BLOG ARCHIVES

2007

MY READING YEAR, 2007

December 30th
ONE YEAR AGO…
Our first anniversary…
December 25th
ON THE CHRISTMAS LEGEND
An excerpt about Joseph, forgiveness, and the Christmas Legend, from Stephen Mitchell’s THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO JESUS.
December 23rd
JOHN PORCELLINO’S PERFECT EXAMPLE: REMIX
A “remix” of drawings from John Porcellino’s PERFECT EXAMPLE.
December 21st
CUTTING AND PASTING THE GOSPELS
On Stephen Mitchell’s THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO JESUS and Thomas Jefferson’s cut-up version of the gospels, (aka The Jefferson Bible).
December 17th
SEEKING ALWAYS FOR THE PICTURE
A couple of sketchbook pages and a new look for El Bloggo.
December 13th
PROCESS: T-SHIRT DESIGN FOR BOOKSLUT
T-shirt design for Bookslut.com: lots of sketches, Photoshop, and Google Image Search.
December 13th
THE POLITICAL BRAIN BY DREW WESTEN
Mind map I drew while reading Drew Westen’s highly recommended book, THE POLITICAL BRAIN.
December 9th
THE DRAWINGS OF GEORGE GROSZ
Several examples of the drawings of German artist George Grosz (1893-1959), including quotes from cartoonists Ralph Steadman and Ivan Brunetti.
December 5th
PROCESS: LADY JUSTICE WITH A LAPTOP
T-shirt design for the Law School’s IT department: lots of sketches, Photoshop, and Google Image Search.
November 23rd
POSTCARDS FROM TEXAS, 1929
Postcards from Austin and San Antonio that my great-grandfather sent to his daughters in 1929.
November 17th
WEEKEND SKETCHBOOK
Sketchbook pages and quotes on comics from Alison Bechdel and John Porcellino.
November 16th
TRYING OUT STANFORD’S VECTORMAGIC TOOL
Trying out Stanford’s VectorMagic online vectorization tool on a low-grade .jpeg copy of a piece for which I’d lost the original artwork.
November 11th
OTTO SOGLOW AND THE LITTLE KING
Several examples and a history of Otto Soglow’s strip for the New Yorker, “The Little King.”
November 11th
CHARLES SCHULZ ON HIS PROCESS OF MENTAL DRAWING
Charles Schulz: “While I am carrying on a conversation with someone, I find that I am drawing with my eyes.”
November 11th
OLD ADVENTURES WITH THE TARQUIN ENGINE
Examples of previous flash-based infinite canvas experiments with the Tarquin engine.
November 4th
TEXAS BOOK FESTIVAL SKETCHBOOK
Sketches and drawings of the 2007 Texas Book Festival, including readings by George Saunders and Tom Perrotta.
November 1st
THE CHANNEL DRAGON (AND OTHER DRAWINGS)
Various sketchbook drawings, including a dragon terrorizing Venice.
October 30th
ONE MORE DEATH BELL FOR NEWSPAPER COMICS
Lynda Barry’s strip, Ernie Pook’s Comeek has been dropped from newspapers all over the country.
October 29th
THE TWELVE DEVICES OF PEANUTS
A list of the 12 devices to which Charles Schulz attributed the success of his comic strip, Peanuts, with examples.
October 26th
TUMBLR
Another redesign, the blog as a journal, the tumblelog as a scrapbook, and Clive Thompson on blogging less like a linkdump and more like an essayist.
October 23rd
LELAND MYRICK ON TURNING POETRY INTO COMICS
Leland Myrick’s MISSOURI BOY started out as a batch of poems that he put together and made into a graphic novel.
October 23rd
MEG’S CLIP-ART COMIC ABOUT SOMETHING I “INVENTED” IN A DREAM
Meg uses clip-art to make a comic about something I invented in a dream.
October 21st
LYNDA BARRY’S GIRLS + BOYS & EVERYTHING IN THE WORLD
Excerpts from Lynda Barry’s two comic strip collections, GIRLS AND BOYS and EVERYTHING IN THE WORLD.
October 21st
VULGAR MAN
A comic where the character says, “I’m a vulgar man. Is that okay?”
October 17th
CHARLES SCHULZ ON CHARLIE ROSE
Charles Schulz talking to Charlie Rose about cartooning, design, humor, sadness, and autobiographical details in Peanuts.
October 17th
DOUGLAS WOLK’S READING COMICS AND KURT VONNEGUT’S SIRENS OF TITAN
Sketchbook reviews of Douglas Wolk’s READING COMICS and Kurt Vonnegut’s SIRENS OF TITAN.
October 16th
WHY I LIKE BASEBALL
Baseball is a fundamentally dramatic game: every player gets to strut up to the plate and try to knock it out of the park.
October 15th
WE HAD A GOOD TIME THIS WEEKEND
Photobooth pictures from a wedding.
October 15th
UNFINISHED THOUGHTS ON THE DARK SIDE OF CHARLES SCHULZ
A sketchbook comic about the alleged “dark side” of Charles Schulz.
October 10th
JULIAN GOUGH ON COMEDY
Julian Gough on the reason so many novels are tragic as opposed to comic, and why it doesn’t have to be that way.
October 10th
IT’S A GOOD MORNING…
In ten years of listening, Radiohead has never let me down.
October 9th
SHALOM AUSLANDER ON RELIGION AND ANGER
Shalom Auslander on anger and the difference between an intellectual disbelief of God and an emotional belief in Him.
October 8th
SOMETIMES IT REALLY SUCKS TO BE A CARTOONIST
Adrian Tomine tells a story about overhearing a fellow diner in a restaurant tear his work to shreds.
October 7th
THAT ONE ODD DETAIL…THE ONE THING THAT ISN’T TYPICAL
George Saunders quotes Hemingway on significant details.
October 3rd
A CAUTIONARY TALE
Blackout poem: “Big cat said he got bird flu from a super freaky gurl cat who requested anonymity because it was Big Cat that first made overtures so now…”
October 3rd
GOD HELP US
Blackout poem: “God help us / the story ends / no other way.”
October 2nd
JACK KEROUAC AND ON THE ROAD
On the best piece about Jack Kerouac’s ON THE ROAD that I’ve ever read.
October 2nd
DRAWING THAT SIGNIFICANT OTHER, PART TWO
A photographer’s wife who never said no to posing for a portrait.
October 1st
DRAWING THAT SIGNIFICANT OTHER (SCENES OF DOMESTIC BLISS)
Examples of comic artists drawing their significant other…
October 1st
THE PIRATES WHO WON THE WORLD FROM INDIANS
Blackout poem: “Gone is the night / gone is Washington / Gone is the most valuable player / the regulars will weep / trying to find the pirates who won…”
September 27th
NOTES ON A SCOTT MCCLOUD LECTURE
Sketchbook comics of a Scott McCloud lecture at the University of Texas.
September 26th
NO REASON TO BE HOITY-TOITY ABOUT IT
Iron and Wine singer Sam Beam on selling out.
September 26th
JACK WHITE ON ROCK & ROLL STORYTELLING
Everything from your haircut to your clothes to the type of instrument you play to the melody of a song to the rhythm — they’re all tricks to get people to pay attention to the story.
September 25th
HOW TO AVOID A BEHEADING
I like to draw while watching TV: I drew this while watching Ken Burns’ new documentary, which is quite good. The guy who told this story is a badass.
September 25th
VONNEGUT: THREE ACTS OF PUNCTUATION
Kurt Vonnegut said that a question mark, an exclamation point and a period were the punctuation outline of a three-act story.
September 24th
A DAY IN THE LIFE OF PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION
A sketchbook comic in which I try to catch the bus and fail.
September 24th
MORE ANDERS NILSEN
Anders Nilsen on inspiration, not-knowing, art and religion, and disguising himself in his work.
September 24th
DAVID HEATLEY ON COMICS AND GRAPHIC DESIGN
A quote from David Heatley about how getting into graphic design influenced his comics work.
September 20th
BADASS, LIKE A BEAUTICIAN AT THE WHEEL
Thoughts on ZZ Top.
September 18th
TWO BRILLIANT QUOTES ABOUT CARTOONING
Chris Ware on the cartoonist as a combination of writer and artist, and Anders Nilsen on not-knowing.