GREEN ZINE #2: "Wanita the Wheelchair Witch: Hell On Wheels"

I only started making/printing zines in 2014 but now officially have 8 different ones... I would have a ton more by now but life has forced me to wait... I tend to always feel like I could be making comics, stories etc so much faster than I do... but alas...

           

Without further ado the official cover for Zine #8......

While these have been so much fucking fun creating they are essentially to bring new readers to my free digital comic series... now almost all of my online series have a zine.... all but one... (Green Zine #3) Below are Green Zine #1 FAT fridaze and #2 Wanita the Wheelchair Witch

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

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

Animated Selfie

 

I've been wanting to work with animation in a bigger way... Can't wait to flesh my characters out more and get them moving and talking... in the mean time I thought I'd make my selfie move.

Enjoy

xx

OMG!!!! Monica Ray drew my character!!! WOOO!!!

I've mentioned the comic series "The Mismatched Miscreants" I started with high school friend Alex Blain... been working on it off and on for a decade... and have never posted anything but the cast photo

Well... Alex (co-creator/co-writer) won a contest and was able to request one B&W drawing from the lovely and talented Monica Ray of Phuzzy Comics ... he submitted our main cast and she selected...

wait for it...









wait for it....

VISA-PERV!!!

Originally "Invisa-perv" when the comic starts (everyone's favorite invisible pervert) she is able to become visible when... well, I can't tell you yet... you will have to just wait and see ;)

THANKS SO MUCH MONICA RAY!!! You have no idea how freakin' cool it is to have my character drawn by someone else... especially a serious and established comic artist. EEEEEEEEEEEE

Thanks so so much Alex Blain for making this happen and being a blast to collaborate with!!

xx

CHECK OUT MORE OF MONICA RAY'S WORK at Phuzzy Comics

DMBstudios illustration video

FF1 & FF2 Banner Art

In honor of the upcoming retrospective here are banners for FAT fridaze Year 1 & 2

Year 1

Year 2

Missing Cat: FAT Fridaze YR 2 Banner Retrospective/Making of Part 1

A lot of the format of FAT Fridaze has been due to the way blogspot is set up. That is why I chose to do a vertical strip as opposed to horizontal. I also wanted to insure that people could read the strip easily on their phone. I've been using banners like comic book covers since none of the strips have been printed yet to just move the story along. (Can't wait to print a book of FAT Fridaze sketches, drawings and banners some day :)))

This time I did the banner a different way... it's an actual whole image as opposed to just drawings of a few characters with a background thrown in. I drew this image with pencil, then went over it with a black colored pencil (shown below) then without doing any fill I hand colored it on Photoshop, I was really thrilled with how the texture and color worked together :)

Below are FF2's banner art so far... I already have the next 2 finished... Thanks for letting me take you guys on this little journey with me... and thanks again for reading and supporting!! 

To read FAT Fridaze, click .....      HERE