Just a courtesy notice that I’ll be tabling at Rose City Comic Con this weekend and celebrating the print debut of my newest comic, Rim to River!
If you want to try before you buy, you can even read the whole thing online right here. I’m so thrilled with how these puppies came out. Come snag one for yourself! Here’s the details of where you can find me and the rest of my compatriots from Periscope Studio:
As you can see here, I’ll also be appearing on the Comics Journalism panel on Saturday morning at 11am in Room 5. Should be some good discussion around bringing real-world stories to life on the page. More details on the Rose City Comic Con site. Hope to see you there!
Hi everyone! It’s been a minute, huh? As some of you may know, I recently returned from my second whitewater rafting trip through the Grand Canyon. I went as a “voyage cartoonist” with Arizona River Runners, a Flagstaff-based rafting outfit, to document one of their seven-day motorized whitewater trips down the Colorado River.
You can read the whole story here (or pick up a print copy at Rose City Comic Con in a couple weeks), but suffice it to say I had an amazing time—I’m still reeling from the experience. While I was gone I penciled and inked sixteen pages, then colored them all in the week that followed. It felt so good to crank out a completely new piece of material on the heels of Kickstarter madness last month (THANK YOU, by the way, for making that such a colossal success! More news on that soon), and I’m excited to get back to drawing new content in a big way.
(This comic wouldn’t have been possible without the support of all my kind folks on Patreon, so if you’re looking for a way to help make even more art happen, check that out here.)
The day is finally here, friends! Baggywrinkles: A Lubber’s Guide to Life at Sea just launched on Kickstarter and it’s time to get this sucker made. If you’re already on board and you wanna get straight to the business, here’s the page!
Wait, what’s a Baggywrinkle?
A Baggywrinkle is furry, cylindrical device used for preventing chafing between a ship’s sails and the surrounding lines. It’s one of the most distinctive features of a ship’s rigging, made all the more ludicrous by the fact that you spend a LOT of time explaining what it is to visitors—a hard sell when it’s got such a weird name.
THAT’S RIGHT. Baggywrinkles has been running in little micro-installments for five years now. With 90 pages of content under my belt I’ve finally got enough material to bind everything together into a really handsome 6″x9″ softcover collection.
I’m funding this book on Kickstarter because it allows for some really thrilling opportunities to do this collection right. You can check out the campaign page for full details, but the most important thing I want to tell you about is that if we exceed our funding goal of 15k by just $5,000 I’m going to hire Joey Weiser and Michele Chidester to render the entire collection IN COLOR.
I cannot express with words how excited I am about this possibility. LOOK AT THESE LOVELY COLORS! THE BOOK WOULD BE SO AMAZING! I mean, it’s gonna be great either way, but I’m really gunning for color.
So go check out the page and take a look through all the rewards. There’s lots to enjoy—prints, original art, special PDF bundles, and more. And thank you for being such stalwart readers and supporters. You all mean the world to me.
Ahoy, friends! I am so, so excited to announce that Baggywrinkles: A Lubber’s Guide to Life at Sea will be hitting Kickstarter July 20th.
What is Baggywrinkles, you ask? Why, it’s my educational, autobiographical comic series about living aboard an 18th century tall ship! You can read the first five issues online for free, and check out new content from the series every week on Patreon. I’ve been working on these short stories intermittently since 2010, and I’m finally ready to bring the whole bundle together under one cover.
So next Monday (July 20th) I’m launching a campaign to fund the printing of a 100-page, 6×9″ softcover collection featuring Issues 1-5, the never-before-seen-in-print Issue 6 (all about the history of scurvy), and a host of other exclusive goodies. Take a look at the finished cover design!
I’ve been hard at work with a team of stellar professionals to make this collection something you’ll all be proud to own—we’re talking French Flaps, patterned endpapers, high-quality matte paper stock, and deliciously thick covers.
So pattern. Very endpaper. Such nautical.
I’ve also got some really neat extra rewards. Like remember this giant guide to sailors’ tattoos I drew for the Vancouver Maritime Museum?
Photo by Erika Moen
Well, I’m gonna turn it into a super fancy two-color, limited edition letterpress print in collaboration with the fine folks at Twin Ravens Press in Eugene, OR! And there’s more extra rewards to come.
This post is your official warning to watch this space (or follow me on Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook, and Instagram) for the campaign launch next week, and to keep your eyes peeled because I’ve got a very special stretch goal that I’ll be announcing once the book goes live.
This is a short piece that I’ve been meaning to draw for a few years now—glad to finally have it finished. You can find it in print in Irene #6 later this year. Enjoy!
Greetings, East Coasters! I’m heading to your fine shores this weekend (June 6th & 7th) for Special Edition: New York, a comics-centric show from the folks who bring you New York Comic Con. I’ll be in Artist Alley at Table H3. There’s a great line-up of creators attending, and I’m really excited to do my first-ever show in New York (and stick around for a few days to explore the city). I even designed one of the show badges!
Our pieces needed to include a New York landmark, so of course I chose the South Street Seaport Museum, home of the tall ship Peking. I can’t wait to visit and see her in person—did you know she’s featured on one of my super fancy nautical postcards? She’s also the subject of Irving Johnson’s incredible film “Around Cape Horn”, which is a must-see for anyone interested in tall ship culture.
I’ll be bringing loads of great comics, including the first six issues of Cartozia Tales! These award-winning all-ages adventure comics are generally only available by mail subscription, so be sure to stop by and pick up some signed copies in person—I’ll even have sticker sheets and paper dolls. Here’s a selection of pages I’ve been drawing for the series:
If you want to learn more about Cartozia, there’s some really fun behind-the-scenes stuff happening on our Tumblr this week. Take a peek!
I’ll also be running an iteration of the ever-popular Freelance Like a Rockstar panel on Saturday from 3:45 to 4:45pm in Theater 2. Come learn about freelance career secrets from me, Ron Chan, Cat Farris, Molly Ostertag, and Katie Lane. I’m really thrilled with this line-up—lots of experienced folks who can share valuable advice and answer your burning questions. More details here.
I think that’s it from me—hope to see you in the Big Apple!
Hey Portland! I’m making a hometown appearance at Linework NW this weekend. This fantastic indie comics and illustration festival boasts a unique format with two completely different sets of exhibitors Saturday and Sunday. This means you can only find me there on Sunday (at Table 24B), but should totally show up both days to take full advantage of the talent on offer. Did I mention it’s stone cold freeto attend? You heard it here first. Or maybe you didn’t. Either way I’d love to see you on the floor.
Date: Saturday, April 18, 2015 & Sunday, April 19, 2015
Time: 12:00pm – 8:00pm
And here’s a handy map! See Table 24B? Right in the middle there. Aw yeah.
You can check out the exhibitor lineups for both days of Linework NW right here. I’ll also be speaking on a panel called The Modern Reality of Fundraising for Artists at 4:30pm on Sunday with Hazel Newlevant, Kory Bing, and Taneka Stotts, moderated by Tristan Tarwater. Check out the full listing of panels for more exciting discussion topics.
Pacific Northwesterners, rejoice! My first convention of 2015 is here and it’s taking place in beautiful Bellingham, Washington this weekend.
BellCAF is totally free and promises a really fun roster of indie cartoonists. I’d be delighted to see any/all of you there. Learn more at their website, RSVP to the event on Facebook, and let me know in the comments if you’re planning to attend!
I’m so delighted to share this comic today as part of Whatever We Please, The Nib’s collection of comics honoring International Women’s Day. Dance Yourself Clean is a brief meditation on what being a part of the social dance scene here in Portland has done for my sexuality and my sense of self. Read the whole thing here.
(This comic was made possible by the generous support of my patrons on Patreon! If you’d like to see me making more comics, won’t you consider joining them?)
After many long weeks of toil, I’m thrilled to announce that Down to the Seas Again, my travelogue comic from this summer’s trip aboard the Charles W. Morgan, is officially at the press and available for pre-order and PDF download! Pre-ordered print editions will begin shipping September 22nd. They’re 20 pages, full color, and (if I do say so myself) totally gorgeous. Colorhaus did a fantastic job on the printing and I can’t wait to start getting them into your hands.
If you’re attending the Small Press Expo in Bethesda, MD this weekend, you can catch the official print debut and pick one up in person at Table C14, or you can find me at Rose City Comic Con next week with additional copies!
You can also get more of a behind-the-scenes experience by pledging as little as $1 a month over on my Patreon page, where I’ve been posting a lot of process stuff and background info with each page.
Photo by R.J. Mockford
Finally, thanks to all of you who came out to the Sequential Art Gallery show opening last week. I had a great time chatting with you all about boats and process and upcoming plans. The pages will be up all month if you missed the party and would like to go take a look! Here’s the gallery’s page with more details.
Hope to see many of you in the next few weeks at SPX and RCCC!
