Page 10 done!

I can’t believe it! I’m actually done inking before I got the next ten pages from Colacitti!

I think I’ll probably receive his pages tomorrow.  It’s nice to feel done, though.

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Going Home Backgrounds

I was bored the other day.  It doesn’t happen often, but I didn’t feel like doing much of anything; I had my pages inked – Colacitti had sent me new ones but they hadn’t arrived yet, I had nothing to work on at the house, and The Wife was reading.  So, since I’ve read everything in the house, I decided to reread some of my not-read-that-often novels I have lying around.  I decided to read Going Home by Dave Sim and Gerhard.

On the dedication page, Sim dedicated his tom someone I never heard of (although, after reading some of the notes at the end, I realized that it was an author Sim used for a lot of research) and Gerhard had dedicated his to Preney Press (Aardvark-Vanaheim’s now-out-of-business printer).

I wondered what the hell he was talking about so I looked inside and I have to say Gerhard’s backgrounds are astounding.  He does a lot of things that I was afraid to do (boring artsy stuff that you don’t care about.  For instance, I’m always afraid of making crosshatching so dark that it might as well be black or combining a lot of tone with overlaid lines to create a more textured look while still preserving the ‘black-and-white’ aesthetic of Tiny Life; Gerhard does these things successfully).  Now I’m thinking I might have to try it.

Take a look and see what I mean:

 

That plant on the left isn't black - it's crosshatched! Those trees in the background are crosshatching on TOP of tones.

 

EACH of those bricks is individually crosshatched. Gerhard is inspiring.

 

 

 

Page Nine Done

I wonder if posting these pages is worth it?

I’m getting more hits on my actual articles than I am the artistic stuff.

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SEX! Now That I Have Your Attention…

I think I’ve found a connection between the number of posts read and the title of said posts.

According to my various sources (including private investigators, numerous fan sites, and a shouldn’t-be-out-of-work Andy Richter), the posts that get the most traffic are the ones with vaguely sexual titles.

My review of Seven Pounds was titled “A Pound of Flesh” and that has the most hits (it wasn’t even that good of a review).  I reviewed a music album for another site and the title of the post mentioned something about a naked pop star.  That got twice as  many hits as any other post.  At the time, I thought I was just a good writer, but I’m wondering…

So I think I’m going to start titling these something vaguely sexual; get my hits up.

If I’m talking about Aquafina, the title will be “Watersports.”  If I’m talking about the newest movie, the title will be “Making Out in the Back Row.”  If I’m reviewing the newest iMac, I’ll title it… I don’t know “Dude Humps Computer.” 

You get the idea.

Page 24 (I think. I may have lost count)

This one might be hard to ink. I’ll give it a shot, though.

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Telling You Off

I’m a bit unsure about this.

See, I haven’t really let a lot of people know about Tiny Life.  I mean, I’ve done interviews and podcasts and all that stuff, but I haven’t really told the people I work with about it.  I haven’t really told my students either.

I teach in a rural town.  Many of the people here are “God-Fearing Christians” in the sense that if anything goes against their beliefs, they automatically think that it’s bad.  “God-Fearing” is not necessarily a bad thing, nor are Christians.  It’s just that I’ve seen too many people ostracized simply because they don’t think the way that the majority of the people in this rural area tend to think. 

Here’s what I see happening:

Me: “Hey kids!  You know how Mr. Jones is the awesomest teacher ever?  Well, he also made a thought-provoking comic!”

Kids: “Hooray!  We will make you rich!”

This will be me after I suggest my students buy my book.

Parents: “The main character is flouting our beliefs!  We should get him fired!”

Me tied to a stake atop a flaming pile of Tiny Life: “That whole Second Coming thing isn’t really a huge part of the story!  Read the rest first!”

Parents and kids in unison: “Never!”

See how many exclamation points that story had?  I don’t know if I can handle that much excitement.

Page 8 Done

The lights are supposed to be off in a bedroom at around ten o-clock at night.  Is it too dark?

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Side-by-Side Comparisons

I uploaded a few comparisons on Facebook.  This way you can see what I screwed up when I inked Colacitti’s pencils.

Here’s one:

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 Here are the rest

Page 7 Done

I think I might still add some more zip-a-tone.  Some parts don’t seem to work as well as I’d like.

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Matt Feazell

I got a package from THE Matt Feazell!  I sent him a copy of l(a, he sent me me stuff in return (without even asking.  What a nice guy!).

If you don’t know who Matt Feazell is, you should be stomped to death by Hans the Wonderhorse.

Feazell actually helped me get my start in comics.  I mean, he didn’t physically show me how to do anything, but he really highlighted how fun it could be.  It’s because of him that I started making stick-figures.  I didn’t remember before last night (when I read his epic The Death of AntiSocialMan mini-comic trade), but he actually gave me the name of my first publishing company: “DUH! ” (with a backwards ‘D’)

As you may have read from various places (specifically in Tiny Life Demos, on sale now!), Tiny Life is a decade-and-a-half process.  I started making covers for comics starring my favorite eight-year-old homicidal maniac, Jed Jr. (you can view them here), when I was in an earth science class.  Basically, the whole premise was to make fun of the gimmick trend that was sweeping the industry; each cover would have a brief explanation of the story inside (which I never made) while somehow linking it to a ridiculous gimmick.  From there I went on to make mini-comics and from there I went on to make actual stories and then actual continuity and then actual thought-inducing plots.  I never really mentioned it in print before, but the story of Tiny Life actually started a little before that.

They're changing the name to "Motor City dress-up-like-your-favorite-character-from-someone-else's-imagination-con

I used to go to the Motor City Comic-Con in Novi, MI every year.  It used to be pretty cool.  There were always a few artists you wanted signatures from (I got my first John Romita Jr. and Dave Sim autographs there), there were always vendors with amazing deals (one year a guy put everything 75% off, another year a different guy sold everything for $1), and there were always a few quirky people in artists’ alley.  One of these quirky people was Matt Feazell.  

I had read a few of his mini-comics and thought they were pretty good.  A friend of mine was a fanatic, so we went to talk to him.  Feazell always does convention sketches where he takes your favorite superheroes and turns them into stick figures.  Well, we thought it would be funny to ask him to draw the t-shirts we were wearing.  One friend was wearing a Captain America shirt, so Feazell drew that; another friend was wearing a Metallica shirt, so Feazell drew that.  I was wearing a plaid shirt and said “Draw this!”  He thought I said “Draw ON this,” and drew a whole CynicalMan sketch on the back of my shirt.

The ink eventually faded, but Feazell’s influence did not.  If it wasn’t for that experience, Tiny Life would probably be just another veiled crime-noir masked under a superhero façade. 

I’m excited to meet him again at this year’s SPACE in Columbus OH.