Of course, you never really answer the big questions fully.  But it’s impossible to ask them and not learn some bit of truth along the way.  Simon’s journey has taken him many fantastic places.  He’s fought against powerful enemies.  He’s faced heartbreak.  He’s challenged the boundaries of his world of panels & pages.  He’s been, & continues to be, on an amazing journey…

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That’s a little intro to the Simon Collection that I’ll have available in a couple weeks.  I’m really excited about this collection of the Simon comics I’ve done over the last 10 years.  Here are a couple peeks at the cover and some interior pages:

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Props to my homie Gerald Proctor for the sweet cover.  Look for more info soon!

- Tyrell

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I’ve been looking back on the first two books a lot in preparation for the final book.  It’s been quite an experience and I’m excited to bring things to a close!

- Tyrell

p.s. Thanks to Tina for the pics!

ZINEFEST Chicago

Saturday, March 10th (and Friday the 9th technically)

Chicago, IL

Conaway Center (1st & 8th Floor)

This is a super fun little show.  I participated last year and was pleased to see a large variety of exhibitors.  There were all types of comics, art, and zines represented across various skill levels.  I hope you’ll come down for the show (pst… it’s FREE).

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C2E2 (Chicago Comics & Entertainment Expo)

Fri-Sun, April 13th-15th

Chicago, IL

McCormick Place

C2E2 is becoming a force in the ‘big’ convention scene.  It’s sure to have something for everyone, especially now that I’ll be there (heh).  If you are a midwesterner and can’t make it to San Diego Comicon, C2E2 is your best bet to satisfy the nerd cravings.

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MOCCA

Sat-Sun, April 28th-29th

New York, NY

69th Regiment Armory
68 Lexington Avenue

This will be my first time at MOCCA and my first time on the east coast!  If you are NY reader, please come out and welcome me to your town!

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CAKE

Sat-Sun, June 16th-17th

Chicago, IL

Columbia College’s Ludington Building
1104 S Wabash

I am honored to be a part of this first year of the Chicago Alternative Komics Expo.  This is a long overdue event here in the city I call home.  If you are anywhere NEAR Chicago (or even if you aren’t) you NEED to come see this show!

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For now, that’s all I have locked in.  Look for more details as each show gets closer.  I’m planning to have something new at the table for each show!  For my west coast friends, I assure you I’m hard at work trying to get  a spot in a show out near the pacific.

-Tyrell

- Tyrell

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Otomo is a powerhouse creator.  Very few creators have accomplished the sheer volume of work that Otomo has.  Many people know of Akira, Otomo’s magnum opus, but he has a breadth of work that is astonishing.  I find his influence seeping into my art-making process on a regular basis.  Every time I view Otomo’s work, I’m amazed and inspired.

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Recently my dear friend and fellow artist, Rinko Endo, brought me two collections of Otomo’s short stories straight from Japan.  I wanted to share some images from a the collections that highlight why Otomo is my hero.  I will apologize for some of the blurriness on the scans, but I refuse to dismantle my books for better scanning.  Also keep in mind that these are scans from the japanese editions, so they read right to left, top to bottom.

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EDITING

Otomo is a master of pacing and motion.  He explores methods that constantly direct your eye through the page and control the speed a viewer takes in information.  We all know his ‘big moments’ in Akira (say, the destruction of an entire city… twice), but those only work due to his pacing and panelling on preceding pages.  He can show speed, tension, and motion simply through his panel layouts and framing:

Exhibit A: A gunfight breaks out over cheating in a card game.  Notice how the paneling gets less linear as the events grow more hectic.  He also pushes the camera in tight to highlight details.  Then he brings us back in context of the overall scene with the last panel escape out the window.

Exhibit B: A scuffle between men handcuffed together.  It’s common that people see action lines and think they are doing more work than they are.   The real work is in the gestures.  Notice how the arm positions in panels 2-3 push your eye through each panel then on to the next.  Additionally, Otomo flips perspective in mid action (last two panels), so you’ll see a man in mid-air in two panels.  This slows down the manner in which we perceive the action, enhancing the impact of key moments.

Exhibit C: Something is amiss at my boring office job.  I absolutely love this page.  Subtle but powerful.  Notice how he breaks up the motion portrayed by inserting telling expressions.  He also uses tiny motion lines and cast shadows to full effect in showing the tiny pencil’s journey.

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APPROPRIATE & VARIED STYLISTIC CHOICES

Otomo’s work will always be recognizable as Otomo.  But he is constantly exploring new ways of rendering and enhancing the visual experience, using a variety of techniques and tools.

Exhibit D: Battle suits & robots.  This entire strip makes use of 4 distinct techniques, showcased on this page: Traditional pen & ink, solid areas of ‘out of the tube’ color (panel 1), collage texture in backgrounds (panel 5), a video ‘filter’ in  panel 4 (to show video the view from inside the helmut).

Exhibit E: War with a creature from beyond.  Here Otomo uses a pastel-y watercolor technique and larger panelling reminiscent of european comics (I hear he loves Moebius).  You’ll notice how each panel is more of a self contained illustration, showing multiple elements of the narrative. 

Exhibit F: Squidly Diddly.  This is a panel from an odd little story about aliens in conflict on a far away planet.  The entire strip consists of the cephalopod creatures with very expressive eyes.  This helps create a more whimsical atmosphere than his more realistic renderings.

Exhibit G: Spooky murder scene.  Pen & ink with pencil enhancing the lighting, textures, and patterns on clothing.  Simple but effective, adding an aged look to this piece, set in feudal Japan.

IMPACT

Otomo’s title pages introduce visual qeueus for each piece, while maintaining a stand-alone punch that causes pause in the viewer.  They don’t tell the whole story, but they give you the key to understanding what’s within.

Exhibit H: mmm… that BLUE…

Exhibit I: A boy and his guitar. 

Exhibit J: And of course, Otomo has HIS influences as well.  What better way to introduce a story about artificial intelligence than with an Escher reference?

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I highly recommend that everyone, artist and otherwise, give Otomo’s work a look.  I’m sure he’s done something you’ll dig.  Here are some books that are fairly easy to get your hands on in the US:

- Akira (I would recommend the Dark Horse collection released in early 00′s, rather than the colorized marvel series)

- Domu: Fantastic piece that explores similar themes from Akira, but on a smaller scale

- Akira Club Art book: If you enjoy special features on dvd’s, this is like a book of special features for the Akira comic book.

- Akira (animated film)

- Memories

- Steamboy: A very under appreciated film, but probably one of the most beautiful animations ever produced.

If you can find em…

- Memories, SOS, Sayonara Nippon, Kaba, Kaba 2, Batman: Black & White 4, Roujin Z

Thanks for listening to my rambling.  Who inspires YOU!?

-Tyrell

I finally have internet in my home again.  I’m very sorry for the delay in posting.  But I do have good news…

The long awaited cube prints are finally available!  Here is what they look like:

All prints are 8×10 on thick bright white paper.  Each design (other than 6) was created with marker on paper, sans ruler.  For design 6, however, I did use Photoshop to enhance the hand-drawn original.  Some of you may recognize this design from the T-shirts also available on my website.  Colors seem to have replicated nicely and I’m really excited to see these on some walls!  Let me know what you think, as I’d love to offer more designs in the future!

Purchase Cube Prints

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For my next post, I’ll proclaim my adoration for the great Katsuhiro Otomo and talk about style and content influences.

- Tyrell

Again… thanks for your patience and I hope to be back up and running in a week.

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Thanks to Tina for the pics of my process.  I’ll post more about this project later.  Next week I’ll have a sneak peak at the soon-to-be-for-sale CUBE prints!

- Tyrell

CHICAGO

Quimby’s… The first store I ever sold my comics at.

Chicago Comics… One of the best stores in the country!

Graham Cracker Comics (downtown)… Featuring a fantastic collection of back issues.

ST LOUIS

Star Clipper… Say hi to Jon for me!  His store sold out of Book One, so hurry & grab your copy of Book Two!

BALTIMORE

Atomic Books… They have been wonderful to work with!

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Please visit these awesome stores & show support for the guys that show support to the self-published folks (like me)!  I’ll be adding more stores to the list in the coming weeks.  Thanks for your support everyone!

- Tyrell

I really believe that.  It’s worked for me in my professional (aka non-art) life for years, and slowly began seeping into my art-making process significantly when creating Gary.  This post is a peak into how I stay organized in my process.  Hopefully you can find something helpful within…

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Gary, as many of you know, is based on real people & events.  Although none of the info in Gary should be seen as facts about any specific event, but I have used the factual information as a starting point for my exploration of the subject matter.  Once I started digging into the information out there, I quickly discovered that there is more to take in than I could possibly remember.  Of course, some things stuck in my head, but my goal is to form a complete & cohesive piece.  So, I started keeping some key areas in mind during research sessions:

People, Places, Events, Dates, Themes, Motifs, Scenes

These areas were a good start for figuring out the arch of the book & what to include.  As time goes on, I can further break down these areas into individual pages/drawings.  When I started researching the Green River Killer, I quickly saw that I needed to start using a tracking system.  Speaking of reference material, here are some of my sources:

Books:

Defending Gary: Unraveling the Mind of the Green River Killer, Mark Prothero & Carlton Smith

Green River Serial Killer: Biography of an Unsuspecting Wife, Pennie Morehead

The Search for the Green River Killer, Carlton Smith & Tomas Guillen

Between Good & Evil, Roger L. Depue

Chasing the Devil: My 20 Year Quest to Capture the Green River Killer,  David Reichert

Gary Ridgway: The Green River Killer, Staff of County (actual court document)

Serial Killers: Issues Explored Through the Green River Murders, Tomas Guillen

River Man: Ted Bundy and I Hunt for the Green River Killer, Robert Keppel

Movies:

There are about 3-4 films about the Green River Killer.  Avoid them all as if your life depended on it.  Unless you count Riverman (its really more about Ted Bundy), which is worth watching for Cary Elwes’ performance.

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MICROSOFT EXCEL

My lovely lovely Excel.  Where would I be without it?  Excel is the most basic, easy, and infinitely adaptable tool for organizing your research.  Get it.  Learn it.  Use it.  (And for those of us with day jobs, it makes you look like a superstar just by having it open on your computer).  As I research, I put the info into an Excel workbook, giving different topics their own worksheet in the book. *

Trust me, for storing useful information/notes, Excel is 1 million times better than a notebook/sketchbook.  Paper is for DRAWING folks!  Once the info is in Excel, I can locate it easily & actually USE it for reference.  When I put notes in a sketchbook I cannot find them when needed, essentially rendering that research useless.

My Gary workbook is broken into tons of worksheets.  Each worksheet is dedicated to a different aspect of the information relevant to me.  And each worksheet has it’s own column & row structure.

Some of those worksheets turned out not to be as useful as I’d hoped.  ’Pencils’ & ‘Ink’s tables are a good example.  The idea with those was to check-off things as I finished them.  This was a technique I brought over from the day job that didn’t really work well for my art making process.  They just stressed me out.  I tend to jump around in page order and go back and forth between inking & penciling.  Other sections, like the list of victims and the ‘comprehensive timeline’, were vital to staying organized.  These stored information to be used at a moments notice, rather than putting more pressure on the already slow process of drawing comics.

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What you see in the preceeding images are just sections of the spreadsheet.  The victim details one in particular is very long  & in depth.  Fortunately, Excel allows for a LOT of sorting & searching options.  As I begin figuring out a scene, I could find the victim, the date they were murdered, details of their death, etc. very easily.  Gary visited many sites on multiple occasions & so if I chose to show a location, I could get more info about it simply by sorting by ‘location’.  Also, I always try to have a column for ‘random thoughts’. Often in researching books, I’m struck by an idea.  It could be a scene, an image, a piece of dialogue, a layout, etc.  I make sure to WRITE IT DOWN before my brain dumps the info!

Once the information was logged in the workbook, I was infinitely more productive.  I don’t get ‘stuck’ as often.  If I am stuck, I have all my thoughts & reference in this wonderful central location.  If I can’t figure out how to design a page, I go back to my workbook.  If I’m not sure what scene should follow the last, I go back to my workbook.  If I’m not sure how to represent a location, I go back to my workbook.  The Excel workbook also helps in my editing process, as I do not have a real ‘editor’.  When proof-reading, I reference the dates & details from the workbook to make sure I haven’t screwed something up.

Final thoughts:

Staying organized will keep you more productive, force you to use all the research you’ve done, & foster better ideas.

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INTERVIEW WITH PANEL BOUND

So, If you haven’t heard it yet, I had the chance to speak with the folks at Panel Bound about Gary and other stuff comic-related.  Check out the audio interview here:

My Interview

Thanks for the support everyone!  Stay tuned for more information next time about CUBE and SIMON prints coming soon for sale!

- Tyrell

* Some of the included workbook images were taken a couple months back (can’t show you all the new stuff yet!).  Also, this post is not endorsed by Microsoft in any way (hard to believe, I know).