Cartoonists Descend on Ottawa

I apologize for the void that has been this blog as of late (more drawings, comics and animation to come soon). I've had a very busy summer which just culminated with the art show David DeGrand and I co-curated at the Canteen Gallery in Ottawa. The opening was this past Friday night, August 27th.

"Seduction of the Idiots"


Here's the show blurb that David wrote up
(he also designed the poster):

Comics have long been accused of transforming young, impressionable children into savage maniacs incapable of existing as productive members of society. This is of course, completely ridiculous. At worst, comics warp fragile minds into wanting to become cartoonists themselves, which is arguably slightly better than the juvenile delinquent scenario. In any case, comics are here to stay, whether uptight citizens like it or not. The artists on display in “Seduction of the Idiots” are all examples of what can happen when comic and cartoon addiction is not dealt with early enough. Let this art show serve as a warning to parents everywhere; know what your child is watching and reading every second of their lives. The last thing you want is to be the parent of an idiot.

I had the pleasure last week of viewing and hanging a stunning body of artwork by some of my favorite cartoonists, illustrators, and animators. I get to see everyone's work online, but nothing beats seeing the real deal. In order of appearance, the artists in the show included John Martz, myself, Michael DeForge, Chris "Elio" Eliopoulos, David Degrand, Kaz Prapuolenis, J.R. Goldberg, Rebecca Sugar, and Dan Moynihan.

I didn't have the best camera on hand, but I snapped a few photos right before the opening (which can be viewed larger by clicking on them).


(Left to right) John Martz, Bob Flynn, Michael DeForge


Chris "Elio" Eliopoulos, David DeGrand


Kaz, J.R. Goldberg, Rebecca Sugar, Dan Moynihan

...and here's a smattering of close-ups.


















I had a great time at the opening—many thanks to everyone who attended. The show is up until September 12th, so be sure to stop by Canteen on Dalhousie if you happen to be in the area.


A bunch more thank-you's: First, to all the artists who accepted our invitation and took the time to create and prepare artwork for the show. I realize how much time and effort goes into this (having been in other shows), so it's immensely appreciated.

Of course, a big thank you goes out to Inaas Kiryakos, who invited David and I to curate the show in the first place. It was a bit of a mad dash to get everything ready for the opening, so thanks for helping us reach the finish line!

A HUGE thank you to my wife Loren, who was an enormous help designing and hanging everything when we arrived in Ottawa. I definitely couldn't have done it without her. She also snapped this photo of me (yes, this is what I look like).



And last but not least: DAVID! Thank you for all your help, ideas, and inspiration along the way, bud! The two of us definitely plan on doing another show in the future.

I hope to revisit Ottawa, soon!

Related linkage that features artwork from the show:

J.R. Goldberg
Dan Moynihan
John Martz

* UPDATE:

Here's a short interview I did with Diane Bond of Apartment 613 about the show. It's an arts and culture blog which covers events in Ottawa.

Seduction of the Idiots @ Canteen

A bit of fun news to report: My bud David DeGrand and I are co-curating a comics and cartooning art show for the Canteen Gallery in Ottawa. This is the same gallery that featured my Caucus Race illustration in a group show back in March. I'll post more information as the show nears, but as you can see we have a pretty amazing lineup of cartoonists, including the crew from Heeby Jeeby!

David gets full credit for the show poster and the name, "Seduction of the Idiots" (meant to be a play on the infamous book, Seduction of the Innocent).

For now, pencil in the opening date, August 27th—especially if you'll be in and around Ottawa. It'll run until September 12th.

The Caucus Race

I posted this image a few days ago on Google Buzz (here)—you may have also heard me mention it on Twitter (@bobjinx). If not, I was recently invited to participate in an Alice in Wonderland-themed group show at the Canteen Gallery up in Ottawa, Canada. The show is called "Two Days Slow" and will be opening on March 4th. So if you're in the neighborhood, mark your calendars. (I unfortunately will be unable to attend).

As promised, here's a bit of process coming your way.

I chose the Caucus Race first on a tip from my wife, and secondly because it seemed like a fun opportunity to create a cast of animal characters. Especially birds, because I like drawing them. The story lists that

"there were a Duck and a Dodo, a Lory and an Eaglet, and several other curious creatures...They were indeed a queer-looking party that assembled on the bank—the birds with draggled feathers, the animals with their fur clinging close to them, and all dripping wet, cross, and uncomfortable."

(A few pages of preparatory pencil sketches.) A handful of these character studies made the final cut. You'll notice a thumbnail in the upper left corner. This was my first idea—to have Alice standing grumpy and wet in the middle of the parade of creatures. I even sketched out various iterations of Alice wringing out her wet hair.



And then there's this.


(I'm not always a focused doodler.)

After some thought, I thought it better to get Alice into the race—as it is described in the story anyway. It seemed like it would make for a more active composition, too. Here's the thumb that launched the image.



From this point, I decided to leap into Flash. I knew that wrangling all these critters into a ring would be a difficult challenge, and I wanted the ability to freely edit, scale, and tweak as needed. Here's my resolved sketch, where I worked out the kinds of animals and how they would all weave together in a circle.



And then it came time to ink.
This was by far the most time-consuming part.



When drawing on the computer, it's easy to fall victim to detail because you can zoom-in indefinitely. In this case, because I new I'd be printing it large, I wanted the characters in the back to be just as rendered as those in the front. The line-weight is thinner to imply depth (heavier in the front), but every character is equally considered from a drawing standpoint.

Underneath my inks, I roughed in a color study (line-layer turned off):



After many hours of coloring, this was my near final output from Flash (everything you see here is created in Flash).



Using watercolor paintings I've scanned, I added an addition layer of texture in Photoshop. It's very subtle, but it's there. I think it helps separate the characters from the background (giving it a look similar to an animation cel). Here's the final again:



With the illustration complete, I had an archival-ink fine-art print made up (an edition of one), and then framed and matted it. The size of the print is 16" x 10" in a slightly larger frame.



I took a few photos before I packed it up.





And now it's on its way to Canada.

If you're in Ottawa and make it to the show at Canteen, let me know! I also sent ten copies of ARGH! along with the framed print, so the gallery will have issues #2-#6 in short supply.

Thanks for reading!

**UPDATE**

Heeby Jeeby Comix artist (and pal o'mine) David Degrand just posted his "Elongated Alice" illustration over at his blog. It's also the featured image on the Canteen website (GO DAVID!).

Wonderland extraordinaire, Meg Hunt, is not only doing a series of illustrations for the new Picture Book Report blog (view here)...she's also featured in two Alice-themed shows!—one at Canteen (the other at Gallery Nucleus). She uploaded her painting for the Canteen show to Flickr ("A Royal Stroll"), so go check that out, too.

**UPDATE 2** (2-17-10)

Promo image just arrived from Canteen:


Poster art by Casey Weldon.
(click to view large)