Tom Ray

I didn't want to check because if it was real I didn't want to wake it up.

I sell vintage/pop-culture things online to help support myself along with making webcomics and music with my band Lorenzo's Music. Also because I love collecting these old toys, games, comics and illustrated books from the 50s through the 90s. Today I wanted to show in this video how I find these things that I sell. This is a video of my daily life since I decided to sell collectibles and pop-culture items I collect on eBay to help support my art career instead of taking on freelance work. More vintage pop-culture items available in my eBay Store https://ebay.to/2vMYStC Plus, at the end of the video, I draw my daily autobiographical webcomic .

I was really surprised when they reached out to me. But I really have been digging the platform.

Honestly, running into people I know in general is nice these days.

Sophia Voelker  of Black Butterfly Studio tells me about combining art and storytelling and even the stories of people that view it on Tom Ray's Art Podcast - Sophia Voelker: Painter and mixed media artist Full episode here:  https://www.tomrayswebsite.com/2020/10/sophia-voelker-painter-and-mixed-media.html Sophia tells me: Making a little career for myself on the side, but the other thing too is storytelling. Art through storytelling and I'm a very expressive person. I love color and I love being bold and the way to tell the story is through art and even music. But since I'm not a musician I felt my strength was using artwork to express how I felt. Where I've been, what I see, how I interpret the world.  Ruler of the Soul by Sophia Voelker And I've always wanted to continue doing that and now I've seen the realm of how art can affect people on every realm of life is amazing! So being even in school and doing that small elective class I wanted to take off with ...

It kinda freaked me out briefly. Not sure how it happened, I just wasn't expecting it.

Afterward, I think the person may have been yelling about their favorite band.

Still not a fan of winter.

Sophia Voelker is an artist here in Madison who is a painter but also works with mixed media using alternate material, such as joint compound, paper products, cement and layered gesso texturing in her artwork. Sophia works online under the name Black butterfly Studio . We talk about how she came to live in Madison and the process of some of the different kinds of mixed media pieces she has made. Listen to the podcast on Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify Links Black Butterfly Studio Website https://www.blackbutterflystudio.com Black Butterfly Studio on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/theblackbutterflystudio Support the show! Check out the vintage pop-culture items available in my eBay Store -  https://ebay.to/2vMYStC

It's been so long since I've been in a one on one confrontation I didn't notice he was yelling directly in my face without a mask until he walked away.

Looking for the vintage/pop-culture things I sold online today I realize that this Vintage Muppets Gonzo doll I sold is wearing the exact same outfit our old intern Stu had on once. And I stop by my train car to discover the front door is covered in spiderwebs. Plus, at the end of the video, I draw my daily autobiographical webcomic . See more videos on my YouTube channel  https://www.youtube.com/tmray This is a video of my daily life since I decided to sell collectibles and pop-culture items I collect on eBay to help support my art career instead of taking on freelance work. More vintage pop-culture items available in my eBay Store https://ebay.to/2vMYStC

It was also the only post on the street that had that sign.

It's actually the first time I ever thought about blocking someone but they eventually stopped.

I actually stopped and tried to get it to work two more times while I was drawing this.

I met Instagram comic artist Rene Gauthreaux on an episode of my art podcast. I asked him about how he started making autobiographical webcomics on Instagram. He tells me that it really stemmed from a discussion he had with a therapist as a way to deal with self-sabotaging his own artistic pursuits. Here is Rene's story: We have an indie comic convention called "Staple!" here in Austin that's been running for about 14 years. It's really an amazing convention. All indie stuff, none of the big three comic book companies a lot of self-published stuff there. And every time I go to it, man it would just eat at me because I'm seeing everybody doing the thing I want to do! I went every year faithfully and one year I just went, you know what? I'm buying a table!  Really? How much are the tables first of all?  300 bucks maybe? It wasn't too bad. I highly advise if you get a chance it's a fantastic convention. Just a weekend thing.  So I bought the table an...

I didn't even find any fun found objects from last winter in my pockets.

And it still feels odd that my answer to the question is I do a podcast and sell things online.

René Gauthreaux has been creating autobiographical comics on Instagram this past year. But before that, he had gone out and tried a number of different things including starting a music zine and traveling to another town to break into the comic business. But there were things that stopped him along the way. He tells me the story about how it took really breaking down his fear of rejection to feel happy about the art he decided to make. Listen to the podcast on Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify Links René Gauthreaux on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/arisde_art Support the show! Check out the vintage pop-culture items available in my eBay Store https://ebay.to/2vMYStC

It's really cool to travel through the different small towns but the problem is since it's only two lanes I swear I always get stuck behind cars going under the speed limit.

While looking for the vintage/pop-culture things I sold online today I realize I have a vintage glass that someone already bought and paid for on Facebook Marketplace but the person actually never came to get it? I've tried messaging them and they rescheduled but then still haven't shown up. I almost feel kinda bad about it. Plus, at the end of the video, I draw my daily autobiographical webcomic. My YouTube Channel  https://www.youtube.com/tmray More vintage pop-culture items available in my eBay Store https://ebay.to/2vMYStC This is a video of my daily life since I decided to sell collectibles and pop-culture items I collect on eBay to help support my art career instead of taking on freelance work.

I know a lot of businesses have changed direction since the pandemic but this one went from a recreational center to that.

On my podcast I met Henrique Nardi , one of the artists involved with the Madison Mural on Monroe St. I asked him about how the project got started and what was the inspiration for the design. How did this mural get started?  It started with Liu's [Triangulador's] invitation. He had that arranged with [the building owner's] already and he was looking for a partner to help him out with the mural. We started talking about different ideas for the mural and we partnered up. How did you and Triangulador meet? He reached out to me I think? He saw some of my stuff online and then he invited me to check out his studio. I went there one day, we talked a lot, like hours of talking, about our stories and what brought us to Madison, comparing styles and talking about collaboration from the beginning even before talking about the actual mural. Then eventually he mentioned the mural and asked me if I was up to it. I was like yes definitely! I would love to collab on that. How did you g...

None of our stuff has been in there for over a year now but still wanted to make sure it wasn't vandalized or something.

Who knows how many times I did it before I caught that.

Then for a brief second I thought they just ducked out early for the day.

Maybe it's the isolation this year has caused? Or maybe it's there are still so many things I still want to do I haven't got to yet?

Henrique Nardi is a Graphic Designer & Type Educator. I got the chance to meet Henrique while he was working on the Madison mural that was recently completed on Monroe street with another local artist Triangulador here in town.  Since they were working I didn't really get a chance to talk too long with Henrique, so I thought why not have him on the podcast!  We talk about other murals that he's worked on, fonts & typography as an art form, and his recent work on translating his favorite band's new book " Do What You Want: The Story of Bad Religion " to another language. Listen to the podcast on Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify Links Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tipocracia_ Behance: https://www.behance.net/henriquenardi Flickr (with albums of all three murals): https://www.flickr.com/photos/tipocracia/albums Otis Redding Mural making-of video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6wBzXxB2KE UW students design work: https://www.instagram....

I guess the options were sit in the house all day or sit in a car for most of it.

Went to an estate sale by the lake in the next town over. I thought it was going to be better than it was but one thing I found was a total surprise to me! Plus, at the end of the video, I draw my daily autobiographical webcomic . Subscribe to my YouTube channel for more: https://www.youtube.com/tmray More vintage pop-culture items available in my eBay Store https://ebay.to/2vMYStC This is a video of my daily life since I decided to sell collectibles and pop-culture items I collect on eBay to help support my art career instead of taking on freelance work.

On an episode of my art podcast , I was talking with Scott Pyburn about how he has joined the ranks of a group of creators that make bootleg action figures. So I thought I would take the opportunity to ask him "Why is there a bootleg action figure market?" My first thought about creating bootleg toys is that you put it out there and would just get a cease and desist email?  Here is what Scott had to say about it:   The point of it in a sense is just creating something fun that inspires you. For me, part of the reason I got into this was I wanted to create figures that are from films that I grew up in the 80s that I loved! I got into the [bootleg toy] scene and realized it's more about kind of the mash-ups and the twist ups and stuff that's like you cross this with that.  How is Scott making these action figures? I had this little muppet figure of the Swedish chef. It's a torso figure and then I had this Robbie the Robot. So one of the figures that I'm working...

I also realized how crazy is it that I can pretty much run my whole business from my phone?

It was nice.

When the ladybug flew out of my jacket, from the perspective I saw it looked like it was the size of a bird!

One of the thoughts is Homer Simpson going "It's just a little dirty, it's still good!" But I couldn't justify that enough to eat it.

They're mostly things that make no sense in a text message format.

It was like the powder smell before you mix it. I'm not even sure what could have caused such a strong scent of grape Kool-Aid on a public street?

Scott Pyburn is a person I actually met before on a previous season of the podcast . He was traveling with the Mighty-Con comic-book circuit.  While drawing at his booth and selling original artwork and custom drawings he saw that toys were really a big draw at these conventions.  After everything shut down this year and the conventions all closed he decided to try something he realized he was passionate about all along, making his own custom action figures under the brand Toyzaholiks . Listen to the podcast on Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify Support the podcast!  Check out the vintage pop-culture items available in my eBay Store - https://ebay.to/2vMYStC Links Toyzaholiks on Instagram -  https://www.instagram.com/toyzaholiks THE BOOTLEG IKEA TOY SHOW - https://www.slugtoys.com/ikea

I'm starting the new season of the podcast on Sunday Oct 4, 2020 and along with the audio show, I will be releasing a video version on my YouTube channel . I thought I would turn on the camera and give an example of what the video version will look like! You can subscribe to my YouTube channel for the show and for a look at some of the day-to-day stuff that I record for my vlog! YouTube - https://youtube.com/tmray Audio Podcast - The audio podcast is still available on Spotify , Apple Podcasts , Google podcast , and all the other podcast places 😊

Releasing new episodes of the podcast is always a weird mixture of excitement and freaking out.

I looked it up and the original Gumby's pizza in Florida still makes them and you can order them online. A pack of 3 goes for $90 to have them shipped. I almost want to get some.