Music and Comics

When "Little Things" came out, I wrote out a playlist at Largehearted Boy. Now there's a second playlist up for "Funny Misshapen Body", so you can see some of what I used to listen to back in high school and college. Missing from the list is the New Radicals, whose lone album was a source of comfort in those troubled adolescent times.

Rabbit Fever Part Two

And here's a better look at the final poster, and the mix of final elements used...

Rabbit Fever

I don't do a lot of illustration work, but this year I've done more. Most recently, I worked on artwork for a documentary film by Amy Do called Rabbit Fever. After talking to Amy, I came up with these four basic ideas, and thumbnailed them for her to think about it.



We narrowed it down to two favorites, which I sketched out in slightly more finished versions.



Amy liked the rabbit with the crown more, and did a few photo mockups to get a feel for how a finished poster might look.



Based on that, I did a more finished pencil version, using actual rabbit breeds, and at a larger size - not quite the 27"x40" of a film poster, though.



That version turned out a little too cute and cuddly though - maybe a little too realistic, and lacked the spontaneity of the earlier sketch version, which Amy really liked. So I went back and did new rough pencils, trying to match the sketch more closely.



Amy liked that version better, so I went ahead and did final inks for it.



We were both pretty happy with this version, except Amy still liked the more unfinished and taller/thinner lettering of the sketch version. She also still liked the sketchy rabbit the most, and worked with all the elements to put together for the final poster. Here's three versions she came up with.

I keep forgetting

that my website is finally up and running. Many thanks to Dan Rydholm for programming the site. I met Dan at the Olympia Comics Festival last year, if you're in the area, check out the festival. I'm not sure when it is this year, but I'll try to update this post when I know.

Cover Art

Here's how the artwork for the cover of 'Funny Misshapen Body' was drawn in its original state, which was then taken by designer Cherlynne Li to create the final cover. I figured I'd just draw the different elements for her to use, because of the text on the back of the book would make it easier for her to arrange than for me to try and figure out.

Today Is The Day

that "Funny Misshapen Body" comes out. USA Today's Whitney Matheson has a short preview over on her blog Pop Candy.

Scripting

My scripting process is too gather up elements/moments/stories I want to include and make those into an outline, which is then refined further and further, until I get a more detailed script - either panel by panel or page by page. This is script from 'Funny Misshapen Body' before I restarted it with a re-written script. Usually I just have enough notes to myself for what's going on, with final dialogue not written until I'm sitting down to draw the page. I'm usually composing panels/imagery in my head as I'm scripting, so there usually isn't anything visual written down for the scripts either.