“My own mind is perfectly unprejudiced and impressible on the subject,” Charles Dickens wrote to historian William Howitt about Ghosts. “I do not in the least pretend that such things are not. But … I have not yet met with any Ghost Story that was proved to me, or that had not the noticeable peculiarity in it—that the alteration of some slight circumstance would bring it within the range of common natural probabilities.”

As an artist, there is a strong parallel one runs with such stories. You feel and believe in your work, but until you can bring an apparition out and about in front of others, no one believes. Until the wall bleeds, and ectoplasm hits their face, they will not give. You must conjure a small level of Hell itself to have any sort of eyes upon you. This is what it’s like being an artist. (More here on DIckens and the Ghost Club, great read)

Hello

From the Everglades, deep in the magic city. The weather is alright, from what I’ve been told since I have been at my computer these days pulling levers and hitting buttons to make sure I don’t sink. Many changes are on the rise, and well, I will list them here!

Now originally I was going to go silent like I always do during the holidays and just work on my stuff and work and family and etc. But that changed drastically last week. Why? Well…

I no longer work at GOBLINS HEIST comics and gaming. It’s dramatic yes I know, I bled and worked it for so long, you’d think I was going to be buried there. Well, that’s what I’m trying to NOT let happen. Part of it was being exhausted on the run, plus the rough times we had lately, and finally, it was my partner’s attitude and focus that were drastically different from mine. After a while, I saw the writing on the wall and had an out, so I took it. It was 7 years of sweat blood and tears, but also some laughs, a love of comics, and awesome times. I won’t cry about it, because it was awesome, but it’s time to GTFO.
Nothing more than that. It was a long time running and if there is anything I can advise people in the future, it is to always keep in mind what you are willing to put up with and with who. You are not anybody’s bitch or anybody’s hero or anything until you decide. Never let people treat you less than you are. Walk away, and let your absence be the sentence.
I have no ill will toward the store or my partners, I think it is just time to move on and get back to what I wanted which was to make art, and have a life doing that.

SIGH

That being said much to do! Going forward I’m going to work on this Blog more, on my work more, and produce more comics, so that means a couple of things:

COMICS

Oh boy, the time has come. Time to make comics like nobody’s business. I’m talking Kirby level damn it. Above you’ll see the Variant Cover for the FWACATA book I’m doing, I hope to do that for Kickstarter in January, and get the word out and get people going! I want to make issue 2 a reality and need fans and comic readers to come in so I have to be on running it like a candidacy for president or something. But I want the idea and the look to convince you more than anything.

Above was an homage to the amazing Marvel Comic presents. That book started the fires of my love for comics a near-perfect thing to read, I thought it was the best product Marvel could launch. The recent rash of Anthology books made me think such concentration into character and using different artists would lead somewhere, but it was a fad that seemed to die, but for me is the beginning of something awesome for me. Here is a bit more on it:

Besides that, I delved into the pool’s deep end and got into WHATNOT. At first, it was to see what I could do that was practical and sell a lot of crap I have to get out the door. This turned into an amazing daily or twice-a-day exercise and my way to reaching out and talking to folks. Sort of like working IN A COMIC SHOP. Ha! I’m really digging the platform, doing a LUNCHBOX sale for 12pm Eastern time and a drawing hour at 6pm or 9 pm Eastern time at night depending on my schedule. I may even add a midnight show on the weekends but not too sure until I know what my day-to-day is.

It’s a great platform, sign up if you want to get into everything from Comics to trading cards to vintage clothes, vintage art, and more! CLICK THIS LINK and we both get a bonus for you signing up!

I have been giving away copies of FWACATA#1 on the Livestream last week now doing Sketchcards for folks too, this coming week. Tune in, follow, and you can win one too! Here are some of those sketchcovers I did:

So, there is that side and I’m also reaching out to publishers, creators and etc for work right now. Of course, it being FUCKING DECEMBER it’s sort of hard to drum up work, that’s for sure. I have got my fair share of rejection letters, but mostly it’s because most places have people already or no budget. Still though, scratching the walls to keep work coming in and pay bills. Not easy. But if you happen to be looking for stuff, check this out:

So yeah you can’t contract through there and/or hit me up with your project at FWACATA@GMAIL.COM and we can put something together! Let me know!

PODCAST

The Weekly podcast may soon become twice a week or more with Bonus episodes like Monday Motivations and more. I’m working out the kinks to see what’s the next step going forward but definitely bring it back this coming week. I WAS going to take the holidays off as I always do but seeing how stuff is going, time to hit the ground running! It’s like jumping out of a moving car sometimes, just of with it, or it goes with you.

ART

T-shirt designs are happening more and more I think I’m going to do as many as I can to make a whole line for FWACATA and everything else, so stay tuned for that! Here are some of the newest ones, like a new version of DEFEND HIALEAH shirt this time in all colors!

I also expanded, now living in Miami proper, to put together a DEFEND MIAMI shirt for you all too!

So this falls more into design than art, but to me, a cool shirt is just a thing of beauty. But…

See this?
These are painting tucked under my couch. I have limited LIMITED space. I’m trying to get something together now to attack these and finish and sell on my Etsy store and on here, and move forward to get more e. See even about getting back into galleries here and making things. I love this. I love painting. But to do this you have to have a real set up a place to meditate upon a painting and make things happen. It’s not easy, but who is looking for that. That’s the next step. To get back into getting paint specks all over. All in time. 2023 will be a. painting year too.

So as you can see I’m not fucking around.
Lots of moving parts but this time all in my hand. I can’t ask for anything more. One thing too I want to add is that I will be more proactive on the blog, I hope to start posting every day on here for 2023, with daily sketches and also links and such. I want to give an hour or two in the morning to this, the practice of drawing and writing to start the day. Sort of like lifting weight but with my mind and soul. I hope this makes you happy.

If you dig all this and want to help? You can support with just a buck a month on Patreon which helps all this happen and has a bunch of secret cool stuff just for Patrons on there, or subscribe at $5 a month or $75 for the year and you get ART, actual art from me, and comics! WHOO! I have to work on it on the substack but if you ever have questions hit me up there. It also has a bunch of behind-the-scenes stuff mostly sketches and inner work as I work on the next issue of FWACATA like Manslaughter you just saw! You could also just tune into WHATNOT, ETSY, and MORE and or buy me a cup of coffee!

I thank you guys so much for reading this far, for supporting me, and for the kind words I have heard. It means a lot that I and my work could do something for you guys, to make your day better and inspire you in your own endeavors. Kick ass, eat well, Love BIG, and never stop, because life is for the Living, and what a living it is!

BE GOOD