Category Archives: Comics

Posts relating to comics of all kinds.

Cartoon Network Cartoonists

Posted By Chris

Herpich Adventure Time

Following up on this post from last week about Shannon O’Leary’s article, there are now two more posts of small interviews with comics-centric cartoonists working on animation productions at Cartoon Network. Part one and part two. Most of them we post the heck out of here all the time and we publish a good handful of them so you’ll know these people. Above art is by Meathaus/Adventure Time man Thomas Herpich, of course.

The interviews are especially informative for you cartoon-professional-hopefuls out there because each describes the path that each cartoonist took to cartoon-job-possesion. Many of their job getting stories include luck and great timing, but also include heavy dollops of initiative taken, and a sprinkling of connection-having. But if those things are the frosting and jimmies on the job-getting, the cake remains in all cases the comics that these cartoonists were cranking out before-hand. The work that each were doing on their own was certainly the first and strongest indicator to the show’s creators that these candidates could do the job. Stories like these continue to lend credibility to often repeated motivational phrases: “Do what you love”. “Work hard, stay in school”. “Go gettim, tiger”. “Let’s do this.” “Party ’til you puke”.

May 21, 2012 – 5:44 am | Also posted in Animation | Comments (1)

Latest Dump From B/M

Posted By Chris

Brandon Graham Sketchbook Comics

Why would I go all scatological with that post title. It’s not funny or clever. I’m thinking at least Brandon will appreciate it though. Anyway here is a post to let you know that our pals Brandon and Marian are funny and clever and both have new interesting pages to see on Brandon’s latest blog entry here. See more Marian Churchland here.

May 21, 2012 – 4:54 am | Comments (1)

Angie Wang — Girl Apocalypse

Posted By Jay

Every so often, the world of comics gets a fresh voice–a talented and energetic creator crafting something new and fun to look at and utterly engaging. Angie Wang is one of those voices. You can’t help but become enthused when looking at her work. She made a splash a few years ago with her fashion illustration blog, wangie (now on hiatus), and has since been keeping busy with a steady stream of illustrations and comics.

Earlier this week, Angie posted a few photos on Twitter of a mini-comic she published. It’s called Girl Apocalypse, and it looked so cool that I had to ask her a few questions about it, and her work in general.

Tell us about Girl Apocalypse–from the pics I’ve seen it looks really lovely.

Girl Apocalypse was an experiment in speed and layout–I wanted to see if a six-panel grid could support a decompressed shoujo manga style of pacing, with empty panels and non sequitur scenery shots. I also wanted to do the whole thing fast, too, so I drew each figure individually and very quickly with brush pen on hanshi paper, scanned it in, digitally resized and stuck it all together according to my thumbnails, and digitally shaded everything. The whole thing took about two and a half weeks, with the last eight pages being finished in about three days while I was tabling at a convention (I stayed up until 7 AM in a hotel lobby finishing the last of it).

Note: buy Girl Apocalypse here.

I’ve been seeing your work in some great places–any favorites pieces over the past few months?

I went through a serious burnout around February, so it’s hard for me to say. I look at my work from before February and find it a little exhausting to contemplate.

I’m curious–do you work from home or in a studio? How do you like your space?

I work at home, with a huge, clean drafting table, and a messy MacTable for my Cintiq. I have a cute one-bedroom in Portland, Oregon, all to myself, so the living room is my “home office,” as the tax accountants put it.

 

What have you been reading/inspired by these days (comics or otherwise)

Sophia Foster-Dimino is a big inspiration right now, as is Kris Mukai. I’ve also been drawing with Meg Hunt, who is amazing and always ready to try out projects or new media or introduce me to new things. In terms of comics, I continue to be obsessed with Shimura Takako and have been trying my best to absorb her sense of layout.

What’s the best and the worst part about drawing comics?

The best part is the thrill of determining the pacing–which sounds very specific, but ever since I read Shimura Takako’s Happy-Go-Lucky Days, I’ve been thinking about the subtleties of pacing and how counterintuitively effective it is to have a heartstopping panel tucked into a corner, or a powerful moment hiding in the middle of the page. The worst part is simply how long it takes to draw a page, but I’ve been trying out a lot of ways to cut down the time it takes. 

 

May 16, 2012 – 9:17 am | Also posted in Art | Tagged , | Comments (1)

A Visit to the Chris McD Workshop

Posted By Jay

Chris McDonnell is not only one of the original progenitors of Meathaus (more than a decade ago, we gathered in his Greenpoint apartment to draw issue #1), but he has been the driving editorial and production taskmaster for each issue and sketchbook collection, as well as the man who has kept this blog running and chock full of exciting posts day after day for many years. On top of that, he is an accomplished animator, published author, college-level teacher, father of two boys, and a great person to bounce creative ideas off of. He’s been taking a much-deserved break from daily posts on Meathaus while he focuses on some other work, so it seemed like a great time to virtually poke my head into his Philadelphia home and see what’s cooking.

Chris! Send us a photo of your workspace/work area/work cubicle.  Is it in your home or in a studio?

I have a designated home workspace, which means I can work that extra hour before everyone else gets up.

If you could change one thing about your work environment, what would it be?

A designated synthesizer station. A decade or so ago, I visited Rodney Alan Greenblat‘s home studio in SOHO and he had a midi synth always ready to be jammed on. I have an old one, on the shelf. Almost living the dream.

Do you work better in the nights or mornings? 

Mornings have so much potential, they have more productive energy and less economy wine jugs. 

What are you reading right now, comics or otherwise?

I have Brandon‘s Catmaster collection going on in the studio toilet, True Grit on the downstairs toilet and a small stack of recommendations from friends that I asked for a year ago and am still working through interspersed with animation and filmmaking books and business magazines.

What are you working on these days?

I’m animating short segments for a some upcoming TV shows (an as yet-unaired HBO show, as well as bits for Adult Swim’s Eagleheart that just aired a few weeks ago) and designing books. When I catch a break, I’ll be back on Meathaus and working up some personal projects.

Do your two kids inspire your work in any way that you didn’t think they would?

Kids are fun and yes, they do all those “Family Circus” things, but I don’t go and make comics about them. Not directly anyway.  In a bit of self-analysis, I realized that the disturbing, transformation and body horror comics that I created for Meathaus S.O.S. and Go For the Gold! 4 both coincided with the final months of my kids’s gestation and then birth, which are monumental experiences that alter one’s brain lobes permanently even when you’re not the one doing the birthin’. The main way my kids influence my new work I think is that because of them I’m re-immersed in children’s literature and stories and remembering how deeply the imagination works as a child. My older son is also drawing really cool monsters now that he is four, and I find his designs to be innovative–so he is inspiring me directly in the monster arena.

Any big art/work plans for the rest of 2012?

I want to record more doofus music with Jungle Ben, put out another Meathaus zine, and get my time lapse video set up for HD with better lighting so I can experiment with shooting and animating paintings as I work. I’d like to come up with another photo shoot idea like the lasers and fog machine one that is an excuse for a party again.  I want to keep making pitches to cartoon studios and publishers, and I want to catch up on my daily drawings. Also, I’m going to Alaska for the wedding of my ancient friend Ben, who I’ve known since kindergarten.

May 15, 2012 – 8:32 am | Also posted in Animation, Art | Tagged | Comments (1)

Study Group Art Show at Fantagraphics HQ

Posted By Jay

Study Group Comics is one my favorite go-to sources for exciting and invigorating illustrated works–be they online or brick and mortar page turners, and now one of Study Group’s head editorial honchos, Zack Soto, is curating a show of work culled from the fine roster of artists under the Study Group aegis–said show to open tomorrow, May 12th at the Fantagraphics flagship commercial space in Seattle, Washington, USA. All of this makes me realize that if an asteroid or comet wiped out the American Northwest, the comics world would be hard hit. 

“Study Group” An Exhibition of Emerging Cartoonists curated by Zack Soto
May 12 – June 6. Opening reception Saturday, May 12, 6:00 – 9:00 PM.
Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery
1201 S. Vale Street Seattle, WA  206.658.0110

May 11, 2012 – 7:05 am | Also posted in Art | Tagged , , , | Comments (0)

Re-Pro-Duct

Posted By Jay

I like the look of this comic by Logan Faeber and Austin Wilson–to be published later this year. It’s heartening to see how excited the creators are about it, and Faeber has an 8-page preview of the first issue up on his site, plus more information about ordering and app-downloads and other such 21st Century accoutrement.

 

May 9, 2012 – 7:24 am | Also posted in Art | Comments (0)

Farel Dalyrmple at Work

Posted By Jay

If you’ve ever had the chance to sit down and draw in the same room as Farel Dalrymple, or work with him in any sort of creative capacity, you know that one of the greatest things about him is how encouraging and inspiring he can be. Once, a few years back, Farel gave me the best creative advice I’ve ever received, which was basically to finish it. In this instance, “it” was some dumb drawing I was working on, and that I was about to tear up and start from scratch on, but Farel insisted that it’s far more important to finish what you start than to get it absolutely right. Your creative muscles get better through the act of completion. 

It helps, of course, if what you end up completing is work like Farel’s; an outpouring of comics that are beautiful, emotionally-compelling, and full of mystery.  As a reader, the past few months have seen Farel’s work in the reboot of Prophet and on Study Group’s online comics repository, where his science fiction adventure serial, It Will All Hurt, appears every Wednesday. With a host of other projects in the works, it seemed like a good time to do a virtual visit to Farel’s Portland, Oregon home, and ask him some innocuous questions about his work habits, work area, and general worky-workmanisms.

Here’s Farel’s workspace, followed by a little Q & A with the man himself.

How long have you been using this space? Is it in your home or a studio?

I just moved into it after having my studio in the too-low-of-a-ceiling-attic-space. It’s in my home, which I am about to be evicted from. Sad but true. Hopefully, I will have an even awesomer studio space for the summer.

If you could change one thing about your work environment, what would it be?

Bigger and more open. also a proper work desk would be swell too. 

A quick “work habits” question–nights or mornings?

It switches around a lot, but I guess more nights than mornings.

What are you reading these days (comics or otherwise)?

I just read the entire Akira series, as well as the entire Nausicaa series. Vincent Stall’s (King Mini) new book, “Things You Carry,” was amazing. I got a bunch of good stuff at Stumptown, including two Malachi Ward books that were great, “Utu” and “Real Life.” I am also finishing up Wallace Shawn’s essays, which is pretty great.

I know you’re a comedy record/podcast fan–any recommendations in that world we might’ve missed?

John Mulaney’s New in Town is a great album. I also dig the new Norm McDonald album, Me Doing Stand Up. As far as podcasts go, I love Comedy Bang Bang, Superego, and our pals Jasen Lex and Jim Rugg’s new one, Tell Me Something I Don’t Know.

Will you be at any events this summer/fall?

Nah, I would have loved to do do TCAF and SPX, but I need to try to get my book ["The Wrenchies," for First Second Books] finished. 

Tell us about the YA graphic novel you’re working on.

It is a third of the way done, (only 60 pages) and is written by MK Reed with editorial orchestrations by Greg Means of Tugboat Press. It is a fun project that I have been picking at while working on “The Wrenchies” and Prophet.

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May 7, 2012 – 11:00 am | Also posted in Art, Meathaus | Tagged | Comments (0)

Sarkozy vs Hollande

Posted By Jay

Since I don’t speak French, I’m taking my twitterfeed’s word that the images below are of Joann Sfar live-tweet/illustrating France’s presidential debate yesterday evening. Word is that the bout between the incumbent Carla Bruni-marryin’ Nicolas Sarkozy and socialist-leaning Francois Hollande was quite heated, with Hollande coming out as the victor. I do know that menteur means liar.

May 3, 2012 – 7:25 am | Tagged | Comments (0)

The Latest From Farel

Posted By Jay

Good ol’ Farel Dalrymple has been a veritable web slinger these days, posting new work and thoughts on his site. In his latest entry, he gives a little insight into some of the inspirations behind his work for the Image series Prophet, and plugs a podcast or two. Additionally, Farel is awfully good at drawing dudes in cool-looking space suits.

April 30, 2012 – 6:59 am | Also posted in Art, Meathaus | Tagged | Comments (0)

Scott Pilgrim in Color

Posted By Jay

This August, Oni will be releasing the first volume of Bryan Lee O’Malley’s Scott Pilgrim series, colored by Nathan Fairbarn. Other volumes will follow bi-annually, and each volume will have the pen and paper equivalent of “DVD extras.” There’s a little interview with O’Malley about the process over at Comic Book Resources. 

April 27, 2012 – 7:47 am | Also posted in Art | Tagged , | Comments (0)