Item: On the left sidebar, please note that there is now a Comic Archive list of links. Each link will take you to the beginning of one of the eight books/chapters in Johnny Saturn. Phil Hofer of Frumph dot net suggested this.

Item: I’m almost caught back up to the point the site was at before the server move. All MP3’s now have onboard players, all broken links and pictures are repaired (I think—crosses fingers), and the store is up and functional.

Item: I had a phone conversation with Bob Hickey of Blueline Pro today, and I’m pretty sure that Benita and I will be appearing at his store Comics2Games in Kentucky for Free Comic Book Day. In related news, I just sent off my fourth article to Blueline Pro’s Sketch Magazine, so I’m well on my way to becoming a regular contributor. I’ll be honest, I’m really proud to be associated with this fine publication, because it fills a valuable niche in guiding apprentice and journeyman cartoonists in developing their skills. In other words, Sketch Magazine is an excellent teaching tool. (I really am a fan–I have a complete run of this magazine, from issue 1 forward.)

Item: Today, I was distracted by outside issues, and I didn’t feel quite like myself. The result is that I had a false start on the next page. This rarely happens to me, but it did today. I couldn’t wrap my head around an effective storytelling approach, and the page suffered for it. I don’t do half measures, so I’ll begin the page again tomorrow. The reason I mention this is because off days aren’t just limited to beginners. I’m a journeyman, and I have off days. Even cartooning masters can suffer from this, so don’t put yourself down or give up if you have a tough day!

Item: As far as podcasts go, I interacted on TGT last Sunday by way of their chat room, and on Art & Story Live on Monday by Skype. In the latter case, I wasn’t on the whole show because my connection wasn’t that great.

Today is Voting Day. I’m not going to give you a civics lesson on why you should vote. It’s simpler than that. It’s a question of being heard or not being heard. There is much that is rotten with the system, but don’t ever surrender your right to be heard.

Well, running without a buffer of comics, and getting new episodes ready on a week by week basis, has become my standard of late. Usually I keep a four or five week buffer of strips prepared in advance, but lately that’s just not been an option. Running this close to the wire has had one positive effect, though—I’ve come to respect the individual episodes more! I’ve always been about producing the best work I can, but now it really has become a quality over quantity issue. I plan to build a buffer of pre-prepared strips as soon as I may, but I hope to keep the focus on the individual episodes as well.

I’ve been pretty active on podcasts lately. Last night I joined in on the TGT Podcast that is associated with the Frumph Webcomic List, and that was a lot of fun. Today I called in on Art & Story Live, hosted by Mark Rudolph and Jerzy Drozd, and that was a real treat as well. I plan to keep doing this as often as I am able, because I’ve really come to believe in the comics and webcomics community to which I belong. The fans are great, the creators are great, and I’m proud to have found a group of people like this.

Scott.

Hi, Folks!

Today I began drawing page 4, issue 8, and my drawing powers were in full force!  Sometimes, you just feel it, and you enter a period of peak consciousness and ability.  These natural highs are fantastic–It’s like a prize athlete being in the “zone.”  I usually lose track of time when I get into this state, and my mind flies in a zillion different directions at once.

Twitter has really become a great way to stay in contact with friends and colleagues.  There’s something about Twittering that makes emails seem formal and slow.  I missed out on the whole Texting craze, but I’m glad I got in on Twitter.  I run it through Twurl on my desktop, and keep up with it all day.

I’ve been listening to numerous podcasts lately, and here is the current list:

Art & Story, and Art & Story Live

Comic Related Recap

Javiland

Planet Comic Book Radio

Sequential Artists Pub

The Gigcast

Two Guys Talking Webcomics

Webcomic Beacon

Webcomics Weekly

Most of these are on Talkshoe, but not all.

I picked up Will Eisner’s posthumous book, “Expressive Anatomy.”  I haven’t read it yet, but I have no doubt that there will be pearls of wisdom aplenty in this volume.