Two Studies and a Sketch

I love the look of scratchy lines with ink wash. I'm still looking for a Rembrandt study I did years ago, but in the meantime here are two small studies. Gipi does incredible comics with these moments of aaaaah where he lets you pause on a landscape with a big sky and tiny bit of something manmade. The third image is a preparatory drawing for Chapter Two: BACKWARDS. I didn't get the light right so studying light under trees is my homework for the weekend.

Water Obsession

This is the first week of my summer off from teaching, and a rare hot week in the Bay Area. I've become obsessed with getting in the water as much as possible. And I owe some time to a certain little boy. I'll draw comics when it gets chilly again (next week).

Above, a quick study of the deceptively simple drawings of Bastien Vivés, who drew this gorgeous book with 135 pages of swimming. I bought it from a Stuart Ng bookstand in the company of my friend Jake Wyatt, who is a library of comics knowledge and introduced me to both the artist and the bookseller.

Rewrites and sketches

Scribbling lots of notes today for a total rewrite of Chapter Two. The first two chapters were written long before I made the commitment to try to draw the book as a comic book, and not something more journal-like in the vein of, for example, Maira Kalman's The Principles of Uncertainty. Once I overhaul this chapter, I'm hoping the next few chapters of thumbnails, drawn in the company of other cartoonists, will be a lot less work to rewrite.

Speaking of other cartoonists, the more I meet, the more I remark that as a group, they are the friendliest and most supportive people I have ever met. Go comics!

T & Teb at the Cave of Forgotten Dreams

I'd never seen a movie in 3D before. Well, only once, but that was Captain EO and it was Disneyland and a long time ago. When I heard that Werner Herzog said you definitely should see his movie in 3D, I figured it was worth trying. And it was.