The Marvelous Patric

dear blog,

I'm really bad about writing here.  I admit it.  I wanted to post last night, but by the time I got home, it was time for conan's first show and now way was i missing that.  

things be going well here in patric land.  FNS is having a big Summer of Our Content thing where i'm posting "something" everyday.  Comics five days a week right now, with bonus sketches or character profiles on the weekends.  I'm actually ahead with the comic and starting to build a little buffer.  Hopefully by next week, I'll be a full week ahead.  If i can get it up to two weeks, I may start putting comics up on the weekend.  We'll see.   

The other cool thing I'm doing now is a weekly podcast with Matt.  It started as I was doing a Ustream of drawing my comic.  And then I'd post the audio from that.  but, i'd get distracted drawing and there'd be dead air.  And interaction is funny.  So, here we are.  The show is still called "Patric Draws" and we still (usually) do it live, but the podcast is worth listening to on its own.  

things are going well with the girl.  we spent a weekend up at "the lake" with her family on memorial weekend and last weekend, we took her little boy to see "Up."  everyone's already raved about "Up", so i prolly don't need to.  It's enough to say it's really good, but Wall-E still is my favorite.  

I also have been given a teaching assistantship for next year.  I'll be teaching freshman english.  Quite exciting.  

I'm auditioning for a play tonight.  I found out this local theater group is going to be doing Wonka and the Producers in the future, so I thought I'd audition for the next show to test the waters.  I'll about the theater these days, yo.  

I've started another draft of my thesis play.  It's going to be radically different this time around as I'm going to try to do it as a mockumentary and a straight comedy.  Last time was more like Dr. Strangelove or MASH.  This time, I'm going for Spinal Tap or A Mighty Wind.  

Current Location: the office
Current Mood: creative
Current Music: none?

dear blog,

I know a lot of cartoonists who are often given gifts by their fans. I have never had this happen to me before. But, yesterday, I received my first fan gift. Not only that, but it was extremely cool....



So special thanks to Tiffany for the awesome statues! I know I could never make anything like them! They'll adorn my desk forever.*



*note: not a legally binding forever, but the kind where it's gonna be a really long time.



Here's some closer shots of each one!

dear blog,

i find myself is a weird position for Freaks N Squeeks. An idea as occurred to me as to where to take the current story. Now, as anyone who reads FNS and pays attention knows, I don't really plan things out ahead of time. Generally, I just fly by the seat of my pants and follow the characters. I may know a few beats here and there, but basically, I'm just as clueless as the audience as to what is going to happen next.

So, here I sit, with an idea of where to take the current story and it's a big decision. Because, if I follow through on it, the story will take an entire year.

Let me say that again, the current FNS story will take an entire year to tell.

Now, I don't have to do this. I could wrap the story up a lot sooner if I used a different ending. Yet, the challenge of doing a yearlong arc, with subplots and such, really appeals to me. I haven't done anything like it yet. I mean, there was the yearlong countdown to #1000, but that wasn't one story. The challenge there was to simply do one comic every day for a year. This, this is different. I would still take on sundays and such, but it would just be one main storyline for the next year.

Do I dare do this?

Current Location: work
Current Mood: wondering

dear blog,

I just want to say there's no new fun factory this week because I suck. That's really the reason. Sure, I could tell you all about other various contributing factors, such as wrist issues, migraines, and it being just so damn hot, but really, it just comes down to I haven't gotten it done. Well, I got one of them done, but then I wasn't happy with it so I redid it, but still... that's what it comes down to. It's not done and it's my fault. We'll be back next week. Freaks N Squeeks will continue unabated.

also, i will not be at SDCC this year. it's the first comic-con i've missed since 2002. Sufficed to say, i feel at least a little bad about this. I would have gone, except that I originally thought I'd be in China this week with the band. By the time that fell through, it was too late to get a table and the hotels were iffy. I really didn't want to go unless I could sell FNS books, so i won't be there.

I also won't be at Wizardworld: Chicago this year either. It's the same weekend as my niece's wedding. So, the only con appearance for me this year will have been Charlotte. Oh, and Fallcon, unless something goes horribly wrong.

However, I've decided that since I won't be at these shows, I'm going to have an online sale. Starting today and going through august, there all comics will sell for $3.00 online, with FREE shipping. It's just like if you bought them from me at a convention, only you get them in the mail. Check it out here

dear blog,

The Mice Are Back In Town! That's right, Freaks N Squeeks starts updating again today (july 2nd). Make with the clicky! And tell everyone you know!

Current Location: home
Current Mood: happy
Current Music: hall of heads - tmbg

dear blog,

Today, Freaks N Squeeks hit the 1000th strip! Which, i'm placing below for _your_ viewing pleasure (and if you click it, it goes to the homepage).



I'm gonna take a short break from FNS now. It'll return July 2nd. Until then, read Fun Factory, which has a new page today!

Current Mood: accomplished

dear blog,

today, i redid my website, www.marvelouspatric.com. Well, really just the main front page. The rest I'm leaving like it was because that's content that hasn't updated since the last redesign. I like to think that my website is like a tree. You can tell how old it is by counting the different designs used on the various pieces.
Anyway, i'm fairly proud of how the redesign is going considering i know _nothing_ about web-tech and am using an old version of GoLive. My only problem is i can't get the rollovers on my link buttons to work. Grrr. It is supposed to work according to GoLive, but it doesn't work in the Real World. Grrr. The biggest new addition to the site is i added WordPress, so now there's a whole blog-thing for comments and news right on the front page. Now its so much easier for me to make snarky comments, as opposed to before when it was a whole edit the html page then reupload it. For those of you very worried about what this new blog-abilty means for the future of my LJ, don't panic. This journal is all about me, who I am, what I think, etc. That one is all about business. Comic stuff. This is personal, that one is not. See, you can read both!

In other Patric News, I did not get into MCAD. Yeah, i know... shocking. I wasn't really expecting to get in, so i'm not feeling too upset about it. Still, if you feel bad for me, please, let me know by sending me money.

As for Freaks N Squeeks, whilst going through some things, I realized that way way way back when, i somehow skipped a number in my counting. My files go from #26 to #28. Basically this means that my #1000 strip is off by a day. So, for those of you marking your calendars, the 1000th Freaks N Squeeks strip will actually be numbered #1001 and be on May 29th, 2007, not May 28th as was originally planned. Oops. I suppose I could have just ignored this, or done something lame like counting the original color three-pager as #1, thus adding the needed one more comic that way, but it just didn't feel right.

So that's my life since my last update. Actually, that's just what happened today. I'm sure there was other stuff, but who cares. I'm going to bed.

Current Location: home
Current Mood: accomplished
Current Music: Affliction -AFI