Mark A. Lester

I’ve been massively busy. In a very good way. producing pages at a breakneck pace. Enthused. Pumped. Wildly productive. Excuses, all. Good ones, though. I simply didn’t want to break my stride by stopping to talk. I was busy “doing”, and we all know that doing is better than talking. Still, it’s been too long and I’ve found myself feeling the NEED to say “something”, so here goes.

As those of you who follow me on Facebook, Twitter or Deviantart, and this numbers in the just over double digits, already know I have been gearing up for a release of ALL NEW ALTERED EGO work! ALTERED EGO Season Two! This. So. Rocks.

Below is a sample page that I pulled from the pile just to give you a peek at the work, the story and the art.

A lot of effort and work has gone into getting the new AE ready. In addition to actually creating the book itself, I’ve got an app being created and have set up pages for AE on both Facebook and Deviantart. Check them BOTH out. They’ve been work, they’ve been a pain and they’ve been confusing and I will forever be grateful to those who have helped and continue to. More on this, and them, later.

As many of you already know, I’ve been torturing myself finding a project I could put myself behind. Not just a little, but 100%. It wasn’t easy and I was beginning to think it wouldn’t happen. Then it did. AND IT WAS EASY!

Above is a strip from the original run of ALTERED EGO, done years ago. AE was (and remains) a strip about the life and mind of a struggling artist and the people in his life. Doing AE has always been cathartic. There was a bit of me and my life wrapped up in there somewhere and when the original strip appeared, it hit a nerve with a lot of other creative types, as well as many others. Although the lead character in AE shares my name (I thought it would be, #1 funny and #2 be easier than thinking of a good name I could live with.) as well as my passion for art and cartooning, HE IS NOT ME! This has been a bone of contention since the strip first began. Don’t send me ketchup packages or the number of a good therapist, please. The fictional character of Mark is FICTIONAL! Made up. Phoney baloney. NOT REAL! Being a fictional character means that he has not had to bear the indignities of  so-called “real life”. Meaning; He does not grow older, fatter, balder and, Heaven help me I swear, shorter. If AE’s Mark was “ever” me, he was a me so long ago, that to compare us today would be comically unfair. So don’t! Please.

Once I started creating new AE, it started coming fast. It was well underway before I even realized that this would be the new project I was looking for. It suddenly just “was”. I was (and am still) a bit surprised and shocked as well as grateful and giddy. I’m having fun again. I should have KNOWN I could count on Mark. (Him, not me.)

AES2 (ALTERED EGO Season Two) is well underway as are AES3 and AES4. New pages will begin appearing every Tuesday and Thursday soon. Very soon. As soon as everything is in place and running smoothly.  The AE apps is one BIG necessary. Setting up some sort of network to try and help the strip along is another.

The purpose of this post is to let you know that I’m still here. Working. Dreaming. It’s coming. I promise.

This is gonna be fun.

I have a long list of things to do tomorrow. Checking on the progress of the ALTERED EGO app is right up at the top. Depending on how the app is coming along, I’ll either wait until the app is finished so that I can debut the strip and the app at the same time (preferable), or I’ll begin posting the new strips and release the app at a later date. I seriously do not need to be rushing the app. It needs to be done but it needs to be done right.

Purchase a print of this strip

I’ve decided to go ahead and post a “just for fun” strip for no other reason than I’m getting antsy to begin. Let’s have some FUN. Send my your ideas and / or anything else you want to send me. Make me happy.

In the meantime be sure to check out the ALTERED EGO page over at Facebook and the ALTERED EGO on Deviant Art page. Like it! Share it! Spread the word. Without YOU this isn’t gonna’ happen.

ALTERED EGO chronicles the life and mind of a struggling artist, the people in his life and the worlds he creates.

This video attempts to show the way that a panel, and page, is created. The technique I use putting together the ALTERED EGO strip is not quite like I have used in the past putting together a normal comic book page or comic strip. I use a sort of animation style technique when creating AE. It allows a fantastic amount of versatility and is actually a whole lot of fun. Please like, share and subscribe.
 

This quick and dirty video is a first attempt at creating any video, let alone a tutorial and was done with zero editing. It is what it is. And is not.  I hope it has served it’s purpose, at least partially.

Creating AE has been fun. A lot of fun. Far more fun than work is supposed to be. Not a bad thing. Actually, a very GOOD thing. I hope that you’ve enjoyed the video, perhaps got something out of it and will consider supporting ALTERED EGO.

ALTERED EGO chronicles the life and mind of a struggling artist whose reality is influenced by his own creations, every thought and idea reshaping the world around him.

This post could better be titled as, “The Girls, Guys and Small Creatures of ALTERED EGO” but that would have been too long a title to fit. A little chopping, a little censorship and a little creative maneuvering had to be done to make it fit. Which is how the ALTERED EGO strip plays out.

Nothing is off limits when I’m creating ALTERED EGO. Not language, not nudity and not situations. We ARE inside the mind of an artist, after all. Surreal situations, fantasy, dashed hopes and desperate desires abound.

Purchase a print

* EDIT: The above artwork is a statement about the over sexulization of women in comics. A parody. Showing how rediculous the practice has become. You’ll have to read the story.

When I decided to begin the new adventures of AE, I knew that I wanted to take the gloves off. I didn’t want to feel confined. Not by anything. Not by art style, not by genre, not by content. I wanted to have the option to do it all. Of course I also wanted AE to have as large a potential viewership as possible. Enter the “black box”. As I write and draw, I do as I want. Characters behave and think and talk as any average “real” person would. Then those little black boxes come out and I censor my own work. Nothing big. Nothing that distracts from the story, or what’s going on. For those interested, and old enough, what is censored is obvious. It is quite easy for the mind to “fill in the blanks”. For those not interested and / or not old enough, the work stands just as entertaining. Nothing is missed.

I know there will be two schools of opposing thought on this and that no one will be happy. There will be those who feel that I shouldn’t include this “stuff” at all and those who feel I should not censor anything, even myself. No one will be happy. Whatever. I’ve tried to please everyone. It’s impossible. You end up pleasing no one. Not even yourself.

No. Nudity, sex and obscene language do not play a large roll in AE. I’d go so far as to say that they do not play ANY roll in AE. If such a moment does come along in AE it is either important to the story and / or character … or it’s funny.

Like life.

People think, say and do things they wouldn’t want advertised to the rest of the world.  This doesn’t mean we DON’T think, or do, these things, it just means that we don’t want people to KNOW we do. AE is all about the mind, and life, of an artist. The good, the bad and the ugly. The odd, twisted, lonely, confused, desperate and creative mind of a struggling artist.

It is ALTERED EGO.

ALTERED EGO chronicles the life and mind of a struggling artist whose reality is influenced by his own creations, every thought and idea reshaping the world around him.

One of the great things about creating ALTERED EGO is that I am restrained by noting. The style of art I use can change panel by panel depending on the effect and / or the point I want to achieve. The same can be said for the genre. Because the strip takes place in both the “real world” as well as inside Mark’s head, anything can happen. And does.

Purchase a print

The drawing above is just one, fun example of an altered art style that appears in the AE story. A book that not only breaks the forth wall, but doesn’t even know one exists. Just one alternate version of the character of Mark.

In or minds, our fantasies, or dreams and our imaginations anything can happen. Worlds exist outside of the physical universe. Worlds made wholly of thought. One of the most amazing things about these “other worlds” is how real they can seem while we’re in them. Dreams can range from normal and ordinary to overly surreal and bizarre. Dreams can have varying natures, such as frightening, exciting, magical, melancholic, adventurous, or sexual. All the while seeming as real as every day life while you’re experiencing them. Often times we are unable to tell that even the most bizarre dream is not real until we wake up from it. How cool is that?!

Thanks for your support and encouragement. It’s what keeps me going.

How ripe is this for exploration? Especially when discussing the mind, and dreams of an artist. Someone who is more often obsessed with his imagination than he is real life? The possibilities are endless when there are no rules to follow.

Fun.

Speaking of fun … The AE app is still being tweaked and worked on. As soon as it is finished not only the app, but the strip as well, will be released. In the meantime I’m taking advantage of this wait creating pointless posts such as this one, AND getting quite far head of schedule with the art. So, time is not wasted. Just patience tested.