Why?!
Why a blog? Don’t I ramble and yabber enough via Twitter these days? Well, there’s a couple reasons.
1.) There are subjects that come up almost daily… answers to questions that I’m asked, thoughts on the state of the comic industry, ideas about how to Make Things Better, General Philosophy, etc… these come up, or rear their ugly head(s) and require a longer form than 140 characters.
2.) One thing that I learned, working in the Newspaper and Magazine biz for 5 years was the truth behind the statement; “If you don’t honor the ideas by writing them down, you’ll find one day the ideas no longer come”. It’s a variable off of Bernie Wrightson’s statement that all artists have 1,000 bad drawings that they have to get out of them before they can be a good artist. Which is really just saying, “the more you write, the easier it gets.” Which leads to…
3.) For the last year, I have spent the majority of my time writing. Business-related writing. Contract reviews and revisions. Proposals. Terms Sheets. It’s a unique skill that, like all other forms of writing, requires practice, skill and patience to get good at it.
(That said, there are times that I can feel it sucking the creative energy out of me like some form of psychic lamprey, determined to mold and alter me into a business-version of a character from a Tod Browning film.)
So, part of this is to be able to write without ‘rules’ or requirements.
For those of you not familiar with me, or what I’m like, I give fair warning that IRL I swear. A. Lot. I’m not a politically correct individual, and I tend to think that sacred cows are best when tipped. As a CEO, I’m forced to be a bit more… “mellow” in public writing than I am in person (as everything on the internet is eternal), but I’m sure that some might find what I say to be offensive. So, I apologize in advance, and urge you to find something else to read if you are the type that is easily offended, or you have a chip of righteous superiority on your shoulder. I respect everyone’s opinion (whether I agree with it or not) and love discussion, but I’m frankly too busy to waste any time arguing on the internet. That said, feel free to ask questions if you like, and I’ll do my best to answer.
Later on, I’ll also try to get a gallery of my art up. Ain’t gonna happen any time in the next couple months though.
I will try to update this more frequently than I’ve managed with other blogs… it helps that I feel the overwhelming urge to write lately… but there are a limited amount of hours in the day, and this is ‘low man’ in terms of priorities and responsibilities.
The name of the blog stems out of a blog/update thing I started back on Warren Ellis’ The ENGINE forum. I think “art” (whether you’re talking music, visual, writing, etc) is one of the most powerful gifts given to us as humans. I also think it is all-too-often horribly squandered and taken for granted. I used to have, back in the day, a tagline that read “Make Art like it’s a Weapon from the Gods”. I still believe that… it’s why I do what I do, and why I put up with the obstacles that arise… and think it is our responsibility to change the world in that way. Pretentious? Probably. Crazy? Most likely. However, it’s not a belief I’m willing to ever compromise on.
So, disclaimers, background, and caveats out of the way… welcome.
