Caterpillar Publishing

I’ve been thinking a lot about thesis projects for my second graduate year at the Center for Cartoon Studies, and continue to return to the idea of doing something that takes place during a wedding, basing some of the plot on our experiences during our engagement and big event. I just ran across this quote in Wedded Bliss:

“In Western Societies today, the white wedding prevails as the dominant form of this popular ritual, and is rapidly becoming the standard for weddings internationally. Although considered traditional, this type of wedding is anything but. The stereotypical, lavish white wedding that has become a highly prescribed spectacle featuring a bride in a formal white wedding gown, a formally dressed groom, some combination of attendants and witnesses, a religious ceremony, and an elaborate– and expensive– wedding reception is largely the product of a host of marketing campaigns. The white wedding has become so overdetermined in the popular imagination that to consider an alternative seems unthinkable.”

Surely there’s something that can be said about this through comics? While keeping the theme from being so heavy handed that it becomes unreadable?

Our second year at the Center for Cartoon Studies kicks off today with Alec Longstreth’s Professional Practice class! Yahoo! I’m very excited about this year and all of the opportunities ahead, but also determined to make the most of my time and the work I have to do. David Macaulay has agreed to be my thesis advisor for the year, resuming his role as a mentor and editor from my days at RISD as a sophomore and junior. He is insightful, encouraging, and very critical; it’s all about the work to him, and I deeply appreciate his objectivity. I think it will be a great fall!

Sorry for the delay in posts, guys! Thesis work has weighed me down, but I’ve made some breakthroughs and real progress lately. Hurray!

Two weeks ago Kriota Willberg came to the Center for Cartoon Studies to teach an intensive two-day workshop on anatomy, aging, weight gain and deformity (posture problems, etc.) geared towards cartoonists to help us understand human bodies and create stronger characters. Her lectures were fascinating and I loved drawing the figure again, and she scared the crap out of all of us about staying fit and healthy (and what it looks like over time when you don’t!). Here is a quick look at what we did: our cumulative assignment was to draw a character nude, the skeleton, the muscles, weight gain (or loss), and the character older (or younger). Look at the effects of age and gravity–  yikes! I will post more figure work this week.

Back in Vermont! After a great holiday at home and a good start to the new year, I am back at home in the New England cold, swinging away at my thesis project to make some significant progress. Expect to see a lot of drawings and comics over the new few weeks from my sketchbook and desktop. Here are a few more figure drawings from Kriota’s workshop:

Structure of the figure while standing and at rest:

Various added deformities to our two models (Cave-Man & Scoliosis):

And of Kriota (such a wonderful model herself!) as she drew ON the models:

I’ve been thinking a lot about color lately. Every time the sun comes out and shines down on our little corner of New England, the snow melts just enough to slip into the street and reflect bright blue patches of sky among streaks of white salt on black asphalt. The warm yellows and cheery reds of brick buildings throw themselves at every window pane, and all of a sudden Main Street is alive and vibrant in spite of the season. I would rip off my coat and boots and dive into the color if only it weren’t so damn cold.

Last week Joe Quinones and Maris Wicks visited the Center for Cartoon Studies and gave a wonderful presentation of their work and current projects, and between their pages of comics and Alec Longstreth’s recent crash course in color theory, I am inspired to get back into figuring out what it is to use color well. This week while sitting in our local coffee shop I couldn’t help but notice a conversation in front of me, and, in my best SNEAK-ATTACK drawing style, Wacom tablet and computer already in front of me, I tried out a little color study:

And then right before I left I did another quick one, trying different colors:

And now I’m completely addicted. Expect to see more of these over the coming weeks.

A regular local. Iced coffee and a muffin for $4.04 every day.

Last week my work was hung in the Tucker Box gallery, a local coffee shop in White River Junction that exhibits work by CCS students, alumni, and fellows, along with serving delicious espresso drinks. My comic 25 Cents: A Caterpillar Tale was initially completed as a four page comic for cartooning studio, but was then reformatted and colored by Joe Lambert to be published in Seven Days Vermont Magazine about a year ago. It’s so much fun to see it at a big scale! Next to my work (right) hang the talents of former fellow Chris Wright (center) and second-year student Melissa Mendes (left). Hurray!

Who’s going to MoCCA?!

Things are in high gear here in White River Junction. The artists are drawing, the scanners are scanning, the printers are printing, and no one has slept in days. Not only is Industry Day next week, with the end of the year rapidly closing in, but the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art is holding their annual Comic Festival in New York this coming weekend! This year will be my FIRST as an exhibitor, and I will be tabling in the CCS row at G5, alongside the talents of Tim Stout, Laura Terry, Matt Aucoin, Holly Foltz, and Garry-Paul Bonesteel. I will be selling lots of Caterpillar Tales, my sketchbook from Egypt, new work, a poster, and a TOP SECRET PROJECT WITH STEVE BISSETTE! Don’t miss it! AND don’t forget to check out Caboose! a Center for Cartoon Studies anthology that will be distributed for free (FREEE!!!) all weekend at the show. Above is the cover of Caboose, drawn and colored by alumni Chuck Forsman and this year’s CCS fellow Max de Radiques.

Here’s a preview of MY WORK in Caboose, my latest installment of Caterpillar’s adventures:

Whoot! What a weekend! After carpooling down to NY with a SEQUENCE of cartoonists (thank you Miss Laura Terry) including James Sturm, Melissa Mendes, Chuck Forsman, Tim and I spent time with cartoonist friends in Brooklyn and paid a visit to Jules Feiffer before tackling the 2-day MoCCA Fest extravaganza on Saturday and Sunday. The Center for Cartoon Studies ROCKED the back wall, selling lots of comics and giving away nearly 1,000 copies of our Caboose Anthology which includes my brand new Caterpillar story. Caterpillar Tales sold well, I met a lot of really wonderful new people, and had several inspiring conversations with favorite editors and teachers. What a great show! I will be back next year for sure.

Alongside auteur works at our table was Stephen R. Bissette’s Tales of the UnCanny: N-Man and Friends! Originally created in 1993 for the comic book series 1963 (Alan Moore, Stephen R. Bissette, Rich Veitch, Jim Valentino, Dave Gibbons, John Totleben, Chester Brown and others), these characters have been inactive for over a decade until Steve Bissette decided to bring them back to life through the Center for Cartoon Studies. Steve and co-editor Tim Stout produced a 16-page preview of the book’s grand debut in the fall of this year. For my help with the packaging and design Steve decided to put my work on the back cover. Hurray! Can’t wait to see the full 200 page version of the book!

After one day of rest and recovery from MoCCA, CCS was busy again with Industry Day, where editors from major publishers across the country visit our school to hold a panel discussion and portfolio reviews with students. This year our panel was graced with the talents of David Saylor (Scholastic Graphix), Chris Oliveros (D+Q), Eric Reynolds (Fantagraphics), Colleen AF (First Second) and Douglas Wolk (freelance journalist and critic). Doulgas Wolk did a fantastic job moderating the discussion in the morning, and I found the advice, direction, and feedback I received during my review with him and with David Saylor to be very encouraging. Thank you ALL for making time to see us. I very much enjoyed our conversation.

16 days until I need to print my thesis! If only this year was just a little bit longer. My work needs just a little more time to incubate, and though I am moving forward I am still very deep in the search. The skeleton is taking shape, the plans are in view, but now the time has come to build on everything I have taken in. I am very excited about the direction this is all heading.

Sorry I’ve been so delinquent about my blog in the last couple of weeks– it is crunch time at CCS, and there is much to be done yet on my thesis! I still need to design a cover and may attempt to submit a short piece to an anthology this week, but I’m finally in the homestretch for coloring my 19 page chapter and should be done by Friday. Thank goodness! It’s taking quite a while, but our movies are keeping me company. Tim and I own over 150 films, but every time one ends I wander over to our shelves and stare for several minutes, unable to comprehend how I can be looking at so many titles and still feel like we don’t have anything to watch. There’s only so many rounds of the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy that I can take, as much as I love it!

Here’s a visual of the hours logged this week!

Check out the Center for Cartoon write-up on the Fantagraphics Books blog by editor Eric Reynolds! Thanks for visiting the school Eric! So happy that like my work!

“…I’ve been to a few other schools that offer curriculums in cartooning, and hands-down, the quality of work coming out of CCS was the best I’ve ever seen. Very little work derivative of the dominant genres in comics — namely, manga and superheroes — and instead a focus on personal expression and style with little regard for learning what it takes to be a “commercial” artist. We all did portfolio reviews one afternoon and I was frankly dreading it a bit but found myself thoroughly enjoying it. I saw a *lot* of good student work, but there were several who stood out, including but not limited to Kenny Widjaja, Katherine Roy, Mark Bilokur, Casey Bohn, Jose-Luis Olivares and Nick Patten…” - Eric Reynolds, Fantagraphic Books Blog

Three days left! May 3rd is a big day for me, with BOTH my graduate thesis AND the Vermont Arts Council Creator Grant due. But things are moving along! I am about to take a break from bookbinding to complete some further writing work on my grant. The THESIS progress SO FAR:

Eight tape-bound thesis projects. Sewing: DONE!

Eight thesis projects + two test copies. End pages: DONE!

More coming soon!!