If only I needn't sleep, Alternative Comics and Animations in progress ...

HEY APATHY! Free Comics Online

Spent the better part of today working on the webcomic, probably the most fulfilling of all my chores. I I don’t know but there is something really fun and rewarding in creating panel to panel narrations. I also did a bit of work on the “Faces” ink drawings (above). These are just quick studies I’ve been doing when I haven’t got much time for other projects. This usually occurs in the time between meetings and at the end of the day when I want to wind down after concentrating on the bigger projects for extended durations. It is the end of one such duration that I am approaching now. Although I still have some scripting for the kids cartoon, and piles of hand-drawn animation to get done,  I am exhausted and am going to scribble only a little more before I call it a night.  MORE DRAWINGS 

The Bankers Battle Continues! Free Webcomics Weekly

HEY APATHY! Free Webcomics Weekly

The two unusual assistants of the mysterious mad scientist have infiltrated the office of an executive banker. As part of some weird plan the twins have been systematically replacing various denizens of the gear with laboratory made duplicates. Up till now the task has been a simple one, but the assistants haven’t faced any foes near as threatening as the almighty director of the city bank. New pages every Friday as part of the ongoing HEY APATHY! Surreal Comics mythology. HEY APATHY!

The City of Gears Kids Comics and Cartoons

HEY APATHY! THE SERIES STARRING

Robots, Monsters, Superheroes and the City of Gears! A group of artists and musicians battle strange technological terrors in the City of Gears! I spent a few hours this evening working on these character studies for the imaginary television series. I did a quick concept sketch for this before Christmas and promised myself that I would work it up a bit after New Years. Well it’s already the sixth of January and I hadn’t found anytime for this yet, which resulted in a guilty little nagging voice acting out as a constant subconscious reminder of my unfulfilled commitment. I finally caved, boiled up some coffee a made the time I’d committed to, to work on the pitch. I made drawings of 5 of the 7 team members and did a lot of meditative orginazation of their origins and the story,. Anyways I’ve got some commission work, and appointments to do deal with tomorrow and I am so close to finishing a scene in the animation that I’ll probably won’t get to finish this roster ( and all the villains) until early next week.

Here’s a quick breakdown of the kids comic book characters shown above

1) Instructor Howie- art teacher, zen master

2) Timmy- young artist, tablet can project 4-dimensional avatars the Timmy draws on the screen

3) Argenta- computer witch can communicate and gets along with any electronic/digital/ artificial intelligence. In the City of Gears everything from the sewer system to the skyscrapers is automated, giving Argenta abilities surpassing the greatest of history’s sorcerers.

4) The Robot- a strange computer chip is corrupting peaceful robots. When Argenta discovers and removes the chip the Robot tells her that it not only had the device made him do bad things, it also made him feel bad. Thankful for his freedom the Robot re-programmed himself to join and protect Argenta and her friends.

5) The Flutist Gale- music instructor and majestic flutist whose notes conjure nature and whose music battles the machines….

That’s it for now, damn it 3:49 am and I have to be a train station tomorrow by 9! Good night. HEY APATHY! FREE WEBCOMICS

Surreal Artist FACES and BODIES

HEY APATHY! Surreal Artist Ink Drawings

Introducing the HEY APATHY! surreal “Face” pen and ink drawings, a series of disproportionate silhouetted metamorphosis’ depicting the transformation of man to machine and the telepathic ramifications of our artificial millennia. The images illustrate a strange comparison between the human psyche, the running teleplay behind ours eyes, and its detached relationship to our mechanical bodies of flesh and bone. The ballooned portraits reveal a dark omnipotent force meddled with an array of simultaneously emotional and technological features. The astral interpretations manifest themselves as large bleak forms hovering above and beyond the small vessels from which they originated. These separated bodies, though somewhat autonomous, perpetuate routine existence by means of mundane mannerisms and meaningless interactions with miniature electronic devices. “Faces” is an all new attempt to expose the modern man as neurological cyborg, who, though devoid of actual robotic body parts, exists entirely amidst a virtual construct.

NOTES ON MAKING THE INK DRAWINGS

These abnormal drawings of people represent the first body of fine artwork illustrations that I have worked on in over two years. The “Faces” are being produced through a creative process I tend to refer to as a “formula series” in which a restricted set of visual symbols, material, and techniques are repeatedly examined in order to develop a cohesive set of images. This is probably the most traditional approach to creating gallery works and one I used extensively from 2000-2008 prior to my increasing interest in comics and animation. There are several advantages as well as disadvantages to the “formula” approach as it offers an invaluable means of artistic exploration but often results in creative limitations and ultimately the commercial entrapment of the participating artist.

For the better portion of my career, leading up to the end of 2008, I utilized the aforementioned “formula” method to develop a series of large gallery installations. At that time I would decide on a particular theme, format, drawing tool and technique and proceed to experiment with multiple variations in a singular style. A good example of this can be seen in my 2004 works, “HARD RAIN”. In this collection I developed an unusual comic borders made of scratchy shapes, weird buildings, and ominous orifices. Within the strange borders I would then drawing little scenes of solitary chaos. The entire series featured over 300 illustrations all done using the same drawing technique, a large pen for borders and perpetually smaller pens for the comics themselves. By using a single approach I was able to masterfully explore all the possibilities of this particular visual vocabulary and eventually obtain a sort of meditative state while creating the works. Once the formula is achieved the artist no longer needs to struggle with his/her materials but may concentrate more fully on the ideas, messages and symbolic aspects instead. This meditative state of experimentation proves especially valuable when the formula involves minimal technical maneuvers and rapid production.

This manner of artistic processes proved especially useful during my live street art performances as I had little worry about my materials or approach and could give my full attention to interpreting the audience and determining the imagery accordingly. However it was also while working the streets that the formula style started to reveal several limitations. Starting from very simplistic visuals, each year I seemed to add more and more element to my drawings. This ultimately led to single bodies of work exploring multiple themes, characters, and narrations as opposed to one unified symbology. As time passed I started to bore with repetitious drawings and really wanted to produce work that moved through images, processes and concepts quickly rather than extensive studies of a particular theme.

At the end of 2008 I decided to forsake gallery style works and the “formula” method altogether in favor of producing comic books. Here I could weave my way in and out of themes, techniques and parables much faster as a comics page takes far less time to make than a large scale drawing. The comics also offered varied formats allowing for offshoots or impulsive changes in the creation that would not work well in a series of drawings. The comic can flash-black, change scenes or even intrude upon one another permitting, even necessitating the use of different techniques and approaches. In gallery works, the commercial representative tends to request a collection of replicated works at a marketable size and often similar to previously saleable images by the artist. This method of presentation can present infinite restrictions towards the artist’s whim and ability to progress.

Circumstances, mostly financial, put a hold on my intended devotion to comics and graphic novels last year as I was awarded some grant money to work on animations. In many ways this new direction appeared even more hampering than creating formula works as animation is the most repetitive and tedious of all artistic processes. Not only do cartoons require thousands of duplicate drawings but the production can leave ab artist working for weeks at a single scene of concept. Basically this turned out to be the exact opposite from what I’d planned for myself, nevertheless the opportunity to animate is certainly a rewarding one.

So it stood that I was trapped in one of the most extensive “formula” works of my life when all I wanted to do was dance through a barrage of surreal vignettes and strange dreamscapes. Well subconsciously all these creative desires started swelling and without realizing it I found my self, between hours at the animation stand, writing stories, sneaking in a weekly webcomic, and finally working on a new series of ink drawings. All of these little asides occurred naturally, without intent, and likely a result of the undeniable urge permeating throughout my existence.

I just started these new artworks a few days ago but was able to jump right into the meditative state, drawing freely and fluidly. I’m using two nib pens and a brush for flat washes. The works consist of a large tribal portrait and a small modern figure drawing. That pretty much the formula. The work seems far less restrictive after working in animation and the little non-formula-formula, in which one images is repeated and the other open-ended, allows for endless investigations. At any rate I plan to use this technique in small batches, 20 drawings maximum before attempting another new style. Though I’d grown weary of this way of drawing, I have found it useful again primarily because these quick studies can be produced with little set-up or effort and let me play around a bit after long hours of rigid animation work. Everything else I’m doing right now requires so much attention that whipping off a few creepy ink stains at the end of the day is proving rather relaxing and possibly even therapeutic. VISIT HEY APATHY!

Pen and Ink Illustration "Holiday Crowds"

HEY APATHY! Pen and Ink Drawings of People

Stomping feet dressed in red and black casually filled the downtown core on this fine Boxing Day 2010. The bright sun and absent winds helped to combat the brisk winter temperatures and the city came sort of alive with tones of bargain hunting suburbanites. I am not really a shopper, and tend to avoid crowds unless I’m performing, so I had no reason to partake in the bizarre commercial energies flowing through out the city. However the seasonably beautiful weather compelled me to take a stroll and since I’d no personal involvement, I thought it might be interesting to observe the crowds. It’s a lot less stressful when you aren’t worried about you dream product being out of stock or wondering if you have spent enough money in order to save on the deals.

The majority of the city was as quiet as any cold winter Sunday. Kensington was almost closed and Chinatown was barren. Nevertheless when I got down to the main strip there were people in every direction, even some line-ups in front of stores. The crowds consisted mostly of young people all giggling and struggled with hands full of purchases. There was some family activity but mostly teen shopping. Luckily it was cold enough to slow things compared to years gone by, but nice enough to pack the streets to a comfortable capacity.There was a free and friendly stream of pedestrian traffic. Oddly enough I saw  a great deal of festive red colors popping out from all the drab black and dark browns Toronto is accustomed to. It was a joyful and courteous mob, and I was very pleased to see so many happy humans. The sun in our faces and not in front of computer screens, in fact I don’t even recall seeing any cell phones, the peoples were shopping in groups.

The majority of the city was as quiet as any cold winter Sunday. Kensington was almost closed and Chinatown was barren. Nevertheless when I got down to the main strip there were people in every direction, even some line-ups in front of stores. The crowds consisted mostly of young people all giggling and struggled with hands full of purchases. There was some family activity but mostly teen shopping. Luckily it was cold enough to slow things compared to years gone by, but nice enough to pack the streets to a comfortable capacity.There was a free and friendly stream of pedestrian traffic. Oddly enough I saw a great deal of festive red colors popping out from all the drab black and dark browns Toronto is accustomed to. It was a joyful and courteous mob, and I was very pleased to see so many happy humans. The sun in our faces and not in front of computer screens, in fact I don’t even recall seeing any cell phones, the jolly peoples were shopping in groups.

It made me temporarily hopeful to see such kind human spirits. It’s a shame it is only a euphoric reaction to their gluttonous expenditures and pre-programmed inclinations towards fulfilling manufactured desires through the perpetual purchasing of useless, damaging and utterly ridiculous things. The quick sketch above was inspired by my anthropological wanderings and born out of guilt because I didn’t actually do any real work today. Read the Webcomics!

Free Weekly Comics Online! Page 11

Alternative Comics Online

Two unusual character’s dressed in surgical garments have been sneaking around replacing denizens with laboratory-made duplicates. In this segment, “The Banker” the strange assistants face their fiercest foe to date. Follow the surreal art misadventures every week as both the  audience and the author try to figure out what the hell is going on. READ THE WEBCOMIC!

I drew some of this pen and ink comic page on the train while travelling to my parents for the holidays. Not the most ideal place for a perspective interior rendering, or really any kind of drawing at all, so the page ended up kind of muddled. I really wanted to pay more attention to the line work, hoping to improve on last week’s image but kind of ruined my chances with the rush job on the bumpy track. I doubt anyone would even notice if I didn't mention it, but the dark planter on the right hade side, second panel, used to have all sorts of little details until I smudged the whole thing suddenly at a railway stop. Oh well there is always next week! HEY APATHY!

ALTERNATIVE COMICS Street Art Chronology Stories from 2005 part 2

HEY APATHY! Alternative Comics STREET ART Chronology

The street season of 2005 pushed my artworks and presentation techniques in all sorts of new and innovative directions. In the earlier part of the season I switched from using my hand carved bamboo pen to using a brush. At first this transition was primarily for filling in large black areas, but the swift fluidity of the brush soon replaced the pen for all of the work. This new instrument permitted me to make faster and larger drawings which were much more exciting for the audience to watch. I also started producing small framed artwork which were simultaneously more marketable and the perfect paper weights to prevent my drawings from blowing down the road. The artworks steadily grew in speed intricacy and size so that by the end of the summer I was using up about 20 x 12 feet worth of the city block.

The first day of live painting (described earlier in yesterday's post) included some bamboo pig heads, monsters and robots. The poster sized artworks each featured a single character and were made entirely with the clumsy bamboo pens. All of these drawings, although unique depictions, were based on previous designs I’d exhibited in the galleries. As the summer moved on I continued to explore similar imagery only using the brush. The drawings got a bit more simple but could be made incredibly fast. At first these images also mimicked and expanded on my older designs but before the mid point of the season new monstrosities started to appear. More and more human depictions were directly resultant of my interactions on the street.

HEY APATHY! 30 x 40 ink on paper street drawings

STREET ART 2005 4 x 6 foot Transformation Scrolls

As the imagery changed so to did the format. The 30 x 40 inch poster sized ink drawings grew into extended 2 x 4 foot animated narratives, the to 4 x 6 foot large format paintings. The sequential scrolls featured strange transformations of man into monster, animal and machine. The large images started to revisit the metropolis and the ominous gear from my first series only now the examination was drawn from the vantage of the street. The faceless cogs and anonymous creatures now presented themselves as a amazingly diverse crowd. Each individual depicted in the artwork, though still alienated, had a story of their own. In the final weekend before the summer closed I completed a 10 x 15 foot large mural of Toronto. The image featured a military attack on an armoured hero inspired by a short work by Kurt Vonnegut. The artwork took three days to complete created primarily with brushes but detailed extensively with my old bamboo pen.

10 x 15 foot "Death of a Hero" Toronto Mural.

 (Duct taped to street wall with my duffle bag in the left corner)

Like the size of the artworks the crowds too perpetually expanded. A larger number of onlookers were taking interest and I was moving a lot of art. The small tool kit was a thing of the past as my display now overflowed 2 large duffle bags with an additional large roll of paper. In fact I found my self making inopportune mission biking to the dollars store to restock on frames. At first I would spend the mornings making small brush drawings but soon the demand was keeping me up most of the night. It got to the point were I was making batches of fifty brush monster drawings more than 5 times a week. Of coarse where there is action the is usually trouble and it became evermore difficult to avoid the bi-law consequences Continued tomorrow ...

more street art at  www.heyapathy-comics-art.com/monster-comics-street-art.html

ALTERNATIVE COMCS HARD RAIN

HEY APATHY! Alternative Comics HARD RAIN

I am working on some  stories and statements for my website .I already posted Chapters 1,2,3 but am going to write up Chapter 4 tomorrow,here's a little gathering of words to help me prepare for my essay in the morn....

All sides are revealed at once as the monstrous metropolis is stained, twisted and deformed by the horrors of war and fables of inevitably battles to come. Thrust out of our daily routine by the cataclysmic aftermath of a vicious attack, the denizens dawn blackened appendages a take the place of the imaginary bombardier. Buildings crumble, peoples are lost, the clouds mock faces and skeletal creatures are relieved from the psyche taking on physical forms. Confused and detached from the chaos below, the citizen bombardiers continue to plight there unseen enemies. Like all of us, these little soldiers can't help but feel responsible, yet sincerely detached from the destruction of places far off from their own.

The Hard Rain drawings were created in the 6 month period following Sept 11 2001 and were exhibited during the first week of bombings in Iraq. The series explore the dark side of guilt and the power of fear. During that time we all had so many questions and concerns for the future, all of which revolved around a despairing uncertainty regarding the probable developments. In order to capture this terror I created a large scale cityscape installation utilizing sculptural building stretchers and intricately draw layered illustration of any and all insecurities which I could process in my mind. The project was a great critical and actual success fully realizing my initial vision and exhibited complete with red gallery walls. The entire show featured 250 small works, 13 large murals, and an animated comic. The Hard Rain drawings are included in Chapter 4 of the unusual and experimental monster comic website http://www.heyapathy-comics-art.com/

Hard Rain cover story from NOW Magazine

Rain Murals at the Cambridge Gallery's HEY APATHY Retrospective exhibition.

Alternative Comics The Centrifugal Eye!

HEY APATHY! Alternative Comics from the City of Gears

Caught in the vortex of routine, the city spirals inwards blending billboards with reality and mixing method with madness. The faces blur together as each individual's actions exert macrocosmic ramifications. Made up of all the diverse, unusual and unique experiences the monstrous metropolis collides as a unified entity contradictory to the apparent divisions. The shoppers affect the commuters, the business people are related to the homeless, the young to the old, and this metropolis to all metropolis‘. No event, no matter how deceptively insignificant, is unto itself in the City of Gears.

 In the center of the order of chaos lies the centrifugal eyeball of consciousness. Surrounded by an obscured truth, the giant eyeball represents our collective hopes, dreams, goals, and unconscious. A this deep epoch of the gyre the solitary and the uniform become equally important and exemplified.

 But beware the technological tentacles have attempted and succeeded in many instances to attach themselves to the symbolic oracle. The technological tentacles have corrupted many of these giant eyes leading the spiral into oblivion instead of insight. 20 x 30 inch pen and ink drawing made on location at Queen Street West and Soho during my street art and performance exhibitions. The “eyeball of consciousness” has become a major symbolic character in the HEY APATHY! Mythology.

Alternative Comics and the Anonymous Crowds

HEY APATHY! Alternative Comics

Land of TV’s and the home of the slaves is a little commercial poster design I did to promote the earliest HEY APATHY! artworks. In those drawings the city was announced as a giant gear propelled by an endless sea of faceless denizens. Envisioning the city as a superficial conglomeration of misdirected commercial ideologies the nihilistic landscape paintings would often point a finger at the mass media.

The ridiculous commands put forth by the news, radio, magazines and movies appeared as an indestructible diabolic. It would seem that the business demi-gods had mastered mesmerism and therefore ensured the homogenized annihilation of man and women kind. Then I turned off the tele, found some good books, researched world films and documentaries and discovered a world so different from the one which had stolen all personality.

After my awakening I chose to investigate the matter further. I infiltrated numerous advertising agencies and bankers meeting quickly assembling the data to reveal a new dark truism. In fact I did not discover any plotting, scheming, nor even the slightest use of any sophisticated hypnosis, rather something much, darker, much more evil. The people whom I'd assume were manipulating the crowds were actually catering to their every whim. Nothing can be sold to the crowds that they don't really want. Many attempts would and will fail, but the darkest truth of them all is that we want it this way.
 
more pictures and stories at http://www.heyapathy-comics-art.com/

Alternative Comics Apathy, Despair, and Secret Rooms

apathy & despair covers from the HEY APATHY! online comics

So yet another diligent day at the drafting table. Spent all of my working hours on the commissioned toy design project and have finished the first stage of the process which involves several variations on the character's costume and features. The next step will require some discussions with my employer and a final draft of the figurine. Upon completion of my work I decided to go for a late day stroll and noticed a peculiaity previously unseen in the stairwell exiting my house.

Where as I was certain that there were only six units in the building, each occupied by individual tenants in ,  came across a seventh door in the middle of the hall. How was it I hadn't noticed this before? The door was impossibly situated along the steps and left little room within the structure as to accommodate any sort of compartment behind it. I decided to press my ear against the entrance (as strange as it may seem) to see if I could determine whether or not this was yet another apartment.

The door flung open and six dark figures were sitting around a reasonably sized room filled with computer equipment. One of them glanced in my direction. He had a strange curly moustache, like the kind one might associate with a stereotypical artiste, and was continually typing into a computer as an endless feed of paper rolled out from the printer beneath his feet. His eyes turned red in the dim light then he spoke out in a jolly voice "You have a really cool password". I don't know why but I am certain he was referring to the code I use to protect my computer files. Immediately following this brief discourse, one of the other figures stood up cutting between me and the strange scenery. With authority the figure grasped the door and said "this is official business." The door slammed in my face abruptly but without as sound.

When I returned from my walk I could not find the room, and in fact the entire architecture of the house seemed once more logical as though no such room could have ever existed. I chose not to inquire further in to the matter as I clearly must have  succumb to some sort of temporary intervention of the imagination. However upon I arriving in my own lodgings I found a brand new video game system and a set of virtual war programs sitting beside my desktop. I disposed of the gaming system and all though I have no intention of investigating the whereabouts of that room, I fear that I may see it again.

 

visit http://www.heyapathy-comics-art.com/

Altrnative Comics Welcome to the The City of Gears!

HEY APATHY! ALTERNATIVE COMICS! In the distance we can see the city is made up of giant windmill-like cog wheels filled with an infinite spiral of faceless little bubble people. Endlessly filing into the monstrous metropolis the anonymous hordes fades forever into the distance representative of "the big city" and the perpetually lost souls. As we move in for a closer inspection the faceless denizens exit the architecture and begin moving down the concrete walkways. Here we realize that the Kierkegaardian crowds are not made up of an unidentifiable conglomeration, rather the streets are consumed by all the crazy and unique individuals moving through it! This 10 x 25 " pen and ink drawing was made on location, at Queen and Spadina in downtown Toronto. The drawing took about 30 street hours ( a street hour differs greatly from a studio hour as it includes set up and take down of a portable display, constant interactions/discussions with various passers by and numerous unexpected interferences such a by-law officers, rain showers, wind storms, car accidents, and short trips to the local bar to use their facilities ,not to drink) to complete and is probably my most popular representation of the urban beast to date. see more from HEY APATHY!

Alternative Comics And Music

STREET PAINTING TO MUSIC

scene from HEY APATHY! Book Two

still from HEY APATHY! time lapse video 3.5 HOURS with Mike Parsons

Yesterday I posted a few portraits of my musical heroes and mentioned some strange stories about playing their music in the middle of the busy streets. I have also incorporated this passion of mine into the HEY APATHY! comics. In the books I use a little seance machine (a portable radio) to summon the spirits of dead musicians. This little narrative device allows me to give clues as to what kinds of music I enjoy and permits me to intermingle or discuss stories about the the musician's themselves as I often do while performing. I consider the "ghosts" to be a representation of the internal imaginary dialogue I have with these artist's when ever I listen.

The first picture depicts the morning's routine out on the street, setting up , watching people, and pressing play... note the upper left hand corner of the panels and you'll see me summon one of my dead musician friends. The second photo is a picture of me painting out on Queen West. in downtown Toronto, the little black blur in the lower left hand corner is my ghetto blaster. Photo by Craig Boyko. I plan to post a web-page on my site dedicated to my artworks about music, but it's not a big priority right now. I did however complete sizing and pasting all the text for the first installment of monster comics and page 10 or something of the online comic book so a whole bunch of new comics are almost ready for you to read...

Alternative Comics INSPIRATIONAL MUSIC

Music has always been a big part of both my life (which I sort of had before )and artistic process. As the majority of my work is created as an improvised stream of conscience, drawn with black India, start to finish, without any corrections ever, I often enjoy working to my own private score. Over the years my quest for interesting rhythms has sent me far far away from what the mainstream has deemed music, as a boring repetitive song often inspires artwork of similar merit. These pen and ink portraits were inspired by and made while listening to some of my favourite jazz giants. I like working to this kind of music because it always sends me off in different directions. The practice of playing tunes in my studio also became an integral part of both my street and public performances where I could use the sounds to accelerate and energise the live mural painting and audience members alike. (It was particularly fun blasting HOT RATS at city hall and PLASTIC PEOPLE out in the shopping district on Queen West.)

Trane's "my favourite things" featuring Pharaoh Saunders, from the village vanguard was always a favourite thing to play early in the morning on Queen West. People would be just waking up, headed to work, or partaking in early morning tourism, when these wonderfully horrific and (to the unsuspecting ear) apparently indecipherable squelches would encompass the side walks. The best part is as the music becomes almost intolerable and someone is always about to approach and reproach me the whole mess culminates in the most exquisite and recognizable refrain of the once upon a time pretty melody known as my favourite things. It melts even the most skeptical of nay-sayer's! I guess I really enjoy messing with people, they have got to learn somehow! For those unaware the portraits above are of Louis Armstrong, the MAGUS Miles Davis, and John Coltrane.

ALTERNATIVE COMICS

A FASHION SHOOT TURNS MONSTER! HEY APATHY COMICS

A behind the scenes look at the essence of fashion from HEY APATHY! monster comics. In these panels we see the models, already decorated for the event, undergoing the final transformation before show time. A group of occultist cannibal aardvark humanoids slurp the insides out of the runway hopefuls, thus creating the intellectual necessary to look good under the lights. It's almost time for the shoot! Scenes from my ongoing mythological comics adventure which will be posted at http://www.heyapthy-comics-art.com/ as I complete it. I spent the whole weekend lettering pages but failed to get them posted yesterday as I had hoped. I'm still having difficulties rendering and resizing the text so that it remains legible on the screen. On the brighter side of life, I just found out that there are still booths available at the Toronto Comic Con at the Metro Toronto Convention Center this June and put together my application this afternoon. For some reason I though the big con took place in the fall and am very lucky to be able to apply at such a late date ( I missed booking two of these shows this year already!)

MAKING MONSTER COMICS

MAKING MONSTER COMICS raw scan panel 1

MAKING MONSTER COMICS finshed panel 1

I spent the weekend doing the lettering for the opening sequences from "MONSTER COMICS". I've been approaching these online strips with a particular gorilla warfare style process. Like my ink drawings, and performances , I pretty much just make everything up as I go along and hope for the best. The drawing and inking techniques that I use for the on-line stories however, differs drastically from those used in my fine art creations. When creating large scale canvas or performance artworks, extensive attention is given to the technical rendering. This is often achieved through the meticulous layering of inks and obsessively detailed line-work accomplished with fine point calligraphy pens. In contrast the online panels are drawn exclusively with technical pens and worked up on the computer. In fact these new online drawings don't even exist.

The samples above show you how I just take a quick sketch will some rough black fills and do all the inking, borders and text inside the computer. Now I don't get the same results as I do when I complete the entire drawing on the board (which is how I do the "HEY APATHY!" published comic book.) but the time it saves on production is more than worth the sacrifice. I am still having troubles with pixels and keeping the text legible during resizing, however I am certain that these issues are entirely due to my inexperience with image processing technology. I have only been working inside the machine for a year and am most certainly a novice. (I just started sizing images in pixels, I used to have pencil lines drawn all over my computer screen and did all my editing in percentages with guess work!)

When comparing the two panels, it is also of interest to note the messy and unedited text you see scattered all over the raw scan. I always do this for the first panel of any comic I am lettering. Then I realize that I am making a huge mess and wasting a lot of time. Once I get over the initial excitement of telling the story, I then turn to the word processor and actually write all the dialogue out . It is much easier to edit inside the flicker-box than it is to keep re-writing the text all over the page. Following the completion of the script I set some nice lined writing paper on the light table and get down to some serious calligraphy. I had one of those pen sets when I was young and got addicted to lettering for quite some time. Now I can use all those hours practicing classical lettering to tell strange and inconceivable stories about children eating witches, the Stone Troll Statue and a condo in Williamsburg.

MAKING MONSTER COMICS

ESTABLISHING SHOT from MONSTER COMICS

As I have mentioned before, February is one of the most tedious months in my life as an artist. This is a very busy time of year for filling out forms, mailing applications, and booking my public performances and comic convention appearances for the upcoming season. This leaves little time for production and my days generally get divided as follows; morning research, afternoon essays, and night time scribbles. As a result I tend to produce a lot of single panel artworks and take a brief hiatus from my full time comics schedule. Such is the curse of the Ronin illustrator, you've got to push all the papers yourself (if anyone is serious, willing and capable of representation contact me).

Today, however, is a slightly exceptional day as far as February's go. The sun is shining the wind is asleep and I have completed all my urgent application's early, so the whole day has been set aside to draw. Well, that's not entirely true, actually what I really have to do is the lettering for my online MONSTER COMICS. I only had one panel (the opening shot of Williamsburg above) to complete in the first set of drawings. I'll finish all the lettering throughout the day and hopefully post the introduction at http://www.heyapathy-comics-art.com/ by Monday. I've drawn most of the story and creature features for the on-line comic but as one often does, I left the chore of lettering a little to long. I usually like to knock off the text one page at a time,as I go so as to the avoid horrendous hours of perpetual calligraphy. Don't misinterpret this as entirely pessimistic though, I actually derive a great pleasure from the task except that I find better results when I work on the word bubbles in smaller sessions. I have also found it a real pain to transfer the letters clearly to a format suitable for online presentation. When resizing the scans the letters seem to require singular attention in order to retain visibility. No worries though, I'll figure it all out and the MONSTER COMICS will creep and seep through your screens soon...

SLASH PAGE from MONSTER COMIC

just got to fix the lettering...coming soon

LIFE OF AN ARTIST Comic Portraits Neil Gaimen

Neil Gaimen giving "instructions" of the utmost urgency.

Each and every morning I set aside a short sequence of moments in which I find both pleasure and business in the act of reading. In pleasure the time spent allows me to escape and enjoy life in an unusual manner and in the business of thought I always learn something, a new word , a new connection or how to avoid police suspicion after committing a diabolical act.

I generally tend to choose the readings based on the amount of time I can allocate and find my self frequently returning to short stories, articles, and comic books due to the limitations one decree's as a freelance illustrator. Today however I figured it was best to take a comic to the cafe not because my time is limited (obviously) but rather because the peculiar prerogative of the February wind chills. It is damn cold outside but nothing like the previous winter and I had calculated that I could last outdoors with my coffee and the fresh air for approximately 20 minutes.

Therefor I reached blindly into my library grasping a copy of Neil Gaimen's "Dream Country" and decided to kidnap Calliope while i caffeinated myself. I must have read this a million and six times by now and it never gets stale. The spine tingling sensation and un-namable understanding that comes with good horror I got from these books as an adolescent hasn't faded a bit. These were among the first truly incredible comics I ever read, and , having been bored and disgusted by the exchange of script for slash which dominates the genre, restored my faith in the macabre. Thanks for all the wonderfully pretty stories Mr. G.

As is also part of my daily journal's and artistic warm up, I followed the inspiration with a little sketch of the monstrous muse. I looked at some press shots of Neil and thought they were as silly as a sandstorm in the sea so I did the drawings while watching him read one of his poems entitled "Instructions" instead. The portraits took about 5 minutes to draw, which is how long it will take you to listen to the story on youtube.Highly Recommended.

LIFE of An ARTIST STREET MURALS

Kensington Market Street Art

HEY APATHY! I spent almost the entire day working on-line. The fiasco which has become my life (as an artist) was enveloped by resizing and uploading images since 8 am this morn. I have been trying to apply online for the 2010 Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition for a couple of days now. Unfortunetly I had to wait until yesterday to get in contact with a staff member because we just had a long weekend here in Canada. Nevertheless the crew over at 401 Richmond running the T.O.A.E. is incredible and all my queries were answered first thing following the holiday lay off. So I proceeded to prepare my slide list and support materials only to discover late last night that I did it all wrong and my images turned out to be way to small.(Oh there is never a dull moment in the life of an artist.)Following my uploaded defeat, I gave up on the application and worked on some sketches for the remainder of day.

Today, however, was a new day! I completed the resizing and uploading in record time without a single glitch and I suppose I got into it and carried away. I just kept uploading and resizing and uploading and resizing and only a few moments ago ( it is now 14 hours since I started) came to a standstill having completed about 5 new pages for my website. I am building the damn thing myself so don't expect too much on the technical side but I think the curation of my madness could not have been handled by any one else. Check out my updated MURALS page at www.heyapathy-comics-art.com/MURALS.html . I uploaded all the image and text links today so there a new galleries within the gallery. I'll try to get the essays explaining the significance of each mural on there tomorrow but for now I am very,very tired.

Toronto Garage Mural Acrylic on Brick 2007

Live Painting at Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition

This photographic sequence represents a day in the life of the Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition. An gigantic annual art show held at Toronto's Nathan Philips Square. The deadline for applying to this years event is coming up pretty soon and I came across these photos from last year. The show is an extensive venture, from set up at sunrise to three days of painting and story telling. As equally exciting as it is exhausting, the T.O.A.E. always feels like a roller coaster ride full of twists and turns. I never know who or how many people I'll meet nor am I able to predict the amount of hard work that the show always requires. I did my first public exhibition at the T.O.A.E. way back in 2002, and although I get better at performing each year, it never gets any easier! Check out more performance painting at www.heyapathy-comics-art.com/PERFORMANCE-ART-PUBLIC.html

PICTURES 1) setting up the 10x 20 portable gallery walls 2) early afternoon crowds start pouring through city hall 3) start the live painting 4) about an hour later finished the live painting 5) telling stories and narrating the comic pages!!!