Long time coming!

Hey all,
At least to those that have been kind enough to write me and inspire me. Well believe it or not, its been more or less 2 years and 5 months since I've taken pencil to paper!! Why the hiatus? Well to be honest I was pretty frustrated over the last project that I worked on (3yrs and nada!!)that I had a hard time feeling creative. The partner that I had at the time had a vision of his project to which I made every effort to help him realize so much so that I changed what little "style" that I may have had, I no longer liked what I was drawing or how I was drawing.
I've been spending some time now coming up with a movie screenplay and my own comic concept that I have been feeling the "bug" lately. I won't lie, I have been a little nervous as I was uncertain what I would be drawing like after all this time. Now, I have come to accept that I do not have the skills to do this professionally, which is why I still remain an officer today and not the latest hot shot on the scene. I hope to someday be able to finance my project and more than likely hire somebody here at DA as there are so many here that make me look like a two year old with a crayon. But today I have taken a HUGE baby step, my wife bought me a scanner for my birthday and now I had no excuse but to get off my ass and draw!! I would like to invite any inkers or colorists to take a shot at any of the images that I'll be loading up within the next couple of weeks as I have never seen my "work" inked or colored. For those that have shared kind words with me in the past, Thank You..Dan (DanG!!

Are you serious...no really!?!

It's been some time since I actually wrote anything and much longer since I've taken pencil to paper. Now I could try to rationalize how busy I've been with work and family or could go on about the time I've put into some writing projects that I've been working on, but it still wouldn't be a good excuse.

I will admit that after the creative frustration that I went through on a previous project that lasted three years of research and development plus time and effort that left me feeling abandoned by my former creative partner..I just didn't feel like drawing much. I decided that I would concentrate on creating my own world of characters for a pitch and proposal after being completely honest with myself that I have not developed my chops as much as I had tried to convince myself of.

The last project that I worked on just made me realize that I had been incredibly remiss in not applying myself to become a better artist. I have no one else to blame for my short comings except myself, and no matter how much I wished that I was a more competant talent. I simply fell short of that goal. I had hoped after spending quite sometime developing a concept that I truly felt proud of, I was going to hire someone here at DA to do what my limited abilities could not. Tonight however, I felt as though someone had kicked the air right out of me. My wife called me to tell me that she and my daughters were watching a program that included several major components that were part of the foundation to a project that I had invested alot of time researching and developing for some time now. The stories are completely different in many ways, but because we live in a litigeous world. It would not be difficult to believe that an ambulance chaser could make an argument that I had taken the screenwriters idea and would have opened myself to a lawsuit if my project ever saw the light of day. Ironically enough, my intention was to begin writing the film adaptation for my project in the next several months.

To often I have found myself as I am sure many others have, excited with an idea that I believe that others would like as much as I do. To only have the heartbreak when you see someone beat you to the punch on "your idea". My lovely wife who supports me unconditionally tells me "well at least you know it was a good idea because someone else thought it was too!!"

But in truth it is little consolation at least to me. I really did put a lot of thought and effort into my project, and I feel like I got "screwed yet again". I finished seeing the movie when I came home. I didn't care for it really, but at least some other bastard was able to see his "dream" or "goal" made reality. And once again I came away with the frame of mind of "are you serious...no really"!?! To those who care to read these words, make the most of the talent and skill that you have worked for. Don't have a "wait and see" attitude, make things happen for yourselves by investing the time and effort to better your skills. Trust me, trying to play catch up is even harder to do. Peace. DanG!!

'07 update

Hey Everyone,

At least those that I usually communicate with! Its been nearly a year since I've either posted any kind of artwork or at the very least updated my journal entry. I won't lie and say that I'm even doing this update without a little trepidation.

When I last wrote in my journal I had announced that I was no longer going to be working on "War Drum" from Proudstar Productions (by the by, I "hear" that Jon Proudstar is using his original name for the project "Tribal Force" and has his own MySpace page. I really do wish him the best!). HOWEVER... the whole thing left me a little burnt out and bummin' in a major way. I spent THREE YEARS (whew!!) on the project drawing, researching, putting together pitch and proposals together and all without being paid a single dime (or penny). And that's okay as I truly believed in the project. Unfortunately due to Jon being involved with so many side projects (movies, acting, directing) he wasn't able to dedicate as much time and effort as I felt he should have as we really did have some interest from some financial backers and believed that we could have done something with the project (to those that I had stuck my neck out for in hopes of giving you employment, my deepest apologies) I also had changed my art style (if I ever had one) so many times to cater to what Jon's vision was that somewhere along the way I no longer felt that there was any "me" in my artwork.

So after a lot of mopping around and being royally pissed, I decided to get my $hit together and get off my @$$ and do something. Now I have been incredibly busy with my job as an officer on loan to Dept. of Homeland Security, but I need to do something now for me. I figure that I have SOME kind of imagination and maybe I should give it a whack at creating something of my own. WELL... I have been working on writing several projects that I hope to pitch sometime soon. I'll probably create the model sheets for the characters and then try to hire somebody else to do the artwork as there are to many here that make me look like a two year old with a box of crayons!!

The first title will be a team book entitled "SPIRIT WALKERS", I may even post the pitch and proposal here to show you how Mark Waid recomends up and coming writers to set up their outline (Hunter-Killers comics 101, I highly recomend it!!). There will also be other books and characters that I will post: CRUSADE: Holy Order of St. Michael, KAGE ONI the Shadow Demon, MUSASHI the Cyberai, ESPERANZA BLVD (my teen team book). So HOPEFULLY sometime soon I'll be able to post some of my character ideas and drawings. I hope to also commission some of the talent hear to draw up, ink, color my characters. I am preparing to apply for some grant money of my own, and hope to position myself to hire the talent needed to do the book so that I can make a pitch at several of the "Creator Owned" publishers out there. Wish me the best as I pray nothing but the best for the rest of you that are trying to follow the same dream as me. DanG!!

new roads to walk

Hey everybody,

Just wanted to take the time to let those friends that I've made here at DA know, that I sincerely thank them for all the support that I have received from everyone... including the critics!!

I will no longer be working with or any current projects from Proudstar Productions from this point forward. I genuinely wish Jon Proudstar the best of luck in both his movie career and his comic career. I will also no longer be the artist or art director for his current project "War Drum".

I will still be working under the title of Ancient Thunder Studios (is it still a studio when you're all by yourself !!). I will also be deleting all art referenced to that project as of today. So there will only be two items in my gallery until I can put up some original art of my own and when I get that Damnganged scanner!! Proudstar Productions may be looking for pencilers, inkers and colorists. You may contact Jon at jonproudstar@hotmail.com.