Walking in your footsteps...

The last few days, I found a large, shale-like rock underneath my lawn, and had to smash it into pieces to remove it. As luck would have it, one of the cracks I made in the rock revealed a fossil! I emailed the above photo to my friend Barb who works at the Manitoba Museum of Man and Nature here in Winnipeg. She got the following response from the museum's paleontologist, Dr. Graham Young.

---

Your friend’s fossil is the inside of a horn coral (rugose coral). If he found it in Winnipeg, then it is probably of Ordovician age (about 445-450 million years old). The fossil was the hard support of a little animal similar to a sea anenome, that lived on an ancient tropical seafloor: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rugosa

---

I was pretty stunned. The shattered remains of the rock were just going to be tossed in the trash. Had one of the six or seven cracks I'd made in the rock been a quarter inch to the left, the remnants of this rugose coral could have stayed hidden for an eternity. It's astonishing to think that, before I set it loose, this fossil made 445,000,000 trips around the sun. It was around during the time of the second largest marine life extinction of our planet's history, and existed before dinosaurs were even invented! And it was in my backyard. Here's a closeup of the fossil. Currently playing: The Police - Walking In Your Footsteps Proudly in my seventh Cola free year!

Full Circle

Thanks to Facebook, I recently got a chance to acquire a great little piece of my own personal history.

Almost fifteen years ago, I got my start in the comic book business at Lovern Kindzierski's Digital Chameleon, doing colour separations on DC Comics on the overnight shift.

It was a dream job for me. To the right is a photo of 22 year old Donovan, about to head off to my first night of work in the comics industry. I was still living in my dorm room after finishing up my Fine Arts degree.

Colour Separators, as we were technically called, are all but extinct now. (Feel free to skip this paragraph if comic book colouring history sounds dull to you!). Currently, colourists use programs like Adobe Photoshop to add their hues to the lineart. In the olden days, colourists painted xeroxed lineart and created a work of production art called a colour guide, which was then sent to the Separator who created four separate sheets of film for each of the colours printed (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black). (Neal Adams claims that in the 1960's, DC Comics actually had housewives in Connecticut doing their colour separations!). Our role at Digital Chameleon back in 1998 was a transitional phase - we did the colouring and modelling in Photoshop the way that books are coloured now, but the colour choices were dictated to us by the colour guides, created by colouring veterans, many of whom had not yet learned Photoshop.

My first night on the job was incredible. I got straight to work on the first splash page of Action Comics #746. This was the big leagues. Action Comics made it's debut in 1938 with the first appearance of Superman. While Superman was not my favourite character to read about, he IS an icon. And lo and behold, on the first page I was to work on was a full page drawing by superstar Canadian artist Stuart Immonen of Superman himself. Strong. Powerful. Mopping the deck of a cruise ship. (Okay, so it wasn't the most exciting, action packed page, but that didn't matter!). By the end of my 8 hour shift, my first page was complete. I was soon to learn that taking 8 hours to complete a page was unacceptably slow, but hey, it was my first day on the job! Cut me some slack!

A decade and a half later, I accidentally stumbled across the Facebook profile for the colourist of that issue, Glenn Whitmore. Mr. Whitmore managed the Herculean task of creating painted colour guides for FOUR Superman books each month, every one of them coming to my shift at Digital Chameleon for separation. Having worked on so much of this man's work during the embryonic stages of my colouring career had a big influence on me, and I was happy to have the opportunity to tell him this.

After some chatting, Glenn was kind enough to send me the original colour guide I'd launched my journey on. It's still got my name on the back, printed in my atrocious printing style. You'd never know I was an artist by that chicken scratching! (Phoenix was the name of my computer workstation).

Here's a shot of the actual colour guide and the printed comic, side by side.

The colour guide is really a fantastic artifact of the old days of comic creation. A wonderful piece of messy, beautiful production art, marked up in the margin with notes from the editor and colourist. Below is a full scan of the guide (complete with a personalized note from Glenn Whitmore), along with his original colour notes, which told us separators useful bits of information, such as Lana Lang's hair colour (YR25).

Click here to see a large scan of it.

I own a lot of books that I've worked on from the big 3 publishers. However, this piece of art, symbolic of my first steps in the industry, is by far the highlight of my collection.

It's a huge honour to have some of the guides I had worked on in my possession. Looking at them again rekindles some of that wide eyed excitement about the craft of colouring that I had when I started.

What struck me about revisiting Glenn Whitmore's guides is that he actually uses COLOURS. A lot of books nowadays feature really dark, moody, greyed out "colouring". Whitmore isn't afraid to have his pages look bright and, well, colourful. (A colourist who colours! Imagine that!). He understands atmospheric perspective, colour temperature and contrasts, and uses them well. I've always loved how he painted lighting effects - below are two panels from his guides that I think show his skill in this area.

So now, several issues of old colour guides are sitting on the bookshelf above my desk. Glenn Whitmore was probably just happy to unload some of these papers out of storage to clear up some space. But for me, this page is a meaningful symbol of the first steps I took in this semi-career of mine over a decade and a half ago, and I'm extremely grateful that he was okay to part with it.

Currently playing: Deadbeat Honeymooners - King of Your Heart

Currently colouring: Adam Zero, The Last Man On Earth: Chapter 2!

Proudly in my seventh Cola free year!

Exposure to Nuts - A Warning? Or an Invitation...

I've been going to the Bridge Drive Inn, or the BDI, for years now, and I've always received a private chuckle every time I see the following sign.

"All products except soft ice cream may be exposed to nuts."

I can't figure out if this is meant as a warning or an invitation!

On the one hand, watch out, our products may have come in contact with allergy causing nuts!

On the other hand, it almost seems like it could have been put up after staff got sick of people asking, "Is it safe for this ice cream to come in contact with my nuts?".

So go ahead, people!  Your nuts may indeed be exposed to that cold, delicious ice cream! 

Nuts, of course, referring to pistachios, peanuts, etc. 

Currently playing: Todd Tamanend Clark - Secret Sinema

Currently colouring: An as yet unsolicited Marvel Masterwork!

Proudly in my seventh Cola free year!

Not your average bear: My strange quirks.

For my entire life, I've lived with a few constant quirks that I think could probably be a sign of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. My actions fit what I've read about the disorder, but that being said, these actions don't really interfere with me living a normal life, so I'm certainly not going to be featured on any shows on The Learning Channel.

I'd posted a Facebook status update a week or two ago about how I'd finally come to terms with my quirks, and that I enjoy having them. I got lots of great responses from friends, although I had to laugh at some of their own diagnoses of OCD, like alphabetizing their CD collection, or double checking the locks, or making sure the stove element is off. While those things may be OCD, they are actually useful behaviours to have!

Conversely, mine serve absolutely no purpose in every day life. They're not destructive, like compulsive hand washing. They're just... odd.

I'll start with the least bizarre of them, and we'll move forward. The last one gets me the weirdest looks.

1. Foods shouldn't touch, and should be eaten in order 
I really don't think this one is that strange, but everyone who sees it in action thinks it's nuts. So for the record, I just consider this picky. I like to segregate my tastes, so I make sure when I put food on my plate that it doesn't touch. Nothing drives me crazier finding peas and carrots in my mashed potatoes. If I go to a buffet and the people behind the sneeze guard just throw my food onto a big pile on my plate, I pretty much tell them to keep it.

Some people like to try a bit of each food on their plate, but not me. I don't move on to my green beans until my carrots are done. And the meat always comes last.

2. Body symmetry 
If something happens on the left side of my body, I immediately feel the need to do it to my right. Especially when eating. I'll subliminally keep a mental count of how many times I've chewed a mouthful of food or gum on the left, and will have to do the same on my right. I don't even consciously think about it, or keep track of the bites numerically. I just have to do it.

The only time I get 'relief' from this is when drumming. Music seems to distract the part of my brain that requires this symmetry enough, that when I'm behind a kit, I'm able to be free. Wanting to play music forces me out of this behaviour - my right hand needs to keep time on the high hat, while my left hand and right foot are doing completely different things. The first time I was able to play along to a piece of music, I felt the 'symmetry itch' in my brain get scratched. It was incredible.

But, as soon as the music has stopped, it's back to touching my left arm if my right arm brushes up against a wall, just to 'even things out'.

3. I can't step on invisible lines that only I can see
This is by far the oddest behaviour, and every time I've tried to demonstrate what goes on in my brain to people, I get looked at like I'm from another planet.

And let me preface this by saying this is not conscious behaviour - I'm not deciding to do this.

It. Just. Happens.

My brain draws lines from objects around me.

And these lines cannot be stepped on.

Ever.

See the image below. The white lines have been added by me in Photoshop. This is what I see when I look down at a sidewalk - every door, jut, pillar, betch, etc extends out an invisible grid line. While I walk, my brain adjusts my gait accordingly, so that my feet stay in between these lines, which exist only in my head.

Now, that doesn't seem so bad, at least not in this instance. There are places where it does become a bit challenging though.. See below..

This is how my brain interprets the spaces around me. Long ago, I just grew to accept it. Why change it? It doesn't prevent me from living a full life, or cause damage to my body. It's just... weird.

Or it's a great icebreaker at cocktail parties.

Everyone I ever told this to has asked "What happens if you step on these imaginary lines?". Well, if I accidentally step on an imaginary line with my left foot (see #1 below), my need for symmetry kicks in and I need to purposely step on another line in the exact same area on my other foot (#2 below).

Hey, I've never claimed to be normal! Cut me some slack!

Currently playing: Steve Perry & Kenny Loggins - Don't Fight It

Currently colouring: An as yet unsolicited Marvel Masterwork!

Proudly in my seventh Cola free year!

Tim Stapleton, or "The One That Waved To Me"

Although a win in regulation would have been ideal, there is still a bit of "joy in Joyland" here in Winnipeg tonight, after Jets forward Tim Stapleton scored in overtime to win a critical game against the Washington Capitals.

I noticed Tim Stapleton's speed and skill early on in the season, and I liked that he seemed to be a very down to earth, likeable human being.  But it wasn't until I attended the Jets game verses the St. Louis Blues on February 25th that he became one of my favourites.

It was Madelyn's first Winnipeg Jets game.  A moment of pride for any father. We got there as early as we could, and went down to ice level to get as close to the players as we could during their pre-game skate.  She was a little bit awestruck as she caught a glimpse of her favourite player, Dustin Byfuglien.  

While she stood at the edge of the glass watching the players go round and round (including Pavelec, or to her, "That Guy With Pillows On His Feet"), a blue shadow zipped up to her on the other side of the glass.  It didn't even phase her, as she was focused on the players at centre ice.

Her concentration was interrupted by the 'tap-tap-tap' of a stick on the glass.  Slightly startled, she looked up to see #14 Tim Stapleton standing right in front of her.  He put is hand up and waved at her.

She was stunned!  She quickly composed herself, and waved back.  A big smile played across his face, and she responded with a nervous, but excited giggle, and a huge smile herself!

And like that, he was gone, leaving Madelyn still waving at him.

She had found a new favourite player for the game.

Tim Stapleton.

Or as she referred to him, "The One That Waved To Me".

The entire interaction took all of 10 seconds, far too quick to get a photo, but I did get this shot of her about 5 seconds after Stapleton skated away. She was glowing.

I'm sure Tim Stapleton will never read this. In the unlikely event he does, thank you. You made my daughter's first Jets game memorable.

Currently playing: Run DMC - Rock Box

Currently colouring: An as yet unsolicited Marvel Masterwork! 

Proudly in my sixth Cola free year!

Home Sweet Home - by Anja Studer

I just passed by the incredible Cre8ery Gallery today, and saw one of the most beautiful art exhibit posters I've ever come across.

This photo doesn't do the artwork justice. I found myself in the middle of a busy sidewalk, captivated in front of a sandwich board advertisement, absolutely focused on the powerful white mountain peaks running through the center of the image.  It's hard to not feel like your balancing atop that white precipice while looking at this piece, unsure of whether I want to fall into the cool blackness of shadows to the left, or into the warmer valley of reflected light to the right.

I can't afford to buy any real paintings right now, but if there's a print of this for sale, I want it.

Anja Studer's exhibit runs through April 3, 2012 at the Cre8ery Gallery.  It looks like I missed the opening night, but I'll have to make it down at some point in the next week and a half.

Currently playing: The Poppy Family - Which Way You Goin' Billy?
Currently colouring: An as yet unsolicited Marvel Masterwork! 
Proudly in my sixth Cola free year!

The Dauphin Herald

Even though I haven't spent more than a long weekend in Dauphin, Manitoba in over a decade, I still identify very much with my old hometown. I recently got a subscription to the town paper, The Dauphin Herald, which I used to deliver when I was a young boy in elementary school (along with the now defunct Daily Bulletin!).

It's been almost half my life since I've called Dauphin home, so I don't recognize as many names and faces making the news there as I once would have. But recently, I was treated to two articles by former teachers of mine.

My high school career lasted from 1990-91 to 1992-93, and during that time I had Mr. Bill Walley for Science, and Mr. Ed Stozek for Language Arts. Both were fantastic teachers. In a recent edition of the Dauphin Herald, Mr. Walley wrote about bird counts in Riding Mountain National Park. Meanwhile, Mr. Stozek has a fascinating weekly article that looks back into the history of Dauphin and the Parkland.

Nearly 20 years after I graduate, and these guys are still teaching me things...

Fellow former Dauphinites, you too can subscribe to the Dauphin Herald!

Currently playing: The Swiftys - Miss Those Days
Currently colouring: An as yet unsolicited Marvel Masterwork! 
Proudly in my sixth Cola free year!

That's a big snowman

Well, judging from the 5-day forecast, I think winter is over.

I actually find myself missing the snow.  We didn't really get all that much of it this year.  That didn't stop this guy on Hartford Avenue from building the most awesome snowman I'd ever seen!

Currently playing: Stan Meissner - It's No Secret
Currently colouring: An as yet unsolicited Marvel Masterwork! 
Proudly in my sixth Cola free year!

I put the "Me" in "Awesome"!

Last week, Jimmy Fallon posted a poster of a non-existent movie starring himself and Paul Rudd titled "Aww Hail No!".  He then asked for people to tweet or Facebook a tagline for the film.

Today they released their favourite submissions.  I found this one particularly funny. "They put the 'Ow' in 'Snowstorm'".

Granted, I'm a bit biased, because THAT WAS MY SUBMISSION!

Pretty excited to have made the cut, even if they misspelled the word "the".  Guess it's time to quit my day job and write taglines for a living!

I'd like to thank the Academy...

The other submissions can be found on The Late Night With Jimmy Fallon Show website.

Currently playing: Queen - We Are The Champions
Currently colouring: An as yet unsolicited Marvel Masterwork! 
Proudly in my sixth Cola free year!

Ralph McQuarrie

Ralph McQuarrie passed away over the weekend.

I loved Star Wars as a kid. I was absolutely obsessed.

Then, like a cola drinker who suddenly discovered coffee, I discovered the work of Ralph McQuarrie, and my brain hasn't been the same since.

I don't remember where I was, or how I came to see my first Ralph McQuarrie painting.  Maybe it was in a bookstore, in the basement of a friends house, or at school. I was so hypnotized by and absorbed in what I saw, I tuned out everything else around me. Those details are lost forever.

My mind was completely blown, as I studied the art. Some, done before a single frame of the film had been shot, featured different designs and concepts for otherwise familiar characters and vehicles. Other paintings ended up being reproduced verbatim on the big screen, like a McQuarrie painting come to life.

One of the hooks that sucked me in immediately was some concept art that depicted a Stormtrooper holding a lightsaber, which wasn't seen in the movies. What other secrets to my obsession could I find hidden in these paintings, some created before the movie was even filmed? Perhaps if I pored over the images enough, I'd catch a clue about the (then mysterious) Clone Wars, or the Journal of the Whills, or other bits of Star Wars material that didn't make it into the film, but were spoken about in hushed whispers by kids in dark corners of the school playground who knew more about the movies than I did.

Like I said, I was obsessed. And these beautiful paintings added fuel to the fire.

Even seeing the images today makes me feel like a kid again.

Sad to hear of the passing of this legend.

An Entertainment Weekly article on his passing summed up his artwork the best. "A McQuarrie Star Wars design looks like what would have resulted if Salvador Dali had sketched concepts for Universals 1936 Flash Gordon serial by way of Sergio Leones Old West".

Here are a few of my favourite paintings. The first one below, of Luke Skywalker stepping out of his snowspeeder in front of an AT-AT is probably my favourite.

Currently playing: David Bowie - Life on Mars
Proudly in my sixth Cola free year!

Did Fugitive Richard Kimble suit up for the Winnipeg Jets?

I jumped a little bit while watching the Winnipeg Jets leave the ice after a thrilling 2-1 OT win over the Philadelphia Flyers.

Does the man standing in the hallway leading to the Jets dressing room not bear an uncanny resemblance to the late Barry Morse, who played the tenaciously dogged Lieutenant Philip Gerard on the original 1960's TV show The Fugitive?

The guy in the image above isn't a dead ringer, but is so similar in nearly every feature you could think to compare that I recoiled in surprise from force of habit, having done the same every time Lt. Gerard popped up unexpectedly during The Fugitive.

Did the Philadelphia Flyers have a one-armed man on the ice last night? And did Richard Kimble suit up for the Winnipeg Jets to bring him to justice and clear his name? And was Lt. Gerard waiting in the wings to apprehend both men?

It would have made a fun episode!

Currently playing: Strangeways - Living in the Danger Zone
Proudly in my sixth Cola free year!

The Loxleys and the War of 1812

The Loxleys and the War of 1812 (preview)
Story - Alan Grant
Art - Cladue St. Aubin
Color - Lovern Kindzerski
Letters - Todd Klein

This year marks the 200th anniversary of the War of 1812. I'm no historian, but I do love to read about this great country of ours.  It's been a good 10 years since I've done any reading on Canada's war with the United States, so I was pretty excited to dive into a preview of the upcoming Renegade Press book, The Loxleys and the War of 1812.

Historical fiction always walks a tight rope between fact recitation and storytelling, and writer Alan Grant has done an amazing job setting up the story. This preview does an admirable job of setting up the reasons why the War of 1812 started in the first place (the British hindering the American efforts to expand west by supporting the Tecumseh's Indian tribes, impressment of U.S. naval vessels, and an appearance of British weakness due to a war against France). Somehow, Grant manages to get these points across, and still leave room to give the characters some personality and room to develop.

Claude St. Aubin does a spectacular job on the artwork.  It's lighter tone will make this book accessible to a wide audience, yet it never sacrifices it's ability to communicate pain and anxiety during moments of tension.  In particular, Eliza Loxley reading her husbands first letter home is well done.  The art isn't melodromatic or over the top, it serves the story perfectly.

Nearly every panel has a well drawn and thought out background, helping to set the scene.  The Loxley cabin is spacious and real, and the Siege of Detroit is rendered with such detail that you can imagine the weight of library books piled on St. Aubin's art table.  He's convinced me as a reader that he has done his homework, yet no panel looks like it's a verbatim drawing from a photograph in a textbook.  A sign of a true artist.

Lovern Kindzierski has applied his colouring genius to this story.  I cut my teeth colouring at Lovern's Digital Chameleon studio over a decade ago, and every time I see his work, it is a reminder of how far I am from being a real colourist.  His colour pallete separates planes nicely, and his modelling follows what St. Aubin has set up with the lineart.  Most importantly, the pages are actually COLOURFUL!  So many books published these days seem either be coloured in greyed out colours, or have hues so dark that some of the lineart is actually obscured.  Lovern is a master, and proves it every time his name is attached to a book.

Here's a great panel example of how well Kindzierski separates fore, middle and background with his colour choices.  This photo, taken with an iPhone, doesn't do it justice.

My only criticism is a single bit of dialogue uttered at the beginning of the preview - a gentleman walks into a community dance...

Laura: ...my good man here spends his time worrying about war with America!
James: Well, they have so many reasons, you see.  For example, the way the British stop and search American vessels--

Wow, this guy must be the life of the party!

It's one of my main beefs about historical fiction.  Characters that dispense historical facts that don't feel natural at all.    It's a necessary evil in the genre, and it works to communicate the details of history, but it seems so out of place.  Alan Grant only relies on this storytelling tactic once in the entire 22 page preview, so it doesn't spoil the great story.  And for all I know, James' character may be a guy who is so hip to worldly affairs that he's always rambling on about them, whether his audience is looking for a lecture or a dance on a Saturday night.

For a slightly more extreme example of how silly this storytelling technique can get, check out this Heritage Minute commercial describing Vince Coleman warning a train approaching Halifax that the biggest man-made explosion the earth had seen up to that point was about to wipe out the entire city.

I seriously doubt that anyone focused on saving the lives of innocent people is going to waste time telling the person next to him some historically accurate yet context irrelevant facts, such as "the train is coming in towards Pier 6", and that "there are 700 people aboard it!".

Anyhow, I digress.  Grant, St. Aubin and Kindzierski's talents shine telling this story, and I can safely say that this preview alone has me very excited for the full release this April.

The hardcover release of The Loxleys and the War of 1812 will also feature a 30 page essay on the war by Canadian war historian Mark Zuehlke.  Zuehlke's previous writings on the Canadian experiences at Juno Beach, Ortona and the liberation of the Netherlands during the Second World War are fantastic, well researched books, and having his comments in this volume will be a real bonus.

I invite you to like The Loxleys and the War of 1812 on Facebook!

Also, check out The Loxleys and the War of 1812 on Renegade Arts Entertainment's official site.


Currently playing: Blue Rodeo - Outskirts
Proudly in my sixth Cola free year!

I'm no Bronie.

The Care Bear painting I did for our friend's daughter's birthday last month was such a hit that we've decided to paint more cutouts for our daughter. I'm not sure where the time has gone, but she turns four this weekend.

The last week has been spent slaving over not one, not two, but FOUR paintings of her characters from her current favourite toy line, My Little Pony.

Twilight Sparkle, Pinkie Pie and Applejack

Rainbow Dash

She's going to flip when she sees them!

I loved making these! My daughter is mostly interested in the toys, so I've never seen an entire episode of the show.

I wouldn't want anyone to mistake me for a Bronie (a male My Little Pony fanatic).

That's just, well, weird.

Currently playing: Ginuwine - Pony
Proudly in my sixth Cola free year!

Winnipeg Jets vs. Ottawa Senators

Just got back from my third Winnipeg Jets game this year, and watched my team take on the Ottawa Senators.

I was a Sens fan for the fifteen years that passed between Jets' franchises, so I guess you could say I saw my new, old favorite team take on my old favourite team.

Or is it my old favourite team take on my second favourite -- ah, I give up. You get the idea.

I sat in the stands with my Uncle Ernie. He was a Jets season ticket holder back in the WHA days, and it's his love for the team that helped make me a Jets fan as a kid.

When the Winnipeg Jets left in 1996, we thought that was it for the NHL in Winnipeg. Who would have thought we'd be together at a game again, fifteen years later. It was awesome to see the game with him. He's still rocking his 1990's era Numminen Jets jersey.

I have to say that I was shocked by the number of Senators jerseys in the crowd. For a decade and a half, I felt like I was the only fan in the province. Where did all these people come from?!?

The game was a blast! The refs cost us the game with two bad calls in the second period, but the Jets had a great effort, and Evander Kane came this close to scoring the first hat trick in franchise history!

Currently playing: Ian Thomas - Painted Ladies
Proudly in my sixth Cola free year!