News Archive

8-20-08 I'm finished with my marching band arranging for the summer, and I took a little break, and now I'm back to work. There's a new article about the first issue of Nintendo Power. I upgraded my computer not long ago, and should be able to get back into what I originally envisioned for this site when I started it, but one thing at a time.

6-6-08 My good friend Wayne Cameron asked me to do some music arranging/editing work for him. You can find it on his website. The only piece up so far is the Albrechsberger Sonatina for Trumpet in D (transposed from E flat). As I finish more music for him, he'll post it there. Go take a look!

4-30-08 I wanted to be able to tape all of [adult swim], including InuYasha, by just pushing a tape into my VCR, pressing record, and going to sleep (I hate programming my VCR). So I went to the Martinsburg Mall to look for some 8 hour video tapes. I found them at FYE. When I got them home, I realized something funny about the tape cover. Doesn't it look like those two chicks are watching a dirty movie? Just thought I'd share.

4-17-08 First of all, I want to give a great big THANK YOU to ClassicGaming.com for the news entry about my Ultimate Metroid Walkthrough. I've gotten more hits on this site from that link than I've ever gotten before. Now, on to business. Even though I haven't made a news entry in a while, I hope it's been obvious that I have been working on the site (including the new Articles section). I just haven't felt the need to talk about it here. I have several marching band shows to arrange this summer, and I'm excited about that. I have worked out my finances so that I don't have to sub any more. I'm not going to make any promises about updating this site more, or anything like that. I'll update the site when I darn well feel like it. but I do feel much more optimistic about everything in general. This website is just an online portfolio of my work, and I only need to update it when I've done work that I want to share.

11-27-07 Wow. That was a long time. By way of apology, I have a new Seventh Grade Stretch up. The bottom line is, I just haven't felt like doing much with all this lately. Combine that with a pretty nasty computer crash, and that some of my most important software isn't compatible with Vista (which is what I have to use now), and you get the picture. I haven't quit. But I've been trying to figure out what it really is that I wan't to do, and I just don't know anymore.

1-19-07 As a promotion, I have an entire piece for concert band, Camptown Races, in the Free Music section. Just go to the music section and there it is. Everything is in GIF format, so it should be pretty easy to download and print. If you play it, let me know what you think.

11-20-06 A few new developments to talk about. First of all, I've put together a portfolio of Seventh Grade Stretch to send out to some syndicates. It would be nice if I could draw cartoons for money. Second, I'm working (slowly but surely) on a new flash cartoon. Third, I'm going through the site and changing everything to 'Gravel Studios' (two separate words), to match my business license.

9-1-06 I don't know how many fans I have, but I feel as if I've let my fans down. What began as a brief hiatus after a couple of stressful months turned into a full on vacation from the site. I've added nothing of substantial value to the site so far this year. I've resolved to change this. Today I began work on some new stuff, and intend on adding new (substantial) content to the site on a regular basis from now on. If I want to make a living doing this, I need to start treating it like a job. No more excuses.

7-20-06 Over the past several months, I have slowly but surely added a few things, just in case nobody noticed. I still fully intend on making Sam Learns to Drive, but I haven't had a nice chunk of free time in which I felt like doing Flash animation. And I've been working on several marching band shows. As always, paying jobs come first. Maybe some day, I'll learn how to manage my time in such a way as to regularly and continually update the site with great new stuff, but I'm lazy and haven't learned those hard life lessons yet.

4-21-06 I've finished teaching middle school choir, and I've had a lovely spring break in which I did nothing related to this site. I promise I'll get back to cartooning and animating soon, but I needed a little time off to play video games and sleep 10 hours a night. My number of hits per day has actually gone up, but I think that's from students checking the site out. I hope none of the content here would get me in trouble with their parents (he he).

3-13-06 You may have noticed that I haven't done much to the site lately. I'm currently teaching middle school choir full-time (until Easter), and arranging 2 marching band shows. I mentioned some of this earlier, but I'm really surprised by how tiring teaching really is. As a sub, my job usually involved shoving in a video, or passing out a worksheet, then I sit there for the rest of the day. Actually rehearsing a choir 7 periods a day, 5 days a week is one of the hardest jobs I've ever done. So anyway, I'm busy, and don't expect anything remarkable from me until after Easter.

2-6-06 The renovation is pretty much complete. There are a few leftovers here and there, but I'll leave them alone for now. I like the little reminders of what the site used to look like, and the old links still function. There are a couple of new Seventh Grade Stretches, which I intend on drawing more regularly from now on. I'm also working on the next Flash Toon, which will revolve around a new song. It should be good, so keep checking in.

01-26-06 I'm going to start overhauling the site design and layout. I've grown tired of the Classic Video Game motif, and want to do something a little sleeker looking. This welcome page is sort of a taste of what the rest of the site will look like when I'm through. Hopefully, it will be much easier to navigate, as well as more visually pleasing. If you have an opinion, let me know!

01-15-05 You may have noticed that precious little has been done to the site since Christmas. I'm just giving a little 'heads up' that my output is probably going to slow down a little bit in the coming months. I've been getting real paying work composing and arranging music, and doing Flash animation (never saw THAT one coming). This is all great, since it's the reason I made the site to begin with, but it also means less time for personal projects. I'm also taking on a 6 week long substitute teaching job starting in late Feb., and I know that is going to drain my energy even further. Thanks to everybody for sticking with me. It's felt good to see the number of visitors go up gradually over the past year. I love knowing that I'm making people laugh.

10-01-05 I just opened the Gravelstudios Store at Cafepress. Just in time for the Holiday Season.

9-12-05 I wrote a new article for Retro Junk. You can read it by clicking here.

8-26-05 The new SGS is in color. Don't get used to it. I'm not going to take the time to color all of them, but I want to occasionally. It makes the strip more inviting.

8-24-05 I've been trying to learn how to color line art in Photoshop all day. For practice, I colored my favorite SGS, which can be seen along with the most recent one. I still have a lot to learn, but at least it's better than MS Paint.

8-23-05 Sam Gets a Job is now finished. You can enjoy it in the Flash Toons section.

8-14-05 I've been getting a little more traffic here lately, so I cleaned up the layout a little more. Hopefully, it's easier to navigate now. Still working on some new stuff. Don't know when I'll be finished.

7-28-05 First of all, I hope everbody likes the new site design. I worked very hard on it, and I like it a lot. Secondly, I figured out how to get into my email, so that's fixed. I've been gradually adding new things over the past few days. Most of it should be under NEW STUFF at the top of the page.

7-24-05 The site's e-mail, for some inexplicable reason, is down. If you sent something to anything@gravelstudios.com in the last several days, I haven't gotten it. You could send it to gravelstudios@yahoo.com, or just wait for it to get fixed. For my $12 a month, I expect them to fix this SOON :(

7-21-05 Several new things are up, including my Online Music Catalog. It's pretty informal right now. You (theoretically) send me a check, I send you sheet music. It's not like a fancy-shmancy online store or anything. I figured, If I want to call myself a professional composer I should act like one. The second installment of Sam Gets a Job is coming along soon

7-8-05 Thanx to everbody for being patient with me. My new computer is up and running, and I'm going to start making flash toons very soon with it. I needed to take a little break over the summer, so that's what I've been doing. At least I've still been getting hits on a semi-regular basis, so I know somebody is still visiting.

6-13-05 I had to get a job at 7 Eleven in order to buy a new computer, pay rent, etc. After a shift there, the last thing I want to do is spend several hours working on this site. I do, however, have several days off in a row coming up, and I will try to add some new stuff. Thank you for patience. Also, I recently wrote an article for the website Retrojunk.com which you can see here.

5-31-05 Added a bunch of new stuff, including an FAQ (click the FAQ link just above NEWS).

5-19-05 My Mom got me The Complete Far Side by Gary Larson, and I'm inspired. Anyway, I'm going to redo the site layout soon, making it easier to navigate. I'm also going to kick my cartooning into high-gear. This'll be fun.

5-13-05 I know it's been a while since I put any new stuff on the site. I just finished student teaching, and I just got my wisdom teeth removed. As soon as I recover, I promise some really good stuff. This summer is gonna' be great!

4-14-05 I got my business cards today! I can't wait to start giving them out.

4-13-05 A year ago yesterday, I took my geocities page (which was a poorly organized collection of .wav files of my compositions and reviews of nintendo games) and converted it into a place for me to display my artwork, which was mostly poorly drawn Kim Possible fan art. Now, a year later, I have this poorly organized website full of stuff that not even I know what to make of, and I created most of it. Happy birthday, Gravelstudios!.

3-2-05 Everything from this site is now on gravelstudios.com. Now that I am completely moved, I will no longer update this site. I will allow it to expire after whatever length of time that takes. Update your bookmarks, links, etc. (like anybody actually has a link to this on their site.)

2-24-05 From now on, my website will be gravelstudios.com. This will stay open until I get everything set up there. I'm so excited!

2-23-05 My parents have offered to help me with the money to get my own domain name and pay for web hosting--quite generous of them, especially considering I am broke at the moment. Added A couple of new original drawings.

2-18-05 I'm getting a message as my computer boots up that says my hard drive is about to die. I'm just going to buy a new computer as soon as I'm gainfully employed, and sell my current one for parts. But anyway, I'll keep working on the site as much as I can. New Seventh Grade Stretch.

2-13-05 I discovered that, after someone looks at about two-thirds of the pictures in the TOONS section, I go over my data transfer limit, and you can't view anything else for a while. This is not good, and I am now looking into getting my own domain name (which will probably be gravelstudios.com, I hope) so I can have more bandwidth and storage. I'm also currently working on a couple of Flash cartoons; one with Graystone characters, and one that's just weird. Student teaching is kicking my butt, so who knows how long it'll take. I'll try to update whenever I can.

2-8-05 New The Main Thing. I don't usually do cartoons like this; I'd rather be funny than inspirational, but I felt it needed to be said.

2-5-04 Get ready for Flash! I've gotten good enough with the software that I can now make animation. I'm working on something simple right now for practice (which I've posted), then I'll get started on something more substantial. Stay tooned.

1-30-05 Removed the links, because I don't see much of a point to having them. I have been adding new Seventh Grade Stretch strips as I draw them. It's a fun comic to work on.

1-23-05 Added some links. You'll notice that Super Thong Boy was removed. It wasn't that good, and I didn't feel like working on it any more. Also removed the fanart. Will try to add as many new comics as possible over the next several months, but student teaching is time consuming. Still working on learning Flash.

1-19-05 Updated the site's layout a bit. Added a MUSIC section (although there's nothing in it right now). A few new cartoons.

1-13-05 Lots of new pics, as well as a new comic titled Seventh Grade Stretch (because the characters are all in seventh grade). I'm having a lot of fun drawing the characters, and I intend to make my next musical about them.

1-10-05 Well, Christmas break is over, and you may notice that this website is not an online store for my own compositions and arrangements. This is because my computer totally crashed over break, and even though it is supposed to be fixed now, I think there's something wrong with my video card (which was one of the things that was replaced). I can't print sheet music that is good enough to sell because my printer won't print certain music symbols correctly, and I think it's because Allegro 98 is so old, it's incompatible with Windows XP, which I just upgraded to. I've drawn some new cartoons, but I've been too discouraged to upload them. I'm trying to learn flash, but with my computer in its current state, things are slow-going. I'll try to do the best I can until I get all this sorted out.

12-05-04 Added a new original drawing and a new Kim Possible fanart. Enjoy!

12-01-04 Added a new original Graystone drawing, a new link, and cleaned up some stuff. Last weekend, I mailed a copy of Graystone with all appropriate forms and fees to the U.S. Copyright Office. So now, if anyone steals anything related to Graystone, I can have the government drop nukes on you or something.

11-27-04 Over the last few days, I've tried to make the site look nicer, getting ready for business. Also uploaded two more of The Main Thing.

11-22-04 Prepare for some major changes. First of all, I'm going to completely revamp the look of the site over Christmas break. My goal is to start selling my own sheet music through this website. I will still include original comics, but I might ditch the fanart. The closer I get to graduation and the 'real world', the more I realize that I'd rather be a professional composer and cartoonist than a music teacher. So, I'm going to try to get some local newspapers to print my comics regularly, and make an attempt at being a semi-professional composer/arranger. I looked at the site statistics, and was surprised to find that some people ARE actually coming here now, so it's time for some shameless self promotion. Oh, and I added some more original drawings.

8-6-04 I need to start updating more than once a month. Some more Main Things, and other stuff. *I just discovered that there are some links to this site from a couple of Kim Possible message boards. I'm flattered. If you like what you see, tell your friends.

7-2-04 Well, I got lazy. Anyway, rather than spreading out the uploads of The Main Thing, I decided to just upload them all at once. when I do one (or more than one), I'll upload it. Also, some Graystone pics. I'm not kidding myself. I know that nobody is looking at this site, so there's very little pressure to update.

6-3-04 Lots of new pictures! Along with all the Graystone pictures I just put up, I intend on making a Graystone comic. Keep checking back for updates. Also, tomorrow is my 22nd birthday (hooray!!!).

5-29-04 New The Main Thing and another page of Super Thong Boy. Now that my summer break is in full swing, I should be able to update a lot more often.

5-15-04 Added another Super Thong Boy. Sorry it's not colored, but I decided it looked better as-is (at least until I get Photoshop).

5-14-04 Sorry about leteness in updating. Our house was without internet for a couple weeks. The good news is that we upgraded to DSL, so now I should be able to upload more often. Also in the good news department, The Main Thing (but possible under a different title) will be appearing in the Shepherd University Picket next semester.

4-25-04 Lots of new pics. I should be doing homework right now...I have a ton of stuff to do before the semester ends. Oh well. I did find out that my last year of college is paid for, so I might be able to buy Photoshop this summer. Then all my stuff won't look like cut-scenes from NES games.

4-17-04 Added a few new pages of Super Thong Boy.

4-15-04 Added a new The Main Thing, and some new drawings. I'm trying to fix the Brass Quintet glitch. Oh well. I really need to get Photoshop.

4-14-04 I added The Main Thing, what I hope to be my regularly updated web comic. I also added a new fan art.

4-12-04 Welcome to Gravelstudios page of art, etc. I've only just gotten started on this, so check back often for updates. This is definitely a work in progress.

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