Hereville 2 Work-In-Progress: Dress Design

Mirka wears the same dress for the first 45 pages of the graphic novel (although — spoiler alert! — by page 45 the dress will be torn and filthy). Unlike last time, where I just drew a dress on the first page and then had to repeat it, this time I’m trying to figure out what the dress looks like before I start drawing.

(Click on the image to see it bigger.)

Angry string cheese!

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.”)

Hereville Book 2 Preview: Mirka, like the kitten of lore, hangs in there

A drawing-in-progress of Mirka from Hereville book 2. I had a lot of trouble with her left foot — not so much drawing it as finding the right angle to draw it at. Those are three of the rejects there on the upper left.

Also, I initially drew Mirka with two right hands. Fortunately, Jake (my studio-mate, creator of the runaway webcomic hit Modest Medusa and Hereville’s colorist) pointed out the problem. Sadly, even after Jake pointed it out, I couldn’t see it; it took him a couple of minutes to convince me.

Adrian Wallace draws Mirka!

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!

Win a Free Copy of Hereville From A Knitting Site!

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.

Hereville book two work-in-progress: Mirka and the bullies

Dicebox book one flip-through!

My friend, the brilliant cartoonist Jenn Lee, is self-publishing the first book of her sci-fi webcomic Dicebox. Last week she posted the flip-through:

Jenn let me contribute a blurb to Dicebox. Here’s what I wrote:

Molly and Griffen are blue-collar workers in space looking for work and avoiding past mistakes. Jenn Manley Lee’s unique brand of science fiction — part slice of life, part travelogue — is daring, refreshing, whip-smart, and gloriously entertaining.

And Scott McCloud’s blurb:

In Jenn Manley Lee’s elegant pages, the mysteries of the universe are matched by the mysteries of the human mind. Dicebox is science fiction done right.

The book also includes a short Dicebox story written and drawn by me, years ago. (I’m kind of embarrassed by my old artwork, to be honest, but Jenn says she likes it.)

Dicebox is available as a hardcover, a softcover, and a very affordable pdf — all three versions are for sale at Jenn’s store. A warning, though: The book does have a little sex and a little swearing, so probably for grown-ups only.

I’m so happy with my new glasses, I’m actually pleased the old ones broke

Hereville fan art by Emma T. Capps!

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!

Barry will be at the Mid-Ohio Comic Book Convention

I’m in Ohio today; I’m typing this from the library of Worthingway Middle School in Worthington, Ohio. I’ll be speaking to the kids here today, then this afternoon I’ll speak at Kilbourne Middle School, and tomorrow I’ll be visting McCord Middle School. School appearances are always fun for me, and this time I’m expermenting with some new material, a “workshop” on writing and drawing a comic strip. Wish me luck!

Then, Saturday and Sunday, I’ll be at the Mid-Ohio Comic Book Con. I’ll be at table 1013; please come and say “hi” if you’re there.