Alphabeasts C Is For Caillagh Ny Groamagh

Caillagh Ny Groamagh, also known as The Gloomy Old Woman. A type of Banshee from the Isle of Man. She washes ashore every St. Bridget's Day to collect sticks. Also, she stands under waterfalls.

More Alphabeasts. 

What I'm Reading

Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin

Saturday Review

I kept Henry home from daycare yesterday because he hadn't been feeling great earlier in the week. He ended up being my assistant in my crazy schemes for that day. We listened to a lot of Tom Waits and built machines out of household appliances and stuff we found in the neighbor's shed. It's getting cold here! Did it get cold this fast last year? I would not be surprised if it was snowing when I wake up tomorrow morning.

I have about a weeks worth of drawing and revisions before I can get back to Maddy. Today will mostly be spent on the Cintiq revising a book cover. And right after I need to do revisions for the Tor.com webcomic.

I've started settling on the storyline for the second Maddy Kettle book today. At least in my head, nothing really committed to paper yet. Or nothing that makes sense to sane, rational human beings. I can say it will involve a fleet of rat pirates in the clouds.

Henry is jumping on my back as I type this yelling "Daddy!! Daddy!! I'm in your chair!!" so I think I'll sign off. I need to get my day started properly. His grandmother is coming by to take him away for a while. No, that wasn't a sigh of relief you just heard. 

Vampire Bats!

A scene in pencils from Maddy Kettle. I think there's about eighty bats here. It should take forever to ink but it'll be worth it. I've been looking forward to drawing this scene.

Working on a book cover today, I have about a week of non Maddy related work ahead of me. Which is fine, I like to be able to switch between projects. 

A Dangling Raccoon

I woke up this morning and my left eye was a little bit better. Every day I'm seeing some improvement. Which is a huge relief. I can now read with my left eye, which I couldn't a few days ago. I'm still going to take it easy today, though, so I don't over extend myself.

Above are some pencils from Maddy Kettle. Silvio making an escape from a downed hot air balloon. In the comments for yesterday's post Gabe Gill said that Harry reminded him of an American Totoro. Which is amazing that anyone gets that! I've thought that way about Harry and Silvio all along but never really expressed it. They are sort of like animal spirits, but in a very North American vein. Something else that just occurred to me is how influenced the story is by G K Chesterton, in the way the mystery unfolds and nothing is what it quite seems to the hero. I didn't realize what an impact his work had on me until I stood back and had a good look at the shape of the story. I love these surprises. 

Don't Let The Bear Drive The Balloon!

Well, after a very long sleep last night my eye is a bit better but still not perfect. There's not much I can do about it right now, but I think I'll take it easy today. I just got a list of revisions back on a book cover so I need to get to that as soon as possible. I have an appointment with the ophthalmologist tomorrow.

Above are some pencils for a Maddy Kettle page. There's quite a bit of story that happens before you meet Harry and Silvio but I'm finally there and am loving drawing them again. It's actually been a while since I drew them in a comic! My initial strategy was to pencil five pages and then ink them but I find I'm losing the thread that way, so I'm penciling twenty pages and then inking them. So far it seems to be working really well. It also is giving me a greater sense of progress and that kind of thing can be really important. 

Alphabeasts B is for Barguest

"A kind of bogy or bogey beast.....regarded as a death portent....At the death of any notable person it would appear, howling and baying....It haunts a piece of wasteland between Wreghorn and Headingly Hill near Leeds"

More Alphabeasts here.

A Comic For Everyone!

                                                   Polo And The Magic Flute By Regis Faller

Polo is a series of silent comics by Regis Faller, a magical and warm series of adventures of Polo, a curious and adventurous dog. The world of Polo is calm and reassuring. There is also something philosophical about Polo, there is a depth to the ideas that are explored. But this never makes Polo hard to relate to, it is a world one can visit and feel very much at home. These adventures are familiar, they are much like the journeys we all take in our imaginations. 

In Polo And The Magic Flute, Polo sets off across the ocean in a little boat where he finds himself in a Japanese type land where a friendly monk gives him a magic flute. The story is surprisingly rich for a wordless comic and holds up to repeated readings. 

The art is some of the most charming in comics, both masterful and a little informal. The colouring more or less flat and very attractive. 

On amazon. 

What I'm Reading

After finishing The Adventures of Tom Sawyer I ended up reading The Wizard of Oz, both The Great American Novel and both books I wasn't sure I'd read all the way through before or if I was just familiar with them from other sources. With Oz I realized I really hadn't read the original all the way through, there are a number of amazing sequences I was not at all familier with. so glad I read this. I'm planning on reading the whole Baum series now. I've read the odd Oz book here and there but I have the complete series of books on my Kindle so it'll be easy to keep track of where I am. 

My Saturday Post

Henry playing with a new remote control robot, which I might be playing with more than him. There's not a lot to say about this week that I haven't already said, about my eye or Henry's birthday. a surprisingly satisfying week considering I woke up blind in one eye. I'm just about to finish off another lot of Maddy Kettle pencils. That's all going really well. Finally finished The Adventures of Tom Sawyer yesterday, which is brilliant, of course. I also finished the first Wizard of Oz book, which I love and will talk about tomorrow. This weekend I think I'll get a bit further in the 10 or so books I've been reading on and off over the past year. Some Hemingway, some poetry books, a Joan Aiken book. I'll likely have to take a big break for hunting and gathering today, I mean groceries. That's dangerous for me, wherever I go I seem to find a book to buy.

Maddy And Ralph

A photo from a Maddy page, which I'm working on despite the bad eye. I actually seem to have not missed a beat. My vision is a lot better and I can't stand doing nothing all day, which is a big surprise to me. I thought I'd love nothing all day. I've been reading a lot as well, making the text on my Kindle HUGE. I just finished The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and now I'm back reading the Oz books. Both free editions. I tend to treat my Kindle a bit like a library and not so much as a bookstore. I want to own print editions of my favorite books but it's a great way to read old books for free or see if I like something.

On a more, um, political note.... you might want to check out the Anti-Spec campaign, especially if you work in a creative field. It hi-lights the increasing problem of big companies crowd-sourcing work instead of hiring someone to do it. This means that a company will get hundreds of hours of free work and that the fees designers and illustrators charge will inevitably have to be reduced even more. 

Here's a great collection of free children's books on Project Gutenberg.  

Henry Is Three!

Great birthday yesterday!! 

Where I complain About My Eye

Well, there's nothing a like a medical scare to get you moving in the morning. I woke up Monday morning blind in my left eye. I didn't notice at first because I wake up before dawn and it was dark, but as soon as the sun started to come up I realized I could barely see out of my left eye. After washing my glasses repeatedly and administering that ocular cure all Visine, I decided it was definitely my eye and nothing else and it was now appropriate to panic.

Henry was still asleep and he had to be brought to daycare in some way. Luckily my father in law was around. Unfortunately there's no car-seat in his car. Which means I had to weave my way 10 blocks pushing a stroller. Which gave me plenty of time for panicky consideration. I was even making plans on how to finish my books with one eye. Ugh. So, my father in law met me at the day-care and drove me to emergency. I happened to be reading tom Sawyer that day, which is a fantastic book to have on hand to distract yourself from any terrors. It was the graveyard scene, if you know the book, which is an amazing scene. Spooky and funny and thrilling. I must have looked funny sitting there with a book about two inches from my face with one eye squeezed shut.

Through some amazing fate related thing there happened to be an ophthalmologist on hand to give my eye a thorough look. This all happened in the surgery department so I was expecting that any moment i would be on a gurney and wheeled frantically through the hospital in order to have my eye extracted before it exploded like an appendix.

The very practical Dr Smith (really!) explained to me that I had an ulcer over my eye as a result of an infection and it would clear up after a few days if I'd just put some drops in it.

Dr Smith, it seems, knows what he's talking about, as I lay here watching an Orsen Welles movie on TCM my vision is finally clearing up, instead of foggy Plexiglas it's more like rain on my glasses.

This was a couple of days ago, and things are getting better. Still not great but better. What's pretty amazing is I feel like I've barely missed a step. Who knew I could draw with one eye?

Alphabeasts: A

See more Alphabeasts by amazing artists. 

Comics For Everyone!

Owly is one of the best all ages comics to come along in ages. First published in 2004 Owly is Andy Runton’s wonderful series about a gentle, loveable Owl and his little forest world. To me, Owly is the perfect example of what amazing all ages comics can be; it’s use of visual language, the world building, the gorgeous art, the warmth and tenderness. The first thing one notices about Owly, after the art, is the fact that it’s virtually wordless. The story moves along entirely with pictures. Speech balloons contain images rather than words. I find this makes the world even more immersive. To quote Andy Runton’s website “It may seem that a student could read a wordless comic quickly (and without much effort). One soon realizes, however, that he or she must apply further evaluation and observation skills to be able to follow the story line” So much of the story relies on facial expressions and actions. Which isn’t to say it’s hard to read. In fact every page is a joy. 

One of Mr. Runton’s greatest strengths is his capacity to create wonderfully simple characters. It’s not exactly minimalist, but everything is very simple. It’s also very rich art. The natural world is portrayed with loving detail. It's a friendly world, even the dense black shadows are friendly. 

The stories are about Owly, and his kindness toward other creatures. He is always trying to do the right thing. The stories are hopeful and uplifting, Owly’s tenderness balance it out with a note of sadness. 

A definite must have for your all ages shelf. It goes well beside Winnie The Pooh and Beatrix Potter. 

there are several ways to purchase and read Owly, there is both hard and softcover editions which are the perfect size for young people. There is also a Kindle edition. 

What I'm Reading

Floating Worlds: The Letters of Edward Gorey and Peter F. Neumeyer

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer 

A Saturday In Autumn

Well, I quite enjoyed my all business day yesterday. When you're drawing all day all the time there's a certain pleasure in mundane tasks like preparing mail and writing blog posts and doing the dishes. It reminded me how much I love small domestic tasks. Today has been kind of awful so far. Went to the doctors because my eye has been a bit funny and she freezes it and dyes it yellow. It's still yellow. The computer is respondent in glorious medicinal yellow hues. After the dying the doctor left me lying flat for about half an hour by myself. Of course it felt like much longer, long enough for my anxiety to create all sorts of horrifying futures for my poor eye. It turns out to be a small scratch on my cornea, which apparently isn't the worst thing in the world. I'm currently casting about my list of favorite bodily related anxieties to appease my hypochondria. So, it's about 2 PM and I have yet to start working in earnest. Let's see if I can salvage the day. 

I'm All Business

Here's a little peak at something I'm doing with J Torres. It's a tiny side project that is extremely silly and a huge relief after working hard on other projects.

So, today I'm going to do very little drawing and try and get a bunch of business stuff out of the way. I find if I don't devote a full day to this stuff, no matter how minor, it has a tendency to be put off indefinitely. It'll feel great to get this stuff off my list. Sometimes I wish someone else would do this stuff for me. OK, I feel that way all the time.

I picked up Twain's Tom Sawyer for a bus ride yesterday. Such a wonderful book. It's one of those books I've either read half a dozen times or never finished. I won't know until the end. I find Alice in Wonderland and The Vampyr like that as well. I read The Vampyr by John Polidori last week and only realized at the last line that I had read it years ago.

I should get back to full days of drawing soon. Yesterday was another non working day (I tend to only think of drawing as working) , I traipsed from one end of Toronto to the other looking for Henry's requested birthday present; a "Batman" Shockingly, silver Snail had nothing. I ended up at a Toy's R Us and got this:




Which I think might be the very best Batman toy I've ever seen. Probably because this is pretty close to how I'd draw him. 

Half A Day

Here's one of the simpler panels from Maddy Kettle. There are scenes that take place in the desert during the day that are so easy to draw I worry about. But still, I like how visually the story breaths, sometimes dense and frantic and sometimes sparse and quiet.

Taking a half day today, I'm going downtown to buy a present for Henry's third birthday. the only instruction he gave me is "Batman" which I think I can manage.

I started reading Floating Worlds yesterday, a collection of correspondence and art from Edward Gorey. If you're a Gorey fan this is a must have, maybe the best book on him. It's published by Pomegranate and as usual with their books it's beautiful. 


Some links of interest:


The Association of Library Services to children ( ALSC) has published a great, comprehensive list of graphic novels for all ages. Very much worth checking out. I'll be using this as a resource for my Monday Comics For Everyone! posts. 


also, from the Dark Horse blog, a very interesting initiative to get comics to kids. Looking forward to hearing more about this. 


A great New Yorker article on Norton Juster's Phantom Tollbooth. 


Some amazing slippers. 


And viviane Schwartz drew an awesome cat. 

An Old Rat Painting

Just an old painting today, my rat pirates. I've suddenly found myself doing 5 projects at once so I'm sequestering myself for the afternoon to get stuff sorted and maybe get something finished. 

My Arizona

Part of a panel from Maddy Kettle. A lot of Maddy Kettle takes place in the desert, which is odd because I've never been to the desert. There is a tradition in writing and cartooning of using the sparse and lonely vistas of the desert as part of the story. My desert is drawn from Krazy Kat and Moebius comics, rather than any real experience. There's something about it that makes it a good place to start, it is full of meaning and resonance. It's alive but it's life is hidden. And it's beautiful. Maddy's journey starts in the desert and explores outward, more and more of the world reveals itself to her and she overcomes her fears. In starting in the desert I think there's also an influence by my favorite stories that grow out of desert myth and folklore, Charles DeLint and Midori Snyder have written books about magic and the desert that had a profound impact on me. In a sense it bothers me that I'm telling a story about a place so removed from my own experience. I also want to tell stories about the north, about snow and ocean and other things I know about. And I will, eventually. But this is the story tat wanted to be told first. 

On Holiday

I'm so sorry there's no Comic for Everyone! post today. Between a cold during the week, deadlines and busy Thanksgiving weekend I was just unable to get the post done to my satisfaction. I'll be back with this series next week. 

A Very Late Saturday Post

A very late Saturday post, and really, I don't have much to say. It's been a funny two weeks. The week before last week Henry got sick and I had to look after him as I couldn't send him to daycare and this week I seem to have caught whatever Henry had and stumbled through this week. I think I'm fine now. I've been working on Maddy Kettle mostly, with a bit of work on the Alphabeasts thing. I'm waiting to hear back on edits I made for a book cover and also trying to send stuff off to New York but my computer seems to have other ideas. I think I'd rather be in bed reading.

Above is a picture from my studio. I don't know who moves my toys around at night. 

Ruin By Candlelight

A panel from Maddy Kettle. Working away on it now. I want to get a few more pages done and then I'm off to have some prints made up. There are still some uncorrected mistakes in this drawing, so if you see them~you win!

I'm currently rereading some old all ages books which are favorites of mine. Right now it's Joan Aiken. If you don't know her work you must run out now and find something of hers. I'd love to do posts about these magical books as well. But I'm finding the all ages comic book posts are already a lot of work so I'll have to wait.

I want everyone to check out my friend Gabe's wonderful new comic up at Top shelf 2.0  Can't wait to see more!

Also, run and check out Jess Smiley's new site, Toyceratops! Home to some great looking new toys and games.

And I really liked this little, heartening article on kids books.

And if you're a Hayao Miyazaki fan like me, you'll want to check out this recently translated interview. 

Scarier Than I Meant

I managed to get a cold from my 3 year old (strangely....) and despite dripping nose, grogginess and general irritability I pressed on with work. I think this panel ended up scarier than I meant. I definitely over hatched it. Oh well! I still like it, and it's maybe the scariest scene in the book, so I think it'll do. Initially the Spider Goblins had smaller and narrower eyes and I drew this guy with lantern eyes without even thinking, but I really love it. I like to imagine that when their big heads swivel around they illuminate the clouds a bit.

On another note, cartoonist Ben Towle and friends are at it with another really cool alphabet project. The first time was an animal alphabet and this time it's imaginary beasts. I'm going to try and take part when I can this time. I pilfered my much loved copy of Katherine Briggs' Encyclopedia of Fairies for ideas.

Unbelievably I'm still a bit sick, which may mean infrequent breaks to watch The Muppets Take Manhattan on Netflix. Henson's Storyteller is on there too, if you've never seen it you really must, it's my all time favorite piece of television. The brilliant Dark Crystal is there too. 

Lambshead!

I'm going to gush about being in this book, but I can't help it. Being a part of this collection of stories and art is a dream come true for me. I wish I could tell my 14 year old self I was going to be a book with these giants, but I'd have never believed it. An amazing concept, based around items found in a cabinet of curiosity,  one of amazing proportion and scope. If you don't know the term a cabinet of curiosities was a collection of ostensibly items from natural history but often much stranger. They were like a small museum one would have in their house. This unbelievable book contains work by Holly Black, China Mieville, Michael Moorcock, Alan Moore, Garth Nix, Naomi Novik, Cherie Priest, Jan Svankmajer, Mike Mignola and many others. It is also the first time a book I worked on has made it to the amazon best sellers list, which I attribute to the enormous talents of the Vandermeer's, the editors and brains behind this project. 


Here's a recent write up in i09. 


Below the cover is part of my drawing from the book. 


You can buy it here, or in Canada here, or at your local book seller. 


I can't say this enough, but thank you so much Jeff and Ann Vandermeer. 

A Comic For Everyone!

A perfect book for anyone who loves mystery, adventure and a well told story. Alison Dare is another favorite of mine and deserves a special place on your all ages comic book shelf.


A little bit of Nancy Drew, a little bit of Indiana Jones and a touch of superheroics but totally original, Alison Dare is a collaboration of two amazing talents writer J Torres and artist J Bone.  Alison is a pretty normal kid in a world of adventure and mystery. The stand out thing in these stories is the great sense of humour, as Alison and her friends confront all sorts of situations, from a magical genie in the dessert to dealing with Alison's parents. Torres is a master of the all ages comic, he knows how to make a comic accessible to everyone and still write a rollicking, smart story.  The stories fly along at a great pace, adding to the sense of adventure and fun. The books are actually collections of stories of various lengths, which makes for an easy read, great for the reluctant reader. I think these books appeal to both boys and girls, anyone can relate to Alison and her friends and the rollicking adventures will surely appeal to boys. 


J Bone's art is perfect for this type of story. Energetic and classical he creates a believable cartoon world here, rich with just enough detail. J's work is reminiscent of animation and mid century illustration. I'm not sure of J's influences but I know he worked in animation and I think what shines in his work is wonderful characters and a kinetic energy. 


The books are actually collections of stories of various lengths, which makes for an easy read, great for the reluctant reader. I think these books appeal to both boys and girls, anyone can relate to Alison and her friends and the rollicking adventures will surely appeal to boys. I think these books would sit well on a shelf next to Tintin, the Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew and Bone.


There are two Alison Dare books out now, published by Tundra Alison Dare; Little Miss Adventure  and Alison Dare; Heart of the Maiden.

I discovered the first book book at a book signing at Strange Adventures comic book store in Halifax about ten years ago. These kinds of events are so important, by meeting the creators I got a great appreciation for this type of story and how much they care about these books. It was a huge inspiration to me and my own work. 


I asked J Torres for his thoughts on these books and their continuing appeal, J said "Some of these Alison Dare stories are almost ten years old. I'm happily surprised that they continue to be read and enjoyed, and pick up new readers. But will somebody make a movie for us already? (I'm kidding!) (No, I'm not.)"


Ha!


And I especially love what he had to say about all ages comics "I think we're living in a kind of golden age of younger reader and young adult comic books and graphic novels right now. At least in terms of how much great material is out there, and the support and enthusiasm for those stories keeps growing. Hopefully, we'll look back in ten years time and be able to say, "Yep, that's when we turned a corner and really reached the masses!" "

Help Me Pick Some Prints

So, I'm just about at the point in Maddy Kettle and other projects where I can take a short break to concentrate on a print sale. I need to do this on and off for the next while until I finish Maddy, but I've had lots of requests in any case.

So, I need your help. What prints should I make? Either from the pictures above or from something you've seen by me you think wold make a great print.

I'll keep this post up over the weekend.

Thanks so much!!