Thursday, April 26, 2012

The Making of Thick 2 Book Cover


Uh oh…it’s that time again

It’s that time to break down the book cover process…I’m gonna make this brief…Arm wrestling with the hands of time is draining …heck, I’m surprised I have time to draw up this blog

The show MUST go on

Aight…so I wanted a frontal image of a plus size woman…the illustrator for the original Thick book was missing in action for whatever reason

Shout out to Zach…where ever you are…hope all is well with you

Not getting a response from Zach through email had led me to hit up another secret weapon…Joshua…

I was kinda hard on Zach during the process of my Nah’Sun logo and the book cover to the original Thick…but hey…I want my shit done right and exact on the strength of how I see things

Make a long explanation short, I told my new illustrator, Joshua, what I envisioned for the one week assignment…he drew up a quick skeleton before going all the way in

  
That’s the skeleton of the original figure…Joshua felt that the woman needed more attitude…I’m not the type to put a lid on my illustrator's creative juices…so I let him do his thing

I fell back and wondered what he’d cooked up

He came up with…


The drawing was dope…I told him to take out the purple in the hair and parts of the body because this is the ORANGE BOOK of the series…Thick When the Chances are Slim is known as the RED BOOK

I’m tailoring my book covers of the Thick series to the Chakra…I might talk about the Chakra in a later blog when I have more time on my hands

Anyway…I told Joshua to take out the purple, and take out the black lines that separate the body parts…WIDER HIPS was also needed

Yep…I love wide hips…POW!


The changes were on point…I wanted a spaced out background…since the woman is the Queen of the Universe, I thought an orange spaced out background was fitting for her existence on earth (the black grass in the bottom of the book represents the earth)

I wanted the book to have an orange theme for the background…he went back to the drawing board and came up with…


Too red

Aight, chill…no worry

I told money about the red background…stubborn minds led to this…


Leave it to me to help out the sport...this version kinda reminds me of Storm from the X-Men

I didn’t wanna stress my guy over a minor (but major) part of the illustration…it’s not about getting angry or panicking over the small stuff…it’s about helping those who are helping you

The old saying of “one hand washes the other” when you’re on a team is perfect for a great outcome instead of acting like a dick at the first sign of trouble

I searched around for some orange coloring I wanted for the background…I found a few and sent the 3 bottom photos for him to work with

Color for the author header block

Shading of the background

main color













He thanked me for the alley oop and slam dunked my vision for the background

Heads kept asking me “what’s her race?” because of the heavy facial features on the drawing…Joshua faded out the facial features to leave her vague…He also used blends and shadings to separate the body parts instead of black lines to make the drawing appear more artsy

The black lines would’ve restricted the flow of the illustration…he obliged and cooked up…

The Finish Product
That’s what I’m talkin’ 'bout

As you can see, coming up with a book cover that reflects my original intent is a process itself…I’m not a believer of slapping anything on the cover just for the hell of it

I treat my book covers like artists back in the day treated their albums

And guess what???

The book cover ACTUALLY has something to do with the story...SHOTS FIRED!!!

Aight, ya’ll…I’m Audi 9G

Peace

Nah’Sun

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

The World Premier of "Thick in the Nick of Time"

Abracadabra, grasshoppers

Ya guy is still grusslin in the book game…I don’t grind hard…I grind SMART


Feast your eyes on the unveiling of my upcoming novel Thick in the Nick of Time aka Thick 2


The book is the SEQUEL to Thick When the Chances are Slim


I'll break down the illustration process tomorrow

 

The tentative date for Thick 2 is late 2012-early 2013


#TeamThick


If you haven’t copped your copy of the original THICK, hit up the link below to purchase


www.nahsunblaze.com


The joint is only 15 bucks…each page is cheaper than gas prices


Aight, ya’ll


Peace


Nah'Sun

Thursday, April 19, 2012

2012 Newark Book Fair


What’s woody, grasshoppers?

The Newark Book Fair is NEXT Saturday (the 28th) @ the Rutgers-Newark campus…you know it’s mandatory that I have to show my face and chop it up with the readers…I’ll have bookmarks to pass out as well as sell copies of Thick When the Chances are Slim


I’m there live and in full effect, baby


If you’re not gonna be there with ya guy, you can still order your copy of THICK @
www.nahsunblaze.com

And if you ARE, check out the extensive information below


Look for the brown skinned bald guy with sun glasses (that’ll be me)…or just hit me up on Facebook @
www.facebook.com/nahsun to get the scoop of where I’m specifically located 

Come thru and chop it up with me to get your EXCLUSIVE copy of Thick When the Chances are Slim

JERSEY STAND UP!!!


Who: Meet and greet Nah'Sun @ The Newark Book Fair
 

What: Come thru to meet ya favorite author
 

When: Saturday, April 28th, 2012
12 noon to 6pm
 

Where: The Paul Robeson Campus Center at Rutgers University Newark Campus
350 Martin Luther King Jr Blvd
Newark, NJ 07102-1801
 

Why: Show love and get a vacation between pages
 

How: Mapquest and GPS is your best friend

Monday, April 16, 2012

If You Suck...We All Gone Suck (Lick-Her License)


Last Saturday I hit up a party in Newark, New Jersey hosted by BABS social club

BABS (short for Big And Beautiful) throw big girl parties on the East Coast…primarily in Jersey

The tailor didn’t have my new gray and blue pinstripe suit ready for the weekend…I was kinda tight…so I rocked the same shit I wore @ Club Element the week before and STILL kept my fresh on point



I breezed to Jersey with a homegirl who shall remain nameless to protect her guilt…I say protect her guilt because shorty doesn’t know how to hold her liquor…we’ll get to that later

We got there after midnight…and not for nothin’, the party was jumpin…the joint was WILD

A lollipop contest was held on stage…selected chicks had to get on their knees to suck these long ass lollipops between dudes’ legs…from a distance they were suckin dick, but nope…they sucked lollipops

Quite interesting if you ask me 


On Your Mark...


Get set...


GO!!!

I thought about not posting the pics…but fuck it…mad people flashed camera phones along with a film crew capturing the sucking contest

I snagged some footage of my own …I’m keepin’ that to myself…heh heh

Um...yeah...soooo...I made HISTORY that night in all my years of clubbin...
 


A) I didn't have the urge to drink to have a GOOD time

B) Baggin numbers from the honeydips isn't important as it was in the past

C) I didn't feel the need to dance with a chick to complete my night

And most importantly…

D) NO ONE said I looked like Neyo with the fedora (It gotta be the beard)



Maybe I’m turning a new leaf…or maybe I’m tired of doing A, B and C @ the club just to have a good time…sometimes sitting back and soaking in the scene is sometimes better than participating

I’m not a prude…not in a long shot…I just hate routines…I get bored easily

Now back to the lady friend…

After weeks of calling me a light weight, she drunk more than she could handle…I forgot what she drunk, but I knew the drinks weren’t Kool-Aid based on my reaction when she told me

Oh yeah…one of her drinks was a Long Island Iced Tea…she drunk more because she didn’t feel the initial buzz 


Um…everybody and their mamas know LI Iced Teas are silent killers

We left around 3 in the morning passing out bookmarks of my novel Thick When the Chances are Slim (still grindin’)

While passing out bookmarks, I saw dudes campaigning for numbers from women…some were mackish about their shit while others were thirsty as hell by cup caking

Cup cakin' means to hug up on a chick you barely know

After passing out bookmarks we drove back to NYC safely…she drove…I hate driving…not a lot of cars cruised on the streets and we didn’t get pulled over…she threw up during the last leg of the car ride before calling it a night

Watching women vomit from liquor is funny…especially shit talkers

Aight ya’ll…I’m Audi

Peace

Nah’Sun


Suck on

Monday, April 9, 2012

Fuck you, bitch!

Abracadabra, grasshoppers
 

I finally decided to hit up the club last Friday after weeks of getting my hermit on…I haven’t clubbed in weeks…working on the second installment of the Thick series held my weekends hostage



Club Element in Lower East Side Manhattan was on my bulls-eye…4 years had passed since I partied at that spot…I personally think Element is the BEST Urban spot to party on Fridays

 

A lot of the women were BAD…bad meaning good for the slow folks…most of them stayed @ VIP and rarely ventured off...but some shorties weren't on point...especially this one I caught with hammer toes



Speaking of VIP, I saw 2 minor differences from ’08 to now:

A) The stage was now a VIP spot (turning every open spot @ the club into VIP is becoming popular in NYC…hey, I’m not mad at ‘em #MakeYourMoney)
 

B) You supposedly needed a wrist band to hit up the top balcony which they also turned into VIP (most of the females I saw hit up the top floor DIDN’T have on a wrist band) 


I started to hit off the bouncer with a 20 spot so he can let me upstairs into VIP…I changed my mind seconds later
 

Don’t get me fucked up…I didn’t wanna hit up VIP because of the women or feel important…I just didn’t feel like bumping into folks in the crowded ass dance floor
 

Suited and Booted
Sticking with my principles to not pay for VIP kept me grounded…I made the best out of staying with the crowd on the main floor

I used that night to “people watch”…I only talked to females when I passed out bookmarks…no game spitting that night
 

Matter of fact, I don’t like spittin good game @ females at the club on Fridays and Saturdays…most women who go clubbin those two nights are usually extra standoffish or just wanna party with their homegirls
 

I don’t have the time nor energy to play the game of possibilities when it comes to finding out if a chick is feeling me
 

Women are usually receptive to good game on Sundays or after work jumpoffs during the weekday…I play the background, get my sip on, promote my book a lil bit, and nod to the music on Fridays and Saturdays

You know dem boys lurked heavy outside the club with their Code Black lights flashing


 

Some things I saw during my people watching:
 


A) The usual thirstiness from guys tryna get dances from chicks by coming from behind
 

B) Most of the bangin’ chicks stayed in VIP
 

C) The Soca room downstairs (aka The Vault) were filled with thirsty niggas tryna grind on chicks (Not enough females in The Vault)
 

D) Either the DJs had identical playlists, or the same dude played the same songs twice (I didn’t care too much about the music…then again, I’m hard to impress)
 

E) Not a lot of chicks danced with dudes and rather kept with their circle
 


Let me expand on E…
 

It seems like young party girls nowadays don’t like dancing with dudes (if you call grinding “dancing”)…even when they did dance with the fellas, they only danced with them for a half song and jetted back to their clique…LOL
 

You usually find men and women dancing together @ clubs catering to the mature audience (ages 30 and up)…shouts out to my cougars that ain’t on that Hollywood shit
 

Now…here comes to the fuckery
 

I lost my coat check ticket for the first time in my history of clubbin…I left the dance floor after 2am to head home…I told the Black chick who worked the coat check that I lost my ticket
 

This broad gonna tell me to “wait til everybody gets their coats” before I can leave
 

I told her I gotta jet NOW…the other coat check lady went out her way to look for my jacket…shouts out to her for making an effort
 

The other broad just sat there…she wasn’t doing shit but sitting tryna look cute (peep the last pic of this blog for emphasis)
 

Trayvon Martin gets killed, and I can’t get a Black female to help a brotha find his coat and hoody (gotta love the hoody irony, huh?)
 

The white young lady, or light skinned Latina, who ALSO worked coat check went out her way to search for my things by re-arranging the coat check racks and standing on the folded two-step to look for my coat on the top rack
 

The Black chick STILL didn’t do jack...what kinda Willie Lynch shit is that???
 

I jetted to re-trace my steps and still didn’t find my blue coat check ticket…I waltzed back to coat check minutes later and started separating the coats that were in my reach in front of the counter


The lazy broad: You’re not allowed to do that
 

Me: It’s not like you helpin' me
 

(points to a coat that looks like mine)
 

I think that’s my coat right there!
 

The lazy broad: (takes coat off the rack)
 

Me: That’s my jacket. It got a hoody inside
 

The lazy broad: It has no hoody
 

Me: Unzip the coat. The hoody is tucked inside
 

The lazy broad: (looks inside the coat and finds the hoody…then looks at me funny as if I’m lying)
 

Me: That’s my coat! The hoody says The Burn U Movement in the back of it

The lazy broad: (checks the back of the hoody and sees the lettering) See, I helped you find your jacket
 

Me: You didn’t do a damn thing. I was the one who pointed out the coat!

 

Not only she was lazy, but she also tried taking the credit for finding my coat…she reminds me of that co-worker or classmate who takes credit for helping out on a project when she hardly put an ounce of effort into the work
 

There was hardly a line for coat check…I would’ve stayed until the 4am close if that wasn't the case...people came in fragments throughout the night

Hitting her off with a 6 dollar tip earlier that night capped off my frustration…I’m gonna decide whether I should tip coat check AFTER I get my shit from now on…real talk
 

I got my things and jetted
 

Not until I took the picture of the person who should be next to “fuckery” in the dictionary

Fuck you, BITCH!!!