Jenny has a mandatory library "Staff Day" on Friday (her usual day off), so she took today off from the law firm, which worked out well. We both had haircut appointments this morning, and then headed over to The Comic Book Shop to buy some comics.

We actually didn't get this week's comics, as we got to the shop before they officially opened and they were still sorting through the new books out today. But we left our subscriptions pile up for almost 2 months, so we had quite the sizable stack waiting for us. Maybe we should get back into the habit of actually picking up our comics each week again....

After some time at The Comic Book Shop, it was off to lunch, and then some much needed grocery shopping. Then back to the apartment so we could meet with the office and sign our new lease. We're locked in for another full year - so we've got 12 months to get some more income coming in and find a better place to live, so we don't have to stay here any more.

We eventually got a hold of our friend Jamie, picked him up, grabbed some dinner, and came back here to watch a couple of movies. We saw Meet the Robinsons, which was hilarious and highly recommended; and Illegal, a classic Edward G. Robinson courtroom drama, which was also quite good!

Yesterday was Jenny's father's birthday, and we spent most of the day over in Coeur d'Alene with her parents. We went to see the Surrogates with him - which was a pretty awesome sci-fi flick (based on an equally cool indy comic). Glad we got to see it in the theatre, though I think it could've been a bit longer.

Then after the movie the four of us went out for Thai food at the local Thai Bamboo (which was, of course, delicious), and then caught up on a bunch of recorded TV from the past week. A very fun and relaxing day!

The library is doing sort of an "employee exchange" program, where they're moving some people to different branches so they can see how things might be run differently and meet other co-workers. So now Jenny is working up at the North Spokane branch once a month. Her first day was this last Thursday, and she really enjoyed it, although it does mean a much longer commute (like 45 minutes instead of 15).

Otherwise things are going OK. Jenny had her year review at the library, which went well and got her a raise (yay!). The temperature is dropping, and even dipping to freezing occasionally, but the apartment seems to be holding the heat pretty well. Maybe those new energy-efficient windows they installed actually work.

I've been working on some commissions and tinkering with one of my comic ideas. Doing the 24 Hour Comic Challenge has definitely been an inspiration to get back to work on it - hopefully I'll have more concrete news on that relatively soon...

Jenny's been working on a bunch of cool crocheting projects, which we really need to take some pictures of and post up. It would probably help if we had a decent digital camera, since right now we have 3 old ones that all only work about half the time. 

Local Arts & Crafts People: The next Spokane Comicsmiths' Guild is on Sunday the 18th at Merlyns, from 3-6 pm. The next Crafty Club meeting is on Friday the 23rd at the Spokane Valley Library, and starts at 7 pm. Feel free to leave a comment if you're interested in more information.

And I also drew up 4 Star Wars pictures for the kids coloring contest, which you can see here: Star Wars Coloring Pics!

Sunday was our monthly meeting of the Spokane Comicsmiths Guild. It was a good time, and fairly productive, with some brainstorming done regarding the upcoming 24 Hour Comic Book Day event and discussion of various projects. Not sure on the exact date of the next SCG meeting - we're going to try to meet more often, so the next meeting may not be at Merlyns or on a Sunday.

The Marvel Birthday event we sketched at did make it into the Coeur d'Alene paper, and one member, my friend Matt Nelson, got his picture and name featured on the front page! That was, of course, incredibly cool, but unfortunately there wasn't any actual mention of the SCG group. Here's the full article: The Coeur d'Alene Press

I've been thinking about working on painting miniatures again - I haven't touched any minis or paints in months, but I've been looking through my gaming books and thinking about working on an army again. I'm sure hanging out at Merlyns and being surrounded by games and gamers probably has something to do with it as well.

Not sure when I'll get back into it, but I have been looking at gaming websites for the first time in ages, trying to catch up on new releases. In my internet browsing I also discovered that Gamer's Haven, the awesome game store in Idaho that tragically burned to the ground, is going to re-open in October! The store was originally in Coeur d'Alene (I even briefly worked there), and the new location will be in neighboring Post Falls (in the Outlet Mall along I-90). The new shop is scheduled to open October 1st, and I'm sure I'll swing by and check it out. :)

In other news, I think I might be coming down with something. My head's hurt pretty much all day (slightly less after some DayQuil and Aspirin), and I've just felt cruddy, like I have no energy. Hopefully I'll shake whatever it is quick, 'cause it's annoying...

Participating were myself and:

• Levi Skeen
• Matt Nelson
• Jesse Acosta
• James Bobbitt

This week is the big Comic-Con down in San Diego; from what I hear it gets crazier and less about comics each year, but I'd still love to get to see it eventually. Maybe Jenny and I can make it there for an anniversary or something. We still haven't taken a real honeymoon, so that's always a possibility. :)

I do know a few people who will be at the Con, including local artist/writer Lars Brown, who's the creator of Northworld and is a member of our Spokane Comicsmiths Guild group. Apparently he'll be splitting his time between the Image and Oni Press booths, so if you're at SDCC take some time to swing by, say hi, and pick up one of his books!

Possibly the coolest event at SDCC is one not listed on the website - for the first time, two comic artists will actually be getting married at the convention on Sunday! Renae De Liz and Ray Dillon met in person at SDCC five years ago and decided to tie the knot at the same place. The two initially met through the Digital Webbing comics community - a website I probably spend entirely too much time on, but through which I've met some really great people.

Also, my photographer friend Tigger (aka AlX) will have a booth at the 100 Years of Motorcycles festival at the Spokane Fairgrounds this weekend, where she'll be selling her prints. Jenny and I have been helping her get ready and matting her prints the past few days. Any locals who are going to the be at the show, be sure to check out her photos (and buy something!).

Things have been going well enough, if not particularly exciting. But then, I guess that's nothing to complain about.

Jenny had her dentist appointment on Friday; she hadn't gone quite as long as I since her last check up, but it'd still been about 10 years. But she had nothing to worry about, as her teeth were in fine shape - no cavities or problems.

It's back to feeling like summer, with temperatures in the 80's and up to 90. Looks like more of the same this week, so I'm thinking we'll be breaking down soon and turning on the A/C. Which means higher electric bills. Yay.

Sunday was our monthly meeting of the Spokane Comicsmiths Guild, the group of local artists and writers that was formed after last year's 24 Hour Comicbook Day. We've begun planning for the next 24HCBD, which this year falls on October 3rd and will again be hosted by local shop Merlyns. We also discussed some other possible plans for this coming year which unfortunately are only in the discussion stage, so I won't go into details yet.

And, of course, we also sat around and drew. I began sketching out designs for another character in my Fight City superhero comic - a super-genius crime boss known as "Brains" McBannon. I think these are the closest so far to what I want:

Anyone who might be in the area this Saturday (May 30) should be sure to check out the 3rd annual Spokane Comic-Con, being held at the Spokane Falls Community College from 10-5.

Jenny normally works on Saturdays, but was able to get the day off, so we plan on spending the whole day there just hanging out and being geeks (next year I hope to have a table there myself...). Several of my friends will be there, however, so be sure to swing by their tables and check out their work. You can find a lot of them on deviantArt:

Ben Hansen
Jesse Acosta
Lars Brown
Levi Skeen
Matt Nelson

More information about the convention can be found here: Spokane Comic-Con 

Also this weekend (Friday through Sunday) is Spokane Art-Fest, the annual arts and music fair, sponsored by Spokane's Museum of Arts & Culture. You can find out more about it here: Spokane Art-Fest

And finally, Jenny also has her Crafty Club meeting on Friday, which she organizes through the library (where she works). Needless to say, we plan on being pretty busy this weekend, but it should be a lot of fun!

• Jesse Acosta


• Lars Brown


• Levi Skeen


• Matt Nelson


• Mike Lail

Today was our monthly local artist meet-up; not a huge turn out, but quite a few people had other understandably pressing matters that kept them away. Still, we all produced some art, discussed some new projects we had started working on, and squared away our plans for Free Comic Book Day.

For any who are going to be in Spokane on May 2nd - a few of us will be at Merlyn's from 11-3 (the store opens at 10 am) doing free sketches for any kids 10 and under. Even if you're not a kid, please swing by and pick up some free comics and check out everything else the shop has to offer.

Also, the 3rd annual Spokane Comic-Con is rapidly approaching. This year it will be at the Spokane Falls Community College on May 30th from 10-5. Jenny was actually able to get the time requested off from work, and we'll both be there, but only as fans, hanging out and having geeky fun. I'm planning on getting a table next year, as I'll (hopefully) have something to showcase. Guess we'll just see what I can get done between now and then...

Otherwise, the weekend was good, and mostly relaxing. We were supposed to hang out with our friend Jamie on Friday, but it was his mom's birthday. So maybe we'll see him later this week. We ended up going over to CdA to take the car in for an oil change, and going out to lunch with Jenny's parents, so everything worked out OK anyway.

I've been sketching some, but mostly just doing research and some writing for a new project, and I really need to get some actual artwork done this week. I got knocked out of the AFL competition over on deviantArt, but I haven't actually finished my last entry. I need to do that, and I also wanted to do some fan-art for a few characters that I didn't get to face. The un-ending hunt for a day-job continues as well.

Also, I wanted to wish "Happy Birthday!" to our good friends Alex (on the 19th) and Shannon (on the 20th)!

Every year, Spokane hosts the Get Lit! literature festival, which usually includes lots of writing workshops and speakings by authors. This year they also branched out into graphic novels, with a panel on comics and comic creation. Manny Trembley and Eric Anderson, the two local creators of Panda Xpress and Sam Noir, both published by Image Comics, hosted an hour long discussion about the comic industry.

I was pleasantly surprised by the fairly large turn out and, considering comic books' reputation for having a predominantly young adult male readership, it was encouraging to see that more than half of those that showed up for the panel were female, of all ages. There were a few teachers present as well, who were interested in using comics in their classrooms, which was also nice to see.

The discussion was really interesting, and I learned quite a bit, especially about the publishing aspect. It was also great to meet and talk with Manny and Eric after the panel.

The monthly Spokane Comic Artists Meet-Up (S.C.A.M. ? Hm, maybe not the best acronym... ) is tomorrow at local comic & game shop Merlyns at 3 pm. It's not anything especially organized, mostly just an excuse for artists and writers to get out of the house and get together and chat about comics or whatever, but it's been a great opportunity to meet some fellow local creators and comic fans.

One thing we do have planned is for the upcoming annual Free Comic Book Day. FCBD is a great opportunity to introduce comics to new readers, and especially to get kids interested, so a few of us will be hanging out at Merlyns and drawing sketches for kids 10 and under for free. Should be fun. :)

With it being the beginning of the month, I figured now would be as good a time as any to try to start blogging more regularly. Maybe this'll be the time I'll actually keep at it....

Thanks to everyone for the advice and suggestions regarding my digital TV rant. There's a couple of things I can try now to maybe help, and hopefully when we move we'll either have better reception or the money to afford cable.

It doesn't look like we'll be making it to the Emerald City Comic-Con this year, which is disappointing but kinda unavoidable. Really just can't afford to make the trip right now, as it's only a month away. The Spokane Con is coming up at the end of May - I'll be sure not to miss that and hopefully we'll be better off next year so we can go to the ECCC. Of course, we'd also really like to make it down to the San Diego Comic-Con one of these days, but that's far less likely....

Jenny's been knocked out sick the last couple of days with a sinus infection, and I've still got a lingering cold that hopefully won't turn into an infection as well. But we're stocked up on soup and juice and taking it easy.

Um, I guess that's it for now. Perhaps I can actually keep these entries short-ish and often, instead of occasional and way too long to read....

I wanted to spread the word that my good buddy Alex is starting up a miniatures design company - The Forge of Ice. He doesn't have a website up for it yet, but you can check out this thread on the Excelsior Entertainment board for info and some sneak peeks of greens: Miniatures by Alex

Just so happens I'm also doing some design work for him - one company logo so far (which you can see on that thread), and I still owe him a couple of alternate logo designs. I'm also hoping to contribute some figure designs for him down the road. The models he's got in the works so far look really great.

NaNoWriMo

November is right around the corner, and with it comes the National Novel Writing Month. This will be the third year of participating for both Jenny and I, and hopefully this year will be somewhat more successful for me. I really have no idea what I'm going to write, and I'm thinking that might be a good thing.

The last two years I had "great ideas", which might actually make good novels, so I kinda sabotaged myself by overthinking them and getting bogged down in too much research and too little writing. This time I'm considering just coming up with a couple of main characters and then free writing and see what happens to them. Guess we'll see on November 1st.

24 Hour Comic Book Day

This is a yearly international event, started by cartoonist Scott McCloud, where artists (with more free time than sense) get together and attempt to write and draw a complete 24 page comic in 24 hours. It's crazy, really, but a great creative exercise.  I'm sure I'm not ready for it, especially since I haven't attempted any sequential work in ages, but what better way of kick-starting myself back into it, right?

This year the day is on October 18 (the Saturday after next). Here in Spokane, the 24HCBD will be sponsored by and held at Merlyns (a local comic and game store), and organized by Levi Skeen, a local comic book artist. If you're looking for more info, check out these links:

     The 24 Hour Comic Book Day Website
     The 24HCBD Spokane MySpace Page
     Merlyns' Store Website