MECAF follies ’15
I inexplicably missed the last couple of Maine Comic Arts Festivals, for shame! But the fog lifting over Portland pulled me right in this year. It’s important to check out the local peeps first. Here is the inimitable Fulton Beal, wacky dad and crazy cartoonist. Former MECA peeps here, Meagan Gibson and Declan McCarthy: Something about Murilo Martins book, I’m A German Shepherd looked familiar. When I found out he was from Brazil, I gave him one of my PDX zines, about the Other Portland. Lo and behold, he was at ICON8, too! Funny how tight the circle of illustration/zines/comics...
Read Moremore PDX love
It’s been two weeks since we visited the Other Portland, but the glow remains. This is one souvenir, a tea towel by Catstudio. ICON8 kept us pretty busy, but we enjoyed many sights in transit. Especially the public art. An eyeball with a steering wheel, now that’s a metaphor I can love. This one’s on a busy island, so people walk through it. Total whimsy. A monument to two wheels. This is my sketch of a sculpture seen on the way to the airport. A funny cloud standing on steel rain. Loved this assemblage seen at Oblations, spokes of measurements. Time shines on. That place...
Read Moreportland 2 portland
When we moved to Maine 22 years ago from San Francisco, it was necessary to repeat Portland MAINE many times to the movers. On the west coast only Portland, Oregon counts. Tomorrow we go there for the first time, and see what magic awaits at the Illustration Conference, ICON8. This gathering of illustrators, art directors, and designers promises to cross our eyeballs. I’ve crafted a handy little zine of my Maine sketches to share. This includes a portrait of ICON attendee and recent MECA illo grad, Liz Long. Just caught up with her this morning, she’s ready to fly, light as a...
Read Moreplunge into the new
2013 is off to a brave and busy beginning, full of stories, students, and creatures with white fur. Charlesbridge donated a stack of books for the Natural Resources Council of Maine’s Polar Dip and Dash on the last day of 2012. Sunny but cold, it was a glorious day to sign books about climate change for the top ten kid winners. There was a great crowd, including a polar bear looking a bit out of his element, a fitting metaphor for the whole deal. Wait, what’s the bride doing here? Oh, it’s Beth Dimond, Public Affairs Coordinator for the NRCM, who decided to take the...
Read Moreteen zine factory
The last session of the Teen Zine Factory at the Telling Room was a flurry of folding! I got into the spirit, making my own zine the night before. I did quick portraits of each zinester in my sketchbook. Inspired by Lily’s use of the vintage typewriter on hand, I found our own relic. Fun to bang away on that, and I photographed the keys for collaging on the cover sketch. For the sake of time, we all used the simple format of a single-sided zine, which is folded into 8 image areas. I made some stickers and strips to package them as a group, nine all together. When we arrived for the...
Read Moreword.
Fun things are happening in the Teen Zine Factory over at the Telling Room. I’m leading a workshop on making zines with a group of very fresh kids, thanks to my fanaticism about the punch that can be packed in such little paper vehicles. Zines are any kind of self-published statement, maybe words, maybe pictures, ideas made real. I’ve used them as an ice-breaker assignment many times, and have quite a collection. Here’s just a few of my favorites: At the Telling Room, everybody spreads out and gets into their creation. Some were sketching, like Elias, who drew a favorite...
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