For the past couple of weeks now, I end my days without completely ticking off everything on my deck because my assessment of what I can handle has been a bit off. Today however is the first day in a while where I got all the things done and even added a couple more since I had the time. Squeezed in a short workout too, and whipped up a mean chicken fajita bowl for dinner. Life is good.

Pencils for THE SOLAR GRID Ch.6 are getting looser by the day (see above) as a result of having taken on multiple work-for-hire stuff this month. Which may not be a bad thing. It just leaves more room to actually draw stuff in the inking stage. Something I'm gonna need to account for when allotting time for it. Keeping inks till after I'm done with these other projects.

#Journal #Work #Comix #TheSolarGrid

Huge congrats to Doctor Kelsey P. Norman's first book release, RELUCTANT RECEPTION from Cambridge University Press, for which I happily provided cover art and design.

Let's face it; academic books are notoriously fugly, even those put out by top university presses. A quick skim through any academic press's catalogue will aptly demonstrate such.

And if you zero in on any press's “middle eastern studies” department, you'll see that they are far from exempt of the clichés of American mass media; women in niqab abound, a close-up on an exotic Arab face, or perhaps crowds of angry or miserable looking brown people, or maybe... a photo of Islamic architecture, even if the subject matter has nothing whatsoever to do with architecture.

Honestly, clichés and stereotypes aside, it still wouldn't be so bad if the designs were actually good. Terrible typographic treatments and horrendous compositions are aplenty with academic books.

Not on my watch (Humblebrag without the humble 😎).

#Work #Design #Publication

Finally done thumbnailing Chapter 6, clocking in at 34 pages (not including backmatter to be provided by Elliott Colla) despite my initial estimate of it coming in at 18!

That's okay though; you discover things in the thumbnail process that aren't absolutely evident when you're just writing/plotting the thing. Sequences that you feel ought to be handled as such:

That's from Koike and Kojima's LONE WOLF AND CUB.

You can certainly show someone leaving a scene in one single panel, but that difference in pacing results in a different emotional impact. And you need to oscillate between various approaches to pacing as per the needs of each scene. I've certainly applied the fast-cut-exit approach a couple times already.

To the left is a flashback sequence from Chapter 4, and to the right is a scene from Chapter 5 set in Japan (hence, that sort-of manga vibe).

Earlier in Chapter 3, I had a scene that required a much slower exit, just to give a sense of the scope of the place being exited from.

As it turns out, Chapter 6 needed a few slow moments. But then again, I'm not awfully religious about sticking to my thumbs, and will often change things up when I work on the actual pages (as is evident when comparing thumbs for Chapter 4 with what actually became of the chapter).

Radix Media's kickstarter (which includes a serialized edition of THE SOLAR GRID) is now 90% funded. A couple thousand (and a few hours) to go and their entire Graphic Narrative series will be greenlit!

#Journal #Work #Comix #TheSolarGrid

Started my day with a bulletproof coffee in an attempt to get back into my Keto diet, the first week of which will turn anyone into a zombie.

Perhaps, not the best day to attempt this, given that my OSU/Cartoon-Library lecture is today!

In about an hour actually. Still time to register for this virtual talk if you like comix and good trouble.

#Journal #Work #Talk

Wave 2 of my affordable poster series, “Capitalist Realism”, is now available!

Now... time for a quick exercise.

#Work #Art #Design

Making edits to what will become the second wave of posters at garage.ganzeer.com, elevating the images into new works rather than just reproductions of older stuff.

Tempted to title this wave CAPITALIST REALISM.

Which already conjures up a certain strain of imagery.

#Work #Journal

Today's morning spread.

Got inspired to properly revisit WATCHMEN after burning through WATCHING THE WATCHMEN. I can't even remember when I last reread it and wonder how it'll read this time around.

Still reading the LONE WOLF AND CUB omnibus which is wholly different, with each chapter being a stand alone “adventure” so to speak. It's really just a samurai getting into a different fight each episode, somehow involving his kid one way or another. Still, very different than say, the superhero villain of the month stuff that was coming out of America at around the same time, especially in terms of the storytelling techniques employed. A lot of mood, atmosphere, and case and effect. And of course the more impressionistic ink work. Frank Miller's genius isn't his level of craft or artistry, but his ability to study and absorb a multitude of different comix-making techniques and make them his own. The influence LONE WOLF AND CUB had on him, and subsequently American comix-making at large is so so obvious, and for good reason.

THE SOLAR GRID is arguably my WATCHMEN in that it is one large arching story, but once it is complete I'd really like to do something more episodic in nature, so LONE WOLF AND CUB is a good primer for that (also: FELL by Ellis and Templesmith and GLOBAL FREQUENCY by Ellis and various).

REBELS AGAINST THE FUTURE I return to often, largely as research for Chapter 07 of THE SOLAR GRID, a sequence of which takes place in the year 1818 A.D.

Also on today's plate is a little prep work for my upcoming talk organized by Ohio State University and The Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum.

More TSG thumbs to map out as well, and a dig through the archives for what will make up my second wave of affordable posters.

#Journal #Work

One of my favorite stages in creating comix is the thumbnail stage, where you plan out your pages in miniature form. This is where the bulk of creative choices in regards to storytelling, transitions, reveals are made. First 3 chapters I used regular letter-sized printer paper, folded in half, but the pages were loose and I misplaced them often, so for Chapters 4-onward, I adopted an A6-sized blank Leuchtturm 1917 notebook, which I like very much. I imagine it'll serve as my vessel for all manner of comix-thumbnailing for the foreseeable future (which will hopefully result in the accumulation of a whoooole stack of them 🤞).

My thumbs aren't pretty—nowhere near the tightness of say... a Dave Gibbons—but for those who are into this sort of thing, I've made available the entire thumbs for Chapter 4 of THE SOLAR GRID, my longest chapter to date.

#journal #work #comix #TheSolarGrid

The 3rd track in the sonic companion to THE SOLAR GRID graphic novel has dropped! THE SOLAR GRID SOUNDSCAPE by N Slash A is absolutely wild. I cannot stop listening to all three tracks back to back.

#Journal #Work #TheSolarGrid

Putting together this talk for Ohio State University's Global Comics Lecture Series (the title of which was actually suggested by the organizer) and I'm starting to notice how quite a bit of my work on THE SOLAR GRID is informed by those outrageous times some ten years ago. And of course, a lot of what I did back then, be it on walls or in galleries was itself informed by comix. Everything feeds into everything.

It'll be fun to talk about, even if it's all virtual with no actual meeting of people in meatspace (hey, I'll take what I can get). Will include some shop talk on the making of THE SOLAR GRID as well.

October 19th is the day, 2:00pm is the time (EST, I'm assuming).

RSVP here.

Radix Media is also organizing an online event, comprised of Molly Crabapple, John Dermot Woods, Matt L. and myself. Anything involving Crabapple is a joy.

#Journal #Work #Talk