1. Poetry
Finished inks on current TSG (ch. 6 in the digital releases, issue #7 in print - confusing I know, but there is good reason, I swear). Now drafting the poetry that is my dialogue (as evidenced by above image). I stopped writing full script since… Chapter 2, maybe? I draw from a very loose plot I jot down, during which, sure I have a general idea of what what the words coming out of characters’ mouths are, but by the time I’m done drawing and inking my stack of pages and ready to actually write dialogue, I find that I’ve forgotten most of the dialogue I had intended during the drawing phase and am literally drafting the dialogue anew based on the drawings. It’s a creative process throughout with seldom a point where I’m sitting there just mindlessly following instructions I’ve written myself.
I can see the merit in going full script for collaborative work, but it makes little sense to me if you’re doing all the work yourself. Of course, prior to drawing the final pages on 11”x17” boards, I do little thumbnails first (here are complete thumbs for ch. 4, or issues #4-5 in print), but even then there can be some degree of deviation in my final pages from what I have laid out in thumbs.
2. TSG #1 Cover Process Stuff
The composition of the entire thing is very much informed by the underlying grid I have in place, which gives the entire wraparound cover its balance, with room for the “cover dress” anticipated from the get go, since it was actually “designed” before I even conceived of any of the cover art.
3. An Alternative History of Comix
“Simultaneously in New York City, in a parallel world to the Beats, sci-fi fans, and West Coast hippie comix artists, was a teenager named John Holmstrom. Homstrom was a student at the School of Visual Arts who approached the dean and demanded a cartooning program. After his demand was met and world-famous cartoonists Harvey Kurtzman and Will Eisner were hired, Holmstrom dropped out and began working for Kurtzman and Eisner. Next Holmstrom did what any respectable twenty-something would”. He was, for the record, twenty-one. “In 1975 he created a national zine about the infant music movement that he and his friends were involved with.”
That zine was called PUNK, and as such christened the name that would be associated with the genre of music birthed out of that burgeoning scene.
This connection between Punk and Comix—or Cartooning if you will—is new to me. The connection is even stronger still, given that comicbooks themselves were birthed out of zine culture. After all, prior to the creation of Superman, Joe Schuster and Jerry Siegel produced two zines: TIME TRAVELER and SCIENCE FICTION.
4. First THE SOLAR GRID Auction
Since starting on THE SOLAR GRID in 2015/2016, I’ve been reluctant to let go of any of the original art, so I in fact still have all original art boards produced to this point in time (around 300ish?). One reason is to avoid the inconvenience of potentially needing to hunt down pages if anything needs to be rescanned for the complete edition’s release, and the other reasons is for exhibition purposes devised to coincide with said book’s release. The covers for the single issues however don’t necessarily fall into that equation and so: I’VE DECIDED TO MAKE MY FIRST OFFERING OF ORIGINAL ART FROM THE SOLAR GRID!!!
STARTING WITH A WRAP-AROUND COVER FOR THE SOLAR GRID #1!!!!!
These are pencil and ink and minor collage on two sheets of 11"x17" bristol board.
5. Restricted Radar
Tattoos by Expanded Eye: Fragmented Figures + Geometric Compositions
Dangerous Visions: Final Programmes and New Fixes - a conversation with Michael Moorcock (and while you’re at it, you really wanna watch this one with Cory Doctorow, Matt Bell, Vandana Singh, and Ann VanderMeer)
Rooms of Their Own: Five women writers on where they write
Austin Kleon on fore-edge indexing
@AccidentalWesAnderson: Twitter account that posts one picture a day of real world Wes-Andersonisms (this is good use for a bot imo)
Blockhead: Great podcast in general wherein Geoff Grogan interviews contemporary cartoonists, but I particularly love the episodes with Denis Kitchen; part 1, 2 and 3.
That’s all for now. Thanks for letting me into your inbox. Till soon,
Ganzeer