Temujin's Journal

Several years ago I saw the movie, Triplets of Belleville. The visuals blew me a way and have inspired my work ever since. If you haven’t seen it, do yourself a favor and check it out.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6fwM4hnsdSA

I did these two sketches right after I saw the movie.

I’ve posted this one before but I decided to post it again since it’s part of the pair.

Hope you like them. And check out Triplets – it’s great.

–Jason.

I’ve been playing around with several different art apps on my iPad. I haven’t found one I’m totally happy with yet but it’s fun to experiment. I have seen artist do some amazing work on the iPad, painting with their fingers, but I’m not one of them. I find it cumbersome and awkward. However, it does force me to work looser and I like that.

Here are some of the more successful ones:

The Brushes.app is one of my favorites so far. This was an early sketch playing with blending and color.

This Batman sketch was also done with Brushes. I like the way it came out, the mood and the fact that Batman look a little scraggly. For some reason, I always preferred my Batman to look more like Iggy Pop than George Clooney.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1aKVX8BgPY

One of the side benefits to the Brushes.app is it records your whole sketching session and then replays it. I don’t know if it serves any real purpose but it is fun to watch.

This is also done with Brushes, However it’s not very successful and I didn’t finish it. I realized recently that, in my 10 years working as a professional comic book artist, I never once drawn the Joker. He is my favorite villain, perhaps in any genera, and I’d never even did a personal sketch. I gave it a shot. Who know it would be so damned hard. I think there is a hair’s difference between the Joker looking like a goofy comic book character and looking like the embodiment of evil itself. He’s still looking goofy…

Another Batman (what can I say, he’s an easy subject to draw.) I used an app called, Sketch Club for this one. It’s more basic than Brushes and some of the tools are gimmicky but it’s easy to get some interesting looks and it’s a fun one to kill time with.

For example, this was a simple, 3 minute sketch done in Sketch Club. It’s very basic but I like the mood.

This one took a little longer but still very quick. I named him “Happy Man.” I like how his face turned out.

And lastly, I took another stab at the Joker. This is a Sketch Club sketch. I’m happier with it but it’s still not there. Maybe I’ll work up a good take on the Joker someday but now it’s eluding me.

That’s it for now. Let me know what you think of the sketches.

–Jason

I thought I’d post some of the sketch work I’ve been doing. There’s no real theme here, just random stuff.

Either a gremlin or a carnival barker, not sure which. Brush pen and ink.

A Dwarf…I don’t know why.

Pencil sketch. Not exactly the best framing but I like the sketch.

Random sketches, playing with shapes and gestures.

That’s it for now. Night, night

–Jason

Two months ago today, Phoenix Griffin Minor arrived on this planet. He came crying, peeing, and pooping, I can only imagine what that might prophesize for his future. Since then, many people have asked how are things going. Well, on the day Phoenix was born, I’d planned to write a clever and witty little blog about the birth. That was two months ago and this is the first chance I’ve had to write much of anything – and I doubt it will be either witty or clever. That’s how it’s going.

I thought I was prepared for parenthood. That’s a lie. I knew I wasn’t prepared but I had no idea just how unprepared I actually was. My wife and I took classes on parenting and many of our friends offered advice and guidance but, until you are actually in the moment, you’ll never really understand. So, I’ve had to learn how to live on little to no sleep, how NOT to pull out my hair when he’s screaming at four in the morning, how to decipher what cries mean what (I’ve narrowed then down to: “I’m hungry,” “I have gas,” “I have to crap,” and “oh yeah, I’m still hungry”), and how to work the remnants of my old life into this new one. So far, that last one has been the hardest for me (well maybe the “not pulling my hair out at four in the morning” is a close second). I know my old life is dead, I accept that (more or less) but defining this new life has proven quite difficult. I’m working on it but I fear I’ll still be working on it eighteen years from now. By the time I figure it out, Phoenix will be leaving home and I’ll be back to square one, trying to figure out what I’m gonna do then.

However big an adjustment this has been on my wife and me, it’s nothing compared to what little Phoenix has been dealing with. He has been literally ripped from another dimension, one of warmth, darkness, and quiet, and pulled into this mad house of light, cold, and loudness. In this world, there is no feeding tube to take care of him so he has to learn how to eat, suckle and swallow. In this world, he has to breathe air. Imagine that. Imagine waking up tomorrow to finding yourself underwater and you have to learn to breathe water or die. Who among us could survive such a transition? Babies are amazingly powerful creatures. And yet, he can’t figure out what to do with his hands. We take our hands for granted but, for Phoenix, they are just stumps he flails around wildly. He doesn’t know what to do with them. His challenge of becoming human makes my challenge of becoming a parent seem insignificant.

To my great shame, I forget all Phoenix is going through and think only of my frustration and exhaustion. Parents are a selfish bunch. We bitch and moan because we’re tired, the baby is screaming in our ear, and nothing we do will calm him. Then, just when we think we can’t take any more, he spits up everything we’ve fed him. It’s easy, at times like that, when you’re covered in baby bile, no time to bathe, and so tired you’re shaking, to forget that nothing compares to what he is going through. Of course babies cry and scream. Wouldn’t you?

This is what I keep tell myself during these late nights. Some times it works, some times it doesn’t. But this is not the whole picture. It’s easy to get lost in the struggle to keep your head above water and not totally mess the child up in the process. But, there are times when everything flips without warning. Like when he’s been crying all night and you can’t take it any more, then he just passes out in your arms, sleeping peacefully. You know you should put him in his bed as quickly as possible and get some sleep while you can. But you can’t let go of him, you are suddenly filled with love for this tiny creature and the thought of letting him go is physically painful. Then there is the first time he opens his eyes and looks directly at you, not just a random glance but he actually sees you. Or when you see him dream for the first time and he suddenly starts to laugh in his sleep. Or when you see him smile and it’s not “just gas.” These small things can grab hold of you and before you know it, there are tears in your eyes. There are no words to describe these experiences fully. You can only experience it. If these two months have taught me anything, it’s that parenthood is the toughest thing I’ll ever do. But it might also be the greatest thing I’ve ever done. If I just don’t screw it up.

Welcome to the mad house, Phoenix. Happy birthday.

–Dad