Wayback Machine: The Super Kids League!!

No it's not the Justice League, and it sure as hell isn't Teen Titans Go (good grief, I hate that show!!). It's not even the Legion of the Super Heroes but if you guessed if they inspired it, you'd be pretty close!  Ladies and gentlemen, dusted off for the first time in three decades, is an original drawing of some super teens that I came up with back when I was a teen myself... (drumroll please)... THE SUPER KIDS LEAGUE!!

Here they are, as they looked back in 1980-something... Wonder Kid, Inviso-Kid, Colormatic, Thundercloud, and Wombat, just to name a few... my new favorite is the one at the top, center.... Flame Boy (think "Human Torch") with his hand tea-potting on his hip with just the right amount of Fabulosity.... if that's really a word (I doubt it).

I mean, the work is all very derivative... if DC or Marvel had a hero that did something, I made my own version of it.  I actually designed two sets of heroes back then... Laughing Lad (top row, right) was in both leagues.  Of course, for all the things I loved to create, I never really took these works to the next level... I did actually start a comic for Zippy, the borderline inappropriately named boy speedster.  It was to be a secret origin tale where he (and untold others) gained their powers from a tremendous glowing meteorite that lands in the woods behind his house.  He later meets up with Inviso-Kid and become anti-bullying champions.  That book, along with many others, lay filed away and unfinished.  For years, I berated myself for having so many unfinished pieces of work, but I've since learned their purpose.  They were all skill-developing endeavors.  It was a big problem to start a project, only to find that your expertise and style were now much better than when you started.  It would have been too much to go back and start everything over... so I took them as far as I could at the time and moved on.  In the end, I became a better artist.

It just so happened the other day, that I was cleaning house, and as my mind normally does, it wandered on to something a little more entertaining than vaccuming, and it just so happened that these heroes came bubbling up to the surface of my mind.  Suddenly I was plotting out what could be the makings of my next full comic.  One never knows... this is really a good sign.  I did post recently about balance in my activities... the more these things work their way to the surface, the easier it will be for me to choose what comes next!

Oh... so that people don't think I totally, totally abandoned these kids to time... here is a rework I did a few years ago... luckily I had the good sense to file them all together so that I could find them.  I wanted to know what these heroes would look like if I drew them today.  I avoided all manner of "Hollywood rewriting" and instead just drew them with today's skills - minus the hands... I totally admit I rushed the hands to get the below drawing done.  As they came to life on the paper, the pencil nearly ran away from me with excitement to see these guys again after so many years.  I could almost see them animating themselves on the page.  It may be time to reboot Reflex Comics!!

My First Book??!!!

And so, here it is, my first anthology of sorts, documenting 20 years of cartooning the Hairyer Parts Universe.  What??  Twenty years??  Where could the time have gone??

I won't deny that the dream of being published has always been in mind, but doing the work of actually producing a book, when one sets out to do it, is actually a LOT of work.  I actually can't say it's my first book if you count that I've created a handful of comic books ahead of this publication, and I can say first hand, making those comics were a LOT of concentrated, hard work.  That aside, this really is my first softbound collection, a restrospective of sorts.  I actually started editing it about six years ago, and it got shelved for one reason or another.  It was a momentary, passing thought the other day, that I needed some kind of prize to donate to a Mr. Connecticut Bear basket raffle.  I said to myself, "Why not create a Hairyer Parts basket?"  So you know me, I can't do anything with half effort; I decided that any basket of mine was going to need products, and no product like an actual book.  So I went back to my original project, dusted it off, and looked at the date of the very first drawing.

1995.

<Momentary pause>

I first doodled the face that would become the lead character in my bearishly inspired universe on some unknown day in 1995.... which means it's totally appropriate to label the book as a 20th Anniversary Collection.  The strip that eventually became "Hairyer Parts" first debuted in the Northeast Ursamen's "Bears & Hunters" newsletter two years later in 1997, which means the series remained in development for two years.  There was a lot of trial and error in those early years.  When I stop and look at where I started, as compared to where I am now, I realized that perseverance was the key, all along, to making a good book.

It feels a little unusual to put something like this out, directly for sale, especially when I've spent most of my energies working for charitable means.  I pause to remind myself, that aside from the few cartoon prints that I sold more recently, I've never made any money off of my work.  A large percentage of it has been donated to auctions, raffles, or advertising campaigns, all of which have gone on to make thousands of dollars either for charities or community organizations (and I mean, THOUSANDS).  When you look at it that way, if I end up selling a couple dozen books and making a few bucks off of them, I guess I shouldn't feel so bad about it.  There is this other philosophy that gets into how artists need to think in terms of what they are really worth.... it's something I ought to get better at, so in that spirit:

If you've ever enjoyed my cartoons, please go buy my book here!!  Follow the link to get a preview.  Share and enjoy :-)

Priorities....

Sometimes it takes dramatic events to help you gain a better perspective.  Recently a friend of a friend passed away, at much too young of an age.  Our conversation drifted over to, of all things, never knowing when your time is going to come.  My thoughts went to something that's always been on my mind... that I have so many things that I still want to do.  My friends response was brilliant:  then you set priorities.

I remember being a tender young age of 19, and like most young adults, I wanted the world.  My mother was recently single, I was getting closer to finishing my degree in Computer Science.  I was in the middle of a college co-op, when I got the idea that I wanted to do a summer abroad.  I really felt like this was the one time in my life that I would have the chance to do something as crazy as going to Europe for a summer.  Meanwhile, I was commuting to school with an old beat-up 1976 Buick Skylark, and it was really on it's last leg.  So my mother says to me, as most good mothers would, as I'm blabbing about wanting to go to Europe, "You need that car to get to school and work.  Set your priorities."  So what did I do?  I made BOTH the new car, and the trip abroad, a priority.  I used my full-time co-op pay to qualify for a new car loan, and I continued working after the co-op term was done, and banked as much cash as I could.  I ended up with a new car, a two month stay in Munich, and enough credits from the summer to put me within grasp of a double major in both German and Computer Science. 

But... priorities.  I guess I am no stranger to filling my plate, reorganizing, and then filling it up again.  It's not always a winning strategy.  Case and point, Spookybear of 2013, the Heroes & Villains party.  I very much wanted to remain in retirement from my volunteer life while I sorted out what I wanted to do and when.  Of course, I wasn't going to say no when asked for help.  I basically art-directed the whole thing, which ended up with a larger than-life comic book on the walls of the night club, custom animations, a well-photographed ad campaign, and more.  But in the end, I broke under the strain of the work.  Even now, the recovery of my ongoing neck and shoulder issues continues at a slow pace.  I'm getting there, but not as quickly as I'd like.  So unfortunately, my time at the drawing board has been minimized.

Priorities. 

I started this blog as a way to express a lot about who I am as a creative person, but of course, I am so much more than just a creative person.  I try to make some tie-in's as I write and as I share.  But I suppose a year off from the drawing table meant I also ended up taking a year off from this blog.

So what's really important to me?  The art?  Volunteering?  Building things out of plastic bricks?  Throwing charitable bar parties?  Teaching people tracking and how to tie knots?  Making music??

Well, you know.... all of it is important to me.  Maybe the key word for 2015 will be one that I became more aware of in 2014 thanks to a new job:  BALANCE. 

Below is a cartoon I made of our current Mr. Connecticut Bear, which was raffled off at our Lumberjock party at the beginning of the month.  It's also my first real finished piece of work in many months.  Hopefully it will be one of many more to come in the next year.

Norman Rockwell's Scout Paintings

I suppose one artist who had a huge impact on my life was Norman Rockwell, but not so much from a creative standpoint.  I never really gravitated to painting, although I have tried my hand at it.  I will never be a master painter like Rockwell.  But in my teen years, my life was in utter turmoil; school was hell, bullies were hell... many times I really felt like my safety was at risk in phys. ed. class, so I would cut class and spend time with the art & music teacher to get out of wrestling lessons which were sheer terror.  I had been in Cub Scouts while in elementary school, but regretted leaving it.  I always felt like there was something left unfinished... I never earned my Bear badge.  By the time I got to Junior High School, I discovered that the kid behind me in homeroom was in Boy Scouts.  I asked him if I could check out his troop because I wanted to join up.  It was probably the best decision I could make as an eleven year old.  Scouting gave me stability and a chance to do something for my own betterment.  It gave me a life outside of school.

A constant companion to any good Scout is his handbook, and the book we used in the early 80's was richly illustrated with Norman Rockwell's paintings of Scouts of all ages.  It's been said that Rockwell painted an America that no longer exists.  Others say he painted an America that never existed at all.  But to me as a twelve year old, Rockwell painted a world that I believed existed somewhere, and that I wanted to become a part of.  The lead image at the top spoke to me as a kid.... it showed the guts and determination it took to stick to your oath and finish the path to Eagle.  His paintings left their mark on me in a way I can't otherwise describe.  I saw good Scouts in those images, and that's what I wanted to be.

There was something else I saw in his paintings, and that was a possible future for myself.  I knew I was getting something out of the program, and it was largely because of good men who devoted their time to us kids.  I know I felt a level of gratitude towards them, and I knew deep down that I wanted to be able to someday pay it forward, and make a difference in other peoples' lives.  Somewhere inside, I knew I wanted to become a Scoutmaster... like the ones that were in my life, and the ones I saw in these images.  There was one image that made a huge mark on me as I was maturing, and it was this one:

The people in this image may very well be the same person depicted over the years.  I loved my life in uniform.  I wanted to age in the same way as that kid in the campaign hat.  Little did I know, my life would take a sudden turn as I finally came to maturity.  As I rounded the corner after I made Eagle Scout, the proverbial writing was on the wall.  I was desperately in need of coming out of the closet, and there was no way I was going to be able to do that as a member of the Boy Scouts of America.  For a short time, I was an Assistant Scoutmaster, and for an even shorter time, Assistant Webelos Den Leader, but this lasted less than a year.  My time was cut short, and I drifted quietly away with a deeply broken heart.  It would be many, many years until I would sort my life out and come to terms with what amounted to a huge loss and drastic change of life plans.

In 2005, a new opportunity was presented to me.  I discovered an online presence known as the Rover Scout Association.  It was founded by a good man named Craig Brown who wanted to return the ways of Rover Scouting from the brink of extinction.  Rovering had long since been abandoned by the B.S.A., but it was now coming alive with the R.S.A.  I joined, and followed along with these adventures that eventually led to Craig, myself, and a handful of other people founding what's now known as the Baden-Powell Service Association (US).  The BPSA is a co-ed, non-discriminating, traditional Scouting program for people of all ages.  In the 2007-2008 timeframe, I led that fledgling organization as the Chief Commissioner.  I had my own Rover Scout Crew here in Connecticut, and for the first time in many, many years, I was back in uniformed service.  I remember many nights being the last Scout to hit the sack after every one of my crew was asleep.  It kinda reminded me of another of Rockwell's paintings that looks something like this....

I suppose this could all be filed under one of those Facebook memes of "what I think I look like/what I really look like"... it may even be a bit presumptuous or even conceited to try to see myself in work as iconic as Rockwell's.  But the truth is, at a young age, they made an immeasurable impression on my young mind... so strong that it took me 20 years to realize that they've been hiding out there, still inspiring me to be the best Scout that I can be.  I suppose in this case it may be true, that Life sometimes imitates Art.  I like to think of it as Art inspiring Life.  Long story short.... the BPSA is now 400+ members strong, with 50 groups across the country.  I am still involved with them, as a Lone Rover who occasionally helps out as a trainer with Brownsea Training Camps.  While I'm not exactly the Scoutmaster I dreamt of becoming, I am happy to see that there is finally a thriving Scouting option for people like me, and for kids who were like me, and I had a hand in building it. 

Anyhow, I hope this blog post comes across in the spirit it was intended. I am rarely this personal with my writing.... My feelings about my past and my life as a Scout are deeply personal to me.  Maybe they will do someone else some good out there.  If you liked this post, please drop me a line.

The Long Road Back

Well it's been a bumpy winter with lots of time away from the drawing table.... which was NOT how I planned to spend it.  Apparently some crappy ergonomics and job transition stress caused a bit of a malfunction in a collection of muscles in my shoulder and neck, which resulted in months of widespread pain and headaches that pretty much shut me down for a while.  I have yet to actually pull up to the table again, but I have been able to do a little bit of digital coloring, and spent some time putting a few pinboards together on Pinterest.  One of them applies directly to the spirit of this blog.... "Space Age", a collection of retro-futurism from the 50's and 60's.  It depicts a world that never really arrived, but was inspired by the space race of the time.

It's interesting how our view of the world and our future changed after we finally got to the moon.  We landed, collected some moon rocks, and for all intents and purposes, went home.  Well then we had the shuttle program which was great fun, but for whatever reason, our national mindset today is not geared towards space, the future, or any kind of off-world dreams.  I laughed the other day when I saw a bumper sticker of the American flag, with the caption, "The Only Flag On The Moon".  Oy.  Because  'Murica??  The truth is, IF those flags still exist, they would be sun bleached beyond any recognition.  Meanwhile, Cosmos has returned to the airwaves, only to become the target of freakshow "intelligent" designers who toss science out in favor of religious myths.... I hate to break it to people, but we didn't make it to the moon rejecting science.  It took thousands of smart people like aerospace engineers, astronomers, mathematicians, and so many more to get us to the moon.  It will take continued investment in science and engineering, and our BRAINS to get us back to the moon and beyond.  Then maybe we can get back on track to obtaining our long-overdue flying cars.

Please visit http://www.pinterest.com/dbielski/space-age/ and enjoy this collection of futuristic images that I find inspiring.

SpookyBear Weekend 2013 - Extended Bar Video

Now that SpookyBear Weekend has finally come and gone, I can finally post about some of the things that I had to keep under wraps for months leading up to the event.  We design an plan for months for every last detail of how the Paramount Nightclub will be transformed for the big party, and we keep it all top secret, so that the "big reveal" on Saturday night has the biggest impact.  This year's plan was to create the sense of stepping into a giant comic book.  The wall art, which I will describe in another post, accomplished this, but there had been a lingering desire to use the screen behind the big bar to bring the theme to life with light and motion.  The Event Coordinator, Chris Grasso, and I, plotted to what extent we would delve into the concept, listing out pages of shows and movies that needed some representation in our "Heroes & Villians" video.  At some point, the powers that be agreed that a 20ish minute video would be enough to give the crowd the sense that something new was on the screen every time they looked at it. 

After several weeks of research, and several near-sleepless nights, the video finally came together.  It included finished photography from PhotoBearNE, the original animation I produced as Hairyer Parts Comics, portions of the wall art set to motion, and lots of rapid-fire action shots of Superman, Batman, Avengers, and so much more.  If you were at the party and peered behind the bar, you probably didn't realize that the footage was all set to music so as to ensure a sense of timing.  I previewed the finished product a few hours before the party to the postcard models who made it to Provincetown.  They convinced me it needed to be seen online by the community at large.  Later in the evening, I wiggled my way to bar and noticed everyone waiting for their drinks were transfixed to the screen, which made my night. 

We wanted to create something that captured the spirit of the SpookyBear Weekend, that would be fun, sexy, and maybe even a little campy.  I think we succeeded in this.  So, here it is, the entire video.  Please enjoy.  And if you did, please share it, so that others can see it!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SxBzoZLF7WU

Giant Robots

Well after weeks and weeks of working on SpookyBear artwork, I am happy to say, I am 99% done and ready for a switch from Superheroes.  It was a noble effort to mash up anime with superfriends, manga with entry-level DC comics... I am not entirely sure if I am 100% happy with the results, but for wall art, it will work, and for that I am glad.  BUT I am ready to move on to other things.

Which leads me to tonight's post.  I finally got to see (or at least hear) all of the Albegas series while working on the above project, which led me to discover more Toei based super robot cartoons, including Voltes V and Starbirds / Daimos.  I am sooo looking foward to finding more of these (I hear Danguard Ace is coming out on DVD soon) soooo... here is a teaser to hold me over until then.  Somebody stitched together the intros to all 80's mecha series.  It looks like it's at least an hour of animation, many of which I have only heard of but never seen.  Voltron is in there, as Golion and Dairugger XV of course, and Robotech is in there too.  Lesser known imports, like Macron I / Gotriniton are in there as well.  It's basically where I am right now.  I am so ready to dust off some of my very early works and bring them forward to completion.  So on that note, have a look: