Author: Scott Vandervort

The Dragon King

Karakow and the Dragon King
An illustration I drew for a book my friend Kevin and I are working on. It portrays the powerful, but weary Dragon King staring down the evil sorceress, Karakow.

It’s been quite a few months since my last post on my friend, Kevin, and my joint endeavor, a children’s book about a the adventures of a young troll and her human companion. This is my latest illustration, a showdown of sorts between the Sorceress, Karakow, and the Dragon King.

The Dragon King

“If the only tool you have is a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail.”

My first hundred or so sketches of dragons looked either like anthropomorphic dinosaurs, or “Bowser” from Super Mario Brothers. The problem, as the quote so eloquently states above, is that I tend to draw what I know. Fortunately, as luck would have it my family and I visited “Book Off!”, a used book store in the Kearney Mesa area of San Diego a few months ago. While my daughters searched for Manga and Anime, I dove into the art books and discovered a used, tattered, and very cheap copy of “DragonArt” by J “NeonDragon” Peffer. For a couple of bucks Peffer’s illustrative step-by-step book showed me that there were other tools at my disposal than hammers. It still took a few sketches but I finally got a design that I liked for the Dragon King : Haggard, yet powerful. Intimidating, but intimidated.

Karakow

Karakow was a little easier. She’s an aging sorceress that’s one of the main antagonists in the book. I couldn’t help but lean heavily on Disney’s villainess’ such as Cruella de Vil and the evil ( unnamed ) stepmother from Cinderella. What I came up with is the vain, unyielding woman below. She has sharp, angular features, a big crooked smile, and a wardrobe that is conservative yet loud at the same time.

As always, I like to include some of my rough sketches and design work. As a budding artist I always try to remind myself that behind every finished work is lots ( and lots ) of hard work and mediocre barely-coherent scribbles. Admittedly, the “scribbles” shown here are some of my more refined ones. Trust me, there’s a lot more in the trashcan on the floor next to me.

New toys!

In other news, I broke down and bought an iPad Pro and have started working in Procreate. My old setup was a Surface Pro 7 running Clip Studio Paint. Why the change?

First, although compact, the Surface Pro 7 is far bulkier that the iPad. Although it’s a fully functional Windows machine, it makes for a mediocre tablet, a jack-of-all-trades / master-of-none, per say. Menus are tiny and finger gestures ( pinch-and-zoom, for example ) aren’t always responsive.

Second, the Surface Pro 7 only supports the original Surface Pen, a instrument that requires so much software-enabled “line correction” to function that I never really felt like I was working with a drawing instrument. The Apple Pencil, aside from a slippery glassy screen, is remarkably better in every way.

Third, Clip Studio Paint went subscription-based for it’s latest version. I blame Adobe for this trend and I refuse to subscribe to any of its software products because of it. Clip Studio Paint, like Procreate, was initially a one-time purchase. Now? No longer, so bye-bye. Subscriptions are for magazines that have new content each month. Software, by nature, is far more static; even if new features are introduced I seldom use them. And if they’re good enough? I have no problem buying a new version. Outright. Without a subscription.

Take care. Stay healthy. Live life.

-Scott

Previous : Unicorns, Trolls, and Breakfast

#DadsWritingBooks #DadsBookClub #BeCreative #Illustration #KidsBooks #KidsFantasyBooks #MythicalCreatures #BookLover #ILoveBooks #DrawnAndCoded #Procreate @iPadPro

The Rockin’ Oncs

Dr. Stewart and his band, The Rockin' Oncs
My oncologist is in a rock band. This is kinda’ how I pictured it.

It’s been well over a year since my last treatment for prostate cancer, and, as of my last quarterly blood draw, my PSA is still undetectable ( < 0.01 ng/mL ). If there are still prostate cancer cells floating around inside me, they’re in smaller amounts than the PSA test can detect. I am in remission, where I hope to be for a very, very long time.

Although my medical treatments have been mostly paused ( more on that in a bit ), I still find myself sticking to the same routines and diet that I kept while being treated. I still maintain a Whole Food Plant Based Diet ( WFPB ) and abstain from alcohol and processed sugars, but I’ve started allowing myself the occasional serving of fish. I’m still a big fan of intermittent fasting ( IC ), but I’ve found myself indulging in breakfast again from time-to-time.

I also continue to exercise, probably more so than while being treated. With the cessation of hormone therapy came a surge in testosterone, so I’ve bumped up my exercise and weight routines, probably a little too much. Back and muscle pain has been a problem made worse by working a desk job. I’ve started doing daily stretching/yoga, bought a standing desk, and even started seeing a chiropractor to help loosen things up. Admittedly, each time I pull my back out I can’t help but think that it’s cancer-related, but eventually I come to the same conclusion : I’m just getting older – and probably overdoing it. If there was one upside to the hormone therapy I was on, it was the steroids I had to take while on them. In retrospect, I feel that they likely masked a lot of the muscle pain I am now experiencing.

As part of my “Non-Treatment Plan”, I meet with my oncologist, Dr. Tyler Stewart, every six months. I have to admit that I much prefer these appointments to the earlier ones where we discussed medication, radiation, surgery – and invariably ended with my pants around my ankles and an enormous horse syringe shoved into my butt cheek.

“You need to see Dr. Hofflich again.”, Dr. Stewart said aloud as he reviewed a report on the exam room’s computer screen.

Dr. Hofflich, the latest member of my cancer team, is an orthopedic doctor who Doctor Stewart brought on board a little over a year ago after a scan indicated that I had early osteoporosis. 

“Yeah, my latest bone density scan (DEXA) was a little lower, wasn’t it,” I admitted.

“I don’t get it! I exercise. I eat a high calcium diet. I even started running – well, for a while.”, I complained.

“I don’t want you to break your hip at 50.”, he said, flatly.

“Yeah, I know. I know…..”, I grumbled.

“So much for my so-called ‘Non-Treatment Plan'”. I thought to myself.

“Hey, are you still in a band?”, Dr. Stewart asked, turning away from the computer screen.

“Huh?”, I mumbled, distracted.

“A band? Are you still playing music with your friends?”, he asked again.

“Oh… yeah! Yeah, we get together every week. We’re not very good, but we have a great time not being very good!”, I exclaimed, “Why do you ask?”

“The other doctors and I started a band, too!”, he smiled from ear-to-ear.

“No kidding? That’s awesome!”, I said, matching his smile.

“Yeah! It’s me and some of the other oncologists.”, he continued.

At this point my imagination took over. I pictured a Gary Larson-esqe comic of doctors in lab coats rocking out in an exam room, stethoscopes swaying haphazardly from their necks.

“Check this out!”, he smiled.

He then showed me a video on his phone. It wasn’t exactly how I pictured it, but they sounded good, and, wait…

“Are you singing?”, I asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Yeah, I’m the lead singer!”, he said, with pride.

I laughed, encouragingly.

“You guys aren’t half bad. I love it!”, I added.

We talked a while longer, mostly about lingering side effects from surgery and radiation. You can’t rip out a prostate and bake the carnage with radiation without lasting damage, after all. 

Fortunately, some of my concerns were mitigated by a routine and uneventful colonoscopy last year. Radiation might have baked my prostate, but my colon, aside from some scarring, survived unscathed. At this point I’ve gotten used to the frequent bathroom trips at night and the inevitable burning sensation from eating spicy foods. Incontinence following surgery hasn’t been a problem, but not for lack of effort – I still do daily Kegel exercises for twenty minutes, and I’ll probably be doing them for the rest of my life. There are other problems, but Dr. Stewart has a treatment plan for those too, and I’m slowly coming to terms with it.

“Well, that’s it, I guess.”, Dr. Stewart said as he got up to leave.

I got up to follow him.

“You can head out, too, but Danielle will be in shortly with your paperwork.”. He smiled.

“Yeah. I’ll stick around,  I’d like to see her!”, I said.

Danielle, Dr. Stewart’s nurse, has been by my side for the entire ride. Admittedly, she’s spent a lot of that time behind me administering injections, but she always had the most awesome cheerful disposition – and never missed, either.

“You look a lot different without a hazmat suit on and a horse needle in your hand!”, I told her as she entered the room.

She laughed and we caught up for a few minutes before I headed out.

On the way home I stopped to pick up Poke Bowls at “Poke One N Half” in La Jolla. Jodie and I had started frequenting the restaurant three years ago following each of my appointments. I’m not a big fan of sushi, but visiting the place had been a way to unwind after what had been some pretty stressful discussions. 

“Wow, your prices have gone up!”, I told the cashier while paying for the meal.

“Inflation”, she responded, flatly, spinning around the credit card machine to reveal a screen requesting a tip amount.

I entered a tip and pressed “Enter”, my eyes bugging out slightly at the total bill.

“Well, at least I only have to do this every 6-months now, ’cause that was expensive.”, I said under my breath.

Yet one more reason to be thankful to be in remission – as if I needed another one.

Take care. Stay healthy. Live life.

-Scott

Previous : Nine Months Later

P.S. Here are some sketches and character designs I created in preparation for the above illustration.

Prostate Cancer PSA
My PSA ( ng/mL ) as of 12/15/2022

.#Cancer #ProstateCancer #Oncology #Osteoporosis #Urology #Prostatitis #HormoneTherapy #ADT #Lupron #Zytiga #Degarelix, #Firmagon #EBRT #Radiation #ProtonTherapy #RadiationTherapy #RadioactiveMan #Prostatectomy #ProstateSurgery #BPH PSA #ClinicalStudy #UCSD #MooresCancerSociety #SanDiego #MyCancerStory #MyCancerSurvivalStory #DrawnAndCoded

Muzak

Muzak
This happens a lot.

Yes, it’s been a while since my last post. Between the holidays, a busy work schedule, a particularly nasty bout with the flu ( and pneumonia ), and taking some artistic license with this particular comic, it took ….a while.

Normally, I draw using pencil and paper, or with a stylus on a tablet. This time I wanted to try something a little different – vector graphics. With vector graphics you use a mouse to drag, drop, and manipulate shapes and curves to create art. Honestly, it’s a little funky until you try it. The best analogy I can think of is “arts and crafts” in elementary school, where you are given sheets of colored construction paper to cut out and paste together a picture. It’s kind of’ like that – expect without the scissors and paste, at least physical ones. The weird thing is that vector graphics are all math. I converted the image above to a .PNG, but if you were to open the original .SVG file ( that’s short for “Scaleable Vector Graphics” ), you’d see a bunch of numbers. The numbers declare the points and line thicknesses of the shapes that make up the image.

Moving forward I plan on doing a lot more illustrations and comics using vector graphics. It takes longer, but I am getting faster with experience. My reasons are twofold : First, I like the clean crisp lines and colors and simplified designs that vector graphics lends itself to. Second, vector graphics are big in graphic design, illustration, and user interface design ( UXD ), all areas that I am interested in.

So, please be patient with me as I ramp up my skills to accommodate this new style. I have a bunch of ideas – they might just take a while to manifest here as I stumble along.

Lastly, if you are interested in learning how to draw using vector graphics, I use a free application called Inkscape. Adobe offers a competing product called Illustrator, but it is subscription-based and quite pricey for an amateur hobbyist such as myself. Fair warning – Inkscape is not intuitive. If you want to give it a shot I highly recommend taking a course. I have had a lot of luck with these courses on Udemy :

Learn Inkscape now – create vector graphics for free!

Cartoon Character Design for Animation

Take care. Stay healthy. Live life.

-Scott

#inkscape #illustrator #comic #learnvectorgraphics #svg #vectorgraphics #svgcomic #drawnandcoded #digitalart #illustration

Cheer Dad

Cheer Dad
I’ve been to more football games since my daughter, Kaylee, joined Pop Warner Cheer than I have in my whole life. The competitions? They’re just the icing on the cake.

I come to the games.

But root for my girl.

As she rallies the crowd.

With a kick and a twirl.

I know all of her cheers.

And a few of her moves.

But whenever I show her.

She looks terrified. Bemused.

On weekends without games.

She enters competitions.

Frilly tents dot the landscape.

A bedazzled exposition.

I look on in amusement.

Bewildered at the display.

Should I offer to help?

Or stay the heck out of the way.

At home there are footprints.

On the walls, windows, and ceilings.

The result of handstands and roundoffs.

And endless cartwheeling.

I’m amazed at her determination.

Her skill and her grace.

I look forward to seeing her.

Cheering. 

With a smile on her face.

#CheerDad  #CheerMom #Cheer #Cheerleading #Cheerleader #CheerLife #CheerCompetition #Jam #RanchoBernardoBroncos #BadPoetry #Comic #ParentingFail #PopWarner #PopWarnerCheer

Dungeons, Dragons, and Daughters

Spoiler : They didn’t.

Dungeons and Dragons wasn’t always cool. Back in the 90’s, it was a game played by pimply, greasy, pubescent boys on shag brown carpet under dim incandescent lights with Led Zeppelin rocking in the background. I know because I was one of those boys. Back then I think my friends and I spent more time trying to make each others’ characters miserable, and by extension ourselves, by throwing sadistic, borderline hilarious plot devices at one another.

I had forgotten all about my own experiences until my daughter, Ashley, bought a Dungeons and Dragons Starter Set for her and her friends to play. At first I was astounded that she wanted to play. I mean, Dungeons and Dragons is ( was ) for nerds, right? I was comfortable with it when I was her age, but Ashley? However, after gauging her enthusiasm my attitude quickly morphed into encouragement and finally, well, rejection…

Take care. Stay healthy. Live life.

-Scott

#dnd #dungeonsanddragons #comic #parentingfail #drawnandcoded #e #rpg #ttrpg #fantasy #d #dice #tabletopgames #art #dungeonmaster #criticalrole #dndcharacter #tabletop #dndart #tabletoprpg #pathfinder #digitalart #fantasyart #dnddice #dndmemes #dungeonsanddragonsart #tabletopgaming #warhammer #roleplay #miniatures #diceporn #cosplay #illustration #polyhedraldice

Nine Months Later

2022 ZERO Prostate Cancer Walk
2022 ZERO Prostate Cancer Walk at De Anza Cove Park in San Diego.

It’s been nine months since my last cancer treatment and in another couple of weeks I’ll be “celebrating” my cancer-versary, or three years since my initial diagnosis. According to recent bloodwork which I get done every three months, my cancer remains undetectable, too. For now the boogeyman is bound, gagged, and ( mostly ) silenced – well, at least until my next bloodwork and inevitable scanxiety.

Last weekend my friends, family, and I walked in the 2022 Prostate ZERO Walk in San Diego. This was our first time joining a physical event after COVID forced us to come up with our own last year. I felt a little guilty urging everyone to wake up early on a precious Saturday morning to attend, but they did. Later, I laughed as the DJ had everyone warm up with what I can only describe as Zumba-meets-line-dancing prior to setting foot on the course. We were the second biggest team and rose $2,382, putting us behind only Poseida Therapeutics. For everyone who participated, thank you!

For those of you men who are undergoing treatment I can assure you, that if you take care of yourselves you will be okay. Even though it may not seem like it, there is life at the end of the tunnel and, although it’s going to be different than the one you left, it can be a good one, and maybe even a little better, at least in some ways. The big things won’t seem so big anymore, the small things won’t bother you as much, and you’ll start to realize how important the things are that you always just took for granted.

Take care. Stay healthy. Live life.

-Scott

Previous : Six Months Later

Next : The Rockin’ Oncs

Prostate Cancer PSA
My PSA ( ng/mL ) as of 09/15/2022

#prostatecancer #cancer #prostatitis #psa #prostate #urology #oncology #radiationtherapy #radiation #ebrt #proton #radicalprostatectomy #chemotherapy #hormonetherapy #surgery #lupron #leuprolide #drawnandcoded #iwillbeatthis #prostatecancerzero #prostatecancerwalk #prostatecancer #theenedofprostatecancer #teamvandervort

Safety Patrol

School Safety Patrol Crossing Guard
My daughter, Kaylee, was selected to join her school’s safety patrol. On her first day on duty as a crossing guard I decided to pay her a visit. It went something like this….

#schoolsafetypatrol #crossingguard #elementaryschool #parentingfail #parenting #kids #comic #drawnandcoded

My job search …

“Guess what girls? As of August 1st I can get you all of the free bubble wrap and boxes that you want!”, I joked. “I just accepted a new job at UPS!”

“Which store will you be working at? The one next to CVS?”, Kaylee asked.

“Uh….no….”, I laughed, “No, it’s a management role. I’ll be managing other engineers.”

“Oh…..”, they said in unison. Almost disappointed.

More than a few of my friends have also suffered through a similar lack of enthusiasm from their own kids. Working for Apple does not mean you work at the Genius Bar, nor does working at Qualcomm mean you hustle popcorn and beer at football games, although admittedly, the latter is a bit stale given the closure of the prior home of the Chargers football team.

As a manager I’ll be herding engineers rather than the 1’s and 0’s that have been the hallmark of my prior positions. It’ll be a change of pace for me, but one I have been working towards for a while. Over the last couple of years I have been reading books on management strategies, interviewing past co-workers, and enrolling in classes. This year culminated with a Certified Associate Project Manager (CAPM) certification, a Certified SCRUM Master certification, and, of course, this new job.

“To be honest, there are faster, smarter, quicker engineers than me…”, I admitted to my soon-to-be boss during my interview.

He raised an eyebrow at me.

“…I mean, I’m no slouch!”, I corrected quickly. “But, over the years I’ve had the opportunity to work with some amazing people, and, given my own experiences, I feel like I am in a great position where I can guide and motivate them to become what they were meant to be.”

“‘I’m a ‘People Person’, too”, I laughed, “You know, like Tom Smykowski from Office Space? You know, Office Space? The movie?”

A questionable stare. I guess not. Probably a bad analogy anyway, though, given that Tom was anything but a people person.

For me it’s all true, though. Between a one-two punch of a cancer diagnosis and COVID lockdown, I need to be working with people again, not staring at a computer screen. There will still be problems, of course, just of a different, more “people-y” nature, and I am so looking forward to it.

So, before I go, some job search statistics for those who are interested:

  • I submitted at least 80 job applications over a 3-month period. The first of which was on 4/17/2022, the last of which was on 7/15/2022.
  • I interviewed with 12 different companies. This equates to 15% of the companies that I had applied to. The majority of the interviews were split into three different parts – an HR screen, an hour-long interview with the hiring manager, and, finally, a half-day panel interview with the team. I am still waiting on responses from some of the interviews that I participated in.
  • I received 3 offers, which is roughly 4% of the companies that I had applies to and 25% of the companies that I had interviewed with.
  • The most responsive of the larger companies that I applied to were BD, Sony, and Amazon. The bad news is that BD, after several rounds of interviews and over a month-and-a-half of waiting, cancelled the requisition altogether. Meanwhile, two months and three interviews later I am still “waiting” to hear from Sony. As for Amazon, I almost felt I had to beat them off with a stick. I was contacted by so many of their recruiters over the course of my search that I lost count. I can’t help but think I was just a quota as follow-up calls were few and far in-between. An engineer with a heartbeat, yup, that’s me.
  • The least responsive large companies were Intuit and HP, both of which I submitted multiple applications, but never received a single follow-up. Intuit was by far the most frustrating as I attended not one, but two career events – uh, I mean, mixers.

Take care. Stay healthy. Live life.

-Scott

#jobsearch #recruiters #careerfair #mixers #jobs #indeed #linkedin #monster #techrecruiter #hiringmanager #jobseekers #jobsearch #jobs #job #hiring #recruitment #jobsearching #jobseeker #career #jobhunt #employment #jobopportunity #nowhiring #jobinterview #careers #recruiting #jobvacancy #resume #hiringnow #jobshiring #jobopening #work #interview #vacancy #jobhunting #hr #business #recruiter #jobfair #staffing #drawnandcoded #comic

Camping

A relaxing evening in front of the campfire
On the upside, the smoke kept the mosquitos away. No one complained of a single bite!

William Heise Campground. Seven families. Thirty people. And one bathroom, at least for the first night. 

Apparently, at some point in my distant past I was a camper, because I surprised myself and my much more outdoorsy neighbor, Missy, the organizer of the expedition, by the sheer amount of camping equipment I had stuffed into the deepest, darkest corners of garage. It was almost as if I never wanted myself to find it again. Planning ahead I had bought a brand new tent in celebration of Amazon’s Prime Day, only to find two more hidden in my garage during my excavation.

“This new tent will work out better“, I insisted, “It’s bigger and we’ll all be able to sleep together!”

Mistake.

On the first night I realized that our massive 6-person tent was a tighter squeeze than I expected. Worse, I shared an air mattress with Kaylee. Being heavier, I created a depression that she couldn’t help but roll into and subsequently, on top of me. I escaped to the van and spent a sleepless night reclined in the driver’s seat, sleeping for maybe an hour or two in 15-minute spurts. I wasn’t the only one, either. Jodie ended up reading through the night. As for my other daughter, Ashley? She rolled off the air mattress she shared with Jodie and slept, face-planted on the bare vinyl floor of the tent. To each her own.

The toilet and showers gave out early the next day. Suspiciously, the outage coincided with our fearless leader, Missy, contracting a very nasty stomach bug. Being the trooper she was, she insisted on toughing it out, to the extent of trying to follow along on a 3-mile hike in 90+ degree weather. Mercifully, she retreated back to camp only to be voted “off the island” and chaffuered home with a crate of Gatorade and saltine crackers.

A trip to Miner’s Diner in Julian and heaping scoops of ice cream cheered everyone up. Heck, I would have paid good money just to sit in the air conditioned splendor. As luck would have it the diner had an entire basement full of candy which each of the kids took turns exploring.

Survival Instincts
Some campers truly roughed it, if only by keeping their car’s A/C above 78 degrees.

“Hey, Kay! “Check these out!”, I called to my youngest, Kaylee.

“What are those?”, she asked.

“Sugar candy cigarettes!”, I announced.

“I haven’t seen these in years. Pretty inappropriate for this day and age.”, I reminisced.

She nodded in agreement.

Later that night, back at the campsite, we dined on packaged ramen, canned beans, and store-bought tortillas in an effort to hedge against any more food poisoning stemming from the BBQ’d  burgers we had eaten the night before. After getting the campfire started my friend, Mike, strummed guitar while the kids all lined up on a squat fence bordering the campsite.

“Uh, what are they doing?”, Jodie asked.

“Smoking cigarettes.”, I said.

I averted her eyes.

“Don’t worry, they’re sugar. I couldn’t resist.”, I smiled. “It’s nostalgic”.

The second night was quieter. Unsurprisingly, many campers decided to hoof it rather than risk stumbling through the brush in the middle of the night to use the bathroom. My bedroom, the van, was commandeered at least once to make the journey to the remaining operable bathroom a half mile down the road. Sleep was elusive, even more so when Kaylee popped her head in.

“I can’t sleep in the tent”, she moaned, “Can I sleep in here with you?”

“You can try”, I laughed. “I haven’t had any luck.”

She was out cold within minutes in the passenger seat next to me, snoring. 

I would say I was up early the next morning, but as I never really went down it’s kind of a misnomer. We managed a pretty good spread of pancakes and scrambled eggs before everyone decided to cut their losses, beat the heat, and head home early.

“Next time? Cabins.”, Jodie suggested.

“Right?”, I agreed absent-mindedly. My exhausted mind theorizing where in the garage I could re-entomb my collection of tents and camping gear so that they would never, ever, be discovered again.

Take care. Stay healthy. Live life.

-Scott

#Camping #Campfire #Smoke #Parenting #CampingWithKids #Julian #WilliamHeiseCountyPark #CuyamacaMountains #IHateCamping #IReallyDoHateCamping #RoughingIt #SurvivalInstincts #DrawnAndCoded #Comic