"It Ain't Over 'Till the Student Loans're Paid Off..."

Well, it's finally over -- my long, strenuous trudge through the gauntlet of Art School is at an end. I successfully graduated (with honors) from the Ringling School of Art and Design (now the Ringling COLLEGE of Art and Design) on May 11th. I took a few weeks off for a much-deserved (and needed) vacation and general unwinding, but now I'm ready to get back to real life. Was 4 more years of schooling worth it? I'd say yes and no, for a variety of reasons I'm not going to get into here -- I would encourage anyone to do the whole higher educatiohttp://www.blogger.com/n thing BEFORE getting married and starting a family... it only makes it much more difficult and stressful.

What will I be doing from here? Well, my wonderful freelance career is going to take up the bulk of my time, though I'll desperately be trying to get a well-paying steady job (with sweet benefits) at someplace I can actually flex my artistic muscles. I'll also be making the rounds at a few comic conventions to http://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifpimp my skills and sell a few buttons/ t-shirts/ stickers while I'm at it. First stop on the POP-MONKEY U.S. TOUR is HEROES CONVENTION in Charlotte, NC!! I'll be appearing there at the Pop-Monkey Illustration tables with my good friends and super-talented fellow Ringling graduates , and EMILY GROSS!! Right now, I'm finalizing the designs for the shirts and stuff I'm going to have to sell, so I'll post those once I get them finished. Heroes Con will certainly nohttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gift be the first comic convention I've attended (I've been to at least one, sometimes 2 or 3 a year since I was 13), but it will be the first show I've actually had a table at! This will be sort of a trial run for me, to get a real feel for it, and if all goes well, I'm also planning on hitting the BALTIMORE COMIC CONVENTION later in the year (September, I think).

The image accompanying this post is the final design for one of the buttons. His name is JIM-JIM THE DANCING PINK BULLY. So, stop by Heroes Con and say hi to us, and buy some cool stuff!