Capacity number eight!

Here's my last day of the year surprise: Secret Acres will be publishing Capacity number 8 this spring! I had thought I was finished with the Capacity series, but then suddenly I wasn't.

draw draw draw

More progress today on a big two page spread for the The Understanding Monster, Book Two. you can see a image of the larger scene here.

collaborative drawing

This is a collaborative drawing I did with Luke Ramsey a few years ago. We've only ever gotten to hang out one time, and this is what happened. I was happy to find this colored version of it online recently. Feels like a nice documentation of a great day.

Signatures

I just signed a bunch of copies of Capacity that people ordered from my Etsy shop. I always draw a little character in the corner of the title page. It keeps things fun. They'll be shipped off in the morning. I'm thankful for all the supportI've ben getting! It keeps me going. Everything I do is for the mission, the mission is everything.

Toy Growth

Art in progress for The Understanding Monster, Book Two.

this mummy

             Working on The Understanding monster, Book two

New York Times

It was nice to see this little review of The Understanding Monster, Book One by Douglas Wolk in the Sunday New York Times book review!

two multi-dimensional weather spirits

                   

Portrait of a Timrick

I just put up another new limited edition print for sale on my Etsy Shop. Timrick's are one of my very favorite creatures to draw. One of these days I'll make a comic about them.

Missoula Made Fair

I'll be at the Made Fair all day this coming Sunday. It looks like it'll be a pretty exciting cross section of Missoula's creative community. I'll be there with new prints, woodcut originals, and other curiosities. Looking forward to it. This flyer image was made by the always awesome Courtney Blazon

Fact and Fiction signing

I'll be signing books at Fact and Fiction in downtown Missoula from 5pm to 7pm signing books as part of a benefit for Sussex School. If you happen to be downtown for the First Friday gallery walk, stop in and say hi!

To Be Continued...

Here's the piece I made for the Pony Club Gallery show. I decided to make a piece about continuation instead of visualizing an ending. Turn into an antlered werewolf and laugh, share a drink with your doppelganger, feed a sandwich to a monster, let out some ghosts. The Train keeps on going.

Pony Club Gallery group show

I made a piece for the End Of The World themed show curated by Keith Carter, opening Thursday the 6th at Pony Club Gallery in Portland, OR.

Sotokaramita magazine

I'm excited to be in this new Japanese art magazine, Sotokaramita. The editor, Graeme McNee started it as a vehicle for introducing western cartoonists to Japan. The other cartoonists included in this first issue are Dash Shaw, Gabrielle Bell, Aidan Koch, and Jeffrey Brown. Such great company! It was nice to have one of my drawings on the cover too!

new folks

At Work

                          Things on my drawing table today.

Thank you Bat Kid

Elcabob the Bat Kid holds my keys for me while I work at my studio. It helps me a lot.

holiday cards

I've got four different holiday cards up for sale on my etsy shop . There's an extra special deal for all four. Christmas action sequence time!

A Cosmic Elephant Woman sighting

another new limited edition print I just put up on my Etsy Shop!

Explorer with golden sea creatures and tiny ghosts

I'm finally getting some new limited edition prints up at my etsy shop. I just finished signing and numbering this one.

Happy Birthday, Griffin!

A green Griffin for Griffin, on his very first birthday!

New Space Cadets release!

Lyterian, Chambers of Apogee is the sixth album cover I've drawn for Space Cadets and the first full color one. It's a great album. I listened to it over and over again while I drew the cover and I feel like the music really seeped into the imagery. I also drew a new color logo image. Can't wait to get the the vinyl in the mail from London!

Today at the Thought Cloud Factory

There's some new woodcuts in progress, propped around my studio studio right now. I haven't really made new wood pieces since my show at Giant Robot in July. Ideally I want to always have a couple in the works. The bottom photo is my Drawing A Day book that I started last Christmas. Almost done!

public contemplation display

tumblr

I started a tumblr site a little while ago, mostly because I found a format option where you can show pictures really big on the screen.  I thought it'd be a good way to show some art up close and personal. This blog will still be the place where I have all my news and writings and such, but it's fun to have  this other place to put things. I've also been discovering a lot of great art through the whole weird interconnectedness thing that happens there. I've been adding a lot of new stuff to my screen saver inspirational slide show.

Something on my drawing table right now.

Google eyes and ghost statues

Coming across stuff like this just warms my heart. Finding these expertly placed google eyes in Helena, Montana and well tailored ghost sheets on a statue of George Washington in Portland, Oregon were both reaffirming experiences for me. Thank you, people. Thank you.

Short Run was Awesome

It was a fast, crazy, and fun trip. And it was already a week ago. I'm bad at recapping my excursions but you can read a nice write up about Short Run that Sean Ford wrote for the Secret Acres Blog if you like. He describes it pretty well. Short Run is a small but solid alternative comics show with a strong focus on community. I'm glad I made the trip. You can actually see Sean and I off to the left in the photo above. You can also see the always awesome Sean Christensen in his amazing teal blue pants. And look, there's Tim Root and Chris Cilla slinging their amazing weirdo comics. There were free haircuts going on behind me, huge paper and art supplies for doodling, and comics and animation performances. Basically the kind of stuff that should be going on every weekend, everywhere. Huge thanks to Eroyn Franklin for letting me crash in her living room and to everyone I met and talked to.

Twenty Two Go-Forms and Disbelief Suspension Suit

 I'm back from my amazing trip to Portland for a book signing at Floating World and Seattle for the Short Run comics fest. I'll tell you more about it soon, but for now, heres a couple of drawings I made while hanging out with my good friends Teesha and Tracy Moore.

Interview with The Comics Journal

I did a phone interview with Marc Sobel from the Comics Journal a couple of months ago and it can be read here now. I've never done a telephone interview before, but Mark was great, in depth, and easy to talk to. I climbed a tree next to a pond near my house and talked to him for 2 hours strait. He later transcribed it all into words and  there was something surreal about reading a conversation that was originally spoken aloud. I was given the option to edit anything that i said, but decided to leave it. It felt more pure that way. It definitely focuses on a whole different side of things than the other interviews I've been doing lately. We got into childhood memories, early experiences with art, the psychological experience of  art making, and so much more. Thanks for talking, Mark!

Short Run, Seattle, Saturday the 3rd!

This is where I'll be all day this coming Saturday! Comics, Zines, Art Books, Animation, Yes! Sean Ford and I will be slinging Secret Acres books and eating snacks like crazy. Come visit us and tell us things.

Floating World Comics, Thursday, November First!

I'll be at Floating World Comics in downtown Portland, Oregon from 6-10 pm on November first! I'm hanging some original art on the wall, drawing in copies of The Understanding Monster Book One, and giving a slide show talk at 8 pm. You can check out more details here. I'll only be in Portland for a day, but I'm going to have fun hanging out in one of the best comic shops ever and hopefully I'll get to see lots of good friends throughout the insanity of the evening. There might be no sleep.

Interview with the Comics Reporter

It was great to get interviewed by Tom Spurgeon on his Comics Reporter site. He asked some thorough technical questions about my process in the last half of the interview that made me have to sit and think for awhile. You can check it out here if you like.

Soil Gallery

 I'm excited about this upcoming art show at Soil Gallery in Seattle. I think it's a great idea for a show. It explores the creative process of 20 artists who will all be at Short Run. It'll feature doodles on scrap paper, brainstorm drawings, and sketches alongside finished pieces. It should be pretty interesting! I won't make it to the November first opening because I'll be doing a book release event at Floating World that night in Portland, but I'm planning on checking it out the following day when I take the bus up with some good friends.

 Here's a ripped out page from a random sketchpad that's in the show. It's probably one of the loosest drawings I've done that I'm actually still happy with. The bird of excitement has infiltrated the palace of boredom!

Here's another doodle from the show. I have so many crazy piles of fast little drawings like this lying around. It was fun to have an excuse to dig through a few.