N is for Ningen

My apologies to Nisse, Nisses, and their fans. From the beginning I’d been intending to do “N is for Nisse,” but it just didn’t work out. The overlap with Elf was considerable, and there really wasn’t much else I could have done with E. Also, I discovered the Ningen.

The Ningen is a badass monster. Sort of. It’s awesome in that it’s a mysterious mishmash of whale and man, sighted breaching in ice-choked Antarctic waters by Japanese whalers. It’s less awesome in that it’s pretty much just an internet legend. The disappointing thing about this beast is that there aren’t so much reports of it as there are reports of reports. This is the cryptid that all other cryptids must resent, as he’s generated a lot of buzz without doing any real work. There’s no Surgeon’s photo or Patterson-Gimlin film of this guy, just a bunch of artists’ renderings. And none of those are more than a few years old. It seems like this Ningen thing is strictly a 21st century phenomenon. Not that it really matters. Monsters, of whatever vintage, are pretty much all made up. But with monsters, as with religions, the older ones just seem to have more credibility, more cachet. There’s a momentum and a cultural significance that accrues to a legend as it ages. The Ningen doesn’t have that yet.

So, why did I add my artist’s rendering to the growing Ningen pile? Because this is such a cool monster conceptually. How could you not draw a whale man? also, the myth is so psychologically compelling. I want there to be something to this thing, even if I have to make it up.  Whale man is a great foil for regular man. In some ways whales are so like us (they have names…maybe), but, cosmetically, they’re about as different as you get without having to deal with bugs. Whale man is relatable, but remote. Also, man and whale man could have any number of interesting dynamics between them. The Ningen could so easily be our victim, a symbol of, and a silent witness to, our wanton cruelty to the natural world. On the other hand, he could be our monstrous tormentor, a “White Whale” of gargantuan size and strength, punishing man for his sins against the sea. Also, the myth is impossible to disprove. For all we know, there could be giant whale people in Antarctica, if only in the way that there could be a million dollars under your floorboards. Anyway, this Ningen’s got everything a good beast needs to succeed: A cool look, an ability to generate pathos and fear, and a giant, unexplored territory in which to purportedly hang its hat. This myth’s gonna be big, and I’m excited to get in on the ground floor.

In other news, I’m inching ever closer to the completion of my monster book. All the art is now done (minus a few revisions) and so is about half the writing. Here’s hoping I can get through the rest in a week!

New World Nude Revue!

The above is a drawing I did for Vintage Sleaze, a blog dedicated to showcasing the work of “forgotten, anonymous, and neglected sexy artists of the 1950s.” The site is an exhaustive, authoritative, and lovingly-compiled catalogue of risque art. It’s also a lot of fun to read. If you’re looking for someplace to start, my piece is here.

How I came to contribute to Vintage Sleaze is actually kind of an interesting story. A month or so ago, I was contacted by the site’s author, Jim Linderman. He had found my blog during a search for an (even more) obscure cartoonist by the name of Paul Swartz*. Lucky for me, Paul Swartz the Elder did his cartooning in the 1920s and 30s (when he was a lot less obscure), so I don’t have to worry about picking up a pen name…or driving him to do the same! Anyway, Jim liked my work enough to ask me to contribute to his new series “Contemporary Vintage Sleaze,” in which cartoonists of today channel early and mid-twentieth century smut, producing risque works that are retro in style, substance, or both. It’s an honor to be numbered among accomplished contributors like Vanessa Davis, Gary Panter, and Antonio Lapone (who I’ve only just discovered through this series). When you’re reading back through the archives, be sure not to miss the debut entry by the lovely Lena Chandhok!

I’m not exactly sure what my illustration is supposed to be. It’s got a Deco sensibility, with a heavy infusion of Swartz, and is meant as an homage to 1920s poster work. I’m undecided, though, on whether it’s supposed to be a poster for a patriotic burlesque that might have been, or an allegorical cartoon about the ravenous lust/blinding love that the men of the world felt for America (personified here by Lady Liberty). Also, is the cartoon Nativist (cruelly caricaturing the immigrants as ravening wolves, set to defile the New World), or does it sympathize with them; Lady Liberty’s sly smirk portending trouble for her suitors? Maybe it’s just a goofy drawing that reminds us that the fantasies, promises, conquests, and betrayals by which we build nations are the same tools we use in the pursuit of romance.

One weird thing I did learn while working on this drawing is that I have a preoccupation, apparently, with the Statue of Liberty. This is not the first sexy Statue of Liberty I’ve drawn. She also appears in “Jaws of Defeat,**” stonewalling a giant JFK on the prowl. I also have a “Mockingbird” chapter cover that features Irving’s face on the famous statue. So that’s weird. When he spoke at our school last year, Vermont’s first Cartoonist Laureate, James Kochalka talked about the self-knowledge you gain by, in his case, drawing daily diary comics for a decade. One of the weirdest discoveries he made was that, over the years, he had drawn two unrelated strips in which he mused (not eagerly, I should be clear) about having sex with trees. That talk stuck with me and it was fun to suddenly have a quirky discovery like he did. Still, I’m glad that mine was mine and his was his.

Finally, on another note, if you live anywhere near Northampton, Mass., or anywhere in the Upper Valley, really, you should come see Lena and me at the Paint and Pixel Festival on April 16th. It’s only $4 for adults and $2 or free for kids (depending on their age). We’ll be there with our own table, but a slew of other CCSers will be there too, manning a school booth and leading workshops. Even if you’re not in the area, check out our slick profiles on the site’s main page! Just click on the image displayed to see more pics and a bio.

* Jim was kind enough to send me five original pages by the original Paul Swartz, which are a lot of fun and surprisingly relevant to my interests. They tend to portray forgotten Vaudevillians of the 1930s, which is what my “Mockingbird” comic is all about. I’ll be sure to scan them and post them sometime.

** I’ve really got to post the rest of this.

(It’s Almost Time to) Meet the Monsters!

So I’ve still got one letter left to illustrate, but I thought I’d go ahead and unveil the cover for “Meet the Monsters.” This design came together pretty quickly and, by and large, I’m pretty pleased with it. the only thing I’m not sold on are the errant hairs on the explorer’s cheeks, chin, and neck. I’m not sure they read clearly. They might just as easily come across as weird burs or darts he got stuck with in the jungle.

Anyway, I’m almost finished with this book and can’t wait to get it out there (and up here) for people to read and buy! For better or worse, it has to be done in two weeks, so you’ll all be seeing it soon!

B is for Bigfoot

This is not my best Theodore Roosevelt. The colors on the face should contrast a little more and he’s probably a bit too thin. I’ve always loved the presidents and have been doodling the iconic ones — Washington, Lincoln, TR, and Nixon   — since I was a kid. I also do a decent W. Drawing Teddy here really makes me want to rework my old comic “The Jaws of Defeat,” which was all about giant, reanimated presidents wreaking havoc on a fractured future USA. Also, the presidents are naked. It was a story I did for an anthology last year and started posting here but never finished. It’s tiny, black and white, and poorly lettered, though, so I’d rather redo it than just put it up as is. Maybe this summer I’ll get around to it.

As far as this picture goes, I think it came out OK. I’d been putting it off because Bigfoot kind of bores me. There’s such a consensus on what he looks like that I just didn’t feel free to take too many liberties in designing him. Copying other peoples’ designs is boring. Also, to me at least, drawing apes/ape-like creatures is kind of boring. I don’t know how to vary them. Having already drawn the Humanzee and the Yeti, I felt like I was pretty much out of ape ideas. It wasn’t until I thought of the TR concept that the piece got interesting. Once it did, it came together in a night. Teddy’s definitely the most interesting simian in the picture.

Z is for Zombie

Oh, man, y’all. I am so close to being finished with these drawings. Just two to do and, if time permits, two to redo. It seems like they’re taking longer and longer, though. This one took forever, I can tell you that. Also, I messed up big time and had to start this one over last night after having colored half of the picture with anti-aliasing on.

I think this page was worth the time, though. It captures a moment in time pretty well. I’m also proud of my little zombie kids. I especially like the little boy’s giraffe spoon.

I don’t know why the main course at Zombie Thanksgiving looks so much like John Krasinski, but I like that he does. I don’t know, maybe it’s just me, but I feel like there’s definitely a Jim Halpert thing going on there.

The only thing I’m not thrilled with is how the zombies on the left side of the page disappear below their chests. It just got too crowded when I tried to flesh out their torsos, but they look weird without them too (especially the old jawless guy brandishing the ladle).

I keep breaking the rules I set for myself with this book, so I think I’m finishing up right as I’m getting ready to go on to bigger, better things. The Elf drawing was my first one-color picture and this one is essentially my first three-color piece (the Vampire and the Thunderbird used three colors too, but more subtly and sparingly). All the other drawings are two-color. Also, I came as close as I ever do to using perspective here, as I’m kind of running out of flat compositions.

Anyway, stay tuned, y’all. We’re almost home.

E is for Elf

This is the most monochromatic of all my monster drawings so far, but  I like the effect. I knew from the beginning that I wanted the Northern Lights to play a part in this drawing, given its North Pole setting. The specific color scheme and lighting dynamics, though, I stole from a great sequence in Christophe Blain’s “Isaac the Pirate.”* In that book, the Aurora Borealis casts everything it illuminates in a pervasive green glow. That stuck with me and I thought of  it when coloring this piece.

I’m really happy with the way I captured the ice here. Its color and texture are surprisingly easy to reproduce with flat digital color. The same holds for submarines, which I’m excited to draw more of. It’d be fun to do a submarine comic where I’m always jumping back and forth between all-green exterior views and red-lit interiors. That would be some really fun lighting to work out.

The only things I’d like to change about this picture are the sky and the elves. The former could be a bit more exciting and the latter could bear a little less resemblance to those Grateful Dead bears. I think it’s just the short, pudgy bodies and the Kermit collars (is there a name for those?), but those things go a long way.

*Although the drawings were done by Blain, the fantastic coloring job is the work, I think, of the mononymous colorist Walter.

Space Balls-the T-shirt, Space Balls the Coloring Book…

I’ve always thought that I could design some great toys. I think my characters would translate really well into plastic and the world of three dimensions. Someday I’ll have to learn to make toys, but, until then, I’ll take what I can get as far as merchandising opportunities go. Recently, I was clued in to a pretty good one.  I’m very excited to tell you that I’m going to be making up a batch of plastic keychains depicting my characters! Thanks to the folks at Printsess, I’ll be able to sell two inch acrylic keychains/charms at MoCCA this year.

I’m not sure which characters make for the best, most salable keychains, but I bet you are! Below are 11 designs. Check them out and then vote for your favorite in the poll at the bottom of the page. I’ll probably end up printing the top four vote-getters, barring a a blowout. If you have the time and the inclination, leave a comment ranking the designs (at least your top four) and telling me if you would be interested in buying some keychains yourself. Whatever stock I have left over after MoCCA I’ll sell here on the website, off a yet-unlaunched store page, perhaps. If I see a great demand, though, I’ll take orders and print keychains specifically for sale here. If you’re interested, they’ll probably run about $5 each. I’m thinking of starting off with a 50 piece order for the con, but that could change.

So vote, and vote now! I’ve got to get this order in soon, so I’ll probably only let the poll run through Tuesday or so. And if your going to do my poll, why not do Lena’s too? She’s doing the same thing over at her blog and would appreciate some input.

Anyway, without further ado, here they are: Your lovely contestants:

1) Alien

2) Axolotl

3) Bat4) Dragon

5) El Diablo

6) Golem

7) Humanzee

8) Lounge Lizard9) Nessie

10) Quetzalcoatl11) Slot Bot

F is for Fairy

I’m getting down to the cryptozoological dregs here — all the monsters that I’m not that into or don’t have a good concept for. Still, I think I managed to come up with a pretty decent conceit here. Hopefully the whole butterflies-in-a-specimen-box thing is reading clearly. I also hope the fake Latin is clear (or so impenetrable that no one can even tell what I sought and failed to do with it). I wanted the name plates to basically say “Tooth Fairy” and “Barrie’s Fairy” (Barrie’s the author of Peter Pan). I don’t really know anything about Latin or binomial nomenclature, though, and it was really hard to learn about either thing at 4 am, on the internet, while listening to Marc Maron.  If there are any Classics majors out there willing to help a fellow unemployable out, I’d love to know how those plates should read.

So anyway, I’m decently pleased with the concept for this picture, but the composition is a little boring. Also, the values seem kind of homogeneous. A lot of the elements seem pale and liable to melt into each other. This may be the first time that my new no-outlines style may have actually ended up seeming less appropriate to me than a more conventional one.

With this drawing, I have officially entered the final four! Only B, E, N, and Z remain to be drawn. Also, time permitting, I’m going to redesign “A is for Alien” and “C is for Chupacabras” (I’ve already made smaller-scale corrections to most of the other pages). Then it’s onto a flurry of writing and production. Hopefully I’ll have these books available for sale in April!

Like a Bacillus, Sealed in a Train Car…

Last fall I submitted a drawing for the Charlotte Arts Catalyst’s monster-themed coloring book and sold a couple of related pieces in their accompanying show. I had a great time doing it and I’m excited to submit again this year. The theme for the spring book is history, which is about as perfect for me as monsters was. Anyway, here’s a drawing that I’m thinking about sending in:

I’ve always loved this quote by Churchill. More specifically, I’ve always loved a pithier, more poster-ready paraphrase of it (“The Germans sent Lenin into Russia like a bacillus, sealed in a train car”). The real quote is a little longer and was harder to fit artfully into this design. A note to fellow cartoonists/illustrators: never save double checking that quote for last! I hope the multicolored text livened up the big block of words. It might have made it too busy, though. I tried to give it kind of a word-cloud feel, with the words’ coloring reflecting their significance.

Anyway, back to the quote. I just think it’s a really great metaphor and have thought about it on and off over the years. A man bottled up like a biological weapon — that’s so evocative! And it’s so visual. It seemed like a go-to illustration for me, especially since I’m so into the USSR. I’m not sure I did it justice, but I really couldn’t afford to spend more than a couple of days on it. I’m sure I’ll revisit the concept sometime soon.

The part of the picture that I’m proudest of is actually Churchill, who was a lot easier to draw than I would have expected. I kind of wish I’d featured him more prominently. He’s got a pretty easily-caricatured face, so it’s no great boast to do a passable Churchill. Drawing him is probably equivalent to impersonating Christopher Walken or William Shatner or somebody like that. You get huge, can’t miss ‘em quirks to build your imitation around. With Churchill, you don’t have room for a lot of likeness once the hat, jowls, and cigar are in place. Still, I’m no caricaturist, so I’m proud.

Surprisingly, I could be prouder of the Russian text. Lenin’s font is particularly lackluster/inappropriate. I wanted something that could have come off a Bolshevik leaflet, but it was really, really hard to find free Cyrillic fonts. The two I used don’t feature all the Cyrillic characters so I had to make my Яs, Юs, and Ьs from scratch. I’m also not sure that my Russian is correct, but here was what I meant to say. Lenin is saying (hopefully) “Revolution!” and the sign in the bottom right reads “Welcome to Russia” (God willing). I can’t believe that I was majoring in this language just a few year ago.

My biggest regret of all is that I can’t find some way to reuse this in my monster book. I guess “B” could still be for Bolshevik, but, if I didn’t use my dad’s suggestion of “Y is for Young Republican,” than I’m certainly not going to do that.

Y is for Yeti

This page might be my favorite so far. I like the color scheme and think that it, taken with the mountain scenery, suggest an old Art Deco travel poster. I’ve always loved those.

I’m also pretty proud of my mountaineer. If you scrutinize the climber, though, you’ll see that his pose is a little weird. To dress him, I looked at photos of Sir Edmund Hillary and tried to copy his clothes and gear. Surprisingly, he wasn’t wearing a hat. That seems pretty crazy to me, but it was easier to not draw a hat than draw one, so he stays bareheaded. The wind-blown hair is more dramatic anyway.