The Summary

most of this was kept somewhat secret because i didn't want to have to type a failure report in the case that i did not get the job, but this whole dragon bit has been going on for a few weeks now.

if you've never been the person to quit a job or get yourself fired on purpose, you may not understand exactly how much thought goes into it. very few people do it out of blind emotion, or do it recklessly-- it happens after a very long inner debate and only once it is guaranteed to be the right choice.

well, after being fired from my last job, i promised a few things to myself in order to be sure there was purpose behind the event. i promised i would rejuvenate the relationships i'd killed over a girlfriend and the job, and i promised i would create more art more regularly.

after the lsd soup painting, i was contacted by a stranger via email. to this day, i'm unsure how he found me-- but if it was you who sent him in my direction, i thank you greatly and owe you a beer-- either way, he was interested in seeing more of my work. i sent him a few shots from my moleskine and sort of brushed it off as nothing more than a curious man.

but a few days later i received another email asking me to draw a cartoon dragon and compete against eleven other illustrators to be the one designing his start-up company's mascot.

i drew mine on a post-it, taking it only slightly more seriously than before.

shortly after, the man called me to be sure our personalities worked well together and to hear more about me while sharing more about his company. and it was an amazing phone call-- a call about the importance of laughter. he asked for a price quote and i told him i would email it (mostly because i'm inexperienced in the world of getting money for drawing.)

the email was received, i was hired, and it was scheduled that i would meet with him monday. the offices, like many start-ups, existed in an abandoned pier somewhere near the ballpark. and while i was excited, i still had severe shadows of doubt. i briefly considered bringing a strong friend, but quickly realized i had no strong friends and would probably have to rely on outsmarting the guy if he turned out to be a villain.

but then when i entered the old pier, i saw the offices. i saw the common area. i saw it all and it was all amazing.

the meeting was great and i knew immediately that this was someone i would enjoy working with.

if you've been reading this blog since its birth, you'll know i've thought i might enjoy many jobs i ended up despising, but there were key moments in our conversation that set this apart from anything else.

"it's like tasting wine," he said, "i can't put into words what it tastes like-- but i know-- and if you tell me, 'it has a sort of cedary taste' i'll suddenly realize those are the words for it. so i'm not going to try to describe the dragon, i just want to show you some images that might help explain it all visually."

"that's my kind of language," i laughed.

the man had a great respect for talking in person rather than email-- trying to be sure we got along and understood each other-- and he had also hired a team of stand-up comics as his writers. they were set for a meeting wednesday and i was invited, "if it sounds like something you might benefit from."

in more ways than you know, it will, in more ways than you know.

and that's where i was yesterday.

if any of you have ever assumed i am not afraid of these sorts of meetings, you're wrong. i was chain-smoking cigarettes right before the meeting, completely convinced that i couldn't draw anything worthwhile and that i was about to be called on my bluff. i was positive i did not deserve the position but went in anyway-- the idea being "it's only two and a half hours, how bad could it possibly be?"

and it wasn't bad at all.

i walked into the conference room to see a whiteboard covered in mathematic formulas and sort of ignored them while waiting for the rest of the group. as soon as they arrived, the whiteboard was erased and the meeting began.

due to contracts, i cannot explain what was said at the meeting, but i will say the very first thing written on the newly blank whiteboard was "summer's eve: the douche-badge." and the moment it was written, i knew i was in good hands.

having a meeting in a room full of free food, drinks, and stand-up comedians is like having a substitute teacher try to handle a classroom of class clowns. and i've seen a lot of the comedians perform before-- they're great and this company is in wonderfully perverted hands and i love it.

by monday, my final dragon should be done and by the following monday about ten costumed versions of the dragon will be completed as well. from there, we have a bit of finessing and at the end of september the product will be released.

i can't say what it is, but i can tell you it is an iphone app-- written by comedians, drawn by me-- and you had better buy it no matter the cost because the better it does the more likely i will be hired as a full-time illustrator rather than just a contracted one.