YART SALE!

My birthday is coming up on September 2nd! I'm turning OLD.

To celebrate, I've put a bunch of cheap prints n' paintings up on my Etsy store, and I'll throw in a copy of the "Tragic Relief" book with each order.

Check it out!

SPX-cited part 1!

SPX is less than a month away! We've got our transportation and accommodations all set, the 2010 Ignatz nominees were just announced, I'm pretty excited about it all, and will be bringing a couple of new minis to share. Been drawing a lot this summer- rainy summers are good for that.

Jon Chad and I will have a new split mini at the convention called "Guilty Pleasures". It's about how I can't stop reading this trashy manga series and he can't stop talking about Gordon Ramsay, among other things.

I'll write about the other new books later in the week. One is at the printers right now, and is scheduled to arrive on my doorstep Monday!

Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes!

Changing up the blog! Trying to make the banner and buttons better reflect my usual drawing style.

And now for the news:

Rich Kreiner at The Comic Journal reviewed another one of my minis here. Thanks, man! I actually don't have any copies of this comic left, and don't plan to print more because color copies are expensive, but I think you can buy it at I Know Joe Kimpel.

For Chicago friends, you can now buy my book Woman King at Quimby's! Have I mentioned there aren't many copies of this left? I expect to be sold out after SPX, so get it while you can.

Speaking of the Small Press Expo, I am SO EXCITED about this year's convention. I'll be tabling with Jon Chad (who just updated his website. Check it!), Katherine Roy and Laura Terry, and we have definite plans to rock the party that rocks your body.
End of transmission.

Tragic Relief #'s 8 and 9 now for sale online.

I don't tend to get ideas for short comics, so much as impulses. And when these impulses pop into my head, they have the voice of the guy from this Kids in the Hall sketch shouting "Let's boil the broom!"



In the case of Tragic Relief #8, the voice said "Let's draw a shark! Let's draw a guy PUNCHING a shark!" And then I had draw a story around that image, which ended up being:


Tragic Relief #8- Revenge! I've had this mini for sale at a couple of conventions now, but only just got around to adding it to the shop. Apologies for that. Rich Kreiner of The Comics Journal wrote a nice review of it here. Check it out!




Tragic Relief #9 is available now, too! I'm changing the format again with this issue, gotta the readers on their toes (all ten of them). For the next 6 issues of the Tragic Relief minis, I'll be serializing my next graphic novel "Basket Ogress". Each issue will also contain a short back-up story, for people aren't into the whole Pacific Northwest mythology kids story thing.

The back-up story for this issue is called "The Hunt", and started because I was looking at too much Frank Frazetta art after he passed away, and starting thinking "Hey! Let's draw a jungle girl story!"

I like feedback, and tend to do a lot of corrections and redrawing pages when making comics- I've redrawn and condensed about seven pages of this chapter of "Basket Ogress" since Rob Clough last reviewed it. So send me a your thoughts- ColleenFrakes@gmail.com








Issue #10 is already nearly done, and should available at SPX in September, and online a few days (or months) after that. I'm bad about these sort of things.

Summertimes is fun times.

So, that thing happened again. The one where the weather starts getting nice and all these fun thing happen, and start thinking "Wow, White River Junction Vermont is a such great place to live! Why would I ever leave?"

Some examples of the fun:

MONTREAL
Took a quick, weekend trip up there with Jess n' Jonch where we were caught in several torrential thunderstorms, worshiped at the feet of a glamorous comedy god, and I forgot to drink coffee and ended up with a migraine.



Montreal was the frenchiest place I've ever been, having never been to France. Or...anywhere really. I discovered pretty quickly that my two years of high school french and one year of college were pretty worthless. I mean, I can still read it okay- or at least well enough to figure out what sandwich I want on the menu and point to it. But I've totally forgotten how to speak it- assuming I ever knew.



The reason for driving three hours towards the frozen, frenchy North, was to attend the annual "Just for Laughs" festival and try to catch a glimpse of Noel Fielding, because I'm still obsessed with the Mighty Boosh and Jess thinks he's pretty.



Hee!

INTO THE WOODS
The weekend after that, a group of us went cabin camping up in the Northeast Kingdom.



Where it was cold, but we endured. Thankfully we had a Texan, Keny, along to take care of the grilling. It was an amazing spread. There was also a lot of drinking games, but wussed out and went to bed at like 11pm.

I know this entry is a little contradictory, because I start off talking about how much fun WRJ is in the summer, but all these good times happened a couple hours' drive away from here. But, all the fun times happened because I live in a town with these cartoonists and creative types who are good at thinking up fun things to do, and WRJ is just a couple hours drive from all sorts of cool places. Future summer plans include a quick jaunt to Maine for a free concert, and a long weekend in Boston with visiting family.

Comics are being drawn too, I swear. There are 2-3 new minis planned for SPX, provided this new printer I'm trying doesn't rip me off (their prices are so low, I'm really afraid they're gonna rip me off). But by then it will be Fall, and I'll start to hate it here again.

Stupid constant threat of snow.

TRULY outrageous?

Time for the weekly update. Spent a lot of time in the studio this weekend, even managed to put in a full eight-hour day on Saturday. But the time was mostly spent on corrections.

One of the big projects was redrawing two pages I'd originally done way back in 2005.

Not sure if I'm allowed to write about this project or not, so here's a panel that doesn't give anything away. The top one was drawn in 2005, and the bottom redone over the weekend. So if nothing else, art school taught me to draw necks


Also been doing more little 4x6 watercolor paintings, because I enjoy them and in turn people seem to enjoy buying them. It's a nice arrangement. Here are three that are already in the mail:

















You can purchase one yourself, if you are so inclined,at my Etsy store.

Okay, enough with the shameless plugs. See you next week.

Summertime is fun times.

It's summer in Vermont! The best time of year. I'm taking as many photos as possible, in hope that the memory of the sun will sustain me through the long, coming winter.

Anyway, we went on a camping trip! The college I work for owns a lot of property, and has several cabins for rent out in the New Hampshire wilderness.



Like most of our events, this one was characterized by everyone worrying that we wouldn't have enough food, then ending up with WAY too much food. Many thanks to the Lamberts, Chuck and Melissa for bringing/preparing the majority of the feast, and for helping with all the planning.



Here's proof I'm having a good time, as Jon berates a smile out of me.

Also been borrowing a lot of DVDs from the library, and started a sketchbook just for movie doodles:




Ponyo was great- I missed it when it was in theaters a while back.



Didn't like Tron so much, but the trailers for the sequel look pretty cool.



Squidbillies is fun. I haven't really enjoyed much of the Unknown Hinson music I've heard so far- I think he might be one of those artist you need to see live.




Ah, bad 80's cartoon memories. Mutant rock star mice things battle it out in the future...sometimes on roller skates?

That's all for this week. Get out and enjoy the summer!