Thursdays

As a bunch of people know, I've been really inspired lately by the direct-to-ink art of people like Marc Bell and Mark Connery as well as my buddy, dw. So, as part of my thesis project here at CCS, and for my own entertainment, I've started drawing these "psychedoolia" drawings, as I'm told they're called, and I'm going to bind them into a couple mini-books by the end of the year.

I've had a ton of fun making these.

Assignments

Surprise! I make comics!

"Boy, this place looks complicated..."

I just finished the Cityscape for Cell and my hope is that if I post it, it'll feel final enough for me to stop tweaking the dang thing. I know that none of my little hidden jokes are visible at this size, but it's as big as Blogger lets me go, so you'll just have to buy the book or download the PDF when it's done to see them.

There are three completely wasted days hidden in this picture. Can you find them all?

For your consideration...

If you're reading this, chances are you're in my class and I asked you to come here to see the color version of my sixteen pages.

I've already posted the dream pages, which seriously benefit from color, but I mainly wanted people to be aware of what was going on in the background of the first eight of Revival.

EDIT: Having seen them printed, maybe it's for the best the pure blackness was there. I don't know. Some mixed opinions in my head on that one.

Nate Has Big Dreams

I also have little dreams. Here's a weird comic based on a little dream I had awhile ago.

The dream included a certain ladyfriend of mine, but I had it before I knew her so well, so my subconscious ascribed the personality that the majority of girls I'm into seem to have. That is to say, she treats me like a gay friend at best and is simply using me at worst.

CCS Monsters

The Center for Cartoon Studies is back and to help new students adjust to their new lifestyle, Jason Lutes gave a lecture (that I couldn't show up to, due to having class) about what cartooning does to you, and I made pictures!

Firstly, here we have a cartoonist, though she has no cartoonist trappings. From this picture, we can only actually assume that she's a comic fan, as she is carrying a Schulz Library bag and reading a book that has panels on the cover.

Aww... she's sleeping now, dreaming of comics that explode in dreams. Wait... were her fingers that claw-like in the last picture?

Whoa! This girl is EATING comics! Comics are surprisingly low in vitamins! I hope that glass has orange juice in it.

What a disgusting way to produce comics! But I guess it's a good thing she's enjoying it, as flushing it down would surely clog the toilet.

WH-WH-WHAAA?!? Who knew that reading comics had such a nightmarish effect on you, not to mention your community! White River Junction had not known such devastation since I drew it without any reference photos!

I'm fairly certain that Jason's lecture was about how this school turns you into a comic-producing monster, but had I been giving that lecture, it would've been a cautionary tale. "It's too late for me! Save yourself! Get out! GET OUT WHIILE YOU CAAAAN!" is what I would scream at them, uncomfortably close enough to breathe my creepy old man breath on their face, my bony fingers wrapped tightly around their shoulders.
 

Now I have to go to the bathroom - I got a novel brewin'.

Fable Comic

I finally got around to colorizing my Fable assignment, done back in October. I had picked "The Birds, The Beasts, and The Bat" and even though it's pretty simple, it's still one of my favorites from the year.

THE FABLE: The Birds and The Beasts are going to war and each asks Bat to join the fight on their side, but Bat won't pick a side. Later, the conflict is resolved and the two factions are celebrating. Bat wants to join the party, but neither the Birds nor the Beasts will let him.

THE MORAL: "He who is neither one thing nor the other has no friends."

So here's my version.