Comics, Booze, Crazy Button Ladies, & Cake - APE 2010!

It always feels good to be home but APE was great this year! People responded to my work way better then last year and I met some very cool and talented people I look forward to hanging out & (hopefully) working with in the near future. I have zines and prints left over from the show that will be up for sale at some local and online outlets soon, or you could email me if interested. More importantly I'm very excited and motivated to get going on my next round of projects and releasing another Significant Cities Zine shortly after the new year. More work and official website this coming week!

going ape...

Horrible pun not withstanding, this year's APE is in just over a week, and like last year, I'm in last minute scramble mode. But, also like last year, I seem to be doing pretty well under the pressure, so it's a give and take I guess. Here are some more images that'll be in the zine, and at least one that'll be a postcard.
The book piece is based on NY Times Op Ed article about community based education in Afghanistan in lieu of Taliban attacks on traditional schools, and the two hair illustrations are part of a self portrait series...different phases of my life represented through hair.

worsening weather

Another in progress piece...I've been jumping between several projects at once, which is something I used to a lot and have been finding I get way more done this way. Looking forward to APE next month and having a proper website up with a lot of new work.

Drawing

Blue - John Mathis, fellow illustrator, man of large arms.
Black - Some random dude.

In Progress

I've been working on some larger pieces than normal...here's an in progress. I'm also working on the short stories & illustrations that will be in my zine for APE this year. Hopefully this is my last blog post, and I'll have a proper website up sometime in the next week or two.

Swordfought

About three weeks ago the three year endeavor that was my band Swordfights came to an end. And as much of a bummer as it is, it's also quite a relief. Devoting a larger chunk of time to illustration has been a good change of pace and I've been messing around with different styles and tools I haven't really tried before. Here are some pieces I did sort of messing around, but they'll probably end up in the zine I'm taking to APE later this year. And some sketchbook stuff, because why not?

Little Drawings

I've been treating the artwork for the Swordfights EP (and the music & lyrics) as one big piece as opposed to 4 separate songs and some drawings to go with it, and I'm pretty happy with the results. There's still much to be done and washes to be added, and when it's all done I think I'm going to retire the crazy hatching for a bit to try to new things so I'm pushing it as much as I can without completely breaking my mind. More stuff soon!

Lycanthrophilia

Here's the first half of my two pager for the "Filling Your Hole With Werewolves" zine. Huzzah!

Space Hell 003...Looking for a Landing

This was the last piece I did for the Space Hell show...never had a chance to scan/upload it until now...enjoy!!

Drawing for Illustration...and fun!

I'm currently taking Gayle Donahue's Drawing for Illustration class which is all about linework & various pen/ink techniques. After spending the last year drawing with nothing but technical pens the class has made me re-evaluate the way I draw & use lines, & I think my work (and attitude towards it) has been improving really quickly as a result.

Here's a few sketchbook pages from recent history & an assignment from Gayle's class...we had to do a self portrait & than choose either a pet, plant, or vegetable, & draw both in Alan Cober's style. I drew broccoli.

In other news, my band Swordfights has been making progress on the EP we started recording just before the new year & should be finished in about a month, with a release date in mid/late April. I'm quite proud with the way it's sounding...We're going to try and do something special for the packaging and include a zine of some sort with the disc, but more on that as it gets figured out.

I'm also doing a 2 page story for a Werewolf-themed-zine being put together by the same folks who set up the Space Hell show, and I'm working to start a web-comic with a friend of mine, so things are getting a lot busier which is a good feeling. Much more very soon!!