APE 2015

Allentine on the right and myself on the left

Alternative Press Expo was a lot of fun this year, even with the change of venue and my need to commute to the Bay Area after moving to LA. Although there was definitely less attendees than last year when the convention took place in San Francisco, people still came out to San Jose. The table setups were nicer and the venue was cooler (Literally. Last year it got so hot inside!). However, the crowd wasn't as strong as previous years.

dat table tho...

I shared a booth with my friends who I tabled with last year, Allentine and Andy! I had a great time with them at APE and celebrating afterwards. I met a lot of cool people but wish I had more time to visit more artists who were tabling. Every time I made to dash away more people came to the booth, which is what you want at a convention, but I also would have liked to check the event out more.

my setup

I sold quite a few copies of my comic War Days which made me really excited. Thanks everyone who purchased a copy! You can now read War Days on my website. Also popular was our collaborative zine, Paws 'N Popcorn! We decided on a theme of TV shows and movies, making the characters into animals. You can still snag a copy of our zine and my comic on my Etsy shop! I would like to share with you now my contribution to Paws 'N Popcorn.

The IT Crowd

The X-Files

I had a lot of fun at APE this year and will definitely be returning next year with my next issue of War Days. Hopefully the attendance will bounce back from the change of venue. Thanks everyone who came out!

Faith and Fear

I've mentioned before on my blog about my War Days comic project which will explore my time growing up at a very strict Catholic grammar school and how I became an atheist. I've been kicking this idea around for quite a few years now (since undergrad actually! Yikes!) and it's finally time! The first issue of War Days will be available at APE (Alternative Press Expo) in San Jose, Oct. 3rd-4th.

I may change the title before then, but then again I always struggle with titles so it may just stick. In case you're curious, the title War Days comes from how my sister and I would refer to our time at the school after leaving it and talking to friends about it. "Back in our war days..." Sometimes it really felt that hostile. Although, I'm not sure I'll keep it since it may elicit too many other thoughts and be confusing to potential readers. Let me know what you think of the title!

A lot of planning goes into making the comics. I have a notebook full of notes on my memories as well as some my sister shared with me. I then broke those up into sections and panel lengths. I'm trying to approach the actual comic creation a little more exploratory and freeform, but I can't help but plan beforehand.

Sketches for this comic's characters

I've drawn a lot of character sketches already to get a feel for how I want the comic to look, but also decided to sketch the characters that would appear in this comic so I could tape that up in front of me while I worked and have a reference point.

Finished pencils

After penciling the page out, I then transferred the drawing to bristol with a lighbox. I may try using blue pencils and then inking directly ontop next time, but there's a certain freedom I have when I know I'm drawing a separate pencils page. I don't feel bad if I make dark pencil marks or erase a lot, whereas if I was drawing directly on the bristol I might be more paranoid about drawing something wrong and take less risks.

After transferring the drawing, the laboring love of inking begins. I use dip pens and india ink--currently enjoying the Black Cat brand since it's very opaque.

Much coffee is had and reference is all in mah face

And the final comic page!

I have quite a few more pages to finish by October, so I will definitely be sharing more of them, but not all. You'll have to buy the comic to read them all!

Don't worry... there will be plenty of nuns...

War Days: Sketches and Development

War Days is a comic idea I've had for many years now since undergrad cartooning classes at Columbia. I've thought, wrote, and sketched about the idea over the years but am finally fully committed to seeing it through! The idea comes from my experiences (as well as my older sister's) going to a very strict Catholic grammar school as children. The initial drive for the story was to express how I became an atheist and my views about religion, but there's also a lot of other themes such as defying traditional expectations of girls and women and other's preconceptions and judgments of who you should be. It's a coming of age story at its core. Almost two years ago I made a comic for the project but then took a long hiatus, however I never stopped thinking about it. Now's the time!

So I've been starting with a lot of sketches to define the characters and the style before diving into the comics this time. I also plan on making some short animations as well since I've been getting the animation bug the past few months. In the meantime, here are some development of characters.

the main character will be myself, but there will also be teachers, fellow students, my family, and possibly my stuffed animal Brownie will make an appearance or two.

This is the principal, the strictest sister of them all. I feel like the teachers and priests still need a lot more work...

 

lineup sketches to depict the character's development

I started a full time contract position at VUDU about two weeks ago so that's why posting has dropped. I'm going to get back into it and will update weekly (instead of twice a week) and the day will fluctuate, but I still want to keep this blog alive. It really helps to ensure that I keep drawing and working even while having another job. On another note, I'm a mere five heads away from hitting 900 in the Thousand Head Drawing Challenge!!! So there will definitely be some heads in the future....

Praise Thee, Jebus!

BELIEF.

Funny. It has "lie" in it. Ah, yes, there's my atheism and bitter hatred of the Church surging up a bit.

There be the colored image for Chapter Two of War Days. I've started work on the first chapter which I'll start posting teasers of soon. In the meantime..... That's it.