I was taken, from the first time I saw it, with the small list of “Good Cartoonists Gone” that appears in Sammy Harkham’s Crickets #3. A discussion on Comics Comics soon after that issue’s publication provides an even longer list of cartoonists who have moved on to other pursuits, or in rare cases vanished entirely. […]
August
What is it, to be in a rut? For me, it’s a lack of excitement for drawing, paired more sinisterly with a disinterest in synthesizing that excitement. A lack of focus or purpose. I’ve been so tired lately, napping in the early evening or sleeping later than I have in years. I’m drawing in my […]
July
Thanks to everyone who has ordered Yearly 2020 in the past several weeks. I’m looking forward to hearing what people think about it. I spent several days in early August having conversations on Instagram Live with three of my favorite cartoonists: Madeleine Jubilee Saito, Kimball Anderson, and Warren Craghead. You can’t watch them any more, […]
Yearly 2020
I’m excited to share the newest issue of Yearly, my annual series of comics. It’s available to order now. If you’re new here, I’ve printed this series since 2018 and hope to continue making it until I die. The 2020 issue contains: Drowned River – A couple passes time in a flooded home. A story […]
June
If you follow my work, you might know that I tend to produce several drafts of a project, letting a few months pass between each draft so that I can see the piece with fresh eyes. An unremarkable act in prose writing, I think, but a little unusual for comics. I think this approach works […]
May
Lynda Barry’s Syllabus, which excerpts her notebooks with a focus on her teaching, instructs students to draw “electric spirals.” Begin with a single point, she explains, and slowly draw a spiral around it. “If the lines touch, you die.” It’s hard to do well, and even harder if you’re impatient like me. But if you […]
April
I recently reread Maré Odomo’s Internet Comics 1 & 2. These comics feel like an ode to a version of the Internet that no longer exists. At the time they were published (2013 and 2014, respectively), they were already looking backwards; one sequence discusses meeting someone in a chatroom. But the mood of the comic, […]
March
What a strange month. Obviously. I’ve been able, so far, to maintain my artistic productivity through this madness. To say that is unimportant is an understatement, but it makes me feel better. Of course, it’s in large part a function of my privilege and circumstance; I’m able to comfortably work at home, I don’t have […]
February
I’ve started tracking, and trying to think about my productivity in terms of time instead of pages. I try to spend at least two focused hours drawing each day, and that should matter more (I tell myself, and for now it seems to be working) than how many pages I produced in that time. — […]
I Feast on the Moment
Excerpts from the Diary of Virginia Woolf (Also available as a PDF, if you prefer) CONTENTS AN INTRODUCTION ON NOT WRITING ON WHEN TO WRITE ON HOW TO WRITE ON WHAT TO WRITE ON PLANNING AND SCHEDULING ON MONEY ON TIME AND GETTING OLDER ON CRITICS, CRITICISM, AND FAME ON KEEPING A DIARY QUOTES THAT […]