Where There's Smoke...

Well there's still some time before Christmas to get some holiday shopping done, and what better gift than mini-comics? To celebrate the holiday I'm offering all five Issues of Burning Building Comix for the discounted price of $12.00! They'll even come wrapped in a beautiful decorative bow. Isn't that festive? To order email me and mention that you want the holiday set. Remember, this is what the what shabang looks like put together.

Full Color Black Out!

So I'm pretty bummed I couldn't make it to SPX this year, which took place over the weekend, especially since I've heard it was a good year, with lots of good product and sales to be had. Maybe I'll be able to swing the full convention circuit next year.
Anyway, the fine folks at Top Shelf have put up the third Issue of Burning Building #3 in FULL COLOR! Please go here to check it out. Also a while back The Chicago Tribune did a video piece of the Diane Tanios Gallery show and I've just found it posted recently. Plus since the completion of the series, I thought it appropriate to take some "book porn" shots of the completed building in all of it's glory. Hey, you can build your own!

On a sadder note, my Chicago White Sox finally blew it the other night. They had a long, extremely frustrating season, with a second half that pissed me off more than rush hour traffic in the rain. But alas they managed to put together some very exciting well pitched games at the end, to make the season feel successful. I was at the critical "Black Out" game, however, and that was as thrilling a baseball experience I've had, and since I'm broke, its the closest I'll come to the playoff environment.

Here's another passage from Moby Dick that I liked quite a bit.

"Death seems the only desirable sequel for a career like this, but Death is only a launching into the region of the strange Untried; it is but the first salutation to the possibilities of the immense Remote, the Wild, the Watery, the Unshored; therefore, to the death-longing eyes of such men, who still have left in them some interior compunctions against suicide, does the all-contributed and all receptive ocean alluringly spread forth his whole plain of unimaginable, taking terrors, and wonderful, new-life adventures; and from the hearts of infinite Pacifics, the thousand mermaids sing to them -"Come hither, brokenhearted; here is another life without guilt of intermediate death; here are wonders supernatural, without dying for them. Come hither! bury thyself in a life oblivious than death. Come hither! put thy gravestone, too, within the churchyard, and come hither, till we marry thee!""

Swedish Cyborg

So I had a great time at the panel in Columbia Missouri this past weekend. I only wish I had more time to hang out and talk to people, as everyone was so nice.

Hey did anyone watch Terminator the Sarah Conner Chronicles, or as I call it, that show with Shirley Manson! Well Shirley was in the first episode, and she was pretty wooden. She looked good enough, but the acting seemed a little stiff, unless it was on purpose! Spoiler. Shirley is a robot, so I'm not sure if she was acting that way on purpose. But I do love the idea of another Terminator robot with an inappropriately thick foreign accent.

In other exciting news, Burning Building #5 is done! I have to merely print it up, but it's all assembled hacked together. I'll post here when the new issue is available to order.

So, I finally got some pictures of the prints from the gallery show over on my flickr page. Van here is posing with the facade to give you an idea of scale. Email me if your interested in purchasing a page, I'll let you know which ones are left and give you a price.

Bragadocious Uber

Finally got some pictures from the gallery show! You can see them on their flickr set here. The show opened on August 1st, and was great. Tons of people showed up! For a couple of hours, it was jam-packed and kinda hard to see the art on the walls. I had a great time and met a lot of cool people. Special thanks to everyone who turned out to the show. I'm really truly humbled when people take the time to stop and lend me their support. It really makes all the time sitting behind a table worth while.

To anyone whom I didn't get a chance to speak to or meet, I'm new to the gallery environment and didn't know exactly how to behave, so excuse me if I didn't introduce myself.

I did get to talk to a couple of different reporters, who interviewed me for various publications. I spoke with super nice guy Elliot Serrano, who writes for The Chicago Tribune's sister publication Red Eye. He wrote up a nice article on the show and you can read it for yourself here.

I also talked to the Pioneer Press and expect to see an article in print August 14th. Plus there's some rumbling about a Chicago Tribune video web thing.

Jeez, does this all sound like bragging? I guess. I'm just very excited and with only a couple pages left to ink on the 5th and final issue of Burning Building, all the hard work feels like it's starting to pay off. And hey, it's presumptuous to even do a blog about yourself, so this is the only forum to go ahead and whore your work out right? I guess.

Thanks to Mike Sims and Jenny Seay who pimped out yours truly on their Podcast cast over at Earth-2.net. You can check out Mike's one stop comic culture news, message board, and podcasting hub here. One of my very earliest comics work was with Mike, doing a Twilight-Zone-esque comic about killer bunnies.

So the gallery show with the other uber talented artists, Alex Wald, Tony Akins, Gene Ha, and Elisabeth Belliveau, will be on display at the Diane Tanios Gallery all of August. Seriously, having now seen all the other artists work up close, man are these guys good, and technical geniuses! Plus, everyone has been super nice and cool to a wet behind the ears, social retard like me.

Pretentious Wizard Sox

Well, I'm off to Wizard World Chicago today. In the past, I've set up in the artist alley to sell the minis, but it's never been too successful an endeavor, as you can imagine. Wizard World is a big super hero show, so the audience isn't exactly what I'm after, however, it's so close and since there isn't a small press show here, I do it for the sake of it. Well, I decided to save my money and skip it this year, but I will attend to say hi to some people and maybe hand out some comics. So, I do finally have the new issues of Burning Building Comix #3 and #4 finally available! They aren't up on the website yet, but they are printed and ready to go.

So, even though I'm not making super hero comics, and I'm supposed to hate fan boy cons, I do enjoy taking in a big show. Mostly I like looking around at all the new stuff, the toys, and comics, and I love seeing little kids dressed up as superheroes. And speaking of which, Van has some superman PJ's and he thinks he looks pretty darn snazzy when he's all dressed up.

Back to the Ipod three song random shuffle.

Cup of Coffee by Garbage
Lakini's Juice by Live
Fire starter by The Prodigy

I don't know what happened to Live. To me, they were so good for three or four albums, but then just fell off completely. One of those weird things, I guess, but then there's the idea that it's a band from my youth, and maybe I just outgrew the music. I think they just got too pretentious. Still, I love the cool guitar sound on Lakini's Juice and even if they were pretentious by this point in their career, I can always appreciate just the right amount of pretension.

I used Firestarter as a song on one of my video pieces for Burning Building Comix. I think The Prodigy is still around and kicking, and I'll have to get around to checking it out at some point to see if they still have the sound.

And Garbage again. Anyone that's ever read this blog before knows my love for that band. Cup of Coffee is a nice slow, sad, song, and for whatever reason, sometimes those make me feel best.

By the way, the Cubs - Sox series is killing me! These games are too intense, and I'd rather go without them. Even though the Sox go for the sweep tonight, with the potential to tie up the season series.

How to make a Mini-Comic!

I just finished doing a new printing of Burning Building #1, so I took a bunch of photos of the process and have it posted over on Flickr for anyone to see. So instead of the usual post, I'm just gonna give a quick update on the Top Shelf web comics, and then send you over the the Flickr set.

I've been talking to the guys at Top Shelf, and we're gonna post all the issues of Burning Building on the new section of their web comics page, Top Shelf 2.0. Right now, Issue #1 is up, and I'm working on finishing up the coloring of Issue #2. Once they're all done, you'll be able to view them all online stacked on top of each other! I'll post here when the new issues are gonna be posted, or just keep checking Top Shelf, cause they're posting new comics every weekday! Holy Crap!

Okay, so here's where you can find the pictures on Flickr, and I'm trying to figure out how to have a slide show of that set of photos run on the side of the page here on the blog, but I'm not sure if that's gonna work.

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.

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.