The Danizoic Era + All The Drool in the World

Dino-sized props to a former student, Dani Cash, who went on to study Illustration at the Ringling College of Art & Design. This is the cover of her senior thesis report, and she's got an awesome start on her online portfolio: have a little look-see here.

Another special one to keep an eye on that I’ve really been enjoying reading as of late is Hannah Beck’s “The Daily Delilah” … an “Autobiographic comic about a girl and her service dog" – check out her Tumblr here. She currently has an Indiegogo campaign here.

"Lane Ends"

I honestly think this every single time I pass one of these signs on the highway. Don't think I successfully imparted the idea of a vehicle just sailing off the edge of a cliff - it looks more like a simple crash, rather than a freeze-frame of the action.

After a few attempts at reworking the truck off on a separate sheet of Bristol, it seemed to be making it worse, or at the very least not "fitting in" with the rest of the composition. Sometimes I think it's a crucial aspect of a successful composition to get everything down right in one shot with one sitting per scene. And I think this discongruity can at times be seen, as it can affect the aesthetic flavor and feel of an image by giving it a slightly offset look. After so many years of digitally rearranging elements for graphic design work, it's a sublime satisfaction to successfully compose all the elements into a matching, unified style.

The Death of a Pen

   Not an ode to any particular pen of note, as it was one of the free ballpoints offered at a local gas station (thank you Gold Hill Liquor & Grocery). Though to be sure, of all the ones I've tried, it is the best of them out there: a nice black ink + medium-weight line, and a preferred implement for sketchbook doodles over the years. And I like the low-fi aspect of the tool, as one of the selling points behind drawing - drawing comics/cartoons to be specific - is affordable, humble and ubiquitous materials like copier paper, #2 pencils and Sharpies.

   But aside from all that, it's always well worth a moment of consideration when one thinks on the amount of time spent with this one instrument in hand. Just the simple, repeated act of holding the same object for countless hours surely deserves a passing acknowledgement of faithful service. All the places it was taken out: from satchel, pocket or dashboard; and all the places it was stuck: between teeth, behind an ear, from sweaty fingers to cold hands. One reservoir dries up, but it was only a spigot, tapping the well of ideas that continues to dribble, gush or leak from inside.

   And I think of all the things that it drew into existence, how many letters and lines. By some accounts something like thirty-five miles of a continuous line comes out the other end of an average ballpoint, and from point A to point B many weird and wonderful marks were made.

   I had an art teacher of old who would personally hand his students a new ballpoint at the start of the semester, and over the course of the course it would be the solemn duty of the aspiring talents in the class to return an empty vessel as evidence of their discharged discipline and dedication to drawing (not to mention a sketchbook full of resultant imagery).

   Reach for another, get a grip, and turn the page.
   Click.

Tripod Tension

What passes for amusement in our neck of the woods around this time of the season: waiting for the ice to go out on a river. What with words like "stuck," "stalled" and "hung-up" the tension is just unbearable, I tell ya. I'm on the edge of my seat... well, in the outhouse.
Update: yeah it's over now... but next year.

Results Are In: Google Image/Solipsist Searching

Dovetailing with an earlier essay on online art thievery, I remember working for years at a local copy shop and covertly on occasion seeing random folks making photocopies of my cartoons, presumably to mail to friends & family, stick up on doors, cubicles, outhouses etc. I always thought that was the coolest, and exactly akin to sharing images on-line via re-posting on Facebook etc.

"The Experiment Farm" + "Resignation"

Pardon the glut of editorials - we'll rejoin our regularly scheduled cavalcade of nonsense after this weekend, but there's just so much rampant idiocy on display with local politics it's the equivalent of unearthing an old chew-toy from under the couch and rediscovering the faded flavor of catnip still lingering inside.

"Stranded"

"Education is among my highest priorities. Teachers, your job is difficult, and these challenging times introduce uncertainty. I want you to know we value your service." - State of the Budget 2014

The Walker administration's transitional government proceeds apace. Prescient posts aside, it's a telling reveal to witness what legislative priorities are in store for our state. At least he's making the trains trucks run on time (h/t John). That and I can kiss off any hopes of a Governor's Award for the Arts nomination...

I am once again reminded of Alaska's official centennial license plate, which in fact depicts a long line of economic refugees fleeing the state to find work somewhere else.

Update: Another example that is indicative of not taking the issues facing education seriously would be the nomination of yet another member to the state education board who lacks both classroom experience and represents the interests of private schools (as do many members of the legislature who are themselves advocates and alumni of private schools).

JUNEAU -- Gov. Bill Walker on Thursday defended his appointment of a principal at a private Catholic high school to the state education board, which was sharply criticized by a state teachers union.
Walker’s other board of education appointee is Keith Hamilton, the founding president of Alaska Christian College in Soldotna, a position he’s held since 2000. – Nathaniel Herz/Alaska Dispatch News

In Through the Outhouse: It Will Roll Downhill

Seem to be passing a lot of opinionated panels these days...

This one's dovetailed with the mushrooming education funding fiasco (see "The Sack of the Arts" here): for the predictably reactionary instincts of politicians who would never let a good disaster go to waste - especially one of their own cultivation - inevitably reveals their partisan opportunism.

And so the feeding frenzy over the state's impending financial implosion continues apace:

According to the Alaska Dispatch News, Bishop filed Senate Bill 97 to create what he calls an “education tax.” Anyone making $10,000 or more annually would be taxed at a rate of $100. The rate goes up to $200 for people who make $50,000 or more annually. And the rate would be capped at $500 for earners who make $500,000 or more annually. 

“That means people who earn $10,000 would be forced to pay a tax representing 1 percent of their annual income, while those who make more than $500,000 would pay no more than 0.1 percent,” the Alaska Dispatch News noted. - Raw Story

As per an astute comment by a friend on the related story posted by the local paper:

"So let's be clear about this.... You gave the oil producers a huge tax break last session and now you're increasing our taxes to pay for it? How the f$%& does that work!?"...

Ooooh That Smell...

So the other day I was busted by an employee at our local comic shop here in The 'Banks: he handed me a recently released + recommended title, which after opening I reflexively took a big sniff of a page. No worry, as for him there's nothing like opening up a new set of gaming cards, so I felt right back at home. Probably one of the few places in public one wouldn't have to worry overmuch about looking like a total nerd.

But it did set me to wondering about this phenomenon: after a cursory Google search there is plenty of material out there on the well-established olfactory instinct of any bibliophile upon entering an antique establishment. And my entire childhood is predicated upon many, many memories of reading books - either in one of my father's used bookshops, while visiting my mother's library, or from my own collection lining one entire wall of my teenage lair.

Not much at all on the subgenre nerdgasm of comic books specifically. Aside from food itself, a couple notable triggers along these lines I routinely personally experience are the spring thaws in Alaska that immediately transport me back to coastal Maine. And both Roastaroma tea and the scent of Nikwax boot waterproofing will promptly cause me to mentally reach for a backpack, as they are indelibly associated with trekking. The only other instance I can recall would be new LP's that came hand-in-glove with picking up new releases from the record store back in the day.

excerpted from Cinnamonseries

At any rate, I'm sure I'm not alone in this. And even if it is one of the usual delusional tendencies that occupy my time, it's part and parcel of palpable, sensual connection that underscores the importance of making things, holding them and touching them offline.

"Bored Dog" (aka Poopman)

To paraphrase a viral meme: "If YOU'RE bored, THEY'RE bored... BRING THEM INSIDE!" Scanned directly from the pages of my current sketchbook, and submitted more or less as a joke.

Every once in a while I completely forget what I've sent to the paper, and/or in this case it's a panel of debatable merit and keeps getting filed way to use only when everything else has run (either that or my editor goes outta town). But it's a sublime pleasure to laugh out loud with childish glee when one like this appears in the pages.