The very first thing we did when we landed in Brussels was find our hotel. Once we were situated and had showered the plane funk off, we set out to find the Bande Desinee (BD) Museum (aka the Belgian Comic Strip Center), which the map told us was only six blocks away. The map was…Read more
The Trip in Context
I cannot remember a time when I wasn’t reading comic books. I’ve tried to remember what my first comics were and I can’t think of anything specific. I’ve always been a reader – I think I learned to read at four or five. I was certainly a voracious reader of everything by the time I…Read more
Looking back at the Lungs of the World
I have been making digital collage for the better part of a decade, long enough that I am comfortable and confident in my abilities – almost to the point of complacency. In the Spring of 2009, I decided that I wanted to try something different; I wanted to try making art with my own two…Read more
The Lungs of the World
I’ve always said that I can’t draw and I’ve always meant it. In the spring of 2009, I decided to find out exactly how badly I can’t draw. I keep buying art supplies in the hopes that I can make interesting things with them, but I never do. Over the course of several weeks, I used…Read more
HeroesCon
I just got back from HeroesCon and I haven’t even unpacked the car yet. It was good to meet so many great, creative people who have such a passion for the medium. The conventions I usually go to do not have a lot of people in costumes, so it was really neat to see these…Read more
Porno for Pirates
That the human eye is drawn towards attractive or well-composed visual images is self-evident. I find it interesting that human beings have adopted this penchant for, say, stopping to notice a nice sunset, into their mating rituals. This is self-evident, too; we are sexually attracted to well-composed faces and elegant curves (male or female) and…Read more
Castle by David Macaulay
I love David Macaulay. When I was about 11 or 12, I received a pile of David Macaulay books for Christmas from my parents. They were Pyramid, Cathedral, Underground and Castle – all about how the edifice or structure at hand was built. My adult self is able to identify each as an album-sized, perfect…Read more
The Dreamer by Will Eisner
I picked up The Dreamer by Will Eisner in Midtown Comics in New York City on Sunday (that would be the 3rd of May for those that want to be precise about such things). I’ve been working my way through the Will Eisner library for a number of years now and I’m always interested to…Read more
Publishing
To me, publishing is three distinct pieces: production, marketing and distribution. Production is basically everything up to and including printing. Marketing is telling people about your product, which you can actually do while it is in production. And distribution is about getting your product to people. An easy way to think of it is that…Read more
Signal to Noise by Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean
I found this book when I was working at the Barbarian Book Store in Wheaton in 1992. I picked it up because I was a full-on Sandman devotee and would pick up just about anything with Neil Gaiman’s name on it. In the Spring of 1993, Gaiman signed my copy. I have since misplaced this…Read more