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| Watched DaiMajin while working |
Dear Andy
I just wanted you to know I graduated MassArt this past spring and I would have never made it without your help and guidance. One thing I always wanted to ask you but never did is can you give me an idea of what a typical day for a freelance artist is like?
Always in your debt.
Mike
Ah Mike, thanks for the letter-- and that's the great thing about freelance-- there is no typical day. Because of that-- I'm going to give you two days in a row-- a Monday and a Tuesday so that you can see what it adds up to. Somedays I might work 18+ hours at the drawing board, others I might barely touch it. So here, without further adieu is Monday July 9th (The day I'm actually writing this);
8am -- Up and showered, Veronica makes breakfast and we eat outside on the deck to enjoy the nice weather. Our next door neighbor brought in a Stump Company to grind down some poor old tree making it not very quiet but still nice. The weather is beautiful, the noise is making the dog nervous.
9am-- Monday morning packaging-- got a lot of art pieces shipping out and I have a new class starting today at WAM so I want to get these out in the morning mail.
10am-- Quick meeting with Veronica to review our week. She's got a pile of projects, and is waiting for word on where to ship a piece to a pop up gallery in NYC. She's also going to work on promoting libraries-- and this reminds me that we are doing a Manga Workshop in Southbridge tonight.
11am- Work a little bit on this Batman piece, popped in RETURN OF DAI MAJIN (1966) to watch while I work-- it's subtitled in English which makes it hard to watch and work-- should have gone with TENNESSEE TUXEDO CARTOONS like I planned;
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| (c) DC Comics |
1145am- Artist friend calls me to ask what my table number is at San Diego Comic Con- for the second time in three months (he's a busy guy). I explain again that due to my teaching schedule at WAM I can't make SDCC this year. Maybe I plan better next year.
1150am- Client calls looking for recommendation for a good caricature artist-- I recommend Mike Briggs for the assignment they have.
1210pm - Client calls looking for a one page comic book fill, they need it last minute, I assure them I can have it to them by the morning.
1220pm- At WAM-- I go over the roster for the class, discuss the planned outcome for the class with both my superiors and my assistant.
1230pm- Meet students-- many of them have been with me in this year long course for nine months. It's like being with old friends. We visit the museum and discuss what our objectives are with this class.
230pm- Class is out-- I'm starving. I was planning on stopping at Big Y on my way home but I decide to head straight there.
250pm- Home, make a sandwich of Chicken, apples and onions in a pita with brown mustard-- it's amazing. Start RETURN OF DAIMAJIN again-- I'm going to actually watch this sometime.
315pm- Client emails, needs a project next week but wanted to give me a heads up. I like these kinds of clients.
345pm- Commission I'm working on for a friend is still wet, I planned on mailing it out today but it's going to need another day to dry.
400pm- Work a bit on both the Batman piece and do the quick layouts for the one page comic. It's pretty straightforward-- I go from layouts to pencils without much trouble.
510pm- We leave for Southbridge. Mapquest says it's 40mins. Starts at 6pm, I'm feeling a bit drained so I opt to stop at Dunkins. Never spent much time in Southbridge but it's got a neat little downtown area.
6pm- Workshop begins, we've got a nice mix of teens and adults, they follow along, ask good questions and follow along well.
720pm- Workshop goes off without a hitch, we're on our way back to The Woo. Detour to Big Y to pick up a few things. I realize I buy a Watermelon every two days in the summer. I eat a lot of watermelon. Although I don't normally buy my fruit at Supermarkets I've had good luck at Big Y in the past.
Pick up a cool Spider-Man Ball figure
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| Spidey has let himself go. |
I also bought this can of coffee just because I liked the design-- I do this sometimes:
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| I hope it's good coffee. |
845pm- back in the studio-- on that page for the client.
11pm-- page is done and scanned in at 1200dpi and sent over to them via YOUSENDIT.
1115pm- I'm writing this blog-- got to get up early tomorrow to take the car in for an oil change at GREASY'S-- figuring I'll pop DAIMAJIN in the bedroom DVD player to watch a few minutes before bed-- that might be a bad idea.
Bedtime-- and on to tomorrow!
