Doing It Anyway

Although it’s been one of Those Days, I’m excited to say that I’m finally through to the backend on my first story for Symbolia Magazine! Here’s the whole thing all tinylike (no spoilers!) before I print it out and start inking.

Progress

After spending all this time researching uniforms and protocol and environments and guns (oh God, the guns), I’m really excited to work on other projects next month. Give me environments I know full of things I can draw! Still, this has been a fantastic challenge so far and I’m really excited to finally get it off the computer and onto the drawing board. Until I’m splashing ink on things, it just doesn’t feel like making comics.

In related news, I scripted out Baggywrinkles #4 is a sleepless fever last night.

Turns out everything I thought was hilarious at 2am held up in the cold light of morning. Success!

The story will be around 12 pages and should be out in time for the Stumptown Comics Fest in April. But first, I’ve got another story to pencil and ink. So I’ll get back to that.

Onward, ever onward.

New Year, New Hats, New News!

Hello everyone! It’s 2013! Isn’t that crazy? I think so.

This year was my first as a Real Live Cartoonist, and it’s been a hell of a ride. I was about to start writing a list of all the stuff that happened, but I got exhausted just thinking about it. Let’s just say A Lot of Stuff went down. Comics, dance, work, travel, freelance, moving, breakups, unbreakups, practice, growth, change — and 2013 just keeps looking better. I have another two months at Periscope (which, for the record, is the most inspiring and wonderful work environment ever), two of my comics will be published by people who are not me before July, there’s a new issue of Baggywrinkles in the works, and it’s looking like I’ll be traveling to at least FIVE conventions this year. I’m excited, inspired, and ready to make more art. What more could a girl ask for?

I also got a very kind mention in Tony Cliff’s 12 from 2012 list for Paste Magazine. Tony is the mastermind behind the adventures of Delilah Dirk — one the most beautifully-executed and delightful webcomics out there today. I’m immensely chuffed to see Baggywrinkles alongside such an impressive gaggle of names, and I highly recommend that you go check out the rest of the group. There’s just too much awesome stuff happening in comics right now.

Speaking of awesome stuff, here’s some exciting news! The story I’m illustrating for Symbolia Magazine is now officially underway. Here are all my thumbnails laid out and ready to go:

A_o7l3oCQAEUhGK

The issue with our story won’t be out until June, but expect several sneak peeks as I work through pencils and inks over the next couple months. Sarah Mirk has put together some really powerful stories, and I can’t wait to start working on them in earnest.

Weekly drawing challenges continue unabated. Here are the 50 Hats I promised last week:

HatsDone

And I’m making noises about doing an alphabet series involving figures from Classical Greece — gods, goddesses, heroes, legends, etc — as a tactic for improving my inking technique. Here’s a photo of the Athena sketch that got me started on the idea.

athena

If you have any favorite Greek figures, perhaps you’d care to leave their names in the comments? I’ll probably be taking suggestions as I go…

Apart from that, work continues unabated. I’m in California until next week, and then it’s back to the grey northwest for more drawing, more food carts, and more…nope, those are basically the only two things I’ll be paying attention to for a while. OH! I’m also going to be teaching some workshops later this month: Freelance Badassery and Kickstarter Bootcamp. Keep an eye out for dates and times as soon as I have them.

OKAY. PHEW.

We’re really done now.

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!