So many new things, so many lines.

The end of summer is just about here and with this we will head back into the trenches and teach the students at Frostburg State University all about illustration. I am very much looking forward to getting back into the swing of things and serving them as best I can. There are some very talented guys and gals under my tutelage on Braddock Road and I look forward to working with them all.

But what have I been up to you ask?

1) Mole Had Everything came out in May and got great reviews.

2) Words and layouts for what I hope will be my new picture book are in advanced stages after one major fail.

3) A pair of graphic novels are under way…which is a whole new world of telling a story for me.

Now…all of these projects fall under what was the summer of intense work. In fact, all I did this summer was work. I don’t really plan to stop either. I’ll be an old man with the arthritis, still bent over a drafting table while pretty Erica says, “That’s why your back always hurts!”  I spent lots of time out at Oliver’s sandbox, sitting at an old school desk, crosshatching or writing away on these projects and I feel good about them. This has become a morning routine in fact…almost every single day I would be greeted with, “I go my sanbok dada?” I then sling my portable desk over my shoulder, grab the days work, pour a cup of coffee, and go to the “sandbok”

I’m not at the point yet to divulge any plots, titles, etc for these illustrations…not that this really matters. What I’m posting represents just a tiny handful of some of the test drawings for one of the graphic novels. Those in my “inner, inner, inner circle of awesome people” will know which these images are from.

 

So as I sign off, this week marks my final push. Some of these images will be turned into a promotional video for my agent and then others may just remain posted on this blog. It is certainly all part of the process of making stories, making books. Never mind making money, the reward here is looking at the world and knowing that you have to make art because of it. It is a good feeling to know that you have an actual purpose.

That is all I’ve got at this late hour. 1:01am in fact and there are still miles to go tonight.

 

Memento Mauri and new work as a band-aid

Death.  One of the most simple words to say. Death. When death hits you so closely, that simple word becomes a mountain of feelings and emotions that are not as easy to scale. Impossible to scale. Don’t even bother trying. Maurice Sendak was my dear friend. I miss him so greatly every day. Nothing eases this but as things go, my only solace while gazing into night’s plutonium shore is scratching away on my work.

On May 8th I wrote a poem called Memento Mauri. Then I did what I do, what I was taught to do–began making drawings, turn those drawings into paintings to tell the tale as best I can. My work becomes the band-aid that keeps the wound temporarily closed. Band-aids fall off in the shower. I am about 10 paintings into the 18 that will illustrate Memento Mauri. I have not been able to complete one of them. I get to about 70% finished then have to start another. I would feel bad finishing this project because(and I’ve just now realized this) SAYING GOODBYE SUCKS!

 

Here are a few of the unfinished images:

They are done using the palette of Blake and of my friend. They are filled with a shit-ton of symbolic little bits. Too many things to discuss here on a blog.

Like I said…not finished. SAYING GOODBYE SUCKS.

Books, one of the Pirate Twins, the death mask of John Keats. I don’t know what will come of this poem or of these paintings. I haven’t really shown it to anyone. Give me until the winter.

Also, as things go, I was working on a book at the time. A book that was so Blake that it was based on The Tyger, which I titled My Tyger. It is now dedicated to my friend and the story has changed to show how a young person will have to deal with losing something important. A cherished friend. I’m on my 4th draft of the story and second draft of the images. The story begins as such, somewhere off in the woods as I have spent many of my days. In this, the introduction it is wordless.

Then we see the loss and the utter panic that we all feel. Our actions are erratic and often times without result.

I’m gonna stop explaining the images now and just show them. These are not in order so don’t bother trying to figure out the story. Once I finish these sketches, I’ll paint the book, dedicate it to my friend, say many more times over SAYING GOODBYE SUCKS, the band-aid will have fallen off again by then and I will have to start something new. That’s my life and I’m ok with that.

I think we take our friends, the true ones and we hold them up high. We hold them so very tight that they belong to us. I’ll eat you up I love you so! They turn into what we need them to be if they are of the true sort. They help us and they show us the world when we can no longer see it.

That’s all I really have to say. In truth the images here are only about one third of what I’ve drawn. I just didn’t feel much like scanning. Sometimes I think that writing blog posts about work and life is not needed, almost a showing of vanity. I feel that way right now. This will do me no good but it will also do me no harm. I’ll just keep trying to figure new ways of saying goodbye. I’ll try to remember everything I can until my brain turns into an old bucket of pudding. I’ll just try to do work that I know he would like. I will listen to Mozart and read Blake and work. I will sit on the edge of the forrest of the night and try to make the stars burn.

 

 

 

 

Big Gun Go Boom

OK–so this is an excerpt from a letter of application written by either a 26year old or a 32 year old Leonardo Da Vinci. He was looking for placement in the the court of The Duke of Milan when he sent in a list of his traits.  I turned the whole letter into a lecture that burst out all the vigor and fire needed to keep Illustration and Advanced Illustration students attentive for a few minutes at the beginning of class this past week. The point was to tell them that as artists they need to be great at selling their work and not timid little, apathy-filled, mice. This was all born out of a conversation with a fellow artist that “got my goat”–we shall say. Now where does this fit with me?

I think I’m trying kinda hard to find/write my next story…maybe a bit too hard. I’ve drafted about 4 different mini-mini-mini novella’s over the past few months. I’ve even drawn them into full book layout and bound most of them–one story being 52 pages of pen&ink illustrations. The next being a 32 pager–drawings finished and text handwritten in. This is the part of being a book maker that I truly enjoy. Though sometimes it’s the part that makes me want to give it all up. I am constantly questioning my ideas and my drawings but it is truly the best part of being an author and an artist. The search to find what that next  story or interesting topic will be. My focus is like that of a sawed-off shotgun though. It scatters all around and is never precise. I wish I was born with a scope like my pal Tim Decker(buy his new book now or I will focus my shotgun on you-but must likely miss). He has the ability to focus fully on a single project. I on the other hand, focus on 35 projects in the hopes that 1 will pan out.

What is the point of this wordy blog post on Easter Sunday, 2012…well, I’m working on that too.

More to come.

 

Free Workshop

With the book being released on April 24th, I have a few events in line. The first will be this Saturday at Frostburg State University. Come on out–it’s FREE!

A few wordless compositions for fun

These really went nowhere as I got quickly busy with other projects. Wordless layouts about who knows what…

BOOM…BLOGGED!

The excitement of an advanced copy.

Shaboom! A few days before Christmas and a package was brought to me by Fedex Claus. I said THANK YOU Fedex Claus…nobody can do what you do. I rushed inside and tore into the package which was from my publisher–knowing full well what it was(after speaking with my editor and her telling me that they’d be shipping me a copy).

So here are a series of images of me holding the book. They will be in reverse of course because I was using a camera… The cover image I flipped so that the title can be read. Anyhow–here is a quick glance at a bound version of Mole Had Everything. Being released by Blue Apple Books in April of 2012.

Note: These pictures also feature my new writing hat and writing scarf. Great presents from Rocco and Allison. I think that as a writer/illustrator, I need to create a persona that is easy to caricature…so that I may caricature myself easily. Sometimes I just say things…

Image above: Putting sneaky snakes in any children’s book makes for interesting compositions. This one is situated at a place called The Foggy Swamps. One of my favorite spreads from the book.

Here are a few quiet spots.

Then a quiet seascape meant for a contemplative change in the book. All of my flowers look like lollipops.

The results of his great journey.

Fitting it all in his quiet home…

Gatefoldd full view of the clutter. This one was a task to paint.

So that is my quick preview of Mole Had Everything. This book was a big effort for me. Painted in between living in Connecticut and then our Move to Maryland. It will be my first book released an a professor at Frostburg State University and I hope it makes my department proud.  Mole Had Everything is the first piece of art that I’ve created and can honestly say, “Yep…that’s what I was trying to say with this.” I know what I meant and I meant what I said and I smaid what I sment and I painted my little heart out for months.

More to come soon. Best to all.

Yeti for Pictoplasma competition

This is the Yeti I created for my submission to Pictoplasma’s Missing Link competition about a month ago. Me doing an image completely in the digital realm is almost as rare as a Yeti itself. But alas, Photoshop was my drawing tool for this quick side project which my friend Kelly encouraged me to enter. I’m rather fond of how the creature turned out–it also allowed me to fabricate a back story based completely on a character.

 

You’re either a Mole or a Beaver

        You’re either a Mole or a Beaver.

This past weekend while at a party for E’s birthday, one of the party goers, M, asked me the toughest question that any  person can ask an author, “So what is your next book about?”

Chhh chhh chhhh chhhh ahhh ahhh ahhh ahhh–the sound of Jason Vorhees walking into the room, wielding his giant, rusted machete as I stumble and stammer around looking for something to grasp onto.

So on this trip we went.  I rambled on about how it was inspired by a passage in Walden which always seems to wake me up whenever I read it, like just now as I type: “Most of the luxuries, and many of the so-called comforts of life, are not only not indispensable, but positive hindrances to the elevation of mankind.”

So then I went on to say that it is a story about a Mole and a Beaver. The Mole lives simply. He only requires his small home, one pillow, his one bed,  his one shelf of books and his one cup for tea. The Beaver however, is a collector. He rummages and collects things(treasures) in order to build his home like Beavers do by nature. Dead pieces of lake wood, an old guitar neck, wagon wheel, an old bike, umbrella…etc. You know, things that are treasures that he does not need. A sturdy construction in its own way depending on your definition of sturdy.

As the story goes on the Beaver tells the Mole that he really doesn’t have much in his life because he doesn’t really own anything. He points the Mole to his hodge-podge house and in that instant the Mole feels worthless. His life changes and he decides that he needs to acquire more things in order to live a fulfilling, enriching life.

So that’s where I’ll stop talking about the storyline. Obviously there is more…as I’ve been told by many a critic, “YOUR STORY NEEDS A RESOLUTION!” This story has one so sleep easy…

But it was something that our friend said to me as her deduction of the story as I described the main characters. She looked up at me and said, “Well, you’re either a Mole or you’re a Beaver I guess…”

That’s perfect. So perfect.

I cannot thank her enough for her fantastic description of a book she has never read and only knows about through polite party conversation. With a simple whittling down of of my stammers and insecure descriptions–I can now say, “You’re either a Mole or a Beaver.”

That’s what it is all about–who we are. I know who I am and sometimes I just don’t like that person. Some days I am the Beaver and I regret those days. Other days I am the Mole and I am still looking for ways to become the Beaver. It’s just in my nature to observe and be impressed by things that twinkle…things that I do not need but sometimes have to have. But when the sun is long down and everything around me is quiet to a point of a single board creaking in the house echos like a world war…I am the Mole. I am sitting in my studio with a pen and a pad and often with a cup for tea.

The full quote from our friend Henry by the lake reads as follows, “Most of the luxuries, and many of the so-called comforts of life, are not only not indispensable, but positive hindrances to the elevation of mankind. With respect to luxuries and comforts, the wisest have even lived a more simple and meagre life than the poor.”

I hope that one day I become as brave as those who I truly look up to. I don’t know where I’ll find that bravery in my work but I am always looking for it.

 

Thanks for the help Meg.

 

 

 

 

 

What a week will bring

First off–let me apologize for what will be a very verbose post. So…sorry. I promise lots of pictures however. Lets begin here–I decided that along with my new spot as a faculty member at Frostburg State University that I REALLY wanted to maintain my professional practice. That being mostly illustration and books. But…as an artist first, I am always just trying to make some sort of mark on something. This is not a metaphor. I would draw on dirt with ketchup if I had no pencil or paper. I just like making stuff.

So the first of that “stuff” from this past week was six ink drawings that I did on the floor with my son Oliver helping. As I drew with marker, he drew with crayon. You can really see his handy work on the bottom right image. This was fine because I knew that I’d be taking the images into photoshop for coloring.

 

After some days of cleanup and painting with pixels…viola, a few concept that I may use for a series of T-shirts. Keep in mind that each of these images is about 11″ x 14″.

NEXT: This piece is for an open submission to a company that I have done work for in the past. The fine art of hiding objects within designated art is made less wacky when your basis for the composition is one of Durer’s greatest and most ominous works.

From here I had to throw together a poster for an artist visit I have set up for my illustration classes here at Frostburg. Presenting my good chum David Ferreira. Dave will speak to my students about acrylic painting techniques, zombies, cat food art and just general awesomeness. I’m no poster designer so don’t dis…I tried.

Moving on. Myself and a few other professors have formed the “Communications Committee” here in the arts department. Our main task will be to get a comprehensive blog up and running to show the world all of the happy, western MD goodness that we are producing here. That and to raise a real awareness of the program to attract future students as well as give current students something to participate in. With that in mind, I’m proposing to the faculty that we all create a custom Munny for our page bio. Here is the first page in a presentation I’ll pitch at the next faculty meeting. Again…a designer I am not. The paw prints on Munny are because we are the Bobcats. GO BOBCATS!

Finally…and though this doesn’t technically count as work I’ve done in this past week, I’ll be participating in a publishing festival out here this coming Saturday.  It is a mouthful: The Fifth Annual Western Maryland Small and Regional Press Festival. I will be on a panel of children’s authors and illustrators. Though the festival happens all around town, I’ll be in the Lyric Theater at 22 E. Main Street at 11:30am.

I’ll hopefully(within the next month) post a few bits of my next book…gotta write it though. Now that’s a blog full.

Gone Frosty Gone

OK–Most everyone who already knows me knows that we’ve recently moved to Frostburg, Maryland. Here are a few images:

Lobby of Compton Hall where I hold my Illustration and Advanced Illustration classes.

View out from said hall–it rains like Mordor out here as of late…

Fall came.

Ollie runs these streets!

Now onto art–feeling not so much like a wordsmith tonight. Pictures, pictures, pictures.

Decided to make some signs for the department with the Ollie Logo, as well as a painting of Saint Sebastian all shot izzup.

And here we have our bloody saint. I’m digging spraying up the place. Frostburg State University–I have big plans for you!

Spray Saints–more to come. GNR Rules!