Ruby Rocket, P.I.

Every now and again a project comes along that I simply have to work on because it's just plain cool.

A few months ago that project found its way into my life. It's called Ruby Rocket, P.I., an animated series being created for Aniboom. It's ultra-hip with a film noir retro feel.

It's also not for kids, which is a refreshing break from making cute round faces and adorable wittle chunky fingers and toes and overly-expressive Charlie Chaplin eyes.

Chocolate is sweet buttery goodness, but sometimes you gotta have the salt & vinegar chips, too. And a beer. Maybe some whiskey. Definitely a shot of bourbon.

Ruby was created by Sam Niemann and Stacy Hallal. You can learn all about the production on Ruby's The Big Blog.

Mostly I've been compositing scenes in After Effects, a little bit of Flash animation (nice to do some tradigital stuff), and just enjoying the process. It's a crazy schedule, but it's been fun seeing it all come together. A lot of very talented people have worked on this production. I can't wait to see it launched.

In the meantime, you can see screen shots of what we've been working on. Don't forget to check out the episodes on Aniboom!

Freshbooks' Fresh look

The right words at the right time. I love finding a post that speaks to what's going on in my mind at the moment.

Mike McDerment of Freshbooks is another of those CEO bloggers who happens to be an actual human and not a marketing blogger-bot.

His post today on "7 Ways I've Almost Killed Freshbooks" struck a chord. Check it out, please.

I recently started using Freshbooks for estimates and invoicing after my old software (They Who Shall Not Be Named) disappointed me too any times. At first look, Freshbooks is pretty intuitive and customizable, which is necessary.

I became a complete convert when a client of mine, who I was having the worst time getting invoice and estimate PDFs to, approved a Freshbooks estimate within seconds of sending it.

Hmm. Let's compare, shall we?

Old Software

"I can't see the PDF."

-re-export, resend and post on my own server via FTP-

"Is this the right amount? It looks wrong."

-In fact, it is wrong. software mixed up invoices on export. damn. this certainly won't help-

Freshbooks 

-same client, less than one minute after sending estimate with jaw clenched in trepidation-

"Yes, I saw the estimate and already approved. Thanks!"

Pretty easy to figure that one out, isn't it?

Everyone's a Critic

Lately I've been having some interesting discussions with my 12-year old son on artistic criticism and feedback.

Like me, Jake had an early interest in drawing and he draws in his sketchbook every single day, sometimes for hours. His drawings have improved from the usual childlike doodles to his most recent works, some of which are on the same level as a few professional portfolios I've reviewed.

Okay, so I sound like the typical Proud Dad, but I think I still maintained a tiny bit of my objectivity since I do this for a living. Right...

He's been posting his work on a discussion forum and getting some interesting remarks and feedback from his "peers," a couple of whom I suspect are bitter 40-year old men with My Little Pony figure collections. Just a hunch.

We discussed the comments he's getting and the difference between helpful and unhelpful criticism.

I told my son that as an artist, feedback comes often. Welcome it! In fact, solicit feedback as often as you can. It's all in how you use it (or not).

For some artists (myself included) this can be difficult because you don't want someone else's view of the world to influence something personal you've created. However, as I explained to my son, there's opinion and there's constructive feedback. If you can understand the difference, it can be very liberating and helpful.

For example, comments like these on a piece of fine art are opinion:

"That shouldn't be red. I like blue."

"Why does he have wings? That doesn't seem right."

"Those mountains are too tall."

These comments are constructive feedback:

"The feet seem out of proportion to the legs."

"It's hard to see his face with those fine lines."

"The mountains are the same height as the figure. It's hard to tell how far away they are."

For commercial art, this all gets thrown out the window. If someone is paying you for a piece of artwork, then the line between opinion and feedback gets blurry.

For example, if a client tells me they don't like the color red or wings on their character, it's a valid point of discussion. They're paying me to create something to their specs. I may explain why I chose to create those things and sway their opinion, but ultimately I can't get angry over it, shaking my fist at the mad tyranny of it all. I can only learn from that feedback, which in some cases means I need to ask for more details before starting the work.

However, if a client makes a general statement that you just can't use blue and yellow together, then I need rely on my own sense of what's correct. Then I find out why they think that and what they're really looking for, which usually means that they simply don't like them together (which is just as valid a reason if they're paying me).

Understanding yourself as an artist is crucial to this process. If you intended to make your winged robot red, then nobody can tell you that it's "wrong."

If a client asked you for a green wingless robot, then your artwork is wrong.

It's so simple, isn't it?

If you can't recognize and apply truly constructive feedback, using it to improve your work, then you are doomed to a life of fist-shaking.

Either way, the power is in the artist, not the critic.

They just don't get it, do they? Ghosts in the machine...

It was inevitable that blogs would become mainstream. My kids each have their own blog and my wife has a few, including a daily photo blog from our time in Washington, D.C. With free hosting (like this one), the ease of template choices, and photo uploading, blogging has given voice to people who would otherwise keep their thoughts to themselves, or tucked away in a journal.

So it's no trick that blogs have become uber marketing tools for small and big business.It's a great idea. Small and medium-sized businesses can connect with their clients and customers, implementing quicker changes in their products and services. Not to mention the potential for real conversations with their clients, as if they walked in the storefront off the street. It's a huge opportunity.

In fact, these days if you don't have a web site and a blog and you're in business you're out of touch with reality. They're the Yellow Pages of today.

There are even blog consultants, like Grant Griffiths of G2 Web Media, who will guide bloggers-be through the many possibilities of building their presence through a blog, as well as design, implement, and maintain the blog. For those who think they just don't have the time or know-how, it doesn't get any easier than that.

Macromedia had a great approach to corporate blogging, as profiled in Wired (5/02).

As in any trend, there are people who will latch on with only a surface, People Magazine-type of understanding. Some corporate marketing departments have seen the potential and urged their upper managers to blog for the company. Some, like global advertising firm Weiden +Kennedy, have made an effort to be real people, blogging about real things. You know, like human beings.

However, there's a running theme lately of "ghost blogging," and it's definitely not real. The idea is that the CEO or upper management is so gal-dern busy these days (uh-huh) that they don't have time for that... what do you call it, flog thing? Or, Marketing is concerned that the CEO will only be too happy to share her thoughts on that piddly little oil spill and who cares about those stupid seals anyway?

The solution to the dilemma is the ghost blogger. Possibly someone in Marketing or HR, this person's reason for existence is to post bland, tasteless entries about how much good the company has done the planet this week.

They just don't get it. 

If the blog is only a marketing tool, readers will see through it right away. One of the great things about blogs is the ability to turn anyone into a citizen journalist. It's about real events, real thoughts, real conversations. Turning the whole idea into a corporation-approved message board is the antithesis of the medium.

Even if the CEO is posting short entries on something she saw that affects their market or their customers, it's valuable. It gives customers insight to their thought process without giving away financials or positioning strategies. It also helps customers feel like they know that person just a little bit, which can give buy-in on the product or service.

However, give them a fake presence and they won't stick around long.

A good example of the "personal" business blog by a CEO is Jason Graham-Nye of gDiapers. His entries are mostly short and usually a link to a video or article. What makes his blog interesting to follow is that it's really him. It's just Jason, and this is one busy bloke. Also, you know that what he's posting is usually related to a subject he cares a great deal about, like the environment.

You don't have to be Hemingway to create an audience with a business blog. Just be real...

...and leave the ghosts to speechwriting.

Cupertino, we have a problem.

Let's say that I rely on my Macbook.

Let's also say that without it, Sparky Firepants Images is an Apollo command module tumbling through space, ricocheting off the Earth's atmosphere instead of landing safely in the Pacific Ocean.

Monday morning in Portland was a delightful, dazzling display of ball lightning, one instance of which made my Macbook hard drive sizzle like the faulty wire on Apollo 13. Oddly enough, it was on the best surge protector in the house. All the other devices in the house (including my LCD on the same surge protector) were fine. Freaky, to say the least.

Suddenly Sparky Firepants is running low on oxygen and tumbling through space without controls.

Did I mention that I rely on my Macbook?

Everything is on my Macbook. I'm one of those freaks you hear about who don't like to print anything unless Buddha, Jesus, or Seth Godin ask for a copy. I keep all of my contacts in there, and I use my e-mail as a repository of information. Apple makes it so easy to search for those things that I don't even have my old complex folder system anymore. I'm free and easy, People.

My most recent client work is on my Macbook, too. This would be a dangerous way of running a business if it weren't for my system of backups. First, I've been using Time Machine since March. Everything gets backed up hourly on a 1 TB Western Digital network hard drive (so it's wireless). Every now and then I need to dig up a file and Time Machine has come through. It's pretty cool to watch happen, too.

So yesterday I took my Macbook to the Genius Bar at Apple and they confirmed that it was dead, Jim. Thankfully the rest of my machine was fine. The tech offered to replace my drive for me, but also let me know that I could probably get a new drive cheaper elsewhere if I could install it myself. That's exactly what I did and after a comedy of errors in finding a Torx T8 screwdriver, I was in business.

After reinstalling Leopard, the setup app asked me if I wanted to restore from a Time Machine backup. Nice. Yes, thanks. I let it run all night (it was about 23 GB to transfer) and this morning my Macbook looks exactly like it did Sunday night.

Even the client folder I had open was open on the desktop. 7,000 e-mails are all there. Now that's accurate.

I did have a worry that my backup drive had failed, too, but I have a copy of  a month-old Time Machine backup on a separate drive. In a pinch I could have restored from that and lost a month's work, but a step up from completely starting over.

I wasn't looking for an excuse to use Time Machine to restore my system, but since I had one given to me I'm glad I got to see it in action. Am I a "Fanboy?" Maybe. I would challenge anyone who lost all their data and were able to restore it that easily to be otherwise. I was just saved hours of client work. When things work how they're supposed to, it's a beautiful thing. 

It was tense and stressful, but now that I'm on this aircraft carrier I'll just wave my little NASA cap around for the folks at home and move onto the debriefing.

Creating in a Vacuum... sucks

Have you ever tried staring at a blank piece of paper and making something appear using only your fabulous power of will?

Think about when you get your best ideas. Is it sitting at your desk, pencil in hand, examining that coffee stain on your sleeve for the bazillionth time?

Or is it in the shower? Driving through the car wash? Sitting on the toilet?

Okay, those are mine and oddly enough, they all involve water. I'll have to explore that later.

I remember the first time I cracked open CorelDraw and tried to teach myself to make some great digital art. It just didn't happen. It wasn't just my lack of knowledge in the program, I had nothing to draw. I couldn't even begin to get started because I was staring at that blank digital artboard. Later, after I went away and got some ideas, things became much easier and I started to learn how to execute my vision.

I've often seen fellow creatives (and been guilty of) doing The Stare, that terrible method of creating great ideas in the vacuum of a blank page. It sucks. It doesn't feel good and the work that comes out of it usually kind of sucks, too.

The solution I've found to this state of Hoover Brain is a little procedure I like to call Doing Something Else. It's pretty easy.

Sometimes just doing something else other than trying very hard to be creative actually frees up your brain, creating space for new thoughts to enter without a security code. Some of the things I do that are Something Else when I'm stuck on an idea are:

• Reading one of my many RSS feeds
• Going for a walk around the block (or two)
• Making coffee (drinking optional)
• Running an errand
• Doodling random stuff without thinking about it
• Eating pistachios
• Taking a shower
• Fixing something around the house

• Reading MacWorld

You can see that these things are all fairly mundane. I think that's the key to the success of stimulating creative thought. That boring routine of cleaning out the fridge every week could be giving you more than just a sweet smell.

Try it today! Do something really monotonous and stupid. That shouldn't be too hard, should it?

If you need help thinking of something stupid, give me a call. I'm an expert.

Book Tip: A great book on creative thinking is How to be More Creative, by David D. Edwards. I'm not sure if it's still in print, but I found my copy secondhand online. The ISBN is: 0-933264-00-3. Enjoy!

I'm a Cotton-headed Ninnymuggins.

So the SCBWI Summer Conference 2008 was great. I came, I saw, I blogged it.

mike r. baker reminded me (through his blog) that I actually met some pretty nice people there. It figures that I would remember the content and forget to mention the people.

There were so many nice folks at that conference, and that's what makes it worth going, right?

Katrina Fowler, who I had previously met online is a fellow Oregonian. Nice to see anotehr friendly face!

Addie Boswell shared some great insights with me on my portfolio presentation. She's also from PDX, so we shared a plane home (thanks for letting me ride along). Majida Nelson also shared her portfolio, which is always generous.

Brian Gerrity gave me some nice pointers on my book. He also did all the illustrations for the conferenc ematerials. Another digital guy!

Cynthia Gall, I love your gnomes and I think you need to do something with them.

Rocio Goff and Linda Zuckerman have me talked into Linda's workshop here in Oregon.

Ashley Mims was fun to talk with and does great work, too.

I also met a writer named Mark, but I never got his business card so I don't know his last name. He's an incredibly nice guy and stuck with me at the Paint the Town Red party while I searched for a table to put my food on.

Christina Forshay found me during the last speaker. That's what I get for calling myself Sparky Firepants in one place and David Billings in another. Thanks for finding me, Christina!

How could I forget Frieda Gates? I met Frieda at the April conference in NYC. The first person I ran into on the first day in Los Angeles... Frieda, of course. Serendipity was the word she used and very accurate.

Hey, stop loafing!

Back from the SCBWI Summer conference and I'm into client work. After spending a little time with Jenni and Henri, I picked up were I left off on Wednesday.

Not that I wasn't working during the conference, of course. I'm not a workaholic, I swear. It's just the timing of things.

If I start complaining about being busy with client work, somebody hit me over the head.

I thought it might be fun to show a glimpse into my work table while I create sketches for a series of greeting cards.

You can see my very sketchy layout thumbnail on the left, and the tightened-up pencil drawing on the right. From here I'll scan in that drawing so I can ink and paint it.

You'll also notice some tools of my trade scattered about. That compass is the same one I bought for Fundamentals with Mr. Popovich at the American Academy of Art way back in 1990.

You can also see my Indiana Jones-style fedora in the back. I use reference material from wherever I can get it. Thankfully this one was in my closet.

You'll also notice that while my artwork is digital, it always starts out in pencil. It's difficult to be truly creative starting from scratch in the computer. The final artwork is pretty much exactly the same as the tight pencil drawing, just colored and inked.

Back to work!

SCBWI Summer Conference Day 4 - Wrapped Up

That's it, Folks. We're done.

Adam Rex's workshop was good. He passed around his dummy for Dirty Cowboy, which was pretty cool to see how he put together. Adam also had great insights on working as an illustrator. Some of which I've already learned through experience and some I'll be making notes on.

We had chatted earlier and it turns out we both grew up in Phoenix. Actually, I already knew that I had grown up there, I just didn't know he did, too.

This conference was extremely informative. In fact, I have a little iCal reminder that will tell me I need to make my notes and work out my strategy based on what I've learned and acquired this weekend.

There's too much to process right now.

At this point I'm just waiting for the Super Shuttle and charging my laptop in the lobby. 

I had Lisa Yee sign her new book So Totally Emily Ebers for my daughter. She seemed like a fun lady. She crossed out Emily Ebers in the title and replaced it with my daughter's name. So totally cool.

One thing that bears mentioning at the close of this conference is that I'm a little disappointed in myself as an artist. Not because of the quality of my work, or my ability to get said work.

I'm disappointed because I realized how much I'm losing sight of why I went on my own to be an illustrator in the first place. I wanted to do my own work my own way, and yet I'm finding a lot of compromise in my art and not as much creativity in my personal work as I had a year ago.

I'm not naive and I'm glad that I'm able to be a working artist (which sometimes means compromising your style or vision for a client), I just feel a strong urge to get back to the studio and create those weird things I was creating a year ago. No more cute, posed children for my portfolio. More robots in love with boilers. More monsters eating cakes whole. More butternut squashes with directions to Los Angeles.

It's gonna get gooder.

SCBWI Summer Conference Day 4 - Endings

The last day at the conference and I'm pretty wiped out. I'm still processing the information downloads from the past few days. It's a lot of good stuff, I just have to figure out how to use it with my current business and marketing plans.

Last night I had dinner  with a Twitter Acquaintance (what do you call that?) @nathanbowers at RFD in Santa Monica. I got my seitan fix for the trip and Nathan is a pretty cool guy to hang out with. I also ran into an old friend, Susan, which was pretty random and weird (in a good way). Do I take that as a sign?

This morning was a bit of a rush getting checked in for my flight. My room wireless access had expired, so I had to go down to the lobby and take care of it. I'm a big believer in early online check-in. I hate to say it, but I think it's tragically funny nowadays when people have a problem with getting bumped from their flight because they wait in line to check in at the airport.

You can even check your bag online with Delta, which means you only need to drop it off rather than wait in line. It's getting better and better.

On my agenda today is Adam Rex's workshop Marry Someone with Insurance. Heh.

SCBWI Summer Conference Day 3 - Licensing

Wow, what a workshop.

Suzanne Cruise of Cruise Creative gave one of the best workshops I've attended so far. I'm really happy that I chose hers, because I almost attended Mark Teague's. No offense to Mark, he's a very engaging speaker, but the subject matter was something I'd already seen a few times over this year. I thought it was best to go with something new.

Suzanne was great. Any time I see a speaker reading from prepared notes and struggling to load their PowerPoint I cringe a little bit. The best speakers know their subject matter and go off the cuff, which is what Suzanne did. It was very effective and she really kept everyone's attention simply with her passion and knowledge of her industry. She also had a comprehensive handout (bonus points for her not reading the thing to us). I'll be referring to that quite a bit over the next few months.

Cecelia Yung did the same thing (no PowerPoint). She showed actual mock-ups and the finished artwork that goes through her hands every day. I'm all for the real thing.

So, licensing. Knowledge is power.

SCBWI Summer Conference Day 3 - The Agents

This morning's session was a discussion panel with literary agents. It was a fairly interesting session, but didn't really break the surface of what I think is already said out there on the internet. I got the sense they were holding back.

It was mildly interesting, but the panels have been dull only in comparison to the completely outstanding speeches and presentations preceding them.

What I really want to hear about are the things you can't find out except by hauling your butt to Los Angeles. If I'm going to pay $450 to sit in a basement all day, I want to be rewarded for it.

Cecelia Yung (Penguin Young Readers) didn't disappoint in her morning workshop, 101 uses for an Art Director. She's funny, doesn't hold back, and also has a sense of humility about her own role. It's a nice combination and the message she delivered was definitely something new (to me, anyway).

I skipped the Golden Kite Awards Luncheon. I'm not crazy about large crowds and the way they had it set up was aggravating my claustrophobia. Also, there was nothing I could eat. Oops.

Now it's afternoon I'm crashing a little bit. I need some caffeine or something. A nap?

SCBWI Summer Conference Day 2 - Comments

Anonymous (hey, I know that guy!) commented on my last post and rather than comment there, I wanted to bring the conversation to the fore.

There's a little bit of negativity perceived when editors say they just want to get books on shelves. From a writer or illustrator standpoint, I can see where that reaction comes from.

From a business point of view, I can see where there's a lot of pressure to buy the book that will fly off shelves.

What a weird situation we have in this industry.

I'll be the last one to say that when my book gets published I'll want it to sell a only few copies.

Hey, three kids in Idaho bought it. Isn't that great?

I also understand a publishing company's bottom line. They're in the business of selling books. Does Chrysler want to sell a few cars? Do they want to put time and money into a flashy new prototype hybrid two-seater that might sell to a few enthusiasts?

Risky.

It would be better business to manufacture a car that appeals to a wider range of consumers. Duh.

What I think I'm hearing is that they would love to find a Mustang, a flashy prototype that appeals to a wider consumer base, but becomes such a classic that they have to keep putting it out year after year.

I do what I do for the love of it, but if I were the designer of the Mustang, I would want to sell a billion, too.

P.S. Please keep commenting if you're following along here. Don't be shy. I'm hoping someone will disagree with me so we can have a friendly conversation here! Cheers!

SCBWI Summer Conference Day 2 - Portfolio Showcase

Portfolio and promo cards have been dropped. I can officially no longer mess around with my work or the order. Believe me, I would probably do that until Starbucks goes out of business if I could (in other words, forever).

I actually removed several pieces that I brought with me. I was brutally honest with myself and my work. Not an easy task to be objective about your own stuff.

Besides simply being available for art buyers, the portfolios will be judged by SCBWI faculty, which includes some very well-known published authors, illustrators, editors, and art directors. The winner of Best in Show (no genre categories) gets a trip to NYC to meet with publishing houses and art directors, as well as a cash prize (I forgot what that was).

That would be cool and I certainly wouldn't hand that prize back, but mainly I want to sell my work. Coming home with some interest and potential projects will be a nice prize, too.

It's kind of weird walking around the hotel and having people recognize me before they see my name badge. I guess my goofy avatar with the shiny bald head stands out on discussion boards. Funny.

Time for lunch. I need some sun, too.

SCBWI Summer Conference Day 2 - Editor panel

Kristi Valiant commented on my Day 1 post (thanks Kristi, I'm glad to hear from someone reading along!).

I whined a little bit in my post about conflicting messages. It's interesting to hear today from editors that they feel the same schizophrenia (quote from David Gale).

So they're giving us the honesty I asked for yesterday, which is awesome to hear.

It seems they're in a state of conflict themselves; wanting to publish the coolest, most exciting things, yet having to sell it to "The Company" who just wants to get books on shelves and sell a billion copies.

I'll write more about all this later, but it's worth mentioning that it's insightful hearing honest talk about the editing/acquisition process.

SCBWI Summer Conference Day 2 - Arthur Levine

The Picture Book is Not Dead

Arthur Levine is giving a great talk on the current market for picture books, dispelling the myth (rumor) that picture books are not selling or being acquired by publishers.

He has some great data on the market, it's really interesting to learn about how a publisher like Arthur Levine looks at the industry.

One reason he gives for the appearance for picture books declining is the decreasing number of independent booksellers versus chain sellers. It seems that a chain seller like Barnes & Noble has one buyer (nationally). That means that if that one person doesn't like a certain book, it's not sold in the largest book retailer in the country.

Independents, by virtue of having more opinions available on what books will sell, offer more opportunity for sales. They also offer the benefit of reading each book, knowing what kids like, and actually suggesting the right book for a child.

Arthur is also a pretty funny guy. Gotta go, I don't want to miss more.

One more thing. Arthur also noted how, in 1996, the industry was whining about how there was no market for middle grade hard cover books. He argued otherwise, as he was just about to publish a British lady's hard cover middle grade fantasy story. You might have heard of it, but I'll let you guess the author and title.

Illustrators Commiserating

Had a great night of Illustrator Socializing. Tomorrow is the portfolio judging, so everyone is critiquing each others' books, which is interesting because all the work is so different.

Again, a lot of conflicting advice from art directors and editors, but rather than frustrating it's becoming clear:

1.People buy what they like.

2. Your portfolio is only as good as your worst piece.

One of the art directors had a great metaphor. It's like going on a date. Do you want to show brains or cleavage? Whether or not you get married depends on which appeals to your date.

Here's a great moment. I left my key in my room. I went to the front desk and the guy asked for my ID. Great, except my wallet is in the room safe.

I wound up showing him my book with my picture on the back. He happily gave me my key and complimented me on the book.

Awesome.

SCBWI Summer Conference Day 1

The first day of any conference is weird. Everyone is trying to figure out who's who and get the lay of the land. Meeting new people is awkward and rushed because sometimes the only time to meet is on the way to the bathroom.

The opening was great. Bruce Coville gave an excellent keynote on The Art of the Heart: Writing True for the Child. It was very inspiring.

I also really enjoyed Mark Teague's speech. He talked about his humble beginnings as an illustrator, working for Barnes & Noble in the 80s, and how he imagined creating five books a year when he first started.

I broke away and had a quick (lunch?) with Jill Bernheimer of domaine547. We met through Twitter and grabbed the opp to chat about each other's work. My friends know that I'm a celebrity "seer" (I see famous people) everywhere I go. At Clementine on Santa Monica Blvd, I saw Clark Gregg. To me, he'll always be the jerk from In Good Company, but I think he was taking his daughter to the dentist so I couldn't judge him too harshly.

One thing I can judge is the conference.

I would like to take this time to note building confusion in my illustrator mind. On the one hand, it's great to hear Art Directors, Agents, and Editors talk about what they want to see in illustration for kids, portfolios, and promo materials.

Here's where the confusion comes in: can they all get together agree on what they're telling people?

One person says "Show us a series of images." Another says, "Do it in this style, because that's what sells." Yet another says, "Show me vignettes that tell a story."

Another frustrating message I keep hearing is to "Change the world of kids books. Be true to your art and your writing."

How can that be their message to artists and writers when in the real world it's all about what's selling now? I didn't make that up, it's a conflicting message.

An Art Director shows us a series of images from one published artist who always stuck to one style. They show it as an example of how that's what gets you published.

An editor shows us how published artists like Richard Scarry often created work in different styles and started out doing licensed illustration. Isn't that great?

So, what I gather form all of this so far is this message:

"We have no idea what the hell works, sells, or what we'll feel like next week or in an hour. Just do something good and send it to us. We'll figure it out."

I'm okay with that. Really, I am. I just wish an editor or art director would just come out and say that.

Addendum:

OK, so I just read that over and it sounds bitter. I don't feel bitter, just a little confused. For someone who's always in a marketing mindset it's not a logical puzzle to solve.

Either that or I'm just hungry.