📝This archived post is originally from my old comics focused Wordpress blog from 2011-2019. That site was a space to publicly commit to learning the art and craft of cartooning and self-publishing. These posts are full of a naive enthusiasm that though at times embarrassing, I'm proud of. I hope you find them useful in some way.❤️

Lots of ground to cover in this post.

For starters, why pay for a yearbook when you can make one yourself? Here’s a peek at the 2012 CCS yearbook.

Clockwise from upper left: Eleri Mai Harris, Sara Sarmiento, Luke Healy, Ben Gowen.

I’m pretty proud to have been part of the design team that sought to tie the whole yearbook together with the theme of “stereotypical indie cartoonist”. To evoke the theme, we turned the whole book into a flannel shirt with pocket and facsimile moleskine. I was responsible for preparing the little fold out notebook, which served as the table of contents.

I’m surrounded by talented and passionate dudes and dudettes here at CCS, why not check out how they’ve depicted themselves? (My work is the mythical blobs.) 

On the subject of passionate people, have you had a look at Oily Comics’ exploits over the past year? If not, you’d be advised to know that Oily is where it’s at. Earlier this week I got the crop of October comics. A solid bunch of robust little black and white minis. The slew of Oily Comics that have come out this year makes me proud to be an American cartoonist.

As a friend of Oily I feel it’s my duty to draw draw draw draw. As such, I’ve got to ask you, are you satisfied with your drawing practices? Need some inspiration? Well then, might I direct you to this little post by Darryl Ayo that highlights what’s so great about Joe Lambert’s process of image creation. The short story is that he gets better and better doesn’t stop.

In the spirit of putting my money where my mouth is, I’ve been ripping through sketchbooks this week. Just put a close to one today and another yesterday. Here’s a peek and what’ll be sitting quietly in a drawer waiting for a day when I get nostalgic about my scribbles. Started a new one this evenin’.

Recently I’ve been exploring repetition, dedicating pages to variations on simple characters. Hope you like some of ‘em.

Besides doodlin’ all over the place, I’ve been screen printing covers for On They Bicker. I’d like to have some copies to give away and trade at the Brooklyn Comics and Graphics Fest next Saturday. I’m nowhere near where I want to be in terms of my screen printing, nevertheless, slowly but surely I’m can see improvements in my work practices and my color separation technique.

I’m currently working on an 8 page comic that was arrived at through bibliomancy. Using a Robert Micro dictionary I arrived at the following prompts. Connaitre le monde: s’envoler: cahier. These prompts are to be the hinges of the narrative.

The story revolves around the following character, Helene, who longs to escape the grip of slow life in Nantes. Constantly devouring tomes on the world outside of France, her second home is the city’s travel bookstore. The story will be a vignette that tries to capture the essence of the multiple lives that we lead and the way that we find satisfaction in those lives.

I’ll be working on it extensively tomorrow while other CCS students try their hand at 24 hr comics. I’ll be inking in the style of Dupuy and Berberian, so I’m really excited. I hope to be able to submit this comic to the Andromeda Quarterly for its January issue.

Given that Dupuy and Berberian are across the Atlantic, I can’t say I’ve ever seen any of their original art in person, let alone  in scale with the human body. This video of Dupuy and Berberian exhibiting their artwork in Paris alongside Maja at the Galerie Petits Papiers satisfies those curiosities. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWneeMVeOQU&feature=related

With the cartooning out of the way, here’s some music and some winter heating tips:

  1. 3 ways to effectively stay warm and to keep your heating bill down this winter courtesy Paul Wheaton.
  2. and  a solid little mix by my friend, SHRUBS:

http://soundcloud.com/sharon-rubin/halloweener-mix