Author - Artist - Voice Over Actor

Category: Comic Book Artist

Toastmaster, am I?

TOASTMASTERS

Thank you all so very much for reading my blogs over the last weeks as I wrote this series on comic books for my Toastmasters assignment. The series is complete, but I’m sure I have more to say about comic books in the future, but I thought it might be a good idea to tell you about what Toastmasters is and my involvement in it.

How the heck did they even let me do a whole project on Comic Books?

Dream of What Lies Beneath

My previous blog post was officially the last of my Comic Book series for Toastmasters, but I have one more story to tell.

While I was telling you all about my love for the Golden Age of Super Heroes, about Earth 2, the Justice Society, and the All-Star Squadron, one evening I had a dream.

Over the last week I’ve been drawing a pseudo comic book cover based on that dream.

Everything Built to this FLYING GLORY AND THE HOUNDS OF GLORY

My career in comic has been a long and slow journey, but from the very beginning as a child I was creating my own super hero characters.

My first character I created was called… Captain Combo <cringe, I know> – I tried to draw a character that was partially every character I knew in the DC Universe – The Superman Shield, the bat symbol, Flash’s lightning bolt, the Dr. Fate’s helmet with Dr. Mid-Nite’s goggles, and so forth. It was really silly, and long before I discovered the android Amazo which was basically the same thing.

My Career In Comics, So far…

This is probably going to be the more boring and least interesting post in this series, but let’s give it a try.

As mentioned, I was a young kid discovering comic books when I knew I wanted to be a comic book artist, and being an artist, I soon discovered that I was a story teller so that meant I was a writer as well. I emulated the artists and writers I loved in the comic.

Some of the Artists and Writers that Influenced me growing up.

I write my comic scripts on a laptop computer, and I draw my comic pages using a Wacom tablet in Photoshop. I couldn’t have imagined doing that when I was a kid. After writing with a pad and pencil, my mom allowed me to use her IBM Selectric typewriter. Which I started out doing with one finger hunt and peck. In high school I’d take typing classes (do those exist anymore?) As to drawing I just grabbed a handful of typing paper and drew with a pencil… (either that or drew on the brown paper bag book covers at school.) Eventually taking art classes.

Even though I was just a kid, and starting to learn how to drawn and write, I knew what I wanted to be. Learning would begin by studying and emulating the writers and artists I so admired.

My Love Hate Relationship with the Multiverse part 2

An Infinite number of Worlds, an Infinite number of You. All alike and yet each unique in their own way. No reason that should be confusing to anyone, should it?

My Love Hate Relationship with the Multiverse part 1

Doctor Strange and Spider-Man may have fallen through the multiverse of the Marvel Cinematic Universe a lot recently. However, my first real journey into parallel worlds began with my very first comic.

Digesting Super Heroes

“Thank you, God, for bringing Mom and Dad home safely,” my mother would always say as we drove past the hospital. Both her parents had been in a patient there a number of times, and we praised God for them returning home safe and healthy.

That hospital has held many joyful and sad memories for us. Hopefully me being born there was one of the joyful ones.

My father also worked in the lab, and my mom would walk me over to have lunch with him from time to time.

So, what does all that have to do with comic books, and super heroes? Quite a lot, actually, at least for me.

The hospital had a small gift shop where visitors could purchase flowers, snacks, or stuffed animals for the patients they were coming to see. They also had a small magazine display rack, and upon it were a few (very few) small comic books.

These were digest size books that were reprints of other already published books. Most of these digests were done by Archie Comics, about Archie, his two girls Betty and Veronica, Jughead, and the rest.

But every so often there were other digest comics. These were mostly from DC Comics (actually, I don’t remember Marvel publishing Digests like these).

Comics & Me – Introduction

Hi All,

May this New Year be enjoyable and successful for all.

I have several goals for this New Year, mostly focusing on my career, but to start off I’ll be writing this blog and posting twice a week. Which will hopefully be a whole lot better than what it has been in the past. This first blog series is about how comic books and super heroes have influenced my career. This is also part of a Toastmasters assignment, “Writing a Compelling Blog,” which when the blog series is complete, I’ll be giving a speech about the whole experience.

Reawakening The Blog

Hi All.

            Hope everyone has had a blessed Christmas and happy holiday season.

It’s been nearly a year since my last blog post.

Did you like my interpretation of Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer? He is the Shiny One.

Though I did update my Voice Over Demo Reel last month.

This post is to ‘reawaken’ my blog here and keep it going in to the new year.

The Jealousy War

In January I did a morning warm up sketch of a girl being bullied and knocked down at school. It soon turned into a series of sketch and then a complete narrative.

Here’s the series in it’s completion:

Tales of Yesteryear Told in Future Tense

The year 2020 hasn’t turned out the way any of us had planned it. But looking now my 2020 Vision from the beginning of the year and isn’t all that cloudy.
Along with being an artist and writer, I had begun training to become a voice actor for animation.
Things may have slowed down some, but they haven’t stopped. I’m still writing, and am regularly doing artwork for books by Airship 27 Productions.
I continue taking more classes towards my acting career.
At my wife encouragement I have joined a local chapter of Toastmasters – Toastmasters 4 Writers. What could be more perfect.
At a meeting nearly a year ago, before I officially joined I did an Impromptu ‘Table Topics’ speech which I won, and it set off my Determination to become a Voice Actor.
This past Saturday (August 8th, 2020) I gave my first speech. An ‘Icebreaker’ speech they call it, introducing myself to the group.
As I wrote my speech I began to realize the moment in my life that set me off on the road to being an artist, writer, and now actor. It all began with ‘Old Time Radio.’

What follows is my Toastmasters Icebreaker speech, entitled:
“Tales of Yesteryear Told in Future Tense”.
(Points to those who know what two radio programs that is a reference to.)

Tales of Yesteryear Told in Future Tense

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