Heralds of a new age

I attended the spring show at the Academy of Art student gallery last night. My mind is officially blown. The building, a new space at 610 Brannan, just down the street from the Concourse Exhibition center, is phenominal and looks rather fetching filled with all manor of vibrant creations. The show this year is about eight times bigger than last, as that is the proportionate difference in size between the old gallery at 79 New Montgomery and the new digs.

I go to school with a lot of talented folks. Makes me want to really up the ante on my stuff. (I thought the pieces I submitted were pretty good, but they looked like some kid's crayon drawing on a placemate at a corporate restaurant by comparison to the work that made the cut. I can't wait to learn from these people.)

If you're in the area, the show, which opened last night, runs for a month. Check it out.

Conspire...I do.

Twice a month I meet with a group of very talented individuals to take over the world one comic panel at a time. In exquisite corpse fashion we jam out, drawing panel after panel until we have full comics, then we print them. Each person starts a page, drawing the first panel, then hands it off to the next free artist who continues the story in their own unique fashion. Occasionally we do full pages each, ending up with a sequence of pages that turns into comic book, of loosely connected crack-pot hilarity. The results are astoundingly bizarre and quite often extremely entertaining.

For anyone in San Francisco interested in jamming, we are currently meeting at Muddy Waters on Church and 15th street in the Castro/ Dolores area. Come play with a swell crowd.

Robo-a-go-go

APE, or the Alternative Press Expo, was last month here in windy San Francisco and, oh, what a convention it was. This year marked the publication of my first mini-comic. It rolled out with a bang and left a stain on the red carpet. I printed about 100 copies for the con, and sold nearly all of 'em, (don't tell the IRS.)

The two day event was a sea of interesting people with only a few, (I won't say unwelcome out loud,) Star Wars costumes, heralded by fellow artist Jeffry asking, "What's that smell?" To which I responded, "Jedi." Even as a bartender I don't think I've ever talked (or laughed) so much. An experience rewarded at the end of each day with a welcome cocktail.

APE is the premiere comic convention for talent and innovation. Never was so much talent, in fact, packed into one room. Each year it seems to get better. So many artists, and not just the kind who make comics put out a great show this year. It was so driven by amazing art that instead of being exhausted by the rough week of inking and photoshopping and kinkoing (yes I made it up,) I left the building wanting to make more and more comics.

And so I do.

A home for pen and ink

Welcome to the edge of the world where all manner of wonders reside. All manner hand drawn and rendered in thick, black ink that is.

As my porfolio increases and the events I participate in multiply, I find I need a place like this to get it all out there for minds to chew on.

Bon Appetit.