Me and me

(click on it if you can't read it....)

(p.s. I just reread it and realized something...by it being "over" I don't mean death. at all. not even a little bit. I just mean, this shitty stuff I'm going through. k?)

Nostalgia and Adulthood

Learning how to draw myself again:

Another picture-less comic about serious stuff.

P.S. Chuck, I couldn't do this without you. Thank you for being amazing.

And more memories:

This weekend, in the magical Christmas house that my mom and my sister created, I experienced some really intense nostalgia. Memories haven't come flooding back to me like that in a really really really long time. The house my mom lives in is the house we grew up in, she's lived there for 20 years now. It's changed a lot but so much is still the same.

These 3 particular memories are:

top: there was this rusty pipe sticking out of a cement block near our driveway, and my sister and I would always put stuff in it, like rocks and grass and water and pinecones

middle: I have a really distinct memory of playing in our dirt driveway, poking at anthills with a stick, while the sun was setting, in the summertime

bottom: I once snuck out of my bedroom window at night. Looking at our house from that angle made it suddenly feel like a stranger's house. I felt really alone and separate from it.

'Bout to Barf

HOLY GUACAMOLE

I GOT A XERIC

Get ready for some new freddy stories in a REAL BOOK!

Thankyou, I love you all.

I have big ideas for this...

lots of new content, some different type stuff, I'll tell you more later.

right now I feel like

Memories

I've been writing a lot recently about my childhood memories...it's weird how when you try really hard to remember things they don't come, but then you remember one thing and a ton of stuff comes flooding back...I'm going to try to do one of these at least once a week.

I'm really trying to figure out how to make a schedule for myself and make myself do work. Every time I sit down to draw I feel so much better. I've just been a big ball of tense for the past week. Plus I'm waiting for the Xeric letter...maybe it comes today....aaagh

Hi

Here's a bunch of stuff--I probably should be uploading these right after I do them, because every day everything changes so much.

Thanks again to everyone for being so awesome. It's really helping me to put these up...it's totally weird, but really helping.

Beware, this first one has a couple of F-bombs.

This is from Friday 12/17

and this is from yesterday 12/18.

And here's a self-portrait. I haven't done one of these in a really long time. But Chuck did one and I thought I should do one too.

and also this. I think I'm starting to change the way I draw myself...

love

mm

More

This one's from yesterday:

And this is from today:

Gettin' More Personal

I want to thank everyone so much who responded to me about that last comic I posted...I almost didn't put it up, and I'm so glad I did. It's really important to know that other people go through the same stuff. I love you all a lot. We'll figure this shit out together!

Here's another one. There's a lot of "but"s in it. I've just been drawing these without planning them out first.

But first here's some real photos of Gino's Nativity scene and Christmas decorations:

and a little drawing of Sophie, a cat I got as a kitten in highschool and recently passed away. We love you Sophie, you were a total weirdo, and an awesome cat.

and now

Gettin' Personal

Something I needed to get out of me and onto paper.

I've been really inspired by Gabrielle Bell's comics lately...I bought her new mini at BCGF and it's amazing. I'm not always drawn to making diary comics, but hers always reach way beyond just being personal, and they make me want to do more comics like that.

Speaking of Brooklyn Comics and Graphics Festival, it totally ruled! Each time

it happens I leave there thinking that I'd be happy is that were the only show I went to all year. Sad but true. I want to go to Mocca and SPX less and less...I'm still thinking about why this is.

But mostly it ruled because I MET LYNDA BARRY. I was in line to have her sign a book and I almost started crying. I managed to hold the tears until afterwards though. In like 2 minutes we had one of the most amazing conversations ever, and I left it ready to draw draw and draw more Freddy stories.

She talked about how when she draws Marlys, it's like Marlys only exists when Lynda draws her...like Lynda is giving her life, giving her part of herself, but Marlys doesn't keep existing and doing things inside of Lynda's head. She compared it to giving life to stuffed animals or a blankie when you're little. This is how I feel about Freddy too. And it's why drawing these Freddy stories is so important...I get to step outside of myself and talk about the stuff that's sometimes hard to talk about through her.

Peggy at D&Q sent me this photo. I have no idea who took it! Man, look at that awesome posture.

The Bird

To read the rest go here: http://www.mmmendes.com/p/bird.html

Punkin'!

Chuck's mom, Alyce, carved an awesome pumpkin based on a face from my comic!!! How cool is that??

It's Al

This is Al. I'm making a comic book with her in it. These are some tests I did to see how I'll draw it...

Pastime

Lumberjackets

Also, Emely's making comics! They're awesome!

Today at New Urban Arts we made lumberjack shirts out of paper, and a saw out of cardboard, to prepare for cutting down the giant paper mache tree in the middle of the studio. I can't believe how lucky I am to be a part of that place. It's insane.

Fall

I haven't done this yet this year...but I can remember that brown, smoky smell when you're covered in leaves.

Halloweener

So, after a super inspiring talk with my friend Emely on Saturday, and after a couple weeks of adapting to living in a new place and feeling a little weird, I have made a promise to myself to DRAW MORE AND ALL THE TIME. I think sometimes I wait until I feel totally comfortable and happy to draw, but also sometimes drawing makes me feel comfortable and happy, so when I'm not drawing at all, I become static and I think too much. So Emely and I made a pact to make more work. I gotta draw more Freddy stories! And I gotta make something new for BCGF!!

In other news, Halloween was awesome. We danced like crazy with awesome friends, and we dressed as Hall and Oates, which was extremely satisfying for some reason.

(vote for us on gawker!!)

Here's a drawing of Freddy on Halloween. Her costume is inspired by my friend Jori's.

Also yesterday I stabbed myself pretty bad with a knife while I was trying to carve a pumpkin, and I put a band-aid on it, and then we went to see The Social Network and I looked down at my hand and blood was dripping all over the place. Like a horror movie! So Halloween-y! A really nice security guard who reminded me of a milkman from the 1930s patched me up. It was great. Thank you, mister.

And in conclusion, here are some screenprints I made in a rubylith workshop with the incredible Jean Cozzens. It's from a photo in an old National Geographic of workers at Pringle's Mill in Iverness, Scotland. They are mixing dyed wool together.

Popeye + Indiana Jones = Love

Hello Friends,

As you probably know, my wonderful boyfriend, Chuck Forsman, and I, just moved to Providence, RI. We have a beautiful apartment, and so many awesome friends! And, like a million other people our age, we moved here with not very much, and are trying to hack it as artists and live off of a part-time job. And Chuck just got a job! I work at the wonderful New Harvest Coffee Roasters in Pawtucket, where I worked when I lived here before.

But money is still tight, and Chuck made a beautiful beautiful page of comics, which he is selling as a full-color print for only 20 dollars, to try and make rent this month.

Here's a lil' of what he says:

I drew six scenes from Raiders as daily Popeye strips and tried to color them to look like they appeared in a newspaper from the 30’s. I put them all together as an 11”x17” poster that you can frame, put in your bathroom or place it behind that San Diego magnet on your fridge. I am only printing 100 of these these so they are a limited thing. If it proves that people like it then maybe I’ll do Temple of Doom or another movie. Maybe I should do Jaws. That would be kind of perfect.

You can purchase it here!

And read his full blog post here!

Some pictures:

Feelin's

Home and family are something I value a lot. A lot lot. I hope that this comes through in my comics, too.

Moving to a new place is hard. Moving to a new/old place is almost harder. I love Providence and I'm so glad to be here and so lucky. And I am homesick for my Mom's house. We lived there for about a month and everything felt so relaxed and comfortable, and I forgot what's it's like to be a grown up and to have to work and make a life of my own. But I'm not on my own...I have wonderful people around.

How do you get rid of homesickness?

Changin'

I know I know...I keep changing the way this blog looks. Like, every day. But I think I like it the best now.

Check out the comics link, there's things to read!

And in illustration, things to look at!

And I'm still working on the links part, friends!

Also here's something that I love

Check her other stuff out...it's gorgeous! Ginette Lapalme

Aminals

My buddy Andrew Oesch and I are mentoring together at New Urban Arts starting in a few weeks. I'M SO SUPER PSYCHED! We are the "publishing mentors", which we just sort of made up; and I think it means we'll be making books, all kinds of books, and things that you make more than one of, like posters. We will also be constructing a cardboard publishing house for the studio.

These are some drawings I did for a poster that Andrew will be making about us as publishing mentors.

Stuff to Read!

See on the right where it says "Read some comics"?

Click on it to read some choice stories from my two Freddy minis. The first book has been redrawn for the Xeric application.

It's not new really, but it's there.

You know what is new? My mom found a little snake in the basement and I picked it up to put it outside and it bit me. We're pretty sure it's a milksnake and not poisonous. But I still thought I was going to die.

Too bad it was a milksnake and not milksteak.

Milk Steak from dalboz on Vimeo.

Xeric

The application is in!!!

Now I wait. Here's the cover...

Also, I'm not going to MICE in Boston tomorrow anymore... I suddenly got overwhelmed that we're moving to Providence NEXT WEEKEND and I want to spend more time with Ma while I'm here.

BUT Chuck is still going, and Sam Gaskin, and Jose-Luis Olivares. And they are amazing amazing amazing. (My books will still be at their table.) Sorry MICE! Maybe next time.

Ad/ Postcard and T Shirt for New Harvest

http://www.newharvestcoffee.com/

SPX 2010 and my new arm

My favorite thing I got at SPX. It's comic poetry, so beautiful and simple and inspiring...I'm going to read it again immediately.

Blurry Sean Ford, Alex Kim, and Yours Truly. Chuck Forsman is around somewhere! Photo by Jacie Anderson-Coovert.

Monster, put together by Paul Lyons, and he did the amazing cover too. It's full of incredible comics! I'm not sure where you can buy it now, when I know I'll tell you. Eventually I bet you can get it from Picturebox.