Haute Junk

To sea in a sieve

2012-01-17T10:42:00.000-08:00

Twenty-Twelve: Auspicious Assonance n' Auld Lang Syne

2012-01-05T23:54:00.000-08:00

(drawn for a happy new years card)

I've never been in NYC over NYE but I am always reminded of it because of old movies, and ads on tv for champagne growing up. NYE in its hopeful/melancholy to me: Frank Sinatra, the Strokes "Hard To Explain" video, the end of "Radio Days," drinking a last beer with the last 3 friends at 3 am because hey its 19__ or 20__, etc...

Snapped Shut

Eyewash

below a dream

2011-12-13T23:54:00.000-08:00

click to see larger sized

november spawned a sleep of reason

2011-11-16T13:21:00.000-08:00

the dice are loaded

2011-10-29T19:33:00.000-07:00

More spooky October images

2011-10-25T13:18:00.000-07:00

I am rapidly running out of time and sketchbook space for these, but here are a few more:

I think I got into initial yen to draw some spooky things in mid-September while listening to this Timbaland song:

I also happened to be reading somewhere about words/concepts that didn't lacked translations in various languages, and an English teachers recollection about asking her Guatemalan grammar school students if they had a word that meant "scary but fun." She said there didn't seem to be an equivalent in Spanish but the students had fun adopting "espooky" into their lexicon.

spooky october images

2011-10-06T13:05:00.000-07:00

I decided to get into the spirit of the season and paint spooky things in my sketchbook. I'm not sure if I can keep it going all October though.

semisonic ultrastructure

2011-09-22T12:47:00.000-07:00

form constants

searching for a faith

bouncing betty

three pages from a watercolor sketchpad

2011-09-05T23:20:00.000-07:00

Real Released

long way from a river

entranced examined

Leg show

2011-08-28T12:25:00.000-07:00

I've been meaning to get around to drawing the women from ZZ Top's "Legs" video for a while now:

people in time

2011-08-24T14:11:00.000-07:00

Some drawings from photographs that August Sander took of Germans in the late 20s and early 30s:

People featured are, from top down, the film actress Toni van Eyck, a clergyman's wife, the theater director Gustav Hartung, the architect Hans Heinz Luttgen and his wife Dora Luttgen, a high school girl and the painter Anton Räderscheidt

8/11 Comic: Littoral Line

2011-08-03T13:41:00.000-07:00

Sacred & Profane

2011-07-29T13:51:00.000-07:00

3 ways a noir: Ida Lupino, Jane Greer and Michèle Morgan

"Cleanliness" Acrylic, watercolor and ink on paper

dessert or disaster

2011-07-25T12:27:00.000-07:00

Kimbra and Debucourt

2011-07-22T13:26:00.000-07:00

Two little studies, one of the pop singer Kimbra and one from Debucourt:

friends appear

2011-07-20T23:59:00.000-07:00

summer watercolor pad

2011-06-25T16:03:00.000-07:00

sketchbook 6/14

2011-06-14T15:49:00.000-07:00

make u put yo hands up

(sketch from Caroline Watts drawing in "The Were-Wolf": http://bringfire.tumblr.com/post/6362578420/the-were-wolf

shore leave

2011-06-01T17:18:00.000-07:00

I like this dudes head:

waterworks

2011-05-26T13:14:00.000-07:00

Hear me out

newspaper art

2011-05-23T22:54:00.000-07:00

I don't do a ton of commercial jobs, and that which i do are often not-completely-mine-enough to merit posting, but I thought this cover for a local weekly turned out ok. Here's the original watercolor I did for it:

And here's it was post-editing on the stands:

It was illustrating an agricultural story about using only natural rainfall for wine crops, which is I guess the old-timey way. A detail in the story about how deep the roots will go in search of water when they have to struck me. I tried to strike an emotional tone that wasn't the default editorial cartoonist glib condemnation, which unfortunately is usually my first instinct. Bone-deep from growing up reading editorial cartoons. I tried to aim for a bit of compassion, this being a world we're all stuck making and living in, and not always aware of other possibilities beneath our feet.

SPX in Stockholm

2011-05-17T23:16:00.000-07:00

I just spent a week in Stockholm, Sweden for the Swedish SPX and it was a great experience and a lovely city. I always expect that I'll do more drawing on trips than I end up doing and I'm frankly baffled and envious of those who manage it. It's like people who can get a bunch of heavy reading and writing done on long plane rides, I think they must be in business class or something because the best I can manage is some squirmy sleep and heavy-duty dissociation.

But I did do a page or two of doodles in my sketchbook. Here's a triptych of Stockholm street fashion:

I did a lot of photo-taking, most of which ended up on Vanessa Davis's great flickr set of the trip.

There was really too much great stuff and great people to go into all of it in what's essentially a sketchbook-dump-blog, but we were super grateful to our SPX-hosts Kristiina Kolehmainen, Johannes Klenell, as well as our house-hosts Austin English and Clara Bessijelle Johansson for letting us stay with them.

Some good accounts of the show here:

http://www.comicsbeat.com/2011/05/13/convention-report-swedish-spx-2011/

http://www.topshelfcomix.com/blog/690

Vanessa Davis, Dash Shaw & MK Reed

Simon Gärdenfors, far left

Shannon O'Leary, Gabrielle Bell

Eric Reynolds, Shaw

Pin-up Process

2011-04-19T13:51:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago I drew a pin-up gag cartoon for Jim Linderman's Vintage Sleaze blog.

Jim is a folk art collector and general cataloguer of weird-time Americana, on Dull Tool Dim Bulb and historical books like the Grammy-nominated Take Me To The Water , so it was a real treat to do something for his site. This cartoon was a bit more involved, process-wise, then my usual doodles, so I thought it'd merit a process blog.

I'm an admirer of gag cartoonists like Bill Wenzel and Dan DeCarlo, as well as the classic illustration chops of Russell Patterson, so I decided to draw suitably ribald, but hopefully a bit lush and colorful too. Dancing girls are a staple of those strips (along with such staples as workplace sexual harrassment, infidelity, and wardrobe malfunction) The vintage burlesque is full of pattern and pageantry that is fun to draw.
I did some hasty research for old time showgirl images:

I roughed out a pose in my sketchbook before I really knew how the joke was going to be executed.

(note the 3 Patterson studies in the center)

I drew it first in pencil (which I seem to have misplaced, but trust me that it's frustratingly superior to the final inked version).

I then used a light box to ink the pencils:

...I mainly did this so I wouldn't have to fuss with erasing. After scanning the above image, just to have a record, I watercolored the page. Then I had to figure out what actual the gag would be, after hemming and hawing on the exact wording I settled on the final caption, which I lettered in Photoshop, using the Futura bold font, a go-to type for pulp tabloid editors (and Barbara Kruger):

(click it to see it at actual size)

Sketchblog until your friends hate you

2011-04-06T14:50:00.000-07:00

Moving along

2011-03-30T12:30:00.000-07:00

dog whistle/wolf whistle

2011-03-11T18:30:00.000-08:00

In Sublime Predation

A gag cartoon still in progress, for the "vintage sleaze" blog. I still have to watercolor it and put in a caption:

3/11 Comic: Boetimus and Paulus

2011-03-03T00:03:00.000-08:00

Late Night Drawing Party

2011-01-25T09:51:00.000-08:00

I like to listen to good working jams while I'm drawing late at night. I made a playlist of a bunch of mp3s and put them here: http://www.filedropper.com/ns

How We Find the Time

Daily Dilemma

Another Chance at History

January Image Dump

2011-01-18T02:19:00.001-08:00

Just a grab bag of comics and drawings i've been working on:

Cassie and Mason

Sleeping Beast

Picnic

1/5/11 Comic: Round Route

2011-01-05T15:51:00.000-08:00

long nights journey into day

2011-01-01T12:57:00.000-08:00

I don't know what to do with my life

2010-12-07T13:56:00.000-08:00

drawing with a red needle

2010-12-01T13:24:00.001-08:00

Comic 11/10: Old House

2010-11-12T12:54:00.000-08:00

Tiny Show Opening Reception 11/14

2010-11-12T10:52:00.000-08:00

"Triumph of Reason" ink & watercolor

I have some small artworks (see above) in Studio Gallery's "Tiny Show", the opening reception of which is this Sunday. Here's the press 4 it:

tiny
small pieces under $400
November 11th - December 23rd, 2010
opening reception: Sunday, November 14th, 2-6 pm
7th Anniversary Party: Sunday, December 5th, 2-6 pm

STUDIO Gallery
1815 Polk Street (between Washington & Jackson)
San Francisco, CA 94109 415-931-3130
www.STUDIOGallerySF.com
Gallery hours: Wed-Fri 11-8, Sat-Sun 11-6, Mon-Tue by appt.

Good things do come in small packages! tiny, our annual show of small work, is your one-stop-spot to pick up a little something for your own collection, as well as a one-of-a-kind gift for that special someone. And you're supporting local artists at the same time!

We'll have hundreds of pieces up in the gallery, and we'll be adding new work every day. Over 140 local artists are participating, making it our biggest show yet. Everything is under 7" x 7" and under $400, with lots of pieces under $200. As an added bonus, this year's show includes a VIP section, where we'll be hanging some work that we just couldn't resist from some the gallery's most popular artists, plus a few special surprises.

The show is so big that we're going to be closed an extra day to hang all the work. And we'll have two receptions, one in November and a second in December, to celebrate tiny and the gallery's 7th Anniversary. We hope you'll stop by, check out the show, and see what the artists in our community have been up to!

micropaintings and updates

2010-10-14T14:14:00.000-07:00

Just a few things going on this week, I did some little watercolors:

It Could Be Any One of Us, ink & watercolor

The Other Stuff, ink & watercolor

Also, the Alternative Press Expo is happening this Saturday and Sunday in San Francisco. I'm going to go mosey around there, and I'll have comics in the new Studygroup 12 anthology, which is debuting at the show. I haven't seen the book yet but it looks mighty nice from afar: http://www.zacksoto.com/blog/2010/10/8/studygroup12-comics-anthology-makes-debut-at-ape-2010.html

That's all folks. Hope you're having an electric fall:

another baby painting

2010-10-02T11:33:00.000-07:00

"the same stuff" ink & watercolor. Here's a link the larger image: http://alixopulos.squarespace.com/storage/thesamestuffblog.jpg

Hue, Chroma, Value, Coupon, Rebate, Default

2010-09-29T13:40:00.000-07:00

Just a couple of little watercolors, here's one of Billy & Beezie (from the "Cane Cane" comic)

"Cane Cane"

"Contention"

OK just this once

2010-09-17T15:19:00.000-07:00

There's probably a slippery slope when it comes to drawing (and posting) nostalgic comicbook pinups, but this was inspired by a friend doing a "Cloak & Dagger" minicomic, so maybe it'll be ok.

C&D were the only costumed heroes who acquired their powers by doing illegal street drugs.

8/12/10 comic: "Cane Cane"

2010-08-12T22:42:00.000-07:00

I drew this comic over the past couple months, i hope you like it:

Red Edge, Green Love, Blue Notes

2010-07-27T18:24:00.000-07:00

working method evolution

2010-06-29T18:01:00.000-07:00

It just occurred to me how much my method of drawing comics has been pared down over the years, from an array of tools on big paper on a big board down to one pen, one sketchbook,wherever I can find a spot to work. That paring down has coincided with the ongoing technological advances in my music habits, from a bulky computer to tiny portable mp3 player.

Boys Boys Boys

2010-05-18T19:10:00.000-07:00

Equal Time Dept:

Here's the follow-up to the girl-heavy post of a few weeks ago:

new watercolor

2010-05-12T12:36:00.000-07:00

Click on this to see more detail:

Hot spring dazzles

2010-04-28T23:59:00.000-07:00

I made a spring time mix tonight, a delirious love letter to the world! I tried to stick to tracks that remind me of spring or at least i've been into this spring.

dl it here:

http://alixopulos.squarespace.com/storage/springtime.mp3

Here's what went into itt:
Intro: I live in the springtime - the lemon drops
Wow (radio edit) - kylie minogue
Show me the night (grumremix) - jump jump dance dance
the beat goes on - whispers
easy (buffetlibreremix) - dragonette
white night - the postelles
party in the usa (wideboys radio edit) - mileycyrus
radiates - riton &primary 1
mirrors - gemini club
bread & roses - mr hudson library
sunshowers - mia
rich - yeah yeah yeahs
chasing the night - ramones
heard it through the grapevine - kaiser chiefs
you might think im crazy - the cars
heartbeat song - futureheads
everybody needs (fabian remix) - Oh Shit! &Night Drugs
feelin good again - robert earl keen

Girls Girls Girls

2010-04-13T19:00:00.000-07:00

Barbarian Comic

2010-03-28T19:35:00.000-07:00

Here's a barbarian comic I drew recently...

(click the images to see them at the right size:)

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a couple of new watercolored drawings

2010-03-26T17:25:00.000-07:00

2/25/10comics

2010-02-25T20:15:00.000-08:00

This is a comic I drew this past month, about this dance craze i lived through.

re-drawing Jose Posada

2010-02-24T16:20:00.000-08:00

here's a sketch of an old Jose Posada engraving:

2/9/10comics

2010-02-09T23:29:00.000-08:00

1/6/10comics

2010-01-06T17:41:00.000-08:00

Ughh...

2009-12-01T20:17:00.000-08:00

(click any of these to enlarge)

October Mini-Paintings Sale

2009-10-14T11:58:00.000-07:00

I'm having a big sale this month of pretty much all the watercolor art featured on this blog for the past year! They're a pretty eclectic bunch of pieces but tend to involve visual oxymoron, submerged metaphor and abstruse heraldry. Check out the Flickr set of all 24 of them here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/60888812@N00/sets/72157622540977608/

water damage

2009-10-06T11:24:00.000-07:00

I've had myself a frenetic burst of watercoloring activity in the past month which I'm thinking has finally run its course, if only because I've used up the pad of strathmore postcards.

Absent Friends

X and Y

Fictitious Business

5 Minutes to Midnight

Yonder

ink and watercolors

2009-09-22T21:52:00.000-07:00

A couple little watercolors, click to enlarge:

This one is another little Greek lit study:
Electra and Orestes at Agamemnon's tomb.

Here's the bw study for the piece:

Orestes after slaying Clytemnestra:

And a sketchbook page:

charismatic megaweapons

2009-08-24T22:31:00.000-07:00

Not much new with me here on the butt of summer. Last month the Inkstuds radio show asked me to make a mixtape for them, so here it is in all it's sucka dj glory for your listening enjoyment: http://inkstuds.com/?p=2169

Here's some recent work/sketchbook pages, click em to enlarge 'em:

This one is an excerpt page from a comic i'm working on:

My link of the month is the awesomely gonzo WWII era comic featuring Oswald the Rabbit:

OSWALD'S WAR JITTERS

The works and days

2009-07-08T16:28:00.000-07:00

Some more sketchbook pages, drawn from Hesiod's "The Works and Days" these particular images are from a section called "The Five Ages of Man." Written in the 8th Century BCE, he concludes that we once had a good thing going but that life is pretty crummy now (then). Click to enlarge:

A midsummer night's ink-orgy

2009-06-23T20:48:00.000-07:00

The finished watercolor of Mason Rubella, the earlier black and white version is a few posts back:

(click to enlarge)

Some sketchbook pages:

(that one if of a street in the small town where i grew up)

Another Thing Coming

2009-06-12T13:54:00.000-07:00

I recently found a beat up old copy of this comic from SPIRE comics, a Christian comics company drawn by Al Hartley a talented cartoonist who worked for ARCHIE, among others. I assumed it contained a lot of Book-of-Revelations stuff, which is usually a fun read, but when I cracked it open I was more excited by the pretty great art:

I find it interesting to see how the overheated elements from commercial comics like ARCHIE, their pumped up sexuality as well as the intense excitability of everyone (!!!) put into this ostensibly serious religious context:

My redrawing of it (click to enlarge):

Clearly, there's a lot going on here. The three young adults who are our guides could just be taking a casual stroll through the pages of the Revelation of St. John, but instead it's more like they're writhing and thrusting their way through the cosmos:

(Click to enlarge)

It's not clear if this is just native enthusiasm on the artist's part or a more deliberate attempt to surf the Aquarian zeitgeist. In the same vein, rather than affecting a sober approach, the characters can't help exuding that slightly manic cheeriness that one often encounters in real life with people who've had this type of revelation:

(Click to enlarge)

If Hartley had worked in modern superhero comics instead of ARCHIE his SPIRE characters would probably have the awkward hatchet-faces and tormented musculature of that milieu. But I think a lot of the weird double entendres and eroticism is as much a testament to the charge of his beliefs as it is to his professional background.

Here's a non-SPIRE related sketchbook page, featuring a drawing of the 1977 Sebastopol Apple Blossom Queen:

Finally, this is the finished version of the small commissioned watercolor I posted in the previous blog. It's of a friend who wanted to be drawn with her French bulldog, as a unicorn:

Works in Progress

2009-06-01T12:48:00.000-07:00

A couple of watercolors on cold press that are still in progress, I'll post the finished versions when they're done. Click em to enlarge:

Scene of Mason from The Hot Breath of War, color still to be added

This is a commissioned little piece for a friend who wanted an image of her with her french bulldog in a medieval unicorn kinda thing.

Also, this Saturday in New York at Giant Robot I have some pieces in the way cool all cartoonists show, "Panelists" If you're in NYC come check it out, it should be a great show and a fun opening.

The follow-up to the popular series puts a spotlight on indie-comics creators from across the country, ranging from stapled-and-folded stars of DIY to art-gallery superstars. The show will feature original illustrations, paintings, mixed-media work, and special surprises from an assortment of contributors--including many Eisner and Ignatz Award nominees and winners. This event coincides with the Museum of Comics and Cartoon Art Festival, and is slated to include:

Trevor Alixopulos Andrice Arp Nate Beaty Jeffrey Brown Lilli Carre Christine Castro Martin Cendreda Shawn Cheng Devin Clark Eleanor Davis Mike DeNicola
Nate Doyle Theo Ellsworth Austin English Matt Furie Joseph Guillette Tim Hensley David Horvath Rama Hughes Jeaux Janovsky Levon Jihanian Hellen Jo Claire Johnson Blaise Larmee Minty Lewis David Magdalene Mats!? James McShane Dan Moynihan Kiyoshi Nakazawa Tom Neely Molly Colleen O'Connell John Porcellino Emilio Santoyo Rob Sato Daria Tessler Peter Thompson Jeremy Tinder Steven Weissman Julia Wertz Calvin Wong
â€¦and more!

Flung from his breast swift bubbling jets of gore

2009-05-19T17:18:00.000-07:00

A few new watercolors, click to enlarge:

Under the April sky, under the April sun

2009-04-23T22:41:00.000-07:00

I just got back from Portland's redoubtable Stumptown Comics Fest with a handful of handmade minis to add to my to-read pile. Besides that, there's not a lot going on with me in this post, so i'll just skip to the drawing:

(click to enlarge)

J&MC - "April Skies"

i'm a very special guy

2009-03-31T15:08:00.000-07:00

Some recent news:
-I'm going to be at the Stumptown comics show April 18th & 19th in Portland OR.
-I also have some new comics posted on my flickr stream:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/60888812@N00/
-Every other Sunday night I've been djing on KRCB radio, from 11pm to 1am. The livestream is here: http://www.krcb.org/

Here are some drawing from my sketchbook, click to enlarge:

underdog afterparty

2009-02-26T21:23:00.001-08:00

january sketchbook

2009-01-02T22:51:00.000-08:00

News Update: "The Hot Breath of War" is number 11 on Rob Clough of High Low's Top 50 Comics of the Year. (You can read his original review here.)

Xochitl from "The Hot Breath of War" sketch number 4 zillion (click to enlarge):

Doodling of the Furies from Aeschylus' Eumenides:

Brother Jukebox, Sister Wine, Cousin Blog

2008-12-10T18:53:00.000-08:00

My local bar resembles a sinking pirate ship.

Wintry self portrait.

It's Been Two Weeks Since That Tooth Came Floating Over the Back Fence.

General Consensus

2008-11-18T00:53:00.001-08:00

A dog's breakfast

2008-10-23T22:24:00.000-07:00

It's been a busy month or so (see previous entry) so I haven't had time to post much art. Here are a couple of little watercolors that I'll be putting in the Giant Robot SF "Panelists" show. Check out that link for info on the Nov.1st opening party.

I've been periodically posting updates from my tour diary on my flickr page

Rina Ayuyang and Thien Pham just did a cool interview with me on their fabulous Comics Claptrap podcast.

...Holy Gee Fucking Whiz does will this self-promotional bloggorhea ever end... There's a great feature on the comics of yours truly and superstar Ken Dahl in the new issue of ANTHEM MAGAZINE.

Finally, I'll be doing a reading at the Cartoon Art Museum with a bunch of great cartoonists Saturday November 1st, and another reading with Jesse Reklaw at Copperfields Books in Santa Rosa Monday Nov.3rd. Ok that's everything! Jeez!

September gurls do so much.

2008-09-27T21:50:00.000-07:00

Tom Spurgeon interviewed me on his comicsreporter.com site, I think it's pretty interesting and nicely interlardened with images:

http://www.comicsreporter.com/index.php/cr_sunday_interview_t_alixopulos/

Some recent sketchbook pages:

THBOW nominated for an Ignatz Award & etc.

2008-09-18T14:08:00.000-07:00

There is a bunch of news to report so I'm just gonna get right down to it:

My new comic The Hot Breath of War has been nominated for the Ignatz for "Outstanding Graphic Novel" The line-up of nominees this year looks fantastic, congratulations to everyone. The Ignatz is a festival prize held each year at the Small Press Expo in Maryland, which leads to my next item:

I'll be at SPX and all the resta those place in a couple of weeks.

THIS weekend, however, I'll have a signing/release thing at the Charles M. Schulz Museum, and you are invited!

Alixopulos will be signing copies of The Hot Breath of War at the Charles M. Schulz Museum from 4-6:30 pm. The general public is invited to come enjoy refreshments and view original art, sketches and prints from the book.

Admission to this event is free

Saturday, Sept.20th
4-6:30 pm
Charles M. Schulz Museum & Research Center
2301 Hardies Lane
Santa Rosa, California 95403
(707) 579-4452

Come check it out and say hi!

Finally, I did this little Q & A with Gabe Meline of the North Bay Bohemian and Alexis Fajardo, the creator of Kid Beowulf, we talk cartoonist shop, comics generally and about the Schulz Museum:

http://www.bohemian.com/bohoblog/?p=1561

I'm on a canadian radio

2008-09-05T16:48:00.000-07:00

(sketchbook page, 9/05/08)

I had an interesting, rambling interview with Robin McConnell of the Inkstuds radio program: http://www.inkstuds.com/ We touch on "The Hot Breath of War" and "Mine Tonight" as well as some art and politics. I like to think of myself as a witty conversationalist, but the telephone has always been a weak area for me and I frequently lapse into a fugue of stammering urhhs. But as a whole I think this comes off pretty good.

Sketchbook pages from the depths of summer

2008-08-21T14:37:00.000-07:00

I picked up this book in San Diego after mutually ogling and nerding out over it with Calvin Wong. My style and finesse is a long way from Russell Patterson, but it was fun to do some studies of his work:

That's Hot Breath of War pin-up Xochitl in the lower left, in Patterson-vision.

A couple of other pages, featuring me drawing giddy because I finally got a good batch of ink. "It's a poor artist that blames his tools?" I emphatically reject and denounce that sentiment:

Finally, I wrote a little article about THBOW here on the Sparkplug Blog, this vanished into the scroll pretty quick so in case anyone missed it check it out here: http://www.sparkplugcomicbooks.com/2008/08/neon-love-through-fog-of-war_12.html

Hot Breath of War trading cards

2008-08-02T17:13:00.000-07:00

Well, not really, but I did some more watercolors featuring characters from THBOW. It's nice getting to spend more time with the characters, and also add some details and maybe clues to the narrative. Click on the images to enlargenate:

"Can I See Some I.D.?" ink and watercolor

"Xochitl and Her Dad" ink and Watercolor

"Engle Makes a Call" ink and watercolor

Kritical Korner: Rob Clough of Sequart reviews The Hot Breath of War here.

The Man-Children of Summer

2008-07-24T15:21:00.000-07:00

I'm flying down to the San Diego Comic-Con tomorrow, where I'll be signing at the Sparkplug booth. I don't have much to add about the SDCC beyond what I wrote here a few years ago. Since I'm not really into buying and owning things (I'm more into services i think) the shopping aspect of the con sort of misses me. In the past the con has been an occasion for me to veer between a feeling of professional alienation and a straight-up debauch. I'm aware that these two states are connected somehow. Since the novelty of being plastered while in massive stinking crowds tends to fade as you age, I'm curious as to how it will all go this time. The awesomest part of it for me is seeing friends, and I'm certain it will not disappoint in that respect.

During my "signing time" I'll be selling some of these screen prints that I did of images from THE HOT BREATH OF WAR:

For all the glitz and merchandise of the SDCC a lot of people go there looking for art, so I'm hopeful some folks will be into these. The nice thing about the SDCC is that it's as close to a national convention as there is, so you get to meet cartoonists/comics people from all over and abroad. I was just reading Tom Spurgeon's guide to SDCC again and cracking up all over again over some of it: http://www.comicsreporter.com/index.php/briefings/commentary/14163/
Particularly the tips on night life in San Diego, to wit:
"7. If you don't know what to order, order a gin and tonic. For one thing, no one will mess with you. Nothing hints at sudden, deranged, violent reprisal like a gin and tonic in a crowded bar. It's like ordering a glass of milk in a Wild West saloon." I think I've been getting those all this time for the same reason without realizing it.

So yeah, wish me luck, I will report back on whether San Diego's restaurants are still as Tourette's-themed as they were when I went some years ago.

another review of "The Hot Breath of War"

2008-06-18T12:09:00.001-07:00

Coming hot on the heels of The Comics Reporter's review comes this review of HBOW from The Daily Cross Hatch.

Picayune Fricasee: news bits & watercolors

2008-05-22T11:52:00.000-07:00

I've been doing some small postcard-sized watercolors based around themes and scenes from my new graphic novel The Hot Breath of War, here are a few of them in-progress, click to enlarge:

###The Hot Breath of War makes its east coast debut at the Mocca Festival for Comic Art in New York City June 7. HBOW snuck into the Stumptown Comics Fest by the skin of its teeth and became a "buzz book" of the show, or so says this account from the dailycrosshatch: http://thedailycrosshatch.com/2008/05/04/stumptown-in-just-over-3000-words/ ...I had a great time in Portland, where the streets are thick with cartoonists in various states of distress, undress and intoxication.

###HBOW REVIEWED! Tom Spurgeon of The Comics Reporter got a freshly printed copy of HBOW at Stumptown and wrote the very first review of it right here:

http://www.comicsreporter.com/index.php/briefings/cr_reviews/13639/

###My previous graphic novel Mine Tonight is now available from Diamond Comics Distributors. Your local comic store can order it from their Previews Catalog.

###Finally, everyone in the Bay Area who cares about comic books is very sad about the passing of Rory Root, proprietor of Comic Relief. Rory was a force of nature, who could gently water your comics crops or rock you like a hurricane if you happened to catch him while he was outside smoking. He was unceasingly generous and acutely aware, in the best way, of how his store provided the solid base for an array of aspiring Bay Area cartoonists.

Gearing Up Hot Breath Hype

2008-04-15T15:41:00.000-07:00

Some items and details slowly emerging, as from the murky waters of an eightball. "The Hot Breath of War" graphic novel is officially going to print, and this here is a promotional postcard for it. Please print up thousands of these on your home computer, on glossy paper, and then dump them on the bathroom floor of the nearest Taco Bell:

Plans are still in the works and in the eightball as to promotional happnins, release parties, gladhanding and the like. My first comics-event of the year is a reading for the gala opening party for the Stumptown Comics Fest , at Guapo Comics & Coffee, Portland, OR APRIL 25th 2008 8pm.
Presented by Guapo Comics and Coffee (6416 SE Foster Road, Portland PH#503-772-3638)and Sparkplug Comic Books the party will include an awards presentation, free food, a book premiere and a comics reading including myself, Sarah Glidden (How To Understand Israel
in 60 Days), Julia Wertz (Fart Party), Minty
Lewis (PS Comics), Austin English (Windy Corner), Theo Elsworth (Capacity),
Jason Shiga (Bookhunter), Liz Baillie (My Brain Hurts) and more.

That's all for now, more soon, hopefully!

back in black

2007-10-16T23:59:00.000-07:00

M.U.S.C.L.E.M.A.D.N.E.S.S.

2007-10-09T15:14:00.001-07:00

Recently I went insane and took photos of a full-strength company of "m.u.s.c.l.e." figurines. I was inspired by a post on Dan Zettwoch's drawing blog. Here's a couple of the photos from that session:

You can see the rest here

it's already a crazy August but I'm being productive

2007-08-14T18:04:00.000-07:00

When I draw late at night sometimes I don't know what the fuck I'm talking about:

Stretch out your legs and dance with Ted Leo all night (it's all right):

recent sketching:

I'm back on the horse working on the new graphic novel, exhibit A:

exhibit B:

exhibit C:

exhibit D:

summertime blogz

2007-07-31T13:01:00.000-07:00

comics in process and new sketches

2007-07-17T20:08:00.001-07:00

The first two images are from THE HOT BREATH OF WAR

if can, can, if no can, comics

2007-06-15T20:13:00.000-07:00

Last week I went to a family reunion on the Big Island of Hawai'i. I went to Kona, Hilo and the volcano, but most of my drawings are from Kona side. That's because it's the more touristy side and therefore lends itself (for me anyways) to more time spent sitting around staring at the horizon. Above: Downtown Kona

Now that I'm back on the Mainland I'm trying to get back into working on my next comic, below are some attempts at that:

aloha I must be going

2007-05-29T12:22:00.000-07:00

I have one weekend back home between going to New York and going to Hawaii for a family reunion, and everything I had to do in the interim got in the way of doing very much drawing. It's a little annoying having a years worth (at least) of intercontinental travel squeezed into 3 weeks, but it's an annoyance you sound like a real asshole complaining about, so I won't. I'm excited to revisit my birthplace, and do some drawings of jungles and volcanoes. Below: a few Santa Rosa drawings (click to see them larger)

Last weekend in New York City

2007-05-22T16:28:00.000-07:00

I'm startin off this here drawing blog with some sketches from from a few days ago when I was in New York. I am back in Sonoma County, CA now and missing it a bit. Click on the pictures to see them bigger.

Below: Corner of Grand and Havemyer in Brooklyn.

Below: Marcy Ave. in Brooklyn

Above: sketch from Picasso at the Met's "Gaudi to Dali" exhibit.

Below: drawn back in Santa Rosa.