Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Batgirl & Flexing the Productivity Muscles



Well, last week was a personal "8" as far as productivity goes. I pushed myself hard and, while there were a few times I slacked off(mainly because I was so tired that the page looked blurry and I needed a nap, for the most part I met last weeks main goal of five pages. That may mean a lot to a seasoned pro in the comic book industry, but for someone who still works part-time 3-4 hours a day 4 days a week and who hasn't drawn a whole lot until she quit her day job three weeks ago, it means a lot. It feels like I'm starting off towards the right direction.

This week, however, is almost the exact opposite. I would rate it as a "3". Things are moving at a sloths pace as far as productivity goes. Of course the fact that I've had to take my roommate/best friend to the emergency room Tuesday, I still have to file my w2 form, I have packing that needs to be finished since my lease is up in a week and a half and I'll have to move out, and that I've also have been taking care of the business side of things this week...all of these things take time. I'm working on updating this website and improving things and I have a few different projects that are moving towards fruition--some of them are completely out of the blue, others that have been planned for almost a year now. There's a lot of exciting things I'm working on right now that I really can't talk about.

Which is why it's so frustrating when life interferes with my drawing time. But it's like working out. You push yourself hard and then that muscle needs a short rest before you build it up again.  As long as I push myself even harder next week, I can move to a heavier "weight" and last weeks "personal best" will seem a lot easier to pull off.  Right now though, I need to take care of all the other things I've been putting off all month so I can draw without that nagging feeling in the back of my head. :p

Alright, well I'm signing off. I need to get to bed so I can get up at four tomorrow and try again. 

Good Night!

Rachael


Sunday, February 15, 2009

Exausted, But Happy.


Hey there internet peoples. 
I feel really bad that I don't update this blog more often, but frankly theres not that much to report. Not to mention that I've been so busy lately that I barely have time to catch a full night's sleep let alone blog. 

I've been hard at work these past two weeks on the comic book project I'm doing for "company x", Teaching art classes partime in an afterschool program, and taking Taekwondo. Theres not much room in my schedule for relaxing.  Last night I only got three hours of sleep(and an hour nap) while trying to meet a self-imposed deadline/goal. I'm up to drawing five pages a week, which might not be to hard for a seasoned pro, but for a noob freelancer who also has another job, it's a huge improvement. :) I'm drawing on average 9 hours a day(With about 12 hours a day Friday and Saturday) , which is alot more than I'm used to back when I had my old job.  Now that this weeks goal is met, I get to do it allll again starting tomarrow. Don't get me wrong--I'm busy, stressed, exaughsted and I would kill for a "day off"...but I've never been happier. I have that kind of joyful/peaceful feeling when I finish a page a day like I get when i'm at the beach, sitting on the porch when its pouring down rain, or on a roadtrip. I just have the biggest smile on my face lately and I can't get rid of it, even if I wanted to.

Also, I'm really going to put more effort keep this blog rolling. Even if I just have to upload pictures some weeks, because I haven't had time to sketch. It will still be a step in the right direction.

Ok, I'll have to cut this short. I can barely keep my eyes open and I have to be up in five hours.

laters,
Rachael

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

A New Chapter

Time Agent Mack:


Well, I can now say that I'm a full-time comic book artist. I quit the Comcast/Convergys Call Center this last thursday and now I'm buckling down on focusing on my various art jobs that have been getting neglected while I tried to work two jobs.

Not only was I working at the call-center this past month, but I've also taken a part time job as a teacher in an After School Art program(which is run by the same people who run the Tae Kwon Do dojo in town, so I get a nice little discount there) and was pretty much running from one job to the next and then coming home and going straight to bed. I was doing very little drawing, unless it was for a demonstration for my students.

So when you double that up that everyone in the call center was already afraid of losing their job because they've firing people for the stupidest reasons lately, I decided to just cut through the bullshit and quit. I hated it there. I really did. Plus, I still have an agreement with Company x to do a miniseries with them. It's a small published, so its not enough to support myself on alone, but I still have my teaching job

--and you know what? I work twice as hard now to make less pay but I love every damn second of it. I wake up at 5 am, sit down at my art desk at 6am and draw till 3 pm(with a break and a lunch fit in there somewhere) the go to my job at the Art Academy(Monday through Thursday), go to Tae Kwon do, get home by 8:30 and then either finish up whatever work I have for that day, clean the apartment, or hang with my friends till about ten or eleven, then hit the hay. On Fridays or Saturdays, I just draw from 6am till 7pm till its time to go to Tae Kwon Do or sketch club. It's proving to be a real challenge to actually draw a page a day, but I'm getting there. It's just going to take a week or two to get back to that point.

Once I'm done with the current project I'm working on, it will be about time for Heroes or the San Diego Comic Con, so what I'm doing is saving my Tax refund(which is apparently going to be a VERY nice little pay check) to pay for room and air fare so I can get out and look for the next job.

Right now I'm at a bit of a crossroads and I have a lot of decisions that need to be made--what with my lease being up for the apartment and deciding if I want to move back in with mom till another friend of mine can split the cost of an apartment with me, head out to Hawaii and stay with my brother for awhile, Go to College in Savannah Georgia in the fall, stay here and take the preschool teacher job thats been offered to me to start in august, move out to Encinitas and go to Watts Atelier and work as a Caricature Artist, continue to try and make it as a freelance artist, etc.....lots of choices to be made. But right now I'm to focused on finishing pencils on the comic book page thats on my drafting table to dwell on anything else for to long. Eithewr way, this is the start of a new adventure for me.

Alright, well thats more than long enough.
I'll post more later.