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.

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.

SPACE 2008

Well, another convention has come and gone. SPACE 2008! Had a good time and met some cool people. Columbus Ohio is a long way from Chicago, six hours, so it's a bit exhausting, but you find things to make it worth while. Like the Waffle House! Damn good stuff! We don't have these in Chicago and when I first saw them, I thought, Waffles? Big fucking deal, who cares that much about waffles? Well I'm an open minded man, always looking to expand my mind, least ways in that it involves food, so I finally went to one, and enjoyed myself some good fucking waffles! This particular trip however I went nuts and tried some chocolate chips on my waffle. That was a mistake. The chocolate chips completely overpowered the delicate beauty of the waffle house waffle! Another life lesson learned.

I've done several trips down to SPACE now, and have never been blown away by the crowds, but managed to do a little better each year. This year however seemed slower that last, but I did meet, and exchange goods with several fine people. See the posed photographs below.

I hooked up with all around good guy Steve Hamaker and had a laugh.


Steve is the talent behind the comic Fish and Chips, not to mention the colorist supreme of Bone!
Check out his technologically talented ass here. http://www.steve-hamaker.com/

Also meet Pat Lewis, creator of several fine minis, and the beautiful hard cover collection, The Claws Come Out, from IDW. http://www.lunchbreakcomics.com/



He was sitting next to fellow Pittsburgian, Ed Piskor, who managed to exchange a copy of his latest book, Wizzywig, with me on the sly.


If you haven't had the chance yet to check out Ed's work, he's doing some real interesting and original stuff.http://www.edpiskor.com/

I also purchased the wares of mini-comic luminaries Neil Fitzpatrick, and Justin Madson, Nice guys with beautiful tables, and solid sales techniques. http://www.neiljam.com/ http://www.justmadbooks.com/

Also had the chance to meet fellow Illinoisan John Hankiewicz, the final member of the Holy Consumption I finally got to share a handshake with. I bought John's book Asthma, of which I've only heard good things, and he was nice enough to throw in a mini called bald knob, with a very nicely done lithographed cover!

All of these guys were in the same row, or close to it, making it the most visited section of the floor for me. I was on the other side of the room.

Sunday was a little slow.

As per usual the guys in the tables next to me were very nice, and offered some fun conversation. SPACE does lack the presence of the bigger indie publishers, which tend to bring some excitement to the shows, but Bodega Dist. was there with Sparkplug books right next to them, with some really cool looking stuff. I was too broke to buy much of anything, but they did have a slew of top quality stuff available to the crowd.

Last but not least is a comic drawn by my brother Adam, who keeps me company at these conventions, and at times draws his own comics based on his experiences when he gets bored. Enjoy.

I did take some video of the trip, that I'm gonna have to post later in the week, and maybe I'll talk a little more about conventions in general. Thanks to everyone who stopped by the table and bought comics!

Your Pal, Jeff

Well here's my crack at the blog. It's titled the Worlds Worst Blog, because it probably won't be updated all that often or all that well. But who knows, it is an excellent way to quickly get some information out there. In that spirit I will be at the Small Press and Alternative Comics Expo, or SPACE, this coming weekend selling my wares. A new printing of BlackStar #1 will be available as well as some original art (You can see those here, http://www.jeffscomics.com/blackstar.html and here, http://www.jeffscomics.com/originalart.html). In addition to just selling this weekend, I'll also be hosting a Panel on Sunday called Groupthink. It's a workshop method for developing story, you can see more information here, http://www.jeffscomics.com/groupthink.html.
Updating this blog with pics,video, and art might be slow, but that's the plan at the moment, so bear with me, I'll do my best to keep on top of things, and if anyone looks at this thing, I might be able to keep up with regular updates, or pretentious musings. Your Pal, Jeff