My very excellent studio-mate Kristin was annoyed that her string cheese snacks had been disappearing from the studio fridge. (As it turned out, there was a genuine misunderstanding going on about who owned the cheese.) Since Kris isn’t often here at the same time as everyone else, she grabbed her red marker and left some messages to set the evil cheese thief quaking in fear:
(Description of image: Photo of a row of individually-wrapped string cheese snacks. On each snack, a short message is written in red marker. The messages are: “Is your name KRIS?,” “I bite back!,” “POISON,” “Price: $800,” “Not tasty,” “Eat at Your Own Risk,” “Grrrrrrrr…,” something that I can’t make out at all, and finally, “I know where you work.”)
My friend Adrian Wallace, creator of the terrific webcomic Jumbo deLuxe (drawn in a European “clean line” style that I’m envious of), was nice enough to do this drawing of Mirka, the pig, and the Witch from Hereville, along with Emily and her dog from Jumbo deLuxe. I love how everything’s in Hereville colors except for Emily and her dog. 
Thanks, Adrian!
A Knitter’s Home Companion is running a contest for a free copy of Hereville. To enter the contest, just follow the link and leave them a comment!
So far no comments have been left, so the odds of winning are looking good. The contest runs until January 22nd. Thanks, Knitter’s Home Companion! KHC is a blog about knitting and kid’s books, so you can see that Hereville fits right in with their themes.
On October 28, 2011 · Comments Off
Check out this drawing of Mirka by the fabulous, 14 year old Emma T. Capps. Emma does the comic strip Chapel Chronicles; there’s an article about her here.
(Click on the drawing to see it full sized!)
On her tumblr, Emma writes:
Mirka’s a fantastic character and it was so fun to draw her in my style. Also from now on I should just have all my characters dress this way (besides Chapel). LONG SKIRTS AND LONG SLEEVES COVER UP ALL ANATOMY SINS, I tell you!
She’s on to my secret. :-p
She also writes that Hereville “reads kind of like a Miyazaki movie, if Miyazaki was Jewish and had Terry Pratchett’s sense of humor.” I have yet to get into Pratchett (I’m sure I will someday), but I’m a huge Miyazaki fan, so I consider that a very high compliment.
Thanks, Emma!
Here’s the line art for the still-ongoing drawing I’m making of “Oracle’s Last Supper,” featuring nearly every female hero of DC’s “Bat” family arranged in a “Last Supper of Christ” pastiche, plus a dog. There are 17 figures in all. Please click to see it larger.
It’s still not finished — there will to be two versions, a hand-inked version that will be auctioned for charity as part of Women of Wonder Day, and a computer-colored print — but I kind of like the clean look of the line art.
From left to right, the characters at the table are Katherine Kane (the original 1950s Batwoman), Betty Kane (the original 1950s Batgirl, Katherine’s niece), Robin (Stephanie Brown), Spoiler (Stephanie Brown), Batgirl (Barbara Gordon), Batgirl (Stephanie Brown), Oracle (Barbara Gordon), Batgirl (Cassandra Cain), Batwoman (Kate Kane), Huntress (Helena Wayne), Robin (Carrie Kelly), Black Bat (Cassandra Cain), and Batgirl (Charlotte “Charlie” Gage-Radcliffe, aka Misfit). In the background is Robin (Rochelle Wayne) sitting on a robot dinosaur; Blackbat (Barbara Hardy) on the giant rook; and Robin (Trish Plover) flying near the ceiling. And the dog in the foreground is Ace, the Bat-Hound.
On September 21, 2011 · Comments Off
These are figures from a drawing-in-progress I’m working on, featuring the Last Supper done with 16 Batgirls, Batwomen, female Robins and female Black Bats. Plus Oracle,Spoiler, Huntress and Ace the Bat-Hound.
On September 12, 2011 · Comments Off
Ongoing work-in-progress for a drawing that will be auctioned off as part of this year’s “Women of Wonder Day.” The woman in the drawing is Rochelle Wayne, who was Robin in an “Elseworlds” Batman comic set during the French Revolution. Rochelle Wayne was designed by the wonderful José Luis García-López; my attempt to draw García-López hair looks pretty silly, but it was fun to try!
The completed drawing will include 4 female Robins, 5 Batgirls, 2 Batwomen, 2 female Black Bats, Huntress, Spoiler, Oracle, and Ace the Bat-Hound.
I’ve realized this year that a major reason I go to comic book conventions isn’t for fun, but because I feel a need to be legitimized as a cartoonist. After so many years of getting nowhere with cartooning, it means a lot to me to go someplace where readers, and especially other cartoonists, will say “Oh, you did Hereville? That was really good.”
It’s also, sad to say, why I enjoy being nominated for awards. (Did I oh-so-casually mention that Hereville was nominated for an Eisner, a Harvey, and an Ignatz? I did? Well, then, let me just casually mention it again.)
I was talking about this to another cartoonist — someone who has won major cartooning awards and is published by a prestigious company. And he told me that despite all that, he still feels the same need for legitimization. It never goes away, apparently.
In conclusion: Maybe I’ll try to go to fewer cons this year.
On August 24, 2011 · Comments Off
Katherine (Kathy) Kane and her niece Betty Kane were the original Batwoman and Batgirl, in the 1950s.
This was kind of interesting to sketch. I had to draw things I virtually never draw, like — well — superheroes. And high heels.
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