Wednesday, December 06, 2006

Hey People...


Been gone awhile doing this that and the other thing and am finally back. Everything that happens and effects Wetworks you will read about here. Alot has been happening, mostly work on Batman, but what had me off kilter for the last month was my diabetes. After three years of good regular blood sugar controls my pancreas is failing, meaning it is not producing the correct amount of insulin. In fact less and less. So for the past few weeks I have been on insulin injections to keep my sugar levels continuously even as possible. The reason I am telling you all about this is that what it means is when my sugars are out of control I can't concentrate and can't work. When my sugars are good little buggers I can concentrate evenly and work my butt off. It also means that if you see me at a convention I will be taking strict meal breaks every four hours. So I ask you all out there for patience while I try to adjust my life to the inevitable ups and downs of my condition.

Personally it's kinda disappointing to have to be taking insulin injections. I have been trying so hard since my diabetic coma in the summer of 2000 to keep my sugar levels normal, but my Doc says no matter what I do my pancreas failing was an inevitability. It was just a matter of time.

This isn't the end-all there are many, many other diabetics worst off than I. I've had relatively an easy time with my diabete's. For that I thank GOD. I've got many, many, many years of productive art ahead of me. It's just a matter of adjusting my life style to fit my condition. As simple as that. It has taken me all these years since 2000 to retrain my artistic brain to draw again. All this time to recalibrate my artist eye to see the world as I use to see it. My hand to reliably follow the minute, subtle commands my brain gives it artistically.

You can't understand what my mind went thru that one day before August of 2000 I could draw with the ease that a lifetime of art training had given me and then in one day to wake up after losing one week in my life and all of a sudden thirty pounds lighter, not being able to walk, in fact barely being able to stand, but most important not being able to draw anymore. My mind could see what I wanted to draw but my hand couldn't accomplish it. It was six months before I could pick up a pencil again and draw SOMETHING, anything. It was a year later before I could draw somewhat like I use to. My biggest problem being not being able to "see" with my eye whether things like eyes and ears were aligned or even the same size. Sometimes I couldn't even see if what I had drawn was any good at all. In 2002 to 2004 I had thought I had it back and as you could see by the uneven quality of some of my work then like StormWatch. I was still being effected by my diabetes.

The last two years are joyous ones for me because my condition was under control most of the time and I was able to draw six issues of Wetworks and four issues of Batman with the style and quality very reminiscent of my old style.

Now is another time of adjusting for me but thankfully I can still draw. I am feeling great especially because now and for the last two years I can draw anything I want to...again. Wait til you see what I have in store for our guys and gals in gold. I've got so much planned for them. I am thrilled by the response so far to the storyline and can't wait til you see what's to come...

Attached is the cover to WW's #6 my fave cover so far of the new series...

16 comments:

bong abad said...

hey whilce,

i'm a nurse so i do how dificult it is. well done. and hope you well in your health and career.

your work still inspire since the day i discovered your work in uncanny x-men 290.

syrtheone said...

Hang in there whilce hope things will get better. There is alot alternate medicine that really works out there so keeping looking. I'll be looking forward to more of your work.

Damon_Zero said...

Good luck with recovery Whilce.

matinik said...

whilce

i'm so sorry about your health. my prayers goes out to you. i know you can handle this.

best to you
jeff
wavmostudio

Anonymous said...

Wow...Im Really sorry to hear that WHilce....get better soon...not only am i a big fan of your work...you seem to be a genuinely nice guy.

COMIKXGUY said...

hi whilce,

scott " comikx guy" here

for the last year or so i have been taking care of my mother's boyfriend with his condition (he's bed-ridden)

so i haven't been at a "real job" since then, i don't miss it at all really, but i miss having stuff like comics, dvds, etc

but i guess that this is what really is impotant:

taking care of others you care about

COMIKXGUY said...

it is not easy as you know

my mother works full-time from 2:30 to 11:30 at night, i feed him and go to the store to get them anything

when sdcc or wizworld la con comes around(missed la con btw) i have to have my mother be off of work so i can go see you guys

most of the time i try to push it so i can attend the week

my mother is forced to find someone to cover for us, it just plain sucks

just thought you would like to know

now more than ever i have a greater respect for your work and others who go though things like this just so we can be entertained and bitch about what we don't like

thanx

Nestoreo said...

Hey Whilce,
Been living with Diabetes about the same time you have since Spring of '99 and I remember how hard it was to regulate it and get back to the game. Dropped out of college, left friends, family. Man was I irraitable. I just wanted to say I am glad your back in the game. Always love watching you go at the books with full steam.

Keep at it. Just wanted to let you know you got fans who stick behind you.

PS BATMAN Confidential is SICK!!! love it. Cant wait.

PPS Your a sick man (its a good thing) for taking on two books that have nothing to do with each other. GO GET'EM!!

Whilce Portacio said...

Thank you all for the kind words. I reveal my condition at this time not for the sympathy tho" I and my wife are touched by your sentiments, in the past I have chosen to let "situations" in my past go unanswered by me because I am at heart a private man and like to deal with my problems privately. Being self-confident within myself and always having complete trust with my family and inner circle of friends never dwelt on negative thoughts from those who didn't know me...but there gets a point where (with three children now) you worry about how unfiltered outside views might affect them. You work hard as a parent to guide them with your views and morals and ideals but being children and having minds that can be easily molded it can worry any parent what can one day effect them...so in short ergo this blog so that there is at least one form of record that can be accessed that contains my viewpoints right or wrong...but mine alone...one record that can put my career in the contexts that I lived it in...

Whilce Portacio said...

Comikxguy

I hear you...let me tell you one day I go into a coma, spend a week in that darkness, go thru dialysis three times, stop beathing once, then live the next six months barely being able to stand and take care of myself...my wife in all that time (with our child being born the week before my coma)at my side doing everything I can't do for myself (you apparently know the drill).

All this time my wife quietly by my side...that's love, like your love for your family. There's nothing in this world will separate my heart from my wife. There's nothing that can prove to me more that she will always be by my side than what she did for me in the year 2000.

The kind of love you are showing during hard times like these for your family go unheralded because they are hard times and everybody in the family is deep in that darkness but believe me the love you shower upon your family does not go unoticed. Some one notices these things. Someone does. And more important you know what you have done and what you are doing...what you do for others is like a shield of honor that you can hold in front of anyone, anyone that you are indeed the person that you know you are...thru your post I notice what you are, who you are...

...Whilce...

Whilce Portacio said...

Nestoreo,

Hey you know what gets me the most? It's the lack of stamina and concentration you go thru. Thankfully I have some of it all back but still especially in the beginning it was just madness to going thru the whole day tired. Or even more maddening to go thru part of the day okay but then in a split second losing all energy and having to go to sleep and then wake up having lost the rest of the day.

You'll understand the implications of this next statement...believe it or not I went into a coma and was admitted to Sharps Hospital in San Diego with a blood sugar of 1600bs. I made the record books. With that sugar level and the way your body fluids want to leave your body at that point I guess that's why I woke up having lost thirty pounds in that one week. Ask Scott Williams or Jim Lee at a convention to describe what I looked like in Intensive care...they told me I looked like I had been floating in the river for ten days.

These days its easier to deal with but as I learned a few weeks ago by having to suddenly go on insulin injections there are still surprises, surprises you can only deal with...

Anonymous said...

Whilce!

Stay strong, sir and continue to blow us away with your awesome artwork!

Just know that I think of you everytime I draw, every line and every muscle reminds me of you and how you nurtured us back in the day!


I'm so glad you are better now and it shows in your art! you are back in business! Tho the funny thing is that I ate up your Stormwatch like a rabid fan despite being your first work after your coma. I thought your genius still showed thru.


Take it easy and see you soon in SD! Ate Jo is great!

Leinil

LIZARKEO said...

Whilce, from a lifetime brazilian fan of your work: everytime I got very upset, tired or just sad with anything, I always kept reminding myself: "damn, gotta survive this, because, one day, Whilce gonna be back with another awesome art!"

Keep the good fight, sir, your family and your loyal fans around the world will always be grateful, for sure.

antonio said...

Ohh My God!!
I didn´t know that I totally understand you My Mom and My Dad suffer the same so it puts everything on perspective!!
I wish you well!!

JESUS ANTONIO

Anonymous said...

Im really sorry to hear that WHilce. Ive got to be one of your biggest fans and supporters. I think the creativity behind the character Colonel Jackson and the Wetworks concept as a whole is excellent. I buy two of every copy.

Stay Healthy,

Jay

Anonymous said...

ei

marunong ka pa bang magtagalog?