Okay, so my original plans didn't pan out quite like I had hoped. My art stuff and three quarters of my office is still boxed up and/or packed into the other rooms, as weather delayed the delivery of the wood paneling and my brother was NOT able to come over to cut the remaining pieces so I could finish the damn wall unit and put the office back together. I may end up putting what I can into the wall unit, and then just remove everything later to put in the rear panels. This "project" has been holding up everything for far longer than I anticipated, and I'm tired of not being able to draw/not having any artwork available to post. I've spent most of the past few weeks working on other people's bikes, for crying out loud! I'd much rather have ink on my hands than grease (or fiberglass resin, or residue from soldering)...
I was advised to clue folks in on the nature of the "Skunkworks" book. It will be a collection of ALL the Skunkworks comics and Ups & Downs comics, from 1995 to 2012. It will include unpublished chapters and unedited pages (such as the extra few pages at the end of Ups & Downs chapter 3 which featured the dragon using poor Tom as a toy). The book will essentially wrap up the entire chapter of that part of my artwork and comics in the anthropomorphic genre. There will be no more such comics after this compilation, as I rarely draw porn or humor stuff anymore.
I WILL continue to post various pictures (sketches or finished pieces) as I have been doing for the past several years. These images will be posted on FA, on my IB account, on the Yahoo Group, and possibly a few other places (I likely will not use Weasyl for furry art, but will post some artwork there). I stopped printing my old artwork several years ago, so that's just about gone. Whatever Second Ed has is whatever is left. I will be selling off the majority of my remaining original artwork over the next year or so (there's still a decent amount left) as well.
This is being done to "wipe the slate clean", although I won't technically be wiping it clean, per se. All the characters I've drawn over the years will still be in my newer work; it just won't be pornographic portfolios or funny B&W comics. The characters will be appearing in the original format I had intended, but was unable to draw, over 15 years ago. As some of you may know, "Caterwaul" was drawn and written nearly a year before "Skunkworks" ever showed up on the radar. My original intention for the characters, and this art form, was to feature them in serious stories that contained elements of fantasy, science-fiction, crime noir and action/drama, with a little humor thrown in for good measure.
But the "Skunkworks" stuff proved to be popular when it came out and I ended up focusing on that material instead of the actual story material. Think of the portfolios, prints and humor comics as "products" of the Skunkworks studio. I ended up spending more time working on the story-within-a-story than the original story itself. Hell, I wasn't even capable of crafting the proper story back then, as I wasn't sure whether I wanted it to feature simplified graphics and humor (the original Caterwaul) or if I wanted it to be more precise and realistic (the newer version). My art ability was not quite up to the task back then either, which is why I concentrated more on the toony porn material than the legit stuff (observant folks may have noticed the detail levels increased as the Skunkworks folios advanced).
So, that's basically what the AVP "Skunkworks" book will be. It will gather all the comics from that time period (about 17 years' worth) and assemble them all into one easy-to-read form. I am awaiting several extra pages that I no longer have copies/the originals of (but are being sent to me via mail), and once I get those, I'll be able to get a more accurate page count.
After I return from Saint Louis on Tuesday, I'll probably start unpacking the office stuff and try to set up what I can. It's pretty bare right now. The Dakimakura pictures and the commission sketches I've worked on thus far are in those boxes, so I hope to have them recovered very shortly. I'll probably get started on those auctions once I've got the other stuff settled in, as those aren't as important as the pillow pictures and commissions.
Questions or comments? Drop me a line or leave a response. I've at least got my computer stuff set up, so that's still a green light.
(No, you're not seeing double; this is being posted on FA and IB as well as here).
--JMH
Received on Mon Aug 26 2013 - 00:47:36 CDT