For those of you who think fighting Zombies is all fun and games, for those of you who think Ziggy is a creation of my imagination, for those of you who have no idea what I’m writing about, I offer the following picture.
This is Ziggy; our Zombie-hunting Miniature Schnauzer whose exploits I have written about (Nocturnal Patrol), and occasionally illustrated (Nocturnal Battle). He has split a nail on left front paw. Although I didn’t see it happen, I’m convinced this occurred during one of his late night battles with the undead. Never fear, the vet says he will be back in action by the end of the week. However residents of West Toluca Lake who have grown complacent knowing Ziggy was protecting them for the forces of darkness, are now advised to keep their doors locked at night.
With Facebook’s impending IPO many of its employees will become wealthy. Among the potential nouveau riche is David Choe, a graffiti artist who was hired to paint the walls of the social network’s first headquarters, and took his payment in stock options. The New York Times is predicting those shares to be worth around $200 million when the company goes public. I enjoy imaging the conversion Choe might have had with his mother years before.
“You want to do what for a living?”
Although becoming a multi-millionaire by creating art with a spray can may be a once in existence occurrence, there are a lot of reasons for following your passion. If you love what you do, you are likely to put more into it, thereby increasing your chances of success. Also, you pay more attention. The world changes fast. If you are passionate about your work, you keep your eyes on what’s happening down the road, thereby anticipating trends and changes.
Following passion doesn’t negate pragmatism. Doing something you love often requires more planning, budgeting and scheduling than just doing what you’re told. The degree to which you are willing to commit to an undertaking determines whether it is a passion, or a passing enjoyment (I’ve noticed that the interests acquired when young tend to endure longer, so choose wisely).
You may never earn you a $200 million paycheck, but I believe success is more likely when you do what you enjoy rather than doing something you hate. And if you’re going to be poor either way, may as well have fun along the way.
BTW – The image posted above has nothing to do with what I just wrote; it‘s from the story I’m currently drawing. But wait – this is what I love doing, so it directly pertain to following your passion. Nevermind.
New Year, New Site
“There is nothing like looking, if you want to find something. You certainly usually find something, if you look, but it is not always quite the something you were after.”
J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit
Everything I’ve done in my career stemmed from the love of drawing stories. It is a specific passion. I don’t draw still lifes, landscapes or portraits. I’m only interested in sequential images. It has led me to art school, to Disney, to storyboarding, writing and directing movies. Now it’s taken me into software development, and I often find myself asking: “How did this happen? Can’t I just work in an established medium like film or comics? Is it necessary to invent a new one?”
The answer is apparently “yes”.
Although these side trips are distractions from the serious business of creating stories I still put in time at the drawing board every day (Christmas and New Year included).
This site has been redesigned and will serve to inform people on the progress of my original projects. Seven Extraordinary Things is still available at www.sevenextraordinarythings.com (new readers to that story should click here). Other stories like The Curious Saga of No-One and The Girl in the Moon will be available on www.scrollon.com, currently under construction and scheduled to launch by March, 2012 (and incorporating my shiny new software).
More stories are on their way. Below is a glimpse of a few things currently on my drawing board.
A story about art, love and sleepless nights. At art school, Greg will do anything to escape mediocrity, including becoming the secret benefactor to Nina, a gifted dancer who is his inspiration. When Greg learns Nina is willing to die for her art, his own conviction is tested to the limit. The story can be read at WWW.SEVENEXTRAORDINARYTHINGS.COM
This short story was created as a lesson in character development. The moral: Don’t create characters that ARE interesting, create characters that DO interesting things. The black and white version of this story is still available HERE.