on kissing chaos

Click the links below to check out some pretty new character doodles of Damien, Angela and Raevyn, from Kissing Chaos vol. 1. They will be the first of the cast to be seen in the new KC web comics. So I've been toying with their looks, essentially trying to get them caught up visually. I say "caught up", because in the last little while, much of the work I've done has been behind the scenes, developing story lines and characters even deeper, to make KC (when it returns) a richer experience. Re-visioning the characters is sort of my way to update KC on all fronts. Hopefully it'll pay off int he weeks to come with the web comic, and future published works.

Check 'em out:
Damien
Raevyn
Angela

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when are you too ironic?

Can you ever be too ironic?

I was out at a club last night (something I haven't done in ages, but it was an acquaintance's b-day, so, whatever), and I had a bit of fun observing people's style, and clothing. One thing that stood out to me, and not in a good way, was one person who looked like they were wearing a scarf. Okay, I know this is a popular style, and there is even a name for it, which eludes me at this time. (scarf-core, scarf indie, or something equally..whatever). So anyway, I thought this guy was just rocking the scarf look. He also had a sweater and a button down shirt beneath the sweater. Nothing new there.

It turns out, that the dudes scarf, wasn't a scarf at all, but fabric sewn into the sweater, to look like a scarf! Seriously. I couldn't believe it, or maybe I'm just so not with it, that I'm not up on my scarf fashions.

Anyway, I understand alot of different fashions trends today grow from the concept of irony, but what is this sweater/scarf combo thing trying to say? Has ironic fashion gone too far? I'm all for people expressing themselves and what not, and I enjoy alot of the current indie trends. (I know, it's not trends, it's people being original and independent ;) . ) But really, with a scarf that's built into a sweater, is that any better than T-shirts with long sleeves sewn into the short sleeves, to create that layered look, without actually wearing more than one shirt? Or T-shirts with button down shirt tails sewn into the bottom of the shirts? It's kind of like modern art relying on irony, in the hopes of appearing original.

Meh, all this musing reminds me that I'm not one to nit pick on people's fashion. I sometimes shop at the MALL for crying out loud!


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reviews

They say there's nothing new under the sun. I guess, as someone who pretty much does creative things for a living, I think I can appreciate that saying. I've read an essay about writing, which stated "all fiction is derivative". The author continued on to say a good writer will use this to his advantage, making the most of reader’s expectations, and satisfying them in unexpected ways.

That being said, I wanted to drop my two cents on some movies I've seen recently.
While retelling old stories isn't all that bad, some people do it better than others. The movies CRASH (not the Cronenberg one), HAVOC and HOOLIGANS have very little in common, in terms of subject matter. One is about race relations, the other about a gang (okay, that's sort of race relations), and the other about soccer fans in the UK. When I saw these flicks, I immediately drew comparisons, because I felt they were all had stories/themes that I've seen a million times in other movies, books and what not. Only they each handled the themes with varying degrees of success.

CRASH for example, essentially showed how race still plays role in how people think about, and interact with one another. And sure, my opinion is totally subjective, but I can't help but think that CRASH was a totally elementary movie. Sure, everyone comes from different walks of life and will come at this flick from another perspective, but I felt the message (for lack of a better term), the point the movie was trying to get across was so basic, and had been dealt with so many times before. I felt it was just stating the obvious, and the situations and characters and their reactions were a little too convenient, serving the "message", rather than serving the story.

HAVOC fared a little better. This flick too, dealt with race, but focused on some rich white kids in So Cal, who flirt with danger and gangs. The kids thought they were more hip hop than dudes living it in the Bronx. Yes, the every character was a stereotype, the acting and dialogue was nothing to write home about, and the plot wasn't ground breaking. But despite the three strikes, I felt there was a subtext to the film. An underlying theme about the need for family, which is a big part of the gang culture. Even though they just scratched the surface of this theme, its presence was felt throughout the movie, giving it more depth than a movie like CRASH.

Finally, I saw HOOLIGANS a few weeks ago. This movie also dealt heavily with the theme of family, and how it relates to gangs, and the mentality behind those in a gang. Only, instead of the (ahem) traditional subject matter of racial animosity and youth gangs, HOOLIGANS applied the theme to die hard soccer fans in the UK. Finally, a seemingly fresh take on a story we've seen told over and over since BOYZ IN THE HOOD. Maybe I haven't seen enough movies about soccer, I mean, football, that this was new to me, but regardless, I felt the story and them went hand in hand, without being derivative of movies with similar themes, or hitting us over the head with a message.

All in all, I think HOOLIGANS is definitely worth watching. (Not sure if it's out in theatres or on DVD yet. I got it through bittorrent, but I'll totally buy the DVD when it comes out. Seriously! ;) ) HAVOC might be worth watching, it was adequate. As for CRASH, I'd have to pass.

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on kissing chaos

So, I've been toying away at Kissing Chaos, mainly filtering all the stories and ideas I've worked on for the past year into a comic book. I've written, and re-written the SWEET NOTHINGS one shot that was supposed to come out a few years ago, and its at the point where I think it's ready.

Though the term hiatus could be used to describe the lack of Kissing Chaos releases in the past year, it really is misleading. Sure, no new KC material was released, but I was far from taking a break on the series. Aside from constant re-writes, and re-envisioning, of the characters, I've been toying the KC, making sure it will be exactly what I want, when I finally do unleash the new material. That being said, I've accumulated a vast amount of KC pages and stories (in prose format). I have yet to go the route of great artists like Cezanne, de Kooning or Francis Bacon, who are notorious for destroying their own work, mostly due to dissatisfaction and self doubt. Sure, the main reason most of these KC pages (at least 2 or 3 issues worth) will never see the light of day is primarily dissatisfaction, I don't think I could bring myself to destroying them. That seems so, final. Maybe someday, if there are enough requests, these "lost" Kc works will be printed. If enough people raise a collective voice, I could put some of this stuff online, against my gut instinct that the work is shite! But despite that, I would rather not destroy the work, as it was part of my creative process, and helped me form the ideas, and designs that will become Kissing Chaos as you will see it from now on.
< /rant>

Coming soon, a few KC shorts, remixes of the original KC short comics that, I suppose unless you have the KC Vol. 1 TPB, are pretty rare. Hopefully in the next week or so. I've been reworking some of the dialogue, and of course the character designs. Plus, I do believe I've grown somewhat as a storyteller, and I hope it will be evident in these remixed comics. The remixes are mainly a preparation/warm up, before I get into SWEET NOTHINGS. At this point I'm still undecided as to the online format this comic will take. Here are my options:

a)post a new page once it's completed. This means basically a page will go up online every few days, and the story will inch along as I get it done

b)post episodes. so basically, I'll try to get a chapter/episode done every week or so. The story inches a long, but in bigger chunks.

Anyway, let me know what would be the best way to enjoy an online comic! Email or post here!
Here is a page from my sketchbook. It features some warm up drawings I did, as well as some doodles of heads of Damien, Angela and Raevynish. More art to be posted soon!

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I love chemicals

Well, I don't love, love them. I L-U-V chemicals.

As it turned out, the antibiotics that the doctor prescribed for me last week did the trick. Thanks to the miracle of modern science, I'm once again operating at 80%. Hooray for me.

Sorry for not posting anything on the weekend. I promised some new updates, and I failed to deliver. But in my defense, it was the freaking weekend! Just jokes! I'll make up for it this week with some mad art updates!

I finished that BFX cover I was working on. This time around, I employed a new technique. Well, it wasn't a new technique, per se. I KNEW of the technique, I had just never used it before. Basically, I scanned in my rough drawing, and printed it out in non photo blue. Then I finished the final drawing over the non photo version. This way, I could scan in the final line art, without the messiness of the rough drawing. Getting clean line quality and retaining the energy of the rough sketch is something I've been struggling with forever, as I've found my art looses something when I try to finish it. Getting a clean sketchbook feel is my Holy Grail.

Here is the line art over the non photo blue.

And here is the final cover, as it will appear on the BFX site.

As the king of broken promises, I didn't get a chance to do a weekly Kissing Chaos update. I'll post that later today!

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gizoogle.com

Gizoogle.com. One guess what it does. example:

Fizzy Hustla Weekly
The sun neva shines in this book's world, a nondescript gizzle landscape inhabited by violent teens on tha run frizzom a mysterious crime with my forty-fo' mag. The hero, Damien, makes his fiznirst appearance in a blood-spattered T-shirt, trailed by tha implacably mizzy Angela, a snub-nosed cutie who has an unshakable passion fo` her man yaba daba dizzle. To engage bitch Dela C-R-to-tha-izzuz adds Raevyn, a sassy, spendin' brunette . Boom bam as I step in the jam, God damn. She completes tha trio of fugitizzles in an implausible plot twist motha fucka: when she n Damien try ta steal tha same cizzay he forces her ta jizzle him n Angela in they flight from justice. (...)
The po-po burst in, gats blaze, men fizzay yet many questions is left unanswered like old skool shit.

That's a "Gizoogled" excerpt from the Kissing Chaos vol. 1 Amazon.com page. Gizoogle basically translates any html page you want into Snoop Dog's trademark diction. It's pretty hilarious. And you can gizoogle the same page multiple times and get different results!

Here's a Gizoogled Kissing Chaos description:

Kiss'n Chaos is tha story of a group of brotha , ya feel me?. Ordinary people, dippin' ta dizzy fizzle ta face wit life's ultimate wizzorst case scenario...grow'n up in tha hood.
The comfortable silence in tha morn'n n shit. A shared moment between two playa. The th'n you neva say ta tha person you ciznan't live witout. This is tha essence of Frontin' Chaos yaba daba dizzle.
Its one part crime fiction fo yo bitch ass. Two parts teenage drama, wit some conspiracy theory thrown in fo` good measure with the S-N-double-O-P.

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working for the weekend

Sometimes I wish I was working for the weekend. Then at least I would get a couple days of rest.

"But you're a freelance artist! You can work from home! You make your own schedule!" people often say to me, implying that I have it so much better than someone with a "normal" job. (normal meaning an office, or retail or day job, you know what mean.) They make it seem like I can just lounge around all day in my birthday suit watching my stories or anything else daytime television has to offer. Negative! As a freelancers, not only do we do the actual work that our job entails, but we also have to handle the business side of things, which includes but is not limited to self promotion, and actually finding work! That in itself is like another job. In fact, it is another job! Ever hear of agents/managers/art dealers/accountants? Maybe I'm just tiring of the daily grind, which more often than not extends into the weekends, and usually means little to no vacation time.

Of course, the main difference, and it's a huge one, is that I actually like my "job". Despite all the pressures and stress, at the end of the day, I enjoy what I do, which is probably why I've done it so long. Were I to have a desk job in an office somewhere, I'm very sure that I would've gone off the deep end, and most likely ending up on America's Most Wanted for some heinous crime resulting in a massive loss of life. But no, I get to create stories and images. I guess it could be worse.

(/rant)

Maybe I just need a PDA to keep myself organized. I'm really tempted to get one of those little gadgets. But the price tag on my personal improvement through organzation and the ability to check email on the fly is a little too rich for my blood. Maybe I'll settle for one of these bad boys, the the hipster PDA.

It's been a busy week, working on the next BFX episode (which will be done this weekend), and cleaning up a lot old business and loose ends. I'm going to get a new Kissing Chaos update either later today, or sometime this weekend. Keep it locked!

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I'm JT Leroy

Ohh, I love a good hoax. Especially those jedi mind tricks played on the mass media and it's audience.

I just read that the author JT Leroy, does not exist. Wicked. According to different bios, Leroy was a young up and coming writer, and a good one at that. I read an article in NYLON magazine that made him out to be the new literary rockstar for this generation. I was intrigued, but never sought out any of his books, until one day at an entertainment liquidator (a place that "recieves" stock from business get shut down, and resells said stock on the cheap) I saw Leroy's acclaimed book SARAH on the shelves. I picked it up along with some other novels. (Hey, it was buy 3 for $10!)

I thought it was a good read. The story kept me interested and the language was smooth. I often thought about Leroy as a writer and his story. It sort of pissed me off, because it seemed that this dude was getting lots of attention, not because he wrote an adequate book, but because he lived that hard knock life that Jay-Z sings about. Leroy was adored not simply for his skills, but because his life itself seemed fit for a harrowing bio-pic starring Brad Pitt as the strung out streetwalking poet. It lead me to think of the cliche that in order to be a great writer, you must lead a great life. Because, of course, the best writer's write what they know.

Anyway, as much as I enjoyed the book, the success of Leroy pretty much dashed my hopes of becoming a great writer, as my life thus far does not easily translate into a cautionary tale of a tortured artist.

But now, it's been revealed that JT Leroy does not exist, and is allegedly a persona created by Laura Albert. I won't go into the details (see links below), but suffice it to say that my dreams of becoming a great writer with a boring life is still in tact.

(I still reccommend books by Leroy, at least the one I read, SARAH)

New York Metro article.
Salon article.

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drugs, drugs, drugs, drugs! some are good some are bad.

I just had to steal that line from this lame-o kid’s commercial that used to run during Saturday morning cartoons and after school specials.

Anyway, after 3 weeks of a nagging cough, I finally gave up. There seemed to be no chance of my body and immune system thwarting the onslaught of nightly coughing fits, so this afternoon, I took a trip in the rain to the doctor's office. Normally, I hate to inject, consume or touch any sort of pharmaceuticals of any kind, but enough was enough. So now, the MD. has me on anti-biotics, and two different puffing devices. Isn’t that over kill? Can't I just pop a garlic pill or something?

Well, I tried it my way, now if this doesn’t work, we are all doomed.

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Just started this feed...or whatever

Hey, all.
Check out the new Kissing Chaos page, and see what's new in the world of KC. There are some new shirts, and I'll soon be uploading a new comic!

Also, check out My Destroyer, for my blog proper. I'll keep posting the goods here, but on the other site will have the archives and you'll be able to comment on the posts! check it!

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There appears to be some extremely advance reviews for a project that I've contributed to floating around the internet. The project in question is the THE INSIDERS, published by 360ep. I say extremely advance reviews, because the books aren't 100% finished yet, so the reviews are based on a work in progress. 360ep is the new kid on the block in comics publishing, though the company is comprised of some industy vets, namely Bill Jemas, who as far as I know used to run things down at Marvel comics.

THE INSIDERS is a concept Jemas had come up with, and I was enlisted to provide storytelling/page layouts, and generally help develop the concept. It's been an interesting and enlightening experience for me, thus far, mainly because I've never been part of the creative process in this way before. Sure, I've been part of art teams in the past, and I used to colour comics for a living, but in all those jobs, I've just been another cog in the system, a stop on the conveyor belt that is comics production. But with THE INSIDERS, I was actually involved in the creation process, helping turn a concept into a comic. And working with other creators was good, because it forces you to check your ego at the door, and be open to other schools of thought and opinions. For the most part in my (ahem) comics career, I've been a lone wolf.

Anyway, I'm not sure how much I should, or want to reveal about the series right now but I'll hype it up when we get closer to the launch. And I definitely want to clarify that both these reviews cite me as the artist or penciller. To be clear, I DID NOT DO THE ART FOR THIS BOOK. I did the storytelling/page layouts. Miguel Montenegro, a cool artist that 360 hired did the pencils and I believe inks. He needs to get his props where they are due!
here are the links to the reviews:
review 1
review 2
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