Favorite Music of 2009

Short and sweet this year folks...
(as I realize you're being bombarded with lists left and right)

TOP 10 Album Picks:

1. Animal Collective: Merriweather Post Pavilion
2. Dan Deacon: Bromst
3. Yo La Tengo: Popular Songs
4. St. Vincent: Actor
5. Phoenix: Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
6. Dirty Projectors: Bitte Orca
7. The Decemberists: The Hazards of Love
8. Atlas Sound: Logos
9. Neon Indian: Psychic Chasms
10. Neko Case: Middle Cyclone

Great year for music.
Just ask this guy!



As always, I'm curious about what everyone is listening to.
So drop your favorites in the comments box.

(Favorite Albums of 2008, 2007, 2006)

A Comic Book History of Boston

I just got back from the release party for a new anthology put out by the Boston Comics Roundtable called Inbound #4: A Comic Book History of Boston. You can read all sorts of information about the book here, including one-page previews of a few comics (mine included). I feel like I've been bombarding you with a lot of books lately, but this 144-page b&w anthology is unique in that it features over 35 comics by local comic artists and writers.

The comics chronicle true tales of Boston's history, "From Shay’s Rebellion and the great Molasses Flood, to Charles Ponzi’s original 'scheme' and Mark Twain’s disastrous encounter with Boston literary society, to the 1970s busing crisis, the Gardner Museum heist and many more." They all range in their style and approach to story-telling. One of my favorites details the origins of Moxie soda, found only here in New England.


I got my hands on a copy at the release party which doubled as an art show of original comics (forgot to snap pictures, though). The book design is fantastic, so I'd like to especially applaud Shelli Paroline for her vision and attention to detail (she illustrated the cover, too!). The print quality is outstanding as well.

My 2-pager is about New England's Dark Day (previously). I will post the comic in full after the holiday buying season winds down. If you're a fan of history, and like to support independent comics, I highly recommend snatching up a copy.

Bostonians can expect to find it at numerous locations, including Million Year Picnic, Harvard Book Store, New England Comics, Brookline Booksmith, Comicazi, Hub Comics, and Comicopia.

Be prepared.

Whenever I try get folks to move to Boston, it often boils down to "but it's too cold" and "what do you mean winter can last 5 months?" First of all, there are much colder places than Boston: Maine. I a grew up there, so a Massachusetts winter is nothing. That said, it's a bit of a right of passage for newcomers to make it through their first winter.

The Improper Bostonian asked me to draw a cartoon to help folks prepare. On streets now, even though it was a balmy 55 today. Pfft! You call this December? 62 tomorrow? Good thing "Rudolph" is on right now, or I wouldn't know.

Rub-a-dub-dub...

New one-pager for Heeby Jeeby Comix!

By the way, I hate naming these comics—seems dumb. But I have to name the post something. So feel free to leave a better (or worse) title in the comments.

ARGH! #6

The long-awaited arrival of ARGH!#6 is finally here (phew!). I've been in touch with Félix and Jorge, and I will soon receive a shipment of comics to distribute locally. So be on the look-out in Boston. The 2-color spot process for this issue is green and magenta.

They just updated the website, too: arghcomic.com
(with a brand new intro animation—go see it!)

If you enter the site and click on autores (authors), you can see previews from each artist, which includes the familiar list of contributors: (myself), Félix Díaz, Jorge Parras, Paola Gaviria, Jorge Perez Ruibal, Martin Lopez, Nestor Fernandez, Ferran Esteve, Brais Rodríguez, Mar Malota and Molgó H.

Be sure to check out previous issues and visit the ARGH! store.
You can view my comics from previous issues here, and here for related posts.

(I will eventually post my 2-page comic for this issue as well.)

Can someone pass the yams?

I'm heading up to Maine to visit the folks in a few days.
But first, a sketchdump:













You can't have a turkey without stuffing and rambling, so here goes...

A couple posts ago, Mike Rauch asked if I would weigh the pros and cons of inking traditionally versus digitally. This is a topic that's coming up more often these days, and I sense a growing number of cartoonists have a foot in both camps.

Maybe it's because I've been chained to the computer for so long, but it KILLS me how intuitive it is to ink by hand. Simply put the brush or nib to the paper and you know exactly what you're getting. If you make a mistake, you know exactly why it happened—nothing mysterious is going on behind the scenes. It's more nuanced and requires a level of concentration, but it's so natural to draw this way.

Flash, on the other hand, will always be a bit of a mystery. It took me a year or two to wrap my head around it, and it still frustrates me from time to time (how it reprocesses the line, in particular). But we all put up with it for the precision it offers, and the perfectionist's dream: UNDO. Not to mention the edit and transform tools.You can tweak and re-tweak a drawing until you're completely happy.

This is how I'm currently breaking it down.

I ink digitally when I sense the need for edits and corrections, which currently equals the majority of my client work. Flash is able to give me a clean professional line; I haven't achieved a similar level of slickness with the brush (yet). I don't have to scan and clean up my inks, so coloring is a snap. Flash is quick. Flash is sharp. It's what you'd expect from the digital realm. But even with the Cintiq, the computer has a long way to go in recreating the tactile connection between drawing utensil and paper. It will always be a mimic.

I reserve working traditionally for more personal work: namely, my comics. It's way easier to plot out the drawings on paper. I enjoy the craft of inking more than anything else. It's also valuable to have the physical piece to hold in my hands when I'm done. I think about my artwork trapped in zeros and ones and it really bugs me. Ideas come easier when I work them out on paper, which is why inking in a sketchbook is a bit of a no-brainer now that I have the brush pen. I rarely find myself doodling in Flash these days.

While I'm having a lot of fun inking on paper, I cannot deny the power, speed, and edit-ability of the digital realm. So I'm still very much a proponent of inking in Flash. But if you're a digital person, do yourself a favor: open up a sketchbook and put a pen, pencil, or brush to paper. For balance, if nothing else.

Happy Thanksgiving!

GO FOR THE GOLD 3!

I just got word from Chris McD, editor of Meathaus, that GO FOR THE GOLD 3! is available for pre-order —update: more direct to go to the store. The book "collects together into one volume an unholy amalgamation of 35 artists’ deepest sketchbook secrets." I was invited to submit art over the summer, so it features various samples from my sketchbooks. But the bigger story here is truly the inky sketchy mass of drawings—this is a big book: 242 pages!

You can find out more at the preview page Chris put up this morning (Meathaus.com has also been newly redesigned for the occasion). If you pre-order now, you should receive your copy by the first week of December (a perfect holiday gift!). Also included for pre-order customers is a bonus mini doodle zine. Here is the list of artists featured in the anthology (I couldn't be more humbled to be in the ranks):

Andy Ristaino, Arik Roper, Benjamin Marra, Bob Flynn, Dash Shaw, Dave Kiersh, Esao Andrews, Farel Dalrymple, Jason Sacher, Josh Latta, HARVEYJAMES™, Inés Estrada, Jesse Moynihan, Katie Rice, Kevin Fagan, Michaela Zacchilli, Mu Pan, Nathan Fox, Nicholas Gazin, Nick Bertozzi, Peter Chung, Rebecca Sugar, Ron Wimberly, Sam Kim, Thomas Herpich, Victor Cayro, Vincent Giard, Vincent Stall, Zachary Baldus, Tomer Hanuka, James Jean, Brandon Graham, Robertryan Cory, Al Columbia, and Chris McD.

GO FOR THE GOLD 2! (the equivalent anthology from 2005) has been re-released as well. Crawl on over to the Meathaus store for this and all your other Meathaus vices.

Aging well...

I checked in with the pumpkins today—late on a rainy November afternoon. It's been maybe 3 weeks since the carving. So far, so good. The cyclops' eye collapsed in the center—giving him a much more sinister 2-eyed expression. A chunk of rotting innards makes for a great pupil, too. He is much improved.


Loren's pumpkin has also grown better with age. Besides being black inside, and showing signs of wrinkling, it is still very much intact. I love how wet its nose looks.


Liz and Berney's "Bert" has seen better days. His face long since imploded, and he now has protruding nubs for ears. The difference in decay is astounding, but they were likely picked at different times (all store bought).


Especially when you see this poor fella.
Well on his way to becoming a pancake.


As is plain to see from these wonderful specimens...wrinkles, bumps, and drips occur all the time in nature. I'm not making this stuff up when I draw it.



Here's a glimpe of their former selves if you need a reminder:
Pumpkin Carving Party 09

I'll provide another update come February if the results warrant it.

Eat, or...

My latest for Heeby Jeeby Comix.

Interbreeding

The "What the Doodle" word this week (with no influence from me...I sware...completely random) was interbreeding.


Here's my inking from Flash:


I drew the critter below as a spare...some kind of lobster/rabbit mutant.


Be sure to stop by Creative Juices to see what the FableVision crew came up with. By the way, a few people have asked—this is the random word generator we use.

November Inks

Posting a handful of pages from my sketchbook has become a monthly ritual. So here's the latest dump.











This last fella might look familiar. Thanks again to everyone for the early support for Heeby Jeeby Comix. The three of us are working on new comics and gags, so look for new posts over there soon.

Heeby Jeeby Comix

Fun news (and a comic!) to share with you. My pals Chris Houghton, David Degrand, and I just started a new blog called HEEBY JEEBY COMIX. The three of us have been tossing around the idea for a couple months. We all like bizarre, offbeat, and nonsensical comics, so we figured why not combine our efforts and make a bunch. As we create comics, we'll be posting them. There's also a special focus on tailoring the stories and gags to be appropriate for all ages, so that kids can read them too. With the name "heeby jeeby", we thought it appropriate to launch before Halloween. Here's my first comic as a contributor.

"Rest In Peace"




(note I uploaded this one a little bigger than usual)


Visit --> Heeby Jeeby Comix

Much more to come. Tell your friends! Tell your friend's kids, too!

...and Happy Halloween everyone!

Pumpkin Carving Party 09

This was the second year we had friends over to carve pumpkins and celebrate my birthday (I turned 30 on the 22nd...yep). I'm always amazed by the variety of faces and images folks come up with.

Hit the lights!




I went for another cyclops this year. You'll notice a balloon dog in the bunch—that's by my friend Naomi, who is a balloon-twister.


Allie did a cute little pumpkin house.



Renee and Keith joined forces to form a skeleton body.


Loren probably nabbed the grumpiest pumpkin award (left).
Jesse's pumpkin, Lester (right).


Matt had outstanding results with a stencil. The floor reflection is a nice added effect, too.


Ryan definitely had the scariest grin.



And lastly, some of the leftover tangerine-kins.



Here are the pumpkins from last year.

Espouse

I wrote a quick gag comic for this week's "What the Doodle?" The word that came out of the random word generator was ESPOUSE. A tricky one for sure. I decided to play the fear angle. Not sure how successful it is, though. Here's what the rest of the FableVision crew came up with on Creative Juices.

Halloween is just around the corner...

(click to view larger)

A new 4-page comic is coming in a week. Here's a teaser panel.
Look for a fun announcement on October 30th...

Don't ask.

Searching through old email and this image showed up.

I sent it to myself from work back in March.