Nicotine Dreams #2

My favorite movie is A Clockwork Orange. Drew this tonight while watching the new 40th anniversary BluRay release. I think I want to call this one "The Ludovico Technique".

The Paint Dilemma.

Over the weekend, in an effort to distract me from smoking, I cleaned out my studio. Well, I call it my studio but it is actually the dining room of our tiny apartment that I converted to a relatively distraction-free area that I can draw or assemble the mixed media art stuff I do. In the past few months, it became infested with clutter and junk and random board games and Lego Harry Potter sets. My studio was an unusable space for anything other than storage.

With considerably more energy than when I was slowly killing myself every hour or two, my studio became my number one priority to get back in shape. The cleaning went surprisingly quick, even with me stopping every so often to marvel at a found piece that I never finished or the papercraft Caveman Robot that was half-assembled or even my favorite metal barrel pencil returning home to papa. Then the canvas emerged.

Several months ago, I had bought a one foot square stretched canvas on a whim while shopping for various art supplies. I had acrylic paints left over from an old art school project and figured that since the canvas was on sale, why not? It is worth a try. All artists have to paint to be taken seriously, right? And didn't every one of my art teachers have a hint of revulsion in their voice when they talked about illustrators? So I bought it and promptly forgot about it.

Until it turned up in my cleaning. Immediately, my brain began turning about what to fill it with. A solid image started to form so I grabbed my favorite pencil and sketched it out, even going so far as to do a color guide for it. Maybe I should explain what kind of stuff I like to draw or sketch. My style got pegged in school as "pop art" or "surrealistic" but I truthfully do not see it that way. I like to take a mundane object and make it huge or focus on a small section of it. I do use still-life on a consistent basis. Toys, robots, and candy figure prominently in almost all my pieces but lately I have been fascinated with drawing toy stuffed animals in strange situations. My teachers called my work "whimsical" on several occasions and were pushing for me to try my hand at children's illustration.

So this piece was to be an offset toy rabbit head smiling while floating in space. Here's a picture of my sketch:

I like it. It is goofy, which is ultimately why I do anything in life.

Tuesday was to be my Big Painting Day and I was excited. The thrill of doing a new big piece. Whoo, man. I love that. There was extensive research, too, with blending and using different mediums and thinning out the paint. The idea was solid. The execution... Well, after about six hours of painting, I had a finished piece. And I was not happy. Maybe I just needed time to stare at it and roll it around in my brain. Let it simmer. So that is what I did. Stared at it. Turned it around. Tried it from different angles. Nope. Okay, maybe I am just tired. One shower and a cup of coffee later, there still was no connection. Alright. This is not the first time I have been initially unhappy with a piece. Maybe time is what I need.

After a couple hours, I reexamined it. And I HATED it. More than any piece I have done in the last ten years. At one point, there might have been thought of burning it. There is usually some aspect of a piece I can grasp, even if it is just for learning experience. There definitely was a lesson here: I hate acrylic paint. Can't stand them. It just feels like I am back in grade school messing with poster paints. I should have just thrown glitter over the wet paint. At least it would be shiny. I also learned something about myself from this: I have absolutely no desire to be a painter, at least not with oils or acrylics. Charcoal and pastels work just fine for me, even with the limited usage they get from me anymore, but that always feels like fingerpainting. Think I will stick pencil, pen, and ink for now. The black/white contrast thing is always appealing. Besides, my next big project is to be a series of pop-up book pages and who ever heard of a painted pop-up book?

Nicotine Dreams #1

New painting/drawing I did instead of smoking. First in a series, hopefully. I think I want to call it "Night Terrors".

Hey, This Still Exists.

Coming soon.

So, life things happened. I quit reading monthly issues of comic books, after collecting steadily since I was 10 years old. After realizing I had a stack of reads that was two months old and still buying every week, combined with a looming car payment, something had to give. The occasional collection still sneaks its way into my bookshelf but I am nowhere near knowledgeable of current events in comics for the first time in over twenty years. What did I miss? Is Gwen Stacy still dead? What about Batman's parents? Still ventilated?

No more current issues in my dimly-lit lair was strangely freeing. That huge stack I mentioned? Never even read it. My Current Wife is actually more caught up than me as she read that stack.

When I decided to be done, I just took it off of my table and filed it away. My weekly budget had spiraled out of control, with some weeks topping out at $75. Buying every part of a certain company-wide crossover event that was not put out by Marvel was what finally broke me.

Comics are still something I love and probably always will. Just at a safe distance now. Becoming a responsible adult is simultaneously depressing and thrilling. By not buying comics, I was able to save up to get a new car, a cherry red and black Telecaster, and not become homeless through insufficient funds and a bounced rent check. It is hard to collect and store comics when they are loose in a shopping cart as I fight for day-old bagels behind Noah's with Toothless Joe The Singing Hobo Prodigy. He never fights fair anyway, with his secret hobo pugilism techniques learned from The Boxcar Syndicate.

And we are now caught up to Present Day. Time to get down to brass tacks. The two biggest changes in my life lead directly into the re-opening of The Treehouse. My loves in life are music and art. My band, The Kill Junkies, put out a cd last year and I got a chance to work in a digital medium for the first time. So I now want to use The Treehouse to post about the band and our adventures. We have been hard at work writing new, nerdy, metal songs. One is called Crippled Masters and it is a love letter to martial arts movies. The other new one is entitled The Wanderer. It is about how your best bet for religion is worshiping Odin. We have also been working in songs from our old band, Fangboy And The Ghouls. Fun stuff. If you like nerdy, jam metal that doesn't take itself too seriously, check us out. The Kill Junkies Facebook Page

The Treehouse is also going to be a place for me to post things I draw. I am using art as a way to quit smoking. The goal is that every time I want a cigarette, I sketch in one of my many sketchbooks. As a Fine Art major, it seems to be a good way to keep up on drawing and doing something with my hands that doesn't involve nicotine. The Boxcar Hobo fights are just too hard on me anymore.

No promises this time. That is just too much pressure and I already have a job. This is supposed to be a fun diversion for me and for you. And not smoking has made me edgy. Which means I need other outlets. Drawing. Posting on here. Pimping the band. Just keep Toothless Joe The Singing Hobo Prodigy away from me. He still won't give me the two cans of beans he owes me.

Coming soon!

4:19pmTravis

that was quick

4:19pmSean

Smokes and Chipotle don't take much time.

4:19pmTravis

mmm chipotle

4:22pmTravis

now im hungry

4:24pmTravis

curses on you

4:24pmSean

Sorry, the wife called.

4:24pmTravis

its ok

4:27pmTravis

brb, food time

4:35pmSean

Are you gonna give birth to a food baby after that?

4:37pmTravis

i did that earlier

now its time to consumate yet another

4:37pmSean

Ha!

4:39pmTravis

burritos FTW

4:40pmSean

I hope my poop is burrito-shaped!

4:40pmTravis

i wish my poop was burrito-scented

t'would be an improvement

4:41pmSean

It might turn you off of eating burritos if they smelled the same as your poop.

4:41pmTravis

probably not

poop is only gross from its smell

if it smelled better, it wouldnt be as gross

4:42pmSean

Man, a blind taste-test would be SCARY.

4:42pmTravis

haha no kidding

i would just perpetually remind myself not to enter into any blind taste tests

especially those incorporating burritos

4:44pmSean

"We've secretly changed Travis' burrito with burrito-scented poop. Let's watch what happens..."

4:45pmTravis

shakes fist

4:45pmSean

HA!

I think all the poop-talk has made have to deposit poop into a ceramic terlet.

Or in my pants.

4:48pmTravis

i vote for the aforementioned

4:48pmSean

Please. Don't incorporate a fist and poop into the same conversation.

4:49pmTravis

hey youre the one who correlated

4:49pmSean

POOPFIST sounds like a disgusting superhero name.

4:50pmTravis

maybe there already is. and his other power is extreme anonymity

4:50pmSean

I guess his power would be launching mystically-conjured poop splatter from his gigantic brown fist.

4:51pmTravis

maybe he picked it up from jane goodall

4:52pmSean

Wow! His partner could be a poop-flinging monkey! In a mask and cape!

4:53pmTravis

named rupert

4:54pmSean

CAPTAIN RUPERT

4:54pmTravis

it should be Doctor Rupert

4:54pmSean

Professor Rupert.

4:54pmTravis

and he will have a PhD in proctology

violent proctology

4:55pmSean

And a minor in PAIN.

4:56pmSean

Mask, cape, lab coat, and a stethoscope.

All on a monkey.

4:57pmTravis

and a tongue depressor that says "not for oral use"

4:57pmSean

LOL

We are GENIUSES.

4:58pmTravis

why arent we making cartoons or at least comic strips out of the things we talk about?

4:59pmSean

We should. That is actually a very good idea.

4:59pmTravis

i know

4:59pmSean

I know all about how to make, put together, and distribute comics.

4:59pmTravis

i know you do

weve talked about it before

about your knowledge of it anyway

5:00pmSean

So let's actually do this.

5:00pmTravis

i am down

5:01pmSean

We could make low brow/high brow comics AND animation.

5:01pmTravis

im not much of an artist but i am good at spinning off a lot of random stuff lol

5:01pmSean

If all goes well, I won't have to find a job. Well, not a full-time job, at least.

5:01pmTravis

right

5:01pmSean

I am an ok artist...

5:01pmTravis

if we get published

5:02pmSean

WAIT A MINUTE!

We could self-publish. That is no problem.

BUT

There is a comic style called Fumetti.

It is using photos and manipulating them into a comic.

We both love photography and you know about photoshopping.\

5:03pmTravis

could be possible

5:03pmSean

Live action but we turn them into comic panels.

5:04pmTravis

well i think that would make it much more difficult

and actually, our artwork doesnt need to be pretty

there are a lot of comics out there that are simple shapes and its all about the comedy

5:04pmSean

It doesn't.

OK So we focus on the writing. I have a few friends who are great comics artists that we could tap.

5:05pmTravis

alright

5:06pmSean

Plus, we could publish on the web AND in print. It isn't that costly to print stuff up.

5:06pmTravis

i had thought that

5:06pmSean

I have a domain name already that we could use.

5:06pmTravis

oh sweet. i would nee to brush up on my html or maybe even learn css

5:07pmSean

Short pieces and maybe a couple of recurring characters.

It is our book. We can do anything we want with it.

5:07pmTravis

the more random the better

5:07pmSean

We are random people. That is all we know.

5:07pmTravis

the strip "cyanide and happiness" comes to mind

5:08pmSean

I LOVE that strip. Amazing Super Powers is like that too only a bit more polished.

Have you ever seen Perry Bible Fellowship?

5:08pmTravis

no

5:09pmSean

Next time you come over I'll show you the collection. Bizarre but beautiful.

WOW! We are totally gonna make comics!

5:09pmTravis

ok

lol

we should

no wait, we ARE

5:12pmTravis

we have to think of a catchy name

like cyanide and happiness

cause that name is tragically beautiful

5:15pmTravis

like "Chronicles of the Damned"

or something that isnt really related

lol

5:15pmSean

Free Ice Cream!

Chronicles Of The Damned sounds like a goth blog.

5:16pmTravis

lol

5:16pmSean

Or emo blog.

5:16pmTravis

we could always have a main character like "fabio" and call it "Adventures with Fabio"

5:17pmSean

Naming it will come. Whenever you have a name idea, write it down.

I like Cigarettes for Infants.

5:18pmTravis

see. stuff like that which is completely controversial

thats what sells

5:18pmSean

Or Hookers 'n Whiskey.

5:19pmTravis

Crack on the Playground

5:19pmSean

I am already coming up with stuff we could sell. Collections of strips. Shirts. Professor Rupert stuffed dolls.

5:19pmTravis

lol

5:19pmSean

Our first strip should be this very conversation.

5:20pmTravis

about how to start a comic strip?

5:20pmSean

Yep.

5:20pmTravis

i can see it

5:20pmSean

Seems fitting for us.

Have the chat conversation with illustrations of stuff we are discussing on the side.

5:21pmSean

We also aren't confined to a structure with the strip.

I could be ANYTHING.

5:22pmTravis

yep

thats the best part

5:22pmSean

This actually fulfills several things for us: art, comedy, computers.

5:23pmTravis

but we need a main character

with cameos here and there like you said

5:23pmSean

Not necessarily. We could have a revolving cast.

5:23pmTravis

ok well that works too. but they are still main characters

5:24pmSean

Or even just designing characters to drive the particular strip.

5:24pmTravis

we could call it "The Tortured Unicorn"

lol

5:24pmSean

That's RAD. That goes on the list.

5:24pmTravis

lol

are you making this list

?

5:26pmSean

I just cut and pasted the conversation.

5:26pmTravis

ok

5:26pmSean

And YES.

5:26pmTravis

awesome on both counts

could call it "Glycerin Pancakes"

5:27pmSean

Something Pancakes...

Man, POOPFIST just struck me with his beam. Be back in a minute.

5:28pmTravis

haha

5:28pmSean

While I am pooping, think of a publishing schedule.

5:28pmTravis

?

5:28pmSean

For the strip.

5:28pmTravis

like when to publish it per week?

5:31pmTravis

i really dont know what that means

"The Pickled Martyr"

5:33pmTravis

or "Pickled Pancakes"

5:36pmSean

Should we put it out like once a week or every few days? That's a publishing schedule.

"Pancakes Of Astonishment!" With the exclamation point and everything.

5:38pmTravis

well we could probably go for every few days

5:38pmSean

Like Monday and Thursday to start.

5:38pmTravis

all we would need to do is get ahead of schedule before we start

ya that could work

see if we become good enough at this, we could get a well-known website to publish us

and theyd pay us for it

5:39pmSean

Yeah. I would definitely like a buffer zone of strips before we start putting them up. That also gives us a chance to fuck up a few.

5:39pmTravis

haha ya

5:39pmSean

Yep. And we would own it.

We would be business owners.

50-50.

5:39pmTravis

sweet

after we made some money, we could even get a merchandising company

5:41pmSean

We are ON IT.

5:42pmTravis

im totally going to sport a hat when we get this started

5:42pmSean

DAMN YOU, POOPFIST! AND TO A LESSER EXTENT, YOUR MONKEY-SCIENTIST SIDEKICK, PROFESSOR RUPERT!

Oh, we will have hats.

5:43pmTravis

i know but im saying when we get it started, i want one of the first hats

5:43pmSean

Oh, we will have the first hats.

And they will be SPECTACUKLAR.

^Or even spectacular.

I sayin' Bedazzled.

And TWO bills for double the awesome.

5:45pmTravis

lol

ixnay on the latter

5:46pmSean

Bedazzled is ok, though.

5:47pmTravis

right

5:48pmSean

This is a fantastic idea you had, by the way.

I told Yvonne. She is 100% supportive in this.

5:50pmTravis

awesome

5:51pmSean

I actually will probably get a new domain when we decide on a name. That way we can use my Treehouse site as a behind the scenes blog.

5:51pmTravis

for sure

5:52pmSean

We could think about doing light animation on certain strips, too.

I am now glad I bought that tablet.

5:52pmTravis

see? you DID buy it for a reason. you just didnt know what it was at the time

5:53pmSean

Oh yeah! I am gonna look up something. I think Google made a free program that is like Illustrator.

5:53pmTravis

ok

5:53pmSean

Maybe is was Mozilla...

5:54pmTravis

i have illustrator

5:54pmSean

I can't remember. I saw something on it on G4.

5:54pmTravis

its just not the latest version

5:54pmSean

Doesn't need to be the latest version. Not for this.

5:56pmSean

The Adventure of The Tortured Unicorn.

And the unicorn NEVER shows up.

Horsies are hard to draw.

5:56pmTravis

lol

5:58pmSean

I think I am gonna publish this entire conversation on my Treehouse blog tonight.

5:58pmTravis

lol

5:58pmSean

If you are ok with that.

5:58pmTravis

careful though. dont want any mofos stealing our behemoth cashcow

5:58pmSean

I'll black out the names. It will leave some MYSTERY.

5:59pmTravis

if you like

6:00pmSean

Or we just don't use those names and leave them on there for the comedy.

6:00pmTravis

what

6:01pmSean

The names are funny! I like them.

How about Clownpenis?

6:01pmTravis

im just talking about someone taking this idea for themsleves

6:02pmSean

Ah. Well, there is that.

6:05pmTravis

ya other than that, i wasnt worried about releasing the names

6:06pmSean

Well, truthfully, our idea for a nonsensical comic is purposely vague enough that even if they stole it, it wouldn't have our humor.

6:06pmTravis

ya i was thinking that

6:07pmSean

Fuck it. I think I will.

6:07pmTravis

do it then

6:08pmSean

OK Gonna do it NOW.

6:08pmTravis

well, do it then

And I did.