All Saints Day

What's in a name? What's your name? Do you know what does it means? Today we celebrate "All Saints Day", and at first, I wasn't sure what to post for today's holiday. Then me and my family attended Mass this afternoon and the homily by Father Joe Scerbo solidified my thoughts.

Friar Joe's homily today challenged us to celebrate our patron saint and connect with them by exploring the virtues they're associated with. Some may question the belief that our names can determine our destiny. Hey, I know it's not for everyone, and just because you are named "Rich" doesn't mean financial security. This was proven and disproven in the movie "Freakonomics".

For me personally, I feel that there is something to the name that I was given. Whether it's our birth name or baptismal names. My first name is Michael, and I have always been "drawn" to art. I love ART! Drawing, painting, music, carving, sculpting, even haircutting (YES, the next time you get your haircut, realize that every person has a different type of hair, and styling your mop is an art form.

At one point in my life I almost became a police officer. Now that's a change of scenery isn't it?! But I am also empowered by the warriors way. I have always been interested in the martial "arts". At a young age I even earned my own money to pay for my karate lessons. Later in life I discovered ninjutsu and after almost 5 years of concentrated training, finally earned my shodan in ninpo taijutsu.

I've always known that St. Michael was a warrior defender, but it was only today after researching him further, that I discovered that he is also the patron saint of artists! Go figure! So today I celebrate "All Saints Day" with this comic that I created for my parish. And although it's been said that "the pen is mightier than then sword," I choose to be proficient with both.

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Soul Sketching

 A Sketchbook. What is it for? I was once told that you need to get through 10,000 bad drawings to arrive at your first good one! In his book Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell makes this point with The 10,000 Hour Rule. He provides specific examples to illustrate a common denominator for many of the most successful people in history; that their breakthrough was not achieved before reaching 10,000 hours of practice.

With various projects in development, my sketchbook becomes filled with ideas, searching for the heart (or soul) of the characters I'm creating. Below is a slightly less "cartoony" approach to the Friar character, in the upcoming book, Feathers and the Friar, attempting to add more distinct features from whom this character is based on.

Special Guest Gets Shepherd's Greeting

Last night VoogDesigns welcomed a very special guest to the studio.

This Happy, Humble and Holy guest was so special in fact, that he was able to tame our vicious attack dog like St. Francis of Assisi subdued the Wolf of Gubbio!

Thank you Friar Joe Scerbo for blessing our home with your warm company.

Get your Friar Joe gear at www.FriarJoes.VoogDesigns.com 

Make Living a Habit

What's your passion? It is very easy in today's world to be distracted from making the most of our God-given talents With 24-hour news, Smart Phones, and 1000 television stations, they can easily occupy our valuable time from making a difference. It's OK, I've been there too. One suggestion- Turn off the T.V. Why?

Because there are only 24-hours in a day. Something happens when you finally realize what you were meant to do and how you can positively impact society with the talents you have been blessed with. Once you discover that, mornings become filled with a vibrant energy!

VoogDesigns received an exciting e-mail yesterday that could potentially take the "Feathers and the Friar" project global! Enjoy this new character design sketch of one of the two main characters from our upcoming book.

Opened Doors

Wow! The Lord certainly knows when we are ready to receive His blessings! In a matter of 1 month VoogDesigns has taken on 2 book projects, opened 3 online gift and apparel stores, and is in discussions on 3 other projects!

But it wasn't always this way. So as a bit of encouragement, I was reminded not too long ago that "fruit grows in the valley, not on the mountain tops." In other words, your trials prepare you for the blessings you are about to receive.

Print this on your Favorite Gift at www.FriarJoes.VoogDesigns.com

Faces of the Friar

An exciting book project that VoogDesigns has recently been assigned to takes the reader through the travels of a St. Francis Friar. Without releasing too much yet, here is a look at some designs showing various expressions of the main character.