December remembers November

Hello everyone.

I have a new book out.

It's called December remembers November and it's a collection of the strips I drew for Thirty-Days-of-Comics last year. Like the previous two years that I participated in #30dayscomics (that's what the kids call it on Twitter and whatnot), I drew a daily diary strip.

Unlike the previous two years, I went at the month with an agenda. I wanted to make an effort towards a (cohesive) collection this time. I decided to focus on the themes of memory and nostalgia and build an internal vocabulary of picture-symbols, a framework to muse on the nature of anamnesis. I worked ad-hoc, as usual, with the intention of editing it all later, jumbling the chronology. Mixing past and present, symbolic and literal.

I was way into this band, Speedy Ortiz, so I wrote a bit about that. Our cat died. We had to put down our dog. My plans for the strips turned around and around. I almost gave up a couple times.

I started picking up on certain consonances in my everyday life. Coincidences and parallels that fit into the framework I'd set up. Probably because I was thinking about it so much. I dunno.

Anyway, I made it through the month drawing two pages each day. This book is the result. Sixty pages of strips on memory, nostalgia, dreams, amnesia, music, and death. I've had a small run printed, and available for sale.

Here's a few samples of some spreads from the finished book.

Please consider ordering a copy.

$7 plus shipping.

Click on the "shop" icon on the right, or follow this link:

www.yellowlight.scratchspace.net/shop

I have other books available too.

Thanks!

goin' to Minnesota with an achin' in my heart...

Gearing up for the long drive to Minneapolis, where I'm dragging my friend Chris to attend Minneapolis Indie Xpo and debut my book, "!".

Something else I'll have there are these handsome new prints based off of some artwork I did for Minneapolis natives (and really excellent band) Cloud Cult a few years back. Now newly colorized in three hand printed layers each.

These fancy show fliers, pictured above in their natural habitat, were exclusively printed for MIX (by agreement with the band), and are an extremely limited edition.

I'm planning on selling completely out of everything I bring to the show (that's how these cons work, right?) but If by some odd chance there are any of these left I hope to have permission to offer them for sale online, should anyone be interested. I'll keep you posted.

For now I'm off to Minneapolis. Wish me luck!

a real thing

Pictured above, viewed amongst varied detritus, set upon the desk that birthed it, is the physical manifestation of my own labors combined with a Xeric Foundation self publishing grant. That is to say, I've finally got my book, "!" all printed up!

I never expected this to take me so long. Some readers, if they've stuck around, may remember the original incarnation of this comic, which was serialized right here on this blog. But for the initiate: ! follows a handful of disparate characters, navigating their way through a day filled with trials and triumphs, expectation and disappointment. It's a love story (or several), or an adventure or a vengeful morality play. It all depends on how you look at it. It's also, by my estimate, the longest (printed) gag strip ever, clocking in at just over 35 feet long (but accordion folded to a more manageable 10" x 7 3/4")

For those who remember it's predecessor: this version has been completely re-drawn. It's like the original in scope and appearance, but edited and clarified (and a tiny bit longer now too, actually)

And of course it's also ready for you to take home and call your own.

I will be returning from the dead, or the unannounced hibernation (evidenced by this blogs recent lack of activity) to debut the comic at the Minneapolis Indie Xpo on Saturday, August 21st. But you can also order the book through my site right now for $15 (postage paid, US). You could also click on that paypal link below.

To those of you who've stuck around to see this, I thank you for your support. I've put a lot into this comic and I hope that it does not disappoint.



And to everybody reading this: we'll talk again soon.

wait... does this spoil the ending?

Sorry about breaking your feed, here.

Announced today. Maybe you'd be interested to know that I've been awarded a grant from the Xeric Foundation to help me publish my comic strip, !
Pretty exciting news, for me. I join some good company in the current batch of recipients, as well as the former recipients (who include some of my favorite cartoonists)
I don't have many details just yet. I've got my printer lined up, and yes, it will be printed as one long strip (somewhere around 35 feet long) and look something like this:

(one of the mock ups I made as part of my Xeric application)

I'll have more details, of course, as I get closer to solicitation.

Anyway, I've taken down the archive I kept up as I was posting the rough draft here. It'll be back soon enough, but all re-drawn and stuff. Up top of this post is my original sketch of the story, which took about 45 minutes to draw and defined probably the next following two years of my comics making life.

Congrats to the other Xeric recipients. I'm looking forward to your books.
Special thanks to Alexander Danner who nudged me to apply for the grant in the first place.

And thank you guys for reading.

titled

Hey! Remember when I used to draw stuff and post it here?

*sigh*

I haven't gotten to the inking stage in any of my bigger projects so I decided to take some time and work up these gags a little. Other than this it's been all Uncertainty and !...

You know who does finish things on a regular basis?
Boxbrown.
(how's that for a smooth segue?)

Boxbrown writes comics with a warmth and earnestness that's rare and appealing. His regular gig, a kind of slice-of-life gag strip called Bellen, is one of my favorite ongoing comic. Examining relationships is his thing (Bellen = Ben+Ellen, his two main characters) and he does it well, with honesty and humor and always a terrifically humbling sense of humanity.
Boxbrown's also just published a book of some longer form comics, done in a similar vein. Check out his Love is a Peculiar Type of Thing, self published and subsidized by a Xeric grant.
I wholly endorse this book.



Look at that! A sort of comic and a little write up of someone else's work! Not too shabby for a guy who barely posts anything anymore.
Now, to keep from appearing too competent, the concept doodle, for the above:

! - page twenty-nine

It was really tempting to just end this thing with last weeks pages and be done, but I guess I'm gonna drag it out a little longer. There is an end in sight...

In other news, my buddy Grant released his annual June Bug Mix this week, for free download. The June Bug is a collection of some of Grant's recording work over the past year - demos and alternate takes from his albums and other odds n' ends. This year is a double bonus too, as some of the tracks feature Red Eyed Johnny, Grant's side project with my other buds Neal and Steve.

Here it is: The Free Download that Engulfed the World in Terror! Like every year, the June Bug's free so go get it. Then buy some of his other records!

! - page twenty-five

Over the weekend I had the pleasure of attending the opening for my friend Jeff's first solo gallery show. Chris and I braved a small monsoon* - the course of which seemed to attach itself right to our route - to get there. Jeff seems to have done very well for himself and I was happy to attend, though the violent buzzing of the Cleveland Arts scene was somewhat intimidating to a small-town chap like myself.
If you're in the area, his paintings will be up until the 28th. Go down there and buy one, whydon'tcha?


(* -some hyperbole employed)

The Briefest of Interludes: a not-so-brief interlude, part two

I really do have a page of ! coming, but I got back from vacation to find a preview of Secrets and Lies in my inbox. I have seven pages in the book, so you know I gotta pimp it here.

press release:

White River Junction, VT, May 20, 2008 – SECRETS & LIES is an anthology of comics edited by veteran web cartoonist Cayetano Garza Jr. which will make its debut at the 2008 MoCCA Art Festival in New York, NY (June 7-8, table C27).

The book features a wide spectrum of comics creators from all over the United States and from every corner of the comics industry. Comics legends SR Bissette (Swamp Thing, Tyrant) and Rick Geary (A Treasury of Victorian Murder, Gumby, Heavy Metal) share the stage with webcomics luminaries Shaenon Garrity (Narbonic) and Chuck Whelon (Pewfell). The book also features work from alumni, current and upcoming students from the Center for Cartoon Studies in White River Junction, Vermont and the surrounding cartooning community including recent graduates Joe Lambert and Bryan Stone, freshmen Lucy Knisley and Dan Archer and recent Xeric grant winner Colleen Frakes (CCS Class of 07) as well as many, many others.

For an expansive preview of the whole book, as well as pre-order information, click here.
Print run is limited. If you're not going to MoCCA, then I'd suggest ordering one now.

Following is a two page preview of my story, titled Untold Mysteries of (Popular) Science:


I get a free copy for being a contributor, but you'll probably want to buy one.

Next up: more !


Really.