There are things about human behavior that are consistent. Many times we try to break from these consistencies only to find ourselves back in the same loop. I've always been a firm believer in the idea that if you recognize a problem you have an obligation to switch gears and correct it.

Now the point of this intro. I have been working on my webcomic for 9 years now. Granted, when I came up with the idea it was before wordpress and of course comicpress. The entire concept was different, but over the years it has evolved into a different kind of beast. When I was finally able to make websites and even the site for my comic I was excited. I spent a ton of time in college waiting for a project where I could illustrate a story that I was interested in; my own.

So I sit down to make the comic I had developed in high school, and realized that I'm not a high schooler anymore. Not only that, now I believe that a story should have purpose, not just be a comic for comics' sake. So after making 2 posts of this comic I have waited sooooo long to put out into the world, I stop. But with good reason. I needed to make something that reflected the time and something that could help myself and others grow. Something interesting and relatable, but that would take time.

As I worked on it off-site, people were asking, "what the hell happened to Hell High?" or would say "Man, you kinda left us on a cliff-hanger" or "Where's the boom-boom" (that one I didn't hear too often). Meanwhile I was concocting something I hoped would have scale, drama, and all of the elements I deemed necessary to make a hit! It's been about 2 years and a few months since I last posted and even my Dad asked, "What happened to that comic you were working on?"

Well Dad, here's what happened:



HellHighNY.com relaunches on turkey day. So check it out when the itis hits.

So, there are some updatey things here. Above is a colored version of a drawing I did a few months ago, it's my 2010 self portrait. Lot's of things have changed since 2011 came about. I have an awesome girlfriend, who I love and am in love with. Word.

Also, I've been doing a lot of experimenting with my style, there's a lot of stuff that I wanna say with my work. A lot of stuff needs to be said, so I'm gonna be extra cryptic with stuff until I'm ready to release everything. Maybe I'll give a sneak peak... on second thought...

Oh, but here's some stuff from a game I played at a Nerd Comics meet up my homegirl Bree put together. It has none of my drawing in it, but one of my suggestions. It's a really fun game, it's the illustrated version of telephone.

You play with strips of paper or flash cards, whatever. The first person writes the first suggestion on the first card and the illustrator interprets it, moving the suggestion to the back and passing along the illustration, which the next person has to use to figure out what the suggestion was. It may be a little confusing to explain, so here's a scan of how my suggestion went. There were many of us playing but my group came up with this:


My girl did the first illustration after my suggestion (Dirty Sanchez), quite talented, no? Aside from this and kicking it with her, it's been me just working on this project that I refuse to let people in on. I think I need to be secretive about it. But never fear, all will be revealed in due time. In the meanby, you can follow me on Twitter @BbStarD, it's where I twits my tweets... you know.

Oh dang, almost forgot. Haha I took part in this: The No Pants Subway Ride by Improv Everywhere On the Jungle Gym Magazine page I'm in the last picture. I'm this maniac with the sketchbook:

I was holding up a drawing in my sketchbook which emphasized the enthusiasm I had for this event.



The event was pretty amazing and quite extraordinary. We started off as this humongous group at Centre Street then broke off into packs leaving from Canal and heading to 59th and from 59th to Union Square. We took off our pants mid subway ride. It was awesome seeing the reactions of the people on the train.

Of course people took photos at some point and we were supposed to ride the train as if there was nothing unusual going on, which made it even more fun. It seemed like such a normal thing after a while and there was enough of us on the trains to fill up whole cars at one point.

When we arrived at our final destination, Union Square, we rejoiced! We celebrated the weirdness of it, it was kind of like holding your breath underwater and finally being able to take that first gasp of air. We danced, body surfed, and even took over the floors of the Filene's Basement across from us. At some point we even were able to convert people into pantsless denizens!

I distinctly remember a serious looking guy in a business suit pulling down his pants to join in on the fun, it was awesome! Yeah, so it was an awesome way to start off the New Year and I can't wait 'til next year's event, I assume it'll be ten times more epic, I expect larger crowds and a more massive party at the end. Well on this side it's 6 in the am and I've been up all night kickin' it with my boy T. Working and watching the Green Hornet online, shhhh!!

Long story short, it's time to hit the sack, but before I do, here's a little something for your patience...

Now that's just rude...

*This was meant to go up months ago it's from an autosave so I kinda forgot where I was going with this, LOL!*

Alright so updates.

Been drawing comics for a bit and trying to figure out what works for me in terms of my style... I've been developing a style for a while now, I think we all do. There was once this professor at SCAD that told me that we shouldn't be worrying about our styles until we had everything (technical) figured out.

But I don't think that that's something you can help, because as we learn and grow as artists, we try to meld things into this happy cohesive unit that works for us and the only way to know if it'll stick is if we can bind our style to it. Who the hell wants to draw something that they're uncomfortable with? I know I don't.

I've come to the realization that I have two strong variations on my style, there's the side that's technical and the one that's loose and cartoony. The technical side has all the nuts and bolts and screws in place, all the architecture is there "this is how you're supposed to do this".  The other side of that coin, my cartoony style is more untamed, it just does what it wants. I have a ton more fun with it, because it feels like I'm breaking the law, it comes out like spray paint on a building.

Learning how to integrate the two is the challenge, I think I'm up for it. Meanwhile, check these.
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...caf, caf, hack, wheeze, coff... sigh... Whooo... Okay yeah, I'm still alive and a shit ton has happened in the time since I last posted. First, everyone lost the bet. Weaksauce, on my end it was a combo of becoming not only the graphic designer, but the editor of Jungle Gym Magazine and not knowing exactly where I was headed with the comic. Technichally I wrote what amounted to about 100 pages, so I kinda win, but it wasn't comic related, so no dice. I've since figured out what the comic is about (finally) and am proud to announce that it will be ready by the end of summer!

...Oh, which comic? Hell High NY! Yeah, it'll be up by the end o' summer! Fo' sho.

Also, I went on this sick cross country roadtrip in January with my homegirl Coll, it was beyond awesome! It took 9 days to reach Cali from NY and we crashed at her friends' houses. We went from NY to NC, to TN, to TX, to NM, to CA! When we arrived I was able to meet up with a childhood friend of mine who's been dancing his whole life, living his dream, he's been in the Hairspray movie and danced for many artists such as Missy Elliot.

Being back home was sort of a drag after the great adventure, but cool stuff still happened on this side. I'd have to update month by month to get y'all up to speed so, I'll avoid that and talk about what's current.

I've been playing guitar, I know how to play a blues pattern. I now skateboard (got pads and all, since it had been years since I'd been on one). There's supposed to be a third thing here, but there isn't, those are the really cool things.

also I found cool comics online:
Hanna Is Not A Boy's Name amazingly illustrated and fun story
Oglaf funny as hell and NSFW
Boxer Hockey awesome comic and quite hilarious

and of course I'm excited for Scott Pilgrim's Finest Hour and all the things that follow it:




That is all...

                                                         

Okay, so I shook the hand of a very serious man today, with a very serious deal. EssBee has thrown down the gauntlet. He asked me if I would be game for a bet that he and two other people were involved in. The bet: Everyone agreeing to this bet has to either (A.) Produce 10 finished pin-ups (that's penciled, inked and, colored) (B.) Complete 10 sequential pages (penciled) or (C.) write 100 pages of a story.
The loser(s) (whoever doesn't finish one of the three or an acceptable combination of each or two ) has to pay 100 dollars that will be divided among the winning participants. This has to be done by February 28th.

So, I didn't bitch out and I accepted. I don't like losing money, so something's gonna give. Either there will be comics or I lose money which I can't really afford. Plus I refuse to be shamed in such a manner... I'll post comic pages here or at least bits of pages. Some I may not want to reveal here, but we'll see...

Here's to comics!

Gah, work last week was sincerious, so I caught the cold that was going around the store... Geez working at Nannerz is tough sometimes...

But this week was awesome, last week prompted me to take time this week to recoup, and I feel awesome! 
Especially after yesterday night. For those of you who don't know, last night was Drink and Draw NY's 2nd Official Meeting.

Khary Randolph, the host, was there along with some other cool people. It was packed! I was hanging with Essbee at the edge of the bar, that the owner was nice enough to clear off for us. We cranked out some drunken drawings while bustin' back Guiness and chatting with this cool dude Phillippe St. Gerard I was gonna go with Phil (as he was introduced) but the full name is so much more EPIC. I also spotted my SCAD buddy Errol Rich, dude has some sick character designs.

Also, the highlight of the night for me was meeting one of my favorite artists and artistic hero Alberto Ruiz, also go to bellefree and click on Alberto to check out his stuff! He dropped a ton of knowledge on me and I'm swimming in the awesomeness of being around such a magnificent illustrator. Dude even gave me his pencil! It was such an awesome moment, I felt like I had the Bruce Leroy glow. Aside from that, today I plan to kick it into overdrive and chill with my homegirl Chelsea and draw my ass off!

It's an awesome day for comics.

Yeah, so this is the point where I give the HUGE UPdate... I mean, jeez... I don't think I've posted since May. So here's what happened:
I was selected to meet with James Lucas Jones, at Editor's Day, it was awesome! I learned a lot from him, he's a real cool dude, a real
human being. He even said he'd check out my webcomic www.hellhighny.com
I graduated and had a cool ceremony, family and friends came out, got enough graduation money to pay for the next update.
MoCCA '09, I was there! The first convention that I ever presented at. I was at a table with: Ayo http://nervousystem.livejournal.com/ (also check his webcomic @ littlegardencomics.com)and Meghan http://bleed-ink.livejournal.com/, that was dope! Met a lot of cool people and got to hang out with some of my favs. I even mustered up the balls to talk to Khary Randolph http://www.kharupt.com and a lot of other cool comickers and illustrators, I think I'll edit this Journal later with link to those people's comics, like Bree (http://www.sexdrugsandjunecleaver.com/) and Ami (http://glassurchin.nerdcomics.com/) very amazing people, who were introduced to me by my brother Brian (http://lynchian.wordpress.com/) via a few phone calls and suggestions.
After a few months being in Savannah, a few months after graduating with a BFA in Sequential Art, I've returned home, I've been back for about a month and change. Leaving behind a wonderful girl and my finely constructed second life (it happens in college). I'm on a mission to make something big happen for myself.
Oh, what really sucks is after leaving finding out that one of my favorite artists, Brandon Graham is coming to visit my school royalboiler.livejournal.com / royalboiler.deviantart.com, gah! Dude is out in Canada and I leave right before he shows up in my former neck of the woods! Yeesh, such is life...
Aside from that stuff, I think we're all caught up here, I'm currently working as the graphic designer for a webmag, Jungle Gym Magazine (I'll post a link when the site is developed). I have a few other Graphic Design jobs in the works, I'm so happy I learned how to construct websites, yes! JGM had its first event October 2nd, it was awesome! I created the flyer for it:

It was for this artist Anthony Morton artworkbyanthony.com , an amazing painter, his work is still being displayed at the original venue Black Ink Gallery, check it out if you're in Harlem it's on Lenox between 112th and 113th. The works of his Miss and Colour Series will be up until the end of the month.

That's that until next time.
An update about a particular comic is on its way...

Okay, so here we go...
I went to Editor's Day and met up with Nate Cosby an editor at Marvel. He gave me some good feedback on my comics. Afterwards I met up with Sanford Greene, the most awesome comic creator evaAARRR!! codegreene.blogspot.com/ . Not only did he give me some insight on some of my comic pages, but he also hooked me up with an autographed Spidey book, dude is extra nice and super amazing, read his comics!

I also spoke to Yamino, and she gave me some pretty good advice, we were supposed to start our web comics at the same time, but she obviously is far ahead of me. She's awesome, check her out: www.sisterclaire.com/
She told me that if things change and I think I'll be late that I should post what I have, so I'll start doing that.

Hell High is in baby stages right now, and I've had a rocky start, but I've changed my page size, so it'll speed me up a bit. I wanna go for double-damage on the weeks hence the Tuesday/Friday change. Thursday wasn't working out really and if you check your calendars the first post really was on a Friday. Yeah, so it might be wise to stick to that.

Oh yeah, I'm extra excited about the release of King City through Image congrats to Brandon Graham!
royalboiler.livejournal.com

Alright, I'm gonna pass out for a bit, I've stayed up all night again. Woot!

Sup! If you've checked Hell High NY, I hope you liked your visit. I decided to take a short break to correct my buffer work. I think the site should move smoothly now. I've changed from large format, 11x17, that I'm used to, to 8.5x11, so I can possibly release some pages faster. The newest page is really successful and since I'm officially off of this break, expect the newness this Thursday, it's official!  Also, I'm getting ready for Editor's Day out here in Savannah at SCAD, editors from ONI, Darkhorse, Marvel, and DC are attending, so I'm going to show them my work and hopefully get myself a job making print comics as well... awesome.

Catch y'all later!

http://www.hellhighny.com

Yes yes y'all I'm all up in this joint! Finally got myself a livejournal... Since this is new I guess I'm talking to no one, but I can say this: I'm excitied! My webcomic will be up in a few hours, which is awesome! Check me out if anyone is reading this. http://www.hellhighny.com  --- Yezzir!
I guess I should give you guys a reason to check out the webbery:



Hopefully that'll do it, if not hang on 'til next post I'll have some more cool stuff.