cat smile

Themed sketchbooks seem to be a tradition of sorts at comic conventions. I've drawn in tons of them over the last few years. Yoda, Ninja Turtles, Animal from the Muppets, Tennis playing zombies, to name a few. Whenever someone brings a themed sketchbook up to me, it's always fun to look through. There's usually contributions from some of my favorite cartoonists. I can't remember what my own drawings looked like in most of them, it's all a blur, but I just came across this one online from a Cheshire Cat sketchbook. It was kind of cool to see it again. Maybe I should start my own themed sketchbook to take to shows. I'm not sure what the theme would be. Maybe Wizards In Danger or something.

ssspace cadetsss

This is a little drawing I did for the Space Cadets facebook timeline thing. I also just drew a new logo image and the cover to their 6th vinyl release, which I'll be showing you soon. Outer space is the biggest location ever!

pile of postcards

Do you want one of these? I have a whole box of them. Ghost Doctor check up time.

small things

Drawn while at the Festival of the book this weekend.

Festival of the Book

I'm tabling at the Festival of the Book at the Holiday Inn Atrium in downtown Missoula, Montana: Friday Oct 5th, 11am- 5pm and Saturday Oct 6th, 9:30am-5:30. This was the first event I ever tabled at way back when I first started folding and stapling my self published copies of Capacity, so it's nice to be back. If you're in town, come say hi and have an interaction with me. I'm really nice, and I won't be sweaty and nervous like the fellow in the drawing above. At least I'm not planning on it.

Copacetic Comics Review

Here's another nice little write up about The Understanding Monster, Book One by the folks at Copacetic Comics in Pittsburgh. They've been super supportive of my work over the years, so it's nice to hear what they have to say about what I'm doing now. It's such an indepth write up for what's basically a blurb for their web store. It's good to know there's people willing to engage with these weirdo cartoon worlds and come away with some thoughts.

Oak-Escapist

I just got the 5th Space Cadets release in the mail. And I downloaded the music for the 6th release tonight, so I'll be starting on that next week. This new one will be the first full color album. It's been so much fun getting to do all these, and the music is excellent. Making drawings for music that's great to draw to is pretty much the ideal side gig.

Relentlessly psychedelic me

Joe McCulloch at the Comics Journal  wrote a little about The Understanding Monster in their This Week In Comics column and says it's  "Unquestionably the most relentlessly psychedelic comic I've encountered in 2012". Yes! Thanks Joe!

Check it out!

Two of my very favorite artists and awesome friends Have a show of collaborative work opening at SoHitek Gallery in Portland. All the sneak peeks I've gotten look amazing. Everyone in Portland should go!

Book review

There's a review of The Understanding Monster Book One over at BookSlut by Martyn Pedler. It's the first review ever, as far as I know. It's pretty cool to hear someone giving the book a lot of thought! I really had no idea what people were going to make of it, so this feels nice.

sweaters, coffee, were-animals

This little drawing was commissioned by a fellow named Nick for his lady, Suzy. He sent me a list of things she likes and I fit a few together. Drawing sweaters is strangely satisfying. I don't do commissions too often, but this one came along right when I had a spare moment.

upcoming events!

I've got a lot going on over the next few of months. Here's a list of what's lined up so far:

1. Festival of the Book in Missoula, Montana. October 5-6. I'll be hanging out selling and signing copies of The Understanding Monster, Capacity, and some secret final copies of Sleeper Car. I'll also be carrying a fine selection of other Secret Acres titles.

2. Shakespeare and Company in Missoula, Montana. October 19.  I'll be doing a slideshow presentation, answering questions and signing books!

3. Floating World Comics in Portland, Oregon. November 1. I'll be doing a slideshow presentation, answering questions and signing books! There will also be a one night art show!

4. Soil Gallery in Seattle, Washington. November 1 through December 1. I'll have work in a group show about process, showing finished pieces alongside sketches, notebook pages, and other examples of the art thought process.

5. Short Run  in Seattle, Washington. November 3. I'll be heading up the Secret Acres table at this great new indy comics and culture festival alongside Sean Ford, author of the excellent graphic novel, Only Skin. 

6. Made Fair in Missoula, Montana. December 9. I'll be slinging my books, prints, original art and whatever else I have on hand to try and fund a winter of intensive comics making!

Let the good times roll! 

visitor

I received a visit from a representative of the insect kingdom today.

A woodcut character for Gracie on her very first birthday.

Born in the year of the rabbit just two months before Griffin.

In the house

I just finished these two drawings that are soon to become a postcard. I'll be giving them away with my book at conventions and including them in orders from my Etsy shop. The book itself is slowly making it's way to stores at this moment! I don't have my own copies quite yet, but you can get copies at the Secret Acres Emporium right now.  I'll have a list of bookstore appearances and conventions I'll be heading to over the next few months soon!

A History of Nonviolence

I've been meaning to write about this for awhile, but time keeps getting away from me.  A few months back, comics writer Caleb Monroe asked me to illustrate a 5 page comic for the Occupy Comics Anthology . It's being put out as a series of digital downloads, and will later be collected into a hardcover. I thought it would be a fun challenge since i've never illustrated a comic that wasn't written by me (with the exception of the Nursery Rhyme comics I did, which was written my "Anonymous"). Caleb Came up with the idea of doing a brief history of nonviolent movements, and I thought it was an exciting subject to cover. A lot had to be left out of course, but I got to learn some interesting things that I had no idea about. My wife helped me put together 14 pages of visual references (for a 5 page comic!) and I usually just draw from my head. It was both fun and difficult. Anyways, the story is in the first issue, if you want to see it. An art gallery in NYC called 41 Cooper Gallery  doing a show called Ruptures: Forms of Public Address, and they asked to use our comic in the show somehow. After thinking it over, we decided to have a zine version of the comic printed up and given away free to anyone who comes and sees the show. I thought that was pretty cool! The show runs from September 3rd to October 13.

I'm Back!

I'm back from my insane and wonderful adventures in New York and Maryland! Thank you everyone at Bergen Street Comics and The Small Press Expo for treating me so well and to everyone who came out to meet me.  I drew so many little characters in so many copies of The Understanding Monster, Book One and Capacity that I'm still seeing them every time I blink. It was definitely encouraging to meet so many people who read and think about comics. It was excellent getting to spend time with Barry and Leon, the good folks at Secret Acres. You can read a run down of the show over at their scuttlebut blog here.    

hundreds of miles

 I'm flying out really, really early in the morning for NYC. By the time I'm at the book release party at Bergen Street Comics, I'll probably look just like the logo design I made for them. Serious Mind Weather is in the forecast!

I'm thrilled to finally be making it back to SPX. It'll be the second time ever. The plan is to release each of the following installments of The Understanding Monster series at the next few Small Press Expos, so if all goes well, attending this show will become a new tradition for me. It'd be fun way to get to see the excellent folks at Secret Acres on a regular basis too.

Drawing Energy panel discussion!

This Sunday, 3pm at SPX I'll be taking part in a Panel discussion alongside cartoonists Michael DeForge, Hellen Jo, and Katie Skelly, headed up by the awesome Jim Rugg. They're all artists I admire, so it's going to be interesting  and fun to see where the discussion goes.

Cubee Craft Ghost Doctor

Secret Acres asked me to design a Cubee Craft paper cutout toy to go along with my book release. Anyone who picks up my book at the Bergen Street comics release party in Brooklyn this Thursday and at SPX in Bethesda, Maryland this weekend can take one home with them, assemble it, and enjoy the company of a cubed Ghost Doctor! It was a fun challenge making this. I want to make more now!

log bridge walking

Monsters, feeling good.

Book Release Party!

I'm flying out to New York City for  a book release party at Bergen Street Comics on September 13th! I'll be signing books, meeting people, and drinking various beverages all evening. If it's physically possible, please stop by! I've heard great things about Bergen Street Comics, so I'm excited to finally get to pay them a visit.

The house built itself

first time on Earth

Talking about The Understanding Monster

Zack Smith at Newsarama just interviewed me about my new book. It's the most I've talked about it so far. You can read it if you want. I also just got an advance copy in the mail from Secret Acres. It feels quite surreal and exciting to have it exist in physical reality for real.

photos from opening night

There's a bunch of photos from my gallery opening up at the Giant Robot site, including a weird one where I look possessed by spirits while a young couple embraces in the background. This one's my favorite. Two time travelers from ancient Japan traveled to the future of 2012 to see my show! I couldn't feel more honored. I'm crazy thankful to everyone who came out. I met so many awesome people that night, and it was nice to feel so much encouragement to keep doing the work that I do.

The Understanding Monster, Book One

Here it is. I'm finally ready to show you the cover (and a detail from the  back cover) of The Understanding Monster, Book One. I'm going to write more about the book soon, but  for now I'll just say that it's the biggest leap into my subconscious that I've made with my art so far. I have no idea what people will think of it, but creating this book was a startling and rewarding process. It's a hand colored, oversized, hardcover book. This first installment is one piece of a bigger puzzle that I'm building. I can't wait to find a studio space so I can get back to work on book two. The next scene I want to draw has been haunting me.

collaborative comic with Craig Thompson

Add caption

I've been meaning to show you this comic for awhile now. Right before I moved from Portland to Missoula I got together with my good friend, Craig Thompson and drew this collaborative comic. It was a fun time! For a number of years, Craig generously shared his home studio with me while he was working on Habibi and I was working on Capacity and Sleeper Car. I would walk to his house once a week or so and work at his extra drawing table. It was truly inspiring to watch him tackle such an epic and complex project and talk with him about comics and the world a large. While working on this collaborative comic, I got to have a sneak peek at the top secret all ages book he's been working on. I wish I could tell you about it. It's going to be awesome!

collaborative drawings with Alex Chiu

Every time I get to hang out with Alex Chiu, we try to do two collaborative drawings that we work on simultaneously, passing the drawings back and fourth until they're both done. We've done six so far. Someday, when we have enough drawings, we'll put out a zine! It's fun to have a long term project that's all about hanging out with a specific friend.