Sovena and Hand Surgery

Long time no see.

Part of the reason for that is not just because I've been slacking in updates and/or can't show some of the things I've been working on just yet, but also because last month I had surgery on one of my hands. I'd had severe pain for several years but figured it was nerve damage from an old softball injury and kept putting off having anything done about it. I finally decided enough was enough and went through several tests to figure out what was wrong. I was even at the point of wanting a permanent nerve block done so I would feel nothing in one of my fingers. It would have been better than putting up with constant pain. But all nerve tests came back negative, and the mystery deepened...

But one visit to a hand specialist was all it took to have someone describing my bizarre, painful symptoms back to me, and it was such a relief. Turns out I had a rare tumor in my finger-- something that apparently usually isn't diagnosed properly until someone's gone through around six doctors. So it was a definite shock, but also a relief to finally know that there was indeed something wrong and that it could be fixed.

I had surgery on my hand (the right one, thankfully-- I'm a lefty, remember) last month to remove the tumor, and it's taken me several weeks to recover. During that time I was banned from doing much of anything with the thing, especially typing, and it just was too hard and frustrating to even be in front of a computer knowing that I could only type one-handed (going from typing 85 words per minute to like 20 really, really sucks). So I went kind of AWOL for a bit for my own sanity. Thankfully yesterday my doctor gave me the okay to start using my hand more, so typing this blog post is kind of physical therapy for my hand as much as it is anything else.

So. While I was recovering, I also took a break from drawing much at all, and have only just started easing back into it over the past few days. The drawing of Sovena Red above is a quick sketch that I decided to ink and color. Rod and I have exciting plans for Sovena and her adventures that we hope to unveil very soon. In the meantime, I hope to have some sketches and sneak peeks to post every so often. And you can now own the print version of Once Upon a Superhero-- featuring Sovena-- for only $3.99 HERE. Check it out!

As I get back into sketching, working on Once Upon a Superhero, drawing my last couple backup stories for Rob Zombie's Whatever Happened to Baron Von Shock? and gearing up for the Empire Strikes Back story arc for Blue Milk Special, I'm going to try and post a lot more. Sketches, random things, etc.

Thanks for sticking around. Here's to an exciting 2011!