rethink

Shameless plugs, err, I mean, allow me to introduce;

One of my bestest friends, Michelle Billingsley. She has a weekly web comic called Joe! (and she's, ummm, good...)

In her words, "...a sarcastic and mischievous 10-year-old, known among his loved ones for being the lil' brat in their lives. Whether he's with family, friends, or at school, Joe frequently finds his way into trouble. He usually has a smart-aleck response to get him back out of it, but that doesn't always work. This kid is definitely the poster child of punishment.

This comic provides an amusing look at the world through the eyes of one of its future citizens. Each strip is combined with imaginatively-exploited everyday storylines, which makes for a memorable read. You can also catch special appearances by Mike Jones, Paul Wall, even Bin Laden (wtf??) in the comics. Joe along with his family and friends, welcomes you to his world, in the hope of inspiring yours."

(links)





And gallery, with more diverse images

Ed Ball is an illustrator, he has done a few comic books some advertising work here and there, a character and environment design for a role playing series.

Once upon a time, he had a website. It was pretty cool. Then he switched ISPs in a move and there were plans for a way cooler website, but alas, that ISP was AT&T and while his webmaster/wife (myself) was able to upload files, they never presented on the webspace. Said webmaster got frustrated and right now, there is officially no website.

You can check out a very small sample of his illustrations here:
http://faithfulfly.deviantart.com/gallery/

There are tons more that once were online, and he has some amazing pieces in very large scale that we haven't been able to figure out how to get online yet.

Nathan Milliner is the husband of another of my bestest friends. He is a writer/illustrator and has been publishing his own comic book series. The book is semi-political, gritty... he has a dark and very realistic style. He's a fabulous illustrator. The best places to view his illustrations would be either

On his Myspace page

Or here

Unfortunately, you have to log on to/register to get a real look at either. It's well worth the few seconds, and most of us have myspace accounts, already, right? ...Eh

I couldn't get any pictures other than Michelle's to show up here, but I hope that you will check them all out. I don't have a clue how I wound up completely surrounded by artists. My Grandmother is a painter, my aunt an illustrator, my mom is an incredible seamstress/fashion designer (just not many out there anymore, the sewing machine is certainly not my friend, my step-father does leatherworking for profit and is amazingly gifted at it (and makes a good bit of $$, too), especially considering he just randomly picked it up as a hobby a few years ago, I married an artist, my best friend from high school married an artist, etc., etc.

Anyway, it's funny how so many extremely talented people are never able to make a dime off of it. They spend their days running a line in a factory or answering telephones or selling books when they were so obviously made to do something else.

And it is so discouraged. "We" have a horrible tendency to try to dissuade people from doing what makes them happy- and what ultimately they should be doing. Doodling, daydreaming, scribbling nonesense in a notebook, dilly-dallying, wasting time... typical descriptions for the things writers and artists are "caught" doing.

Really just wanted to share my view, and a few reasons for my view.

I enjoyed looking at your friends artwork. Your artist friends and family members might find Illustration Friday fun. It's an art meme website that gives you a new word to illustrate every Friday, and then you post a link to your artwork on the site. I've been doing it for about a year now, and the people seem friendly. Here's the links to a couple of other regular participants on the site:
http://egotisticalproductions.blogspot.com/
http://blankenstine.blogspot.com/

Oh, y'know, I've been to that website before. It's really cool. I'm glad you reminded me of it. I was actually thinking of participating myself... and I'm pretty sure my friend Michelle would be interested. My husband is a grouchy old bugger- he probably wouldn't go for it..

Leave a link here if you or your friend Michelle ever participate