Jay's Blog: Not just a clever bathroom code anymore!

Welcome to my blog, where I'll be posting news and updates regarding my cartooning! This is the biggest development to my website since it was built over a year ago, and I'm anxious to play with it and see what it can do.

I'm hoping this blog will have capabilities allowing you guys reading this to send me feedback and drop me some comments, but as of now I'm not sure how that works. I'll be talking with web (and funk) master Foco about making that an option if it isn't already.

Now to kick off this new blog, here's some actual news in the career of The Foz (um, yeah, that'd be me):

I've recently began creating a portfolio to send to Mad Magazine, home of Alfred E. Newman and (as their bi-line's proudly displayed for decades) "The Usual Gang of Idiots." I've been to their website and based on their suggestions, I think I've put together an impressive package of caricatures and comic strips for them to pour through. I'm hoping to send that off to them this week, so more on that when the time comes.

I'm still in the middle of creating my children's book, Pillow Billy. The holidays forced me to put it aside briefly, but by no means permanently. I'm passionate about this project and think it's going to be something special when I'm through.
As of now, the writing's done (several drafts later and I feel great about this story!), and the artwork is about midway through completion. Then I need to add the color pencil, which to me is a big deal, since I've been coloring digitally almost exclusively for the last three years. I miss the old hands on, organic look and feel of colored pencils and am anxious to incorperate them into my children's book, where I think they'll fit in beautifully.

My comic book The Herd has been done since the summer, but funds to print it have been extinct (Y'see, the book's about animal superheroes, so I figured "extinct" would be kinda fitting, get it? Uh....Yeah...I'm sorry). Regardless, as creating that book was my New Years resolution for 2005, getting it printed and distributed is my goal for 2006. I'll find the money and I'll make it happen some how, so don't give up on it yet. I know you'll love it when it hits .

And my collection of "Mother's Goofs" comics is still in the works as well (tenatively titled "Triple Fat Goofs"). I've been building up interest for the strip on deviantart.com, and it sounds like there may be an audience for the book beyond my old CMU gang (who will ALWAYS be my core audience). More on that as it develops.

And speaking of deviantart.com (an online art gallery) , I've been posting artwork there since just before Thanksgiving, and I've made some good contacts and met some nice people. If anyone's interested in seeing my gallery, here's a link to the site:
http://fourpanelhero.deviantart.com/gallery/
Just click on the images to fully view them and let me know what you think. There's some old Mother's Goofs strips on there, but mostly it's all new stuff.

Beyond that, I've got some caricaturing gigs and freelance art projects coming up and am trying to make myself a name in the art world, both locally and nationally (we'll hold off on worldwide until I tackle that "nationally" thing).

Thanks for keeping an interest in me and my work, and keep checking back here for more news and updates!

Jay