Thursday, December 29, 2011

Oh What Up New Year?

City of Cards C2.19: Here!

Oof, okay, got hit with a nasty cold over Christmas so I didn't have too much time to get much drawing done. to make up for the fact that I haven't posted a whole lot of sketches on here lately, here are some pencils for an upcoming panel of Chapter 3:





Still pretty busy at work, getting used to the job and all that, but it's good. I feel like I'm learning a lot and I hope that I'll be able to put that to good use.

All my thoughts and love go out to all my CCS bros. You guys are always on mind as we step into the new year. 2011's motto was don't look down, 2012's motto? I'm thinking something along the lines of "Don't Hide in the Shadows".

What does this mean? It means keeping doing your work, let people know about it, meet new people, and keep trying. Don't let the grey and fatigue eat away at yourself. 2012 is a year of change, embrace it.

Thursday, December 22, 2011

Last Post Before the Holidays!

City of Cards C2.18: Here!

Another short blog post as this is my last week of training at my new job before the holidays and I haven't had a lot of time/mental energy to get much more done.

To sum things up, though, I love my job. Absolutely. Being able to work in comics is a dream come true and I hope that this experience will allow me to help others make and promote quality, interesting work and to be able to reach wider audiences.

Okay, sap time over. I plan to rock out a bunch of City of Cards stuff during my few days off this holiday so that I can keep up a good schedule. Ideally, I'll knock out the rest of the inks for Chapter Two and be able to focus in on getting the pencils for Chapter Three done. I sent the script for the fourth chapter out to get looked over so all of that is a go.

Happy Holidays people!

Thursday, December 15, 2011

Boom!

City of Cards C2.17: Here!

First, a new voting incentive here where Ace and Plato answer the all important question about the future of talking dogs: here!

And just a reminder, I'm posting up more progress work and other stuff up on the City of Cards G+ Page.

So this week was my first official week at my new job. It was totally unexpected, but I'm really happy with my new position and I hope I'll be able to fit myself in quickly and easily. Or, at least without causing too much damage.

It may mean less time for sketching, but I don't plan to slow down on my comic work so don't worry about that being effected.

Thursday, December 8, 2011

LA Got Me Busy

City of Cards C2.16: Here!

There are a few pages/panels in my comic that make me really happy and the second panel on this page is by far one of my favorites. Plato's expression just kills me.

Not going to say a whole lot this week. I've been extremely busy all of a sudden with an internship doing some work for the guys at Boom! and while that has been amazingly awesome, it's also knocked me out. It'll definitely take me some time to get into a good rhythm with these hours.

It's also been awhile since I've posted any brush pen art since, well, it's been awhile since I've had a chance to do any. All three are based on the same image and this shows how each time I get closer to the eventual image I'm going for. The final rough is what I'll use when I go in and do my perspective fixes for the final image. It's my favorite way to work out roughs for backgrounds and this is for another project I'll be getting into more heavily in the upcoming weeks.



Thursday, December 1, 2011

So Long Brovember

City of Cards C2.14-15: Here!

That look on Plato's face? That's the look of a man who once knew what motivated him in life and longs to get that feeling back. Been there bro, been there. And thus concludes the cage fighting pages.

And with Brovember over, I also made a new future Q/A stick comic up at TWC so vote to see that.

So I'm back in LA, which will be my new permanent location, at least for the immediate future. More details on that hopefully later, but suffice it to say at least I'm enjoying the weather.


Finally, not something I usually do so I'm going to make this short. So apparently the Akira movie is a go*. All I can say is that in my mind Akira was born out of a post WWII Japan and it's that context that makes the books so powerful. By removing the context and changing the characters so drastically you might as well call the movie something else and you're less likely to piss everyone off.

I wish I could say I don't understand Hollywood's fear of original content, but I do. Brands create a sense of financial security. It's unfortunate that when the decision to utilize a brand is made and companies decide to minimize financial risk as much as possible, then everything that made that once coveted brand the icon it once was can be reduced and distorted. The work has already been done.

There are other issues with this movie that I know other people are touching on and I do recommend listening to what they have to say as well. It's not a new complaint, and one that will probably be made by many others much more eloquently about many other adaptations to come. Akira is personally a visual and thematic inspiration to me so what I've said does come out of a place of bias.

*Also, just to note, for me it's less about the eventual casting choices and more about the mindset behind the development of this film. I would also like to have more concrete information from different sources in the future.

Thursday, November 24, 2011

Holiday Road Post

City of Cards 12-13: Here!

Wrestling continues. All is going according to plan.

Happy Thanksgiving USA peeps! Hope you all have a good couple of days of rest at least.

Where am I and what am I doing? I'm in Eugene Oregon on the way back down to LA. Yeah, I'm back on the road. Right now I'm catching the South Park documentary and reading this weeks issue of Teen Titans. I never thought I'd actually be looking forward to this title, but I feel like it's got the potential to be a lot of fun. It's reminding me a lot of the old Young Justice comic days and we could definitely use a lot more of that.

I mean, come on, it's got Danny the Street. That's enough to make me curious.

Other than that, I'm gonna make a list here of a bunch of comics I've previously mentioned before but don't mind spot-lighting again (and a few new suggestions), so if you've got some down time this long weekend you can check them out:

Buffet of Lies - Um, not sure how to describe this. Good abstract sense of humour really.

The Adam - Superhero comedic failures? Yeah, this is what I like.

Ashayta - Science fiction comic with a great style.

Spare Keys for Strange Doors - Self-contained fantastical short stories with a recurring set of protagonists.

Wolf Wears Wool - Fun, colorful, werewolves.

Demon of the Underground - Watch Pogo get in trouble. Also there's a ferret.

Dax - Silly sci-fi adventures complete with a Thanksgiving special this year.

Eternity Complex - Long running fantasy adventure.

Bridges - Slice of life high school story about self discovery and growing as a person.

Earthbound - Mysterious sci-fi fantasy adventure. On a bit of a break, but since it'll be coming back now is a good time to check it out.

There are probably a couple of new ones on there, and I know I have a lot more I plan to mention in the future. If anyone wants to recommend any comics to me feel free to shoot me a message. I'm open to just about anything.

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Catch Me if You Can

City of Cards C2.10-11: Here!

Yup, another two pages today in which Ace does not share Plato's enthusiasm, but it actually feels kinda like something is happening. If anyone has any strong feelings one way or another about the way I do these vertical spreads let me know. Personally, I kinda like them, but we'll see. I know there's at least one horizontal spread coming up and if it works okay I may use it for another horizontal spread.

No new voting incentive this week because all of a sudden I had to hop a plan to LA early this morning and will be hopping back to Seattle this Friday and with all this running around it just isn't going to happen.

I'll also be on the road again next week moving BACK to LA indefinitely. So if you're in LA I'm all up for hanging out. Being on the road and moving like I've been for the past four or so months has made me miss seeing people a lot.

 I'm also promoting the Child's Play Charity through InkOutbreak, which is a charity I've donated to in the past personally, so go here to donate

Thursday, November 10, 2011

New Smooth Look

City of Cards C2.9: Here!

I've got another new colored image over at TWC and I admit, I had a lot of fun doing this one. Plato attempts to give Ace a wrestling lesson of sorts, but I think he's mocking him. Happy Brovember by the way!

I've got a few new things to share this week. First, thanks to the amazing work by Lindsey Boyle, I have a new main page up. I wanted to get my site prepare so that if people went to visit it and ran into mature material there'd be something before that.

I also have a new City of Cards Google + page where I am uploading process material, concept art, and I'm considering eventually setting up a VIP section where people can get access to CoC material not available anywhere else.

Second, a great piece of fanart by Jessie Boudrie of Dax fame:


Seriously, totally the pick me up I needed. Jessie is a solid dude with a great comic. If you're looking for a slightly sillier, more family oriented (though witty enough that appeals to a fairly wide audience) science fiction comic go check out his work.

One of the real blessings that's come to me through comics has been the amazing people I have met. Not just fellow cartoonists, though I have met and been inspired by many of them, but just people in general. The independent comics community is full of so many bright, positive, and genuinely helpful people. It is truly a place where what you give you get in return ten fold.

So if you've got a comic you enjoy reading, go ahead and shoot off an e-mail or leave a comment to let the artist know that you enjoy their work. The difference it can make in that person's day is staggering.

Thursday, November 3, 2011

November Has Come: Seattle Comic Stores

City of Cards C2.8: Here!

I have access to a scanner, at least for the next couple of weeks, so I managed to color something for November. Ace's birthday was the first of the month so I changed the voting incentive to a picture of how I imagine Ace would have likely celebrated. To see it, Vote Here.

I'm still in the middle of job-hunting so a lot of my free time is being eaten up by that, but I also have a lot of drawing work being planned.

One of the first things I did after arriving in Seattle, literally the day after I arrived, was to check out the local comic store scene. I hit every Comic Stop and chatted with some of the nice staff at each of the locations as well as The Dreaming. What's nice about each of the stores is that while distance wise they're not terribly far apart they have their own personality.

The first location I hit was Redmond, attached to a nice outdoor mall and a good location if you want to pick up your weekly mainstream comics while sipping coffee at the Starbucks across the way. Stephanie there was really upbeat and nice to chat with as well.

Next I hit Lynwood, which is the original Comic Stop location and the largest of their stores. It has a fairly good selection of mainstream trade paperbacks as well as the best selection of single issues of all the locations, especially if you're looking for stuff by Image or other non-Big-Two publishers like 215 Ink. I picked up the fourth Popgun anthology while I was there and they're ordering in a copy of Finder volume 1 for me even though it's out of print. All in all I'll definitely be back.

The third location I hit was the Everett location which was inside the mall there. Much like the Redmond location, a good place to go in and buy your weekly comic. Pretty low-key, but for a mall comic store I was very impressed.

Day two my first stop was The Dreaming in the U-District.  It's a nice little independent shop, especially if you're into horror. If you're a fan of Lovecraft or b-movie horror you'll definitely want to check this place out. Again, very nice and welcoming staff. This seems to be a trend amongst stores here and I think it's great.

My final stop was the U-District Comic Stop. I'm glad I saved this one for last because this is also where a friend and fellow CCS alumni has his books up for sale. So if you're there, look for Grump Toast by the amazing Ben Horak. If you're a fan of indy comics in general you should also check it out. Once I figure out a printing set up I may consign my work there as well. I picked up Michael Kupperman's Mark Twain book while I was there and as a big Twain fan I will definitely have more to say about that later.

So in two days I hit up five great comic shops, each different enough to cater to any possible comic enthusiasts needs. Seattle is truly fortunate to have such a strong and positive comics community from what I've seen thus far and I look forward to getting to know it better.

Thursday, October 27, 2011

The Importance of Cast: Voice and Personality

City of Cards C2.7: Here!

Updated the cast page with Rick and Xander's information. I've got two, maybe three more characters to add before I think I'm done with the main cast. Let's see how I feel ten chapters in, though. I also have yet to set up my scanner so hopefully I'll get to that this weekend since I'll be needing that.

Previously at TWC we learned about chocolate, this week you can find out if we get chips in our brains: vote here

I also accidentally took down the code for my links page while trying to update it so that'll hopefully be back up soon. Sometimes stuff like that just happens.

Thoughts On Writing: Developing Your Cast

Today's post I want to do something a little different and I want to discuss something that is very important to storytelling. Reading Bob's post about lame female characters and it got me thinking about lame characters in general. A good story, especially if it's going to be long-form, is well served by a thoughtfully considered supporting cast.

Each character in your story should add something to the narrative by their own experiences and personalities. Taking the time to give voice to background characters creates a sense of place and context to the story and to the protagonist. By taking the time to consider the lives of characters that may not take center stage you also benefit yourself as a writer and create a deeper personal understanding of your own work.

This is an aspect of world-building that is just as important as knowing how toilets flush or what the bus schedule is. Check out the 30 character challenge. Thirty characters in thirty days. If you have a cast of thirty solid characters to pull from you'll always have someone to give a scene personality. No one needs thirty main characters, but everyone needs a waiter or a grunt or couple arguing on a street corner. This is the life that stories, especially comics, thrive on.

The other reason why a story benefits from this kind of fore-thought is that a protagonist's plight is only served by the context he/she is placed in. Why do they do what they do? Who are their families and friends? What do those people do when they're not interacting with the protagonist? Are they just waiting around like a video game NPC for someone to activate them or are they living, breathing people who have just as interesting and complex stories to tell that will have to wait for another time?

None of this information ever needs to be explicitly stated in story, but it's always evident when a writer has taken the time to understand their characters. The older mentor character was once a cocky asshole himself. The girl on the street corner is worried about paying her rent on time this month. The friendly neighbor used to play sports in high school and wishes he did that again but he doesn't have time because his work keeps him busy.

Let your stories breathe. Surprise your audience by revealing subtle personality quirks and engage the reader by having a universe full of amazing and diverse people.

Thursday, October 20, 2011

So Long SoCal, See You Seattle

City of Cards C2.6: Here!

Also, I signed up for TWC and started making incentives. Ace, Plato, and other CoC guests answer your questions about what it's like in their future in stick form: Vote Here!

Feel free to give me more questions. The more, the better, and any topic is open.

So this is my final update from SoCal. Friday I head off to my final destination, Seattle. Life is an adventure, sure, but man I could use a little comfortable consistency.

On a somewhat related note, if you've been viewing my comic on inkoutbreak.com, something I totally recommend because there are a ton of awesome comics to check out there, you may have run into a 404 error on my comic. I have no idea why, possibly a cache issue, but refreshing seems to fix this issue. Beyond that, there's not much I know of to do so I made this:


Simple, to the point, if the page appears to be gone hopefully this message will pop up instead and hopefully prevent people from thinking my comic does not in fact exist.

I also really love Ace's outfit in this. Plato's is okay, but I may have to use Ace's in upcoming pencils.

Other than that, I've been doing my best to prepare for the upcoming craziness of moving again by getting as much of City of Cards inked and uploaded before I go as possible. I'm set at this point pretty much through December so hopefully during that time I'll be able to continue penciling chapter three. I really enjoy seeing where this story is going, hope you all stick around to find out as well. I have at least one other project in the works but information about that will have to come later.

Thursday, October 13, 2011

October! Still no ghosts...

City of Cards Chapter 2.5 HERE!

First, if any of the people that read my comic read this post, I want to say thank you. The idea that someone has taken the time to read my work means a great deal to me as I continue to make and share my work. If you look me up on G+ I'm often hanging out there and working on my comic via hangout and I'd love to chat with people.

Since this is the last we see of Xander for awhile, I'd like to say that this is probably one of my favorite panels that I have ever drawn ever:



I'm in LA right now sorting out a few details before I make my way up to Seattle. Pretty soon I will be attempting to get settled in the Pacific Northwest for at least the immediate future in the hopes of finding a job and time to keep my comic going. I'm pretty well prepared for there to be no reason for the comic to not update on time during my transition.

Quick, here are three comics you should check out:


All three are very different takes on sci-fi, fantasy stories but they're all equally worth giving a look.

Oh and hey, I have access to a scanner momentarily so I decided to get some sketching/penciling done. I still plan to get some proper October art done but I had an urge to do some quick concept designs for Plato's outfit in Chapter 3:


My thoughts are that even in the future, Reno probably gets pretty darn cold in winter and Chapter 3 takes place in early December. Oh yeah, random fact, City of Cards comic continuity begins on November 1st of the year it takes place in.

Okay then, back to inking the heck out of these pages!

Thursday, October 6, 2011

Reno, Vegas, Roadtrip 3

City of Cards Chapter 2.4 HERE!

So this past week was spent largely in Reno and Vegas. I did spend one night outside of Salt Lake City that actually was quite pleasant largely in thanks to the awesome dudes at the Apple Store in the Gates Mall area that replaced my popped/dead laptop battery.

Before I go into the details of Reno and Vegas, I want to indulge myself a little bit and explain something that probably only matters to me:

1) The crown on the cover is based off of the Flamingo casino:



2) The flowers are actually dodecahedron, the fifth Platonic solid that represents the Universe, Heaven, the Aether.

3) Computer circuitry that I also hoped would somewhat resemble routes on a train/subway map.

4) Ace's profile in silhouette.

5) A modified silhouette of Reno Nevada's skyline.

6) Each of the four playing card symbols representing four main characters based on a Yin Yang idea of balancing halves.

So in conclusion, yes, I do over-think things and this is probably something you never needed to know. Now, some photos from Reno and Vegas.







Thursday, September 29, 2011

Road Trip 2: So Now You Know

City of Cards Chapter 2.3 HERE!

Oh Plato, even angry teenagers think you're ridiculous.

So this past week has been a bit more of a travel whirlwind. After finishing my time in Bloomington Indiana I headed up to Chicago to spend a full day with the amazing Beth Hetland. She sold me on the city, no question. Also, Chicago fans should check out Wighthouse, a great and smart comic about a man living in the haunted Chicago Harbor Lighthouse with a real attention and passion for the Windy City as well (the man and the comic).






And the best part? The pigeon warmer:


But honestly, I'd had some reservations about Chicago which were almost completely allayed. It's beautiful, surprisingly clean, has reasonable public transportation, and has a real visible dedication to the arts. Bravo Chicago.

But where am I now? After a couple more trips down the road I am currently in Park City Utah. I'd originally wanted to spend yesterday in Rawlins, WY because I'd lived there as a kid but it was all booked up. Instead I was in Laramie for the night which work out alright.

I did snap a couple of shots of the old penitentiary in Rawlins:



The best part of Wyoming, though, in my humble opinion, is the Little America rest stop. I have a stupid love for this place, but I think it can be summed up with one word: penguin. (hard to see, but there are penguins on top of all the buildings. It's AWESOME.)



What's next? I'm on my way out towards Reno and Vegas and on the LA for a bit before I end up in Seattle. Why the hell would I go to Reno you ask? Then clearly you didn't read the write up for my comic. It's the future, baby.

Thursday, September 22, 2011

Road Trip part 1

Lest we forget, City of Cards C2P2 is HERE!

Thankfully I made sure to get a lot done before heading out because it is not easy at all to get anything done while on the road. I also don't really have access to a scanner so even if I had ample sketching time and all that scanning would be difficult. That said, I enjoy this opening part with Xander a lot and really, all of Chapter Two.

But hey, guess what the lovely Remi of the comic Earthbound drew up for me?



Dude, how awesome is that?! She makes Plato look stupid adorable. I approve.

Speaking of awesome, my first night on the road also consisted of something amazing. Specifically, I got to experience Chikara wrestling live for the first time. It was fantastic and if you ever get a chance to go to a show, GO! Here's a quick snap I grabbed of the Colony while I was in awe by the excitement:



I'm currently visiting awesome peeps in Indiana and will be making a pit-stop in Chicago soon. Bloomington is a pretty cool town but the best part is being able to see friends.

Thursday, September 8, 2011

I Believe in Fate

City of Cards page 2.1: Here!

The first page of Chapter Two is up and it's my last post here in Vermont. Fitting in a way, I suppose.

I'm generally proud of the work I've put into the comic so far, both Chapters One and Two and what I've started of Chapter Three. I hope people continue to enjoy it as the story really begins. Having the chance to even get as far as I've gotten in these past two years has meant the world to me.

I've never considered myself a confident artist, but I love what I do. As I leave the amazingly encouraging and supportive community here in Vermont, I hope to hold onto the lessons you've taught me and to be able to make you all proud one day.

I'd written a long post expressing my gratitude for the amazing people I've met here. I wanted to be able to tell you all how important you are not just to me but to everyone who will ever be lucky enough to have known you. When I reread what I'd written, everything still holds true, but I don't know if I need to say much more than I've already said here.

I believe that if we hold onto the good will we have for each other that good times will come. I have no doubt I am leaving this school a better person for having you all in my life. Never doubt that I am grateful for all of you and it's because of you that I can keep going.

And with that, I leave you all with a promise and a message.


Thank you for everything.

-C

And So Begins the Future

City of Cards Chapter 1 Page 30: Here!

Ace may be drunk, but he's not that drunk. Plato on the other hand is probably pretty damn wasted if he doesn't notice how rank Ace probably smells. Kinda love most of the way this page turned out.

And with that the first chapter is now officially online! Oh man, now things can actually get started. This upcoming weekend is SPX so come check me out at Boom! with the amazing Lawrence Derks. It's also my last weekend in Vermont so that means A LOT of stuff happening in the next while, but it also means that it's going to be kinda difficult to get any sketches scanned. Oh well, moving can't be helped.

This week, though, I finished the pencils for Rick and Xander's profile pictures so those will get finished soon:




ALSO, if you haven't checked out I've added a links page to my comic. Please check out the amazing comics that are on there as there are a few that I haven't posted about here yet and they're really worth checking out.

Wednesday, August 31, 2011

So This Happened

City of Cards page 29: Here!

No new sketches or anything this week because, uhh, things have been a little nuts. Aside from moving out of another apartment there was a little post Irene flooding issue that has been occupying the minds and bodies of the residents of WRJ and a large portion of Vermont.

This article on the Schulz Library Blog explains the current circumstances the best. We still need help here. To sum it up, Caitlin McGurk and all those that have been working their asses off are heroes.

Here's an article on the Comics Reporter by James Sturm from the night of the evacuation about the state of the library. And here is an updated article on the Comics Beat about the rescue effort where, uhh, you may see a photo of me grabbing books out of the back of a car in the middle of the night. While all the books are safe, the Main Street Museum is still in dire need of help. If you want to donate to help the Schulz Library, you can do so here at the Center for Cartoon Studies' website.

So yeah, I know I should be happy with having gotten any art/comic done in the past while, but it's tough. I'll hopefully have more time/energy next week to say more, you know, before SPX and my road trip. IT'S GO TIME!

And if you want something to get your mind off of all of this, read My Cardboard Life, a comic made out of cardboard and other stuff. It's really quite cool.

Thursday, August 25, 2011

Twist

City of Cards page 28: Here!

Finally a little more mystery with only two more pages to go.

Speaking of twists, just finished coloring this piece:


I know, what? Actually coloring something in a timely manner? Ace's black and white color palette preference makes it kinda easy, though.

Other than that, gearing up for SPX. I won't officially be tabling, but I'm planning on helping out the guys at Boom! so head on over check it out. I might get some time to wander around and help out at the CCS table as well if they're low on staff.

I'm definitely excited! I haven't been to SPX before and I can't wait to see all my bros.

Also, wanting to say something about InkOutbreak. It's a great comic aggregator that's started about a month ago and has been growing pretty steadily. I've got my site linked there if you search for it, but there's also a lot of other amazing comics up there too.

So far my favorite feature has been the archive function. Since with Ink you end up going through a lot of comics, this function allows you to bookmark your spot in a comic's archive and come back to it later. It works really smoothly. So yeah, check it out. You're likely to find something that interests you. 

Thursday, August 18, 2011

Crispy Rice Don't Fail Me Now

City of Cards page 27: Here!

I'm kinda looking forward to putting aside some time for sleep in the next little while, but I'm kinda thinking that's not going to happen. The ceiling in the closet in the apartment I've been staying had a little bit of a rainy cave-in. Oops! I've told pretty much everyone I know about that already, but it's still got me shaking my head. At least everyone here has been awesome. If I had to have crap piling down on me, at least it's happening amongst friends.

But that doesn't mean I'm not gonna keep getting things done! Didn't get a chance to ink it, but here's a work in progress drawing of Ace that I drew while trying to re-figure out some panels in Chapter Two:


I've also been trying to figure out a new outfit for him for the third chapter. So long as it's black and white and can be worn multiple times without washing I think we're good.

There's still a lot of stuff going on in my life that's making progress difficult but I'm doing my best to not fall too far behind. I'd hoped to have a lot more of Chapter Two inked at this point, but I'm still in a place where I won't have trouble updating. Chapter Three pencils have me more concerned, but so long as I can find a space to sort some stuff out before I head off I think I'll be okay.

This week saw four more amazing people head off to greater destinies. Beth, Betsey, and Penina: You three are champions. Emily, I'll be seeing you around. You all are welcome to visit me in the Emerald City.

Thursday, August 11, 2011

Four!

City of Cards page 26: Here!

Four pages to go till Chapter Two.

Random fun fact, my name, CJ Joughin is the same name as my one of my ancestors who was the chief baker on the Titanic and survived out of sheer drunken manliness. I hope to live up to his legacy.

Continuing off of last week, I offer some more sketches. First, an amazing piece of cross-over fanart done by Betsey of my dudes hanging out with hers at Nate's club:


Seriously, everything I want for my art is contained in hers. Movement, expressiveness, humor... brilliant man, brilliant.

Followed is a sketch by me of, well, Ace with his hand stuck in a peanut butter jar seeking help from Betsey's character Bryan:


Slim Jims and peanut butter. There will probably be more sketches like this in the future. Actually, I'm sure there will be more.

Some of my dear friends have moved off to New York this week and I hope they're settling in well. Paul, Lena, I wish you guys the best!!


Thursday, August 4, 2011

From One Place to the Next

City of Cards page 25: Here!

Ungh! That's what moving sounds/feels like. Next week I'll probably be in a better state to say more about plans/comic/lucha but for now I'm TIRED.

Big props to my family for being supportive during this whole move even when they've got their own stresses to deal with. Same to my friends. You've gotta look out for each other, especially when everyone needs a little/lot of support.

Speaking of which, here's a quick sketch a did a little while back of my friend Betsey's character Nate from an amazing comic she has to make or there will be repercussions. There seriously needs to be more comics about fail nightclub owners:



During all this craziness I kept my sanity by finding a couple of really great webcomics.

Le Mime - 4koma done with a gorgeous watercolour style and really charming expressive characters. It's definitely a feel good comic in the best sense.

Waking on Broken Glass - "A Supernatural Office Dramedy Romance About Murder". Sometimes a comic is hard to describe, but I'll say why I like this one: Great dialogue and believable characters in a modern/realist sci-fi/fantasy setting. A lot of this comic has so far been the interactions between the characters Kennedy and Nick and it's done well. It keeps itself light to help you get to know and care about the characters, and so that the underlying fear and twist that's being foreshadowed is something you really want to know more about.

Thursday, July 28, 2011

We Can't Let it End

City of Cards page 24: Here!

*coughforeshadowingcough* But really, this entire chapter is foreshadowing so it's not that big a deal.

I also updated the Cast page with Lily's profile. I decided I'm going to add characters chronologically at this point. I also wasn't sure who was going to get put into the full cast roster, but Lily is awesome and she belongs there:


This is my last update here in the apartment I've lived in for the past two years. It's been a place where I've felt more comfortable than anywhere else in a long time. There's definitely an emotional threshold that happens when you start to hit the two year mark. You either stay, or you pull it all together and take a chance somewhere else while you've still got the time and energy to explore and before your roots have buried themselves too firmly.

I've gotta keep moving at this point for the benefit of myself and hopefully so that I can do something that'll help out my fellow cartoonists. I believe in you guys, absolutely. You're what keeps me going and I love seeing the inspiring work you all continue to do. I will do everything in my power to help the world know how amazing you all are.

I've got another month and a half or so left in Vermont itself before my road trip begins. In August I'll be getting details for that up.

And, as seen on the Daily Show, this video of a skunk with its head in a peanut butter jar sums up the first part of my comic better than I ever could.

Thursday, July 21, 2011

Just Keep on Moving

City of Cards page 23: Here!

We continue the adventures of Beer and Ramen.

Right now, I'm pretty much just trying to not let moving stress get to me, which is undoubtedly not easy. Boxes everywhere, stuff to get rid of, endless "to do" lists... ugh. I'm getting psyched about Seattle, though, and I'm excited to see how all my friends find their ways all over this crazy country/world. It's tough, but I wish you all the best and I know you're gonna do amazing things.

So yeah, despite that I've been trying to keep working on art. Here's a sample panel from page 7 of the upcoming Chapter Two:



Because of the way I work I often end up drawing panels that end up getting cropped in the final inking process. Even though it's something I've come to accept, it's still nice to see the full panels sometimes.

With Chapter Two inking moving along, I've slowly trying to get the pencils for Chapter Three started and realized I needed to do a little character designing. Here's a few quick sketches of Joe and Trump:




I'm making sure that I've got comic uploaded for the next couple of months so that no matter what goes on at least that'll upload. Hooray!

This weeks reading recommendations?
 
Book: The Complete Essex County by Jeff Lemire - Yeah, it came out a couple of years ago, but that's no reason not to suggest you pick this book up. Lemire is a genius at capturing small town life and mixing it with a bit of the supernatural. I'm going to miss him on Superboy, something I also suggest you pick up since August is the last two issues till the reboot.

Site: The City and Its Tower - Started not too long ago, it's a comic about a city separated into two distinct levels the divide the lower and upper classes. So far we've gotten a look at the life of those that live and work in the lower areas but it already has enough mystery and pull to keep me interested. The art is also quite lovely and the panel play is smart and keeps the directed through the pages.

Thursday, July 14, 2011

You'll Never Make it in High Society

City of Cards page 22: Here!

Not gonna lie, this is probably one of my favorite pages that I've done so far. Pretty much most of the second half of this chapter was determined page by page by how drunk I figured the guys had gotten. Classy they ain't.

But hey, that's not all that's going on over at City of Cards. I've added a Cast and FAQ page introducing Ace, Plato, and the Big Five corporations.

As well, I've been reworking some of the panels on a bunch of pages so pages 8-14 are re-uploaded and I added a new intro page. Better, not perfect, but hopefully that'll be the end of all this going back for awhile and any more tweaks will be done before pages go up. No need to re-read them for story changes, but overall I hope these changes will give readers a better feel for the world I'm trying to build.


The world needs more cheesy dorks. Hopefully by the end of next week the next set of redone stuff will be up so I can fully focus on chapters 2 and 3.

Speaking of things that aren't classy and therefore high on my list of interests, here's a couple more lucha sketches:


And there's one more rudo to add to the mix:


And now, more things that are awesome!

First, an awesome comic called Cucumber Quest. I love the art and the story is really fun. As a little sister, I look forward to following this on a regular basis.

And something I recommend giving 25 minutes of your day to: Varmints

Turn out the lights, full screen, and let it wash over you with a sincere loveliness.

Thursday, July 7, 2011

Because This is What I'm Watching

City of Cards pages 20-21: Here!

The story is slowly starting to develop personality as we hit the two-thirds mark of the first chapter. Hooray! I'm also just about finished doing the reworks for the pages I wanted to get done at least for Chapter One and most of the way for Chapter Two. I'm definitely doing what I can to not get bogged down.

That isn't to say the world is without distractions, but I'm so glad it is. It's been a damn long time since I've legitimately recommended an anime but Tiger & Bunny is so ridiculously entertaining and actually decent that I don't feel bad telling people to give it a shot. Honestly, I don't know how they got so much right with this series because everything about it could absolutely be awful.

The writing is fun, the characters are really solid and don't fall into the trap of stereotypes, and despite being blatantly corporate sponsored it works. In fact, that aspect of the series is fascinating to me. That, and it's nice to see a series with an ability to have characters with a solid age and personality range and have each character feel like a well rounded and wonderfully flawed human being. It's no secret I'm a fan of JLI, and this is the kind of thing that hits that much needed spot of imperfect people doing their best despite themselves.

So yeah, give it a shot. Also, quick sketches of Sky High because this is something I could honestly see happening:


Yeah, I pretty much never do fanart but sometimes it happens. I kinda love that his head looks like a toaster.

Also, because the Buffy fan in me will never totally die, this is one of the greatest blogs ever made.

Thursday, June 30, 2011

Zoo!

City of Cards page 19: Here!

Nothing sketched up this week but I've got a few photos from my trip to the LA Zoo a couple of weeks back:





 It was an awesome day. I got to hang with my awesome buddy Ruth, the weather was gorgeous, and the animals were actually awake. That, and the sheer number of frolicking baby animals was also bonus.

By far, though, this was the best thing there:




Killer deer. How bad ass is that?

Anyway, what's next for me? Well, in one month I'll be out of my apartment and counting down the days till I'm off to Seattle, but that's also had me thinking. There's a not so secret project of mine that I've been floating around with a few people and one thing I want to do for it is to interview cartoonists as I make my way across the country. I just got myself a small video camera so that's at least step one taken care of.

I haven't plotted out my route yet, but as I do I'm going to be seeing if anyone along the way will be interested in giving me a chat and letting showcase their work. I think it'll be a great opportunity for everyone involved.