Comics and Projects
I taught a comic drawing class at Langara in the fall, and the big project was a four page comic. So I drew a four page comic as well, which was good as I didn’t draw much of anything for the three months I was teaching the class. I may put this story in Vinegar 41. It has been a while since I put fiction in an issue of Vinegar.
Don’t worry. I have not gotten deadly serious. I am still all about poo and fart jokes.
I did another cat comic.
And this bit of high brow comedy inspired by watching some Blue Planet 2.
And a reminder that the Vancouver Comic Jam for January is this Saturday.
I had such fun drawing those cat comics, I drew some more (instead of doing the other things I should have been doing).
So this is 2019. Hard to believe we have been in the 2000s for almost 20 years. I guess I have done a lot of comics in that time. Looking back at my sketchbook from 2000, I already had notes for my comic The Adulation, which I wouldn’t draw until 2014. I was working at a dot com. Drew Jason and the Really Long Commute. Did my first comic for the internet, Down at the Black Box.
On the other hand over the past couple of months I have certainly not done a lot of comics. December was this mad scramble where I drew nothing. Just this past week I have finally gotten drawing a little again. Finally drew a couple of pages of cat comics, tentatively titled Yard Cats.
I have finally been drawing this week, after one of my worst dry spells in a long long time. Now if I could just get going on some comic drawing.
I started teaching a class, Drawing for Comics, and I usually do some drawing myself as the class is drawing. So I did this quick little comic in pencil while I had them doing the same.
This ink wash drawing was done from a photo (maybe from pinterest?). I started it in the class and then went back and took my time to do it up right.
This is a drawing I did to try to capture something I saw.
I found a set of creepy Halloween costumes from the first half of the 1900s, over at my go-to spot Vintage Everyday.
A scene from Victorian England, from a photo (probably pinterest again).
Last week there was an article being shared everywhere about scientists laying out how completely screwed we are regarding the climate. UN Says Climate Genocide Is Coming. It’s Actually Worse Than That. The same day I read that I happened to start reading a comic that was about post-apocalyptic scavengers, Land of the Sons by Gipi. And also the same day I started reading a book about post-apocalyptic scavengers, Borne by Jeff VanderMeer. So that inspired me to draw a forest fire.
And other climate change enhanced disasters, like Typhoon Mangkhut.
We seemed to go right from hot sweaty weather to heavy smoke from all the forest fires. This is the state of summer in this era I guess. Oops am I getting dark right out of the gate? Well then appropriately, I drew this after writing a letter when I was tired and crabby.
And this, looking at the state of the smoke the other day.
I have been a bit in the doldrums, not getting anywhere with comics. To mellow out, I draw stuff from the internet and listen to podcasts. This cowgirl was probably from Vintage Everyday, an old faded photo which is why I made it greenish.
Also from Vintage Everyday, some World War 2 Greek freedom fighters. Gotta keep those Nazis away.
And some early 20th century women with wavey hairstyles.
I was listening to a WTF podcast with Peter Fonda as the guest, so I thought I would draw some Easy Riders, from Film Grab.
Some people doing the tango. I think this was from pinterest, though I find I have less luck finding things to draw there. There is something just base level annoying about it.
A swiss cabin on the side of a mountain, from Cabin Porn. I love when they have a cabin situated in some kind of big landscape.
I often find myself looking at google street view for something interesting to draw. But then I just end up wandering around Malta or whatever. Here was a nice highway work scene from California. Probably I just wanted to draw all those pylons.
Listening to an Ultraculture podcast about Jack Parsons, so I decided to draw him and some of the other characters around him. I’m curious how that Strange Angel show is, haven’t seen it yet.
I finally finished a sketchbook. Those last few pages always seem to take forever. I did my traditional self-portrait as the last drawing in the book. I had to do it from a photo, as we don’t seem to have any mirrors in our place that are convenient to draw in front of.
Here are a few of the last drawings I did in that sketchbook. From a photo by Enzo de Martino “Hard Times”.
Some old time-y women from studio portrait photos, found on Vintage Everyday.
And a couple of drawings of cats. I have this project I am trying to figure out, featuring the cats that Manien and I watch from our balcony. One sketch, one ink test that I decided to colour.
I drew some comics about stuff that happened when Jesse was visiting last month.
At some point in May, Manien and I had the idea to re-watch Twin Peaks. We were recalling how pleasant it was watching the Return last year, only having one episode per week. The modern love of “binge watching” often turns shows into a bit of a blur. The weekly schedule gave us more time to savour it. So we decided to re-watch, but only one episode per week, meaning it will take the better part of year to get through everything. It also finally gave us inspiration to make a chalk board on the side of a shelving unit.
I was looking for something to draw and came across a still from a movie called Wonderwall. I have never seen it, but it seems like something I would have come across before!
I continue to be fascinated by different enviro houses. These cool looking earth houses are in Dietikon, Switzerland.
Most of May, and April I suppose, I was busy trying to get my new comic done in time for VanCAF. I did get it done but just barely. I was running around copying it, and making copying screw ups the day before the show. I have been making zines for 30 years, you would think I would have the process down by now. The new comic is Questing, and I also printed up my latest issue of Vinegar. Number 40!
Here are drawings I did of the Questing characters, so that I could stop flipping back to some pages from last year in my sketchbook.
VanCAF was a delight, as always. I was lucky this year to be in the front hall rather than the gym, which tends to get pretty hot. My table neighbour was Bria, who was great to sit by. As well as being a well run show, the people showing tend to be great too. I have sat next to many wonderful folks over the years. My Bird Comics continue to be a hot seller.
For the second time, we had a comic jam in conjunction with VanCAF. It was an awesome time, good turnout. Not quite as crazy amount of pages produced as last year, but still 60+.
Another fun aspect of the VanCAF weekend was that my old pal Jesse came to town for a visit. It felt like a good time for him to come by, he could see what an awesome show VanCAF is, experience the Vancouver Comic Jam, and then have a few days to hang out afterwards. We had such a grand time, many ridiculous ongoing routines. One of those friends where even if I have only seen him twice in the past 15 years, when we get together it is like we were just hanging out yesterday. It was so much fun. I may have a whole Vinegar issue’s worth of material from our six days together.
I continue to inch forward with my D&D comic, which I had best get moving on if I want to have any chance of getting it together for VanCAF. In the mean time here is a comic that will appear in Vinegar 41, and drawings of a dream I had.
