dream, might be my favorite album in the last few years. It might be the best Cure album since Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me or Wish actually. Which is saying a lot because I'm a huge music fan, and I've loved a lot of albums that have come out the last few years. But I have a special place in my heart for Robert Smith music :D

It's dawned on me the last couple of weeks here, that the work I've been doing might not actually SUCK. Which is, you know, a GOOD thing. It's that time of year again where things are starting to get crazy, especially with kids and the holidays coming up. So to be doing good work, have PLENTY of work to do, and headed into winter which is a traditionally slow time for freelancing is a good feeling.

Starting to wonder, worry and think on what I'm going to get my wife for Xmas this year. Won't be anything NEAR like the diamond earrings she got LAST year, that's a given, but I need to get creative and find something that will get me those extra brownie points nonetheless. :D

k, lots of cool things to lose myself in this morning, like coloring this fantasy story for the Grimm Fairy Tales 2008 Annual for Zenescope, and also a splash page with the JABBERWOKY from Alice in Wonderland to break out the painting skills on.

A Hive Full of Buzzing Bees

Jason Embury — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 13:54:00 GMT

at least that’s what it’s felt like here the last few months. we’ve been so busy and in a lot of ways so stressed, that it’s felt like we’ve been buzzing around inside a huge bee hive trying to keep up with all the other worker bees and keep making enough honey to keep the hive going. Maybe a terrible analogy there but it’s all I got this morning.

Football is finally over, we’ve been done for a week now. I’m glad to be done myself with all the coaching. It was a blast, but it was time consuming as well. My son played his heart out this year, made some great progress at QB I think if I look at things objectively, and his team finished in second place in the league. We lost the game last week which would have made the kids league champions, but it’s been a long year, some of our kids were starting to show the wear and tear of a long year, and we played against a team that decided they’d try to put all 11 defensive players up within 2 yards of the line of scrimmage. So we did well I think. My son learned a lot about himself, his abilities and his weaknesses and strengths, which is what sports is supposed to teach you. So in that regard I think it was a successful season.

My daughter finished in 2nd place in her conference for volleyball this year as well, and it was nice to get to some of her games this year and see her play that sport. I wasn’t very familiar with it before, but I think I almost understand all the rules now. She’s driving me crazy with how hard things are in middle school, and I really DON’T envy her having to go through all of that stuff right now. I’ve been there before, and there’s a reason why it’s better to look back on those times and enjoy the things you remember as being fun, and to forget all the other crap that goes with going through middle school and high school Still, I’m proud of the way she’s handling herself and I’m sure that we’re not screwing things up TOO badly with her.

work has been crazy. Mostly in ways that aren’t good. I’ve been extremely busy at times, which doesn’t bother me quite so much as times where I don’t have work to do. There was a stretch where things were falling through on me left and right, project after project that never got off the ground. While things seem to be looking up lately, and I have plenty of work now things still haven’t really settled down much. It’s one thing to have a ton of work, but to have a ton of work and to try and keep working while you’re owed money is not a good situation to be in. I thought I had left all of that behind me earlier this year after I had to wait for months to get paid from another client, but sadly it’s happening to me again right now. It’s November and I’m waiting on money for work I did in August. NOT the least stressful thing in the world. Been making an attempt to supplement our income here by picking up a TON of little jobs that pay on 50/50 terms, but I can only get so much done in a day here. So we decided to open up our own ebay store, and while most of the stuff on there is basically us cleaning out my studio and our basement with things we don’t need, or use or that are just taking up space, it’s been a mild success so far. I’m going to start offering custom artwork on there, and yes, there will be things that are not actually related to comic books shortly as well. I am a real artist as well, and I have plenty of ideas for things to sell.

Which leads into my to do list today, hopefully I can accomplish everything on here today (since I’ve already done the first 2 I’m making good progress)

-set up the Coldplay and Radiohead marathon in iTunes for background music today
-blog and organize my list of things to do
-VOTE
-make another pot of coffee
-color 2 pages or the equivalent
-work on sketch cards for ebay store
-kiss my wife and tell her how much I love her
-bug the people that owe me money to find a way to pay up soon
-color studies for a WoW character painting I’m working on for a client

So I’m off to start my day. If you do nothing else with YOUR day besides work and read blogs, make sure you get your butt out there and vote for change today! This country NEEDS to start moving in a new direction and we need to make sure that we’re at least voting.

Back from the Great Beyond

Jason Embury — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 14:19:00 GMT

been one of my longest breaks from blogging all year. Things have been super busy though with school starting up again for the kids, between volleyball games for my daughter, football practice twice a week for my son, in addition to a football game, and then watching the game film with the other coaches......oh, and I have tried to actually WORK this month for a change too, not to mention looking for more work. I've also decided I think that if I have to mow the yard one more time this month, cuz it's growing like it's on steroids, we might just landscape the ENTIRE damn thing with rocks, mulch and various shrubbery, flowers and more trees and call it done.

How busy is it really? Well I'm up at 4 or 4:30 in the morning the last 2 days because I can't sleep for thinking of all the *** there is to do when I get up. Which naturally leads to me dragging my arse out of bed, and starting to get said *** done so that I can basically stop working by 3 and start running around. Today though an honest to goodness nap might be in the cards (seeing as how the couch in the upstairs living room is just outside my studio)

Kind of feeling like I've got no time to work on any of my creator owned projects anymore either right now, which is creating a huge drag on my motivation to do any work. This whole financial mess that the country is in, seems to be affecting just about every industry, comic books included. I'm waiting on money here again this year, not the first time, probably not the last time, and definitely not a surprise. It seems that almost all publishers, with the obvious exception of Marvel or DC, are really struggling to make ends meet for themselves these days. I've even heard rumors that Diamond is having trouble paying publishers on time. Not sure of the truth in that, but boy if that IS true, and I've heard that from quite a few people now in the industry, it's no wonder so many publishers are struggling. Which in turn, makes it painfully obvious why creators are struggling as well. Maybe another good example of why the logic of one major point of distribution is faulty. If Diamond was to start struggling themselves, then everyone they distribute for would be boned (retailers, publishers and creators) Just seems like a real rough time for everyone outside of the giants of the industry, and makes it that much harder for guys like me, who've been making a living coloring now for over 2 years without ever having worked for said giants before. It's not impossible to find work right now, but it sure as hell ain't EASY for me either. Still, I think I'm pretty lucky to make the kind of money I make, have virtually NO expenses working from home, be able to set my own hours, and get to do so much family stuff at the same time (when I don't have a pressing deadline)

So, it's almost 5:30, and I didn't really mean to turn this into a big complaining post, because at the end of the day, I certainly have FAR less to be complaining about than a lot of other people. I think I'll try to get a couple pages colored here by lunch time so that I can fit in that nap I'm already thinking about now.

It's good to be alive in such a small world.

Jason Embury — Mon, 12 May 2008 12:13:00 GMT

"I know how to run a business and I could make you want to buy a product, movers, shakers and producers, me and my friends understand the future, I see the strings that control the system, I can do anything with no resistance...."

Today is a day of change I think. I can feel it. All weekend I've been stewing on how broke everything is right now. There is no stability left anymore it seems. Chaos is taking over all facets of our daily lives, not just here, but all around the world. Change starts on a personal level, then moves to the immediate area around you, becomes local, then regional. I'm pretty much DONE with standing still, and as much as I BELIEVE that you need to let things happen around you and accept life as it comes, there comes a point when you need to stand up and BECOME the change that you want to see in the world.

"and it feels so good to be alive and on top, my reach is global, my tower secure, my cause is noble, my power is pure...."

rollercoaster ride? or a mystical game of chutes and ladders?

Jason Embury — Tue, 06 May 2008 14:46:00 GMT

wow, I don’t know if my life is stuck in a proverbial and sort of mystical projection of a game of chutes and ladders the last 2 weeks or not, but it sure does feel like I’m on a huge game board right now, and the Universe keeps letting me climb up one of those ladders only to find myself sliding down a chute a day or two later. It’s been insane.

So I’m back to coloring things today, and REALLY focusing on painting and coloring this week. I’ve started the wheels in motion for my own large scale, undoubtedly overly ambitious, possibly completely unrealistic project the past few days as well. So far so good. I’m still ironing out the best way to present things and utilize the screen space as much as possible. I’m NOT the best web designer when it comes to implementing all kinds of code and stuff to make the most functional site. But I have been able to utilize iframes and some simple navigation and stylesheets as much as I probably can. Now it’s a matter of getting the updating and “look” of everything just right before I start putting up content. I have plenty of content to get started as well, probably a good 4 months worth of material already ready to go. I just need to find those extra few hours each day to fit in, and right now, they just aren’t there.

Been busy pursuing some other avenues here as well, I’d really like to try and shift more of my work online as opposed to being strictly a print industry colorist. I see lots of successful and semi-successful things out there that makes me think I can bring a lot of my own flair too.

for those of you that read the blog on a regular basis, I had been forced to make the decision to leave the coloring duties on Hero By Night last week. It was the RIGHT decision to make logically. One of those decisions that you make with your head and know is right. Well, over the weekend, seeing how upset my kids got when they learned I wasn’t going to be doing the book anymore….I made a decision with my heart. And sometimes, you need to listen to your heart instead of your head. This is one of those times I’ve realized. So thank you ALL, for your emails, phone calls, and kind words. It’s funny to me to have so many people actually CARE about me and to recognize my contribution to something like that. It’s not often that people in the print industry of comics care so much about someone as far down the totem pole as the colorist. Heck most companies STILL don’t include the colorists name on the covers of their comics. the interesting thing being, comics aren’t colored anymore really. They’re painted. So to ignore the fact that someone is in reality PAINTING work on a book, is a disservice to that artist really I think. And I really do appreciate everyone who not only recognizes my work, but goes out of their way to get in touch and tell me what a fan they are of my work. (and a little hint, for all you fans, you may be able to actually purchase prints and paintings of my personal work in a few months if you’re so inclined )

That is all. I need coffee, and I have some Hero By Night pages to color today

cracks in the walls, and holes in the floor

Jason Embury — Fri, 02 May 2008 12:10:00 GMT

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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Now playing: <a href="http://www.foxytunes.com/artist/the+cure/track/letter+to+elise">The Cure - Letter To Elise</a>
via <a href="http://www.foxytunes.com/signatunes/">FoxyTunes</a>

new site, new direction

Jason Embury — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 17:39:00 GMT

the portfolio site has been updated with the start of the new direction that I’m planning on heading in here in the studio. New colors, simpler (I hope) navigation, and a soon to be expanding digital painting section being featured. The first of my new canvas prints is scheduled to arrive today via Fed Ex, so I’m eagerly awaiting that. Hopefully all will be in order, and I’ll be getting another one set up for printing and delivery this afternoon. I’m pricing and comparing canvases this morning for my mixed media piece I need to start. We found this great iron grill at an antique shop last weekend that I’m going to mount on painted canvas and do some nifty double framing kind of stuff with.

Also, I’m weighing options this morning. Every artist goes through times where money is tight, and right now, money is TIGHT. It’s closing in on being dangerously tight, and problematic actually. So I need to get creative here, without getting stressed somehow, and find a way to get some money in here in the next 2 weeks. I’m already lying awake at night trying to brainstorm things to do here, and thankfully I’m not being worn out by it yet, just worn down.

Anyone who knows me, knows that I’m not terribly high strung or mean spirited. I’m actually a pretty nice guy, who is fairly patient, and helps people out to the best of my ability most of the time. However there is also the part of me that knows when enough is enough, and realizes that being nice doesn’t always equate to being successful. I’m honest and upfront, sometimes to a fault. I speak my mind, and don’t really kiss anyones butt. Which again, doesn’t always equate to the best decision. But you know what you’re going to get with me, and you’ll know where you stand. It takes a lot to earn my respect, and when I respect someone, I usually tend to give them the benefit of the doubt when things happen as they do to all of us. However when something happens once it’s forgivable, when it happens twice, it’s understandable and forgivable, when it happens 3 times it’s starting to become a problem and you’re on your last leg with me, more than 3 times with little in the way of explanation and then I’m close to being done with you.

I’ve run my own business for 5 years now, improving my profits and success each year. I haven’t done that and been able to make a living being self-employed in one of the worst state economies in the country by making too many bad decisions. I’ve changed my company focus numerous times, from web design and graphic design, to marketing and advertising, to illustration, to business consultation and brand management, to comic books and concept art. I always manage to find a way to be profitable and somewhat stable while growing my business. Doing that does not come about by making too many bad decisions from which you can’t recover. When you’ve in a situation where things are not going well, you have to persevere but you also have to look at ways in which you can adapt and improve your standing. So that’s what I’m doing now. And I’m hoping that my next decision is going to be a good one.