alterNative Media

IPI: Indigenous Peeps in the Industry - 07

2012-02-06T14:58:00.001-06:00

Greetings. In this addition of 'IPI' - my on-going blog series that celebrates Indigenous artists, writers, and other creative individuals working either in the comic book or video game industry (whew!) - I talk with Jacques La Grange.

Jacques introduction:

"Hello, my name is Jacques La Grange. I am the creator and artist of the comic book Shadow Wolf. I am currently on hiatus from the book, to tend to my ailing wife and be the best possible father to my 3 kids. Recently I was asked by Phoenix Comic Con if I would be interested in putting on a Panel for Native Americans in comics. Last year was a huge success, and though I'm on leave, I wanted to take this opportunity to promote other Native Americans in comics."

You can follow Shadow Wolf on its FaceBook page at http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Shadow-Wolf/133417390021261

MS: Background info: what is your tribal affiliation and where are you from?

JLG: I am a member of the San Carlos Apache Tribe from San Carlos, AZ, just outside of Globe, AZ. I was born in Santa Fe, NM and grew up in Espanola, NM (Lowrider Capital of the U.S.!) I also lived in Los Alamos, NM, you might have heard of this place: this is where U.S. government created the Atomic Bomb that we dropped on Japan in WWII. I moved a lot, I guess I was searching for something? I've lived in Albuquerque, NM; Phoenix, AZ; Riverside, CA; Ft Dueshene, UT; Jesup, IA. It wasn't until I ended up in San Carlos, AZ where I found myself.

MS: Did you have a lot of cultural interaction growing up? (Family gatherings, dances, ceremonies, etc.?)

Panel of upcoming Shadow Wolf #3

JLG: That is a tough one to answer...you see, I went to live with my Father when I was very young. I did not meet my mother until I was a Sophomore in High School. Up to that point it was with the only family I knew, my father and brother. I decided to move to San Carlos to get to know my mother and the other 500 family members on the rez. It just happened that my little sister was having her Sunrise Dance. My mother took it upon herself to educate me in our ways. She called it 'Apache Boot Camp', and it was!
There was a lot of work to set up camps for the ceremony. I can recall my mother telling me, "Do whatever the Medicine Man asks you." I got to tell you: from the singers and the Crown Dancers...I WAS HOOKED!! Later on I ended going to Sherman Indian High in Riverside, CA and it was there I was joined the Apache Club. I was able to sing and dance center field of Dodger Stadium on Native American Day. The Apache Club performed throughout Southern Cal and was one the best times of my life! It was during a performance that I meet a drum group called, "Bear Springs Singers." They invited me to learn how to sing Northern Style Pow Wow, which is something I truly miss!

MS: When did you first get into comics?

JLG: Growing up as a child I was very sick with Asthma and I would be hospitalized a lot. My father would bring me comic books. I can remember at age 4 or 5 when I was introduced to Superman in Action Comics. I learned a lot from Superman...about doing the right thing, standing up for what you believe in. I have been a fan of comics ever since!

MS: What is your favorite comic book of all time...something that turns FRI-SUN into a 'lost weekend'?

Shadow Wolf panel from issue #2

JLG: My favorite comic of all time would have to be Superman. But more recently I would have to say it is a tie, between Walking Dead and Scalped! I had the pleasure of meeting Robert Kirkman and had lunch with Jason Aaron.

MS: What is your specialty in the biz?

JLG: I’m not sure if I have a specialty, except for the fact that I'm actually Native American working on a Native American book. I would say that my strongest skill is penciling. I love to pencil...I get upset when I have to ink over my work!

MS: Did you get special training and/or education for this?

JLG: Actually no: I'm self taught. At first I had a script for Shadow Wolf. I tried getting someone to draw the book for me. No one would or if I did find someone they would flake out on me. After 3 years of sitting on the script, I made a decision if this book was going to come out. I would need to learn how to draw. Literally, I started with stick figures. I bought How to Draw the Marvel Way.
I was fortunate that Atomic Comics had a drawing club called the Nuclear Artist Society. A lot of the people that have their own books now were also part of the drawing club. It was really nice to be able to get critiqued every week. I learned a lot from a bunch of amazing artists. It took 4 years of constantly drawing and refining and then drawing some more! Seven years after I wrote the script. I drew Shadow Wolf and it made its debut at Phoenix Comic Con.

MS: What other comics/projects have you worked on?

JLG: Prior to doing the Shadow Wolf comic, I was really into making Native American Films. The films were tribal specific, which brought awareness to community issues such as throwing away your grease after making frybread. I kid you not! HUD on Salt River Pima Maricopa Indian Community asked if I could make them a film on this issue. It was a great experience.
We had asked the Fire Department if they could blow up a house for us. They did not agree to that. So we asked HUD to build a set for us and the Fire Department blew that up instead. It was a great experience because I was teaching a film making class for the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Scottsdale in Salt River. So the community kids really got involved and we won the Amerid National Video Contest. Based on some of those films I was asked to go to New York to see if I would be interested in a Native American film, but the budget was cut and that film was never made.

MS: Do any comic books with Native American characters in them?

JLG: My character Shadow Wolf is Native American. Doesn't have any specific tribal affiliation, but at one point I wanted him to be Jicarilla Apache.

MS: Do you have an opinion about Indigenous characters in comics, video games, and/or pop culture?

Shadow Wolf cover #2

JLG: I believe that Native Americans need to be the ones to tell their own story. Look, I’m not trying to say that the films that John Woo (Windtalkers) or Rich Schroeder (Black Cloud) made are bad. I’m for anyone trying to do something good! Plus I’m a huge John Woo fan and Rick Schroeder reviewed one of my films and gave me some real good advice.
Grant Morrison who writes for DC traveled through Arizona and fell in love with Native Culture. In fact, he loved it so much he wrote Super Chief. Grant stopped writing Super Chief because he felt that he was doing an injustice to Native Americans, due to the fact that he himself is not Native American.
I would say that I'm really happy that Native American stories are great to see in games, books, and movies, but I honestly think its time for us to tell our own stories! I really dig the way Natives are portrayed in the Twilight films. Aside from the fact that it's Twilight the Wolf Pack kicks major butt! They are warriors, protecting their people. Trying to do the right thing and definitely not being sidekicks. I honestly believe that they are positive representation of Native People.

MS: Do you know of any other Natives in the "biz" (comics/gaming industry)?

JLG: When I first came out with the Shadow Wolf, I found out about Tribal Force and it looked AWESOME! I found Jon Proudstar on MySpace and began talking to him about my book. He told me to reach to Ryan Huna the artist of Tribal Force because he owns the rights to the character GAN. I also know Arigon Starr who created Super Indian. My wife's cousin is Kiowa Gordon, who is part of the Wolf Pack in the Twilight films. Along with his mother Camille Nighthorse who just starred in More Than Frybread.

MS: Any words of wisdom for others (Native or non) looking to do what you do?

JLG: Yes I do, especially to our younger generation. Becoming educated doesn't mean you are losing who you are as Native person, or the death of our culture. You can be both Traditional and Educated. Being both means that there are more opportunities to help keep our culture alive. I'll put it this way: way back in the day before we had guns, we used a bow and arrow. Then the soldiers came with rifles and saw how effective those were. We picked them up and began to use them...because they helped us. You should see technology in the same way. Yes it is not traditional, but neither was that rifle and we made it ours. The same with Technology...we need to make that ours! Don't be shy to talk to people about who you are and what you want to do. They only way we are going to change how Native Peoples are perceived, begin with us engaging others.

Interview with C&I

2011-06-10T08:59:00.004-05:00

With the upcoming summer 2011 film, Cowboys & Aliens, Cowboys & Indians Magazine interviewed me about Natives representation in pop culture. Read more info here:

http://nativecomicbooks.blogspot.com/2011/06/sheyahshe-interviewed-for-cowboys.html

Blackstone Campaign - Like it on FB

2010-11-29T14:31:00.003-06:00

A message from my friend to the North, Beth Aileen Lameman, Social Media Coordinator - Zeros 2 Heroes Media...

The Facebook campaign being run by the television series Blackstone lends our support to the Canadian Aboriginal Writing & Arts Challenge, which encourages young Aboriginals to share and explore their heritage through creative arts. In doing so we hope to give these future storytellers a voice in preserving and strengthening the rich cultural tradition of Canada's First Nations communities.

A groundbreaking series on Canadian television, Blackstone is premiering in late January [2011] on APTN and Showcase. Set on a fictional First Nations reserve, it is a raw and authentic drama that follows the newly-elected Chief as she struggles to lead a broken community against the betrayal and corruption of the old regime.

To achieve our goal, every new 'Like' on the Blackstone Facebook fan page, starting November 29th, will see $0.50 contributed to the Canadian Aboriginal Writing & Arts Challenge. For more information and to help support this great cause, visit http://www.facebook.com/pages/BLACKSTONE/187563190880.

Caddo Language App Now Available on Android Market

2010-11-22T15:59:00.017-06:00

alterNative Media (aNm) is pleased to announce that we have deployed the Caddo Language app for Android devices, available for download from the Android Market. The Caddo Language app (v1.0.0) is a feature-rich mobile application that allows users to search for the Caddo translation of a word or phrase by entering an English word.

alterNative Media is committed to bringing the power of innovative technology to the Native community, so integrating this Cultural information with an Adroid app was a logical and exciting choice for us," says Michael Sheyahshe - CIO Developer for aNm - an enrolled member of the Caddo Nation. "By adding the Caddo Language app to the Android Market, we've made it extremely easy for the global community to help retain an immensely important Indigenous cultural resource. We developed an application that celebrates the Caddo language...available right on your Android mobile device."

Caddo is a language, made of several dialects, from the Caddoan linguistic stock of the Southern Plains and primarily spoken by members the Caddo Nation of Oklahoma. The Caddo Language app allows individuals to interactively search for Caddo words from an internal database (no Internet connection needed after installation) and the app suggests possible entries to choose from, as you type.

Android Market is an online software store developed by Google for Android devices. An application program ("app") called "Market" is preinstalled on most Android devices and allows users to browse and download apps published by
third-party developers, hosted on Android Market. The website, rather than the
Market app itself, provides details of some of the available apps, in particular
those that are termed "Featured", "Top Paid" and "Top Free". For a comprehensive, up-to-date list of the tens of thousands of titles available,check out Android Market on your handset.

To learn more about Android Market or the Caddo Language app, visit www.android.com or http://www.alternativemedia.biz/. You can also scan QR code below to take you directly to the Caddo Language app's location in the Android Market.

Coming Soon...

2010-11-11T13:02:00.006-06:00

Look for some exciting news coming soon from aNm...

...stay tuned for more !

Book Lecture at SEOSU

2010-08-26T23:44:00.003-05:00

Check out info on my book's website ("Native Americans in Comic Books") about a lecture I'm giving at Southeastern State University in Durant, OK on September 9, 2010.

http://nativecomicbooks.blogspot.com/2010/08/lecture-at-seosu-in-durant-ok.html

More Panels at CNMCC

2009-12-28T10:53:00.005-06:00

alterNative Media is pleased to announce that we have completed design and installation of 9 new exhibit panels at the Comanche National Museum and Cultural Center in Lawton, Oklahoma.

Check out a slide show of all the panels at CNMCC (embedded at the bottom of this article) or use the following link to go directly to the Flickr site:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sheyahshe/tags/cnmcc2/show/

Just like before, many thanks to Billy Skaggs for his assistance in delivery and installation; without his help, none of this would've been possible (especially due to an unexpected turn of events involving a table saw).

aNm looks forward to working with the Comanche Museum in the near future on many new and exciting projects. Be sure to visit CNMCC and check out the other exhibits and keep your eyes peeled for more projects from aNm.

aNm's CFO, Mary Skaggs, Published in New Plains

2009-11-20T09:00:00.006-06:00

aNm would like to spotlight our very own Mary Skaggs who has recently been published in New Plains Review, "a collective presentation of a wide range of cultural perspectives and demonstrates the drive toward academic excellence upon which the University of Central Oklahoma is founded."

Her work, Whole-a beautiful and contemplative musing on having an Indigenous son-is featured in the magazine's "Special Section: Oklahoma American Indian Experience." You can read more about Mary and her professional, academic, and writing experience at aNm's "About" page.

Check out Mary and other authors at the New Plains Review website, http://www.libarts.uco.edu/english/newplains/index.htm. There, you can purchase a copy of the magazine and view their current call for entries for the next issue.

Once again: congratulations to Mary Skaggs on being selected for publication. You rock !

Art Video Game Credits on IMDb

2009-09-24T09:40:00.005-05:00

After a very long wait, I am very pleased to announce that you can now view the credits for the video game, Helix for Nintendo Wii.

You can view the credits for my artistic work on Helix here:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1508668/fullcredits

This game is special to me, as it represents aNm's collaboration on a game with a local development studio here in the regional area (Ghostfire Games, located in Austin, TX) and further exemplifies our goal of supporting and providing viable artistic services to the the Austin game studios and any others in the regional area.

If you are a educational institution, local studio, or indie game developer, contact us today to see how we can help with your video game or simulation projects.

aNm 3D Art at Arts Festival Oklahoma 2009 !

2009-07-13T10:02:00.004-05:00

Exciting news for aNm: we will be at the Arts Festival Oklahoma 2009 at OCCC in OKC. Check out the acceptance/invitation letter.

Category: Graphics

Michael Sheyahshe:

CONGRATULATIONS!

The Arts Festival Oklahoma 2009 jury has been completed. There were more applications received than available booth spaces. Arts Festival Oklahoma is pleased to inform you that your application has been ACCEPTED and you are INVITED to exhibit in the Arts Festival Oklahoma 2009. The 31st annual Festival will be held on the campus of Oklahoma City Community College at 74th and South May Avenue.

We are very excited, as aNm will showcase art from our "Organic Noise" series (see slide show below, to see some of the art pieces we will have on-hand at the Arts Festival Oklahoma). Come check out our booth, meet / greet us, and see our exciting new 3D art.

New Book Review from World Lit Today

2009-06-23T10:21:00.001-05:00

The May/June 2009 edition of World Literature Today has offered a review of my book, Native Americans in Comic Books.

Please see the blog entry at http://nativecomicbooks.blogspot.com/2009/06/book-review-world-literature-today.html to read more.

Introducing the NEW Book Website

2009-06-23T10:12:00.004-05:00

As my hosting service at the illustrious (ha-ha) GeoCities has decided to close its virtual doors, I have transferred the contents of my website for my book, "Native Americans in Comic Books" to its new home, here at blogger.com.

While you can still access the book's website by entering the domain name, http://www.nativecomicbooks.com, you will now be forwarded to the website's new location at http://nativecomicbooks.blogspot.com.

Check it out and be sure to leave any feedback to help me improve the site. Thanks and take care.

Art Sold at Red Cloud

2009-06-05T15:50:00.005-05:00

I am pleased to announce that my art, "Bottle Cap Blues" (thumbnail version seen here, at left) has been sold at the Red Cloud Art Show. The Museum & Heritage Center at Red Cloud Indian School has been gracious enough to allow my artwork in its annual art show. This piece is part of the Organic Noise series, which can be seen here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sheyahshe/tags/noise/show/

Beginning May 31, 2009, the exhibit, will feature "Native American and Lakota art from across the United States and Canada," and will run through August 9.

The 42nd Annual Red Cloud Indian Art Show is a great opportunity and I encourage anyone in the area (Pine Ridge, South Dakota) to attend and see all the great work from artists everywhere. You may even see work by friend, America Meredith, at the show, as well. (Thanks, Meredith, for encouraging me to apply to this show !)

Purchased by the Heritage Center, "Bottle Cap Blues" will now become a part of the Museum's permanent collection. Much thanks to everyone involved in the show and all the artists represented.

Update - CNMCC

2009-05-26T15:31:00.007-05:00

aNm is pleased to announce that installation of the first set of panels at the Comanche Nation Museum and Cultural Center went off without a hitch (unless you count the ones we used to hitch the panels up on the wall !). Here are some initial images of the panels, taken just before supporting material was added:

Much thanks to Billy Skaggs for his much-needed assistance in delivering and installation, without whose help, none of this would've been possible. aNm will return to install remaining museum panels later this summer. Be sure to visit CNMCC and check out the panels and other exhibits and keep your eyes peeled for more

New aNm Client - CNMCC

2009-04-24T10:55:00.002-05:00

As many of you know, alterNative Media is focused on providing services to enhance various Tribal communities in the Oklahoma and surrounding areas. With this in mind, aNm is proud to add the Comanche Nation Museum and Cultural Center (CNMCC), located in Lawton, OK, to our list of ever-growing client success stories. aNm will provide artistic and technical design services to CNMCC for various visual components that support the exhibits within the museum.

CNMCC is committed to "Preserving and expanding the knowledge of local communities about Indian Arts and Culture with an emphasis on Comanche History and Culture" and aNm is eager to assist the Museum in this endeavor.

You can check out the Museum's website at http://www.comanchemuseum.com/ for more info and directions to CNMCC.

What can aNm do for you and/or your Tribal community or business? We offer a vast multitude of services, ranging from traditional/digital artistic design to high-end 3D modeling and simulation work. Check out our website at http://www.alternativemedia.biz to find out more about how aNm can help you with numerous projects that can potentially strengthen and enhance your Tribal community and/or business.

Report From OEGE

2009-04-11T21:04:00.006-05:00

The Oklahoma Electronic Game Expo was a most excellent event for aNm. It was great to see all the individuals in the local OKC metro area come out for an event focusing on video games and electronic media. The staff and crew deserve many thanks and kudos for their accommodating attitudes and due to the fact that everything ran smoothly.

There were many vendors and sponsors and all the booths were busy with people interested in one aspect of video games or another. Indeed, aNm's booth received many visitors and friendly faces wanting to know more and talk about video games and electronic media.

At alterNative Media's booth, we displayed images from the digital gallery (which can also be seen at http://www.flickr.com/photos/sheyahshe/sets/72157603892304375/show/), were able to pass out many information flyers - about my book, Native Americans in Comic Books, the studio itelf, and our outreach to other '3D people' in the local community - as well as exchange business cards and do some good-natured networking within the 3D community.

Friend, David Downs came in for the "assist" in manning the booth, distributing flyers, and fielding questions from our booth's visitors. Many thanks to him for his efforts and professionalism at the expo.

We appreciate all the good people that came out and talked with us at OEGE and look forward to hearing from all of you that have 3D skills and to those that had potential projects to collaborate with aNm. Feel free to use our contact page for any communications about potential projects or collaborations. Look for alterNative Media at next year's OEGE event.

AbTeC Interview

2009-04-06T12:58:00.003-05:00

Beth Aileen Lameman - an Indigenous friend and creator of The West Was Lost and Fala comics, as winner of the APTN Comic Creation Nation contest from Zeros2Heroes - recently interviewed me for the Aboriginal Territories in Cyberspace ("AbTeC") blog, "The blog of the Aboriginal Territories in Cyberspace research network."

Here's a little info about AbTeC, from their website:

About

Aboriginal Territories in Cyberspace (AbTeC) is a series of projects investigating innovative methods for First Nations to participate in networked culture to tell our stories while populating and shaping cyberspace itself.

Main

The main objective of AbTeC is to discover, define and implement methods by which Aboriginal people can use networked communication technology to strengthen our cultures. AbTeC’s Skins project will bring Aboriginal community organizations together with academic institutions to conduct research into the means by which the power of digital and networked technology can be put to use in producing and preserving our knowledge, culture and language. We will work with elder who have stories to tell, bands who have histories to preserve, and Aboriginal language speakers who want to share their knowledge. The goal is to provide conceptual and practical tools that will allow us to create new, Aboriginally-determined territories within the collection of web-pages, online games, chat rooms, bulletin boards and virtual environments that we call cyberspace.

Beth asks questions about alterNative Media, my opinions on fine art, and the future of video games for Indigenous people. My responses also came with a small peppering of nostalgia for some video-games-of-yester-year some of you might well recall.

Check out the interview here: http://www.abtec.org/blog/?p=118.

Look for aNm's Booth at OEGE 2009

2009-03-31T14:30:00.005-05:00

alterNative Media is proud to both sponsor and participate as an exhibitor for the Oklahoma Electronic Game Expo and Multimedia Conference - April 11, 2009, at OCCC in OKC. aNm will have booth space along with many other local business and services in the metro area. Click the link below to see the list of exhibitors at OEGE:

http://oege.catblog.occc.edu/wordpress/exhibitors-info/

aNm will showcase our many services and make exciting new networking connections within the local gaming industry. One of our main goals is to cultivate, support, and collaborate with Oklahoma's video game community and to foster growth towards creating a viable 3D game studio resources and talents to which regional studios (say, in Austin, TX) can outsource.

In addition, we will also have information about my book, Native Americans in Comic Books, from McFarland, available everywhere online.

Daily Oklahoman featured an article on OEGE. The article highlights the many events that will be at the expo including speaking presentations and the game tournament. You can access the store on the web at: http://newsok.com/occc-to-host-video-game-expo/article/3357567

Come by our booth, see what we can offer your projects, and say hello.

Sheyahshe Serves as Chair on NCU Accreditation Committee

2009-03-30T10:32:00.003-05:00

Northern California University ("NCU"), www.ncalu.us is developing an Accreditation Committee to receive accreditation through the DETC (Accrediting Commission of the Distance Education and Training Council), a national accreditation body. Michael Sheyahshe - CIO, alterNative Media - has been appointed to this committee and will serve as Chair for Divisions III, IV, and V, providing oversight in the following areas:

Standard III - The institution and program provide educational services that meet the needs of students. The institution ensures that distance educational services are designed to optimize interaction between the student and the institution in order to encourage and facilitate learning.
Standard IV - The institution provides student services that encourage and assist the student to attain institutional and program objectives, intended course learning outcomes, and his/her educational goals.
Standard V - The institution verifies/demonstrates student success and satisfaction using valid and reliable assessment techniques.

The mission of the Northern California University School of Law and Business is to bring a traditional legal education to students with an online setting. NCU offers an alternative to the classroom by allowing our students live online lectures in the comfort of their home rather than a classroom setting.
...
Our instructional mission includes undergraduate, graduate, and continuing and distance education informed by scholarship and research. Research and other creative endeavors comprise an essential component of Northern California University‘s mission. All faculty members contribute to the discovery and dissemination of new knowledge. These efforts, supported by public and private resources, are conducted in an atmosphere of open inquiry and academic freedom.

The NCU Accreditation Committee facilitates assessment and accreditation activities within Northern California University; to encourage effective and fair assessment practices throughout NCU programs; and to support the accreditation needs of NCU. The primary purpose of the Accreditation Committee is to study program accreditation; development standards for the accreditation of NCU programs; and prepare for accreditation. The NCU Accreditation Committee will steer the university in the direction for DETC accreditation.

See http://www.detc.org/index.html for more information on the DETC

Another Critique of My Book

2009-03-25T15:45:00.004-05:00

A contributor to livejournal had the following to say about my book, Native Americans in Comic Books:

"The book annoyed me a bit with its critique of Native American comic book characters whose stories are set in the past. Sheyahshe commented that these characters reinforce the notion that Native Americans disappeared in the Old West days. It's a completely legitimate complaint--so the complaint itself I have no problem with...What annoyed me was the fact Sheyahshe brought this up each time he discussed one of these characters. It was very redundant. A few paragraphs at the beginning of the book, to comment on the problem and mention its applicability to all "historical" characters, would have made for a better reading experience."
*****
"Thankfully there are plenty of modern-day Native American comic book characters, so I didn't have to suffer through his redundant complaint too much."
****
"One omission that surprised me was the lack of commentary on the names that so many Native American comic characters have. The only name Sheyahshe commented on was Tonto's (Spanish for "stupid")."
*****
"Overall, though, I did enjoy reading the book. It made for a nice, nostalgic trip, and it sparked my interest in a comic book called Tribal Force, the creative work of a Tucsonan."

I can certainly see how someone might see parts of the book as repetitive: as an examination of many stereotypes and many comic books, there's bound to be a certain recurring element. Add to this, my use of a very specific set of criteria to evaluate the level of stereotype in each study and you can well imagine how a reader might feel this way, initially.

To certain extent, I agree that a short foreword / blanket statement about the problem inherent to all historic-only characters might have sufficed in some respects; however, given the sheer amount of continual stories that appear in comics, movies, and any other stories about Indigenous people, the event of portraying characters as historical artifacts only is exponentially more repetitive than I could ever be in simply documenting its existence. Yet, I can see how a reader might tire of reading about this tragic phenomenon - just as I tire of seemingly only seeing Native people with fringe, feathers, and on horseback.

But, as mentioned above, there are some modern-day Indigenous heroes in comics and we should celebrate them when we can.

This reader is correct about naming conventions for Native comic book characters: they certainly do seem formulaic and stereotypical, by nature. While the reader mentions the fine line between homage and misrepresentation, I would lean towards the latter, as I have seen far to few character names that seem realistic for Native people. Good call.

Also, I'm happy this reader was introduced to Proudstar's Tribal Force comic. My hope is that many readers will also have similar experiences of discovery and interest. Thanks for reading and taking time to comment.

Check out the full commentary here: http://footnotefetish.livejournal.com/458721.html

aNm Sponsors Local 3D Event

2009-03-25T11:27:00.006-05:00

alterNative Media is dedicated to encouraging, supporting, and cultivating 3D talent in the local Oklahoma City metro and surrounding areas. With that in mind, aNm is happy to be one of the sponsors for the Oklahoma Electronic Game Expo and Multimedia Conference ("OEGE") - April 11, 2009, at the Oklahoma City Community College campus.

Check out our banner, as well as the other sponsors at the OEGE website:

http://oege.catblog.occc.edu/wordpress/sponsors/

Look for us at this exciting event and be on the look-out for many other opportunities to promote 3D modeling/animation/simulation/video games in Oklahoma !

Late Entry to SF Art Show

2009-03-21T22:06:00.003-05:00

Thanks to artist friend, America Merideth, and show Curator, Wendee Key, some of artwork was again showcased at the 14th Annual Bay Area Anarchist Book Fair, March 14th and 15th, 2009, SF County Fair Building, Golden Gate Park.

Here are some details about myself and the other artists that contributed to the art show:

http://sfbookfair.wordpress.com/art-show/

You can also see a slideshow of the images I submitted to this show here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sheyahshe/tags/robots/show/

All this, despite a (horrendously) late entry, on my behalf...

...and America spending time printing out my images...

...as well as her FedEx-ing them to the show for me.

Wow. Ouch.

To America and Wendee: much thanks and please accept my continued apologies and thanks for letting me be a part of this show again.

See http://sfbookfair.wordpress.com/ for more details about the event. Be sure to check out the "A Bit of History" link, as it's immensely interesting.

The New E-Face of aNm

2009-03-13T23:35:00.005-05:00

I'm pleased to announce alterNative Media's website has received a much-needed face lift.

Click the link below to head over to the website and kick the virtual tires. Let me know what you think !

http://www.alternativemedia.biz/

As always, keep aNm in mind for all your technical and artistic needs. As Oklahoma's "indie" film and video game community continue to grow, alterNative Media is happy to offer such specialized services as 2D Animation, Concept Art, and even 3D Modeling / Animation / Simulations to this burgeoning artist community. Contact us today and put our expertise and creativity to work for you !

aNm Listing at OFC Production Guide

2009-03-09T13:43:00.005-05:00

A quick look at some recent activity at the Oklahoma Film Commission, suggests there are many big things on Oklahoma's film-industry horizon.

(See the link here for more info.)

As a gentle reminder - especially to all of you about to undertake a film or production project here in Oklahoma - aNm has many artistic and technical services to offer filmmakers and TV production studios, including (but never limited to):

Traditional illustration / concept art
2D animation
3D models, animation, & simulation

...and many more.

alterNative Media is listed under "Animation - Computer" at the Oklahoma Film Commission's online Production Guide database at http://www.oklahomaproductionguide.com/listDisplay.php?id=10575. Of course, you can always see examples our work at aNm's online Gallery or with the slideshows here at the aNm blog.

Keep alterNative Media in mind as you begin production and put our creativity to work for you (remember: work smarter, not harder). Contact us today for initial consultation, quote, and milestone schedule.

Radio Interview

2009-03-09T09:02:00.002-05:00

Rob Schmidt, creator of the Peace Party comic book, and I were recently interviewed for a radio program out of Florida about Indigenous people in comic books and comic book mythology, in general. The show is called, "Beyond the Grassy Knoll," and while I'm not entirely sure what their website is all about, they certainly have a lot of theories...about everything.

However, the host was very polite and seemed to be genuinely interested in how Native people are portrayed in comics - plus, it was good to have a dialogue between Schmidt and myself.

Click the link below for the radio interview (running time - 59:10):
http://beyondthegrassyknoll.com/audio/sheyahshe-schmidt.mp3