Cataloging the Detritus of my Life
One of my goals for 2012 was to draw/doodle/sketch something every week. This is the first of 52. I think if you click on the image you’ll see the full image? Maybe? I never know how these things are going to turn out until they go up publically.
I attended APE this year in San Francisco. APE is a lot like Comicon down in San Diego except that the artists and writers at APE don’t have a deal with a big named publisher and/or they don’t write comics about men who wear capes and women who fight crime in their panties. From walking the floor and browsing tables it appears that comics can be, and are, about just anything! There were comics set in the past, present, and future. There were funny comics, serious comics, comics drawn well and comics drawn poorly. There was even a guy there who was selling every Jack Chick publication?!
I hadn’t intended to purchase anything at APE, but once I met up with internet friend, Nich Maragos, who knows a lot more about this stuff than I do, was only too happy to share his knowledge and enthusiasm for the art with me which lead to some purchases. Which by itself isn’t a bad thing seeing as the holidays are coming up and I know a number of people who would appreciate some good graphic novels. I also had the opportunity to meet and talk to several artist/writers: Craig Thompson, Kate Beaton, Shaenon K. Garrity, Jason Thompson, Shannon Wheeler, Elle Skinner, Scott Campbell and so many more who’s names have slipped my mind or cards I’ve lost.
What else? Oh, I ran into Tim Schafer at the Double Fine booth and he was nice enough to hit me in the chest with his yo-yo, while we were there we also lamented the fact that they couldn’t market anything with a muppet on it due to Sesame Street’s strict licensing agreements. Shannon Wheeler was more than happy to share with those who talked to him original pieces of Too Much Coffee Man panels as well as endless humorous anecdotes about his time in the industry. I especially enjoyed his story about how in the 90’s when every comic was selling with some gimmick (foil or holograms) they wanted to do something but wanted to keep costs way down and so went out with guns and shot a bunch of comics, the larger the caliber of bullet the more damage done to and cost of the comic =P
Finally, and this might be the best part of APE is that when you purchase a comic or book after talking to the author they’re more than happy to personalize it for you!
All in all I had wonderful time at the Expo and I’m hoping I can make it to next year’s.
PS – again, I want to thank Nich for letting me taglong at APE and Shivam for hosting us and many other friends afterwards.
I have a couple of half-cooked ideas for blog posts but since they’re not quite down yet let’s critic some of my old art instead. All of it is on paper and with pencil because back when I was drawing a tablet cost around $1000! So digital was right out.
As you can see from these first two sketches I wasn’t comfortable with trying to represent objects three dimensionally. Everything is either scene in full on or from the side, anything else and I got confused. Also I hadn’t quite figured out the human skeletal-musculature system. I think in the hormagaunt one I’ve used every single possible shading technique possible in one single image… Also, if you’re having trouble deciphering the face on the angel above you’re looking at his chin, the face is raised skyward… I don’t know how long I worked on that and it still doesn’t look right.
Also note, that like Rob Liefeld I couldn’t draw feet and so they ended up being these boxy boot like things. I still think that rat hound looks pretty neat, though.I find it strangely hilarious that I was trying to design the optimal ears for this race of post-humans…
I have pages of quick sketches like the one in the top-left of this image. So much easier to draw when I don’t have to worry about muscles, hands, feet, clothing, etc… I even had a name for these kind of sexless homunculi,”bioderms.” I don’t know where that term came from but I’m sure I didn’t come up with it myself. Notice that as a true artist I couldn’t just cross out the sketches I didn’t like but instead created big “Xs” by crossing two triangles. The worms with the shiny carapace head cap are another thing I drew a lot of. I think at the time I used them as a physical representation of sin/evil. I know I have a sketch somewhere that is merely the human figure with one of those coiled up in the groin region…. Yeah, let’s just move along… The overactive cape/cloak on the figure in the lower-right should tell you that I was far too familiar with and influenced by Todd McFarlane’s artwork. Please note that years before it became cool I was into “tribal” designs.
Every once in a great while I think I should take a stab at drawing again and then I pull out these sketches and see why I stopped. Go ahead and put your criticisms in the comments below!
PS – if you want to see these at full size just click on them, but I’m really scratching my head at why you’d want to.
I recently started listening to the BBC’s A History of the World in 100 Objects, a collaboration between BBC 4 and the British Museum. The goal of the program is, just like the title says, to tell the entirety of human history through 100 objects that can be found at the British Museum.
The seventh episode is all about the Ain Sakhri Lovers sculpture which is believed to have been carved around 9000 CE. Some have considered it the first depiction of human lovemaking in the arts. The stone is especially noted for its clever depictions depending on how it is viewed. As you can see from the picture above the stone can be two lovers embracing, a penis, a vagina, or breasts.
The reason I’m writing about it, is I was stunned and a little awed by the sculpture. That 11,000 odd years ago a man or woman who is nothing like me, but just like me, took this cobble out of a stream and sculpted this piece and here it is now speaking to me in a wordless language that is as powerful and understandable today as it was then…