Benny Bunny On Wheels production blog... sort of

Instead of working at a big ass drafting table with brushes and reference books everywhere, I'm drawing this comic book atop a piece of masonite in my lap. Pages are drawn on letter-sized laser paper. And this all means that I can draw comics in my backyard. Word!

Benny Bunny Production Blog

I remember somewhere I once read Chris Ware saying that when he's drawing comics pages, he turns off everything. He isolates himself from all outside stimuli because he doesn't want any of it creeping in and influencing the work. Me, I go the other way. I want the entirety of the outside world rushing into it. I want my comics to be pop art that way. When I'm drawing comics, I've typically got a movie on the TV with the volume off (just for the pictures), music or an audio seminar on my iTunes, and stopping frequently to play a video game.

There's some magic thing that happens when I draw a comics page. It's as though I'm charging each line with some mystical force that turns it into a time capsule so that when I look at it later, whatever was going on around me and even what I was thinking just then all comes rushing back to me. I hope that you get some of that sensation when you look at the book after it's done.

What is Paid to Party about?

This Paid to Party record is the culmination of a big research project I undertook for a comic book. You know that I have a cartoon band that I create stories around, and I've got this huge story for them that I have been working on for... oh, it's got to be four years or more. This is going to be a huge thing about love, art, friendship, loyalty, creative vision, and the nature of reality. Sound like a big undertaking, hey? But when I would sit down to write it, I would realize that I still had more living to do.

I like my comics to be silly, but I think that what people respond to about them is the fact that there's a stream of truth that runs through them. Even though the story is going to be over-the-top, the portrayal of the music business has to be believable, being that the mechanics of The Changing Color's business are so central to the story. I have been front-row-centre to the entertainment industry for a long time, thanks to my connections in the Beatle world. I'd read lots and talked to a lot of movers and shakers. I'd even been in the inner circle of a few people who were negotiating record contracts with major labels. But I had to have the direct experience from the band's point of view. I had to know how it all comes together. I had to know about recording, playing shows, going on tour. I had to bridge that knowledge gap between the artist and the label.

At this point, I feel pretty confident that I could manage a band quite successfully if I wasn't so busy being an Artist. And at the end of the day, that's why I don't go be a manager, even though I know I could do it well. I have a calling, I am compelled to do the work that I do, and that right there is the crux of this big story that I'm going to tell with The Changing Color. And Mr. Lollipop. And the Queen, and Arthur Puctenbowler, and maybe even Benny Bunny.

And speaking of Benny Bunny, I am up to page 22 on Benny Bunny On Wheels. I think that the main story is going to be about 36 pages, and the book will be about 48. Man, if this was one of my series books, I would be finished already because those were only twenty pages!

PAID TO PARTY might sound like something boastful, but really it's a statement about how we're naturally supposed to live. We're supposed to experience joy every day and we're supposed to get money from doing what we would have been happy to do for free. I'm just doing my part for this movement that's afoot right now. I have hidden a success manual in the songs on PAID TO PARTY. Some of it was me recollecting struggles that I've been through, and some of it was me setting an intention, much of which has come to pass since I laid it down. The lay-person will enjoy rocking their party with this record. And those who watch The Secret or What the Bleep Do We Know over and over again, who know who Esther Hicks is, or who still believe in Santa Claus will find something special for them woven into it.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE RECORD!!!!!!

Benny Bunny On Wheels production blog

I once listened to a Tony Robbins seminar where he was talking about how you have to understand that you're always going to have problems. So the trick is not to try to eliminate problems, it's to improve the quality of your problems.

On that note, I'm trying to work on this new comic book while maintaining my responsibilities to the TV work that's keeping the bills paid. I get to thinking about how much I would love to not have to worry about anything else aside from getting this book done, and I get nostalgic for the days when I was hustling comic books on the street. But even then, my attention was distracted elsewhere by the fact that I didn't know where the rent was coming from and the fact that I had to interupt the creative flow to go out and sell. It's all challenges, just now it's a higher quality of challenge.

Funny how something as simple as drawing a hand a certain way can make my whole day.

Sean Ward the architect

I love drawing buildings. I draw in a loose style but every so often, for dramatic effect, I need to draw a really detailed skyline or cityscape. It takes a long time, but I love it. I would call myself an architecture enthusiast, and when I draw a city I get to play architect without actually having to know anything about structure. When I'm drawing building, my head starts to swim with made-up histories for them. I'll draw two skyscrapers side-by-side and my head fills with the audio from a fictional newsreel about the rivalry between the two to be the tallest building in the city.

But because I draw these buildings so detailed, coloring them is a pain in the ass!

As the world awaits B.B.O.W.

It's crazy how the streets are fiending for this new comic book. I think I've already blogged about how as soon as I started feeling like I had a story I needed to tell in the comic book form, people started to stop me in the streets to ask when I was going to put a new comic book out. I even go into the Silver Snail and the clerk is telling me that people come in and ask them when a new Sean Ward book is coming out. Today I went to the gym and as I'm opening a locker, a voice behind me asks if I'm still making comics. I turn around and it's some guy who used to buy comics on the street from me. He recognized me, even though he hasn't seen me in years and hasn't followed my exploits in other media. We chatted a bit and I gave him the run-down of what I've been up to. And with any luck, I got him hype for Benny Bunny On Wheels. Then when I got home, I found a Facebook add from a girl who used to be one of my biggest supporters all through when I was putting out new comics, but who also hasn't been around since then. And now she's asking me about it. This goes on constantly, almost daily. It would almost be eerie if it wasn't so cool!

It's funny, the weird cycles that things go in. I haven't made a new comic book in over two years because of how burned out I was on the whole thing. I grew to dislike the qualities that trying to compete in the comic book scene was bringing out of me. But now, the more I get back into putting out a new comic book, the more I feel like the real me is flourishing for the first time in ages. I think that's because I am reconnecting with the spirit in which I was creating comics when I first started doing it seriously. In the beginning, I wasn't concerned about getting mentioned on the comics websites. I didn't care about attending the conventions. I was just making something I thought was cool and trying to show it to people. And that's how I feel now about this new one. For a long time, my output was too much about trying to prove something. That's when the motivation is coming from an egocentric place. And nothing that comes from an egocentric place ever works out well in the long run.

What Am I Still Doing Up?

It's ten to six in the morning, and I am still up. I am waiting to see if this is going to be an all-nighter, or if I am going to crash around dawn. I am not asleep because I got the fever several hours ago and I have been having a creative explosion that I just sat down to take a break from by playing my piano, and now typing in this. The new comic book is shaping up to be this huge epic, I just hope that it doesn't get too huge. I was aiming for it to be about 48 pages, but it looks like it could go as high as 64, or somewhere in between. The way I'm creating this one, it will just reveal itself on it's own damn time.

Are there any really old-school hardcore fans out there who remember Atomic Man? I have not done anything with him in ages and ages. He's going to be in the new book.

This creative burst is coming as part of some manic episode. Something happened to me last Thursday that sent me crashing into a really deep... I don't want to say depression, but I was definitely in a bad place emotionally. That lasted for four days until yesterday, when I started getting back to work after taking it easy since the last TV tapings.

It's a good time for ideas right this second, and I guess I just don't want to go to bed for fear of missing one.

A thought on the guy from Iran's visit

Remember a couple of weeks ago, when the president of Iran paid a visit to New York? Remember all of those idiots on the news booing him and trying to make his visit shitty? I can't help but wonder if, since this is a guy who (in theory) may be thinking about shooting the place up with nuclear weapons, it might have been a better idea to shake his hand and try to make him feel welcome and show him that maybe New York is a place that's real nice and friendly. Then why would he want to blow up a place that's so nice and friendly?

I have a comic book that I am dying to make but... the curse of success!! Finding time to make it!! AAagggghhh!!!!

Catching up like we used to

Last night was a fantastic night, one of the more fun ones in recent memory. Way to kill it, Herman. It was all great until I lost my glasses. That is a fuckin' drag.

I am dumb because I am all about the vidcast, but then I get in these adventures where I forgot to take my camera along and end up going "oh, this would have been awesome for the vidcast!!" Dumb.

Last night I went to sleep at about six thirty in the morning. Today I got up at two thirty in the afternoon. It's now almost four thirty, and all I feel like doing today is going to rent the second season of Weeds. I just saw the first season earlier this week and watched the whole thing, all ten episodes, in one go.

The next three months are going to be some of the busiest of my whole life but when the thing that's happening in three months (less now, actually) it is going to be bloody spectacular.

On Ratatouille and Pixar generally

Last night I had the divine pleasure of being accompanied by two lovely ladies for a screening of Ratatouille. The movie was fucking fantastic, both technically and artistically. There are spots where you look at the hair on the rats or the people, or the water in certain scenes, and it looks dead-on. They nailed it. But that wasn't even the most impressive thing about it.

The most impressive thing about the movie was the way it just dripped with passion for the message, the story, and the desire to please the audience. About half-way through the movie I got to thinking that this is a staple of all of Pixar's output. They blow the competition away every time out. When you look at what the competition is doing, there's a different feeling. Those movies are entertaining enough, and they end on an up note more often than not, but there's just an inescapable feeling that it's product. But Pixar is able to maximize their output as capital-A Art every time out. They take chances, they go the extra mile, and the work stands out as something really special while the rest are content to produce something that's 'good enough'. John Lasseter (the boss at Pixar) is never content with 'good enough', he's not even content with great. He doesn't rest until it's The Best.

This got me really passionate last night, as it's a subject I can relate to. I've alluded before to a big project I'm undertaking that's under wraps. The thing's been in-process for over a year now, and we reached a major turning point just over a month ago. The last year has been one long conversation between me and the (now former) producer about how one needs to go the extra mile I've just described if one wants to create something truly special. The milestones when the project leaped ahead and saw real, sudden progress were all when the work was coming from the heart, when we were willing to stay up late, to work through the weekend, to just do whatever it takes to do the job right. Unfortunately, most of the last year was spent working from the head, trying to outthink what some potential prospect was going to want to see down the road, and thinking that 'good enough' is good enough. Thankfully my business partner and I have control back, and may we never forget that creating something timeless is just as important as creating it in time.

Staying up late

The show's tomorrow. I am so ready. I want it like a vicious cartoon dog wants an exaggerated T-Bone steak, and I will tear it up exactly the same. The energy in the room at rehearsal just blows the roof off!

Weights and fifty minutes of cardio today. That was pretty fun. There's TVs on all of the machines so while everyone else is watching stock quotes, I'm watching cartoons.

Just for kicks, I went to an audition for voice-over work. That would be fun to do once in a while, a voice-over job.

I've been shooting all kinds of great footage and I so badly want to edit it into something fun for the blog and the podcast. I've gotta make time for that.

Girlfriend pt. 2

OH, look! It's Avril's new single! It's... Girlfriend. Again. The remix this time. Is this like Street Fighter 2 back in the day, where they just keep trotting out various versions of SF2 instead of moving on with Street Fighter 3?

Talking with a couple of friends after seeing Transformers the other night about future Batman movies. You know who I would pick for Catwoman? Fairuza Balk. Know who I would pick for Poison Ivy? Gwen Stefani.

I also mentioned how I can't wait until the current fad of casting kids as superheroes passes, and then they go back to casting grown-ups.

On 'going out for a smoke'

I am working most of the time, and I am very busy. So when I go out, it's typically an outing I've organized. When I get asked "Wanna go out for a smoke?", I would usually go out just to be good company but now I don't do that. Now people ask me "Wanna go out for a smoke?" and since it's an outing I've arranged, the thing we're going out for is something I want to be a part of so my answer more and more is "No, I don't want to go out for a smoke." Going out for a smoke makes you change gears, and it almost seems like it's a release valve to make sure one doesn't have too much fun. It always feels like the mood of the situation is just getting good when someone wants to go out for a smoke. And when I don't go, I always get a look like it's a surprise or like I'm a jerk. I've always said that a smoking habit is a thing that keeps you from thinking too hard because your thoughts will only go so far before something makes you think of a smoke, and you go "that's a good idea!", and it's smoke time again. If something's important enough to interupt my work for, I'm interested enough in it to pay it my full attention, not five minutes worth at a time.

Nothing much, really. Just some home decorating and computer talk.

I got the new White Stripes album yesterday, the day it came out. I went to the store early, I might have even been the first to get it that day! Anyway, I am not ready to share my thoughts on it yet, and I am still up in the sky just taking it in. I'll come with that soon enough.

My bed is finally the crayon box that I wanted!! I bought new pillows, new pillowcases, and a bunch of cushions. All of it is bright crayon colors, and the little Spider-Man cushion sets the whole thing off!!

Here is the most exciting news of the day: I think I am ready to kick my PC to the curb! Thanks to a new friend whose acquaintance I only recently made who has packed my Macbook with all of the programs I need to get work done, I don't think I need my PC tower for anything any more, and I am looking forward to packing it away and being a full-time Mac enthusiast!! It did not take long for me to turn into a big Mac nerd. I am looking forward to Leopard coming out like it's a big movie that I want to see real bad!!

Disturbing trends

I'm not much of a complainer, but here are a few of this season's trends that I take issue with:

1. Crocs. Not to be worn outside. They are the least flattering footwear ever. Well, almost. The worst is...

2. Flip-Flops. I am on the subway, I see a super=hot babe, and when I check her out she's wearing flip-flops. And if they're not the dollar-store kind, they're those really ugly ones that have like the leather piece that sits on top of the foot. No good.

3. No make up. Ladies, if your thing is that you don't wear make-up then that's fine, but either women are giving up make-up en masse, or I'm just noticing it a lot more when women don't have any on. Women who are always on the ball with this sort of thing are starting to show up to stuff, or put pictures on their Facebook, with no make-up. Come on, maybe just a little eye-shadow or something?

4. Earth Tones. Don't it figure that the year I can finally afford to dress myself and buy clothes is the year that everything is in colors that I don't want to wear? Everything is greens and browns all over the town!! At least there's a few nice mint green item around, but often I'm totally ready to part with my money except everything is in colors I don't want!

For those that missed it, here's the first of many videos captured the night of April 27, a historic occasion indeed.



Now, I would like to say a few words about my new computer. I have one week ago, I treated myself to a shiny new MacBook. Now I'm not one to be all product-placement in my blog posts, but this thing really is the bee's knees. Your whole life changes when you can check your e-mail from bed. Everything runs fast, I find the Mac environment to be much more intuitive, and all the good ideas Windows implements are things that Mac has had for ages. Like stuff that I would never have even been able to conceive of that now I can't understand how I ever lived without: Dashboard, Expose, the thing that lets you see all of your open applications. This is stuff that you could never have even explained to me when I was a PC guy.

I even went out and bought the wireless Mighty Mouse mostly because I hate the trackpad on the computer itself. But I was delighted to find out all of the crazy things you can do with it that you can't do with a regular mouse. It becomes part of your experience of the computer more than just a way to get around the screen.

I also highly recommend the One to One membership. For $99 you can you to the Apple Store for one-hour personal training sessions. You get up to 52 of them (the idea is that you go once a week) and I've already been twice. $99 for 52 hours of personal training is a pretty good deal.

The best thing about all this is the way my work is more mobile now. It's only been a week and already my relationship to my work has changed. If I get a whole bunch of ideas in my head as I drift off to sleep that I want to bring up with one of the producers, I just reach out for my computer and punch them in right there instead of getting up to go do it at the computer.

But most exciting for me is the doors that open up in terms of my live performance. Before, it has always been a big chore of arranging to get the files to the DJ, or the headache of making sure there's a working CD player at the venue or some other such nonsense. Now I've got little Maccie who shall go with me to every show and plug into the system for problem- and complication-free backing track action.

I'm just rambling here, but the gist of it is that I am very excited to be on the Mac side of things now, and the suggestion from the commercials really is a good one: if you're upgrading to Vista, just get a Mac.

It's Getting Serious Now!

Today is Friday. This has been a busy week. And this is going to end up being an even busier month.

Wednesday I was in a casting session for ten hours. Casting for a main villain, a downstairs neighbor, a group of snipy girls, and a female customer. We saw everyone from great people who had their shit together, all the way down to people who had no business acting at all. They were to come deliver a prepared bit of dialogue, then they got surprised by having to play some improv with me. That was fun. And it is just more and more stunning all the time to see the machinery running, all of these talented and experienced people working their butt off to make my vision come to fruition. Today I went back to talk about props and wardrobe. I'm being taken shopping next Saturday!!

This weekend is going to be a lot of fun because it's another weekend of taping Ed's Night Party episodes. I always get a kick out of it when a joke I came up with makes it into the show, or when I see props I made get used. Every so often I get a jolt when it pops back into my head that this is what I'm doing, writing and producing for TV with my own show in development, when not even a year ago I was still near to having a break-down over paying the rent.

The performance on the 27th is going to be just off the hook. Between shooting it for the TV project, Human Kebab returning to Ontario, and the release of the Wizard of Rock's CD, there is just no way that there is anything more fun going on anywhere in this city.