This drawing is for a special merchandising project I’ve been working on. Sherry wants to get involved and everyone’s liked the idea so far. It’s so serious, I’m keeping the full idea quiet until we get some prototypes going and start test marketing it.
We realized last night the paradox of the project (aside from the secrecy). The artwork needs to be iconic, yet not cliche. I want people who know me to be able to say I recognize that, Jay drew that! and it has to appeal to the broad fetish audience. So, as you can see from above, there’s more development required.
Meanwhile, Happy New Year! I hope you enjoyed the retrospective! I have been drawing this week.
I always run into some issues with New Year. Many friends and lovers have superstitions about the 1st. Some believe whatever you do on the 1st will be what you do throughout the year. Others believe you have to eat certain foods for good luck like Chinese noodles for longevity. Everyone also knows about New Year’s resolutions and many make them, and break them.
I decided to take a different approach in 2014. Magic to me, is what you make of it, and that philosophy also dictates what you get out of it. So long noodles don’t mean a whole lot to me if I’m going to be miserable, and even so, why do the noodles have to be Chinese? I could get just as much milage out of a plate of spaghetti, which is ironically, what many cheap Chinese restaurants in LA use instead of noodles.
January 1st, I started cleaning things up, doing some laundry, and drawing, because it gave me peace of mind. In the late afternoon, I took a nap. All I could think of was, I’m happy! If for the rest of the year, I feel happy and at peace, instead of frantically trying to cram in a bunch of activities and shoving spaghetti down my pie hole, then I’ve really accomplished something.
We did settle on Mongolian BBQ for dinner, I’ve been budgeting for this and there’s a nice little place in the neighborhood. We had a good time, and if things work out well, I think we should invite friends to join us and make it a tradition, instead of a superstition.
I know, this is getting wordy and there’s not much art today. This is important to me. I’ve made two resolutions for 2014. Sanity first, and I resolve to be with my friends more often. Sanity first is a principle I created in November, when trying to work on the back yard. There are hundreds of micro chores I’ve created for myself through the years, especially since we moved to this place. I’ve decided that rather whittle a way at bunches of projects and let the house drive me insane, to follow Sanity First. No matter what, my first priority should be my sanity. If it drives me crazy, or makes things too complicated, I should consider dropping it.
Spending some more time with friends also is part of the resolution. I’m still working out the how, but not worrying about it. If this resolution means making more friends, then that sounds like a great idea.
Ok, back to drawing and cleaning up before the night gig. Don’t forget, the Los Angeles Comic Book and Sci-Fi expo is this Sunday, Jan 5th! Special guest include Dawn Wells from Gilligan’s Island, Kevin Grevioux from Underworld & I, Frankenstein, and the folks from Adventure Time.