ULTRAIST STUDIOS

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Wednesday. Lunch. I throw on my rollerblades and make my weekly pilgrimage to Silver Snail for “new comic day”. I was especially excited because I was expecting Glamourpuss, the newest from Dave Sim, to be out on the shelves this week. Unfortunately it turns out Silver Snail didn’t order any Glamourpuss because the guy Michael that makes the orders has a thing against Dave Sim. Which meant I had to throw on my rollerblades and continue west to 3^rd Quadrant. Fortunately 3^rd Quadrant DID order Glamourpuss, however unfortunately Glamourpuss wasn’t going to be out until NEXT Wednesday. Rats.

Well, I was already past Bathurst, and I already had my rollerblades on, so I figure “what the heck, why not skate up to Beguiling”.

Now, Beguiling is always interesting. They are the alternative comic’s mecca in Toronto. I told myself “I came all this way, I am not going to leave empty handed”.

The problem is, Beguiling has so much “stuff” that you become overwhelmed by choice. See TED lecture below.

And because so much of the stuff is weird and esoteric and obscure, it’s hard to make a choice and decide what to get. More often than not, I become so overwhelmed by choice that I leave empty handed. Well not today. I decided I was going to get something, it wasn’t going to be mainstream, and I would just see what would pique my interest.

What I got was “THREE VERY SMALL COMICS VOLUME II” by Tom Gauld. Chris Butcher seemed to think it was a very good selection. Inside the clever little package was a long panoramic fold out about a bunch of robots (which I didn’t “get”), a full page poster comic of “Alphabetical Terrors” which was very amusing, and an actual micro comic called “Invasion” which was brilliant.

It’s interesting to make an impulse purchase like this, and for one; to see if it was worth it, and two; to deconstruct the reasons WHY out of everything that was on display, did your pick stand out from the others.

In this case, the package intrigued me. I wanted to know what was in it. And since the envelope was open, I could check. And once I was engaged into the comic, it held my interest. Also, when a comic is created in a unique format, that is executed well, I appreciate it. VOLUME III of the same series was also available, however it had bright neon colours, and the comics were all sideways. That didn’t appeal to me. However VOLUME II were nice rich earthy tones that gave a more authentic “artistic” vibe.

I’m very curious if Tom printed these comics himself, or if they were professionally printed. I notice the print run is 2000. Perhaps I should inquire.

If you’re interested in checking out Tom Gauld’s work, you can find him on the web here at www.cabanonpress.com

This ends my Wednesday report.

This is Mike Kitchen, signing off.

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While reading Daniel Estulin’s book “The True Story Of The Bilderberg Group” I came across this passage quoted from Will Banyan:

“David’s strategy also reveals something fundamental about wealth and power: it does not matter how much money one has; unless it is employed to capture and control those organisations which produce the ideas and the policies that guide governments and the people who eventually serve in them, the real power of a great fortune will never be realised.”

Will Banyan, “Rockefeller Internationalism” Nexus, volume 11, number 1

It seems to me that if all of us employed what little wealth and power we have towards shaping the world to embrace true freedom and liberty, then together we could make great strides in creating better life for all humanity.

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Last October when Hawley Anderson contacted us on behalf of Dimension Films for comics, product, and signage to use in the upcoming feature film called SUPER HERO, I got the idea to create a life sized cut-out of SPY GUY.

The following documents the “creative process”.

Originally I was going to use existing artwork (due to time constraints) however there wasn’t anything in existence that matched what I envisioned in my head - so it was back to the drawing board. In a last minute rush, I hacked out this sharpie sketch.

I’ve started using sharpie markers to force myself to commit to a gesture rather than endlessly chicken scratching with pencil.

Next I used the Dave Sim tracing paper method to pull an actual drawing out of my sharpie sketch. I find that drawing on the mirror image helps to quickly tighten up the drawing, and then enables an easy transfer to the S-172 Bainbridge.

Once the pencils are transfered, the inking process begins, using primarily a Hunt 102 nib and a Windsor Newton #2 (not to mention some form of white out).

At this point I scan the artwork into the computer, and in this case I realized that I had drawn SPY GUY’s head too small. D’oh! For a moment I thought about redrawing the whole thing, however instead opted to just scale the thing in Photoshop.

Then I added some colour (doing my best to ape the Anime cell animation style) and voila! I had a final image.

This was then sent off to the fine folks at The Lot to be turned into a life sized cut out. Here is the final product!

Look for it in the background of the SUPER HERO movie coming soon to a theater near you!

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Here is the film we went to Hollywood for.
It’s called Superhero.

Click above to view or click here for the official site.

Special thanks to Ultraist Agent Thai Nguyen for providing this intel.

What was it like being an extra?
I think Karl Pilkington described it best:

part 1.

part 2.

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This is Mike’s brain…

… and it’s about to BLOW.

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Marcus Aurelius quote:

“If you’re troubled by something outside yourself, it isn’t the thing itself that bothers you, but your opinion of it, and this opinion you have the power to revoke immediately. If what troubles you arises from some flaw in your character or disposition, who prevents you from correcting the flaw? If it’s your failure to do some good or necessary work that frustrates you, why not put your energy into doing it rather than fretting about it?
‘But something stronger than I prevents me.’
Then don’t worry. It isn’t your responsibility to do what you lack the power to do.
‘But if it isn’t done, life isn’t worth living.’
Then quit this life in peace, as one who dies full of good works and forgiveness for those who opposed him.” *

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Epictetus quote:

“Do not become a greater coward than the children, but just say as they say, ‘I won’t play any longer,’ when the thing does not please them, so do you also, when things seem to you to have reached that stage, merely say, ‘I won’t play any longer,’ and take your departure; but if you stay, stop lamenting.” *

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Click below to watch the newest documentary film by Alex Jones.

You can support the film by ordering your own copy via the links below:

<- USA <- Canada

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I’m looking forward to inking this one.

This shows my new work process of roughing out the page on 11″ x 17″ paper using pencil and sharpie marker (and whiteout) before doing a tracing paper transfer to bainbridge s-172 illustration board.

Photo was taken while on public transit commute.

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