Grand Comics Festival This June

I'm tabling here with friends, come check out the inaugural year of the Grand Comics Fest at Bird River Studios in Williamsburg. Should be lots of fun.

In other news, I just finished the first of two one-hour interview transcripts--27 pages! It's awesome. But I can't see straight at the moment.

Drawings from Hattiesburg

I spent last week in Hattiesburg, Mississippi with my friend Nathan Galster. I had the opportunity to finally grasp why Hattiesburg means so much to him, and meet a lot of the friends he's made there. He very generously sat down with me for two hours, answering my questions for the next installment of his story. It's going to be really lovely, I can't wait!

Here's a map Nathan drew for me of Downtown Hattiesburg, where he spends a lot of time.

(Map by Nathan Galster)

I did a few small sketchbook pages while I visited Nathan and his friends around town.

Mason, Katherine, glassware.

Azaleas in the kitchen, bearded menfolk at T-Bones.

Nathan in the kitchen, and part of his camera.

Students and writers at T-Bones.

Luke Winslow King Trio.

Nathan, Mason, and Russell at The Thirsty Hippo.

Free jazz.

Nathan took a picture of me enjoying BBQ at Rose's BBQ:

(Photo courtesy Nathan Galster.)

A War, Before and After - Home Fires

I highly recommend making a beeline for the New York Times' Home Fires blog, where several talented veteran writers I'm honored to know have posted some great personal accounts from the Iraq War, in observance of the ten year anniversary of the invasion. Read on here.

So excited for and proud of the writers featured in this piece--way to go Josiah, Maurice, Jake, Mariette, Roy, Matt G., Matt M, Phil, and all the rest! 

Interview on The Beat

Dre Grigoropol interviewed me for The Comics Beat, check it out here. I talk about the Joe Bonham Project, comics I like, and awesome veterans I've met. Thanks Dre!

The Cartoonist in Comics @ Housing Works Cafe

There's a fabulous panel discussion happening tonight at Housing Works Cafe on Crosby Street at 7pm. Get the details on the speakers here.

Ingrid Rios' Untitled Comic Project

I had the opportunity to read the first five pages of Ingrid Rios' memoir about her life-threatening eating disorder. Her drawing is incredible, she's come so far artistically in the years I've known her, and the story is powerful. It is emotionally honest, raw, and well-done. You must read this.

Page 2 of Ingrid Rios' comic, via her Tumblr.

Sketches from the Studio: The Decisions

Nichole talking, page 1 study

So sweet! Nichole in the Army National Guard

Smoke plume from the base in Iraq

Page 1 thumbnails

Page 2 thumbnails

Page 3 thumbnails (my favorite pages)

Page 4 thumbnails

I drew some character studies and thumbnails for a short, four page story I'm working on about my friend Nichole, who served in the Army National Guard in Iraq. It'll be part of a zine I'm making of shorter (4 page) veteran stories for the Brooklyn Zine Fest in April.

To Build A Home

Hang Dai v2.0, March 2013. Photo: Dean Haspiel

I moved to a new studio space in Gowanus with some cool cartoony folks on Friday. Hang Dai version 2.0 desks left to right: Christa Cassano, Dean Haspiel, Fred Harper, Seth Kushner, myself, Greg Benton. Not pictured: microwave. The building is really beautiful and already feels like home. I did a lot of drawing over the weekend and rode my bike there on Saturday. The sky is open in that part of Brooklyn, there's weird overpasses, train trestles covered in black gauze, and little brick apartments with tiny porches.There's also 99 cent chicken in a parking lot nearby (which sounds as magical as it actually is, no sarcasm). The trains go by above our heads and sound the way an airplane sounds when you're inside it and it's taking off, but even softer. It's interestingly soothing.


To Build a Home - Cinematic Orchestra with Patrick Watson

New York Times: Trauma Turns Female Veterans to the Streets

Here's a very wonderful yet terribly haunting article about the failings and betrayal of the U.S. Military to take care of its soldiers and veterans.

Good Times at The Drawing Center

A few weeks ago I had the honor and privilege of speaking about my involvement with the Joe Bonham Project, an artist activist group that seeks to raise awareness about wounded veterans (physical as well as psychological traumas).

I was nervous about speaking, so I tried out this neat trick I learned from Lacy Rhoades. He once had to give a speech in front of all the staff at his job (he's a programmer for Etsy and also a talented photographer). Before he started the speech, he quietly took a picture of the crowd at the podium with his iPhone. Looking back at the photo I took now, I am amazed at how kind and sweet everyone in the crowd was--I couldn't see it clearly at the time because of my pre-speech jitters. It ended up going well and I had a really great time. A lot of fabulous questions were asked and really helped me think about my work in new ways. So thanks to the friends reading this who came out and showed your support, you are loved and appreciated! And I hope you think you look lovely in the photograph below.

I also took a photograph of myself in the downstairs bathroom at the Drawing Center because:

a) The entire space has been remodeled and it is a really lovely restroom, especially for a public restroom (in New York, no less!)
b) I thought I should document the experience; it was handy I thought I looked pretty fly in my fancy dress, with my new haircut. I'm also showing support for one of the veterans I met at Bethesda in August, Nathan Rimpf, with a wristband his sister designed. His family sells them for $1 to help with the bills, but you have to beg them to take your money, they pretty much give them to everyone they meet. There's a great photo album on his support page on Facebook, documenting where in the world all the wristbands have made it to, it's amazing.  You can check it out here: Where in the World are Nathan's Wristbands?

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!