2011 was quite a year of creative growth for me. Even though AGZ went on a bit of a hiatus... I've been up to quite a bit elsewhere. WOW do I miss posting comics weekly here at Art Geek Zoo but in order to have the time to help launch and grow Lean Into Art, grow my interactive design consulting (user interface, user experience, and game design), it's been necessary.

So much news to share!

Intervention!

I'm in Rockville, Maryland for Intervention: "Your Online LIfe, In-Person" this weekend. Excited to experience the tabling, the fun events, and to be presenting. Friday night 8PM I'll be presenting the new and improved version of "Storytelling to Make Your Comic's UI Awesome".

Comics Are Great!

On Wednesday the 14th I was a guest on the Comics Are Great! show. Had a fun conversation with Jerzy Drozd and later in the episode Eli Niberger about how making comics is only the first challenge of creating them. We talked about the various options for publishing your comics online and tradeoffs to consider when choosing between options like a comic portal, wordpress, posterous, tumbler, and more.

Lean Into Art!

Last but not least - the lovely yet giant project that I've been working on with Jerzy Drozd is called Lean Into Art. It's an online art center with a focus on visual arts and storytelling. We have free content available via a new podcast we launched, our art/creative/teaching journal podcasts. We've also launched live workshops available in December... and the big kick-off event: 30 Classes in 30 Days!

Each day in November we'll feature a new live class, time shifted class, or lab/roundtable. Join us for "an ultimate kick in the learning"!

Change is inevitable. With Art Geek Zoo - it's a way of life. I mentioned in the behind the scenes commentary episode of the Polytechnicast that almost every comic I post here shows some evolution of style, technique, or both. 

What's coming next for the comic will continue that evolution. We'll be rejoining Pick and Crunchy and see how they deal with their assignment in Chromarch. What is unknown to me is exactly when I'll be sharing that story. AGZ isn't on hiatus - not yet - but the update schedule is now officially out the window.

Currently I'm focused on finishing some changes and improvements to this site, looking for a new UI/UX contract, preparing+updating workshops for speaking engagements, and working on a "secret project" that I'm incredibly excited about but have to wait a few more weeks to share the details. 

In other news...  

Do you make comics and think about making videogames with your comic's world and characters? If you're in the Twin Cities Minnesota area 6PM Thursday August 4th 2011, join us at the Nordeast Comics Summit! I'll be presenting "Making Videogames from Comics"!