Characters: Portraits of Contemporary Cartoonists at LaunchPad

(Click for full size.)

On February 1, 2014, I will have a pop-up solo show at LaunchPad in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. The show features portraits of 100 contemporary cartoonists. Most of the works are gouache, though there are a few ink drawings. The reception will be a fun event with free drinks and snacks, and offers an opportunity to network with cartoonists for creators in the NYC area.

Invisible Wounds

'Toonists Paintings and Drawings

Here's two more 'toonist drawings, and a stray painting. Stay tuned for more news on how you can get your paws on the originals and further updates.

Box Brown

Pat Aulisio

Sam Alden

Debuting at SPX This Weekend

This Saturday and Sunday I will be selling comics at table W69 with Jess Worby, Mike Freiheit, Chris Duffy. I will also have a few Birdcage Bottom Books titles from J.T. Yost.

Mike Freiheit is visiting all the way from Chicago, and debuting Volume Two (?) of Monkey Chef, a comic about his time as a chef on a primate sanctuary in South Africa.

Here's a handy map I defaced for your convenience:

I'm excited about the comic I'll be debuting, Invisible Wounds. This sixteen-page comic is based on some beautifully written exchanges from Paul David Mansfield, an Army veteran of the Iraq War. After returning home from his last deployment, he discovers a lot about perceptions others have about his service, in addition to coming to terms with a diagnosis of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. His writing and story are so powerful, drawing comics has been an incredibly rewarding challenge. Hope to see you there!

Preview page from Invisible Wounds:

For more details on visiting the Small Press Expo in Bethesda, Maryland, visit the official SPX webpage.

Brooklyn Zine Fest Preview

I made some drawings for a zine about my recent trip to Hattiesburg to interview my veteran friend Nathan. I used a Pentel brush that I don't normally use, I love the grey tone and dry brush, it's super fun. Can't wait to print these.

Alfred I. duPont Awards Comic

The nonfiction comic piece I did for the Columbia University School of Journalism's duPont Awards, Passing the Baton, went live today! You can check out the comic here. Thanks to Abi Wright and Beth Canipe for the fun assignment!

*Edit*: The comic is no longer available on the Columbia Journalism School website, so I've posted the full comic here.

Drawing Commissions

Here's two drawing commissions I finally finished. Slower than Christmas, please forgive me! Thanks George and Amber (and all the rest) for being patient with me. The Batman one was lots of fun!

A Letter Lasts Longer

While at the Atlantic Center for the Arts' 3-week comics residency, studying with master artist Dean Haspiel, I made this interesting comic based on a script he generated. The script was interpreted by each associate artist in the group. These varied and beautiful permutations can be seen on the Trip City blog here.

Space Wino

Thanks, Maria, for the fun drawing commission!

Drawing on Location at the Jalopy Theater

On Monday I took the day off from my photo job to draw Ernesto Gomez, Arturo Jugman, Walker Shepard, Jackson Lynch, and some others at the Jalopy Theater during the Brotherhood of the Jugband Blues recording session. The idea is to collect good drawings for the album artwork. It was slow going, since people move a considerable amount when they play instruments. They usually oscillate between two poses, and you have pick one and keep looking for the moment when they go back into the pose. It's a really fun and challenging way to draw.

Bethesda Part One + Haditha/Katrina Shout-Outs

Here's the Bethesda comic in its entirety so far. This story was told to me by First Lieutenant Michael Rhoads of the Marines in late April of this year at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center with other artists from the Society of Illustrators. More stories from Nathan Rimpf and Joshua Wetzel will be added later, probably in late October when the residency is winding down.

*EDIT* I've posted the color version I created in March 2013.

This story will be available as a mini-comic at next week's Small Press Expo in Bethesda, MD. It also appears in the forthcoming issue of  The Cartoon Picayune, Issue #4 Distress. There was a nice mention of the CP issue and Haditha/Katrina comic on the SPX blog. Haditha/Katrina also got some nice shout-outs on Graphic Ladies Tumblr, and the Symbolia website (albeit pixelated as all heck).

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