the Artisan Rogue

Such a bizarre and both long and quick year is what I can say about 2014.

I've found myself looking back at this time last year and there are changes in me as a person that I do like and some some that I have to work on to fix.

Coming to work here at Hallmark was one thing that changed all kinds of dynamics for me from time management challenges to just wondering quite honestly, how I would keep up with the creative pulse I had started off very strong with at the beginning of the year, only to have it come to almost a complete stop after the month of August. Of course that said, I've had to look once again at my work, and thanks to some very honest and needed feedback from other artists recently, I had to step back and take a good look at what I was doing. I had to let my mind go, and break free of the rut and going through the motions sort of art I had started to get into.

It had caused me to stop and hold up on some prospective chances and freelance illustrations because I did not feel I could get out the visuals as I wanted them to come out.

My writing efforts were affected by my lack of time and concentration as well, and I have drafts and drafts of entries for two other blogs, Tenacious Toys and The Rogue Hobbyist, that I hope to have published by the end of the month.

I thankfully have found time though as I said to attempt to remedy my situation by meeting with as many art directors and creative leads as I could in the past few months, as well as setting my my first really critical review of my writing with a highly recommended editor this coming Friday.

And here's to hoping that some future endeavors with voice acting efforts pan out very well. The whole voice acting thing is one of the most challenging yet fun avenues I've ever gone down. Here's to hoping I can stay the course with that as well too.

I've found that inspiration will come at the weirdest moments. The other night, I was driving back from a show in St. Louis and worked out a new storyline and ideas for art in my head. The four hour drive in the gloomy night time drizzle absolutely set the stage for a new tale that will be accompanying an upcoming issue of my comic Pagan Zoetrope. The two below are the main characters.

Say hello to teddy bear brothers Abel and Oswald.

The story behind them, I can't share yet, and there is a whole lot more that will make itself known this January as I start to prepare my work for both Spectrum and Planet Comicon. Regretfully, I will not be part of NakaKon again, because a certain place here in KC was not able to give Planet Comicon the ability to move it's dates to compensate both shows having separate weekends.

I'll make this a short update for now, as I just wanted to share that new work officially on here that I placed above, and to say that as it currently stands I should be at the following shows this year, selling new art, doing portfolio reviews, and taking pictures of you all for my site:

Planet Comicon
Spectrum Fantastic Art Live
KC FanCons and Lawrence's FreeState
and more to come.

Until next time, I'm Mario, the Artisan Rogue.

Be kind to your fellow beings, four footed and otherwise, and support your local artists!