What am I going to do with you?

by Robert Tritthardt on May 7, 2012 at 6:00 am

Song/Video of the Day: Lthrboots – “My Salvation”
Get the entire album here: Lthrboots – Domination

Damn. Where did the day go? Ah, yes. I know. I spent the entire time drawing this week’s strip. And I have to come to realize that I am entirely too slow.

The strip was written and re-written and then sketched out and partially drawn for at least two weeks before I had a chance to sit down and work on it again the weekend before it was due. I had one panel to draw which made me go absolutely bat-shit crazy with frustration on Saturday as I could not for the life of me get the pencil lines to look like what I had in my head. The whole experience was a terrible downward spiral that I am glad no one was around to witness. Except for Mao. Sorry for yelling at you kitty.

It might have been that I just really hate Uggs [that's what the strip is about]. Maybe I hate them so much that I didn’t want to draw them?

No. It wasn’t that. This same thing has happened to me before. Lots of times. It has happened so often that I think about quitting every time it rears its ugly head and makes me scream and yell in frustration.

But I know that quitting isn’t the answer. Yes, it makes me feel better for a while and relieves the stress that ties my shoulders into painful knots. But sooner or later that urge to create something comes at me again, nagging me to work on this project or that. Telling me that I’m wasting my life and my time if I don’t have a pen in my hand. Or it doesn’t come around again for a few years and I have to take a long, hard look at my life an realize that I’m still in the same place I was 14 years ago right after I graduated college, except that I have nothing to show for it.

Yes, I have done a few things here and there since 1998, but not nearly enough. I should be so much better than I am now. I should be so much more knowledgable and creative and practiced. But I’m not because I am slow, I procrastinate, and I frequently quit.

So yeah. There you have it. I just broke a cardinal rule of blogging. I did not remain entertaining and I complained about shit. Nobody wants to read about me complaining. People have enough problems on their own.

I’ll try not to do it again…

See? There it is again. That whole quitting thing.

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Stumptown + Portland

by Robert Tritthardt on May 1, 2012 at 6:00 am

Song of the Day: Grendel – “Shortwired”
Get the entire EP here: Grendel – Chemicals + Circuitry

Friday night was spent celebrating my girlfriend’s birthday. Saturday was spent celebrating the wedding of some friends. Sunday was spent on the road.

Dawn and I went to Portland on Sunday. She went to go pick up the rented car on Saturday morning and they had just run out. So they had to upgrade her to a swanky new black Volvo with 200 miles on it. It was NICE! We spent three hours on the road south and spent most of that time listening to various stations on satellite radio. The first place we stopped was the Convention Center to check out Stumptown Comics Fest. I had been to one a few years ago when I had first moved to Seattle and enjoyed it but hadn’t found the time to be back until this year. It was filled with very independent publishers and self-publishers and not very many “stars”. It was completely different from Emerald City Comicon. I picked up a lot of business cards and fliers because nothing really jumped out at me.

I did, however, get to see Ted Naifeh and chat for him with a bit. The last time I had seen him was in San Francisco with Karl Christian Krumpholz at a bar called Noc Noc. Ted said that he should have went home when I did because the night just got crazier. Heh, I need to do that more often.

Dawn and I had enough of the con after a little over an hour so we had some lunch at Red Robin because it was close. Then we drove over the river, parked, and wait in line for 45 minutes to get a couple Voodoo Donuts. Man, there are some messed up looking people around there begging for change.

Then we walked a few blocks down to Powell’s bookstore and wandered around in there for a while. I picked up a couple books on being funny because I certainly could use some help.

It was another three hours back to Seattle. We ate at some pizza place in Georgetown just to do something different.

I’m really not sure if getting a table at next year’s Stumptown would be worth it. Ted said that he did well, but that’s because he’s Ted and has a bunch of awesome books to sell. The attendance was minimal at best but it could have been because it was Sunday and they had just opened. I’ll have to think about it some more and see what my finances are like at that time next year to make my determination.

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A small update on the dolls

by Robert Tritthardt on April 30, 2012 at 9:26 am

I have confirmation that all the dolls arrived safely at their first locations and are chillin’ with their Hosts. I also have confirmation that one or both of the dolls will be at the following locations at the following times:

* Monday APRIL 30th – Pravda [1113 Decatur St. New Orleans] from 8pm – THAT’S TONIGHT!

* Sunday MAY 6th Pravda [1113 Decatur St. New Orleans] from 3pm – 9pm and then between 1135 Decatur and Pravda from 10pm – ’til

Mike, who has Shine, says: “I’ll be wearing shorts, combat boots and the only Writhe & Shine work
shirt in existence. I only have my phone for a camera so people should
bring their own if they want a high res. photo.”

Will, who has Writhe, says he will make himself available at those times.

If you have any problem locating the guys or the dolls…. heh, I just wrote that!… if you can’t find them, ask the bartender at either place if they’ve seen Mike or Will.

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Digging through old images

by Robert Tritthardt on April 16, 2012 at 2:52 pm

This is a drawing I did of Bella Morte [circa 2001?] for Writhe and Shine Book #2.

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They’re Leaving Today

by Robert Tritthardt on April 13, 2012 at 6:00 am

Song of the Day: Ricky Nelson – “Travelin’ Man”

I figured that today [being Friday the 13th] would be a great day to send them off. That’s right. I’m sending the dolls off to their first Hosts today… and I’m sorry to see them go.

I’m also excited to see where they’ll eventually end up. I’m really tempted to keep their first locations a secret and have them be a surprise when the pictures start showing up… but I also want people to know that they’ll be in their neighborhood… What should I do?

OK. I’ll look at it this way. Once they land in their cities and start hanging out with their Hosts, it’s not going to be a very big surprise. What’s the use of keeping a secret when all that’s going to happen in the reveal is people saying, “Well, duh!”?

Fine! Finefinefine… Doomie is going to be Hosted by an Über goth girl in Seattle [think pink and black]. Both Writhe and Shine are going to start their tour down in New Orleans with a couple really good friends of mine.

I’ve been taking some last minute photographs of the dolls as well as working on the Adventure pages. I can only hope the project turns out better than any expectations I may have.

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