[ Posted by JimD on Jan 27th, 2007 10:29 AM ]...

No problem man, thanks for the kind words about my art!

All the best,
Jim

[ Posted by JimD on Jan 9th, 2007 2:54 PM ]...

Cool. Glad I could help :) And you're right about Sean's blog, and the amount of work he cranks out in general!

[ Posted by JimD on Jan 8th, 2007 1:54 PM ]...

Actually you're in luck because PCs have a lot more possibilities for doing your own site. I actually had a hard time finding something for a Mac (although I think .Mac now has some options for web building, but that's neither here nor there). If you Google "Web design no HTML" there are a few things that come up. I think I'd looked into this before buying Freeways Express:
http://www.virtualmechanics.com/products
/spinner/ but I realized it was ONLY for PCs. If memory serves, I think it's pretty similar to what "Freeway" offers for Macs. With any of these (you probably already know this, but just in case) you'll need to buy a "domain" (for example, mine is www.jimdibartolo.com). I've had nothing but FANTASTIC service from www.godaddy.com for my site and my wife's. You can then design your site and have GoDaddy (or whomever you choose) "host" your domain/site and then you upload your site and voila! (well, there's a bit more to it, but it's not brain surgery :)

Again, if all that sounds like it's too time consuming, a Blogger site is a great alternative. Here are a few examples:

http://jimdibartolo.blogspot.com/
http://www.ashleybambaland.blogspot.com/
http://surebeatsworking.blogspot.com/
http://joshuamiddleton.blogspot.com/
http://www.ildonodieric.blogspot.com/

Some of them use the Blogs as their website, and while it's a different sort of thing, you can get it set up in about 10 minutes, make some of your Photoshop files into smaller JPGs and upload a bunch almost immediately and have a bunch of work on the web easily within an hour.

Sorry for yet another ramble man! Let me know if you have any questions and I'll try to be more brief next time :)

Hope this helps,
Jim

[ Posted by JimD on Jan 8th, 2007 1:28 PM ]...

Hey thanks Ben. If you're on a Mac, I recommend downloading the free trial for a program called "Freeway Express" & then buying it ($90) if you like it. It's pretty straight-forward for web designing (NO html or code to learn). You can lay out your pages in Photoshop, save 'em as gifs or jpgs, pop them into Freeway and upload your site onto the web. My wife and I have hired web guys in the past but it was always so much $$ to redesign and put up new work so we got that program and did it ourselves. You're probably swamped with deadlines & don't have time to do it yourself right now though, but I look forward to checking out more of your work on a site of your own someday! (or, you could always start a "Blogger/Blogspot" account & toss your work up there for free. I'd love to see more!)

Sorry for the ramble!
Jim

[ Posted by JimD on Jan 7th, 2007 2:38 PM ]...

Hey Mickmo! Glad to know you're keeping busy man. Things're good here with me, keeping busy as well!

J

[ Posted by mickmoart on Jan 7th, 2007 3:11 PM ]...

11 indie comics in 2006, that is not a bad little track record. Yeah, doing my best to go forward with it all. I hope Portland is treating you OK....

:)

[ Posted by JimD on Jan 7th, 2007 11:27 PM ]...

Hey man, that's a GREAT track record! Keep on rolling out the work, sounds like you're having fun & you can't beat that!

Best,
J

[ Posted by mickmoart on Jan 8th, 2007 2:20 AM ]...

Hopefully I may be doing something for Dark Horse someday...anything is possible! I know you will do good with them! But I will take anything I can get....even if it happens to be multiple Furrloughs!

:D

[ Posted by JimD on Jan 4th, 2007 11:32 PM ]...

Hey Michael -- doing great man! I've been keeping fairly busy but I'm about to get very busy (which I'm looking forward to!). A back-story issue of Rex Mundi coming up with Arvid & DH, and I'm doing art for a book of short stories (non-comic stuff) that will be getting pitched very soon. Like my little bio stuff says on this site, I'm really liking '07 so far!

How're YOU doing man? Looks like you're busy as hell, yes?

Later!
Jim

[ Posted by patchworkearth on Jan 5th, 2007 12:37 AM ]...

Yeah, this is week-from-Hell when it comes to the day job. I'm working on a short story collection of my own, actually (or obviously, if you've scanned my CS page here...) - I've been shying away from trying comics stuff for the last year, and it's been pretty fulfilling. Not agonizing over trying to find an artist seems to help, too! ;) But lately I've been getting that bug again, so who knows.

Your stuff's as gorgeous as ever, of course - but keep me up to date on that prose collection, man, I'm very interested!

[ Posted by JimD on Jan 5th, 2007 11:16 PM ]...

Hey thanks for the art compliments! As to the short story collection, it's possible that I may know something in the next month or two (but these things seem to always take longer than I expect! :)
Hey, I'd LOVE to pick up some of your writings -- lemme know where I can find some & I'll be sure to get it. Congrats on all of your work and keep on cranking man!

J

[ Posted by patchworkearth on Jan 6th, 2007 1:33 AM ]...

Ah-hahaha. No, for now the only place to get my work is via e-mail, by asking me. I'm not there, yet.

I was there twice, when it came to comics; once the deal fell through and the other time I broke it off. With prose, I've been waiting until the book is finished and free from my heart before I put myself through the pitching process. I don't have the friends in the business like I've had with comics, either.

I'm working on 21-25 out of 32 as we speak, and when I get there I'll make the tour by mail, like they did in the olden days.

I used to keep a website with all of my work on it, but this project has been very personal, and I haven't done that. The only public samples have been whatever I have posted on my CS page from week to week. Right now, it's one significant fragment from the first story in the collection. I might change it up later.

I appreciate the vote of confidence, though. It always feels weird when people assume that I've been published already.

[ Posted by JimD on Jan 7th, 2007 11:33 PM ]...

Are you going to mail out to literary agents first? From what I've heard for short stories and novels, that is often the best first step (though not ALways necessary). Whatever you end up doing for submitting, I wish you lots of luck man! One great thing to consider is attending conferences for writers. Much like attending comic cons is SO helpful, writing conferences are a great opportunity to meet editors, publishers, AND literary agents. Ah, but maybe you're already doing all that so I'll just shut my trap! :)

Best,
Jim

[ Posted by JimD on Jan 5th, 2007 6:16 PM ]...

Hey Kris! Glad you realized that the JimD was me :) Thanks for the nice thoughts! Right back at you! As for Laini, the first book in her 5 book series with Penguin/Putnam comes out in June. I busted my ass doing art samples and landed the cover gig and even did some full-page illos for the interior (you can check 'em out on my website). We're SO excited to see it out on the shelves & we MAY be coming to San Diego to help promo it if Putnam gets a booth. Anyhow, if you're ever wanting to hook up with Laini and other creative writer-gals like yourself, click on my blog link and then over to her blog -- I'm sure she'd love to hear from you since you two hit it off so well a couple years ago (sheesh how time flies!!!).

SO glad to know '07's going to treat you well too! :)

All the best,
Jim

[ Posted by JimD on Jan 2nd, 2007 12:02 AM ]...

Coolness. Don't know if that compliment can be topped -- thanks.