Framing and Puppet Show

I have been busy this month preparing materials for the Society of Illustrators reception and annual I am a part of this year. I've also been helping some new friends with puppet propping for their forthcoming show, The Master of Prayer. (I made a book out of paper bags and cardboard, and drew the illustrations--I neglected to get photos of the book-- but it was a fun assignment!) These guys are incredibly talented and high energy--there will be live music accompanying very dramatic puppet action, with an occasional human soliloquy. I am waiting on details about their upcoming shows this month in Brooklyn and beyond, details will be posted here as I get them.

Framed and dropped off my pieces for the Society of Illustrators Sequential Show. Come see!

Craig's cat Meow-Meow nestled in the fiddle case.

Adam examining a guard puppet.

Noah playing guitar in Craig's living room.

Bink in the Chair

 

From a photo I took on the trip to Boone, NC.

Tattoo Story Page One Pencils

I drew this about a month ago already...time sure is flying. I have traveled more this year than all previous trips before this year combined, I think. I am really happy to burrow into the studio for the winter and do some printing. The guy at the top right of the page is John Haywood, a great talented tattoo and fine artist from Kentucky who I had the pleasure of meeting in passing in Newport. He plays all sorts of instruments really well, too.

Jenn in Cincinnati

This past weekend, my sister Jenn and I went to Newport, KY (via Indianapolis and Cincinnati) where we visited The Southgate House to see a benefit show, To Sing With You Once More. Here's a very quick sketch I did of her sipping some wine and looking at the second issue of Suspect Device (not pictured).

Status Quo Ante Bellum Accepted in Illustrators 54 Annual/Show

Woo hoo! The judges were super awesome this year, it is a huge honor and one of my biggest dreams to get into the show and annual. Keep on drawing!

Driving Page One

 

A pencil sketch for page one of the Tattoo Story, where Clifton Hicks travels to Whitesburg, KY from Boone, NC to get a really cool tattoo.

John Hicks

 

This is a drawing done from 60's era passport photo of Clifton's father. I am a big fan of the paisley tie, the fabric was really fun to draw. 

I Tossed And Turned All Night

 

This is a drawing for the Tattoo Story. I couldn't wait to do the layout for this particular scene, I just had to copy a drawing right from the photograph. It's very lovely. I am excited to get to this part of the story.

Tattoo Story Cover

Etching Round Three

Only thing left to do is some aquatint, I hope you're not tired of this thing. It's getting pretty!

Stormy Night

A page from the sketchbook, about something I remembered from the North Carolina trip. There was a really windy storm that woke me up the second night I was there in the cabin, I thought for sure I would blow away. I saw the clouds outside make what looked like two condensation funnels (ack! tornado!) and asked myself what I should do. I settled on going back to sleep and woke up to an absurdly gorgeous day.

Etching: in Progress

Always a work in progress...going to put this in the acid one more time, and add aquatint to the outside border. I like the original drawing better, since it was more delicate. I'm learning a lot of things about how to get that delicate quality in etching and feel the etchings I do later will benefit from all of this stumbling around in the print shop I've been doing. Working on more fun stuff like the actual interior-- story. I think I'm at the point where I am over-thinking and just need to make it. Kinda feel silly making the cover before the inside pages. Onward we go!

Sketchbook Pages

John Haywood, tattoo and fine artist.

Boots.

Me in a field in Vilas, NC.

Plate

Putting this old thing in the acid tonight. 

North Carolina

Just got back from North Carolina. It sure is pretty there.

A Finely Tuned Beginning

Here's the sketch for the cover for issue two...hoping for this one to be longer, think there is lots of good story to cover. Am turning this drawing into an etching and am really excited about it, gonna be really beautiful. I need to work faster but am still getting a grasp of the printshop schedule and just returned from the Alternative Press Expo, which was really awesome! Met a lot of nice folks and made some new friends. The pre-party was in the warehouse lair of Last Gasp, will update later with some photos of that crazy place.

Tattoo Story Thumbnails

I've been gathering notes and photos for the next installment of Status Quo Ante Bellum. I never used to enjoy thumbnails but I've grown fond of them recently, you can make lots of little pretty drawings really fast and kind of throw them away if they're not so good.  The other drawing is from earlier this week when I was feeling sad.

Tattoo Story Drawing

SPX 2011

I went to the Small Press Expo this past weekend with Jen Tong, Li-Or Zaltman and Sara Varon. (I have to add that Sara's new book, Bake Sale, is a pleasure to read--go get a copy!)

Here is a photo of my comic book sketchbook in the hotel the morning we left (I ran out of paper oh no!).

The second is a photo of me nervously and excitedly waiting in line for Nate Powell to autograph my fresh copy of Any Empire.  This book is really wonderful. Nate is a very nice guy and said kind things about my comic, which was awesome--he is one of my favorite artists. It was an inspiring weekend full of big crazy comic books. I recommend looking at Anders Nilsen's Big Questions and Craig Thompson's Habibi, just by size alone they boggle the mind with their ambition and raise the bar for making long-form narrative comics.

Moleskine Sketchbook Pages

Listening to: "Twilight" by Dawn Landes

If I Do Not Lose My Way

Swamp Thing

Thinking about swamps at 5am....

Status Quo Now at Bergen Street Comics

Copies of Status Quo Ante Bellum are now available at Bergen Street Comics in Brooklyn--thanks Tucker! This is one of my favorite comic book shops, it's very inviting and the folks there are kind. And it looks pretty.

(Photo via In Deep NY).

Also, I really love Ken Dahl's Monsters--such a great, great comic book, great story, great comic,  it's just plain awesome.

 
 

Status Quo Ante Bellum Available at Desert Island

You can now get a copy of my new comic at Desert Island in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. If you don't buy a copy it is a good place to go anyway, because Gabe is really nice and likes to answer questions and will let you put your paws on everything without making you feel like a broke loser. But you should probably buy something.

Here is a really good picture Jason Polan drew of Gabe for his project, Every Person in New York. Jason is the chairman of the Taco Bell Drawing Club, NYC Chapter.

(Photo taken from The Daily Crosshatch - link here.)

One More

For Drew

Status Quo Ante Bellum

Here are the inked final pages (for now)! There is much I would change if I had more time. I can't believe I did all the drawing in just 4 weeks. The planning, writing and research (the un-glamorous scribbly bits that don't make it onto the blog) took the same amount of time. I will probably be going back and refining some of the panels and printing new silkscreen cover variations for SPX and APE, depending on the print shop schedule.

Poster Drawing

My pal Drew Lyons is DJing at The Saint in New Orleans this Wednesday and asked me to make a flyer for the date. I'm running off to Philly this weekend and won't be finishing this till Monday, so here it is...have a happy weekend.

*Update*
This drawing is currently on view at Kings County Bar in Bushwick, Brooklyn. Quel Beast is curating shows there now, and the work is always very good. You can take the L train to Morgan Ave, it's just around the corner. They have good whiskey there, so I am told.

Making Piles of Something

I stink, my bed is covered in (clean) laundry, but I have a comic now. It's midnight and unless I lost a glass slipper today I had better get some rest.