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!

Other Worlds anthology - on sale now.

The Other Worlds anthology has been out for a couple months now. Other Worlds is a collection of unrelated short fictions written by Justin Zimmerman (with one exception) and drawn by a rotating cast of collaborators, including myself.

I have two stories in the book, the longest of the bunch: a fifty page mixed media comics adaptation of Justin’s story, The Mix - and the shortest: a three page extrapolation called Digital Breath, which is completely my fault (the “one exception” mentioned before).

The Mix is a kind of castration fantasy and features some NSFW imagery. It’s been called “amateurish” and “nonsensical,” though I disagree with one or both of those assessments. It’s somewhat different than most of my other comics work. The first ten or so pages (20% of the story!) are seen here.

Digital Breath is a short extrapolation on (perceived) binary systems in which I managed to accomplish everything I attempted without actually making a whole lot of sense. In that it’s a lot closer to the diary strips that I usually post here. It reproduces handsomely in the book.

Other highlights (for me) include The Creature’s Name (by Justin and Tony Morgan), which has a nice little anti-climax/climax one-two punch, and Knowing (by Justin and Matt Grigsby) a nicely ambiguous short that has likewise been called incomprehensible (again, I disagree).

The collection is eleven stories at 188 pages and costs 2000 cents, or $20. You can buy Other Worlds at Justin’s Etsy - he’ll personalize every copy - or hit me up for one too.

http://www.etsy.com/listing/160215226/other-worlds-trade-paperback?ref=pr_shop

mostly banal: March, 2013

Diary comics from March.

Two for No

So, I have a newish weekly webcomic with Alexander Danner called Two for No, a series of ultra short (usually just one page) stories and vignettes. Alexander scripts them, and I scribble them up in pictures.

I've never really worked with such tight scripts from someone else before and it's fun to focus on craft a little bit. It's very different than my usual, more intuitive process. It's nice to shake things up like that, and to be able to try different approaches to drawing each new strip. There is a bit of formal exploration here, as we use certain pre-determined panel/content structures. It's fun to try and stretch these layouts in different ways as well. I try and see how far i can stretch the templates and still keep the underlaying concept intact. Be sure to read  the "about" section at the site for details on our various constraints.

As far as the drawing goes, I am consciously pushing for a flatter, more abstracted page design in most of these. I want to push away from more traditional representational art, without losing the gist of Alexander's scripts. I've been playing with perspective and figuration a little bit. It's been nothing so radical yet, or nearly as abstract (or incomprehensible?) as my diary strip work as of late. I'm just getting warmed up, though ;)

It's been a lot of fun to draw these, and of course, Alexander is a fantastic writer. We just started our first multi-installment series this week, a four-pager called 'Crouton.' Check it out, and feel free to let us know what you think of these strips.

www.twoforno.net

Diary comics, February 2013.

These are my journal comics from February of this year.

Steam comic.

Hand comic.

Time lapse comic.

Lame book comic.

Cover comic.

Advice comic no. 1.

Advice comic no. 3.

Hair comic.

Love comic (for Rachelle).

Free association comic.

Inertia comic.

Equilibrium comic.

Fluff piece comic.

Nightmare comic.

Metacomic.

Non-canonical comic.

Gag comic.

TV comic.

Information comic.