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.

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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.

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.

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* 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.

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.

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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.

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 <3 ROBOTS: When bored and brilliant Cassie Watson found herself wanting a boyfriend she did what any person with an IQ of 196 would do … she built one.

Below is a quick concept sketch of M.

At the moment I’m very busy working on a number of commission pieces. Working on some commission pieces … meaning … ($$$). While I DO love art ($$$) I also like at least TRYING to pay bills. HEY! Even da Vinci needed a sandwich now and then. Not that I’m da Vinci, but then again, he ain’t me either. ( Lucky him. ) The work I’m doing at the moment is fine art which means no monsters, leaping about or exaggerated features. I’m all about subtle beauty today. As much as I like the idea of making a little money, this isn’t leaving a whole lot of time to work on my own projects. One of which is working on developing the “I <3 ROBOTS” idea.

I’ve always been a big fan of the Six Mission Dollar Man. The character was one of the great super men from my childhood. There was something both cool and horrifying about a man with the powers of a super hero that got them through such freakish circumstances. Of course, as I’ve so often said, I prefer my super heroes without costumed ( I don’t mean necessarily naked here. Although that might be kinda’ cool too. ). I’ve always thought it might be cool to create my own version of the Bionic Man. Maybe this is my chance? Totally different but, in my six year old heart, there are enough similarities to make it work. After all, as a six year old glued to the television screen I wasn’t thinking about astronauts, Air Force colonels, secret government agencies and cyborgs, all I was thinking about was machine plus man equals one kick@$$ super hero. One that could defeat the bad guy and do it, not in tights, but a cool running suit.

Man! Steve Austin rocked!

Maybe M should wear a running suit? A track suit. Something a little more modern and a little less orange? Okay. Now that I think of it he just might. Of course, if this is going to work, M isn’t the only character I need to design … besides the main character of Cassie I need the supporting cast, the bad guys and I need the questionable guys. The need the locations, jobs, sets, and on and on. I need a purpose. A reason. I need the conflict. I need to flesh out the whole darned thing …

I did this ball point pen sketch of M after exhausting myself working on more “serious” illustrations. I also did the sketch you see to your left. Besides Cassie Watson ( On the left. ), we have Akira Tezuka, manager of the local video game store, “Game Station” and Amy Khoklov, waitress and actress extraordinaire. Cassie’s beautiful and dim witted next door neighbor. Maybe. A couple of possible friends of Cassie’s? Maybe. Roommates? Neighbors? Good guys? Bad guys?

Sheesh … I have so much to do. I don’t even know if what I’ve done so far will stick around and / or in what form that might take. My mind is numb.

I needed the break and felt that I deserved it. Besides, it’s been too long since I posted any artwork here. I’m going to get myself some more coffee and think a bit more. Maybe until my head explodes? Maybe.

Whatever happens, let make it F.U.N. !

While Steve Rogers (AKA The Six Million Dollar Man AKA The Bionic Man) is one of the robot / android / cyborg greats in fiction, he is by no means the only one of his kind. Here are a few more great robots (and stories) in fiction ( In no particular order. ) and the links they rode in on; Deathlok, Marvel Comics not quite a man anymore anti-hero. Machine Man, also from Marvel Comics and created by Jack Kirby. AI, Blade Runner, also known as “Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?”, D.A.R.Y.L., another robotic boy.  Speaking of robots and boys – Astro Boy. The list quickly grows astoundingly long. Star Wars, Data from Star Trek, Ash from Alien, The Terminator(s), The Iron Giant, and on and on. I’ve quickly found, as I’ve tried to put some sort of list together just how overwhelming a job this is. It seems that our love, or fear, of robots is long standing. Basically as long as there have been machines, man has wondered about them, the idea of machine as man. Or enemy of man. Robots have held our wonder, our imagination and we have created story after story about them and we continue to do so.

Feel free to add, or correct, this list. It is by no means anywhere near complete. So much so that it could reasonably be thought of as “not yet started”. Actually, I’d be thrilled if you did. Or if you are aware of other sites on the web where such a list exists – let me know.

The concept possibilities of the robot is almost limitless. It begs so many questions and offers so many possibilities for drama, action, adventure and humor. Deep, philosophical questions (my particular favorite) such as; At what point does a machine actually become something akin to human? A life? How does this idea of a life created by mankind mesh with the idea of a creator God? A soul? Are we just robots of a kind ourselves, created from the bio-genetics of our parents? Are our bodies not therefore able to also be called “man-made”?

It seems that we really do <3 Robots. In our fiction; in our books, movies, television, cartoons, comic books and video games … in our present and in our future. We are fascinated.

I still have zero idea what I’ll be doing, project-wise. I’m throwing everything at the wall and seeing what sticks. To use a ridiculous and embarrassing  metaphor. Right now I’m just drawing and drawing and drawing while I’m thinking. I honestly have no clue what I’ll be doing next.

In addition to just generally sketching and playing around – trying to loosen those elusive creative juices up – I’ve been trying to flesh out a few concept ideas. Quite a few. Some that have been percolating in the back of my skull for years and others that come to me as I draw. I want to open myself up. Try and think outside my own personal box, per say.

A few days ago I posted a concept piece, “I <3 ROBOTS”. The response was pretty good. Meaning there actually was a response, so I decided to keep playing with it and seeing where things go. It could be a good idea. I’m just not sure if it would be a good idea for me. Whatever I decide to pursue, I’ll most likely be investing a lot of time and energy into it. It has to be worth it and it has to be something I’ll enjoy doing over the long haul. It would be absolutely fantastic if I actually found myself doing something other people actually enjoyed. That would be a first. Sadly for me, I don’t seem to be “one of those creators”. You know the one’s I’m talking about. All successful and stuff.

The above piece was simply done to draw the characters again and see how it felt. If I did decide to pursue I <3 ROBOTS I doubt I’d do it in the format above. It would probably take the more classic form of a comic book / graphic novel. At this point I’m just feeling myself along. Seeing if I can’t get into the character’s heads. See what’s going on in there. Thinking about what kind of stories I can tell using these characters and this premise.

Thoughts while laying awake at three in the morning:
These characters have to be quirky. Funny. I can see where the humor would come from. I’d love to do a humorous piece, but not just fun and / or funny. I’d like to be able to tackle serious issues too. The kinds of things I think about. I’ve always liked using my artwork to explore my own questions about life and reality. I can see this too. Cassie being a scientist would give her a specific world view. M would be the opposite. A dreamer of sorts. He would obviously have questions about himself and how he fit into the world around him. Is he real? Does he have a soul? If there is a God does He love him as well? Or is he really nothing more than a talking toaster? For that matter, are any of us? Yeah. I could fit more serious discussions into this. So. Humor and deep issues. Good.

What about action? And what kind of action? Monsters? Aliens? They could fit into a story about a girl and her robot. Should they? What about secret government organizations? or “Men in Black”? They’d fit as well? But HOW?! There would need to be romance and sexuality. Humor and drama. There also needs to be action. Preferably intense,crazy, out of this world action. I just need to figure out what that means.

The set-up is fine. The characters are fine. What I still need is one big, over lapping story that ties everything together in a bigger picture. If I have the protagonists.  I still need to find the story’s antagonist. I need that “high concept” that will make the story rise above “just another story” and pull it into something all together different. That unnamed bit that will take the story from just good and make it the kind of story people will feel the real desire to read. It needs to be good enough to make people want to create fan fiction. That’s when I’ll know I’ve got it. Once the characters come alive to people in ways beyond any involvement from me.

If there is one thing I have come to know without a single doubt in my mind, it’s that I sure freaking well don’t know squat. I suppose that’s something but as it stands my learning curve has been taking me too long. It might be different if I had the luxury of working eight hours a day, five days a week on artwork instead of trying to slip it in between paying bills and painting houses.

Let’s keep thinking …

Splatter-shock horror can do all of these things too but more often than not splatter-shock characters are introduced for the sole purpose of killing them off. Because of this the characters are usually little more than tried and true stereotypes. It becomes a game to pick who will die next and how gruesome their death will be. Fun? Sure. It can be, but is that really “horror”?

Creature design: El de Grimm

If I hope to ever find my way in today’s art world I need to play by the rules already set out. While it goes against my personality to play by anyone’s rules other than my own, experience has been showing me that I can’t continue to play the lone wolf indefinitely.  Not if I want to make a living with my art. Not if I want to be noticed.

It’s not selling out. Not really. It’s giving people what they want. Providing them with what it is that they enjoy. That’s the real purpose anyway … right? To provide entertainment? Making people happy IS what I want to do after all. And get paid to do it. Money would be nice too. At the very least it’s an excellent gauge to help determine if you’re doing what you set put to do. Entertain people. As much as it pains me to say it, if you’re not making money you’re probably not providing people with what they want. Yup. That hurt me to say it out loud, true or not.

A part of giving people what they want is drawing the things they enjoy. Porn? Sure. Maybe. I guess, but what I’m talking about here are weapons, armor, aliens, monsters, zombies and fantasy worlds. None of which I tend to draw all that often. Human anatomy? I got anatomy. I can draw the bejeezers out of human anatomy and buildings.Give me a dark, crumbling alley bathed in shadows and I’m right at home. Throw in some monsters, aliens and some high tech weaponry and I get a little sweaty.

Which means I need to learn. I need to push myself. Venture out of my comfort zone and see what lay on the other side of this box I’ve unconsciously built around myself. Movies, video games, toys and books … I’m yesterday’s news and I don’t want to be. As much as I might love the gentle, intertwining musculature of the human body, there is much, much more I need to draw. Like alien ships and worlds. Like dungeons and elephants and high powered rifles and on and on.

I want to create. I want to design. I want to draw! I want to design those video games, those movies and books and toys kids play with. I want to spark people’s imaginations and excite them. To do that I need to give people what they want, not what I want. What exactly DO people want anyway??? I haven’t a clue. I really and truly don’t. If you know, feel free to message me your inside information. I kinda’ need it. Seriously.

The cast: The genius Cassie. Her beautiful, but normal best friend Dawn. Melvin, Cassie’s nerdy co-worker with a not-so-secret crush of his own. The robot boyfriend, Morrissey.

As with everything Cassie does, she does it sometimes too well. Giving Morrissey every single one of her traits, interests and obsessions might not have been the best idea. Enter Morrissey, her (possibly) gay robot boyfriend.

It was love at first byte.

Exit stream-of-consciousness concept/idea pitch …

With this drawing, I wanted to again create something that would be (and hopefully feel) quick and fun. Thin, stylized figures. I wanted a slightly twisted feel. I wanted to see youth and I wanted to try and see if I couldn’t display their personalities in their dress and expressions.

I like this piece in that, while it looks like mine, it’s somewhat different from what I’m usually caught drawing. I like the idea of continuing to try different things. To see if I can’t come up with something I’ve never tried before and see if I can’t do it.

I’d drawn the roughs of the characters and was sitting there looking at it. It seemed only okay. Two young people just standing there. Nothing special. What could I add that would make the picture more than a simple “snap-shot”? That’s when I pulled out the eraser and replaced the guy’s left arm with a robotic one. That was it! That one little change turned the drawing from another run-of-the-mill picture into a story.

From that one change a story came flooding into my head, like a movie being played out behind my eyes. I saw them move, heard them talk. They had become more than just flat characters on a page,  these were characters I could have some fun with.

My dream, my life’s goal, is to create something that makes people happy. That provides them with pleasure. To actually make a living, however small, providing people with entertainment. I want to be a prostitute of sorts. I want to sneak in your back door, show you a good time and leave quietly with a little cash in my pocket. Is that such a bad thing?

I kid. But I don’t.

If I could find just the right idea. The right concept.  I’m constantly searching for the concept, that idea, that visual that will catch people’s attention and make them say, “Show me more.”

I NEED to be able to grab them. If I can’t grab their attention, I’m pretty much out of luck.

Then? Well, then I’ve got to be good. That’s when the talent comes in. That’s where the artist comes in to play. Before that though I’ll need to be the PR firm. The marketing department. Once I’ve grabbed them – the hardest part – then I’ll actually have to be good to keep them.

First things first though …

Comics real hey day lasted only a few years. Between the late 1930s and the mid to late 1940s comics were at their peak and what a peak it was to find the momentum still rolling 80/90 years later after the initial fire storm.

While the ideas and concepts put forth by comic books have never been more powerfully embedded into societies united psyche, comic books themselves are, once again, at an all time low. One need only venture down to any local teen gathering place and ask some random youth if they’ve ever seen, or heard of Superman or Spider-Man. The answer will be, “Yes.” Ask if they’ve ever seen either character in a comic book and the answer will undoubtedly be as resounding, “No.”.

Live Free! And show it!

As the years have passed and comic books have struggled to find their place in an ever-changing world, comic creators have more often than not lost their focus and forgotten what comics are. In 1954 Fredric Wertham published the book, “Seduction of the Innocent“ vilifying comic books for every single one of societies woes and the country went along with it. Until this time neither the creators of comic books nor the audience gave comics much thought beyond their simple enjoyment of them. Comics were no different than films, books and theater, meant to entertain. What Wertham left behind was an industry with an identity crisis.

No longer simply attempting to “entertain”, comics found themselves having to redefine the what and why of themselves. Comics could no longer blindly attempt to be entertaining, they found they needed a game plan. An idea. Worse, they needed a reason to be. Simply providing pleasure wasn’t enough any more.

Move forward to today and comic books are still searching for that reason to be while the concepts that were comics have grown beyond the printed page. One need only to look at any comic book being produced today to see that comics, as a whole, have never been better. They have never been more intricately plotted, skillfully written or beautifully drawn. So wherein lies the problem? If comics have become literature, if they have become high art, why has their audience left and taken their fantasies elsewhere?

This increase in so-called quality came with a price. Comics were no longer fun. In their desire to be respected, comic creators simply forgot to entertain. From cheap entertainment providing pleasure and joy to the masses, they have become expensive art/literature giving satisfaction to an ever-dwindling, aging, audience. The masses have gone elsewhere in search of their entertainment and they’ve taken the joy and excitement that comics were with them.

Lamenting over the dwindling art form of the comic book is akin to lamenting the loss of the radio drama. Like the radio, perhaps comics as a form has had it’s day. The drama, the comedy, the entertainment, the adventure provided by radio, and comics, continue even if the way in which they are presented has changed.

Surprisingly, it would seem that perhaps things are beginning to change and it is the internet we have to thank for that. Suddenly we are given a virtual explosion of comic work. Work unimpeded by anything other than a creator’s desire to create. Because of this we are beginning to see the joy and the entertainment for the sake of entertainment value beginning to return. Who knows? Maybe comics aren’t done just quite yet? The momentum continues.

For the record: I love old time radio as well. I am about sixty years too late for a great deal of they things I enjoy. Such is life.