Recounted to my buddy in an email, but I figured I'd share it with my peeps...

So about a week ago, Thalia comes home with a big poster she needed to decorate. It's "All About..." and the name of the kid. So, like, there's one section that says, "This is what I look like," with a blank space that the child can either put a picture of themselves, or draw a picture or whatever. What I want to be when I grow up, This is my Family, My Favorite Place is, Etc... These pictures are all gonna go up for Open House, which is tonight. So one day last week, I'm on the phone with a friend, and my sister is gone, so Baba comes up to me and is all, "I'm booooored." Usually I'd go and powerbomb her or play some ball-tag, but I'm on the phone, and so I tell her to work on her open house poster. So she goes off and like two minutes later, comes back with a bunch of REALLY lazy artwork on her poster. Like, Thalia is actually a really good artist (she has a great teacher: ME), and this was LAAAZY. So I told her she could do way better, and she was just doing a hack job because she wanted to bug me while I was on the phone. Yes, I called the kid a hack. But it's because she's done SO much better. She drew a giraffe the other day that was PHOTO-FUCKING-REALISTIC.

So all week I've been telling her and telling her to make the poster better, but she just gets all pissy and says she doesn't care. So I'm like okay, have a shitty poster, whatever, I'm so done with her professionally. So today, this morning, on the DAY the poster is due, ONE HOUR before we leave for class, she comes up to me. "Uncle Steve, I'm embarrassed by my poster because a lot of the other kids already turned theirs in and they have nice pictures of them and mine isn't very good."

SRSLY!!!

"Dude, should you be telling me this an hour before it's due?"

"Um, no."

"Alright, let's see what we can do."

So I spend the next hour in Photoshop working on it, of course it crashes on me and I lose all my work (stupid non-autosaving PS) and have to start over with 30 minutes left, but it came out awesome cuz it was me and I rule. And she loves it. And I told her that because she waited til the last minute, she has to do whatever I say without question for the next month, which she tries to negotiate down to a week and I say no, a month. Which will never happen, but still, it was nice getting a win this one time.

And then my sister reminds me that this was the SAME shit I put Dad through when I was a kid. So I've had this coming for like 25 years.

Remember back in like 1993 or 94 when everyone was apeshit for the Crow, and the whole goth thing kicked into high gear? I thank the Gods everyday that I kept away from that.

Anyways, here's a pic of the Crow I did for a poster to promote James O'Barr's upcoming appearance at Sac-Con this June... 

1. Odd directorial choice to have a Robocop cameo.

2. Score composed by: Back to the Future Soundtrack- Various Artists and Huey Lewis and the News

In between the massive Sac-con crowds this past Sunday, I got a few sketches in.

A grumpy hairy Wolverine with some gray and brown marker help.



And a steampunk android chickie.

Heading out to San Francisco in about six hours, so if you're in the bay area, swing by the Moscone Center this weekend and roll over to Artist's Alley. I'll be there sporting my brand-spanking new American Juice mini-comic, the first taste of something a lot bigger coming up. So come by and say hey!

Note to self: If you plan on introducing a character with a fairly complex full sleeve tattoo, be prepared to draw that damn arm many many times and get many hand cramps while doing so.

On the other hand, I'm hitting up an art store I've had my eye on for awhile tomorrow to grab some marker washes for the first time. I've been wanting to expand my art media skillz for awhile now, and I've always liked those fancy shmancy markers some arteests use for sketches in sketch books I've drawn in for various people who apparently think I can draw. Moreover, they seem like they'd make things look prettier faster. Anything to increase efficiency is a-ok in my book.

Once I get them, I'm gonna color this drawing I did back at the old day job. Because a bear about to checkmate the hell out of a bird deserves bright fun marker colors.



Anyone in the San Francisco area next weekend come by the Moscone Center for Wondercon; lots of ill-fitting spandex costumes on people to gawk at! And I'll be there too. With my markers.

Alright, back to draw-ring.

Sketchbook time.



Lady jumping off a cliff with a big moon in the sky, and um, Chris Mathews.

I need to do some LOST-themed drawrings. That show rules balls.

This is the first in a series of Star Trek 3-themed crayola-on-printer-paper pieces I'm working on. I'm sure you were all as terrified as I was when I first saw the destruction of the Enterprise in Star Trek 3, and so I've brought that to life in Crayon form for you here. But first, the scene in question:


And here's the piece


In case you're having difficulty reading the Crayon dialogue, the exchange is thus:

Kirk: My God, Bones, what have I done?
McCoy: What you always do, Jim. Turn certain death into a fighting chance to live.

Next time: Tragedy strikes Kirk (The Death of David)

..................

In more important news, my brother-in-law continues to fight the good fight. We've been given several grim assessments by the Doctors, however, every benchmark they've given us for Torrey's life expectancy has been met and beat. (48 hours, then at one scary point it was "several hours to a day", one week, etc...) He's either a stubborn bastard or he really likes the attention, because every day he clings and claws onto his life, while we root him on from the sidelines. It's remarkable and a testament to him that he's kept up the fight this long.

Monica holds up better than anyone I know possibly could, including myself. She's taken the appropriate steps to ensure her own sanity is kept, and myself and my parents have rallied around her, making sure she has everything she needs from us. She's there in the hospital every day, talking with the doctors and nurses, discussing treatment options, etc.

Thalia has really taken to having her Uncle back in the house, especially under these circumstances. She's in therapy, which also seems to be helping her deal with her frustrations over not having seen her Dad over the past 6 weeks. We just got a ridiculously huge inflatable pool with a slide for the backyard, and she's loving that. So am I, actually.

It's an odd feeling, laughing and joking with the family while this massive black cloud hangs over us. We've never been confronted with an obstacle this great as a unit, and, although it's certainly not easy, and has put us all on on edge to varying degrees, it's comforting to know that this is the family I was born into, that this is how we deal with adversity when it arises. The same can be said for the friends we keep. We can't control Torrey's liver or his blood pressure or any of the many ailments he's suffering from, but we can control how we approach the situation, and, no matter what the outcome, tragic or miraculous, it's certainly proved a lot about the kind of people around me.