Homeward bound

Did I mention I sold out of all the books I brought to the festival?—it's true! I didn't have much left on Sunday, but it was all gone by 2 or so. The day had a weird vibe to it. Very slow-paced, then suddenly, half the vendors started to pack up between 1-3. Then, festival-goers started swarming in a purchasing frenzy from 2-4. Xavier wanted to stay until 5, so we waited until things died down and then left. Lovely evening and train ride back to Paris, and the next morning, I awoke to a very pretty snowfall that brought CDG to 10% of operating capacity. I arrived in Dublin 4+ hours late, and missed my connection. Despite being checked through Passport Control by a DEVASTATINGLY GORGEOUS dark-haired, blue-eyed, very friendly Irish guy, I was disappointed to be delayed... as it seemed I'd be adding on a spontaneous stay in Ireland to my trip.

More Angoulême

The Saturday of the festival really begins spilling over from the night before, with the inaugural gay-drinks-gathering at Cafe Chaud. I had been chatting up Yann, and throughout our conversation, little notes and sketches were passed back and forth. He explains "Yann" is another variation of "Jean" and "John" and showed me his drawing skills with a little hedgehog. I then drew one for him. The next day, clearly hung over. You also get to see a draft of a Psylocke drawing I've been commissioned to draw. Xavier was helping me (as I am not so familiar with the character, except for ages ago, when her telepathy floated around as a butterfly). I was drawing big hair, and he would say "flatter." I reduced twice until he said, "it's like she has spaghetti on her head." He thought the flatness you see here works. He recommended I draw her "very slutty." "Slutty" and "nightmare" are two of Xavier's favorite words.

Angoulême Festival

The festival days blur together a bit for me. But I drew the little sketch on the left for Jean Paul, and asked that he scan it for me. He has a thing for older, hairier guys, so I did my best. He came up with an intriguing little backstory for the character... definitely sounds worth pursuing! I am glad Jean Paul emailed me the scan... I liked this little sketch, which I did with blue pencil and a brush pen. The next sketch is definitely from day 2, a great sunny day! Our booth was near the clear plastic "sunroof" of the festival tent we were set up in, so I monitored what the sun was like throughout the day... chronicled the bit of shopping I did, and some of the interesting festival-goers (the "freaky frenchman" was real... I couldn't make up an outfit like that...). At the end of day 2 (1/31) was the inaugural "LGBT roundtable" which I was very proud to be part of. There was a great attendance, and lively discussion. Of course, my French is so bad, I mostly tried to look interested when I could no longer understand. Afterward, we had the inaugural gay gathering at a pub. Maybe about 25 people for that... and a really fun evening overall! More tomorrow. Oh—I surprised some native Frenchies with the fact that Pelforth Brune is a French beer.

a Paris

My last night in Lyon was solo again. I had intended to find a jazz bar, but "sleep" won out. The next morning, despite having ample food and water, the cats were meowing like crazy. Apparently they wanted *fresh* food. Xavier finally came home and frantically packed, and we headed to the train station via the printer. On the platform, Xavier caught me looking at a fellow (as he did often); though he was in error as to which guy. He thought it was what he described as an awful looking guy (but it was another standing near him). Since the guy was far from awful (tall, blond, blue-eyed, Swedish-looking), I dubbed him as Xavier's ideal man in my sketchbook. The next day, I depicted myself as an angel, as I passed by an opportunity to be very naughty. Despite this, karma allowed me to step in some dog-doo. Later that day I hauled all my heavy convention stuff from La Defense to Gare Montparnasse. This inked drawing has become the iconic-me in my mind, and will get lots of use.

Last day in Lyon

Xavier and I were to depart the next morning for a day in Paris. To celebrate our departure, as well as the departure of his friends Patrick and Kelly, as well as the birthday of his friend Simon, Xavier organized a big lunch. The meal was great, and terribly pricey for Lyon. However, the old lady waitress was trying to hurry Kelly along, and at one point even told her to not talk so much. Ultimately, they told us they were closing, so we had to leave. So much for the stereotype of long leisurely meals! :) Later, Xavier was concerned that his cat Duncan was getting sick, and was preparing a Vicks Vapo-Rub treatment for him. Since I was also under the weather, he prepared a bowl for me as well. He put Duncan in a cage and covered it with a towel so he'd breath in the fumes. Then covered my head with a towel so I would breath the fumes. Afterward, we were talking comics—whenever we talked comics, Xavier would disappear for a minute and then haul out whatever comics we had just been talking about for me to look at. The topic had been "Justice Machine" from the 1980s, which I'd never read. You can see from my drawings, the characters had really awful, really gay costume designs.

Not a morning person

Xavier had to spend the night at the hotel he works at, so after we ate dinner there and I drew him an "Amethyst, Princess of Gemworld" I went back to his place for a nice night of sleep (I had been up since 4 AM to transfer from Stockholm to Lyon). His little cat Cassie slept near me, which was sweet. I was awoken in the morning when Xavier came home and was making some tea. I crawled out of bed to say hello, and I was greeted with a chipper, "You are not a morning person!" I then eased into the gloomy day and decided to shop in the dry comfort of Celio. Suddenly, the sun came out, and I hoofed my way around the center city and up the hills of Lyon with my purchases before the rain returned. That night, Xavier took me to the bear bar, Station B. I'm not so into the bear scene myself, so Xavier accused me of only liking children. But I did think his friend François was cute and maybe he could be described as a mild bear or maybe mild otter. We all ate a traditional Lyonnaise restaurant. Since I don't eat red meat, they steered me from that, but when I asked what exactly I was eating, François explained, "it's usually best not to know."

Transfer

My time in Sweden was brief (4 days) and packed with tourism, social outings courtesy of Anders, and a presentation & signing at Hallongrottan book shop. Most of my sketches are quick, about the weather, or all the cute guys in Stockholm. Most aren't very detailed or interesting. I do plan to make a Tim Fish version of the 1919 painting at the modern art museum, "The Dying Dandy," which was described as a "possible comentary on homosexuality." For now, here is a sketch from the day I transfered from Stockholm to Lyon. On the left, a trio of guys on the flight, each with a distinct look: the first, tall, broad, cute, short spikey hair, full kissable lips, and total Ben Sherman ensemble. The second, boyish and the least cute, but with beautiful wavy-curly hair; the tallest of the three, and also the thinnest, with tight jeans to accentuate the fact. The third, the best looking, blond, thick Poindexter glasses, snug Levi's denim jacket with mutton lining, tight brown pants and redneck boots. On the right, the cats of my friend in Lyon, Xavier. Duncan, a very large cat, who likes to sleep on Xavier's '80s computer monitor (which was frightening to see this behemoth crawl up there!) and sweet and fluffy Cassie. Both were friendly cats, which was nice.