what's in a name anyway?

i don't think i've ever talked about where "Make Good Illustrations" came from. the name, i mean. the only reason i bring it up is that i think it's an (long) interesting story and one worth mentioning.

i'm going to take you way back to when i was a child in parsippany, new jersey. every sunday morning, my father would put me on his lap in the recliner chair of the family room and read me the sunday funnies. his favorite was "prince valiant", a serial comic about a medieval prince and his sword wielding adventures, and "beetle bailey", a bumbling private in the u.s. army who always got chased by his one toothed sergeant. but what i remember most is my dad's 5 o'clock shadow not matching his mustache, his messy hair which was usually pristine, his pea green terry cloth robe, and the mix of coffee and morning breath breezing past my nose as he read the comics aloud, reading each part with a slightly different voice for effect. that constant memory is not only one that i will never forget, but one that i built on. i plan to do that with my kids someday (but with a blue terry cloth robe since red heads can't wear green unless it's christmas), since my hope is that the newspaper industry survives until i actually father a child, though i doubt my comics will ever be clean enough to be in the paper. but i believe this is where it all started for me.

as time passed, i drew all the time. what really meant a lot to me was that my family supported me in my creativity - my uncle joe and aunt lisa specifically. they bought me art supplies (the good stuff) and always asked to see what i had worked on, a request i was usually too shy to oblige. as the years passed and after countless art classes taken, i decided i wanted to study art in college. i drifted aimlessly through my classes, resting on what talent i had, but never pushed to succeed. at the end, i realized i had majored in what i wanted, but had no idea how i would apply it to make a career out of it. when i graduated i tried to find an art job but couldn't so i did what every art student does in this situation - mooch off my folks until they tell me "enough's enough" and i got a "real" job. i did that for 5 years until i got fired for not giving a shit anymore. office jobs are just not for me. a year or so prior to my relief from 9 to 5 society, i started working at a bar (the one i still work at today).

years earlier, my aunt lisa passed away from breast cancer at the age of 29. i took it pretty hard, but after i lost my day job i started feeling lost. i liked working at the bar, but knew it wasn't something that offered a future - at least not one that i wanted. i started feeling guilty - guilty about wasting my schooling, guilty about wasting my talent, and guilty about wasting the encouragement my family and friends gave me to pursue my dream. i felt like i owed them and myself a second chance. i felt like i had to make good on the chance they gave me. and so, Make Good Illustrations was born. it's my chance at redemption and my second chance at doing what i've always wanted to do. i'm very lucky that i have this second chance and lucky that i even recognized it when it knocked on the door. i truly hope you all enjoy my comics as much as i do. all i hope for now is to do this full time. then i'll have really made good.

the dregs #34

this episode was done in the last week of january 2010. it was a relatively new joke from work that the door guy and i made up. we both have beards and we were talking about how he grooms his and how i just try to keep my mustache from getting in my food. somehow it got to "if i had back hair, i'd get that shit taken care of." it just kind of went from there.

on a technical note, sal's top arm took a little while to get right - the foreshortening, etc - but i think it came out great. i'm going to keep trying to put the characters in interesting poses and layouts. the last few have really looked great. also, i really really am happy with the line work in this one. over the past few episodes, i thought my pen nibs had dulled and needed replacing. i found out that they were just gunked up with the bristol board after the tooth of it had roughed up from erasing. either i have to quit erasing or stop being so hasty when i ink. it might take longer, but the latter is the obvious choice.

the science project #47

this episode, titled "eat the rich", (after the Motorhead song) was drawn in late january 2010. it's very dialogue heavy in the first panel, but i couldn't think of a way to do it without all that dialogue. i also couldn't figure out how i was going to really drive in the punchline "isn't that rich" and would the readers get how the joke works in 3 ways - she could be referring to her husband "richard", she could be referring to her financial status, and/or she could be referring to the gag gift. i like to think she meant it to be all three, but i doubt it. i also like how this episode can be read as how rich people are out of touch with common folks. or maybe it comments on how the overly fortunate are oblivious and insensitive since they live in their own world. or maybe it says that the bear skin rug turned out really great. i like to think it's saying all 3, but i doubt it.

the back story to this one is from all those christmas car commercials. this past december, i caught myself shaking my head at the tv because i couldn't believe someone would give someone else a car for christmas. i mean, who's got the money for something like that? i asked a friend the same question, and he replied with the obvious "rich people." including the dilapidated house in the second panel came together on the fly and tied it all together.

the science project #46

this episode was drawn in late january 2010 and is titled "not even Jesus likes a cry baby". this joke was originally going to be a "dregs" idea. it still could have worked for that strip, but i liked the idea i had for the sp and i think it payed off. i hope you think so too.

but there is a back story to this one. this was an actual argument i had with a friend. her boyfriend is a real jerk and one day i said that i didn't like him and i didn't want to be friends with him. she explained how he's her boyfriend and he's, of course, important to her, as i am. she asked me to say something and quash whatever ill feelings we had for each other and i exclaimed "why do i always have to be the good guy?" she replied, "because you ARE the good guy." at the time, i resented that, but she was right. you can try to be someone else, but, deep down, you are who you are. i ended up trying to bury the hatchet in an e-mail, but i never got a response. he's still a jerk. i'm still "the good guy". oh well.

the dregs #33

this episode was drawn in late january 2010. i liked laying this one out because it really gives a good look at the size difference between sal and peg. i have to admit, i'm really happy with the way the characters are coming along.

the dregs #32

this episode was done in early january 2010. i heard someone say this while i was at work and i instantly saw it as a peg comic. it being a reflective joke, it seemed fitting to have peg looking at her own reflection. where is she going to find her reflection at sal's place? in her martini. i think this layout and drawing is my favorite so far. i hope you all like it too.

the dregs #31

this episode was drawn in early january 2010. it was an older idea that i never got around to drawing, and was originally a two person dialogue. originally, it was only going to be "sal" and "onion's" lines that were going to be used. i like it a lot more with "peg's" dialogue because it gives a kind of double punchline. hope you like it.

the science project #45

this episode is titled "first come first serve" and was drawn in early january 2010. yes, i know. i went for the cheap joke here, but i thought the idea was hysterical. what if someone said that on your way out of a sperm bank? the original idea for this episode was going to be a sign over a room in a sperm bank displaying the title for this episode. i thought this way was funnier.

the science project #44

this episode, titled "hey there, tiger", was done in early january 2010. wow. the first comic of the new year. anyways, this episode was basically written by a friend and my dad. i just put the two ideas together. so, nadia and dad, thanks!

i don't think this has to be explained. but i will. MOST of us have sent messages to others that are... of a personal nature (or so i hear), and they never arrive. haven't you ever wondered where those messages go? my friend and i joked that there is some guy out there getting all these illicit messages and then has to defend himself with every woman he ever dates. my dad came up with the great idea to make this unfortuntate man tiger woods. the timing was perfect, so i couldn't resist.