Last weekend was the Portland Comic Book Show. We’ve been setting up at PCBS for the past 3 years (since we moved to Portland) and it’s always been an ok show to set up at. Most of the focus at that show is on retailers and long boxes (which is great, don’t get me wrong), but that doesn’t always lead to spectacular sales for us as artists.

This year was different, though. There seemed to be more families and more people in general and they all seemed happy to be there. It was great! I spent the entire show sketching and I had forgotten how much I missed that. I hope to make that happen more often at my appearances. We came out of PCBS happy, tired and in good spirits (even though I battled a headache all day long), and ready to tackle the next show. Yay! I also got to draw my VERY FIRST Captain Dan commission sketch!

Next week is Thanksgiving. I know, I know – WTF? And after that, everybody knows, is the dreaded X-mas Season. Well, this year, I’m hoping to make your X-mas a little brighter and a lot more fun with my special Pirate Gift Set Sale! All Gift Pack Orders will begin shipping (via USPS Priority Mail) on December 2, 2011. Click the picture for details! I’m excited by this deal, because I got to draw Capt. Dan in a Santa outfit. (I’m a nerd, what can I say?)

We’ll have some new items in the store over the next few days, so keep your eyes peeled here and on my Twitter and Facebook feeds for when those go up.

Don’t forget: I’m available for commissions! If you want one for X-Mas get your request in soon!

Until next week! – D

I have a new sale going on right now until 11/4: The “Dane’s Vacuum Cleaner Exploded Sale” $10 gets you a sketch card commission (your choice of character or subject) in full color or Grayscale! That’s a $5 discount! This sale won’t last long, so get it before it’s gone! (This would make a great x-mas gift for that special nerd in your life, btw)

So, this week I have been attacked from within. My own body is trying to kill me by drowning me in snot. It’s fun. So, we’ll try to make this painless for everybody involved. Let’s get started!

This week marks ONE FULL MONTH of being “creatively self-employed.” YAAAY! I’m gonna say right now, though – it’s both harder and easier than I imagined it would be. It’s harder because, well, people want money for things. Printers want money for to make me some posters, grocery stores want money for their products, etc. That means I need to earn money to pay these fine people for the goods that I need. And that’s harder than I imagined it to be. But, I’m figuring it out. I lowered the prices on my commissions, so if you would like to make me draw for you, now’s the best time for that. I’m even bringing out my Sketch Cards! Crazy! On the other hand, it’s easier because I can actually get stuff done now. I’ve been more productive in the past month than I was able to be in 3 months when I worked full-time and did this at night. More prints, a newly redesigned website, a more functional store – things are clicking easier and that’s awesome.

The art this week is a print I finished up recently. I worked on drawing the robots on this thing off and on for months until it finally clicked one day a week or so ago. I was pretty pleased with it, too, once it all started coming together and this is what came out. This thing is also for sale in my store as of last night, so you can totally take it home. What say you?

So now for the CONTEST I mentioned last week. I am wishing to give away a signed print of the aforementioned Robo reVOLT dsign to one (1) lucky Minion. What do you have to do to earn so lofty a prize? Very simple. Post in the comments on this blog post. On Tuesday, 10/25 at 12:00 pm PST, I will put all the names into a randomizer and select the winner. See? Easy! So you know what to do! Go forth and do it, Minions! I’ll see you in a few days!

Now, I’m going to go lay on my couch and kleenex for some American Choppers (what? It’s the only thing on Discovery during the day!) time. Bleh.

I finally update this thing and it’s got nothing to do with me. Oh well.

Yesterday, the whole world was shocked by the death of one man – Steve Jobs.

I didn’t know Mr. Jobs. I’d never had the opportunity to meet him or be anywhere near him. But I can’t deny that his life and his passing have touched me and my life in a number of ways. Mr. Jobs was an inspiration to me and many others. Between his creative genius, his singularity of vision and his beautiful design aesthetic, he touched all of us who use computers or consumer electronics in some way or another. I’ve never been one that’s been affected my the passing of celebrities. But I can’t deny a certain amount of sadness when I think that Mr. Jobs is now longer lighting up the world with his brilliance. All of my computer products are Apple. My mp3 player is an Apple. I own an iPad. The only computers I’ve ever owned have all been Apple machines. I’ve never personally owned a computing device that didn’t come from Steve Job’s mind.

As bad as I feel for Mrs. Jobs and their family, I feel a little worse for the world because truly, people like Mr. Jobs, Thomas Edison, Bill Gates and a few others, belong to the world and to history. I’m glad for all of us that he was here on this world for even a short period of time. So to him I say, “Thank You.”

It’s strange and kinda awesome to be coming back to Phoenix for me, if I’m being honest. Phoenix was my first convention in every way. It was the first show I ever attended, and the first show I ever exhibited at. It’s also the only show I’ve ever been on staff for, so it’s really cool and exciting to see how it’s grown since it was just a wee babe in swaddling clothes all those years ago.

We’ll be at Booth #116 where you’ll be able to find all of our loverly geekiness on display for your satisfaction. See you there!

In the aftermath of the 9.0 Earthquake in Japan last week, a great many people were killled, injured or lost in the rubble. In addition to that, a nuclear disaster seems imminent. So Japan needs help. In that vein, I’ve decided to auction off my recently completed Swamp Thing artwork and donate all the proceeds to the Red Cross’ disaster relief efforts in Japan.

Click the Picture for the eBay auction.

Here it is. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=220754977483

Please go and bid, and if you can’t please tell your friends. As humans we all need to band together to help each other get through this crisis.

http://www.redbubble.com/people/monkeyminion/portfolio

As is our wont, we’re kicking off the 2011 con season in the sweet, sweet embrace of Seattle at Emerald City Comicon. Once again, we’re going to be there with all of our awesome intact and this year, you very literally CAN’T MISS US (unless you’re trying to, but you’re way awesome and wouldn’t do that, would you?), as we’re in booth #405! We are the second booth you come to when you enter the main doors! We’ll have prints, Zombie Greeting Cards, our book– The Zombies Next Door, crocheted geekery and hats. I’ll also be doing a limited (very limited) number of sketches this year, either Ink ($30) or Grayscaled ($45) on 9×12 bristol board. I’m limiting it to 3 sketches per day to make sure I have time to do them. So if you want one, get to me early and get on the list.

So with that, I guess I’ll sign off. See you in Seattle!

Just so you don't get lost.

This weekend (Sept. 4-6, 2010) is Kumoricon here in Downtown Portland, OR. It’s the biggest anime/comicon in Oregon, I think, and one of the bigger anime shows on the west coast. We’ll be there once again in artist alley booth #58 (just look for the Monkey Minion Press signs, you can’t miss us. We won’t let you). We’ll have our Zombies Next Door Books, Greeting Cards, Art Prints, Mini Prints, Hats, Scarves, Brainz Jewelry and much, much more, all lovingly made by our own 4 hands. I’ll also be taking commissions at the show, greyscale 9×12 commissions will be $45, inked 9×12 will be $30 and Inked sketch cards will be only $15.

After that, we have Jet City Comic Show in Seattle Saturday, Sept. 25th at Seattle Center Exhibition Hall [link] I’ll have more about that as we get closer.

By way of some new arts, I have this: It’s a new Star Wars Brain worm I’m slowly working out. Let me know what you think.