The Artist's Bag

Eclectic Comics Coming Soon!

I am looking into a Print on Demand service for my next self-published comic. Because it's going to have a little of everything from slapstick to biography, I'm calling it Eclectic Comics. You might find any kind of comic strip in it. What ties it together is they were all made by me, except for the pages done by guest cartoonist, Anna Wales.

The cover (above) is mostly finished, thanks to computer artist Dan. If the image looks familiar, it's my tribute to Action Comics #1 which came out seventy years ago about this time of year. Compare it to the image below. I just couldn't let this milestone of comics history go by without sullying it with the interpolation of a Mighty Andar image.

I was also inspired by the image below, the cover to Flash Comics #1. I liked how the circles down the side showed you what else you'd see in the comic. I thought it would be a good way to let potential readers see the diversity of what was within.


I'll keep you posted with how it's going. Only a few more pages to draw. I still need to scan a few and make sure the preliminary computer work is up to the printer's specifications. Hopefully soon!

Comics in the News

The Miami Herald had an article on Saturday about how a librarian is using comics to capture reluctant readers. The article can be found here.

NPR News has an article about three authors who have become recently captivated by the art form and have started writing for comics.

A Shout out to all my Peeps

Thanks to observant reader and fellow blogger Paul Bozzo for bringing this to my attention. The Washington Post holds a contest accepting submissions for "Peep Show" dioramas. My favorite is the Peep Art complete with Andy Warhol Peep above, but each one is hilarious! Check out the entire results here.

Draw Batman -- the Andy Wales Method

I was working with the Autism support class today. They like to use coloring books. I, of course, have to join them. Today, I worked on this page, comparing my drawing of Batman with how he is usually drawn for coloring books.

Feeding "B"

Nathan's favorite toy is Superman, although he calls him "B". We're not sure why. He takes him with him everywhere. Here he is trying to feed him some yogurt.

T.A.I.L.S. #43: Caves & Caverns

This is the most recent T.A.I.L.S. comic strip. My assignment was to make a comic strip about caves and caverns. These short, simple stories actually take a long time to plan. For this one I thought about possible approaches and decided that the characters would discover a cave a lot like the real-life Chauvet cave -- the biggest find of Ice Age art ever.