Korean Students, Wobbly Heads

Final days of being a teacher at Taereung High School are coming up, and definitely makes me sad to have to say goodbye to all of the students. During the last two days of the semester I got some time to do some painting demos for class (my students found out I can do more than just talk in English ;) ) and figured to show some of the better ones that came out. Enjoy!

The "So Mang Ban" Crew -- Taereung High School

Btw, even though people have been supportive of this idea of a weekly comic about recent grads, I haven't had ANYONE submit a story for it! Tell your friends, anyone that's grad recently that has to now pay off some student debt. Have a great day and see you all around.

Weekly Comic Idea about Recent Graduates

As we all know, times have been very tough for recent graduates who face a workforce that doesn't have a place for them, while saddled up with loads of debt that they can't possibly hope to pay off. Where people have been forced to move back with their parents, held off kids and marriage, and taken jobs that are well below their education level just to make minimum payments. Most of these people who are having to suffer through this feel like they have no voice to actually communicate their pleas to a great audience. Well...I want to try to communicate those voices.

Lately I've been tossing this idea around in my head and with a few friends, about doing a weekly small one page comic about people who have recently left university (through graduation or for other reasons.) Just something to tell others who they are, where they are from, and where their student debt has prevented them from going. I want to hear real stories, real events, from real people anywhere in the world. The idea is pretty small and I'm still contemplating how I want to work it out so that's why I'm posting today here in the blog. If you think you have a worthwhile story (or even if you don't but still want it told) please contact me here on my blog or email through my contact page. I want to make this a larger collaboration of people to bring awareness to a growing problem in our generation.

Call for a Reliable Editor and a New Comic

Today I want to bring up a difficulty that I've been having for the past several months, finding a reliable and consistent editor to take a look through my drafts and thumbnails for my stories. Many times I find myself entering arrangements with fellow artists and writers in which we edit each others work, but I always feel like I'm getting the short end of the stick. I always try to be extremely diligent in getting someone's else work edited (most often before I even touch my own work) and all I ask in this sort of arrangement is that the other person commit to being consistent in return.

An example were I had trouble with this was with my last editor, who I asked for two chapters to be reviewed within three weeks. Not only was this timeline not met, but this person completely disappeared for over a month without giving me any notice or chance to find someone else. When given a second chance on another couple of chapters over two weeks, the person disappeared once again for a month. And this is a person who I've pulled through on many a night to make sure that their work was completed for reviews when they were a university student. At the rate of speed that I work at, I can't be held up over a minor edit for over a month.

So what I'm asking through this post is if anyone would like to enter a mutual arrangement of editing, where we can both look over each others work within a reasonable amount of time. Ideally I'm looking for a comic artist, but any creative writer or visual artist would suffice as long as they can give worthwhile feedback and have a general understanding of a comic artist's workflow.

 ie. Rough draft -> Breakdowns -> Thumbnails -> Pencils -> Inks -> Lettering

If you'd be interested please contact me and I'd love to work with you.



On one last note, my girlfriend and I have just finished up a new short story, "What Haunts Us," hopefully to be released this Fall. Keep your eyes peeled with more information in the future!

Seoul Grind

Much needed update, Mt. Pinatubo Rememberance Day

Hey everyone, terribly sorry for the past 9 months without a single update or post, making me look like a horrible blogger. Just giving a shout from Seoul letting everyone know I'm still alive, even if the trip to this point has been one hell of a wild ride. Students are great here and definitely loving my life in South Korea with a good set of friends, my girlfriend who I've been with for about 9 months now, and plenty of writing and comics done.

During this time I want to direct you to a couple of publications that I've been in recently. The first one, a small but incredible literary journal found in the East Coast of the USA, 5x5, tells of grand stories in a small package. Definitely worth checking out at http://5x5litmag.org/. Check the 2011 Fall Issue, Visitors, for a comic about my brief travels through Taipei, Taiwan.

The second piece that I had published was with my old university's literary journal, Reed Magazine (http://reedmag.org/drupal/?q=node/150). It's a comic article about my experience as a student at that university for 3 years and how tuition rose dramatically while I was there. Yet the university had plenty of money for outrageous construction projects to lure in prospective students, not to mention extravagant perks and salaries to the people running the university. I'm actually surprised that the university published my article there after all the defaming material that I wrote about them. To see a much better quality print of the comic you should check out my website, www.erikthurman.carbonmade.com in the comics section.

Finally the last thing I want to bring attention to is Mt. Pinatubo's eruption anniversary. It's been 21 years since one of the biggest eruptions in modern history happened in the Philippines, causing massive lahars to flood the valleys of the Pampanga region and causing many people to have to evacuate the disaster zone. The Pampanga government has just this year recognized a special holiday where all government businesses and offices are closed today to mark this anniversary. My heart goes out to the people that were affected by this natural disaster and the trouble that it causes the livelihood of people through yearly floods even today.

Currently I'm writing chapter 5 of my novel, "The American Immigrant" that goes into greater detail about the history of this region which covers Mt. Pinatubo. I figured since it's been a long time since I've updated anything here I'll go ahead and post a couple web cam pics of my comic about this story. Please keep in mind because I'm still traveling often, I don't have access to a scanner so I hope you'll forgive me. Here are some of the pencils of the story...

Anyways hope you have a great day and as always love life.

Cat and Mouse

 

What Haunts Us