March 2018

Spring is finally here, although for most of this month it certainly didn't feel like it, what with not one bit three snowstorm hitting my area three weeks in succession. Thankfully the weather is showing signs of warmer days to come.
For the most part, March was the same as the last month or two, been busy with work mostly, and to be honest I've been feeling a little frustrated with it, partly because I've been working mostly closing shifts this month, but also just the general "wish I could be doing something I enjoy instead of this" blues. I'm sure you know what I mean. Who doesn't get frustrated with their job every now and again? This month did also mark 6 months of me working at my job, and that also means it's now officially the longest job I've ever had. This time last year I had no job, so it's still good to be able to say that I have one.

I've been feeling frustrated with social media again lately, most of all DeviantArt. I feel like lately I've been getting a lot of attention from people who just want free art from me, and unfortunately a couple of trolls too. I mentioned having to cut ties with a certain person last month too, and withc ertain things having come to light, it seems I was right to cut those ties. I apologise if this is a bit heavy-handed, but I will not hesitate to throw down the banhammer on anyone who abuses me or my friends in any way. I cannot stress that enough. I'm 32, I'm trying to get on with my life, and I don't need drama like that going on.

Admittedly I've had thoughts about just leaving DA again, just because of all the attention seekers who seem to plague it - but I've been on there 13 years now and I've met great people through it, and that's what keeps me there. That and because there's no other website like it.

On the plus side of things, the weather has been starting to improve, as I mentioned, so that means getting out for more walks and bike rides, and it's so good to live only 10 minutes away from a beach now. It will soon be time to turn the AC on, although me and my wife might have some difficulty with that - for the last couple of months, we've noticed a squirrel hanging around our AC unit. We believe it's a girl, and she's been stashing leaves and other debris inside our AC unit, making it her nest, with the possibility that there may be baby squirrels on the way. It's a bit of a dilemma, but it's also really sweet that we have our own pet squirrel in a way. 

I managed to snap a couple of pics of our furry friend:

Now that you've all gone nuts over that, here's something else that me and Nicole went nuts about - after asking for the time off, we officially booked this year's big holiday. For a week in June, we will be flying back to the UK to visit my family. I can't tell you how stoked we both are about this, already looking forward to it. It's been 2 years since I last saw my family, and it's been far too long.

On the artwork front, the Fyfe & Sparkplug has ground to a halt, because I need to come up with some character designs, however in the meantime I have started work on the next chapter of the "A Monster Thing" comic, along with new model sheets for the cast, keep your eyes peeled for those. I am also now uploading "Operation: N.E.C.T.A.R." to my Tapas page, click here to check it out: https://tapas.io/bluebottleflyer

Hope everyone who celebrated St Patrick's Day had a good one, and hope you all have a great Easter too - and while this isn't Easter related, here's the cover of "Operation: N.E.C.T.A.R." to whet your appetite.0

March 2017

Spring has come around again, although it hasn't really felt like it, in more ways than one.

I feel like this month's been somewhat of a low for me. Maybe it's because of the daylight savings or the late snowfall, but either way that time change always seems to do a number on the mood.

I've been feeling disillusioned with posting my art on DeviantArt lately, and while this isn't the first time it's happened, it somehow feels worse than in the past. It's moreso the wider DA community that's frustrating me, every time I open my inbox the vast majority of it is favebomb after favebomb after favebomb, or some comment that compares one of my characters to a more famous character, as if the perosn who posted that is just trying to antagonise me. There are far too many people on DA who only care about fanart or jumping on the bandwagon of what's popular, and/or want people to do free requests for them all the time, to the point of harrassment. I have no time for people like that, and I say that as someone who was like that at times in my earlier days on DA, which I deeply regret, as it probably drove a few people away. And maybe I'm sounding selfish here, but sometimes I feel like I take the time to check out people's artworks and leave feedback, and 9 times out of 10 it doesn't get reciprocated. I'm not saying people have to leave feedback, it's their choice, and I get that people are busy and/or just don't know what to say sometimes. I just like to hear what people think about my artworks, and sometimes I just feel they only acknowledge my existence when I check out their artworks and/or use it as an opportunity to big themselves up - I don't have time for those people either. At the end of the day, I believe you should make time for your fans, and I personally always try to.
All of this is part of the reason I migrated my comics to Tapastic. I admit, the revenue side of that was the other main motivator because ultimately I want to use my artwork to make a living, and I'm sure anyone who's in my position can understand that, especially if you're married and trying to pay the bills.
Like I said last month though, I still have no intention of ever leaving DA, even though I feel that my patience has been severely tested lately. I know there are people who do enjoy my artworks, and I don't want to take that away from them. You are the people who motivate me to stay on DA and keep on making my art, and I can't put into words how much I do appreciate that.

I wish I could say it gets better, and it sort of did but didn't. I had my very first job interview this month, for a warehouse/office job nearby. I felt like I said most of the right things at the interview, but unfortunately I didn't get the job, and I'm still disappointed about it - it would have been ideal hours in an ideal location and a not too terrible commute either. If anything, it was some much-needed interview practice, and the company did say they would keep my details on file, so hopefully in the future I might get another chance with them. I can't help but wonder what could've been though.
I also joined a temp agency this month, in the hope of being able to do some temp jobs in the meantime - however the agency I signed up with have so far turned out to be less than great at what they do, I contacted them every day for 2 weeks and they didn't answer once, so I've decided to try a couple of different agencies instead - I'll let you know how that goes.

I know there are some who will say that I'm crying over spilt milk, that there are far worse problems in this world than some thirtysomething British ex-pat in America complaining about his artwork and not being able to get a job. Those people are probably right. I should be thankful that I have a roof over my head, that I'm married to my soulmate, I have an artisitic ability at all, and that I have the love and support of my family. And these grievances, like most, will pass.

March hasn't been completely gloomy however - I've been continuing working on the first Fyfe & Sparkplug comic, and I've got 10 pages inked so far, at the time of writing this. Also, as mentioned above, I've been hosting my comics on Tapastic for a month now, and they're getting a lot of hits, so I just want to thank everyone who has taken the time to visit my Tapastic page and check out the comics, I really do appreciate it.
That side job at Nicole's work that I started last month has a been a bit of a learning curve. I've set up the meetings 3 times now, and it's certainly kept me on my toes. I've been told I'm doing a good job with it so far, save for some minor hiccups here and there. That's how any job goes though, it takes time to master it.
I'm also glad that the lighter, and hopefully soon, warmer days and nights are back again. It's things like that and being able to spend quality time with Nicole that make things worthwhile.

Hope I can bring you a happer blog for April - until then, I'll leave you with this group shot of my "Surf Club" comic cast, to remind you of warmer days to come.

March 2016

I hope everyone had a good Easter, whether eggs were involved or not. Mine involved quite a lot of them, plus flying a kite at the beach and spending quality time with my wife and her family, so I definitely had a good one.

Spring has arrived, and getting used to losing an hour's sleep with daylight saving time wasn't the only thing I've had to get used to this past month, as this was my first full month living the married life, yet with moving to the US and living with Nicole for two months prior, it already felt like I was living the married life, just without the ring on my finger. It's been good so far, to say the least, and even though I still get moments where I think about my family and my old life back in the UK, I don't regret making the move.
There's always a downside though - because of a bit of miscoummnication and red tape, I have still been unable to apply for a job in the US, because I need a social security number to do so, and that could take another couple of months to obtain. A couple of jobs came up in the last month that involved artwork, so I'm a bit disappointed that I wasn't able to apply for them, but hopefully once I have what I need Ill be able to look for similar jobs, there definitely seems to be a bigger calling for art-related jobs Stateside.
I say married life has been good so far, though it hasn't been without any hiccups, and most of them have been from planning for the June wedding ceremony, the majority of it is on Nicole, and anyone who's ever planned a wedding can probably imagine how stressful it can be. I do my bit to help, though sometimes I feel like it's not enough - but hopefully it'll be alright on the night though, as the saying goes.

On March 12, me and Nicole took our monthly trip to Newport in Rhode Island, and it just happened to be Newport's annual St. Patrick's Day Parade that day, it was the very first time I'd ever been to a St. Patrick's Day parade, and it was a blast, with people lining the streets dressed in green to cheer on the very colourful and creative parade floats, dancers and marching bands, they really put a lot of effort into it. Back in the UK, St. Patrick's Day doesn't get nearly as much of a celebration, and I was surprised to learn that apparently even the Irish don't make as big a deal out of the day as the Americans do - but then again, as I've learned, the Americans usually make a big deal out of just about everything.
I also had some terrific news this month - not only is my brother flying over for the wedding ceremony in June, but my grandma and my mam have also decided to fly over with him. It's proving a bit stressful though as my mam needs a passport, but it would mean the world to both me and Nicole if they could pull this off. The last time I saw my family in person was the day before I made my move, and I really want to see them again.

Went to see the latest animated film that everyone's talking about, Disney's Zootopia - two thumbs up, great characters and a very deep message. If this had been 20 years ago, that message probably would've gone right over my 10 year old self's head.

On the artwork front, this month I decided after 11 years to end one of my comic series, Snow Sam the walking talking snowman. I just felt that I was running out of gags and that his comics had run their course, plus with my move, getting married and eventually getting a job I'm gonna have less time to be able to do artwork, so something had to get the chop I'm afraid. However for those of you who have read my Snow Sam comics, I hope you enjoyed them over the years, and don't fear, I will still be drawing the character, and I'm not saying no to giving him any one-shot comics or cameo appearances in the future.

I'll leave you with Snow Sam's final comic - Easter and St Patrick's greetings to you all.

March 2015

I wish I could start this blog off on a positive note, I really do - but I'm not gonna sugarcoat anything.
All the anxiety of February has still been there, and it's caused things to come to head with my work placement - over the last few weeks I've felt invisible except when I'm needed to do something, and one of my managers in the shop was really making me feel that way more than others, which resulted in me being stressed almost every day I was in the shop. I ended up telling her that I had a problem with her attitude, and she seemed very surprised by that. We did clear the air though and sorted those differences - except we didn't, because just right at the end of this month, with two weeks left to go on the placement, they gave me (and my sister, who hadn't done anything wrong) the sack, apparently because of my stress issues, however I found out that the assistant manager had gone behind my back and as good as reported me for speaking my mind. Well you know what, I was getting sick of being there anyway, so as far as I'm concerned they can take that job and shove it - I've already said my feelings on this whole "community work placement" BS, it's designed to help everyone but us employed "losers", and I'm sick to death of being under the thumb of these piece of crap schemes. I just pray for the day that I don't have to deal with that anymore.
This is why I've been very moody lately, and I feel like I've alienated my online friends with the way I've been. I don't mean to be that way, but at the end of the day I can't just simply turn off the way I'm feeling - but I'm sorry if I have hurt anyone in any way because of this.
The process of applying for my move to the US has hit a delay, which hasn't helped things, and I know it's not how either me or Nicole wanted things to turn out, and I think that the wait is starting to get to us both, to be honest - but what happens will happen, and we both have to keep on with this, knowing that the wait will be worth it in the end.

All in all, I'm just trying to keep on going, because that's all I can do - it's all anyone can do when they're not 100%.

This month hasn't been without its good moments though - today marks the 10th anniversary of the day I stumbled upon a little website called DeviantArt, and made the decision to join up and show my cartoon creations to the world, and it's safe to say that a lot has happened since then. If I hadn't joined, I might never have met so many of the people on DA that I now call my friends, and I might never have gotten to to certain things that I've done in the last 10 years - in other words, artwork wasn't the only thing joining DA helped me with.

I'll leave you with a group shot of my creations that I made to mark the occasion - here's to another decade of deviousness, and here's to keeping calm and carrying on as best as possible,

March 2014

So, Spring has sprung once again, and I'm feeling the effects of the clocks going back an hour, not to mention still feeling a bit on the cold side too - though considerably less cold than last Spring's whiteout, of which the US have had their own this winter.

As much as I don't like to being up stuff going on in the news, I'm sure most of you will heard about the missing Malaysian Airlines flight - this has struck a chord with me because I'm a fan of aviation, and because I'll be getting on a plane again myself very soon, and it just beggars belief that in this day and age a modern jet can just disappear off the face of the earth. I can only hope that they find it sooner rather than later, so that the families of those on board can at least get some closure - I can't begin to imagine what they must be going through.

On a somewhat more hopeful note, my jobsearch this month finally got me my first interview since October. The catch is that it's in Barnard Castle, which is somewhat awkward to get to and from because of the bus timetables, and it's a part-time job, which means transport costs might be an issue...but it could also be experience and something to put down on the old CV. The interview is on 3 April, I'll let you know what happens, of course.

And now onto even more brighter news - if all goes to plan, by the time I come to write my April blog, I should be back in the US once again - as mentioned before, it's just less than 3 weeks till I wing my way across the Atlantic for the fifth time to see my lovely Nicole - and obviously, you'll hear all about it here and in my YouTube blog.

So, that's the March madness over and done with - and as always, I'll leave you with a bit of artwork: one of my AMT characters Wolfgang rocking out.

The Great Spring Whiteout

Happy Easter to all you readers, whether you had an Easter egg hunt or not.

Indeed, March has been and gone, and normally winter would go with it, except this year it's had other ideas. While this year isn't the first time there's been cold temperatures and snow in March, it's still took most people by surprise, especially considering that this time last year there was some great weather. And all things considered, in my area we were relatively lucky compared to other areas of the country - I saw pictures of 10 foot high snow drifts on the news, scenes normally associated with December, January and February. It can't last though, here's hoping that April will see some warmer temperatures (and more than likely lots of rain).

I'm still on that "work programme" that I started back in October, however there's been a change - instead of it being a drop-in and check up appointment, it's now a group training session for 2 hours on a Wednesday afternoon, once a fortnight. I've had to go on worse and longer such courses in the past, so it's really the best case scenario as far as that goes. Just wish one or two of the others on that course would quit reminding everyone constantly how much everything sucks.

Had some internet issues as well, me and my brother's internet router decided to give up the ghost, so we had to wait about a week for a new one to come through the post. We were still able to get online though, thanks to our next-door neighbours letting us use their internet, many thanks to them for that, we owe them one.

On a lighter note, I decided to take the plunge and get myself an eBay account, along with making my first purchase on it, a model plane (for the plane fans, it's a KLM McDonnell-Douglas MD-11). Whether or not I'll ever sell anything on eBay remains to be seen, though I do have a few things I want to get rid of.

My first eBay buy, a model KLM MD-11 plane

Another purchase I'll have to make is a new camcorder - my current one's record button no longer works, thanks to me dropping it one too many times.

Last but not least, me and Nicole have now been together for 6 months, can't believe those months have gone by so quick, let alone the 10-11 years that we've actually known each other for. Still looking forward to seeing her again in June, it needs to get here already.

As always, I'll leave you with some artwork, this commission piece I did for a cool cartoon artist and a recent new online buddy, Doctormetadragon on deviantART - go take a look at his works, especially his "The Show Goes On" comic:

"If We Should Spend the Night Out" - characters © Wiley Bottcher (doctormetadragon.deviantart.com)