Girls, Girls, Girls!

Haven't posted any girlie sketches in awhile, so here are a few pages from the sketchbook, mostky quick drawings from various photo and such. Enjooooy!

FrauenFuckinAwesome

My birthday's coming up in a couple of weeks, and if someone would like to pick me up one of Boing Boing scribe Mark Frauenfelder's fantastic paintings, I'd be forever in your debt. I especially like "The Poke", which probably comes as no surprise.

Foxy!

This is a spot from the current issue of Virginia Living magazine...I've been illustrating their "Olden Times" column for awhile now, which focuses on a specific (and usually strange) moment in the history of the Commonwealth. This one focuses on a spike in the fox population in the 1950's, which was great news for hunters, but not so much for farmers.

Single in the City (Paper), Part II

As promised, here are a few of the supporting spots to the City Paper singles story. Makes me glad I'm married!

Single in the City (Paper)

Here's a cover I did for my most favorite client, the Washington DC City Paper, this week. It's a first-person article about the ups and (mostly) downs of being an older single guy in the big city. There are a few accompanying spots that I'll post later.

I like it for the most part, although there's something about the color that's bugging me...something lacking, somehow. Luckily, a deadline's a deadline so I couldn't over-obsess about it too much!

Honorable Mention

My friend Patrick told me yesterday that my comic about Terry Sawchuk, the Red Wings goaltender, had earned a spot on the list of 100 Distinguished Comics in the recent Best American Comics 2006 collection, compiled by Anne Elizabeth Moore and Harvey pekar and published by Houghton Mifflin. Basically, the story was good enough to be mentioned, but not quite good enough to be printed in the book. Either way, it's really nice to be recognized. If you're interested in reading the story, it's from Old-Timey Hockey Tales #1, and is available here.

SPX 2006 Big-Ass Mega-Wrap-Up

Now that I've managed to get ahold of some pictures (thanks Mr. Gammon!), here's the word on SPX 2006!

The big news this year was the change in venue, a couple miles north to the huge Marriott convention center. Having had the good luck of being placed in the big room for most of the years the show was held at the Holiday Inn, moving all the exhibitors into one big room was a little less important to me personally, but nonetheless a fair and right decision. Every year at the old place I'd see those poor schlubs in the two smallest rooms and think "I hope I never end up stuck in here." Which isn't to say a lot of people didn't have some great success there...but I think giving everyone equal placement is a good idea. The hotel itself was really nice...although the staff there at times didn't seem to know what to make of all these drunken geeks shuffling around pulling beers out of their messenger bags. I heard that we just about dried out the bar, and that was with all the cheapos (myself included) smuggling booze in at every opportunity. One irritating curiosity was the lack of a usuable staircase. We got hollered at by a security guard for using what turned out to be the emergency steps Saturday night, taking a shortcut up to the second floor rather than waiting twenty minutes for a turn at the elevator. Really, you've got something like ten floors, and two elevators, and NO USUABLE STAIRS? Eat my shorts, rentacop.

The surrounding area left a lot to be desired. It was actually not bad considering all the other places where cons are held in the States...think about the area around the Charlotte Convention Center, or the Concourse in SF, or the Chicago Comicon, or the old SPACE location in Columbus (fuck that's a lot of "c"s...oh well, C is for comics, I guess)....but but one of the best things about SPX was being able to step right out of the hotel and walk the lovely streets to dozens of restaurant, that beer and wine store a block over, Big Planet Comics....this new locale is definitely missing that aspect. But if you tried a bit, you could find some nearby, walkable gems (even though McD's owns 'em, I love them Chipotle burritos). And having the staff hand out maps to local restaurants was a much appreciated and thoughtful idea.

So overall, I'm pro-new space. It's not quite as good aesthetically, but it solves a good deal of the problems the show's faced over the recent years, and if it keeps SPX thriving (and all evidence shows that it is) I'm all for it.

Now, to back up for a second...the night before the show, the Wide Awake fellas from Greenville, SC (heretofore to be known as the Greenvillians) drove up and crashed at my house in Richmond. By good fortune, Andy Runton and Rob Venditti from Top Shelf were only a half-hour or so behind them on 95, so they stopped in too and stayed for dinner. It was a blast...Mrs. Chappy stepped out for BBQ and a couple sixers, and we had a great little impromptu party. To her credit, Brooke was a wonderful and gracious host, even though she had to've felt like Dian Fossey among the apes. I'm one lucky dude. See the pics below.

(One wierd aside, re: the party, that'll only make sense to folks who've met my dogs...notice that Puck (the Golden Retriever) is in a bunch of the pictures, while Betty (the Black Lab) is nowhere to be seen. That's so odd, 'cause usually Puck's the one who freaks out at strangers, barking at them and occasionally scaring the poop out of 'em, while Betty would welcome a burglar with kisses. Thursday night, not so much. Puck was on his best behavior, and Betts was invisible.)

Justin, J.Chris, Duane, Jamie, and I packed the rented SUV full of a ton of our crap, and set out for Bethesda about 10 Friday morning. About three hours and a thousand mom jokes later, we arrived at SPX. Contrary to what I've seen reported by others, Friday was great for me...although it might've been repeat customers coming by early to beat the rush. Saturday was even better...which is just amazing. This was my ninth SPX, and each year, its gotten better (I keep waiting for the streak to end, but I hope it never does.). I made some great new contacts, and saw some old pals.

Both nights involved a lot of drinking, as usual...SPX is about the only time I ever get to hang out with my pal Mark Way, he of the oh-so uncomfortable humor. He's one of the funniest people I know, more so when he's had a few. My friend Bill came down from New York, but it was so busy at the show that we only had one lunch at McDonald's with another friend, Eric, to chat and try to catch up. Business and browsers kept me too busy to walk the floor much, too...I picked up a few nice little items, and took a few chances on some unfamiliar stuff as well (they tell me that's how you discover the gems). I managed to miss KRAYON'S EGO, a book I've been waiting for for years without realizing it. I did get to read someone else's copy...Hilarity, indeed. A lot of the other stuff I figured I'll just pick up at my shop so I'll get a discount and I wouldn't have to lug it home. Woulda liked to have grabbed that Dedini book, tho'....

Christ, this is rambling...Wrap-up party at Dave and Buster was surprisingly fun, though owed probably more to the company than anything. I had a great, inspiring chat with Chris Staros, played some video games with Chris Pitzer, Scott Morse, and Jacq from Top Shelf, got my ass kicked in Basketball by Brett Warnock, and kicked the computer's ass in Galaga, a game I still rule at after twenty years.

Oh yeah! I forgot to mention how the program cover I did turned out...It was awesome! Everybody seemed to really dig it, and there's really just something incredibly cool about seeing everybody carrying around a book with your art on it, even if it was free. Major thanks to Karon Flage and Steve Conley for giving me the gig, and to Greg McElhatton for telling me that the show likes me.

Wow, you're a patient one, aren't 'cha. As a reward, here's what you came for: the pictures! My apologies if you aren't in any of 'em.

The Night-Before Party:











Arts and Crafts the Night Before:




Mrs. Chappy Can't Believe It:


The Car:




The Show (at this point, you can make up your own captions):

Mixed Message

I'm not even sure why, but I'm really digging this spot I did up for this week's SAVAGE LOVE.

Con Re-port! Con Re-port! Con Re-port at Lunch!

What a shock...SPX was awesome again! More details later, once I have the opportunity to steal and post some pictures from my pal Justin.

Small Press Expo 2006

It snuck right up on me! SPX is this weekend! I'll be parked next to Wide Awake Press all weekend, and we'll be shilling the new WIDE AWAKE 666 anthology, and well as all my other books, original art, and maybe even some buttons.

Best of all, they asked me to do the cover for the program book, and I was thrilled to oblige. Here it is!

Bad Korea Move*

I'd probably be a little more wigged out about North Korea supposedly testing a nuclear weapon if I didn't get the impression that North Korean leader Kim Jong Il is a blustering, delusional, tough-talking-but-ultimately-mostly-harmless nut (well, harmless to all but his own people, anyway). He seems crazy more in a cartoony way than a Hitler way...I think he just likes all the attention he's getting.

Anyhow, pretty much everything I know about North Korea I learned from reading Guy Delisle's excellent Pyongyang graphic novel, an autobiographical travelogue of the author's time in the mysterious nation, working as an animation supervisor for a French film company. It's a pretty remarkable, if grim, story about what goes on in a country that has virtually no freedom, no contact with the outside world, and a lunatic at the helm. I've reccommended it before, and I'll do so again.

*I couldn't think of a good title for this post, so I stole this one from The Daily Show.

Brave Old World Revisited

Now that the new issue of Richmond Magazine is on the stands, I've gone ahead and posted the entire Brave Old World strip from last month's ish for your enjoyment. More than you ever wanted to know about baseball in Richmond, and just in time for the MLB Playoffs!

I'm A Crafty Bastard!

If you find yourself in the nation's capital this weekend, take a couple hours on Sunday and check out the Crafty Bastards Arts and Crafts Fair. I'll be among the dozens of vendors at this Washington City Paper-sponsored arts and crafts fair, and it looks exceedingly cool! Here's the official description, from the City Paper's website: "Crafty Bastards Arts & Crafts Fair is a juried exhibition and sale of handmade alternative arts and crafts from independent artists presented by the Washington City Paper Classifieds Department. The fair is all-day, outdoors, free to attend, and will offer goods for sale, food, entertainment, prizes, and more!"

I've never exhibited or attended before, mainly due to the fact that it the date falls so close to the Small Press Expo, but the fab folks at the City Paper offered me some free space this year, and it was just too good an offer to even think about passing up. I'm anxious to see how I do with a new audience, and Mrs. Chappy's been wanting to check it out as well, so everybody wins!

I'll also have a new book in tow...The amazing Wide Awake 666 Anthology is here! It turned out even better than I expected...the fellas did an awesome job putting it all together, and I think you're gonna love it.

So get crafty, you bastards!

Fed Up

If you're an Entertainment Weekly reader, grab your copy of the most recent issue (the one with BATTLESTAR GALACTICA on the cover) . Now take a gander at the letters page and tell me you don't agree completely.

Noel

I've been working the last couple of days on a pin-up for Kevin Freeman and Stan Yan's highly entertaning SubCulture comic, the first issue of which hits the streets this fall. Here are a few sketches of the female lead, the sassy, cynical Noel, just to get a feel for the character.





Then I set in to tackle the actual pinup... I figured Noel seemed like the type of girl who'd sit on the roof of her apartment building and drink a tallboy out of a paper bag, so that's the image I went with:





I thought the pose was a little stiff though, so I had her slouch a little more for the final:





I stared inking it this afternoon, so it oughta be finished soon...I'll check with Kevin and see if it's cool to post the final!

BRiCK

Exciting news: Richmond has a new free alt-weekly newspaper! Since the phenomenal PUNCHLiNE went tits-up back in 2002, the city has been sorely lacking a real alternative newsrag (the affable but boring STYLE and abominable WADI nonwithstanding). Finally, it's here. It's called BRiCK....and better yet, it's being headed up by PUNCHLiNE editor Pete Humes, whose vision, hard work and hilarious writing always made that paper so worth picking up. I expect great things.

I'd been saving this news to announce once some content made it up on the website, but I decided I didn't want to wait any longer!

Here's an illo I did for the first issue of BRiCK, from a short column on podcasts worth checking out...specifically the ZenCast. Mrs. Chappy says it'd look good on a t-shirt. (Coincidentally, I'm about one-third of the way through Osamu Tezuka's massive, fantastic BUDDHA graphic novel series, although that book has very little to do with this image.)

Wah-wah

Several months back, I sent a bunch of ideas for gag cartoons in to the fine folks at Nickelodeon, and much to my relief, they thought a couple of them were funny enough to buy and run in their magazine! Since this one ran in the July issue, I feel at this point that it's safe to reproduce here whithout violating any agreements or anything...when the next one (which is much funnier, by the way) is published, I'll let you know!

Fire, Flood and Probably Famine Too

This illo is from the current issue of Richmond Magazine, for an article about all the reasons to spring for homeowners insurance.

Ernesto

Well, the big storm has come and gone and we're pretty much none the worse for wear. It was kinda cool, actually, as powerful, extreme weather that ultimately does no substantial damage can be. Sure, it was kinda inconvenient that our power was out the majority of yesterday afternoon... but I managed to do some work at the coffee shop down the street, so that was all right. And as of right now (noon Saturday), our cable is still out, which makes me look like that more of a genius for picking up season three of Arrested Development the other day (and gets Mrs. Chappy out of the house to see a movie for once). Our basement didn't flood. The drainage channel I built last spring worked like a charm. It really was the best you could hope from a hurricane.

Lazy

Wow, three posts the entire month of August. That's shameful. My apologies.

Brave Old World

One of the projects I've been working so feverishly to complete in the last couple weeks is a strip for Richmond Magazine on the state of baseball here in town. Here's a panel...the rest will be available in the September issue, which should hit newsstands in about a week and a half. I'll post the whole thing here once I get the okay from the higher-ups.

To briefly summarize: The stadium here in town, The Diamond, is dilapidated and outdated, even though it's only about twenty years old. It's also kinda located in the middle of nowhere...it's close to my neighborhood, but little else. There's been a debate in Richmond for several years now whether to build a new downtown stadium, or renovate the one we have. Personally, I'm 100% for building a new park, even though there's about a million other things Richmond needs to spend its money on, because I figure if you're going to shell out some buck, might as well go all the way and do it right. Unfortunately, the city seems determined to do it wrong. I also take the local team, the Richmond Braves, (and their owner, the Atlanta Braves) to task on a number of issues, the worst of which is their glaring apathy and seeming disinterest in the situation here in town.

Big thanks to Chad and Jack, my editors at Richmond Magazine...I basically just called them up and said "I'd like to complain like a cranky old man about baseball for a full page, and I'd like you to pay me for it!" and they graciously made it happen. I hope at the very least that this strip inspires some angry letters, which I know they love!

Focus

Ever since I got back from Chicago (actually, since about ten days before I left), I've been swamped under a mountain of work. About a half-dozen spot illustrations, a full page illo for Richmond Magazine, another full-page comic strip about the state of baseball in Richmond for that same issue of Richmond magazine, several brochures and postcards, and installing a new kitchen faucet. It doesn't stop there, either...I've got several other big jobs in progress right now, all due by the end of the month. Wow. Almost makkes me wistful for the days last spring when I was complaining about having no work (Just kidding!)!

Anyhow, all this activity really takes it's toll on my ability to concentrate on any one thing for any amount of time...suffocating under an impending deadline, and there I am just sitting and staring at a blank page because I can't block out the head noise long enough to get started! In a way, though, it makes arriving the job's completion that much more satisfying because of all the suffering that went into the process. I guess there's really no point to any of tis other than to wonder if the same thing happens to anyone else out there!

Boy, does this ever read like a Mrs. Chappy post!

Chicago Con This Weekend!

I just can't bring myself to call it Wizard World!

I'll be on the road again this weekend, traveling to the Windy City to set up and sell my wares at Wizard World Chicago. It being a Wizard show, I imagine there'll be an overwhelming superhero vibe going on, but I'm hoping enough indie comix fans show up that it won't be a complete bust. If nothing else, I'll get to hang out with some of my best chums in the world, which is well worth the price of admission in itself. And if I manage to get my paws on a Special Convention Edition JLU Solomon Grundy action figure, then so much the better.

I'll be hanging out with the gracious publisher of OddGod Press, Jesse Bausch, at their table in the Small Press section, which is #647. I'll only be there for two of the three days, definitely Saturday and most likely Sunday. I'll be doing sketches, and I may even hold a raffle for a a piece of artwork or two! So when you're at the con, look for me and my fancy blue tablecloth!

Weekly Sketch 7/28

Whew! Been busy around here lately...but somehow, I seem to get more done and post more often when there isn't enough time to do so!

Today, some sketches:

Ghost Story

Here's the first page of a comic I did for Wide Awake 666, a horror anthology to be served up by Wide Awake Press just in time for Halloween. It features a hoary host of other fine indie contributors, including J. Chris Campbell, Duane Ballenger, Chris Pitzer, Andy Runton, and Josh Cotter, so you'll definitely want to check it out!

I actively tried to channel Guy Deslisle and Lewis Trondheim with this wordless story, and it ended up being maybe the saddest thing I've ever written. So check back in October to find out what happens next!

And to that end, here's some handy ordering information:
WIDE AWAKE 666
Full Color, 112 pages
5” x 8”, Perfect Bound
$9.95 US funds
ISBN 0-9749266-9-8
From Wide Awake Press and 3 Boys Productions
Diamond Code: AUG06 3555

Fair's Fair

This piece is from a recent Savage Love column, about a girl who surprised her boyfriend by indulging his fantasy of a threesome, then afterward demanding that he in turn indulge her most secret desire...to be with two dudes at the same time while he watched! That's dirty pool.

Sonic Siren

Here's a little "practice run" I did for a commission of Black Canary. I inked it pretty quick, and slapped some color down...I used a JLU maquette for reference, so if she seems pretty "on-model", that's why!

Sunburn

Lashina!

I drew this last week, and was thinking about donating it to the Heroes Con auction, but I couldn't finish it in time. Behold, the Female Fury!



EDIT:
In the comments section, Jay Geldhof wrote: "Now draw her face in profile....I DARE ya! That nose strap! What was Kirby thinkin'? "

Boy, he wasn't kidding!

Happy Birthday, America!

Anyone else out there working today?

The only downside to spending the weekend selling comics at a three-day convention is that the work doesn't go away, it just get pushed to the background, waiting to pounce back upon you at the first available moment. So, rather than cooking out or lounging by some water, I'm catching up on commissions of Lashina and the Golden Age Wonder Woman and writing the script and doing layouts for a comic about the local baseball team for Richmond Magazine. But hell, my wife has to work today anyway, and it's gonna be close to 100 degrees outside, so really, it's no big loss.

About Heroes Con: It was spectacular! I'm waiting on some pics, and I'll post an image-heavy report once I get my hands on 'em!