Fan Art Friday No.6

Boba Fett + Marceline the Vampire Queen =

Algebro.

Or, if you will, "TI-Eighty threemo". (after the character Beemo from Adventure Time). Did anyone else have to use a graphing calculator in high school? Do kids still have to? I definitely had a strange affection for my TI-83...

Also, Joe and I will be at Emerald City Comic Con this weekend! Table J-10! Truthfully, I'm going for more of a vacation, so the only things I'll have for sale are my superhero prints:



And I'll be doing sketches: $20 B+W; $40 Color (watercolor). I am going to try and walk around the lovely city of Seattle, so apologies ahead of time for not being at the table. Joe will be there, though, selling lots of stuff!

Process: Just For Fun

Sometimes it's important to make stuff for no reason, or rather for fun reasons. I'm currently working on something sea turtle-related, but my research went astray when I started doodling juvenile sea turtles in the margins of my notes. A half hour later, I had 20 little drawings that, after some finagling in Photoshop, turned into this:



I'm no animation buff (I took a winter class back in college), but I love me some GIFs.

Oh, and the bio nerd in me would like to point out that sea turtles hatch underground, and have to dig their way out to the surface. So my animation is factually incorrect.

Fan Art Friday No.5 (ugh. On Saturday AGAIN...)

Jake Solo and Rainicornbacca.

Star Wars + Adventure Time part 2

Princess Bubbleia.

Process: Time Management

Ah. the exciting topic of...time management? Yup. This post is about how I schedule my time. (BORING) I have to admit, I love when artists/writers share their methods for getting stuff done. So I'm sharing mine. Take THAT, internet.

I've kept a daily planner/pocket calendar thingy since the days of college; I wouldn't really know how else to keep track of all the crap* I have to do. My current (and favorite) planner so far is this little number from Moleskin. I've used this type of planner for the past three years...:



It's about 3.5 x 5.5 inches, so yeah, I like to write SMALL. I love seeing the whole month! Since my days at my non-comics (Aquarium) job change week to week, I use red pen to outline shifts.

For comics, I will make deadlines for the week, and check them off as I go (or reassess my schedule if I don't meet them).

Food, travel and social stuff go on here too. I also enjoy anytime I can use stickers (see the tiny fruit ones on the top? those were to remind me to pick up the farmshare that month).

With all that said, I feel like I'm just finally starting to be more efficient with my time. Up until last fall, I was still working 3 - 4 days at the Aquarium, so my work-from-home time was only about 3 - 4 days a week. Now, it's more like 5 - 6, so really planning out each work-from-home day is important (for me at least). Here's 2 versions of a-day-in-the-life-of-Maris:

DAILY WORK SCHEDULE (average)

9 AM wake up, work out

10 AM coffee + breakfast, maybe some planning for the day

11 AM shower/clean

12 AM - 2 PM work

2 PM - 2:30 PM lunch

2:30 PM - 7 PM work

7 PM - 8 PM dinner

8 PM - 11 PM work

11 PM - 1 PM tv/movie/video game/doodling

TOTAL WORK TIME: 9.5

DAILY WORK SCHEDULE (crunch time)

9 AM wake up, work out

10 AM coffee + breakfast, maybe shower

11 AM - 2 PM work

2 PM - 2:30 PM lunch

2:30 PM - 7 PM work

7 PM - 8 PM dinner (sometimes takeout)

8 PM - 2 AM work

TOTAL WORK TIME: 13.5

Things like breaking a bigger project into little mini-deadlines, and establishing daily/weekly/monthly expectations are helpful to have on there too (and they can help to prevent going into "crunch time" mode). Basically, if I get to check something off once I've done it, I feel good. For really big accomplishments, rewards like going out to fancy dinner, or starting a video game (SKYRIM!!!!) are nice little perks (haha Skyrim pun). I'll save the Skyrim post for another day though.

All that said, I am always looking for ways to work more/faster, but without sacrificing my sanity. Cooking, taking walks, working outside (when possible) are all little ways I try to not become a total comics zombie. Also, having a part-time job that engages me in a completely different way than comics has been integral to my well-being. Plus, I am more than happy when those two worlds meet (I'll be posting soon about some Aquarium comics I'm doing!).

Ok. Hopefully that's helpful or interesting. I know it helped me to put this in writing...Oh, and speaking of which, I have been curious about digital calendars, but for now I will keep it strictly physical (call me old-fashioned).

*note: When I say "crap", I am referring to paying bills, car maintenance, appointments, meetings, etc. It's not ALL crap, I promise.

Fan Art Friday No.4

It only makes sense to combine two of my favorite things...
STAR WARS + ADVENTURE TIME =



And then he was all like



There will be more of these. Oh yes, there will be more.

Happy Friday!

Fan Art Friday No.3 (ok, it's actually Saturday)

Only in the dead of night, will I post this fan art of...JAR JAR BINKS:


Crispy mornin' munchin'.

Stuff: Poop

This was a going away present for a coworker-friend Sunnye:



Sunnye kept an amazing blog about her plastic use for a year: KnowPlastic

Currently, she's busy traveling the world (with her poop, no doubt); you can be insanely jealous of her exploits here.

The stuffed poop was made with brown fleece, polyfill stuffing and, of course, love.

Fan Art Friday No.2

I just can't help myself...

Process: Staying Fit (well, kinda)

Last year, I pretty much became a work-from-home illustrator. By "pretty much", I mean that I still work 1-2 days a week for my other awesome job, but those other 5-6 days are spent writing, drawing or coloring. Although I love working from home, it can be challenging to not completely devolve into a Playdough-like lump. And while writing, drawing and coloring are all great cognitive exercises, my mortal being was left feeling...well, a bit Playdough-y. So...

Step 1.) STANDING DESK. That's right, I stand up and work. And I love it. No more backache or crappy posture from working in front of a computer for 10-12 hours a day.

Step 2.) GOOD OLD-FASHIONED EXERCISE. I will be the first to admit that I have a really hard time being consistent with things (long-time readers of this blog will agree). Daily exercise is a chore, and between paying bills and cleaning and cooking, I don't really like to subscribe to additional "adult" responsibilities...but, with the persuasion of Liz Prince, Joe and I started the INSANITY WORKOUT (when you read that out-loud, it should sound all epic and reverb-y). You may have seen the late night infomercials advertising fitness guru Shaun-T's "Insanity Workout", or his classic "Hip Hop Abs". Well, I totally dig it (oh, and while we're on the subject of late night infomercials, the Magic Bullet Blender is pretty rad too).

Liz, Joe and I have been working out 5-6 days a week since late November, and aside from the occasional soreness, I feel great. Like I want to Hulk-out all the time. It's awesome. The best part is that it's FUN. When you workout and can laugh at all the silly crap you're doing (see images below), it makes it rather enjoyable. Ok. That's enough about that. If you really want to read more about our experience, you can check out this blog. And now, here's me sweatin' and lookin' silly:

Fan Art Friday No.1

Yup, you read it correctly; every Friday henceforth shall be known as "Fan Art Friday". I will post drawings of my personal fan art for things that I love, as well as commissions from conventions.

This will be obvious to most people that know me, but I LOVE ADVENTURE TIME. It's design, animation, voice acting, writing, and backgrounds, as well as gratuitous use of gastropods, make it one of my favorite shows EVER. So here is a doodle of Finn and Jake (and maybe a rogue gastropod) the night before a quest:



Also: Adventure Time has a comic now!!

Robot Quilt

Our good friends just welcomed their new baby; this was my baby shower gift:



To make this quilt, I first did some doodles:



Then I tightened up my favorite design (and did some maths!):



And then I cut out about 204 squares and sewed them all together. With my sewing machine! I'm not sure if I'll ever get past plain old square quilts (I'm very intimidated by anything other than squares), but I figure that'll pave the way for Tetris and Legend of Zelda quilts. Maybe someday I'll seek counsel from the amazing quilter-seamstress-toymaker-designer Claire Sanders, but until then...Yay 8-Bits!

Process: Writing

Prior to this past year, I had either written and drawn all my comics, or drawn comics while working from a script. For the work both written and drawn by me, most were mini comics, or short (2-12 page) stories for anthologies. I had never really given much thought to separating writing and drawing, but a number of opportunities presented themselves...like writing a one-page story for Mike Allred's Madman: 20th Anniversary MONSTER! Actually, he asked both Joe and me, so we worked together (awwww). In this post, I'm going to outline the process that I used to write the script. I'll be doing this with future posts as well, since I've recently written some other comics-y things.

BRAINSTORMING...or IN WHICH MARIS AND JOE TALK ABOUT NERDY THINGS OVER COFFEE



This might be my favorite part. Joe and I spent many walks and coffees discussing what may happen in the story. We do this for each other's respective projects as well; sometimes it's good to just talk stuff out.



FIGURING IT OUT...or IN WHICH I MAKE ILLEGIBLE MARKINGS WITH A WRITING UTENSIL ON A FIBROUS SURFACE


I should mention that I wrote a brief synopsis to send to Mike before we started laying out the panels. Also, I re-read o bunch of Madmen comics to get my head in the story. Research = fun! (Especially when it involves reading comics!)



THE ROUGH PANEL LAYOUT...or IN WHICH I MAKE ILLEGIBLE MARKINGS WITH A WRITING UTENSIL ON A FIBROUS SURFACE (part 2)


I guess this would be the second draft (but who's counting); scrapping things that don't fit, and tweaking the dialogue and settings to make sure it flows.



THE SCRIPT!! or LOOK, MA! I'M USING A COMPOOTER!!




Yup. Looking a bit more...professional? I really like using a pen and paper (stubborn and old-fashioned, I know), but typing it out is nice. I can make those final edits, and even scribble on the script some more. After looking at the final script, Joe combined a few panels/lines of dialogue. When you look at his layout sketch, you can see how ridiculously dense it is (sorry, Joe):


If you'd like to see more about Joe's process (including some very silly reference photos), they can be found here and here and here.

Mike Allred's Madman: 20th Anniversary MONSTER is out now! I'll be posting more about my writing process for other projects, as well as my pencilling/inking/coloring process. Until then...bye bye!

Turkeys are done, People are finished...

That's right! I finished coloring the book about primates! Written by Jim Ottaviani! To be published by First Second! Let me just say that Jim is THE BEST. Last night, I received some Zingerman's Chocolate-awesomeness from Jim (stealthily delivered by the ninja-like Liz Prince):



All that's left are the lettering and the cover!! Woot!!

Happy (belated) New Year, everyone!

Here's a commission that I did along with Joe Q and Liz P:


If you want the low-down on who-did-what, you can find that here.

I'll have a bigger update/post soon (almost done with the book I've been working on FOREVER!!)

Cephalopods...

...of the Octopus variety.

Hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving!

Still life with juggernaut and cats.

Two things: Thanks to everyone who came out at NYCC; it was a blast! I'll be posting some of the commissions I did here (and on my tumblr) over the next few days.

And also, thanks to everyone who donated to The Apocalypse Calendar!! We reached the kickstarter goal, and you can purchase said calendar RIGHT NOW! You can also just buy a print of the underwater illustration I did for the calendar here.

NEW YORK COMIC CON!!

NYC here we come!
(no, we will not be arriving via tractor)

Joe and I will be sharing the magnificent S-2 table, right next to Mr. Paolo Rivera. Saturday we will be in COSTUME...you heard me. IN COSTUME. The identity of my costume will remain a surprise for now.

I will being selling lots of prints, including this one:



Each of those dudes will be available as individual prints too! Also, there will be mini-comics and original art. AND I'll be doing commission sketches. woot! It'll be a fun time!

APOCALYPSE CALENDAR!!!!!

Now you can see in EPIC DETAIL all of the marine critters I jammed into this piece for the APOCALYPSE CALENDAR! Can you find:
2 hagfish
1 goliath grouper
6 marine snails
1 cownose ray
2 sea roaches
3 angel fish
1 giant pacific octopus
7 moon jellies
4 seastars
1 scallop
1 clam
2 horseshoe crabs
1 rock crab
7 royal grammas
6 cleaning wrasse
4 redfish
2 flounders
1 longhorn cowfish
4 porcupine fish
4 anemones
4 grass eels
4 moray eels
2 cuttlefish
3 rainbow parrotfish
1 southern stingray
1 green sea turtle
1 harbor seal
1 american lobster
1 whale shark
5 human skeletons
and a whole bunch of barnacles

You can see a bunch of other apocalyptic images, as well as support this project (previously mentioned here), at it's kickstarter site!