Back Porch Comics

Project Update

2011-12-29T21:18:00.000-08:00

Here's another quick review of progress on my projects.

11/19/11 – Lump of Coal #5- Art Due 4 page Randolf the Run-down Reindeer strip ( DONE!)

1/15/12 (new deadline)- Oh,Comics! #20 “Air” Art Due 4 page B-Valve strip. 2 pages penciled and 1 inked. The finals will all be painted. Even though Oh,Comics! will be in b&w I'm producing this strip in color for future inclusion on the web site. Pencils of page 2 above.

1/15/12 (New Project) A Bowl Full of Happiness (The Sea Monkey anthology for the Hero Intiative) 1 page strip. Plotted but no drawing yet.

2/15/12 (New Project) Magic Bullet #4- One page strip. This is kind of tentative but I've been thinking of doing something with George, Abe, Tom and Teddy.

2/25/12- SPACE Anthology 2012 –Art Due 1-4 page Vugz strip (Nothing yet)

3/31/12- Untitled #8 Art Due 1-4 page Entropy Alley strip (Nothing yet)

3/31/12 -Bunny Blues/ Leaves #6 28-30+ page finale (12 pages completed so far and I think I have the idea for the cover.)

Drawing Progress Update

2011-11-21T16:37:00.000-08:00

Here's another quick review of progress on my projects.

11/19/11 – Lump of Coal #5- Art Due 4 page Randolf the Run-down Reindeer strip ( DONE!)

1/15/12 (new deadline)- Oh,Comics! #20 “Air” Art Due 1-4 page B-Valve strip (moved the deadline and starting work on the new strip B-Valve. More on that later.)

2/25/12- SPACE Anthology 2012 –Art Due 1-4 page Vugz strip (Nothing yet)

3/31/12- Untitled #8 Art Due 1-4 page Entropy Alley strip (Nothing yet)

3/31/12 -Bunny Blues/ Leaves #6 28-30+ page finale (11 pages completed so far and I think I have the idea for the cover.) (Pages 10 & 11 of the original art are on display at the Kafe Kerouac until about 12/9/11.)

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Progress?

2011-10-19T08:40:00.000-07:00

Here's a quick review of progress on my projects.

11/4/11- Oh,Comics! #20 “Air” Art Due 1-4 page Bunny Blues strip (I'm moving the deadline for Oh,Comics! to about mid-January and probably changing the subject of my strip. I came up with a new idea I'd like to explore. More on that later.)

11/19/11 – Lump of Coal #5- Art Due 1-4 page Randolf the Run-down Reindeer strip ( I need to get this moving.)

2/25/12- SPACE Anthology 2012 –Art Due 1-4 page Vugz strip (Nothing yet)

3/31/12- Untitled #8 Art Due 1-4 page Entropy Alley strip (Nothing yet)

3/31/12 -Bunny Blues/ Leaves #6 28-30+ page finale (11 pages completed so far and I think I have the idea for the cover.)

New Eyes!

2011-08-16T17:16:00.000-07:00

Here's the first completed page of Bunny Blues / Leaves #6 since my catarack surgery. Everything went great. Art really hasn't improved. Maybe when I get my new bifocals in a month.

Drawing Schedule

2011-08-07T16:30:00.000-07:00

As you can see in the article below I didn't get alot done for SPACE 2011 so I got started early and set up a drawing schedule. I was at a more than a page a week clip when I got slowed down for catarack surgery. Both eyes are done know and doing great. Below are my projects for the year and my schedule all leading up to SPACE 2012.

11/4/11- Oh,Comics! #20 “Air” Art Due 1-4 page Bunny Blues strip

11/19/11 – Lump of Coal #5- Art Due 1-4 page Randolf the Run-down Reindeer strip

2/25/12- SPACE Anthology 2012 –Art Due 1-4 page Vugz strip

3/31/12- Untitled #8 Art Due 1-4 page Entropy Alley strip

3/31/12 -Bunny Blues/ Leaves #6 28-30+ page finale (5 pages completed so far.)

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New Vugz for the SPACE Anthology 2011

2011-01-11T09:42:00.000-08:00

Okay, I promised myself I would finish the Bunny Blues /Leaves series in time for SPACE this year but it ain't happening. The only thing that might get done is a new Vugz story for the SPACE Anthology. Here's a preview of the first panel. The story popped into my head on the long drive from Columbus to my hometown in PA before the holidays. It introduces an important aspect of the upcoming Vugz series. This story occurs before Vugz and Tim meet.
We're hoping to be ready with the SPACE Anthology about a month before the show. There should be some good stuff. I've gotten a lot of e-mails about the project from the exhibitors.

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Peek at New Randolf coming in Lump of Coal #4

2010-11-23T09:59:00.000-08:00

Here's a peek at the third Randolf the Rundown Reindeer strip which will be included in Lump of Coal #4. Lump of Coal is the "bad atititude" holiday stocking stuffer mini-comic that is published through BPC for the Art Explorer Post 407 each year. It contains strips by the Post's students and advisor. Copies will be on sale at some local comic shops, the Devonshire Alternative Elementary School Craft / Art Sale on December 4 and at the Back Porch Comics website.
A shot of the cover will be up on the SPACE blog shortly.

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2010 SPACE Prize Entries!

2010-08-19T19:43:00.000-07:00

All the 2010 SPACE Prize entries are up at http://www.backporchcomics.com/space_prize.htm

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More Vugz

2010-08-11T09:15:00.000-07:00

First panel of Vugz: Cook Out a little further along.

New Projects August '10

2010-08-02T09:55:00.001-07:00

Above is a quick test of the first panel in Vugz: Cook Out, which will appear in Oh,Comics! #19 "Fire". Hopefully Oh,Comics! #19 will be ready for Mid-Ohio Con on November 6& 7.
The cover to "Obstacle" ,my last project can be seen at Back Porch Comics. Obstacle will not be available on line until after SPACE next spring.

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New Projects May '10

2010-05-04T09:56:00.000-07:00

All the dust is settling from SPACE and I've got part of my life back for the time being so I'm off to new projects.

The first is a new linoleum print book entitled "Obstacle". Above is a sketch of the main (actually only) character, Un. I enjoyed making the the hand printed SPACE bags for the show this year so I got the buzz to do another book. I've only done one entire book this way before in '05 with "Why I'm Not Musical" which was a little more ambitious then the current project. I also figured out a way to not destroy my back printing the things. "Obstacle" will hopefully be done for SMACC (Southern Michigan's Arts and Creativity Conference) on July 24 & 25 in Dearborn, Michigan. Go to SMACC for more info.

Also on the aggenda is Oh,Comics! #19: "Fire". I'll be contacting the contributors soon with a schedule. Hopefully it will be ready for Mid-Ohio Con this November 6 & 7.

New Vugz Project

2010-01-12T16:50:00.000-08:00

There's a new Vugz strip coming up. It will be part of a secret project to promote SPACE. More info will be available in the next few weeks over at the SPACE blog. Above is a computer simulation color test for the hand painted strip. The first Vugz strip appeared in Oh,Comics! #18. Vugz will hopefully appear as a webcomic in the next year or so, just as soon as the current long term project, Bunny Blues / Leaves, is completed.

Oh,Comics! #18 @ ComicsXP

2009-11-24T09:55:00.000-08:00

Oh,Comics! #18 "Earth" is now available as a digital download at ComicsXP. 76 pages for only 99 cents.

342 Mini Comic

2009-11-21T17:02:00.000-08:00

Here's a quick look at the cover of 342 my 24 hour comic. It will premiere at Genghis-Con next Saturday in Cleveland and will be available on sale here next week.

The Results of the Halloween 24 Hours Comics in Columbus

2009-11-05T15:10:00.000-08:00

I made it! After a failed attempt back in 2004 I managed to product a 24 hour comic entitled "342" over last weekend. About eight of us started out at noon on Saturday at the Crimson Cup coffee shop in Clintonville. The group included Sunday Comix regulars, Ray Tomczak, Jon Riddle, Mike Carroll, Kira Keck and Sue Olcott, and one of my Explorer Post students, Ryan Buoni.
By 9:30 PM I was about a half hour off pace and was starting to panic knowing how my previous attempt proved I would be moving slower as time went on. Then a stork of genius and the well timed 17 minute snow storm page got me back on track. I didn't hit the wall I expected and managed to pick up time with each page and the "story" started to flow. Then by about 2 AM only the hard core 24 hour cartoonists were left Ray, Jon and me. Mike Carroll who had accomplished a 24 hour book in the past left after finishing all the pencils and was going to finish the inking at home. I found out later that he didn't finish. Ray finished at 6:35 AM. I wrapped up page 24 at 7:24 AM. I took off then to get some sleep. I found out later that Jon finished up at about 9:00 AM.
All three finished strips have characters named Derrick and employ the use of the sound effect "Hork" but other than that have nothing in common.
While my strip isn't as pretty as either Ray's or Jon's it's complete and actually is coherent and comes to a end. Well as coherent as a quest story involving different dimensions, bad poetry and packing peanuts can. (Ray's and Jon's comics are complete and coherent too.)
I'd like to thank the Crimson Cup for letting us hang out there all night and the free coffee, Canada (Kira's mom) for the goodies and the bentos she provide and to Max Ink for setting the whole thing up. Also thanks to the old and new friends who dropped by to cheer us on.
Although we had a ball the common consensus is that we're not going to do it again soon .
My strip will probably be issued as a mini-comic since I have a coupon for copies which runs out this month.
There was a video shot. I'll let everybody know when it surfaces.

John Porcellino Columbus Stop

2009-10-19T06:29:00.000-07:00

John Porcellino the author of the autobio mini comic "King-Cat" was here on October 12 in support of his new collection "Map of My Heart". I was going to write a little something about it but J. Caleb Mozzocco did a much better job of it than I ever could at
http://blog.newsarama.com/2009/10/16/a-stop-on-john

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MOC Indy/Small Press Panel Video

2009-10-13T08:23:00.000-07:00

The Indy/ Small Press Panel video from UVN is now up on youtube in 7 parts. Here's the link to the first.http://www.youtube.com/xax66#p/u/6/IsitwdBY8Tg

10/14/09

All parts are now up on http://www.undergroundvideonetwork.com/

Dali / Disney at The Dayton Art Institue

2009-10-12T09:30:00.001-07:00

Kathy and I managed to run over to the Dayton Art Institute last weekend to check out the "Destino" exhibit. In case you're not aware of this, "Destino" was a project started by Walt Disney with Salvador Dali way back in the mid-40's but eventually shelved. Roy Disney discovered the project in the 90's and finished it. It was never officially released. It was nominated for an Academy Award as an animated short in 2003. I think I own the Academy Award Shorts DVD from that year but don't remember it. I'll need to dig it out and check. Anyway the entire thing (about 7 minutes) is up on youtube at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UzzZa5o1q5k
The exhibit consisted of the video running in a constant loop on a screen and about 12 screen prints of Dali's drawings which are part of the original story board. I would love to see Dali's story boards put together the way Miyazaki's were on the "Castle in the Sky" DVD. You can check out more info at
http://www.daytonartinstitute.org/exhibits/dali.html
The museum also has some nice pieces on display as part of their permanent collection.

Next time: John Porcellino's "Map of MY Heart"

Blog?

2009-10-08T09:38:00.000-07:00

I never did understand this phenomena of blogging but even though I haven't entered anything in my old blog in 3 and half years I still get tons of hits there. So why not? Frankly my life isn't that interesting. You can view the old blog at http://backporchcomics.com/old_blog.htm. There are some interesting things still there like "Ye Books of Cerebus" and the "Snap!" art festival from a few years back. So go ahead and check it out I'll wait.

I run SPACE (Small Press & Alternative Comics Expo). You can view the SPACE blog entitled "Spaceguy 13" at http://www.backporchcomics.com/space.htm
Spaceguy 13 is primarily about SPACE. This blog will be about Back Porch Comics which is my small press comics imprint and any thing else I think may be the least bit interesting most of which will have to do with comics.

The latest Back Porch Comics news is the successful appearence at last weekends Mid-Ohio Con. Oh,Comics! #18 made it's debut there and sold pretty well. You can get a preview of it and ordering info at the BPC website if you're not already there. http://backporchcomics.com/back_porch_comics.htm

Also I participated on the Indie and Small Press Panel which was videoed by the Underground Video Network http://www.undergroundvideonetwork.com/
The audio portion of which is now up as a ComicRelated Podcast at http://comicrelated.com/news/3448/the-related-recap-155
From what I hear it may wind up on Cable Access here in Columbus. Luckily everybody else on the panel was younger and prettier than me.

In other news some of my work is up at the Crimson Cup in Clintonville with the "Comix from the Crypt" exhibit along with work by my Sunday Comix friends. More info at http://www.columbusarts.com/details.php?id=66682&type=e

The exhibit will end with the Halloween 24 hour Comics Marathon. You can find out more about that at http://2009columbus24hourcomics.blogspot.com/

More later.