Back from a cool experience

Hello again.

I'm actually shocked at how much time has passed since I last posted something on the blog...Definitely a lot more time than I honestly wanted to exist between postings.

It is kind of crazy when you become so wrapped up in your work/life that things you wanted to make an important priority become the first to be ignored. Unfortunately for me, the blog ended up being that.

However, today's post is a catch-you-up on what's consumed my many hours away.

I had an opportunity come along that I couldn't let pass: A submission for a sequential art Grant.

Sadly... I return to you empty-handed. Some other lucky and talented people were awarded the grant money from the Sequential Artist Workshop. For me, however, it was an experience which ended up being full of valuable lessons. I learned quite a bit about my ability to work under a tight deadline (made even tighter due to several events in other non-paying obligations I have, coming out-of-nowhere,) inking my own pencils, composition, writing, and putting in the right amount of time on character design.

The project challenged me in ways that my graphic design work never has, expanding my understanding of the differences between 'static' image design (that mostly comprises graphic design jobs I get tasked,) and feeding into a greater sense of what will be required for my advancement toward the illustration field, in terms of sequential storytelling.

Despite putting in major hours at the drawing table, writing (and RE-WRITING my entire script,) building a web page to display the work, and providing additional essay material to map out my process, I ended up with the beginning to a graphic novel but, no means to continue putting in large amounts of time on it. Still, in this instance, the JOURNEY was the thing, taking me along a much needed 2 months and suitably giving me the experience and knowledge needed for future work in sequential art and narrative.

I'll likely go for a few other grants I've heard about at some point. I have plenty more pages and other ideas that I'd love to see meet the light of day. Some of it is stuff I've always wanted to do but haven't been able to focus on due to...well, needing to spend time on what pays FIRST.

So, with that grand experience behind me, I'm back to good ole' "Conducting Thoughts," sharing some of my thoughts, artwork, NEW music, and interviewing creative people about interesting subjects. I see the site has had some nice traffic from unexpected places and I'm hopeful they'll be more as I try my best to post up things that are worth stopping by and see/read.

Thanks for reading!

- Conduct Lionhardt