The Journal of Joe The Peacock. Yay.

8.01.2008:

The 15 year tattoo, part 7 (final)

9:45 PM

...Wow.

Seems like yesterday that I walked into A.B.T. Tattoo and met Todo, and this all started, but after 7 sessions, the sleeve is pretty much complete. There's still about 5 hours of touchup to do, but for all intents and purposes... This is it. (You can view the whole process in pictures here)

I am pleased to show you the completed vision. But first, the 7th sesson:

This shows the final bit of the smoke and landscape as the city of Neo-Tokyo explodes when Akira goes off.

And now, the full sleeve - a masterwork by the legendary Todo:

One day, I'll do a post on why this tattoo, what each of the pieces mean (both in the story and in my particular design) and whatnot, but for now, I'm beat.

Labels: art, tattoo

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7.25.2008:

The 15 year tattoo, part 6

10:52 PM

I'm beat. 5 hours of having the most sensitive part of my arm poked with needles, through some of the most detailed work of the entire piece so far, has completely worn me out.

Here's pics. I'll be more expressive tomorrow or something.

Labels: art, tattoo

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7.16.2008:

The 15-year tattoo, part 5

8:14 PM

After a month hiatus from the tattoo parlor (well, from Todo actually since he was in California for a while... I wasn't on hiatus from the parlor, since Jeremiah did a piece on my leg a few weeks ago), the Akira sleeve is once again in progress.

Here's the bits from last night and today. The forearm and upper arm pieces will be connected through the unified background next week. For now, they look like separate pieces, but they're all part of the same moment in the story (again, from the comics, not the anime).

A standalone portion of a building's structural pillar, grafitti'ed with a bloody "A" (for Akira's gang)

The iron rebar (the spindly things poking out the top) aren't colored in yet, because of the background work that's going in behind them. They will be next week.

The pillar has basically landed right on top of the most notable (and beautiful) thing from the entire Akira storyline, Kaneda's bike, and split it in half. Back half:

Front half:

Note: the front of the bike that you know and love is actually laying in chunks on the ground... or will be, next week when the wrist is finished :)

Portions of the military's attempt to restore order to the city right before Akira went off are evident in the foreground. We've only gotten to the tank so far:

To give a sense of what it's all coming together as, here's a few shots of the whole arm:

Labels: art, tattoo

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6.19.2008:

Whim --> Win (DowntownComics.com Ad Case Study)

3:42 PM

Sometimes, I do graphic design crap. I mention it sparsely here, mostly because my contract work is curiously boring to 99.9% of the population of everywhere. But sometimes, something really makes me beam and I have to share it. This is one such time:

I was asked in great haste by a good friend of mine, Doug at DowntownComics.com, to do an ad for their shop. He was a fan of the city-targeted book ads I did for Drew Curtis's book last year (feel free to dig around and look at them all, they're silly).

Now, given the huge success of all these comic-related properties lately, I knew that the big win to translate box-office success and community interest in these heroes into store visits was to play with the current round-up of movies, and let people know there is a story behind the movies that is rich and detailed, and that the guys at Downtown Comics were experts at helping you discover the history of these legendary characters.

I had about an hour to get it together and send it off. On a whim, I chose Batman, mostly because I'm REALLY excited about the new direction it's taken, and I'm really into the Christian Bale version of Batman.

Now, the destination for the ad is Indy.com, the local "who's who and what's hot" site for Indiana. It's a nice site, and is done with a tremendous amount of gloss and polish. Very well crafted. Lots of fine tuning, decorations and "flair" on the edges and corners.

Most of the ads running on that site are done with the exact same "style" - gloss, polish, figurework and textures in the background, gradients everywhere... In short, professional and nice.

That was the problem. They were literally blending in. You couldn't tell where the site ended and the ad began at first, and then once you realized it was an ad, it just fizzled.

For a comic book shop to stand out in the middle of all this gloss, it needed something... Simple. Purposely simple, in fact. Direct, to the point, and undeniable in its message.

So after taking a second to consider the site, this is what I came up with in almost exactly one hour:

And this is what it looks like placed on the site:

(Click image for full-size)

When I saw it live, I knew I'd succeeded in my goal - the ad is so dark with that Batman logo, in contrast to the slick and polished red gradient everywhere, it literally sucks your eye right to it. You cannot miss it. Then, the animation plays, and before you know it, you've just watched an advertisement.

I was happy, Doug was happy, and all was well. I went about eating my lunch.

Then, we got this email:

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From: [Ad Manager]@indystar.com
Date: Thu, Jun 19, 2008 at 12:27 PM
Subject: Re: Downtown comics screen shot
To: Doug Stephenson

Doug,

I think it helps that the ad was one of the best I've seen for online
advertising. Nice work on your end. It does look good on the page.

[trim]

Sincerely, [Ad Manager]

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Well now. That just made my day. I had to share :)

Labels: art, sometimes I do design work, technology

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6.17.2008:

The 15-year tattoo, part 4

9:20 PM

Another 4 hours today, and you can see, the other side of the city really puts this piece into perspective.

Yesssss... Getting closerrrrrr....

This is the first appearance of Akira himself on this piece. You will notice that he's on the joint of my elbow, while Tetsuo is on my tricep (a pushing muscle) and Kaneda is on my bicep (a pulling muscle).

More on this when it's all finished :)

Labels: art, Joe's life, tattoo

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6.05.2008:

The 15-year tattoo, part 3

11:42 PM

Today, I sat for NINE HOURS. But the results are amazing:

This new work sees the appearance of the destroyed city of Neo-Tokyo (after the 2nd "bomb" - for you pedantic types, I know that in the anime, TOKYO was destroyed, while Neo-Tokyo was never seen obliterated. In the comic, however, an entire 2/3 of the story takes place after Akira goes off and blows up Neo-Tokyo) in the background, as well as the character Tetsuo on my tricep. Capping the shoulder is the cryo chamber that held Akira dormant for 31 years.

We THOUGHT we were going to wrap it up today, but there's going to have to be one more sitting. The front of the shoulder extending down between the bicep and tricep still needs city work, and the elbow is getting one more character - Akira himself.

Labels: art, Joe's life, tattoo

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Why I Write, #28178

7:36 AM

Just a quick addition to the whole "Why I Write" thingy from the other day, here's a comment from the fist fight article I did a few months back. It is PRECISELY why I wrote the thing in the first place:


Anonymous said...: Joe I am very happy to have stumbled unto your site, my son has been bullied most of his years in school for being the petite little guy that he is he is 13 years and so far faculty at school including the principle have not helped us resolve the ongoing situation. Well, I let my son read some of your pointers and I am happy to report the bullying has stopped. Thank you so much. Keep up the advice.; 6/03/2008 7:06 PM

Labels: art, writing

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6.02.2008:

Finally, a new story on MI

1:42 AM

So, the month o' writer's block is over, and there is a new story on Mentally Incontinent.

Hip, hip horray.

I'm actually really happy with this one (the link goes to Part 1, and parts 2 and 3 will go up tomorrow and Wednesday in order). It's a story I've carried around with me for a while, and in light of some recent events that I've actually posted big glamorous pictures of here, I decided it was time to tell it.

It explains a lot. I'll say that.

Anyway, hope you enjoy it (even though there's only a little 'it' to enjoy - I'm trying to break stories up so they're a little more stimulating to write and engage with, which is part of how I broke the block).

Labels: art, MI, whiny bullshit, writing

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5.29.2008:

Selling your soul

12:18 AM

It's a term you hear a lot; selling your soul.

Let's think about it for a moment.

The term could have many connotations. It is usually taken by most people to mean "Selling your immortal soul to entities of evil intent" and usually is done in exchange for worldly possessions... The old "Sell your soul to the devil" deal.

In other contexts, however, it's an incredibly apt and honest statement, such as when you trade away aspects of your artistic or creative integrity in order to make a deal happen with, say, a television or record studio. Art - true art, that is - comes from the soul of an individual. Just because someone pays you money for something you've created from your soul does not make you a sellout. You didn't sell your soul at that moment, in my opinion, because from the moment of conception to the moment of execution, the motive was pure - you wanted to create. Communicate. Evoke feeling and meaning.

You know, art.

Now, the second you enter into a creative endeavor with some entity who wants to pay you money in exchange for your being creative on their behalf, or being creative with their final say-so... That's selling your soul. You're selling your artistic ability and your creative integrity (the mere possibility that they MIGHT change something is enough to count as abandoning your integrity) for a paycheck.

There is NOTHING wrong with this. You just have to be honest about it - you've sold your soul.

And of course, saying the words "selling your soul" evokes that first connotation in your head, doesn't it? Images of a goatee'd devil sitting there with a grin and a pitchfork as you greedily sign away your immortal essence in exchange for worldly goods... It's not the same, is it?

It's not, right? I mean... Doing it just a little bit this one time doesn't mean you're in hock to Satan for eternity, right?

Of course not.

Now, the second deal... That's where you start flirting with being an empty, hollow shell of a person. Trust me, after having been through it on multiple forms of media, I can tell you that, to make a second deal with any studio for any reason, you are making a conscious decision to sell your soul. Going into a situation with something you've already made and allowing someone to tweak it to be commercially viable... Well, that's every young artist's dream. But once you start going into the process knowing what's involved, and you've decided it's okay?

Well, there's a reason most slick studio exec's sport goatees. I'm not saying, I'm just saying.

Labels: art, being yourself, Joe is a pompous ass

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The Journal of Joe The Peacock. Yay.

8.01.2008:

The 15 year tattoo, part 7 (final)

7.25.2008:

The 15 year tattoo, part 6

7.16.2008:

The 15-year tattoo, part 5

6.19.2008:

Whim --> Win (DowntownComics.com Ad Case Study)

6.17.2008:

The 15-year tattoo, part 4

6.05.2008:

The 15-year tattoo, part 3

Why I Write, #28178

6.02.2008:

Finally, a new story on MI

5.29.2008:

Selling your soul

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