The Return! 2022 Review and 2023

What? Where did this come from? I've decided to get back to blogging so here we are. Me typing and you reading this here. I didn't realize that it's been since 2017 since I've done one of these. So since it's been 5 years let me bring you all up to speed and we will shoot from there. 

In the last 5 years I really dug into my work and abandoned blogging. I've been a maintenance technician and part time have started Illustrations by Pat! which is a graphic art business that has done work for my local school district, Marriott Hotels, and have exhibited selling prints at Power-Con twice in California, once in Ohio, and Planet Comicon in Kansas City. I have done t-shirts, exhibition packages, custom tickets, art prints, magnets, custom trading cards, a deck of playing cards, comic sketch covers, and multiple commissions. I literally have "fans" that remember me and come to see my table year after year. If I had told myself five years ago that I would have accomplished all this I would have called you crazy. I've met so many people I idolize, look up to and personally have grown as a person. It's been 5 years of growth.

So here we are at day one, 1/1/2023 and 2022 is now gone. Despite all the grown I've had 2022 was probably my lowest year since I've been on here. I could talk about my normal job but it's a job. It's not exciting at all. Things break and I attempt to fix them and no matter how hard I try and work my bosses think I don't do anything. Such is the life of a late shifter. It's been that way for years and 2022 was no different. This year I didn't do Plantet Comicon but I did do Power-Con when it moved from California to Ohio. 

2022 I will honestly say is the year I gave up on myself. I say that because all year I was kind of this soulless zombie going to work and not working on my dreams. I went to Power-Con with no real new artwork. I'm not sure if it was just coming out of the Covid-19 pandemic but my heart just wasn't in artwork. Pandemic depression was real. Let me tell you but in 2022 we were coming out of lockdowns, wearing masks, and social distancing as a country and the separation of people changed people. Not all but some. I was one. I will tell you that in 2022 I found that I really had fans as I entered into Power-Con. I was dumbstruck. I felt my artwork isn't that good but people returned to the convention and remembered me. One even sought me out. It was a crazy feeling and felt that even though the convention circuit for me is currently a monetary loss it is still fulfilling. 

While I was out in Ohio I tore my knee so I missed two days of Power-Con. I felt really bad about it. We were walking too and from the hotel and I just couldn't walk. I had well wishes and artwork sent back to me and it was so heart warming. As of the time of writing this my knee still isn't fixed. It was a tear in the cartilage but I'm able to walk and put weight on it again. Some days I still wear a leg brace and some days are worse than others on it but it's working. 

So that's been my 2022 in a nutshell. Mundane, boring, and depressing. So what do I have in store for 2023?

Let me preface this by saying it's time to just be a f*cking menace. It's 2023 and my dreams are for me! I want to grow my business, I want to grow my reach, and I'm gonna grab hold of dreams that I've had, make them come true, and make new dreams. I'm tired of having the same ones year after year. 

So in 2022 we saw the rise of AI art. I'm not going to dive too much into it here but fellow artists have collectively flipped their sh*t and rightfully so. I didn't because well.... it pulls from artwork much better than my own so I felt safe. But I've been upgrading my art style in 2022 and in 2023 I will continue to upgrade myself and not be the same me that entered into 2022. 

2023 will see me return to Power-Con. Power-Con changed formats from a Masters of the Universe convention to a toy convention but MOTU is still what everyone is there for and is of my most popular artwork. 10 new pieces in my upgraded style will be there. 

I'm gonna take you back many many moons ago. Let's take it back to Myspace for a minute. Back in the Myspace days, before Facebookand Twitter I corresponded with Marc Silvestri and pushed him and pushed him about digital comics and what all that holds for us in the future. (I was a comic nerd.) He would never say and now let's bring it back to current, digital comics are nothing more than catalogued glorified PDF files. I had a much different idea and the industry has not moved forward with the possibilities and while digital comics have a large base they have failed them. I see digital comics being able to tell stories within stories and offer a more fulfilling and richer story telling experience. I think I'm gonna work on that which will be exclusive to illustrationsbypat.com. 

This is getting long and more production related and not so much of a personal blog so I will leave it with this, in 2023 I will work harder to better myself, cultivate my hobbies, love harder, cherish those around me, and start putting my mark onthe world.

Love you all. May you also get out there and kick 2023's ass! 

Pat!

Wonder Woman Movie Review

Wonder Woman debuted today and wow is there a lot to say about this movie.

For starters can we just marvel at the fact that we have our first DC female superhero movie? Superhero movies go back for a couple decades and while Marvel's Elektra cracked the ice for female superheroes Wonder Woman came smashing through it. DC has had years of Batman and Superman movies and even featured Harley Quinn in Suicide Squad but no DC movie has starred a female lead.


The story of Wonder Woman ties into where we last saw Diana (Wonder Woman) in Batman vs Superman Dawn of Justice and yet is still an origin movie. Writers Zack Snyder, Allen Heinberg, and Jason Fuchs developed a story that brought as back to where Diana began and all while keeping the story organic and not feel like a flashback. This gives us a new starting point to and not feel like Dawn of Justice is simply a jump off point for this character.

Wonder Woman proves to be a strong female role model in a market dominated by male superheroes. While Wonder Woman, being from Themyscira, is naïve to our world she carries herself with confidence. She is headstrong and doesn't fit into the late 1940's role of a woman that this movie's time period is set at. She is bold and inspirational. Wonder Woman leads without hesitation.

Now this brings me to the point to where we talk about how bad ass Wonder Woman is. Her very presence on screen makes one take notice but looks aren't everything. Armed with her bullet proof
shield, her signature golden Lasso of Truth, and a sword aptly dubbed the "God Killer" Wonder Woman charges in to action making even Batman look like a novice. If you're like myself and believe Wonder Woman alone saved the movie Batman vs Superman Dawn of Justice then just wait till you see her headline her own movie.



Wonder Woman is a great movie and proves what a female lead can carry her own along side the likes of Batman, Superman, and even Marvel's Iron Man, Captain America, and the slew of other movie properties Marvel has. DC has done well with taking THE most recognizable female superhero of all time and gave her such a commanding presence on screen that is impossible to be ignored.

Overall Wonder Woman is a must see for any comic fan and even a fun thrill ride for the average movie goer. There is so much more to share however then we get into spoiler territory and I wouldn't want to do that.

-Pat

Acceptance

So in the last 12 hours I've heard how an event and how my brother and I are a joke within the artist / nerd community. Labeled a joke by a community that doesn't know my brother well or me at all. A select few stand above them all handing down judgement on others for the blind to follow.  Even when trying to market myself within the group that we all are apart of (or I thought) I found myself being censored with post removals and overall blocking me promoting myself. 

I thought that "you either die a hero or live long enough to become the villain."

I've sat here trying to figure this out and how I'm going to proceed with it. I'm at a crossroad in how I handle this.

I did want to become the villain. I did want to tear their group apart from the inside. They "would be my meteor. My swift and powerful sword and the earth would crack under the weight of their failure. They wanna protect the world but they don't want it to change. How do they expect the community to be saved if it's not allowed to evolve." -Ultron

This unfortunately comes at a cost which is my integrity, my sense of self.

But I don't want to hurt the community. I don't wanna hurt anybody. I don't like bullies. I can't stand back however and let this spread. The larger picture is that this isn't about me. It's about the little guy trying to make something of themselves and trying to be something.  "Once you start running they'll never let you stop. You stand up, you push back, they can't say no forever." - Steve Rogers   We've got to be a better, accepting, and supportive community. Maybe creating that better community means tearing the old one down.

-Pat

September Production Blog

Turning 37 I've decided to make some changes in my life to get me out of the same ol' rut that I've been in. Hopefully one of them will be updating this blog on a regular basis, like once a week.

I decided that with turning 37 I really need to push forward with my business because hey, these stories and art aren't gonna make themselves.

I started off by trying to sell some art prints. That however didn't go well. I was at a local comic shop for 4 hours and sold one print (for anyone wanting to keep track). Those of course looked like these...

Inuyasha

Pikachu

Wolverine w/bone claws

(Watermarked for your viewing pleasure and safety of my property. ;) )

As of yesterday I completely redid another print that didn't turn out so well on sale day so now I have Blastoise.

So that brings you all up to speed with the current status of my art prints.

Currently I have a few other projects in the works. I've been working on launching a website but every url I come up with for my own personal branding has been taking. So that's taking some time which is why I'm coming back here. Enclosed in my website I'll have an online print store as well as my own works, be in my manga Eichi, personal fan fiction work titles, and anime.

Eichi got a little touch the other day. I was working with color in mind, adding color and it was taking quite a bit of time. Since I've decided to go back to only black and white and using those to create tones so it's more of a manga feel than a comic feel. Hopefully by only using blacks and whites I can produce faster (as I have other projects I'm trying to crank out). An untouched mock up of page one looks something like this.....

Some of my projects require a little bit of outsourcing though. Hey, I can't do everything myself. That one project is a little big project called "New Strawn." So here's the deal, it's an anime project. Think Halo meets Cowboy Bebop meets Transformers meets Minority Report meets C.O.P.S.. If you don't know C.O.P.S. then enjoy.




So not to get too off topic, I spent all night looking for talent. I started off looking for my female lead character named Claire. I have a few ideas but they aren't giving me what I'm looking for yet. Matter of fact, the closest I've found as a fit so far says her voice is described as warm and welcoming and I'm looking for stern and cold. Time will tell if she turns up as a fit. Secondly, and I didn't have to look long, I'm pretty sure I found my composer. He's gonna cost some money though. AH, the trials of starting a company. Spend money to hopefully make money. I'm looking to make a series trailer to gauge some interest.


Excesior!!!

Pat!

Masters of the Unvierse vs Thundercats

This is going to be something quick for me to throw up but I want to talk about a fan project I've been sitting on. I know I mentioned this before on this blog but let's talk Masters of the Universe and Thundercats for a few minutes.

I had this idea that stems from childhood that wouldn't it be cool if the Masters of the Universe and the Thundercats were to exist in the same universe and of course were to have met in some form or another. So here I am all grown up and these are still two awesome properties that are making a small niche comeback. So I had a plan to kind of write my own fan based web comic where Mumm-Ra would be looking for a way to finally beat Lion-O and the Thundercats and run across the Power Sword of Eternia. Both could exist in the same universe as both the Eye of Thundera and the Sword of He would both stem from ancient artifacts from across the universe, much like Marve's Infinity Stones.

Fast forward to 2 days ago when I find out that DC, who has been publishing a Masters of the Universe comic book was going to finally publish a Masters of the Universe and Thundercats 6 part comic event. And the premise? Mumm-Ra looks for a way to defeat the Thundercats and finds the Sword of Power. Sound familiar?
So here I am thinking "HEY! That was my idea!" Tomorrow I will begin putting pencil to paper on this "labor of love" as an ode to my childhood. I've seen what DC can do to Masters of the Universe. Personally, I know I can write a better story than what they will produce. So I'm putting this out there. It's gonna be a lot of fun to try and crank this out myself. It's gonna be balls.

On a side note, I've also subtly worked on a couple "trading cards" with no real direction but just pokemon. I'm expanding on those too to now include other video game characters from such games as Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat so I hope to be posting those up soon.

-Pat

Pencils down

As a few knew, and even few saw, I was working to be accepted into the DC Comics Workshop in November which is the first step into acquiring a job with DC Comics. The workshop was open to all, amateur artists and professionals alike. Upon acceptance one would work alongside DC personnel among the likes of Andy Kubert and Jim Lee in Burbank, CA. This was an opportunity that would be a dream come true.

I failed. The deadline is tonight at midnight but I already know where I stand because I did not
complete the works needed to submit.  The submission asked for 5 pages and three had to be sequential artwork. DC even provided scripts to use for the sequential art. I did not complete them, therefore my submission would not be accepted. At the time of me writing this there would be no time to finish my submission therefore I fail be default.

I failed however I was not defeated. I failed but I failed forward. I say that because I learned something along the way. I learned about my time. My time was one of my most valuable resources. I learned who had respect for my time and my desire but I also learned who had some of the least. I can't point fingers at anyone and I can't blame anyone because the one who was always in control was me. I allowed myself to be derailed. I decided to sleep all day because I had a headache. I didn't turn my cell phone off. I have no one to blame but myself.

I'm reminded of the quote by David McCollough Jr, "Climb the mountain not to plant your flag, but to embrace the challenge, enjoy the air and behold the view. Climb it so you can see the world, not so the world can see you.”

I realized I enjoyed the process. Let me take this time to be honest for a minute. I tried to acquire a job in the comics industry when I haven't drawn much of anything in more than a year. Everything I did was a learning experience. Every step I took was new, be it setting up a comic page based on a script down to the needing to learn the characters. I'm not gonna lie, I don't read DC Comics, I didn't grow up reading DC comics. I don't really know the characters. Everything was a challenge and I had to work for it but I loved every minute of it.

During my time working I was grinding and I was grinding hard. I applied a lot of pressure to myself and I hated the person I was becoming. I was closed off and angry all the time. I wasn't easy to get along with. I was cynical and petty. I loathed every single day but it was worth it. We can't change and mold ourselves into what we want to be without pressure and chipping away at our old selves.

I'm free now. I'm free from working on a script from characters I care nothing and know nothing about. I'm free to work on my own art that inspires me, works and characters that I love. I passed up on two pieces that I wanted to work on at the time and now I am free to do so.

I have two things to close with.
One, my original script for this submission was gold. I filled up the dialog with words just to establish tone for the characters. It was crudely drawn because it was done really fast. I personally feel I would have had a lot more fun with it. That being said, I'll share it here.

Page 1

Page 2

Page 3

Secondly, this isn't my end in dabbling with that professional world of comics. I jumped. I had to. But now I know where I am, where my strengths are, and where they aren't. Next time will be different. I promise you this is not the end. "You don't have to be great to get started but you have to get started to be great" I have my own works to work on and I still have a future to strive for in comics and I will be relentless.

"Every Accomplishment...."

"Every accomplishment starts with the decision to try." - Gail Devers

Good morning folks.
So today I'm glad to tell you about a few things I've got in the works.

Recently I was asked to work on an comic for an online/print magazine called Nerdy Male to provide some kind of comic content. What does that entail exactly? Well, I'm going to create a story but I'm not sure if it will be all created by me or offer some kind of fan related stories. This gives me one of two opportunities.

One, provide a story about characters that you may already be familiar with. It saves me really from the majority of the writing because we are already far too familiar with these characters. In my head that will offer me an opportunity to offer stories based on either TMNT, MOTU, Thundercats, or Dino Riders. These are properties that I grew up with and would love to offer my own interpretation of.

Option number two allows me to offer something completely new. With this comes two offers which I will lay out for you. Atlantis. This story will tell the tale of Atlantis  and it's fall. This story will be completely mythical hopefully be a lot of fun. Secondly is an unnamed story involving mecha. Originally planed for a youtube animated series this one will come to you via print first. It will include a strong female lead. Think Transformers meets Mobile Suit Gundam. If you don't know what Gundam is then you may be familiar with Pacific Rim, aka giant robots.

While these may be on the back burner for the next couple of weeks currently I am working on not only an opportunity but also a dream.




My opportunity, I am working on a submission for the SDCC souvenir book. I have tried to update a current picture however I feel that it will not have the same semblance to me as the original I've done years ago. So I will complete my original digitally and submit for the SDCC souvenir book. If accepted I will offer it as a high quality print.





My dream comes to me from DC Comics. DC is currently offering a talent developmental workshop. I am submitting a 5 page portfolio. If picked I will begin a workshop in November and upon completion of the workshop, if I can make it though, may be offered a job with DC Comics. So here I am throwing all caution to the wind and pouring myself into this project. This will take up my time for the next several days doing the best work that I can do.

While this is just a beginning, unfortunately I don't have a lot to show. Hopefully that will change real soon.

So until next time


-Pat