Invincible Summer

by NJG

Sunday, September 26, 2010

Diary Comics Assignment

Hi Friends,

I am teaching at the IPRC's Comics Certificate Program this semester, and thought I'd let you know about our current assignment. Perhaps you would like to do one on your own.

Students are tasked with drawing their own diary comic this week.
They will also be bringing in examples of a favorite & least favorite comic with an explanatory paragraph.

Some of the diary comic artists we are reviewing are below.
Click on the links to find out more, read their work, etc.

Good luck! I hope they inspire you.

Email me your best diary comic this week & I'll post it here!
(Unless it is horribly offensive of course)



VANESSA DAVIS




JOHN PORCELLINO




JAMES KOCHALKA



JULIE DOUCET





LIZ PRINCE

Thursday, September 23, 2010

Midwestern Adventure

Hi Everyone. I'm looking for a way to procrastinate right now from my (actually very fun) job of drawing dogs and invitations.






So I thought I might tell you about September.

1. MIDWEST

I went to the Midwest & performed in Columbia at the Rag Tag Theater,
afterwhich traveling to a friend's house where I learned (in the midst of a game) that if she had to pick her last meal, it would be Fiddle Faddle. Do you know that that is? Kind of like the poor man's cracker jacks.



I also went to Chicago and Iowa City, where I did not perform but did table with my stuff at Casiotone for the Painfully Alone / Otouto / Key Losers shows.






Otouto is one of my new favorite bands, who've traveled here from Australia and are currently touring the US with Casiotone (on his very last tour ever).
Someone said they sound "like Dirty Projectors covering the Blow".




Onward.

1.5. KANSAS CITY REVIEWS

CHINA TOMS felt wrong for the first time in the 13 years since I started eating there. The dining room was empty and hot, sort of muggy and the soy sauce container appeared not to have been cleaned since I dined there in high school. Bummer.

GENGHIS KHAN is always right.

BROADWAY CAFE even better than before. If only it were closer to our hotel...


LA QUINTA INN in Lenexa, Kansas, featuring a very very friendly front deskman who recently immigrated to Kansas from Zimbabwe, and whom I would befriend if only I lived there. He was so much nicer than the people at...

SUPER 8 MOTEL in Lenexa, Kansas, which featured a muggy room of bad smells and a la-z-boy chair speckled in who knows what sort of invisible debris (see photo). The bed had a couch pillow masquerading as a sleeping pillow, which I exchanged for an unleavened cotton-clad matzoh to lay my head upon.

HY VEE GROCERY STORE in Lenexa, Kansas had an amazing salad bar with delicious fresh fruits, no lie. The salad bar also had some classic midwestern fare (like Oreo pudding and glazed strawberries) which I decoded for a very curious and mystified Jeb.





THE GROCERY STORE IN COLUMBIA MISSOURI was a land unlike we've ever seen. Where "garlic" is a specialty item kept safely in the back room, "canned pumpkin" is an unstocked delicacy (leaving one to make sweet potato waffles in lieu of), and broccoli is charged at $3.50 a head, no matter if you have a head or not.

WINSTEADS on the Plaza in Kansas City held up to the test of time, serving a small gravy boat of french fries and a frosty chocolate coke. The waitress had amazing false eyelashes, and I only lamented the lack of table-side juke boxes.


FUD is a new vegan restaurant in Kansas City, where I had trouble wrapping my head around the idea of no table menus, only a chalkboard and a thorough verbal description from the waitress/owner of the restaurant.


I dined on vegan nachos with "jack fish" (phish?) (made of jack fruit), Wild Rice meat, cashew cheese (very nacho cheese like, no lumps), and a generous helping of guacamole. BUT LO! As I finished the first layer of nachos, the owner came out and instructed me that I needed more cheese. In a stupor I agreed and she whisked my plate away, only to return it with the 2nd tier of chips replenished! More cheese & guacamole! Had I died and gone to a vegan heaven ? Perhaps. But I needed a nap after eating what was possible 3 pounds of jack fish.


Wednesday, September 1, 2010

COLUMBIA MISSOURI READING

Zine Symposium Photos, New Zines, more!

DUDES!
I just posted 8 original dog doily drawings on Etsy, as well as my 4 new zines!













I'll be posting more doilies and some hand-drawn tote bags this week.

The next message I think needs to be emphasized a few times:

SUBSCRIBERS BE PATIENT, WE ARE ASSEMBLING YOUR PACKAGES THIS WEEK.
SUBSCRIBERS BE PATIENT, WE ARE ASSEMBLING YOUR PACKAGES THIS WEEK.
SUBSCRIBERS BE PATIENT, WE ARE ASSEMBLING YOUR PACKAGES THIS WEEK.
SUBSCRIBERS BE PATIENT, WE ARE ASSEMBLING YOUR PACKAGES THIS WEEK.


******************************************************************************



In the meantime, while we all wait for more doilies and thick subscription packages in the mail, here are some photos from the Symposium:



I was manically driving all over town to get Gocco supplies after messing up the one and only bulb/screen set I had whilst trying to make the cover for the new Dogs & Doilies Zine! (Thank you Mr. Bland)



On day 1 of the Symposium I met a dog. A small shih-tzu puppy who was very docile and had very human-like hair!



I hosted Zinester's Feud (think Family Feud) at Floating World Comics.
Sample Questions:
NAME THE MOST POPULAR METHOD OF BINDING A ZINE
NAME SOMETHING THAT MAKES A ZINE LOOK BADDDDD
NAME THE AVERAGE PRICE OF A ZINE





DAY TWO
I tabled with Meredith & Claire of When Language Runs Dry, the chronic pain zine.
Pictured: Meredithto my right and "My Acquaintance" Jeb to my left



End of Day Two

Note: I also had my "ASK NICOLE, AMERICA'S SMARTEST GIRL" sign out and was giving advice at the Symposium for $1.
I'll be posting the questions and answers on my advice blog very soon!

xoxoxoxoxoxoox
n.g.