Yes, Sometimes I Draw Dogs.

I met a dog, we played Frisbee and I did a drawing of him.


I like drawing people in motion and animals because it requires a type of observation that relies partially on memory coupled with a sort of preemptive composition. I watch for a little while to see if there is a type of pose that gets repeated. I try to remember which aspect of the subject falls into consistency with that context and render it. Life drawing is something that comic book artists should be doing whenever they can.

Love in Comics Form.

For my sweet LindseyAnne's birthday I made her a comic of our love. It chronicles the first year or so of our courtship/friendship and where we are now. I love her very much and I wanted to do something sweet for her. The style is different than my usual approach but I have been enjoying the work of my studiomates Erika Moen and Colleen Coover so I thought I might go for a look like that. It was nice to relax and make decisions more from an instinctual place than an academic one.




The characters are versions of Lindsey and I that come form inside jokes between us. All of the drawings have a little of that in them. My favorite might be of the skunk though that one is also sort of unfair to the person it represents. I am with a girl who is perfect for me and I wanted to demonstrate that to her with an artistic present.

Draw Muhammad Day.

I decided to participate in this art-protest because I think it is important for everyone everywhere to have free expression of thought.

I can acknowledge religion as a cultural institution and I understand its' utility but I refuse to concede my my right to explore any topic. Nothing should be off limits for discussion or interpretation (especially under the threat of violence.) Conversation is the antidote to violence and once you limit the potential for that interaction by elevating a topic as 'sacred' or stifle a concept by deeming it 'profane', you curtail the potential for progress.

This Article seems to say it quite well

I stand by my convictions of secular free inquiry and I offer you this:

Stumbling Progress

Right Now Nathan is writing the dialogue for what was likely the most difficult page of White Pony, for me to structure, in my memory. This difficulty had much to do with not knowing where to start and thus I ended up with a bunch of scribbles and not much in the way of progress.


I found out a couple of things that I'll share with you about how to work through similar issues.


1. Define the central theme for the page or sequence before you start drawing:

In this case Nathan and I wanted to give our Character Bloar a chance to shine. I wanted that to happen with him in a kind of rodeo scene with a giant bat and have the final aspect of that sequence involve a rich visual of where we make use of the setting. The problem initially was that I hadn't set up those goals very clearly so I wasn't efficient. Once I laid it out in simple terms my objective became more clear.

2. Keep the storytelling clear:

There can be a temptation to succumb to gimmicks. I had all sorts of ideas in mind that would look 'cool' but would ultimately have scattered the themes I wanted to convey by introducing too much. If I remind myself that the point is to forward the story then it becomes evident that some visuals will take the reader out of the narrative and cause them to focus on formalism. I want the reader to forget that they are reading a comic and feel immersed. If I fail in that then the drawing was not well conceived.

3. Let panel shape and size be your guide:

once you have an idea of a strong theme and a clear panel to start or finish with you can trust in that image and begin to orient the other images on the page. I liked the function of along vertical for the first image which helped determine what the shape of the others would be. I could take the raw materials from my thumbnail drawings and fit them into that grid. If possible. give your self a lot of room to breathe (6 panels or less tend to work out best.) If not then switch up the scale and keep the layout 'boring.' Once you start to get crazy with panels all bets are off and you might as well ignore my first two points.




I was able to triangulate between these 3 points to layout a page I was satisfied with. In the future I'm going to try and keep these things in mind and I offer them to you in the hopes that you'll treat them like a jolt of focus when your creative batteries are tapped out.

Everybody was... fast as lightning.

I have started a couple of sketchbooks recently (most of my drawings can be seen on my new website) and some of the most challenging drawings involved trying to capture some Kung Fu students practicing and sparring:





I like to do portraits in my new Molskine sketchbook:






I enjoy doing drawings for people who help me out like Jim from Amphead:



Please keep checking in from time to time and I'll keep posting what I've been working on. My POTP this time around is FLOODWORKS.NET-an impressive site full of beautiful artwork and cool concepts. Check them out if you are so inclined.