In celebration of ten years since the release of THE CURE, a single by musician, collaborator, and dear friend N Vs. A (AKA N Slash A), I have created new cover-art for the song's re-release:
The lyrics are as relevant to the current moment as they were 10 years ago, and the music is a glorious nod to the rock sounds of the late 90s/early aughts, which as I understand it, is making a comeback. Give it a listen here.
Early on in my work on THE SOLAR GRID, I used to pencil pretty tight, with the inking process constituting little more than tracing. Now, I pencil very loosely.
And then work in much of the drawing directly in ink:
Also, this panel right here:
I definitely wouldn't have had the confidence to put that in there early on. I've always loved Godard's rear-view driving sequence in BREATHLESS though. How I'd love to several pages of that sort of thing in comix.
Realized I've only mentioned this in my newsletter, but not yet here or the main dot com (another thing I ought to tend to this weekend), so here it is:
Forthcoming from MIT press and currently available for preorder, DEEP DREAM presents new science fiction stories about the future of art. Contributors include Samit Basu, Vajra Chandrasekera, Neil Clarke, Aliette de Bodard, Cassandra Khaw, Lavanya Lakshminarayan, Archita Mittra, Sloane Leong, Bruce Sterling, Wole Talabi, Lavie Tidhar and myself.
From the intro by Indrapramit Das:
“Renowned Egyptian artist Ganzeer gives us a vision of a USA where the production of art is forbidden in 'Unauthorized (Or, the Liberated Collectors Commune),' bringing his vibrantly playful countercultural sensibilities to the beloved science-fictional story of robots given to identity crises by the existence of their human creators.”
Pretty much sums it up. I recall writing it between Texas and Mexico shortly after separating from my now ex-wife, all of which seeps into the story somewhat. I've also come to notice that artists seem to make an appearance in most everything I write. Granted, this particular anthology's theme is the future of art. But still, I've got an artist in CRISPR THAN YOU (the story that appeared in THE BIG BOOK OF CYBERPUNK) and another in CHARLIE AND THE ALIENS which appears in WHO WILL SPEAK FOR AMERICA?. I've also got more than one in THE SOLAR GRID.
Oops.
Scanned in all the original art from TSG01 which forced me to look at it for the first time in a long time, realizing how drastically my line art has changed since I first started this ill-conceived project some nine years ago. Looking at those ancient pages, you can almost feel the weight of the world on my shoulders, stiff controlled lines, terrible worry. Not sure that comes across on the printed page necessarily, but certainly palpable on the original boards.
Lines loosen and glide a bit more on my latter pages, even in those scenes where I attempt to replicate the lineart from earlier pages.
Inking a couple pages today. A few orders need to be fulfilled, and a grocery run is in order, but dark windy skies threaten with hard rain.
Late night inks on TSG. I reckon there'll be many such nights in coming weeks. Meanwhile, Garage.Ganzeer is being stocked with many original drawings and production art. Updates to Ganzeer.com to follow. Newsletter forthcoming this Saturday.
THE CURSE OF I #1 is now completely sold out. Only 4 copies remain of THE CURSE OF I #2.
More cover art to do today, inks on a TSG page, and adding a Clearance section to the Garage.
