I find myself suffering from very bad work ethics. I know that I should be drawing and creating more great porn art but I find myself slacking off, doing everything but draw. I recently switched over to netflix and I've been checking that out. I've connected my computer to my flat screen TV and I get to watch movies that I stream as though I had rented them, which is very cool. I also wear remote headphones as to not disturb my neighbors, because I like to listen really loud. However, lately I have been experiencing this sort of drumming in my ear that just wont go away. Also, since I draw directly onto my computer screen using my Cintiq, I've managed to scratch out a circle pattern onto the screen, which just happened to show up in my vision the other day. I seriously was seeing this crescent moon visual disruption everywhere I looked. It was really weird. I finally just shut off all the lights and went to sleep, knowing full well that I needed a huge break because I was definitely seeing weird things.
Other than that, I've gotten into this band Muse. They freaking rock. I'm one of those types that just doesn't keep up with music, so all this is new for me. However, I had heard them on the radio before, I just didn't know who they were or didn't bother to find out. I love their music. I was also pleasantly surprised to hear song #8 on their new album. When it got to the opera part, I was like "Hey! That's Samson and Delilah by CAMILLE SAINT-SAËNS. I was a total fan of that way back when. That part where he sings "I belong... I belong to you" is originally "Dalilah...Dalilah..je t'aime". I was into this girl named Djanira back then and I would change it to "Djanira...Djanira...je t'aime". Anyway, I know I'm an opera geek. Speaking of which, I'm going to see the last installment of the Ring Cycle by Richard Wagner next month Twilight of the Gods. All together, the entire opera is like 16-18 hours. It's totally epic.
Alright, the progress on MHN is coming along. I'm on page 17 right now. I know what you are thinking, "How could this guy work like this, putting a few pages out at a time?" Well, I don't know either. It's just the way it is. I know that this business model would never in a million years work for the "comic" book industry. But they're not me and I'm not them. I'm actually kind of sick of MHN and I want to move on to something else now. Maybe I'll jump onto Ay Papi or the sequel to Americunt Dragon.
I try not to stress too much about how I work because I am allowing the process to take shape. If I try to push myself too hard, I might burn out. Corporations have the tendency of burning out their artist, trying to milk out everything they can get from an artist while they can. Since I am the CEO of my business, I try to pamper my star artist, which is me of course. I allow JAB to ferment his ideas. However, the problem isn't the lack of ideas, it's the implementation of them. The good thing is that I am taking my sketchbook around with me again. For a while, I didn't carry it around. I've since finished about a whole sketchbook on just story ideas. Mostly it's situations that I would like to see my characters in. Usually they involve orgies and such. However, the problem with many of those ideas is that I will physically and emotionally have to get my characters to those situations. Right now, many of my stories are still developing and I cannot just throw one of my characters to the lions.
People often ask me when I will get to the "pool party", for My Hot Ass Neighbor, and the "camping trip" for Ay Papi. The problem there is that many other things have to happen before they actually get there. My other problem is that I like to milk situations. Sometimes I spend way too much time just telling the story. However, how else can I explain why the story slows down to a crawl when the sex comes around. And even then I feel as though I don't spend too much time with the sex. I feel it is sometimes rushed through for story's sake. I don't know how those Japanese do it with their hentia? They lay down their story then they really milk those sex scenes, which is great. Unfortunately, I limit myself to only twenty one pages per comix and I cannot afford so much milking. Or maybe, I just need to learn how to tell the story with as little panels as possible. Efficiency is the key when it comes to milking cartoon porn.
Well, I can't say that I am completely lazy. I do work on my stories when I am out with my girlfriend. I take her shopping and I hang out at coffee shops writing my next great porn comix. So even when I am not drawing, I work. I suppose that I am just too hard on myself because I do compare myself when I worked in construction and at Disney. I really worked hard then. However, I made comparatively little money then. I have a philosophy that one should improve him or herself sufficiently enough to work less hours and yet have more rewards. I do value my leisure for I look at it as an investment into my mental well-being. The leisure allows me to dream up the next story. Working non-stop sometimes creates automatons of us all. We work, work, work and we never have time to plan our next move. Working longer doesn't make any of us happier. I've been both unemployed and over-employed and I wasn't happy either way. It took me a while to find the balance that I needed in my life. I think that if a person is happy doing something that may or may not pay that much, they should stick with it. Art has always made me happy. I tried the whole mainstream art thing and it wasn't right for me. Right now, this porn art thing is working for me. It may not always be the case but I'm not fighting it right now.
As for my website, we've recently launched a new Wiki section that deals with all things JAB. Go check it out.
[link]Thanks for reading my ramblings.
JAB out
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