The Order Of Things

I had to cancel my first series of classes. They didn't make. I just didn't get enough people signed up. I guess it's just a sign of the times. I putted out twice as many flyers as I used to and I even got listed in several of the local papers, and online websites. I guess it's just the way the market is right now. It used to be I could guarantee at least 12 kids in my cartooning class, and at least 6 - 7 in my adult class. But not this time. Oh well.

I've got another series of classes scheduled to start mid-June, and I have several local events between now and then for the caricatures, in which to promote the classes. So hopefully the timing, and... the juju, will be better for the next set.

--Will

Why the HELL couldn't he speak this eloquently and passionately when he was running for president. I'm angry with how badly Bush has fucked the world, I want a president that's just as angry. And Kerry just aint it. He acts like it's all a big fucking joke.

...but whatever.

I hate that we are hated by so many. I hate that a handful of men, led by one selfish, incompetent fool, could bring the anger of so many upon us just to fulfill their own stupid self-serving purposes.

(that's the first time I've gotten all political on here - guess that means I'm REALLY pissed!)

Operation: Get Shit Finished
:::Update:::

I could be doing a little better. I started off great. I finished penciling and inking a page on Monday. Then tuesday I lettered said page and started to lay out a second page. And all I did was clean today. Cleaning is good, putting the studio back in order is a good thing. But it's not finishing pages.

So tomorrows a new day. I'll start and finish a page tomorrow, and do the same on Friday, and we'll call this week a success. The thing that I'm happy about is that this newest page turned out really good. I think it's got better flow and action than anything I've ever done. Plus the textures are much simpler than I've ever done. Anyways, the first page is one that I inked last week and lettered a few days ago. The second is the new page.



--Will

New week

All drama aside. I'm feeling pretty good. The caricature gig is getting better every week, and my classes are gonna be starting here in another couple weeks. Lots of good stuff to be hopeful about.

This week - Operation: "Get Shit Finished!"

I've got five pages left to pencil and ink for a comic book that's been on my desk for months now. I'm going to finish all five pages this week. I'm going to bed early tonight - I'm getting up early tomorrow - and I'm going to put in at least a 6 hour day each day this week till I've finished these pages. I will finish these pages. This story will be finished before next weekend.

Here's something interesting --

Despite my recent statements of being an asshole - I'm actually also a *gasp* really nice guy. And I know that because lots of people like me. I was reminded of this because I've been taking flyers around to local businesses all week for my summer comic book classes. And so far, I've gotten free pizza, free coffee, free copies and $30 bucks in free comics from local businesses. It's because I love people, and I think it shows in my business dealings. In most cases people "want" to help me out. It's just I forget sometimes, until it's time to put up flyers or something like that.

ok - back to work!

--Will

Strange Night - Strange Day

I'm an ass. I think we've all established that over the years. I say whatever is on my mind - often when other people don't want - or aren't quite ready - to hear what I have to say. And usually I'm pretty respectful. But tonight I'm more than just a little pissed, my I'm-sick-of-this-immature-lameass-gameplaying-shituation Light is on, and my assholiness is working in overdrive.

So I just got back from this party. Good party... but a little strange. Pizza, Beer, Cake and two giant projector screens with two X-box's networked together on them. Eight player shoot-em-up-heaven. If you've never tried it - it's incredible. Anyways, the party was supposed to be for one of my good friends. He wanted to celebrate passing a class that he's been struggling to pass for years. And now he's got just a couple classes left to go and he's done with his degree. It's sort of a pre-emptive graduation party (since it's just two much easier classes left to go). But 30 minutes into it his girlfriend takes him out of the party. At first it was just spiritually/mentally/whatever. Then she actually made him leave. Granted they came back about 3 hours later... but only for about an hour... then they were gone again. I don't pretend to know what the deal was, he didn't tell me, and I really don't care. Maybe she had an emergency. Maybe her grandmother died or maybe someone was sick and she's the only one that can take care of them. Or maybe she left the gerbils washing in the bathtub. It must have been something MAJOR. Because, how selfish and self-absorbed would someone have to be to take away - and completely sabotage - the hard-earned - 7 years of hard work people - celebration of someone they - supposedly - care about. Unfortunately I'm afraid to answer that. I think I'm mostly pissed because this isn't an isolated situation. I've only met this girl three times, and each time she gives these icey stares to every girl that is nice to him, and she makes his life miserable during the entire event. I mean, he's just trying to have fun for chrissake and he gets these guilt trips and... drama! So whatever. It's none of my business. And I don't care. I just know that if you're in trouble dozens of times a day with someone for just being yourself, then that - my friends - is a very, very, bad situation.

I'm usually against the idea of talking shit about other people in a blog. It's very passive aggressive, and immature in a lot of ways. But I'm venting right now. So whatever. I just think my friend deserves a little more respect than he's getting... and to be treated with a little more maturity. So that's my rant - I'm an ass remember - this is what I do.

Please send all hate mail to william_terrell@hotmail.com

Anyways, I didn't get a chance to congratulate him during the whole "drama-storm". But congrats buddy! I'm proud of you, and I know how hard you've worked. I know because you're the person that kicks my ass every day with how dedicated you are. Just when I think I'm working hard - I look up and see a whole other measure of success - Keep up the good work. And don't let anything take away from what you have done.

--Will

Strange, strange day.

Caricatures Today.

Nice day. About 70 degrees, cool breeze, partly cloudy. Set up at about 12:00. Usual spot. But the people that are usually to my right weren't there. They had to move across the aisle. Next to me is a giant (10ft x 5ft) swinging display of bumper sticker designs. Good thing is, it opens up a lot of space for people to stand behind me to watch the caricatures. Bad thing is, I can tell this is going to be a strange day.

I get everything set and decide to start the day with some samples. I wanted to see if I could start getting customers in sooner. There's this large roley-poley chubby kid that hangs around my booth every week. His parents run a booth somewhere in the venue. He's always hanging around asking for a free drawing. Today I offer it to him. I explain that it will be a sample that I'll use for display and I will give him a free Xerox copy tomorrow. Kid agrees. While I'm drawing kids Dad comes over to make sure he's not gonna have to pay for something. I explain that it's a sample, I'll give him a copy, blah, blah, blah. Dad laughs, he thinks it looks just like him. He walks away seemingly happy. I finish and give it to kid to show the 'rents... doesn't come back. Demo worked, I get lots of customers lined up and start into it. Business slows down an hour or so later and I go track down caricature sample from roleypoley kid. He gives it back and I tell him I'll have a copy for him tomorrow.

Kids mom comes over a few minutes later, says Dad doesn't want someone having picture of his kid for sample. "What?" I say. She repeats herself. "Whatever" I say. She elaborates, it's because lots of people know their kid and they don't want someone having a picture of him. "Whatever" again. So I tell her I'll take drawing out of sample stack. She leaves. Dad comes back a few minutes later and says he wants to see me tear it up in front of him. "Um.. no!" Dad gets pissy, says they are Mexican and Mexicans are superstitious about people having pictures of their kids. Voodoo curses and crap like that. "whatever." I know lots of Hispanics and very few of them feel that way. I think the guys full of shit. I tell him there's no way in hell I'm tearing up my art just because he's superstitious. I tell him he can pay the $10 bucks and do whatever the hell he wants with it. But I'm not tearing up a piece of my art because he's ignorant. He says he's going to get security. I tell him that's a good idea and that he shouldn't waste any time. 10 minutes later... Roley Poley's Dad and security guy. Security guy hears the spiel and realizes the guy is full of shit. "Sir, I can't make him tear up something because you're superstitious. You can either buy it from him or accept it." Roley Poley's Dad proceeds to hand me $10 bucks and threaten to kick my ass. I laugh. I've been in enough fights to know I could wrap his ass around his ears. I take the money and go back to work. Security guy tells Roley Poley's Dad to stay away. He's causing too much trouble.

...no sweat off my back. I hate stupid people.

Anyways, the rest of the day was pretty good. Worked from 12:00 - 4:00. Made about $70. Did 7 individual caricatures(including roley poley kid's). Finally feeling some control over airbrush. Lots more tiny defined lines, like hair and outlines. Definitely getting the likenesses down better. Pretty good day overall.

Lessons learned today --

1. I need to get more efficient. I need to have a better rack for my paints, have them in order, and go in the same order everytime. "Eliminate all excess motions."
2. Demo caricatures are a GREAT way to get people in line.
3. Have kids ask parents permission before doing "free" caricatures. Even if you're just fucking trying to be nice to the kid. Sheesh!

State of Mentality

So I've been driving around a lot lately. Wandering aimlessly. That's usually a sign that there are too many thoughts in my head and they're starting to drive me crazy. In the past I found that writing them out was much cheaper than a tank of gas. So I need to start getting back to that. I'm not sure what the deal is. For some reason I've stopped writing lately. It's not that I've nothing to say - more like - there's nothing I'm ready to say. I'd made so many break throughs in the last few months that I've kind of hit a plateau. It's like you've finally figured out every trick in the first world of Super Mario and suddenly you're in world 2-1 and it's a whole new game.

Anyways, I'm not ready to go into any of it right now. I just wanted to say hey, I love you guys and I'm sorry I've been so quiet lately. Hopefully I'll get Verbose again here soon.

--Will

Funny!

I'm starting to think that all movies should be done like this. This is the funniest thing I've ever seen. The Exorcist in 30 Seconds (and Re-enacted by Bunnies)!

--Will

weird Dream... Reeeeeallly weird.

I had this really strange dream last night. I was on Oprah being interviewed about some big blockbuster movie just out that I'm starring in and I'm out and about promoting, and apparently... I'm Brad Pitt. Yes, and Oprah keeps pestering me about how I got my ass so wonderfully firm and she keeps saying how I am such an inspiration to fat guys everywhere, that I could go from being really overweight to Brad Pitt and I did it so easily. So anyways, that was interesting. I'm not going to read too much into it. (However, I will be secretly doing butt enhancement exercises every night from now on.)

--Will

New Painting

Here's a new painting. This one is actually for my friend Luis. It's his birthday today and he loves the wolvie. I'm pretty happy with how this painting turned out. I mean there's a lot that pisses me off about it, but for the most part I'm happy with how it turned out and that I actually finished it. Really, the only thing I'm frustrated with is the anatomy. I'm happy with how the paints are working for me. I see myself more in control of the paints, but still have a lot to learn about them. Also, I actually used my airbrush on this one. The background is nearly all airbrush. Pretty neat, eh?



--Will

Art class

Well I did my speech for the art appreciation class at Texas Tech. I enjoyed it. I forgot how much I absolutely love public speaking. I love the feeling of walking into a room full of people and completely taking control. In this case it was a room full of bleary eyed, apathetic, hung-over, college freshmen at the end of another monotonous semester. Apparently "Art Appreciation" is short for "Why the #@$%! do I have to be here today?!" Then I walk in, start my speil, and take complete control of the room. I guess it helps that I actually care about what I'm talking about. It's interesting how the speech started to adapt itself as I went along. Basically I only had about a minutes worth of stuff written out in my mind, then I started to expand upon that based on the fascial expressions and reactions of the crowd. I think it's important to involve the "reader"/"viewer" in whatever it is your talking about, so I tend to adapt whatever I'm saying to a specific audience based on their response. It's really interesting. And it's something I've never really paid attention to till this event. Anyways, the cool thing is I had about 8 people ask to sign up for my summer art classes, lets hope they do. It'd be nice.

--Will