On this New Years Eve I wanted to get a jump on a couple of the things I plan to do differently in 2012. One of which is to sketch more and the other is to post more on my website. That starts today! Happy New Year, everyone!

The last two months have been crazier than a sack of hammers and peanut butter sandwiches! Yet, I’ve managed once again to get through it.

I’m posting today because every time I learn something of universal value…well…I want to share it in the hopes that it will inspire and help others as well. The first on that list is “Following Your Personal Legend”. This enlightening statement comes from Paulo Coelho’s most inspiring book, The Alchemist which was HIGHLY recommended to me by my wife. Though, I am just halfway through…I feel amazingly inspired by it. To follow one’s personal legend simply means to pursue one’s heart’s true desire…your passion…the one thing you feel you’ve been put on this earth to do or face a life of regret.  All I’ll say us that once you read the book…your heart will be filled with inspiration! At any rate, this is my focus.

The next thing I learned was recently posted my friend Greg M. Guity on his Facebook  page that comes straight from the mouth of a man who not only changed the game of martial arts in the 1970’s and beyond, but who’s philosophies and way of life still remains relevant today. That man is Bruce Lee and the article posted was called “Bruce Lee’s Top 7 Fundamentals for Getting Your Life in Shape”:

1. “As you think, so shall you become.”
2. “It’s not the daily increase but daily decrease. Hack away at the unessential.”….“If you spend too much time thinking about a thing, you’ll never get it done.”
3. “To know oneself is to study oneself in action with another person.”
4. “Take no thought of who is right or wrong or who is better than. Be not for or against.”
5. “I’m not in this world to live up to your expectations and you’re not in this world to live up to mine.”…“Showing off is the fool’s idea of glory.”
6. “To hell with circumstances; I create opportunities.”
7. “Always be yourself, express yourself, have faith in yourself, do not go out and look for a successful personality and duplicate it.”

It’s those 7 fundamentals of life that help to fortify the following of one’s personal legend and the ones I choose to put my faith in.

On a work-related note, I just wrapped FEAR ITSELF: FEARSOME FOUR #4. I think it may be some of the best I’ve done at Marvel thus far. Very pleased with the final issue! Also, I am planning a sketchbook/artbook where the theme is Marvel and DC characters. In recent year, I haven’t really done a whole helluva lot of fanart, but I think it would be a lot a fun. I’m going to title it, The Grind vol. 2: The Big Dogs. I’ll keep you posted!

Today’s art comes from Fearsome Four #4.  Just a single panel of pencils.  Nothing really given away here. BTW, this may very well be the last piece of artwork I do where I use this many solid black fill-in indicators. Full renders just look better and have a greater impact visually. Little ‘X’s is the a recipe for laziness.

That about covers it for now. Until next time!

-Ray

1)      Anything worth doing is worth doing well.

2)      The only person you have to prove anything to is yourself.

3)      It doesn’t cost you anything to be kind to people.

4)      Don’t sweat the small stuff.

5)      Stand up for yourself and never let anybody tell you who you are.

6)      If you keep going all bad times have to pass to let the good times in.

7)      Men don’t wait for things to happen they make things happen.

8)      A man’s word should mean just as much as his actions.

9)      Take just as much responsibility for your failures as well as you do your successes.

10)   It’s okay to be scared, but never let that fear stop you from whatever it is you want in life.

11)   A man should self-reliant.

12)   You are no better or no worse than anyone else. Your effort is what makes you different.

These are the lessons my father taught me that I not only try to live my life by, but instill in my own children. I have had the opportunity to have known and met many great men in my 37 years of life, but my father is by far the greatest man I have ever known. From the fun trips to Mississippi to see my grandma to the way he tried to make me smile after I got a harsh lecture from him when he knew I was mad, he’s truly my hero.  He can fix and build ANYTHING, can speak to ALL kinds of people, is a master chef, is a tailor, a confidant, a counselor, a drill sergeant, interior decorator, an adventurer, is a patriot and served in Vietnam, has the noblest of spirits, is loved and admired by HUNDREDS of people, my best friend, and still remains as humble as the day is long. He always made sure that I knew that I could accomplish anything I set my mind to. Ever since I was a kid I have always wanted to grow up and be just like my dad….And I still do!

My dad and I have issues with public displays of affection (just ask my wife!), but I just felt like honoring him in the biggest way I know how.

Happy Father’s Day, Dad! I love you.

WHOA!! Been awhile, huh? Sorry for the long overdue blog update, folks. Both Marvel and Hasbro have been keeping me busy and I have also been making some progress on becoming a more efficient artist. I’ve picked up a BROTHER printer that allows me to print my layouts on 11X17 art boards (Thanks Wya!), created a method that works WONDERFULLY for me for drawing sequentials combining both traditional and digital artwork, business connections with my Draw Dawgz (changed the spelling for the new site going up soon) production company are starting to take root, and I have gotten to enjoy some REALLY great quality time with my wife and kids. Not too shabby for the past 2 and a half months.

Also, during that time I hit up the Long Beach Comic Expo, Wizard World Anaheim, and attending Free Comic Book Day at Comics TNT in Tustin, CA. I had a blast at all those events, but my favorite was FCBD at Comics TNT. I just want to give a shout to Ken Rolow, Victor Segura and the rest of those guys for not only there hospitality while I was there, but the great time we had in general. Also, a special nod goes to Matt, the owner of Comic TNT, for hosting and having a ridiculously AWESOME store!!

Anaheim was cool, but ROUGH! Though, I did have a bit of help on Saturday, I now realize that I can’t do these conventions alone without help. Despite that, the best part of the whole trip was the incredible bonding time my son Anthony and I had.  I wouldn’t trade that for the world! So, from here on out, I’ll be sitting with either my lovely wife Shayla or my new convention assistant Aunri James. My next definite show will be in early November at Comikaze Expo and very possibly the Long Beach Comic Con .  I would do more, but I really want to spend more time producing work.  I’ve got a TON of it that really needs to get done

That’s all I’ve got for now, but I’ll be doing my best to update my blog/website on a regular basis so that I can get more subscribers. Also, don’t forget that you can also follow me on Twitter at RAHEIGHT

As truly AWESOME as it was for my career, the last 2 months of 2010 were unexpectedly brutal and the high stress that I was under really took its toll on me. Initially, I planned to take a couple weeks off just to recuperate after New Years and get back to the grind about mid to late January. I eventually found out when I went back to work that the last couple months where I pushed myself for days on end with little to no sleep did more harm than I first thought. Though I won’t go in to the gory details I’ll just say that 36 year old Ray sure as hell can’t do the same things that 20 year old Ray could. My body and mind just can’t do the same things that it used to and I’ve learned that that lesson the hard way.

Now, after 6 weeks of a lighter workload and a bit of a mental health break, I’m ready to get back into the swing of things. This time I’m going to work a lot smarter than I did last year with a more easily manageable workload. I absolutely love what I do, but I’m just not willing to go to an early grave for it by putting myself under a lot of unnecessary stress. That means making a few adjustments to the way I work.

Part of those adjustments will be to reopen commissions and eBay sales. I’ve slowly been getting back into the eBay sales part of things. It’s a bit more controlled than just straight commissions because the work is already done. Commission requests will have to be done in the same manner I do eBay pieces, as well. That’s 1 character, full color with little to no background at $100 a pop. No exceptions. I hate to be a hypocrite, but I’m seeing now that it’s a necessary part of my career at the moment. I’m still trying to figure out what kinds of stuff I want to post to my Comics Pipeline Gallery to get more subscribers over there and not neglect my blog or Deviantart watchers, though.

So, as of right now, the only things left on my plate are my Icons webcomic, which is a regular 1-2 pages a week task, and finishing up my Earth Guard duties starting this month. Other than that, I’m going to be picking up where I left off and try to secure a regular spot at a particular company I’ve had my eye on the past couple months. Gotta make sure I stay on those shelves, right? Only way I can be winning like Sheen

About mid-2010 I was fortunate enough to be a part of a special project Marvel does for the military. A free military exchange version of New Avengers. Last month, a very kind and generous fellow named Jacob bought a couple of the original pages from me and, after some digging, he found the the VERY rare book on eBay. He was kind enough to scan and send me the final published pages. Enjoy!

-Ray

Howdy All!!

Though I already planned to make an official announcement some time today, it seems we have a few folks that already have requests. So, here goes the list of things I’ll have at the con and their rates:

$10 bust/head sketches

(9) of 10 slots open for 1 character full-body inked/marker commissions for $50
*List starting now for all LBCC attendees – note or e-mail rahcomics@gmail.com*
*The old signage is from last year’s LBCC*

$10 Sketchbook

$5 Prints

$15 Package – Sketchbook + bust/head sketch

$20 Package – Sketchbook + Bust/Head sketch + 1 Print

$60 Package _ Commission + Sketchbook + 1 Print

That’s pretty much it, folks!
See ya’ in 2 weeks!!
-Ray

This post will be one of the most personal posts I’ve ever written, but I’m hoping that putting it out there for the world to see will help make it palpable. No, the topic isn’t about comics or art related subject matter today. Today the topic is about weight.

After recently posting on Facebook about starting some new goals, one of which being the decision to lower my carb intake, a very good friend of mine encouraged me to exercise, also. I was going to reply to him online, but I thought that it was finally a good time to address this topic in my blog. I’ll start off by replying to my buddy:

“!! Everybody knows that, dude!!! It’s pretty much a given, but what a lot of folks (mostly men) don’t pay attention to is that it works the other way around, too. You can do all the exercise you want, but if your caloric intake is more than what your body’s metabolism has burned you’re going to STILL gain weight. This is why we have guys like Sammo Hung. He’s physically capable of doing things you think only a person in shape could do and even more, but he’s still fat.

Example: If it takes 2500 calories consumed a day to maintain your current body weight and you burn 1000 calories exercising, you WILL lose weight. Yet, if you consume 4000 calories that day, despite the ample 1000 calories you’ve burned exercising; you will STILL gain weight due to the fact that you’ve exceeded your daily caloric intake regardless of the calories you’ve burned. It’s simple math, really. Now go make me some spring rolls, man!! LOL!!”

Okay. Now back to the serious post…

I’ve struggled with weight issues most of my life. When I was a kid, the triggers were things that were going on at home. Some serious stuff that I won’t be delving into here. Let’s just say that food relieved stress and, as a kid, I was frequently stressed. I was just a bit chubby, but still a very cute and active kid. I played just as hard and was as healthy as everyone else. Things didn’t really start to get out of control until I was around 12 years old, though. That’s when things at home got REAL bad and I was old enough to understand just how bad they really were. By the time I was 13, I think I weighed just 55lbs less than I do now….which is well over 240! It wasn’t until I started trying to ask girls out and getting shot down (HARD) that I had had enough and was determined to make a change. I guess it was an unexpected shock to me and hurt a lot more than I realized because I never had a problem getting girls to like me when I was in elementary school. So, from 14-16 years old, I had dropped a whopping 80-100lbs through serious exercise and diet. I read ALL kinds of books on it and built a weight loss program based on what I had learned. Everyone was very proud of my accomplishment, but nobody more than me. I was already a pretty confident guy before I lost that weight, but afterwards it was through the roof!

From the ages of 17-21 I continued to work out and fine tune my body. I think I was in the absolute best shape I had ever been in my life between 19 and 20 years old. Things didn’t start to go downhill until I was 23yrs. Old, (though the actual descent began at 21. It just took 2 years for me to notice). That’s when I realized I was 200lbs. To someone who had lost 100lbs., losing 25-30lbs. would have been relatively easy. Not so much. My life was in such disarray at that time that any effort I put into working out again, something that I had loved at one point, was doomed.

Fast-forward about 13yrs and my life is SO much more awesome now. I’ve got a GREAT wife, a nice house, 2 GREAT kids, 2 crazy dogs, and living my dream with a sedentary but fulfilling career, but even with all that…I still haven’t been able to get back under 200-freakin’ pounds! Finding time to get back in shape hasn’t been far from my thoughts, but the reality of it happening seemed…Well…SLIM! If I want to continue to enjoy these wonderful things I’ve worked so hard to achieve for the next 40 years plus, I had better start repairing the damage I’ve done to my health and begin taking better care of myself for the long haul. I’m making that stand today! It may be hard at first to fit an exercise routine into my regular schedule and modify my diet, but I’ve got to start somewhere and make it happen. I’ve done it before, right!

So for me, I’m doing this as more of a lifestyle change that happens to include modification and better monitoring OF my diet (NOT a diet), which will also include supplements. After I reach my goal weight I don’t ever plan on seeing 200lbs again! It’s not some quick fix. Diets, at least the quick fix ones, tend to rob you of some essential vitamins, minerals and nutrients the body needs to function at its best and are harder to replenish as you get older. That’s a no-no at 35 yrs. old! Also, just so we’re clear, exercise was always included in my plan. I HATE reminiscing about when I could bench 300lbs. a million years ago or run a mile in under 10 minutes. While, now, I can barely handle 120 lbs. and can only sustain a light jog under 5 minutes before I start to get winded. SUCKS!! I KNOW!!! LOL!! Though I have no interest in benching that much anymore, I WOULD like to be able to bench 200lbs. and run at least 1.5 miles in 12 minutes again.

Thanks for listening and wish me luck!

*NOTE: Above is a before and after (but sorta in reverse) of the toll a bad marriage, alienating friends and family, being in debt, brother’s death, mother’s death, having a son, getting a divorce, starting my life over, meeting my soulmate, sister’s death, getting married again, continued baby-mama-drama, gaining a daughter, working 17-hour days, quitting job to focus on my career full-time, buying a house, moving to the desert, and trying desperately to meet your deadlines and make money within that 16-year + gap between photos can take on you. TONS of stress to be had, folks! Needless to say, my physical appearance and overall health really has taken it on the chin.*