Category: Art

Comics

Hourly Comic Day 2011 (AND OTHER MEASUREMENTS AS WELL)

Hey world! This post is chock full of news. CHOCK FULL. STAND BACK.

First: did some hourly comics for Hourly Comics Day this year. First time trying this, made my inner critic scream with rage, which probably means it’s the sort of thing I should do every day in order to get over myself. Also: cheated and stopped at 8, since the rest of the night was just dancing dancing dancing until midnight and beyond. Anyway: HERE. I MADE THESE FOR YOU.

Oh man. So that. ALSO: Our Monday night World Comics class at the IPRC has started a blog for your enjoyment [that is now defunct so I’ve removed the link]! We’ll be chronicling our adventures and projects there over the next couple months, so check it out. Good things to be had so far, and there will only be more in the weeks to come.

FINALLY: I forgot to mention this when it happened a couple weeks ago, but Baggywrinkles Issue 1 is now actually physically available in a real live comic shop! If you live in the Portland area and would like to get your hands on a copy sans shipping, head over to the totally awesome world of Guapo Comics! They have a few issues in stock, and will be getting the second volume as soon as I finish it. I am, as we speak, slowly working up the gumption to go around to some of the other rad establishments in our fine city, so hopefully that list will expand in the next couple weeks.

I think that’s it for now, but hoo boy. Stay tuned. Shit’s going to get crazy over the next few weeks.

Art

Got That Old Fashioned Monotype Blues

Just a quick doodle from printmaking class today, where we were working with monotype prints*. The last week or so has been killer for social dancing — live music, great venues, excellent partners, late nights. I can’t feel my legs right now, of course, but that’s a small price to pay.

*Basically, to clarify the process, y’roll ink all over some acetate, stick a piece of paper atop it, and draw. Ink is picked up on the facing side of the paper where the pen presses it down. The only tricky part is resisting the urge to steady the page with one’s hand, which results in hideous blotches. There’s always a certain amount of noise around the lines, which gives everything a more textured look. I’m on the fence about it as a whole, but I liked this one.

Art

Sunshine

A watercolor postcard I doodled many moons ago just resurfaced in my pile of outgoing mail. Thought I’d share for the sake of getting some color in here for a change — though my scanner doesn’t play nice with the vividness of the colors. I’d like to start doing these regularly, since I have a mess of blank watercolor postcards and a desire to revive and better my rusty-going-on-nonexistent skills. I’ll keep you posted.

Art

Open Meadow

Look! More goodies!

This was a freelance calligraphy project I completed last year for Open Meadow, a local program empowering at-risk youth in North Portland. I have a good friend teaching there right now and it sounds like a pretty awesome place. You can find out more about their work at http://www.openmeadow.org/.

The piece was done with various round Speedball nibs, Dr. Ph. Martin’s Black Star India Ink (for lettering and ink washes), and a Pentel Pocket Brush.

Art

Untitled, Oct. 10th

NOT DEAD. STILL HERE.

Don’t believe me? Then have a full photo walkthrough of my major project for last semester’s Book Arts class! Untitled, Oct. 10th is a rendition of a poem by my dear friend Hallie McPherson (whose insanely powerful work can be found on her blog), illustrated, designed, hand-printed, and bound by yours truly. The project was a fantastic opportunity to delve further into letterpress, since I had to turn all my illustrations into polymer plates for printing, as well as setting all the type by hand and devising a new stitch for the binding that wouldn’t obscure the type. The process was incredibly labor intensive (both the paper and the covers were all dyed by hand) and I still have 4 more editions to bind, though the printing is thankfully done. All in all, I’m really happy with it, and doubly so that the poet now has a copy of her own, so I can finally splash it all over the internet!

[slideshow]

A more detailed description of the process will be up on the Bookmaking page by the end of the week, so if you’re interested in any of that feel free to check back on Sunday for goodies — and throughout next week for all the work that I haven’t had a chance to photograph yet! Yippee!

Art, Main

Proof!

Heed no rumors of my demise, Internet. It’s just that glorious time of year known as “Finals,” and I have been a very busy bee. To prove that I am not just bluffing about this, and that even in the heat of papers and exams, I am still finding time for comics, here’s a very messy collection of thumbnails for Baggywrinkles Vol. 2, which will be penciled (come hell or high water) by the 13th, inked over winter break, and printed in time for Stumptown! Excitement abounds.

As time permits, I’ll also be rounding up photos of the book I illustrated, typeset, and printed this past month, featuring a poem by the insanely talented Hallie McPherson. The IPRC program has also had me hard a work on various assignments, of which there will be more evidence later.

For now, enjoy some nautical sneak peak material!

(Oh, and for those of you who care about layout and page spreads and that sort of thing, it’s worth noting that I was dumb when I started drawing this in my sketchbook and didn’t lay out the pages to reflect their appearance in the final printed pamphlet. Thus, pages 1 and 8 will appear on their own, and 2/3, 4/5, and 6/7 will be spreads.)

Less smudgy versions to follow as I get these onto Bristol!

Art, Main

Stay Baggy, Stay Wrinkly

It’s been a long haul, folks, but here we are:

BAGGYWRINKLES VOL. 1 IS NOW OFFICIALLY UP FOR SALE IN THE EMPORIUM!

I don’t want to contemplate how much time I’ve spent folding and punching and sewing this week, but the net result is 100 copies of my very first minicomic ready to be flung into your waiting arms — and I have to say, it looks pretty awesome. 3 bucks gets you 8 pages of nautically-themed goodness on attractive paper with a handsome cover and hand-stitched binding.

SO MANY WRINKLES!

 

The next mountain? VOLUME TWOOOOOOO!

(…and a crazy letterpress edition of a friend’s poetry, several smaller comics about mythology and my colossal clumsiness, and a proposed project dealing with displacement and the dual citizen experience.)

STAY TUNED!

Art, Main

Knottage

Well, as a reward for having laid out Baggywrinkles at long last, the Universe decided to bless me with the magical gift of a Facet Joint Syndrome flare-up last week. The details are unimportant, aside from that fact that it involved lots of pain. Fortunately, thanks to the magic of modern medicine, I’m slowly recovering motion in my neck — just in time for my trip to California! So, of course, printing will be slightly delayed. Again. *sigh*

The compensate, here’s a comic! This week’s IPRC assignment was to create a silent how-to comic in 9 panels. I chose a knot, of course, because who doesn’t love knots? Communists. That’s who.