Wednesday, February 6, 2008

an awkward ending


Tourist time in Reykjavík. Limited options in winter, further hampered by the snow squalls moving trhough every 20 minutes. But I enjoyed walking around the city, ducking into cafes often. I met up with Hrafnkell, and had a full day admiring the graffiti of the city (it was very good, and very colorful). In France I had noticed all the "Barbapapa" parfanalia (to my delight—I had not seen or thought of the cartoon since I was a kid; I delighted Xavier by singing the theme song in English); and Iceland too prevelantly featured the blobular characters wherever I turned! Who knew? The next day, I went to a geo thermal hotspring and tore off a layer of skin. On the shuttle bus to the airport, I left behind my camera, and felt like an idiot. Fortunately, the shuttle service found it, and will mail it to me.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Tim, your travel sketchbook is excellent. You're such a quick study! (I'd probably be too distracted to draw anything on the go.) Did you come away from your vacation wanting to live in any of the places you stayed, or are you happy just having visited them? Any impressions about how different your career in comics might have been in the US vs in Europe?

And it's nice to hear the Barbapapas are still going strong somewhere in the world! My sister recently brought me back a BarbaBravo coin purse from her visit to Paris. Now, if only Moominpappa gets his big break in the States....

Tim Fish said...

Yeah, I can whip out some pretty quick sketches. I need some quiet time when I travel, too... so planting myself in a cafe for 30 minutes while I draw a bit with some coffee works well for me. I totally did not want to leave, and could see myself living in Paris, Angoulême, or Reykjavík. The latter two might be short-term holing-up for 6 months while I draw lots of pages of comics, but I can still envision it. :) As for careers... time will tell, but I had such a warmer reaction from European publishers regarding the gay content than I ever have in US. Of course, I was led directly to publishers who would not have problems with it... but even still, even the publishers one thinks of in US have mental gear-grinding moments when they realize the content of my work. Or perhaps I am mis-reading their facial expressions, I don't know.

Anonymous said...

It's such a good idea to put your sketch journal here. It's a delight to see!
You did not see it but I was wayyy more tired Saturday at the Scarce stand than you were Friday. I fell asleep 1-2 minutes and later, Somebody took a picture of me, with huge black bags under the eyes!! :p
You did took a warm bath in hot healthy waters in Rekjavik?

Oh, and if anyone is curious to hear it, clik on my name and you will hear the french version of the Barbapapa TV series. Tim sang so well I recognize it even with the american lyrics!