I love Monday mornings. I used to hate them but I have really grown fond of them over the years. I think the biggest reason I didn't like them so much is because I really didn't have a great time in school. I always felt like I could have been creating or doing something else. It would stress me out to be tied to a desk and trying to figure out things I was fairly sure I'd have no use for. I would play hooky and walk into the next town to the comic shop and see what was out. It would inspire me. I guess I just wasn't very inspired in school. I think some of this had to do with knowing very early on in my life that I wanted to be some sort of artist, then, more specifically, a comic artist and writer, a musician. I just knew I wanted to be involved in the arts. So I only acquired skills I thought would help me with that. Looking back, there could have been a few more things I could have used in the math department, though I'm awful at it.
By the time I got to my senior year, I was almost exclusively taking art classes, and in work study. So, I had one "normal" class in the morning, whatever that requirement was, then off to art for a solid chunk of the day, then I was allowed to leave school and go to work. I had figured out a way to drop out of gym class, so I didn't need to fill that requirement for senior year. I could have probably used the exercise but I really couldn't be bothered.
So I entered the workforce early, I was already accepted into SVA by the time half the school year was over, so I was just phoning it in. I had actually entered the workforce earlier than that, at around 15 years old, where I worked for a catholic school uniform store. I handled the stock, and would often swipe patches and I bought myself a cardigan to wear to school. I wore that thing all the time.
College was eye opening. I think the greatest benefit to going was the first year, where the school required you to take every kind of art pretty much, even photography, where I got a D as a grade. I didn't take to the camera well but I took to drawing and abstract painting. I wasn't much good at sculpture either. I remember one of the assignments was that we had to construct a chair as an art piece. My work was so crummy that you couldn't sit in the chair at all, and I chose this horrible floral pattern for the upholstery. It was really a monstrosity. The only thing I created in sculpture class that I ended up liking was part of the assignment involving casting and carving plaster. I decided to make a "ghost log". I carved this large chunk of plaster into something that looked like a cartoon log, and then gave it a dark wash and sanded the surfaces to expose the white plaster. I even wrote a song about it.
"Deep in the woods, there was a ghost log...". And so on.
Today's assignments or possibilities: Umbrella Academy and Doom Patrol. With Umbrella, the 3rd series is worked out so it is only a matter of scripting the scenes and getting it off the Gabriel. With Doom, I need to dive into the next issue, but also plan out where the story is headed for the next year. I have a rough plan of this, as I'm flying a little bit by the seat of my pants, but it's time to bring it in. The core concepts and beats are there though. The Umbrella Academy characters are old friends I know very well, but some of the Doom characters are new to me, though some of them I had been reading about for years, like Cliff Steele and Larry Trainor, so in a way they are old friends as well. Writing Cliff and Larry is very rewarding.
New York Comicon is this week. I have a pretty light schedule which is good, so I can stay on top of my scripts at night, or during the day when I don't have any obligations to fill. Will really be nice to walk around the city though, as it has been some time. If I miss anything about New York City, it is the walking. I remember moving to LA and trying to walk places and it was almost impossible, and people look at you like there is something wrong with you for walking. "Nobody walks in LA" as the Missing Persons song goes. It is really dead on. But NYC has an energy when you're walking around, it gives back to you. Now that Doom Patrol is out, I am excited to meet people to see what they think of it, see if they have latched on to any characters this early, or where they think it is headed. It has been nice keeping my head down and just working through things, though it is pretty solitary.
Alright, I'm off to work. Lots of stories and beats and characters to figure out.
Hope you have a great day, stay in school.
G