"Uncertainty" process post

So, another reason I don't post much sketchbook stuff is that it looks like that. This is me figuring a page layout for the upcoming Uncertainty in my 5 cent Walmart spiral-bound notebook. The lines are awful and nearly unreadable, but that's okay because they're really only for me anyway. Naturally, I chose to lead the post with this.

Some stuff looks more like this.

Starting to work my layouts into a real drawing, still messy and loose... figuring things out.

Then I go to pencils.

(Sorry about the crappy scan. I'm keeping my pencils pretty light on this one...)

Then Inks, which I have yet to do, and some "post-production" type stuff on this one...

I'm treating this work with a lot more of an illustration-vibe than some (all) of my previous comics, giving each panel quite a bit of individual attention. I was even drawing it one panel at a time on separate sheets of bristol, but man does that not look right when you put it all together. I'm back to composing whole pages at a time.
Here's a finished panel, drawn in the old way, which I've since rejected.


And, yeah... that's what I've been working on.

I are still heer, internet.

Woah! It's been forever since I posted anything here. Didn't know this sketchblog-thing would become a monthly gig...
Here is something I drew just now, though. Especially for you!

Actually, I've been pretty busy with comics stuff lately. What's taking most of my (art) time right now are ! (which you've already seen) and Alexander's Uncertainty (which you can't see just yet). So, I'm drawing a lot, just not posting anything I draw here.
I'm going to try and get better with keeping this sketchblog stuff up. Maybe I'll post some in-process work for Uncertainty...

And wish me luck on getting ! into print. So far it hasn't been easy.
(but I am making headway)

I'll be in touch.

mother

Chasing a notion this week.

footprints

These last few sketches were done with a set of color Sharpies I've had for a few years now. In my crappy sketchbook they bleed like crazy. I have a proclivity for using only the cheapest of art materials.

I wanted to try and make a drawing work using only the colors available in the pack of markers. I drew this scene once and caught myself layering the colors to achieve a greater variation. I started over to try and keep it "pure"

Turns out "pure" looks a lot like crap and I ended up layering up on the second drawing too.
The two versions are pretty much the same, but I prefer the second (shown here) for the echo of Karel Čapek in the footprints.

this one's for Derik

Derik said he saw panels in the ghost image under the truck sketch the other day, and so he did: Here in this little nonsense comic.

I remember now why I don't post too many things out of my sketchbook anymore. The book is 9" x 12" and my scanner can only take a little more than 8.5" x 11". That means I have to scan everything twice and piece it together in photoshop. Very annoying.
I am too stubborn (or lazy - or cheap) to buy a new - smaller - sketchbook however, so I guess I just have to live with it...

B-E-A-T

(Did I say there would be sketches posted here?)

Sorry for the internet silence, but last week really kicked my ass. Like a real, physical beating. Between work, a funeral, and 18 inches of snow (okay, more like ten. It just felt like eighteen when I was shoveling it) I got pretty worn out. Y'know... "beat."

Here is a picture of a truck that I drew toward the end of last week. It is also quite "beat." In that way it could be considered a metaphorical self portrait. A connection hammered home by the sloppy typography.

I was tired and messed up the lettering at the bottom there. Something compelled me to try and fix it but it still doesn't look right.

Anyway. Yeah... yay for drawing.

Guest Artist: Tessa Varju

Today is my niece Tessa's seventh birthday. This is a picture she drew while we visited her in NorthCarolina this past summer.

That little guy in the center - with the crazy eyes... that's me.


A shockingly accurate depiction.




Here's a little sequence she drew featuring the robot from my ! story.


Happy Birthday, Tessa! Love ya.

What now?

With ! finished, and Uncertainty not yet ready to begin posting, this is going to turn into a more of a sketch blog than a comics blog. I see "cartooning" (comics making) and drawing as two subtly different disciplines - with "cartooning" more akin to writing than straight illustration. I've always felt the cartooning part of me is stronger than the image making part, but I have to find something else to fulfill my obsessive need to keep up an internet presence.

So bear with me until I get the next story up and running here.

To start off, here is a first sketch for a small project I'm toying with. Not much but it gives this blog a rare burst of color...

! - the end

Pages fifty-two and fifty-three finish this story off. I hope the finish does not disappoint.
For better or worse, it's all over!

For those of you who are interested, there is a print version of ! is in the works. It may take some time though. I have many, many revisions to make to the comic and have yet to work out the particulars of publication (I'd really like one long accordion fold if I can manage it). All of this has to take the backburner to my next project too. I've been leaving Alexander hanging for too long now.

It'll happen eventually, though. And at least now you can read the whole story.

Thanks for reading!

! - page fifty-one

The story so far.

! - page fifty

I had to sit and think about how to draw that stairwell there.
Sit.

And think...


That's ridiculous!

The story so far.

! - page forty-nine

If you've been with this blog a while, this should start to look kinda familiar.
Remember?

! - page forty-eight

(The story so far...)

! - page forty-seven

Okay, at this point I can say with relative certainty that there are only six more pages left to go.
(The story so far...)

! - page forty-six

New year, new page. Ho-hum...

(The story so far...)

! - page forty-five

Only hours left to go, one more page for 2008. This thing should finish up sometime in 2009.
Hope everybody out there has a great New Year!

(The stroy so far...)

! - page forty-four

Derik Badman had some kind words for this blog posted over this past holiday weekend (words specifically on the diary comics, which I have not posted as of late. Whatever...) so I drew him into this scene. That's what flattery'll get ya! See if you can spot him.

Christmas was a lot of work but I should be able to get back to finishing this story up now. Here's the whole thing so far...

! - page forty-three

The story so far...

! - page forty-two

As always,click here to see how we got to this point.

! - page forty-one

Here's page 41, and Here's pages one through forty-one.

! - page forty

Back to new comics stuff.

Recently, I told a friend who has some interest in my moving on from this story that I was going to ramp up my production to hurry up and finish it. Following that conversation I promptly stopped drawing anything at all. I am a bad friend.

I am going exclusive to ! on this blog until I get the damn thing done!
Here is the story so far.

Untold Mysteries of (Popular) Science

Journal comics have unfortunately fallen by the wayside for now. Been pretty busy with the holidays and my work schedule lately. I'll get back to them. Ideally, I'd like to make those strips as automatic and thoughtless a process as possible. I just haven't found that sweet spot yet.

Anyway, here's a story I did for Cat Garza's Secrets and Lies.
Looking back, I've got mixed feelings about the whole story - the ending seems kind of muddled to me now. But I am reservedly happy about the results.
Online, I know, the text is kinda small (it's better in print) but I did fix a typo that (GASP) made it into the final book version.

Anyway, here goes:

mostly banal: sure, comics are fun. but doodling is funner right now.

mostly banal: white noise

mostly banal: who cares?

mostly banal: still autumn in Ohio

mostly banal: weekend post

We like to preview movies for the kids before they watch them so they won't sneak up and freak them out too much. This one might be a little much for a three year old to handle. I think I want Sophie to keep thinking of zebras as cute fuzzy little animals for at least a little while longer.

***sigh***

In other "news"...
The RCPS (Revolutionary Comic Presentation System) is a physical, infinite-canvas-type comic with a poster-sized base narrative and additional postcard additions to the branching story. A week or two ago I mentioned in the comments at my LiveJournal, but couldn't remember who made it - or even what it was called, really. I promised then that I'd dig up the info and, well now I have:
It was created by a Mr. Chragi Frei, in Switzerland as a graphic design graduation project. It's pretty impressive. You can find out more about it here.

Now on to Friday and Saturday's comics:
(or Saturday's and then Friday's, as the case may be)

! - page thirty-nine

If you missed it or don't remember here's what's happened so far.

Apparently my old grade-school best friend, Nate Silver, accurately predicted the electoral outcome of the presidential election down to the exact number of (electoral) votes each candidate would receive. Here's a clip of Nate on the Colbert Report before the election (which I missed when it aired, not having Comedy Central).
I'd heard of Nate's success as a baseball statistician, but I haven't seen or spoken to him in, oh... say, seventeen years or so. Nate was my closest friend in all my grade school years, and I've always regretted losing touch (I kind of socially imploded when we moved from East Lansing to Wooster in the early 90s). Seeing him all over the news and on TV after all this time has been a bit surreal.

Anyway, good on ya, Nate. Way to statistitize.

EDIT:
As long as I'm blabbing I should point you to some drawings I did for Troy Swain's drawn word project he's been posting at his LiveJournal. The drawn word project is pretty cool (unless you ask Frank Santoro) and he's got a lot of really talented cartoonists and illustrators to participate - and then me too...
Check 'em out!

mostly banal: steam

Also:

A slightly different version of yesterdays strip (because I am slightly obsessive)

mostly banal: th' dogs

Broke out the ol' BIC for this one. One of these days I'm gonna nail down just exactly what month it is.

mostly banal: November Fourth

I skipped up a day in my posting due to the ephemeral topicality of the subject matter. And it was easy to draw, so...


Hey! Anybody notice that I wrote "September" in the date for yesterday's (umm... Sunday's) strip? That's the second time I got the month wrong since I restarted Mostly Banal. I am a poor diarist...

mostly banal: trying again

! - page thirty-eight

Here is what is quite possibly the least interesting update of an ongoing comics serial ever. Ah, well... it's all part of the big picture, right?

mostly banal: SUPERPOST!

Despite my bitching and moaning in the last strip I posted here, I have not quit these diary comics. I got pretty busy this week - lots of overtime at work and my mother was in town for a visit - and I just kinda went underground (internet-wise). I kept drawing though and I'm including here a bunch of the strips I drew this past week. Not one for everyday (as per the plan) but, whatever...

A "Thank You" to you guys that have read and posted comments on these strips. I appreciate the support. Most of you know this is not my first venture in autobio/journal comics and the subject is one that I've put a lot of thought into. I really feel like I'm getting somewhere with these that I'm comfortable with and comfortable calling my own. I appreciate you reading and hope you stick around for more.







(also: more ! tomorrow, hopefully)