Caterpillar Publishing

Got up at 5:00 am to layout and color some drawing samples to send to Sorche Fairbank, a friend and talented agent working on a book for Ten Speed Press. It’s been fun to work on whether I am chosen for the project or not– it’s a great way to kick off the summer!

This weekend I have the honor of doing a presentation on my first book, A Kid’s Guide to Boston’s Freedom Trail, published with the Freedom Trail Foundation in 2008, for the Boston Book Festival of 2009! I will be standing in the shadows of many creative greats, including Ken Burns, Chris Van Allsburg, John Hodgman (“I’m a PC!” and The Areas of My Expertise), Anita Diamant (The New Jewish Wedding, The Red Tent), and… Alicia Silverstone! with her new book The Kind Diet, just to name a few. Huzzah to my kid’s guide book! And for those of you who join me tomorrow at the library, I’m looking forward to it! See you at 1:00pm!

Through a set of serendipitous circumstances I find myself committed to the terrific and terrifying prospect of spending sixteen days traveling abroad through Egypt in winter of 2010. I have no idea what to expect, but plan to keep a sketchbook and comic diary for the duration of the trip entitled The Purple Gorilla and Other Caterpillar Tales* that I may publish portions of upon my return. This collection of drawings and comics will comprise Volume Three in my ongoing series starring the Caterpillar (see my About Page for further explanation) and may inspire me to pursue other derivative works too.

I have traveled in 14 countries, but this will be my first trip to Africa, my first time in an Arabic speaking country (so there’s no hope of deciphering signage and conversation), and my first chance to turn down a camel ride. I’m just beginning my research on what we have in store for us, but already sense some strong story leads and adventure possibilities for my comics. Expect to see a lot more of Egypt in the upcoming months!!

*Note: In the early 1950’s, publishers accidentally discovered that sales went up when comic covers featured a purple gorilla, even if the interior content had nothing whatsoever to do with gorillas of any kind, purple or otherwise. No one knew why this worked, but it did. I have braced myself for the possibility that inspiration found in Egypt will completely thwart all current thesis plans and establish a whole new project direction, but whatever I may work on as a thesis, a cover with a purple gorilla will guarantee interest. If not, I will blame Steve Bissette for telling me about the marketing power of said species.

The Tomb of the Diver is an archaeological monument in Paestum, Italy. I have been there, I have seen it, and it is breath taking; a Greco-Roman vision of Dreaming and Eternity. While walking home tonight the famed diver came to mind, gracefully suspended above the water, contemplating the unknown. What waits beneath the surface of an idea? Deep places, dark monsters, and a lot of uncertainty. But it is time to stop stalling and jump in.

After a day or two of recovery, on January 25th, I sat down at my desk to begin composing a “long drawing” about Egypt, in the tradition of a 25 foot drawing that I did while living in Rome. I had anticipated that the project would be a few feet long and take about a week’s time, and I would then recommence the projects I had left in December when I went home to Christmas break. But Egypt had other ideas, and I immediately discovered that a long drawing was all wrong. ‘Longer!’ a voice demanded. ‘Panels!’ It said. ‘No!’ I cried, ‘I have to do a thesis project! I’m already behind! GO AWAY!’

But the voice just didn’t listen to me. ‘You have to draw it out! Think of what you saw, what you learned, what you thought about…’

Now, about three weeks later, I find myself closing in on finishing the thumbnailing for a graphic novel. Am I crazy? Probably. Yes. Most definitely. But tackling this isn’t nearly as hard as I thought it would be. I am leaning on our 4,200 photos and all of my notes and sketches to draw out the things I remember, impressions and thoughts, wisps of conversations and my experience in a new culture.

This is my first test drawing, seeing if I could steal some style from Baudoin of L’Association (“Steal from the best!!” Thanks Alec!) and approach this story in a whole new way. It’s just the beginning, a little scratch at what I want to do with it. How do you capture thoughts on paper? Sear a reader’s soul with ink? How do you convey the experience of the spirit on the desert edge of the world? I don’t know. But I am determined to finish a first draft of this story by February 23rd, one month after we returned, so that I can put it away for a time, that it may resurface with clarity later.

But I am filled with renewed hope in what the arts can do.

We Love You So is a website established by Spike Jonze and the creative team of the film Where the Wild Things Are to “help shed some light on many of the small influences that converged to make this massive project a reality,” and my Caterpillar Tales were just featured on it yesterday!!

http://weloveyouso.com/2010/03/the-art-and-times-of-katherine-roy/

“The only thing better than enthusiasm is enthusaiasm + talent. Katherine Roy is an exemplar of both— a cartooning machine whose Caterpillar Tales celebrates the adventures and struggles of its namesake hero. Roy is a natural storyteller (she released her first childrens’, A Kid’s Guide to Boston’s Freedom Trail last year) and a zippy cartoonist. She also maintains a nice little blog cataloging her art experiments and assorted daily thoughts. Just delightful.”

Thank you to Molly for the wonderful review and the nod to my work! I am just thrilled.

More to be posted soon!

BearFight! is fresh off the presses from Banner Year Press, featuring my comic about Harold the Bear and his break up with Justine. Some amazing talent graces the pages of this anthology, so if you haven’t seen it yet be sure to order a copy from BT Livermore’s website. More from me soon!

Two months ago, The Center for Cartoon Studies founder James Sturm decided to take a four month break from the internet and write about his experience offline by publishing on Slate.com (don’t worry, the irony of keeping a blog about being offline isn’t lost on him either). Last month he asked CCS students to contribute comics about their relationship with the internet, and last week I was featured! Check it out at Slate.com

Sorry for the delay in posts this week, folks! Our apartment is too warm to use my computer, so I’ve been delinquent this week about checking email and updating my site. I’m busy working away on an independent picture book project, along with my graphic novel and another Caterpillar Tale in the concept stages. White River Junction is lazy in the summer heat, but as beautiful as ever. I hope to get to go swimming sometime this weekend. More soon!

This weekend at the San Diego Comic-Con, James Sturm and Scott McCloud will be holding a panel discussion called “A Center of Cartoon Studies Conversation: Understanding, Making, and Teaching Comics.” As part of their chat James is planning to show a recent cut of Josh Melrod and Tara Wray’s Cartoon College, a documentary about CCS, and I had the honor of doing the opening titles for this showing of the film! I had never drawn for film titles before, but Josh and Tara were great to work with and bounce ideas off of, and we’re very happy with the end result!! If you can make it, you can find the panel on Friday at 4pm in Room 7AB. Have fun!

For more information about Cartoon College or Josh and Tara, visit their website, their myspace page, or watch the trailer on The Beat!

Lately I’ve found myself doing some sample illustration work to build my portfolio and remind myself how to apply what I’ve learned from comics into other publishing projects. Here’s a recent drawing, finished in pencil and watercolor. The original is about 11″x17″.

Another article featuring our lovely winter mural! Laura Terry, Jen Vaughn and I are looking forward to doing the next one. For more photos of the mural, please visit this link to Jen Vaughn’s Flickr site. Thanks for looking!