Turning the Corner

This has been a preview of The Understanding Monster, book one; Available someday from certain locations.

I'll be at this tomorrow!

I'm taking a weekend trip up to the Olympia Comics Festival. I'll be sharing a table with Sean Christensen and Amy Kuttab, and we'll have the hot off the presses second printing of our collaborative comic, "Play Overlord". We'll also have a nice selection of Secret Acres books as well as all my own books, zines and prints. I was at this show last year and it was a fun time, so I'm excited to be making it back.

Thought Cloud Shrines

I just put up some copies of a limited edition reprint of my long out of print art zine, Thought Cloud Shrines, over at my Etsy Shop: www.theoellsworth.etsy.com

I've just put up more original art for sale over at my Etsy shop www.theoellsworth.etsy.com . Above is the newest version of the gentle monster that I love to draw and below is a pen and ink drawing that I orginally made as an endpage design for the Best American Comics 2010 anthology that Neil Gaiman edited.

The Understanding Monster

I've been off working my way through the tricky world of my new book as much as possible lately. I tend to be secretive about works in progress until they feel like they can properly step out into reality without evaporating on me. This new work has been the most challenging process by far, and also the most fun. I feel like I'm getting closer, inch by inch, to really being able tell the stories that have been hiding inside of my art. It's an exciting feeling. If I can just keep the momentum going! Above is a another small glimpse of what I've been up to.

new woodcut characters

I've been slowly working on new woodcut characters, a little at a time, whenever I'm in my studio. Here's 3 most recent ones. They'll be up on my Etsy shop soon, looking for good homes!

Play Overlord!

My cat, Mortimer is a huge fan of Play Overlord #1 and has taken to napping with his copy. This is the collaborative comic I've been working on, Jam Style, with Sean Christensen and Amy Kuttab. We debuted it at the Stumptown Comics Fest last week and sold out! Once we get the next print run finished, I'll putting some up for sale in my etsy shop.

This is the back cover that Sean did. All those characters are in the comic!
This is the title page that we all worked on. There's also an extra special bonus feature comic that I made with the always awesome Jesse Reklaw while traveling by train to a book reading in Seattle.
There is a new character introduced on the corner of every single page of the comic. It's completely crazy! We're getting together to officially start issue number 2 tonight!

werewolf kid and current events

I've got one more woodcut character up at my etsy store, looking for a good home. He would prefer to be hung somewhere where he can watch people eat, but he'll be happy to hang anywhere! I also have several more wood cuts at my studio waiting for finishing touches, so stay tuned!

Also in the works: I'm working on my first zine in over a year! Tabling at the Stumptown Comics Fest and putting out a collaborative mini comic with Sean Christensen and Amy Kuttab, really got me inspired to get back on the book making wagon. I'm hoping to get back to having at least a couple of self published works available at all times.

I'm working away on my new comic. It feels like it's taking forever, but I also feel like I'm doing some of my best work. Hopefully everyone will find it worth the wait.

Stumptown Comics Fest!

I'll be at the Stumptown Comics Fest ( www.stumptowncomics.com ) at the Oregon Convention Center all weekend. I'll be at the Secret Acres table (D-18) with the whole Secret Acres catalogue, including their two newest awesome books, "Gaylord Phoenix" by Edie Fake and "I Will Bite You" by Joseph Lambert. Sean Christensen will be at the table with his amazing new mini comic "Dream Grant" and the collaborative comic we just finished with Amy Kuttab, "Play Overlord" There will also be prints galore, including some new silk screened prints I just finished making. If you're anywhere near Portland, come say hi and hang out with us!!

Reading at Guapo Comics

This Friday, the 15th at 8pm there's going to be a comics reading and art show opening at Guapo comics on 6350 SE Foster to help kick off The Stumptown Comics Festival happening this weekend. I'll be Reading with Sean Christensen and Amy Kuttab from the brand new collaborative comic called "Play Overlord" that's hot off the presses! The poster above features some panels from our comic. I also have one small piece in the show. Fun shall be had!

Monsters for Sale!

I've got some new woodcut characters up for sale on my Esty Shop that are looking for good homes. www.theoellsworth.etsy.com

Interviewed by Copic

My friends Teesha and Tracy Moore introduced me to Copic Markers awhile back and I got kind of crazy about them. I could easily spend all my money stockpiling the many vibrant colors and using them up like candy. Tracy was interviewed as a featured artist on their website a few months back and he pointed them in my direction, so now I have an interview too!: http://www.copicmarker.com/featured-artist-theo-ellsworth

Slow Wave guest strip

My good friend, Jesse Reklaw has been making "Slow Wave", a weekly comic strip that documents the dreams of readers, for well over a decade. I was a fan of this strip way before I ever moved to Portland and met him. For his birthday this year, he decided he wanted to take his first ever vacation from making the strip, so a different cartoonist has been stepping in each week to add a new piece to a crazy, spontaneous dream narrative that's been forming. The comic above is the little piece I've added to it. It was fun figuring out how to follow what everyone else had done. It was also fun seeing my work computer colored. I think it's one of the few times I've seen someone else put color to my inks. You can see a larger version of it and check out the whole narrative over at www.slowwave.com

working away

I'm still hard at work on my comic, "The Understanding Monster". I started renting a small studio across town so I can be extra focused. I've been having fun riding my bike there every week and getting lost in my piles of pages. I'm just about to head out the door right now for another day of working on it! It's still hard to tell exactly when book one will be ready, but it's been feeling a lot closer lately.

Bro Time!

I had an great time yesterday working on the collaborative project my brother Matt and I are doing. I wish we had time to work on this more often! He did some test shots of the astronaut from the post below, making him do a zero gravity leap across the screen. Stop-motion animation is like magic to me. I worked on creating interchangeable heads for this goofy old photo of us. I'm the little guy!

astronaut in motion

I just finished making my very first paper-cut puppet for the collaborative animation project my brother Matt and I are doing together. It took a little while to figure out how to make workable paper joints, but I think it worked out. Now I'm super excited to see what else can be built! I'm riding my bike to his house later today so I can give him the astronaut for some test shots.

Found: Tiny Sweater!

Found on sidewalk near park. I wish I could contact the person who lost this because I'd really like to meet someone this small

Happy Valentine's Day Everyone!

Etsy Shop!

I've finally got a little shop up and running over on Etsy! Right now there's a few limited edition prints and a nearly out of print art zine for sale. I'll be putting some of my woodcut characters and original art up for sale soon too. Hopefully this will be another step towards supporting myself while working on my crazy new book! www.theoellsworth.etsy.com