Kubcake and the DurtyBear Odyssey

Finally. The light at the end of the tunnel.

Last year I was working hard on self publishing my own comic Space Station Orbiter: Cloud 99. I created this blog to both self motivate myself and to let others interested in comics on my creative process. I was very much inspired by the many artist blogs and websites that you see listed to the right. As with anything, my personal vision morphed into something else. that "something else" included a past creative endeavor as well. That was Mark Nemesis: The Avatar. For obvious reasons, I've slightly changed that title. Even though I've been living with it for the last ten years. Hard lesson learned folks... you snooze, you lose! Anyhoo, I thought it would be fun to combine both stories into one package. TAYLOR MADE! was born... or at the very least, in the process of gestation.

But life tends to throw you curve balls. Without going into the dirty details, my partner Sebastian Morris presented me with a interesting proposition which I couldn't pass up. Help him create a clothing line for larger, full sized men that was specifically catered to the GAY BEAR community [If you don't know, google it]. Hmmm... help design clothes? Always thought about it, never done it. Seemed like fun, and it was! Still is actually. Mr. Morris is a master textile specialist and seamstress. He had never focused on men's clothing to this degree and wanted my input. We created the line together, although I felt each to his own personal strengths. Deferring to his expertise, I always gave him final say. My job was to create a "brand", a mascot to promote the brand [hence the creation of KUBCAKE] and to create the website. Afterwards it would be my job to promote the site and the clothing line as best I could.

With GRITZ N GRAVY I had to design a book from the ground up... something I had never attempted before. With DURTY BEAR clothing I had to design a website from scratch, something ELSE I had never done. Luckily, I have some VERY talented friends. Herb Briley is one such friend. When I layed out the magazine it was his expertise that took my templates and made them print ready. With the Durty Bear website Herb once again, not only interpreted my vision but enhanced it. I can't thank him enough. He did a fantastic job. As of this writing we're not completely finished but certainly 98% completed. At least I feel comfortable enough for folks to see the work in progress. For those who are interested, by all means take a look.

durtybear.com

Thankfully, as of this writing my job is ALMOST complete with only two more page templates to go. YAY! With that completed I can finally get back to Orbiter and Nemesis. The detour took a little longer than expected but it was a great opportunity to expand and do something I never thought possible. I thank Sebastian Morris for the opportunity and I love him dearly for allowing me to collaborate with him. I hope we continue to collaborate creatively for many, many years to come.