Terrible migraine this morning, and much on the docket:
1) Photograph the entirety of PROJECT OLDBOOK.
2) Ink TSG page.
3) Work on two book covers.
Will also need to bake a fresh batch of granola this morning because I'm out. Pretty big project fell through the other day, which clears up a good chunk of the remainder of the year. Good for getting on with TSG, but less than ideal on the financial end of things. May have to finally part with some original TSG pages, something I've managed to avoid thus far. All of them, over 300 to date, still in my possession.
#journal #work
Passed out almost immediately after child was picked up by his mother yesterday, leaving much laundry, dishes, and other messes to deal with this Monday. Not an ideal way to start the work week. Managed to ink a page of TSG nonetheless. On the second-to-last chapter as we speak. In that so-close-yet-so-far stage of finally completing the book.
Went to see Garland's CIVIL WAR not once, but twice. It is very, very good. Some of its flaws are rather noticeable the second time around, but it is still very good, very powerful. Manages to suggest a great deal despite a rather simple, straightforward plot. Something I oughtta learn to do myself sometime.
#journal #work #film #watches
Reclining Nude 2024 – Mixed Media on Paper, 22”x15”
#work
Very close to completing PROJECT OLDBOOK. It wasn't at all mapped out going in. All I had was a very general overarching concept, developing imagery as I went along, consistently surprised by the results as they came about. Despite images at the tail end of the book looking significantly different to the ones at the start, it all works I think, owing primarily to the vessel itself, the actual “old book”, bringing it all together.
Case in point. Rear-page:
Early front-end page:
#work
34 pages left on PROJECT OLDBOOK, after which I'm sure I'll come out the other end completely transformed. Can already feel my brain getting rewired.
“It is to Cubism that the next serious innovators are bound to return.” – John Berger, THE SUCCESS AND FAILURE OF PICASSO
I feel this, in a sense, is very spot on. Not so much Cubism's aesthetic, as much as its intent.
#journal #work #reads
Compounded fatigue and frustration beginning to creep in.
#journal #work
Came across this Arabic comix magazine on my shelf and realized I have yet to post about it, and it is certainly worthy of a post, not just because I happen to be featured in it but because its format/approach isn't one I think I've come across before.
Featuring critical essays, extensive interviews and complete short comix, the inaugural issue of [+] Magazine is a hefty 154-page package, jumpstarted by editor extraordinaire Jad Khoury. Each issue has an over-arching theme (though I'm not sure if any issues have been produced since its inaugural Nov. 2022 issue), this one being “Arab Revolts and Comix Strips”. Under the umbrella of this theme are 5 critical essays and 5 complete short comix, and one graphic novel excerpt, each accompanied by an in-depth interview with its creator.
Here are a few photos from my interview:
And here's a link to my featured comix, a crop of which made the cover.
#coverage #work
PROJECT OLDBOOK trudging along, around the midway point now. Really need to move faster though.
Very early on in the project, the idea of something AI-based was suggested. But no, I ended up going in the absolute polar opposite direction with the most tactile and labor intensive thing imaginable for some reason.
Masochistic tendencies probably.
#work
Sometimes you just gotta bust out that glue stick.
Nothing about how I approach comix is conventional, and it's going to get weirder and weirder.
Inboxes zero. Glorious day.
#work #comix #TSG
Drew and designed this cover back in 2019, but it wasn't published until late 2022, and I only got my comp copy this year because Walter (Chaw) was so adamant about getting it signed by Walter Hill for me. I'm glad he did, it's a delightful and humbling inscription which I'm keeping private. A fluke at the publishing house seems to have resulted in the absence of my credit though. Oh well. More pix of the book here.
Still recovering from toddler germs, may need another full day to recover. Can't write or draw for shit, so I figured working on [very belatedly] populating the website with projects from the past couple years is a mindless enough task for me to muster. Also getting the new newsletter platform in order. Getting all systems up to speed for optimum operation. There will be quite a bit of that over the next month or so after which I'm hoping for smooth, seamless sailing.
#work #journal