Radio waves in the midnight oil.

(Left) Front of the KKFI building. (Right - Photo by Maria Vasquez Boyd) I thought my Soundwave shirt was appropriate for today. 

I have to start off by saying I was way more comfortable this second time on the radio, and I was really happy to be invited back onto ArtSpeak Radio, a great show covering a lot of creative happenings in the KC area, hosted by Maria Vasquez Boyd.

(Left) The Green Room. (Right from Top to Bottom: Jason, Anthony, and Maria.) 

Andie Paloutzian, Anthony "AO" Oropeza, myself, and Jason Sierra, were the four guests on today's program. I already knew who Anthony was from his work with his AmigoMan series, and had gotten to talk with him at the Chicano Art Exhibit that happened at Hallmark last week. Andie had some great things going on with the library and programs she was involved with, and Jason (who also has some work still up in the Chicano Art Exhibit over at Mattie Rhodes), performed some songs on the air. Really wonderful stuff!

Hopefully the full podcast will be up for those of you that were not in the listening area, and you can then download it and listen to it from the KKFI site. I'll post a link up when it becomes available.

I'm taking a moment to reflect on something. If anyone had told me that I could ever have been on the radio, that anyone would even care what I had to say on any subject matter, never mind things that I create, write about, illustrate,... I'd have thought they were nuts.

When I was still working at Hallmark, there was an edict, a phrase that was being thrown around, to "be scrappy", to fight for all you had because your ideas mattered, your input mattered.

My idea of "scrappy" is very, VERY different than what 90% of the people that still work there, think it means. I believe that, as my father says, one of the greatest gifts we have, are our hands. We can do so much, build our home, carve ideas, write down memories, hold onto the ground we will fight for. 

A corporate environment, by it's definition, is not someplace that allows a great degree of "scrappiness" to exist, without understanding that if one is to be so, there will be cuts, scrapes, falls, bruises, time to heal, mistakes, and winners and losers.

Don't get it twisted. I am very happy for all I learned, and much of what I accomplished at that company, and in no way am I denigrating the people that I still know and befriended there at Hallmark. But, I think many would agree, that to be heard, is to be judged, to be isolated, to be ridiculed, and sometimes... feared. It's always far easier to be part of the pack, to let those who can, reaffirm the status quo (I'm looking at all you Hallmark Gold Crown store owners), and that's a shame really.

The truth is, that a great deal of my creativity, my self esteem, and my common sense had left me, and every time I tried to apply a facade of positive communication, I knew I was just kidding myself.

Unless, that is, I was up on floor nine in a recording booth, or having some real talk with the few that I really grew to know and cherish there. To all of you, you know who you are, you are more valuable than you realize, and your potential is astronomical. 

Over the last year, I was really inspired by various people that I know in the art field or even in comics in general, that embraced a do it yourself attitude, and I more and more am drifting back to the ideologies that the good Mr. Bill Watterson often professed about his art, any art.

“They say the secret of success is being at the right place at the right time, but since you never know when the right time is going to be, I figure the trick is to find the right place and just hang around.” ― Bill Watterson

I missed having no safety net in my art. I resent that I allowed myself to let self doubt creep in. I also realized that I seriously was in the wrong place at the right time. Truth is, if I had still been at work, none, if very little of what I have been able to do in the last few weeks would have come to pass.

So many times, I think not just creative people, but people of all walks of life wait for some perfect moment to dive into a project, a career path, or believe that things will work out just as we hope. There is no freaking way that is ever, EVER, going to happen exactly as anyone wants it to, just because no matter how carefully let's say, you plan, practice and orchestrate a performance of Tchaikovsky's violin concerto in D Major, SOME jackass in the group will have his cello out of tune.

But that's the idea behind corporate america in a lot of ways. For some, it's a great thing. For myself, it was killing me, and I didn't even realize it. You can't be scrappy if you're the only one. You just end up looking insane.

And if I am going to look insane, then I might as well have some fun while I do it. Which brings me around to the fact that I will be setting up for Planet tomorrow morning, because I am:

1. that paranoid that I won't have time to get everything set up.
2. always forgetting my business cards.
3. all too knowledgeable that parking is hell in this city.
4. a psycho combination of all of the above.

As if flooding Twitter with my face wasn't enough, I have been pushing this all over Miitomo via my digital self.

So this evening and part of this morning was spent branding and signing some last minute works to add to the haul to Bartle tomorrow..., wait, dammit. It's like, it is 3 am.

Probably my favorite stamp I use now.

Well, at least I managed to get one more update in before the weekend hits. I'll be taking pics and video if at all possible, but expect an update sometime later in the next week after this one.

As you can see below, on the left, I made a last run of the Pagan Zoetrope shirts that sold out on StoreEnvy. I don't have the screens for the Mandy ByrdGrrls one anymore, so if you managed to snag one of those, you were lucky. But I did have this last run of good black unisex shirts to use for this run. It's the same as the originals, the logo on the front, the PZ icon on the back. This is the last time for these for the forseeable future. I may have other shirt designs later in the year attached to other book releases.

The sizes all run large, and I think I may only have one medium left, all the rest are 2xl up to I think one or two 4xl shirts. I have them all marked at just $10 each, but if you buy any amount over $5 from me, then the shirt becomes $5. If you buy any amount $45 and over, the shirt is free.

(Left) Pagan Zoetrope shirts. (Right) Building custom art storage for travel.

Well, my eyes are bleary and I still have more to do, so if you do come out to Planet Comicon, have a blast, there are a LOT of great creators and people to meet and talk to, photos of cosplayers you can take, famous people to meet. Someone mentioned this Stan Lee guy is going to be there. I think he gets bit parts in those art house films about enhanced people in spandex or something. 

Until next time, support your local artists, be kind to your fellow beings, and never let them see you sweat. 

- Mario, the Artisan Rogue