D.J. Coffman - Sequential Artist, Thinker

Rise...and shine

So our trip to Washington, DC was great. I’ve found myself in sort of a weird dilemma, because while I’m friends with the Flobots and work with them on some amazing things, we’re also uber fans of the music. So sometimes I’d find myself looking over at my wife with like a “can you believe any of this?” and she’d give me the crazy look back. The uber fan in me wants to run and tell you how we had all access, hanging out in the green room (which was blue), and post videos and photos to prove I was there, as if I had been hanging out backstage at a Pearl Jam concert, that’s how exciting the feeling was…. but the dilemma then becomes, well… they’re my friends! So there are moments captured that are private, or just for our family and own minds. When they leave, we’re sad to see them go. It’s good to be working with very down to earth people who see a bigger picture, and LOVE what they do. If you want the fan experience, you can see a nice writeup review of the show over on the Evolving Music Blog.

There are also a bunch of photos up, some showing us in the private balcony above the stage. That was FUCKING AWESOME! (sorry, the fan slipped out) - I did get some video, but the only one I’ll likely share publicly here is the “Jetpack” song, because I think that’s my favorite song.

Speaking of Jetpack… I can now show off some of the shirt designs I’ve done for them. The first one completely sold out for them on tour and they’re trying hard to get them back in stock for the big shows coming up… here be the designs:

Are you fueled by another engine? Flobots Jetpack shirt

If you are thinking you are winning

Bandanna Shirt

So, yeah, that was a complete trip looking out at a screaming crowd and seeing people wearing and buying these t-shirts. I guess they are doing really well. For now, you’ll have to catch them at a show to buy them, but I reckon they will try to have them online too when busyness calms down a tad.

I also presented them with the FIRST Flobots art cards featuring their own robots, and they loved them. We’ll be making limited runs of individually numbered Flobot designs that will be available to the public, and the proceeds will go to support the non-profit work. They are cool as heck, and fun to do.

Wow… it was just a really good time. I don’t know how they’re doing it with their energy levels… but it’s all very inspiring.

My wife and I also got to tour around DC a bit on Monday. That’s an awesome place. We were told how “dangerous” it was, and to be so careful, but our trip was awesome, and the people in DC couldn’t be nicer, in my opinion. Everywhere can be “dangerous”, your own backyard! But seeing some of the monuments up close, and even the white house– I never thought i would be inspiring as well. We joked that checking out the white house was so cool, you don’t even think about the dillweed who currently lives there. I guess it’s just the history of the whole place. The war memorials stir emotions around. I felt like I shouldn’t be just, passing by a bunch of names on a wall, almost as if I shouldnt be in there at all because I don’t have a family member or friend on that wall… but seeing the people who DO… scratching the names, children touching the wall, old men crying there… it was lumps in the throat action. I enjoyed the Vietnam vets who were there on park benches who would just randomly tell people what certain statues were about. We live in a lucky time to hear from our veterans. Could you imagine touring Gettysburg to hear old soldiers telling their tales?

Now, radio silence from me… I have about 400 drawings to get moving on and counting for the Will Draw Anything program.

I’ve gotten some concerned emails from people asking what’s up, noticing I haven’t blogged as much or visited my usual internet haunts, or been on messenger lately. Nothing is wrong, I’m just busy! Beyond having about.. oh, 400 and counting Will Draw Anythings to do, my main job has been working on things with the Flobots, and has expanded beyond just drawing comics, as they’ve hired me on to take care of some other things behind the scenes to help out, and I’m more than happy about that.

Sunday, I’m heading down to Washington DC with my wife to meetup with the band again, just to hang, see a show,  plot future plans perhaps… I’m working on something behind the scenes that’s going to take awhile, but i’m very happy about it. The character designs are just…. FUN. I’ve sort of learned my lesson, and this is going to be something I have a bigger stake and ownership in, and we’re going to go beyond just the comic market, and also do actual GOOD THINGS with it, be it supporting children’s hospitals or homes, to other worthy charities. I’d also like to get something together that supports our troops overseas. There should be some new official shirt designs coming out with my work on it, and my art is also ALL OVER the new Flobots RISE video that’s coming sometime this month I believe. I’ve seen a sneak peek and man… it’s just awesome. I can’t begin to again say how surreal this season has been…. ups and downs, and very downs, but back on top of the world now. This is the start of something new, and better…

If I haven’t responded to personal emails from friends, forgive me, like I said, 400 or so drawings to do and counting! Those have been great fun to do. Sure it’s intimidating thinking of all the stuff stacked up, but I love pushing myself and keeping my brain sharp. All of these happy accidents, from the Flobots, to the WillDraws are making me a better person all around.

If you missed it– the first chapter of the Flobots Comic is done… chapter two is being reworked now with an issue we want to bring to the front, it wasn’t planned yet, but I’m moving it up because it needs to take center stage. I’ll probably launch that in a couple weeks, and try to stick to the M-F updates, of FULL comic pages.

Someday, when I’m dead and gone, please tell your friends and children about how you once knew of a man who drew this much stuff all at once, and never needed sleep… and he could crush bricks with his bare hands.

Last week felt like a BUST workwise, and not to mention more work pouring in for commissions and the WillDrawAnythings (which I’d better get working on so I’ll make this fast!)

All sorts of things going on on the homefront, my wife’s stepmother who she just went on vacation with has had an apparent heart attack and is in the hospital.  I guess she had the heart attack while in the hospital, but still, pretty scary stuff. We’re hoping she gets better soon.

Our planned trip to Washington DC to see and meet with the Flobots might be a little tricky to pull off, but I’m hoping the universe aligns and allows all things to be corrected. I was looking forward to grabbing some video clips and other stuff down in DC.

Soooo… I have about a bajillion WillDraws to attend to this week, and I’d better go get started on that. It’s really brought up a plethora of business requests and commission requests, and things have been very very busy… but busy is good! I haven’t thought about anything that was getting me down in a good long while, and actually, when the things do creep into mind, they seem small and petty, and it feels like I’m five steps beyond it all. So that feels pretty good.

To the drawing board!!!

Only 24 hours to snag up the Hulk Cover art I did for Hero Initiative and Marvel. It’s for a worthy cause!

I just realized, a year ago tonight, I was being toasted on the roof of a hotel overlooking San Diego Comicon, and had a bunch of people kissing my ass. It meant absolutely NOTHING in the long run, and most of the nice things said by some people were obviously a bunch of lip service.

I can’t say I’d rather actually be anywhere other than right here in my studio tonight…

Day four of I’M ALL ALONE WITH NO ADULTS TO TALK TO! — I’m missing my wife hardcore here, but trying to bury myself in work so I don’t think about it too much. Geez, it seems like this week of all weeks there has been so much stuff to deal with all on my own, and it sucks GIANT ASS. My oldest son had his tonsils out last week, so he’s on a medicine regimine, my cat decided to bust into crazy Vulcan like HEAT where he goes nuts and sprays on everything and wants to challenge me with those pungle sticks (play kirk vs spock theme music here) - And it’s also the first week of football practice for my two sons, usually from 6-8 Monday through Friday… I’ve brought multi-tasking to a whole new fucking level… but WOW… am I freakin tired. Right now all I can think of doing is going in and sitting down on the couch and watching ghost hunters or something recorded on DVR, but alas…. there’s work to do! I’ve been staying up until about 2am every night… not on purpose, it just creeps up on me.

Uhm….. the Will Draw Anythings have reached a new level of crazy. First I got linked by one of my favorite authors, Seth Godin, and that turned into a link on metafilter.com shortly after…. and before I knew it, I had oh, I don’t know… 300 something odd orders coming in, and counting. Not to mention requests for side jobs, logos, commissions and all sorts of stuff. THere are brief moments where I feel like I may have made a BIG mistake in opening that up to the public, but hey, as long as people are patient for their $2 drawings, all is well! Every time I look at my inbox, I kinda giggle maniacally to myself. I might be looking for a REAL publisher to take these on as a collected book or something. They’re so fun to look back on, and people seem to really be getting some enjoyment out of them.

On top of all of those zany WillDraws…. I’m of course planning more Flobots work, and there are things going on behind the scenes that are very interesting. I have a new format and update schedule and general management thing I want to do… I can’t talk much about it, just keep watching. Speaking of that… I gotz to go finish an update! Chapter one should be ending very soon…. next two updates are so….

I’m out!

Thought I’d embed this here. It’s so true, it’s almost painfully depressing, but funny as hell.

Hey, the HULK cover I did for Marvel and Hero INitiative is up, go bid on it and check it out!

HULK 100 cover by D.J. Coffman

Well my wife has gone to the beach with her Dad and Grandmother and Stepmother, and I’m holding down the fort at home with the kids for a week here.  They’ve had it pretty tough this year with the death of their grandfather on that side of the family, so hopefully some time away to clear their minds and just “get out” and see other things will help them all cope in different ways. My wife especially, who lost both her grandmother on one side of the family, and her grandfather on the other this spring. I’ve spent the past couple years going to all kinds of places and cities and such and leaving her with the kids, so it’s only fair when this trip was offered to her, pretty much all expenses paid, I wanted her to take it for her.

Plus, now I’m thinking this could be an AWESOME brownie point to try to go to Dublin Ireland in September with the Flobots to catch them on their European tour! muhahahahaah.. (she’d kill me) - I so would want to go to Ireland though and look up old family haunts there.

Odd that the very night she left, our youngest cat decided to go on a SPRAY fest of some kind… I was up until 2am cleaning things and searching for where he pissed, like a damn hound dog sniffing around. Meanwhile, my actual hound dog was of no help at all, just snoring and farting over in a corner. THANKS, DOG! — I got so peeved, I just put the cat out on the porch with food and water. He’s pretty much afraid to leave the general area of the porch so I didn’t reckon he’d run away. I tried getitng a hold of the vet to see if we could get him in before next monday for fixing, but I was told that he needs shots first and then you have to wait two more weeks before declaw and neutering. so… UGH…. I could just leave him outside, I felt too bad, so thanks to BOB for the idea of using the big dog crate we had as a little makeshift JAIL for the cat’s ass in the meantime. Hooked him up with litter and food and water, and it’s a MUCH bigger cage than what he’d get at the pound…. and much better than finding him as roadkill in front of my house too. Bob suggests I joke with my wife and tell her the opposite…. that I came home today and the cat was smashed all over the road and looks like he was torn apart by Apaches…. I meant helicopters, but Bob said it was funnier if I meant angry Apache Indians. I’m going to tell my wife that i pulled in with the kids to find the slaughterfest all over the road, and that the kids were crying and howling… then I’ll spring it on her. I don’t want to ruin her whole trip thinking there’s a dead cat painting our roadway. So for now… my basement is… CAT PRISON!

The Will Draw Anything Day was going good yesterday. I put a good dent in the orders, but then the Dr. Horrible pic I did ended up as a link on Whedonesque.com and a bunch more orders came in and erased the progress I made. I’m not complaining though, the more the merrier, I just hope people are cool with waiting during these busy periods. Hey, it’s only 2 bucks. I actually have some people paying me more than 2 bucks, saying they feel bad for only paying 2 bucks, which I appreciate, but it’s no necessary. Those Whedon fans are pretty nice people. I also got a job offer from a TV type blog to do something there, but I’ll have to think about it because I’m pretty busy right now with the FLO right now and other things.

I’ve already noticed that I’m WAY more comfortable doing penciling directly on the Cintiq now, and that’s going to save me time in the future here. I use to do pencils on paper and then scan, and then do inking and coloring on the screen– but it was just a matter of being faster and more comfortable with the tools on paper.  I’m working on the FIRST flobot installment done completely on the screen today, and should be posting that later tonight at Flobots.net, and then I’ll be getting back to more Will Draws as well. If it weren’t for the cat problem late last night, I probably would have been in the #90s by morning, but such is life!

Oh, today is also the first day of football practice for the kids too. Will have that all week to contend with in the evening, but it’s fun to get out and watch them play and have fun. So much of my working life has revolved around the net for the past 8 years… sometimes I’m tempted to just pull the plug and take a year off of online blogging and networking or posting in forums and that… just sort of do the basic things.. update the art, do my work and just go radio silent for a year. No drama, no headlines, no opinions from me… just good comics. I don’t know if I could ever “unplug” now though… the system…. has me….

It’s Sunday. A day of rest? HELLZ NO! It’s time to DRAW ANYTHING.

I’m going to try to get a WHOLE bunch of these done all day today and my goal is to get caught up. Right now there’s about 50 or so sitting in the waiting list… LET’S DO THEM!

So, there’s there’s been this crazy beanstalk-like weed growing in the middle of some bushes in our yard. Initially it was hard to get to with the trimmer and we let it go. And it got taller, and I’d peek out to see it and always think to go out and gut it… but over time, I liked to watch it grow taller and taller…. how tall will our beanstalk get?

A beanstalk-like weed growing up in my yard.

If it gets big enough and grows up to a magic kingdom in the sky, I promise to get the giant living up there to come and smite all my enemies.