Bremerton Zine Fest 2023

 Weird and hot, in a city park, but satisfying, and promising more for the future - that's the Bremerton Zine Fest. I was later at Pat Moriarity's art gallery show, also in Bremerton, at the Ridgeline cafe (no photos posted of a gallery show, of course). But photos of a few friends are included at the bottom of this post. It was really nice to see Pat again, and David Lasky - both long-time colleagues and dear friends. 

Got to talk to the Parks people, the Zine Fest organizers, and the Bremerton mayor, about maybe hooking up with SquatchConPA, so the two shows support each other and each other's communities. You know me - Little Miss GoBetween.

This really should be a better report, with more and better labeling, but it was 91 degrees Fahrenheit all day in that field, and hot for the rest of the evening, and the brain don't do so good in the heat. Every time I regret moving up to Clallam Bay, because it's so far away from my friends and industry, the weather reminds me of why it was a good idea.

I'll do a better job in the podcast. I'll add that link as soon as it goes active.

NFReads Interview With Me

Originally, said, "No politics, no religion," but that would leave me right out! So Tony added my foreword, and everything's kopacetic. 

As you can see, I don't think much about the process of creativity: I just do it. 

NFReads interview with me.

Clallam Bay Drink and Draw

(Next Clallam Bay Drink and Draw is Sunday, July 21, 7pm to 9ish, at the Clallam Bay Inn Upper Room)

At Raincon, it was suggested we start holding Drink and Draws - the comics industry traditional meetings where we - well - drink and draw.

I'm the only one showed up for this first one, but the bar patrons were very supportive and interested. They were playing good, bluesy music on the big modern electronic thing that was too techy to be called a juke box. But I'll call it a juke box for want of a better name.

I had a pounder of the beautiful Pacific Pineapple cider, and finished this page.

Will putting up announcements on reader boards, and community announcements in local papers, every month.

Since I was the first attendee, I get to say when and where.

Every third Sunday of each month, 7:00 pm to 9ish, at the Clallam Bay Inn. No fee - just chip in for beer or whatever you want. If you want an APA - amateur press association minis - chuck in a few dollars for copies and layout.

If you're in the APA, I'm making sure an extra copy goes to the San Diego State University Love Library Special Collections. A place to store issues - and academic cred.

Clallam Bay Inn has also brought back waffle fries, by popular demand.

Tip your barkeep

GoFundMe Campaign Art

I'm WAS offering art of Carla Speed McNeil's characters to reward those who donate to the GoFundMe campaign to bring her to the Clallam Bay Comicon. I've offered some of the art here, but didn't get a lot of nibbles. We know why - you want CARLA's art! 

But it would take her an awful lot of extra work to do that art, and the girl is slammed as it is. She deserves this trip, as a jewel of the comics arts, and the community of artists and comics folks deserve to have her here. So pitch in a few shekels, and help us reach that goal. 

Jaeger Avatar - available

Pretty woman avatar - available

Silly Jaeger on a pony sketch - available

Jaeger in the bath - gone

Jaeger and Pfirsich - gone

Making Comics Real

The University of Minneapolis has a DEGREE in comics - and a lot of it is the marketing and networking that makes it possible for young comics folks to make a living, and not have to be team artists, but real creatives. 

A good friend got me together with the San Diego State University to help build the comic book and art collection in the Love Library Special Collections. I am so exceedingly proud that my name is on the entry hall, and that my collection - for fund-raising - is now valued at a quarter million dollars - and I'm getting my name on the wall of major donors to the university. We helped hook up the universities to make comics reconizeable as the art form they are. 

When Booksurge was being bought by Amazon to make Createspace for books, we small publishers and authors were called - on THEIR DIME - and asked for up to an hour what we really wanted. Which is why Createspace works as well as it does, and has direct support we can contact, and that is truly helpful and patient.

I've never worked for team companies. I never drew any of the major characters. Like so many of the wonderful young people found in Artist Alleys today, I worked to develop my own line, ideas, characters and stories. I hope I've made it possible for them to have creative freedom, and to be paid for it, even in the smallest way. 

I like to think I assisted with some of the nuts and bolts of making the form something everyone could admire. I'm still making that work with my Clallam Bay Comicon, too, where rural attitudes toward comics are slowly turning around. No longer will they believe that superheroes or Manga are the only chance they have as comics creators, or genre fan texts as authors. I couldn't do it without the assistance of other truly original comics authors, who bring their work and ideas to share and teach. You have your own voice. Come share it.

You all count, and you're all recognized. If you even have one loving fan, you have your reward. At one time, that's all I had. I never meant to share my work, but that woman laughed and wept and adored my work and persuaded me to offer my work at a sci-fi convention, and to accept publishers who liked what I offered. I've always held her title of First Fan to be among the most honorable ones in the pantheon of the people who have encouraged me. Without her, I'd still be just drawing at home, and while this is an honorable goal, too, it shouldn't be the only one.

If what I've done has helped built the structures that make things easier for today's kids, I thank all the fellow creatives and fans and one very perceptive university library I've known and who have backed me up for the opportunity.

Thank you all.

Just For Joy

BLESSED BE

Found this artwork while going through old files on disks before I send 'em to San Diego State University Special Collections. 

I think it might be an old commission. But it's been a tough week for a lot of my friends.

So this is just for joy.

Blessings on all of you.

Share as you please.

Convention Art

While sitting at my table, between customers, panels and events, I do art for myself. Here are a couple examples, a Red Glowing Dragon, and "Awa' with the Fairies."

When I'm just doodling freehand original art like this, if you walk up with $50 cash, you'll be able to buy any sort of art like this, easy. So if you have ideas of what sort of doodles you'd like to see me doing, let me know. And because we all have Square, now, but it seldom works without 20 minutes trying to get connected, you bring your twenties, I'll bring my ones, and we'll do it the old-fashioned and easy way.

And you get publishing rights with any art you buy. This means you can share it any way you like, as long as you don't manipulate it or get money involved. Personal cards and postcards are fine, so long as you don't sell 'em.

Clallam Bay - West End Map

Map of Clallam Bay and Sekiu

Here's the map I did for the local chamber of commerce. Now nobody has to try to describe how to get to Cape Flattery and find every park, bathroom and cup of coffee on the way. The reason there is no color is so customers can use provided color markers to plan their own route and itinerary.

Map of the Upper West End of the Olympic Peninsula

The map cost the Sekiu/Clallam Bay Chamber of Commerce $1500. I had no trouble with them paying their bills up front and on time.

The map is causing great joy in town. Four Chinese teenagers used pink markers to line out their trip, then found out about Clallam Bay's dragon dance - and came back to help celebrate. The Sunsets West Co-Op gave them pan lids and other noise-makers, and they joined in. What made them happiest was that Americans loved and made their own dragon dance.

It was like that moment that healed relations between the US and England when King George VI and Queen Elizabeth ate hot dogs with FDR. "They like our food!"

It doesn't take much to make people happy. Everybody wants a pad of them for their business or family. I told the chamber they should sell them. I made my money, now it's their turn.

But I'm beginning to get this sung at me: "Mapmaker, mapmaker make me a map!"

Shortrun 2015 art

Posted for Shortrun 2015 - we hope! Applying for tables, now. Chose this little IPad piece because it has the light-heartedness and fun style of Shortrun.

Just Stop Trying, People

Every once in a while, somebody tries to - I dunno - "hurt" me online, or at least my work. Which leads to the following conversation from a very nice reader of mine, Danny Sichel:

From Donny Sichel, email:

"So I'm reading the Terrible Webcomics megathread on Something Awful.

Someone posts a page of Stinz." (I dunno which page; Danny just said, "a page.") 

"Responses: "Somehow, I can't bring myself to hate this. It's not even pinging my 'fetish-sense'. Please post an example of this comic sucking, because so far I don't dislike it."

"What is this, Lil Abner with centaurs? I kind of like the oldschool feel of the art"

"I am really really happy this thread introduced me to Donna Barr

because she is a fucking genius"

"Can't stop my fascination with Barr's work. There's something so

incredible here I don't fully understand "

When I said I thought this was funny and gratifying, Danny, like the decent guy he is, tried to get it through my thick skull that somebody hated my work:

Danny: "It's still the 'shitty webcomics' thread. Your stuff is being a work of insane genius. A given page of the Afterdeath stuff may totally insane when seen out of context, but it's not *lousy* - the art is vivid and competent, and there's actually a reasonable storyline. And you're someone who genuinely enjoys what you're doing. Yes, there are people who produce webcomics but don't like making art. They see it as a tedious obligation that's necessary for the rewarding experience of receiving praise.)"

That made it even better. You see, I'm an original - I solved all the artistic problems myself, instead of being a fake and a copy-artist. I learned to write in colorful letters home to my family from the army and college. I still base everything I do on stuff I've seen, researched, or been told stories about - not something I cribbed and barely changed from somebody else's (too-often cribbed-and-changed) fake stories. I'm not one of those legion of comics people whose work you pick up and go, "I can't tell which writer or artist this is, because they all look the same." You see Donna Barr, you KNOW Donna Barr. Nobody else can actually copy me, although there have been some adorable attempts - and some ridiculous steals. I think of the well-intentioned as good puppies, and the bad ones as abused puppies.

However, the thought the, no matter how old I get, I'm STILL the class weirdo is something I've learned to live with and appreciate.

I just thought - since the last pages of Stinz are done by very practiced friends, perhaps they're being hated on - and getting the free publicity! Yay! Win-Win, Cin Cin.

Hire the Artist - RATES

Donna Barr is a professional artist who works in her own style. Please view her art gallery at DeviantArt to choose ONLY THREE pieces you absolutely love, to give her an idea of what you want. Do NOT send her illustrations of other people's work. William Blake is dead, and you'll pay as much as you'd pay an anime artist if you want her to copy that style. No barter, please. And only one person gets Friend Prices - because she's done so much for the artist. Email for further details. Note: once a job has started, this blog posting acts as a contract. "Artist" refers to Donna Barr. Contact

Basic prices (Including shipping, handling and insurance) (DIGITAL THE SAME AS TRADITIONAL):

For any single-color (B&W, etc.) traditional illustrations, in any non-paintbrush media (ink or pencil):

       $175 per 8.5 x 11 illustration. 

     $50 per quarter page.

     $25 spot illustrations.

Color or paintbrush (acrylic or watercolor) per 8.5 x 11 illustration:

     $310 per page.

       $95.00 per quarter page

     $65.00 for spot illustrations.

Hand-lettering per page: $175, in addition to art.

Comic pages:
     Black-and-white comic-layout pages are $275 apiece.
     Full color comic-layout pages are $450 apiece.

Payment shall be for 50% up front, to start the illustration. The final 50% must be paid after approval for the art to be delivered, both as hard copy (paper, etc.) and high-resolution scans.

Copyright: 

The artist retains copyright if the artist completes both writing and art. If the client is the writer, the copyright belongs to both the writer and the artist, and any future handling must be negotiated at the time. Legal differences will be settled under the copyright laws of the United States, in whatever jurisdiction is most convenient to me.

Undelineated project Fee: $80 per hour.

I will NOT investigate from your work in lieu of carefully-thought-out exact descriptions of the specific illustrations. If you insist I do so, There is a $100 reading fee for short stories, $200 for poem, and $1500 for novels. 

Research: Please send a carefully-chosen packet of research materials for your project if you don't wish to incur the research fee of $80 an hour.

Full book layout for print-on-demand publishing: (not including book-length editorial services): $750. Layout can include upload and publication on any print-on-demand site the client prefers (ie., Lulu, Createspace, etc), as well as distribution programming. Whole payment up front.

Teaching you how to self-publish: $350. Whole payment up front.

Desert Peach, Usagi Yojimbo, Fighting Forestry Fools

AFTERDEAD, U. Yojimbo, Times cartoon.

Thanks to Hitch Hikers Guide To The Galaxy for helping me ink. So let's take on three things at once. At least it will give the ink time to dry between pages.

Getting another AFTERDEAD page done, or at least the inks, on the left.

The forestry cartoon (right) is after this foolishness in Time Magazine. I've realized there's a dysfunction in the minds of the people who raise our food, and I'm getting them next. I'll post a better shot after I scan all this stuff.

If you're thinking, "My, that is a sparse and not-fancy art station," it gives me the chance to use this quote (of which I'm kinda proud, so there):

Monday, October 14, 2013, from Chris Ariel Grant's book, "Bohica Blues."

"I realized you don't to be magic or rich, or even completely wired down tight (in fact, it helps to be a bit off kilter to do this stuff), just be willing to actually do it. 

"But one huge influence that paid off later was Donna Barr's "The Desert Peach". While a lot of artists I knew fussed about having the "right" tools, pens, brushes, a certain shade of ink, exact-weight paper harvested from the trees on the shore of a mystical lake in the Tibetan mountains, and other resources, I'd watch Donna Barr grab, literally, a ballpoint pen and a piece of paper and churn out her next comic chapter in a couple hours. Years later, in the Iraq desert, I remembered that ability to work with any resource and not to let excuses come between me and getting a project done. While I admit I prefer certain tools and resources, all I truly need is pen, paper, and lots of coffee."

Which always makes me happy, to know I've helped the next person sit down and start drawing and writing. 

For Sharon

Stan Sakai's wife Sharon is under cancer treatment, and you know how artists raise money - we all chip in something pretty for an art auction. As Dan says, "You might as well be printing your own money." 

Well, we don't have money, but we have art, so I did this little cartoon of a misunderstanding over what Usagi Y. had actually buried. I don't think Stan has any alligator characters (?), but gators are notoriously willing to take on any chance at a good thing. Here's the rough, and the final inks.

Don't touch!

As you can see, I don't ink in roughs very neatly. I kind of get the generals down - in this case, after researching Stan's characters on the 'net - and then I light-table the inks quickly.

I've put the "WTF is going on here??" text in, upside down. I'm sure Stan will get it right away, but if not, this will make it a puzzle, and it's traditional to put in the answers on the same page, and upside-down. You'll note my little technique of getting the whole comics page into one gag by sorta telling the story with background sound effects. I think Don Martin did that too? I dunno; I'm sure I didn't invent it. They probably had it in Egyptian tomb painting.

And here's the pretty final, all painted up.

How to Write an Art Contract

Time and again, it's been proven to me that even my most knowledgeable colleagues don't know how to negotiate and contract for an art project.

I use something based on this for all projects, no matter the size. Note the instruction that, "If we didn't talk about it, it's not in this contract!"

The bigger the contract, the more loopholes and lawyers. Don't try to INCLUDE everything. Just EXCLUDE everything you won't need to negotiate right at that time.

And it's ALWAYS 50/50%. You're a professional. If the printer, shipper, cameraman, etc., get paid - SO DO YOU. 

If you're a writer - or a fucking FOOTBALL FRANCHISE (ask me how I know) - who tries to argue anything else - SHAME ON YOU.

We can die of exposure.

Keep It Simple, Stupid

Van Gogh Didn't Hang, Either.

Alanah White  and Stephen Hrivnak and their mandala.

(That photo - taken on the Hobuck Beach during Photosynthesis 6 - is just to have something to link a pretty picture for social media postings. But it's a nice mandala they both worked on, and I'm not using it as a bad example.)

Once again, the REAL artist is diffident and ignored, while others get all the attention. At Photosynthesis, the young artists sitting around the bonfire were oohing and ahing over crude mandalas and the fact that somebody had actually pressed down hard enough on Prismacolor pencils to get some color. I wouldn't harsh their buzz - they were having fun, and not being mean about it. And most of them were really math geeks, playing with patterns. Which is a good cross-over. But -

One kid was agog at a poster I'd done, while the others seemed confused. Then I saw her notebook, which was just lying on a log by the fire-pit. 

After flipping through it, I got this quiet child's attention and said, "I'm not going to insult you by saying you have 'talent,' because you and I know that's just a little better ability to see color, or better hand-eye control. But you've done the work. I can SEE you've done the work." 

She'd done her thousands of drawings, and drawn delicate, real nudes, based on friends and herself. Sensitive, soulful, speaking work.

Gorgeous lines, delicate pencils that showed weight, fabulous innovative color - and she had her OWN STYLE. If you're looking for the real artist in the group - look for the one the fake artists are ignoring or snubbing. It's worth it. 

 

Before I told her what I believe about her art, she'd said, "I saw your face, and I knew I wanted to talk to you." I need to run something for Photosynthesis. I don't even know if I got her name, because it was early in the morning, and I was still trying to get caffeine in my brain. She'd even done some things with word balloons. One Of Us was at the show, just waiting to bloom. I hope she's there next year, too.

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.

Beast Year/Zodiac

Poster for Photosynthesis Festival in Neah Bay, July 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."

A Little Death - Paper for your Hot Little Live Hands

A Little Death is now a lovely paperback.  

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.

A Tail of Jim

Jim are not happy.

Jim's home!

Yesterday we discovered Jim had scraped an inch-long trench in the end of his tail, possibly even broken it.  We thought he'd gotten his tail caught in the door, but now we're not sure.

Anyway, he's home, with stitches in his tail.  

The vet's assistant, Naomi, said she came THIS close to putting a pink ribbon bow on the tail.  So maybe he'd better think next time.  

Vet bill, of course, so am trolling for commissions.  Nice black and white drawings (including rough and scan) for $30.00, $12.95 shipping, handling and insurance (Within the US and Canada -- a bit higher overseas).  If you want more figures, or color, we can talk; hit the email address (on my profile, here).

Or donate a beer at the Desert Peach site!

Note:  PLEASE DO NOT REQUEST COPYRIGHTED CHARACTERS.  Using other people's or company's characters for money is copyright infringement and THEFT.  I hate to have to say this again, but people still need to learn this is wrong and illegal.  I DO NOT STEAL FROM OTHER ARTISTS.

She Told Me To - Another Interview with Donna Barr

Sarah Coultier sent me some nice interview questions, and I'm posting it here as she suggested.

Hi, Sarah -- I'm typing this with the 'flu, so you might want to proof it.

My answers are marked with "D" (Hers are marked "S").

Donna Barr

S: Hey - I'm a student at Pacific Northwest College of Art and I'm supposed to interview three artists in the field that I want to go into. I actually have some things that I really want to know about how all five of you work, so - I know you're quite busy, but if any of you have time for a few questions, could you please answer mine? Even one would be awesome. If you want to post the answers to your blogs, I follow most of you in one form or another. And several of you have already covered some of these, so don't feel obliged to answer what you've already talked about.

D: Thanks for contacting me. I'll do my best.

S: Work ethic: from things you've mentioned on the internet, I know that all of you have continued to draw and update through depression, migraines, other jobs, and dealing with family. How do you manage it?Does the story have such a strong hold on you? Do you have an unusually strong sense of duty? A particular routine, or a system for getting things done that I'm not seeing?

D: The short answer: we're women.

KIDDING.

The other short answer: YES, to all of the above. I know I'm imprisoned by my Muses, and I'm German (the "duty" thang). The rule is: when not doing anything else, draw and write! Or even better, try to get the other stuff done when not drawing or writing.

My other trick: DRAW AHEAD. Do masses of stuff, and post a month's worth. So you CAN be sick or wrapped up in emergencies if you need to. Bless the internet for chugging along while we're doing other stuff. It's the way I've set up everything: WWWID (Will work when I'm dead).

S: Publicizing: what works for you guys? Who do you talk to? Where? Online or physical? Ads? Twitter? As far as I can tell, success is a combination of luck and just really being interested in your material - but some people do seem to make a success of advertising... and of course an audience needs to know you exist. How much is too much, for you? What's your experience with getting someone else to advertise for you? When did you decide there was enough demand to try to get your stories printed - or, for those who started before the grand era of webcomics and gauging an audience by online fan response, at what point did you decide to print, and where did you try to distribute it? Where do you wish you'd tried to distribute it, now?

D: EVERYTHING. Facebook, Lulu, Twitter, Createspace, Project Wonderful, CCNow and Blogger. You got those, you just do your hour of marketing and contacts every day. It's the online comiccon! You, too, can look at PayPal once in a while (and then regularly) and go, "Oh! Where did that extra hundred dollars come from?"

You print when you have enough pages: Ka-Blam.com (or other comics site) for comics page numbers. Lulu and Amazon for collections. Lulu and Ka-Blam for wholesale to your customers (fan and store). Amazon for cheapest discount to you for shows. Lulu for automatic ebooks.

The paper days? It was Diamond and nothing else. You can still do that, or flog it at book publishers. That world is still in the 18th century, when it started, all the rules still hold. What worked for Dickens will work for you -- but these days it will be pixels, not paper.

And we don't write cuz we're trying to get an audience. We write because demons have us by the back of the neck and are pushing our faces into the paper/screen.

S: Publicizing 2: Did trying to put yourself and your work out there make you feel like a flimsy facade with something ill and rotten behind it at first? If so, how on earth did you get over it, and do you think it has anything to do with how women are socialized to b self-effacing, or more to do with being an introvert, or an artist, or scolded for boasting as a kid...

D: Eh? Does not compute.

My stuff is good, damnit. I write what I can't find out there. Then again, I had a great blessing: I was daddy's little princess, but mom told me I was "enough to gag a maggot on a gut wagon." This taught me that NOBODY'S JUDGEMENT MATTERED BUT MY OWN. Get over yourself. And throw your relatives out of your studio. And your in-laws.

Oh, and I hit myself in the head with an ax when I was seven and immediately became obsessive, fixated and self-absorbed. Artist material! :P

(Fun with creaties; ask them when THEY had their head-trauma!)

S: Collaborators: Who's your favorite editor/collaborator/friend to take somewhere and babble at? What do they do that's special?

D: These days it's my fans on my websites. We have lots of fun giggling like girls over the antics of my characters (I'm not in control of any of this; I'm just management).

S: Collaborators 2: Do you have lots of artist and comic friends? Do you find you work best with engineers and scientists, or writers, or editors, or some other group of interests and traits instead? Do you emember how you collected most of them?"

D: My Facebook page is loaded with artists and writers and other creaties from all over the world. Editors and agents, too. I remember NOTHING about anything; the ax scrambled my memory, too; I have a hard time telling reality from dreams from imagination from tv commercials.

I love engineers; one of them is my BESTEST patron. They are so funny, tongue-in-cheek and self-aware (and they know art is worth money). The Desert Peach is an engineer. It's why my favorite Error Status is "418 I'm a Teapot."

(GOOGLE IT).

Scientists think my 1st rule of writing is hilarious: "If it's funny, it's right."

The other 2 are: "If it's physically possible for its time and place, it happened." And "If it didn't happen, it should have."

Or the short form: "Some idiot has already tried this."

(My rules of writing also apply to historical research).

S: Thank you very much if you have time to answer any of these. Any time would be fine, and you can pick any one question to answer if you want. I think I was supposed to ask how you got where you are in your careers, but this is the stuff I'm actually interested in. I apologize for how awkward this is. If and when you're ever in Portland, I'd love to meet you and say hi, and I'm just as awkward in person.

D: Awkward? NO! So nice and polite and well-thought-out! You should extend your teacher(s) my compliments.

Donna Barr

(and include this: http://www.donnabarr.com )

Sarah Cloutier

http://scloutier.tumblr.com/
http://melukilan.deviantart.com/