Sketchbook pages

Pumpkin Hunting

Here is Melissa trying to get a pumpkin up to the house to make a replacement pie for her mother (see earlier posts).

Stupid things I've said

I was not a very good student in high school, mostly because I was much more interested in art. When I finally decided to go to college, I had a lot of catching up to do in terms of vocabulary (and general book learning). This situation lead me to say a lot of stupid things, trying to sound cool and academic. Here is one such case...there are many more! In this case, it was during a conversation with my friend Bram while taking a walk in Orono, Maine.

Sorry Mommy

A quick sketch showing the aftermath of Melissa's pie toss. This is part of a larger story that I was toying with, and may get to eventually. 

Illustration Friday: Zoom

I still haven't gotten a new scanner yet, but I've availed myself of Iowa City's wonderful public library to scan a few peaces in. Here is my entry for this week's Illustration Friday, with the theme of Zoom. It stars Melissa, a reoccurring character in a lot of my sketches and comics, and is the same Melissa from Melissa & Owl.

P.S., this is my first time using a brush pen.

Anthology Updates

I've received the decisions regarding both of my anthology submissions. The Eilean Mor story for Hic & Hoc publications was not accepted. This was not surprising once I found out that at least one experienced cartoonist had chosen the same story...oh well, it was my first time and I learned a lot! 

The Joy anthology submission, however, was accepted! I'll post an update once the book is out. 

I've got a lot of new drawings and short comics that I'll post as soon as I get a scanner! 

Joy Anthology Submission

Here is my two-page submission to Chainsaw Comics' anthology on "Joy". This is the original color version, but it will be published in grayscale.

  

Illustration Friday

I've submitted a drawing to Illustration Friday's "Book" theme this week. You can see it at my children's book blog.

Eilean Mor Lighthouse: Grayscale

I've redone the Eilean Mor story with some Grayscale (in Inkscape). I'm not sure if I like it better or not, but here it is. 

Life with an Outhouse

I grew up in a one room shack with no running water or electricity (no joke). We, of course, had an outhouse that was about 50 meters further into the woods, which made getting up and going to the bathroom on a cold winter morning very interesting. This is a short comic (one take) that I used to illustrate this to my daughter...the last caption was added afterward!

I've toyed with the idea of coloring this.... here is an attempt to do panel 4. I used Inkscape, because it's free, and I'm still pretty new to coloring in this way.

The Eilean Mor Lighthouse

 I've submitted this short story to Hic & Hoc Publications for their Unsolved Mysteries Anthology. It is about the disappearances of three lighthouse keepers on the island of Eilean Mor (in Scotland's Flannan Isles) in 1900. This is my first submission to an anthology, so we'll see how it goes. I found out about this only two weeks ago, so I had to keep it short. Most of the text comes directly from the logbook left by the lighthouse keepers. I've learned a lot going through this process, and there are a lot of things I'll do differently next time (I'm most dissatisfied with the lettering). Speaking of next time, I might submit something to the next Chainsaw Comics Anthology...