Werewolves!

I just finished a story for the upcoming latest Werewolf Anthology, third in a series of stellar collections.

It'll be debuting at MECAF!

Here's a preview of my story. I had a lot of fun drawing it...

Progress Report

Hi Strangers,

Working all day on the 'puter is sort of burning me out of the internet. Which is not a bad thing I guess.

I've been drawing Freddy pages:

I'm trying something new this time that I'm really excited about. I'm not penciling nuthin'.

Just drawing straight in ink, looking at thumbnails. I kind of feel like this is how I'm meant to draw. I've been thinking about Lynda Barry's Marlys strips a lot. I don't know what her specific process is with these, but there's a life in them that I love, that seems like she just drew it straight from her brain. Sometimes I feel like I only get Freddy's expression right the first time, and the more I draw it over and over, the more detached I feel from her.

So that's what's happening.

In other news;

I'm a total Gleek now, like seriously obsessed, and I'm not ashamed to admit it. Ask Chuck. I talk about the characters on Glee like they are real people.

My favorite color is green

And our cat eats doritos.

Love

mm

Devil's Lake

Minty Lewis and I have comics in the newest issue of Devil's Lake, a really great literary magazine from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

http://english.wisc.edu/devilslake/index.html

Mine is "Bird", which you might have read already, but it's still cool to see it somewhere new.

And Minty is amazing. She and Damien Jay just had a baby, Sally, who is supah cute! They're one of my favorite cartoonist families ever.

We're off to NYC tomorrow for MoCCA! I'll have that new collection of the journal comics, and copies of bird, and "Kids"! And then I'm taking a week off, and going up to White River Junction for a Lynda Barry workshop...omg I'm so excited. OMGOMGOMGOMG.

But I have to pack for a whole week. HOW DO I DO THAT? I've forgotten.

I feel like blog posts always have to have pictures, so here's one of me with my Memére and Papa. His birthday was this past week. Uncle Sully from my Freddy Stories is based on my Papa Mendes. Papa Charlie. He's the best.

love

Stuff!

KIDS!!!

SUNDAYS!!!

MOCCA!!!

work

Makin' the Comics!

We're heading up to White River Junction this weekend to make a ton of books!

Sundays 4 will be in production as well as Kids, the anthology that José and I will be putting together.

Both will debut at MoCCA next weekend!!!

Also, I'm collecting all the journal comics I've been putting up here, along with the memory comics and pages from my sketchbooks. While I was putting it together, part of me wants to just light it all on fire and forget about it. But I'll leave that up to you guys, feel free to buy it and read it then light it on fire! I mean this in the best way possible.

Here's the cover (the full spread)

So yeah, we'll be at MoCCA, next to our buddies Secret Acres!

And I've been thinking a lot about dancing. I might start taking tap again. Or jazz.

A Lot of Stuff all at Once

Hi

Ok. Here's a whole bunch of things.

I haven't posted much personal stuff in a while...it was hard for me to admit it when things weren't getting better. But this little drawing sums up what I'm trying to do now. What I'm thinking about. Mostly I want to not take things so freaking seriously anymore! Life is hilarious! I'm having fun being cozy in our apartment, sewing things, baking things, drawing things, and hanging out with our cat who's a lovable asshole.

Also, Chuck and I went to NYC and saw a live WTF at the Bell House. And I shook Marc Maron's hand. And he talked about us at the beginning of the show. I almost peed my pants. I don't know when the episode will go up but I hope it's soon. It was amazing. Something about hearing his voice makes everything seem like it's going to be ok.

I made a list a while ago of my favorite kids in books, movies, tv, life...I want to start drawing them. Here's Tatum O'Neal as Addie Loggins in Paper Moon.

And here's a little preview of my story that is in Sundays 4:

And here's a fat cat I drew that is on the cover of Chuck's brother's band's new album:

And finally, here is my version of Annie Koyama's Kick Ass Annie logo. Annie is one of my absolute favorite people in comics. She is so generous and awesome and is doing amazing amazing things with Koyama Press, and I was so psyched to do this drawing.

love

Announcing "Kids"!

http://kidsanthology.blogspot.com/

Jose-Luis Olivares and I are working on putting this anthology together right now for MoCCA in April. It's going to amazing...about 60 pages of fun...available now for pre-order!

We'll be at a table with the Sundays Anthology boys as usual...and they will have a new Sundays!!! Sundays 4!!! It's looking so beautiful. My beau, Chuck Forsman, is putting it together. Get it.

I believe there will also be a new issue of Only Skin at the table...and Joe Lambert's new book from Secret Acres....it's a comics jackpot! come by!!

Crafty Crafts

My mom and my sister and I started bloggin' together!

They are both unbelievable at crafting...

http://littlecraftybirds.blogspot.com/

Melvin and Things

So, things are getting better...? I think. I mean, I know it. There are still a million anxieties. Anxiety is crazy. Sometimes it feels like a separate monster from me, a monster that just lives in my brain and sometimes gets huge and out of control, like the Hulk. It sucks. And then I feel like myself again and try to cling onto that feeling, and then it goes away, of course. But it's sunny and warm in our kitchen. And we have a cat named Bruce Novax who sometimes sleeps in the sun. Sometimes he's an asshole too, but who isn't?

I'm working on a lot of things! My Freddy book which I will be promoting at Mocca and will be out for SPX (congratulations to the other Xeric winners too!), an anthology that I am putting together with my buddy Jose-Luis Olivares, which will be out for MoCCA, some stories for other anthologies, a tattoo for a friend, a wedding invitation...whoa. I'm getting overwhelmed.

Our good friends came to visit this weekend, it was so awesome. I love friends. And we went to the Time Capsule and I got Melvin Monster #8 by John Stanley for one dollar!!! And an Archie comic, some Nancy and Sluggo, and more....

Here's samples from Melvin Monster (I think this one will be in the next D&Q collection. Thanks to them for introducing me to Melvin...)

I love how he does the one big panel to introduce each story. It's so beautiful.

And here's something I did this morning:

I've been reading some Pema Chodron. She's amazing. I want to try to start meditating regularly. She talks a lot about sitting with your fears and anxieties and accepting them, rather than running away from them.

Now I'm going to listen to some Stevie Wonder and get some freaking work done.

xoxo