"The Suit" Sees Daylight!

You may recall my mention of a little comic I did called "Surplus Property" (though you probably don't remember, since its been dormant so long). It is the first story of a character called The Suit, a collaborative effort with the fine Adam McGovern. Its a short vignette about a bygone era erasing another, and a lone few willing to fight for a place's right to survive.

The ink's been dry for nearly a year, and with a few publication offers being dangled, we've been waiting in the wings to showcase our project. As things do, they didn't go quite to plan. We had a few setbacks, but thanks to a promise kept by Dean Haspiel and Adam's diligence, I'm happy to announce that "Surplus Property" has now found a home on Trip City, "a Brooklyn-filtered arts salon." You can read the comic, plus all about it here, http://welcometotripcity.com/2012/05/the-suit/.

Poor Man's Millionaire

As mentioned in a previous post, I was invited to participate in a gallery exhibition at Ltd. Art Gallery in Seattle in conjunction with last weekend's Emerald City Comic Convention. When given the prompt to do "comic book themed art" I had to decide on some characters to base a piece on. As a longtime fan of Tony Millionaire, as well as my affinity for animals (crows in particular), I ultimately I decided on doing my take on Maakies with this piece.

 

I titled this Poor Man's Millionaire, its sumi ink and gesso on wood, and it will be on display at Ltd. Art Gallery until the end of April.

April Fool's Day at Falling Rock

Click to enlarge

Every year on April Fool's day my good buddy Josh Shalek invites a guest artist to commandeer his outstanding comic strip "Welcome to Falling Rock National Park" for the day. This year he asked me (or maybe I asked him, who remembers?) to be this year's guest artist, and this was my contribution.

If you've never read Falling Rock I recommend you change that immediately. Go to www.joshshalek.com and get started You can see my contribution on his site, along with links to previous year's April Fool's strips here http://www.joshshalek.com/?p=3829, and read his analysis along with progress sketches on his blog here http://www.joshshalek.com/?p=3839.

Convention Season Starts

This weekend I'll be making my first appearance at the Emerald City Comic Convention in Seattle sharing a table with Matthew Ocasio.

In conjunction with the convention I was invited to contribute to a gallery show called MINTcondition at Ltd. Art Gallery on Friday night. If you're attending the convention, duck out early and walk around the corner to see the show.

 

 

If you want to see my piece you have to attend the reception (or check back here on Saturday).

After ECCC I'll be exhibiting at four more conventions this year, Stumptown in April, CAKE in June, Comic-Con in July, and SPX in September. Apologies to APE and all my Bay Area buddies, but a trip to San Fran just isn't in the cards this year.

New Cover for Hells Dachshunds

 The original cover for Hells Dachshunds was only published out of duress, since I only managed to get them printed days before APE. I'd meant to put together a more polished version, and now, once again under pressure with an impending convention, I've made good on that goal.

Front Cover

Back Cover

I'd also intended to make them available in two and sizes, standard (4.5x7) and minature (3.19x5.25). Hopefully I'll have copies of both put together in time for Emerald City. If not, you can get them at Stumptown.

Slow Summer, Productive Fall

This summer proved to be pretty unfruitful in regards to art production, but I made up for lost time in the fall. With a few commissions, some gifts and some new personal projects I was able to end the year on a pretty productive note.

Here's what I've been up to:

Those of you who saw me at A.P.E. know that I scrambled to put together a new short comic for the show called "Hells Dachshunds." Somehow it evaded posting on the blog so here are a few sample pages.

 

Copies of "Hell's Dachshunds" are now available for $3. By March they will be available in two sizes, "Standard" (4.25"x7") and "Miniature" (3.18"x5.25").

Commissions beget more commissions. About two months after putting up a commissioned painting on the walls of Park Kitchen, two customers asked for similar pieces. Both of these are for private residences, so unless you bought them, this is the only place to see them.

I logged some hours at the drawing table as well. Friend and comics comics creator Tyrell Cannon asked for a some pin-up art of his character Simon, and here is my contribution to his collection.

 

My cousin Kyle also asked for a commissioned piece to give to his dad. Back when Kyle and I were thirteen and superhero obsessed we teased my uncle about his compulsive cleanliness, dubbing him "Immaculate Man." Inspired by a notorious b-movie poster I did this drawing to be turned into a t-shirt.

In a few days I'll be putting up a show of paintings at Portland's Caffe Vita. Back in November, when arrangements were made, I feared I wouldn't have enough work to fill the walls. With a little diligence I more than doubled my stock of tool paintings, and now have an ample stock for showing. These (with the six in my last post) are the fruits of my recent labors.

 

  

The show runs through February, with reception date still to be determined.

 Lastly, I returned to a previous source of inspiration, my dog Millie (the original Hells Dachshund) to put together a gift for my girlfriend, Nan.

 I would hope to maintain this level of productivity every season, but I know that there is an ebb and flow to these things. Realistically I just hope to things stay consistent, and I can post more regularly instead of a major blog dump every four months.

New Paintings

A few finished pieces for the upcoming show at Caffe Vita.

Preview of Coming Abstractions

Here's a sneak peak at some paintings in the works. I'll be showing these and others at Portland's Caffe Vita in February.

Experiment in grey

 

Alternative Press Expo

I'll be an San Francisco this weekend for the Alternative Press Expo, October 1st and 2nd. I'm sharing table 562 with Josh Shalek. I'll be debuting a new minicomic as well as the second edition of "Cryptozoology: A Pragmatist's Guide," and will be selling the rest of my wares, including original art from "Cryptozoology." If you're in the bay area this weekend, do stop by.

Second Edition and New Cover for "Cryptozoology"

I'm releasing a second edition of "Cryptozoology: A Pragmatist's Guide" to be debuted at San Francisco's Alternative Press Expo in October. Last year I debuted the first edition there and sold out, so more copies will be on hand this time. Hope to see you there.

Commonplace 6

I kinda bailed on the background on this one, but oh well. Also, I'm too inconsistent to call these "Weekly Drawings" anymore, but I'll keep doing them. Given the pattern of the facebook "likes" from the same core group of interested persons, I feel confident that all five of you will forgive my deadline woes.

The Knives of Park Kitchen

"The Knives of Park Kitchen," 24"x48," oil on wood (click to enlarge)

I just recently completed this commissioned painting for Scott Dolich, the chef/owner of Park Kitchen. Each of the cooks and chefs contributed an implement for inclusion in the piece, making a veritable portrait of the kitchen. The painting will soon be hung in the restaurant. If you stop in to see it, I recommend the flank steak salad.

(Bi)Weekly Drawing: Commonplace 5

Minicomics never say die!

My comics now grace the shelves of a new location, Astoria, Oregon's own Amazing Stories. Tim, the owner is shifting away from mainstream comics and wants more small press and self-published work, so if you're heading to Astoria, bring books for consignment.

http://amazingstoriesastoria.com/

Weekly Drawing: Commonplace 4

Weekly Drawing: Commonplace 3

New Comic, New Character

Announcing the completion of, "The Suit in: 'Surplus Property,'" a new collaborative comic with the writer Adam McGovern!

Page one of eight

Adam pitched me the script back in April at the MoCCA Festival, with a completed and polished script. I did my usual hemming and hawing about getting started on it, but once underway it went pretty fast. Adam is an exemplary collaborator, thoughtful, precise, communicative and straightforward. He's taking point on finding publication outlets, so more on that as it happens.

Weekly Drawing: Commonplace 2

Weekly Drawing: Commonplace 1

To keep the blog fresh and active I'll be uploading a new illustration per week. As of late I've been shifting my focus from natural forms onto man-made objects. I'm calling this series Commonplace, made up of everyday landmarks I photograph on the street.  Here is the first of (hopefully) many to be coming at a (hopefully) weekly rate.

I used sumi ink and chalk pencil on textured brown paper. Its a new technique for me, combining two methods I've used before, ink and chiaroscuro. I used to do drawings like this with charcoal, a much messier, crude medium. With the ink I can achieve charcoals mid-tones and sharp black lines.To get these gradients with ink I let it dry out enough to thicken, barely load the bristles and lightly brush across the high points of the paper's texture.

I really like the look of this, so perhaps after some more practice, I'll try inking a whole comic this way. No promises...