Last week I handed off a draft of The Lonely Little Fridge to Jackie for her to look over while I plunge into the artwork…
A draft of The Lonely Little Fridge!
Backing the Etherington Brothers
I just backed this art book printing and reprinting project!
I kept seeing bits of the artwork copied into places like Instagram, and I didn’t know where it came from. But then I stumbled across the book reprint project on Kickstarter. And that led me to the source, the Etherington Brothers out of England:
https://theetheringtonbrothers.blogspot.com/
The website has hundreds of little segments giving tips and tricks on drawing and writing topics.
A mockup of a page from a story book!
Gallery
This gallery contains 3 photos.
This is a drawing I did recently of an idea I had when I was in Cara Coulson‘s children’s literature class at Durham College: “The Lonely Little Fridge”. Versions in English, Esperanto, and very bad French…
Alas, no exhibiting at online TCAF… this year.
However, I got a great message back from them with some useful advice:
For those who are interested in applying for TCAF in the future, we want to take a moment to provide some context for what our committee considers when selecting applicants for TCAF:
TCAF exhibitors should have a substantial body of comics in print. We are a comics focused show, which means that we try to prioritize exhibitors who have lots of comics for sale.
TCAF exhibitors are encouraged to debut new work at the festival. New comics and new books help make TCAF exciting for patrons, and tend to ensure more successful and profitable shows for exhibitors. It’s great to see applicants who have a solid idea of a new comics project, especially one that has a clear and confident plan for completion.
It’s important to note that these aren’t “the rules” for applying to TCAF, and many other factors are taken into consideration, but we hope this helps with your future TCAF applications.
TCAF
So I’m going to finish “Little Lost Part” as if I were exhibiting it at TCAF, and keep going from there!
Another cover!
A first test of the cover for “Little Lost Lamp”.
What happens when a lamp id shipped to the customer and then forgotten?
This is the short eight-pager I hope to have ready for TCAF in the first week of May (whether or not I take part in TCAF).
Getting Closer to a Cover
Here’s Version 5 of the cover for “Parts: An Industrial Fantasy”. I’m getting closer. And I realized that Gordin and Laisa may have red circuit boards for greater visibility.
I’m still learning more about these watercolours. I am going to layer them more; I’ve been treating them like Photoshop paint-bucket fills or comic-strip colours…
TCAF lives! Am I audacious enough to exhibit there?
I got an email recently that TCAF, the Toronto Comic Arts Festival, is happening this year… online! The physical version of TCAF has been one of the highlights of my year, but of course recent events have forced changes. After it was cancelled in 2020, TCAF will be online in 2021.
The deadline to apply was Wednesday March the 3rd.
I applied. It’s a long shot, but what the hey.
Working on the door prize
The book launch party for Nineteen Tales will have door prizes, and as one prize, I’m doing a drawing of a scene from my story. I’m starting with experiments and reminding myself how I draw… important artistic note: the water colour goes on before the india ink…
The next day: test drawings for the door prize. 
One drawing is watercolour and pencil only, the other has india ink added.
This is the same technique I’m going to use for my story Parts.
Continue readingInterview!
Jackie Brown interviews me about my story in the compilation Nineteen Tales of COVID-19.
It came!
It came! Nineteen Tales of COVID-19, the compilation I submitted a story to! ? (I changed the pictures when I realized how many crumbs were on the kitchen table… now it’s in front of my computer.)
The compilation was organized by the awesome Jackie Brown of Jackie Brown Books. The writers all have some connection to Durham Region (for example, I grew up in Whitby).
Yes, I also designed the cover and laid the interior out.
