Jeffrey Brown Comics

Lately: December 2011

2011-12-05T12:35:00.004-06:00

In addition to doing some last minute artwork for Save The Date and teaching at SAIC, I've mostly been working on A Matter Of Life, the next autobiographical book which has stories mostly about fatherhood and religion. Here's part of a cover design sketch on the top left. On the top right is part of my drawing for the retailer incentive cover for the first issue of Adventure Time comic book (in this month's Diamond catalogue, so order at your comic shop now). The bottom left is a drawing of Racky, based on one of John Porcellino's King Cat covers, drawn as a thanks to John for speaking to my class at SAIC. The bottom right is part of the cover to a minicomic I created in conjunction with the New Trier Literary Festival. I gave a talk to students, then had them write a comic with me - I sat and drew thumbnail pencils while they gave suggestions for what the comic should be about and what should happen next. I inked the comic at home later on and failing to think of a good title, settled on naming it after an Anders Nilsen book.

Sundance 2012!

2011-11-30T16:15:00.004-06:00

About five and a half years ago I got an email asking if I'd ever thought about writing screenplays, and so I started working on a story. The final idea turned into a screenplay that I co-wrote with Egan Reich and Michael Mohan. The movie, Save The Date, ended up being filmed this summer, and now they've scheduled the premiere. It all feels fairly strange, but exciting.

Where I Draw

2011-11-16T08:01:00.002-06:00

Jordan Shiveley, who runs Grimalkin Press, started a new blog displaying artist's working environments. You can see my non-coffee shop drawing space there now.

Funny Misshapen Obstruction

2011-10-21T13:58:00.005-05:00

Once again I put my comics students through the obstruction exercise - inspired by Lars Von Trier's film The Five Obstructions, I had students re-draw a comic of theirs with some restriction specific to them. These included not using panel borders, using different materials than they normally do and limiting dialogue or text. I felt it would be only fair that they be able to give me obstructions as well. They chose to have me draw with a panel layout that wasn't a grid, use animals not people, use pastels and draw it big. They also tried to get me to draw more cars but I nixed that one. I chose to redraw this two page sequence from Funny Misshapen Body, and started out by thumbnailing a non-grid layout of how I could re-draw the pages.

I wasn't going to go buy pastels just for this, so I used colored pencils, and drew on some standard issue Dark Horse comic art board. I didn't have a lot of time to work on it, but I think it turned out okay, and more importantly it was interesting to get outside my normal comfort zone. I don't think working like this would work for me in general, and the effect of having an entire book of pages like this wouldn't feel right for my autobiographical comics, but it's something that'll probably sit in the back of my head and be of use somewhere down the road.

Busy

2011-10-01T10:07:00.003-05:00

It's been a busy two months, most of which I've spent finishing up the artwork for my next book with Chronicle, which should be out next year for Father's Day. It's been a lot of fun to draw, but I'm glad to have most of the pressure off for it. Meanwhile, I've been teaching a comics class at The School Of The Art Institute Of Chicago again. This past week's exercise was for the students to try and duplicate a panel from a comic, and then re-draw it again in their own styles or without trying to copy directly. I did a quick example of this panel from Uncanny X-Men #192.

Chicago Comic Con

2011-08-12T15:19:00.004-05:00

Tomorrow morning I'll be taking the train out to Chicago Comic Con (formerly WizardWorld). Top Shelf won't be exhibiting this year, so I'll be at table #3006 with Change-Bots 1 and 2, Clumsy, Process and Oscar mini-comics, hand drawn trading cards and a few other odds and ends.

Secret Headquarters

2011-07-26T20:06:00.003-05:00

This Friday I'll already be back in California (after another exhausting but great San Diego Comicon) to sign at Secret Headquarters, who will also be hosting an art show featuring all the zombie/Beatles art from the book Paul Is Undead. SHQ will also have for sale a bunch of special 'Process' artifact packets, packaged without the minicomics.

San Diego Comic-Con

2011-07-18T20:10:00.003-05:00

Once again I'll be at San Diego Comic-con this year. Most of the time you'll find me at the Top Shelf booth #1721, where I'll also post my schedule of where I'll be when. I might forget unless you ask, but I'll have these free sketch cards courtesy of Things From Another World to benefit the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. I'll complete the sketch card with the head of your least favorite Change-Bot, or you can head to the Threadless/CBLDF party on Thursday night and bid on the completed original art I made for the card, featuring the beheaded Balls.

Save The Film

2011-07-07T19:52:00.004-05:00

Somewhere in Los Angeles today (or maybe actually yesterday) the movie I co-wrote and provided a bunch of artwork for started filming, which is really exciting and also slightly hard to believe. I started working on it five years ago when Jordan Horowitz wrote to me and asked if I'd ever thought about writing for film, and this was the initial idea I pitched to him back then:

basically the story is about two girls' relationships, one the deteriorating relationship of high school sweethearts, and the other a new relationship complicated by unexpected pregnancy; the date being the wedding date, but also the due date of the baby. pretty vague, but there you go. it would definitely lean toward the comedic side of things

It's A Cute Cat World!

2011-06-22T20:55:00.004-05:00

Here's a quick peek at three stages of my new two page comic running in Devastator #3, which comes out next Wednesday, with a release party at Meltdown in Los Angeles this weekend. There were actually something like a dozen stages to this comic, because I kept starting to draw it and starting over because it wasn't just right. It's a true story that I'm glad I waited to draw.

Change-Bots Art Show Live Now

2011-05-21T11:23:00.003-05:00

Even if you missed the opening to the big Change-Bots Two art show in Brooklyn, you can still go check out the art through June 23. And if you're not in New York, you can always take a look at the digital version of the show here. If robots aren't your thing, the Scott Eder Gallery also has other artwork of mine available for purchase, including art from Cats Are Weird.

Incredible Change-Bots Two Art Show

2011-05-08T16:52:00.004-05:00

This coming Friday will be the opening of my Incredible Change-Bots Two art show at the Scott Eder Gallery in Brooklyn. The show will feature all the art work from the latest Change-Bots book, as well as a host of large drawings I've been working on since last fall - large character portraits, Electronocybercircuitron, a giant battle scene and more. There'll also be a special Change-Bots print for sale. I'll be there for the opening, and Saturday night I'll be at Desert Island signing.

Free Comic Book Day!

2011-05-05T09:41:00.005-05:00

This Saturday I'll be at Comix Revolution in Evanston for Free Comic Book Day. In addition to all the usual Free Comic Books from the bigger publishers, Comix Revolution will have a special Change-Bots FCBD 16 page minicomic, collecting all the Change-Bots interviews that won't be appearing in any of the Fan Club newsletters.

Lately, April 2011 Edition

2011-05-01T12:53:00.002-05:00

Some of what I was working on in April:

1. A special hand-drawn slipcase story for a unique copy of Clumsy that will be donated to the CBLDF
2. Print for the upcoming Change-Bots art show and signing in New York (the actual print will be in color)
3. One page comic for the band Art Brut
4. Covers for future issue of Elfworld anthology
5. The next autobiographical book, coming out in 2012 (assuming I finish it in time) from Top Shelf
6. Screenplay I co-wrote that might actually be made into a movie this year
7. Sketchbook for thumbnails to next book with Chronicle
8. Drawing for a T-Shirt design
9. Large drawing for the aforementioned art show in New York
10. Notes for a possible music book idea
11. One page comic for a Japan benefit anthology

Change-Bots Retrun

2011-04-13T07:20:00.004-05:00

Head out to your local comic shop today for the release of Incredible Change-Bots Two. If you're in Chicago, you have something like a hundred comic shops to choose from, including Challengers, where I'll be signing tonight. If you're in Portland, you can wait until Friday night when I'm at Floating World, as well as Saturday and Sunday at Stumptown. Of course, I'll have Change-Bots Fan Club memberships available too. It's still the March newsletter right now, because I've spent the past week working on taxes.

I'm Really Good At Playing

2011-03-30T10:01:00.011-05:00

I was going to write an essay over at GraphicNYC, but realized what I was trying to say worked much better as a comic, and they just posted I'm Really Good At Playing today. Here's a step by step look at the process once I'd scrapped the idea of writing it as a prose essay. First I made a small outline, and expanded that out into a full script. I was basin the dimensions on he biggest size my scanner bed can handle.

I streamlined the script and wrote it out on the back of the illustration board I was drawing the piece on, so that if I was working out at the coffee shop I didn't have to carry the extra piece of paper with me. Because an extra piece of paper can be very heavy.

I was planning on making the comic full color, so I pencilled the piece out a bit more completely than I might normally.

I started to ink and immediately screwed up the first panel - the title - and decided to start over. I tested inks and sizes a little bit on the illustration board first.

So then I re-pencilled the story in non-photo blue, intending to draw it only as black and white line art. I also made the panels smaller and split things up, nearly doubling the number of panels.

Head over to GraphicNYC to see the whole, complete comic.

One Hour Minicomic Challenge

2011-03-29T12:04:00.004-05:00

At the Chicago Zinefest this past Saturday, I held a one hour minicomic challenge. The idea was that in the hour I had, I would come up with the idea for the comic, write it, draw it, and make copies that I would fold and staple and give to everyone there. I called it a challenge because I wasn't sure I could do it, especially since I was also going to be talking to the audience about my process as I worked and answer questions. I had already quartered and numbered the pages in non-photo blue pencil to save a little bit of time. First thing was to have them throw out suggestions of what the comic should be about. The first idea thrown out was sloth, and after a few more ideas were suggested I decided I'd go with sloth, making the snap decision to not waste time. My first thought was about the giant sloth skeleton at the field museum, and then I remembered in sixth grade when I got to be a junior zookeeper for a week, and one day got to go into the sloth exhibit. So I brainstormed another handful of stories from that week as a junior zookeeper to fill up the minicomic, since all that happened with the sloth was that he hooked his claw onto the zookeeper's shirt. I guess I could've just made that one story 8 pages and just have the sloth move really slow, but that would be kind of boring and felt like a cheap trick. Anyway, I managed to draw the comic in the hour, just finishing the last page as time ran out. The Zinefest took the pages and ran off to make copies, while everyone who had attended wrote their names down so they could pick a copy up from me later, after I'd folded and stapled them at my table. There were over fifty people there, and I feel like it was pretty successful. I don't know if it'd have been harder or easier to just make up a fictional/fantasy sloth comic, but it worked out well to make this one autobiographical. Incidentally, there were three people who didn't pick up their copies, so they can email me to see about getting their copy.

Zinefest!

2011-03-24T21:08:00.002-05:00

It's a busy couple days starting tomorrow. Close on the heels of my interview at Gaper's Block, I'll be on air for Tony Breed's morning radio show on CHIRP between 8 and 9 am central. This is all in advance of this weekend's Chicago Zinefest. Tomorrow night I'll be reading at 826CHI as part of the exhibitor readings sometime between 630 and 830. And then in addition to having copies of Process and Oscarfor sale at my table on Saturday, I'll be doing a special workshop: The One Hour Minicomic Challenge, where I'll attempt to complete an 8 page mini from idea to printed/folded/stapled in one hour, while I answer questions and talk to the attendees.

Change-Bots 2 at C2E2

2011-03-17T15:40:00.003-05:00

This weekend I'll be at McCormick Place for C2E2, where Top Shelf (booth #810) will debut Incredible Change-Bots Two. I recently finished "Bew! Bew! Bew!", the 15"x21"(apx.) Change-Bots battle drawing I've been working on for the Change-Bots Two art show at Scott Eder Gallery in May, so stop by Scott's booth (#728) to check it out (as well as a spectacular collection of other artists' work). I'll also have a few copies of the letterpress Oscar minicomic, some of which was on display at the MCA Chicago's "New Chicago Comics" exhibition earlier this year, as well as Change-Bots Fan Club Memberships, the Process minicomic, and hand-drawn trading cards.
If you're in San Francisco instead of Chicago, head over to Giant Robot for their Game Over 4 art show to see my Balls Patrol.

Change-Bots Fan Club 2.0

2011-03-06T20:46:00.006-06:00

Incredible Change-Bots Two will be out sometime in the next month, along with the first volume coming back into print. There's a new Change-Bots Fan Club offer - the new offer doesn't include the fancy drawing the original offer did, but it's also cheaper. You get a hand letter pressed membership card (your choice of faction), and the current month's four page newsletter which includes fun facts, a comic strip interview with a Change-Bot, a one page comic, a bonus fun page, and a small drawing of your favorite Change-Bot. There'll be a different newsletter for each month while the offer is available (until the end of 2011). The first newsletter's bonus page is a cutout pattern to make your own paper Rusty. I colored and assembled one to show how it looks - he even does a low tech incredible-change.
Details on how to join below; I'll also have limited quantities on hand at conventions and signings. Paypal is also now accepted - paypal to the same email listed on the form.
Please note to clarify - the membership includes the current newsletter only; I may try to have some email version of the whole set available to send out at the end of the offer, but costs are prohibitive for sending out physical copies every month.

Shoplifting From American Apparel

2011-03-02T08:02:00.003-06:00

I drew the film poster (colored by Bill Crabtree) for the adaptation of Tao Lin's novel Shoplifting From American Apparel, and Sangha Films has a Kickstarter page up now to fund the film. Incentives include a chapbook that will have art from myself and others. Watch the trailer to see the talking trees I also drew.

Teamwork

2011-02-03T23:08:00.001-06:00

Just Barely

2011-01-28T09:15:00.003-06:00

When the first Change-Bots book was released, Wizard Magazine ran a one page exclusive comic I drew for them. So with Change-Bots Two coming out this March, I thought it'd be great to do that again. Unfortunately, Wizard Magazine announced that it was ending it's run after issue #235. Fortunately, the new exclusive Change-Bots strip made it in! So go to your comic shop and pick up the last issue of Wizard. Maybe two copies, so you can leave one in its sealed bag and open the other one to read about Change-Bots Two. Meanwhile, I drew a few strips for online previews as well - check out Comics Alliance and Comic Book Resources for more appetite wetting action. Er, whetting. CBR also has an interview with me about the new book. Next up, Cat Fancy...

Luke Process

2011-01-22T14:40:00.005-06:00

My blog was featured over at Be@Home, and I mentioned that I try to post behind the scenes process kind of work. Coincidentally, also this week was the release of the book Creating Comics, which features a lot of comics creators talking about their working process. So, to continue the trend, today's post is about my process on a recent illustration project - drawing a seven page story for Sorted! as part of their comics series. My story is Luke Gets Lost, about a ten year old boy who's a bit lazy.
Here's the notes from writer Lissanne Oliver for the cover design:

LUKE GETS LOST : PAGE 1 – title (COVER) page. Plenty of white space
• CHALLENGE: LAZINESS 
• Luke sitting in a beanbag or over stuffed lounge chair. He’s grinning. He’s a big sloth.
• small stack of books/comics with an “Overdue” tag hanging out
• Plate or cereal bowl on top
• few cereal crumbs on the floor
• ipod on floor with a trail of headphone cable
• Fart escaping

Step one was to pencil out the rough idea for the composition. After sending that to Lissanne, we talked about making the beanbag chair more beanbag like, so I re-worked that before inking and adding the gray tones. Then I needed to fit my drawing into the cover template, along with adding some green. This required a bit of photoshopping, which I'm still not very good at. After all this, there were a few problems - Luke was a little big and dominating, with not as much white space, and seemed to be crowded into the cover. Lissanne suggested shrinking the size, reversing the image, and tilting the chair back a bit. Some of the details needed adjusting, such as the stack of books which became lost visually next to the beanbag, or that I spelled 'you're' as 'your' on the invitation. She also mentioned wanting the story to be drawn more loosely and sketchy - along the lines of how I drew AEIOU or Every Girl Is The End Of The World For Me.

I wanted the cover to match the interior, so rather than manipulate the image in photoshop - which would take me a while - I figured it'd be just as well for me to spend that time simply re-drawing the cover. So I reversed and shrunk the image in photoshop and printed it out, and then used it as an underlay, since the paper I was drawing on was thin enough to see through. I hand tilted the drawing and used that as the pencils, fixing some of the details and letting the drawing become rougher and less finished. Of course, I find I'm unable to draw quite the same way I did when I was drawing AEIOU. I put more pressure on myself to make things just right nowadays, so maybe I end up reworking - and overworking - things. After a few false starts (mostly just drawing Luke's head and having it feel just a little off), I ended up with the inked cover complete with grays. Then I fit the new drawing back into the cover template, along with making some minor adjustments like getting rid of the ipod.

After the cover there were six more pages to draw, and rather than inking the pencils I'd finished for them all, I printed those out and used them as underlays. When those were finished there were more corrections to be made. Sometimes I'd made mistakes in the text, and in some places Lissanne wrote new text. There were some panels with minor adjustments and a few I redrew entirely. This was the first story I've drawn written by someone else, save for a short two page zine piece, and although it felt stressful to work on at times, when it was finished it didn't seem like it had been so bad. I think sometimes the idea of how hard something will be can be just as bad as if it were hard in reality. I feel like all in all it was a good experience and turned out well.

StaticCreep

2011-01-13T09:15:00.003-06:00

This weekend is the opening of the StaticCreep Exhibition of Sequential Art at Las Manos Gallery here in Chicago. Included will be my illustrations from Paul Is Undead, so I'm posting my thumbnail sketches from that project here.
And despite a busy holiday season, I managed to find time to contribute a page to the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund Year In Review Minicomic. Look for that at the CBLDF booth at conventions, as well as member stores, in limited quantities.

New Chicago Comics

2010-12-29T19:56:00.003-06:00

Holiday Shopping

2010-12-09T07:34:00.002-06:00

Stop in at Third Coast Comics this Saturday for your last minute holiday gift buying. And if any of those gifts happen to be drawn by me, I'll sign them for you too. Hand drawn trading cards will also be available.

Merry Catmas!

2010-12-06T15:29:00.003-06:00

To promote my most recent cat book Cats Are Weird, I drew up these holiday cat cards. You can download a zip folder of all six to print out and mail until December 12 here. Feel free to share with friends!

Electronocybercircuitron

2010-12-01T08:58:00.006-06:00

Here's a huge drawing of Electronocybercuitron I did for next year's Change-Bots Two art show. Huge for me, anyway, so about fifteen inches by fifteen inches. My scanner isn't that big, so apologies for the poor photo quality.
I've also got a new story you can read online over at the excellent Nashville Review.
Finally, an illustration I did a couple years ago is finally seeing print in the story collection Machine of Death.

Drawing On Comics Week Eight

2010-11-16T15:50:00.005-06:00

Week Eight's exercise came after watching the Lars Von Trier film The Five Obstructions. I gave the students each two "obstructions" which they had to follow while re-drawing their midterm comic stories. To let them have their revenge on me, I let them give me obstructions. They chose to have me re-draw Be A Man with no text, no characters and no panels. I picked seven pages and the cover to re-draw, making a little minicomic I handed back to them the following week. Here's one of the obstructed pages.
In other news, the new issue of Filter magazine features a full spread and spot illustrations by myself for an article titled "Televisionaries," about kid's TV shows like Yo Gabba Gabba, Pee Wee's Playhouse and Fraggle Rock. And if you missed it coming out at your local comics shop a couple weeks ago, Marvel's Strange Tales Vol. 2 #2 included a four page X-Men story I wrote and drew. I'm taking baby steps toward fulfilling my childhood dream of being the regular penciller on Uncanny X-Men.

SALMON CAT

2010-10-31T11:29:00.004-05:00

Weeks Six and Seven of the comics class were largely devoted to students finishing their midterm comics (a four page story) and an all day critique of the finished work. So other than a lively discussion about art and commerce, my role was basically working with everybody one on one. In the meantime, I've kept busy, working on a one page comic for the CBLDF, a Gargamel minicomic (not to be seen anytime soon, I'm afraid), and some comics to promote Incredible Change-Bots Two as well as a new story for the third Change-Bots book. Basically I'm avoiding starting the next Book, I guess. I also gave my 'Process' talk at the Tippecanoe Public Library, where I also demonstrated my process by working on a cat comic based on the cat of one of the audience members; I finished the comic when I got home.

Drawing On Comics Week Five

2010-10-02T15:39:00.004-05:00

For this week's class I wanted to get the students thinking about how they balance text and image, how they spread out dialogue and how they use narration. The exercise I came up with was to have the students adapt an excerpt of prose into comics form. In retrospect I maybe should've provided the prose to be used, but even with all the different texts being adapted, it was still a good way to investigate these issues. Here's the example I brought, from my cover artwork for the Penguin Graphic Classics Edition of Ethan Frome. I'd probably tackle this adaptation much differently now if I was doing it over.

Katamari!

2010-09-27T19:23:00.003-05:00

The excellent Portland comic shop Floating World is hosting another benefit art show. This time around the show's theme is the video game Katamari, and the proceeds are going to the nonprofit JOIN PDX, which helps the homeless. You can see and bid on my contribution here. The image above was a little doodle I added to the back of the artwork.

Drawing On Comics Week Four

2010-09-26T17:17:00.003-05:00

Borrowing from the inestimable Ivan Brunetti, this week's first exercise in class was to draw as many comic/cartoon characters from memory as they could in fifteen minutes. Here's my relatively weak results. It's a fun exercise but harder than I expected, and the idea here was to show how characters can be recognizable even when they aren't reproduced exactly, and how in comics the visual image of a character is such an important part of who a character is, as well as how characters can accumulate baggage over time. The second exercise was to draw a comic developing a character using as many of these methods of revealing character as possible (I'd come up with most of these before class, but the students actually added a couple I hadn't specified):
1. General Appearance (costuming, facial features, etc)
2. Facial Expressions (Batman always seems to be scowling)
3. Mannerisms (body language, like Beatle Bailey's slouch)
4. Narration (usually third person, but not necessarily)
5. Dialogue (how the character speaks, like Rogues southern drawl)
6. Lettering (an alien's speech might be lettered differently)
7. Thought Bubbles
8. Actions (the character's behavior)
9. Reactions/Interaction (how the character responds to environment or other characters)
10. Reactions of other characters (how other characters respond to a character)
11. Coloring (Asterios Polyp is a good example of this)
12. Framing (how a character is framed within a panel, the adults in Peanuts being shown waist down, for example)
13. Style/line quality (how a character is drawn can make a big difference)

Drawing On Comics Week Three

2010-09-21T06:58:00.002-05:00

For week three's exercise in my comics class I had the students re-draw panels from comics, first trying to replicate it exactly, and then switching up materials and styles. The idea was to get the students to think about how materials are related to style, and how style can affect content. For an example I tried redrawing some John Romita Jr panels from Uncanny X-Men #192, but after trying to replicate the panel accurately a couple times I had a hard time changing styles much. Fortunately the students did a much better job at that than I did.

Drawing On Comics Week Two

2010-09-15T23:38:00.004-05:00

In my first class, I had the students work on six panel, one page jam comics; the twist was that each one had a title already, and the students had to make the completed comic fit that title. This worked to varying degrees, as the usual inherent non-sequitur quality of jam comics kept taking over. For week two, I talked about pacing and time in comics, and drew twelve one panel comics. Students had to pick one and draw their own version of it. Next they redrew it as a two panel comic, and then as a three panel comic, and then a four panel comic, without adding or taking out any significant information. Next they would draw it as a single page, and then as two full pages, without the strict expectation of not adding anything. I tried to make each original single panel something that could be expanded out fairly easily, but still have it where the ideal number of panels could vary. The idea was for the students to think closely about how to breakdown their comics, and get a sense of how varying the number of panels and splitting up information can affect how the comic reads.

First Day Of School

2010-09-02T20:05:00.003-05:00

Tomorrow's my first day of school. I'll be teaching "Drawing On Comics" at The School Of The Art Institute, where I got my MFA eight years ago. The usual instructor, Christa Donner, isn't able to teach the class this semester, so when they asked me if I could take over I said why not. I have to admit I'm a bit nervous, never having taught before, but it should be fun and interesting. Fortunately I've received a lot of helpful words from fellow SAIC instructor and Top Shelf cartoonist Jeremy Tinder. Here's the cover to my syllabus, a 16 page zine I'm putting together.

An Interview With Musician David Bazan

2010-08-02T20:10:00.004-05:00

Earlier this year I did an interview with former Pedro The Lion frontman David Bazan. I'm about the same age as Bazan, we both have young children, both make a living in the creative arts and we're both preacher's kids who are no longer Christian, so I thought it would be interesting to interview him. I talked to him on the phone and at a concert in Milwaukee, and turned the interview into a short comic that's printed in the new issue of Filter Magazine's Good Music Guide, available at Landmark Theaters, Diesel and Urban Outfitters. Or, you could just download the PDF here. In a way, it was really just a selfish way for me to think about how I want to write my next autobiographical book about religion and fatherhood...

Comicon

2010-07-19T12:36:00.004-05:00

I was hoping to have finished Change-Bots Two by now, but after moving and other delays I've still got about a dozen pages to go, so the book will have to wait until after San Diego Comicon to be finished.
I'll be at the Top Shelf booth #1721 most of the time, and will have a schedule posted there with when I'll be signing and where. There'll be a few new books out with my work - volume one of the new Fraggle Rock comics from Archaia, Paul Is Undead (with my interior illustrations) and Chronicle will have the new Cats Are Weird book at their booth. I'll also have some copies of Process, hand drawn sketch trading cards, and original art - including artwork from the new cat book. Head to the Scott Eder Gallery booth for a big selection of artwork at booth #4515.
Thanks to my brother Doug, who made this action figure of me for my birthday.

Paul Is Undead, Chapter One

2010-06-28T20:22:00.005-05:00

Here's the initial character sketches for my illustrations to the Beatles/zombie mash-up Paul Is Undead, and the sketch-pencil-finished drawing stages for the illustration to chapter one. Change-Bots Two has been on hold while I've been packing to move, but I'll be taking a short break tonight (Tuesday, June 29) to sign with Paul Is Undead author Alan Goldsher at Quimbys here in Chicago.

Cats Are Weird

2010-06-23T16:12:00.009-05:00

Here's the initial cover sketch for the new cat book. At the time, I was still planning on the book having more of a narrative, with the cat wandering around outside. Chronicle thought it'd be nice for the cover to sync with both the first book (by having the embossed line art) and postcard box (by having die-cut panels). The top of this image shows the cover, while the bottom is the full endsheets, which would be in color.

Here's some more sketching for the cover, trying to figure out how to have the endsheets tell a narrative, but also have the cover work on its own as well.

Here's pencils for the cover, working on a design where the cats only showed through in the color endsheet panels.

Eventually, Chronicle and I decided on the title Cats Are Weird. The book lost the narrative and ended up following the format of the first book. These are the pencils for the cover on the right, and for the right endsheet opposite.

And here's what the printed cover looks like. The book is half in gray like Cat Getting Out of A Bag, and half in color. It just showed up on page the Diamond Previews catalogue today, so you can now have your local comic shop pre-order it.

Drippy

2010-06-09T18:31:00.005-05:00

More zombies, this one is my contribution to the Drippy art show at Pop Cult here in Chicago, opening this Friday.

You, Me, Them, Everybody

2010-06-02T21:54:00.003-05:00

Last week I stopped by The Hungry Brain to be a guest on Brandon Wetherbee's podcast You, Me, Them, Everybody. I can't remember what I said exactly, but it seemed like a lot of fun at the time... and since we're talking about hunger and brains, here's me as a zombie.

Sue

2010-05-21T10:37:00.004-05:00

Here's the full drawing I did for the Top Shelf website banner, as line art and colored versions. Sue is the Tyrannosaurs Rex skeleton at the Field Museum in Chicago.

Beard-A-Thon

2010-04-15T11:32:00.003-05:00

It's time for the NHL playoffs, and once again the Red Wings are hosting a Beard-A-Thon to raise money for a charity. This season I decided to draw a beard instead of just growing one.
You can support my beard here.

Change-Bots Two

2010-04-02T10:02:00.003-05:00

Here's a page from the new Change-Bots book, from script to colors.

Planet Explorers

2010-03-26T13:17:00.002-05:00

Before I got started on the new Change-Bots book I was working on a freelance illustration project, appropriately space themed: artwork for the all new Planet Explorers children's exhibit at the Adler Planetarium here in Chicago. I worked with graphic designer/artist/neighbor Kate O'Leary to create artwork for advertising, as well as this nifty banner hanging outside the Planetarium. The exhibit opened today.

Rabbit Process

2010-03-17T18:32:00.005-05:00

Here's a short video by Amy Do, director of the documentaryRabbit Fever, about the process of designing the film poster. She's also holding a contest where you can win a copy of the Process minicomic - find the details here. You can buy the poster here.

While I'm at it, I should mention you can also head over to the Covered blog to see my version of the cover to X-Men #192, part of the Secret Headquarters Covered art show.

A Bunch Of Links

2010-02-26T09:44:00.006-06:00

One page story for an Australian anthology: The Lifted Brow.
Interview with the online PDF magazine: Gizmag
Interview about drawing Fraggle Rock comics: Comic Geek Speak
Chicago independent radio station, for which the above image was drawn: CHIRP
Same URL, redesigned website with rotating backgrounds by a number of Top Shelf cartoonists, including myself: Top Shelf
Favorite album covers: Filter Magazine

Popgun!

2010-02-23T13:31:00.005-06:00

Hitting stores tomorrow is Popgun Volume 4, the latest in Image's series of huge, full color anthologies. I've got an eight page Heavy Metal inspired fantasy story titled "Dark Master's Reign", colored by Bill Crabtree. Here's part of a panel, pre-colored state...

Feeling Better Now...

2010-02-10T21:46:00.002-06:00

Working On Now

2010-02-04T18:57:00.005-06:00

I'm starting to draw the new Incredible Change-Bots book. I'm drawing on paper formally part of a hardcover blank sketchbook, which is now a no cover book, so I needed something to carry it. This appropriately themed box happened to be the exact fit.

In addition to the book I can carry all of my extras. On top is a sheet I'm using to test pens on, which will get more use once I start coloring.

Inside (clockwise from upper left): the box, reference pages torn out of a copy of the first book that had printing errors, the sketchbook with panel grid, a pen (new pen to draw this one), the script and pen test sheet, and a Transformers toy package for inspiration.

Comics and the Northern Renaissance

2010-02-01T12:58:00.003-06:00

I just wrote a post over on Graphic NYC for their Influencing Comics feature, attempting to follow in the steps of Tom Hart and Dean Haspiel with some thoughts on the influence paintings from the Northern Renaissance have had on me and my work. I also recently sat in with the Around Comics podcast, along with a bunch of fellow Chicago comic creators. Always a good time sitting in with those guys, they've had a great run putting on one of the best comics podcasts... er, around.

The Rub

2010-01-22T16:36:00.001-06:00

Here's a short interview I did while in Sacramento at the Indy Euphoria show, along with a drawing of a toaster, which I think I could've done better, but that's how it goes with convention sketches sometimes...

MC Lars

2010-01-15T19:39:00.002-06:00

A while ago I did a drawing for MC Lars... finally, the T-Shirt is available! I should draw more shirts.

Process 2

2010-01-07T13:59:00.004-06:00

Here's the first page from the Process minicomic. Right now I don't plan on having this available by mail, just at conventions and signings. However, I do plan on keeping it in print, and so I'll be making them up whenever I've got enough art scrap materials to include, so eventually everyone who wants one should be able to get one. I also still need to print more copies up. The first set I made up came out poorly because I drew it in gray, so I had to print up new copies after getting that fixed (thanks to Joe Goforth for the help on that).

Process

2010-01-04T16:57:00.002-06:00

This weekend I'll be at Indy Euphoria in Sacramento. I'll have my first new minicomic in four or five years, called Process, basically about my working methods, and each copy will come packaged with a selection of notes, sketches, scripts and other evidence of process, so unfortunately quantities will be pretty limited, but hopefully worthwhile...

Number One

2009-12-21T17:17:00.003-06:00

The past month has been spent drawing zombies (more on that later)... the other night I needed a break and doodled a Commander Riker for this Commander Riker blog. Now back to zombies.
Happy holidays to everyone in the meantime.

Harvey Heads

2009-11-30T09:51:00.004-06:00

For Harvey Pekar's 70th birthday, Smith online magazine got a load of cartoonists (including myself) to draw Harvey's head. This week Graphic NYC has been hosting a Harvey Pekar Week. I did a short q & a along with some of the other artists, and there's lots of other cool stuff, like Dean Haspiel's process for designing an American Splendor cover and a how-to-draw Harvey tutorial by Rich Parker.

Happy Thaksgiving

2009-11-26T19:37:00.004-06:00

I'm thankful for the X-Men, which I used to collect and for Secret Wars II, which I still have fond memories of. In fact, I think there's an Omnibus edition for that series coming out soon...

Haruki Murakami

2009-11-11T23:57:00.000-06:00

I recently drew one of my favorite authors, Haruki Murakami, for the excellent website Hey Oscar Wilde! It's Clobberin' Time!!!.
The site is full of cartoonists and artists drawing favorite authors and literary characters, and well worth some browsing time. Being a fan of Haruki Murakami also got me a job when I first moved to Chicago, and I drew a little comic about that which you can read here.

Nerd

2009-11-09T18:36:00.002-06:00

Deep down inside I'm a big nerd, so it's fitting that I recently recorded an interview on Chicago's own Nerd City podcast.

More Merry Marvel Madness

2009-11-05T14:00:00.003-06:00

The first comic book I bought was issue 192 of The Uncanny X-Men. Here's a scan of a drawing I'm working on based on the cover. I also wrote a short piece about the impact this comic had on me, over at Fanboy Fables.

And if you're in Chicago, you can bring your copy of Strange Tales #3 to Third Coast Comics where I'll be signing this Saturday, from noon to 5PM.

Childhood Dream: Check.

2009-11-04T17:02:00.007-06:00

My childhood dream was to draw for Marvel Comics. When Marvel announced their Strange Tales series, I thought I might finally achieve that dream. Thanks to some lucky breaks, it happened. You can pick up the issue in comic stores today. Above is the evolution of the story, from thumbnail to complete with colors.

Ethan Frome, in stores now

2009-10-29T12:01:00.005-05:00

The Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition of Ethan Frome is out now, with my cover artwork. They did a really nice job with the finished look, adding a shiny red finish to the title and printing it on a super-nice uncoated coverstock that gives the colors a dull earthy tone. It's book covers like these Penguin editions that make me think that reading books online or in digital versions should never replace a well designed physical version.

Rabbit Fever in San Francisco

2009-10-27T13:25:00.002-05:00

A couple days ago, Rabbit Fever screened as a work in progress during the San Francisco Documentary Film Festival. Here's my poster art outside the Roxie Theater.

Yo Gabba Gabba

2009-10-20T07:49:00.002-05:00

Today the new Yo Gabba Gabba CD comes out - with way more songs than the first CD had. Plus, Yo Gabba Gabba is doing some live shows, including here in Chicago. Oscar is excited.

Change-Bots in Korea

2009-10-19T19:25:00.001-05:00

Here's the Incredible Change-Bots, Korean edition. They came up with a pretty awesome cover design, I think.

Inkstuds

2009-10-09T20:33:00.002-05:00

I created a playlist as part of Inkstuds' Mixtape series... you can listen to the playlist and see the comic here.

The Completed Guitar

2009-10-06T07:34:00.003-05:00

Here's a couple more pictures of the Change-Bots guitar, from Rob Budinsky at Action Music who put the guitar together.

Busy Times

2009-09-30T11:26:00.007-05:00

From The Daily Crosshatch, here's a photo with the finished just in time Change-Bots guitar, auctioned off at SPX for the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. Also at SPX were copies of the newly printed Sulk 3 and advance copies of the documentaryDrawing Between The Lines. The show was a lot of fun and I came home with tons of great minicomics. Now it's back to working on Cat Walks. Also, this weeks episode of Heroes featured a cameo by Clumsy, somewhere around the 39:20 mark.

In Stores Now

2009-09-24T09:43:00.011-05:00

After agreeing to take on the Simpson's in a short story for this year's Treehouse of Horror issue, I started figuring out how I wanted to draw the characters. The big problem was having them be enough in my own style, but also staying true to the characters as most people know them. I had abandoned this story about the seeing the Red Wings play the Blackhawks in last season's NHL Winter Classic game, so I used the space to sketch out Milhouse and friends instead. Please note that all likenesses and images of the Simpsons and this story are copyright by 20th Century Fox Inc.

As I started to get a feel for the characters, I also needed to test out coloring. This was a piece of illustration board, with the line work drawn in my standard Uniball Deluxe Micro pen, and colored with Faber Castell brush pens.

Next up was laying out simple thumbnails for the story. I probably could've made this a 32 page story, but I had 8 pages to work with so I streamlined it as much as I could and planned it out on little pieces of Bristol.

After figuring out the basic story, I pencilled it out on illustration board, drawing at actual print size. Since they'd asked if we could do the lettering separate (for ease in printing translations) I practiced adding the lettering on sheets of tracing paper.

I inked the story's line art with my Uniballs, and then started coloring. Despite testing previously, I screwed something up, or I guess didn't do enough testing, so page one became another test page and had to be redrawn.

I got a handle on the coloring and completely colored four pages before giving into the feeling that the look and the feel wasn't just right for the story. Not claustrophobic enough, not dark enough, and looking a bit to polished or something. I decided I was probably drawing the story too big, since I usually draw smaller, so I resized things to something like 70% of print size, and re-drew the whole story at the new size, with much more satisfying results.

I still needed to figure out the lettering, and this is one of about four versions. As I re-did the lettering each time, though, I also adjusted some of the text slightly. Sammy also talked to me about changing the ending slightly, which made sense and after some thinking I figured out a better ending that fit the story well.

The final artwork had a tighter, more packed feel, to feed into the story's plot about Milhouse living in the walls of the Simpsons house.

Finally I had to fit the finished text in with the artwork, which required some adjusting, since I drew everything separate without using the computer, which would've no doubt made the whole process simpler. All in all, I'm pretty happy with how the story turned out, although it was also a good learning experience and I'd probably have a better method for doing something like this next time around.
Head out to your local comic shop, book store, or other Bongo Comics outlet to pick up your copy today. I haven't had a chance to sit down and read it yet, as I'm getting ready for SPX this weekend, but seeing the artwork from Sammy Harkham, Jordan Crane, Tim Hensley, Kevin Huizenga (not to mention Dan Zettwoch's awesome cover) should make this one of the best Treehouse of Horror issues yet.

Simpson's Treehouse of Horror Tonight!

2009-09-22T17:10:00.003-05:00

Tomorrow, The Simpson's Treehouse of Horror Issue #15 hits stores, with my 'Bad Milhouse' story in it. But if you're in Los Angeles, you don't have to wait until tomorrow, come to Family on Fairfax, tonight at 7PM. Jordan Crane, Tim Hensley, Sammy Harkham and Matt Groening will also be in attendance. You'll also be able to see the original art from the issue on display.

Incredible Change-Bots Guitar

2009-09-21T14:04:00.003-05:00

After a late night working on the guitar, I woke up this morning to finish the last bits, so I could send it off to the guitar shop, who will have just a few days to finish and assemble it into a fully functional guitar. Hopefully it'll be ready for SPX this Saturday...

So far with the guitar

2009-09-19T07:43:00.003-05:00

Didn't get as far along yesterday as I hoped, so tonight I'll finish the smaller of the two sections that are left, leaving Sunday to finish the large section so I can ship the guitar off for assembly for SPX. Now I'm off to Windy City Comicon, so if you're in Chicago, stop by...

Change-Bots Guitar Neck

2009-09-18T06:34:00.002-05:00

I incredible-changed my mind

2009-09-17T08:03:00.007-05:00

After a lot of thinking and not being able to work on it at all, I've changed my mind about decorating this guitar with an autobiographical/music loves theme and gone back to my initial thought of having the Change-Bots on it. The design is inspired by Han Solo and Chewbacca working on the Millennium Falcon, so the guitar is like a secret vehicle or base for the Change-Bots, and you can see them inside it. After pencilling out the design with an HB pencil, I marked the straight lines with blue tape, then applied a really thin coat of white gesso (watered down so the pencils would still show through). Last night I painted the line work black, and today I'll be starting the final painting, using Liquitex acrylics, and should be finished in order to get it to the guitar tech for assembly Monday or Tuesday, which means working all weekend, except for taking a break to sit at my table for Saturday's Windy CIty Comicon. The guitar will be auctioned off by the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund at the Small Press Expoin Bethesda, Maryland.

The Last Match

2009-09-16T10:35:00.002-05:00

I recently contributed a drawing to The Last Match, an exhibition of tiny matchbox size drawings. It's a pretty amazing collection of artists from all over the world, and you can see the works here.

Cat Process

2009-09-01T08:14:00.005-05:00

Just in stores now are the Cat Companion Journal, a blank journal illustrated with some of my cta drawings, and The Cutest Sneeze In The World, a box of 30 postcards mostly taken from Cat Getting out Of The Bag along with 8 all new color postcards. Recently, I've begun work on the sequel to the cat book, currently titled 'Cat Walks,' so I figured I should post on my process for the cat comics. I start out by pencilling the panels, then pencil the insides of the panels. Then using the lightest gray Faber Castell brush pen, I ink the lines, then erase the pencils. The new book is half black and white and half in color, but the next steps are pretty much the same for both. I either add the colors, or whatever gray shading I need, again using the Faber Castell brush pens. Finally, to finish it off I add the final black lines.

46 Million

2009-08-27T09:14:00.003-05:00

46 MILLION ART AUCTION AND BENEFIT

WHAT: An online art auction and fundraiser to promote universal health care, specifically a public option to compete with the insurance industry and keep them honest. Money raised will be donated to Democracy for America Now, a national advocacy group that is running television ads to push the Public Option in democratic swing districts and offering support to congress members who take a stand for the policy.

WHO: The fundraiser is being organized by Anders Nilsen, a Chicago based artist and graphic novelist featuring nationally and internationally recognized cartoonists and artists around the country. Participating artists include: John Porcellino, Genevieve Elverum, Chris Ware, Ivan Brunetti, Dan Clowes, Phil Elverum (Mount Eerie), Jeffrey Brown, Paul Hornschemeier, Todd Baxter, Sonnenzimmer Print Studio, Adam Henry, Kevin Huizenga, Jay Ryan (The Bird Machine Print Studio), Lynda Barry, Lilli Carre, David Heatley, Kyle Obriot, Stephen Eichhorn, Buenaventura Press, Sammy Harkham and the organizer, Anders Nilsen.

WHY: In light of recent events, this is a desperate attempt to do something rather than just sit idly by while a few giant corporations with something to lose goad a gullible few into scaring their elected representatives away from real change. We’re doing this because the richest country the planet has ever known has no excuse to not take care of its citizens. We rank 37th in the world in overall health care performance, according to the World Health Organization. Right now a million Americans declare bankruptcy every year because of lack of adequate insurance. Hundreds of billions of dollars are wasted on redundant and impenetrable insurance company bureaucracies. We spend vastly more money on health care and wind up with far worse outcomes than other comparable countries. For many of the artists involved in this auction, a real health care bill is exactly the kind of reason we voted for Obama and Congressional Democratic majorities last Fall. To sit by and do nothing while Obama’s first significant initiative twists in the wind is simply not an option.
WHY #2: Like millions of other working Americans, a lot of artists and freelancers in this country are denied affordable health insurance simply because they are self employed. Making access to health care dependant on a person’s employment status is arbitrary and unsustainable.

WHERE: The auction of the artists’ works will be held on Ebay. To find them and to bid go to ebay.com and search for 46 Million.

WHEN: The auction will start Thursday August 27th and end Sunday September 6th, in 10-minute increments starting at 2pm CST.

A FEW QUOTES FROM THE ARTISTS:
Jeffrey Brown: I'm not sure why I have health insurance now. Because I'm self employed with a pre-existing condition (even though that condition was diagnosed fifteen years ago and has been in remission since), the only health insurance I can get is the Illinois Comprehensive Health Insurance plan with a $5,200 deductible. Basically, I have it in case I'm in some horrific accident or something. I'm guessing there's some fine print buried in my documentation that would release them from reliability to pay out on anything anyway. I've been burned before by that - finding out that vaccines are not considered 'essential care' and being told that using a midwife for birth was covered, only to be denied because there wasn't a doctor in the room at the time of birth. Anyway, the past couple years I've spent something like $8,000 in health insurance, and in return, the health insurance companies have paid for me... um... nothing.

Ivan Brunetti: As someone with a lot of pre-existing conditions, I wouldn't be able to purchase my own insurance plan, at least nothing of decent quality or anywhere close to affordable. I rely, necessarily, on my employer for my health insurance. I have a lot of preexisting conditions and have been rejected when I tried to purchase my own insurance plan in the past.
Lynda Barry: The motivation behind the health care hoo-ha is difficult to understand. I can’t get my mind around it at all, can’t understand what’s driving it. I’ve spent the last six years living in a very conservative area, and many of my good friends are hard core Republicans, but not a single one of them is having the reaction I’ve seen in the press. That screaming shouting hatred. Maybe they hide it from me because I’m such a lefty liberal, but we’ve always been able to speak frankly about everything else. So I don’t get it. I don’t know who the furious and screaming people are at all.

Anders Nilsen: My girlfriend in March of 2005 was diagnosed with Hodgkins Lymphoma and died that November. She had endured symptoms for several months before it became too much to bear and we went to the county hospital. Had she had insurance I have no doubt that her condition would have been caught earlier. That was several years ago and I have moved on and am now very happily married. My wife has insurance, supposedly very good insurance, through her present job, but the bureaucratic nonsense the insurance company puts her through every time she sees a doctor, and the amount of stuff that should be covered but isn’t, is astounding.

Genevieve Elverum: I know too many people who went through the warp of needing serious medical attention and dangerously delayed it or got themselves in deep financial turmoil because they couldn't afford insurance. I myself gave up my right to receive free healthcare when I moved across the border from Canada. It's kind of terrifying sometimes.

Paintings

2009-08-26T10:26:00.008-05:00

Here's some of my paintings from art school, along with how I drew them in Funny Misshapen Body. I was drawing from memory, so they're varying degrees of accurate.

Robert Venditti

2009-08-24T12:39:00.002-05:00

My friend Rob Venditti has toiled in the Top Shelf trenches for years, and this September his scifi detective parable The Surrogates will come out as a film starring Bruce Willis. I contributed a comic to start off Rob's convention sketchbook, which you can see over at Rob's blog .

Guitar Part Two

2009-08-19T13:01:00.003-05:00

So yesterday I started pencilling out and planning the design on the guitar - basically it'll be of me listening to music, and then wrapping around the guitar in the background will be references to albums and bands I like, or have liked at some point, or are significant for some reason. I've got a list of just over a hundred, so we'll see how many I can fit on there.

Music Saves My Life Every Day

2009-08-18T09:48:00.003-05:00

Last year at the Small Press Expo, the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund auctioned off a custom guitar decorated by Andy Runton. This year, I've been invited to do the same. After some internal debating and asking around, I decided to try and do something autobiographical... I'd had the idea of writing a story called 'Music Saves My Life EVeryday' a while ago, and I think I'm going to adapt that for my design. So here's step one, pulling the guitar body out of the box and taking a look...

1950-2009

2009-08-11T19:21:00.002-05:00

I didn't recognize John Hughes the first time he walked into the music department of the Barnes & Noble store I worked at, but a co-worker did. "That's John Hughes," he whispered. I wasn't so sure, but none of the three employees around that day had the nerve to say anything in any case. When he came up to pay, I figured there was nothing to lose.
"Are you John Hughes?"
"Yes."
"...the director?"
He just nodded his head in acknowledgment, and I may have said something about liking his movies. Then I had the thought of giving him my book Clumsy, which I had just self-published, and had some copies of behind the counter.
"Um, do you like comics?" I asked.
"Uh..."
He was giving me a look of something between fear and curiosity. At least, the kind of curiosity you see in horror films where the character knows better than to check out the weird life form growing on the wall, but stands there a minute too long anyway. I think John Hughes actually started backing up a little, but I hadn't finished bagging his DVD's.
"Here, you can have this if you want, it's my book." I pulled out a copy and handed it to him.
He flipped through it and a look of relief seemed to come over him.
"I thought you were going to hand me, like Batman or something."
He ended up talking to me right there for almost an hour, about books and movies. He mentioned his son's self published art magazine project, and asked if I liked what Dave Eggers was doing with McSweeney's.
I think he tried to pay me for my book, but I don't remember if I took the money or not.

Even though I didn't know at first that this unassuming figure was John Hughes, I was very familiar with his films. When a friend of mine had hosted a 1980's themed party, I put on my Red Wings jersey, and everyone instantly recognized me as Cameron from Ferris Bueller's Day Off . I knew The Breakfast Club, and I knew Home Alone. I went home that night to look up what other films he had worked on, and was astounded at the number of them that had played such a large part in my pre-teen and teenage years. National Lampoon's Vacation (& Christmas Vacation), Sixteen Candles, Weird Science, Uncle Buck, The Great Outdoors. Looking at the list of his films all at once, it's a pretty staggering resume.

John turned out to be a regular in the store, buying stacks of DVD's, books and music. He would ask us for recommendations, and give some. He recommended the British TV show The Office, long before it was an American sitcom, saying he liked how it captured moments. The best times for me were when he would talk about his own work. He said "I like people who are ambitious..." and explained how at one point before becoming a full time director, he was working essentially three jobs. His day job was at the Leo Burnett ad agency in Chicago, but he would duck out to get on a plane for meetings as the editor of the National Lampoon. While he was gone he would have his secretary put hot coffee and half smoked cigarettes on his desk to make it look like he had just stepped out a moment ago. He had also started writing screenplays, which he would sometimes hide at the bottom of his garbage can underneath the rest of the trash, only to pull it out and brush it off at the end of the day to continue working on it. He also mentioned how he took over editing the National Lampoon letters page, and realizing that the magazine paid for letters it published, began writing the letters under pseudonyms for some extra money.

At one point someone approached me about adapting my book for film, and it went as far as a big official Hollywood type contract coming to me to sign. John talked to me about it and shared his own experiences. He talked about negotiating the money aspect, selling his first screenplay for something like $30,000 to get his foot in the door, and then later with Home Alone how he paid other producers on the film $50,000 for each of their "participation points" - the percentage of money they would get from what the film made - and each point ended up being worth millions.
The things he seemed to regret a little were some of the rights. He based the character of Clark Griswold in Vactation on his father, but because the film was written as work-for-hire, he essentially lost the rights to the character of his own father. He also talked about the movie studio wanting to make a sequel to The Breakfast Club, which he opposed. I think there were also negotiations for a stage adaptation of that film, the year long process falling apart when it became apparent that the producers intended to make it a musical. Those characters were ones John mentioned a few times, I think he felt protective of them. He said he wanted to write novels someday, maybe, about where they all were in life at age 40. He talked about being disenchanted with Hollywood in general, and wanting to move in other directions creatively. He also talked about being disappointed that Chicago wasn't as active a place for filmmaking as it once was.
Aside from the advice, John put me in touch with his lawyer. After sending the contract to the law firm, the package was returned unopened, and so John again contacted the lawyer and put me in touch with another person he worked with to make sure I heard back this time.
In the end nothing came of the film adaptation, although I learned a lot from the experience. The fact that John would do a favor like that for me was nonetheless astounding.

As time went on I began to transition to becoming a full time cartoonist, which meant cutting my hours at Barnes & Noble, which meant I saw John less and less. The last time I talked to him he was near the magazines. I remember talking about three things. First, he talked about film. How what he was interested in was low budget, documentary style film. Films that didn't use a lot of special effects, and asked me if I'd seen the film Open Water. He said he'd been working with a friend, taking a camera and just shooting on the spot, giving people fifty bucks to act in it. Second, he talked about a book project, and asked me if I knew anyone for illustration. I mentioned a few friends, and offered to help myself, but never heard any more about it. Finally, I had the thought of interviewing John, and although I knew he didn't really give interviews anymore, I thought I'd ask anyway. Knowing he liked a lot of what McSweeney's was doing, I asked him if he'd be interested in an interview for their sister magazine The Believer. He didn't seem to have heard about it, but he gave me a thoughtful look as if he would at least consider it. I never got to interview him, but his response was still polite. I feel like he was always very patient with me, always willing to give me some of his time, and I'm happy to have had those talks with him.

I saw John Hughes one more time after that. He was paying with a hundred dollar bill, and the cashier didn't have the change. Of course, he was buying eighty five dollars worth of books, so the cashier should've had changed, especially since it was a slow day. The cashier called the manager, who took a while to come down from the office, and rather than just switch out for change from another cash register, he slowly headed back upstairs to the office. All the while, John was becoming more impatient. I watched from where I was shelving some books as the manager finally returned with the change, but at this point - some fifteen minutes or more later - John no longer wanted change, he wanted his money back. The manager offered the money he brought, but John wanted the hundred dollar bill he had paid with. John took his discount card and attempted to tear it in half, but it was hard plastic, so he mostly just bent it up, and then tossed it over the counter, and stormed out without buying anything. It all seemed a little surreal. He never came in again.

The manager and cashier didn't really care. To them it was just another case of an unreasonably irate customer, and who he was seemed only to reinforce that - a kind of 'just because he's John Hughes he thinks he's so special' attitude. I guess my experiences with him over the past five years had been different. I thought he was special.

I don't know what John Hughes was up to the past eight years since I first met him. I know he had a wide range of interests in reading and film and music. I know he loved his grandchildren, who he was often buying DVD's for. I also know he was still really sharp, and still had a lot to offer, even though his incredible run of successful films seemed to have ended some fifteen years ago. Last Friday he passed away, and I think the world won't ever fully realize what it's missing.

Illuminated Manuscripts

2009-08-06T11:33:00.003-05:00

The Newberry Library in Chicago has a great collection of old and rare books - such as The Apocalypsis Sancti Johannis, a 15th century illuminated manuscript retelling St. John's vision of the apocalypse from the book of Revelations. In exchange for getting to take a look at this amazing book, I gave my thoughts on seeing it in the context of being an early form of graphic novel. You can listen to those thoughts on The Newberry Library Podcast.

Comics Have Finally Made It

2009-08-05T07:03:00.004-05:00

Since the whole Frederic Wertham/Comics Code debacle, it seems like comics have been struggling to make it big and be accepted as a legitimate and important part of popular culture. This morning I received a spam email with the subject line "graphic novels from the masters". I think it's a definite sign that comics have indeed made it.

Bigshot

2009-08-04T22:25:00.003-05:00

A lot of the characters in Bighead are based on friends. Here's a short comic with Bigshot, based on my pen pal of sorts Kav. Bigshot's hands explode at criminals. The Grenade Jumper was something that came up at San Diego Comicon a few years ago - he's a hero based on the idea of going out with someone so your friend can go out with their friend, even though it's a bad idea. So his power is to just... jump on grenades.

igoogle

2009-07-27T10:42:00.003-05:00

If you missed Comicon, you may have missed Google's launch of Comics themes for the igoogle homepage. I was lucky enough to have the chance to design a theme, and created a series of drawings of my son Oscar and I.

Drawing Between The Lines

2009-07-20T08:03:00.003-05:00

A few years ago, filmmaker Bruce Parsons shot a short documentary about me called 'Drawing Between The Lines'. Later this year Top Shelf will be putting out a limited release DVD of the film, along with some extras. If you're at San Diego Comicon though, you can see a screening of the film followed by a Q&A session with Bruce and myself. It's Saturday night at 5:45PM in Room 26AB.

Original Art at San Diego Comicon

2009-07-17T10:25:00.004-05:00

If you're at San Diego Comicon, stop by the Scott Eder Gallery, Booth 4515, where you can see the original sketchbook that I drew
Funny Misshapen Body in. There will also be other original art of mine for sale there. If you can't make it to Comicon, you can still see some of my work online, including a number of my art school paintings...

Spanish Interview

2009-07-16T09:39:00.000-05:00

Bighead Vs

2009-07-14T16:48:00.005-05:00

Next week is San Diego Comicon, and one of the things you'll be able to find (while supplies last, anyway) is a free giveaway sketch card where I'll finish the drawing, sponsored by the online store Things From Another World. My card features Bighead with space left to draw a villain. With the original art, I went ahead and drew a villain and colored the piece, which will be auctioned off for the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund.

Hulk

2009-07-09T10:10:00.002-05:00

Here's a drawing I did of the Marvel Comics character Hulk, for the March of Dimes fundraiser at the western Washington comic shop Comic Evolution. The auction is on July 18th, so if you're in the pacific northwest and can make the trip, stop by, there'll be art from over 70 artists.

Bad Milhouse

2009-06-18T08:50:00.006-05:00

When Sammy Harkham first talked to me about doing a Simpson's Treehouse of Horror story for this year's issue, he mentioned something about the idea of taking one character and really turning them inside out, really getting inside their head. Something like that, he worded it better than I am here. Anyway, instantly I thought of Milhouse and the film Bad Ronald. There were lots of parallels to draw on - Milhouse and Ronald were both nerdy outcasts with glasses, living with single, bitter divorced parents, and capable of unintentionally disastrous bumbling often combined with poor decision making. I plotted out the eight page story and sent thumbnail layouts to Sammy, who said he couldn't understand any of it. Above is the thumbnail for page 1.
My apologies for the early posting on the progress of the page, I should be able to repost about process after the story comes out. In the meantime, check out today's (June 24) Diamond Previews and have your local comic shop reserve your copy of this year's Treehouse of horror comic.

Go Wings, Part 2

2009-06-12T08:59:00.003-05:00

Here's another print from college, this time of Chris Osgood, who'll be tending goal for the Red Wings in tonight's game 7.

Go Wings

2009-06-11T09:23:00.004-05:00

Tomorrow night the Red Wings play the Penguins in game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals, so here's a print I made back in college, of one of my favorite players, Dino Ciccarelli.

Gracias, España

2009-06-06T08:20:00.004-05:00

Although I took seven years of Spanish back in high school, I didn't take any more classes in Spanish after my freshman year of college, so naturally it was all very little help at the Barcelona International Comicon. Fortunately, most of the people at the festival spoke some English. In fact, a lot of Europeans seem to speak several languages, whatever that may say about myself, the American education system, or the geographic proximity of a wide variety of languages there. In any case, the Festival also had translators on hand to help out with some of the interviews and panels. It's kind of fascinating to watch - they would repeat the question to me in English, then as I answered they would write out notes and symbols before repeating my answer back in Spanish to the questioner. I felt by the last interview some of my Spanish was coming back to me, but not nearly enough that I didn't need the help. This is a page one of my translators made for my answer to the question, 'What are you working on next?'

Thanks to David Macho and everyone else who worked so hard for the festival, to Montserrat and José at La Cupula, and to all the other guests and artists I had a chance to meet and talk with, for making it a great experience.

Change-Bots Fan Club Drawings

2009-05-24T19:02:00.004-05:00

Over on Top Shelf 2.0, you can see a few of the drawings I did for the original Change-Bots fan club offer. I just finished the drawings for the new limited offer, which is 30 spots, each getting a hand drawn trading card. The trading cards are actually panels which make up a story called 'Balls On Patrol' that will appear in the Change-Bots sequel next year (hopefully next year, anyway).

More and More Interviews

2009-05-16T17:25:00.002-05:00

I did a long audio interview with the website Geekocracy, and you can listen to them now: Part One, Part Two, Part Three, Part Four, Part Five. You can also find them on itunes at The Geekocracy Talk Cast. I don't remember what I said, but I'm sure a lot of it was nonsense.
If you'd prefer to read the nonsense online rather than listen, there's interviews up at Curio Comics and Newsarama.
Or, if you'd prefer a good old fashioned print interview, the new issue of Filter just hit the stands with a short interview and featuring a little of my recent non-comics illustration work.