Since Sarasota

(click for larger view)

Fan Art Results!

That was my response every time someone sent me a piece of fan art. I was totally floored by the effort you guys put into your pieces and I think I am now addicted to getting "presents" in my email. So, THANK-YOU! It was so freaking difficult picking "winners". But here they are:



Jeremy Sorese, the creator of this particularly hilarious piece (I've dubbed it "Window of Indecision (in Grey)", will get Skim, some buttons, and a Gilded Lilies book.



Annie Wu (above) will receive Skim, buttons, and a small print, as will Thomas Pitilli:



Oof, it was so hard to choose. Please view ALL the entries here. Thank-you to all participats. If you'd like to contribute fan art, even if it's sans prizes, I'd love to add it to the gallery.

WIN SKIM!

So I have three copies of Skim to give away. We couldn't sell them at MoCCA due to a tiny bit of cover scuffing, the odd bent cover, or other minor imperfection. So let's have a little contest!

I'm ripping off Hope Larson's Fan Art contest she held a few weeks ago for her new book. Send you SKIM-INSPIRED art in to me by Wednesday and I will post the winners (plus a link to your site) on Thursday. I'll make a little section in the "Books" area of my site where I'll post ALL entries. I hope you send me something! Email me at jill (AT) jilliantamaki.com .... please?

Here is a preview link, for character reference.

P.S. Everyone's welcome to send me stuff, but unfortunately I can only send books to North Americans. There IS a recession on, y'all.

What It Is, Lynda Barry

So I started tucking into my MoCCA stash. Fun! Like a lot of you that attended the con, I bought Lynda Barry's new book What It Is. It's sort of a manifesto, memoir, workbook type thing. It's very inspirational. It's about breaking down mental blocks and connecting with our imagination and memories. And tapping into that lucid space of just CREATING already... without the self-consciousness and "need to please" hang-ups we all have.

As working illustrators, I think we really lose that lucidity and sense of play. How can we not? Our job literally commodifies what we love. "How lucky! You get to sit around and just draw all day!" Snort. However, I think that child-like sense of play is really important. That's where the sketchbook and personal work comes in, I suppose.

Lynda Barry audio slideshow (featuring pages from book and author commentary) and NYTimes article.

What It Is on Amazon.

P.S. Also check out Hope Larson's new book Chiggers, if only for amazingly sensitive character gestures (luckily, you'll find much more to love in addition... I promise).

Thank-You!

Hi guys,

Sorry it's been a bit quiet around here... I've been totally wiped from MoCCA last weekend! Here's a picture of Mariko showing off our table (obviously before the crowds hit and the room rose to dangerously hot temps!).

If you came out to visit us, THANK-YOU! A lot of you mentioned this blog, which absolutely thrills me. And lastly, it was great to talk about Skim and finally be able to show it to people! Yay!

Comics, Comics, Everywhere!

If you are even a tiny bit interested in alternative comics and are anywhere near New York City this weekend, you must check out MoCCA Festival in Soho. Mariko and I will be there selling our book Skim plus some other goodies. Come and say hi to us! We will be on the Skylight room, table S8.

Here's all the info, including a list of exhibitors.

Failed Comic Game

So Sam and I were going to play a game where I drew the panels and he filled in the word balloons. But then I did this and it just seemed better left ambiguous. Click for a larger version.

Remembering Nana on Mother's Day

It's Mother's Day and our comic is out! Read the posted comic or look at/download a .pdf version for a closer look.

Mother's Day Comic

New Yorkers: Mariko and I have a one-page comic running on the Times Op-Ed page this Sunday. It's a Mother's Day comic about our grandmother, Nana Tamaki. Although, Relatives, PLEASE be aware that I have made little effort to make any of the characters look like you in any way. So please no hate mail.

I'll post the comic here on Sunday.

Skim Originals

There is a mini-show of original Skim art at The Beguiling in Toronto. There are sketches, pencils, inked pages, and even stuff from the pre-Skim Skim (Part 1 of the story existed as a stand-alone comic book; all art was redone for the new version).

Info, including address, here. Thank-you to Chris and Peter for asking and organizing!

Paper Rad

PAPER RAD VIDEOS.

That is all.

Parlour Games

SKIM BONANZA

Hey guys,

This will be last post for about a week. I will be up in Toronto promoting our book. I thought this would be a good time to do a megapost about the latest and future goings-ons in Skimland.

First: an excerpt! This is a little cut from Part 1 of Skim. You can also download a .pdf version if it's too big for your browser or you'd like to zoom in on the art.



If you are in Toronto, come to The Launch. Mariko and I will be doing a small presentation where I will be showing sketches and other process stuff. And, of course, yammering about our experience. And partying. Details:

This Is Not A Reading Series, Skim Launch
Wednesday, March 26, 2008 - 7:30pm
Gladstone Hotel
1214 Queen Street West
Toronto, ON


Also on Wednesday, you can listen to Mariko and I on CBC's entertainment radio show "Q". I think that comes on around midday. Check local listings. I was actually on Q once before with the lovely Hope Larson. But that time we had a guest interviewer... this time I will actually meet celebu-host Jian Ghomeshi. I am terrified.



If you are an OCAD student, you can also come to a talk next Friday. It will be more in-depth and illustration-focussed. Mariko will also be there to talk about Skim. We'll probably bring some copies to hawk.

Friday, March 28, 2008
10am-12pm
Ontario College of Art & Design
Auditorium (room 190)
100 McCaul St



Lastly, I thought I'd post some media tidbits, including a review from last weekend's Globe & Mail and this month's BUST Magazine. Read a small online article about my comics-making soundtrack at Drawn (thanks, Matt!). And, lastly, a feature in the National Post is due to run on Wednesday. I archive all this stuff on my website under the "books" section.




THAT. IS. IT!

Thank-you for your patience. I thought I'd blast all this info at you at once, instead of stringing it along over multiple posts. Maybe I'll meet some of you in Toronto!

-J

On Crappy Graphic Novels

Chris Butcher ponders the 3300+ graphic novels released last year (that represents almost a 20% increase from 2006). He knows of what he speaks: Chris is the manager at The Beguiling, in Toronto.

Meds

I Only Watch Horrible 1980s Movies

Yeah, this is 80s-kid pap. But we watched The Wizard yesterday and it was pretty awesome. Or was it awesome because I remembered it to be awesome when I was 9? Who can say.

And then I got depressed when I realized most of the students in my class at Parsons were born the same year The Wizard was released.

Also, Mecha Bart Simpson:

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.

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.

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.

Dad's Birthday

(click to enlarge)

November 1

Sept 7

My sister Lauren is here visiting NY. But she forgot her camera yesterday. So we drew the day. Hopefully you can read it; click for larger view.

Further thoughts on Calgary

I learned a few and remembered a few things about Calgary during my visit! Here are some further conclusions.

Cowtown

I will be away for the next two weeks, so posting might not be very regularly. I will be going home to Calgary, Alberta!

This is a small visual sampling on my thoughts about Calgary. I hope I don't come off too negative. Its faults are also its charms. And lest you think I'm being smug, know that complaining about this stuff is the same as New Yorkers bemoaning tourists and the real estate market.

spam comics: hymen destroyer

This is actually a very hipster-y drawing... eep.

spam comics: julie

More Spam.

More junkmail comics (see post below for a further explanation). My original intention was to make a mini-comic of these things but, uh, I didn't.

A bit Sequential

In honour this weekend's MoCCA festival (Table A57–be there or be square), here's a bit of a comics-y post. It's based on text from spam e-mail. I have a whole folder of potential fodder, so I'm sure there'll be more of these posted in the future.

Click for larger views.