Final Post of 2013

2013 has been a pretty great year. I have accomplished many things. I entered my second year of fatherhood. Got my own table at a comic convention with great success. Stuck with the gym the longest I ever have. And I have overall grown as a person, father, husband and artist.

My life started taking a serious turn the day my daughter was born. I started seeing the cup more half-full than half-empty. I still struggle with insecurities and self-doubt, but I more so try to find ways to overcome it instead of allowing it to consume me. I actually make efforts to change my way of thinking. I used to allow my insecurities and doubts to take over. It stopped me from pushing forward for many years and allowed me to make many mistakes and bad life decisions. But now I just look at those mistakes as stepping stones to greater events as opposed to regrets. Learn from failure, don't embrace it. Failure can be great if you learn how to use it.

The key for me to accomplish all this was to find a reason. Before I met my wife and before my daughter was born I never really understood why I was doing the things I was doing. I think I mostly thought that everything was suppose to be about financial gain and driving a cool car. But those aren't real reasons to do anything. Now, everything I do is to create a better life for my family. That's the motivation. That's the drive and reason I think I've really needed to make things happen.

I'm not making any resolutions for 2014. I'm already living them. All there is to do now is to keep them alive and progress.
Many good things are approaching this coming year. But these aren't resolutions, these are events that have been set in motion by actions taken in 2013. I always figured the new year would be a good time to start over. Not only because it is a new year, but also my birthday. But the truth is, you can start whenever you want. You don't need a New Year, a birthday or a Monday. You just need a goal and a reason. Yeah, you will stumble and fall along the way. But that doesn't mean you start over. You just get up and keep going.  It took me many years and falls to learn this lesson.

I will however be making some changes this coming year.  Again, not resolutions, just some changes that I think are needed. These changes don't have to start on January 1st. Just as long as I gradually make them throughout the year. 

So here is where I leave 2013. 

Thanks to everyone who has contributed to a great year.
My family, friends and Followers.
Thanks for all your help, support and kind words throughout the past year and beyond.

Hope you all have a happy, healthy and successful new year.
And thanks in advanced for your continued support. Please stick around and see what I draw up in 2014.

12.11.11

Two years ago today I witnessed the most amazing event of my life. The birth of my daughter Alice.
Although I am trying here, I honestly don't think the feeling can be translated into words.

Before 12.11.11 I never really pictured myself as a father. Most people that have known me will tell you that I was always the guy to say that I would never get married and never have kids. I never felt responsible enough, financially or mentally, to father a child or support a family. Even up to the day that my wife was in the Hospital going into labor, it just didn't feel real.

But at that very moment when Alice came to light and took her first breath and cried for the first time, it was an instant switch. It felt like someone took your brain, your mind and soul and just turned them all around. There was no more question or doubt. Becoming a father is probably the surest I've felt about anything in my life ever. All the fears went away.

Having watched her grow in front of my eyes for the past 2 years has been such an amazing experience. She has given me so much purpose and so much perspective in life. I think she has been that missing piece in my mind and life to give me the drive to work towards something.

I want to thank my wife Cassidy for this amazing gift. If she hadn't come into my life, I'd probably still be that guy who didn't believe in marriage or having kids.

Thank You Cassidy & Happy Birthday little Alice.

Love you Guys.

Long Overdue

I haven't updated my blog in a while. So here is a little update and insight into what's been going on in my world. I've been spending a lot of time preparing for Comikaze Expo that is coming up in November. I'm working on prints and possibly some postcard and button artwork. The plan is to have a little of everything. A little for the comics fan, so I'll have some fan art prints and pinups. I will also have Promo materials for Tales of Hammerfist as well as my Crazy Bears, which til this day still do not have a legit name or brand. So I'm really hoping to have some sort of name for them by the time the convention rolls around. And as always, I'm catching up on fresh Tales of Hammerfist pages which are updated every Monday (for those of you who are new to my blog and work, Hammerfist can be found at talesofhammerfist.com. Or click on the banner here on my blog page). For those wanting to keep up with my art pieces, the latest and best source for that is at my facebook page. Facebook page link is posted on the right side bar if I'm not mistaken. Or go to facebook.com/ArtByTobias.
Ok, and now for some updated art. These are some pieces I'm toying with for the convention prints. Some are final, some need some work and some may not even make it. But check 'em out and leave me a comment with suggestions if so desired. Thanks.

Threadless Journey thus far....

This is a collection of my past Threadless.com submissions. So far none have made it to print, at least none that I know of yet. Since Threadless offers other items aside from shirts such as iPhone cases and Greeting cards, I may take a break from shirt designs and hit up some of those other items. As of recent I have been getting some freelance requests for shirt designs. So this would be a good post for potential customers to look at. Enjoy!

Service Update

Tales of HammerFist Starts Monday

Tales of HammerFist will finally launch this Monday, January 14th. So Please come and visit us at talesofhammerfist.com. This will be a weekly updated webcomic. One new page every monday. Please support us so that we can continue to make episodes and try to take this project to higher levels. Thank You!

OMGTeam Caricature

Here's a group Caricature I did for Drew at OMGDrift.com. This is by far the biggest group I've done. Put a good amount of hours into this and he seem to be happy with it. I hope the whole crew agrees with him..LOL!