Choose Your Apocalypse

Been collaborating on these two comics projects for about a year now (neither comic is very long, it's just that life and other projects kept getting in the way), both are coincidentally about the end of the world. But that seems to be on everyone's mind lately.

I'd been working with a high-school friend Vanessa for like, a year now, doing posters and little bits of promo illustration for her upcoming short film, Red Summer. The movie reminds me a little of the Ray Bradbury story, "The Last Night of the World". Then Vanessa was nice enough to ask if I'd draw a comic, with characters from the film and set in the same place, but an original story. It was fun to get the chance to play around in a world someone else had created.

 

"Here at The End of All Things" was written by Sean T. Collins, and it's more of an "end of the world disaster action movie" type story, complete with an unlikely hero and damsel in distress. Was pretty nervous when I first read his script, because there were cars, explosions, suspension bridges, and all sorts of things usually I avoid drawing, but it was nice to have a challenge and stretch those drawing muscles.

Anyway, hope to have a few copies of each of these at SPX in September! See you there?

Frocks and Dandies, Linktastic.

Downside to handwriting my blog entries is that I can't really link to things, so taking a quick break. HEY! The Stumptown Comics Festival is coming up! Nomi Kane and I will be at table C17. Stop by for a visit, and if you're voting in the Stumptown Awards, I'm sure Nomi would appreciate a vote for her anthology Lies Grown-Ups Told Me.

Next I'd recommend swinging by booth 306 for a chat with Beth Hetland, Pat Barrett, and Ben Horak. These guys all do amazing, original work, and Beth was also nominated for a Stumptown Award!

This week I wrapped up a big comics project (that I hope to have printed in time for Stumptown) and rewarded myself with a day of watching RuPaul's Drag Race and doodling fashion plates. Sketches will be for sale at Stumptown!

Convention Season!

First, HAPPY St. PATRICK's DAY!

The spring convention season is upon us. I've had to cut way back in the number of shows I'm attending this year, which is probably for the best as my schedule was kinda crazy the last two years.

First up, The Stumptown Comics Festival in Portland, April 28th and 29th!

I'll be sharing a table with the lovely Nomi Kane, and we're putting together a split mini comic just for the show.

Unfortunately I'm going to have to miss TCAF this year, couldn't afford the plane tickets and the time off of work. But you should stop by the Quatro Monstro table and check out comics by Laura Terry, Katherine Roy and Jon Chad! And of course, don't miss the Koyama Press table. They might have some copies of Island Brat left!

I will make it to the CAKE in June, though. Looking forward to seeing Chicago again, and having a hot dog and a Green River.

And...that's it for this spring. Wow. I'd better make up for it this fall!

Funny Aminals!

Happy Friday everyone! My big accomplishment of the week was turning in a submission to Funny Aminals 3, edited by Jeff Lok and Bryan Stone.

I highly recommend submitting work to this quality publication. I think it's going to debut at MoCCA? And they may have animal crackers.

And as a reminder that I am still taking commissions, here's another funny aminal. Recently I was asked for a sketch of "a robot made out of a pig and curling irons"-

-and this was the best I could come up with. Poor Pigbot. He stands as testament to the fact that I will draw all kinds of crazy nonsense for $5.

Diary Tunes 2011

Diary Tunes time again! Robyn Chapman organizes this mixed cd exchange every year, and this is the fifth time that I've been asked to participate.

This was a weird year. Moved across the county, new job, new place.I tried to find songs to go along with that.

Moving means I no longer have access to all the equipment in the CCS Production Lab, so my cd booklet isn't as fancy as it has been in previous years, but I made the best with what I had.

Coming Friday- Funny Aminals.

Long Journey Home part 4- Los Angeles

Oh right...I have a blog. Time to finish up this move report.

Los Angeles! This was my last stop on the trip, but one I was really excited to see because so many of my friends have settled out there. I got to spend a few days with Adam Staffaroni and Heather Einhorn, and Adam was nice enough to give me a tour of the Boom! offices. Spent a day at Adriana Yugovich's, who is the new front-runner for "busiest person ever", but I got to stay at her cool house and meet up for lunch. And spent an afternoon with Caitlin Plovnick-

-we went to Newport Beach and pretended we were on Arrested Development.  Frozen banana stands everywhere!

So I'm a bad artist, and even thought I brought like four sketchbooks along on this trip, I kept forgetting them behind in the suitcase. First and only time I remembered was on a trip to the LA Zoo.

This condor seemed to really enjoy the attention, he was hanging out at the back out the cage when I started sketching him, then got up close to check things out. Hope he approves of the likeness.

Finally, a live elephant!

Not sure if orangutans have a naturally sad face, or if this one was just having a bad day.
 
So yeah, LA was pretty great, but mostly because I'm lucky enough to know some great people. Other stuff happened too, but I'm tired of typing. Here's the pictures.

There will be comics on Wednesday, I promise.

Link Party!

High five!

Talked with some folks at the Washington City Paper prior to SPX

Drag Bandits (written by Betsey Swardlick, drawn by yours truly) is now available! You can read a five-page preview here, or you can purchase a Retrofit Comics subscription and help keep the post office from going bankrupt.

Commissions are fun, especially when kids and/or superheroes are involved. Thanks for the mention, Jamie, and happy birthday, Robin!

Trees and Hills has a new anthology out, Woods, that I drew a little three page story for. Since it's a regional anthology, this is the last volume that I'll be contributing to. Sad times.

Panel Patter has been nice enough to link to me like, three times this summer. So I'm returning the favor. 

That's all the news that's fit to print.

Long Journey Home part 3- Chicago!

I've never been to the midwest before, and there's some debate as to whether or not Chicago counts because of the lake. Whatever, land-locked states make me uncomfortable.

But Chicago was great! Easy to get around on the train, pretty buildings, museums, and lovely fall weather. But best of all...



Chicago has Beth Hetland! Beth is a CCS alum, and worked with me at the Dartmouth Library (though her job was way cooler than mine) AND now she's in Chicago teaching at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. And she makes some pretty awesome comics.  I know this is a lot of "ands", but she is a busy lady, aaand a great tour guide. We went to more museums and attractions than I can fit into a blog post, so here's the highlights-



In keeping with theme #2 of the trip, there were dinosaurs abound at the Field Museum. This giant sloth tried to sneak up on me.

 

 Next day we headed to the Art Institute of Chicago where, besides some cool lions, they have an amazing collection. I saw a real Van Goghs! And a Jacques-Louis David! And this Goya series-



- that is totally a comic. It was pretty exciting stuff, makes me wish I could go back to school and take a few classes at SAIC.


photo by Beth Hetland

Next best thing, I got to go speak with one of Beth's classes at SAIC! Talked about comics, my weird process and working on Island Brat.  They were a great group, I'm grateful I got the opportunity to speak with them, and I hope to be reading all of their comics some day!

But my favorite part of Chicago was probably the donuts.

Next stop, Los Angeles.

Long Journey Home part 2- New York!

So I got a ride from SPX to New York from GP Bonesteel and his lovely fiance Alison. This is where Theme #1 of the trip came into play- everyone I visited was either sick or just getting over a cold. I'd planned to stay with Katherine Roy and Tim Stout during my stay, but was delayed the first night 'cause they were feeling under the weather. The lovely Robyn Chapman and Dennis Pacheco came to my rescue, and put me up on their Brooklyn futon my first night in town.



Besides seeing all these great people, the big reason for stopping in NYC was to visit some of the museums I'd missed in previous trips. First stop, the Met!



...still can't believe I got to see a Vermeer. A person!



...and took a goofy picture of myself in front of this mural. So yeah, the Met is huge. I walked around for three hours, got lost, ended up in a pyramid, got lost again, found my way outside and ate a hot dog.



Next went to the American Museum of Natural History, which brings us to Themes #2 and 3 of the trip:



DINOSAURS (rawr!) (#2) and



#3 elephants. The museum had two taxidermied elephants herds, and the Field Museum in Chicago had another. This is why they're endangered!



Another endangered species preserved in the museum- Sasquatch!



After museums, a late lunch at my favorite restaurant in the city, and a cannoli...or three, I got to meet up with some of my favorite people for beer and pizza! Andrew Arnold, Sean Ford, Leon Avelino, Robyn, Dennis, Katherine and Tim for making the time on a week night!



...apologies for the blurry photos, I dropped my camera in a lake.

Next stop, CHICAGO!

Journey Home part 1- SPX

Okay, so I'm moving back to Washington, right? And I decide that, instead of flying straight there, to make a bunch of stops along the way. So I head from Vermont to Bethesday, MD for the Small Press Expo (SPX, like anyone reading this doesn't already know that), from there to New York City, then Chicago, then Los Angeles, then home.
















This was a stupid idea. It's also been awesome...and sad, and exhausting, and you wouldn't believe this bruise on my leg from where the rolling suitcase keeps bumping into it...but mostly awesome.  Anyway, the first stop was SPX!



I was lucky enough to share a table once again with Jon Chad and Laura Terry. Katherine Roy had to miss the show this year, which was sad, but it was because she had a gallery opening to attend, which is great!

We were also next to the Sundays guy and gal, which was nice. Family reunion!
 


The Ignatz Awards happened. Joseph Lambert won two of them, which surprised no one but delighted everyone. Look at that crowd! Cartoonists are a fire hazard.

Been putting off writing an SPX wrap-up post because I was struggling with what to write in regards to Dylan William's passing. So many people have articulated it better than I ever could. I only met Dylan twice, once in Olympia when I was just starting out, and once in Portland at his Bad Apple dvd store. When two shy and quiet people meet, not much happens. I've come to know him better through the good things others had to say about him, and...yeah. It's a sad time.

SPX time! Sept 10th-11th, 2001 in Bethesda MD

Why did I think trying to move cross-country right before SPX was a good idea? Things are a little crazy, but whatever, THIS IS HAPPENING! Get on board the crazy train.



Okay, SPX. I'll be at table D1, where I'll have a pile of mini comics on sale CHEAP for $1, copies of Island Brat, The Trials of Sir Christopher, and Tragic Relief and lots of little paintings.

 

Sharing the table will be Jon Chad, with his Bikeman series and a new issue of Drop Target,

and Ms. LAURA TERRY, who has been nominated for an Ignatz Award for Outstanding Mini Comic!

You should come check it out. And if you like her comics, maybe vote for her. I know we'd all appreciate it. Hope to see you in Bethesda!

Moving- Found Objects

Packing up to move means going through all my junk. Packing, sorting, selling, tossing. In the process, I came across a few things that reminded me how great this town is.

On my 25th birthday, a little sketchbook was passed around town (I think Joe made it?) and, living in toon town, it came back with some pretty amazing comics.


by Joseph Lambert



Gabby, aka Ken Dahl




Chuck McBuck



Also found a thank-you card  from the Lamberts, that Joe had made the winter before that. It was mixed in with my mini comics, because at first glance you'd THINK it was a comic, possibly about a moose...



Holy crap, the moose's antlers are words!



-and also houses? This thing is beautiful and I wish I could figure out  a way to frame it or something.

Then I found my old copy of The Evergreen State College Library Calendar from 1985 that Lynda Barry illustrated. I forgot I had Lynda Barry's autograph! The moving stress is too much, I'm losin' it.

More to come, as the treasures are uncovered...