It’s kind of a lousy picture, but here’s what my makeshift workspace looks like at my Pa’s house while I stay down here to help him out. I’ve been down here a week, and I am only now able to get into a bit of a rhythm to draw. I think part of me was psyching myself out because I’m such a creature of habit and ritual, and in my head if I am not at my table in my studio with my supplies, I can’t draw. And then there’s just getting used our schedule and the other stuff I have to do around the house.

I have a lot of free time down here, and I’m hoping that I can utilize it and be productive. Fingers crossed.

With everything that’s been going on the last month, I’ve forgotten to mention that this July I’m teaching a week-long summer workshop for teens at OCAC. It will be a modified version of my Crafting Comics: Narrative and Technique that has been tweaked a little bit to accomodate the compressed schedule.

Class will be from July 9-13, 9:00am-4:00pm with an hour break for lunch in the middle.

Here’s the link to the OCAC website to sign up.

If you have any questions, please e-mail me, or leave a comment.

Spread the word!

Like I might have bitched about in my post from last year for Asian Heritage Month, it’s hard doing these illustrations every year and trying to keep them fresh and avoiding cliches. But I think what I’m starting to realize is that there is no way to do an illustration like this without resorting to cliches and stereotypes. You just have to embrace it.

And also amongst pretty amazing company: MK Reed, Jesse Reklaw, Aron Nels Steinke, Aaron Renier, Alec Longstreth, Galen Longstreth, and Drew Weing just to name a few.

Don’t delay! Go camp out in front of your local comic book store today!

The Stumptown Comics Fest was last weekend, and to sum it up: I had a super-rad time. I was table-buddies again with the most awesome Breena Wiederhoeft and I think we could both safely say that Stumptown was much more our kind of show compared to Emerald City. We weren’t flanked by print sellers of Babylonian demigods or cheesecake pictures of super hero women, the crowd was more interested in comics and zines, and there was a lot more space and the room didn’t feel as crowded or claustrophobic.

The short recap: I got to talk to a lot of great people that I haven’t seen in a long time or got to meet for the first time, sales were good and people responded well to Americus [I sold all but one copy!] and I was even able to sell some of the original pages, Breena and I got to hang out and shoot some ideas around for a potential collaborative project, and I got another jolt of inspiration to keep chugging away at The Searchers.

I don’t want to throw a wall of text up on the front page of my site, but keep reading for expanded coverage of this cartoonists experience at STCF 2012…

So something that you may not know about me: I’m kind of anti-social. Outside of a handful of people, I don’t really go out much. I don’t really socialize with other cartoonists or illustrators. Why? I don’t know. I think it’s because I’m a little shy in small crowds, or feel like an outsider because I don’t hang out with these people and they’re already all friends, or I hate the small talk and what not that goes with people I don’t really know. Maybe I feel inadequate around other more successful people? I don’t know.

The irony is not lost on me that despite this, I love public speaking and I’m totally cool standing up in front of a large group of strangers for a lecture or a class I’m teaching. Weird, huh? Anyhow, the thing about conventions is they help me get out of my shell a bit, and also, it’s super-convenient to have all these people that I want to talk to are around me in the same room for a couple of days and it’s a good environment that is conducive to talking about comics, art, etc.

I would say that was the most fulfilling part of the weekend for me.

Well, that, and sales were almost the same level they were for SPX. Like I mentioned before, I almost completely sold out of the stock of Americus I had, and I was able to sell a good amount of original art and I even sold out most of my mini-comics too!

I also picked up a lot of really cool swag that I’m excited to dig into:

Things are pretty up in the air for the summer, but I am going to try to do some work for the ALA conference in June, even if I can’t make it there, and then I want to try to wrap up the first draft of The Searchers. We’ll see. If you have any time to spare good vibes for my pa, I would really, really appreciate it.

The illustration accompanied an article where the writer was noticing several things about Spokane since moving there. I got to pick from a list of fifty or so things to put in the illustration. Since there was a time crunch, I sort of picked the ones that would be easiest to illustrate, but also ones that helped with some visual gags.

And here’s a piece I did this week for Reed Magazine.

It was actually pretty great to hear from Tom Humphrey again. He used to be the art director for the Willamette Week and got me started doing work for them. When he he left to work for Reed, he said he’d love to work with me again and would drop me a line again. It was great to hear from him and to know that my art and working with me left a good impression enough to remember that after a couple of years.

Also, you might notice a little Americus cameo I was able to squeeze into the illustration…

The only bummer about getting this work was that I didn’t really get to fit any time into working on new stuff for Stumptown. But you gotta pay da’ billz, right?

I just got a package and a little certificate today letting me and MK know that Americus was a Junior Library Guild Selection for Fall 2011. There was a letter that basically said, ‘We’re wicked sorry that we didn’t send this to you like 6 months ago’ and a little pin to go along with the certificate.

It’s cool to get more recognition for the book, even if it’s late. I have forgotten that we could probably be doing a little more to promote it, although it seems the fall season and Banned Book Week will be a good reminder, as well as the upcoming ALA conference in Anaheim this June.

Also: I’ll be at Stumptown this weekend, sharing a table again with the totally rad Breena Wiederhoeft at A-23! Come by and say hi and buy a copy of the Junior Library Guild Selection book Americus or Breena’s Xeric Grant winning Picket Line!

A short recap: The class went well. I got a little overambitious with a small amount of time and I should have assigned a little more work to implement the ideas we were discussing in class. The plus side is that I learned a lot and it will help me prepare for the next time I teach the class. My students were great and had a lot of really good ideas, I just forgot how long it can take to do things, and a lot of people didn’t get enough time to finish things.

For a more detailed overview, keep reading.

One of the raddest things was that I had a really great diverse group of students, and I think it lent a lot to the class. It was also pretty great that a lot of them only had a small exposure to comics, and for the most part they were really open to all the artists and comics I was throwing at them. This was a stark contrast when I was in school and for the most part everyone was a fan-boy of some sort. Whether they were a Batman fan-boy or a Chris Ware fan-boy, you were a fan-boy and most people held that pretty narrow view of what comics were and what they liked. Since they were so open, I could show them the best of a lot of different styles and genres from all over and they wouldn’t have the knee-jerk reaction of poo-pooing it because it didn’t fit with what they likes.d .

Something else that was a stark contrast from when I was in school was that 2/3 of the class were women. Was this because interest in comics is becoming larger and spreading across the gender gap, or was it something else? Regardless, I was happy to have more women interested in making comics, and it was a great opportunity to show off work from some great women involved in making comics now – Vera Brosgol, Eleanor Davis, Becky Cloonan, Lynda Barry, Gabrielle Bell, etc.

As I mentioned before, I think my biggest fault was being overambitious. When I was preparing the class, my first thought was going to be to walk the students step-by-step through the many different stages involved in making comics from beginning to end. When I planned it out, I devoted one class to each stage, which ended up being about eight classes. This totally did not take into consideration that some stages take much, much longer, especially for people that don’t draw on a regular basis. Also, because I was basically introducing a concept and then jumping into the next stage, there wasn’t a lot of time to soak in the  ideas that we had talked about the previous class. I quickly realized it was a ‘wham-bam-thank-you-ma’am’ approach.

A good example is that I thought I could cram digital corrections and scanning into one class. With some people who have never really used a computer besides word and sending e-mails. Or that the basics of inking could be one class and that would be enough for them to feel comfortable to start working with it. It was just too much.

I just wanted people to get an idea for everything that goes into making comics from beginning to end, from the thumbnails to the publishing. But after teaching this class for the first time, I realize that they don’t need all of that. I just need to focus on the making of comics -  learning how to tell a story and how to approach the bazillion problem solving hitches that you come across when you’re making comics.

My original intention was that we would collect everyone’s final project stories into a zine so that everyone would have something to take home from the class, but there were a lot of people that just weren’t able to get their comics done on time. I’m giving them a little more time to get me some stuff, but I know that people are busy with school or work, or whatever else is going on.

Anyhow, here are a few of the comics that I received in the last class. Hope it’s okay with my students that I’m sharing them:

Ira VS the Oooo

Squirrel Issues

What’s In A Name?…

Hopefully some of the other students will get their comics to me soon so we can put the zine together.

I will be teaching the class again in the fall, as well as a summer intensive for teens at OCAC. Once I get it more set in stone, I’ll make sure to post details.

Above image after Clay Mann, who was across the aisle from us with a giant banner with this image behind him. I mean no disrespect. Well, maybe.

Emerald City Comicon was a pretty good time. If one wanted to use modern vernacular, you could describe it with words like, ‘Sweeet!’ and ‘Tiiight!’

Last fall, SPX was the first convention in a long time, and it had been an even longer time that I had been to a con like ECCC. By that I mean a stereotypical comic book convention with costumes and dudes selling sexy fan art of superheroines, etc. Not since maybe San Diego in 2004? Wow. That was a long, long time ago. I think the fondest memory of that con was Dark Horse giving out free Hellboy movie posters and my friend Tony wanting to take a bunch, with me scolding him saying. ‘Dude! Only take one so that everyone gets a chance to have one.’ only to find out that people grabbed them in troves and then sold them on ebay for like $75 bucks a pop the next day.

Anyhow, the highlight of the show was getting to spend time with the totally radical Breena Wiederhoeft and talk shop, commiserate, comment on the cosplayers walking by, and just generally hang out. Despite tepid sales, and it not really being maybe the best audience for a book like Americus, it was pretty great to just see so many people so excited and enthusiastic. It’s so contagious! All weekend I was thinking about how I couldn’t wait to get home and get the ball rolling.

There were also a handful of people that had read Americus either online or in print and wanted to come by and say hi, or just people that wanted to come by and talk shop or ask questions. Connecting with people like that is the plus side of being stuck at a table for 8 hours having people walk by and judge you and your work.

Another highlight: Greg of Tugboat Press is pretty much the most awesome dude on the planet for many, many reasons. One of the tangible ones are his Free Comic Book Day book, Runner Runner. I’ll post my one pager I did for it soon, but it’s got a really awesome cast of creators: Drew Weing, MK Reed, Jesse Reklaw, Joey Alison Sayers, Nate Beaty, Alec Longstreth, Kazimir Strzepek, Lilli Carre and many, many more. If you’re at a convention this season you can probably pick one up, and if not, get it May 5th at your local Portland comic shops for Free Comic Book Day!

Other major bonus: MK was also in town for a last minute West Coast appearance! Great to see her and also good news: She got accepted in PNCA’s lo-residency MFA program, which means she’ll be around in the summer! Yay!

On Sunday the sun was out, and two days of convention tabling is about all I can handle, so I skipped out to spend some time around the city with Jen. It was a nice break from the hustle and bustle of the weekend, and a perfect endcap to the weekend in Seattle.

Stumptown’s up next, but I have some family issues that might prevent me from showing up. Keep your fingers crossed to every reason for things to be okay.

Anyhow, I’m back and motivated. Let’s see if I can keep this rolling. I know it’s like two weeks later, but I promise I will post a recap of my class at OCAC this week.

I won’t really have anything new, but I have something old that is kind of new – I reprinted the Lorian Gendarme Guidebook for Adventuring Standards, but took the time to put some love into the reprints. And by love, I mean gold silkscreened covers!

They really helped sell copies of Americus at SPX, which I will also have on hand, along with some mini-comics, and an assortment of prints and original art. I’ll try to have some new posters or prints for Stumptown at the end of April.

I’ll be in Artist Alley with the totally rad Breena Wiederhoeft at table E-16. If you’re in Seattle, come by the show and say hi!

Oh, yeah – my class finished last week. I have been getting ready for ECCC, but I would like to write a recap of the class and how it went sometime next week.