Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Make your own Sunturn card

Hi, folks! The annual holiday card. I say "Sunturn" because Dan is such a Sun Pagan he counts the extra minutes every day, whether less before the Solstice, or more afterwards. But you can use it for any holiday that has pretty lights. Which is most of 'em, I think.

Download the jpegs. Print one page each reversed, and then use as a card AND an envelope. It's pretty simple to do. You don't have to worry about which way each side goes; it works no matter how you do it.



Card itself. Just fold it up 1/2-way across the width, then half-way across the length.


Envelope. Reverse the card and fold it the same way.

Apothacarium Swapmeet


It was a nice little show, with a lot of fun people, including Your Mom Comics and Neoglyphic Media. Sales weren't hot, but there was a lot of potential for show growth. Had a lot of fun getting to talk to My Peeps in Our Language.

Neoglyphic Media, obviously!
Easy to get to, with access parking. Admittedly, the only place to eat was a Subway, but their crew was supportive of the show.

The day before, Dan and I had gone down to Port Angeles to see the new movie, "Lincoln." While waiting, we wandered the farmer's market at the bus terminal. Got to talking to the organization that runs farmer's market. At least one of their people was so jazzed by the idea of comics shows locally, she left her table to hunt me up after I'd left it and continue the discussion. 
More and more people out here are realizing it doesn't take an army of minions to run a comics show, and that there are many different ways of doing it.

Friday, November 23, 2012

Black Friday 2012

Hello, Colleagues, friends, family, reviewers, and anybody else who might want to know or asked me to keep them in the loop:

Well, it is Black Friday, and we all buy gifts (yes, we do). Us print artists get as "local" as we can.

30% off on all my gorgeous prints:  http://rummelhart.deviantart.com/prints/

And - until November 27 - for 51% off calendars and 30% off everything else, use code DELIRITAS at: 

http://www.lulu.com/desertpeach

Have a happy holiday season!

Thursday, September 20, 2012

Big Sis

Me and my sis, Dotti, at Mukilteo.

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

A Little Death - the Introduction


According to the Center For Disease Control and Prevention, the top 10 causes of death in the United States in 2007 and the number of people affected were:
Heart Disease: 696,947
Cancer: 557,271
Stroke: 162,672
Chronic lower respiratory diseases: 124,816
Accidents: 106,742
Diabetes: 73,249
Influenza/Pneumonia: 65,681
Alzheimer’s disease: 58,866
Nephritis, Nephrotic Syndrome, and Nephrosis: 40,974
Septicemia: 33,865

There were 30,622 suicides and 16,110 murders during the same year.

WE ALL HAVE TO GO THERE

A Little Death is directly influenced by The Virgin Project by Kevin Bose and Stasia Kato. That ground-breaking work dealt with something that happens at the beginning of almost everyone's life: the end of virginity, the beginning of sexual adulthood. A Little Death addresses the other end of life, one we will all have to face, some sooner than later. It looks at how we think we might die, how we would rather die, or even how we dread we'll die.

When Kevin heard I'd thought about creating a different version of the personal-experience anthology The Virgin Project, he dove headfirst into helping. At the time I had just finished another book and working on some much-needed home maintenance. Before long, I began to experience the usual in-between-book blues, when nothing I can do next seems fresh, funny or profound enough. After years of producing books and attempting to always raise the level of my own work, these weeks of indecision and frustration are normal for me.

Within a few weeks, I was receiving repeated emails from Kevin with lists of anonymous descriptions of death. At last I could just paint the house and think about what I was going to do with the ideas I'd received.

This is the first time I've done anything that can be considered a full-length genre book. In this case, it's something that Kevin is calling BOATS: Base On A True Story. Tom Beland's True Story -- Swear To God can be seen as the granddaddy of the form. My own The Desert Peach is, in its own way, a BOATS; I was never making any of that up.

What Kevin -- and now I -- are doing is a bit different. It's very hard for drawn book authors to find artists, and artists in many cases find it difficult to work with writers; the horror stories about collaborations gone wrong could give Gilbert and Sullivan nightmares, and form their own BOATS anthology. This form takes a few anonymous lines from dozens of people based on a single subject and fills it out with art.

There are many reasons why BOATS is anonymous for everybody but the artists. In the case of The Virgin Project, anonymity protects the contributors so they can display very personal moments in their lives without embarrassment of complications; "graphic novel" is a loose distribution term based on volume of pages, but in this case it may be accurate about the subject matter.

A Little Death is anonymous because I'm something of an Art Witch; if I publish it, sooner or later, it will happen. In The Virgin Project, everything vibrates with truth, because it is non-fiction and in the past. Because nobody can be dead and tell you about it, or at least not provably so, A Little Death has to be in the future; this is one case where the term "speculative fiction" actually reflects the contents. The title is, of course, a pun on the French phrase La petite mort, a euphemism for orgasm. In Rolf König's Jago, the character Gronzo says, "Death is like a great orgasm; it's hot! You're free!"

Since recent political controversies concerning the question at what point we are dead -- especially whether or not brain death constitutes death -- the medical community is re-defining death as heart failure. Hard to argue with that; when the pump stops pumping, we're dead, irregardless of what turned off the switch. At the time this list was posted, it was more about the old folks' diseases than the traditional engines of human demise. These days, not a lot of us are eaten by lions, although we can get killed by a mountain goat if we push the question.

The best fictional portrayals of death on television were on Dead Like Me.

Most of these stories were drawn by me, but at least one of contributors insisted on doing his own. You'll have to admit his Icelandic hard-headedness got it right. In return, he's the only contributor other than me whose identity is public, and he gets to tell you how to find more of his work. And I'm not so concerned about art-witching him into anything he doesn't want, because this is obviously exactly what he wants.

"As Kjartan grows older, his sense of humor grows darker. A survival adaptation, probably. If you regard fools as free entertainment, then it's not so bad there's so many of them. He's available for commission or what-not thru Kjartana@comcast.net. Good manners and amusing subject matter get you discounts. Rudeness and sick subjects... well, assuming he answers you at all, you'd better be obscenely rich.
For all its horrors, it's still a wonderful world, and Kjartan intends to enjoy as much of it as possible before he goes completely cyborg."

Sunday, August 26, 2012

Seattle Pike;s Place Restroom art

An oddly delicate - or not - way of signaling without language, "This way to the restrooms." 

Yes, I'm easily amused.



Saturday, August 18, 2012

What to eat at the Clallam Bay Comicon

Note: This is a logging area learning to be an entertainment and tourist area. If you have bad experiences, remember, local nerds do, too. Be a beacon for the future, and watch the geeks come out. You might find your local GIMP enthusiast - or expert on the Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus. LGBT community vibrant and growing. On the way in, you'll see a lot of places to eat along the road; they're all good. Native nations wonderful places to visit; watch out for amazing native art, including totem poles and house murals. Casinos and stores double as art-galleries.


HIGHWAY 101
Lake Crescent Lodge. If you have time, great restaurant and cold clear swimming.

(Not recommended: HIGHWAY 112
Exit is right after leaving West Port Angeles. Burnt Mountain sea side is collapsing, and the road is either very bad at that point, or has slides. Use 101 instead.)

CLALLAM BAY/SEKIU

Espresso and Booze

The Weel Road Deli's Hole Shot Espresso Shop. All kinds of variety and treats, and a cute little corner. The store is also the only local source of liqour and beer.

Strait Shots. as you breeze into town. Will serve you if you're on a horse.

FOOD
Sunsets West Co-Op: Anti-mask and anti-vax, not so much MAGA as misdirectedly holistic. Better to be safe than sorry.

At the Breakwater Inn, halfway to Sekiu, order Dixie's bread pudding. Decent food, nice full bar. Great view.

In Sekiu, the By The Bay Café has good ol' 1950's diner food, and a pretty view.

During Fun Days: Lion's Club barbecue is prime. A must: look for frybread! Local prices low, food tasty, much of it homemade.

Neah Bay
Take-Home Fish Company. THE place for dry-smoked salmon. Worth the trip.

Warm House Restaurant. Nice place for breakfast, fish-n-chips, light dinners. Great eagle views.

Washburn's Trading Post. Best fried chicken in the area, soft-serve ice cream, excellent, well-priced produce. Store signs posted in English and native Qʷidiččaʔa·tx̌ (Kwih-dich-chuh-ahtx). ("Makah" is just what other people called them - it meant, "Good hosts." They are.) 

Thursday, August 16, 2012

My 60th Dragon Birthday - More Cakes Than Anybody


I'm a Dragon, in the Chinese calendar. This is my 60th year.  I had the most fabulous birthday anyone could wish for.  Well, I did.

Firs of all, I had a cake that frosted itself, when Wendy Emlinger sent me this fabulous birthday card.

Best Reuben ever.
Then we toured Seattle's Fremont neighborhood and had lunch at Homegrown restaurant. An accidental choice, made for the elegant and soothing decor. But the food was a revelation. The best Reuben sandwich I'd ever had (and I had a truck-driver dad who used to drive me about to taste pies and Reubens in rural Washington), combined with an arugala-hazelnut-almost-too-many-figs salad. Goodness.

Roberta Gregory took me to the King Tut Exhibit in Seattle, and we discovered that an ancient prince had accidentally speared his beloved - and no doubt sacred - hunting cat. This was very sad, and we read it in words and pictures on the cat's sarcophagus. Ancient drawn books coming alive. Well, you look at it and tell us that's a cat's tail - usually carved so smoothly and elegantly by the Egyptian sculptors - and not a rigid lance head. We felt so sorry for the cat and the prince.

Afterwards we discovered Morfey's Cakes, and the adorable and sprightly (sprite-like?) baker, Erin Blanchard. Morfrey should be filming her for their site. She's completely excited by her art. While I didn't taste any of it - I am 60, after all, and now it's about the eyes - in this case it was truly about the eyes.  Ooh la la.

Erin Blanchard and The Blue Cake.. 

The cake tower - with Rainbow Cake.

Too - many - cakes.
The gray cake. The Eifel tower atop it had melted in the heat.
Only pretending to taste. Om imaginary nom.
Someplace in the course of the day we did truly tasty coffee at the wonderful El Diablo Coffee Company.

We ended up at the Oddfellow's Hall restaurant, where Maggie Bloodstone shared the icy top sip of all her champagne flutes with me. Marvelous.

Finally, Ron Austin sent me the link to part of his amazing international comics-author series. Right when I needed it for an interview.

Geekgirlcon

Geekgirlcon - WHY weren't you there?

It was... sparkly! Fabulous, fun, pretty - and the girls and boys were all having masses of fun and laughing without pressure or hassle. This is what happens when the girls take over.


Callisti, a long-time fan, with the Clearwater School.
Thanks, Prism Comics for my fabulous Glamazonia t-shirt! The Clearwater School loved it a lot.


WTF?
Before the con, running around Seattle Center with Roberta Gregory, and wondering WHAT a Desert Peach Play poster was doing in the maintenance office of McCaw hall.

And now it's signed.


Me in my Ka-Blam Tshirt for GeekGirlCon - more print-run money!

Saturday evening, Kevin Bose and his wife grace took me out to Ivar's Salmon house, for fabulous crab salad. And we got to see part of the new 520 bridge barely fitting into the ship canal.







Friday, August 10, 2012

ToorCamp

Lovely, lovely time at ToorCamp yesterday. Castle Camp (bicycle jousting), RF Palace radio, lockpicking school, help getting Car's battery jumped (would you believe I VERy VErY carefully turned my lights OFF - the wrong way?).

Ugly Reality Makes Us Fall Over Laughing moments:

Sciency guy who thought my being an Atheist made me unaware of the Mars Lander project.

Makah guy insisting - repeatedly, as the women's eyebrows went up - that the reason women didn't whale was because "women are so powerful, the whale will disappear or kill us all." That he had to keep repeating it made it hard to keep from giggling.

As a gay friend once grunted, primitively stirring a fire: "It's a GUY thing."

But no, seriously, I'm SO going to take advantage of my membership in Geezer Media next year to go and stay longer. I MISSED the Darkbots because I have to drive to GeekGirlCon in Seattle today!

I also wrote a supportive article (hey, there's no such thing as objective journalism), that included mention of the festival business model, and hinted that Neah Bay was bringing in jobs and money with fun and entertainment. As a kid, my parents' generation destroyed what we had, while this area still has a chance to heal and grow. YES, it's all scrub and plantation and clearcut now, but they're beginning to understand that all a clearcut pays for is more machines - while media and entertainment can pay for your living, your kid's education, and your future.

I'd need to promote my own books a few years before I could buy a booth, but I want everybody at ToorCamp to come to the Clallam Bay Comicon (see events). I know they'd love ToorCamp.  YES, there's plenty of the community that fear novelty, but I've been up here giving the new and intent a reason to come out and enjoy themselves for nearly 9 years. They're ready up here - and "Twilight" teaching them there's money in media didn't hurt.

Saturday, August 4, 2012

2013 Clallam Bay Comicon

You kids KNOW you shouldn't smoke, right?

During Clallam Bay/Sekiu Fun Days in 2013. 
The newly renovated building - nice job, Lions!

WHERE: Clallam Bay/Sekiu Lion's Club

Here's the Building, outside and in:

WHEN: We're officially listed as 13-14, but if you can get here on the 12th, we won't turn you away or not let you sell stuff. Breakdown is Sunday by noon.
Yes, we can move the tables. No, we can't move their art.

HOUSING: http://www.sekiu.com/ Get your ass in gear - it fills up FAST! And also Neah Bay: GETTING to Neah Bay and back, if you'd prefer not to drive every day - contact Olympic Peninsula Errand Service, for Janet or Adam: (360) 640-4583 NOTE: Neah Bay is a First Nations town, and dry. And you don't want to drive THAT road after enjoying some wind-down juice.

With Fun Days you get an old-fashioned small-town parade, a KILLER pot-luck if you come in early on Friday, a barbecue, and a bajillion fireworks Saturday, some of them even legal. We're the comicon with the BEACHES, bitches.

EVERYONE WELCOME. If you do comics, poetry, gallery art, jewelry, paint cars, bake pies, sing, do stand-up, sculpture, hip-hop, light shows, whatever - bring it. Cosplay wanted for the parade. AND HORSES!

BOOTH FEES: $25 ($27.00 Paypal). Contact for booth space: donnabarr01@gmail.com

ADMISSION for public: free. "We don't need no stinkin' badges." You're all special guests to us. And don't have to prove you're pros or amateurs.

AWARDS: Who are we to judge? If your fans love you, they love you.

PROVIDED: space, electricity (We ALMOST had wi-fi; maybe next year). Wi-fi is 24/7 at the library, right around the corner. LOTS of table space! Bring extra chairs if you can. There will be a free table for flyers, charities, and the comicon donation jar.

SPACE: Your choice of inside tables, outside covered porch, outside gazebo, or parking lot in front of the Fire Hall.

PANELS: Decide when you want to be here, based on the link calendar (following), and we'll stick you in. First come, first served, and NO, we don't care what you do. You're a grownup. If you want to negotiate with other panels for times, just let us know at donnabarr01 at gmail dot com. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AgPl00Loyip2dElJR29IdUMyTHZMMHVsVnYzdklyM1E#gid=6

GAMES: Marcus Evenstar is our official gamesmaster. Ask him. If you haven't got Facebook, we'll hook you up at donnabarr01 at gmail dot com. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/marcus.evenstar
Gaming Porch!
CATERING: We have a NICE kitchen available, so if you want to bring and sell food, take care of your own licensing or whatever. Kids with cookies and charities very welcome.

HOW TO GET HERE: Take a flight to Port Angeles, then take the Forks bus to the the Clallam Bay connection at Sappho.  Yes, Sappho. Or take Olympic Bus Lines from Seattle. http://www.olympicbuslines.com/

BEST, safest, most scenic route if driving: Highway 101 around Lake Crescent, then Highway 113-112 to Clallam Bay (slightly longer, but recommended).

AUDIO-VISUAL: If you want to run film media, the library has an After Hours @ The Library Program and is open Friday and Saturday. We haven't set anything up connected with the Comicon, but contact them to set up your non-profit event anyway - and take donations for the library:  http://www.nols.org

FIRE DISPLAYS: If you want to play Burning Man, contact the District Five Fire Department: http://clallamfire5.org/

LAST-MINUTE PRINTING: Already on the peninsula and forgot something? Need a large print order at the last minute? These are the guys: http://www.olympicprinters.com/contact.html 

T-SHIRTS: Don't want to drag a million t-shirts along, especially if you have a new design? Get 'em done in Port Angeles and pick 'em up there: https://www.sickktees.com/
 
CHILDREN: watch your own.

TRASH: Keep inside at night! Or the dogs will get it.


FACILITY CARE: No tape of any sort on the wall. Respect the Lion's Club's wall displays.
 
Don't set yourself on fire.

EXHIBITORS:

1: Clallam Bay Comicon Central (Official convention t-shirts!)

2.  Donna Barr, A Fine Line Press

3.  A. S. Koi, Catalyst Studios

4.  Roberta Gregory

5.  Your Mom Comics

6. Dennis P Eichhorn

(Free table: Your damaged books with flyers in 'em - "The first one's free!" And any other giveaway goodies you want to share space with the fire department and the block watch.)

Monday, July 23, 2012

Photosynthesis Festival

Just spent a couple days at Photosynthesis 5. 
Photosynthesis 5 starts another morning with stretches in the Hobuck Campground in Neah Bay.
My cut line for the local paper: "This popular techno-music festival returned for a second year, offering long nights of music, light shows, bonfires, massage and healing tea ceremonies. Local and traveling vendors find eager daytime customers for food sales, costuming materials and jewelry."

Not so much on paper items. But everybody was into the idea of the Clallam Bay Comicon, and that the Photosynthesis folks would be welcome at it. Only one guy was awake enough to show up at my lecture - the dancing runs until 4:30 am, and the lecture was at 11:00 am, which is first-splintery-light-of-day wake-up time for these folks. But my audience of one paid deep attention and asked a lot of questions. I think he's going to use the "Cheap and Easy" model for a gardening-garage sale-comicon for starters in his yard. Baby steps is the way to go.

Raining most of the time, of course. Got soaking wet in a badly-built tent put up by the folks from the local gallery. I think Kevin in the big tea alcove saved my life in the cozy warm tent, with all that hot, comforting tea. The big bonfire over by the dance-hall didn't hurt, either. The laser lights extended their effects out into the smoke and mizzle.

After working so hard on other trade shows and especially the comicon, I think I might just - gasp! - reward myself with the Photosynthesis Festival from now on. Just going to a show to goof off and have fun (oh, okay, and to shove ideas).

What a concept!

Oh noes!  Another picture of me in the Ka-Blam tshirt!  But every time I wear it, I get another $10.00 for printing new books.

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

2012 Clallam Bay Comicon Report

This went out this morning to authors, customers, editors, reviewers, newspapers, magazines (online and print): 

The first Clallam Bay Comicon was held during Clallam Bay/Sekiu Fun Days, July 13-15.

The event was surprisingly successful, considering the isolated community and long drive. Artists, writers and fans traveled from Seattle, Forks, and Clallam Bay to buy books, convention t-shirts, and to pick up tips for for a new convention "Dragon model," that will allow small towns to host their own comicons.

Donna Barr, who has been in the comics industry as author, publisher and promoter since 1986, took advantage of her long experience, wide contact base and social media to promote and organize the event.

Dara Korra'ti wowed the small audience with her pirate and protest songs and her "Irish Bouzouki."

Seattle authors Kevin Boze and Mark Monlux, and Donna Barr - who hosted the event - enjoyed themselves and sold more product than expected.

Donna Barr presents Daniel Smith gift certificates to Mark Monlux and Kevin Boze, our first ever attending, booth-runnin' artists and authors.
 Comicon attendees enjoyed the local scenery and beaches, as well as refreshments at Fun Days and meals at restaurants. They were favorably impressed by the comfortable and reasonably-priced motel accommodations. The Fun Days fireworks were a special treat.

Plans are already afoot for the 2013 Comicon. The Facebook page, "Clallam Bay Comicon," is taking fan and professional input on best time of year. So far, the voting has been leaning toward May, but the actual date would also depend on when west-end businesses open after the winter season.

Clallam Bay Comicon encourages other peninsula communities to sponsor their own Comicons during the Clallam Bay event. Chambers of commerce as well as individuals and businesses interested in details are advised to contact Donna Barr.

She may be reached at: donnabarr01@gmail.com or call 360 963 2935

Dara Korra'ti performs for Ron Austin's on-going international film project about authors and artists at the 2012 Clallam Bay Comicon, Saturday, July 14.

Monday, July 16, 2012

Beast Year/Zodiac

Poster for Photosynthesis Festival in Neah Bay, July 2012.


Sunday, July 15, 2012

2012 Clallam Bay Comicon Ka-Blam!

Yes, I wore my Ka-Blam tshirt to the Clallam Bay Comicon. So I get $10.00 for printing for Indyplanet books!


Friday, June 29, 2012

You BETTER get this year's T-shirts!

Um... the Clallam Bay Comicon has just 'sploded.

We now have in addition to the rage-driven elf-metal of Ms. Korrati, from Crime and the Forces of Evil, Kevin Boze of The Virgin Project will be here -- as will the Comics Critic, Mark Monlux

Can I say Oh Fucking Wow, now?

I've realized I need more tshirts, but I won't have a lot at the show, because nothing had really happened until right now.  I'm SERIOUSLY thinking of charging collector's prices.  Well, they will be VERY rare.  The only one getting one for her very own wearing will be our Talent.

If you want a good price on the hoodie or tshirt, in all sorts of styles and colors, check 'em out at my Zazzle account.  The day after the show -- and I mean THE day after -- the prices shoot up to collector's level, and staying there, forever.  And yes, I have already designed next year's hoodie.  

And Roberta Gregory promises to be here in 2015.

This is going to be SOOOOO much fun!

Monday, June 25, 2012

Down with Amateurs

Okay. Rolling up the sleeves right now to strike at more BS.  

The times I have worked with writers, the script is ALWAYS thin, clichéd and boring.  It's why I do it myself -- I write what I've seen and know and think about, not some leftover genré scene that excited me when I was 12.  That is NOT a muse, no matter what you think it is, and if you can't tell the difference -- well, you can't learn it.

Writers who claim "not working without pay" for artists is "destroying indies" are amateur wienes.  There are PLENTY of us in mainstream drawn book world (Not "Indies," you boobs -- superheroes are the niche market now!) who write, draw and own the project. We're original, driven, knowledgeable, and have no time for manipulative amateur BS any more. If you, as a writer, WANT an artist, you are in the position of the producer and director. who has to find the funding for the actors and crew. Go to the film people and find out how it's DONE.

NOTE: I just did art for writers who did not grizzle over prices or payment schedule. Their only question:  "Paypal or check?"  They got a Kickstarter project and they wrote the artists into the costs.  Guess who already has the art in their hot little hands?  Like my editor on the Forks Forum says, "It's so nice to work with a professional."

Saturday, June 23, 2012

A Little Death - Paper for your Hot Little Live Hands

And I can get it for you for $19.95

 
 
If you want it signed, since it's POD, ask for an autographed bookplate.  So when you get the book in the mail, you can put the bookplate in it and have a signed copy.

And depending on where you live, you might get a shipping discount, too! 

Front Cover


Back Cover

I just donated a copy to our our local branch library.

Thursday, April 19, 2012

Fun With Senior Projects

Always help the youngsters with senior projects.  While answering questions can make us feel like, "Oh, geez, how am I an expert on this?" go ahead and do it anyway.  Drawn books and cartooning are HARD work -- those of you who did it before the interwebs know what it was like to do it all alone, as The Only Nerd in the neighborhood.  Or the house.

As for what follows: Sometimes these things fall apart -- trying to get art done is HARD, even for professionals.  Especially for professionals like me, who have the procrastinator gene in about 75% of their cells.   I DID email back and told the student to tell their mentor to stop using the idiot term "graphic novel," which is almost as stupid as "Speculative Fiction" (No argue with me; it has since mutated into - put down your coffee -- "Imaginary Fiction").

Wonder if the hooked-up mentor is an in-house teacher they didn't have to pay extra?  Just sayin.'  And they really do need a class in bullwhip publishing -- as in, "You've got a deadline!  Get on the paper or get a bloody stripe down your back! Wa-chow!"

Anyway, so nothing goes to waste:
  1. What is your typical day like?
D: Get up, do business (Hotmail, gmail, banking, bill-paying, marketing - PING, Twitter, Facebook). Fart around on Facebook a while, which often picks up customers. Researching and getting freelance newspaper stories and photos, doing art, layout, erranding, whatever needs to be done for the day. I try to get in walks on the beach (including picking up litter), or fishing; some kind of exercise. Work in the garden, yard, with chickens. In the summer, do house repairs, painting, etc. Always plenty to do. In the evening, while doing more art, like to watch videos (mostly police prodedurals and animation).
  1. What supplies do you need/use for your comics?
DB: Traditional: Paper, dip pens, ink, brushes, sometimes technical pens, watercolor. Digital: scanning, tablet, GIMP coloring, OpenOffice for layout, MacBook for all processing and publishing layout (extra files dumped onto extra hard drive; MacBook upgraded to 4 GB).
  1. How long do you work each day?
DB: From ten to twelve hours, on average.
  1. Does making comics alone pay the bills or do you also have to have a day job?
DB: A little of everything. Artists have hundreds of employers over a lifetime. You have to run your own business.
  1. How long does it take to make one page? One full comic?j
DB: In my case? 56 years (it's not a valid question without including training, research and length, size, processing, etc., of the drawn book),
  1. When did you start doing art related activities (drawing, coloring, art classes, etc.)?
DB: 1954
  1. Where did you get your inspiration to be an artist?
DB: You can't help it. You just do it. It's like an obsession. Or a disease. :D
  1. Who was or is your favorite artist ? In other words, is there another artist whose talents you admire?
DB: Ancient Egyptian tomb linework, cave paintings, Mayan temple art, ethnic and native arts (especially that of the Pacific Northwest and Alaska), Japanese 19th-century print art, Paul Brown - the horse artist from the 1940's. I like a lot of modern drawn-book people, including Roberta Gregory, Carla Speed McNeil, Diana Sasse, folks like that.
  1. Who helps you make your comic(s), and what tasks do they perform?
DB: I'm a one-woman band. I do it alone.
  1. How much time in a day do you spend doing art related tasks?
DB: Most of 'em, in one form or another.
  1. What are the advantages and disadvantages between drawing by hand and using a drawing program like Photoshop?
DB: It's all toys. I'm faster than anybody on pencil because I've built my head files and hand muscles and bones for decades. Tablets are fine, too, though not as fast. Whatever you work with and like, will be fine. It depends on the artist.
  1. Which do you prefer- working on paper or on a computer?
DB: Depends on the project.
  1. When you are at a convention and people ask for a special drawing, what guidelines do you use?
DB: I don't ask people for drawings, and never have. I'm my favorite artist. Well, it's TRUE.
  1. What is the process for printing/publishing a comic? What differences are there for publishing a web-comic?
DB: Let me try to do this as short as possible (when it comes to publishing, I could bore for England):
POD: check out FAQs at http:lulu.com and http://www.createspace.com, and find a drawn-book printer you like. My favorite is http://www.ka-blam.com Note: these are PRINTERS, not PUBLISHERS, so you can print on all of them. You're the publisher.
Webcomics: I like http://www.webcomicsnation.com Go out and find out you like. And use http://www.projectwonderful.com on it - or as soon as you can use PayPal. For credit-card processing on a website, hit http://www.ccnow.com
Traditional paper publishing: Do you have a few thousand extra dollars and a warehouse staff lying around? :D
  1. How did you move from creating art for personal enjoyment to also being paid for it?
DB: It just happens. Hang around with artists and people who love art, and they'll ask you for art. The golden rule - always -- 50% up front, and 50% upon approval. And NEVER EVER EVER EVER release your copyright unless they can offer you a LOT of zeroes in the price. Now go and read http://www.copyright.gov This is VITAL. Another professional site you should know: http://www.gag.org
  1. Are there any art-related tips or advice you can offer?
DB: Have fun. Work hard. Research. You know when you're doing good work, and when you're doing bad. DON't copy -- and NEVER steal somebody else's copyright, no matter what somebody offers you. It's just unprofessional. Only fans do that, and they should find out if a company or artists allows it (I do).
  1. Is there anything that you think I missed regarding important questions and would like to share with me? If so, please state both the question/topic and your response.
DB: Try to always have fun. If you're making lots of money but you're unhappy, you might as well just go get a job at Boeing. If you're an artist, you can ALWAYS find somebody to buy your stuff. You can paint signs, and do CD covers, and design tattoos, and print t-shirts (http://www.zazzle.com is good). You can go to shows and find many many people who want art. You can't ever be fired. You'll work very very hard, and it's often very frustrating, but you'll always have so many roads you can travel you never have to give up. You'll never retire -- you'll probably fall dead at last over your latest, best painting or comics page. Which is the best way to go. And probably why artists don't fear death.
Speaking of dying, I need more submissions at http://alittledeathcomic.com !
If you are inspired by these answers to ask more questions, send them to me.

End of interview.  The student's email follows: 

This is an update on my senior project stuff, but it is also a thank you/apology letter as well. I have to thank you all for taking time to help me with my senior project. I have read all of the questionaires that you guys sent back to me, and I will use that information as a guide to help me in the future. Now here comes the apology part. The other part I was supposed to do was to sent 5 images to be critiqued so that I could redo them and get them critiqued agian. I was going to have them sent sooner, but here's why I havn't. first off it was trouble making the drawing in the first place. The first pictures that I had made before I startred this project I didn't really want to send because they weren't really that good, and they were almost the same (as in being drawn from the boring side view)  but when I tried to draw a new picture, I just couldn't get the the thing drawn. I know these alone are not a good excuse for the delay, but the next part is the true reason for why I may not send them at all. The biggest part of my senior project is my field of evidence, where I would work with a mentor through May 21-25 on the project. I have to accumulate 30-40 hours of work on this. While my project advisors definatly agreed that this electronic communciation thing may be a good experenice, it wouldn't count towards the field experience hours I need. My advisors have kindly hooked me up with someone who is currently my mentor on this. Now what I am doing is converting the novels thatI have started writing over the past 4 years into comics/graphic novels (the mentor is guiding me through this process like critiquing the script and synopsis, helping me with how a page should look etc) so thats currently what im focusing on now, but with both that and other school work to do, I don't really have time to do the drawings I meant to send (especally since I have to do some character illistrations in its place.)
 
So I'm sorry I'm kindoff cutting out of the deal, but I got to keep up with the part of my project thats actually counted. I may or may not sent the drawings I promised just so I can get the feedback. Even though I'm probably not going to be working with you guys on this project anymore, if you still want to see the drawings, or if you just still want to work with me (which you probably wont given your busy schedules) just message me about it.
 
thanks

Monday, April 2, 2012

Nerd Parties

Okay, we think we're such hot shit as marketers.  So how come we're not selling what we do like Tupperware™?

You just get some product - for now, you can clean out the dollar boxes at the local comics shop, invite the owner as a guest, put up some flyers, set out some cheese and crackers, and add 40% to the junk price.  Any you have left over, you can push off on the next nerd for their own party.

I didn't name Nerd Parties -- somebody else at the 2012 Emerald City Comicon did.  When I asked the Wacom rep about them, he blinked and said, "We could get a call from a nerd party and just show up and not even unload!"

My first nerd party, sold at the Prism Comics booth, was only $10.00 worth of backstock, a little stack I sold to an enthusiastic beauty in a cossack -- pardon, "Socialist," costume.  She's going to hold the first nerd party in Bremerton.  Oh, yeah -- THAT navy town.  I didn't even have to tell her the Nerd would come out of the woodwork.  She said they would.  Talk about guts.  She is now Nerd Commissar.

Another girl grabbed a $10.00 party pack.  Then I told another that if she got me a $20.00 nerd pack, I'd give her five dollars.  She dragged back a friend, who looked skeptical until we admitted the plot.  The party got bought and the five bucks got plowed back into the Prism booth.

If you want a nerd party yourself, get the Everything box from me -- I'll pack that puppy with backstock and you can make yourself some cash.  Just go to my website and hit the book store link.

What are you out?  You get a bunch of books for your party or yourself and your friends.  And you can make yourself some cash.

Some guy started throwing out complaints about how this wouldn't work, and I said, "Then get out of your girlfriend's way."

Maybe this could bring back the magazine comics we all love.  20 or 30 nerds in your stable, and you could do a print run.




Emerald City Comicon 2012

Emerald City Comicon was great fun.

That's me with the long hair, the one in the back, in the Prism Comics Booth.  One on the left is my new friend Kyra, one on the right is the amazing Zan, Master of Prism.

Made many new friends, sold lotsa books, got to use the new Square card reader on my Ipad -- whoo whoo, real credit card capability without stupid accounts and stuff!

This here is my in the Ka-Blam t-shirt, worn at Emerald City to show off the new reprints.

In my next post, I'll finally get down and tell you all about Nerd Parties, and how I sold three of them and found a minion -- and a commissar.

Next week is Norwescon, then back to the Wet End, for the Clallam Bay Comicon and Photosynthesis 5!