DMBstudios 2015 Recap: WTF have I been up to?

We are nearing the end of the year and I always like to look back at all of the projects I started and completed. In order to ever advance and evolve I feel like you need to look at what you have created... where you've come from and all the journey that lead to now.

I have had many years where I wasn't able to focus on my creative projects. Before my comic series were developed enough to be fully on paper I would just sketch out ideas and dialogue and leave it somewhere until it piled up.

It's an interesting time in my life... I finally have several series more fleshed out... some at ending points or good stopping points and the others are just still slowly pouring out of my mind.

So... let's begin... I know... more reading. I'm sorry.

2015

- THE VIDEOS -

I originally moved to LA to work with film in some way. I definitely wanted to try to be in front of the camera and play a character like I had growing up in theater and the videos I used to make with my sister. I also just wanted to work with film as a storyteller. Being in front of the camera has definitely become less important to me but I was so happy to finally work on film projects. Ironically they all happened my last month in LA. I guess a part of me knew if I didn't make them happen they wouldn't. So here they are.... the commercial, the music video, the illustration video, the short....

The Commercial

Initially moving to LA I hoped of getting a big commercial. If I could only bite into a taco or giggle with a group in our holiday sweaters I could bank and audition more.... unfortunately without a car... it was a lot harder... and I chose drawing instead. 

At the end of 2014 I was asked by an old friend of a friend if I was interested in being in a commercial. I immediately said yes but was happy to hear it would be clothing retail related (I have a good decade or so of clothing retail experience)

It was shot over 2 days on the west side and was fun and easy and I think it turned out great!

WATCH THE COMMERCIAL HERE (scroll down the page)

The Music Video

I have played around with keyboards more than any instrument most of my life, but wouldn't consider myself a pro by any means. I had been posting music since 2012 under MRamorphous and finally made a song that I felt needed to be fully fleshed out. The end result is pretty similar to my ideas with a few minor visual effects that didn't get to happen. What is important is the mood I feel was created. My friend Michael Vintege who plays the "Evil Ex" did a great job with his subtle lurking. My other friend Eunice Ador really captured the angles and close ups I was going for. I'm still really proud of what the 3 of us created!!

"Shelf" - MRamorphous from DMBtv on Vimeo.


The Illustration Video

I think the question I have gotten the most in my life about illustration is "How long does it take?" (to finish a comic/page etc) and the thing is... it's really hard to say. If you are lucky enough to have a writer you can focus more on the design, execution, coloring etc but if you are also the writer there is a random and sometimes tediously long period where you haven't fully decided what to do with an issue/page/ etc so there is the time it takes to decide on what you want to execute, the time it takes to pencil it.... ink... erase.... color. It takes a long long time... In this video you see one panel being completed or a character... consider that there are maybe 5-10 panels per page, 5-20 character illustrations per page... and maybe 20 pages in a comic....the coloring takes a while... especially by hand. Digital is faster but you are still having to decide every little detail and try and make it interesting... make it pop... make it make the scene come to life...

DMBstudios Illustration Video from DMBtv on Vimeo.


The Short

You tell me the genre after watching... the point for me was capturing myself in the city from the outside... I am constantly working from the inside.. picturing a scenario myself. Rarely do I get to have that scene in 3-D in front of me until I design and finish it myself. I was so glad that my old friend Lok Hwa was interested in shooting me... I showed him the locations I had in mind (the first day trying to show him the locations it was raining so hard we had to reschedule after getting trapped in some pretty bad rain under a huge umbrella... it was quite the cartoon moment) I was really thrilled when he had ideas for the story... and even an ending... then he actually made the music himself and added several subtle special effects. This was filmed over... I want to say 2 days but it might have been more.

Missing Cell from Lok Hwa on Vimeo.

 -THE ZINES -

Orange Zine

For my 30th Birthday Party I wanted to finish and hand out my latest (2nd) DMBstudios Daniel Zine.... I printed the original on white paper for my guests and several months later printed it on Orange paper to be spread around the world!!! .... 

Green Zine #1

I had been planning to release 3 green zines and finally fleshed out and printed the FAT fridaze Green Zine "Weed is your friend"... it had been a while since I drew the guys so it was difficult at first to capture them but I feel like it was another "extra" "mini" story like Picnic... so that was pretty exiting :D With the orange and green zines complete I am now at a total of 6... and have several more in the works

- THE COMIC SERIES -

TALES from Fashion City

Although I only posted the ending to one issue I have been working on several more. The problem I realized was that there was so much story with the characters and I started somewhere in the middle... so now I am writing the beginnings and endings of several things. It finally kinda clicked this year that TFFC is a life project... I have so many things I want to say and do with this series that it will take me a long while. Please check out all the older issues... I think there is close to 200 pages online now for free

Wanita the wheelchair witch

So far I am still at 20 pages but I have the next several stories already in mind. Wanita could be a long project also... 

Mismatched Miscreants

This is actually the series I have been working on the most this year. I just started on issue #17 a few days ago... working on about 5 issues now... trying to get it finished so I can print and distribute it finally. For those who haven't seen these guys... This is a series I started when I was 17-18 with a friend and have been working on ever since. (I'm now 30) I have waited sooooo long just to have these stories out in the world... I can't wait for people to finally read.

- THE MUSIC -

I would post my newest songs in here but I posted them in my next most recent post... An untitled 7 track EP (to jump there click HERE and listen to the first 7) Listening with headphones is best since I'm not a pro... the synth sounds will sound more like they are supposed to

but I will elaborate on them a wee bit for the soldiers who are still reading this ;)

1. 222 - one of the few songs on here made with an actual keyboard... I made this sometime in 2014 I believe and didn't have a home for it yet so it just sat in a flash drive... but I like that it is the first track... the album is pretty dark. I no longer have this keyboard so the song means even more to me

2. Deteriorate - this song was made on GarageBand on my computer and was also an older song I never had a place for

3. Fed Up - was made on my computer on GarageBand as well but 2015

4. Lost - the first song I ever made on GarageBand for iPhone (the rest are also made this way)

5. Fading into mediocrity - I like to make songs that aren't always easy to listen to... it's about the feelings... the mood

6. Simple - like the title it's a very simple piano song

7. Moving On- I hadn't played with synth sounds like this yet so I was down to put this on my Soundcloud


and that is about it... I hope you enjoyed something in this post or learned something about me...

Good luck to the creative people out there... keep working on your projects!!

-D

Untitled EP

This collection of sounds was all made in 2015 using Garage Band on my phone except for the first 2 tracks which were made in 2014 using my old Yamaha (Track 3 was made using Garage Band synths on the computer in 2015)

"Lost" was the first song I ever made on Garage Band on my phone so it taught me how to use the program... then I was just playing around with it and eventually made a few I liked.... I posted the last 4 and then rediscovered "222" & "Deteriorate" .... 2 songs I had randomly made last year on my keyboard and recorded on my computer... I didn't really have anywhere to put them before but they seemed to fit...

Hope you enjoy

-D

MRamorphous Soundcloud

"Missing Cell" Short

Missing Cell from Lok Hwa on Vimeo.

I've known the super talented Lok Hwa for years and was thrilled to finally work with him in this video... I wanted to get a few shots of me walking around in my neighborhood before I moved and he thought of a story line and then we filmed it in a couple of days back in January.

Check out Lok's other videos on his Vimeo and his music on Soundcloud

Story/Camera/Editing/Scoring/Special Effects: Lok Hwa 2015

Green Zine # 1..... IS HERE!!

Just a day before gay history was made I printed out these bad boys. It was an interesting process... I hadn't drawn Adrian/Phoenix or Mews in about 9 months or so... I have missed them but needed the break after years of working on FAT fridaze.

Mews makes a smaller cameo but was the missing piece... I penciled and inked Mews on the cover but he decided to start making himself known digitally...

Then when it came to some promo shots he decided to make an appearance in the flesh... He began rolling around and being adorable in the background....

I hope you enjoy this 8 page FAT fridaze story and add it to your collection of DMBstudios zines... I will be making 2 more Green Zines as well as a 3rd Daniel Zine this year... so look out for them...

Planning on sending these to New York, Seattle, LA and San Francisco... So, look for them...

Available to order online in the near-ish future

Thanks again for your support everyone!!

NEW MINI ZINE: Green Zine # 1 "Weed is your friend"

COMING SOON!!!! (to a city near you)

I had been planning to do 3 Green Zines (that I'd like to finish this year) I'm finally ready to reveal #1!!

I will be soon printing a new FAT fridaze story... 8 page mini zine collectible "Weed is your friend"

TALES from Fashion City "Solo Mission" Finale Part 2

I was scrolling through some old pictures and stumbled upon a few photos of me working on TALES from Fashion City "Solo Mission" ... before I had even started writing I was designing the newest characters that would appear (Stars, Hearts and Jaxx) The crazy part is I started those designs almost a year ago... so here I am finally finished with this issue. At 27 Pages "Solo Missions" is the longest TALE to date... I am glad I was finally able to flesh out a lot of the story and introduce more characters and expand on Fashion City... even still this is the tip of the iceberg. I can't wait to get some of the other TALES out of my skull...

I'm hoping to finish Wanita so I can do another Double Feature ... Thanks for reading Gentle Viewers!!

DMBtv VIDEO #2 - "Shelf"

"Shelf" - MRamorphous from DMBtv on Vimeo.

I have been making music for 3 years under the name MRamorphous... it wasn't planned nor did I know where it would lead but I have had fun making songs and experimenting with sound... I made the song "Shelf" in mid November (with help from my friend Rafa Erduz... without his pedals I wouldn't have found my core sound) and posted it November 26th I believe... It was my first song that I really had a visual on what a video would look like... I toyed around with the idea in my head for a while and finally decided I wanted to reach out to my friend Eunice... she had done some videos for my friend Dan Reyes ( Ruiins ) and I was really impressed with her work. We started hanging out a lot and got pretty close so I was thrilled when she was interested in looking at my storyboards and talk about filming this for me.

This video was shot over 2 days in Los Angeles in January 2015 in my bedroom. I was set to leave at the end of the month and was happy to get to use my apartment for it. I was also lucky that my friend Michael Vintege agreed to play the part of my ex in the video. Without another person it couldn't have had the depth and range of emotion that I wanted. He is a photographer and I knew it would be easy for him to slip into video.

It has taken me a while to get settled but I have finally figured out how to edit videos a bit so last night I stayed up late to edit this. It was exciting and I'm quite happy with the turn out.

If you enjoy it please check out my other songs on my Soundcloud 

Thanks!!

COMING SOON... 2 new web comics 

1st DMBtv VIDEO!!

DMBstudios Illustration Video from DMBtv on Vimeo.

I have been filming these scenes for a couple years now... I wanted people to get a glimpse of the time it takes just to color a single image of a character... then imagine the amount of time it takes to develop, write, design, sketch, edit, ink, scan, and color it all...

I love doing what I do but it is definitely a process and can be frustrating... If the ideas could just flow out of my brain onto paper or the computer/TV screen I would have many MANY many comics and cartoons out in the world... Instead there is a filter...the ideas swirl together and eventually shoot out through my hand...

We live in a time where everything appears so instant but we sometimes forget the creative humans working behind the scenes just to bring you a story, song, or image...

Please don't spend seconds publicly bashing work that has taken possible years to create.

Thanks for watching!!

-di

Permian Basin Comic Con X

When I decided to move back to West Texas I did a quick search to see what comic shops were in the area... sadly not even Dale's Planet Comics exists anymore... so I was really excited to hear the first Comic Con was happening in Odessa...

I will be bringing my old Blue DMBzine and my new Orange one... I originally premiered the 2nd one at my 30th Birthday Party... a white paper limited printing... so this is the first time I'm handing out the orange version... I hope the Con is Zine and DIY friendly... I don't exactly have a table............

SEE YOU THERE NERDS!!


Another 4 pages of Wanita the wheelchair Witch and the Finale for TALES from Fashion City: "Solo Mission" is COMING SOON!! 

GROOVV Commercial

My awesome friends Martha & Julian asked me to be in a commercial for this company GROOVV... it looks like all my retail experience paid off!

Just scroll to the bottom of the website and hit PLAY

GROOVV

2015 PREVIEW

 

I made a new DMBstudios Zine that will be available later in January... and am planning 3 other zines to be released this year... maybe 4

 

I have mentioned animation before but I would also like to just work with video... Now that I have Final Cut Pro... anything is possible... I will be posting several short videos this year that will range as well as (fingers crossed) some animation

I mentioned in old posts the series I started with friend and co-creator/co-writer Alex Blain "The Mismatched Miscreants" well... I have been working on it lately and I am at over 200 pages... 2015 will be a very different year because I have decided to move back to Texas for a while... luckily I will be able to continue collaborating with Alex and plan to maybe print the first 10 Issues this year...

 200+ Pages... 16 Issues so far... (I think Volume 1 will end with Issue 20)...

I will continue making digital comics for my online series TALES from Fashion City and Wanita the Wheelchair Witch. I'm really excited where both series are going but as the cast and stories grow so does the behind the scenes shiz... *phew*

 

I will also be editing and printing FAT fridaze year 1!! I had hoped to have Year one ready to buy after Year 3 ended it's run but 2014 was a strange year...

Also... I will start working on new/different comics... now that I have FF out of the way for a bit...

Well... I'm really looking forward to a productive and fun 2015... I hope you are too!