Aberrant Press

Finally got around to scanning this. Back in the early part of 2008 I got the opportunity to work at the Excalibur Hotel and Casino for a caricature booth owned by Fasen Arts (warning: going to their site will expose you to a number of guys who are much better than than me). I loved my time there and had a number of breakthroughs as an artist thanks to the sink or swim nature of the job. To this day it is my belief that anyone who wants to do art in any sort of commercial sense would greatly benefit from doing caricature for a bit.

Working at a caricature booth usually meant long periods where you were left unsupervised and this meant that when you needed a break, you just got up and went. I felt that just leaving the work station empty though was bad business-wise, because any passer-by who might be interested in getting a drawing might assume the booth is closed. Since this was a commission only job, it was in my best interest to keep such people waiting around for me. So to cover myself while I would be away, I did a couple of placeholders to assure potential clients that I would be returning in a short while to resume being the least skilled caricature artist one could be while still getting paid for it. The following one is my favorite, but I will likely post the others someday in the future when I have nothing better to post (so, like, tomorrow).

Note my atrocious handwriting!

Sadly, after being there only a few months, the Excalibur made a decision to rent out one of the two spaces our company was renting to another vendor (one of those companies that puts images in crystals) and Fasen had to lay off me and my ultra-talented friend, Joseph Bergin. I really miss doing the job and my love of caricature has only grown since then. Just recently, one of Mad Magazine’s top guys, Tom Richmond, put out a book that teaches the art of caricature in just about the best way I have ever seen. The book is just chock full of the science, if you will, of doing a caricature.

If you’re at all interested in drawing caricatures for fun or profit, I highly recommend picking it up.

Want to go to the San Diego Comic-Con this year? Then you might want to boogie on over to this webpage. You should do this soon, because the cut-off date to get a member ID and be eligible to purchase a ticket is Tuesday (February 28th). That’s right, you only have a few days notice and yes, they just announced this. I expect to hear the grousing of many a fanboy this year.

I’ve been spending the last week writing a slew of posts about what is going on with DC Comics and the Before Watchmen books they are publishing. Before I could get around to finalizing and posting those, this happened. Click that link. It will detail how Marvel Comics not only legally won the rights to a character they didn’t create, but that the creator now has to pay them $17,000 in legal fees.

This post I had put on Erik Larsen’s link to the story sums up my feelings (edited slightly for this blog):

While legally their right to seek payback on their legal fees, I’d say that $17,000 for full legal ownership of a character they have made millions off of would have been enough of a bargain. Dick move, sirs. As someone who typically spends about $3,000 a year on comics, I just did the math and have decided to spend $17,000 less on Marvel Comics over the next eight years (even though this will initially hurt current creators more than the company). I think others should do likewise… Can we do a benefit book for him or something? A Kickstarter campaign?

Recently, while driving around with some people in my truck, I instituted a new rule: anyone who doesn’t like a song on the radio can essentially veto it, regardless of the opinions of others. They are only allowed to do this once in a 24-hour period to keep things from turning into a pissing contest. The first to take advantage of this was dismayed when couldn’t find anything else on the radio that might better fit his sensibilities.

Tonight, while working on a new book, the same guy was over helping to keep me on task. I had Pandora radio on and we were hit with a Willie Nelson song. He asked if he was allowed to use a veto, and I obliged. As I pressed the button to skip to the next song, he declared “I hate Willie Nelson!” Maybe he was asking for it… The very next song was another song by Willie Nelson entitled “Little Old Fashioned Karma”.

I commented that someone there must be some alien presence watching us for their entertainment.

Here’s a little old fashioned karma for you all…

Posted a few more products in the store. Desert Rose and Disposable Graffiti. That counts as being productive on the site, right? Well, if not, here is something I haven’t posted for a long time: the old-school trailer for the Desert Rose short film. The DVD for it will be the next thing I post up here, along with another short film we did entitled Nero Plays the Fiddle.