Summer gals—2011

Recently, I took a day off to do some writing for my WUTHERING HEIGHTS project, and I stopped by Diesel Cafe to see my friends Steve and Adam.

Nearby was one of those newfangled preggers gals who show off their preggers form. Definitely not the mod maternity wear I saw in photos of my mom.

In truth, the showing off of the belly wasn't nearly as bad as the showing off of her back fat rolls. AND, if she hadn't been loud and obnoxious, she wouldn't have caught my attention at all.


















By contrast, I saw this vision at Sherman Cafe, where I stop every Thursday morning before therapy.

I LOVE HER!

She has this moderninzed Mama Cass redux thing going on. Hippy head-band, flowy printed micro-dress, and sandals.

Well, I thought it was a micro-dress...turned out to be a shirt, because if she moved right, you could see her denim Daisy Dukes underneath.

The quote is somewhat accurate...they were out of whatever she had intended to order, though I don't think she was so daintily concerned about it.

Next next, Summer boys!

Common ground

PREMISE #1) I am generally not a fan of country music.

PREMISE #2) I am generally not a fan of Dolly Parton songs.

PREMISE #3) I generally don't make a lot of effort to find common ground for dis-common interests.

Well, I've been having a lot of fun listening through the Dolly Parton catalog and watching video clips in search of songs I like. I certainly don't like them all, and I don't think she'll be my go-to when I need a musical hug, but I have found a number of songs that I enjoy. So, a double-whammy (enjoying the process AND the outcome)!

I watched Coal Miner's Daughter, too. I was delighted to learn that the song during the end credits of the Strangers With Candy episode where Jeri learns she's an Indian turns out to be Loretta Lynn singing the "Squaw is on the Warpath" song. Fun!

Fear not, Fish-philes—country is not taking the place of lounge in my heart, and France Gall still makes me smile big.

Anyway, here's a drawing I did of "pretty miss Dolly" as she appeared signing the "Jolene" song in 1974.

Girly tomboy

Here's another of my favorite tomboy (and likely lesbian) Debbie that I draw from time to time (see other tagged posts).

Just like the way this one turned out for some reason, it's nothing special.

She's kinda girl-ed up here, and I suppose she's shooting down the boy who is trailing after her in other sketches.

I've been drawing some Arche-Lady pages for the upcoming Arche-Lady Special #11. But I've been itching to do a sketch or two inspired by my latest quest to enjoy finding common ground on non-mutual interests! Soon!

R.I.P. Naughty Dottie

Today, we spread my grandmother's ashes.

Ok, ok, not really, that's against NH state law. But we did have a small gathering around her headstone, said a few words, and her ashes were buried after we left.

She passed away in May, after diagnosed as terminally ill last fall. I knew what this meant logically, of course, but she was the first person close to me I've lost, so I wasn't prepared for what that really meant.

I visited often in her last 6 months, and a week or so before she passed away, on my last visit up north, it hit me. We knew she was slipping, and she was very frail and weak. As it was time for me to go, she engaged me in conversation which she was barely able to do for the day or so prior. She lifted her arms on her own—another feat—to hug me good-bye and said, "I'll miss you," which is exactly when I lost it.

The following weeks were difficult, as I got together with my family, each dealing with grief differently. But also, it would hit me at random times and I would start welling up.

Today, I hadn't expected more of the same exactly. My sister spoke first, and I think I was choking up before she began. She gave a lovely little speech about how fun our grandmother was. Then it was my turn; I could barely get out the few things I wanted to say. Such a delicate flower.

My grandmother was a remarkable lady. Her parents divorced when she was young, and her mother remarried, but passed away just a few years later. Her step-father didn't think it worth the hassle to send a girl to school, so my grandmother waited tables and cared for the cafe owners' daughter for room and board to support herself through high school. The war broke out, and she was off to DC to work for the War Department, typing a general's letters in triplicate in the Pentagon. She was actually retained after the war ended, when most girls were sent home. She married my grandfather and moved to his family farm, where they struggled to keep it going while she worked various jobs. My grandfather passed away 2 months before I was born, and she began a new life as a young widow.

But throughout the hardships, she loved to laugh. When I started sketching her, looking at old photos, it's almost impossible to find any where she isn't laughing. She used to regale me and my sister with her stories of cheating on algebra exams, outrunning a police cruiser, and other probably exaggerated-for-us behavior. And I'll never forget a wedding we were all attending where John Denver was a guest and sang a few songs. My grandmother forced her way up on the stage to sing backup for him. She was a can-do lady (albeit a bit "country") who could make anything happen—and yet she never seemed pushy.

She was sweet, and funny, and loved to have a good time. I think I was too serious for her as I grew older. But when I came out, she was supportive of me, at the expense of some other close relationships she had. She wouldn't have wanted me to go on to her about it, about how much it meant to me, so I never did. I know she knew.

I wasn't sure what memory to sketch of her, so I went with her off to DC. It's her intrepid spirit, and tenacity that has inspired me most in my life. Next, I'll try to laugh like she did.

I'll miss her.

Comic Con Report

A few weeks back, I made my not-quite-annual trek to my old stomping grounds of San Diego for the giant crazy-fest now known as Comic Con International.

Ah, the good old days when I would hop in my Jeep and park a few blocks from the convention center in the abandonned factory district and walk up to a short registration line and into the con are so long gone. Long lines, packed floor, and visual/audio overload these days. But still a fun fest of all things dork.

On Friday, I did a signing at the Prism booth, and explored the con floor, and saw many old friends. That night I made it into Oni's Scott Pilgrim party.

Saturday morning was my big shopping spree: super fun t-shirt from the I Heart Guts booth, at long last I bought Kevin Dart's Seductive Espionage as well as Scott Pilgrim V6 and Super Pro K.O. from Oni. I tracked down some Sekowsky early '70s comics, too. I caught up with some self publishers who I admire and bought their latest work. Oh yeah, I went to Mistress of Halloween Elvira's pay-for-autograph booth, too. My friend Ryan harasses me every time I go to CCI to do so. She's SO NICE. For some reason, no one was talking to Matt Fraction at the Marvel booth so I introduced myself. He's the main X-Men writer, and he knew my story in the Nation X mini series, complimented me and thanked me for writing it. I was flustered and didn't give him my card. Way to go, Tim.

In the early evening, I felt honored to be on a panel alongside Dan Parent, Geoff Johns, and more. It's always easier to have professional conversations and interactions with people once they've been forced to listen to you on a panel. :) That evening I attended a pre-dinner and then a dinner, both lots of fun.

Sunday, I had another signing at the Prism booth alongside Will O. Tyler (who colored half my OGN Trust/Truth). I insisted we have a draw-off. It took us some time to agree on a topic, but in the end it was "lesbian with a tool." We randomly awarded and retracted points from the other, and ultimately ended with a tied score. His completed drawing was a vamp with a chainsaw surrounded by some body parts. Mine was inspired by my dear friend Paige Braddock...I envisioned her chopping wood. Will and I donated our drawings to Prism for some future charity auction or something. Then I spent time queued up at the Capcom booth to buy a Mega-Man "Proto-Man" toy as a gift.

All in all, another fun and crazy con!

Jam!

Action! Romance!

Pretty girls! Cute guys!

This loop around the rink will have it all! It will leave you begging for more! Ok, ok, I'm just trying to psyche myself up to get working on it. It'll be alright.

Right now, I am wrapping up work on a CAVALCADE SAMPLER, which will include the entire V1, excerpts from V2, V3, and Love is the Reason. It will be a limited run book, perfect for shops who still have V2 and V3 in stock. Otherwise, I will package it with my remaining V2 and V3s as a set, since the jumbo book is about 5 copies away from being out of print.

I hope to finish work on the SAMPLER this weekend. Show the cover layout and the wrap-around to my designer-friend Katha on Monday, make final tweaks, and start FTPing files on Wednesday!

925

Monica's comic about Bonnie is fully titled Bonnie N. Collide Nine to Five and is largely centered around Bonnie's life in a cube farm. She rollerskates around, causing havoc, hullaballoos, mishaps, fandangos, a kerfuffle or two, and some hubbub. She has a crush on the cute guy on floor 3 and has a werewolf as a co-worker.

My story line is a little bit of a side-step, what with an ex in town. However, there must be sexual tension developing as a result of the love triangle—which will take place in the office. I'm trying to stay generally conscious of the office as a venue even though the story arc won't be about office life per se.

Bonnie N. Collide

I ran a few ideas past Monica, and she chose one in particular involving an ex boyfriend who's back in town after a stint with the Marines. That's all I'll say about the story.

But here's one of my brainstorming sketch pages. I need to review some of the finer points of Bonnie and derby. What position does she skate? What is her actual skate #?

I am having fun drawing a true leading lady, which I haven't really done since I was drawing Midge in my never-finished OGN Baby Makes Three.

In related news, I ordered the wrong color of blue woodless pencil. They aren't expensive, but shipping sure is...bummer.

Guesting

Monica Gallagher, my inspiration to use blue pencil, has her thumbs in too many pies lately:

• Gods & Undergrads webcomic
• Bonnie N. Collide webcomic
• Oni's JAM! derby girl book
• Another Oni project well underway

All that and she's a derby girl herself, rolling as Whipstick for the Charm City derby in Baltimore!

She finally admitted she needs to pare back a bit, but was nervous to abandon all her pet projects completely. So what's a girl to do?

Enter me, with my offer to guest on Bonnie N. Collide for a spell. I started sketching Bonnie to gear up...

In the meantime, check out Monica's comics at www.eatyourlipstick.com

Playin' with the brush pen

No pencils on this one at all, 100% brush pen. Her finger's kinda globby, but overall I liked the way the new brush pen glides over the sub-par paper of the sketchbook I was using.

My dad gave me a bunch of art supplies for xmas. I love trying new supplies because sometimes you find a pen or something that you really love. This is one such case: the brush pen he bought me I like even better than the Tombow brush pen. I'll need to order some online.

Inbound #5 Preview

You may recall I did a last-minute 1-page story for the Boston-based comics anthology Inbound #4 last summer. It was the "Boston history" issue, and my story was a factual account of Bernadette's special talent from the locally produced PBS children's program ZOOM.

This year, the beautifully produced anthology's theme is "food." I was delighted to be asked to participate, as I'd hoped it would help get me out of a drawing rut. Rather, lack of drawing due to my home purchase, move, renovation.

I was blanking on the ideas and script, so it was Goo Goo to the rescue, providing me with a shortie after some brainstorming back-and-forth.

The issue I believe will be for sale in time for MICE, the new Boston indie comics show in late September. In the meantime, I will tease you with page 1!

Variations on the same idea

I was brainstorming some new and old ideas in my head based on a sketch I had done a few years back (right) and one over the weekend (left). The two sketches represent 3 ideas using the at least the 3 characters shown in one form or another.

Girls of spring

Better post this before we get too far from "spring" (though it feels like October at the moment). A few weeks back, on a sunny, warm Sunday, I saw a shapely gal walking (left) with her rough-looking BF. I liked her look: pretty but not gorgeous; clothing that showed off her form but odd enough to not be slutty. Daisy Dukes and cowgirl boots, very nice. A few days later, on a drizzly morning, saw a girl stopped at a light with her bike (right). Very pretty with pretty blonde hair, Cookie Monster blue top, frilly skirt, black leggings, tall high-heeled boots. Very odd attire for biking, even as a commuter cyclist.

Dana Girls

A while back, I nabbed from my parents' yard sale pile some of my sister's childhood books. Among them was a Dana Girls mystery, Secret of the Minstrel's Guitar, by Carolyn Keene. Like the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew, the Dana Girls were written by several different authors in formulaic adventures. The Dana Girls were fairly independent, with their sea captain uncle as their guardian. In this book, they get mixed up with Gypseys en route to Portugal. I'm a bad judge of children's literature, so take my remarks with a grain of salt. Unlike Nancy Drew, I find the Dana Girls to be pretty flat. At least, in this novel, neither girl had a distinct personality or role. I did like the interludes of history/cultural lessons of Portugal. I understand from some Portuguese friends, the information is accurate, so you get a nice little taste of Portugal in addition to a mystery that made little sense. The girls ended up in my sketchbook with an early '70s flair. I started to use blue pencil, but then finished with my new favorite sketch pencil, which is super dark and super soft and flow-y.

Fish after Piotrowski (sort of)

"Crazy" Tim Piotrowski was drawing his salesman character repeatedly during SPX. I really love the way he draws the salesman, and we brainstormed the salesman's backstory. As a result, Tim drew in my sketchbook the salesman dreaming of a buxom babe. On the way home from the con, I drew the babe dreaming of the salesman.

No. 12

I was looking for some drawings at the request of a fan looking to purchase some art. sadly, both pieces he was looking for were well integrated into my sketchbooks. But, what fun to discover the drawings I did 3 years ago of this Tomboy. I recall having ideas to do a comic with her, but like so many other projects, this sat idle.

I'm so comforble!

I tend to draw my racy sketches in my friend Adam's sketchbooks. The nastiest ones I sign with his name. And sometimes, I sign his best sketches with my name, so it all works out. :)

I'm told I don't draw enough women. Hence, the run of she-sketches lately (Janelle the hooker, the odd couple, now the bikini girl).

Maybe I will post some old drawings of my characters Arche-Lady, Mimi Chandler, and Simone.

Oh—that's Adam's note to himself that I sketched over, about the figure model.

Shannen '92

I haven't posted anything in a while now... so hearing of the 90210 remake, I thought it would be fun/funny to haul out one of the few sketches I've made of actual real people. Long before I made the drawings of Candy Johnson and Jody McCrea posted here, I drew this gem of Shannen Doherty. She had appeared on a magazine cover, and I was sketching from it the night of the 1992 election results. I was in Seattle at the time, looking for work. It's a unique enough circumstance that the memory is still pretty vivid.

Spooky Bitch

Fans of my gone-by comic series Arché-Lady will appreciate this drawing of Rachel Moon, the little teen witch. October 2007.