Drabblecast 170
So Norm Sherman asked me to do another cover for the Drabblecast, this time it’s a proper main thread Drabblecast, number One Hundred and Seventy to be precise. The story is actually a two parter and Norm has pulled out all the stops on this baby. The story is called Mongoose and was written by Sarah Monette, and Elizabeth Bear, both award winning authors. When asking me to do the illustration Norm described the story as a Lovecraftian Space Opera, pretty awesome if you ask me, and a chance to work on my tentacle drawing skills, oh hell yes.
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Anyway, check out the art, then go listen to the story, the production value is top notch and the story is damn riveting.
From the Clouds
Welcome to “From the Clouds,” a webcomic in a slightly differentformat than you are probably used too, but I’m trying this out. There’s a chance I’ll build a seperate page for this project down the line more in tune with standard webcomic formats. Anyway, keep visiting to see new pages as they are finished. I should be updating every week to two depending on time. Usually on Fridays.
Drabblecast B-Sides
So in an effort to continue prettyfying the podcastiverse I’ve don’t another cover for another podcast. This time for the Drabblecast. This is an amazing podcast and one of my absolute favorites to listen to. It’s narrated and produced Norm Sherman and he puts a whole heck lot of attention to detail when producing the show and the quality is some of the best I’ve heard in a podcast.
It’s a fiction podcast with one the best taglines I’ve heard in a while. Strange Stories by Strange Authors for Strange Listeners, and that pretty much sums it up right there. The stories run the gamut of genre styles. Though I’d say it large rides the quirky edge of scifi, fantasy, horror, comedy, and often just surreal. The episodes will often contain a main story as well as a Drabble, story of 100 words or less, and usually a twabble, which is a tweet but also story. Ok, I’m probably starting to sound like a salesman, but I really love the show, and was so happy to be able to illustrate an episode in the B-sides. The B-Sides are the side epidsode projects, separated from the main thread for one reason or another, this B-side was recorded live at Balticon. Anyway check out the art, check out the story, it’s great and weird (be forewarned it contains some gruesome elements that aren’t suitable for kids) and I highly recommend subscribing to the podcast.
from the Sketchbook: An unfair contest
So this is just because I haven’t posted anything in a while. Here are a couple of sketches for story cover I’m working on. Which do you like better? (Disclaimer: this is not a real contest, and I’ll probably just go with what I want anyway, because it’s my worlds and what I say goes, 
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The Graphic Narrative: A class on comic books.
I’m teaching a class on comic book creation this summer at the Eliot School in Jamaica Plain, MA. The course’s emphasis is on how to tell quality stories through the unique medium of sequential art. We’ll be doing a number of small projects that teach the principles of pictograms, acting with drawings, panel layout and flow, and creating drama with images. I will also be including much of the work produced in class into a comic anthology, and be teaching some of the printing process of comic books, as we go.
The Eliot School is a great little community art school with all kinds of great classes from furniture restoration to figure drawing, in one of the oldest school houses in the area.
Anyway, if you’ve ever wanted to learn how to make your own comics and you live in the Boston area you should sign up! It’ll be fun!!!
6 Wednesdays, 6:30–9:30pm, July 7–Aug 11
http://www.eliotschool.org/classes/graphic-narrative-comics-adults
Grassroots International: Education and Advocacy
I’ve been working on a series of Multi-media presentations for Grassroots International. This is the latest one, specifically on their work with Education and Advocacy. You can watch it here without music, or go check it out on their website. While there you should check out all the great work that GRI is doing in countries like Haiti, Palestine, and Brazil. They have a unique approach to humanitarian aid, and focus on creating long term solutions to issues around land and water rights for indigenous people in places where governments and corporate control run rampant over the rights of individuals.
From the sketchbook: RATS
So I’m adding a new little bit to keep you folks updated on what’s going on in my creative endeavors. Just a chance for me to show off things that are still far from completion, and share some idea’s that I might be having. This week, RATS. I’ve long been into drawing them. One of my first illustration projects waaay back in undergrad featured them, I drew a few in the first comic project I did. And come to think of it, I drew them again in my comic poster project. I think maybe it all comes from watching “The Secret of Nimh” over and over and over and over when I was a kid. Yes, I was one of those kids, though I think “Secret of Nimh” and maybe “Follow that Bird” were the only two that I clearly remember. As an aside, I saw “Follow that Bird” sometime in the past year, and I have to say, unlike most childhood movies, that one thoroughly charmed me once again.
Anyway, on to the rats. I’ve been training myself to do them in ink because they are a major feature in the current chapter of “One Android”, so without further delay.
So after doing these I was looking at them and thinking, hey they look kinda familiar… Where have I seen this before? Who am I emulating? I pondered this briefly but then… The answer: Banksy, that quirky, hilarious, brilliant, street artist, who has had a thing for rats in the past, and who’s work I’ve totally been looking at in the last couple of months. Great drawing skill, great sense of humor, mild touch of politics, if he were a comic artist I would be all about it. Anyway, I admit his are better than mine, but maybe it’s because he does them in the street… You know so they are more raw… and urban… street…
I wish I could say this isn’t photoshop.
Memory Dog: Part 2
Well, as promised Star Ship Sofa has just published their January big issue with cover art by me. Hurray!
Looks a bit different with all the text but I’m pleased as pudding that it’s out. I’ve only listened to the very beginning of the issue but it sounds like a winner, anyway, head over to http://www.starshipsofa.com/ to check it out. The main fiction by Kathleen Ann Goonan is just a small piece of the podcast, there are fact articles, reviews, editorials, and any number of other things. Tony C. Smith is the tirelessly enthusiastic host. Week after week he puts together some really great shows, getting all kinds of great people involved. Thanks Tony for the great opportunity and thanks even more for a great job!
Anyway, check it out, listen to some good fiction.
The Global Food Crisis
Check out this flyer I did recently for Grassroots International and the Oakland institute. If you are in the bay area on the 27th and want to check out the event, I’d recommend it, I know Nikhil and he is a wealth of great information. I’m sure the other panelists will be fantastic as well.
