The Cosmic Gutter

A whole lot of nothing going on.

noreply@blogger.com (Mark A Lester) — Sun, 11 May 2008 21:01:00 +0000

My laptop seems to be dead. May it rot in pieces. I miss it terribly and hate the sucker something fierce. I'm divided. I hope that it can be resuscitated. Or at least the guts can be pulled out and, Six Million Dollar Man-like, be transplanted into another better, stronger, faster computer. Maybe I need a desktop 'puter and stop messin' with laptops for a while? At least they're (supposedly) cheaper and with me being dirt poor and all ... well, cheap is the direction my life seems to be taking me. That and starving.

Speaking of starving ... I just saw some pictures of me from the past holidays and, Egads!, I look sick. I knew that I was skinny but I look like death. Like end-stage death. Yuck. I never thought I'd be saying this but maybe I need to put on a few pounds? Whatever, right? Thankfully I'm not known for my sexy self. Actually I'm not known for anything. Which is sorta' depressing in a way. And sorta' not, since it's not like this is new news or anything.

Speaking of starving ... I'm hungry.

Until I get a computer up and running, I'm spinning my heels art-wise and getting nothing done and doing it slowly. Which is crap. I have (ever-changing) plans. Oh. Well. Cosmic forces working against me ain't nothing new. Hummm ... apparently I have a persecution complex. That's interesting.

Having no money and no computer and not being able to do much of anything except stress means that I've gotten to read a book someone gave to me. "Wild Cards". Apparently it's a shared-universe type thingie. Pretty good. I'm totally confused but enjoying myself. I also finished watching the first season of the Six Million Dollar Man (hence, the reference above) and have let it playful twist my head around and give me ideas. Always dangerous.

"Iron Man" was cool and Downey gave us our first truly interesting superhero alter ego. Neat. See it.

I'm done. You can go now.

Off the rack.

noreply@blogger.com (Mark A Lester) — Sun, 04 May 2008 20:57:00 +0000

I had to go do the whole tux-fitting thing yesterday. I also needed to get a new suit. It was a little uncomfortable. The tux shop had a difficult time finding a suit my size. They almost grabbed something from the "kid's" section. I know that it can be difficult to find some clothes "off the rack" but I figured that a Tux Shop would have a bigger selection and be better prepared for the arrival of "freaks". LOL Thankfully, they eventually got me fit and I'm lookin' quite sharp now.

I mean, that WAS the whole point, right. Me looking sharp. It's funny but I never realized what a bother being thin can be. It just never occured to me. It's almost impossible to find "small" sizes (I guess everyone loves that baggy-look) and even then the small sizes are often a bit too big. Who knew? It wouldn't be a bother so much if I actually "felt" thin or sumthin'. Now shoes? Shoes are no problem. Maybe I should start going around in just shoes? Maybe not.

I have a headache and I'm bone tired. I really don't know why, I just am. I've so much to do that being tired really gets in the way of being productive(ish). Oh. Well. By this time next week I should have scaled this mountain and be sliding down the other side. That is if I don't crash and burn instead. Both are an equal possiblity.

Check out WOWIO!

noreply@blogger.com (Mark A Lester) — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 19:37:00 +0000

If you aren't a part of WOWIO already you need to get going and join up. Free books available immediately. What's not to love? DO IT!

If you aren't already clued in, take a peek and join NOW! WOWIO allows you to support your favorite artists and writer and do it free of charge. Very, very cool.

Look for all of Five Star Comics' new books to be available FREE on WOWIO as well as in print.

PULP #1 Cover Art

noreply@blogger.com (Mark A Lester) — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 17:36:00 +0000

This is the final color version of the artwork for PULP #1. I wanted a piece that showed immediately the proper amount of horror, sci-fi, spiritual/supernatural, crazy-insanity-coolness of the story. (IMHO) Did I accomplish that goal? I hope so, but I sure did try.

Reality Insanity.

noreply@blogger.com (Mark A Lester) — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 17:09:00 +0000

Boy could I use a break from life for a while. Funerals, weddings, financial meetings, jury duty, deadlines and the high(er) cost of living. Shoot! It's driving me batty. I remember those peaceful days of two months ago when I could just live my quiet little life, doin' "my thing" and bein' happy doing it. Weeelll. Not now and not for a little while yet, but I cannot wait!

I did get lent to me a copy of the first season of my favorite "superhero show". As a kid I loved this character and thought he far surpassed Superman in the super-man category. (Truthfully, I still do.) Surprisingly, so far I haven't seen my childhood memories crushed as is usually the case. Let's be honest and admit that most of our youthful memories just don't age all that well.

Now, it's true that I'm only on episode three (Not including the three TV movies) so I can be pretty sure that by season three or four the show will start getting painfully campy, but so far so good.

I feel as if my train went off track several weeks ago and has been riding along the bumpy ground next to the rails looking for a place to hop back on. (Did that make even the tiniest bit of sense?)

Soon. Soon. Soon. Until then ... "Steve Austin. Astronaut. A man barely alive ..."

"Orphan Works" and the loss of freedom.

noreply@blogger.com (Mark A Lester) — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 16:53:00 +0000

It has come to my attention certain legislation, referred to as "Orphan Works", is making it's way through Washington. If you would, please take time to investigate this matter, let others know and provide your thoughts.

It is a sickening concept that goes far beyond effecting simply the works of artists and creators. With this legislation they are picking away at the very fabric of freedom. Were the "Orphan Works" legislation to pass we could easily reach the point where future generations would not even understand what the term "freedom" once meant.

It is not such a stretch to imagine a time when our thoughts, ideas and minds would no longer be our own. A freedom far more basic that any other. Above and beyond simply artists, musicians and other creators, every single person living should be, not only outraged, but terrified at what threats are coming so very, very close.

It is not simply our "creations" at risk, but our very right to "be".

original article

A quick update.

noreply@blogger.com (Mark A Lester) — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 17:20:00 +0000

I've been given the opportunity to be a part of a charity comic book anthology. I'll be doing the art chores on someone else's story. A bit of a different road than I usually take but I'm pleased to be able to be a part of sumthin' doin' sumthin' good in this nasty ol' world o' ours.

It also looks like I'll git to do sum spot illos for an upcoming prose book and since I am such a giant fan of reading, I'm pleased. (Notice the pleased look on my face.)

There are a few other opportunities here and there but I resist the urge to talk just to talk. Can't get ahead of things and some things I'm not allowed to talk about. At least not yet.

See, the thing is I usually work for myself and I hate to commit myself to anything unless I'm sure that I can deliver the goods and that the goods will be worth the delivery.

I'm weird like that.

As far as my personal "stuff". It's still coming. Unfortunately, I had some serious "issues" arise that have taken up a ton of my time and put most everything else on the back burner. Still cookin' but cookin' a bit slower than I'd anticipated. I know. I know. I'm taking forever but just hold on. I want to make sure that when I finally "get there", I'm "there" to stay this time.

An interesting article.

noreply@blogger.com (Mark A Lester) — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 20:44:00 +0000

When U.S. trembled in fear of comics

In the first decade after World War II, Americans were terrified. First there was the Communist threat. Then the UFO menace. And then came the comic-book scare.

In the late 1940s and early 1950s, more than 20 states and dozens of cities passed laws regulating "objectionable" comic books. Children were encouraged to turn in their comics, which were burned in public bonfires - a chilling reminder of Nazi Germany. A clerk was arrested for selling a copy of "Crime Does Not Pay" to a teen-ager. And so on.

David Hajdu documents this era in his new book, "The Ten-Cent Plague: The Great Comic-Book Scare and How It Changed America" (Farrar, Straus and Giroux; $26). He's covering ground familiar to any fan of comics history or postwar American culture. Hajdu simply amasses more facts than any previous attempt at chronicling this sad time. Despite a few errors - Dick Tracy made his debut in 1931, not 1929 - the book is worth reading.

Comic books were created in the 1930s by young writers and artists who tended to see themselves as outsiders. The field attracted Jews, Italians, blacks, Asians and women - people marginalized in mainstream society. Many of them were children of immigrants; virtually all came from working-class backgrounds.

In the late '40s, superheroes lost popularity. Readers preferred new genres such as crime, horror and romance. Some of these comics went beyond the level of violence and sexual suggestiveness allowed in movies of the time. The only real equivalent was the tough-guy prose of Mickey Spillane - a former comic-book writer. Comics also drew more female readers than before or since. Sales reached an all-time peak in the early '50s.

It didn't take long for institutions like the Catholic Church, the American Legion and PTAs to declare comic books a threat to Our American Way of Life. As artist Al Williamson said, 1953 was "a bad time to be weird." This was before "On the Road." Rock 'n' roll was still called rhythm and blues, and few middle-class white adults knew it existed. Unless you lived in Greenwich Village and hung out in jazz clubs and coffee houses, Bohemia was an alien concept.

Hajdu argues that comics drove an early wedge between the tastes of young people and their parents. The cycle is repeated whenever a new form of expression upsets the older generations: TV, rock music, the New Hollywood films of the late '60s and '70s, hip-hop, video games, MySpace and YouTube.

The years before Elvis and Chuck Berry may have seemed bleak, but for one thin dime - the price of a comic book - you could escape into the "subversive" world of EC Comics. EC exposed racism, police corruption and phony patriotism. Its war comics - influenced by the country's ambivalent attitude toward the Korean War - depicted GIs not as conquering supermen, but as jittery kids. The one surviving EC comic, "Mad," ridiculed every authority figure under the sun.

Unfortunately, EC also produced some of the bloodiest crime and horror comics. This drew the attention of police departments, prosecutors and editorial writers - not to mention a psychiatrist named Fredric Wertham, whose book "Seduction of the Innocent" blamed comic books for juvenile delinquency. At a 1954 Senate hearing, Tennessee's Estes Kefauver eviscerated EC publisher William Gaines.

The panicked industry adopted a repressive Comics Code, and EC was soon out of business - except for "Mad," which bypassed the Code by converting to a black and white magazine.

Although a Tennessee senator was linked to the comics crackdown, Hajdu doesn't mention any city in Tennessee that passed, or even proposed, laws banning or restricting comic-book sales. Kefauver wasn't in charge of the committee on juvenile delinquency, anyway; that "honor" went to Robert Hendrickson, Republican from New Jersey.

It's easy to over-romanticize the pre-Code era and EC in particular. EC had the best art of the '50s, but aside from Harvey Kurtzman's scripts for "Mad" and the war comics, its writing was far from great. Comics critic Douglas Wolk has pointed out that for every brilliant story like "Master Race" (one of the first acknowledgements of the Holocaust in pop culture), EC published "half a dozen dumb gross-outs."

Hajdu's conclusion, backed by an interview with underground cartoonist-crank Robert Crumb, is that creativity in comic books died with EC. I can't go along with that. Stan Lee's Marvel Comics, at least in the '60s and early '70s, matched EC for talent and ambition. There is too much current emphasis on superheroes, but a medium that has produced "Watchmen," "Sandman," "Persepolis," "Maus," "American Splendor" and "Ghost World" can't be dismissed as creatively bankrupt.

If you have the money, you can seek out the "EC Archives." These deluxe hardcover reprints cost $50 per volume - a price that will presumably prevent a new generation of children from reading them and becoming "corrupted."

Taken from ...

PULP #1 Cover Inked Art

noreply@blogger.com (Mark A Lester) — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 16:44:00 +0000

Here is the inked cover art piece for PULP #1. This was a particularly difficult piece for Ken to ink since I'd pencilled it differently than I usually do. I wanted to work more on the color end than usual and this required a slightly different approach to the pencils and inking. The end result is, I believe, a very clean piece. Which is what I was shooting for.

... now to the color ...

PULP #1 Cover Pencil Art

noreply@blogger.com (Mark A Lester) — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 17:18:00 +0000

Above is the pencil art for PULP #1. The goal here was to, in ONE picture, present quickly and clearly the character and concept of Morgan Stone to the reader - A science fiction, fantasy, horror, adventure story. "Nothing Sacred" is the first part in the "Knightwolf Saga". I'd like to think that I was successful in portraying the character. Whether I accomplished my goal or not, I sure gave it a try.

After the (very, very) rough thumbnail, and dozens of sloppy sketches working hard to get the relaxed, comfortable, slightly insane feel of the piece, I light-tabled the work to get a very clean, precise line drawing which was given to Ken to ink. I wanted to work with the art further in the color stage rather than during the pencils and ink stage as I normally would do. The end result of the pencils is, I think, a comfortable, confident, relaxed piece. No one ever has to know all the labour that went into creating it. Always make it look easy. That's the goal anyway.

Defintition: Gutter Punk

noreply@blogger.com (Mark A Lester) — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 16:36:00 +0000

"Gutter Punk" is a modern, descriptive term referring to fictional stories of "gutterheroes" and/or pulp-ish characters. "Gutter Punk" stories may be of any genre or combination of genres such as; fantasy, adventure, horror, supernatural, science fiction, mystery, detective, war or even western.

Defintition: Gutterhero

noreply@blogger.com (Mark A Lester) — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 16:29:00 +0000

The term "gutterhero" refers to a non-mainstream fictional character created by an independent creator. A character termed a "gutterhero" usually, but not always, will lack the common conventions of the better recognized "superhero" such as; costumes, secret identities, special powers and abilities and/or code-names. The "gutterhero" posses more in common with the old "pulp heroes" of the past than the commonly know main stream "superhero" of modern times. Stories of "gutterheroes" may be of any genre or a mixture of genres; mystery, horror, science fiction, adventure, supernatural, fantasy, crime war or even western.

Defintition: Spirit Fiction

noreply@blogger.com (Mark A Lester) — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 16:19:00 +0000

"Spirit fiction" is a term used to describe a form of story-telling based upon the concept of a dynamic reality governed by supernatural law in much the same way that the term "science fiction" refers to a form of story-telling based upon the assumption of a universe governed by scientific law.

'Puter update

noreply@blogger.com (Mark A Lester) — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 21:18:00 +0000

Okay. My computer seems to be fixed although I suspect that there are still some wonky things on it that may have been damaged that will need lookin' at. Not by me. By someone who knows sumthin'. Funny, ain't it, how much you can miss something as silly and nonsensical as a computer? Not me, of course, I'm talking about you. I am far too sensible and rational for that.

Anyway ... life continues and I'm very, very hungry.

The sordid history of me and my computer. Part one.

noreply@blogger.com (Mark A Lester) — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 19:22:00 +0000

The first (and only) computer that I ever bought was the Commodore VIC 20. I used all of the money I'd received from my high school graduation and went out and purchased this little miracle machine. Looking back, I highly suspect that I was pushed into buying it by my older and younger brothers. They were/are the computer nerds in the family. Personally, my relationship with computers has been shaky at best.

It took me approximately two minutes to discover that you could actually do nothing with this magical piece of plastic and whatnots. Well, I couldn't. My brothers (and my mom - Egads!) would sit up all night reading program books and typing in tons of code and then going back over the whole thing again and again when nothing worked. What did they get for all their troubles? A little ball that went from one side of the screen to the other and back again. They were thrilled. I just thought about all the money I'd wasted that could have bought me a really cool cassette player for my car. Which I didn't have either. No car, but I had a VIC 20. I was the envy of no one. Still, my investment has paid off big-time. I have not had to purchase one single bit of computer wizardry since. I just sit back and wait for my brothers to get tired of the latest dodad, buy the next version and pass to me whatever out dated bit and/or piece of whatever.

I've never been a gadget-alcoholic like some. (See above.) The only thing that interests me about computers is what they can do. Why they do it is so far beyond my ability to understand that it still feels a bit like magic and, I suspect, the work of the devil. Think about it and how deeply, and reverently, it is worshipped.

Now, I'm on the outlook for a new computer and/or getting mine repaired and I'm thinking that maybe I should have paid a bit more attention all those long years ago. Maybe? But then I've a lot of regrets in my life and this one, if it's one at all, would be far, far down on my list of "stupids".

Didn't he look so young then?

Going belly up.

noreply@blogger.com (Mark A Lester) — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 01:10:00 +0000

I have not been having the best of days. Not the worst I've had mind you but not so neato-cool-great. One of the many adventures I've had today is finding my computer gone. Passed. No more. Every-freakin' person I know is on vacation and since I don't know anything about computers, I have to wait until Monday to even know if it can be fixed. It's really sorta' sucky because I used that computer for work, for art and checking my email. (One of life's necessities, huh?) Right now I am using an old laptop and the three keys it still has working on its keyboard.

Whatever. Like I said, I've had worse days. Lots worse. I mean, like blow your brains out worse. Still, today could have been better. But it wasn't. Such is life.

Until I git the computer-thingie worked out, I won't be able to post much or upload any more artwork. And here I was, all geared up and ready to be visible and productive and all that stuff. Now ... Well, now I won't. I suppose.

I need a good book and some coffee.

I need a vacation myself. Yes. That would be nice. Very, very nice.

How's your day been?

Son of the Invisible Man

noreply@blogger.com (Mark A Lester) — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 22:42:00 +0000

I think I'm going insane. Not totally sure but pretty much sure. It might be outside forces working to drive me nuts or it might be some unexplained chemical imbalance. Who knows? It might just be a slow computer clogged with too much "stuff". Whatever it is, it sure feels like insanity.

Whatever.

Jim Mooney died a short while ago. Sad. Lived a long, productive life. So much so that people no one had ever heard of are mentioning his passing. That's not such a bad life. Everyone dies. I'll die and when I do I seriously doubt that anyone anywhere will be mentioning it in any blog. They should because I'm sorta' cool, but they probably won't. I'm an undiscovered cool. What can I say?

I've been kinda' invisible on the web lately. Let's just say that I was flying along, doing my thing when from outta' nowhere life rears its rather ugly head and bites me in the bum. (I've a feeling that's a mixed something or other but don't really care. Just try to keep up.) As a result I've been running around putting out fires, or cutting the heads off hydras or something. Buuut... this doesn't mean I haven't been busy. Ish. Lotsa art, covers, logos and the like, just nothin' visible. Which is sorta' that thing of mine that I was talking about. Still, since I don't want you to think that I've gone over the edge and disappeared again like as in gone disappeared and all ... Here I am! Go on us.

I've got too many things going on right now, and far too many things going on right now that I don't want to discuss with anyone, let alone anyone on the web that I don't know. (People have a bad habit of having opinions. Opinions I'm not really interested in hearing.) In an effort to do something, I'm considering trying to post some art here on the blog as it appears in the gallery and see how that goes. Fingers crossed or whatever. You got two of something, cross 'em.

Okaaaay ...

Well that only took like a million years. There has gotta' be a better way. Or maybe I'm doing something wrong. Which is a possibility. This is one of many pieces that I've done. One of a tona rejected/future cover pieces or whatever. Creating a workable cover is more than just pretty artwork and it's more than design. It's one of the few (instant) things that people have in which to base all your work on. You get maybe a second or two before their eyes pass on to the next thing in line. The "trick" is to catch their eye and make em want more. Not so easy. Not for me. Some artists are really good at creating covers that grab you by the short hairs and drag you in. There are quite a few artists who couldn't create a book to save their butts but can knock a cover outta the park every time. Sadly, I don't think I'm one of em, so I gotta really work at it.

Again. Whatever right? We're just experimenting here. Trying anyway. Not sure what I'm trying but I'm trying and that should count for something. Probably doesn't, but it should.

I'm feeling bugged and a bit grumpy. Can you tell? I'm told that I apparently have zero ability to hide whatever emotion I'm feeling at the moment I'm feeling it. I hope that's not the case since, for example, I'm wanting to punch someone in the face right at this moment and am being polite instead. Some people are sure nosey. They deserve to be punched in the neck. But that's something different altogether.

I've just finished two Lee Child Jack Reacher books. "Bad Luck and Trouble" and The Hard Way" and am currently reading "Tripwire". He's got eleven of em and, of course, I'm not reading them in any order. That would make too much sense. I've also just finished the first three "Maximum Ride" books. Maybe I'll discuss them later. If I remember. We'll see. I'd also love discussing movies since I love movies. B&W are the best so my discussing them might be painful for some. You will deal I'm sure.

Later.

How many?

noreply@blogger.com (Mark A Lester) — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 19:53:00 +0000

Good to know.

ALTERED EGO ON SALE NOW!

noreply@blogger.com (Mark A Lester) — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 04:18:00 +0000

Finally! At long last ALTERED EGO: The Collected Edition is available from Five Star Comics through IndyPlanet! Be the coolest kid of the block and get your copy today! Visit Five Star Comics on-line and follow the link or visit IndyPlanet direct by clicking the link below!

ALTERED EGO: The Collected Edition

Consider it charity if you must. Write it off on your taxes. I don't care, just buy the book! I'm not proud.

Okay. This is cool.

noreply@blogger.com (Mark A Lester) — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 18:52:00 +0000

Get a Voki now!

Altered Ego Update.

noreply@blogger.com (Mark A Lester) — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 17:31:00 +0000

Last night I received an email from the printer and everything is set to go. They are also giving me a bit of a discount, which they really didn't have to do but which I really appreciate. Every bit helps. (I love this printer!) The collected AE should be available online soon. I promise this time. No more messing around with it.

... Really!

Under the influence.

noreply@blogger.com (Mark A Lester) — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 22:35:00 +0000

Everyone is always asking me who my influences are and then set about guessing who my work reminds them of. I'm always interested and at times totally flabbergasted by their choices. The truth is that I could never put together a complete list of all the creators who have had an influence on me and my work. Every artist, writer, musician and person on the streets influences me in some way but there are few certain comic book artists that hit me at the right time and were the greatest influences in my comic book art style and the way that I, personally, draw funny books. After all, there has never been a comic book quite as great as those you read when you were ten years old and these guys ruled my ten year olds comic book world.

John Buscema (1927 - 2002)
Whoa. I wanted so badly to draw like Buscema. He was the classic, cool artists-artist. Buscema is perhaps the best comic book artist ever and is best known for his work on The Avengers and The Silver Surfer, and for over 200 stories featuring the sword and sorcery hero Conan the Barbarian. Sweeet work.

Gil Kane (1926 - 2000)
Kane co-created the modern-day Green Lantern and Atom for DC Comics, and numerous other superheroes, including Marvel Comics' Iron Fist but it was his pioneering work on graphic novels, His Name is...Savage, in 1968, and a seminal graphic novel, Blackmark, in 1971 that make me sit up in awe. While never as famous as many, he was always first. Not ahead of his time but outside of it. I wanna' be Gil Kane.

Joe Kubert (1926)
He is best known for his work on the DC Comics features Sgt. Rock and Hawkman. One of my first and my very favorites. His work was powerful and 'real' like few others. Kubert's art still holds up today and is some of the most powerful comic book art I've ever seen.

Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez (1948)
If Buscema and Neal Adams were combined and the best parts of each put into one single artist, Lopez is it. His notable works include Atari Force, Cinder and Ashe, Road to Perdition, Deadman, New Teen Titans and various DC superheroes. Under-appreciated and head and shoulders above just about everyone else. If I had to choose one artist I wish I drew like, Lopez is the man. If anyone knows him tell him that I love his work.

Jim Aparo (1932 - 2005)
Jim Aparo was best known for his work on various Batman stories for DC Comics. There is a whoooole lot of Aparo inside my work. Probably more Aparo than any other single artist. He could draw Batman like no one else ... except ...

Neal Adams (1941)
He has helped create some of the definitive modern imagery of the DC Comics characters Batman, Green Arrow, and others before going out on his own and creating Continuity Comics. An early and steadfast pioneer for creator's rights. Adams created THE Batman and THE Superman in my eyes. I still can't help but compare every other artists take on those two icons against his versions and they always come up short.

Mike Grell (1947)
Grell's first assignment at DC was on Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes and that's where he caught me and changed my art forever. Right place. Right time. I was a GIANT fan of TOLSH but only while Grell was drawing it. When talking about influences Grell was my number one. Like I keep saying - right place, right time. I was about ten when I first saw Grell's work and I was never the same after. Even my signature was influenced my his.

Finally ... the many and numerous unnamed artists whose work I loved but never knew their names. Because as a kid it's the ride that matters, not who created it and there are just too many for a single mind to hold on to.

You wanna' see other artists' work inside of mine ... ? Look at these guys and see if ya' can do it.

Well, now I've shown you mine. Let's see yours.

Different stroking.

noreply@blogger.com (Mark A Lester) — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 17:15:00 +0000

Some writers are poets. Some write fiction. Short stories or novels. Some writers write for film, some movies, some comic books, some cartoons, some greeting cards. Some writers write for video games. Some writers write fiction while others write nonfiction. For every writer there is a different desire and a different path to see those desires realized. The same can be said for artists, musicians and just about everyone else walking beneath the same blue sky. We're all different from each other and this isn't a bad thing. In fact it's a very, very good thing.

As artists, and more specifically as human beings, I think that we make the mistake of thinking that everyone shares the same hopes, dreams and desires as we do. People are different. Everyone dreams of different things. Has different desires. Different plans. Different goals. It's a mistake to think that because someone else isn't following the same path we've laid out for ourselves that they have somehow 'gone astray'.

Do your own thing, sit back and let others do theirs. After all, it's our diversity and our differences that makes this world interesting.

The Invisible Man.

noreply@blogger.com (Mark A Lester) — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 18:39:00 +0000

I look around myself, around this site, around the few other sites I'm a (teenie tiny) part of and I can't help but feel like the 'Invisible Man'. Not a big deal, just an observation of a continually repeating phenomena. This could actually be considered a super power if I could only find a way to harness it. (Me = Endless search for silver lining.)

Drug of choice.

noreply@blogger.com (Mark A Lester) — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 19:27:00 +0000

To me art is like a drug. It controls my life and everything in it. My every thought and desire is wrapped up in the idea, the very thought, of creation. Like a drug, many might say that art has ruled, some would say controlled, some even destroyed, my life ... but nothing gives me the same high. Nothing lifts me like art does. Creating. More than simply pencil to paper, art is an act of creation. How can I not crave this? If art is my drug of choice, then I'm an admitted addict. I can't stop myself and I can't turn away. I don't want to. Fame, notoriety, success? These things don't matter to me. They don't even enter in to the process. To create is the thing. It's the only thing. Let others have the notice and the success, just let me create and I'll be blissfully happy.

Or at least I'll think I am and isn't that really the same thing after all?