I'm thinking about starting up $25 commissions, wherein I sketch a fictional character or actual person at your request. Pose and background would be at my discretion,  of course. Consider it a Xanga exclusive---a sale, if you will. Method of payment: Pay Pal. The only thing is, I've done this before and the offer was completely ignored on this site. That's partly due to me not being  as active as I used to be. The other thing to consider is advertising and word of mouth (the digital form of it). There's a recommend button on this post. If this post can spread like wildfire, generating enough business... I can start saving up for future expenses.

For now, I'm reserving 4 slots. Depending on how quick they fill up, I'll start effecting a queue. So, first four request can go in the comments section and we'll go from there. 

To recommend or not to recommend. That is the question. 

Currently Out From Out Where By Amon Tobin see related

As it turns out, above all else, the Philadelphia Film Society is more about promoting their film festival . At first glance, it's pretty much like "become a member and give us your fucking money." I can't find a resource section on the site, which was frustrating. At the same time, I didn't speak to anyone yet, but I did send them an email, introducing myself and my little nameless company. Hopefully, they will contact me and point me in a good direction. If not, well... fuck 'em. Of course, their film festival is a good thing. If and when a movie comes out of this company, at least we'll have a place to showcase the work. If anything, they will be excellent for the finished product. 

I keep wondering if my lack of experience is killing the growth from the start. Maybe I should concentrate on the freelance illustration aspect first and move on to filmmaking at a later date... Nah! The way I see it, experience doesn't come by sitting on your ass. Experience is here and now. I'll level up during the journey. Besides, I can't afford film school. There's really no way I can gain experience unless I make my own shit. A lot of aspiring filmmakers are going in that direction. I'm just crazy enough to make a company out of it. 

From the looks of it, I'm definitely going to have to partner up with somebody. It might be sooner than I anticipated, but that's alright. It's all part of the plan. 

Hoist the Jolly Roger!

Edit:

I completely forgot about You Tube and how helpful their videos are. It's the greatest resource known to mankind (once you filter out the cute kitten videos). There are some people I worked with in California that can probably pass some knowledge on to me. A little while ago, I worked as a conceptual artist for an independent film. I'll contact them and see what's what. I can think of at least one person that owes me a little favor. 

Currently The Throwback b/w Braggin & Boastin/Autumns Evening Breeze see related

Alright. Waking up and being among the living was bloody chore. Thank God for coffee (I'll explain why in a bit).

My brother suggested that if the company is going to sport freelance illustration, it might as well go all out. No limitations concerning what we could be commissioned for. Add in graphic design, book covers, album covers, logo design, etc. It doesn't have to be stuck in the film, television, and comic area. We'll even extend the services to the gaming industry. His jack of all trades approach was a great idea and I'm glad I talked it over with him. 

I'm in the stages of writing everything down in a word document. I have to admit, part of the reason why I'm throwing most of this stuff on Xanga is so I won't forget it. I forget things because I'm a flawed individual... maybe I'm getting old. Oh! You know what would be a good birthday present? A recorder. One of those portable voice recorders that writers and journalist use. Besides, I like the sound of my own voice, so it's practical and ego-boosting applications are tremendous. If I get a job within the next couple of months, remind me to get one... or surprise me. 

I found something on Facebook called Philadelphia Film Society. It's pretty much a non-profit organization that strives to bring a film presence to the city, be it independent or major productions. Some time, later in the day, I'm going try to contact someone from that group to get information on funding options and other things I can use. Right now, I'm all about arming myself with knowledge. When starting out from the ground up, it's best to figure out what I need, so I'm making a list. Hopefully, PFS will be a good resource. 

Speaking of resources, it would be great to partner up with someone that is knowledgeable in this area---someone with experience. Even if I do pick the brains of the Film Society and get pointed in the right direction, I'm still a naked newborn baby that's going to need a teet, so to speak (try to visualize that.. hahah!). In any case, the web site comes first. Build an identity and lay down the ground work... maybe the rest should follow. One thing at a time, I say.  

I'm just saying, when I can actually afford an assistant, I crossed the success threshold.  

Speaking of assistance, I've been brainstorming the logo/mascot for the company. One of the strongest and unique ideas is "Coffee Robot." Picture that fem-bot from Metropolis merging with a Coffee Maker and you'll see where I'm headed.

Why coffee? Let's face it, I'm addicted to the stuff. It's better than being addicted to drugs, I think. Besides that, there are few artist and writers I know that don't include coffee in their daily routine God forbid if you're up at the crack of dawn. She's not exclusive to artist and writers. Just about everybody knows her. She's either home brewed or you'll get her at Star Bucks, Dunkin Donuts, or a local diner.

How do you feel after drinking coffee? You're alert, awake, things start to clear up, you're less groggy and you might even have enough energy to get make it through the day. Coffee is your morning assistant and your company while you're burning the midnight oil. She can be hot and cold---perfect for any season!

The mascot of the company merges the sexy and nurturing qualities of a female while incorporating the mythical, medicinal, and beneficial qualities of coffee. She's also a robot which suggest efficiency and dare I say immortality. Very future oriented. That just all the sense in the world to me.  Shit... "Mascot" is a terrible title for her. She's the Figurehead of a large vessel---a star ship.  

I'll post some sketches soon. 

Cheers,

KG

Currently Hope and Despair By Radio Citizen Track: Hope (feat. Bajka) see related

Because no matter how much I try to bottle it in, I have to pour my heart out on the internet. Xanga just happens to be the venue, mostly due to the low volume of people reading this. It's almost like talking to the wall, but it's paper thin. 

Anyway, last week, I got dressed, shaved and power walked my ass to a job interview. I'm not going to reveal which company it was, but the job was a dish washing position. Very simple work once you know how to operate those industrial-sized washers, which is easier than inserting a dish into a Playstation. I went home thinking the dust had settled from the long war of trying to gain employment. I mean, I have massive employment gaps and the debt is climbing astronomically, thanks to student loan. On Monday,  I opened my email and found the results of the interview. 

"Your background and experience is truly valuable. Unfortunately, at this time, after careful consideration we have decided to pursue other candidates." 

This wouldn't be the first time I was turned down for a position. I've lost count, to be perfectly honest, but... For some reason, that rejection letter hurt me the most. Apparently, I'm not even good enough to wash dishes! How much experience do I need to wash your fucking dishes?!? I was upset for a few days... very pissed off at the world and even more pissed off at myself. Here I am, 28 years old and severely depressed because I couldn't get paid to wash dishes for some company. I guess you can say that it was the straw that broke the camel's back.

So, I started thinking about me and where I'm headed in the next year, two years, five years, ten years, and so on. If I keep going down the same route, I'm not going to amount to anything. I'm going to die with piss-poor accomplishments and a shit-loads of regret. Hell, I won't even be worthy of a tombstone--and if they had to give me one, it would read "Here lies Fat Fuck who checked out of this world poor, alone, and pissed." Thinking about that, I reached a boiling point and decided it's time to fucking do it. It's time... 

I'm creating my entertainment company.

If you've been keeping up with this blog, you know I've been flirting with the idea for the longest time---ever since I graduated high school (I've been here for a very long time). It's not the most logical step to take, but most companies never start off logical. The most successful companies were created from balls of steel and ice-cold resolve. This endeavor will be no different. It's going to be tough, headache inducing, and it might even kick my ass, but it's going to happen.

What falls into this entertainment? For starters, it will be comics and filmmaking. Original content. There's another aspect I want to include into the company and that's Freelance Illustration.  We're going to start off small and make an anthology just get our feet wet. For films, we'll do shorts for the same reason. Once we're all set and comfortable, we will move on to bigger projects. 

The reality of this is that I don't have all the resources, at the moment. Money is the biggest issue. Even if it's an internet based company, I'm going to need money for the domain, the web design, and whatever the fuck else. If I'm going to publish a line of comics, I'm going to need to get in bed with a printing company and that'll cost me. Maybe it can be all digital, but there's still some finances in that. Don't even get me started on film cost. That's why freelance illustration will come in handy, but the profits from that won't generate enough to sustain the company. 

The second concern of mine would be finding the talent. By nature, I'm a do-it-yourself type of artist. By that, I mean that I do the penciling, inking, coloring, lettering and so on. In most cases, I have a writer that handles the script, but all the visuals are on me. To start a company means expanding my circle. To start a company means finding like-minded folk of various disciplines to pitch in, and trusting them to produce material in a timely manner. That's pretty huge to ask since I'm terrible at deadlines. 

Ultimately, I'm going to have to clean my own house, so to speak. For this company to be successful, it needs a good leader/boss/founder. A good leader is someone who can bring out the best in people and accomplish goals. Those qualities are extremely important in the early stages of a company. Right now, I'm not leadership material because I can't even motivate poop to flush down the toilet. I'm going to have to change and adapt to this company---to the future. It's going to happen.

The end game or finish line is owning a building... with people in it! I want this company to grow into something big---something lovely. Like a hybrid of Marvel Comics and Lucas Films... or "insert major comic and film studio here." I want this to be BIG, but I also want it to be different and sport the greatest work environment ever. 

I'm not Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Ted Turner, John Lasseter, George Lucas, or even Tyler Perry. I'm just a guy from Philly trying to bounce back from a series of unfortunate fuck-ups by combining the two things I love: Film and Comics. I'm trying to do something I should have done a long time ago. 

It's going to happen... I already have the damn logo in my head, so it's going to happen. There's no choice in the matter.

-KG

Currently Simple Things By Zero 7 Track: In the waiting line see related

Damn... I wanted this to be good, but it's one of those things where you don't really need to see the entire thing if you viewed the trailer. Initially, it had a lot of good things going for it. Ashley Greene outside of a Twilight setting is good business... Hell, Ashley Greene inside of a Twilight setting is good business. Ashley Greene is just good business, really. If there's anything you get from reading this, it's Ashley Greene, Ashley Greene, and... what's that other thing? Oh, yeah. Ashley Greene! Aside from that...

I forgot what I was talking about.

...

Damn.

Currently Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol By Tom Cruise, Jeremy Renner see related

Unfortunately, this was a slight disappointment for me. It was mostly the delivery, but it's not a terrible movie. To be perfectly honest with you, I was expecting a paranormal element to it. I was looking forward to the "Slender Man" myth. Like I said, it wasn't terrible. In fact, it deserves more than 2 stars on Netflix. It's just that my brain was prepped for supernatural horror and I ended up getting an unexpected thriller (a slightly confusing thriller, but a thriller none the less.)

I ordered a Burger and ended up getting a Salad. I wanted a booty call and ended up getting married. I soooo wanted this to be a blood and guts slasher film or something just plain spooky. The bloody poster had me going in that direction (I fuckin' love that poster). There's probably something wrong with me. Of course, when you consider this movie not making it to the silver screen, I guess I'm not the only disturbed movie-goer.

Now, if you're in the mood for an indy thriller, I recommend it.

Currently Incorruptible Vol. 1 By Mark Waid see related

I think the last time I was at an arcade (remember those things?), I got my ass handed to me by a girl. The very first Tekken Tag Tournament, to be exact. When she popped a quarter in next to me, my initial thought was to take it easy on her because, well... you wouldn't want to scare off a unicorn or accidentally mow over a rare orchid, right?

Gentlemen, a girl kicked my ass with Yoshimitsu and, at the time, I thought it was the hottest thing on the planet. Now, these weren't some button-mashing-I-don't-know-what-the-hell-I'm-doing victories. She systematically took my ass out---destroyed me. Seriously, luck took a vacation. The second hottest thing was when she pulled out a key, opened up the machine to replenished my credits. That girl whipped me for a good while and the process was as simple as rinse and repeat.

I guess my point is, when it comes to girls and gaming, I'm the opposite of repelled. I welcome it, but I'm just worried about the guys who don't feel the same way. Dude, she's a female, she has a controller in her hand and it's not even one of those cutey-cute games---she's sniping your friends on Call of Duty. What's the problem? The same thing with girls who regularly read comics:

1. Female
2. Comic Book
3. Not just looking at the pretty pictures.

That's a win for us, man! Of course, the first thing the other guys want to do is quiz her.

On the other hand, when it comes to the concept of a boys club, I am very much repelled. It's like joining a group I have to keep apologizing for. "I'm so sorry. We're not all assholes. He found out Breakout Kings got cancelled. He lost his left testicle---I don't know." I get enough of that as a Christian, so I deserve some sort of break as a geek.

Currently The Tall Man By Jessica Biel, Jodelle Ferland, Stephen McHattie, William B. Davis, Samantha Ferris see related

My entry for the MAMA Scared Stiff Contest.

"As a kid, the closet creep me out. Even to this day, there's an itch I get, making me check it before going to sleep." What's even scarier is looking at the other entries for the contest. It's one of those things where you know you're not going to win. I'm just glad I decided not to peek at the entries until I was finished with mine. I can't think of a better way to demoralize myself, knowing I'm going to lose from the jump. Haha... 

As a stand alone piece, I'm proud of it. Usually, I'm either drawings capes or boobs (stay tuned). I rarely venture into the realm of horror, so this was a nice change in theme.

-KG 

Currently Reading Gun Machine By Warren Ellis see related

Originally, I planned to have one of the longest rants ever written, but I'll keep this as short as I can muster. For God's sake, it's 1 o'clock in the morning.

...

I was hacked by some scrub in Brazil. I can call him that because I'm 75% sure he's not Anderson Silva. Anyway, just about all my contacts, including business correspondence I had for the duration of my account, all received an email at 2:40 AM last night. It contained a link to God knows what. Some of my contracts luckily had Spidey sense tingling in the nick of time. Here's an email with no subject line and a solely a link. Something's fishy and I'm happy they knew to either ignore it or ask me about it, directly.

The thing is, I'm a wordy guy. I can type for a long time---sometimes I'm redundant (it's a family trait).  Any messages or emails without a long explanation or that special "Kenny" charm is a poser and should be deleted on sight. I'd like to think I'm separate from the herd.

As for the hacker, well... he's an idiot. All that skill---all that power and he uses it to spread links from email to email. It's such a waste of potential. If I had hacking ability and was somewhat out of reach, I'd right the wrongs of the world. Why waste his time with little ol' me and just go after the billion-dollar big fish. He could hack corrupt businesses and corporations. There's all sorts of cool Anonymous shit he could be doing, but... Nah!

Spreading stupid links through my contact list will be the only highlight of his pathetic life.

There will be a reckoning. Most likely it won't be me, but I'd like to think that one of these days he's going to hack the wrong guy. Maybe someone that's a helluva lot more skilled than he is.    

Currently Flashpoint: The Fourth Season By Mark Taylor, Hugh Dillon, Amy Jo Johnson, Enrico Colantoni, Michael Cram see related

For the life of me, I can't tell you the last time I was able to see clearly. Not in the mental clarity sense (though that would certainly be nice), but literally seeing the world clearly. For years, I've been using an old pair of prescription eye glasses. I had a newer pair, but when you share a home with a sibling that takes her frustrations and problems out on your personal belongings, well... let's just say I'm glad I had an outdated spare. 

It served me well for years, like a good soldier. All sorts of accidental shit happened to it. They were dropped from various stair cases, gnawed on by pets, slipped into bowls of cereal, hugged by family members, and so on. As you can imagine, this bastard's been through wars.

Almost a year ago, while cleaning the lenses, one of it's limbs fell off, so to speak. Normally, it would've been a quick fix, but the frames weren't the screw-on type. I just had to choose the one that was soldered together, but hindsight... Like everyone knows, it's 20/20 with a complimentary kick to the balls. 

Naturally, I didn't want to show anyone my fried, fractured and fucked glasses... not in public. It's permanently smudged. Hell, the lenses look just like the bullet-proof glass you would see at your convenience store---minus the graffiti. It's simply no good.

Lately, I've been going around town by color alone, often mistaken for a tourist (a drunk tourist, depending on how far I had to look down the street). You wouldn't believe the number of emails and phone calls I got with angry friends and acquaintances. Apparently, I couldn't see them waving from the distance. They could have been dancing Gangnam Style on Broad Street and I would have been none the wiser. The city looked like a LeRoy Neiman painting, which was cool for 5 minutes. After that, I wanted to randomly mug anyone who wore glasses, hoping to find a pair that matched my prescription. I remember looking for a place down Chinatown and, I swear, people thought I was making fun of them.

The silver lining was that I looked more pissed than usual, which is ideal when catching Philadelphia public transportation. You'd be surprised at the number of folk who kept their distance. There's less beggars and all that "do you want to subscribe to this" yadda-yadda bullshit. "Donations?! I can't even see you, man!" 

I'm happy to report that I found a good eye care place that's reasonable. I'll be able to pick up some new glasses on Tuesday. Two, to be precise. I know this isn't a worthy blog post, but... fuck it. It's news in my book. Besides, I missed out on several Dr. Sketchy events because the overwhelming fear of not being able to see the fucking model. Not having any real money is a terrible way to live. Add that on with not being able to afford glasses or contacts, you're me circa 2012. 

On Tuesday, I'll be a proper human... or at the very least, I'll see like a proper human.

-KG

Currently Culture of Fear By Thievery Corporation see related