The reason I have barely been posting the last couple weeks is I've been working on the final for my comix class. In case you don't believe me, here is an (unfinished) page:
It is a magically sort of story about two sisters in Philadelphia. It should be available for reading/buying this spring (Maybe at Stumptown Comics Fest? I don't know.)
Anyway, to business!
-Zines! They are for sale in my shop! Several issues, including the new Milkyboots #9, which is full of cute cats and girls (besides me).
-I will be selling zines and crafty crafts tomorrow at the Crafty Wonderland Holiday Sale! Come by and buy things from me and my tablemates or chat or bring me treats. It's at the Convention Center in lovely NE Portland.
-I will not be posting again (most likely) until January, as I am going to Wisconsin and my folks still have dial-up. Have some good holidays! I hope to have some good surprises for y'all when I come back to internetland, so check back!
-I really wish I had some kombucha right now.
Not been posting much, you say! I been busy dude, getting this brand-spankin new Milkyboots ready for y'all. It is available for immediate purchase in my etsy store. In addition:
-if you live in Portland but are terrified of face-to-face contact with me, I just dropped off two copies at Bridge City Comics and I will be taking some to Reading Frenzy soon.
-if you live in Portland and think you'd be okay with meeting me, I will be tabling at the Crafty Wonderland Holiday Sale with my friend & boss, A.M. I will be selling zines and jewelry and other tchotchkes.
-if you also make zines, I would be happy to trade with you! I will also trade for knick-knacks, drinks, cute hairclips, vegetables and the occasional cookie. Holla at a girl: vlpaine at yahoo dot com.
I know this looks weird and some of the faces didn't turn out so good; I have been doing lots of experimenting and learning. Here I learned that drawing freehand with a nib pen is hard and makes my friends look funny.
And yes, sparklers in the house AND an airhorn (Did i mention box wine? Yeah space bag!). I only hope my birthday party is that ridiculous awesome.
Ugh, sorry guys, I haven't been feeling so great so I didn't make it downtown to scan more stuff. Instead, I offer you links to two of my (many) bosses. I do historical research for this talented comix artist; if you scroll down you can see some of the project I'm helping with. And this zinester/writer/photographer is my boss at the IPRC.
I will have a new comic up on Thursday, I swear!
Sorry! I never made it downtown to scan stuff this week, hence the lil break.
Milkyboots #9 should be out very soon! Also, I posted a drawing I did on my 'art' blog: here.
We got an art gallery in our garage, it's pretty sweet.
I am bad at halloween, so this is my only costume idea so far:
Have a safe & fun weekend y'all.
I'm not going to name the book because it does not deserve even the meager hits my blog would generate. I'll just say that football is not a good metaphor for discouraging premarital sex and leave it at that.
Hurghl, I am so busy this week I could cry.
We had a very inspiring guest lecture in my class by Annie Murphy entitled "Comics as Survival". If I had more time I would tell you about it, but basically, people have been doing graphic narrative for a really long time and it is a very important art form, both on a cultural level and a personal level.
Cherry Sprout is a pretty great place, but they seriously need more cookies.
Carrot is a blogging friend of mine who I met (after being internet friends for many months) in real life for the first time in September. Her lovely writing can be found here.
Rach just made it to Greece, yay her!
I wasn't very nice this day, I ditched Olivia twice when she had a stomach ache. Luckily she is a pretty understanding lady.
Also, my friend Amanda has an excellent blog about her vegan adventures in the Twin Cities. You should read it, it's called ladydog.
If you feel like you would enjoy a comic of saints telling a knock-knock joke, please click here. It was my homework last week.
If you enjoy books and things that are fun AND live in Portland, you should probably attend the IPRC's 4th Annual Text Ball. I will be bartending, so please tip well.
This is my homework from two weeks ago, a gag panel. That friendly lil guy appeared next to my bed about a month ago while I was awake/lucid dreaming/hallucinating. It was terrifying and it took me about three minutes to realize he was actually my suitcase.
It's been a year. Miss you, Jen ...
Meant to post this yesterday, but time got away from me! That night at the Bluffs was really fun; Stormgren got a new nickname too, but I couldn't remember it. There are pictures on my flickr if y'all want to be creepsters.
Two more pages for y'all. These were actually sort of part of a homework assignment (our assignment last week was to do a diary comic - ha!). I got my previous homework back and I'll prolly scan it within the next week and post it too.
Two today, I'm trying to get back up to date!
So do you guys like, hate the new style or what? Is it not really about the drawing? What the hell is going on?
One of my class assignments is to keep a sketchbook and it's pretty easy to do my diary pages in there, so expect this look for awhile!
Of my new brush pen!
As noted near the date, I tried something different (and quicker) for these pages. Any thoughts, devoted audience?
There are 8 arrows in this page - Olivia and I counted. I really like drawing arrows lately.
I started my comics class this week, it seems like it will be kind of challenging. I already spent a lot of time swearing at the supply list in an art store yesterday. But the good news is, I will be doing a TON of drawing. So expect more posts (hopefully) but not as many traditional Milkyboots diary pages.
The first half of this story can be found here. Thanks again to Patrick, who understands the true value of mason jars. See you soon!
As usual, click on it if you want to see it bigger.
You may have noticed I am having increasing difficulty updating this thing regularly. I'm unfortunately going to have to cut back the regular updates, since between working two jobs, volunteering, interning for Todd, drawing, doing the odd sewing job, going to school, being excited about a certain young lady and trying to have a social life, it's difficult to maintain the old 'twice a week' schedule. So, I am going to do the 'whenever I damn well feel like it' schedule. You can be notified when I post by subscribing to my RSS feed, of course! And you can buy zines in my shop, too!
John is doing fine, by the way. Breaking your collarbone sucks, but he's a trooper.
So I'm all moved in and things have somewhat calmed down so hopefully I'll get back on track with these things!
Sorry no post yesterday, I'm moving! To a different house in the Northeast! It should be awesome!
So here is the full page now that I'm finished:
Click on it if you want to see it bigger!
Arian thought I should have a poll to see who the most popular Milkyboots character is. Who is your favorite?
Sorry it's so small! Click on it to see it bigger.
Also on my list of favorite summer drinks: iced jasmine green tea with agave, cheap beer (Olympia lately), ice water, coconut water, vodka and soda with lime, iced mate. I've been drinking lots of protein smoothies too cause I hate eating during the summer. Actually, between the heat and being busy, I've been pretty much subsisting on snacks since mid-June.
PS. Just a reminder - Milkyboots #8 is still for sale in my etsy shop! Get it now!
I totally miss that temp job, where all I had to do was photocopy stuff and dance around listening to music with no one watching.
Do you ever get words or phrases stuck in your head? I do all the time, like last week when I woke up with the word 'vulpine' on the brain. Well, ever since Stormgren brought up his not-yet-formed band, I've had the name stuck in my head.
So I drew their album cover today instead of working on my diary or my other project (It's fiction. I know you're excited. Now shut up.) or any of the myriad other things I could be doing during my IPRC shift.
After weeks of comics where I'm happy, here's one where I was slightly depressed! I really wish I'd gone to movie night 'specially since Nate Beaty was there.
And this is kind of ironic because ... oh never mind. Things are getting stupid.
Sorry I didn't post yesterday, I went and got a drink with Winchel Heartless after work instead!
I'm sorry. That was a terrible joke.
Elements of Style will always hold a special place in my heart because Jen gave me my copy. I've been missing that lady a lot lately.
Okay folks, this one is now for sale in my etsy store. If you don't want to deal with etsy, email me. If you don't want to deal with me, I will be taking copies to Bridge City Comics and the Microcosm store in Portland and mailing some to Cherry Bomb in the L-ville this week.
In other news, you may have noticed that I've been having a really hard time updating on time these last couple weeks. I think I'm going to pare down to two posts a week, since I am a fairly busy lady and I want to enjoy the summer before I (hopefully) get even busier and Portland turns into the soupy gray mess it is in the winter.
For always making me bawl like a baby at work.
I am planning on having copies of Milkyboots 8 for sale in my etsy store next week. If you live in Portland and don't feel like dealing with me (I don't blame you!), it can be found at Guapo and Cosmic Monkey RIGHT NOW.
And I have to apologize because I inked this before John woke up and I didn't realize he is not sporting the 'stache this week. I have often complained about the people in my life needing to remain consistent with their various hairs styles. It makes my job, and the reader's, so much simpler.
Hi!
I apologize for not posting yesterday! Everything was a little crazy this weekend. I will post tomorrow, I promise.
Once again, Patrick gets it spot on. It is 6:40 am the day before the Symposium and I am about to head down to the IPRC to finish Milkyboots #8. Please come see me this weekend! If I seem to look rather masculine on Friday, it's just cause Stormgren is filling in for me while I'm finishing up Zine Camp.
I did this freehand while waiting at the food stamps office. I realized that I prolly could do stuff this week if I stop being so anal about my drawing. A normal page takes me like six hours to write, draw and ink.
I am going to have a very busy week, between working and avoiding things I need to do/trying to enjoy the summer, so (barring divine intervention) I will not be posting this week. See you later!
Also, I will be tabling at the Portland Zine Symposium! If you live in Portland, come see me! I will have Milkyboots #8 (the new issue!) for sale.
Guest comic by my fellow zine camp intern, Chelsea! It's unfinished because I only gave her twenty minutes to do it and I wanted to get home to go swimming.
Sorry, gotta go swimming, no post today! Exciting stuff from Chelsea soon!
The ladies in the last panel are some of my Portland favs; Lauren, Kayti, Rach, Mimi and Natalie. They are awesome!
These are getting slightly out of order. Oh well! I am slowly catching up.
Yeah, I'm busy this month. Busy saving the galaxy! You're welcome. Comic by Patrick.
I have been accused of being ageist since I was, I don't know, 17? I know, I suck.
I have a lot of catching up to do. Besides this 'one-off' I am about two weeks behind in drawing and I want to have Milkyboots #8 done by the Zine Symposium. So folks, I need some more guest comics! Send 'em in, show me what you got!
And then I almost left my sketchbook in the scanner, again, yesterday. I'm going to change my occupation on Facebook to "Embarrassing myself at the IPRC."
