New goodies have arrived. As far as nibs go, I've only ever inked with a G (center). Excited to put the rest to the test.
Generally speaking, I find that the more I use nibs and brushes, the less I enjoy working with pens.
Digital I've come to loathe.
Two new lovely tributes have arrived in honor of The Lit One. A children's book by none other than John J. Muth, who I had no idea even did children's books (I know him from a couple of his more grownup oriented comix), and a can of Robin Sloan's own brand of olive oil, Fat Gold!
No sender information came with the Muth book, but huge huge thanks to the anonymous sender. I will likely get a kick out of poring over it numerous times before Moony every manages to.
The olive oil came from a dedicated group of very fine individuals who frequent my forum, Restricted.Academy. I gotta say, I dig how it comes with a funky risoprinted single-sheet zine with a little info on the making of olive oil, a recipe, and some recommended reading (Can this olive oil get even more tailored to me?! I don't think so!).
Very lovely surprises to find in my mailbox.
In other news, congrats to my friends at Radix Media who after only 1 week into their kickstarter have made it to 50% of their target! Very excited for their graphic narrative collection, but of course I'm biased given that it includes a 10-part hardcopy serialization of THE SOLAR GRID, delivered monthly starting April 2021!
Six days since my last entry, which although not entirely blasphemous is still not ideal. I want to get back into the habit of blogging everyday, because it helps keep things arranged in my head, and gives something of a metronome to my otherwise very fluid existence.
Knowing that kids learn by observation more so than telling, I'm trying to be mindful of the amount of screen-time I spend per day, because even if my child is only a couple months old, he... he stares. He stares at me intently all the time, and I don't want the unshakeable image he registers of me to be daddy-staring-at-screen, be it computer or phone.
But with that being said, I'd still like to blog everyday. I imagine entries will start being a bit more concise.
Today and yesterday he helped daddy fulfill orders, getting quite a kick out of the sound of folding paper and cutting tape :)
My friends at Radix Media launched their Kickstarter today.
They're planning a whole collection of graphic narrative publications including an adult coloring book by none other than the bohemian mistress of rebellion herself, Ms. Molly Crabapple, as well as a graphic novella written by scholar of the written word Mr. John Dermot Woods and brought to life by inkslinging ninja Mr. Matt L. The collection also includes my own graphic novel epic THE SOLAR GRID, which Radix Media will be serializing in 10 saddle-stitched artisanal booklets.
Early pledgers get the chance of scooping up the entire graphic narrative collection for only $150! š¤Æ
I suspect Radix Media will be producing these in relatively limited quantities, so this kickstarter may be the only way to guarantee acquiring these unique editions.
Summer is officially over, and with that Houston's Moody Center for the Arts just released a video that provides an overview of their summer program, of which was an installation of my own, IT TAKES A VILLAGE, was created.
In other news, I'm also offering up my WALLS OF (UN)FEAR triptych, which admittedly I'm finding a little too hard to part with (Gotta clear up space to make new work though!).
They can be acquired either separately or collectively. Interested collectors can contact me directly to inquire about prices and payment options.
I keep getting asked to make available affordable poster editions of some of my art, something I've been neglecting to do because I'm often too caught up in creating the new!
So I've decided to release a series of posters in waves of three. One wave each month until the end of 2020, with each wave adhering to a theme of sorts.
For the first wave (pictured above), titled āThe Resistanceā, I'm revisiting a few āclassicsā of mine and reintroducing them with a slightly new spin on the originals.
All three posters are now up at garage.ganzeer.com
First restaurant experience since March! It wasn't even that long, maybe an hour or hour-thirty tops to make it back home in time for Moony's next feed. But man did we need it.
Next up is to re-institute some socializing practices. Still with proper precautions and social-distancing measures in place, but it's really unnatural and unhealthy (at least for me) to completely eliminate any and all social interaction with other humans for so, so long.
Over six months in with no clear end in sight, it's high time we starting devising new ways to go about living. A pause might work for a time, but not forever.
Exercise is another thing. It took me months to get into the habit of hitting the gym daily, and once I finally did it was only a monthish before Covid hit and since then my excercise regiment has been on hold. We're finally just now taking steps to building ourselves a little home gym. Had we moved on this as early as May, we would've been in much better shape both mentally and physically.
Was updating Ganzeer.com, including my comix section, and realized that the only year I put out more than one chapter of THE SOLAR GRID was 2016! And then there was literally no release in 2017, and none in 2019! Fucking shameful. Both those years did involve moving between states, but still. I do feel pretty fucking crummy about it.
With only 3 months left before the end of 2020, the year is kind of almost over already (sorry to have to break it to ya). If I can squeeze in one more THE SOLAR GRID release before year's end, I'll be happy. And if by 2021, I manage to tap into some of that 2016 energy, I should be able to pump out 3 more chapters of The Grid, which would finally bring the graphic novel to a close.
Imagine that? š¶
Other than that, I'd be happy if I did nothing else but take on a couple of installations and unloaded a painting... or three.
Oh, but I actually have another wicked book with Colla in the works. And may put together one single-edition artist book of my own.
We'll see. Don't wanna bite more than I can chew.
But who am I kidding?
Finally got around to photographing WALLS OF (UN)FEAR, a large triptych I finished in 2019! š¤Ŗ
(What is time anymore?)
They're quite large, about 121.9 x 269 cm each (that's 48āx106ā to the isolationists) which means they're not particularly easy to photograph. They involved photographing each one in parts and then stitching the pix together in Photoshop which pretty much consumed the entire weekend (with, in my opinion, only passable results).
In any case, this work finally has an entry on Ganzeer.com, which includes larger pix, a few closeups, and a little backstory into its making.
A bit more website maintenance tomorrow along with some administrative stuff. Hoping to get back into the creative stuff come Tuesday (then again, what is time anymore?).
Just back from a 3-day beach getaway with the wife and child, where I learned to enjoy existence without ever looking at my computer. Our days were divided between laying on the sand, dipping into the sea, eating delicious food, and being wholly absorbed by our books. I've been alternating between Simon Roy's HABITAT and Roger Zelazny's LORD OF LIGHT, which go very well together. The latter I started in Denver a couple years ago only to reluctantly abandon it when shit got real and I got a little too caught up in the everyday to-do's and stresses they involved. It felt very fitting to escape back into it with my short escape to a pretty secluded beach town, and what an escape this book is.
I'm only midway through, but it's already got me wondering how most of fiction was ever written afterwards. The bar is set so high with this one that 99% of the books adorning the shelves of bookshops seem so frivolous in comparison. A great and marvelous work that encompasses everything any creative act should set out to do.
Back in Houston reassessing how I go about my days, which I'm hoping will no longer involve my phone or computer first thing in the morning. All in all, a successful and long overdue time outside the house, despite a sea full of jellyfish and relentless assaults by mosquito.
(photo by the wife)
Realizing that āTHE SOLAR GRIDā doesn't quite have anywhere near the same commercial cache as, say, a SPIDER-MAN or STAR WARS, I thought maybe I don't need to have the title run so large across the top bit of the cover and perhaps a more unusual layout for the cover-dress might serve as a better visual attractor.
Still best to abide by the top third rule though, so maybe something more like this:
Still have room to let the artwork creep into that section, but visually it should stand out a bit more than the typical comicbook cover.
Notice no publisher logos, will probably move them to the back alongside the barcode. I dunno, it's more tasteful that way?
EDIT: On second thought, maybe bigger issue number...
