Monday, December 22, 2008

Snowed in



In Portland, Oregon we've had about 13 or 14 inches of snow over the last week and it's not supposed to stop until this coming weekend or so. Top photo is me, then my girlfriend, then my brother. We have about 6 inches more than what these photos show. Being snowed in is great now but we'll see how I feel about it in a few more days.

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

The New Guapo

Guapo Comics and Coffee (www.guapocomicsandbooks.com) has moved. I love the new store and layout so much! Plus they've used my artwork in their new look. The window sign is the best, but it's hard to see it in this photograph.

Saturday, December 13, 2008

Winter Break


This strip doesn't fit anywhere in the stories I'm currently working on but I like it so I'm posting it... I'm finally done with school for Fall quarter. This was seriously the most grueling schedule I've ever had. But I am now an expert on The Congo and I can draw phrase structure trees for any clause you throw at me. I also went down to APE during November and had to do numerous things that have prevented me from posting. Anyway, I am free now. Next quarter I will be teaching a comics class at Portland Community College. The tuition is super cheap so please take it so I have some students. I can't wait.

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

papercutter 9


Here is some of the artwork I've been making for Papercutter number 9. Papercutter 7 by the way won an IGNATZ AWARD at SPX for Best Anthology. Thanks to Greg Means, Galen Longstreth, M.K. Reed, Jonathan Hill and Andy Hartzell.

In these drawings I'm not giving you any dialogue because I don't want to give my story away before it's published. Sorry.

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Thursday, September 18, 2008

IGNATZ nominees

The SPX Ignatz award nominees are up. http://www.spxpo.com/ignatz.shtml
In addition to all the amazing Sparkplug titles nominated this year Papercutter #7, by Tugboat Press was nominated for Outstanding Anthology or Collection. I have a one page strip in this book so I feel great about it. I will be doing a much longer story for Papercutter # 9. Also, Paul Goes Fishing was nominated in many categories and it deserves it.

old journals

On September 30, 2004 I began my first sketch/journal. I cranked out 13 journals full of art, ideas and emotions by 2008. In 2006 my production of these journals stalled a bit when I began cartooning for real so the bulk of these journals were made in a bout 2 years. I miss journaling. I put everything into them at the time.

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

more pages


I thought that I was done but apparently I'm not. Here's another two pages I've added to my book. Now I guess the book will be 152 pages. No one can render carpet like I can... Nor would they wish to.

Saturday, September 6, 2008

Pony Club Show for October


Here are a couple of drawings I just did for a show at the Pony Club in Portland for October. I'll post more when I finish them. I can say with confidence that the drawing with the wolf is probably one of the best drawings I've ever made. Other contributors to the show will be David Youngblood, Theo Ellsworth, Chris Wright and Ron Rege Jr.

Monday, September 1, 2008

last edits

As I finish edits on Neptune, I decided to add this profile page... Even though I do not plan on publishing this book myself, I am trying to take care of as many of the design elements as possible so I can have as much control as possible. I am really happy with this drawing. I think it looks like me.

Friday, August 29, 2008

Teenage Dinosaur


I just did this postcard image for Tim Goodyear and his publishing company Teenage Dinosaur. Tim Publishes books like Gooddess Head by Dash Shaw, Boy's Club by Matt Furie and Real Madness Comics by Bobby Madness.

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

My LIfe



This photo is a little underwhelming for me, considering that it represents the last year and a half of my life. To think of all the countless hours spent on these tiny drawings. Now that I'm done drawing the book I've got to go through it and re-read it several times to make sure everything works. Editing is a pain.

Monoculture

Last week Ariel and I went camping at Honeyman State park. There are sand dunes there and it's actually pretty amazing. This picture shows the various stages of a clear cut. The landscape looks much like this all along most of the drive to the coast. You can see that the companies that harvest these trees only plant one type of tree, the Douglas Fir Tree, even though there are many many trees and plants that make a healthy forest. They also plant these trees too close together. It makes me very angry!

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Almost done!


Above are new end pages that I'll use for Neptune. As of today I am just a few pages away from being finished with this book. It'll be 144 pages plus end pages and cover when I'm done.

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

The Portland Zine Symposium

This weekend, August 23rd and 24th, I'll be at The 8th Annual Portland Zine Symposium held at The Smith Memorial Ballroom at Portland State University. I'll also be hosting a workshop on self-publishing along with Dylan Williams (Sparkplug Comicbooks) and Greig Means (Tugboat Press) at 2 or 3 pm on Saturday.

Hours are Saturday 10 AM - 5 PM
Sunday 10 AM - 4 PM

That creepy boy with the bell bottoms and Return of the Jedi T-shirt is me circa 1984.

Thursday, August 14, 2008

Process


What this photo shows is how I like to focus on drawing one panel at a time. This allows me to give each panel undivided attention. After the panel is finished I cut it out and tape it onto a piece of typing paper. Doing my panels separately and uniform also allows me to edit my comics like a movie. A linear time line that I can utilize to add or drop as many panels as I like. Doing panels separately also frees me up so I can take more breaks. If I'm working on one panel or a whole page, I cannot stop until the job is done, so doing the panels separately allows me to free my mind from the "get the whole page done" syndrome. After that I store the comics in a folder so I can read my artwork like it will read when it's published.

Monday, August 11, 2008

Ristretto Artwork

I took a photograph of most of the original artwork that I made for Ristretto's advertisements. Ristretto Roasters is a coffee shop in NE Portland, Oregon. Two ads are missing because I gave them away as gifts to the owners Din and Nancy. I'm not sure if you can tell in this photo, but the smaller I made the artwork (the closer I was to the actual print size) the better it turned out.

Ristretto Stamps


I was asked to create a design that would be used on stamps for coffee cups... The bottom design and the top left were too busy and detailed to be used. I think they'll be happy with the top right design. Hopefully I'll be able to salvage all the designs and use them for something else.

Sunday, August 10, 2008

Book Cover

Above is the drawing that inspired the cover to Neptune. Below that drawing is the finished cover to my book. The spine will probably just be blue. I used colored penciles, gel pens and rapidographs. I actually made another cover to the book at first but it wasn't good enough to use.

Saturday, August 9, 2008

a big waste of time

The other night I spent a few hours watching a movie and making this drawing with a white gel pen on black paper. I didn't really pay attention to the movie because I was making this stupid drawing. I like it, but it unfortunately does not work for my book. This happens all the time. Usually the drawings that don't work for my book are no good. This one is good, but it just doesn't work.

Friday, July 25, 2008

NEPTUNE!


Neptune is a 130-140 page book about a brother and sister, their dog and a giant flood that I've been working on for well over a year. As of today 114 pages have been completely finished and inked. Only a couple more months to go. Maybe even sooner. The image here will be end pages to the book.

Sunday, July 20, 2008

album artwork


This is some artwork I did for a friend's album cover. I'm not sure how it will look when it's completely finished but I'll update it then. I was really happy with the color palate that I used.

Wednesday, June 4, 2008