Carrington’s World is Nominated for an Ignatz Award!

Well, bust my buttons! My mini comic Carrington’s World is nominated for a dang Ignatz Award for best Mini Comic! I guess this means I’m going to have to reprint it and actually go to SPX in September! I’m taking a break from social media right now for mental health reasons, so I was late to find out. Actually, it was so nice to hear about it from a friend than a tweet!

It’s my first Ignatz nomination and even though my experience as a juror back in 2016 taught me that being nominated, while an honor, is also a miracle (considering the sheer volume of submissions and the anonymous system of ranking and voting among the jury members), I always hoped I would get a nomination. I am so pleased that something made it through the meat grinder of that process. Thank you to the Ignatz jurors!! I hope you still like comics after that giant job!! If not, Comics still likes you and will wait for your recovery and return!

This mini was something I threw together last spring when I thought I was going to go to MoCCA, but didn’t. I’ve always wanted to make a mini about the artist Dora Carrington and now I have and now I get to be nominated for something that is like an Oscar to me! Well, there you go!

If you’re going to be at SPX on Saturday, September 17th, you can vote for me while you are there or any of the other amazing cartoonists nominated (seriously, what a list!!!!!). CORRECTION: I just found out that they will not be doing on-site voting this year, so if you want to vote you can! All you have to do is request a ballot here! If you’ve read the comic please consider voting for me! Thank you!

New Comic: Raymond Briggs

I have a new comic up on my Patreon about the amazing cartoonist and children’s author Raymond Briggs, who died on Tuesday at the age of 88. As a way to honor and celebrate this amazing artist, I’m temporarily removing the paywall for the next week. Come on over and read it!

He was blooming marvelous!

4 page comic on Daphne Du Maurier on Patreon and All the Sad Songs Featured on Backlisted!

It’s Friday which means there is a new comic on my Patreon! This week it’s a 4 page comic on the British writer Daphne Du Maurier’s obsession with the estate Menabilly. Menabilly was the inspiration for Manderley in her world famous novel, Rebecca. You can access it now along with many other comics and posts for a modest rate!

New comics are still coming every Friday along with occasional posts about my memoir in progress and thoughts about comics as a creative practice. I have really been enjoying having a space to share what’s been happening in my world–come on in! It’s colorful there!

BUT THAT’S NOT ALL!

On Monday I had the delight and shock of my life when I discovered that ALL THE SAD SONGS was featured on my favorite podcast Backlisted! Some of you might remember me gushing writing about Backlisted in December when I shared my sketchbook spread of Queens of Crime. Imagine my shock to hear Andy Miller, writer and editor and co-host of Backlisted sharing ALL THE SAD SONGS as his pick of what he had been reading and loving this week! WHAT?? IS THIS REAL??

It’s hard to adequately say what this means to me. That podcast has done more for refueling my inner life in the last year than anything else has in years. In some ways it has recommitted me to a life of reading and writing in a way that I had forgotten was possible. Andy and John Mitchinson, and their array of guests, are so smart, funny, generous, and engaging that it’s truly infectious. To be included in that show and to be read (and praised) by Andy Miller is just…mind blowing (to say the least), and (dare I say it?) deeply affirming. Not all attention helps refuel, but I have to admit, this puts some strength in the heart for me. In the words of Tom Waits, I’m going to take it with me when I go.

It’s perfect timing because ALL THE SAD SONGS just went into a second printing! After a brief period of it possibly going out of print in the US, Retrofit decided to do a modest second print run, and I just got the first shipment of new copies. The price will be going up once my current supplies go out, so if you have been sitting on it–now is the time to get it!

Limited Edition of CARRINGTON’S WORLD

I have a super duper limited run of a mini comic I made about the artist Dora Carrington in my shop! (SOLD OUT!!) This comic on the life and art of Carrington and the influence her illustrated letters had on me was published in print form only at New City out of Chicago last year. I had a fantasy of making a Carrington mini to go along with it, so that’s exactly what I did! Then I decided, let’s go whole hog: end papers and a cover–all inspired by this beautiful artist!

I made these when I thought I was tabling for MoCCA two weeks ago, but when I didn’t I gave most of them to my generous top tier patrons over at Patreon. I have around 10 left and once they are gone they will be gone forever–so get them while you can!

7 pages of full color comics, with a 6 page mini insert inside. In my Etsy shop now! $5!! Get them while they are hot! (SOLD OUT!!)

THANK YOU, but they are SOLD OUT!

Artist Talk In Poughkeepsie Saturday October 9th!

On Saturday I will be giving an artist talk IN PERSON at the Boardman Library in Poughkeepsie, NY about telling life stories in comics!

My inner 10 year old is doing backflips because I used to stare at this picture and imagine the lives of my cartooning heroes Wendy and Richard Pini, creators and authors of the Elfquest series, and wonder from my California home, where the heck Poughkeepsie was, and how you even pronounced it, and if there was a way I could possibly run away to live with them, or magically jump into the picture. Now I live 20 miles south of them and although my life doesn’t have elves in it, I have in a sense magically entered that picture through drawing my life in comic form–but wait! I’m spoiling my talk!

Register here and come hear me talk all about that portal between life and drawing and writing and living. It will be masked, social distanced, but it will be personal! Come on over!

Saturday, October 9, 1:00pm

Summer Pierre Artist Talk

Poughkeepsie Public Library, 141 Boardman Road, Poughkeepsie, NY

REGISTRATION REQUIRED

New Comic at Newyorker.com on Virginia Woolf and Vita Sackville-West!

Absolutely gobsmacked to share the news that my latest comic at The New Yorker is about the fascinating relationship between the writers Virginia Woolf and Vita Sackville-West. Spoiler: it’s complicated!!

A shout out to my teachers at Goddard College, Bill Vander Clute, who taught a Virginia Woolf intensive class in the Fall of 1991, that changed my life, and to the poet Nora Mitchell who taught a class titled Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual Literature in the spring of 1992 where I first read ORLANDO. Both of those experiences were with me as I made my way through this comic.

Go on and read it here!

New Comic in NEW CITY!

I’m SO excited to have a NEW 7 page comic forthcoming in the print only April 2021 edition of NEW CITY! It’s a 7 page comic on the artist Dora Carrington–one of my earliest inspirations for drawing stories from life! It was the first comic I’ve done outside diary comics in a YEAR and I enjoyed every second of it! GET YOUR COPY HERE!

Paper Pencil Life #4 is HERE!

Excuse me while I do a little dance! My latest collection of comics and diary comics, Paper Pencil Life #4, is at last available to purchase! 52 pages of comics in beautiful black and white! Stories about road trips, the artistic life, strange mothers, anxiety, and so much more! All for just $8.00!

I have to tell you that I am immensely proud of this work–I think it is my best issue yet. It has my favorite stories I’ve made in it–plus I just love how it looks!

Also–THIS JUST IN: I’ve also added a limited edition 4 pack of all 4 issues of Paper Pencil Life in my shop–4 issues for the price of 3! This way you can get the whole shebang and for a cheaper price!

SOLD OUT!

I’m thinking about not reprinting Issue #1 after this conference season to make room for more stuff (although the jury is still out on this one). I’m growing away from those initial first attempts pretty quickly and it’s starting to embarrass me a little when people buy PPL #1 to get an introduction for what I do. It doesn’t feel current anymore! So if you’ve been considering buying one, this 4 pack might be a good way to go–get the complete set while it lasts!  

SOLD OUT!

All of these will be available at CXC and MICE in October, but if you won’t be there or can’t wait–get ’em in the shop!

 

Become: On The Origin of Passion

 photo by Nate Burgos

It is with great pleasure that I announce that a big illustration job I had last year has finally made its way into the world: Become: On the Origin of Passion, edited and compiled by Nate Burgos

50 quotes of makers, scientists, actors, athletes, performers, you name it on the moment or the THING that made them become what they became.  Each one is accompanied by an illustration.

I had so much fun drawing the memories and moments that made everyone from Filmmaker David Lynch to Oceanographer Sylvia Earle become what they eventually became.  A great gift for graduates and other people in your life embarking on a new journey or endeavor.  A great book for anyone at a crossroads or just curious.

Go get your copy!

Heather McAdams show in Chicago

Folks, if you are anywhere NEAR Chicago, get ye to the Sulzer Library IMMEDIATELY and go see the Heather McAdams show there–and tell me about it!  Better yet, go to the opening THIS THURSDAY and meet her lovely self and get the whole Heather McAdams experience in art, film, and person!  This is what Oscar Arriola the curator had to say about Heather and the show:

She’ll be presenting one of her patented film jamborees with her husband [the musician] Chris Ligon, this coming Thursday, July 9th. The reception is at 6pm and the films begin at 7pm. Her comics and other artwork are on display on both floors of the Sulzer Regional Library, 4455 N. Lincoln Ave, Chicago, IL through the end of July, 2015. The event is free.

More info can be found here.

Seriously, please go and tell her hi from  me!