Jay Zuck's Sketch of the Day

Well, some of you might be wondering why Jay Zuck’s Sketch of the Day has been on hiatus lately.  I thought I owed some sort of explanation to those who have been following this humble website chronicling the exploration of my art.

There’s the long answer and short one and I guess I’ll start with the short.   Immediately after a hectic week of finals at school and just a day removed from that artistic mayhem,  I had knee surgery which has kinda put me out of commission.  With everything that’s been going on, I’ve been trying to recover and just taking the time to recharge those artistic batteries. I hope I haven’t disappointed too many people with this break or maybe I do.  It’s nice to be missed ; )

I think it will probably start off slow until we get that snow ball rollin’ around here, but do me an honor and yourself a favor by SUBSCRIBING so you have the coveted inside scoop on when I’m laying stuff down.

If you have missed me though, then you’re in luck….

Independence Day has arrived and it seemed like a good occasion to dust off an old sketch, “Dead Presidents, Dead Patriots.” I really don’t have any idea what the composition of my audience is in terms of nationality, but the principles of independence resonate with everybody.

I looked up some fireworks videos to commemorate one more Fourth of July.  I first came across a really cool Animal Collective music video with a cool fireworks light show and nice musical vibe.

Now on to something more fun and whimsical, we have a stop motion animation of some emulated fireworks.

And now for the grand finale…

As you might remember, I was a guest artist participating in the declassification of Operation: For the Love of Russia over at Eben07.com.  Let me refresh the memory of the uninitiated:

• Making of an Eben 07 Comic Part 1 of 4
• Making of an Eben 07 Comic Part 2 of 4
• Making of an Eben 07 Comic Part 3 of 4
• Making of an Eben 07 Comic Part 4 of 4

And the corresponding finished pages:

• For the Love of Russia : 028 : Part 1 of 4 : Take Me On/Take On Me
• For the Love of Russia : 028 : Part 2 of 4 : Got An Axe To Grind
• For the Love of Russia : 028 : Part 3 of 4 : The Showdown
• For the Love of Russia : 028 : Part 4 of 4 : Awakenings

Well, it is my privileged to announce the publication of the 52 page trade paper back of the complete secret agent comedy, Operation: For Love of Russia.  D. Bethel and Eben have created a fantastic book of which it was an honor to be a part.

If you are anything like me, you go to the comic book store once a week to browse the new releases and pick up a couple of choice books.  This week as you consider your comic book purchases please consider picking up your very own copy of Operation: For Love of Russia for the incredibly reasonable price of $10.

So whether you want to see yours truly, Jay Zuck, in print or you’re a comic book fan looking for a great read, consider supporting good art, good writing and this great finished product.

Buy it Now

I always thought it would be cool if my website was a piece of art in and of itself.  The question is how do I make it a piece of art and not distract from the diverse art I post everyday?  This will take some discovery and experimentation, but the header seemed like a good place start.

My header has in fact been a source of much contemplation over the last nearly six months of keeping up my website.  I have been mostly content if not entirely satisfied with the simple header I have been using, my thinking being that my art should speak for itself.

This being said, my basic criteria for a header is as follows:

1. Readable
2. Reflect and convey my artistic identity
3. Not distract from my daily artistic musings

I also don’t really want to develop something that is so polished that it depersonalizes the site.  I have a very personal connection with my art and I want your experience of it to feel personal as well.

And now, I put it to you.  I have developed my first header option.  Should you be some wayward follower from the future and my site header has already changed, here is how my header looks today:

And while I may have run a foul of a few of my own guidelines this is the new header option I have designed (click for a larger view):

The crazy cool and potentially distracting design in the background comes from a section of an original Simian style piece which I have yet to blog.  The lines are classic pen and ink which I inverted in Photohop.

For me, it satisfies the personal requirement and it may be readable enough.  My big hangup is whether it might be too distracting from my art.   My brother loves it and I’m still on the fence.  Feel free to tell me what you think.

From 8:30 – 9:30 pm tomorrow night (March 28th),  yours truly will be flipping out the lights.   Crazy stuff I know, but worldwide perhaps more than a billion people will be participating in a symbolic effort to fight global climate change by participating in Earth Hour.

The folks over at the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) are encouraging twittering, live blogging, and so forth during Earth Hour, but I am going to take things one step further.  I will not be blogging or using the internet and in fact, my computer will be proudly powered down.

There is no one act the will put an end to global climate change, but we can all do out part to build awareness and commit to the process.

As someone once said, “it is always darkest, before the dawn.”  Well, here’s to the dark, and may the dawn be soon follow.

Update: The world has started to go black (even though it is not 8:30 PST for me yet).  Anyway, if you participated in Earth Hour and are just now coming across the page now, drop a comment and let me know what you did.