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.

Guest Artist Today at Hang Dai

Ingrid Rios stopped by to draw with me in the studio today. It's quiet on Sundays, mostly I don't see any of my studio mates. Dean and Jen came by (with pet rats! Jen says I can draw them anytime). Dean set up his old drawing table for Fred, so it was pretty good timing. Ingrid is super talented and really funny. She is working on a beautiful autobio comic you can read on her blog (click on her name above, or in the caption below).

Ingrid working on her comic, Bare Bones.

Rumpus Article on CBLDF

You can read the brief article I wrote for The Rumpus about Charles Brownstein's appearance here.
Thanks to Andrea Tsurumi, Paul Madonna, Isaac Fitzgerald, and (especially) Jess Worby for their editing genius, and to Connie Sun and Ben Katchor for making the New York Comics Symposium a great event every week.

I had the good fortune to catch Charles Brownstein's presentation on his work with the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. I had heard of the CBLDF a few years ago at SPX, as they often table at comics expos and events, but I didn't investigate further. Charles is passionate, serious, has a sharp sense of humor, while maintaining a deep appreciation for the absurd and offensive. We are lucky to have such a smart guy to defend the First Amendment in comics. What was most surprising about the 1973 obscenity trial in NYC regarding Zap #4, is that the booksellers, not content creators, were prosecuted and convicted of knowingly distributing obscene material. One of the convicted was a 23 year old Vietnam War veteran.

Ben Katchor hosts weekly panel talks about all things comics at the New York Comics Symposium. Sign up here for his weekly newsletter to see who's in town this week.

Charles Brownstein holds Zap #4.

Veteran Writers at The Old Stone House

I had the pleasure and good fortune to meet Peter Catapano at the Joe Bonham Project exhibition reception this past weekend and he told me about a reading he was co-hosting at The Old Stone House. Presented by Brooklyn Reading Works, the reading showcased the incredible writing talents of several young writers who are recent alumni of the NYU Veterans Writing Workshop and have been using their war experiences to inform their creative writing. It was an incredible evening and I am looking forward to hearing more from this group of great writers. A collection of their writing, "Fire and Forget", will be available in February, but you can pre-order the book here.

Maurice Decaul is a former Marine who served in Iraq in 2003. He is a poet, essayist and librettist.

Matt Gallagher is a Senior Fellow at Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, and the author of the Iraq memoir, Kaboom.

Mariette Kalinowski served in the U.S. Marine Corps between 2002 and 2012, deploying twice in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. She studies fiction at Hunter College's MFA program.

Phil Klay is a Marine Corps veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom and a graduate of the MFA writing program at Hunter College.

Roy Scranton is an Iraq War veteran, and is the co-editor of Fire and Forget.

Sketchbook Pages from ACA Comics Residency

I had the honor and great experience of taking part in a three-week long residency at the Atlantic Center for the Arts in New Smyrna Beach, Florida this past October. Things have finally settled down long enough for me to post these sketchbook pages.

(An outdoor yoga session taught by Ellen Forney and Lara Antal.)

(Clever hats on a boat tour.)

(Birds and houses and trees seen from the boat.)

(Gabby Gamboa, Lark Pien, Eleanor Davis, and Leela Corman in Gainseville, Fl.)

(Sketching one of the ACA interns, Greg.)

(Greg seated, three views.)

Bethesda Pencils Page Five

One of my favorite pages from the Bethesda story. Still working on the other half of the pencils. Will ink this 'un by next week for the Cartoon Picayune. I'm headed back to Walter Reed Medical Center next week to draw more pictures and talk to people as well. It's busy over here!

The Balfa Brothers - Danse Des Mardi Gras
(Go see Beasts of the Southern Wild, it is beautiful. I am biased because it reminds me of home, it's full of boats and Gulf water and magic. I wished I had made it. And the musical score is awesome.)

Design Recharge Spreecast Interview with Diane Gibbs

Diane Gibbs (Little Bird Communications) hosts a weekly Spreecast episode called Design Recharge, where she interviews artists, illustrators and designers about their working process, staying unstuck, and navigating the business of being creative.  I met Diane in Mobile, Alabama when I was attending school at the University of South Alabama. She is an incredible, inspiring, and contagiously enthusiastic person.

Diane interviewed me about making comics and getting my work out there, and we talked about what inspires us to make good work. You can watch the full episode here. On her next episode (Wednesday July 25th at 2pm EST) she discusses the transition between freelance to full time--a great topic I am looking forward to hearing more about.

All in a Day's Work

While working hard at cartooning and making comic books, I also work full time for a science photo agency that specializes in shooting material for textbooks (Fundamental Photographs). For an artist trying to make it in New York City, these people make possible what would be impossible alone. Thank you Kip and Richard for being a wonderful presence in my life and rooting me on (and for reading my blog)!

Brian Carnes in the Syracuse Post-Standard

Brian Carnes, the 20 year old Marine we spoke with at Walter Reed in April who was wounded by bullet fire, was recently interviewed by Melinda Johnson of the Syracuse Post-Standard. It's a really beautifully done article, you can read it here. There's a nice mention of the Joe Bonham Project and the Society of Illustrators, too.

Digestate Anthology Kickstarter Campaign

(The newest incarnation of credits-whoa!)

I've been asked to contribute work to this really wonderful food-based comics anthology, Digestate by J.T. Yost. The effort is crowd funded and needs your support. Read below and watch the video for information about the project. I'm putting some ink drawings of chickens and cows up for donors--they could be yours! When you donate there is a large variety of original art and mini-comics by contributors that can be had, so essentially  you're buying affordable art and supporting a good cause. If you pledge $20 you get a copy of the book, it's going to be gigantic and full of awesome. Help me get published!

(Bok Bok!)

it's all in the hands of a lazy projector
Andrew Bird - Lazy Projector

The Captain

This is a somewhat capricious double portrait I did over the weekend. These were drawn from a photograph I took of The Captain, a man Ray Alma and I had the pleasure of meeting during the last trip to Walter Reed, who was really brilliant and kind to share so much with us. I have several pages of sketchbook muddle I've been feverishly poring over that I hope to have transformed into glorious inked pages at my next posting.

New York Times Video Feature

I'm humbled and honored to be part of the Joe Bonham drawing project and really happy with the great work the folks at the New York Times did with the story and multimedia. You can see the video here.

The Boys on the Fourth Floor

I went to Walter Reed Medical Center on Friday morning with Victor Juhasz, Michael D. Fay, and Fred Harper. We visited wounded warriors who have recently returned from the theater of combat in Afghanistan to get stable and begin physical therapy. It's during the slower season in the year, winter, when fighting is less intense, so there were only seven soldiers there that day.

Joe is 21 and was hit by an IED last month near Kandahar. He seems to be doing well, was fitted for prosthetic right lower leg and was being discharged to a residential building on base that day. He had a lot to say about the war and was interested in continuing his military career after physical therapy. I found I was slow at getting a likeness and neglected to put the battery in my camera (didn't bring audio either) so I was feeling pressure to get it right. He was really great to listen to, I liked his subtle sense of humor.

Zac Blaisdell was recovering from arm surgery to regain rotation in his left wrist. He had been hit by and RPG in a bazaar in Sayadabad over a year ago, nearly blinded in his right eye, and had injured his left knee and arm.. He had been out of the hospital for awhile and has been playing golf regularly, though he says he's not the best. Since he had the surgery a few days prior to our visit, he was pretty sleepy but was so kind to answer our questions. We had to wear surgical gowns and latex gloves. It is hard to draw with latex gloves on because your hand gets sweaty and pulls at the paper so that your hand slows down. It was very dark and quiet in Zac's room, and there were no decorations on the walls since he had just returned from surgery. It was peaceful. He smiled more than I thought he would, a little grin every once in awhile. He was incredibly sweet. His mom told some funny stories about the president visiting and trying to get into that crazy gown thing, apparently he had a hard time with it.

Derek McConnell was the last soldier we visited. His room was bright and loud, the TV was on. His mother and fiance were there, and there seemed to be a lot of action. He was a really awesome guy to talk to, very bright and alert, and very happy to take off his shirt and tell us about his injuries--a truly remarkable spirit. (You can read more about his recovery process on the blog his mother is using to document his progress, Walking With My Wounded Warrior). All of the men we spoke with were very calm and possessed a clarity and maturity in looking at things that is rare in most people of any age, especially young men. When Derek talked about his plans for the future he said, "I want to be really good at walking", the way I would say "I want to make a comic in gouache". They're all very determined to fight, and you could see that in Derek very easily.

I have so many comments and thoughts that it would be hard to post them all here, but I will be creating a comic book about the trip in time, to be published in time for the Small Press Expo in September and will post it here as well. It was an absolutely incredible trip. The other artists I went with were really inspiring and very funny and kind, and all the people we spoke with at Walter Reed were great. Lots of thanks to Michael and Victor for navigating through the red tape for all of us. I am hoping to return to Bethesda with the group this year to speak with the veterans again.

Thomas Woodruff's "The Four Temperament Variations" at P.P.O.W. Thursday 11/5

My former mentor and chairman of the Illustration and Cartooning Department at the School of Visual Arts is having a reception for a new (super weird and awesome) series of paintings. His work is sweetly obsessive and low-brow but has a lot of meat-and-potatoes painting skills and really thoughtful motifs in his work...so low-brow without the emptiness...mid-brow? Uni-brow? Waxed goth brow? Whatever you're into. On view until February 4th.

The Four Temperament Variations - Thomas Woodruff

Thomas Woodruff, Landscape Variation, Phlegmatic 2010-11, acrylic on linen, 66 x 90 inches

Bink in the Chair

 

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

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.)

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.

Status Quo Ante Bellum Pencils

This is the 8 page comic I am creating as an introduction to a larger work. I hope to have the bigger book completed by next year. The pencils aren't totally finished but I really wanted to post an update since it's been awhile. I will have these at the Philly Alt Con this August 14th in Philadelphia. I will be at the Small Press Expo and Alternative Press Expo with these and some other tiny silkscreens and etchings. I see much adventure traveling in my future. Yee haw!

 

Shooka Shook Shook

Clifton Hicks

This past weekend I went out to the Brooklyn Folk Fest and saw some really great musical performances by a bunch of talented folks. (I need to get out to Jalopy more. You should check them out, too if you haven't yet). At the folk fest, I had the opportunity to meet and chat with Clifton Hicks, who is an incredibly talented and down to earth guy. I am working on a comic with the lyrics to an old time song he plays called "German War". You can see him play the banjo and sing it here.
The first drawing posted here was done from life... I like it better than the others I did, which were done from photos from the internet.
I'm taking a comics class and it's pretty great; the instructor, Sungyoon Choi, (American Widow) is really smart and subtly funny. Non-fiction comics by ladies, totally awesome.
So, I better go get to work!