Really recent and not-so recent interviews

One of the big dividing lines for my career is pre- and post- Star Wars. A few days ago, I did an interview for the One Thought podcast, covering both periods. And although it was just posted recently, back before my Star Wars books started coming out, I recorded this interview with my friend and fellow struggling cartoonist Chris Wisnia. For the record, I hate hearing myself talk, but hopefully you don't.

Certain Points Of View

I'm deep into working on the final art for Lucy & Andy Neanderthal book 3, but found time to contribute to the From A Certain Point Of View Star Wars anthology.
Head over to starwars.com to get a complete step-by-step look into the process behind making the piece!
*UPDATE*
And this just in, I was interviewed over at the Threadless blog for their podcast, which focuses on process and creativity. So you can listen to that, too!

Ask me anything!

I'm answering anything you want to ask over on Reddit. Also, today is the day Jedi Academy 2: Return of the Padawan comes out in stores. There are two exclusive editions - the Target edition has an extra whole issue of the Padawan Observer, while the Barnes & Noble edition has extra Ewok Pilot comics.

*UPDATE* A lot of readers ask if there will be more Roan stories, or if I'll be doing more Jedi Academy books. I don't have any plans for more at this time...I would love to explore the world of Jedi Academy with Roan and his friends more in an animated show (hint, hint, Disney!), and I'm also hoping to do more Star Wars books in the vein of the Vader series, once there's more material with the new characters like Rey, Finn, and Kylo. For now, I'm finishing up the Lucy & Andy Neanderthal series, writing and drawing my first (proper) picture book, and starting work on my new middle grade science fiction series. Stay tuned!

San Diego Comic-Con!

Here's my annual San Diego Comic-Con schedule! Goodnight Darth Vader will be making its debut, as well as the first copies of Jedi Academy 2. Goodnight Darth Vader comes out next Tuesday, but I'll be signing copies at the Old Orchard Barnes & Noble on Saturday at 2pm. On Tuesday, I'll be doing a Goodreads author Q&A from 10am to 3pm CT.

Ask Me Anything?

I'm going to try and do a "Ask Me Anything" on Reddit on March 18, the day Kids Are Weird comes out in stores.
Update: I'm sure I'm doing this wrong, but I'm planning on trying this whole AMA thing tomorrow starting at 1pm EST. I suppose I'll try and post a link when/if it goes up online.
Updated update: Still pretty sure I'm doing this wrong, but I posted my Reddit AMA although I guess I'm supposed to wait to post until just before I'm ready to answer questions. Or something like that. So I'm just going to start answering questions now. Sorry, this is why they don't let me near the computers much...

San Diego Comic-Con!

Next week is San Diego Comic-Con, and as usual you'll find me at the Top Shelf booth (#1721) most of the time. Below is my schedule of where you'll find me when, except for one late addition - Sunday morning from 10am to 11am, I'll be at the Kids: Comics In Action panel in Room 7AB.

Why did the chicken cross the road?

My son Oscar gave me the punch-line, which you can hear on The Dinner Party, where I also talk about some sci-fi moments that have stuck with me over the years. Also, in preparation for my first visit to Star Wars Celebration, I drew a little comic for a starwars.com guest blog post. If you're going to be at Celebration on Saturday,August 25, come see my panel (along with pop-up book artist Matthew Reinhart) at 11am, or stop by the Dark Horse booth for my signing at 4pm. I'll also be signing at the Barnes & Noble booth Sunday morning at 11am. Now back to drawing the last 113 pages of the second rough draft of my current project...

Lately: March 2012

In my comics class a few weeks ago I gave an assignment where each student had to draw a comic with a few restrictions I gave specifically to each. At the end of the class I let them assign me restrictions to work under, and they gave me a few: no panels, aerial viewpoint, non-autobio, a sidekick/more than one character and the characters should have tiny heads and large hands. I started out not knowing what to do, but after French cartoonist Moebius passed away I decided I'd make my comic a tribute to him. Moebius was and is a big inspiration for me, and I came up with a short story of two explorers encountering a strange lifeform that transforms them. Here's sketches and abandoned inks for the first page. The whole comic is four pages long so I could print it up on a single 8.5"x11" sheet of paper. I eventually re-penciled it and drew the final comic in full color.


Also lately, although the book is basically finished, I've been working on the covers for A Matter Of Life. Here's the pencils to the front cover. You can see a little sneak peek to a couple of the pages in the online, PDF downloadable Rooms Magazine.

Zinefest!

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.

Just Barely

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...

An Interview With Musician David Bazan

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...

You, Me, Them, Everybody

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.

A Bunch Of Links

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

Comics and the Northern Renaissance

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

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...

Nerd

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.

Illuminated Manuscripts

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.

Spanish Interview

More and More Interviews

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.

Creative Time

This month, my contribution to the art project Creative Time goes online, a strip titled "Not If, But When". You can read about the Creative Time comics project here, and there's also a short interview with me up.