The Haps 4/13/15 Edition

It's been the start of a busy season. A new book of mine starts production in June (more on that soon), and work has started on two smaller books that are in the vein of Searle, Silverstein, Gorey, and Lear. That is to say- dark, morbid and funny.

I've also been taking copious notes for the next book in the Eel Mansions series. It's really just been a matter of having enough of both plot points and random stray thoughts to lurch forth. That said, the Doomin mini will wrap soon.

There have also been freelance projects, posters and imagery for Katie Green's new play "Great Gold Bird, Great Dark Yawn" as well as drawings for food zine Put an Egg On It, and the cover for the new Lovely Sparrows album.

In music news, my group Murder Shoes is releasing it's first EP via Land Ski records on May 1st. The release show happens at The Red Stag on May 3rd. We'll have cd copies of the EP as well as our debut single Cash On Fire. Nice thing about the Cash On Fire cd- it comes with 15 demos. We have another EP recorded, and we're stockpiling songs for our first full length. We have about 11 demos floating around towards that. Once we have about 30 we'll end up recording about 20 or so of them and edit from there. We have four songwriters now, so all systems are go.

I'm also starting a music review blog. I'll have details on that soon as well. OK, back to work.

New Lovely Sparrows Video

Over the years I've had quite a bit of fun working with Austin, Texas band The Lovely Sparrows. I've done art & photography for their last EP and LP and will provide the art and photos for their upcoming deluxe edition LP once they stop perfecting it. Seriously, what the hell, is that thing a double or what?

Anyways, Bright Revolution is carrying their new video for the melancholy classic, "While Sailing". The visuals capture their usual blend of black humour whimsy. I dig.

Enjoy the show.

Final Art For The Lovely Sparrows Screen Printed EP due in October

Round And Round

I was afraid the recent heatwave would destroy my will to do anything creative, yet I'm pleased to announce that I've had a huge drawing streak as of late and have no doubts about finishing this new book by September. It's definately the companion to Enough Astronaut Blood To Last The Winter, which will be undergoing its last edits in October. I may be adding some new portraits from my Midwest travels Aug 10-31st.

Lovely Sparrows Book Update #4

More spreads from the 200 page sasquatch...

New Sparrows Book Update #3

I have to say, having finished another book before this (Astronaut Blood), I'm feeling quite good about laying out and creating this other 200 page thing. I get to break out the letraset, the all italics typerwriter, pencils, felt tips, and sharpies for the tour journal dialogue that is still being edited and of course I get to layout the photos and drawings. Meowsa.

The Lovely Sparrows Book Update

Here are a few rough spread comps that I did recently. Click on them to see them larger.

Most of my time these days has been spent scanning prints and drawings as well as doing some creative writing exercises for the book. There should be plenty to look at and read when it's finished. This October.

New New Book

Since the Astronaut Blood book sits in limbo, I've decided to put my energies into a new sister project for Austin, Texas band, The Lovely Sparrows. I've been working with them for a while now, and I'm basically in charge of their imagery. We've been talking back and forth for a bit on the topic of the new album and the music industry in general, and we've decided to take the apathetic market on head first by issuing a 2oo page book of art to accompany the album instead of the usual 4 panel booklet or more likely, nothing. I recently got back from Austin and shot 2o rolls of film on the band, surroundings, etc. and will eventually combine those with a plethora of brand new drawings and writings to form a complementary whole to both their full length album and my still unreleased 200 page book Enough Astronaut Blood To Last The Winter.

The completed first run book/albums will be available this October.

The Haps (End of the year edition)

Strange, things are now barreling fast down the road and if I have any control over this overloaded work truck, I'll be delivering the goods over the course of 2011. If I wrap them up soon. Soon being between now and the end of March. Let's see if this makes any sense.





















ENOUGH ASTRONAUT BLOOD TO LAST THE WINTER
This 200 page collection of short fiction & art is in the layout stages. I'm still getting some contact sheets back from the labs, writing some spontaneous short, short fiction and drawing some bits of weirdness to round out the book. It's a balance, y'know. It turns out I've been skimping on the non-sequitors. As soon as the rough layout is finished (within the next month or two, I'll pitch it and hopefully it will emerge early 2012.


UNTITLED LOVELY SPARROWS ALBUM BOOK
A year or so back, maybe longer, I started working with Shawn Jones of The Lovely Sparrows on an arty book to accompany his band's new album. He's about finished with the record and so Shawn will be coming down to Brooklyn for a week so that we can finish the book portion of it. Also, we'll be recording tracks during the evening for a secret project. A working holiday, my favorite kind. This takes place and wraps up mid January.





















THE DEVIL DOLL
This is the serial WWII Noir/Horror graphic novel I've been working on with Michael Jada that's been running in the Mome anthology. I'll be delivering the last few chapters by the end of February. I'll be revising the first chapter, and adding a prologue which will then round out the 80+ page book for the compiled pitch. Maybe another early 2012 book.






















HEARTS IN EXILE
This is the one man comics anthology I've been working on for the last two years. Originally it was called Whiskey Is The Key, but lately I've been re-evaluating the material and format. It will house some isolated pieces, such as bits from Mome and also some steady characters that will be fleshed out over time. The first issue will clock in around a hundred pages or so and come out anually if all goes right.







EBERSOLE VERSUS CARBERRY
In February, Erin Gibson and I will be finishing our album of weirdness produced under the banner of Ebersole Versus Carberry. Part dancy, part dissonant, part eccentric, part electric boa.

Harpsichords

Another poster for Austin, TX band, The Lovely Sparrows.

Languages Were Lost EP artwork

Here's the art for the upcoming Lovely Sparrows EP. There's also going to be some hand drawn alternate sleeves available at various shows.

Brides of Neptune/These Days I'm Not So Sure

I guess I've been having what you might call time management problems. Yesterday I was about to post another page from Abstraction House when thee olde computer took a dump. I had to sit back and think about it for a minute. This bastard machine isn't to blame. It's got too much shit to think about. Just like me. We have this sort of hiccuping thing in common. The fact is, there's no longer a deadline for Whiskey Is The Key. It's grown into a sort of dumpy ass monster. Maybe by the time it's done it'll be 250 or so pages. I'll probably look for a grant to put it out.

Anyway, this past year I've drawn about 100 pages worth of comics for it. Then there's this other thing, The Devil Doll. That's been appearing in Mome and I'm set to deliver the next 12-15 pages by May 15th. I've drawn a good 30 pages worth of that this past year. Delivering that means I can't work on Whiskey. That's fine, I like the structure that the Devil Doll imposes. The script is a grower. Anybody that's has an inkling of what it's all about or what's about to happen has no idea, and I like that. Chapter 4 gets very weird.

But then there's Enough Astronaut Blood To last The Winter, my new collection of short stories and art. I'm applying for a grant to publish that by, well, this friday. That's two hundred pages of new art and short stories post the Journey By Ferry book. Sounds like a busy schedule right?

Oh yes, there's the weekly visits to hustle speculative cartoons at the New Yorker.

Annnnnndddddd, the work I'm doing for the Austin, Texas band, the Lovely Sparrows.

And a day job on top of that. I'm not complaining, just voicing some sort of tiredness. This ambiguous nebulous art matter floating forever. What is it. Who shellacs it? Who tells it to lie down, take a nap? I don't have any answers really, I'll just keep posting the work as it gets finished. god have mercy on that ol' liver.

P.S. Today I forked over some blood money for that art of Jamie Hernandez book (yeah I know, worth every penny.). It's overwhelming how good it is. Inspirational, really.

I got to meet him at MoCCA at our joint (Fantagraphics) table and had him sign a book for a friend but didn't get a chance to chew the fat since there were forty million people behind me. I wanted to ask him if he'd be willing to give Ray a shave.

South By Southwest Postcard

A postcard I did for Austin, TX band, The Lovely Sparrows.

Two New Sparrows Book Drawings

Whiskey Is The Key/Devil Doll/Lovely Sparrows/Astronaut Blood (Update/Preview Part1)

Basically, I've been at work on twelve things at once, and though I've managed to keep my hair, it's been a frantic period of hard won productivity. Sometimes having to decide on which project to work on might ruin the entire day for me. There's also the day job that holds everything back a few paces. A transition into storyboarding is also on the horizon and that portfolio also cuts into things, but in a good way. I've definately learned plenty from books on the profession and I think it'll help improve my other work subconciously.

The work I've been delivering for Mome has been getting more and more intensive as there's the need to improve with every artwork delivery. Below are more panels from part three. Part one was a difficult start, the characters really come alive in the next two parts, and that is mostly due to my being more familiar with their facial and bodily quirks. I've also done more work from life in the newer chapters.












































The Lovely Sparrows book is also still in progress. Below are two more pages- click the images to see enlargements. Shawn Jones, head Sparrow says the album is progessing nicely. While this song isn't on the album, it was cut during the sessions and animated by the very talented Eric Power, who's also working on the new album/book/mixed media animated project.












































There's also the first issue of Whiskey Is The Key Says Me, a 100 page comics magazine that houses a variety of different stories of mine that haven't appeared in Mome. Below are a couple pages from a self parody also starring Michael Jada. I gave myself a David Nivens style moustache because I feel weird drawing self portraits.

Whiskey/Sparrows/Devil Doll/Astronaut Blood (Preview part two)

The third book in the series of short fiction/art monographs (Enough Astronaut Blood To Last The Winter) will also be coming out this coming year. At last count I had around sixty short stories to edit from and a wild assortment of drawings of various types. Copies of the second book- Journey By Ferry To Celibate City or Thigh Town are still available from me directly or through Bergen Street Comics (Park Slope), and Desert Island Books (Williamsburg). Printed Matter, Quimby's and St. Marks Books are all out of stock unfortunately. Some of the original artwork is available via Etsy.

Below are a couple art samples- click on them for enlargements.









































































































If some of that seems a bit too out there, you can cool down with some of my rejected New Yorker cartoons down at the Fantagraphics Books website.
At least one of those should turn a frown upside down and around and over and back again.

December Means jdsfhkjh@#%$^!!

This coming month will see the completion of The Lovely Sparrows recording sessions, and 134 page book as written by Sparrow Shawn Jones and drawn by yours truly. The above image is from the book, which is proceeding smoothly. This summer will see the Lovely Sparrows joined by myself for a west coast tour of music venues and bookshops to promote the s/t album & book along with my solo book Journey By Ferry as well as copies of Mome. Should be a hoot.

Project Four: The Lovely Sparrows Book One

This untitled project is a multi-media album/dvd/book for Austin, Texas band The Lovely Sparrows. Not too long ago I went to Texas to work on this project with Shawn Jones of the Sparrows. He hammered out a 100 page script for me that I'll be drawing and finishing in the not too distant future. The dvd will feature animation based on the artwork and will synch up to the album. The experience should be not unlike cooking a catfish in Shawn's backyard.