This is me, at approximately 12:20 am on Saturday, July 21st, standing outside The Bay City Mall where at FYE I picked up my reserved copy of "Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows", the 7th and final book in the Harry Potter series (like you didn't know). If the fact that I dragged my fiancee into the early morning hours just to snap this picture doesn't already prove it, allow me to confess that yes, I am THAT big of a geek. I fell in love with Harry Potter in '98 when I got the first three books as a birthday present, and I've been hooked ever since. I managed to get this last book read in just over two days, with much sleep deprivation as a result. But it was soooo worth it. I refuse to give any spoilers, but suffice to say, I felt it was the best book of the series. My heart swells just thinking about it. And I encourage any fans to not wait until your local library carries it, or to borrow it from a friend, but to go out right now and buy a copy for yourself. This is a book you need to treasure.
As for the other magic, I just pulled this rabbit out of my hat recently.
It's the finished pencil test for my submission to Bongo Comics, publisher of The Simpsons comic books. Basically, I received the first page of a Simpsons script along with some reference illustrations of the major characters and was instructed to draw the page to the best of my ability, with layout and composition left entirely up to me. This was what I came up with. While I followed the model sheets for reference, I couldn't help allowing my own style to sneak into the finished art. This was basically an audition to see if Bongo will want to hire me to draw the comic. Am I optomistic about what could happen? Well, I'm hopeful. Do I think I have a shot? Well, I think anything's possible. Hopefully that will see me through.
Lastly, I wanted to share this long forgotten bit of Foz memoribilia with you. While waiting for midnight to roll around so I could purchase Potter, I walked past The Bay City 8 Theater and saw this.
This little bastard's name is Kernal Corn. For those who don't know the story, back in 2003 I was sought out by Goodrich Theaters (owners of The Bay City 8)to create a mascot for them. Their only instructions (at the time) were that he be a talking tub of popcorn and his name be "Pop" Corn. My first design was actually pretty far removed from what you see here, and I greatly preferred it to what you now see. But Goodrich was insistent and required several revisions (including a name change, which they also came up with), gradually making the character blander and blander until he lost all character (in my opinion). Anyway, I was paid for my efforts, and my work is seen in theaters across the mid west, so that's cool at least. I think he's behind the glass because, from what I heard, little kids found his to be an ideal punching bag, hence the scuffs on his face. Kinda symbolic, after the figurative beating I took from Goodrich, not long after Kernal's creation, regarding other non-paying work I produced for them.
So that's my news for now. More stuff from me on the horizon, so keep looking to the sunrise. Tomorrow's a brand new day.
