On Storytelling

December is never a good month for me to try to get shit done, project-wise. The combination of apathy-inducing weather, Christmas preparations, and coma creating eating habits is a recipe for procrastination. Perhaps I’m making excuses for myself, but I look at everything I’ve done last month and shrug my shoulders at my lack of artwork, vowing to make up for it this month. That’s what January is all about right? Redemption guised as resolutions… Half-hearted attempts at self-improvement… Guilt. Knowledge of our inherent faults rarely comes pre-packaged with the drive and the ability to combat it, but we try anyways. More often than not, we falter, fall and fail, but that’s life I guess. Though, every now and then, we conquer ourselves, and perhaps because the odds are so stacked against us, a personal victory seems to taste that much sweeter. No matter how small.

With that said, I’ve noticed lately that the things I claim to have been so incredibly passionate about working on have begun to slip through my fingers. And my overall mood and morale seems to be on the decline. Unfortunately, I don’t know myself well enough to tell which is the cause, and which is the effect. Fortunately, I do know myself well enough to inform you, worried reader, that I will pull out of it. For instance, already I’m looking at my brand new pair of running shoes with a certain lust, and my “Artwork” file with a familiar desire. I cracked open an ongoing project (details below, picture above) and began drawing away. Almost immediately, bits negativity began to be chipped away from my brain, sculpting the state of mind that only art can sculpt, and I blissfully continued for a couple of hours. Breaking only to munch on some pizza (Thanks, Adrian), and to watch my temporary roommate make some ill-advised charges against a plasma-sword wielding opponent (Thanks again, Adrian).

Among my circles of friends, I assume different roles, as we all do. I play more than one to a group of people and occasionally, within a group, the role changes. Sometimes, I’m The Big Brother. Sometimes, The Little Brother. Sometimes, The Motivator. Other times, I’m The Bad Influence. I also assume other roles such as: The Joker, The Thinker, The Devil’s Advocate, The Technician, The Advisor, The Eater, The Atheist, The Chameleon and The Liar to name a few. Now, as a person, I’m relatively comfortable with my vices and faults. I hold a firm belief, that living a life of constant virtue, is not only impossible, but a poor choice to say the least (which would take it’s own post to fully explain). That being said, being The Liar is probably the role I’m least comfortable filling. I don’t mind if I’m good at this sometimes necessary ability, but to for it to be a chief role my friends assume me to play isn’t a light I’d prefer to bask in for any length of time.

The joke is: I’d prefer the title of storyteller

The truth is: I’d prefer the title of storyteller

So, even though I’m comfortable with having faults, and despite the fact I am in full understanding of how difficult it is to change someone’s impression of you, I’m doing work to diminish one title, while at the same time, building up the other. (If you have to ask which is which, re-read the pair of statements above, you silly goose!)

Since storytelling is what this post is really about (and not to mention, vastly more interesting), let’s expand on that.

Storytelling is something that has become more and more important to me during my quest to evolve my artwork to it’s next stage. As such, I’ve begun to take notice of all the great stories I’ve ingested in my lifetime from a smattering of sources as varied as the stories themselves. Word-of-mouth, written text, film, paintings, comics, animation, music, video games and everything else in between. As we advance as a species, new mediums for sharing these stories blossom from all over the place. And with an amazing network of communication, the next great griot can literally come from anywhere. Stories can be instantly shared around the globe, ready to inspire, warn, humor and excite. We live in an amazing generation. A lucky generation. One that allows for limitless creativity that doesn’t lack for an audience.

The only hurdle is: What do you want to say?

I think I found a story worth telling. A collaboration with a very good friend, named Tommy Wooten, who himself is an aspiring film maker. During our many conversations, I’ve discovered we share a passion for good storytelling regardless of medium or message. Without revealing too much (because what fun would that be?), I will tell you that our story will be told via comic, and is tentatively titled “The Low Angel Project”. The original inception of our story took place during the spring of last year, as a joke, no less, and we spent many sessions talking about the script and storyboarding out the first chapter. Unfortunately, due to my inability to manage time effectively, it has fallen to the wayside for the past two months. I’ve picked it back up once again, and with a pretty clear schedule, I’m looking to have the first chapter done by the end of spring this year. Above you can see a cropped progress shot of my work on the fourth panel of the third page.

Making comics is something that’s new for the both of us, and I’ll try to keep you guys updated as we go along. All in all, I’m really excited to try this new avenue now that my creative energy has been restored with purpose and drive. All the while, I’ll be trying to get a bead on my website and get it fixed to house my upcoming flurry of updates. Oh yeah… I’m also going to begin my training for the SF marathon.

Wheeee……

…ew! After going so long without a post, I’d like to thank you for reading this small book… If I was sitting next to you, I’d give you a cookie, but I’m not. In lieu of that, go get yourself a cookie… you earned it! See you next time!

<3 NT

Some beef is big, and some beef is small, but what y’all call beef is not beef at all.