Refreshing Content | Water Media

Free Prize Inside

Josh Farkas | Water Media — 2007-05-29T00:35:08-05:00

Hi my name is Josh and I make Welcome to Pixelton.

Thanks for swinging by my swanky blog,

A few weeks back I gave away an old-timey wheel barrow full of free stuff as a "thank you" to the early subscribers. But since then so many cool new folks have stopped by, and it is strictly unfair to jip them of their free crap. So, I'm opening up the gates one more time. By taking close to five minutes of your time I will send you the items below:

1. My last 216 page Graphic Novel: Nothing Left to Lose
2. An autographed copy of a real NES game with Kirby or Fil artwork
3. A limited edition print of a Pixelton comic signed and numbered by the talented artists (aka. um...me)
4. An original sketch!
5. My sincere appreciation for your time reading comics

Not too shabby for reading an RSS feed, eh? It totals over $40 in prizes! To get your free swag please click THIS ENCHANTED BLUE TEXT. Once within this magnificent land send me your name, full shipping info, and email (in case the US mail hates me). Magic bunnies will take of the rest. If you'd like to receive the odd message from my mailing list please just say so and I'd be happy to add you.

Now, I know what you are thinking - I would be too, but honest-to-God there are no strings attached. The info will be used once to give you some cool stuff, and then burned. I'm completely doing this as a thanks so I wouldn't want to sour it by being a jerk. Oh, and to everyone who took me up on this the first go-round, your packages are hitting the mail this week. Thanks for your patience and I hope you enjoy!

Finally, if you enjoy Welcome to Pixelton please tell a friend or post a link on your blog. All of the support has been amazing and each effort truly does make my day. (Yes I really am that lame)

All the best,
Josh

* Tiny Text: I'm not independently wealthy, so if I hit 50 I will need to stop. I'd love to give more away though. Stay tuned to the RSS feed for more free prizes in the coming weeks.

Stolen from:

Josh Farkas | Water Media — 2007-05-27T01:08:03-05:00

Simple and elegant visual depiction of the difference between Marketing, Advertising, PR, and Branding. Stolen with love from: Ads of the World

Welcome to Pixelton - Dashboard Widget for Mac OS X

Josh Farkas | Water Media — 2007-05-13T03:00:41-05:00

Click here to download the free Welcome to Pixelton widget for Mac OS X.

This little tool will allow you to see the latest updates from my online webcomic Welcome to Pixelton without you having to do a damn thing. Enjoy!

-Josh

No blogging for me, thanks

Josh Farkas | Water Media — 2007-05-13T02:26:34-05:00

Blogging? Meh!
Diaries? Bah.
Updates...um...bork?

I feel like a sitcom character as of late, running from one wacky set to the next. Dodging and weaving while doing my best to solve the problem before 30-minutes pass by. In the last 2 weeks I've:

- Watched my stunning wife receive her Masters degree.
- Participated in a Caricature Fundraising event with LaSalle Bank.
- Photographed the immigration march that was held in Chicago's Loop.
- Judged student portfolios at my old college.
- Bought a Wii and housed mini-bowling tournaments every hour on the hour.
- Made a bunch of new Pixelton strips (a bunch now equals 3).
- Started pricing a new book (which I have never mentioned here) that will be out possibly this year.
- Killed a start-up project very close to my heart.
- Wrote from a place I've been searching for since I found words.

But the one I am most shocked over:
- Finished pencilling the Welcome to Pixelton graphic novel. And the inks are well under way.

Big good, warm, fuzzy stuff. Who knows what the next two weeks may bring! (More lists? We can only dream.)

-Josh

Thoughts from a blurry Indiana

Josh Farkas | Water Media — 2007-04-22T23:20:53-05:00

So I'm back from stumbling through Indiana at 90 mph and the effects of smearing through multiple states are a lot like visiting a comic book show. You drain massive amounts of time in the hopes your journey has a purpose, but the end result is simply a very sore back-side.

I sold enough to pay for my trip. I may have been one of the few that can say this.

SPACE, the small press and alternative comic expo, which caused the state transfigurations was the first comic convention I'd ever been to. At that time the idea of creating unique story based art (and getting paid for it in any meaningful way) was a pipe dream. And the truth is for almost everyone in the room this weekend it was still far from possible. I'd like to believe that comics are the root of the lack of funds but I know better: Publishing is hard for a reason. The endurance and dedication weeds out the masses in a cruel ode to the epic fictions of the thousands of books on the show floor. Mix comics with indy street cred and the situation goes from bad to worse.

My initial reactions:

1. Thanks to everyone who took the time to chat or pick up a copy of Nothing Left to Lose. The next thing will be better. I promise. But I hope it was worth your time.

2. I should cease to be amazed by the fact I learn to love every place I visit. Columbus is an enthralling town. I hope I have the pleasure of going back soon. The Book Loft alone would be worth a move. (Side note a: Their website has music, scrolling text, and a creepy soul devouring owl...and yet it matches the feel of the location. There are times I wish I knew nothing of design and this is one.)

3. Comic readers and publishers are water for the thirsty soul. I can't even count on one hand the nice folks I met. I do hope some big things should come out of the nice bonds formed.

4. 90% of comics make my mind want to give up this life gig. I'd prefer a life of sweet vegetation then read another horrid anti-hero tale or micro-slice of life. In some ways I've learned to ignore the unending copy-cat nature that you'll see in these stuffy rooms, but the artists as writers crap must change. It is clear artists make very bad writers, and until we purposely think of ourselves as writers first, comics deserve their fate.

5. The 10% I love are the least polished of the show. These guys still remember why they started - and they have the giant balls to stand in a room and try to sell it. Even when they can't make a dime they act like warm, passionate gentlemen. I'm humbled by the whole damn package and wish their heart would infect me by sheer proximity.

6. The most important thing for any of the publishers (or writer/artists) who displayed at SPACE should be to get our books in comic readers hands. This fact was largely overlooked. It is astonishing how little publishers care about making people happy. At nearly every turn I found another publisher gouging the very audience they hope to enthrall. Here is a note to you: GOOD FUCKIN LUCK. If you really need that $100 then you shouldn't have started this in the first place. I'm sorry but we both know this is true.

7. I need to put out smaller books at a greater pace. Then find a distributor. I'm very close to contacting real publishers and hanging up the self-pub hat for some time. I'm obsessed with the idea of epic graphic novels at no cost, but I need a larger audience to make this happen. (I can't say I will ever do this though as it contradicts most of my beliefs regarding publishing)

8. Now is the first time I have been online in days and yet the world did not end. I worked almost 20 hour days for three days straight before the show with about two meals in between to be ready for the show, and yet the world did not end. I need to unplug and draw endlessly each and every day. I'm stuck in a feedback loop of useless internet bullshit and I will die here alone and without merit if I keep this up.

9. Someone defaced my art at SPACE and my first reaction was pride. They defaced a mask featuring one of my characters and taped it to the art jam openly for all artists to see. I must be insane, because I thought "My art must be worth defacing".

10. Twelve hours in a car is an ideal way to cook up a new story.

11. Most opinions are worth their weight in protons. If I had a penny for every piece of negative advice I'd received at a show (or anywhere else: website, friends, family, etc.) coupled with the phrase "keep up the great work" I could defy the earth's gravity and start my own colony with the amount mass they'd provided. Complaining is easy, and the structure and form of a weak mind bent on mastery through false ownership. Creating is the act of deciding which of these bits has some element of truth and discarding the rest with a smile.

12. There is always "THAT" guy at a comic show. He is drawing books about insanity through insanity. His stories make no sense, his art is like breathing coal, and his mom drove him to the show and waits outside to pick him up. He is also 30 years old. I'd like to adopt this little guy and carry him in some sort of duffel bag. Anytime I hear another yuppie complain they don't have time to create, I'd pull him out of his protective sheath and remind them that if this guy can be a success they are the worst failures of humanity.

13. Idols are great to have, but the crashing realization that they are human eventually hits (and like the dethroning our parents before) the shock of this moment moves worlds. My world was moved this weekend. It has been a slow and trying process but I've killed my last God. I see a path ahead where I am in control and the only limits are those that I set.

-Josh

Now with easy to swallow coating

Josh Farkas | Water Media — 2007-04-22T00:21:09-05:00

Why are you reading this and not creating? Solid question I find myself asking as well. Wired's Lore Sjöberg jumps in and describes your life as it unfolds in front of you. Dare to watch?

Pixeltons, SPACE, & the Dark Knight is my neighbor

Josh Farkas | Water Media — 2007-04-16T22:37:47-05:00

I am sooo happily busy right now. Not that bullshit "wow, I'm happy" but 100% cocaine, loving life, squeezing puppies into dust happy. The reason; response to Welcome to Pixelton has been way more positive then I hoped. Right now I'm averaging closer to 2,000 hits a day and that is screwing with my mind. I've tried to stop logging in to check the stats but I can't. The neat thing is the graphic novel is similar but almost completely different, so I'm always hoping the good vibes will continue.

Publishing online sincerely rules. Don't tell print but I'm becomming a convert. Now if only there was a good way to sift the good from the bad so folks wouldn't waste their time...

If you happen to live in the Ohio area, and find coming to small press comic conventions fun, please swing by SPACE. I'm going to be heading out to the wild...mid-east...to slather my form of comic-ky wares on the uninformed, and SPACE met these stringent requirements.

Why travel across this crazy country in these dangerous times?

1) I'll have exclusive Welcome to Pixelton Goodies such as prints, stickers, and limited edition Pixelton NES carts. Yes, NES carts.
2) Danger is my middle name.
3) Just between you and me - I'll also be practically giving away my last graphic novel Nothing Left to Lose, signed and sketched for your viewing pleasure.

Finally, Batman is going to be across the street from my day job tomorrow. Not kidding. Filming has begun on The Dark Knight (which is the new batman film). The location is about thirty feet from our door. I'm going to grab that plastic wrapped fucker and make him read some indy comics. How you like that you mopey bastard! (Oh wait, he totally would.)

(QUICK NOTE: This post''s title may be my crowning achievement as a blogger. How I divined such an original and truly moving anecdote one shall never know. *SIGH* Remember me future generations. Remember me with FEAR! )

Bill Watterson Interview, the Third

Josh Farkas | Water Media — 2007-04-15T13:46:36-05:00

I'm as shocked as most other Watterson fans, but the creator of Calvin & Hobbes has sat down for a few questions for what appears to be his third interview. Yes, only two others exist.

It shocks me that someone as intelligent and exponentially popular as Mr. Watterson could have pushed interviews back. He simply defined the funny pages for me as a kid, and as an adult his works resonates with the best sequential art has to offer. I'd love to hear his thoughts on art, story, life...if only he cared to share. But he retired early for a reason. Today he paints and studies the masters. It sounds from the random questions that he has gotten more cynical about life, and how he chose to portray the optimistic Calvin.

A few important bits fall out of the full interview that my greedy artist side couldn't overlook.

My biggest complaint with comics today is their demand to tied to current news or technology. While I think these jokes are funny, they don't last. Watch an episode of "Family Guy" with your kids and see their blank expressions. Then pull out some "I Love Lucy" and see which scores higher. Watterson agrees, and purposely tied Calvin and Hobbes to more timeless adventures.

He thinks newspaper comics suck now. He doesn't flat out say it, but it is clear. I think we can all agree he is right. He even feels this whole internet comic thing will take over (though it is mighty clear he hasn't the slightest about internet comics).

Watterson prefers inks to pencils. I absolutely love this but I'll save the juicy quote for you to read yourself!

Under normal circumstances I'd link to the article, but since this appears to be a press release I'm posting the whole damn thing. Enjoy!

Fans From Around the World Interview Bill Watterson

Mark Mulvey • Port Murray, NJ

Q: Are the adventures of Calvin and Hobbes similar to your own childhood, or is the strip a way for you to create stories you never experienced as a kid?

A: I'd say the fictional and nonfictional aspects were pretty densely interwoven. While Calvin definitely reflects certain aspects of my personality, I never had imaginary animal friends, I generally stayed out of trouble, I did fairly well in school, etc., so the strip is not literally autobiographical. Often I used the strip to talk about things that interested me as an adult, and of course, a lot of Calvin's adventures were drawn simply because I thought the idea was funny. In any given strip, the amount of invention varied. Keep in mind that comic strips are typically written in a certain amount of panic, and I made it all up as I went along. I just wrote what I thought about.

Charles Brubaker • Martin, TN
Q: What do you think of the comics section since your retirement nearly 10 years ago?

A: It took a while, but now I read the comics almost like a normal person. This is not a great age of newspaper comics, but there are a few strips I enjoy. Things could be better, things could be worse.

Meghan Bolton • Columbia, MD
Q: How would Calvin the six-year-old be different today in 2005 versus 1985-1995?

A: I usually tried to keep the strip relatively unanchored in time. Calvin's toys, for example, were mostly a wagon and a cardboard box, rather than anything up to date. I suppose a 2005 Calvin would be different, not because it's a different era, but because I think about some different things at this point in my life.

Suzanne Kaufmann • Charlottesville, VA
Q: So many of Calvin and Hobbes strips had some kind of moral/theological element that I wonder what your religious upbringing was and if it influenced that. (For instance, the "Love the sinner, hate the sin" strip as well as many Santa-related Christmas strips.) I'm guessing you were raised Catholic?

A: Actually, I've never attended any church.

Ben Gamboa • Whittier, CA
Q: Many young cartoonists are using the Internet to display their work instead of, or in concert with, print media because there are few barriers to entry and the medium provides the freedom to experiment with form, content, and color. Given your concerns over the state of newspaper comics, what do you think of this development?

A: To be honest, I don't keep up with this. The Internet may well provide a new outlet for cartoonists, but I imagine it's very hard to stand out from the sea of garbage, attract a large audience, or make money. Newspapers are still the major leagues for comic strips . . . but I wouldn't care to bet how long they'll stay that way.

Kodi Tillery • Kansas City, KS
Q: Did you ever have a real-life situation that you sorted out through depiction of a similar incident between Calvin and Hobbes? If so, can you describe the situation and the impact your strip had on it—i.e., did the people in your life realize they had made it into your strip?

A: I tried not to use my life that directly—whenever I started to cross that line, it felt exploitive. Real-life issues gave me a subject to work with, but then I made up the stories. Inconvenient facts were deleted, details were moved around, and wholly fictitious parts were added, all to fit the needs of the strip. My family certainly recognized the context of a lot of strips, but I tried to keep the true parts as just the starting point.

Alan Taylor • Lubbock, TX
Q: You have been very persistent in not becoming a public figure, and I respect that a great deal. Is there anything you would wish to tell the fans who do not understand your wishes and why it is important to you not to claim the spotlight?

A: My impression is that those who don't get it, don't care to get it.

Matthew Atkinson • Oklahoma City, OK
Q: What attributes do you wish were seen more commonly among children?

A: Good parents!

Timothy Hulsizer • Keene, NH
Q: You've often cited Herriman, Kelly, Schulz, etc., as comic strip inspirations. But who inspires you most in the fields of painting and printmaking?

A: At the moment, I'm looking mostly at artists from the 1600s, but I study any artist who tackles the particular issues I'm working with. Titian one day, de Kooning another. It wasn't my intention, but over the years, I've pieced together a modest understanding of art history that way.

Nick Samoyedny • Tarrytown, NY
Q: What led you to resist merchandising Calvin and Hobbes?

A: For starters, I clearly miscalculated how popular it would be to show Calvin urinating on a Ford logo. . . . Actually, I wasn't against all merchandising when I started the strip, but each product I considered seemed to violate the spirit of the strip, contradict its message, and take me away from the work I loved. If my syndicate had let it go at that, the decision would have taken maybe 30 seconds of my life.

Jonathan Fang • Riverside, CA
Q: Displayed not only through characteristics of Calvin and Hobbes, but also through your unique style of art, storytelling, and layout, you seem to stress the individual. You spoke to outcasts or people who did not seem to fit the "norms" of society (myself included) and no doubt made it feel OK for people to be different. Was that your intention when starting Calvin and Hobbes and how do you feel about individualism and originality?

A: I guess one thing I like about Calvin is that whether he fits in with the wider world or not is almost beside the point, because he can't help but be himself. Of course, when I started Calvin and Hobbes, my intention was simply to have a job cartooning. I had very few big ideas of where my work was going until it got there, but looking back, I think the strip generally shows my values on these subjects.

Meghan Bolton • Columbia, MD
Q: Was there anything you wanted to include but couldn't because of the syndicate, the editor, or the public? If so, what and how did you deal with the situation?

A: That was never a problem. I wasn't trying to push those kinds of boundaries.

Jyrki Vainio • Lahti, FINLAND
Q: Most cartoonists say they prefer the spontaneity and energy of their initial pencil sketches to their finished ink drawings. Do you have any thoughts on this as it seems that in your work it is the ink drawings that have the great spontaneous energy?

A: My pencil sketches were just minuscule notations of who was talking, so I have no particular reverence for them. In my case, the finished pictures captured more of the visual impact I was after. In fact, I did as little preparatory pencil work for the finished strip as possible, so the inking would be a real drawing encounter, and not a sterile tracing of pencil lines. Ink is a wonderful medium all on its own.

Dara Card • Orem, UT
Q: Is there anything about the strip you would change if you could go back? (NOT that it needs change! I think it is perfect the way it is.)

A: Well, let's just say that when I read the strip now, I see the work of a much younger man.

KT Misener • Ontario, CANADA
Q: What books do you keep reading over and over again?

A: Hmm. Suddenly I feel very shallow.

Sam & Max: Netvibes Easter Egg!

Josh Farkas | Water Media — 2007-04-08T10:22:42-05:00

So little did I imagine when I logged in this morning to Netvibes I'd see him. But there he was staring my face - Max, from the wonderful Sam & Max comic by Steve Purcell (now also available a monthly episodic game from our pals at Telltale Games).

As you may know I have a history with Sam & Max . My hot new comic Welcome to Pixelton is inspired by a combo of Purcell's genius and Calvin and Hobbes heartbreaking honesty. I was afraid the rabbit-thing was some sort of virtual tell-tale heart...but I'll side with sanity and guess "Best Damn Easter Egg Ever".

After a bit of digging it looks like Max only appears with a column of 1, and you can click on him but nothing happens. He eventually falls off the edge to his demise and doesn't appear unless you reload Netvibes. Enjoy!

Why you'd want to rush to get to that Cemetary...

Josh Farkas | Water Media — 2007-03-28T12:24:57-05:00

Thanks to my favorite game blog Kotaku, I learned that this week's Time magazine tackles the issue of webcomics. In New Zip for an Old Strip we learn about the webcomics revolution that has been underway. Currently there are thousands of artists working on redefining the genre. I guess that McCloud guy is ahead of his time. :)

But the most compelling point to note in this article is the subject matter these comics have taken.

Time goes out of their way to make comparisons to the birth of syndicated newspaper comic strips like Krazy Kat and Nemo, and each of these strips tend to cover wildly different grounds. Time's webcomic samples on the other hand are of two varieties: With Video Game references and Without.

So why two distinct groups?

I feel this is the interesting question that needs answering. Especially as I continue to plug away on my own webcomic which clearly falls into one of those categories. I think Peter Moore (leader of Microsoft's Games Division) hit the nail on the head while addressing the audience of the Electronic Entertainment Expo in 2006, "Games are our shared heritage".

Never before has a society had a chance to collectively experience something. Games are vivid representations that transcend movies and books in the sense that a user has the perceived ability to act. This option makes users feel invested as the actions of a hero aren't merely of a third-party but of their own.

On top of this we add the modern myths games have created. The ancient Greeks had magnificent Gods to wrap epic stories around that were ultimately parables. Today we have game icons that do the same thing. Solid Snake as the stoic freedom fighter. Link as the plucky youthful hero to defeat evil. Mario doing whatever it takes to save his love. Joseph Campbell would swoon at the rich retellings of age old ideas. These aren't new concepts, but they have never been wrapped into such a compelling engaging package before.

We have an entire generation that can speak the same language, so it is no wonder that when we branch out to other forms of communication we attempt to add to and repurpose these tales.

In other words - Go Webcomics Go!

Jeff Han: MultiTouch UI

Josh Farkas | Water Media — 2007-03-28T12:09:48-05:00

So, near the end of the video NYU Researcher Jeff Han mentions this technology is available for purchase. Anyone willing to go half-sies with me?

How'djododat? - Pixelton Comic #0003

Josh Farkas | Water Media — 2007-03-27T03:45:59-05:00

So this is how my comics start out.

They fill up any scrap of paper I can get my hands on. The thought is if I can purge my silly ideas onto napkins/sketchbooks/notepads enough I might find an idea worth using. This sketch was one of 30 I did on my morning train ride on Chicago's Metra. I find the closer I am to being asleep the better I write, so mornings are perfect writing times.

A few days will pass and now I have the clarity to decide which of the crap I'll highlight. For the Pixelton strips I'm drawing everything into the computer using my fab new Wacom tablet. On average, an inked page will take about 4-5 hours. I usually pull up a documentary online to help the time move faster.

In a cruel twist of fate the coloring process takes about this long as well. In this case we now have the color layer over the Black & White art, but it wasn't doing it for me...

So I added in the trademark DigDug ground and called it a day. Hooray for useless pop-culture references!

Finally I lay in the type and word balloons. If I've learned one thing when not sketching these out fully it is: Always leave more space for text then you'd ever imagine! There is nothing worse then needing to redraw a section (or shudder, a page) once you've run through the illustration gauntlet.

See you Thursday!

Kurt Vonnegut's Rules for Writing Fiction

Josh Farkas | Water Media — 2007-03-27T03:39:54-05:00

1. Use the time of a total stranger in such a way that he or she will not feel the time was wasted.

2. Give the reader at least one character he or she can root for.

3. Every character should want something, even if it is only a glass of water.

4. Every sentence must do one of two things -- reveal character or advance the action.

5. Start as close to the end as possible.

6. Be a sadist. Now matter how sweet and innocent your leading characters, make awful things happen to them -- in order that the reader may see what they are made of.

7. Write to please just one person. If you open a window and make love to the world, so to speak, your story will get pneumonia.

8. Give your readers as much information as possible as soon as possible. To heck with suspense. Readers should have such complete understanding of what is going on, where and why, that they could finish the story themselves, should cockroaches eat the last few pages.

-- Vonnegut, Kurt Vonnegut, Bagombo Snuff Box: Uncollected Short Fiction (New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons 1999), 9-10.

FOUND HERE

10 things they never taught me in Design School

Josh Farkas | Water Media — 2007-03-20T21:04:38-05:00

I hate to join in the article thieving bandwagon, but the article below is being heavily passed around - and It should be. It deserves every ounce of praise it receives. I hope it inspires!

The Top 10 Things They Never Taught Me in Design School
by Michael McDonough

1. Talent is one-third of the success equation. Talent is important in any profession, but it is no guarantee of success. Hard work and luck are equally important. Hard work means self-discipline and sacrifice. Luck means, among other things, access to power, whether it is social contacts or money or timing. In fact, if you are not very talented, you can still succeed by emphasizing the other two. If you think I am wrong, just look around.

2. 95 percent of any creative profession is shit work. Only 5 percent is actually, in some simplistic way, fun. In school that is what you focus on; it is 100 percent fun. Tick-tock. In real life, most of the time there is paper work, drafting boring stuff, fact-checking, negotiating, selling, collecting money, paying taxes, and so forth. If you don’t learn to love the boring, aggravating, and stupid parts of your profession and perform them with diligence and care, you will never succeed.

3. If everything is equally important, then nothing is very important. You hear a lot about details, from “Don’t sweat the details” to “God is in the details.” Both are true, but with a very important explanation: hierarchy. You must decide what is important, and then attend to it first and foremost. Everything is important, yes. But not everything is equally important. A very successful real estate person taught me this. He told me, “Watch King Rat. You’ll get it.”

4. Don’t over-think a problem. One time when I was in graduate school, the late, great Steven Izenour said to me, after only a week or so into a ten-week problem, “OK, you solved it. Now draw it up.” Every other critic I ever had always tried to complicate and prolong a problem when, in fact, it had already been solved. Designers are obsessive by nature. This was a revelation. Sometimes you just hit it. The thing is done. Move on.

5. Start with what you know; then remove the unknowns. In design this means “draw what you know.” Start by putting down what you already know and already understand. If you are designing a chair, for example, you know that humans are of predictable height. The seat height, the angle of repose, and the loading requirements can at least be approximated. So draw them. Most students panic when faced with something they do not know and cannot control. Forget about it. Begin at the beginning. Then work on each unknown, solving and removing them one at a time. It is the most important rule of design. In Zen it is expressed as “Be where you are.” It works.

6. Don’t forget your goal. Definition of a fanatic: Someone who redoubles his effort after forgetting his goal. Students and young designers often approach a problem with insight and brilliance, and subsequently let it slip away in confusion, fear and wasted effort. They forget their goals, and make up new ones as they go along. Original thought is a kind of gift from the gods. Artists know this. “Hold the moment,” they say. “Honor it.” Get your idea down on a slip of paper and tape it up in front of you.

7. When you throw your weight around, you usually fall off balance. Overconfidence is as bad as no confidence. Be humble in approaching problems. Realize and accept your ignorance, then work diligently to educate yourself out of it. Ask questions. Power – the power to create things and impose them on the world – is a privilege. Do not abuse it, do not underestimate its difficulty, or it will come around and bite you on the ass. The great Karmic wheel, however slowly, turns.

8. The road to hell is paved with good intentions; or, no good deed goes unpunished. The world is not set up to facilitate the best any more than it is set up to facilitate the worst. It doesn’t depend on brilliance or innovation because if it did, the system would be unpredictable. It requires averages and predictables. So, good deeds and brilliant ideas go against the grain of the social contract almost by definition. They will be challenged and will require enormous effort to succeed. Most fail. Expect to work hard, expect to fail a few times, and expect to be rejected. Our work is like martial arts or military strategy: Never underestimate your opponent. If you believe in excellence, your opponent will pretty much be everything.

9. It all comes down to output. No matter how cool your computer rendering is, no matter how brilliant your essay is, no matter how fabulous your whatever is, if you can’t output it, distribute it, and make it known, it basically doesn’t exist. Orient yourself to output. Schedule output. Output, output, output. Show Me The Output.

10. The rest of the world counts. If you hope to accomplish anything, you will inevitably need all of the people you hated in high school. I once attended a very prestigious design school where the idea was “If you are here, you are so important, the rest of the world doesn’t count.” Not a single person from that school that I know of has ever been really successful outside of school. In fact, most are the kind of mid-level management drones and hacks they so despised as students. A suit does not make you a genius. No matter how good your design is, somebody has to construct or manufacture it. Somebody has to insure it. Somebody has to buy it. Respect those people. You need them. Big time.

Originally published by The Architect's Newspaper. Copied(with permission) by the Design Observer. Copied without permission by Blog about Advertising. Stolen by me (with love).

Designers On Life: Sagmeister

Josh Farkas | Water Media — 2007-03-20T20:52:14-05:00

Stefan Sagmeister's list: Things I have learned in my life so far.

Complaining is silly. Either act or forget.
Thinking life will be better in the future is stupid. I have to live now.
Being not truthful works against me.
Helping other people helps me.
Organizing a charity group is surprisingly easy.
Everything I do always comes back to me.
Drugs feel great in the beginning and become a drag later on.
Over time I get used to everything and start taking it for granted.
Money does not make me happy.
Traveling alone is helpful for a new perspective on life.
Assuming is stifling.
Keeping a diary supports my personal development.
[Josh- Hey, wait a minute...does a blog count?!]
Trying to look good limits my life.
Worrying solves nothing.
Material luxuries are best enjoyed in small doses.
Having guts always works out for me.

On a side note, haven't seen anything from Sagmeister that makes him worthy of his massive following. When you peruse their work it is a hodgepodge of the exact same grunge ideology. I'm sure this is fine for some, but I always feel you should judge an artist by their scope. Anyone can play in the grounds they are familiar with. It takes a pro to head out alone into virgin ground only to come back with something they never knew they were capable of...

And yet for all of my trash talk, another friggin link. This selection is a rundown of some common questions about design, studios, and the commercial arts. Damn your marketability Sagmeister. Damn it straight to a grid-based layout.

Welcome to Pixelton, launch party

Josh Farkas | Water Media — 2007-03-19T21:16:04-05:00

What is Pixelton?
A secluded tropical island of refugee 8-bit heroes. Join Kirby and Fil as they learn the power of choice beyond the TV screen. There is much more, but that is the elevator pitch.

When?
Every Monday and Thursday we'll have new strips.

Sign me up!?
Um, thanks! Check back here for more info as it hits. I'll be releasing lots more fun goodies and info over the next few weeks. (And our current books under Creative Commons!)

Do me a favor would you? If you enjoy it please tell a friend, or bookmark it. You have no idea how much this sort of thing helps!

What about the "Welcome to Pixelton" graphic novel?
It is more exciting than I imagined when I started it three years back...but it is taking time. So you can check out the mini-web adventures until the main course hits. :)

PLEASE PRESS START

Advice to young men, from an old man

Josh Farkas | Water Media — 2007-03-15T19:49:18-05:00

A few weeks back I submitted a story at random to Digg while looking at freelance offers on Craigslist. I found a great article from a graphic designer giving all the reasons why Craigslist was bad for artists and buyers. For the first time ever my story got featured on the front page of Digg and racked up nearly 2,000 votes. Best of all was that it started a debate about the value of design and the usefulness of so called "spec" work. Pretty fucking cool.

And then I found another amazing rant on the kind CL, this time by an old man giving advice to young men on the rules of life. It is just as profound as the one I'd seen before. But then I realized a scary problem...

The problem here is that Craigslist erases their old posts, so in a matter of days they are lost to the world. In the case of these two great mystery editorials I felt they had to be saved from internet obscurity...so I'm posting them here. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did. Both are right, whether or not we're willing to accept them. I tip my hat to both of the authors and hope more people spread the word:

Graphic Design Hero Tells Off CraigsList

Every day, there are more and more Craigs List posts seeking “artists” for everything from auto graphics to comic books to corporate logo designs. More people are finding themselves in need of some form of illustrative service.

But what they’re NOT doing, unfortunately, is realizing how rare someone with these particular talents can be.

To those who are “seeking artists”, let me ask you; How many people do you know, personally, with the talent and skill to perform the services you need? A dozen? Five? One? …none?

More than likely, you don’t know any. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be posting on craigslist to find them.

And this is not really a surprise.

In this country, there are almost twice as many neurosurgeons as there are professional illustrators. There are eleven times as many certified mechanics. There are SEVENTY times as many people in the IT field.

So, given that they are less rare, and therefore less in demand, would it make sense to ask your mechanic to work on your car for free? Would you look him in the eye, with a straight face, and tell him that his compensation would be the ability to have his work shown to others as you drive down the street?

Would you offer a neurosurgeon the “opportunity” to add your name to his resume as payment for removing that pesky tumor? (Maybe you could offer him “a few bucks” for “materials”. What a deal!)

Would you be able to seriously even CONSIDER offering your web hosting service the chance to have people see their work, by viewing your website, as their payment for hosting you?

If you answered “yes” to ANY of the above, you’re obviously insane. If you answered “no”, then kudos to you for living in the real world.

But then tell me… why would you think it is okay to live out the same, delusional, ridiculous fantasy when seeking someone whose abilities are even less in supply than these folks?

Graphic artists, illustrators, painters, etc., are skilled tradesmen. As such, to consider them as, or deal with them as, anything less than professionals fully deserving of your respect is both insulting and a bad reflection on you as a sane, reasonable person. In short, it makes you look like a twit.

A few things you need to know;

1. It is not a “great opportunity” for an artist to have his work seen on your car/’zine/website/bedroom wall, etc. It IS a “great opportunity” for YOU to have their work there.

2. It is not clever to seek a “student” or “beginner” in an attempt to get work for free. It’s ignorant and insulting. They may be “students”, but that does not mean they don’t deserve to be paid for their hard work. You were a “student” once, too. Would you have taken that job at McDonalds with no pay, because you were learning essential job skills for the real world? Yes, your proposition it JUST as stupid.

3. The chance to have their name on something that is going to be seen by other people, whether it’s one or one million, is NOT a valid enticement. Neither is the right to add that work to their “portfolio”. They get to do those things ANYWAY, after being paid as they should. It’s not compensation. It’s their right, and it’s a given.

4. Stop thinking that you’re giving them some great chance to work. Once they skip over your silly ad, as they should, the next ad is usually for someone who lives in the real world, and as such, will pay them. There are far more jobs needing these skills than there are people who possess these skills.

5. Students DO need “experience”. But they do NOT need to get it by giving their work away. In fact, this does not even offer them the experience they need. Anyone who will not/can not pay them is obviously the type of person or business they should be ashamed to have on their resume anyway. Do you think professional contractors list the “experience” they got while nailing down a loose step at their grandmother’s house when they were seventeen?

If you your company or gig was worth listing as desired experience, it would be able to pay for the services it received. The only experience they will get doing free work for you is a lesson learned in what kinds of scrubs they should not lower themselves to deal with.

6. (This one is FOR the artists out there, please pay attention.) Some will ask you to “submit work for consideration”. They may even be posing as some sort of “contest”. These are almost always scams. They will take the work submitted by many artists seeking to win the “contest”, or be “chosen” for the gig, and find what they like most. They will then usually have someone who works for them, or someone who works incredibly cheap because they have no originality or talent of their own, reproduce that same work, or even just make slight modifications to it, and claim it as their own. You will NOT be paid, you will NOT win the contest. The only people who win, here, are the underhanded folks who run these ads. This is speculative, or “spec”, work. It’s risky at best, and a complete scam at worst. I urge you to avoid it, completely. For more information on this subject, please visit www.no-spec.com.

So to artists/designers/illustrators looking for work, do everyone a favor, ESPECIALLY yourselves, and avoid people who do not intend to pay you. Whether they are “spec” gigs, or just some guy who wants a free mural on his living room walls. They need you. You do NOT need them.

And for those who are looking for someone to do work for free… please wake up and join the real world. The only thing you’re accomplishing is to insult those with the skills you need. Get a clue.

Advice to Young Men from an Old Man

1. Don’t pick on the weak. It’s immoral. Don’t antagonize the strong without cause, its stupid.

2. Don’t hate women. It’s a waste of time

3. Invest in yourself. Material things come to those that have self actualized.

4. Get in a fistfight, even if you are going to lose.

5. As a former Marine, take it from me. Don’t join the military, unless you want to risk getting your balls blown off to secure other people’s economic or political interests.

6. If something has a direct benefit to an individual or a class of people, and a theoretical, abstract, or amorphous benefit to everybody else, realize that the proponent’s intentions are to benefit the former, not the latter, no matter what bullshit they try to feed you.

7. Don’t be a Republican. They are self-dealing crooks with no sense of honor or patriotism to their fellow citizens. If you must be a Republican, don’t be a “conservative.” They are whining, bitching, complaining, simple-minded self-righteous idiots who think they’re perpetual victims. Listen to talk radio for a while, you’ll see what I mean.

8. Don’t take proffered advice without a critical analysis. 90% of all advice is intended to benefit the proponent, not the recipient. Actually, the number is probably closer to 97%, but I don’t want to come off as cynical.

9. You’ll spend your entire life listening to people tell you how much you owe them. You don’t owe the vast majority of people shit.

10. Don’t undermine your fellow young men. Mentor the young men that come after you. Society recognizes that you have the potential to be the most power force in society. It scares them. Society does not find young men sympathetic. They are afraid of you, both individually and collectively. Law enforcement’s primary purpose is to suppress you.

11. As a young man, you’re on your own. Society divides and conquers. Unlike women who have advocates looking out for them (NOW, Women’s Study Departments, government, non-profit organizations, political advocacy groups) almost no one is looking out for you.

12. Young men provide the genius and muscle by which our society thrives. Look at the Silicone Valley. By in large, it was not old men or women that created the revolution we live. Realize that society steals your contributions, secures it with our intellectual property laws, and then takes credit and the rewards where none is due.

13. Know that few people have your best interests at heart. Your mother does. Your father probably does (if he stuck around). Your siblings are on your side. Everybody else worries about themselves.

14. Don’t be afraid to tell people to “Fuck off” when need be. It is an important skill to acquire. As they say, speak your piece, even if your voice shakes.

15. Acquire empathy, good interpersonal skills, and confidence. Learn to read body language and non-verbal communication. Don’t just concentrate on your vocational or technical skills, or you’ll find your wife fucking somebody else.

16. Keep fit.

17. Don’t speak ill of your wife/girlfriend. Back her up against the world, even if she’s wrong. She should know that you have her back. When she needs your help, give it. She should know that you’ll take her part.

18. Don’t cheat on your wife/girlfriend. If you must cheat, don’t humiliate her. Don’t risk having your transgressions come back to her or her friends. Don’t do it where you live. Don’t do it with people in your social circle. Don’t shit in your own back yard.

19. If your girlfriend doesn’t make you feel good about yourself and bring joy to your life, fire her. That’s what girlfriends are for.

20. Don’t bother with “emotional affairs.” They are just a vehicle for women to flirt and have someone make them feel good about themselves. That’s the part of a relationship they want. For you it is a lot of work and investment in time. If they are having an emotional affair with you, they’re probably fucking someone else.

21. Becoming a woman’s friend and confidant is not going to get you into an intimate relationship. If you haven’t gotten the girl within a reasonably short period of time, chances are you won’t ever get her. She’ll end up confiding to you about the sexual adventures she’s having with someone else.

22. Have and nurture friendships with women.

23. Realize that love is a numbers game. Guys fall in love easily. You’re going to see some girl and feel like you’ll die if you don’t get her. If she rejects you, move on to the next one. It’s her loss.

24. Don’t be an internet troll. Got out and live life. There is not a cadre of beautiful women advertising on Craigslist to have NSA sex with you. Beautiful women don’t need to advertise. The websites that advertise with attractive women’s photos and claims of loneliness are baloney. All they want is your money and your personal information so that they can market to you. The posts on Craigslist by young “women” seeking NSA sex, and asking for a picture are just a bunch of gay troll pic collectors. This is especially true if the post uses common gay lexicon like “hole” as in “fuck my hole” or seeks “masculine” men, or uses the word cock (except in the context of “Don’t send a cock shot.”) There are women on Craigslist. They are easily recognizable by their 2-5 paragraph postings. Most are in their 30's or older.

25. When you become a man in full, know that people will get in your way. People who are attracted to you will somehow manage to step in your path. Gay guys will give you “the look.” Old people will somehow stumble in front of you at the worst time. Don’t get frustrated. Just step aside and go about your business. Know that these are passive aggressive methods to get you to acknowledge their existence.

26. Don’t gay bash. Don’t mentally or physically abuse people because of who they are, or how they present themselves. It’s none of your business to try to intimidate people into conformity.

27. If your gay, admit it to yourself, your parents, your friends and society at large. Be prepared to get harassed. See rule 14. If someone threatens you or assaults you, call the cops. Have them arrested. You have no obligation to self sacrifice because of who you are. As a gay person, you’ll have more social freedom than straight men. Use it to protect yourself. Be prepared to get out of Dodge if your orientation makes your life unbearable. Move to San Francisco, New York, Atlanta, or New Orleans. You’ll find a welcoming community there.

28. Don’t be a poser. Avoid being one of those dudes who puts a surfboard on top of their car, but never surfs, or a dude with a powder coated fixed gear bike and a messenger bag, but was never a messenger. Live the life. Earn your bona fides.

29. Don’t believe the crap about the patriarchy. More women are accepted and attend college. More degrees are awarded to women than men. Women outlive men. More men commit suicide. Men are twice as likely to be victims of violence, including murder. If you consider sexual assaults in prisons, twice as many men are raped as women (society thinks prison rape is funny). The streets are littered with homeless men, sprinkled with a few homeless women. Statically, women are happier than men. The myth that girls are being cheated by are educational system is belied by the fact that schools are bastions of femininity, mostly run by and taught by women. Girls outperform boys in school. It is the boys in school getting fucked over, and prescribed ritalin for being boys. Real wages for men are falling, while real wages for women are rising. Just because someone says something enough times, doesn’t make it true. You have nothing to feel guilty about.

30. Remember, 97% of all advice is worthless. Take what you can use, and trash the rest.

Love is: NEVER EVER SAYING LOVE IS

Josh Farkas | Water Media — 2007-03-14T21:23:09-05:00

So this has nothing to do with the crappy comic Love Is (though I do love these creative knockoffs from The End of Humor ). It does have to do with a wonderful new start-up that seems to blowing the doors off of online documents. I hate to say it, but they have done everything right out of the box. I'm talking about Scribd.com.

I could gush endlessly about what they nailed, but you need to play around to see the beauty of their design. The tactile feel of using print is kept even with the exciting Web 2.0 goodies that allow you to seamlessly flow from one document to another. For a library geek there is no greater pleasure then to find a unique read you never knew existed.

I Believe on Thursdays Only

Josh Farkas | Water Media — 2007-03-14T21:04:50-05:00

Sometimes Mondays, but only if I eat Mexican.

Take a trip back to the lighter days at IUsedtoBelieve.com. This website has warmed even my cruel dictator-like heart that there may be hope for the future. Hope...how I missed you.

Here are two things I used to believe: 1) That animals thought that they'd grow up to be human but would slowly realize as they grew older that they were wrong. 2) I thought that when I went to sleep I would travel through the world and live everyone's lives. If I caused harm to someone I would soon experience the harm through their eyes.

I was a real strange kid. :)

Sketchr? Sketchy? Sketcha?

Josh Farkas | Water Media — 2007-03-11T21:10:33-05:00

Nope, but hmmmm....I do feel a bit launchy this week. We're in a very rough Beta right now but it is exciting to see the idea come to life!

Meet my Pixel Friends

Josh Farkas | Water Media — 2007-03-08T01:43:30-06:00

Welcome to Pixelton is launching in web comic form this weekend! It is going to be a bi-weekly addition to the big book and an experiment to see how folks react to the idea.

Along with the snazzy comic goodness will be a site refresh where I release all of my books in digital format for free under Creative Commons. I've also finally collected the full PSP versions of each, along with our font collections, and even some experimental storytelling tools for authors I'd created a year back. Most of this has been unavailable for quite some time and people have been kind enough to email me to re-release, so consider it (almost) done.

Please stop by let me know your kind thoughts or suggestions!

UPDATE: BOOO! So I missed this weekend apparently. Who knew. I have a reason, and it is quite exciting. Check back in the next few days for the full scoop of Welcome to Pixelton and "the exciting mystery project" that I shoved into Beta on Tuesday.

Graffiti Art

Josh Farkas | Water Media — 2007-03-06T02:14:40-06:00

Nothing like a nerdy white middle class comic geek to fawn over graffiti to prove the value it has as Art.

The best part about graffiti has nothing to do with the final work pressed against some corporate structure; it is the act in which it was made. Those fleeting minutes spent weaving in the layers paint while constantly looking over your shoulder. Graffiti is the greatest performance art of them all.

GRAFFITI SHOWCASE

GRAFFITI SHOWCASE II

And last but not least, my favorite artist of all time:
BANKSY

My friend, the Earth, she grows in my world

Josh Farkas | Water Media — 2007-03-05T01:59:17-06:00

MR. PITIFUL - website launch

Josh Farkas | Water Media — 2007-02-28T22:27:12-06:00

Every once in a while you meet someone that is truly talented. Not your normal run-of-the-mill talented, today I'm talking about that special kicking ass and taking names talented that is so rare. I'm lucky to know the guy HERE. Scary shit, eh? Yeah he is amazing.

I was lucky to meet-up with Mr. Pitiful, aka. Scott Monaghan, to design a brand-spankin new website that reflected just a fraction of his musical soul. Below is a brief overview of how the design came to life, and some elements left on the cutting room floor. Scott is launching this site in hopes to earn some funds for his debut solo album so if you like what you see please swing on by to show your love.

Ira Glass on Storytelling

Josh Farkas | Water Media — 2007-02-28T02:09:55-06:00

Part one above but I'd recommend watching the whole series. For those of you who'd like the Cliff Notes check HERE for a good summary of Ira's excellent (and obvious) advice. Like all brilliant advice it is so clear that we've forgotten we ever had it in the first place.

Everytime you play a videogame a comic book dies.

Josh Farkas | Water Media — 2007-02-27T22:22:34-06:00

Like gangsta rap in the mid-nineties, geek-on-geek violence is on the rise. As so deftly stated by Joystiq:

Since the 1980s, weekly British comic 2000AD -- makers of the famous Judge Dredd -- has seen its sales drop from 100,000 issues to just 20,000 issues today. The reason for the decline, according to artist Ian Gibson, is video games. Murder, violence, civil disobedience and now the demise of comics all grace gaming's lengthy rap sheet. "The comics market, sadly, is dying because the PlayStation has taken over and comics can't compete," said Gibson in speaking with the BBC. "Most comics I have come across haven't realized that they have lost the battle."

Hmm...damn. I'd be mad at you Xbox 360, but you are just so friggin good to me. And Crackdown is kind of fun...well kind of fun-ish. Seriously though, I'd be creating the greatest comic book rebuttal ever in response to these dastardly video games but I'm swamped working on my new graphic novel "Welcome to Pixelton". Oh crap - I'm fueling the machine that will destroy me. WHERE THE HELL IS THE SHEER TERROR EMOTICON?!!?!

In other news, Geek-on-Dork and Nerd-on-Dork violence is suspiciously at a standstill. (Intro comic stolen from the transcendent Perry Bible Fellowship. Go give the creator lots of money. Seriously)

People :as to: Ugly WordArt

Josh Farkas | Water Media — 2007-02-24T20:58:28-06:00

FIRST - Take a look at the above. This is Maslow's Hierarchy of Human Needs. It will help you be the best unique and focused individual you can be.

NEXT - Begin at the bottom, if you've got a solid foothold within a category move up to the next tier. Rinse and repeat.

FINALLY - How close are you to the top?

I know many intelligent folks who are endlessly trapped in Safety and Love/Belonging, and so this brings the question - how smart can they really be? Solve your own damn problems first. No one else can fix you. Now you know where to start.

New Campfires

Josh Farkas | Water Media — 2007-02-18T17:13:31-06:00

Stories run the world. They are the engine of human action.

Compelling tales frame our lives in perfect context, wrap our hopes in purpose, and cut the crap with forced brevity. They teach and entertain with every step. I really believe there isn't a single action we take each day which doesn't prosper the story which we tell ourselves. We're engrossed in tales from the minute we're born until the moment we die. Their rhythms and flow make up the very substance of our lives.

For many of us the concept of writing a full story is sheer terror, or maybe we simply don't have the time to put into a new project. If this is you then check out Story Squared. It is an attempt to allow multiple authors create stories that could grow beyond their wildest fantasies.

Oh, and sincere thanks to everyone who has written in the past few weeks. Your thoughts, ideas, and massive comic book purchases mean a ton so keep the requests and ideas coming!

Signs you are a design geek

Josh Farkas | Water Media — 2007-02-17T17:38:49-06:00

Enjoy a sample below. The awful, awful truth HERE:

You give your relatives a lecture about color spaces and profiles when you email them your vacation photos. Seeing someone use Lens Flare or Comic Sans adversely affects your blood-pressure. You maintain a grid system for your refrigerator magnets. You organise your CD collection according to the Pantone chart. You sit at work for eight hours straight just looking at your monitor, waiting for a spark of inspiration that doesn't come. You're up 'til 5am because you came up with the best idea ever while brushing your teeth.

I AM 788,400,000 SECONDS

Josh Farkas | Water Media — 2007-02-11T19:08:19-06:00

I AM 788,400,000 SECONDS...13,104,000 minutes...almost 10,000 days.

I turned 25 two weeks back and so I'm officially on the verge of death. With the thought of my impending demise I've been putting some extra elbow grease into my new projects. This could explain the lack of posts but I won't push it. Here is a quick update of items that I'm working on in my free time for those that are bored and tired of staring at the sun:

Welcome to Pixelton (Comic):
My new big book is getting hefty. It is clocking in at around 200 pencilled pages at the moment and I'm no where near adding in two big key scenes. It will be a fun epic adventure that is truly something never before seen. My biggest goal? Appeal to the non-comic crowd and gain rabid adoption. Still not telling you the "big secret". I'm inking a few pages a week with the average time for each running around 5 hours.

Welcome to Pixelton Documentary (Film):
So I'm making a film alongside the book. It is about creating comics, publishing, and hoping against hope that something we do will be left behind. I'll probably release the thing as a behind the scenes. Expect some bits to appear on YouTube very soon. :)

Everlasting Effects of a Butterscotch Smile (Comic):
Amazingly, this book is still happening. It is still a collection of short stories. It will be VERY different from Welcome to Pixelton and Nothing Left to Lose. I can't shake the feeling I overcomplicate everything...even a short story collection.

Sketchd (Start-up):
This baby has been in the works for close to a year now, so it seems time to let the lid off and see how it played out. This is my first tech/web 2.0 start-up that I completely funded so who the hell knows what will happen. As soon as I launch you'll know. What is it? It is a place to share, vote, and comment on Sketches in a very "new web" sort of way.

NinjaPal (Start-up):
Haven't you always wanted a special ninja friend? I sure have. Wouldn't it be neat if your invisible ninja friend had quick access to all his/her ninja magic? Hmm...

Unnamed (Start-up):
This is a big one that I can't even talk about here yet. If it is half as ambitious as the plans it will make folks very happy.

BoycottEA (Non-for-profit):
I really want to get this off the ground soon but it may have to fall. If you have ever played a videogame you know what this still will be. And yes, they deserve it.

I'd like to say this is it, but these are the tip of an iceberg really. I have some heavy changes in how I treat comics coming in the next month. Please don't take this post as complaining - I love what I do and I'm very lucky to have a chance to do it. Taking stock of what is happening though is a bit humbling. All the time I talk with folks who are simply indifferent about their jobs. I can't imagine a world where I spent 70% of my life doing something I hate. Here is hoping I die young, happy, and massively overworked.

Question Story Meat-Time

Josh Farkas | Water Media — 2007-02-02T10:33:08-06:00

Have you had a solid dose of Sci-Fi lately? Read up and chow down on three mind-altering Science Fiction short stories. Even if you're not a big fan of Sci-Fi, these human insightful stories are bound to excite:

The Last Question
by Issac Asimov

The Nine Billion Names of God
by Arthur C. Clarke

They're Made Out of Meat
by Terry Bisson

Poepul Ar Elitarite

Josh Farkas | Water Media — 2007-02-01T04:31:35-06:00

Robin Jackson at HumorWriters.org has culled some disturbing facts into the same room for high-bulb questioning. The facts point to a dying print market, or to a nation that is borderline retarded. Here are a few gruesome highlights (full credits in Mrs. Jackson's story):

- 1/3 of high school graduates never read another book in their lives.
- 42 percent of college graduates never read another book after college.
- 80 percent of U.S. families did not buy or read a book last year.
- 70 percent of U.S. adults have not been in a bookstore in five years.
- 57 percent of new books are not read to completion.
- 70 percent of the books published do not make a profit.
- A successful fiction book sells 5,000 copies.
- A successful nonfiction book sells 7,500 copies.

And finally:
- Each day in the U.S., people spend 4 hours watching TV, 3 hours listening to the radio and 14 minutes reading magazines.

I knew the comic industry was in the crapper but didn't expect awful numbers like this from "mainstream print". Eep. I wonder if our kids will ever see books outside of libraries and museums?

Style Wars

Josh Farkas | Water Media — 2007-01-30T10:43:32-06:00

When art is good, art is timeless. And I'm not talking about the art with a capital "A" crap. "Art" is the stuff that ages quicker then used bubblegum. But real art, this is the magic that doesn't care what you call it but finds a way to sock you in the gut while not looking.

Style Wars is a late 70's documentary that shows true art and artists in action. Enjoy this mesmerizing movie about people who are simply compelled to create, and the risk they take in doing so.

Hell Yep

Josh Farkas | Water Media — 2007-01-22T09:05:18-06:00

So you own a Mac and you have a library of great PDFs.

Maybe you ran across the amazing Animation Meat and didn't have to time to fully read the hundreds of mind-expanding files. Or you saw my humble cartoon and animation library and wanted to get up to speed. But PDFs don't lend themselves well to reading. They are clunky to navigate between and a pain in the ass to organize.

Enter Yep. It is going to play the part of your new best friend or maybe just librarian. We could call it "iPhoto" for your documents, but that sort of insults Yep because it is hell of a lot more. Unlike iPhoto, it allows for clear tagging at instant speeds and it defaults with a convenient magnifying glass to review before you dive in. And it sinks with iDisk, so next time you are away from home you can easily access your best information. Yep's creators seem to want yep to be a receipt and business doc manager, and it completely could be, but I can't help but seeing something quite a bit more interesting inside.

One last note - did I mention it was free? Download the last free version of Yep at the link below (and thank the software Gods for such a beautiful piece of handywork). Yep is transitioning to pay software, but at only $35 they may get some of my cash very soon. Now to go scan in all of my favorite books...

DOWNLOAD YEP!

Command+Undo Myth

Josh Farkas | Water Media — 2007-01-21T08:44:54-06:00

Let's put our lab coats on and undo some fake beliefs:
The Most Popular Myths in Science Revealed

My soul, property of GoDaddy

Josh Farkas | Water Media — 2007-01-16T10:47:52-06:00

I have an confession to make: I'm addicted to registering domain names.

It all started innocently enough back in the grand ol' year 2000. Those were the days with plucky young dreams of magic flying cars and internets as far as one could see. Our only hopes were for bigger, stronger boy bands featuring possibly seven awkwardly aging youth. In these modest times I registered RefreshingContent.com and immediately declared a national holiday. Even worse, at the time I passed up quite a few other cool names but $10 is a heck of a lot of money for a college kid. (Little did I know that the virtual land rush was far from over and only beginning to get profitable.)

Looking at this list compiled by Read/Write Web only fuels my addiction. A dot mobi domain, which went on sale for the first time less than six months ago, sold for $200,000! Dot nets, and infos, and US...my rage cannot be adequately expressed even through emoticons.

>(

Nope, nothing. Now I'm haunted by the ghosts of domain searches past. Every lost name was a missed opportunity. And with this crippling obsession comes a bigger responsibility, to never make the same mistake again. Even if I must let them sit blank, I must register whatever random name pops into my head and live with my awkward child. This is the way of the domain samurai.

This blathering does come to a point though (eventually) and that point shows where my mind is. I'm working hard on inking my upcoming book "Welcome to Pixelton", and I've been thinking quite a bit about how to launch it with style. How can I bring in new comics fans? How do I show off what I feel is a new genre of comics? Only time will tell, but take a gander at but a few of the domains that I have obsessively snapped while waiting:

ComicArt.mobi
FreeComics.mobi
HighDefComics.com
HighDefinitionComics.com
PaperfreeComics.com
Xbox360Comics.com
PS3Comics.com
NintendoDSComics.com
NintendoWiiComics.com

Sadly...these are only a few. But you probably get the idea. :)

Program Yourself.

Josh Farkas | Water Media — 2007-01-14T02:50:54-06:00

Autodidacts

Josh Farkas | Water Media — 2007-01-14T00:54:47-06:00

The old maxim "you get what you pay for" has always seemed a bit absurd to me in the confines of education. Knowledge is simply free and due to speed of technology, abundant. With a few cameras and microphones why couldn't we all benefit from the world's greatest teaching minds?

And if time teaches us anything it is that the willing rarely align with the bodies present as it relates to higher education. I wonder what the percentage of people who enter college to sit down and learn is anymore? College seems to be a cultural approved experiment which allows kids to test the social waters of your interests and independence. The irony here is that this is the first time in the history of humanity that "growing up" has been defined at such late a date. A hundred years ago if you didn't know what you wanted to do with your life, and you were 20, you were rightfully a social outcast.

Autodidacts are rare in the United States, so if you are one of those elusive folks that can enjoy education on your own terms, dig in and enjoy this link:

FREE MIND CANDY

Fluffy Invisible Ladders

Josh Farkas | Water Media — 2007-01-12T10:58:51-06:00

For a guy that thinks exclusively in images, this blog sure is short on metaphor. Hell, I'm barely simile-bound. Once I start rolling with words it is like I'm compelled by the pulsing beat of my Mac to continue. (A simile!)

In metaphor speak, LinkedIn (a social networking site) is a fluffy invisible ladder into the best and brightest of the business world. It allows you to solidify your contacts and reach out to new people whom you share common associates. In many ways it is an adult MySpace, but that is really where the whole charm lies. MySpace always made my skin crawl because like walking back into grade school. But in the adult world the same chide remarks and hidden power plays still occur...they are simply more dignified. (Feel free to spam my profile too.)

Don't believe me? Listen to my favorite author, Guy Kawasaki, rave about the impressive LinkedIn stats: http://blog.guykawasaki.com/2007/01/ten_ways_to_use.html

Recently they launched a question and answer section where you can gain insight and network outside your area. I stumbled across the question below:
Can someone provide advice converting a fiction author from self-published to a mainstream publisher?

For anyone who might have the same question I've posted the answer here as well:

Great question, and the biggest one I'm sure most writers have on their minds. I think we can agree there is no "one right way" to become a formally published author, but this is as good as it is bad. Here are a few things I have learned from personal experience on how to get picked up in mainstream media:

- Be outlandishly original. Creativity is a major differentiator so make conscious decisions to take the road less traveled be it in storytelling, format, or promotion. My book was featured in a USA Today article simply because of a silly tradeshow promotion piece. These handouts cost about a dollar each but it got me in the door and I was able show that I was unique.

- Make the highest quality work a priority. Being prolific is equally important, but it doesn't matter if you can't keep readers. When you place your name on a piece it needs to have a polish above the rest.

- Start a blog (seriously). A writer's blood is their audience. Without an audience they can't survive. With a large audience they live forever. In order to attract readers share what you feel comfortable with the digital world.

- If all else fails, give it away. There are simply some things people will not pay for and in many cases a new author is one of them. Seth Godin has made a name for himself by being prolific, good, and constantly giving away his old books online. For those that have never heard of him, he immediately gains respect for gifting his hard work. When they read his book he immediately gains a follower.

- Promotion is as important as your book. Sorry, but this is true. Network online and kindly discuss your passion. Contact authors and review sites. Do interviews to anyone that will ask a question. Send hundreds of copies out to complete strangers. Get the book into peoples hands and get them excited about sharing it to all of their friends.

- Go to book shows. The contacts you meet there are truly priceless. I optioned the movie rights for my first book after my second trade show.

- Contact every publisher every time. The publishing system is backwards and it takes quite a bit of time to work one's way up the ladder. Use smaller publishing houses as stepping stools to gain traction with large houses. Rinse and repeat.

- Distribution is everything. If you are self-publishing you need to understand this. Not using a big distribution house is suicide and the fastest way to write yourself into a lonely corner. Read "The Self-Publishing Manual" by Dan Poynter for more in-depth info.

- Numbers and quotes are your ammo. The final word for the publishing game is books sold. If you can notch that amount higher each time a mainstream publisher would be insane not to pay attention. And quotes are a good plan B. Having a no-name book prominently touted in a large newspaper or magazine can mean instant success.

- Every effort you make is literally a few steps away from a succesful book, but we simply have no clue which one in a million it will be. Keep trying and never give up hope. If you want it hard enough nothing can stop you.

Top 10 "Classic" Episodes of The Twilight Zone

Josh Farkas | Water Media — 2007-01-09T10:12:06-06:00

In my opinion, The Twilight Zone is one of television's greatest accomplishments. It wraps a human message around the strangest situations, and in making our world a bit more abstract we finally see the hidden truth. Here are my very biased top ten "classic" Twilight Zone episodes (with a few extra for fun):

10) Living Doll

The Twilight Zone - "Living Doll"
Uploaded by nsavalas

9) The Howling Man

Twilight Zone - The Howling Man
Uploaded by asteve001

8) On Thursday we Leave for Home

On Thursday We Leave for Home
Uploaded by asteve001

7) The Monsters are Due on Maple Street

The Monsters are Due onMapleStreet
Uploaded by asteve001

6) An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge

An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge
Uploaded by asteve001

5) Nightmare at 20,000 Feet

The Twilight Zone-Nightmare@20,000 Feet
Uploaded by mg217

4) It's a Good Life

Twilight Zone - It's a Good Life
Uploaded by asteve001

3) Five Characters in Search of an Exit

Five Characters in Search of an Exit
Uploaded by asteve001

2) Time Enough at Last

Time Enough at Last
Uploaded by asteve001

1) Eye of the Beholder

Twilight Zone - The Eye of The Beholder
Uploaded by asteve001

EXTRA CREDIT:

Nick of Time

TWILIGHT ZONE S2.E043
Uploaded by Serling_R

To Serve Man

The Twilight Zone - 089 - To Serve Man
Uploaded by mg217

Death's Head Revisited

Twilight Zone - Deaths-Head Revisited
Uploaded by asteve001

As a storyteller, I've read many books that actively discourage the use of "Twilight Zone" endings, or stories that close with a dramatic twist. The interesting part of this argument is that all compelling tales are based on deliberate plot twists. Why should we discriminate merely against it's placement within the story? William Sydney Porter, who worked under the pen name O. Henry, was famous for his story shifts. His stories were so revered a group of friends started a memorial after his passing. This memorial became the O. Henry Prize Stories, a famous yearly anthology of short fiction. The list of talented artists that effectively use surprise to enhance storytelling is endless: M. Night Shyamalan, Hitchcock, Palahniuk, Lucas...all of the defining voices of their chosen mediums!

So in other words, enjoy the ride and ignore the stuffy textbooks.