Wednesday, May 11, 2011

I deserve more.

Sorry for the late post. Computer troubles, etc. I'm sure you understand. Also, sorry for the shit scan, I really can't be bothered to fix it at this point.

Yup, no comic this week. Big apologies to the WBDM fans out there, but if you really wanted to know what happened this week, I'll give you the text version.

Panel 1: I throw up.
Panel 2: I throw up.
Panel 3: I throw up.
Panel 4: Job Interview.

"Woah, woah, woah!" You say. "What was that last part? A job interview? Garrett, you son of a bitch, congratulations!"

Yeah. I got a job now working for a marketing company selling knives. Something about the whole thing seemed kind of shady to me going in, but I figured as long as I'm not giving them my money, I really don't have all that much to lose. Training begins on Thursday. Anyone want to buy some sick-ass knives?

This week has been a bizarre one, to put it simply. To put it even more simply, I'm a god-damn moron. I see these problems on the horizon and think, "Nope. Not this time. This time I'm fucking bullet-proof." I haven't been able to keep food in my stomach longer than 2 hours. I'm not sure if it's nerves or a stomach bug or something, but this has been going on for something close to a week now, and I can feel myself get weak and grumpy so much easier than I used to.

I'm afraid I'm reverting into a person I used to be, and that is terrifying.

Thursday, May 5, 2011

Well here you go guys, my comic for the week. So our main character wakes up and finds that he is no longer in his car or anywhere near the car accident.

I planned on coloring it, but alas I just didn't get around to it. Well I am pretty exhausted so I will update this post a little more when I am in more of a state of full awareness, but for now enjoy the artwork.

-Bill

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

New Friends.

Sorry the comic looks like garbage this week. I've been all kind of sick. It's hard to tell if this is anxiety or a legitimate bug, but I can't keep food down for longer than an hour.

I haven't eaten anything solid in almost 3 days. I've been living off a diet of my mother's old Cure-Alls -- Pepto-Bismol and Ginger Ale. Needless to say, I'm feeling weak and tired. Taking a note from Bill's post last week, this comic is part fiction, part reality.

I've been thinking long and hard about what to post about this week. My head hasn't been on straight for the longest time. I'm running into old acquaintances, making new ones. It's been pretty damn eventful.

Just so you know, the last 2 panels are left intentionally without color.

I guess I don't really have much else to say. Stay tuned, loyal readers. Let's see how this all turns out.

Thursday, April 28, 2011



Hello Reader,
I'm back again a lot of things have been going on in my life that required my attention, so I apologize for the lack of posts.

Like I promised I am going to start a comic series as well starting with this post, and let me talk about it a little first. I love to play Dungeons and Dragons, but lately there has been a lack of playing it, numerous reasons really. This though is going to be my solution to coop with the lack of it for the mean time.

Call me old fashioned and cheesy, but yes, as you probably can guess, this is a comic were its "all a dream" because of the car crash I am put into a dream like state where my desire for the fantasy world comes to life and my new reality.

On a side note: One of the reasons I have been away from WBDM is because I actually was in a car accident when we had the big thunder/snow storm last Tuesday. As you can tell though, I am fine.

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Happy Birthday To You

Last night was Alex's 21st birthday, and as good friend of the WBDM team, I made this little comic as a remembrance of last night.

Another good friend of the WBDM decided to bring a lady friend with us to the celebration, and this lady, as nice as she is, just doesn't shut up. An entire hour went on without her stopping to breathe. It was really a spectacle to behold.

Alex, already lost all of his patience, lays down the rules.

Poor guy.

We went to a pool hall and had a genuinely good time. Alex got right and shit-faced as is customary on a 21st birthday. We played some pool, I'm terrible at it, but it was fun.

Being underage, I got to be Designated Driver. That suited me just fine. I don't drink that much any more after an incident during Christmas. Let's just put it this way; a near-full bottle of 103 proof whiskey, an hour and a half and then an empty bottle of 103 proof whiskey. That was certainly not a good night for me.

It's the same thing for me every time. I don't know my limits until I'm laying in bed, clutching my gut and muttering "I don't want to die" into my pillow. I'm still young and have a full life ahead of me to make mistakes and I really, really can't wait to make them

Thursday, April 21, 2011

Impromptu Filler Content.

No art this time. Sorry.

Bill would like me to apologize for not having an update this week. He's been absolutely swamped with real life things. Us here at WBDM Headquarters would like to wish him the best of luck.

Since this is all sort of spur-of-the-moment content, I'd just like to briefly go over what White Boy Dance Moves means to me. To me, this is 1 part art, 1 part wishy-washy web log and 10 parts opportunity to spend time with a friend I don't get to see all that often any more.

I think since we first met in Middle School, Bill and I had pretty much the same passion for Art. I wanted a sort of outlet for my drawing, and I wanted Bill to become involved. He's definitely a very talented individual whom I deeply, deeply respect. 

We were talking one day about his fears for the future. I can certainly relate. The future for an artist is uncertain at best, even worse for an art teacher. I approached Bill and gave him the offer to co-write a blog with me. Not really as a business venture or anything, but simply a way to pass the time and share what we both love. I've been simply ecstatic that he decided to join me in this silly little endeavour and really enjoy checking on Thursdays for what my friend has to say.

We're still in the infancy stages of this project, but I see big things in the future for White Boy Dance Moves, and couldn't think of a better man to co-pilot this with me.

God speed, William. I hope you find your silver lining.

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

We are not a healthy people.


Hey. Don't judge me. I'm allowed to be a shitty person every now and again.

I've been thinking a lot lately. We, as a people, are 5 million years worth of evolutionary growth. Maybe it's time we started acting like it.

For every good thing we're given, we've found a way to completely ruin it. We're given a perfectly good set of lungs, we fuck them up with cigarette smoke. We fall in love, we hurt them over petty jealousy. We're given every opportunity in the world the change your life for the better and we just sit on our hands and say "No. I'm not ready yet".

But you know what? Sometimes it's just not our fault. Sometimes we're just stupid or afraid. Hell, I know I'm guilty of it. We're too timid and broken to realize we may have something good. It's kind of silly, when you stop and really think about it. How many great opportunities have you turned down because you were timid?

We've all been hurt one way or another. We're a species of broken individuals. If you've made it this far through life and don't have any bruises or scars to show for it, congratulations, you're not a human being but an automaton.

I don't know. My head hurts. There isn't some sort of magic wand that you can wave and make all of your hurt disappear. We all have our coping mechanisms, and I can see just how easy it is to become bitter and sceptical. I don't want to live like that. So I'll just keep trudging on wearing my bruises as badges and see what lays ahead for me.

I want everyone, just once, when they come to a crossroad to decide immediately on making the choice that would affect them in a positive way instead of standing there with a thumb up their butt. That's what I'm going to try to do.

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Comic Testing

Welcome back readers. First of I would like to apologize for the lack of Thursday Post. Things happen in the world and life just prevents some of us from doing anything productive. (Don't worry I am back on track with this project.)

 I probably should explain a little bit of what I have going on here this week. This is my first comic painting that I have done. It is actually a test for a future series I wish to run, perhaps it will become my Thursday posts. This comic was actually a design project for a class, it is an illustration of a scene from the book "Agents of Artifice" by Ari Marmell. For those that have read this great novel, yes Chandra is not in the book. However I needed some element that was Red. Chandra just fits the bill, plus she is one of my favorite of the Planeswalkers.

Next week please look forward to the first for my comic series: "The Codex of Betrayal".

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Tremble, ye mortal hearts.


I'm really bad at remembering, or even caring enough, to take my medicine. I'm sure that's not good. Even just now, at 11:31pm, I'm deciding to pop my pill. Oh well, It's done and over with. I don't really have much to say about this post. Pretty self explanatory. I've been trying to work some things on GIMP. Just experimenting, we'll see how it goes.

Many of my local readers would know that Monday night we had a damn near cataclysmic storm pass over us. I spent the evening with my good friend Bill and his lady-friend. Watching the news, keeping an eye out of the window. It was raining sideways. Excellent.

I was really reminded of living in Arizona. Since I moved here to Wisconsin, I've heard people say that they can smell rain before it even appears. Living here for a while now, I've started to be able to smell the weather. It's kind of a funny thing. It's kind of a musty aroma. I can't exactly explain it, but I know what it means.

One thing that can bring me back into my memories more than anything else are smells. I don't exactly remember the smells, but I'll know them when I smell them. Like the smell of the carpet in my 2nd grade class when I was still living in California. The smell of wet pavement brings me back to rainy days in Arizona. Yes, oh nonbeliever, it rains in Arizona. It's a different kind of rain, though. Where here, in Wisconsin, it may sprinkle briefly on and off. In Arizona, it built up. Dark clouds would linger all day long, accumulating and building until eventually it would pop. When the rainclouds finally built to their climax, the outcome was total phenomenal. Just torrential downpours for hours and hours.

You see, where I used to live, the dirt was so dry it couldn't absorb the water quickly enough. When these horrible rainy days would come, they would cause flash floods. But nothing was really ever quite as exciting as  staying in my home, playing Pokemon Gold version on gameboy and listening to the thick drops pitter-patter against my bedroom window.

Amazing how a storm can bring back memories so vividly. Last night, I decided to start up another game of Pokemon Gold. Grown up now, listening to the rain ping against my window air conditioner. Totodile and I are in this for the long run.

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

All These Sleepless Nights And Running Thoughts

When I'm not sleeping, I'm awake. Now, I know what you're thinking. "Duh". Yeah, seems pretty pointless to say, but what you don't understand is that I spend a lot of time awake. Sometimes days on end. This happens to be one of those instances. Sad to say that I didn't put 100% of myself into this comic because, quite frankly, I'm too tired to care. But I promised one every Tuesday and I'll be damned if I'm called a liar.

Abruptly moving into an unrelated thought. I've been listening to a band called Jim's Big Ego recently and I'm way into this song called "Jumblies". It's a nonsense poem written by Edward Lear put to music. Anyways, the poem is about a group of little creatures called Jumblies that take a sieve out to sea in the middle of a thunderstorm. I wont go into excruciating detail, I'll post a link to the poem at the end of the post*. I'm pretty certain even though it's nonsense, it's about doing something that might seem like a bad idea, but ultimately ends up in growth. Even thought these little creatures are tossing and turning in a strainer in the middle of the ocean, they're on an adventure together. Something about this really resonates with me. Doing something that's a bad idea just for the sake of doing it. Like climbing on top of a cargo train, or dumpster diving. I'm so envious of the people who have the guts to just do what they want.

This is getting long and rambling. It's 12:04 AM on Tuesday. Enjoy.

Love, sincerely,
Garrett.

*http://www.nonsenselit.org/Lear/ns/jumblies.html

Thursday, March 31, 2011

One of Bill's favorite things: Birds

Well I cannot believe it has already been a week since my first post. I guess this really is our first week of content however.  For my contributions in the upcoming weeks I will be sharing a weekly painting. Not to get all of your hopes up but they will only be a small sized painting.

I just finished a small novella called “Jonathan Livington Seagull” by Richard Bach. This novella is an inspirational classic from the 70’s that really compares the blind life of religion to a flock of seagulls. The painting here, is what I imaged what happened at the end of Part One, when two radiant birds come for Jonathan to take him to a "higher plane of existence" (a possible allusion that there is no heaven but a better world found through perfection of knowledge), where he meets other gulls who love to fly. The learning process, linking the highly experienced teacher and the diligent student, is raised into almost sacred levels, suggesting that "a seagull is an unlimited idea of freedom, an image of the Great Gull."

In all it was a good read and its only 127 pages so it’s pretty short and one can finish it in an afternoon, so pick up a copy if you happen to come across one.

I will see you all next week when I post my next painting of the week.

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Sweet Dreams.



Alright, so, since I've been taking these anti-depressants, I've been having really bizarre dreams. They're pretty awesome. For instance, I had a dream quite recently about an Ex-girlfriend appearing to me and informing me she'll never let me forget about her. She's pretty spot-on for being a figment of my psyche. Others have involved herding children through a dangerous jungle, fleeing the malevolent pokemon known as Meowth. Other times, I'm beating in a crazy man's face with the butt of a plastic shotgun for threatening to kill my father. Oh, the good times I have while I'm asleep.

All sarcasm aside, it's usually quite an exciting moment for me the time when I head to bed. Pill chugged down with a glass of ice cold water, headphones snuggly over my ears, I'm swept away into my own vivid amalgam of psyche and imagination. Some of my friends may know this about me, but you, the humble reader, may not. Being unemployed, I have a very large amount of free time on my hands, and I typically spend that time either asleep, or playing online video games. As amazing as that might sound, trust me, it isn't.

So, here's the very first White Boy Dance Moves comic brought to you every Tuesday by your benevolent Over-mind. Please remember to check back on Thursday for an update by our own residential Bearded mountain man, Bill P.

(also, as a side-note, thank you to good friend Erik P for the name White Boy Dance Moves. It's time you get the recognition you deserve. Shine on, you crazy diamond.)

Thursday, March 24, 2011

Introduction to a Partnership

Dear World,
This would be the second post now for the “White Boy Dance Moves” project.  I am they second author and artist that will be appearing in this blog. Like my Co-author, I am an amateur hoping to grow in this experimental journey that, hopefully, with the help of you the readers we will make a permanent project. My background as an artist is very narrow other than the fact that I am a college student enrolled as an Art Education Major.  On a personal note I too am diagnosed with depression and anxiety, and always have found art to be therapeutic. The only problem is that I have never been able to keep up with it on a consistent basis. I hope that all of that will change with the introduction of WBDM. Please feel free to check out my profile if you would like to learn more about myself.
-BP

On an update note Garrett and I have decided to create a Tuesday/Thursday update schedule. That is if we manage stick to it. (Garrett's Note: We're going to stick to it.)

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

the Beginning of Something Beautiful

Hello, Shalom and Welcome to the very first installment of a pet project I'm calling "White Boy Dance Moves". Just a quick word, I just chose this title because it's silly. I'm not going to be teaching any of you how to Tango or Mamba.

Basically, this is a place for me (and hopefully an accomplice) to post art and vent. There is so little thought that actually went into this before just right now, so we're on an adventure. I guess I could start with a little bit about myself. I've been drawing for something close to ten years now. I don't think very highly of it. At best, I'm an enthusiastic amateur. I'm working on it, and hopefully you'll get to watch me progress. I've been on anti-depression medicine for the last two months, and have decided to make an auto-biographical comic strip to sort of chronicle the whole process. Here, my beauties, is the repository for said comics. I can't guarantee consistent updates (my cohort is the one with the scanner), but I can guarantee that I'll try my very damnedest to upload often. While I can't say any are exactly funny or noteworthy, I do find making them very therapeutic and maybe you'll find something interesting.

So please, check back frequently. It's going to be amazing, and you always wanted to get in on the ground floor of something amazing, haven't you?

Love, sincerely,
The man in the hat.