Ars Longa, Vitae Brevis

Which translates to; "Art lasts, life is brief".

That has had a lot of meaning for me in the past and now. Especially now; what I do with my life is more important than my life. If that has any meaning to you...or me.
I'm moving. Many of you know this. My point; I'm making the biggest move in my life of 37 years yet. And I'm not clinging to the things that I thought I would be. In fact; I'm finding it liberating to let go of absolutely everything. That is, to say; I'm free.
Not free of love, construct, family or place in this life but free of constraints. And it really feels quite good. I've never allowed myself this freedom before. I know why. It's because I didn't want to lose what I have. I don't know when I realized that just because I'm moving across the country it doesn't mean I have to lose anything. My friends I will always know. My family the same. I will love both these factions equally and value them as one and the same. It has always been within me to do so. And I trust in that.
My home; Vermont. Steady as the strongest rock in a pitching torrent of muck and mire this world has to offer; she/he will still be here and I thank it and all of the people I have known within and without for all the years of hospitality and friendship that they have allowed me to know.
I walk along much stronger having known you all. And I shall continue to know and love you.
This place and these people will always have a friend in me.

And now; on to Portland, Oregon ;)

Portland, Oregon (a redux post from another Blog)

(originally written and posted June 19th, 2008)


So it's been in my mind for over a year to move. I was never sure about where until 6 months ago and even then, I wasnt sure if it was gunna be Portland Oregon or Wellfleet Mass. Ultimately, things just worked out for Portland. Having Puck and Jeremy moving there next year and with good friends already there definately sweetened the deal. I talked to my folks about what options I had this last Monday. See, I'm not happy with my current landlords and havent been for a while. My lease is up end of August. My upstairs neighbors have never been able to handle any noise past 11 pm; like watching a movie or my friends and I playing a game. Not drinking and hooting and hollering. No; just some nerds playing a fucking card game. They couldnt deal. I never want to be THAT old. So I knew I wanted a change of location. I just didn't know where. Jobwise; I've bottomed out. I have great jobs, but no health care. I'm 36. I need health care. And more pay then what Ive been getting. I dont have the cash to train in any job aspect that will pay me more for the moment. But that's a thought also.
So in that vein, after talking with my folks, what we discussed was that a friend of the family, Tyler Katzenberg-Prescott, is looking to move over to Portland at the end of August and he needs a room mate. He also has a line on a job for me with benefits. I called Tyler that night and he is interested in being my room mate. Wether we fly or drive is still up inthe air. I told him Id help with gas and that sweetened the deal for him. I wanna drive cross country. That'd be fun!
I'll miss alla yous but I gotta see what the West coast is all about. With San Diego and San Fran being right there with 2 of the biggest conventions in those cities and all the creatives in that area in general makes me a happy monkee! I hope I get to see alla you before I leave at the end of August. Sincerely, Ethan :)

New "Squirt" color art!

So here they are; Justin Athertons finished colors for page three of the comic entitled; "Squirt!" Squirt has just gone green at Arcana comics and is due, by me, at the end of August 2009. The contracts are in, the pencils warmed up and we're rarin' to go. That is; after I move to Portland, Oregon. The first 12 pages of Squirt are complete except for the lettering. The next 12 pages and the three issues after that will be completed upon finishing my move to Portland. This will include me needing to find a place to live, a job to keep the roof over my head and continue working on "Squirt!". This is pretty exciting for me and I look forward to all aspects of working with the folks at Arcana comics!

Metal Mania

Part bionic...and organic...not a Cyborg...
...call him Psycho-tron!

Right.Thank you Dave Mustaine for imbedding THAT particular lyric in my cranium all those years ago. Ugh. Why the hell do I like Megadeth? Clearly the lyrics are cheesy as hell and totally self depricating, whiney, immature and (frankly) stupid. But for some reason I keep going back. I dunno tho; lately when I've gone back to Megadeth all I hear is Daves whiney ass voice bitching about how he was kicked out of Metallica. I don't think he's ever gotten over that as evidenced by the early 2000 release of Metallicas Rock-u-mentary; "Some kind of Monster" wherein Mustaine whines and quite literally blubbers to (what looks to be a Devil-may-care) Lars Ulrich stating that he was never given a chance to redeem his alcoholic and self-destructive ways with the other members of Metallica (at the time) but given a bus ticket home. I dunno Dave, after many years of hearing all sides of the story; you were a huge prick. You drank MORE than the guys in Metallica? Holy FUCK dude! The guys who dubbed themselves; Alcoholica KICKED YOU OUT BECAUSE YOU DRANK TOO MUCH!!! Maybe, just maybe? That means you have a fucking problem that your precious ego has yet to deal with.Instead of crying on camera about how you were abused and mistreated by OTHER people, maybe you should realize the only person abusing you was, in fact; you. Idiot.
I think this knowledge, coupled with the fact that his music just keeps getting more and more derivitive of its previous glory (the 1989; "Rust In Peace" for instance) makes me slowly but surely begin to remove myself from the Megadeth fan camp.

SQUIRT colors!

My good friend and fellow artist, Justin Atherton, colored this 2nd page of the comic SQUIRT myself and Mark Poulton are developing for our own title. Justin is a wonderful talent and has kindly done a color test for the book. Let me know what you folks think!

Squirt Logo

Here's the logo idea. I like the colors a lot but I'm thinking it could be tightened up a bit more. All in all, I like the idea. It's fun and colorful which is what I'm shooting for with "Squirt"!

Squirt pg 3

Here's the 3rd page, inked and ready to go. Mark already has the logo set to go...Ill see if I can pop that up here as well.

Ethan

Squirt

These are two recent pages I penciled and inked for the book I am co-creating with writer Mark Poulton. The book is called; "Squirt". It's about a runty high school kid who gets picked on, relentlessly, by bullies. His life is miserable and then; "ZAP!" he gets hit with...well....you'll see...something that gives him powers! Jason "Squirt" Squires is turned into a superhero! And then all havoc breaks loose! It's definitely a light hearted and fun book that looks at Spider-Mans motto; "With great power, comes great responsibility". Jason mutilates this motto into; "With great power comes great payback!" I'm having a blast drawing it and Mark and I are hoping the book gets picked up by maybe Image or DarkHorse. If neither of those guys want to publish it, Mark is pretty sure that Arcana Comics will. Mark has been working through Arcana for years getting his book; "Koni Waves" published by them (the most recent graphic novel; "Ghouls gone wild", I did a pin-up for). So he's got some good standing and I think they'd trust him with a newbie comic artist like me. Anyway, let me know what you guys think. Here are the pages!

New Trees & Hills anthology released!

From the desk of Daniel Barlow;

The Trees & Hills comics group is proud to announce that its new mini-comic anthology was published last week, just in time for MoCCA!The "Field Guide to Cartoonists of Vermont, New Hampshire and Western Massachusetts" (we call it Field Guide for short) is an all-ages book with 52 pages of comics from 19 area cartoonists.It features work by Megan Baehr, Daniel Barlow, Marek Bennett, Stephen R. Bissette, Colleen Frakes, Meagan Frappiea, Cat Garza, Chris Grotke, Mark Gonyea, Jade Harmon, Benjamin Kalish, Matt Levin, Kathie Mullen, Jennifer Omand, Morgan Pielli, Ethan Slayton, Bryan Stone, Colin Tedford, and Anne Thalheimer. The book measures 5.5" x 8.5" and costs only $3.00.It can be purchased online here: http://www.treesandhills.org/distro/

Bob

I successfully survived and completed my first week of teaching Cartooning at the art camp at Burlington City Arts. It was a blast. I got really tired. But it was worth it.The camps run from Monday to Friday, from 1 to 4 pm. There is a half hour break in between where the kids can go outside and run off some of that excess energy they've been storing up while sitting in the classroom drawing. During one of those breaks, two boys, Adam and Cole, decided to bring some home made "guns" with them (the "guns" were nothing more than a few pieces of cardboard taped together to take the shape of a gun) so they could play thier "quick-draw" game. Well, that ended real fast as one of the other camp teachers told me, anything involving guns, violence, etc., is not allowed.Totally bummed out about not being able to play "quick-draw", Adam and Cole, along with a contingent of thier friends, hung thier heads and walked to the nearest place they could plop thier upset heads down. I asked Cole what the big deal was; "Is your life over?" I asked him. "No..." Cole responded. "This just sucks. There's nothing to do out here..." (this is when I notice all the balls, toys, and games that have been put out for the kids to play with. Not to mention the fact its a beautiful summer day. Yeah, sure; NOTHING to do!) Cole confided in his friend Ethan (another Ethan? Surely the world will end soon!) whi was sitting next to him. " Can we go in now?" They pleaded. "No, guys..." I respond; "What the hell is the big deal? It's a game! You just can't play it here. You can play it at home all you want. There's plenty of other things to do..." Cole continued in his "this sucks" reverie; "Things just arent the same without "Bob" here. Bob was awesome." This piqued my interest, so I asked; "Who's Bob? Was he a student? A teacher?" Another boy, Collin, walked up at this point and said; "Oh! You guys are talking about Bob? Yeah! He was awesome!" Confused I asked again; " Ok, so who the hell was "Bob"???"And totally straight faced Cole raised his head a bit and with red hair in his face and a faraway look in his eyes stated; "Bob was this totally awesome little red box. He was so cool. Now he's gone and it sucks."I did my best to contain myself.These boys were clearly upset that "Bob" had left the vicinity and I wasn't about to make light of the situation.

Cats and Comics

What is it with people when they see a domesticated animal such as a cat or a dog, they immediatley talk to the animal like they are slow? And by "slow" I mean; "Retarded". A cat is seen by the person (or persons), and immediate, high pitched, "cooing" sounds are emitted from the people viewing the cat. This is followed by some of the most inane names you could ever tag onto the hapless beast. Names such as; "Kitty-witty" or; "Snoogy-woogums". The cat plies it's ears back in such a way as to look pissed off at the newcomer, but I think the cat is doing the only thing it can do to muffle the high-pitched, human inanity that is being launched at it's feline personage.
What is it with people who walk into a comic book store, have NO IDEA what the comics are about, and start getting all indignant about how "stupid" comics are? Most of these individuals are being led into the comic book store by significant others or friends. So not only are they making noise about subjects they previously (and most likely) have no clue about, they are most likely making thier friend/sig. other uncomfortable or (very possibly) insulted by voicing thier hatred of the comic book and the comic book genre. Half the time, I'm sure that the fellow who is interested in comics, was just led on a wild goose chase by his comic book hating friend to find some fucking tennis shoes (or what have you), and the comic lovin' guy needed a little respite. Now I say to the comic haters; Next time you think you are being "witty" or "clever" with your little quips and comments to your friend/sig. other about how much you hate what they love? Maybe next time, opt to not go into the store you hate so much. Take a breather on a park bench and drool over your latest purchase while you wait for your pal.

All I'm sayin' is; stop fuckin' with animals and stop shittin' on other peoples likes.

I think that's about it for my rant this week.