A Little Perspective...

Lot's of things are happening around the Jewett household these days, not the least of these (to the contrary a monumental thing in fact) being that my daughter, Lucy, turns 10 years old today... no, this is not going to be a "Man, I'm old..." entry but rather a glimpse at how beautiful a reminder it is to take every moment as the best moment of your life.

Sara and I weren't supposed to have kids... there were issues, complications... and a lot of the doctors were very careful to not get our hopes up too high. We had tried to have kids on our own for nearly 3 years and watched in silent agony as people around us got pregnant, one after another. We were convinced that God intended us to be parents but were puzzled as to why it wasn't happening for us... you can allow some pretty dark thoughts into your head during times like that, but we did our best to encourage one another and had a few key people who came alongside us to hold us accountable and lift us up when we needed it. I can say without flinching that there were many nights we cried each other to sleep. But, God...

We were given the name of a specialist in Fort Wayne and started another leg of an already incredibly humbling (and exposed) journey to have a kid of our own... privacy was the furthest thing from reality but our desire to be parents outweighed any petty embarrassment we could have felt. To put it simply... it worked. We were still "high risk" for the entire pregnancy and I admit, I often prayed myself cross-eyed pleading with God to give us the desire of our hearts and that Sara deserved this child more than any woman I had ever met.

December 16th 8:46AM... we met Lucy and our world (and yours) was forever changed for the better. We named her Lucy because we both loved the name (and I happen to love Peanuts/Charlie Brown/Charles Schulz)... but the name means, "light" we also gave her the middle name Grace, which means, "undeserved favor." Listen, I'm a selfish git... a lot of the time, I can even be completely petty when I want to be... I find myself getting wrapped up in the poor Andy nonsense more than I care to admit and my conversations with God are not always cordial... but real talk... when I can shut up long enough and look at Lucy with something akin to the eyes I used to first welcome her into this world... all I can say is... God is good, I am blessed.

Perspective is good. God is good, I am blessed.

PS... We have 4 kids now (let no one tell you that God doesn't have a sense of humor).

Always changing...

I'm sure this is not a new concept for artists... but, I am almost never satisfied (completely at least) with my work... and that includes my website. What's the best way to present what I am doing? What are the best pieces to show what I'm doing at the moment and also my highest quality work... that can be an interesting balance to strike since it can be relatively subjective at times. Love to have feedback... check out the site, check out the work and feel free to give me your impressions. Thanks, pals!

Jewett!

Welcome to the future home of UDOG™ STUDIO

I am super excited about the fact that I found studio space for all my freelance and comix projects... Really anxious to see what kind of work I'm able to produce because of this... keep an eye out.

Inspiration is exhausting...

As an artist, I'm always chasing after inspiration... the fuel that will drive a project's direction or just that thing that strikes me as absolutely needing to be created. Sometimes that can be a real struggle and at other times it can come out of left field.

Those times that inspiration seems to fall in my lap are great... when the puzzle pieces just fit and everything is working. But, more often than not, I'm searching for what the right direction to run is (maybe even forcing at times).

I'm in awe of those artist friends of mine who can see their visions so clearly and make them come to life... making it seem almost effortless, process-wise. My perfectionistic tendencies can sometimes block my ability to finish the projects I have in mind to tackle.

My job at the church has been amazing because of the need to work under tight deadlines and yet perform at a high level design wise. I have enjoyed almost complete artistic freedom here, which is totally a first (career-wise) and has been so refreshing... the only caveat being that I'm usually so creatively exhausted by the time I arrive home that the idea of spending more time on personal projects is a difficulty at best. I am ok with this at times and at other times driven almost mad by the frustration of feeling like I should be farther along as an artist than I am.

All this to say the last 2 years have included a grand amount of breakthrough artistically... maybe you will all see some of it soon... maybe.

ARTDUMP STRIKES BACK: What have you been up to?!

Some more of the logos/graphics I have been able to design for the church I work for...

ARTDUMP: What have you been up to?!

These are just some of the logos/graphics I have been able to design for the church I work for...

An Explanation for the Radio Silence...

Give me a minute... the last couple months have been great. I started a new job at my church as their Tech/Media Director. I love what I am doing but the transition is still a bit taxing and I'm doing all I can to keep my head above water and learn the things that I need to learn to be effective.

This has left precious little time for illustration and comics work. I'll be back once I get my feet firmly planted beneath me and figure out my routine/schedule. Thanks for your patience and thanks to those who have supported my art and shown an interest in me personally as an artist over the  years. Hold tight.

Greedo Driver

Teaching myself MangaStudio and needed a sketch for the Summit City Ink crew (starting up a weekly sketch challenge)... so this is the first attempt at using the program. Lots to figure out yet. Look for the finished piece on the Summit City Ink Blog.

Project Projections...

I have a couple different projects in the works at the moment... another contribution to Angry Gnome Comics' SHORT STACK (collection of 2 page horror stories), I'll be illustrating a 2-page story called, "Winter Garden" and they are letting me do the book's cover as well. Good times, scratches my horror itch.

I have been thumbnailing the bits and pieces for HipHopScotch #1 as well and while it might be unrealistic to think that the issue will be finished for 2010 I am hopeful for early 2011 (for C2E2 perhaps, CGS Supershow at the latest). I am pretty excited about what this book might be. The intention of the book is to serve as a testing ground/laboratory for story telling and art style. I really want it to be as tight as possible design-wise. I also want to add fun things to it like a letters column, fan-art submissions (once I get some fans) and maybe even occasional essays/editorials. Ideally I would love to have 2 issues out a year.

The final project is just in the discussion stages, but I am pretty excited about it. For a while now I have felt that I really needed a web series to keep my work fresh for people to see on a more consistent basis. Don't really want to say anything about it other then it will be a nice balance to the other things I am doing and (I'm hoping) will be a breath of fresh air... more fun, more funny, maybe even silly at times. We'll see. You'll know more when I know more.

I appreciate those who have asked and been interested in what I am doing these days... I am starting to get back into the swing of things... see you at a show soon. YEAH COMICS!

Bay-bay... and a growing curiosity.

This Friday, Sara and I, are expecting our fourth child... yeah 4. Crazy. We're excited. So pray that all goes well with that, that we are able to survive the munchkin take over and that the other kids will be stoked to welcome this new little one into our family.

On the art front... I am moving forward on a couple projects that have been simmering for a while now and I look forward to showing people some stuff here and there as I get a chance to scan things in and post them. I often wonder what kind of work people expect from me or maybe even hope to see. I just want to do what makes me happy and excited to put brush to bristol but I admit I am curious what people like... just have to continue throwing things at the wall I suppose.

Hope you are all well.

Jewett

Where have you been?

My art table is calling to me... "Come back to me!" I think I am ready to answer that call, finally.

Question the Answers...

I am in a season of uncertainty right now... am I where I am meant to be? Is my life one that is effective?

As a christian (and not always a particularly good one) there are compromises that I have made in my lifestyle, maybe even justified as acceptable by God. Being a part of the Momentum Youth Conference went a long way toward exposing some of these hypocrisies in my life (Nothing like standing in front of 1500+ teens as a part of a worship team).

A lot of that is beginning to change. I feel like a failure in many areas of my life mostly having to do with complacency and laziness... funny thing is I am reminded of a line from Batman Begins, "And why do we fall, Bruce? So we can learn to pick ourselves up." It's a philosophy that followers of Christ can live by... we're not perfect and our failures are an opportunity to rise again improved, wiser. Not that we should justify sin or abuse grace. In this brief life we're given limited chances to make a difference, to be effective, I want to take advantage of those opportunities rather then squander them as I have previously. The idea that I am a "mist," here today, gone tomorrow is a profound reality.

This might not be a popular line of thought, in fact... I know it isn't. I don't know where I am going, I just know that God is moving and I am hopeful that He will use me in the process. Pray that answers will be clear or at the very least which direction to go would be revealed.

Reading: The Book of Job, Radical: Taking Back Your Faith From The American Dream