“You have a card for every occasion, don’t you?” S said, as I handed him the card to sign.
Spring brings many changes, 2 of which involve the moving of 2 friends–one to Chicago, and another, bakery friend, to a new job. Both are exciting, but I wil say that we in the EV will miss them. So, I waned to make something to wish them luck & show them how much they’ll be missed.
Inspiration can come from anywhere it would seem…The other night my flatmate & I were sitting in a coffee shop-turned-bar at night, drinking (wine in her case, coffee in mine–as I had to work later) when we started to discuss the size of the US’ defense budget (she’d read about it in the New Yorker) which then segued into the founding of the Internet, NASA and the space race. Also, to note, I was sitting by a large glass cookie jar, in which these giant chocolate chip cookie and nutella sandwichs are kept–every now & then the lid of the jar would be lifted off and the tantalizing smell of baked goods & chocolate wafted out…
We’d met up, because I needed to draw a thank you card for a friend of mine, and figured it would be nice to have some company whilst doing so–also, having a friend around while drawing usually keeps random people from trying to engage you in conversation, when really all you want to do is draw (or read, but that’s a different story). Anyhow, as you can see, our topics of discussion ‘found their way’ into the subject matter of the final drawing.
Though, I’m not quite sure what my friend thought when he received the card–”Was she drunk?” passed through his mind, I am sure.
These last 2 & 1/2 weeks have been just crazy busy–deadlines galore, anxiety & overall stressing out. As such, the majority of my time has been devoted to my “work–work” as opposed to my comics work, but I’ve found a few spare moments to grab a glass of wine (or as tonight, an americano & a pint of ice cream) and scribble out something.
When I am upset or anxious, the thing that I automatically draw have been these designs (for lack of a better term) that I call “swirlies”–they just seem to flow from the tip of my pen as I am drawn into a rather zen-like state…I’m not sure exactly when I started drawing these patterns, but I’m hazarding a guess that it might have been around the time I was in high school–an artistic sign of ocd tendencies? Who knows, but I have seen others draw similar haphazard designs in a similar vein, so sometimes I wonder…
Recently, I have started trying to use these designs in larger pieces, such as this one, but I’m not quite there yet. Until then, though, I’ll keep drawing these things forever, I have no doubt.
Thank heavens it’s almost the weekend.
The end of february/beginning of march always seems ‘abuzz’ with nominations, awards, prizes, etc etc… And not just for film & tv either…last week, the nominees for the eagle award (no, not the Boy Scout one) were announced…Truth to tell, I didn’t know these existed, but ever since the myriad 1st fictions award was given back at the end of january, I’ve had some comic prizes of my own to ‘bestow.’
Most encouraging
sarah lightman
katie green
Awesome twitter peeps that I’ve never met in person
joe decie
darryl cunningham
garen ewing
Comics guaranteed to make me smile
gemma correll
Best dressed sparring partner
pete hindle
Best editor/pudding maker/heartfelt up & coming GN
paula j knight
Wisest dr., graphic novelist & artist with dry wit
thom ferrier
Coolest name
Dr. Smoo
amazing arvonites
you know who you are
Newly met comics artists of 2012
sarah levitt
diane noomin
~Congrats y’all~
* check out my twitter list to follow all of these amazing peeps!
So these past 2 weeks or so have actually been rather productive (creativity wise at least). Here a few new projects in various states of completion…enjoy!
I posted a snapshot of this whilst it was in progress sseevverrralll weeks er months ago…I somewhat hesitate to call this ‘finished,’ but at least for now, I will try to convince myself that it is…I really liked this combination of ‘cartoon’ and my ‘swirlies’ as I call them and hope to integrate them both into larger drawings in the future.
A few years ago, inspired by Giant Robot’s* Post-it note cash & carry show, I went on a Post-it Note drawing craze. It’s really fun to see what you can create using such a ‘mini canvas’! After I’d drawn a ton of them, however, I didn’t really know what to do with them. Eventually I turned them into a mobile, but I was never really satisfied with that result…Well, sometimes things just need to percolate for quite some time; finally inspiration struck, due to the need for a last minute birthday card.
Cat got your tongue when it comes to that cutie in your favourite coffee shop? Or is there someone you have a crush on, but can’t find the courage to ask out? Give ’em one of these! A riff off the standard ‘beer tickets’ given out at work or social functions, just write in your mobile number and then surreptitiously slip one of these across the counter, fold into the receipt or include in that birthday card you ‘just happened’ to have. Simple & subtle, with no stuttering.
Finally, I’ve also got 2 new comics in progress, but as I’m slow, they might take a bit. What fun projects are you up to, I wonder…
* I’m not going to lie, one of the reasons for moving to my current apartment was b/c of the Giant Robot store right across the street…Sadly they closed about a year after I moved there. However, I managed to convince the owner of the shop to sell me the giant “G & R” letters from their window.
