Saturday, December 31, 2011

A look back at 2011...

If I had a mantra for 2011 it may have gone a little something like- "GO! GO! GO! DON'T LOOK BACK!! AAUGH!!!" While some days it seems to have all whipped by at the speed of a fast-thing, when I actually stop to pause, breath, drink some tea, nap, and look back, I'm really happy with what was accomplished in this one short year. 2011 was definitely a very productive and adventurous years in my life, and if you'll indulge me for a few minutes here are a few of the highlights... (INDULGE ME!!!)

I drew comics and illustrations for beautiful anthologies...

_________________________________

Kept a roof over my head and food in my belly storyboarding on fun animation projects... 
_________________________________
Travelling, LOTS of travelling!

Quebec, New York City, Portland, San Diego, Los Angeles, Disney Land, and San Francisco! While on the road I reunited with fabulous friends, met wonderful new ones, got engaged to my best friend Gerry, got into plenty of sibling shenanagins,  explored new cities, ate tons of tasty food and experienced a whole shebang of fun adventures! While I like travel for travel's sake, most of these trips were of the nature of "business trips." And by "business" I mean COMIC CONVENTIONS!
location: All over th' place

Comic conventions in 2011: 
Wizard World (Toronto), Mocca (New York), Stumptown (Oregon), Anime North (Toronto), TCAF (Toronto), San Diego Comic Con, Con Bravo (Ontario), APE (San Francisco)
_________________________________

Built up confidence and fell in love with inking by brush 
Prior to October 2010 I'd never even picked up a brush expect for sloppy painting attempts
________________________________
Self published"Silly Kingdom."
Started and published a brand new comic called "Silly Kingdom" with my brother Shaggy.  Printing was financed through pre-sales of the book by our amazing friends from around the world (who helped us reach more than double our original IndieGogo fundraising campaign request and made us feel very loved indeed!) 
________________________________
Drawing art for some excellent philanthropic projects-
One of the greatest compliments anyone can give me is to tell me that something I drew made them smile and made their day a little bit brighter. This year I was invited to help out with a couple great charity projects- drawing fun and goofy illustrations for the power of good.
Several of my inked originals were auctioned off to charities focused on cancer research. Comic Creator's Alliance fights to end child trafficking through Prevention and Aftercare programs, and Womanthology is a charity comic book anthology with all profits being donated to Global grassroot organizations.
_________________________________


"And  many more..."
Setting intentions for 2012!
As I'm still in the thick of finishing project deadlines I probably won't relax and start planning my goals for 2012 until we're well into January, but the BIGGEST focus for 2012 is to find a healthy balance between love, career, and friendships.

Aaaaaaand I also want to go on more adventures, fill my head with knowledge, and draw comics and pictures that make people smile. I want to learn to read French (so I can finally read my French comics!) and go to the Angoulême International Comics Festival (with a big collection of Silly Kingdom stories!) Try my hand at  violin, parkour, fencing, aerial arts, paint a mural, volunteer in the community, and... uh... draw more Shrub Monkey comics!

Thanks so much for reading! My very fondest wishes to you all in the new year. May 2012 be filled with laughter, love and lots-of-inspiration,

5 comments:

Stephanie Seed said...

So not much then! I want a year as good as this! Congrats

Stu Livingston said...

So many things how do you find the time??... Got me inspired for my big plans in 2012 - hope to see you in Toronto this spring! :)

Kevin Lam said...

Wow you really accomplished a lot of amazing stuff! I shall strive to do just as much :)

Milan D. said...

2011 was a real doozy for everyone. But a good doozy! Happy new year! hope it's not the last, lol. 2012.

Kt Shy said...

Thanks so much gang!! :D