Good News, Bad News

(Originally posted April 2, 2010)

Good News: So, a few weeks ago, I wrote about how I missed my chance to visit PAX East in Boston. Well, cartoonists Scott Kurtz and Kris Straub were kind enough to send me an autograph:

Keep in mind that I have never met either of these artists before and I am 99.99% sure that they have never visited my website. Sooo...how did they know exactly which characters I would have asked for? Their powers of deduction are amazing and a little scary.

Also at PAX, my friends bumped into cartoonist Brad Guigar, who said (unless my friends are lying to me) that he remembers me from Pittsburgh Comicon 2009 and that he still treasures the fan art I made for him. Pretty high praise from someone who owns fan art by Lar deSouza.

And Now, the Bad News: So, I had been selected to do some guest art for Oliver Knorzer (aka Novil), author of the charming comic strip Sandra and Woo. I was to draw Woo's profile picture for a phony character blog/message board, which went live on April Fools day. Unfortunately, the tables were turned when some jerk used the message boards to post obscene images. All of the gag pages had to be pulled within a few hours, which pretty much wasted all of Mr. Knorzer's careful work, as well as my work and the work by the other guest artists. I was hoping that the event would give my site a little more traffic, but it was not to be.

But, all is not lost. My picture will be added to the "Artwork" section of their regular site. I'll post a link when my my work is up. In the meantime, don't rush the good folks at Sandra and Woo. I'm willing to bet that they are having a bad day.

-Marj

"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH" - Charlie Brown

Greetings from beautiful "Not PAX East"

(Originally posted March 19, 2010)
I had the opportunity to go see PAX East in Boston next weekend (as a ticket-buying visitor, not as a guest or anything fancy). I was reluctant to take time off from work until I was sure that Kris Straub and/or Scott Kurtz would be in attendance. (I have no business with either of them, mind you. I would just be resuming my greatest role as "That Awkward Fan-Geek.") Back in January, when tickets were on sale, Straub's convention schedule said "maybe" for several months while Kurtz's schedule was suspiciously silent on the subject. Sometime after weekend passes sold out, both cartoonists announced that they would indeed be attending, leaving ticket-less me to sit at home and curse the darkness.

This entire incident is reminding me of what an immeasurable gap there is between myself and the established cartoonists; cartoonists who attend conventions as guests instead of having to buy tickets or climb in through a bathroom window. I have never been able to refer to myself as a "web cartoonist," even though, technically, I do have a website and a comic. But for me to try to put myself in the same box as the professionals... imagine that you are watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Now imagine that after the last float has passed, someone from the crowd darts out and starts chasing the parade. Also, imagine this person is wearing homemade float built from corrugated cardboard and glitter paint. This should give you some idea of where I stand.

I may sound discouraged, but I'm not. This is probably a very normal part of starting a website, or starting anything new for that matter. If there was a master checklist for success, it probably begin something like this:

Item One; Educate yourself.

Item Two; Develop your ideas.

Item Three; Chase the metaphorical parade for awhile.

You get the picture.

On an optimistic note, I should mention that I have put a good deal of work into these comics and a good deal of study into designing this website. Now that I am here I am NEVER GOING AWAY. To get rid of me at this point, you would probably need to get rid of the internet. And even then I would probably go around attaching these comics to telephone poles. Some of you comic readers may have been burned before by good comics that start strong, then disappear as the artists lose interest. I promise that I will not desert this project. Event if I run out of "Urban Underbrush" stories (maybe ten years from now) I'll probably have another story ready to take its place. Don't be afraid to get attached. You will not be abandoned.

If you like knowing that Lepus Studios will be here forever then you may thank me the next time we meet. I'll be the one cursing the darkness.

-Marj

"Nobody said it was easy. No one ever said it would be this hard." - Coldplay