Crush County

He raised us, inspired us, and made our dreams possible. The greatest man we’ll ever know has gone home. Thank you, dad, for everything.

The Hulk is such a fun character to draw. The “creature” characters have always been my favorites - stuff like monsters and anthropomorphic animals are just more interesting and appealing to me than normal human characters.

Anyway, here’s some Hulk action for ya. I drew the three green Hulks directly in Photoshop, and the grey Hulk at the bottom was done in my sketchbook, and then dropped into Photoshop for colors.

Incidentally, I think I’ve drawn the Hulk holding a flower more times than I can remember over the years. I just love the idea of this massive, destructive force stopping to gently appreciate the beauty in something so small and delicate.

Here’s a Batman doodle I did the other day. Nothing fancy, just playing with some brushes. Sometimes I’m not sure if I should post this kind of thing – there’s this notion in my head that says if it didn’t take a lot of effort or forethought, it’s not “blog-worthy” (whatever that is). Maybe true, maybe not, I dunno. In actuality, though, I wish I could let go and loosen up like on all my stuff – I’d get more done in less time, and it makes for a more interesting outcome.

Anyway, I’m at a point right now where I’m working on some cool stuff that I can’t yet share, and beyond that, when I have free time, I’d rather spend it playing with my baby girl than laboring over polished drawings, so I’m finding myself doodling more. If you follow me on Twitter, I’ll post some of it once in a while, using the tag #delidoodle. In other words, if you’re into crayon art on Macaroni Grill tablecloths, it’s your time.

It was Thursday, September 22. I was coming back from a lunch break with my youngest brother (who recently joined me and Emmanuel in working at Nickelodeon). We were talking about recent events, and as we turned down the street toward the studio, I told him I was afraid this was our new “normal” for the foreseeable future.

The previous day, September 21, had marked the one year anniversary of my aunt’s passing.

The following day, September 23, I and my four brothers would be reprising our roles as pallbearers, as we laid our mother to rest.

Two very rough days, one behind us and one before us, and they were separated only by what was about to become a third very rough day – September 22.

After lunch, I put in a few more hours at the Cintiq, and then headed home. I was maybe 10 miles from my house when my iPhone buzzed. The phone was face up on the passenger seat, and upon glancing over, I could see that it was a message from my brother, Theo.  The following events happened almost simultaneously, but somehow, in slow motion.

• I recalled that Theo had taken my dad to the doctor for a routine check-up.
• A sinking feeling hit my stomach.
• The message was too long to read while driving, but my brain realized that it had picked out one word at that first glance.

“Cancer.”

Instantly, my heart started to race and I felt like I couldn’t see straight. I remember muttering the words, “God have mercy” aloud over and over as I tried to keep control of my car.  I’m still not totally sure how I made it home without having a breakdown.

My aunt’s passing was very hard. We’re a very close family, and we still haven’t quite recovered from that, so getting hit with the death of our mom a year later was a very difficult blow.  But getting this news about my dad (one day before my mother’s funeral, no less), was devastating on an entirely new level. My parents separated when we were young, and my dad has been our everything. He raised all of us – five wild and crazy boys – on his own. That means that, while working full-time as a teacher and professor (bio-chemistry), he still found a way to pack five lunches every morning. He took five boys shopping for clothes, and kept five pairs of shoes on five pairs of rapidly-growing feet. He bought groceries for five boys and cooked dinner and set the table every night.  He gathered us together for prayer before bed. He did dishes and laundry and cleaned the house and paid the bills and made sure we had not only everything we needed, but also as much of what we wanted as he could afford.  Every Sunday after church, he’d drive us to the comic book store. We’d go inside while he waited in the car for an hour or more, giving us as much time as we wanted to browse the shop. One by one, we’d come out and approach the car, and we never had to say a word. “Did you find something you want?” he’d ask, cash already in his hand. Himself a lover of books with an enormous library in our house, he’d bring me along on Saturday morning trips to Crown Books, where he bought me my first Ninja Turtles graphic novel and started me down the path to my current career. He is the perfect dad. I’d be lucky to be half the man he is. Truth.

Last week, we met with doctors. There we were, gathered together in that room… my dad, sitting on the bench in his hospital gown with the usual smile on his face, surrounded by his five boys, now five grown men, but inside feeling like five small, helpless children.

I won’t get into the details, except to say that it’s grim. And yet, dad is in good spirits. Great spirits. He says when the Lord calls him home, he’ll go home. He’s brave and full of cheer.  I’ve never known a more courageous man. I don’t know why I’m the complete opposite, afraid of everything. Especially this. This has been my worst fear since I was a kid. But I adhere to what he taught me, and keep faith in God, every step of the way.

I went back and forth a lot on making any sort of public posting about any of this (I wrote this almost two weeks ago, and only now finally brought myself to share it). I’ve found that the older I get, and the more social our tech-savvy society becomes, the more private I want to be. I didn’t tweet or blog anything about my aunt or my mom, and I wasn’t sure about publicizing any of this, either. But I finally came to the conclusion that, among other things, I need to record it somewhere. And my dad is too awesome to keep to myself.

So that’s where we’re at. It’s been a tough year, and September has proven itself to be an especially dark month for us. There was, however, one little ray of light… September 29th marked one year from the day I came home and my wife changed my world with the greatest news. This week, our little Sophia is already 5 months old. Having my dad live to see her was a constant prayer of mine, and the smile she brings to his face does immeasurable good to all of us as we adjust to this new normal. I thank God for that.

Last week, the fellas over at Top Hat Sasquatch invited me to be the first guest on their podcast, Bubble Pipe Theatre. It was my first time being on a podcast, so I was a bit nervous, but I enjoyed chopping it up with them about comics, Ninja Turtles, Thundercats, my job at Nickelodeon, and other stuff. I also cleared my throat a lot. Click here to listen, and thanks to the guys for having me on.

Earlier this week, the geek culture site Saturday Morning Central officially relaunched with a new look and a new name: Top Hat Sasquatch. A few months back, Tommy, who runs the site, asked me to design a mascot for the relaunch, a sasquatch with an affinity for formal headgear and old school bubble pipes. The final design, as well as some of my initial sketches, are below. Also pictured is a sketch I drew as a gift for Tommy; he was instrumental in helping us update the Crush County website last month, so I wanted to send him something to say thanks. If you’re into toys, comics, games, movies, or anything of the sort, make sure to check out his site!

During SDCC, a very nice guy named Royce came by our booth with a portfolio full of drawings of the Top Cow character, The Darkness. Each one was by a different artist, and he asked me to draw one for his collection, too. While I’m somewhat familiar with The Darkness (I always thought those little goblin dudes he surrounds himself with were awesome), I’ve never read the book, so I don’t know much about him. And I’m always nervous when someone asks me to draw a character I’ve never drawn before. (Fun to play in unexplored territory, though!) Anyway, here’s the result.

San Diego Comic-Con is upon us again, and this year I’ll have a new print available. I’m taking a break from the TMNT stuff to do something a bit different, but which is (almost) equally as near and dear to my childhood heart… The Legend Of Zelda. These prints (and the original, if you’re interested) will be available at BOOTH 1802 from Preview Night through closing on Saturday (I won’t be there on Sunday this year, because I’m a daddy now and I’ll be missing my new daughter like crazy by then). This is an edition of 75 prints, signed and numbered, and any remainders will be available on my site after Comic-Con. If you’re attending the show, swing by 1802 and say hey.

Update: Back from Comic-Con. Prints and the original artwork are both now available in the County Store.

“Ahoy hoy.”  Those were the first words on my blog, Stay Tooned, on October 3, 2005.  Back then, I wondered why I’d ever need a blog when I already had a portfolio website. And the thought of having more than one website to promote my work seemed crazy to me. A simple greeting for a simple time, eh?

Well, six years, several sites, and literally hundreds (okay, dozens) of blog posts later, I’ve decided to close up shop on Stay Tooned, and bring my bloggings here, to what my brother and I have always considered our main site, crushcounty.com.

I’ve debated this switch many times over the years. Part of me always resisted – heavily – giving up my own name-branded domain space. The other part of me has long wanted to have everything under one address, and would have done it sooner, if I knew how. And then, Twitter happened, and I forgot all about it for a while. Serendipidously enough, it was Twitter that led me to one Tommy Day, a fellow child of the 80′s and web designer extraordinaire, who offered to help me make Crush County the hub I’ve long wanted it to be. One URL to rule them all.

So here we are.

I spent some time this past week reading through every post, and every comment, on my old blog. Six years of my life have been chronicled in those pages. There are kind words from friends, strangers, and pros who have inspired me for years (some of which, sadly, I only read for the first time this week).  During the run of Stay Tooned, I created and published my first comic book work, was asked to autograph that comic book work for Matt Groening (one of my most surreal moments ever), and made the transition from studio PA to studio artist. In those pages, my girlfriend became my fiancée, my fiancée became my wife, and – just two months ago – my wife became the mother of my beautiful baby girl.

I considered importing all those posts into this blog, but I’m opting to start fresh. There’s a lot of history for me on Stay Tooned, however, so it will live on as an archive, at alexdeligiannis.blogspot.com (and alexdeligiannis.com will redirect here).

So ahoy hoy, and welcome to the new blog.