Alisa's Sketches

Gung Hay Fat Choy!

2012-01-26T00:18:00.000-05:00

Happy Year of the Dragon! I live in a predominately Korean and Chinese neighborhood, so this time of year is always festive. The dragon dancers at the parades are my favorite.

Veronica boards

2012-01-11T23:00:00.000-05:00

One of my favorite novels in the early 2000s was Veronica by Nicholas Christopher. What's not to love about an interdimensional travel story set in New York City? The first chapter is especially cinematic and I'd wanted to storyboard it for ages. I had some time off last summer so I did just that. Here are two pages I still like:

(Click images to make them larger)

My Little Pony Colouring Book

2012-01-04T11:01:00.000-05:00

After spending some time coloring with my niece over the Christmas break, I remembered some art from last year I never posted online. One of the anthologies I contributed to last year was The My Little Pony Colouring Book Fanzine edited by Rosemary Travale. Proceeds from the book benefited Horse Rescue Ontario.

Below is my submission which I took the liberty of coloring in Photoshop over the summer. I loved My Little Pony as a kid of the '80s and I was only recently introduced to the new My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic series. It is well designed, smart, funny and created by the wonderful Lauren Faust (animator on The Iron Giant, Powerpuff Girls story artist, Fosters Home for Imaginary Friends head writer etc.)

All I want for Christmas...

2011-12-22T10:30:00.001-05:00

Yep, you guessed it! This kiddo is hoping for her two front teeth. Her design is loosely based upon myself as a kid, although her hair is a bit more red and a tad more unruly than mine was. Almost all my childhood holiday dresses sported a variation of that smocking which was so popular in the 80s.

I had the idea for this last year, but didn't finish a drawing for it at the time. It felt fitting to paint it up since I finally paid off the two new teeth that I got last January!

(Short back story: I fell on my face in high school, broke my teeth and had the same caps for about 5 years longer than I should have. One came off in a sandwich last December after a trip to the Met. So they got replaced with shiny new ones that only took me an entire year to pay off. Merry Christmas to me!)

Happy Holidays!

2011-12-19T11:00:00.000-05:00

Keep warm this winter. Even if your pets need to help out.

Life Drawing

2011-12-12T11:00:00.000-05:00

I finally made it back to a life drawing class before the end of 2011. I was pretty pleased with the quick poses, considering I haven't drawn from a model since...February?! Yikes. Sometimes it's nice to reset my drawing style and loosen up a bit with pencil. I really liked the model's hair, it was fun to draw. The last page contains possibly the first extremely foreshortened pose I've been remotely happy with.

If you didn't catch it on TV last week, the Eureka holiday episode I worked on is now online at SyFy! There's also a link to credits for each of the animated segments. A lot of people put months of work into the ep and it turned out great!

Eureka Christmas special

2011-12-04T19:16:00.000-05:00

The Eureka Christmas special that I worked on is airing on SyFy at 8pm (7pm central) this Tuesday December 6th! Here's a preview of one of the stop motion sections:

I worked on the Flash animated sections of the show with a super small team at Curious Pictures who also did the awesome stop motion sequences with another team. I'm looking forward to seeing the whole episode, I've only seen the rough cut.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-11-24T11:08:00.000-05:00

I got the idea to draw a hand turkey right on the cintiq from my twitter stream yesterday. I can't find the actual post, but I'm pretty sure it was via Dave Pimentel from Dreamworks. He posts some beautiful life drawings on his blog that you should check out regardless.

I'm thankful for many things especially my family, my partner, his family, two crazy cats, having so many great friends in this city I call home and drawing for a living! Hope everyone has a Happy Thanksgiving!

It's still Fall, right?

2011-11-15T00:03:00.000-05:00

I'm still busy freelancing, but I finally had some time on Sunday to do a Fall self-portrait before Winter is upon us. I've been carrying my camera when I take walks during my lunch break. Most of my photos are of the ever changing graffiti in NoLita.

I had the opportunity to give a guest lecture for Martin Wittig's character design class at FIT last week. I haven't done too much public speaking, but I think it went rather well! Thanks to all of the attentive Grad students for participating and to Martin for inviting me!

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-28T00:00:00.002-04:00

A page of quick sketchbook pro doodles. Wish I had time to do something better than some shape studies but I wrapped one project this week and am onto the next gig already. Can't complain about paid work but hopefully I'll have time to put back into my neglected comics soon.

Vegetarian at the Epcot Food and Wine Festival: Champagne and Dessert Booth

2011-10-25T23:30:00.000-04:00

The final thing I ate at the Epcot Food and Wine Festival was something that caught Allan's eye: The White Chocolate Macadamia Mousse with Dark Chocolate Pearls at the Champagne and Dessert Booth! It had a ridiculously long name, but it was the dessert I'd most recommend to try. It was also the best presentation of anything I'd had that evening in it's little clear square container and swirled top sprinkled with Macadamia nuts.

There were two items on my list that I wasn't able to taste that night. I was hoping to try the Bunny Chow at the South African booth, which looked like one of the few truly vegetarian meal options at the festival. We'd passed the kiosk at the beginning of the evening because I was still full from lunch at the time. At the end of the night it turned out to be much further from the entrance than I remembered, so we ended up turning around before reaching it.

We also wanted to try the Lamington (chocolate and coconut covered yellow cake) at the Australian booth but there was a sizable line. We had plans for later that night and still had to check into our hotel and change into some semblance of dry clothes. So we decided to pass on trying one last dessert and squished our way back to the parking lot.

I had a great experience at my first Epcot Food and Wine Festival despite the miserable weather. (It took 2 days and several passes with a hairdryer until my sneakers and jeans dried.) Perhaps because of the weather, we never had to wait long for food. I'd highly recommend the festival to anyone visiting Epcot in the Fall. I didn't attend any of the additional events but there seemed to be quite a few guest chefs and other events at the park for an additional fee.

For those budget minded people like myself, sampling food at each kiosk was still an adventure of its own. The prices for each item were very reasonable, mostly between $3 and $5. The most expensive thing we tried at the Food and Wine Festival was the $7 mojito at the Caribbean booth. Truly an affordable experience (aside from the park admission) if you plan it out!

I posted a bunch of photos of rainy, atmospheric Epcot over here, if you like that sort of thing.

Many thanks to my friends who recommended rides and sites at Disney since I hadn't been there since I was a kid! Special thanks to Abby Denson for initially mentioning the Epcot Food and Wine Festival would be going on when we were in Florida. Abby does great dessert reviews and comic posts over at The City Sweet Tooth, check it out!

Vegetarian at the Epcot Food and Wine Festival: Greece

2011-10-23T23:00:00.000-04:00

I had boarded the cheese train at this point of the night and there was no turning back. After devouring the giant cheese plate at the Ireland kiosk, I got the Griddled Greek cheese with pistachios and honey. It was the most delicious thing I ate at the festival. It may have been because I was soaking wet and it was nice and warm or maybe it was the combination of honey and pistachios with a giant slab of toasty cheese. Either way, I highly recommend trying it at the Epcot Food and Wine Festival!

One more watercolor post planned for this week! Hope you've been enjoying them so far.

Vegetarian at the Epcot Food and Wine Festival: Ireland

2011-10-20T23:45:00.001-04:00

I had taken my sweet time exploring the pavilions and taking photos on the first half of the marketplace, but by the time we were on the far side of the lake, it was dark and we were wet and hungry! The Ireland kiosk was a well placed outpost after we got turned around near the French marketplace. Allan and I had been comparing the weather the entire day to the downpour we witnessed in the Aran Islands off the coast of Ireland a few years prior, so it was only fitting to eat some Irish food.

The Kerrygold cheese selection at the Ireland kiosk was the heartiest food I tasted at Epcot. The plate was piled with a thick slice of brown bread, a packet of Kerrygold butter, three types of cheese (aged Irish cheddar, Dubliner and Ivernia) and a little dish of apple chutney. Just what I needed at this point in the evening!

Allan and I ducked into the foyer of a gift shop across from an English pub to enjoy the cheese plate.

We also got a miniature chocolate lava cake with Bailey's ganache to share. I easily could have eaten an entire one myself! It was warm and delicious.

It wasn't until after I was going over my notes that I realized I forgot to try the Bunratty Meade at the Ireland kiosk. Perhaps next time!

Vegetarian at the Epcot Food and Wine Festival: New Zealand

2011-10-19T00:00:00.018-04:00

As a vegetarian planning to eat at the Epcot Food and Wine Festival, first I checked out the handy online menu of each country to see which ones I'd want to try. It turned out that most of my choices were either drinks or desserts. Good thing I like both! With my soggy map in hand, (see previous post) Allan and I continued our way clockwise around the marketplace.

It was dark by this point, and the Japan pavilion was lit up although most of the food kiosks in that area appeared to be closed.

I only eat seafood occasionally, but I did try a bite of Allan's selection from the New Zealand kiosk and it was delightful. The curry purée and radish salad were a wonderful complement to the delicate flavor of the sea scallop. Definitely a dish to taste at Epcot!

I didn't take any photos near the New Zealand kiosk, but here's one from a courtyard in Morocco.

Eating Vegetarian at the Epcot Food and Wine Festival

2011-10-17T00:00:00.000-04:00

I just got back from a very rainy but delicious weekend at Epcot's Food and Wine Festival! Allan and I had passes for entry to the park after 4 pm, so we went after our flight arrived on Saturday. It didn't stop raining the entire time we were there, but soggy shoes didn't stop us from enjoying ourselves! The crowds were greatly diminished because of the weather and we rarely waited in lines at each kiosk.

We'd eaten a late lunch at Bongo's Cuban Cafe in Downtown Disney hoping the rain would let up, so we were fairly full when we started our walk around the World Showcase a little after 5 pm. Our first stop was for Mojitos at the Caribbean kiosk which we enjoyed under an awning overlooking the lake while it poured rain. They were good, but fairly tame on the alcohol (probably because we looked more underage than usual, dripping wet.)

A little further along we tried a beautiful looking chocolate covered cannoli from the Italy pavilion. As someone who's had the real deal in NYC's Little Italy, I'm sorry to say this version was just ok.

I was hoping to draw on site, but it was raining so hard that I left my sketchbook in the car. I did a few sketches and took some notes later that night. I whipped up the watercolors and inks while Allan was in meetings at the beginning of the week. It was nice to paint again, it seems like such a long time since I've had the time to. I'll be posting a few more watercolors of food we ate in Epcot throughout the week!

Thoughts on PMZF

2011-10-04T23:15:00.000-04:00

Although my second time tabling at Pete's Mini Zine Fest wasn't as financially successful as the first, I think I actually enjoyed myself more this time around. Between the rain and the lack of a live music event, there wasn't as much foot traffic. But the conversations I DID have were all pretty great even if most of them were with other creators. It also didn't hurt that the music selection at Pete's was top notch. If I'd spent the whole day sketching and listening to good tunes without selling a thing, I'd have been pretty happy. I bought a new sketchbook and a bunch of pens from NY Central on Friday and was eager to try them out.

Since I was coming from Queens, I took a scenic detour through Long Island City on the G shuttle bus. By the time I had a nice walk down memory lane past McCarren Park, all of the tables in the front of the place were taken, so I set up in the little area next to the food pickup window and the bathrooms. Hey, I figured I'd at least get some foot traffic and it had a bit more light than the cavern near the stage.

The rain held off until most of the tablers had arrived (and some had already set up outside) but the clouds quickly covered Brooklyn for the rest of the day. Everyone from outside made themselves at home near the stage.

I definitely got more chatting in with the other tablers than I had in May. Conversation fluctuated from printing comics and paper types to stories about other peoples' cats. From drawing archaeological digs in Greece to punk bands from Virginia. I even got schooled on the type of art deco wardrobe I'd drawn in Counter Attack (it's a waterfall, who knew?!) One guy bought a comic then brought me a button from his punk band! At one point I got up to check out some of the other tables and the nice punk guy selling pizza t-shirts across from my table made a sale for me while I was gone.

I had a nice talk with Paul Hoppe who does lovely childrens' books, a great walking sketch tour comic of Red Hook and has an upcoming show at the Brooklyn Museum. I chatted with Glynnis Fawkes for almost an hour before realizing she wasn't even tabling at the event, but had come from NJ with her kids and comics in tow. She had some great content about being a mom and drawing archeological digs in Lebanon and Greece. I hope to see her at some other cons in the future. I also got to catch up with Matt Hawkins of Fort 90 and met some of the creators of the Rabbid Rabbit anthology. I had a great conversation about hardcore music as well as vegetarian Guyanese and Trinidadian food locations in Jamaica, Queens with the creator of Mirrored Mitten. Another new tabler, Kyle Fewell, had a great little zine full of illustrations of cats, birds and people.

But my favorite sale of the day goes to Gene, the Brooklyn local in a FDNY shirt who perused my table while I had taken a bathroom break. He asked what kind of event was going on, then handed me a $20 and said "You artists do a lot of hard work and deserve to be compensated. I'll take one of your comics. I'll give it to my kids, but I'll read it first." With less than 15 minutes left in the show I figured I wouldn't top that and started to pack up. Luckily the rain held off and the G shuttle bus arrived exactly when I got back to Metropolitan Ave. I had lots of new reading material for the ride home.

Here are some of the rad trades from the other tablers. There was an unintentional red, white and yellow theme and a surprising amount of cat content. Fidget approves.

I did get to do a few drawings in the new sketchbook. I felt rusty drawing from life, but I had fun playing with the new pens.

Thanks to Pete's Candy Store for hosting us, to everyone who came out despite the rain and to Andria and Marguerite for putting it all together!

In other news, I have an interview up on Animation Insider!

Pete's Mini Zine Fest this Saturday Oct 1st!

2011-09-30T00:43:00.000-04:00

A final reminder that I'll be tabling at Pete's Mini Zine Fest this Saturday October 1st! Check out the awesomeness from 2pm-7pm at Pete's Candy Store (709 Lorimer Street, Brooklyn) It will be indoor/outdoor (they have a great garden out back) but if it rains, we'll all be inside. It's FREE to get in! Buy a beer, buy a zine, make some new friends, it's all good!

Here's the invite for an updated list of attendees.

I'll have copies of Counter Attack,

Urban Nomad,

Rock On!

the last of the food buttons,

and a very limited number of Conan the Librarian prints!

See ya there!

Anniversaries this weekend

2011-09-23T00:00:00.001-04:00

UPDATE:

Due to a rainy weather forecast, Pete's Mini Zine Fest is being rescheduled to NEXT SATURDAY October 1. It will still be from 2pm-7pm at Pete's Candy Store in Brooklyn.
Sorry for any inconvenience.

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This Sunday will be two years since Allan and I became official domestic partners!
Here is one page of the six page comic about our day at City Hall. You can read the whole thing in issue 3 of Urban Nomad. (Click to see it larger.)

When I wrote this comic, Prop 8 had just passed in California and I was feeling rather angry about the whole situation. Happily two years later, my home state of New York now acknowledges same sex marriage. Because of this, I'm assuming the role of domestic partnership is going to be short lived in the state. But I haven't heard anything about it regarding our health insurance yet. Anyway, Happy Anniversary of our many anniversaries, Allan!
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Sunday is ALSO my little sisters' one year wedding anniversary! Total coincidence that they were the same date, but kind of neat. Happy Anniversary Kelly and Erick!

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Final reminder that I'll be at Pete's Mini Zine Fest on Sunday from 2pm-7pm. Pete's Candy Store is at 709 Lorimer St. Brooklyn. I'll have the last of my food buttons, Conan the Librarian prints, copies of Urban Nomad and Counter Attack. There is also a kickoff party on Saturday the 24th from 6PM-8PM featuring live zine readings, comedienne Emily Heller and the band Phil and the Osophers. Full details are on official Facebook invite. Hope to see you there!

Fall Into Zines this Sunday, September 25th!

2011-09-20T23:00:00.001-04:00

Come out to Brooklyn and Fall Into Zines at Pete's Mini Zine Fest this Sunday! A portion of the table fees benefit the New York Public Library! Come buy comics and zines from some awesome people and enjoy the onstage entertainment and refreshing beverages at Pete's Candy Store!

Flyer designed by L. Nichols

Sunday September 25th from 2PM to 7PM at Pete's Candy Store (709 Lorimer St. Brooklyn, NY) The fest is indoor/outdoor and Pete's has a great little garden in the back that will be packed with zinesters!

Here's the official Facebook invite which includes a list of the attendees.

There is also a kickoff party on Saturday the 24th from 6PM-8PM featuring live zine readings, comedienne Emily Heller and the band Phil and the Osophers.

I will have copies of Counter Attack (they're dwindling, so get'em while I've got'em!) Urban Nomad, Rock On! and even a limited number of Conan the Librarian 8.5 x 11 prints! See you Sunday!

Fall into Zines

2011-09-13T23:35:00.001-04:00

Hello! It's been a busy couple of weeks now that I'm working full time on another animation project. The blog will be a bit slow for the next two months since all of my spare time is spent working on a long term project that isn't quite ready to unveil yet. I do tend to post updates more frequently to my twitter if you like hearing about vegetarian food I'm cooking, what the cats are up to, and sometimes comic and animation links.

In the meantime, I wanted to give a heads up on the final event I'll be tabling at for 2011: Fall into Zines, another installment of Pete's Mini Zine Fest! A portion of the table fee benefits the New York Public Library! Come buy comics and zines from some awesome people and enjoy the onstage entertainment and refreshing beverages at Pete's!

Sunday September 25th from 2PM to 7PM at Pete's Candy Store (709 Lorimer St. Brooklyn, NY)

There's an official facebook invite over here if you like stalking the attendees.

There is also a kickoff party on Saturday the 24th from 6PM-8PM featuring live zine readings, comedienne Emily Heller and the band Phil and the Osophers.

If you missed Pete's Mini Zine Fest in May, here's your second chance to check it out!

Flyer designed by L. Nichols

I should also add that it's the final hours of the Kickstarter for the Syndicate Product Zine #20: The META- COMICS Issue. I have a comic in this issue and am so excited to see the final book! A.J.'s project has reached its goal (woo-hoo!) but any additional funds make the final zines that much more snazzy and send them to zine libraries around the world. If you like reading self-published comics and zines, consider making a donation and getting some fun rewards!

10 years

2011-09-11T10:00:00.001-04:00

I try not to get sentimental about non-art related things on my sketch blog. My childhood art teacher had a sign in her studio that said "If it's not about art, don't talk about it here." Ten years have gone by very quickly and if I hadn't gone to art school in New York, I wouldn't be writing this. I had just moved to Brooklyn with a friend and was starting my thesis year at the School of Visual Arts in September 2001. On Tuesdays I had life drawing late in the afternoon so I usually slept in that morning. I awoke to two messages left on the answering machine by my roommates parents around 9 am. My roommate had a morning class and was already in the city.

After listening to the frantic messages half awake, I turned on the TV. I stood in shock, remote in hand, as the impossible newscast glared before me. Smoke billowed from the World Trade Center buildings in lower Manhattan. Eventually I sat on the couch as I tried to make sense of what I was seeing. I don't know how long I sat there, flipping from channel to channel with similar footage. Two planes had crashed into the Twin Towers.

There was a sudden billow of smoke, exclamations from the newscasters and in a few seconds time it was apparent that one of the towers had gone down. Almost silently. Eerily similar to the two red checkered tanker towers that had been demolished only months before in Greenpoint. Eventually it hit me that this was happening here. The Twin Towers were visible from Grand Street in Brooklyn. I put on some clothes and grabbed my SLR camera.

When I stepped outside the apartment on Scholes Street, this is what I saw to my left.

I walked down Graham Avenue, passing other confused pedestrians wandering on the streets. I turned left onto Grand Street. Shop owners had turned their TVs to face the street and some had their radios on loud enough to hear the newscasts from the sidewalk. I snapped a photo of the billowing smoke and walked west towards the obscured Manhattan skyline, following others who were doing the same. As I crossed between Leonard and Lorimer Streets someone called out. People gasped and some crossed themselves. The antennae of the second tower pitched and disappeared into the mass of smoke. I clicked the shutter.

I don't remember how much longer I stayed outside, but when I got back to the apartment and tried to make a call, the phone was busy. Eventually my roommate called from a payphone and told me she was ok, that the subways were closed. At some point I got through to my mom and I assume my boyfriend at the time, but I don't recall the particulars. The smoke flowed over Brooklyn and was visible from our kitchen window. In the days following, my roommate and I walked to our friends' apartment in Greenpoint to watch the news together and stand on their roof to see the long lines of ambulances and rescue vehicles on the BQE. Lights flashing red, but their sirens silent. Walking by the Williamsburg bridge, someone had scrawled "Nuke the West Bank" near the overpass trestle. I shook my head and thought this was an ominous sign.

Classes were cancelled. I went into the city for the first time by Thursday or Friday with my friends. We stood in Union Square watching a candle light vigil. Unless you lived in lower Manhattan, you couldn't go below 14th St. We continued up to Lexington Avenue, planning to eat dinner at Curry in a Hurry. Across from the Lexington Ave armory, flyers for missing persons papered the wall of a construction site. A crowd of people walked slowly along the wall, searching the faces and black and white descriptions of the missing. Hundreds and hundreds of people who had lived and worked in the area of the World Trade Center. Wedding photos, photos with their children. The faces of lives lost that day. I'd been in shock all week, but this was the first time I really felt the magnitude of this tragic event.

I thought about leaving school and New York. My mom and brother had just moved across the country to Arizona. My sister was in college in PA. If I left, I really had no home to go to. I'd have no degree. What was I planning to do for a career? I decided to stick it out. It's amazing how quickly you adjust to changes. My gig painting carousel horses was downsized within two weeks and I was jobless. Showing ID to access some of your classes because the police precinct is next door. Snipers stationed on the roof for the same reason. Constant heavily armed police with dogs and national guard presence in the subway stations. Color coded "terror" alerts. Every time I left New York on a bus and arrived again via the Lincoln Tunnel, the altered skyline was a constant reminder of the world we now lived in.

Life goes on. People go about their days. New Yorkers are strong. Ten years go by. One day the skyline doesn't look so strange. I didn't leave then and I'm still in this great city, scraping by a living as an animation artist. There is no doubt it was a tragic day. Many lives were lost, countless people were affected. Still more will be lost to diseases caused by the debris and toxic fumes people were exposed to as they volunteered for the cleanup and lived in the area of the World Trade Center during those months.

To me, the even more tragic event is that we're still at war. Lives of soldiers and innocent people are lost every day, not to mention billions of dollars spent because of the "war on terror." A war started in one administration that probably won't see an end in the current administration. It's an unwinnable war, the Vietnam of our era. Yet few people are protesting to end it. Protests have broken out in countries across the world to change their own governments, yet we stand silent as atrocities from hunger, homelessness and sex trafficking to government overspending, stock market scams and bank bailouts happen in our own backyards.

Thanks for reading if you'd made it this far. I promise this won't become a regular installment of the blog. Writing, making comics and art in general have been very therapeutic for me. I've been trying to work on a comic of this day for years, but it never seems right. It always seems too soon, too trivial an account. I felt that it was time to at least share my experience in writing and photos. Time does heal all wounds and I hope that everyone affected directly by this tragedy finds peace. Most New Yorkers I know have found a way to move on and I hope the rest of the country follows suit.

The only photo I have of the Twin Towers was taken while waiting for the fireworks to start on July 4, 2000 at the waterfront in Williamsburg near the Domino Sugar factory.

I'll leave you with these words about New York from Speed Levitch.

My boyfriend introduced me to his beautiful black and white film "The Cruise." There's some fantastic footage of NYC in the late 90s including the World Trade Center. His poetic and sometimes hilarious commentary on New York as a bus tour guide is just great. It's available on Netflix watch now.

PACC sketches

2011-08-17T10:00:00.000-04:00

I feel like I sketched just about everyone who was wandering around PACC this past weekend. This is a selection of drawings from 10 pages of sketchbook drawings.

PACC recap

2011-08-16T11:04:00.000-04:00

This past Sunday I attended the Philadelphia Alternative Comic Con (PACC) which was my first convention in my home state of Pennsylvania. Despite the rainy weather, it was a pretty good turnout and I got to meet a lot of new creators. I didn't take tons of photos and the ones that I did came out pretty poorly, but I've included a few below.

The quick synopsis:

I really liked the vibe of the show. The Rotunda was a small venue and it felt intimate without being too crowded. All of the tables were very colorful and everyone seemed excited to be there. It did have a bit of a ska show feeling (as in everyone who was in the crowd was also in the band who's playing after yours) but maybe it's just because Philly is full of artsy, punk types. There was a definite crowd surge in the middle of the day when the rain had let up. By the end of the day (as with most cons) any casual attendees had left and everyone seemed tired and ready to go home with about an hour to go.

First, I'll get the Not So Good / Stuff to Learn From out of the way (none of which really had to do with PACC itself):

1) Sleep: Between having to wake up at 6 am and waking up in the middle of the night because of the massive thunder and lightning storm, I didn't get a lot of sleep.

2 Annoying transit stuff: The LIRR station ticket machine at our stop was broken so our $7 tickets were $24 into the city.

3) The weather: Traveling in the rain sucks. I'm glad that I decided to wear my rain boots AND to wrap my sneakers for the con in a plastic bag inside the suitcase. My 'extra pair' of 'dry' socks were soaked while the ones I'd worn were fine. I'm glad I packed my stuff for the con into Allan's rolling suitcase, but it still wasn't waterproof. The box my comics were in got warped and wet as did my Urban Nomad sign for my table. Luckily none of my comics or other products got soaked. The sign wasn't totally ruined, but it's pretty bent out of shape so I'll still need to get a new one printed before my next con. Next time: put everything in a plastic bag in addition to inside a box.

4) Foot traffic: I'm pretty sure the buckets of rain kept a lot of people from attending PACC. Sales were fairly slow and I didn't quite make back my table money (which wasn't much to begin with), let alone the price for travel and food. This isn't a terrible thing as financial achievements are rarely the mark of a great con experience and I feel the good stuff at PACC makes up for it.

It finally stopped raining after we'd packed up around 7 pm.

Okay enough whining, now The Good Stuff:

1) Travel:
Aside from the first leg of the trip, the rest of our travel went very smoothly. We had an hour to kill after we got into Manhattan so we got breakfast at the Tick Tock Diner next where to where the Bolt Bus stops. Taking the Bolt Bus was cheap, quick, comfy and Allan and I both had time to nap. Once in our destination city, taking SEPTA (Philly's transit) was pretty easy to figure out. I did end up with an extra token because we only had a $5 to put in the token machine. Our walk back to the bus wasn't too bad since we stopped for dinner in between. The bus was full on the way home, so I was glad I'd booked our tickets weeks in advance.

Rainy Philly from the Bolt Bus.

2) Music!
This was the first small convention I've been to that had a DJ playing music throughout the show. Although we were pretty close to a speaker, it only seemed too loud a few times. The larger publishers and distributors situated on the stage right next to the speakers may have felt differently. It did seem much louder up there. But any show where you can look at comics and listen to Hot Water Music, Cursive and Against Me! is pretty awesome, in my book.

3) Table space:
I'd gotten a half table, but it turned out to be almost 4 feet long which was great. It was kind of narrow between our table and the one at an angle from us which is where everyone who was coming or going had to pass through. There were a few traffic jams. All the windows were open and fans were strategically placed throughout the venue to circulate air. It was a bit muggy at times, but the on and off rain seemed to cool things off. We were at the end of a little alcove facing the rest of the convention space, so I had a nice view. Another note for the future: Get a longer table cloth or table skirt to hide things underneath like the giant suitcase and wet rain boots from general view.

The table all set up. Thanks to Allan (my #1 supporter and partner in crime) for coming on an adventure to Philly with me and braving the rain to get giant sandwiches for lunch.

4) The exhibitors:
There were only a handful of people exhibiting at PACC that I've met before (like Sarah Lindo, Stephen Seck, Pete Lazarski and Mike Turzanski) so it was a great opportunity to meet new people. Some I know via twitter (like Carolyn Belefski and Joe Carabeo of Curls' Studio) and it was nice to meet them in person. I met at least two of the ladies (Carrie Pietsch and Claire Folkman) behind the Dirty Diamonds anthology which looked pretty cool. I also met two other Queens based lady cartoonists, Monica (forgot her last name) and Kat Fajardo.

As far as the crowd went, AJ Michel stopped by to pick up Urban Nomad and dropped off some flyers advertising her kickstarter campaign for printing the Syndicate Product Meta Comics Issue that I have a comic in. I also got to meet Rob of Panel Patter from twitter and he picked up my Counter Attack Comics. Fellow NYC animator Will Krause and his gang drove all the way from the city in the rain to check out the festival. I also met the lovely Corinne Mucha and traded an issue of Counter Attack for the hilarious I Hate Mom's Cat and Other Tails.

5) Feedback:
A bunch of people stopped by to say they'd seen my comics at the Grawlix Awards the previous night. I hadn't been able to make it out, but it's awesome that everyone's submissions were on display for people to read. It was pretty cool for people to say they've seen my work somewhere. I also didn't realize at the time that one of the people who said he enjoyed Urban Nomad was no other than Philadelphia cartoonist Box Brown! That and someone who compared Urban Nomad to Lucy Knisley's comics were some pretty flattering compliments. I had some nice conversations, thanks to everyone who stopped by and especially those who bought a comic!

6) Dinner:
There was an after party planned by the ladies from the Dirty Diamonds Anthology that I would have totally gone to if we weren't getting back on a bus. I'd looked up the White Dog Cafe in my research of food in Philly and it seemed like a nice place to try for dinner.

Friends who used to live in Philly had seconded it, so we packed up a few minutes before 7 and headed over there. It was in a little row house and was separated into different dining areas. We were in "old couple land" sprinkled with other multi-ethnic/young couples. The wait staff was very courteous and checked up on us/refilled our water religiously. Allan had a beer, mushroom soup and lamb with risotto. I had a Savignon Blanc with an appetizer of fried green tomatoes. The main course was grilled tofu and veggie skewers with spicy sauce and cous cous. It was delicious and just what we needed to induce a nap on our 2 hour bus ride back into the city.

Here's a page from my sketchbook at the con. I did loads of sketches of people at PACC. I'll have a few more up on the blog on Wednesday.

Conan the Librarian and PACC

2011-08-10T10:00:00.001-04:00

So a friend mentioned Conan the Librarian the other day and I thought it too hilarious of a mental image to pass up drawing. Of course upon further inspection, I found out there is an entire Wikipedia entry dedicated to the subject. Nevertheless, I used the opportunity to try out some new brushes I downloaded from Chris Wahl.

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A reminder that I'll be at the Philadelphia Alternative Comic Con (PACC) this coming Sunday August 14th! It's from 12pm to 7pm at The Rotunda in Philly (4014 Walnut St.) Here's the Facebook invite! Come check out the fine comic and zinester folks for a mere $3 admission!

I'll have copies of Urban Nomad, Counter Attack, and my mini zine Rock On! (which you can only get from me in person)! Hope to see you there!

Savage Beauty

2011-08-08T18:27:00.000-04:00

Back in June I joined two of my friends at the Met for the Alexander McQueen exhibit. The line wait was a mere 45 minutes. As photography wasn't allowed in the galleries, I snuck in a few sketches where I could find a less crowded corner. I'm not usually aware of much in the fashion world but I was blown away by the imagination of the McQueen exhibit. Between how McQueen's intriguing designs and the amazing accessories created by his collaborators were displayed and the audio and video accompaniment, it was truly an immersive experience. Kudos to Andrew Bolton and his team for creating such great surroundings for the surreal, gorgeous and sometimes frightening pieces. I was hoping to make it back before the exhibit closed this past weekend, but once I heard about the four hour wait times I decided against it. If you weren't able to see it in person, there is a great collection of photos on the Met's website.

My sketches don't do the work justice, but I did a quick digital paint pass on two of them.

PACC and some site updates

2011-08-03T00:00:00.000-04:00

Yes, I actually did this the other day.

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PACC!

I should probably mention that I'll be at the Philadelphia Alternative Comic Con on Sunday August 14th! It's from 12pm to 7pm at The Rotunda in Philly (4014 Walnut St.)

I'll have copies of Urban Nomad, Counter Attack, and my mini zine Rock On! which you can only get from me in person! If you're in the area you should totally check it out. Admission is only $3 and it looks to be small press and indie zines at their best.

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Website update!

Remember my Europe Journal comic that I posted in June? All 100 pages now live on my website in the comics section! Also because the first issue of Counter Attack is currently out of print, I uploaded it in full on my site. Go check it out!

Last of the Chelsea Market people

2011-07-29T10:00:00.003-04:00

There were lots of sulky pre-teens wandering around with their parents. And little kids in adorable outfits. And some people who seemed over-dressed for 100 degrees.

If you missed the link on the Sketchcrawl Forum, here are a few photos from the High Line and Chelsea Market.

Chelsea Market ladies

2011-07-28T10:00:00.001-04:00

There were lots of fashionable ladies in dresses of all sorts.

More Chelsea Market people

2011-07-27T10:00:00.004-04:00

We found seating near a high traffic corner in Chelsea Market. There was a table outside a restaurant where a bunch of people were eating lunch so the waitress became one of my subjects. The other lady was wearing a crazy denim jumper which screamed "Texas" to me. Or maybe it was the fact that she was wearing it with silver heels.

Chelsea Market baby

2011-07-26T10:00:00.000-04:00

I digitally colored some of my figure studies from Sketchcrawl and will be posting the rest of them this week. This baby was very interested in joining Patricia and my conversation.

Sketchcrawl #32 The High Line

2011-07-25T10:00:00.001-04:00

Saturday was another 100 degree day in NYC, but that didn't stop 10 of us from meeting up to draw. Here are two watercolors I did on the High Line before we had to retreat to the air conditioning of Chelsea Market.

The Statue of Liberty is visible in the distance below the walkway.

Hanne and Olve joined us from Norway for this Sketchcrawl. We were all sobered by the recent tragic news from their home country. I hope they enjoy the rest of their visit to New York!

Some sketches of people and kids from Chelsea Market.

You can see some of my photos and a few more sketches on the Sketchcrawl Forum as well as drawings from all over the world!

Worldwide Sketchcrawl #32 is this Saturday July 23rd!

2011-07-20T12:30:00.000-04:00

The NYC branch of Sketchcrawl will be meeting at the 23rd St. entrance to The High Line Park at 10 am to sketch outside. We'll make our way south to Chelsea Market to escape from the heat, get lunch and draw indoors for a bit.

It'll be a hot one, so remember to bring plenty of water and sun protection along with your sketching supplies!

If you're not in NYC, check the forums for a group meeting near you!

Hedwig, Ron, Harry and Hermione

2011-07-15T13:53:00.000-04:00

I don't usually do much fan art, but I did some Harry Potter doodles with a sharpie and thought it'd be fun to color them up. I just watched Part 1 of the Deathly Hallows the other day, so maybe I'll actually catch the last film while it's still in theaters.

A little watercolor and some updates

2011-07-12T23:17:00.000-04:00

I don't have much new art to show at the moment, but I found this watercolor in my archive. It's cropped from a card I made for my niece's birthday last month.

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Mark your Calendars!

Worldwide Sketchcrawl #32 is scheduled for Saturday July 23rd. Go check out the forums to find one near you! The NYC branch will probably be meeting at The Highline Park. I'm looking forward to checking out the newly opened section and it looks like we'll have an international guest. Final meeting details will be posted in the forums.

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In other schedule news, I'm excited to add two new appearances to my upcoming convention schedule!

I'll have a table at The Philadelphia Alternative Comic Con (PACC) at The Rotunda from 2pm-7pm on Sunday August 14th. This will be my only event outside of NY this year, so come say hi!

I'll also be at Pete's Candy Store in Brooklyn for Fall into Zines on Sunday September 25th. More info on that as it's available.

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It seems I'm reaching the 500 post limit on blogger. Wow, when did this happen?! I'll probably be adding a new sketch blog to my site in the near future. I'm really not into Tumblr, and Wordpress was overwhelming last time I tried to make heads or tails of it. So it'll probably be another blogger account. I'll be sure to point you, dear readers, to the new blog once it exists!

Annecy in color

2011-06-30T12:35:00.000-04:00

I wanted to do some art to transition to my next project, so I did a color pass on one of my journal pages. When I wrote out the description on this page, I realized how much I would have loved to do the whole thing in color. Unfortunately I don't have the time or resources at the moment. My friend Pedro also pointed this panel out as benefiting from some color treatment, so here ya go!

Europe Journal Comic Day 16: June 18, 2010

2011-06-29T11:00:00.004-04:00

Well, that wraps up my 2010 Europe Journal Comic! Thank you so much to everyone for reading along, for your kind words and for re-tweeting and re-posting links! Although I ended up missing the mark of trying to update everything a year to the day, I still completed a ridiculous number of pages in under a month. The final comic clocked in at 100 pages, so this is officially the longest narrative I've ever completed in comic form!

When I get a minute I'll be archiving this journal comic on my website so it's easier to read chronologically. In case you're late to the show, you can start from page one here!

Europe Journal Comic Day 15: June 17, 2010

2011-06-28T11:00:00.011-04:00

Much like actually being on vacation, I'm a little sad to see this comic journey come to an end. Tomorrow will be the last post! Hope you've enjoyed the trip.

Last watercolor of Geneva.

Europe Journal Comic Day 14: June 16, 2010

2011-06-27T10:30:00.000-04:00

Sketches from the Geneva Museum.

More museum sketches.

Europe Journal Comic Day 13 (Part 2): June 15, 2010

2011-06-23T12:30:00.008-04:00

Here's the conclusion to the Gruyeres trip! Only two more days to go for the whole trip, less than 15 pages to ink...

Europe Journal Comic Day 13 (Part 1): June 15, 2010

2011-06-21T17:15:00.000-04:00

I'm dividing Day 13 into two parts as well. Part 2 of Gruyères will be up soon!

More sketches from Gruyères.

Europe Journal Comic Day 12: June 14, 2010 (Part 2)

2011-06-17T20:40:00.000-04:00

Ok, here's part two of our trip to Lausanne and Gruyeres!

Europe Journal Comic Day 12: June 14, 2010 (Part 1)

2011-06-15T19:03:00.001-04:00

Sketches from Lausanne and Ouchy.

Whew, this day ended up being 17 pages long! So I decided to split it into two posts. Thanks for your patience and I'll have part two up in the next day or so.

Europe Journal Comic Day 11: June 13, 2010

2011-06-13T11:00:00.018-04:00

Sketches from Lake Geneva.

I've run out of buffer for this next week so fair warning that I may have a day between updates for the last 4 posts. We saw so many awesome things in next 2 days of the journey so there are a lot of pages left to ink. Thanks for reading along so far!

Europe Journal Comic Day 10: June 12, 2010

2011-06-12T11:00:00.020-04:00

Some people sketches from the last day of the festival.

Start comic from Day 1.

Europe Journal Comic Day 9: June 11, 2010

2011-06-11T11:00:00.008-04:00

Some sketches from along Lac Annecy.

Europe Journal Comic Day 8: June 10, 2010

2011-06-10T11:00:00.024-04:00

Some color sketches of Annecy.

Go to Day 1 of the Journey.

Europe Journal Comic Day 7: June 9, 2010

2011-06-09T11:00:00.008-04:00

Colored pencil sketch from breakfast at Salon de Thé.

Europe Journal Comic Day 6: June 8, 2010

2011-06-08T10:30:00.000-04:00

Food sketches from Annecy.

Europe Journal Comic Day 5: June 7, 2010

2011-06-07T11:00:00.009-04:00

Some photos from our first day in Annecy.

Click here to start on day 1.

Europe Journal Comic Day 4: June 6, 2010

2011-06-06T11:00:00.012-04:00

Some watercolor sketches I did while we were hiking.

Click here to start on day 1.

Europe Journal Comic Day 3: June 5, 2010

2011-06-05T11:00:00.016-04:00

Here are some sketches I did at le Palais du Nations.

Europe Journal Comic Day 2: June 4, 2010

2011-06-04T11:00:00.032-04:00

Here's a link to some sketches I did on June 4th.

Europe Journal Comic Day 1: June 3, 2010

2011-06-03T11:00:00.024-04:00

(I forgot to write this into the comic, but please excuse my rudimentary French spelling and grammar throughout! I started to learn French via Rosetta Stone about 6 months before our trip, so I'm far from fluent.)

Zine Fest Roundup

2011-05-31T23:00:00.021-04:00

EDIT: I also have a guest comic up for Sauceome! I met Sarah Becan via twitter and am a big fan of her diary and food comics. Check out her work and the great lineup of guest comics she had starting last week!

(Here's a peek of the comic. See the whole thing here.)

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I had a lot of fun at my first Pete's Mini Zine Fest on Saturday! Met lots of new zinesters, got reacquainted with contributors to the Zinester's Guide to NYC and met a bunch of cat and music enthusiasts.

Here are a couple sketches I did of the crowd and fellow exhibitors:

Pete's Candy Store has a great stage space.

I was set up in the garden which was nice and shady within half an hour of our arrival.

(Photo courtesy of Andria Alefhi)

Ayun had an ingenious setup for her always hilarious and informative zine The East Village Inky.

Ben bought some issues of Counter Attack and requested a cat sketch. He and his wife have two cats and a turtle and thanks to phone technology, I was able to see just how cute they are. He posted a better image of the sketch and a nice review over here. Thanks Ben!

Friends Marc and Erica lived in the neighborhood and stopped by to say hi! It was great to see them. Hope you guys like your copy of Urban Nomad!

Thanks to everyone who came out, especially Marsha and David (who I totally didn't get a photo of)!

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And now for a NEWSFLASH!
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1) My website which was down due to changing servers is mostly functional again. The page for my animation reel is still a bit wonky, but otherwise you should be able to see my work again via www.alisaharris.com It's been a while since I've changed my blog format, so I spruced that up too.

2) I've decided to post my journal comics from Allan and my trip to Europe last summer. I never quite finished chronicling the last few days of the trip due to work and other projects that took up my time over the year. I figure if I don't plan to post them now, I will never finish them. So check back here on Friday for the first of 17 days of travel journal comics!

3) Another long awaited project is finally at the point where it will be making a debut very soon! Hint: It's the namesake of my twitter account. I know a bunch of people have been super patient with my getting this webcomic off the ground. More about that next week!

A week of zine production

2011-05-24T23:00:00.000-04:00

Here's a peek at my process for my new mini comic Rock On!

First, some back story. When I moved to NY, I didn't know a whole lot about music. My high school and early college taste included Nirvana, The Smashing Pumpkins, Weezer, and lots of classic rock like Led Zeppelin and The Rolling Stones.

My new circle of friends introduced me to the world of hardcore and post-punk which soon included going to live shows. In the late 90s, bands played almost every night in NYC and most shows were easily under 10 bucks. A few years after I discovered the scene a lot of the venues came under scrutiny. As new club laws passed and rents were raised, many of the bars closed or stopped hosting live shows.

I decided to record some of my memories in comic form and include each venues' address and years they were open for posterity. There is also a handy map on the back if you're so inclined to take a walking tour of NYC's musical past.

Research for this project was actually a lot more time intensive than I had anticipated. I had some blown out photos of shows and bands, but because this was the era before everyone had a phone or digital camera at their disposal there isn't much documentation online. A lot of the venues are barely mentioned aside from an article or two on their closings. I ended up digging through a box of memorabilia (or "junk" as others might call it) under my bed. I unearthed a copy of the Village Voice from September 2001 which is how I found out about weekly shows back in the day. Luckily my analog file helped me out here and I found all but one of the fonts I was looking for from this source.

Since this is the smallest I've ever worked, I wanted to make sure that my writing and images would be legible when they were minimized. I thumbnailed the comic on one sheet of paper just like I planned to print it.

I scanned it in and did a pass in photoshop with blacks so I could see where I wanted contrast. I also found some of the logos from the bands I was mentioning and pasted them onto the pshop document. I wanted to get a show flyer look, but much preferred to ink all the lettering by hand. This part took a long time. I've made a font from my handwriting that I tend to used for my diary comics, but I feel like lettering is something I wanted to work on more. And well, after the lettering took much longer than inking the art, I think I got that out of my system.

When I was happy with the basic layout, I made the thumbnails larger and printed them out. I did my tighter pencils and lettering on another sheet of printer paper. When everything was lined up how I wanted it, I penciled each page on a sheet of bristol board with the roughs on a lightbox. My final pages were pretty small, 5.5" x 8.5"

I inked each one with a brush, erased the pencil lines long after the ink dried to prevent smudging, and voila! It's ready to be scanned and re-formatted for print.

I did minimal photoshop cleanup on each page, re-sized them and laid them out in the same file as my inital thumbnails. I did a few test prints and needed to tweak the layout so everything lined up right when the zine was folded. I figured out the folding process by taking apart some minis I've gotten at cons and reconstructing them. I'm sure someone has written out far better instructions on how to fold and cut comics like this online.

This was my first foray into one sheet comics and it was fun. A little more time intensive than I anticipated, but I put in the hours of research and fixing layouts so that it would be something I was proud of, no matter how little it is. And it was only about a week of production time, not including a few hours of thumb-nailing and brainstorming on my commutes last month. Hope you enjoyed checking this out and are possibly excited to try making your own mini zine!

Rock On! will be available for the super low price of $1 at the 2nd Annual Pete's Mini Zine Fest this coming Saturday at Pete's Candy Store in Williamsburg, Brooklyn from 3pm-7pm. Live music, beer, zines, what more could you ask for? The fest will be indoor/outdoor so be aware the rain date is June 4th.

Self-portrait and a Zine Fest

2011-05-18T00:00:00.032-04:00

Well the past two crazy months culminated in a pretty kick-ass pilot that no one will ever see, but will hopefully get green lit as a series and then I can be like "THAT was the thing I was working on!" I drew a rough sketch of how I saw myself pre and post-work that got a giggle out of Allan so I cleaned it up and colored it too. It was so nice to ink on paper again, even if I feel a bit rusty.

I'm pretty excited to be a part of the upcoming Pete's Mini Zine fest on Saturday May 28th! It will combine two of my favorite things: Comics and live music! I'm working on a topical new mini comic to debut at the fest. Check back next week for some more on that!

Hiking Wren

2011-05-11T00:00:00.005-04:00

This was my contribution to a hobo bindle for my friend who is currently hiking the Appalachian Trail. If you like to travel vicariously, here is her blog!

Also, I'll be at Pete's Mini Zine Fest on Saturday May 28th from 3-7 pm at Pete's Candy Store in Brooklyn. Mark your calendars, come have a beer, listen to some live bands and buy some comics and zines!

Green riding hood on the 7 train

2011-05-06T00:01:00.000-04:00

Whew, one more crazy work week and then hopefully back to drawing my own stuff for a bit. This is the last of the memory subway sketches I had stashed from the beginning of April. I just finished up the color tonight, though. Have a great weekend!

Bride of the 6 Train

2011-04-27T00:20:00.000-04:00

Another memory subway sketch from back in March. This woman's hair and color scheme were just amazing.

Sketchcrawl: Museum of Natural History

2011-04-20T00:00:00.002-04:00

Sketchcrawl #31 was on Saturday and because it was raining, I drew at the Museum of Natural History instead of the zoo. Most of the animal exhibits were super crowded so I wandered around to the Mexican and South American exhibits to draw some awesome anthropomorphic pottery.

(I also drew outside for a bit which is why my ink got smeary.)

Thank you so much to my friends and family who sponsored my Sketchcrawl to benefit Give2Asia! I raised $160 for the earthquake and tsunami relief fund for Japan. You can check out other drawings from around the world here.

MoCCA

2011-04-17T15:17:00.001-04:00

In case you don't follow me on twitter, here's a link to my MoCCA write up!

I'll have some of my Sketchcrawl drawings up on Wednesday, so check back for them!

If you weren't able to make it to MoCCA, my comics are available here! I'm also contemplating making them available for digital download.

On Spring Street

2011-04-13T00:00:00.000-04:00

While on my lunch break a few weeks ago, I saw this little boy walking with his parents and first thought, "cute bear hat!" Then as I got closer, I realized it was a whole bear (or is it a monkey?) SUIT and that the "tail" was actually a child leash. These parents are teaching their child shame at 4 years old. I'm not a parent, but if your kid is old enough to walk, he's probably too old for a full animal outfit if it's not Halloween. But that's just my opinion. And it did make for a funny drawing.

Thanks so much to everyone who came out to the MoCCA Festival this past weekend! It was great to see familiar fans, chat with past coworkers and to meet new readers and internet friends. I'm still going through all the awesome comics and books I picked up. Hopefully I will have a con review and photos online over the weekend. I'm at a new job, so blog posts will be once a week for a while.

Also, a reminder that Worldwide Sketchcrawl #31 is this coming Saturday April 16th. This one is a benefit drawing marathon for the Japanese tsunami and earthquake relief fund, so here is the donation link for Give2Asia. I was planning for the NYC group to meet at the Bronx Zoo, but if you have alternate suggestions go voice them on the forum! Final meetup location and times will be posted there as well. Also check out the forum for a Sketchcrawl location nearest you!

I'll be at the MoCCA Art Festival this Saturday and Sunday!

2011-04-06T00:00:00.000-04:00

(postcard art by Peter Kuper)

I'll be at the MoCCA Festival this weekend! I'll be debuting my 4th issue of Counter Attack, vignettes of my two crazy cats. I can't believe it's been six years since I made my first issue on a whim for the San Diego Comic Con. There are less than 20 copies of Counter Attack #1 left, so this may be your last chance to pick it up as a mini comic.

I will also have issues 1-3 of Urban Nomad. Issue #3 debuted as a super short run at King Con last fall so I ordered a few more copies for MoCCA.

There will also be buttons, bookmarks and less than 5 copies of The Zinesters Guide to NYC which I did a number of illustrations for. So again, be an early bird if you want to pick that up, or you can order it online from the publisher here.

In addition, all sales of my cute food art prints and original watercolors will be donated to the earthquake and tsunami relief fund in Japan via Give2Asia.

So stop by table H7 and say hello to Allan and I!
(Click to make the map larger!)

MoCCA Festival at the Lexington Avenue Armory
April 9th & 10th
11 am to 6 pm
68 Lexington Ave (between 25th and 26th St.) NYC
$12 for the day, $20 for the weekend (advance tickets are $10/day and $15/weekend)

Also, are you a lady who reads, draws, writes, or reports on comics? Come out to the Drink and Draw Like a Lady party on Friday night (7-10:30 pm) at 192 Books! Here's the Facebook RSVP if you wanna take a look.

(postcard art by Tara Abbamondi

Scarf dog in Flushing

2011-04-04T00:00:00.000-04:00

A couple Saturdays ago Allan and I saw a man walking two dogs. One had a doggie coat on and the other had a scarf wrapped around him like a coat. I drew him from memory the next day and gave him a quick color pass.

Also, my little sister turns 30 today! Happy Birthday Kelly! I'm glad Mom didn't listen to me and "return you" when we were little.

Counter Attack #4 Part 2

2011-03-30T11:00:00.006-04:00

Final pages of Counter Attack on my desk.

The last step that I do on paper is painting the cover. I sketch it out in pencil on a sheet of printer paper first. Then I tape it to my lightbox and paint over it on a sheet of hotpress watercolor paper that is taped on top of the sketch.

I was rather frustrated with my painting for the cover because I couldn't find the same paper I'd used for the previous ones and this paper reacted differently than I expected. But I'm including the process photos because in the end I think they look fine in the final prints. After the colors are done, I use a brush and India ink to outline it and write out the title on a separate piece of bristol board.

I scan in the art, make any fixes in photoshop, save each image as its own page, bring them into Indesign and export them as a .PDF. Then it's off to the copy shop with my PDF on a memory key! I go in the next day to look at the proof, make any changes if I need to and order the final copies. About a week later, I've got my finished comics! Fidget displays a copy of Counter Attack #4:

Only a week left until MoCCA! Allan Norico and I will be at table H7! I'll post a handy map next week.

On the 7 train

2011-03-28T00:00:00.000-04:00

I saw this guy on my morning commute 2 weeks ago and drew him a few days after.

Counter Attack #4 process

2011-03-23T00:00:00.000-04:00

Hello and welcome to my drawing desk! It looks kind of messy here because it was when I was in production on the 4th issue of my comic Counter Attack. I took some photos along the way to give a little behind the scenes look at how I create Counter Attack.

Counter Attack is the first mini-comic I started in 2005. It stars my two gray cats, Moe and Fidget. I've put out about an issue a year since 2008. It's only 16 pages of single images, so my production time is much shorter than my other comics. It only takes me about 2 weeks from start to finish!

Throughout the year I write down ideas and do little sketches like these when my cats do something funny that I think would work in the book. After about 6 months, I usually have enough ideas written down to start another issue.

I look through my notes and sketches and decide which ones I want to include. Then I make a layout mock-up on a sheet of paper to see how I want the book to flow. Sometimes seeing the images together helps me decide in which order to put them.

I work on 11x14 Smooth Bristol Board with Rapidograph Black India Ink and a size 0 Utrecht Sablette Brush. I do my pencils with a Staedler mechanical pencil because I like the thicker lead. I also like sketching my thumbnails out with a Pilot pen because I like the immediacy of the line. I letter the comic with a Micron .08 pen. I use a Pentel Brush pen when I'm on the road or sketching outside since it's easier than constantly dipping a brush. Here's a photo of some of the tools I used to make my journal comics.

I pencil all the pages out on the Bristol board and then move on to inking them. I end up erasing my pencil lines before I scan the pages, but here's what a panel looks like before it's erased:

I'll be back next week with some photos of my process for painting the cover and a look at the final comics!

On the F train

2011-03-21T11:00:00.001-04:00

Last week I was commuting to the city to do freelance work and found myself drawing people in my mind so I can remember them later. I drew this lady in Sketchbook Pro the evening after I saw her and added color in Photoshop. It's a fun observation exercise and I have a few more to post in the following weeks.

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

2011-03-16T00:00:00.000-04:00

Allan and I visited Ireland in the spring of 2006 with some of our friends who ran the Connemara Marathon. We climbed Croagh Patrick, the mountain St. Patrick built a church on top of and where pilgrims often traverse barefoot to the summit. I met a few sheep on the way to the top of the rocky peak which inspired this sheep taking a tea break. Their wool was dyed to mark who they belonged to. I had a lovely time in the west of Ireland and would love to visit again someday.

Brief intermission

2011-03-14T00:00:00.000-04:00

I just wanted to bring attention to a few different charity efforts being organized by artists for the relief efforts after the devastating earthquake and tsunami in Japan. I'm sure there are more out there, but these are organized by people I know in some way.

Dice Tsutsumi (art director at Pixar, organizer of the 2008 Totoro Forest Project to help preserve Sayama Forest in Japan and the Sketchtravel Project) has started a page for Give2Asia.

Marty Ito lives in Sapporo which was unaffected by the earthquake, but he is helping raise funds for the earthquake victims. This site is in Japanese, but I figured I'd post it anyway. I drew at the Met with Marty and his wife when they visited the states a few years ago and they are both great artists.

Screenprinting artist Meg Hunt is organizing an art auction to raise money for AmeriCare Japan relief. She is looking for artists to donate art. You can find out more on her tumblr.

If you're able to donate art or your dollars towards any of these charitable causes, please do. Spreading the word also helps. If you know of any other artist organized efforts, feel free to mention them in the comments.

My friends Brian and Lydia are currently teaching in Japan and were luckily not directly affected. Since I probably haven't mentioned it before, they're keeping a neat photo/comic travel blog over here.

Doodle face

2011-03-11T00:00:00.001-05:00

Busy, busy over here. Also, I don't suppose I've mentioned it here yet, but I will be exhibiting at the MoCCA Art Festival on April 9 & 10! I got my proof from Counter Attack #4 this week and it's lookin' pretty snazzy. I will have some updates about my comic-making process in the next 2 weeks and a sneak peak of the new issue when I pick them up.

Life drawing and some updates

2011-03-02T11:00:00.002-05:00

It was great to get back to life drawing last week and also catch up with a bunch of people I haven't seen in a while. I was also excited to excavate an old pen from my art drawer which turned out to work well for gestures.

I really don't know what to do with myself with poses over 3 minutes sometimes. I usually end up overworking the gesture. So instead, my pen wanders to drawing the other artists in the room.

So now, a little blog news. I'm going to be cutting back my posts to once a week (on Wednesdays) for a while. The reason for this is because I want to focus better on a long running project I'm trying to get off the ground. I'm cutting back on my distractions, and blogging 3 times a week is one of them. I'm really excited about this project and I'm looking forward to sharing more about it in the coming months. See ya next week!

W.E.B DuBois

2011-02-25T11:00:00.005-05:00

February is Black History Month, and I felt inclined to do a portrait study of W.E.B DuBois. I was introduced to this civil rights activist via my boyfriend whose favorite quote from Dubois is: "The most important thing to remember is this: To be ready at any moment to give up what you are for what you might become." In the spirit of that quote, I did the portrait in ink wash and charcoal instead of digitally, the medium I work in more often.

DuBois was born in 1868 and grew up in Great Barrington, Massachusetts which has an amazing mural dedicated to him. He was an author and educator, ran for NY senate, was one of the founders of the NAACP, was an advocate of birth control and inter-racial marriage and opposed the use of nuclear weapons. He died at age 95, the day before Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I have a dream speech."

DuBois was an eloquent speaker, and I'm having trouble narrowing down some of my favorite quotes.

"But art is not simply works of art; it is the spirit that knows Beauty, that has music in its soul and the color of sunsets in its headkerchiefs; that can dance on a flaming world and make the world dance, too."

His thoughts on war and education are still relevant and these two jumped out at me:

"Either America will destroy ignorance or ignorance will destroy the United States."

"What do nations care about the cost of war, if by spending a few hundred millions in steel and gunpowder they can gain a thousand millions in diamonds and cocoa."

Client work

2011-02-23T11:00:00.001-05:00

I've been working on some fun client work lately. This one had a pretty tight turnaround and went live in early January. DataXu wanted a New Yorker style cartoon to use at a conference. The concept was put together by the creative agency I was working with, I just did the art. I've been working on some other pitches for them, so I'll probably have a few more to show at some point.

(I have no idea why it looks so tiny, you can click to make it larger.)

Florida Journal Comic

2011-02-21T11:00:00.000-05:00

Allan was invited to speak at his old school, so last weekend we flew to Florida and spent 3 days at Full Sail in Winter Park. We didn't have time to go to Disney World, but visiting the school campus was almost like a theme park itself! Many thanks to the great teachers who gave us a tour of all the new facilities at Full Sail. Allan's lectures went well and we had a lovely time! Here's the journal comic I did while we were there. (Click each image to make larger.)

Sharpie doodles

2011-02-18T11:00:00.000-05:00

I bought a 5 pack of Sharpie markers for $1 a few weeks ago. Some doodles I did with them while talking on the phone. Hoping to have time to finish inking my latest travel comic this weekend, so it should be up next week!

Life drawing from Dec 2

2011-02-16T11:00:00.002-05:00

It seems like forever since life drawing class ended. I think it starts up again this week, so hopefully I'll get back there soon.

Watercolor portrait

2011-02-11T11:00:00.007-05:00

A watercolor I did of my brother and his girlfriend for his birthday last week. They are avid snowboarders and I based this off a photo from one of their trips. I was pretty excited to figure out a new technique for this portrait. Looking forward to playing around with a combo of digital and traditional technique more.

Spaced doodles

2011-02-09T11:00:00.004-05:00

Some sharpie doodles I did while listening to a Q&A on the Spaced DVD.

I'm obviously missing drawing from life if I'm drawing from TV. I think classes start up again next week!

Elves

2011-02-07T11:00:00.002-05:00

I doodled loads of pages of elves in November looking for an idea for my Christmas card. I ended up using a different idea, but these guys and girls are still cute and I plan to use them for something. Here are a few of my favorites:

Gung Hay Fat Choi!

2011-02-04T11:00:00.000-05:00

I still don't know much about Chinese New Year, but since I've lived in the Chinatown/Koreatown of Queens for 2 years, I figured I'd do some art to celebrate it.

Happy Year of the Rabbit!

Hourly Comic time

2011-02-02T14:30:00.002-05:00

February 1st is Hourly Comic Day. And here is mine:

You can also check out my slightly more exciting hourly comic day from last year when I was visiting my family in Arizona.

In 2009, my
hourly comic was done digitally and in color!

And the very first (and barely legible) hourly comic I did in 2008.

EDIT: Since I scanned my comics yesterday and haven't used my sketchbook yet today...I just found this. Allan's contribution to my comic.

Last of the January Journal Comics

2011-02-02T11:00:00.001-05:00

January Journal Comics Part 7

2011-01-31T11:00:00.001-05:00

Sketchcrawl part 2

2011-01-28T00:30:00.000-05:00

January Journal Comic Part 6

2011-01-26T11:00:00.002-05:00

Only 2 more ruled pages left in my sketchbook, which means 6 more days left in my daily journal comic experiment. Hope you've enjoyed reading them so far!

Sketchcrawl #30

2011-01-24T00:15:00.000-05:00

It was pretty cold on Saturday, but I braved the cold and so did about 12 other sketchers in NYC. We drew at the Met, ate an overpriced lunch in the cafeteria and swapped sketchbooks. Thanks for coming out everyone! I'll post a second entry with the rest of my drawings next week. I'll also have another journal comic up this week, but it may be on Friday instead of Wednesday so I'll have time to color it. I'm a busy bee.

January Journal Comic part 5

2011-01-21T00:00:00.001-05:00

Wow! Well this week was pretty busy, but I still managed to color my daily comics. It's been a fun experiment so far. Editing my days down to one panel and three lines of text has been fairly challenging.

Just a reminder that Worldwide Sketchcrawl #30 is tomorrow, Saturday January 22nd! The NYC group will be drawing at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (1000 Fifth Avenue at 82nd Street) Meet at 11 am by the big central information kiosk right past security at the main entrance.

Winter Doodles and Sketchcrawl #30!

2011-01-19T11:00:00.002-05:00

I hadn't scanned any of my sketchbook drawings in a while, so here are two pages from November and December.

Worldwide Sketchcrawl #30 is this Saturday January 22nd! If you're interested in meeting up with the NYC group, we'll be drawing at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (1000 Fifth Avenue at 82nd Street) Meet at 11 am by the big central information kiosk right past security at the main entrance. Admission is still pay what you wish. If you're not in NYC, check out the forums for a group in your area, or start one!

January Journal Comic part 4

2011-01-17T11:00:00.002-05:00

January Journal Part 3

2011-01-14T11:00:00.001-05:00

In case you missed the earlier ones:
Part 1

Part 2

Sketchbook Pro doodle

2011-01-12T11:00:00.002-05:00

Another warmup drawing from a few weeks ago.

January Journal comics: Part 2

2011-01-10T11:00:00.004-05:00

I trimmed my bangs on Thursday, which explains the sudden hair shift in panel 2. And yes, I am wearing the same sweater in half of these comics.

warmup sketches

2011-01-07T11:00:00.003-05:00

These are some brush pen doodles left over from December that I found when I was cleaning off my desk.

Happy New Year!

2011-01-05T11:00:00.002-05:00

As a drawing exercise, I've decided I'll be doing a one panel journal comic at the end of each day. Since 4 panels fit on a sketchbook page, I'll be doing an update about every 4 days of the previous 4 days. I still plan to update with a backlog of December sketches as well, so keep checking back!

And of course once I sliced them all up into single panels, I figured I'd spend a few minutes to see if I wanted to color them...and here's the result 2.5 hours later. Can't guarantee I'll be coloring all of them, but I thought it might be an interesting change of pace from the black and white world.

Ganesh and some Hindu sculptures

2010-12-27T11:00:00.004-05:00

A few more from drawing at the Met.

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-20T11:00:00.002-05:00

I know a lot of people will be traveling this week, so I figured I'd post my Christmas Card from this year a bit early. It was originally done for the They Draw and Cook website (posted on December 1) and if you checked my blog earlier this month, you may have seen it already. Hope everyone enjoys their week!

Also, I joined twitter. I'm @ CookingUpComics if you want to see what kind of random stuff I post that's not necessarily art related.

This post actually has a happy ending!

2010-12-17T11:00:00.004-05:00

This made me sad the other day: Cosmic Comics is closing! But then I found out that they're staying open under new management. I went to art school about 5 blocks from their store, yet only visited for the first time a few years ago. They are a nice little shop, hope the new management keeps them going! Cosmic Comics was also featured in Urban Nomad 3 in the story of the day Allan and I became domestic partners:

(Click image to see it full size)

Stoned and Dangerous

2010-12-15T11:30:00.000-05:00

One of the web projects I worked on launched in November, and here it is! It's a promo for Bride magazine with the catchy title "Stoned and Dangerous." Art direction and design by Chris Pace, Flash animation by me! You can add your picture via your computer or facebook and see what kind of bride you are! This is one of the reasons I was off the radar in September and October. It also got a writeup in The New York Times!

Zen

2010-12-13T11:00:00.001-05:00

I went to the Met with Cynthea last week. We were disappointed that the costume institute was closed. But we sketched in the Asian wing and the zen garden.