Warming Hands

Skim Social Networking!

One of the things that was cool about doing Skim, which is set in 1993, is that I didn't have to draw computers, computer mice, chat rooms, cellphones, and so on. So it amuses me to announce that Skim has a Facebook page! Be her friend (or is it fan?). She could use a few.

Gretel drinks out of mugs

"Quiet, I'm Thinking!"

Matching Gold Medals

Our hardware from this year's 50th Annual Society of Illustrators annual (editorial category). Neat!

Skim Redux!

A fun piece of Skim Fan Art from Simon Häußle! It is wonderful (and really really weird) to see little ol' Skim re-imagined.

Some press is starting to trickle in, including this Quill and Quire starred review. (pdf)

I will have more information about Skim and promotional events in Toronto within the next few weeks. So stay tuned.

Robert Weaver

Amazing Robert Weaver slideshow on the NY Times website. How much more awesome would it be to look at these in a magazine, as opposed to a series of photos?

Panther

I had my class at Parsons do a silhouette project. I think it's a great exercise; "the silhouette" should be considered in every illustration, even those in full colour.

Snowy Friday

This has got to be the most disgustingly charming thing I've drawn in a long time. Oh well. If you're in NY now, you'll understand.

ARE you in NY? Are you going to the Society of Illustrators opening tonight? I might see you there.

Between the Sexes

(Elliott Erwitt / Magnum Photos)

A Slate slideshow on the theme of "the differences and similarities between the sexes."

Photography really fascinates me, although I'm not a great photographer myself. I love Slate's Magnum daily photo feature... I check it every day. The albums are themed: thinkers, telephones, Poe-inspired, etc. When something strikes me, I squirrel it away in my big reference folder. I go there for help: for colour, faces, composition, objects, animals, and concepts (what a great concept in the photo above–look closely).

Maniac, Maniac

Test your knowledge of Dance Movies. Then watch the clip below (kinda NSFW!). Yay Friday!

Children's Books

Here are some spreads from this month's Cookie Magazine. The theme was classic children's books. Fifteen illustrations in total! It was cool to work with the art director, Alex Grossman, to do something more thematic and integrated.






And a few close-ups of the main illustrations.

Skating Rink

Lunch: Udon Soup

One of the best things about working in your house is that you get to make tasty lunches. Udon soup: make a quick base of water, soy sauce, ponzu and mirin (this combination is probably sacrilege, but whatever). Put in chopped green onions. Bring to boil. Throw in udon noodles, chopped carrots and mushrooms (tofu or cabbage would also be good). Cook until tender-crisp. Adjust seasonings. Eat.

Strange man and his son

My Friend Frank

Frank Stockton also did a beast for the Beast! book. And, like mine, genitalia was to be had!

Frank has a great bloggy-news section in which he details his impressive process and also gives very sage and energetic advice to fellow illustrators. There is something very Mr. Miyagi-like about Frank.

Photographic Evidence

... that Skim is now available (in Toronto, at The Beguiling, at least)! As far as availability elsewhere, I have no idea... all I know is that it's on sale soon (if not now?).

[As far as the Beguiling post about it not being widely available in The States, I'm not sure that'll be the case. As far as I know, it will have reasonable US distribution. We shall see...]

P.S. You should also check out "Paul Goes Fishing" (also pictured). I love Michel Rabagliati.

Gorillas 2

MAXIMIZE YOUR GROWTH, PERFORMANCE & STRENGTH

I couldn't resist posting this illustration that came in a spam email today. Call me crazy, but wouldn't doing illustration for spam be fun? I mean, it's offensive and unsolicited to begin with. The sky's the limit.

Skim News!

There is some new stuff to report about Skim, our graphic novel due out (next?) month.

-First off, a review from Publisher's Weekly! Scroll up from the bottom of the page and you'll hit it faster.

-An audio/podcast review from the Friends of Lulu. Thank you to Marion Vitus and Valerie D'Orazio. By the way, not sure why this gross hyper-saturated version of the cover is circulating on the internet. My heart breaks a little bit each time I see it.

-Some initial information about the Launch Party in Toronto has been released! It will be at the Gladstone Hotel on March 26. It'll be a This Is Not A Reading Series event, sponsored by Pages Books. I'll post more info/the official invite when it becomes available.

-Skim is available for pre-order at Amazon.

-Mariko and I will be at MoCCA, APE, and SPX this year. If you are too, please come visit us. 

I got the hardcover copy of the book in the mail the other day. I'm a bit nervous, but I can't wait to share it with the world (and hear what you think!). Remember, I cross-post newsy bits on my illustration website, under the "news" section.

Julie Doucet

Introduction to Julie Doucet's work (comics and post-comics) at CBC Arts.

Rainy Days

Tanuki Complete!

If you're wondering about the ball sac, it's explained in the post below. As mentioned before, this is an image for the upcoming volume of BEASTS!, published by Fantagraphics.

More Tanuki

More Tanuki sketches. I'm contributing this character to the new volume of the BEASTS! book. Tanuki are a trickster in Japanese folklore and have the most amusing ability to enlarge their scrotums. Thus expanded, the scrotum becomes useful for a variety of functions such as fishing and serving as a picnic blanket or store sign. Don't believe me?

Another Monkey

John Currin

A small Slate slideshow on the work of John Currin (with a bit of a discussion about the return of the figure in art). I have some mixed feelings about John Currin; many of my hang-ups are touched upon in the slideshow. Not that John Currin cares, 'cause he's a millionaire.

Nepalese Farmer

Here is a job, start to finish, for the Asian edition of TIME Magazine (AD May Wong). The piece was a book review for a novel about impoverished Nepalese farmers in the mid-twentieth century. The book was a simple story and spoke to the plain truths about poverty: the poor are powerless, and the poor are destined to get poorer.

Here are the sketches (after a few hours of scouring the internet for reference on Nepal). I saw a great photo of a man carrying a seemingly impossible load of hay, and it seemed like the perfect metaphor for the burden of the poor. Case in point: research is NOT about just "getting the details right". It can spark creative ideas unto their own. Which is why research-gathering, not thumbnails, is step #1.




I started on two versions of the final. I wasn't sure how I wanted to finish it. I have a minor obsession with a book by Vittorio Giardino that I have, so I think that (and Tin Tin) is why the Clear Line style comes up every now and again. I didn't end up taking it to final though.

Final!

Detail.