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| ...just add water |
Another installment in the month of weekend demos done live on-site in the heart of downtown Ester for my Lil 'Bou Thang at Flossie & May's Coffeehouse. As per previous posts it'll be Saturday & Sunday mornings 7am - noonish. Pictured here is one of the recent color wash on original pen & ink of "Alaskan in Hell."
Drop on by to peruse the merch table, score some stickers or a book or a poster, or just sit and say hello.
This one is still a gag panel, as it only skims the surface of a political issue - though it's arguably much more of a threat to society if left unchecked and unchallenged.
The statistical prevalence of so many folks and family who fall victim to misinformation all the way down into full-blown conspiracy theory, QAnon cultism, or just basic, everyday authoritarianism, means there'll presumably be a more than a few readers who miss the meta. As in, joke's on you.
Throughout this past year I've declined dozens of requests about freelance gigs this year, and learning to say “no – thank you” is a recurring skill I am constantly in need of practicing. This on account of shifting into high gear for most of the year as full-time faculty for the first time ever in my academic career. SO once again I have empathy with the average Beginning Drawing student who juggles other classes, perhaps employment and not to mention a life, say, friends, family and maybe even a relationship into the mix. So on a functional + practical level it's a simple matter of time management to maintain healthy boundaries. While I normally rebuff many of the monthly queries on account of folks just simply not understanding that getting a logo for your business is on the same level as hiring an contractor to build your store, or an electrician to wire it, or plumber to install fixtures, or any number of other services you would hire a professional to do. In other words, they get sticker shock over estimates on how much it’ll cost. Arguably the artwork represents the public face and is the literal symbol of an establishment or product, and the value of that should be commiserate with what it’s worth. Unfortunately the proliferation of crowdsourced logo design (Fiverr, 99designs et al) has accelerated the race to the financial bottom so that it’s even more of a challenge these days to convince people to support the arts in a meaningful (ie monetary/living income) way – nevermind recommending students pursue a career path in the arts. Traditionally the higher-end client gigs aid in enabling a couplefew passion projects to happen, like for a friend or favorite cause, in my case advocating for literacy.
All that being said every once in a while comes along a case where you just feel how much of a rare privilege it can be to bring someone else's vision into reality - a chance to draw what they're seeing inside themselves. And it's also for both a friend and a real good cause too. So it's real important to allow yourself the time to take those opportunities when and if they ever do come along.
Because struggling to realize your own vision is challenging enough of a task let alone taking on another's imagery, and that stress can be a serious creativity-killer, and not having a handle on the logistics means opening the door to a lot of frustration and resentment. Having to stare down the barrel - of an ink cartridge - and force yourself to that's when the difference between a Fine Artist versus a Commercial Artist is, er, well... literally drawn. And answering those hard questions when you're all alone looking at the clock, the calendar and your conscience, wondering how and why you find yourself in this situation again, under deadline, and under so much pressure. Maybe that's one main reason why I continually finding myself relating to Beginning Drawing students who routinely back themselves up into a corner when it comes time to produce another piece for the critique that's now only a few hours away.
While it’s the never ending hustle that really wears one down, the logistics of juggling multiple freelance projects while working a 9-5 job that can ultimately smother what remains of the creative spirit. And it hammers home yet again how much of the secret of success is so often simple perseverance – oftentimes over the years I’ve looked around and wondered what the heck happened to all of the artists I’ve known, where did they all go, and why did they stop making art? So much of it is a matter of endurance, and that I'm still here on account of being to stubborn, or stupid, or selfish (usually a custom blend). And it means real humbleness to having something of a skill that someone else sees as special, and honor implied when asked to make art for something besides yourself.
PS: A note that this is one of many archived draft posts I'm slowly revising if still applicable. Since I'm slightly ahead of the curve when it comes to new output for both the newspaper and Ink & Snow, I can remember to look at the list of mothballed musings and update 'em accordingly. So this one was originally written at the end of 2022, but still checks out, which can be alternately reaffirming and/or thoroughly depressing (or both).
I always know when I'm mentally skating on thin emotional ice when watching a random video from, say The Dodo, or Rocky Kanaka, or reading a posted plea from any number of social media sites on lost pets in our neck of the woods, and it makes your eye tear up uncontrollably. SO much sometimes that I have to unsubscribe. The only think that wakes me up at night is a vision of an accidentally open door and seeing someone's butt meandering outside amongst the loose dogs, coyotes, wolves, bears and owls (oh my) out there.
While still recovering from the several losses in succession of our Bird-Dog, Souchie and Pippen, but these two have helped fill the hole every day.
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| Atticus & MoochieBear |
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| Role model: "You must dig deep inside yourself" |
Meanwhile over on Instagram I've been able to look under the online table and observe a bit more details as far as traffic goes, as they have a decent "view insight" function for the professional accounts. You can track views which I can't on Facebook (as it's a personal page), and in a limited sense here on Ink & Snow, as there's no way of differentiating between bots and humans (75 followers, of which 24-ish are weekly readers, versus 8k visits per month/100k a year). *Note we're approaching an all-time readership event horizon of one million hits (955k as of this posting), which'll happens sometime over the next few months. Woo-hoo.
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| A sample grab from a recent popular post |
Hand-in-glove with the organic rise in numbers has been a steady increase in viewers, to hundreds and even over a thousand viewers per post now. The IG metrics give a clearer insight as to the ratio of readers versus folks who actually engage with a post enough to leave a "like" or "love," or even go above & beyond with a comment and/or share. This somewhat akin to foot traffic in meatspace, and why it's important to actually write a note in the guest-book at any exhibition - otherwise the artist has no idea, unless you corner them at the opening. I've been really liking IG, even though I initially joined so as to escape the evil clutches of FB, and then Meta bought it. Haven't deviated from only uploading just a weekly gag panel/Nuggets, every Sunday, save for the end-of-season jubilee of Baked Alaskas (now defunct), edits of the year, comics poetry, the rare drawing class sketch, and the occasional event promotion. FB is a messy mix of everything - not unlike me - with more interactions, and then there's this here blog - which according to a young hipster friend are making a comeback amongst the artsy demographic - is more like my personal/public space to expand upon any given topic or random deconstruction, like this very post. I suppose the poor editor who will dutifully skin over every entry in this on-line drip of commentary spanning many years will hopefully take away an overall picture, and come up with a good biography, similar to a skipping stone plunging into in-depth insight and understanding. Or, just look at all the funny pictures. Like not forgetting to stop and smell the roses, that's what it's really all about. Thanks for visiting, and now back to the proverbial drawing board...
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| Another grab showing the steadily increasing numbers |
Just a quick post for a reminder that I'll be doin' the 'bou live all weekend, so drop on by and get a load of my new craptastic stickers - and I just dug out what I think are the last couple cases of the two books from 2007. One is in the works, I promise you, and it'll be my opus (like a limited-edition hardcover bound coffee-table volume) - in other words the ratio of quality material will be so much higher since it's the best culled & condensed from over the past 17-odd years. Not to mention full color.
Speaking of color, I'll be going full-on with watercoloring during at least half of each session while camped out at the cafe: Sat/Sun 7am - noonish. This is also a bonus sneak peak for you, dear readers, at a couple as-of-yet unposted recent pieces (including one that already was). Mention this post for a free sticker, sit for a cuppa coffee + a baked good, check out Rush Hour. Be good to see you.
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(CW top left) Derwent Inktense water-soluble pencils + Caran d’Ache Neocolor water-soluble wax pastel + Faber-Castell Goldfaber Color Pencils |
The comedy writing technique (as opposed to the cartoon by the same name) of utilizing non sequiturs is a well known method in cartooning. It shares a lot with the closely related area of irony, and both are present in this particular panel.
As usual for a "process" post, I uploaded all the steps in creating this cartoon, from the initial doodle, which captured the initial idea, then reworking the concept into a more effective composition. The breakdown continues into penciling the panel, and then inking - including all the minute micro-tweaks (and mistakes) along the way. Finally it is scanned, edited, and digitally colored before appearing in the paper (subscription link here). Documenting these deconstructions are also useful when doing demonstrations to my drawing classes.
Speaking of which, there was an extra layer of unintended irony introduced into the piece personally when it appeared in print the very same day I just so happened to sign a contract that technically elevated me to the formal rank in academia as "professor," which was covered in more detail during yesterday's post on the subject. But it was a brief moment of meta making the moment of insight a tad bit, well, ironic. Sometimes it's the little things, like a touch of tarragon to add another layer of appreciation and awareness of the humbling connections in life. All that being said I will still carry bear spray with me in the studio, just in case.
A quick update on a couple recent developments: the first being news on an ascension into the upper ranks of academia with the title of actual professor, and the second, the long-awaited enshrinement of my Cartoon & Comic Arts course into the official UAF course catalog.
This follows fifty-five-ish semesters as an adjunct (technically “Adjunct Lecturer”), then the past couple years as a “Term Instructor” (one as bipartite, then as tripartite with expanded duties ie attending meetings + sitting on committees), and now, starting this fall, as a professor (technically “Term Assistant Professor”). Note this is non-tenure track, with the next rungs on the ladder being Term Associate, then full Term. Also I’m additionally endowed with the designation of “lead instructor” of the drawing department (meaning it’s now all my fault), tacitly tasked with studio maintenance and other duties, but don’t have to worry overmuch about updating the ol’ CV and the stress of standing for review. Just remember to shave and get a haircut every once in a while, and maybe watch my mouth/mind the manners a wee bit more.
As mentioned here earlier in some cryptic teaser posts, this goes hand-in-glove with my promise to reward any advancement in the ranks with the creation and development of courses like this (next: Pen & Ink, Illustration, Caricature, Tattooing etc.). It’s a consolidation of all my experiences from SCAD + elsewhere, and as a working professional in the field, and represents the grand summation of all my educational priorities: mainly, that comics count.
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| The "Buffet" |
Here’s a couple backlinks to previous posts recapping 2020’s of the VAA comics class and the summer sessions course, for both of which it was my last time teaching them. One of the things I’m really looking forward to is literally drawing from the voluminous archives of former student works with which to continue to amaze and inspire the next generation of budding talents.
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| Excerpted sample student pages |
All along throughout my teaching career I have incorporated sequential art lessons into the classroom, as the academic advantages are very familiar to regular readers of Ink & Snow. Establishing the educational legitimacy of this medium as a uniquely powerful and popular means to express and address a limitless diversity of topics and issues, as well as develop technical rendering skills in the studio, has been an ever-evolving personal mission of mine. Also, the results speak for themselves.
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| Excerpted sample student pages |
From flunking art classes in high school before dropping out, then dropping out again from a community college and then taking ten years to finally get a degree, plus another decade to earn the terminal, it has been a convoluted path - “three steps forward and two steps back” - but I’ve never stopped going forward, and that’s a meta-lesson well worth passing on.
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| (Still the best student caricature of me ever made) |
That, and keep making comics.
Here’s another annual epic process post for the panel/poster that’ll be the centerpiece at this summer’s show @ Flossie & May’s (June). One-upping last year’s “The Lodge” that contained 250 beavers… this time with a herd of 500 350ish caribou (more on the re-calibrated numbers later). Like for that last show, I like having an oversized piece be a tentpole of sorts for the rest of the show to hang around, hence the theme “’Bou Thang” for 2024, and it will also be rolled into a faculty show + the annual Ursa gig.
This particular panel also served somewhat as a proverbial carrot at the end of a stick for another gig: it was to be my reward for getting some freelance finished FIRST. Turned out this was not the case at all, in fact, as usual it provided the perfect escape hatch away from any and all responsibilities a mature adult would pay attention to first. Priorities!
Whenever I start something on this scale this is right around this time I always ask myself the question “what the hell were you thinking,” but usually by then I’m already thoroughly committed (or at least ready to be committed), and so for the sake of closure gotta see it through too its ridiculous conclusion. Not all that different from life I suppose, but more meta later on.
The finished size of the art was modeled directly on the dimensions of an earlier piece that used an oversized vertical panel (11.75” x 36”) - I actually still had a couple frames laying around with prints of “Scenic View,” so that made for a convenient template. As a postscript to this point, the digital version was cleaned up and a couple tweaks made to resize the overall composition so as to fit better within the frame. I really wish there was a way to print the panel in the newspaper so that it spans across two pages. More below the fold...
Following in the footsteps (well, technically hoofprints - see tomorrow's post for the tentpole piece) of last year's little show at Flossie & May's coffeehouse in the heart of the downtown business district of Ester, here's another collection of cartoons, this time thematically linked to caribou comics.
Granted nowhere near as many panels existed in the archives of reindeer related material as there are of Castor Canadensis, but given the strength of centerpiece, it was surrounded by a small herd of supportive critters. Here's one, and here's another, and another, and don't forget this classic, or this one, and then there's another, etc. etc.
The concept came from exposure to last year's viral hit by rapper Paul Russel, and it was infectious enough to inspire the initial pun, and then from there I studied the choreography so as to capture the essential gesture. Also I was initially worried that only young and hip college kids would get the reference (not thinking that "bou" as a slang for "caribou" wouldn't yet be in their vernacular either), but a it turns out most folks haven't the slightest idea what it's actually about. Funny animal picture though: come to think of it, kinda like my cartoons.
There was gonna be a whole herd, but as recent examples can attest, I'm a bit burned out now on anything with horns, so I kept it simple with just the solo dancer. Though to be honest if it would have happened just a few weeks later, this would have probably been in a mammalian mosh-pit, seeing as how I've become completely immersed into metal (Lamb of God specifically). Maybe next year...
As always, made the rounds with the requisite posters + fliers at all the hot hangouts, and the on-line inundation of event pages and outlets in our creative community. Fun as it is, this is part + parcel of all the extraneous activities that are behind my tying off the extracurricular gigs like these shows - time for a hiatus (to get even MORE WORK done).
There's a whole new suite of sweet stickers - ever since switching over to Sticky, (excellent product + they ship to PO Boxes) I have been on a roll ramping up the stock for the exhibition merch tables. There's even one of the solo dancing caribou, but at this point in the post I'm tired of looking at the dam design. So no tshirts either - though I'm planning on a special commemorative print (based off the first flier) for the tenth and final retrospective at the distillery this upcoming January.
Did I mention stickers? I've been slowly but steadily amassing more stuff for my merch tables at events, and so along with restocking books and unloading original artwork, there's a nice pile of stickers now, and soon I'll add be adding soft enamel pins + magnets for a few popular designs.
SO the whole point of this post is to announce the soft opening on the First 4th (as opposed to the usual first Friday), which is logistically not ideally or easily accommodated in the hosting venue's calendar.
This'll be a more low-key event that'll sandwich in-between the pre + post-parade festivities for the 34th annual Ester Parade. I'll set up shop and do live on-site demos all day at Flossie & May's from 10am-2pm ...stop on by!
Update: Here's a 1-minute sampler mix:
