Interview!

The guys at nerd-culture podcast Geek Bombast interviewed me and Zach Taylor at our table at Wizard World on Saturday. Check it out mayng!

http://www.geekbombast.com/?p=743

Influence Map

I see that this is the "thing" going around the internet right now, so I thought I'd give it a shot.

(click to enlarge)

Basically, I was going for a loose chronological order. You'll notice that the larger influences are gathered closer to the top. I feel like, the more time has passed, the more I can feel the influence's weight on my work. It's sort of like laying the foundation stones for a building. The bigger ones near the bottom support the more detailed intricacies near the top.

1. NES games, specifically, boss battles

Like many kids of my generation, the original NES was a fountain of ideas to build upon. Its simplified forms left a lot for the imagination, which is why so many of us are still nostalgically addicted to those old hunks of plastic.

For me, the biggest source of inspiration came from the boss battles. Oh, the bosses! So grandiose! So epic! There was nothing I loved more than those bosses. The five games I placed in the map are ones that I found particularly enthralling: Contra, Legend of Zelda, Megaman 3, Abadox, and Godzilla. Mario's great and all, blah blah blah, but Bowzer got old real quick. Anyway, the point is, these battles would forever lead me down a path with a preference toward drawing creatures instead of people.

2. Maurice Sendak

My absolute favorite children's book, which I share with so many others, is Where the Wild Things Are. Something about Maurice Sendak's snarling characters, bratty protagonist, and intricate linework are pure imagination fodder. That book has stuck with me my whole life, and I still have my original copy.

3. Kevin Eastman, Peter Laird, and Fred Wolf

Most people know the first two, but the third guy is the animator who designed the televised version of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. This cartoon, like others in its time period, would inspire in my art the themes of mutation and anthropomorphic heroism, and, unfortunately, would draw me toward the messy, blobby, formless style so prevalent in the late '80s (see Carebears, Smurfs, cereal mascot redesigns, etc).

4. Caleb Davis

Caleb was my best friend from 3rd to 5th grade, and my penpal for several years thereafter. He and I built off of each other. In your formative years, there's no artist more influential than the one you're best buddies with.

5. Gary Larson

From an early age, I was obsessed with his surreal one-panel non-sequiturs and made a point to adapt my humor to them. I own ten collections of Farside comics.

6. '80s fantasy movies

The animatronic-driven, Jim-Henson-created/inspired fantasy movies of the 1980s were one of my favorite things about my childhood. These had more of an effect on my storytelling than my actual art, so they tend to appear in my more recent comic work than in my past art.

7. Matt Groening

I don't ever remember sourcing the Simpsons per se, but I am told every so often that my work reminds people of his. I suppose, without realizing it, this ever-present cartoon found its way into my style.

8. Late '80s - early '90s X-Men

This one stretches back pretty far into my childhood. Like many boys do, I started out drawing a lot of super heroes. For some reason, the X-Men always stuck, and it would be these teams of varied-powers mutants that I would always favor in creation.

9. Peter Chung

For those of you who didn't watch MTV Liquid Television in the mid '90s, you missed out on some good stuff, specifically, a cartoon called Aeon Flux. Peter Chung's sloppy, Schielesque forms stuck in my mind. Although I don't think I adopted any of his particular style, I strove to be a better artist after seeing his work.

10. H.R. Giger

I saw Aliens when I was ten years old, and Giger's bizarre alien forms made a huge impact on the sort of creatures I would draw. For a short while, I would only draw "Alien" aliens, and took great pride in my ability to do so.

11. Jared Markgraff

Jared was a fellow Boy Scout in my troop, and he was a way better artist than I was. Around the time I was in 8th grade, I had come to the apex of this really horrible bubbly/curved style that I wouldn't break from. But after watching Jared draw on a dry erase board one night, I suddenly realized I needed to incorporate straight lines and hard angles. This one night made an enormous difference in my evolution as an artist, and I am forever thankful for it.

12. Kevin Dart

One of my two "best" friends starting in 6th grade, Kevin has impacted my work in ways which no other single artist has. We collaborated constantly, bounced ideas and styles off each other, and grew as artists together. When I went off to a different high school, we remained friends, but I experimented artistically on my own. Kevin stagnated for a couple of years, and then, all of a sudden, skyrocketed past me. I've been playing catch-up ever since. I continue to source him as an inspiration, and occasionally as a tutor. The long vertical shape I gave him suggests the bridging effect he has had in my life, from the past into the present.

13-15: Rumiko Takahashi, Hijime Yatate, and Akira Toriyama

Some time around 10th grade, I started experimenting with anime/manga-style art. The only anime were some random video clips and images from Ranma 1/2 (I still hold Rumiko Takahashi's style in very high regard, even though her storytelling skills are garbage), episodes of Ronin Warriors (Hijime Yatate is the collective pen name of a team of artists, btw), and of course, the seminal anime for American audiences, Dragonball Z. My real first exposure to Akira Toriyama was actually the box and instruction manual art for Chrono Trigger. These were the only things I had access to at the time, since the world's new glut of manga-style webcomics was yet to be created, and I didn't have any knowledge of manga.

For two years, I drew almost exclusively in the style I hybridized off of these three artists, until the aforementioned #12 shook me out of it (thank goodness).

16. Doug TenNapel

I started listening to Five Iron Frenzy years after playing Earthworm Jim, but both occurrences of Doug TenNapel's art gave me a taste for thin appendages with thick forelimbs.

17. Peter Sis

Peter Sis is my second-favorite children's book illustrator, but I didn't know about him until I was an adult. I became enamored with the level of detail in his linework, and I started mimicking his particular way of drawing fur and tree bark.

18. Craig Thompson

I stumbled Thompson's seminal graphic novel Blankets at a transitional part of my life, and his sensuous brushwork stuck to me like glue. Because of him, I learned to experiment with painting ink onto large bristol. I've begun to notice the effect of his style on mine only recently, and it's an honor to be inspired by such an accomplished artist.

19. Hope Larson

Salamander Dream is, to date, my second-favorite comic book, right after Blankets. Hope Larson's loving attention to botany drove me to pay more attention to plant life when drawing.

20. Frank Miller

Unlike most "true" comic fans, I found out about Frank Miller WAY too late (after I saw Sin City in a movie theater). But once I got my hands on his comics, I never looked at shadows the same way.

21. Mayan Art

I've recently become enamored with the fluid shapes and lines of Mayan frescoes. They have almost a silliness about them. Scroll back a page or two on my blog and see what I've done with the style.

22. Dave Shabet

I've known Dave informally since 2005. Since then I've seen him grow into the webcomics juggernaut he is today. He's been an encouraging force and muse, and I occasionally chat him up for advice or a fresh opinion.

23. Evan Dahm

The minute I read Rice Boy, I knew Evan was a kindred spirit. I can see in his work many of the things that led me to my current state, although he's clearly on a higher plane. I've tried to pull some of the epic grandeur of his colorful little comics into my own work.

24. Andrew Hussie

Anyone who reads Problem Sleuth or Homestuck knows that Andrew Hussie is the most powerful force webcomics has ever known. His rapid update schedule, his perfection of the hybridization of graphic adventure games and comics, his perfect humor and timing, his sense of place and composition... every update brings a little more hope into my life. It is his work that most informs my current project, which I have yet to reveal but on which I have been working almost nonstop for the last three months.

Texas Comicon 2010 Recap

So I've tabled at three comic conventions now, and I think I'm getting the hang of how this works. There seem to be two main types - artist cons, and collector cons. Texas Comicon was a collector's con. Lots of toys. Toys and toys and more toys. Nothing but creepy dudes with arms-full of G.I. Joes. Blah.

Needless to say, I didn't make half of what I did at Staple. There was just a complete lack of indie kids and a glut of sweaty, hunch-backed, toy-hoarding hermits.

Thankfully, I got to sit at the cool kids' table. To my left were three talented lady-types. Jessica Correa, Amanda Coronado, and Jerrie Goto; and to my right was the equally phenomenal Mark Nasso. We all traded goodies, so I came home with a bag of lovely prints and a shiny new TPB.


















Friday was a complete bust - practically no one showed up. Saturday was good, though. My pappy and my brudder came along for the ride. I sold enough to cover the cost of goods and transportation. I skipped Sunday to have some Father's Day fun. I'll probably go back next year, but I'll be a little better prepared for what's in store.

No LSD required!

Sometimes you feel like a nut.

They snuck aboard a mystery ship

Sometimes it's better to forget. But sometimes we must remember where we came from. And sometimes... that place is terrible.

Draw Muhammammammad Day 2010

Here's my entry for this most sanctimonious of days (may it never be canceled). I got to wondering why Muslims get to have all the fun, so I mixed things up.

Dance Crew Culture

So I somehow accidentally got blown away this morning. I was watching the finale of last year's Britain's Got Talent and saw Diversity's winning performance for the first time - I was completely blown away, natch. But then, realizing that Simon Fuller's shows are replicated in other countries, I decided to see what sort of dance troupes had performed on India's Got Talent last year. The finale performance by Prince Dance Group starts with the exact same choreography as Diversity, but then goes in a completely different and utterly awesome direction. You've got to watch these side by side, because there is enough r0xx0r between the two of them to kill you.

Coming soon.

Right now I'm building a new website. It's going to be lurvely. I should have that finished by week's end. I'll finally have my illustration gallery updated and organized by date.

I'm currently working on the sequel to 2 Specks of Light, which will be called Two Motes of Dust. I'm four pages in and it's been really fun so far, so expect to see pages as soon as my buffer is a little bigger.

I've also been working on two children's books: one is written by my friend Sonya Palmer and stars a tree frog with an overdose of wanderlust. The other is one I painted all the illustrations for back in 2003, but I put on the backburner when I couldn't get it published. Whereas it once was a Christian allegory, I've rewritten it to fit my current philosophy. It'll still have the same "flavor", but I think the main character is a little more emboldened now without the burden of any sort of spiritual agenda. I'll be self-publishing it through comixpress.

As you can see, I've been a busy little bee, and I am excited to show you the honey of my hard work!

Staple! 2010

Wowwy zowwy, Staple! was fun this year. It was my first time as an exhibitor, and I sold a buttload of stuff. Thanks to everyone who came out to the table, especially a certain fan by the name of James. This dude had bought one of my original first-volume Grackle comics back when I had them on commission at a comic shop in San Antonio back in 2005. A rare gem indeed!

I was a little sad that I didn't get to see Andy Runton present, but I was able to spend some time hanging out at Zach Taylor and KC Green's tables. Both excellent fellows, I must say.

I'll be in San Antonio June 18, 19, and 20 for Texas Comicon, at one of the Artist Alley tables, so I hope I'll see you there. I lived in San Antonio for most of my life, so it's nice to be exhibiting at their first convention.

It's a secret to everyone.

I love doing Nintendo-flavored art (hell, I did a webcomic for two years because of that), so I was pretty psyched when my friend Dan asked for a commish based on the Secret Moblins.