
| maurice sendak | May 8th, 2012 |
Maurice was an artistic MASTER, a mentor, a friend, and a beautiful person.
Posted in Friends | 11 Comments »
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| stump down & melt town | April 26th, 2012 |
Here’s a couple more events to extend last week’s list: This Saturday – April 28th – I’ll be at Portland’s own Stumptown Comics Fest, signing for the CBLDF from 1-2pm. CBLDF suggests a $10 donation, but it’s for a worthy cause. Then, the day after the Skirball event in LA, I’ll be at super cool MELTDOWN COMICS – May 11th, 7pm.
After my Barcelona & LA trips, I plan to get started drawing the “all-ages book”, but in the meantime I’m dabbling in a number of small projects – including a cover for Wisconsin buddy Tim Seeley’s farm noir series REVIVAL. A creepy sort of “X-Files meets Fargo” story set in our childhood stomping grounds of Wausau, Wisconsin. A) thumbnailed idea sketches, B) pencils, C) final inks & colors.
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| team spirit | April 17th, 2012 |
A 270-page thumbnail draft of my new all-ages book was completed today. About three months’ work versus two years spent on the thumbnails for HABIBI. For the new project, I scored a new $50 drafting table so that the vintage table HABIBI was drawn on can have company. That’s cartoonist buddy Farel Dalrymple in the photo joining me for a day of drawing. Also noteworthy is that HABIBI has been honored with two Eisner award nominations! The award’s namesake is the late, great Will Eisner. Check here for the full list of categories and nominees.
This week, I’ll be at Calvin College in my home-state of Michigan for the Festival of Faith & Writing. This includes an exhibition of original art open to the public on Friday, April 20th at 6:30pm. The show runs for a week after; M-T 9am-5pm, W-F 9am-9pm, Sat 10am-4pm. Concerning travel, I’m considering over a dozen invites from all over the world, but the only ones confirmed for now are A) Calvin’s Festival of Faith & Writing, B) the Saló Internacional del Còmic in Barcelona, Spain; May 3-6, and C) the Skirball Cultural Center in LA accompanying their Women Hold Up Half the Sky exhibition; 8pm on May 10th. And I hope to make it to this summer’s San Diego Comic-con!
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| onde nouveaux deux | February 15th, 2012 |
Continuing on the themes of last week’s post, you’ll find a link to my acceptance essay for the PNBA award which explains the Hokusai
On a Valentine’s note, OPRAH named BLANKETS one of the greatest love stories of all time. (?!?) (Bless her soul!)
Also, overlooked in that last post was a recap of London and Angoulême tour. London, as you know, is a charming city full
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| new wave | February 3rd, 2012 |
Home safe & sound, and desperate to take a break from travel for a while. My new babies are being neglected!
Next weekend is an easy jaunt to the Cannon Beach Book Company on the Oregon coast to give a talk and accept the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association award. Saturday, February 11th, 2pm — actually held at the library across the street from the store. I chose the location, because CBBC is an impressive book shop that’s a comfort to peruse on a rainy day at the coast, but also because Cannon Beach is a spiritual sanctuary where I’ve been nourished by the ocean in the company of friends, sea lions, probably some sharks, and occasionally sun. This painting by my dear buddy Dan Attoe perfectly captures the magic of our cozy surf cove.
Here’s another glimpse of that beach from the earliest days of this blog, five years ago. Still a good mantra: “Goonies never say die.” |
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| thousand and one thank yous | November 23rd, 2011 |
Grateful to finally be home to Portland where a dear friend made this gift:
Big thanks to all of you who attended the HABIBI events. And thank you to everyone who’s supporting the book. |
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| floating world | October 9th, 2011 |
HABIBI book tour is a sandwich. One bread slice (or one month) is American (two days Canada) and the other slice is European. In between was a thin slab of Portland time, flavored with coffee and rainwater; the tastiest part being the HABIBI-inspired art show hosted by Floating World. Pictured here: Carson Ellis, whose new book WILDWOOD with hubby Colin Meloy is a MUST-HAVE — and Theo Ellsworth, who worked alongside me in the studio, drawing his book CAPACITY, occasionally indulging in afternoon cognacs while inking.
Below, from left to right: Fabio Moon, Gabriel Ba, Brandon Graham.
Not pictured: Mike Allred, Farel Darlrymple, Lark Pien, Aaron Renier, Jen Wang. My cartoonist friends are the best in the world. These scans don’t do the pieces justice. If you live in Portland, check out the actual work at FLOATING WORLD. For everyone else, the show has motivated me to put together some sort of special book so that these beautiful tributes can be adequately shared. My continual thanks to you readers for making it to the events and being so kind. Euro tour begins TOMORROW. |
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| percolate & press | August 29th, 2011 |
Kudos to all of you who figured out the CHUNKY RICE thank you cards (circa 1999). Grant got Jeff Smith and Eddie Campbell. In other news, the mural for my brother’s brand engagement agency BOLSTER is complete, thanks to the handiwork of Andrew Young.
And there’s some great documentation of HABIBI at the printers on my German publisher Reprodukt‘s blog.
And finally thanks to my brother for updating the look of THIS blog. HABIBI book tour begins in less than two weeks.
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| “the severed branches were still reaching for air” | August 6th, 2011 |
Writer Elif Shafak: “In Istanbul, you understand, perhaps not intellectually but intuitively, that East and West are ultimately imaginary ideas,
Meanwhile, my friend Kazim Ali is traveling through Jerusalem and Palestine and blogging at the Huffington Post. Please, check it out.
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| bolster beginnings | May 18th, 2011 |
My little bro Jon (“Phil” in BLANKETS: see pee fight) runs a brand management design firm named BOLSTER with two biz partner buddies.
The REAL work — the tangible, sexy work of putting paint to wall – was handled by the talented Andrew Young.
As BOLSTER’s grand opening, Andrew’s birthday, and the mural’s completion approach, I’ll post more. (Next week, I’m in NYC for BEA.) |
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