collaborative comics

Last night I hung out with my friends, Sean Christensen and Amy Kuttab and worked on a collaborative comics project we're doing. We started by each drawing a character and naming them. We each started a story with our character, then passed it to someone else to continue. We found a way to connect the three original pages into one story, and now it's been growing. We have 14 pages or so now. We're going work on it a bit every time we hang out and see how far it goes. Below is a single page featuring NarNar and a character that doesn't have a name yet. Everything is in pencil so far. When we're done, we'll probably divide them up and ink them. I love it when hanging out with good friends becomes an awesome project!

Trojan Moosicorn

My friend Aron Nels Steinke is a student teacher in a 5th grade class at Buckman Elementary School here in Portland. Last Tuesday was a guest speaker. I read my comic, "Norman Eight's Left Arm" to the class, answered tons of questions, then drew a big picture on the dry erase board, which they decided was a "Trojan Moosicorn".

It's been a long time since I've been around elementary aged kids and it was wonderful. The kids were interested, fun, and full of creative energy. I got to look through a big stack of comics pages they've been working on class. It was inspiring to see how they intuitively solved different cartooning problems in interesting ways. I've been thinking about their comics all week and wishing I could look at them again. A good sign for the future of comics!

tiny ghosts and a giant cat

I'm having a nice mellow day working on a new limited edition poster for Secret Acres. Every once in awhile I stop and watch the rain outside. Mortimer's been up to his usual antics, rolling around on my drawing table and trying to get as close as he can to my hand as I work. The tiny ghosts seem drawn to his giant face in the picture above. Conclusion: dynamic personalities attract tiny ghosts.

Sometimes when I'm working, I put my face so close to the page, I end up being surprised by how small I've actually been drawing. It seems pretty big at the time.

It's almost done, I think.

Stumptown aftermath

Sunday at the Stumptown Comics Fest was fun. I talked to so many people that my own voice began to sound alien to me. A girl named Cass showed me her arm. She'd decided to have a drawing from my zine "Imaginary Homework" put on to her arm forever! It is my hope that she will not regret it someday. It was sad to see Barry and Leon of Secret Acres off at the airport after such a great time. Thanks to everyone who spent time at our table and to all the great cartoonists who provided me with inspiring loot.

Stumptown Comics Fest update special

I had a blast with Secret Acres at the Stumptown Comics Fest on Saturday. Now I'm about to have my morning tea and head back for day number two. The Copies of Capacity we're selling at the table are some of the last! We're talking about the second printing while they're in town, but it'll be unavailable for a number of months in the meantime. It's been an inspiring show so far and having Barry and Leon from Secret Acres out here has gotten me charged up to get back to my drawing table and make these new new pages that I can't stop thinking about.

Stumptown Comics fest is this weekend!

I'll be at the Festival all weekend (April 24th and 25th) signing books at the Secret Acres table and talking to whomever happens my way (table 42 to be exact). Come out and say hi if you can! I'll have prints for sale, and Secret Acres will have all kinds of excellent publications to check out. I'll also be taking part in a panel discussion with them from 4 to 4:45 PM on Saturday in the Alaska room. People will ask us things. replies will be made. Find out detailed information at www.stumptowncomics.com

Also, if you're in portland on Friday the 23rd, come out to the Stumptown pre-party at Guapo Comics and Coffee on 6350 SE Foster. There will be a comics reading, awards, things to drink and eat, and cartoonists everywhere. It's also the release party for a number of books that awesome friends of mine have made which I haven't gotten to see yet, and which I cannot wait to have in my hands. I won't be taking part in the comics reading this time but I'll be in the audience eating grapes and holding some kind of beverage.

a pile of toys.

This pile of toys is from a page in my new comic. I don't know when it's going to be done. The scope of the story feels quite beyond me most days. I feel like it's a living thing that I'm trying to document and map but it won't sit still. So I try to sit still instead. When I just sit and work on a single panel, try to make a drawing of a pile of toys just right, or draw the wall paper pattern behind a character, my brain finally relaxes and it suddenly all makes sense. For a moment. I've decided to stop being in a hurry and just enjoy the act of building something inch by inch. When I'm in a hurry, I never find that moment I'm looking for anyways.

Slowing it down

I've been really trying to slow down and just enjoy making comics again. It's been hugely rewarding to be make ends meet by making art, but it can also have a detrimental effect on the passion that drives me to make it. I recently decided to stop selling my work at the Portland Saturday Market, which feels like a scary decision. I've been lugging my work down there and setting up shop for over three years now, and it's been a great experience, but now I feel like I need to retreat and get really focused on my bigger goals as an artist. I want to make books and everything I do that isn't making books, pushes my newest work further into the future.

I'm going to start an etsy site soon where I'll be selling originals, screen prints (like the one above), and whatever else I can come up with to help make my rent each month. I'm planning on attending a lot more comics festivals too. But telling stories with my art is the most challenging and satisfying outlet for me by far, so my long term goal is to someday make a living doing just that. Onwards and upwards!

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