"Two Shticks"

Shtick (from the Yiddish) mashed up with the 1908 Jack London classic, then baked by your truly. Figured I'll start the new year off with probably the worst/best gag from 2024... gotta set the bar low so as to look like at least some progress is being made.

Not scanning anything anymore, at least the Nuggets panels – full pagers and poster art is done in the department on a tabloid scanner. You know, the "serious" stuff. Ever since my desktop one broke a couple years back, I’ve resorted to just using my phone camera, which necessitates decent lighting, and changing the resolution/image size to one better suited for editing and printing (for example from 72dpi to 300dpi + 50" to 8" usually preserves the size ratio). Here's a sample of what a line version looks like directly after snapping a picture of it with my iPhone, air dropping it to the iMac desktop (i-yay-yay), opening in Photoshop, and converting it with the threshold setting. Notice the abundance of artifacts left over from the pencil - a real pain to methodically erase in post, and a reminder to work cleaner!

New Year, New Sig

When they say "sometimes it's the little things," that ain't no joke. Especially something so serious as a signature, especially one that adorns a cartoon. It's the pinnacle of branding, second in importance only to a logo as far as the unique distillation and encapsulation of one's artistic identity and marketing image. Not really, since the pseudoscience of graphology is as equally illegitimate for either signatures or lettering. But for the first post of the year, here's a sneak peek at the new chicken-scratch of a scrawl that'll eventually replace the one perfected over many years of practice. It'll be a few more months before it shows up in print, and a few more after that before making an appearance here on Ink & Snow. But file this post under "for those of our viewers keeping score at home."

Geez that makes for four major makeovers in my recent artistic journey. It's only been since 2021-ish that I - creatively speaking - yanked out the rug from under my own two feet by voluntarily flipping the ratio of color panels versus the traditional black & white ones on its head. Now it's comparatively rare that I leave anything grayscale. Then, a few years later, there was an existential crisis of realizing I hated the way I was using color digitally, and decided to change that. 

Now what's as unconsciously second nature as tying a shoelace has to be methodically practiced until perfect. Technically I've been digitally cut-and-pasting a stock signature for my headers on the feature panel for decades now (not exactly when the most recent one first started getting used), it was more of a stylistic choice as opposed to (just) being lazy. Still it feels new, it feels like a private little spit-shine: I like the playfulness of moving the dot over the "j" thereby making it lower-case,  and shortening the overall length. 

"ahhh... now I see"

"Cheer Up"

Recently during a recent interview the question was asked about the relationship my work has with where I live... to what degree am I a product of my environment. The shared experience of living in a city so close to the Arctic circle is an indelible watermark, a sort of emotional permafrost. Similar to gallows humor, but colder, more like a morgue.

Also, this is yet another instance of how far off the seasonal wheel my postings have spun: but being untethered from such concerns can sometimes serve as a reminder, even today in the crest of summer, of a literal polar opposite of what's to come. I may have mentioned elsewhere on this blog as to the peculiar effect of focusing on developing material so far in advance that in the relative warmth of the sun I can still suffer from S.A.D.

Catching Up with Comics + Going with the Flow

"Research" materials

At the close of another semester and over the little "break" in-between, I'm also in-between gigs, and so will be prepping for the annual Ursa exhibit (see previous post), taking down the Pakalolo show, and catching up on my stack of books to read + comics to draw. Some of the notable acquisitions for my collection at the office include: Howard Cruse's "Stuck Rubber Baby" whom I had never even heard of before, and contains some of the most luxuriously rendered textures I've ever seen.

Also recently splurged on the deluxe canvas slipcase edition of Loeb/Sale's "Superman for All Seasons"; another in Brremaud & Bertolucci's wordless day-in-the-life series "LOVE: The Tiger"; and “Nuking Alaska: Notes of an Atomic Fugitive” from Alaska’s own Peter Dunlap-Shoh (review here + publisher's website here), and a bonus capybara (for reasons explained below).

Stop exaggerating how big it is

It appears that there has been a breakdown in the system... is it any wonder I have basic issues with trust? Many of us are into comics because we are somewhat of control freaks, and now my sense of fairness and justice in the world has been completely undermined. Seriously though, this is why I lose my mind even before starting to draw any goddamned thing, when the foundation you are trying to build upon is a lie.

But seriously, later on here I'll have another motherlode of a recap re: the comics class officially debut during a normal semester. In the meantime here's a little teaser of the next installment of studio art courses I'll be rolling out as the upgrading of the drawing department continues apace. I'm thoroughly excited to launch a personal passion of mine, and expand upon the fundamental medium of the entire program.

clockwise from top left: Garth Williams/E.H.Shephard/Frank Frazetta/Robert Crumb

And in closing I would be remiss in mentioning an absolutely wonderful & enchanting movie I was lucky enough to catch the last day it was on the big screen here in the 'Banks. Ginys Zilbalodis' "Flow" (trailer here) is a magical, transcendent experience - not since seeing "The Iron Giant" back in 1999 has an animated feature so enraptured me - this was pure delight. Also one of my pet peeves that prevents me from watching 99% of contemporary animated movies was blissfully avoided with an entirely dialogue-free production, so no intrusively annoying and tiresomely stupid famous-actor voiceovers. As a cat daddy, the adventures of the protagonist kept me on the edge of my seat for half the show, and it was quite emotionally exhausting, if not altogether rewarding and reflective afterwards. Not only are the reviews all outstanding, and the writer/director/producer even made the music, the entire soundtrack for which I promptly purchased, and have been replaying with earphones on at the studio - home and school - ever since.

"Ursa X" A Decade of Drinking & Doodles (2016 - 2025)

Join us this first Friday (January 3rd, 3-9pm) down at the distillery for the first - and last - show of the new year, as in 2024 I did a record-breaking run on a total of seven different gigs (these six + Pakalolo), and all that time + energy is now gonna get funneled into some fun and challenging new directions. 

There’ll be a few more irons in the proverbial fire, so probably no net loss on overall stress esp. what with the full-time teaching load. But there's long been a big backlog with more than a few back-burner projects I’ve been ignoring for years now, mainly books (graphic novels, collections, children’s books), and it’s long past time to start getting it together - in more ways than one - and putting stuff out again.

Not just the last show of the new year but also a great spot to totally tie it off at ten years. In retrospect, a decade (2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024) of retrospectives covers a lot of ground, with some notable changes (ratio flip between color panels versus grayscale, color theory), and some notable works (The Lodge, the BLM artist-in-residency at Eagle, Road Safety Nuggets, 24 Hour Comics, the Baked Alaska feature, literacy fundraisers and so many freelance gigs). By New Year’s, after a couple b-days + xmas, I’m pretty burnt out but working the hardest of the year over “break” to get ahead before classes start in a couple weeks. So I never pay much attention to the holiday, or put much stock rituals like making resolutions – basically too busy, and for creative people there’s no such thing as a vacation, days off, or retirement. So these shows have always been a chance to pause recap in person what went on during the previous approximately 365 days of art-WORK. 

Even after all this time of going with instinct when installing on-site, I still maintain the illusion of control

In some of the pieces on display I reference Rapunzel, the river Styx, the titan Prometheus, the All-Father Odin, Cinderella, and the semi-annual Yiddish pun for good measure. There’s a few holiday panels, plus Qi, queers, a couple marriage jokes, and even an AI addition to the mix of hyper-regional humor. So just enough of a veneer of breadth and depth to sell the story that I'm smart, as opposed to the reality of being clever, like a rven rearranging bright, shiny stuff found at the dumpster site of human culture. There’s a couple so-bad-they’re-good gags, and even one that’s not particularly funny, just simply adorable & personally wonderful to me personally. Speaking of, I seem to make more than the normal guest appearances (seven in fact, as opposed to the usual one or two instances I need a really funny-looking face for comedic effect), along with the usual menagerie of marine mammals, moose, mosquitoes, bears - all three species - porcupines, ravens, salmon, random rodents, the requisite Castor Canadensis, and some sled dogs too.

There’s a whole missing section in the show that another 9-12 panels would normally appear, but it was bumped on account of two major tentpole pieces: Rush Hour + Spruce Moose (Spruce Moose will be making a debut with some free copies of the comics on hand for early birds). So it’s a lot stronger of a show after all the pruning, as I’m always telling students to edit, edit, edit. Similarly only one editorial, and not really any “edits” per say – just a coupla borderline tasteless ones. A whole new area will be dedicated to a half-dozen of the "Nuggets Sketchbook" series.

Thanks one more time to the fine folks down at Dateline Digital Printing, Sticky Brand and Great Alaska Shirt Company for doing their usual great jobs with the merch + gig. Went all out on some special limited edition tshirts, sporting a tag logo that’s a throwback to the very first Ursa Major showcard/poster design, and also adorns complimentary stickers commemorating the gig free for the fist few hundred folks. 

"What's in the box?" An entire show's worth of drymounted panels

There’ll be extended opening hours from 3pm – 9pm, lots of original art on sale, some books, and of course the traditional Ester Caucasian will be on tap as the special. So stop on by – it’ll be good to see you, and share a laugh & a libation. CHEERS!

Bonus Xmas: "Rude-olph"

A special post just for dear readers of Ink & Snow: the second of a series of critters taking dumps down chimneys this year. Also my festive greeting card as opposed to the family-friendly panel that also appeared in the paper (note: can't imagine how many folks will add their own contribution to Rudolph's anatomy with a judiciously placed "*"). 

If you on the offhand chance would like to join my old-fashioned mailing list - never for sale - and get (or exchange would be cool) a free card featuring this heartwarming design, drop a line with yer mailing address.

In the meantime, as always please stay safe + CHEERS

 

Xmas 2024

Alternatively titled "Shit List." He's checking it twice! Everybody stay safe & warm, and CHEERS to all.

*While I'm at it, here's hyperlinks to 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, and 2022, where incidentally this the pen & ink + pencil of post's panel was initially teased out, and last year's piece for 2023.

PS: True to tradition here's a teaser doodle for what'll ran in this year's xmas issue of the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner... Ho ho ho subscribers "get it" first!

1-pagers + Comic Poems: "Whereas" (aka "Proclamation"), "Wish You Were Here," "Cognitive Cryogenics" & "Robot Beavers"

Here, on the darkest day of the year, is some illumination by way of letting in a little light + levity. The buffer zone helps keep me sane, if not alive (speaking of darkest days). 

First up is a side-piece done not as a demo per say but an insurance policy on the collaborative page exercise in the Cartoon & Comic Arts course this semester. So as to ensure an unbroken chain of participants during each successive stage (script > pencil > ink > color), I will usually have an emergency backup prepped up in case anyone misses a class for whatever reason. I had an advanced student knock out a simple script on the day it was due, and then penciled in the page, and when nobody missed a session for any other stage along the path of production, went ahead and inked and (digitally) colored it as well. Note there was a lot of artistic liberty taken with my interpretation of the script.

I wanna take this opportunity to mention some meta about doing this assignment: aside from experimenting in the possibilities with collaborative aspect of comics (not many other mediums allow for such a process resulting in an amalgamation of imagery), a simpler point is made. That is how much you might get out of just doing random, weird exercise - at the least you'll have drawn something you never thought of before, and may very well wind up with a really unusual and creative creative synthesis.  

"Cognitive Cryogenics" was a collaborative exhibition up at UAF between Professor Sasha Bitzer and Ayona-Reily Dixon, a current art major student in the department. I couldn't take my Beginning drawing class on their semesterly field trip to the Bear Gallery (bonus 64th Parallel show was up, a dependable cornucopia of creativity + inspiration), but there was an outstanding show in our own gallery. When I was visually sampling & remixing some interesting textures on display, the individual titles for the pieces were not up yet, and so literally drew more from inference as far as the verbage. Sometimes it is a gateway into abstraction, like an artistic moulin.

Similar if not the same essential concept is at play with the comics poetry unit - now done as an exercise in all Beginning classes, not just in the Cartoon & Comic Arts course. These days when teaching in the studio, "See what happens" is my usual MO... try something new. This particular in-class exercise is so much fun to see spontaneous stories unspool - you never really know what will come out of the collaboration.

Like this last one, another impromptu page done during demos (reminiscent of "Costco," a recent Lamb of God mashup, and "Empty Spaces" too), for the semesterly landscape gesture exercise. I often go off on my own, whether in the woods or classroom, and wander about, doodling.

Edits of the Year: "Airbags," "Warm Slippers," "Vibrissae," and the "Red Lantern"

After the recent folding of the "Alaska Cannabist' magazine and consequent demise of the Baked Alaska monthly feature, it looks like a new category of annual uploads will take place at the end of the year, so here's another batch of "Edits."
Some not-so-safe fur work so they're tucked underneath the fold...

"Existential"

A simple and straightforward concept paired with a complimentary, uh, scaled-back rendering, especially the application of color. As explained in the preceding post, Gallagher's "Heathcliff" as of late has been reminding me the crucial lesson in not taking anything, including my own work, so seriously. Like don't forget to play. Maybe even have a little bit of fun sometime. 

Okay so yeah, there's also the whole metaphor thing going on about societal-wide stress, and maybe reflection of personal struggles with depression and temperament. But cheer up.