Was planing to attend the Montreal Comic Con today, but had to skip it in favor of inking for the Ghostbusters book. Blew most of my slack at the start of the gig attending cons and stuff, so it goes.
Pages are coming out well, nice to get back to a simple inked line. been considering pulling back on dream life to something like that. Was my original plan, to do it B&W. Might be the best one as far as getting it done anytime soon.
can always colour and tone it later if i want to.
Speaking of colour, here's a peek at a colored Ghostbusters page by my man, Bernie Mireault.
...sell some books, and art i hope - planing to make prints, {well, in the end I missed all but the last half of day two and only managed to film part of that. Just can't be in two places at once. Read on to guess why, and look up to see the short Doc I made of Expozine -least got that much done.}
but also penciling WFH gig, ack! time time time. My collaborator on Therefore Repent!Jim Munroe is on a panel with Peggy Burns, Aaron Costain, and Anna Leventhal. The title is "Printed Matter or Printed Doesn't Matter?" - Moderated by Jeff Miller. Saturday, 3 p.m.
Like to make it but will have to run out from 12 to 3 to attend to some personal business. Sounds interesting, will be there if i can, record it for sequential maybe.
Hell with all my friends, @ Salon du livre de Montreal & Expozine!
Was looking for info on something else...
...and found a message from Liliane, sent last year. Not sure i ever got around to posting it, nice little memior inspired she told me from reading Therefore Repent! Made me smile to read it again.
Will be appearing with the author of (k), Sophie Bienvenu, Saturday November the 21st, 10h30 to 12h & Sunday November the 22nd, 13h to 14h30.
I'm just wrapping up final art for the BD on (k) today, going to ink it after i post this. It'll be good to see Sophie again, not managed to for awhile.
And while book fairs are not typically as fun as the lunch looks to have been - missed that cus' i was in Toronto for TCAF and wasn't notified of the date till the day i was leaving town! Rats. - it will still be nice to have a part in promoting the book in the local book market. Just hope my lack of French skills is not too much of a problem.
November 14 and Sunday, November 15, 2009, from 12 p.m. to 6 p.m.
We pack them in at the huge room in the belly of 5035 St-Dominique, Eglise Saint-Enfant Jesus, between St-Joseph and Laurier, a walk from, Laurier Metro on either Laurier or from the St-Joseph side, essentially on super trendy Boulevard Saint-Laurent. Near the home of the old MMCJ's, at Casa del Popolo.
Free admission for that one!
I'll have the whole flee circus out on display, and be doing sketches, drop in and check out the madness of Expozine!
So that was pretty fun, the 2009 Montreal Comic Con was a small fan con, with a proportionately large artist alley [to dealers room]. really good crowd Saturday, Sunday i got there late but the crowd was tepid in comparison too. About a quarter maybe to Saturday's turnout. All in all though good time. Sold lots day one, just enough day two to make showing up worth it. Made a video of the mania on day one....
Also someone at the con told me they knew it was my birthday this past week becuse they saw this, thanks Tom!
I spent some time watching Darwin work on commissions, he's got a really bloody-minded efficient system for rendering.
I've done that general kind of thing before but 10 years ago set off to amuse myself doing more personal work, it's both enticing and daunting t think about getting back into such a regime. But if i want to get things done faster....
been thinking about what to do for $ now that the illustration market is so dead, working some kind of WFH gig is on the table, talking with some of my friends on the inside it seems tempting and really - after part time dish washing for the last 6 months i'm about ready to do anything just to get back to being paid to draw full time.
Dream Life is still going to happen, but i need something stable to back up things. Always did want to draw Rocket Raccoon, maybe that idea for a one off i joked about is worth following up and pitching...
Ok, about to take the weekend off and head south for a few days, got some drawing to do tonight and a few errands to run, then catch a train in the am.A quick weekend trip to NY to check out MoCCA for the first time! Woohoo.
Was just at the publishers office, K2: Le dep' eclaire a des milles a la ronde is on the stands! There's also another introductory video on the site with author Sophie Bienvenu!
This is the interior BD i did for that, it printed pretty nicely i think.
Was at TCAF, the Canadian version of this, but i've wanted to go to MoCCA for a while, haven't seen the museum since the early 90's, and the festival seems to promise much! But you know at TCAF i really only got to have real fun in the evenings, the days were work. Didn't want to do too of those in a row so didn't think I'd go this year either. But then i decided i had earned a hobo's weekend.
This time it's strictly for kicks, see some freinds and look at comic books. Not sitting anywhere or have a single thing planed. Looks to be fun. May spend a lot of time in panels.
Will post stuff if i have the time, photos and such, and probably use the excuse to play reporter a little on sequential. Good way to shift from the TCAF coverage mode.
Edited by Indie Spinner Rack's Charlito and Mr. Phil! Preview
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Posted this on P&P and then relized i should put it here... And a day of rest - geeeeezzzzz, man, came back from TCAF the hard way, had to get a cover and BD done for Monday, and almost, but not quite made it. lettering on the BD is temporary, the publisher is going to use their font once they do final edit.
Last week : TCAF was pretty awesome, though i have some mightily cranky notions about the building we were in - not a fan of the architecture, looks good on camera but where i was sitting, it was not a very human feeling space too me, never was a big fan of that one - i sat right under where this was taken from.
But a lot of people loved it and I'm told the library is ecstatic about the festival and provides the space happily which is not how the last place treated them so that's great for Peter and Christopher! Probably will grow on me, i just really loved the old Vic building we were in, had great feeling about it.
Saturday was insane! I mean packed! wow.
No one seemed to know were the ac controls were + i had been up pretty late Friday night being social as well as hulling 525 magazines clear across town and back again on foot [transit] Friday afternoon/evening to get to the Seth reading.
I had also chosen to wear something semi formal involving a jacket. = i was wrecked after day one.
Susi diner saved me and had a good time at Chips launch. His new book looks really sweet, hope to actually read a comic soon, it's in the short stack.
Day two was more mellow, and cool enough i didn't think about taking off my sweater, which it looks like i should have - this was all nice till later on when it was clear the sales were going to be slow.
Despite repeated attempts i was unable to crack the boredom by starting a rubber band war with Craig A. Taillefer, who just gave me funny looks. yes, that look exactly. Brian Evinou & Liz Baillie were grate neighbors, Brian did a lot of drawing. If i hadn't been so burnt out both days i might have felt bad about not being into it!
Last minute scramble to spend money in the last half hour left me with a small profit i spent on mothers day dinner. I bet folks with brand new books to sell did well. Also moved I'd say about 450 of 525 copies of the free Sequential magazine which were well received for sure. Got a short list of people who want to be in the next one if there is one.
The After Party Sunday night was nice, and i had a good time hanging out with Eric Kim & Co. Monday. Met a whole bunch of cool people on this trip in fact.
Had a few days off to see family, and got some sketching done. Missed my buss, took 12 hours to get home in all and crashed hard.
I published the magazine, but didn't really do any reporting of my own After the show, so instead check out the insane collection of links Bryan and I have been collecting on the blog from the show...
Hey gang, last minute posting! So it's that time of every two years again, come on down to the Toronto Reference Library and find me in the pile of comix creators and cool going's on at TCAF '09.
I'll have piles of my old and not so old art - some of these, those this and that to sell. And even cooler, a whole lot of THIS to give away totally free! Yep. And Buttons too, oh my!
Expozine has evolved into the biggest zine fair in Canada now, it's been amazing to watch; I've attended every year so far.
This year I have lots of books. Not as many copies of Therefore Repent as I'd have liked it looks like, just 10!
Ordered more but unless they show up Friday I think they got held up with thanksgiving in the US.
That kind of sucks because i can probably sell 3 times as many as I have. But what you going to do?
I will have other books though, lots of RevolveR's, a few copies of Comic Boot Tattoo, Sea of Red, old jam zines and some other older books i've done. Also going to bring a long box of old books from my personal collection, stuff i'd like to start divesting myself off. Also, i had some cool new 1" pins I had made up too, hear they come out well, going to pick them up tomorrow!
The books are above, bellow is the art from the pins! See you at the show! Drop by and say hi if you read the blogs. :)
This is an event Cass co-organized for the The Infringement Festival this year. I documented it for her and the following is a short overview of the event.
The Automaton Tea Module PRESENTS: Poetic Tea & Jam. Featuring poets: Cassandra Witteman, Izzy Insane, Virgil Addison, and James IrwinAuthentic Automatic Tea Ceremony followed the performance with hot tea and treats for all and a musical jam late into the night.
And finally on Monday the 21st from 6 to 8 pm at Jim Hanley's Universe [4 West 33rd St.] I'll be joining pirate captain RICK REMENDER (Fear Agent),TONY MOORE (The Exterminator), & GREG THOMPSON (Sinbad: Rogue of Mars) for the JHU's "NYCC HANGOVER CURE".
Taking a few days to ink, then back to Top Secret project.
Blocky thing takes forever to ink, I'm telling you, Boyo.
Having some interesting conversations with a few writers right now, considering illustration a sort of philosophical picture book, been approached about a couple of comic book ideas that if not too big I might end up doing, and maybe even seeing if I cant think of an interesting animation idea - had a studio contact me about the possibility of talking about developing an idea with them, pretty exciting the more I think about it. Pondering what concepts i've been kicking around might make the leap well, or if I have any new notions that might be worth pitching....hmmm.
Also making small steps towards writing a new Sea of Red project, that i've pretty much decided I'd like to do sooner than I can draw it, so looking into other artists for that maybe.
Been making plans
to tour for Therefore Repent!
It's looking very good for me going to the NYCC, and Paradise, and by hock or crook my first visit to the San Diego Comic Con. Also Windsor/Detroit as well in the next 6 months! Maybe more yet, haven't got a confirmation but might be giving a presentation here in Montreal at the end of the month as well in NDG, hosted by geekmontreal.com
Jim's going to hit the road as well a little bit, stay tuned and i'll have dates and places for all that.
Local illustrator Salgood Sam and author Jim Munroe create a post-Rapture work in Therefore Repent!
by VINCENT TINGUELY
When prolific indie author, quick and dirty filmmaker and DIY organizer Jim Munroe got a grant to create Therefore Repent!, a full-length "post-Rapture" graphic novel, Montreal-based, long-time Munroe fan and sometime collaborator Salgood Sam jumped at the chance to render it. "I'd read an early Munroe novella at a zine fair when I was 19 or 20 and I really liked it," says Sam. "I've been following his stuff ever since. When you really identify with a writer's vision, they've tapped the voice you hear inside yourself, they're appealing to you on that level." Sam spent more than a year meticulously bringing Munroe's ideas to life, drawing on skills honed in both the indie comics realm and through years of grunt work for the likes of Marvel. "Jim's a good writer to collaborate with because he was into gearing it into what I was into doing," Sam says. "I didn't have to do any contortions to visualize the script as I was reading it." Munroe agrees. "He's perfect, because he can do the hipsters and the hellspawn," says Munroe. "He can do urban settings very well and true to life, but also fascinating fantastical things."
Therefore Repent! begins with the arrival of the fascinating and fantastical Raven and Mummy in a near-future Chicago. Munroe, who's based in Toronto, set the story in an American city because, as he quips, "They go together like peanut butter and jelly, America and the Rapture." 144,000 Christians have floated up to heaven, Jesus has joined George W. in the White House, and heavily armed angels from on high are descending to do the Lord's dirty work on Earth. Things would seem quite hopeless for the rest of us godless (i.e. not fundamentalist) sorts, except that magic is afoot...everything from Eastern cosmic insights to transubstantiation actually works. Soon enough, a grassroots magical insurgency starts to form.
"I was inspired by this idea that the most powerful people in America purport to literally believe in Christians floating into the air, into heaven, which is what George W. Bush says he believes in," says Munroe. "That's pretty mind blowing, that in their own mythology they'd have something that wild-especially when the conservatives have problems with Harry Potter."
After a more ambiguous approach to the idea of evil in An Opening Act of Unspeakable Evil, Munroe decided to go for a dark fantasy scenario in which, if miracles, angels and such were to be given free play, then other forms of magic would be just as valid. "Well, if people are going to float into the air, how about less top-down magical manifestations?" Munroe says. "Religion is very top-down, it's God or who God specifically anoints. But if there is magic from on high, then it is going to emerge from below as well, if people are willing to explore it and not kowtow to the powers that be. I like the idea of it being nascent in all of us, but only if we embrace it-individual power, rather than waiting for other people to anoint us. The whole DIY, coming from the grassroots thing."
Therefore Repent! launches this Saturday, Dec. 8 at 7 p.m. at the Drawn & Quarterly Bookstore (211 Bernard W.)
Been trying to get stuff ready for Expozine, but ended up being up late working on mixing down ISR #99, messed up my plans for today. Got to get on it. Got some books to print and was thinking buttons....
Right, so in case you missed it the big Zine fest, the monster of Indy Montreal, EXPOZINE is coming up. Two days this year, by popular demand. Being run by da' man, Billy Mavreas.
We has high hopes.
Going to go in a double capacity, along with my new Graphic Novel, I'll be taking a list of people I want to put a mic in front of for a quick 5 questions routine to post on Sequential and maybe include in a podcast or two to come.
I will be there with Therefore Repent! of course, and think I'm going to plan for a signing shortly after Expozine, want to book it so i can make fliers for the show to have at EXPO. So come to the show and get your hands on a copy of a book people keep telling me they can't seem to put down.
You can still order the book now from NMK, but soon it will be hitting the comic shops all over - January 15 2008 is the date!
I have to take some time to spread the word on that in the next few days. But please, anyone reading this feeling like pitching in, it will be much appreciated! :) Bug your comic shop clerk to check it out.
In other news; Keep and ear out for a Radio spot i did this weekend for Therefore Repent! during Indie Spinner Rack Issue #99, with help from Cass and Bernie Mireault! Going to post it here probably in a few days too. Just a last min swing at the thing for ISR #99. Will be taking some time to refine it and maybe do some others as well in the next while so i can send it out to a few other shows too.
And about the references toISR #99, the show is a fun comix podcast I've been listening to for a while, and recently offered to pitch in and edit a few episodes for while tec and host Charlito is busy with an off Broadway play! Doing it for fun, love working in sound. But it also gives me a great excuse to do some reporting on Expozine and of course i get to promote my baby too, nice deal all round for me i have to say. ~B-) sweet. completed the first of my episodes this morning, it will go up Wednesday here.
Probably should have posted about this sooner, been a bit slow on the up take last few weeks - broken ankle is almost 100% but I got into a slow groove waiting for it to heal.
So a bit of news, Jim is in busy with his new kid [congrats to Jim] so I'll be jumping on a buss to Toronto this weekend to man our table at Canzine 2007.
So if you missed us at TCAF this summer you can get a copy of Therefore Repent! From me Sunday, or bring in yours to have it signed - I'll Do sketches as well, and I might have a few other goodies with me too, including free sample copies of the first chapter of Therefore Repent! care of the folks at IDW, even broke you can walk away with something.
It's a big event too, one of Canada's largest Zine Fairs with hundreds of exhibitors, so your sure to see a lot of cool stuff! Hope you can make it to the show!
Also in other news, Therefore Repent! Has reviews/features coming up: In the November issues of Quill & Quire, and the 73rd issue of RUE MORGUE in December!
See you all at the show Toronto: Hotel Canzine Sunday, October 28, 2007 The Gladstone Hotel 1214 Queen St. West (Queen just East of Dufferin) 1pm - 7pm
Well, I didn't end up taking too many photos at TCAF, planed to but on Saturday I twisted my ankle and it kind of slipped my mind. So I just got a few good ones at the Awards on Friday.
Had a blast at the show, and the launch went well. Not really in the mood to talk more about it all right now but I'll try to find some time to go on latter.
So a quick report from the front. Had a bit of a nasty bus ride, but after a few hours sleep the launch went really well. Met up with Jim, Claudia Dávila, and her husband Michael at the tequila book worm, worked out how to use the space and hung our art. Went to reunite with my lovely lady friend after two weeks apart, then after a bit of a brake it was back to the bookworm and things picked up really fast after 8.
GREAT turn out, my only complaint is that I got kind of trapped in the corner of the room and didn't really get to say hi to a lot of people I'd have liked to. There are a few shots here, taken by my mother so a bit biased in subject but... http://www.flickr.com/groups/448381@N20/
Jim tells me we moved a very satisfying number of books, and everyone was really enthusiastic about it.
Friday the Doug Wright awards were not the most exciting presentation but more than saved by a hour or so long conversation between Chester Brown, Joe Matt, and Seth. The trio were reunited after not seeing each other for 4 years. Here's where I'd have liked to link you to a recoding of the thing, but unfortunately I had a misshape with my mp3 recorder and so it's lost to the ages. Although not really. The NFB was there, they are doing something involving Seth, and filmed the event. Brad tells me they might be about to provide the TCAF site with an audio copy of the proceedings. Breath baited?
So, then there was an odd after party that seemed, well, kind of high end for our lot. I don't drink but even so, $6 beers and swanky surroundings is not the sort of thing you plop a bunch of cartoonists into and expect them to be laid back.
Day one of TCAF was great till late in the day. Old Victoria Collage is an Incredible space, classic and classy. The Shear number of interesting things to look at is overwhelming. At some point today I'll try to take some photos.
At our table things motored along really well. Lots of copies sold, Jim even had to go home to restock midway through the day!
The caveat of the day was after a very refreshing energy drink full of vitamins and berry juice, I was feeling really energetic, and went down the stairs a bit too fast. Right foot slipped on the last few and my left paid the price. My ankles all swollen now, bit of a nasty sprain. But I can still hobble fairly well, and Im thinking a cheep cain might be just the thing.
So it's off to the show again, if you haven't gone yet I urge you to do so.
Should have posted this sooner, if your in the area check this out, Cassandra and Co have been working on this for a while, it's going to be quite a show. I'll take some pictures! Here's the goods...
Hey all, Your invited to join us for the Andalunda Vernissage, Friday May 25th.
We have 40 people participating in our extravaganza: bands, performance art, spoken word, film, visual art, sculpture, installation and cheep beer to boot!
We're chilling out and having a little vernissage at 6:30, snacks and some wine with live solo performers providing music.
Then at 9 there's going to be more music which is mostly folky/jazzy/indie and then experimental beatboxing dancers, performance art and an open mic!
I'm pretty excited about the whole shindig (especially the 3D projected snow fall on the stage).
If you would like to drop on by, the address is 3997 St. Laurent (the Mainline Theatre).
SALGOOD
SAM's WORK DIARY | an account of endeavors
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