Howdy {name}!
How's your June so far? 
You may recall how early MUSEletter missives were themed according to the date of their arrival. For instance; I might've written about the Trojan War. According to Eratosthenes, it war ended with the city's fall on this date in 1184 b.c.e – though other sources suggest the Trojan Horse was accepted within city walls on April 24th instead.

We might've covered the Franklin Stove or the Declaration of Independence. It turns out John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Robert R. Livingston & Roger Sherman had their first committee meeting about writing it  on this date in 1776. There are other notable observances & birthdays but I'll cover some of that on my blog. Instead, here's what I have for you today –

• Go Doggo 
• Fanart Fun
• Cool Stuff Dept. Comics Fu Updates

Also a true story.

Fanart Fun

I've been told, if you choose a career doing what you love, you'll never work a day in your life. At this point I think that cliché has been debunked. The new version is that if you choose a career in what you love, you will work every day of your life. I personally feel that truth, having plied my trade as a working artist for number of years; most recently focusing on comics & illustration.

Here’s the thing. How do you avoid burn-out when you’re plying your art as a trade? This is a topic that comes up a lot and I don’t know if there’s one right answer. But I suspect I have one that works for me. It's time spent drawing for pleasure. Imagine it as a step up from doodles, drawing in a way that isn’t quite planned out, but leads someplace interesting. 

That place often ends up being fanart. I've dabbled with various properties, Marvel characters or a Jon Snow piece for a podcast appearance. But there’s a book series which captures my full attention and has been most rewarding. It’s the 10 book epic fantasy series The Malazan Book of The Fallen as well as its sibling series Novels of the Malazan Empire. It's something I’ve written about before, interpreting scenes from those stories and posting on the socials. If you’re curious, check out the hashtag #MalazanMarch.

Recently I’ve become a bit addicted to this YouTube series - The DLC Book Club who’s posting weekly updates on their reading of this series. It’s fun company having their discussions play while I’m at my workstation, computing or taking a break with my sketchbook - more on that momentarily. Recent episodes featured the book that has inspired the most fanart from me; Midnight Tides. I even had the delight of finding pieces of mine being used to illustrate scenes discussed.

Aside– Those images are available on T-shirts and other items. Intermittent sales are both a boost to the spirit as well as the piggy-bank. It's been a while since someone ordered a shower curtain. I'm due for adding new pieces to PLUGOarts.redBUBBLE.com, have a look before I change things up.

While listening to a recent episode I came across pages in a new sketchbook perfectly suited to a double-page spread. Other sketchbook keepers will know the kind. I found myself capturing a scene from the above mentioned novel's epilogue. I ended up posting this on the DLC discord server as a way of sharing the fun of revisiting memories of picturing these kinds of scenes in my head.

Feedback from the DLC community was great fun. Added to that, this image ended up a contender for Image of the Week at the official Malazan Fan Wiki. Being included was its own reward, as these kinds of recognition are always better when they happen organically. The timing kind of couldn't be better now that the results are in. Not remotely planned, as I was going to write about this anyway, but the timing makes a welcome addition to this update.

As a Bonus – if you’d like to see the raw, unprocessed scan (featuring sewn binding) I'm including that here.

The Comics Fu Show may be on hiatus at the moment but that hasn’t kept cool stuff from going on or kept me from keeping track. TCFS had a standing invite to appear live and on location at the TIGER CLAW ELITE KUNGFUMAGAZINE CHAMPIONSHIPS held in downtown San Jose. It’s an event I helped launch and worked on for over a decade, in fact, this was the first year I provided neither production or new design work. It was also the first time this event coincided with the Star-Wars-Holiday May the 4th. Thus…

More recently, The Comics Fu Show’s co-host Sifu Kurtis Fujita shared some fantastic news. I’d been putting clues together so this announcement didn’t fully surprise me, but having my supposition confirmed was still thrilling. But let me share Kurtis’ own words (those of you not subscribed to his newsletter can check that out here) –

“Atchity Productions, the company initially behind the wildly successful film franchise The Meg, has officially attached renowned martial arts filmmaker Andy Cheng as the director for the film adaptation of Shadow Ghost, the Kung Fu comic by a Kung Fu Master.

Shadow Ghost is a modern, spellbinding coming-of-age story about a young man embarking on a quest to uncover the secrets surrounding an otherworldly Martial Arts hero. His journey into the realm of Kung Fu intertwines his fate with that of the enigmatic legend where he will fulfill a centuries-old destiny.

With his illustrious career spanning decades on blockbuster hits such as the Rush Hour film series and Marvel Studios' Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Andy Cheng is the perfect choice to helm the Shadow Ghost film. The highly sought-after master of martial arts choreography and dynamic storytelling brings an impressive pedigree of experience, having worked with top-tier talent ranging from Jackie Chan to Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.”

So, huge congrats to Gene & Kurtis for making this news happen - I know first hand the time & effort involved for just a fraction of that newsworthiness. How about you? What have you been working on? and how can I shine a spotlight on that? Let me know.

Until then...
–PLUGO