Well, How 'Bout That?

Mood: Butterflies
Listening To: The Postal Service - "The District Sleeps Alone Tonight"
Been Reading: C. S. Lewis - "The Silver Chair"
Been Watching: "Emma"

Remember to click "read more" or this entry title for the full news post.

Well, my bit of news for the evening--er, early morning; goodness how time flies when you're painting--is that I updated my portfolio the other day for the first time since February. Please take a look, and kindly let me know if there are any glaringly weak points, necessary substitutions, or grammatical errors. ^_^

JoJo's Portfolio

I've been thinking that perhaps I should establish some kind of set commission rates. I can only imagine that there's something unsettling about having to make an inquiry about prices. Unfortunately (like most artists, I think) I'm not really too good at pricing my own work. I fear I have the tendency to undercut myself. If anyone would like to help out with advice in that regard, I'd be most grateful.

In addition to commissions this Summer (not to mention "Dis") I'll be working on creating a new portfolio specifically for storyboarding and character design. Should nothing come up job-wise during my hunting in San Diego this year (I'll be hoping to see many of you while I'm there!) then I'll be moving at the end of the Summer and getting a cruddy day job for a while. It's not yet determined whether I'll be staying in Arizona. My parents have expressed a strong interest in my moving back to North Dakota and living near them. If that be the case, I've already been assured of work as an administrative assistant (that is to say, a secretary) at the office of an agricultural research and engineering company (of which my father holds the title of Chief Science Officer) which is some comfort. Not to mention that it's one of the cheapest places in the States to live. (Lots of land, and few people. Also, very cold.) The biggest draw would be that I'd be seeing my kid brother all the time. He and I have always been extremely close; we have an understanding of mindset, he and I, and can talk for hours about things like hoplite battle maneuvers and zombie epidemic contingency plans.

Well...Anyway. Like I was saying, crappy day job while applying for work in the animation industry. I have plenty of work for a general illustration or a specifically comic book interview, but not much in the way of formal character design turnarounds, expression sheets, and storyboarding. I need to work extra-hard on this, because, well...I've been looking around and they all want you to have a few years experience working in the industry. I, obviously, have none. What I do have is all confidence that I'd be able to produce work on par with anybody who does have that experience, and I'm hoping that they might be willing to take a chance on the idea that the experience I do have in the comic book field might be similar enough to merit. I'm actually told often that my comics are very "cinematic", and many of my strongest influences are actually animators.

Well...Wish me luck on all of that.

Meanwhile, meanwhile, still workin' on "Onieros". It's currently 2:21am. The package tracking informs me that at 1am, my scanner was in Phoenix. At a mere two hours away, I look forward to receiving it in the morning, which is probably before many of you are reading this. In any event, look forward to being bombarded by a month's work of work, including all your V'Day sketches, and oodles of "Onieros" concept work.

Meanwhile, meanwhile, meanwhile, I'm having oodles of fun coloring other people's lineart. It both challenging and totally zen. Please don't stand on ceremony if you have something you'd like to see added to my coloring book. =D

And now, after listening to me ramble on and on, I'll leave you with something far more entertaining: The world's oldest recorded dirty jokes.
This was recorded by Thomas A. Edison in 1888. It was found at his labs labeled "not for mixed company". Oh, that Tommy. XD
Not for Mixed Company

Peace out, y'all.
~JoJo