Nick Marino

I tested out a new digital style at Dr. Sketchy's last night, and I like the look:

I also dig the subject. I've been wanting to work with a personified cactus character for some time now, and I guess this is the culmination of my previous efforts.

I've made some earlier attempts here and there, but nothing quite so solid. Anyway, I'm thinking that this guy will be the subject of my 24 Hour Comics Day effort this year.

I'll be at:

- FanExpo Canada in Toronto, this weekend, August 27-29 at Artists Alley table A80 (CORNER TABLE!). I'll have the brand spanking new Project Basement ashcans, as well as copies of the first ever digital Super Haters Special Edition (which should be a pretty cool little package for only $3!), as well as copies of the Time Log one-shot, Zombie Palin ashcans, and ashcans of the first two Super Haters collections. And Justique will be there too!

- Pittsburgh's Small Press Festival on the city's North Side at AIR on September 25-26. I helped organize the comics end of this show, so I'm proud to set up and sell my stuff surrounded by comics friends and (hopefully soon-to-be-made) zine and small press lit friends.

- PIX: The Pittsburgh Indie Comics Expo in the Strip on October 16-17, a show that's a joint effort between the awesome Copacetic Comics Company and the Toonseum.

- I will soon lock down my plans for Mid-Ohio-Con in early November. While my attendance could change, chances are I'll be at the show.

- Not comics (but still an event), I'll be at Pittsburgh Podcamp on September 18-19, sharing about social media and hopefully learning a few new tricks for the AudioShocker.

- In the far-flung future, I'll be at SPACE in 2011. Don't let weddings, funerals, births, or serious accidents stop you from being there -- MARK YOUR MUTHER!@#$ING CALENDARS RIGHT NOW.

I love this beat. The whistle, the build, the mix of diverse sounds.

In terms of musical memory recall, I'll always remember when I made it because the drums on this track were heavily inspired by Big Boi's "I Like the Way (You Move)."

If you dig this, then check out my 100% original album, Brilliant Shower, on iTunes, Amazon, Napster, eMusic and most other popular pay-for-download sites.

The hardest part about this song was coming up with a name. Otherwise, it came together pretty easily.

I'd had the drum loop in my files for a while and never used it. But I suddenly felt the muse one Saturday, I wrote a bassline, and the rest just fell into place.

If you dig this, then check out my 100% original album, Brilliant Shower, on iTunes, Amazon, Napster, eMusic and most other popular pay-for-download sites.

As a follow-up to the Time Log one-shot comic I released this spring, I'm doing a Time Log webcomic with Pete Borrebach, Shawn Atkins, Paige Shoemaker, and Justique Woolridge. The first installment of new material debuted today, so check it out!

Haunting. Rhythmically intricate. Richly Melodic.

Those are words that describe other songs. However, this one is pretty good too.

Don't forget to buy my album, Brilliant Shower. It's 100% originally awesome. (And this song isn't on it!)

So go buy a copy already!!!

I've been working hard on a TON of projects, including:

- the upcoming Time Log webcomic (only one more week to go!)

- the most recent (and final, for the time being) story arc on Super Haters

- a new opening theme for the Comic Book Pitt podcast (the song itself will be available on my next album, 7 Star Sky Flash Kick, due out whenever I have 13 original tracks mixed and mastered for release)

- Project Basement, a fan art collection of raw, energetic pieces

- coordinating the comics end of SPF 2010 (SPF as in Pittsburgh's Small Press Festival)

- contributing to the Sequential Underground Strip Club vol 1 (a rotating series of fast and fun comic strips)

- getting the Time Log one-shot into a ton of stores (shout outs to Dragon's Lair in San Antonio and Austin, Tribe in Austin, Atomic Comics in San Antonio, Alien Worlds in San Antonio, St. Mark's Comics in Manhattan NYC, Comicazi in Somerville MA, Hub Comics in Somerville, New England Comics in Cambridge, Copacetic Comics in Pittsburgh, and Phantom of the Attic Comics in Oakland/Pittsburgh -- all these shops picked up copies of Time Log to sell in their stores)

- and doing this Sleepwalker sketch for Ross because he took my Henry Poole is Here challenge:

This beat was made in the thick of my nonstop production days (a.k.a. when I lived in Brooklyn and didn't have a job). It's a solid, if not unremarkable, ditty. Yes, I said ditty. The drums arrangement/build up is very Just Blaze inspired, as I was trying to emulate the energy of his tracks at this time.

Now go check out my album, Brilliant Shower. It's 100% originally awesome.

I'm kinda stoked cause the long and hard journey of getting my comic book optimized and correctly uploaded to Amazon's Kindle store has finally been achieved. The Time Log one-shot is selling for $2.99 and looks great on both the Kindle DX and the iPad (thx to Neal for testing out the iPad version).

I think that I maybe posted about this before, but you can also buy Time Log digitally as a PDF from DriveThruComics, where it retails for $1.99.

As for future digital platforms, I'm still holding out hope that ComiXology or iVerse will get back to me (well, it's been a while, so I'm not holding out too much hope...) and I'm looking into some other non-conventional comics avenues. I think that the Barnes & Noble Nook and Sony Reader might also be in the cards for Time Log, as well as some other eReader devices.

If anyone knows about a good site or eBook device I should hook up with to sell Time Log, gimme a shout!

I made this beat off a recommendation from my friend Dan. And I think it turned out great. I normally hate strings but I think they work well on this track. BUM-BUM-BUM... BUM!!! That's what the strings sound like.

Sometimes when I make beats, I mentally link them to certain artists. To me, Lightning Storm sounds like something Ciara would use, especially after she put out "Oh." Anyway, check out my album, Brilliant Shower. It's 100% original and sexy.

It's been a couple weeks since I tossed out an update, so here it goes:

- I finished scripting the second act of Pepper Jones, Adventure Scientist (remember the sample I posted from the first act?). The third act was practically written as a script, so all I need to do is break it into panels. This project is, for those who don't know, a digest-sized full-length graphic novel I'm co-writing with Shawn Atkins, who's also the artist:

- I've had a few story conferences with Pete Borrebach regarding the direction of our upcoming Time Log webcomic (launching in August!). Again drawn by Shawn, Pete and I thought that this story was locked down... until we went back and looked at the scripts we wrote three years ago and realized they needed to be completely overhauled. So overhauled we have! We should have the first few strips written by the start of June.

- Yeah, I shifted myself from one apartment to another over the weekend, but the real shifting is going on over in Super Haters. I bet everyone thought last week's ending was just a mindless joke, right? Well it may have been mindless but it wasn't a joke! Expect some... changes this week. (Here's last week's ending:)

- I've crossed the 15,000 word mark on my super-secret project (which is technically no longer a secret... you just need to know where to find it).

- And finally, I started stripping. Yep, over at Sequential Underground's Facebook page, the Strip Club is underway. It's a rotating cast of cartoonists telling one big semi-coherent story through a series of comic strips. Here's the first panel of my first contribution to Strip Club, Vol 1:

You might see this song title or listen to this track and think, "Man, this guy's a stoner" or even just "I bet he likes to smoke weed." WRONG ON BOTH COUNTS! I actually hate smoking weed. But I do love flying in hot air balloons. It's been a passion of mine ever since I accidentally commandeered one and flew it around the world in 80 days. True story.

Whatever. Just go check out my album, Brilliant Shower. It's 100% original, unlike Superior Tech.

My third and final SPACE 2010 versus sketch features the two most realized characters of the sketchbook: The Living Bling and Sir Log-a-Lot (thanks to Dan Greenwald for naming the latter).

Sir Log-a-Lot is definitely Burger King inspired, while The Living Bling is someone that my followers will be seeing again in the very near future!

Welcome to my second SPACE 2010 versus sketch! In the left corner we have Ahab 2323, lost in reality while chasing Moby Dickbot through the timestream. On the right, meet Battle Pixie, the royal warrior goddess of her otherwise peaceful fairy tribe. Who will win? Fate will decide!!!

A few weeks back, I exhibited at SPACE in Columbus. I did some badass versus sketches (including a crazy Dazzler one that I gave away) and I'd like to share a few of my favorites with you.

First up is... well, the title says it all. Goat Boy was a very spontaneous sort of thing, while Mecha Ram was a bit more intentional.

It's been a while since I did one of these! I'm trying to get back on the wagon, so here it goes... Diamond is a unique beat for me in the sense that it 1) utilizes a single, short string of sample, and 2) the sample contains no rhythm instruments whatsoever. I have a couple other tracks that do this as well, but they're few and far between. Diamond is the first and best of its kind to do this. The bass and drums on this track are both mine, built around the swirling keyboard sample. Eventually, one day I'd like to either recreate or re-envision the sampled part of this track and make a 100% original version of Diamond.

Since it samples, Diamond's not on my album, Brilliant Shower. But a ton of great original beats are on there, so check it out!