Here’s an illustration I did for the Cartoon Network show, Regular Show. The concept is having the characters as Russian Dolls and Rigby is popping out of his doll shell.
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Magic Bullet is listed as a comics highlight of the year by Washington City Paper. This year I edited Magic Bullet #6 and #7. It is a honor for the publication to be recognized.
You can read more about it here and view the other comics the Washington, DC area has to offer: http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/artsdesk/books/2013/12/12/scrawl-minded-the-years-best-local-comics/#more-104196
Thanks to Michael Rhode for the write-up!
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This is the fourth year I’ll be taking part in a fundraiser event called Comic Creators for Freedom: Fighting Together to End Human Trafficking.
Over 150 comic creators from around the world come together to raise funds in support of Love146. Most of us spend our days (or nights!) writing and drawing stories about brave heroes. Banding together to form the Comic Creators for Freedom, we finally have a chance to become the heroes. Superheroes come to the rescue. That is why we are raising money specifically for Love146 and their work in providing care to survivors of child trafficking and sexual exploitation.
This year’s theme is Awkward School Photos, as you can see in the image above, my character, Curls, is representing the awkwardness. We hope you are able to donate December 2-14, 2013 to receive the complete downloadable wallpaper featuring several comic characters. Want to participate? Find out what you need to do to get involved and donate on the Curls fundraising page – my goal is $30 because if each comic creator raises $30, we will beat our overall goal of $5,000! Everybody chipping in can make a large impact.
If you are curious what has been done in the past for this cause, here is the art for 2012, 2011, and 2010: http://curls-studio.blogspot.com/search/label/Comic%20Creator%27s%20Alliance
Thanks to Lora Innes and Crystal Yates for organizing this mission.
Two weeks ago, on Friday, November 8, 2013, I spent the evening with several fourth grade Girl Scouts to discuss the career path of a cartoonist and help the young ladies create their own comic story. First we went over some emotions and character traits on the whiteboard, then I showed them some of my work and gave away free postcards for my comic strip, Curls, and copies of Magic Bullet #7, Washington, DC’s comics newspaper, which I edit. It was funny to see them react to Magic Bullet: “What’s this? A newspaper? I’m going to read this like an old person.”
When I asked them how an old person reads a newspaper they held it with both arms extended and pretended to sip coffee. I thought it was hilarious, but also I felt the newspaper format sorta die right there in the generation gap. Once they flipped through Magic Bullet I was able to show them all the different art styles and they loved it.
The troop is working on “Agents of Change” which focuses on powers (skills) of one (girl), power of team, and power of community. This activity is the second part of the journey where the girls work together to create their own supergirl comic.
The girls broke off into groups of three, four, or five people to create their stories. The only prerequisites they had was that the story had to be about a girl (or team of girls) changing the world in a positive way. It was interesting to see how each group worked a little differently, yet many of the stories were environmental (saving the animals and nature) and almost every group featured “Emily” as the heroine name. The troop leaders and I walked around the room to help all the groups and then the girls presented their stories to everyone at the end of the night.
I had a great time working with the girls because I used to be a Girl Scout myself and my mom was a troop leader, so I’m very familiar with learning by earning badges and community service. As a side-note, I also adored how most of the girls had chipped fingernail polish.
One of the girls tweeted me a few days after the event: “I am so happy! I have been creating cartoons ever scence you came!” and “Thank you and curls is an amazing comic i love your website”
Thanks to the troop leader, Kate, for arranging the visit and thanks to Matt Dembicki for connecting me with Kate. Working with the Girl Scouts was certainly something I’ve wanted to do and the timing was perfect. I hope the girls got a lot out of the visit and I hope they continue to create great stories.
You can take a look at more photos here: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10152002321232381.1073741838.50763422380&type=3
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Earlier this evening I spent some time at the National Press Club in Washington, DC to attend Cartoons & Cocktails. It wasn’t my first time at the Press Club rodeo, as back in 2011 there was an international cartoonists event. I really like the venue because it speaks so highly about the District and how news is covered. At one time before the cartoon events I took a tour when I planned the reception for AIGA 50 (which ended up being held at the National Postal Museum) in 2008.
The event started out with a silent auction. Many cartoons were placed around tables on both sides of the room and people could write down their bids using their given number at check-in. Then Steve Artley lead the program as Master of Ceremonies and the live auction began.
One piece that was auctioned off was the original Steve Artley Halloween comic published in Magic Bullet #7! All the profits raised from the auctions benefit Young D.C. and Cartoonists Rights Network.
It was great to see David Hagen, Mike Rhode, Matt Wuerker, Steve Artley, and Joe Sutliff again. The DC gang unites!
To view more photos, please visit: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10152000040297381.1073741837.50763422380&type=1
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