h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

yesterday was a fine day, indeed. spoke with an old friend about many topics...i always feel so good when i finish talking with him; he's much fun. we decided the best way to appear as if you're socially enjoying a conversation is to occasionally say things like, "you don't say," and "really," and the ever-noncommital "hmmmmmm...."

a nice surprise, upon my return: an art contest i entered ages ago and forgot about yielded an unexpected prize check in the mail! i nearly drooled on myself at this jolt. hooray! money is nice sometimes. it can buy you things. i need some new running shoes. ladies and gentlemen, i am honored and all that jazz. please take me to the bank now, so i may cash my prize. thank you. elvis has left the building.

Congratulations, and I don't mean on learning to appear to enjoy a conversation, on the art prize. Winning a prize must be incredibly validating.

thank you! i don't know it's so much as validating....just a nice surprise. like an unexpected compliment, i suppose. i was in desperate need of money, and it was a very exciting gift!

Well, lots of artists want to earn money from their work, and you've just done that. I agree that the cash-windfall aspect sound pretty cool, too.

yes, indeed...it'd be nice if i could earn full-time pay for sitting around painting all day, as it's what i love to do most. ...maybe someday! until then, regular job and freelance illustration, here i am!

In some other thread you said you were in the military; is that the regular job?

sorry i take so long to reply...i sometimes forget to check my own postings...

yes, i am in the military. i am a reproduction cartographer....which means i play with designing and printing maps. it's not a bad life: i've only signed for three more years, and i get to spend them in hawaii, doing a lot of fun stuff. ...not a bad gig.

are you curious about this? can i answer any questions for you?

That sounds like a lot of fun, reproduction cartography. Do you get to think a lot about map design, like how to convey different kinds of information on the same map?

yepper.
actually, i'm teaching myself a progam now called "geomedia," which allows for all sorts of information, data points, and coordinates to be taken from a variety of sources and placed on a single map.

not terribly a barrel o' monkeys, but not too shabby. i enjoy it. ..and you?

I'm a writer pretty much; looking for a new gig right now. Something in magazines where you get the health benefits & salary and don't have to find all kinds of freelance contacts. Sometimes I get out the notebook and write fiction.

sounds like a good thing...i write short stories to go along with my illustrations; mainly for myself, maybe one day to be published.

fiction is good...mine is a mix of reality and fiction...

Glad you mentioned that. One of my favorite things are older hardcover childrens books with color illustration plates tipped in, usually watercolors. The best thing is how they take one line from the story and illustrate it. I tried this once with a wood engraving; I made my own little artists' book with the engraving bound in with the xeroxed text. Lots of fun.

Do you write the story from the illo or draw the illustration from the story?

well, usually, i draw an illustration first and come up with a sort of stream-of-consciousness sort of story to go with it, but in this case, i've been working on a story to illustrate, and it seems to be working well that way, too...

old children's books are great; i have a few that i had intended to give my niece, and ended up keeping for myself! (i got her different ones, though...)

Well, I admire you for that. I found that trying to illustrate written material was very difficult. Although maybe it had more to do with the dense stuff I was writing...

well, thank you.

yep, i sometimes am unhappy with the things i've written...this is the first that i've felt confident can really last a while...i can get some good material from it, and keep writing and drawing for a long time, so that's good...