Off On The Trail

We're busy packing and waking up here ( in that order...) for a trip to Montreal.I'll be taking work with me because of a looming deadline but I think I'm up to the challenge. I've packed the essentials: sketchbooks, iPod and comics. I'm bringing a lot of manga which I've been reading lots of lately. Anyway, I'll post when I can.

also, pleas note the new sharing options; Facebook and Stumbleupon, please share my posts, I really appreciate it. (unless their terrible posts, in which case pretend they were never posted)

Everyone have a great weekend!

Street Memory

Here's a sketch I did with Tria markers of someone I saw on the street 2 days ago, done from memory. I almost prefer to draw from memory than from life. I find when I draw from memory the picture comes out transformed and pretty close to what I felt the person looked like and I'm not hamstrung by working out the anatomy like a math problem, which is how I sometimes approach the technical aspects of drawing. Also, I've been enjoying working with markers and am thinking about the possibilities with comics.

Early tomorrow, Julie, Henry my mom and I are off to Montreal for a few days. I'll be posting from the road. I have a deadline looming so today I'm going to shop for a small portfolio and bring my work with me.

Clay Cloud People

 Here are thee sculptures I did for reference when drawing the Maddy Kettle books.The one I'm not crazy about is Maddy. Because her head is so big I needed to build all this extra support so she stands above Harry. And the face came out a bit off. But it'll do for my purpose.

At the moment I'm working all the time on a short piece for Oni Press to get as much dona as possible before I take a short trip to Montreal with Julie, Henry and my mom. I plan on picking up a new portfolio so I can cart the 8 page story with me and work on the road.

Whoops...

Um..I've lost this weeks Sprout... So, next week!

Green Water Witch

Seen when the water is green and slimy. This is another doodle done with ShinHan markers.

Inky's Gas Service

A little Inky the bat story from the world of Maddy Kettle. Besides the pleasure of doing a little comic these pages served two other pages. One was to experiment with tone. I used Letraset's Manga screentone. I like the sense of  depth it gives the background. It's fairly tedious to apply, you have to trace and peel and you get sticky bits of tone everywhere.

The other thing I got to try out was the paper size for the Maddy kettle graphic novel, which is an unusual size. I found it perfect though.

At Judy's

We all went to Julie's Aunt Judy's last night for dinner. Here are some sketches I did in brushpen.

Silviold By Gabe Gill

I received this amazing drawing of an aging Silvio by new artist Gabe Gill. I think he captured something perfect and essential about the character. Something both cozy and a little dark and strange. Really wonderful. Gabe is going to be big.

3-D Raccoon

Here's a little model I made of Silvio to help me work out shading, perspective and other drawing problems while I do the Maddy Kettle comic. I'm also planning on doing the other characters as well. He's a bit rough but he'll do the job well. I did him in Super Sculpey with a metal wire and aluminum foil armature. I painted it in black and white acrylics.

Sprout Episode Seven

Shelf Cat

A little sculpture I did to try out the Super Sculpey. He will now live on my book shelf.

Gogi

Gogi is an an air spirit that got stuck in cloud. Luckily it's a comfortable cloud.

Materials

One of the great things about working in an art store is the sudden exposure to many new materials. Too many to try! Here are a couple of sketches I did with ShinHan markers. Great drawing tools. I also used the ShinHan blender.

Doppo The Fox

A new face in the Cloudscape. Doppo is a cloud cartographer from 100 years before Harry and Silvio's time and he will have a major role in book 2 of Maddy Kettle ( if they let me do a book 2). Yesterday I found myself mapping out a huge overall story arc to the Maddy Kettle books. I'm sure this'll change as I go along. I'm so excited about these stories.

Rubber Silvio

I just saved some money! I carved a rubber stamp instead of ordering it from UPS and really enjoyed doing it in the process. I think I'll do a Harry and Maddy stamp as well. I plan on stamping letters, envelopes etc. with these. Fun!

In other Maddy kettle news I'm continuing to write the second book. The story is moving in startling directions and is becoming increasingly complex as a back story is starting to reveal itself. If I keep to what I've written so far the second book will begin one hundred years before the events in the first book. I haven't really projected how long the series will be but I hope to have the first five books mapped out by the time the first one is published.I'm probably getting way ahead of myself. I just hope it isn't just me interested in a magical, funny animal, american folklore comic book series. fingers crossed.

Several Birds With One Fox

This is a character I think will be in the second Maddy Kettle book. He doesn't have a name yet (I'm thinking Doppo) but he's a Japanese Red Fox and he's an adventurer in the Cloudscape. I'm on a big Manga kick right now so bits of Japan are seeping into the Cloudscape. Another point of interest is that I drew this with ShinHan Touch markers. I did some more with marker which I'll share over the next few days. And lastly I used non reproducing blue pencil here. Which reproduced...Oh well.

Crab Legs

Well, I just had a call from Eric asking me to enter today's post. I never do this sort of thing but promised I would give it a try. As Marge once said to Homer: "Homer, in every marriage you get one chance to say, "I need you to do this (for) me."

Last night was spent with Eric's cousin's visiting from Halifax. We gorged on all you can eat Sushi and Henry had a chance to try crab. We have definitely ruled out any seafood allergies!

Kettle Thumbs

I finished the thumbnails for the first Maddy Kettle book yesterday. Right now, the book comes out to 110 pages. It was a lot of work, even though I had lots of story notes and sketches the story went to unexpected places while drawing the thumbnails. I expect surprises while I pencil as well. Since every editor in the world is at San Diego Comic con for the next little while I'm waiting for the go ahead on this. In the meantime I'm starting work on a short story for Oni.

Sprout Episode Six (Happy Anniversary Julie!!)

Happy fourth anniversary Julie! Thanks for putting up with me this long...

RIP Harvey Pekar

Very sad news, Harvey Pekar the famous comic book writer died this week. He paved the way for indy comics and opened up comics for a wider variety of stories. It's nice that so many media outlets are recognizing him this morning, it certainly restores my faith in the media, a bit. Here'as a New York Times obituary. I did the above drawing for Smithmag as part of their Pekar Project celebrating his 70th birthday.

Maddy Kettle Rewrite, Dustcloud Gap

These are some thumbnails that got edited out of the final graphic novel because of a rewrite. It comes down to switching a local from rural farmland to a large town. I had a sudden, out-of-nowhere idea of a town wedged between to mesas called Dustcloud Gap and I loved the loose sketch I did so I've been overhauling the story somewhat. still, I like this sequence quite a bit so I thought I'd share it here.

Soccer Raccoon

A bit of a disappointing game but fun to see all the people celebrating. Not something I ever saw living in the suburbs.

Art Words

“Every corner of the canvas should be alive,”  Said Henry Matisse and I think he was right. I guess you can't always take everything into account on a tight deadline but I always try. I had forgotten the wording of this quote until I read this article. This was also taught to me at art school (Nova Scotia College of Art and Design) I'm not sure which teacher said it but to paraphrase them " You should be able to remove a square inch from anywhere in your paining and have it be as beautiful as any other," I'm probably getting it wrong but it's always stuck with me. 

Letter Days

I'm currently lettering the Situation comic. Of all the steps in a comic I'm probably least at ease with the lettering. I prefer hand written letters over fonts from the computer but I worry about legibility. I think the vast majority of comics are lettered using computer programs, at least when I google it all that comes up are computer lettering tutorials. Although I did find this Plea For Hand Lettering that sums up my thoughts. Especially the idea that comics and the letters are part of the same overall thing. That seems obvious but many people don't treat it that way. Another thing about lettering is I'm not sure how long it should take. I do it pretty fast so  I'm not researching it in case I'm going to fast....

Glorious Rain

Well, it seems the heat wave has ended. I'm sitting here drinking coffee, Henry's watching cartoons and the rain is pouring down outside. Such a relief. I'm just touching up The Situation for the San Diego Comic Con. Also, a new contract has arrived from Oni Press. More on that later. And I just got an email from Leigh Walton over at Top Shelf asking for some pages of Maddy Kettle to show at San Diego.

In family Orchard goings on, Julie has finished her BED (bachelor of education)with amazing marks. She is now going through an intensive French course to help with teaching. Julie's French is great, having spent two years in Paris working at a medical journal.And I'm still glad I took the part time job.It's so much easier to manage your time when what you do is somewhat predictable.

Sprout Episode Five

Sweltering

I'm not sure what I expected when I moved to Toronto but G20 riots and exploding power stations weren't on the list. I drew this yesterday while I stood in over 40 degree weather waiting for a drive after the art store was closed when the power went out. There were patches of blackouts all over the city. I'm not complaining. City life is always interesting.