A day in the life...

High Contrast Review (Print Edition)

My friend Sam Kulla (the same talented fellow that helped me create my website) is co-editing the first issue of what will be an ongoing publication of art, literature, and music with contributors from around the globe (including me). Right now they're fundraising to get the whole thing rolling. You can find out more about the publication and how to help at www.highcontrastreview.com/kickstarter

Heat Vision

According to the Portland Zoo, this is what I would look like to a snake.

Secret Acres Blog!

Secret Acres has launched their blog! http://secretacres.com/blog/ Definitely worth checking out on a regular basis. They're going full force with some excellent new books, out now and coming soon. I'm drawing a new limited edition poster for them at the moment and when they're in Portland for the Stumptown Comics Festival at the end of April, we'll be having our official meeting about my own book that's in the works.

a real liveTea Gnome!

Stefan Gruber (excellent animator, comic artist, and teacher) sent me this photo of a Tea Gnome that his student, Chris Johnson made in is class. It made me feel weird inside (in a good way) to see one of my characters be brought to life like this, and so skillfully too! I've always said that Tea Gnomes are real, and now here is the proof. Thanks for believing, Chris!

back and running

I'm back from an incredible time at ArtFest! Huge thanks to all the folks who took my workshops, hung out and talked with me, and supported my work at vendor night! Thank you Teesha and Tracy Moore for putting on such wonderful and innovative event!

I'm back in my studio working away on several things at once now. Above is a comic page in progress. The next big event for me will be the Stumptown Comics Fest here in Portland, OR!

jump-roping monster dedication.

I'd like to dedicate this jump-roping monster to all the kind people who have followed this blog, written me emails, and sent me letters over the last couple of years. It all pretty mind blowing to me to be getting this kind of support for the funny things I do.

I'm heading up to ArtFest in Port Townsend, Washington very soon. I'll be teaching a couple of all day workshops and getting to see all the amazing people I only get to see during this once a year event. When I get back I'm going to get seriously crazy with some comic pages. This is my plan. This is my destiny.

Low budget

You can totally tell how this was done.

still life with imaginary fire and grapefruit

I am eating the grapefruit as I type this and the imaginary fire is still burning on the table behind me.

creature overseas

I have a few small pieces, including the above wood-cut, in an art show at the Kunstverein Langenhagen Gallery in Langenhagen, Germany. It's the first time I've ever been in an art show outside the United States! www.kunstverein-langenhagen.de

...!...

It ran up to the entrance of the drawing and looked right at me!

...

Something that I've never actually physically done, but am always secretly doing.

At the Portland Chinese Gardens

building buildings

I sat at a picnic table near a playground for a few hours this past Saturday and worked on these buildings for my book. There were dogs running everywhere chasing sticks and balls, kids on tire swings, and a group of college students playing croquet. The trees are all in bloom here. I love spring in Portland.

getting ready for work

Sometimes holding a picture of laughing bird people in my hand is all it takes.

This is what happens when I close the blinds in my studio

Giant Robot, Game Over Show

I made this little drawing for the upcoming video game themed show at the Giant Robot gallery in San Fransisco. I thought I was too busy to pull off being a part of this, but everyone who works at GR-SF is awesome, so I couldn't bring myself to say no. Hopefully I can pull of making a second piece for them before I have to get this to the post office. If you're in the Bay Area, their shows are always worth catching: www.gr-sf.com

collaborative drawing

When Daria Tessler was in Portland last summer we met up for coffee and made this collaborative drawing together. I hadn't seen the drawing since we made it, so it was fun to get an email from her with it attached! She's also moving out here later in the spring, so hopefully there will be more collaborations in the future. Check out her website filled with amazing work: www.animalsleepstories.com

Stumptown Comics Fest Poster

I got asked to do the poster for this year's Stumptown Comics Fest, and I had a lot of fun making it. The Fest isn't happening until the last week of April, but I figured it's never too early to start talking about it. All the floating comics in the poster have titles. Sorry you can't read them in this tiny scan. I'll have to do some detail shots at some point.
I'm extra excited for this year's festival because my publisher, Secret Acres will be coming all the way out from New York to attend. We'll be having a meeting about my new book while they're in town, so I'm trying to have as many pages ready as possible . Wish me luck!

Three things I saw yesterday

an alien wearing a necklace.

A hunting Blue Heron. A smiling stone cat face.

some peeks at things

I'd forgotten I'd made this little drawing until I found it in a stack of papers the other day.
This is a small section of a drawing that's going to be in StudyGroup12 #4, which is an awesome anthology of comics and art that cartoonist Zack Soto edits. There's an incredible list of artists for this, so I'll be excited to see it when it comes out in late April.

This is a tiny section of a huge drawing I've been working on for a project that's still suppose to be top secret I think. I'm running incredibly late on finishing it. I always get excited about contributing to all these great projects I get invited be a part of, but my own book is taking up so much of my heart and head right now, I'm gong to need to start saying no to everyone very soon !

a piece of paper i've been placing my pen on

I've been drawing and drawing and writing and drawing. A lot. It's hard to keep up on things like blogs sometimes, though I'm trying my best not to vanish for too long at a time. The picture above is a sneak peak at a new comic, but it could also be seen as an explanation of sorts for my periods of absence from reality. Yes, I still have a lot of wall paper to ink. I know it sounds crazy, but I find it relaxing.

Rubber Bubble

I spent a few moments of my day looking through a rubber bubble. It was what I needed right then

Thanks Steve!!

Steve Salik made a sculpture based on one of the woodcut creatures I made around Christmas time. It recently arrived in a box at my door and I'm still totally blown away by his generosity and craftsmanship. The sculpture now lives with me in my studio and has been overseeing things from a prominent vantage point. I've known about Steve's beautiful hand made books since I've had the pleasure of hanging out with him at the PLAY retreats for the last couple of years, but sculpture is a totally new thing for him. Hopefully he already has more sculptures in the works. Check out more of Steve's work on his blog: http://strangejournals.com

Prism Index

Last night I went to the release party for the first issue of Prism Index, a beautiful handmade magazine that I contributed four pages to. I would love to see more publications like this in the world. The man behind it all, Jeffrey Bowers went all out: From the silk screened cover with hand-made paper, to the hand-stamped 88 minute dvd of short films and animation, a hand-stamped 72 minute cd of strange and interesting music, plus 80 pages of art, comics, poetry, short fiction and non-fiction. It's also a limited edition of 500.

Here's one of the spreads from the magazine featuring my art. I hope this will be the first of many issues to come! Check out the prism index website at www.prismindex.com . I think actual copies won't be shipped until March since he's on the road right now, but copies can be reserved.

In the studio

While working on my new book, it's been hard to know what to keep top secret and what to share. It's been a chaotic process in so many ways but a shape to it all is slowly being found. I'll be posting some actual pages from the book soon I think!

Every time I turn around, my cat is suddenly asleep on my work. I put this new drawing of a break dancing mummy on top of him to see if it would wake him up, but apparently he can sleep through anything.This is the look he gave me when I tried to get him to move.
These are more dangerous than they look.

Juxtapoz and Giant Robot

There's a little one page artist spotlight on me in the February issue of Juxtapoz (page 20). The art copied I little weird I thought, but it's still exciting to be in such a great magazine.

Also, issue 63 of Giant Robot has a short Q&A thing with me on page 36 regarding the big Giant Robot Biennale show that's Just ending at the Japanese American National Art Museum in LA.

It was pretty crazy to walk into a bookstore and see both of these magazines sitting next to each other on the racks.

park time

Yesterday I took a break from drawing and jogged to the park near my house. I re-found this tiny bit of graffiti I had drawn a few months back, and I wondered if anyone had pressed the button. I did.

I also found a new climbing tree.

Ramona Falls Shirt

I had breakfast with Brent Knopf, of the band Ramona Falls the other day (who's debut album I did the art for) and he gave me this awesome 5 color silk screened shirt he had made for his European tour. Here's where you can find them: http://www.bingo-bazaar.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=97

PIC MSG

It's always fun to get a spontaneous picture message on my phone from a friend showing me what they're working on at that very moment. This one was from Tracy Moore, sent from a coffee shop in Seattle. I immediately took a picture of what was in front of me on my drawing table and sent it as a reply. Modern technology now allows for such things. Tracy is one of my favorite people to draw with, so I found myself wishing for teleportation.

Today's Drawing table

Today is a very rare palindrome date! 01/02/2010. I woke up early and made French toast for Heather and I, then got right to work. Above is the ever mutating title page to my comic, The Quiet Family. Wrote and thumb nailed four new pages then worked on various unfinished pages.

Lentil soup with Parmesan cheese and Jasmin green tea, with a cutting board for a place mat. Writing pad with pencil and eraser are essential while eating. Lunch was a success!Mortimer has been hiding behind me under the rug. I'm letting him think I don't know.
Currently propped on my drawing table for inspiration: a framed picture of a Balinese Mask, and a rock I found at Heather's favorite camping spot.

Currently pinned in front of my drawing table for inspiration: Home made Ghost Goggles and a page from a Jack Kirby comic featuring an alien landscape.
A tiny section of an unfinished page. This one is going to take awhile, so I'm working on it in stages. Now I must write bills, then probably a walk (so I can be counted among the people who actually went outside today)....Over and out.

Happy New Year!

This is officially my last completed drawing of 2009 (finished moments ago). It's a page from the book I'll be working on as much as possible in 2010.