AGENT SOLO-Sneak Peak

hello people of  the entire world of the internet..been a while since i posted something on my blog lately.been a very very busy day at the drawing table with tons of work..like my current creator owned project im working
on called "Agent Solo:The One Man Army" which is a 4 issue limited mini series..i was pushing for this year..but i said to my self no chance in HELL..just keeping it real..so its coming out next year instead im currently finishing up issue 2..then hoping on issue 3.. note: this is a 31page book..i feel that fans of my work who brought Guytron and new readers deserve to get the best quilty of work from me and that the books come out of TIME..so to share a lil sneak peak of Agent Solo hears a sneak peak of issue 1..enjoy-Ray

Its Very Important to Put Things In Perspective

growing up and wanting to be a comicbook artist i always wanted my work to look like the DC,Marvel etc
books like in the last status i wrote about doing the work and i was self taught and was trained by my now business partner/editor and art director on becoming a better artist.whats good is that i have a art director.. yes i have a art director, that over see's all my sequential pages..which is a good thing that i have one instead of having people tell me my artwork is great knowing good in dam well it sucks..i think majority of aspiring artist/ indie publishers that's starting up make mistakes because they dont take the time,passion and and understanding how this business really works in putting together great quilty indie books not saying its gotta look like the Bigger companies but you gotta know if you want your books to stand out its gotta be on a professional level and its gotta be competitive instead of amateurish.. i did a lot of home work while learning my craft i saw indie publishers come and go.. why?because they thought they was just going to make all this money and everybody was going to say they better then such and such blah,blah,blah sorry it dont work like that NOPE!its about getting a great team.. from the colorist,letter,artist and writer but if you all four then more power to you but if you like "i cant afford a team" i dont know what to tell you.. in today's economy people are looking for a paying gig its hilarious when i see ads in digital webbing saying "artist get this percentage if the book sales"come on now!pay for the service be up front about what you welling to pay.. moving on ..when i was trained  i was told to pick  the best dam comic book out and put it side by side my work and ask my self "is my page better then John Byrne"answer hell naw!this is because i was grateful to have someone like Mr.McClain that he was letting me know this page is wrong and honest about it and if i wanted my work to match with the best i gotta know the perspective about drawing pages the right way before just drawing shit  just to say im awesome im great nope i head to learn the whole entire process from right to whats not right ..but over all you got some great indie books out but then you got some thats horrible they wonder why nobody's not buying there books because they didn't take the time to do the work and practice and not investing in getting better artist instead they have a huge ego that there the next big thing in comics..come on famo you making yourself look like a fool that is blinded that your work sucks and that the people around you aint making it no better in telling you "don't listing to those haters.. they hating on you"how are fans who buy comics hate on work that looks like a 6year old drew?!come on now its called reality just hit you in the face..if you are a aspiring artist this is what you should do 1.buy sum sketchbooks 2.get a couple of how to anatomy books and perspective books about buildings and vanishing points 3.how to draw hero books note amazon got all these books buy the used ones 4.create your own style 5. in those sketchbooks draw everything from fingers, arms, legs,dogs,buildings etc in that sketchbook and keep doing it and you will see progress..but on another note everybody is not a artist so not everyone is just going to flat-out be a good artist some got it some dont ..but have a great book out that everybody know its dam good is the BEST feeling ever..so if you are a up and coming publisher /artist gotta bring your A game.    

WANNA BE IN COMICS HUH -DO THE WORK!

SO YOU WANNA BE IN COMICS..we all grew up on Spiderman,The Hulk,X-Men the list goes on then as teens and adults with the talent to draw we want to become apart of that childhood dream and draw are favorite marvel or dc characters  and see your name in the book as the artist which is cool right.i started  drawing since dam a kid from the 1st grade through high school  as a kid i drew pictures for other kids in the class room like transformer's,ninja turtles,superman and spiderman to the point i would get in a world of trouble not doing my classwork i know not good don't trip i pass haha or my mom would
have lost it.. fast forward to my adult hood as life became real and i head to get a 9 to 5 job drawing when i felt like it.. kicking it with the guys etc didn't really have a huge interest in drawing comics even thou i brought them here and there and i knew i could draw my friends told me i was good my mom told me and that's who really saw my work family members and friends now remind you i didn't have a clue how to show my work or how to present my  portfolio didn't no sequential pages what they wanted to see instead of pinups i didn't no u needed business cards haha so my first time at a con i head loose original pages and let me tell u i got rip apart from "u need a portfolio" to "sorry no pin ups" to "need more work on your anatomy"  i was Shot Down! and i was like "but my friends told me i was good " so i got the cold hard truth i was not good wanna know what i did?  went home practice,practice even brought how to books so basically you can say i self taught myself to become better and stayed in the dam house no kicking it no nothing my mind was on my art...next con season Chicago comic 1996   this time i came better prepared but didn't show the big 2 instead i hit up the small publishers cause i knew i needed publish work that's when i bump into Michael McClain and Donald McKay
they saw i head talent and they head a school that was at Kennedy king collage which is one the best colleges here in Chicago. Mr McClain took me as his student due to Donald head a lot of students that didn't really have the talent but McClain o boi i hated him hahaha really no lie he drove me dam nuts on  panel to panel by doing it the right way  he was truthful and very strict if it suck he would flat out tell me the more he push me the more i wanted to prove to him... i was going home completing the assignments he gave me ..eventually he saw me improving so he gave me a shot at a 8page story of his character Nyssa with a deadline yes this mean man gave me a dam deadline hahaha but i completed it on time and whats cool i got paid for it..Mr McClain  teach me the ins and the outs of the comic business from going in this business knowing everything from networking,stay committed to your craft,watch out for bullshitters,and that drawing comics is very hard work but if you continue to do the work people will see it and take it from there..times have past me and mr mclain are the best of friends and best of  business partners all that hard work paid off which lead to my imprint DayDream productions  Guytron and my youngest brother book BatlleBlood is under the m-studioscomics banner..and just want those who screaming they wanna be in comics  must  know it is very very hard work staying home over a drawing table drawing 20 or 31 something pages to met a deadline also know this what is your Sacrifice in   becoming that amazing artist?will u give up going out with the guys?partying?being with your woman 24/7?or is your woman supportive of your career?these are things you gotta ask yourself but in order for people in this business  to take you seriously DO THE WORK!  

WORKING A PART TIME JOB/DRAWING COMICS

hello people of the world i know i have not been blogging a lot.reason why i work a part time job in retail that is
which those who work in  retail or have worked in retail know how hard it is especially when the holiday season rolls around ...but anyway im bout to twist this topic around and talk about keeping a day job or any job of that matter due to the economy and do your comics on the days u don't work or whatever your schedule is night or day.some people ask me all the time how do you do it ?how do i  manage to get books done while i work a crazy shift? my answer is i have a strong passion for my talent i never threw in the towel in gave up due to no big companies wasn't calling me i love what i do and that's telling stories in drawing them. i think the biggest mistake that aspiring artist that want to get in the business is they have a huge ego in thinking they are going to start to the top in getting a job at marvel cause so n so said they are amazing and they quiet there day job thinking its gonna happen sorry  don't work that way.the best way is keeping a day or night or whatever odd job you are doing. reason way i say this is your gonna need art supplies etc or even a colorist o and your gonna need it to get the books printed and for con show's i know this sounds like a lot to due with less money and trust me i know that sometimes retail jobs give you crappy hours hey im the one that will say i get some bogus hours  but what i do to make ends meet i head to cut back on kicking it with the fellas and even head to cut back from taking my girl out on dates thank GOD she understands my goal and dreams that's hard to find a woman that understands what you trying to do so I'm very thankful for that.but ima keep it real for those who are unemployed look i no times are really ruff but if you have a talent in different things use it fam(family) or if a job is giving to you to paint a house or use your car to help people take there grocery's home do it -do whatever it takes to keep the ball rolling to keep you above water in this hard economic times. another big mistake artist make they complain how they life is unfair  instead of doing something to change it they complain  and once some one gives you a job lets say to draw a five page story ..now remind you-you was down on your last no money coming in you shot broke but suddenly some one gives you a chance and offer to pay you 10 per page or 15 etc to draw and you so used to having a great income you complain about  the job to me that's being ungrateful  its hard out here for everyone but when a job comes your way its not the time to complain.dam i know i talk to much people but its better to be truthful then sugar coating u dig.now on juggling a job and drawing my comics: what i do is map out my schedule lets say i gotta work 10-6pm soon as i take care of bills etc i head straight home and hit the drawing table put in a nice 5 hours now if i know i gotta long work day i would lay out 5 or 10 pages come back and fell those pages and so on.  i here a lot of aspiring artist say i dont have the time but here you are saying you wanna draw for the big 2 or 3 etc do you think they wanna deal with you?HELL NO!this is a business a very hard business a very stressful business but if you enjoy it and do it right it can be very rewarding ..i created GUYTRON back in 2009 was very nervous i was saying to my self man people are going to bash the hell out of me or this is not going to sell but i also head faith in GOD and its a successful indy book i get tons of email on how they like the character etc and thats the best felling ever to know people dig what i created due to me being passionate and juggling a job to keep it rolling. so if you have job dont matter if its small or big something is something to keep you working hard to achieve your goals to have your books out there..take care be safe and GOD BLESS.. TIL NEXT TIME FAMMO'S!           

DAYDREAM PRODUCTIONS WERE DREAMING BECOME REAL!

AT DAYDREAM WE GOT MANGA!

over the past years America got hook on the manga train from Dragon Ball Z to Pokemon etc..its
 another peace of the comic  business of  big names from stan lee to marvel to jump on and kids and adults love it. now some my have there opinion about how they dont care to much for manga comics etc..but
hey you have the fans who love the culture and its a booming business thats here to stay.Here at DayDream
we like for the fans who love comics to get the best of both worlds from syfy,superhero and manga..cause everyone got a different taste on what they like and thats what me and my younger brother Ryan talk about
being indie publishers give fans there  money's worth- great read and great artwork and something for everyone to enjoy!Now if you are a fan of manga comics welcome aboard...my brother Ryan Leonard creator owned book series Battle Blood is a book i think fans are going to enjoy especially if you love in your face fight action like DBZ or Street Fighter its got that! to order the first three copies you can get'em at  http://indyplanet.com/store/advanced_search_result.php?keywords=battle+blood&osCsid=vpvvtnbbhelb2pgd5m76ui1vb1&search.x=0&search.y=0

MEET THE CREATOR

hears is a review i did at Alternate Reality comic shop "called Meet The Creator" here in chicago about GUYTRON.
if you ever visit the windy city stop by  Alternate Reality 3149 west 111th street Chicago,IL 60655 talk comics
with COMIC BOOK MAN tell'em Ray sent you.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5SGY1lktRU