Take Care of the Princess

Another Commission: Chewy with Threepio. I had to do this one for Andrew after he purchased some off the website that we're already sold. Warning! My website isn't updated!

Signing at Quimbys:Seth and Tomine

So yesterday I went to Quimby's and saw Seth and Adrian Tomine. They both spoke for about twenty minutes each, and the place was packed. I was standing towards the back next to some guy who kept reaching around people to read books and sniffing snot back into his nose loudly. Seth recited six different stories about his life that related to comics, each punctuated by slides behind him and a tap on a bell. I saw Seth a couple of years ago at Columbia college doing a similar type of speaking engagement. Both were funny and insightful.

Adrian Tomine talked about the new edition of 32 stories, his collection of early mini-comic material. There was a little too much of the self deprecation for my tastes, but he did fess up to enough ego to make the overall theme very human.

After the speaking I waited in line to get my books signed. The line was slow and long. It took much longer than I expected, and I should have just browsed around and waited for the line to thin out. I brought Wimbledon Green for Seth to sign and an issue of Optic Nerve since I couldn't find my old 32 stories copy. (I looked everywhere!) Both guys were nice and friendly, as you would expect them to be. Still the line was long ( I think 40 minutes) and afterwards it was already late. Before I left I talked to Jeffrey Brown who's always good to chat with about kids and comics. I also got a chance to introduce myself to Ivan Brunetti who was nice enough to read some of my comics and give me his thoughts. I've heard how nervous Ivan can be around people who like his work, so I wasn't surprised that I freaked him out upon approaching him. He took a couple of steps back and avoided eye contact, but was pleasant and friendly engaging me in some conversation. He then tried to convince me that his latest book wasn't very good and I shouldn't buy it. Ivan introduced me to Daniel Raeburn of Imp fame, who was looking for some comic gossip alluded too in Adrian's talk.

I've seen Chris Ware at events like this in the past, and have shook his hand, but haven't had the opportunity to chat him up. I would have last night, as he and Ivan were talking just before I went over there, but alas, Chris left and didn't pop around again till after I was leaving.

Quimby's is great for these events and host all sorts of cool gatherings. In fact this weekend they're hosting both Bob Odenkirk of Mr. Show fame, and Archer Prewitt the master cartoonist behind Sof' Boy. Definitely not enough time in the week.

It's the Power of Love

Marty and Doc nice and framed, and both looking quite distressed. Just missing Einstein.

Great Scott!

Doc Brown from Back to the Future part 1 as played by Christopher Lloyd.

This is Heavy!

Marty McFly from Back to the Future part 1. A commission for Neil. Tomorrow Doc Brown.

Sneak Peek and Pinstripes

Okay, so here's a sneak peek at a piece for an anthology I just finished. I'll post details here about the book, BAM 2, when I get them. Speaking of anthologies, I decided recently to undertake one myself. I live in Chicago and there is a rather large group of talented comics artists that live here. I wanted to put together an anthology that showcased those artists. Then is occurred to me that if the anthology was going to be all Chicago artists, that the theme of the book should be about Chicago as well. I decided to embrace the stereotype and have a theme about Gangster violence in the 20's and 30's. The book will be called Pinstriped Bloodbath and my plan is to have it ready for this years SPX. I'll be posting here with details about the book as they come about.

Also, I have a couple more of the Pop Culture Portraits that I still have to post, that I'm going to put up the next couple of days. Aside from comics, the guys and bindeldog.com and myself have finished another comedy video short. It's a sequel to Before and After, the sketch about two brothers who pose as the before and after photos in weight loss ads. This one is quite a bit longer than the first, but the Rocky spoofs, and Jay Gish as the stereotyped Frenchman, Pierre are can't miss material! You can check it out here.

FCBD Mania

Free Comic Book Day is coming up on May 2nd and I have a couple of things going on. Firstly, I've been asked to be a part of a FCBD download anthology, the cover of which is above. As you can see the theme is ancient civilizations and my 5 pager is about ancient Egypt and the God Anubis. You can Download the whole book filled with a bunch of talented people on May 2nd at this website. ancient.wideawakepress.com Here's the official blurb.

The Ancient Age presented by Wide Awake Press
On May 2nd (Free Comic Book Day!) revel in a pantheon of illustrated lore from the ancient age. This free comic download gathers fantastic stories about the world's earliest civilizations, as told by the mighty sequential artisans of today. A monumental mix of new and classic tales featuring heroes, philosophers, creatures, and gods. It’ll be spectacularly epic, epically spectacular, spantafically epilacar—it’ll be good!

And here's a list of the people involved.

Dan Boyd
Michael Bresnahan
J Chris Campbell
Andrew Davis
Andrew Drilion
Patrick Dean
Paul Friedrich
Alexis Frederick-Frost
Justin Gammon
Bernie Gonzalas
Brad Mcgintiy
Corinne Mucha
Dusty Harbin
Mike LaRiccia
Joe Lambert
Josh Latta
Pat Lewis
Rey Ortega
Katie Skelly
Steve Steiner
Ben Towle
Rob Ullman
Jeff Zwirek

It's a strong group of cartoonists and I want to thank J Chris Campbell, (the man behind Wide Awake Press) for allowing me to be involved.

In addition to the download I'll also be doing some work at the Roselle Public Library, who are having several comics people doing talks and workshops for all the kids. I'm going to be doing a presentation on comic drawing, and on getting published...or at least self publishing. Should be a good time with free comics, and buddy Elliot Serrano will be on hand to talk about his writing prowess.
http://www.roselle.lib.il.us/

I'm almost out of portraits to post so I suppose I'll be going back to posting once a week or so with whatever I'm currently working on. Lately I've been lucky enough to get some commissions that have put some money in my pocket, and I've been doing lots of writing (in my head at least) for the next long form comic. Before starting that though, I'll put doing more short comics, like the one to appear in the Ancient Age, and I'll have a piece in the new Big Ass Mini BAM 2 anthology.

In related news, the bindledog guys and myself have recently landed a legit job producing cartoon shorts for ESPNchicago.com Those should start appearing soon, and I'll post them here for people to check out.


For anybody who might be missing them, I am planning on getting back to the cartoon excersises from Ivan Brunetti's book, so stay close.