October 18, 2016

Before I show you what I'm working on that is making me stay up way too late at night...

Let's start with some more normal stuff?

1. Minou, the studio cat. As you see, she is trying to prevent me from working on the computer. And, yes, she IS sitting on a loaf of French bread! (actually, it's a rubber wrist rest that came in a cool bread bag!)

And, no, she does not discriminate. She will sit on anything and anyone.

2. My Munchkins! Alex is home from college for a week. He stopped by the apartment on Saturday to have dinner with me, his sister and his Grandma. And, yes - I have pillows that look like giant donuts. With eyes.

3. Sunday - after driving my daughter home, I met up with my friend Debbee for dinner at the Millstone in New London (NH). We have this weird habit of photographing our food - especially if it is pretty. And posting it on Facebook.

... and each other!

Alright, alright - back to work.

Our teachers do attendance by having us draw a self-portrait on an index card before each class. They started out being rather straight forward portraits, but they can get very strange depending on how much sleep we have had and how stressed we are feeling. Usually we just hand them in, but I thought to take pics of a few.

Extra Brownie points if you get the reference in the spider one above?

In my free time (Ahahahahahahahah... sigh) - I started coloring in my Demon coloring book I did this summer.

I had originally imagined the demons - based on the Little Devil character from last year - as red skinned with brown, furry legs. But as I colored, I realized I was using purple for the bodies and the legs are white! Weird. It will be interesting to see where that goes.

If you want to color Demons too (screw all that meditative, calming coloring book crap!) Ha ha! - ahem - you can get your own We Will Never Leave You coloring book on my Etsy site.

I've been working away at my Thesis - and its focus keeps changing. If you are reading my Comic Blog or Patreon posts, you've seen most of what I have drawn so far. Now I am working on filling in some events from last year and picking themes I want to explore in more depth... like Legal Stuff...

Some of the comics refer to incidents, or people, that aren't explained anywhere. If there are things that you are curious (or nosy) about - leave a comment below and I'll consider doing a comic about it.

Here is a comic I am working on right now. This image shows the pencils with the start of the "inking." I use a Papermate ballpoint pen to ink.

And here are some close-ups...

And here is the finish I submitted to my Thesis Advisor:

He liked it - but I need to fix a couple of things...
1. The reference to my book is unclear. WHY am I upset about it being published in a foreign language? I guess that is one of the things I need to do a mini-comic explaining! ( I don't get paid for foreign rights or sales).
2. How do I make the Monkey Bread-Sandy dessert look more like it would on a recipe card? I don't cook and I'm not so great with Food Staging... so if any of you Foodies have suggestions - bring 'em on!

Again, if you have been following the comics - you know what a roller coaster ride The Fireman is/has been. I have to admit that it is gut-wrenching to be drawing comics about sweet things he has done for me... when we aren't even speaking to each other. I guess these are good lessons in Self-Care to prepare for tackling really tough topics in the comics, like - Divorce? I've also been paying attention to the Visiting Artists who do AutoBio comics. They refer to their characters as... characters. Even if they are based on themselves. You have to find some kind of distance from them or it can mess you up.

It's also good art therapy. There is another of the Cartoonists and Clinicians workshops at the VA Hospital next week. I'll let you know how that goes. And I am working away on my Professional Practices project/Internship at The Montshire Museum of Science. We are working to redesign the Tinkering Kits. I think it's OK to show you my redesign of the logo, since they aren't using it:

The top one is my sketch of the current logo. The bottom is my concept for redesign. I'm also doing back-up work on a project for the Good Neighbor Health Clinic in White River Junction. Jacob is Lead on the project since I'm doing the Montshire stuff. This clinic is in an old, gorgeous, (former) library - the most unusual clinic I've seen.

AND... on top of all that (yes, I am exhausted) - I'll be teaching at OgunquiTangle in a few weeks! That will be a refreshing change from comics - we'll be doing eraser carving and... sssshhhhh.... it's a SECRET!

I am SO desperate to see my ocean again. And my Zentangle tribes-folk.