I miss her all the time. I miss her sense of humor. I miss her warmth. I miss my best friend.
My heart breaks all over again, when I wake up in our bed and remember she’s gone.
I love you, Sweetie. Merry Christmas.
Missing her
Category: Uncategorized
Absence
Please forgive my silence, as I try and piece together my shattered life, after the loss of my wife. I’m broken and lost.I’ll be back as soon as I can.
Drawing, again
So, the last 9 months have sucked to say the least. My father got sick and eventually passed. I had a number of illnesses and eventually a heart attack. My beloved wife Chrissie just passed away 3 weeks ago.
I haven’t been able to muster any kind of artistic mojo through all this. I have pencilled a couple pages and a few sketches, but nothing lasting.
I went to DJ Coffman’s Drawn Together drink and draw last night, in the hopes of kick starting my artistic drive. It was fun, I drew, we talked and we commiserated. I’m going to try and draw more and get back to creating. It’s NOT easy, especially after losing Chrissie, but I’m gonna try.
Tragedy
It is with the heaviest of hearts i have to say goodbye to the most beautiful, lovely soul mate one could have. My dearest wife, Chrissie Linck passed away today.
Our hero and family rock, after losing her life, gave the gift of life by donating her organs to several people in desperate need.
My heart is shattered, my life feels over. I will never stop loving and missing the love of my life.
Rest in Peace Sweetie.
Heart Attack
Sorry, guys. Another setback in a very bad last few months. I had a heart attack on Monday morning.Luckily, my wife Chrissie took me straight to the hospital to get care.
It turns out, my Widowmaker Artery was 98% clogged. My doctor Dr Azuz did a heart catheter, cleared out all the gunk and put in 2 stents. My heart otherwise seems to be in pretty good shape, but thank God I got care so fast. Monday could’ve turned out so much worse.
I have a lot of healing, a change of lifestyle and work to do to get healthy.
When speaking to longtime collaborator and friends, Brian Babyok and Glenn Csonka about my plight and the both mentioned to above comic where I gave Phineus a heart attack. I should bounce back a little better than he did.
Apologies, friends.
Barry
Dad
Dad. I will miss you, forever. And love you forever. You were the best dad. And my hero.Until we see each other again…Love you.
New Year, New Shows!
First up in February is Helltown Comicon at Helltown Brewery! This should be a fun time!
And I’ve applied to guest at PIE, which used to be PIX. I did PIX in the mid-aughts, until my need to work 2 jobs kept me fairly hermitted in the late teens.
This year, it’s back! I really hope i get in. It’s a great show!
Catching the Krampus
Kringle’s Last Stand
Against the Giants: A very Special Christmas Story
Kris Kringle: An Elder Christmas!
Kris Kringle Christmas Commandos
Troubles
Having a lot of issues with focus and motivation. Scared to share my work on Social Media, as all they seem to do is steal it and sell it. I have this site, but very few come here to read.
I need to regroup, refocus and move forward. Just having a little trouble doing so, right now.
Apologies.
Ordo Chronos Retinue (so far)
Here is my version of a Warhammer 40K Admech (with Imperial Agents). My Inquisitor is a Time Lord of the Ordo Chronos, allied with Admech, searching for lost Time Travel Tech.
Much of this army also fill slots in my wishlist 2nd Edition Imperial Agents army that I’ve wanted since 2nd ed.
I have lots of kitbashed robots, Kitbashed Onager, a Disintegrator made from an old toy I got somewhere, and basically all the pieces are kitbashes of some sort.
I put together Electro Priests from Start Grave and Frost Grave minis, with Admech bits. I kitbashed them as I really dislike the GW minis. These are fun and a bit creepy. I have long wanted these guys since 2nd ed, and I finally have some!
I still have battle line units to paint up of Hrud Rangers and Admech Vanguard (tech priest squads in 2nd Ed.).
Warhammering is scratching an ich until I can get back to drawing.
Promptober 2024
I’ll be doing and posting these daily for all of October 2024. Check back, frequently. I’ll be stringing them together as a Cole Beam story, told in Sketch cards. It’s a cool experiment.
Council of Phins
Sketchcard mini mini-comic 3 & 4
I did some more of these little guys. They’re fun. We’ll see how they sell. I like doing them, any way.
Upcoming Comics 2024
This month into April, I’ll be finishing up the year long commission story I’ve been working on, as well completing “Maynard and Grimm” and “Boy Wizards”. I just finished up “Barcrawl of the Damned”, recently, as well. All these projects dragged on far too long, due to my car accident and also dealing with my depression and anxiety. I apologize for that.
Once these loose ends are all tied up, I’ll be starting on 2 new projects, both collaborations with friends of mine.
The regular ongoing story will be “Queen of the Cold Night”, written by Brian Babyok and art by me. This will post MWF on the main site, starting in May.
The bonus story will be “The Midnight Isle/ isla de medianoche” a collaboration with Shawn Atkins and is a crossover of Phineus and his Explorers of the Unknown. He’s written a treatment, I’ll be drawing the story and Shawn will color and dialog. Updates will post jointly on both of our Patreons. This should also start in May.
So, that’s our plan. I want back to multiple pages a week, and regularity in making.
Wish me luck.
Old Art in the Wild
I was sent his pic of some old art someone of Facebook sent to me with questions of where they were used.
The black and white one was the line art for the first edition of The Complete Phineus Volume 1. The color one in the middle was going to be the cover for Issue #6, if I remember correctly ( I ended up using a Photo of myself from photo class as Rotwang).
The third one, I completely forgot about. I believe I did some color pics for when John Burris and I ran Backwaters RPG at gaming conventions. It was a blast from the past!
I still get freaked out by art I’d forgotten I’d drawn, even 30 years ago!
HAPPY HALLOWEEN
The Complete Phineus Volume 2 second edition cover
After finishing up the bonus Phineus story, “The Lake Erie Horror “, I got the cover done for the next Trade Paperback. The Complete Phineus Volume 2 second edition will be up for sale at Amazon, soon. I have some design work to do before I send it off.
Once this goes up, I still have stories and new covers to do for Trades Complete Phineus 3, 4 & 5, and Maynard and Grimm.
All my books can be purchased at my Amazon store.
Barcrawl of the Damned 18
The priestess is in fact an elf. My elves are all from Atlantis, which now resides in the Hollow Earth.
Drawing Every Damn Day
Drawing every day isn’t always easy. Seems easy. Just draw. Stuff can get in the way. You’re tired. You’re busy. You’re sick. I get it.
I used to draw every day. For years. Decades, even. There a few years, back in the early 10s where I almost did 200 pages a year. I slowed down, as stuff happened.
My daughter was diagnosed with an auto-immune disease and we spent a lot of time in Children’s Hospital for a good 6 years. Still, I drew, if not every day, most days.
Then, the Car accident happened and I lost a lot of mobility and strength in both hands, most in my drawing hand. Months of physical therapy and I taught my hand to draw again. Since then, I’ve had fits and starts. I deal with pain and arthritis from the injury, and PTSD from the roll-over crash.
But, ironically, the best medicine, for my mental health is drawing. Without art, I become depressed, anxious and miserable. So, I fight through it. I fight through the pain, the doubt, the self loathing, the fear and the desperation, because I know art is my salvation.
I usually, these days, draw digitally. I miss the tactile feel of pen and pencil on paper, so I’m doing a lot more sketching and doing stories on paper to mix it up. Drawing is drawing.
Draw or die is a very real thing. Researchers discovered that people who engaged in artistic activities, such as painting, drawing and sculpting, in both middle and old age were 73% less likely to have memory and thinking problems, such as mild cognitive Impairment, that lead to dementia.
Right now I am in a stretch of about a month and a half of drawing every day. It feels so good!
I know I’ll go through bouts of doubt and art block. I’ll fight through it and draw.
Draw Together 3
On Tuesday, we had the 3rd Draw or Die Draw Together in Pittsburgh.
It was loads of fun and got to chat, draw and hang out with friends, new and old. Great fun, inspiring and very motivating!
Of you’re not already subscribed to Draw or Die, head over and do so for inspiration, drawing prompts and more from DJ Coffman!
New Stuff is On the Way
I’ve been working on new pages and fleshing out story ideas. A lot of my time, recently has been spent working on a commission story. This has been financially helpful, as well as a good kick in my creativity! I haven’t felt this good about art and art making since before the car accident that ruined my drawing thumb. I’m so excited!
The plan is to work on the commission AND my comic at the same time. Now that I’ve unstuck myself, should be doable!
I have been working out some kinks in the two current stories, buy sketching them out in my sketchbook. God, I missed sketchbooking. So, more of sketchbooking to come, as well. Helps me think out loud.
I should have a new page of “Barcrawl” out this week. Above are what I’ve been drawing in the last few days!
Phineus + Magician for Hire 
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