August 23, 2007
08232007
This week has been frustrating if nothing else. Between the kittens and my exterior walls being re-stuccoed, it's been nigh impossible to concentrate on my pages. I'm getting back in the swing of it now, though. Since I was having trouble drawing I spent most of the week on market research and getting postcards sent out to prospective clients.
Posted by Schamberger at 02:26 PM
July 07, 2007
Over
Click the image to read the whole story:
Posted by Schamberger at 07:58 PM
July 06, 2007
07062007
I'm currently obsessed with Orson Welles' 'Mr Arkadin'. The story behind the film, the film itself (all eight(!) versions of it), the novel credited to Welles which he said he didn't write a word of, and especially the radio dramas where Welles worked out most all of the story beats for the movie.
Of course, I'm talking about 'The Lives of Harry Lime', a radio drama spun out of the classic 'The Third Man'. It's all about Harry's escapades galavanting around the world, starring Welles as the titular antihero. For my birthday, I picked up the Criterion Collection edition of the film, containing several of the versions, the novel, essays, documentaries, and my favorite, three episodes of the radio show. This of course sent me out scouring on the internet and I found this here site which has downloads of most, if not all of the fifty two half hour episodes.
Check some of these out, most especially 'Man of Mystery'. I just love this kind of stuff.
Posted by Schamberger at 10:32 AM
July 03, 2007
07032007
I got three and a half pages penciled today for a sample a publisher wants from me. I'll put the whole six pages up here once they're done tomorrow or Thursday. I'm trying some new stuff out with this that I think will be fun to do.
Posted by Schamberger at 10:11 PM
June 23, 2007
10232007
Illustration area updated today.
Also started plotting out the autiobio story.
Posted by Schamberger at 10:48 PM
June 22, 2007
06222007
I'm on the verge of having good news on at least two, possibly three fronts, in regards to my graphic novel work. One, possibly two are Black Chamber related. The third is something that came out of left field yesterday that I'm still trying to get my head around.
Watch this space.
Posted by Schamberger at 09:21 PM
June 21, 2007
06212007
* Finally getting back into the art groove after all of the moving. Got a page penciled and inked last night, which I'll finish up during lunch today.
* I'm putting everything into place to get all of the reference shot for the book in July. Production will start in earnest after that.
* Kevin and Dennis' Gearhead #3 dropped yesterday. I'm impressed that they keep topping themselves with each issue.
* The publisher hunt for Black Chamber continues, but I may have found a home for it. More on that soon, I hope.
* I'm about done reading 'Maggie the Mechanic', and damn, Hernandez sure can write and draw a book. His early stuff fluctuates as he works to discover his style, but it fluctuates beautifully, sometimes similar to Frazetta, Al Williamson, and Brian Bolland, but all grounded by his Roy Crane influence and amazing cartooning. When I grow up, I want to be Jaime Hernandez.
* I turn 27 on the first. Getting old!
* Mom and I's business should be up and going some time next month, we reckon. Just waiting on some paperwork stuff. I'm excited to get that running.
* This weekend, I hope to plot out my autobio graphic novel. It's going to be something totally new stylistically, at least that's what I hope.
Posted by Schamberger at 07:40 AM
June 14, 2007
06142007
* Moving tonight and tomorrow.
* I'll probably be offline until the 19th at the latest.
* I know, I know, it'll be rough for y'all, but I'm sure you'll find a way to fill up this giant hole in your lives. I suggest reading a book. Or having sex.
Posted by Schamberger at 09:27 AM
June 11, 2007
06112007
Where Things Are At:
* Moving on Friday. Anyone who's needing a couch, loveseat, chair, display case, or treadmill, please get ahold of me ASAP. These are FREE, you just need to be able to pick them up.
* Yeah, moving on Friday. Woop!
* The updating of the site continues. I'm still going to overhaul the galleries and fix the logo (again) and add a few more monetizing agents, like an Amazon store and the ability to purchase quality prints. That'll continue to roll out over the next month.
* I've been catching up with a bunch of friends from my high school years via MySpace. That's pretty cool. There were some talented fuckers I went to school with.
* Over the weekend I got another three pages of Too Late drawn, and have started working on thumbnailing out the rest of the book, which will be extremely handy when it comes time to shoot the reference. I'm about thirteen pages into that.
* I'm starting to seriously think about writing the next graphic novel right now, too, that I'll work on in tandem with Too Late. I've been talking for years about doing an autobio on when I was held hostage in two separate bank robberies, and I've finally got the ending that makes it all work. 200 page graphic novel? Not enough work! I need to do another one on top of that! I want to draw myself over and over and over!
* WWE Draft on Raw tonight! Three hours! w00t!
* I'm trying out a new diet and it's working great so far. Nearly five pounds lost already.
* Moving on Friday. Did I mention that already?
* Friday night, we had Happy Hour down on the Boulevard. Eh, the place didn't really wow me, but the wait staff were really nice.
* Saturday night, we had a really nice dinner with the Preutopians at the Bluebird, then met up with some other friends for the Lamest Version of Trivial Pursuit EVAHR. No, I don't know who some famous broad dated in 1993.
* Sunday, I went over to my friends who I have code-named Double-D for dinner and a viewing of the original version of 'The Getaway', which is always worthwhile. We also saw the last half hour or so of Mars Attacks!, which led me to the conclusion that Martians are dicks.
* I'm moving this Friday.
Posted by Schamberger at 01:35 PM
June 07, 2007
06072007
Posted by Schamberger at 09:21 PM
June 06, 2007
06062007
Posted by Schamberger at 09:55 PM
June 05, 2007
06052007
To Do Today:
* Casting for Too Late
* Organize shooting script for Too Late
* Work out uber-plot for Unbroken Circle series
* Plan out steps needed to get business up and running
* Lay down colors for page ten of Too Late, pencil page eleven
* Pick up boxes from U-Haul
* More packing (I have a lot of books. Have I mentioned that?)
* Contemplate more on how I want to fix up this site.
Posted by Schamberger at 08:36 AM
June 04, 2007
06042007
* Yesterday, we got Katy's stuff moved over, but what looked to be a simple job got slightly complicated when she dropped her keys down the elevator shaft! Her building's maintenance was able to get them out, though, and everything went smoothly outside of that incident.
* Happy belated birthday to hack writer Dennis Hopeless. Sorry for not making it over to your party, but we were totally wore the fuck out from the moving. I know, I know, parties at Kevin's aren't the same without me being a loud drunken beast, but hopefully y'all powered on through without me.
* New Beastie Boys album dropping this month! Hot shit! It's going to be all-instrumental, which I'm down with, especially with what I've heard so far from it. I'm a fan of 'The In Sound From Way Out' to begin with. I also read they'll later be putting out another version of the album with vocals. I like that they're in a stage of their career where they can be doing something as risky as this and not be hurt by it.
* New Chemical Brothers album dropping this month! Wait, no, it got delayed until July! Fuck!
* Started reading 'Maggie the Mechanic' this weekend. God damn, Jaime sure can draw, can't he? It's cool, too, watching his style slowly evolving, simplifying, until by the end you see him close to how he's working today. I love that kind of stuff.
Posted by Schamberger at 08:27 AM
June 03, 2007
06032007
* Moving? Not my favorite thing to do. To save her some money, Katy moved out of her apartment early and into mine. So for the next two weeks, my apartment closely resembles a storage locker.
* I have a lot of books.
* T-Minus 12 Days until the big move starts.
Posted by Schamberger at 06:41 AM
June 01, 2007
06012007
Script am done.
Posted by Schamberger at 04:55 PM
May 31, 2007
05312007
Big one this time around. Lots on my mind:
* Did this for an exercise over at The Engine:
“Five years. That’s all we’ve got.”
Stardust looks over at his female companion, knowing that her words ring with the truth. She’s had…a way with words, since her family was killed by the Spiders From Mars.
He leans over and picks up his guitar. He plays it left-handed. He sings about their recent battle with Aladdin Sane and his Diamond Dogs, he sings about the refugees from Suffragette City, but boy, could he play guitar.
Finally, she pulls the microphone from him, says to stop making love with his ego, and Lady Stardust got up to play.
* I'm putting up the lettered pages for Too Late over at ComicSpace. I'll put up the pages from this prologue, and then spot illustrations after that.
* Kevin reports that the Star is ending the comics page in the Preview Section. That's too bad, but it was inevitable. It was a very noble experiment, but the writing had been on the wall for some time now. I'm glad to have contributed, and there were some great bits in there, and well, some fairly awful ones, too.
* Coming back to ComicSpace, am I the only one bugged by the signal to noise ratio there? I mean, there's some awful, awful work going up on the site, and it's quickly becoming a circle jerk mutual admiration society, which I find to be too bad. It's got a lot of potential, but it doesn't seem like it's really being realized by both the guy running it and the people using it. If I were Josh, I'd be hitting the big publishers hard to put up previews of their upcoming books. But, it also seems that MySpace has already sewn that up. I'd like to see this site work.
* I intended to fill this bullet-point with something funny about the CCN, but it seems like making fun of the Special Olympics anymore. I know what I'd do to make it work again, but you know, been there, done that, wash, lather, rinse, repeat. It seems like the hole left by the group is being filled, but in other more organic ways anyway. It was fun when it was fun, but the entity seems like something that belongs in the past anymore. The message board is depressing and barely-active. I don't think anyone would be surprised to see it go away, and more would be surprised that it was still around. I think something like this would be all that we need for our community. And, that should be all I have to say on this for another year or so.
* I'm getting tired of the online comics presence in general of late. Too much snark, too many crazy people, too much over-reaction. The Engine seems to be about the only oasis from all of that. I'd like to see a site that talks about comics without the discussion threads attached, that gives a wide view of all genres within the medium. Then I'd like to swim in a lake of chocolate with the Oompa Loompa's.
* I got stuck on scripting Too Late, but today I got past it and constructed the scene I needed. I'm excited to finish this up so that I can then start casting and shooting reference, which leads to the real fun: drawing it.
* T-Minus fifteen days and counting for the move.
Posted by Schamberger at 10:18 AM
May 29, 2007
05292007
* Nine pages drawn now on 'Too Late For Smiling'. I'm happy with how they're coming out. I started lettering last night, too. I'm 'playing jazz' with this opening scene, letting it go for as many pages as it needs to, based on not letting the balloons crowd out the art, but at the same time, having around 150 words per page. I reckon it'll go around twenty pages, but we'll see.
* I am anxious to start drawing people, though. These perspective shots are killing me. Don't get me wrong, I'm growing a lot from forcing myself to do all of these, but there's something very cool about drawing the human form.
* Katy had her wisdom teeth pulled last Thursday, so we mostly just chilled around my apartment over the long weekend. She's healing wonderfully, although she is getting tired of eating mush.
* We're looking forward to our move on the 16th. I've started clearing out the stuff I don't want to move. I sold off most all of my VHS collection, a bunch of CD's, and some novels. I also donated a bunch of clothes to Disabled Veterans, which felt very good to do. I've still got a few more things to get rid of that way, and then it's time to move to the 'Just Fucking Throw it Away' portion of the program. Like, stuff I've had sitting around for four years and not used? Probably not going to use it at all. I took off the three days before the move from work, so by then I'll be able to pack everything up and be good to go.
* Still no word on Black Chamber. We'll see how it goes.
Posted by Schamberger at 07:45 AM
May 28, 2007
05282007
Posted by Schamberger at 09:41 PM
May 23, 2007
05232007
Posted by Schamberger at 05:55 PM
May 22, 2007
05222007
Posted by Schamberger at 05:45 PM
May 21, 2007
05212007
* I'm three pages into drawing the book now. It's coming along well enough.
* Friday night after dinner, I wanted to get some more shots of the River Market area for the book, and there was Dennis Hopeless walking his dog. I hopped out, jumped him for his cash, kicked his dog, and then smoked his crack. Because I'm hardcore.
* Actually, I did jump out, and after Katy and our friend ooed and aahed over his dog, he and I walked around the area and talked shop, which made for a nice Friday night.
* Saturday, I worked on the book, then got together with some buddies for a good beer-drinking session. I needed that. Things have been too intense lately. We played Risk, and I actually won the game. Go me.
* Sunday, I was moving kind of slow, because conquering the world is hard work. But, I started and finished page three while rewatching the first season of Veronica Mars.
* Boulevard has their Zon brew out again. Mmmm. That's some good shit.
* I feel alive again getting back to drawing pages. There's something really comforting about having ink-stained fingers.
Posted by Schamberger at 08:28 AM
May 19, 2007
05192007
Posted by Schamberger at 12:43 PM
May 18, 2007
05182007
* No, I haven't heard anything back yet on the submissions. I sent a fourth out on Wednesday. To answer Dennis' question about why I'm not sending out more: There aren't that many publishers for the type of book this is. Still, I'm hopeful.
* In the meantime, I'm about half way through scripting 'Too Late for Smiling', and I'm really digging it. I'm wrapping up a sixteen page foot chase/gunfight that starts at The Majestic and works its way down to Bartle Hall. I used Google Maps to chart it out, which was really fun.
* I'm more than likely going to start drawing on it this weekend. The pictures in the last post are reference shots from the first twenty-odd pages.
* The opening sequence is going to be pretty cool, I think. I took a radio script I had written a couple of years back and incorporated it with what I had done on Empty House, the whole 'disembodied voice' thing, to create what I think will be a pretty chilling intro that sets the tone for the book and gives the backstory on the main character at the same time.
* At least, that's what I hope.
* The day job's not so weird anymore.
* I'm really looking forward to drawing again.
* Here's the floor plan for the apartment Katy and I are moving into:
Pretty chill, huh? We're each getting our own office and bathroom. It looks like we'll be getting all the space we need.
* The walk-in closet for the master bedroom is FUCKING HUGE. Hopefully it's big enough for all of Katy's shoes and purses.
* I get into work at seven, and don't normally put on my shoes until around 8:30.
* I want to do another big painting, but I'll probably hold off until after the move. Plus, I don't know what I want to do yet. Probably something KC-related this time.
Posted by Schamberger at 07:34 AM
May 17, 2007
05172007
Posted by Schamberger at 09:35 PM
May 15, 2007
05152007
* So, yeah, BC gets sent out to publishers today. Yikes.
* Too Late For Smiling is still coming along in the script stage. I'm about a quarter through it now, give or take. It's slow to write, due to all of the research I'm doing on it, but it's coming out very well.
* I think comparing it to Black Chamber would be like comparing 'Check Your Head' to 'License to Ill'. I don't have a 'Paul's Boutique' yet, unless BC is it, and The Believer was 'Ill'.
* I had a friend back in junior high who thought the name of the album was 'Three Communication'. Ha ha.
* Picked up a couple of nice items at Borders today: Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong's 'Our Love is Here to Stay' and Michael Chabon's 'The Yiddish Policemen's Union'.
* I'm studying female jazz vocalists for 'Smiling'. Not their lives or anything, but just the ambiance. I want that whenever that character comes onto the page that the reader 'hears' it, y'know?
* I picked up their last copy of 'Yiddish'. Apparently they got undershipped, which I don't understand, really. Sure, 'The Final Solution' and 'Summerland' were...disappointing (actually, I downright disliked 'Summerland' and couldn't finish it, but I think that had more to do with Chabon not being cut out for writing YA), but this is his first real novel since 'Kavalier and Clay'. I'd heard there were internal rumblings at Harper Collins that the book may not sell to expectations and that jobs were on the line. Chabon seems to be unable to escape the metafictional trap he set for himself by creating the Grady Tripp character in 'Wonder Boys'.
* I didn't care much overall for Lethem's latest. I finished it up last week, and...yeah. Again, maybe I'm just not the target demo, or maybe I'm just not smart and hip enough to catch all of the nods and winks. It read well enough, the characters were for the most part believable enough. When I was done, I was like, "Oh, it's a fucking romantic comedy. Damn." Then I read the jacket (I try not to read those before reading the book) and saw that it was a 'send-up' of romantic comedies. Satire? Really? It just felt like a post-ironic romantic comedy with a kangaroo in it, which I suppose is fine enough, but just not the type of book I actively seek out.
* This Fitzgerald/Armstrong album's GREAT!
* I'm moving in a month. Ugh. Meesa hate moving.
* I mean, I've got A LOT of stuff. I'm going to get rid of a lot of it, but even after that, I've got hundreds of books and thousands of comics. I'm probably going to put the furniture I'm getting rid of up on Craigslist to just give away. If anyone here needs or knows someone who would need a couch, loveseat, chair, or china cabinet, lemme know. All for free, I just need them picked up.
Posted by Schamberger at 11:55 AM
May 13, 2007
05132007
I miss my Grandmother. I miss my Aunt Kathleen. I miss my Aunt Doreen. I miss everyone else who has died over the years. I miss the people I've fallen out of contact with.
But I feel so much more enriched for having had them in my life, and they help me to better appreciate everyone who is still with me.
The circle will remain unbroken.
Posted by Schamberger at 01:02 PM
May 12, 2007
05122007
Posted by Schamberger at 02:59 PM
May 11, 2007
05112007
Posted by Schamberger at 12:22 PM
May 10, 2007
05092007
Posted by Schamberger at 02:32 PM
05082007
Posted by Schamberger at 02:31 PM
May 08, 2007
05082007
IT WAS A LITTLE TOO LATE ON THAT STEAMY FRIDAY NIGHT TO GET AHOLD OF THE BAND MEMBERS, BUT I KNEW WHERE TO FIND THEM. WHERE TO FIND ANY JAZZ PLAYER THAT NIGHT, THE FIRST FRIDAY NIGHT AFTER ONE OF THEIR OWN HAD PERISHED: THE MUTUAL MUSICIANS FOUNDATION, IN THE 18TH AND VINE DISTRICT. FORMERLY THE MUSICIANS UNION LOCAL 627, THE MUTUAL MUSICIANS FOUNDATION IS KANSAS CITY’S LAST CONNECTION TO ITS HEYDAY AS THE PARIS OF THE PLAINS. THIS IS THAT GREAT SPEAKEASY WHERE YOU CAN WANDER OVER TO THE EAST SIDE OF DOWNTOWN STARTING AT ONE IN THE MORNING AND LISTEN TO THE BEST LIVE JAZZ IN THE WORLD UNTIL THE DAWN COMES ALONG AND STEALS IT AWAY FROM YOU LIKE A DREAM YOU DON’T WANT TO WAKE UP FROM. IT'S STILL REELING FROM THE CITY’S OFFICIALS ALL OF A SUDDEN REALIZING, “HEY, THIS PLACE, THIS GEM OF OUR PAST, HASN’T HAD A LIQUOR LICENSE FOR OVER SEVENTY YEARS NOW, AND EVERYONE’S DRINKING THERE!”, AND CLEARING ALL OF THE BOOZE OUT. BUT THE CROWD TONIGHT IS PACKED, AND THE STAGE IS BLAZING WITH THAT SORT OF ENERGY YOU ONLY READ ABOUT IN FICTIONAL ACCOUNTS. THIS WAS A WOMAN BELOVED BY HER PEERS, GIVEN THAT BEST KIND OF TRIBUTE, THE KIND WHEN LATER RECOUNTED WILL INEVITABLY BE TOLD IN THE SAME MANNER BY EVERYONE SPEAKING OF IT: THEY’LL GIVE A THOUGHTFUL SMILE, SLIGHTLY SHAKE THEIR HEAD, AND SAY IN A VERY GENUINE, RETROSPECTFUL WAY, “THAT WAS A GREAT NIGHT.” MY JOB MAY BE TO SPEAK FOR THE DEAD, BUT TONIGHT THEY’RE WAILING FOR HER, SINGING FOR HER, SCREAMING WHITE HOT FIRE FOR HER. TONIGHT MEGHAN HANNIGAN BECOMES A PART OF THE LEGEND THAT IS KANSAS CITY JAZZ.
Posted by Schamberger at 11:20 AM
May 07, 2007
05072007
Posted by Schamberger at 03:18 PM
May 06, 2007
05062007 Inspiration Sunday
I recently came into possession of a couple of collections containing illustrated print ads from the 1920's and 1930's made for The Kansas City Star. I think these are really wicked cool.
Posted by Schamberger at 06:22 PM
05052007
Posted by Schamberger at 11:05 AM
May 04, 2007
05042007
Posted by Schamberger at 05:04 PM
May 03, 2007
05032007
Posted by Schamberger at 08:00 PM
May 02, 2007
05022007
Posted by Schamberger at 09:52 PM
May 01, 2007
05012007
Posted by Schamberger at 07:03 PM