Emma and Harriet

God Bless America!

This one is for Frank.

Test your knowledge of Political Movies.

Gotta Dance...

GOT-TA DAANCE...

The Sexy Files

Also, this video. NSFW? Kind of? Do photoshopped scenarios count? I guess you'll have to use your discretion. Regardless: helpful!



Test your knowledge of the X-Files.

I'm really happy to announce that there will be some foreign translations of Skim, including French and Spanish. The UK, Australia, and NZ will also be getting a special edition (will "truck" become "lorry"? I don't know!!). Casterman is handling the French edition. You can read about it ici. Skim will be part of their "Ecritures" series, which includes books by Seth, Craig Thompson, and Ben Katchor and Chester Brown.

Here's the cover of the french edition (apparently available Aug 20):

Spiderman

Here is an old illustration. I find it amusing.

Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea

Ahhhh!!! New Studio Ghibli!!

The plot is centered on Ponyo, a girl fish with a human face, who leaves her underwater home to become human. She meets and befriends Sōsuke, a 5 year old boy, and begins transforming into a real girl. Ponyo's father misses her and calls on the power of the sea and storms to bring her back. Sōsuke tries to resist him to keep Ponyo with him.

Emma

Two Shadowy Figures, plus Humpty Dumpty

Do the Humpty Hump!

Procrastination: Hot Chicks

Swingtime (Fred & Ginger)

Jane Austen

Downpour

Beatrix Potter Rarities

Via BibliOdyssey.

Totoro Forest

This piece was inspired by the work of Miyzaki/Ghibli and is part of the Totoro Forest Project. You will actually have the opportunity to *buy* this piece (all proceeds go to charity)... more details on the auction in the previous link. In the meantime, do yourself a favour and buy My Neighbor Totoro. Enchantment will ensue.

Here are some (very) preliminary sketches for this drawing, including squishy thumbnails. I start a lot of illustrations in this way.

Week in Review

I did the cover of this week's NYTimes Week In Review. It's about a reporter who is retiring from 30 years covering the Supreme Court. Here's a preliminary sketch plus the finish.

AD: the inimitable Aviva Michaelov.

Jimmy Beaulieu

I noticed that a lot of the students at Parsons, where I teach, like using pencil crayons. I was reminded of this when I was going over Jimmy Beaulieu's blog. He uses the medium in a very beguiling way that's really sophisticated despite the fact that they're "pre-made" colours.

I met Jimmy at Expozine in Montréal a few years ago. You don't need to know French to appreciate his drawings but maybe it'd help you with the comics!

Yes, this is an illustration of Hanson. While researching this, I learned a few disturbing facts and came to a few disturbing realizations:

- Hanson still exists.

- All 3 Hanson brothers now have their own kids. Even the.. uh.. little kid!

- That video with the pansies? 1997! 11 years ago! You people who are 20 now were 9 then! You think of Hanson the same way I think of Roxette or Milli Vanilli! You probably don't know who those people are!

Scary huh?

Test your knowledge of Teen Bands.

Query

Back from The Dead

Here are a few killed sketches that I actually quite liked. Maybe I'll get around to finishing them some time.

THESE COLORS DON'T BLEED

So I didn't actually leave the house today (illustration called), but I took a quick mental trip to McCarren Park. Click to enlarge the July 4 festivities.

The Boys and the Subway

People often ask me for directions in the subway. Even though I know my way around rather well, I still have to defer to Arthur very often. Yet it seems people don’t trust the advice of a preschooler. They should.

Christoph Niemann's story about his kids and the New York City subway. I wish I was so well-versed.

Since Sarasota

(click for larger view)