Is this bigger than yours?

So, in keeping with my love of process, I've included here a quick breakdown of 2 panels from issue 4 of Burning Building Comix. The first is what my notes look like, which in the case of Burning Building, are quick, action-descriptive lists. The second is a thumbnail, which I haven't always used, but does help to lay out the final art quicker, and helps me to work out pacing, and the logistics of fitting stuff on the page before I get to the full size art. Basically it's a lot easier to rearrange or redraw quick sketches, rather than a final penciled page. Then, the third is the final art all inked, minus the background that I drew separately and will combine on the computer. This is how I've been working for Burning Building, because it's a silent comic, and I don't have to worry about scripting dialogue, but for stuff like BlackStar, I'll usually start with a script of all the panels and dialogue written out, then go to the thumbnails like above. I've tried a bunch of different methods for the process, and kinda change it for what the project needs. However, I haven't tried the method of writing page by page as I draw, which is popular with a lot of great cartoonist, but I have no confidence I can do this and have it turn out the way I want. I guess I'm just a control freak, but maybe someday I'll try it and see what happens.

Here's the boy reading the scholastic color version of BONE. Everyone knows and loves Bone, and these scholastic editions are colored by all-around great guy, Steve Hamaker, who has been nominated for an Eisner award! The Eisner's are like the Oscars of comics, and Steve is well-deserving. Look here for a sample of his work. Good luck, Steve, with your big colored Bone!

Some songs from my ipod shuffle...

The Small Print, by Muse

Where Heroes go Down, by Suzanne Vega

It's not Unusual, by Tom Jones

Muse is this great band that sound like "The Bends" era of Radiohead, which is AWESOME cause I love that album, and even though I loved "OK Computer", and even "Kid A" to a lesser extent, their albums after that got too cold and atmospheric for me. To me, Radiohead was best when Thom was using his voice as an instrument and really belting it out, instead of the unaffected moaning he kinda does now. I think he wants to be a robot. But Muse rocks. I first heard them because of a song in the movie Millions. Hysteria, was used in the bank heist scene and worked so well with the movie that I looked up who did the song. They also have a song on Guitar Hero 3 that has a lick I absolutely cannot wrap my stupid head around!

That Suzanne Vega song is Emily's and I might have to start doing this differently cause of all her damn songs that keep popping up, plus all the songs I had to clear out to make space for Podcasts.

Ahh, Tom Jones. He's a beautiful man. The Voice has several great hits, "It's not Unusual" is amongst my favorites. I think the first time I saw Tom Jones, it was on an episode of Howard Stern on E!, and Stern, of course, was only asking sex questions, cause Jones is a notorious cocksman! The funny thing was, Jones answered every question with three responses. He'd either laugh, say "yeah" or say "sometimes". It was quite odd. Plus, there was a weird story about comparing penis sizes with Milton Berle.

Zombie Toddler

Let me give a quick "shout out" to a couple of my other non-comics efforts. I've been working with my twin brother, and Jay Gish on a website called bindledog.com for a while now. It's part flash animation and live action sketch comedy. We've built up a good enough bunch of material over there to keep a person busy at work for at least an hour. Recently we've been in a long production mode for a couple of more complicated projects. The live action one is called "Guitar Hero A-hole", and we're working on getting that edited, and the Flash one is an animated short for our website's mascot, Bindledog. Please go and peruse, if you haven't recently.

Also, just recently I've become a podcaster! (cue dramatic music) Yes, my brother Adam and I have channeled our love for the Chicago White Sox, into our own weekly podcast, Oral Sox. It's mostly a couple of fans talking about their favorite team, but we try to be funny about it. We've only done a couple of shows so far, but it's been fun, and we're planning on going through the whole season. So, if you are a fan of my comix, live in Chicago, like the White Sox, and listen to podcasts.... (sigh) anyway you can get it on itunes.

Well, as for the three things...

Here are some character sketches for another bindledog project. It involves a contest that Radiohead is holding, to make a video featuring one of the songs from their new album, In Rainbows. The story is a Greek tragedy with some weird magical elements. We're going to put together a storyboard for the video first and I'll post it here when it's done.

Here's a picture of Van transforming into a zombie from his 2 year photo shoot.

The ipod shuffle song selection.

Thank You by Dido

Total Eclipse of the Heart by Bonnie Tyler

So Fast, So Numb by R.E.M

So, the first two are Emily's songs. Songs, like Thank You are pretty and nice, but put me to sleep. Hey Dido, Sarah McLachlan, Norah Jones, and all you other easy listening broads, WAKE UP! Go drink a Mountain Dew!

There is something in Total Eclipse that I do like though. The vocal on it is pretty passionate and strong, and I'll take vocals like that, over a more technically sound, but dull performance every day of the frickin' week! Bring the Passion! Bring the Heat! R.E.M.'s new album is supposed to be good. I've just about given up on them, and their last couple of albums have been too passive and plodding for me, but when they're upbeat, R.E.M. is hard to beat for feel good, American rock 'n' roll.

Trust in Chuck

I just finished reading the Chuck Palahniuk novel Rant. I've been a big fan of Palahnuik since seeing Fight Club, then immediately reading the book. His style of visceral, quick and sharp writing was hugely influential to me as a writer, (at the time I was studying fiction writing) and Fight Club was something of an eye opener at approaching stories. I try to incorporate that influence into my comics as well. The way Palahnuik would use repetition and pacing in his writing would seem to translate perfectly to comics. Filtered through me, you get something like these panels from BlackStar #4.

Rant: an oral history of Buster Casey, is probably my favorite book of his since Fight Club. For those who haven't read anything by Palahniuk, he almost exclusively writes about strange deviant shit, and Rant is no exception. I actually didn't much like the first 40 pages or so, as it's written as an oral history. So it's like one of those books talking about jazz in the 60's with quotes from a dozen people making up the whole contents. I've read a couple of books like this before and find the form rather disjointed and annoying. Now Rant is a fiction, so the non-fiction form bugged me even more, but I should have had more faith in Chuck, cause he manipulated the form to suit his needs in genius fashion. Great stuff, if you liked the movie Fight Club check out his books.

In other news my son Van just turned two! And in this modern age with all of it's digital frills, my wife and I have been documenting his growth like scientist studying protozoa. For his first birthday I edited a video of pictures taken of Van once a day for the whole year. For year two, I didn't take a picture everyday, but there are home videos mixed in with the pictures to round it all out. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3D8UZiqUlI

And now, three songs from my ipod shuffle.

Ink Studs with Sarah Oleksyk.

Sweet Child O' Mine by Sheryl Crow

Oh My God by Guns 'N' Roses

Ink Studs is actually a podcast. Like Indie Spinner Rack, Ink Studs is about the indie comics scene, with some great interviews. Not as excitable as ISR, but informative and enjoyable. They're doing a whole round of female figures in comics this month.

The Sweet Child O' Mine is the Sheryl Crow cover of the GNR classic. I like Sheryl Crow, or used to, and I love GNR, and I just sorta like this song. It's OK but it really doesn't wow me, although I did consider using it for Van365 ironically enough. In the end it was too on the nose for me, and I thought that Tender by Blur was pitch perfect.

A heavy Guns 'N' Roses round this time! Oh My God, is a song that was released on End of Days soundtrack, and is, I believe. the only original song released by Axl after "Use Your Illusion". It's the more industrial sounding G'n'R, and I dig it! Although I didn't digg it. I don't understand what the hell that website is.

Your Pal, Jeff

Chicago Comix Revolution!

Spent a good part of my day today pounding the pavement getting my comics into comic shops. I traveled through the congested Saturday Chicago traffic and dropped of new books at Chicago comics and Quimbys. They're in opposite directions and I spend some time browsing so it took me over three hours. It's the kind of thing I need to do more often, to keep the stock of my books fresher, but it's kind of a hassle, especially during this horrible winter!
I only have my comics in three shops in Chicago, but it's hard to think of three better shops for them to be in! Chicago Comics, and sister store Quimbys are well maintained, stocked and staffed, not to mention how great they are with local artists. Then, there's the Comix Revolution in two locations, Evanston, and soon to be a new location in Mt.Prospect. I worked at the Comix Revolution for three years and the ability to read the stock without paying for it, (sorry Jim) was not only exciting, but crucial in my development as a comics artist.
Part of the swag I bought today in lieu for my minis, was the Awesome Anthology, put together by Charlito and Mr.Phil of Indie Spinner Rack fame.

I actually just discovered ISR, as I've only, until recently, gotten the gumption to understand this whole podcast thing. I could hardly believe that a podcast actually existed for alternative type comics. Amazing! How could this have existed so long outside of my knowledge? AaRGH! Since discovering it, I've been tearing through the huge archive of impressive guests that they've doubtlessly exhausted with their infectious enthusiasm. It's actually been somewhat of a rejuvenator for me to listen to this stuff, and hear people talk about comics and the scene on a regular basis. I've gone to a bunch of conventions, but I rarely talk to people about comics, only having casual friendships with other comics artists.
I haven't read it yet, but the Awesome Anthology is filled with a bunch of artists I dig, so I'm sure it's a, "can't go wrong!" Needless to say, if you haven't experienced Either Chicago Comics, Quimbys, Comix Revolution, or Indie Spinner Rack, DO SO!
So I'm hard at work on Burning Building Comix #4, BUT, while I'm at work I sometimes have time to work on some sketches, and have been working on the character design for the people in Issue #5. Here's a look at several head designs that didn't make the cut.

And as proof to the above statement about attending cons, here are some pics from last years Wizard World Chicago (I know, I know).

My blue coat, and Uber Comic Fan Jose!

Drawing sketches while people ignore me!

The displays and my bro Adam.

My boy and a convention pic. A TWO-FER! Van was trying to fit in with that whole cosplay crowd.

And now for the ipod 3 song shuffle.


It's Raining Men by Countdown Singers


Remember by The Raveonettes


Home of the Blues by Joaquin Phoenix


Okay...this will probably sound like a lie, but It's raining men, is my wife's song, and I'm embarrassed for her. Although it is the punchline to a funny Simpsons line. I think I've had the Raveonettes before, and the Joaquin Phoenix song is from the Walk the Line movie. Both my brother Adam and my wife Emily like Joaquin's take on Johnny Cashs' songs better than the originals, and while I'll admit Joaquin has a nice voice, Johnny Cash didn't have a horrible harelip!
Your Pal, Jeff

Devil Worshiping Hats

I only wish I could have titled this Devil Worshiping Pants, but alas it's inaccurate, though it would have been a hell of a lot funnier. I spent way too much time (a whole night's worth of drawing) coming up with the design for a hat that a character in Burning Building #4 will be wearing.
I was going for a goofy looking hat that will get a laugh merely by the character donning the silly thing. This was tougher than I thought it would be and took hours. Everything I liked looked too damn smurfy (That's an even better blog title!) including the one above, but different enough for me to settle on it.

Anyone that looked at the video or pictures from SPACE that I posted previously might have seen the displays I have for my respective mini-comics, BlackStar, and Burning Building Comix. I made a couple of quick videos that show the construction process of the displays I'd like to share . They're on my youtube page and only about 30 seconds long each. The idea with the displays was simply, to make something eye catching to get people to stop and look at the comics. The Burning Building display in particular also helps to convey the idea behind the whole series. They were actually a lot of fun to come up with and put together. They're made just from cardboard and paint, and had to be able to break down for easy travel, which made it trickier. But I like to pride myself as a sort of retarded low class engineer, as anyone who's seen the door I created to keep the cats from jumping off our porch, can attest. Here's a couple of sketches I made for the displays construction.

I wasn't sure if I should post stuff of this nature, thinking I'm the only person who will find it interesting. See, I love process, in almost any creative endeavor. Seeing the process someone takes to create something, is fascinating for me. Especially "making of" documentaries on DVDs like The Lord of the Rings. Best yet when it involves miniatures! Anyway, since I find it interesting, I'll just hope other people do as well. You can also see other videos on my youtube page with more process stuff, like me drawing and inking. I'll probably do more of these even if no one shows any interest.

Here are the three songs from my ipod shuffle.

"Manna" by Tanya Donnelly

"Rio" by Duran Duran

"Milk" by Garbage

Manna is a beautiful song by beautiful song writer Tanya Donnelly, of Belly, Throwing Muses, and Breeders fame. My favorite songs of hers are pretty and powerfully poppy, but her work of late hasn't been my thing. Manna is from her first solo album, and that whole record is pretty damn good.

Now Duran Duran is a "guilty pleasure" I guess, even though I hate that term, but a couple of their songs still hold up pretty well for me, with Rio being my favorite.

And another repeat band already, Milk, by Garbage. Milk is such a slow and silky beautiful sexy song with lyrics like, "I am red hot kitchen" I don't know what that means, but it's sexy and strange.

And here's a picture of Van.

He's reading from the collected Schizo, which like, Angry Youth Comics, is filled with horrible horrible stuff not befitting an impressionable young mind. Schizo is by alternative comics legend Ivan Brunetti. I owe some due to Mr.Brunetti, having taken his style as a jumping off point (shameless rip off to some) when I designed the characters in Burning Building. And I'm pretty sure that one of his comics, was part of the inspiration for the series.

He's a genius and his art gets better all the time, check him out if you haven't already. Interestingly, the original art from the above page is owned by my former boss, owner and proprietor of fantastic comic shoppe, the Comix Revolution.

On the road again...

Sticking to the format, I got a couple things to share. First off, a picture of the boy.

This was taken on Halloween, Van was a punk rocker, and this was after the other parts of his costume were shed. Also, as promised I have the video I put together for SPACE 2008. There's not much coverage of the show, but plenty of footage of two guys in car! ...at least it's short.

And finally here are the three shuffle songs from my ipod.

"I hate myself and I want to die" by Nirvana, from the boxed set.

"Little red light" by Fountains of Wayne

"That Great Love Sound" by the Raveonettes.

I love Nirvana, but some of their noisy jam stuff is just to much of a wank off for me. Once again Fountains of Wayne show up, already and only two times into this thing, anyway, great song about an answering machine. Then there's the Ravonettes, an extremely unique band, with a Phil Spector type song structure mixed with loud fuzzy guitars. Great stuff. Just in case anybody wanted to know, the music on the video is Driver 8 by R.E.M.

Your Pal, Jeff

3 Things!

Well, I kinda figured the most interesting way for me to update the blog, with any regularity is with a theme. So I'm gonna try and update once a week, with three different items. Firstly, because he's the cutest damn thing in the world, a picture of my son. Van is nearly 2 and I'll try to include only funny pictures, as I realize that other people's kids are only interesting to a point. Nextly, and because this is a blog for my comics, I'll post a piece of art from something I'm currently working on, or is something of interest. And lastly, I'll go to the old ipod mini and list three songs that come up on shuffle, as a means of getting to know me a little better, and what better way than ipod shuffle selection? It's the new, "What's your sign?" of our era. So here they are.

and here are the songs without editing for embarrassment.

"Special" by Garbage, from Version 2.0 I believe.

" '92 Subaru" by Fountains of Wayne, from Traffic and Weather

"Take on Me" by Ah-ha. No idea about an album.

So there you have it, Van loves to pick up books and pretend to read them. So this picture isn't posed in that sense, however, I believe I gave him the Angry Youth Comix, Comic after he picked up something else, for the sake of the picture. For those not in the know, Angry Youth Comix, is the deviant rantings of Johnny Ryan, and his comics are absolutely filthy, and completely inappropriate for a child under the age of 18. That's what makes the picture so humorous :) You can see Johnny's comics and all of his other cool shit here. http://www.johnnyr.com/

The art is a preview from Issue #3 of Burning Building Comix. It's in color cause it's going to appear on Topshelfcomix.com in their online comics section. They did this for Issue #1 already and you can see that here. http://www.topshelfcomix.com/comix.php?comic=burning&page=1 Top Shelf has published some of my favorite comics, including Blankets, Box Office Poison, Jeff Brown, James Kochalka, and I could go on and on.

And finally those are the songs. I LOVE Garbage, and am "rock star in love" with Shirley Manson, and the way she sings. Last I heard they might still be putting out a new record, after Shirley does a solo project. Maybe someday I'll do a mini-comic about my love for this band. Then there's Fountains of Wayne, who I also adore. They have a extremely catchy pop sound, that Van happens to be a huge fan of as well. Then there's, to me, the best 80's song of all time, Take on me, with perhaps the best music video of all time as well. No apologies for this song, I still love it, and haven't even been F'd out on it yet. http://youtube.com/watch?v=CUod3jGQt0U

Well, that will do it for now. I am working on some video from SPACE, but I have to get it transferred over still. Okay, thanks for reading.

Your Pal, Jeff