MoCCA Review & Etsy Update

Well, another year, another MoCCA. And this one was quite a knock out. It went by so fast my head was spinning. There was a great crowd and great exhibitors and just a lot of fantastic energy and comics love all weekend long. I ♥ the MoCCA Comic Festival in a major way. I saw my favorite people, met some new great people, and scored some sweet books.



There I am signing a copy of my latest comic "The Lettuce Girl Pt. II". For those of you who couldn't make it to the show, but want (need/desire/can't live without) a copy, you can now order it on-line at my Etsy shop HERE. I also have onesies and underwear up for sale. Cute, cheap, adored by all.



As always after a big show like this I spend some time disoriented and sort of empty feeling after it is all done. For the past four months I feel as if every cell in my body has been primed towards this one goal: write, draw and bind "The Lettuce Girl" and now that it's done I barely know what to do with myself. And then I remember, oh wait here comes the other part of self-publishing: the distribution, the reprinting, the e-mailing and general administrative hooplah. Good thing I kind of like this part too. Also I may be attending APE out in California this fall which would make October my new deadline for the third installment. Can I get a what what?

MoCCA is Now!

Come out to the Armory this weekend for MoCCA Fest! It's the best comic book convention of the year, and I will be there with the wonderful Anna Raff at table I-13. Drop by and check out my latest comic, the second installment of "The Lettuce Girl" (pictured below) and all the other fun stuff we'll have. I am so to see everyone's new and amazing work. See you there!



MoCCA Fest 2011!
A Fundraiser for the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art-MoCCA
Saturday April 9th and Sunday April 10th 11am-6pm

At the Lexington Avenue Armory
68 Lexington Ave (Between 25th &26th Streets)
New York City

Update!

I have finished inking my comic....sort of. Technically all the pages are inked, but now I have to go through the slightly harrowing process of revising the work which requires a lot more inking, re-inking, and copious amount of designer white gauche. So I put it all on the wall where I can see it more clearly. Even within the making of this book there has been a very steep learning curve and I frown upon the early pages, the ones made before I relearned how to become wholly comfortable with my nib pen again. Revising those pages is particularly painful. Hopefully this process can be finished in the next couple days. I'm ready for the whole process to move on to scanning. Then printing, binding, and sharing.

If I can be almost embarrassingly honest, I will admit that it is times like this when I think to myself, "I'm not a liar. This is not just a bunch of talk. I actually make comics. I actually do what I say I do." And then after momentary self-satisfaction, I let the flood gates of self hatred open wide so I can get started on some real art.

Also I am in full fledged MoCCA mode. As should you be. So don't forget:

MoCCA Festival 2011!!
April 9-10, 2011
at the 69th Regiment Armory
68 Lexington Avenue New York City



Check out the new poster! And all other pertinent up-to-date information can be found HERE!

Update etc.

These are some photos of what I have been up to in the past weeks. Measuring and tearing paper and a lot (a lot) of drawing and inking. After about a year of talking about it I have actually written, penciled, and am now inking the second installment of The Lettuce Girl. There is still so much work to do, but I can say with growing confidence that it will be done on schedule, i.e. on time for MoCCA. Actually I am hurtling forward at an almost dizzying pace. It helps I don't do much else except go to work and then come home to ink ink ink. My hands are at that stage where they are embedded so deeply with ink that no amount of washing does any good. Maybe I will post a gross picture of that too.
I have a couple other sub-projects in the works which will hopefully not be too neglected in the next month or so. So keep checking in for more updates, pictures, and pictures of pictures!
xo.

What I have been up to?

So I have a whole back log of news and information and goings on.

First of all, I am very excited to share that I am now a featured cartoonist on Top Shelf 2.0. The first "Lettuce Girl" is posted in its entirety so go visit the site and give it gander if you haven't seen a copy yet.



Second of all, I have done a couple of "Photo Finish" assignments for Time Out New York since I last posted. You can see them here and here.

Now it is Fall and a new round of conventions has begun. SPX was a couple of weekends ago and tons of fun, as I was sharing a table with my friend J.T. Yost. As always, it is such a pleasure spending the weekend with talented peers and interested and informed readers. I attended two good panels, both moderated by the venerable Bill Kartalopoulos. One was a talk with one of my greatest heroes Jamie Hernandez and the other an enlightening conversation on teaching comics, which dealt with comics in academia. I had the pleasure of running into and catching up with cartoonists such as L. Nichols, Nate Bulmer, Brendan Leach, Box Brown, Jesse Reklaw, amongst others. I had a lot of great photo ops, but I forgot my camera so I am gonna steal this picture of the last moments of the convention off of J.T.'s blog:


That's J.T. and his wonderful little family. They are beautiful people.

I also got to meet Xavier Xerexes who runs the fantastic site ComixTalk and who reviewed The Deformitory last year. He is great guy and did cool short sets of interviews with creators all over the show. If you want to see mine go watch it here. I think I pulled it off with minimal awkwardness.

And lastly the page for the upcoming exhibit Ink Plots is now up on the SVA website. So check it out for any and all information. I hope to see some of you at the reception.

I think that's it for now, I have some more stuff in works so stay tuned for more comics and comics news!

Lettuce Girl Review

I was very happy to see today that my book The Lettuce Girl Pt. 1 was reviewed by Rob Clough for The Comics Journal. Reading his review got me excited about the work I am doing on the next installment and that is a very good thing. The more it develops the more eager I am to share the rest of the story with readers. You can read his very thoughtful review at TCJ right here.

Also I set up my Etsy shop. I just put up my comics for now, but ladies under wear and baby clothes are soon to follow. Please check it out and browse my humble inventory.



And here is an illustration of a lady in a turtle neck without a head. I can't say I don't relate a little right now. Have you ever been at once overwhelmed and terrified yet amazingly motivated and positive? Let me know if you've experienced this seemingly contradictory set of emotions all at the same time. It's a strange brew.

What is Up.

Dear Blog Readers,

I have been away for a while and before I was away I was swamped, but, as usual, that doesn't mean that stuff wasn't going down. Here's the short list:



First of all I am proud to post the first Lettuce Girl review. Sheena McNeil reviewed it for Sequential Tart and I am glad to report she sounds interested enough to want to read more. Link to it here.

Also check out this belated, but much appreciated Deformitory review courtesy of Johanna Draper Carlson of Comics Worth Reading. It is the third one down.



I also wanted to share the last two "Photo Finish" features I have done for Time Out New York. On June 3rd a dog centric one, and in May I managed to work a baby into a strip here.

In Convention News I will be attending SPX this September on the 11th and 12th in Bethesda, Maryland . Not so coincidentally that it also the date of my official deadline for The Lettuce Girl Pt. 2. I am sharing a table with J.T. Yost like last year and I am very excited.

We will also be exhibiting together at King Con in Brooklyn this Fall, November 4-7th. For more info go to the website here.

I think that's in for updates and developments. Otherwise I am hard at work roughing out the new installment of The Lettuce Girl and plotting my life in general.

New Comic: The Lettuce Girl Pt. 1

This post is to officially announce that my new book The Lettuce Girl Pt.1 will be available to purchase at MoCCA Art Fest this weekend. If you are in New York or any where near New York, or if you love comics or even just enjoy comics from time to time this is the place for you to be this weekend. It will be amazing; the best exhibitors, best art and best panels on the east coast no doubt about it. MoCCA is my favorite convention, and if you've ever been you know why and if you are a first timer this weekend you are about to find out why.

Other than my new book I will also have a two page comic in Rabid Rabbit's new issue (Rabid Rabbit's Tall Tales and Magnanimous Myths). I was lucky to get a copy at the release party a couple weeks ago and it is beautiful and jammed packed with stellar work, so be sure to check that out too.

I will be sharing a table with a couple of my former table mates and two of my favorite friends/cartoonists Dunja Jankovic and Anna Raff. We all have new books and new stuff and are excited to share. So come by G13 which as far as I can tell runs along the back wall so we shouldn't be too hard to miss. Poster below with all the details. See you there!