May 2011

2011-05-30

How many pages have I drawn & printed?

A fellow cartoonist writes, “I’ve walked around telling people I’m a cartoonist, but how many comics have I really done? Whole comic books, mini-comics, strips all together? Fifty full pages of comics? Eighty?” I’ve had similar thoughts on occasion, so reading this made me wonder just how many pages I’ve drawn and published.

It turns out the answer is around 290 (using a 5.5″ x 8.5″ page as a standard unit).

  • 5 issues of Square Dance = 104 pages.
  • 5 issues of Before Sleep = 80 pages (I’m counting each page as half a page because they’re only 5.5″ x 4.25″. Note also that I only printed half of the strips I drew for Before Sleep).
  • Entries in 9 Trees & Hills anthologies = 38 pages (12 of them written by other people).
  • Entries in other anthologies (Always Comix, Big Sexy, Candy or Medicine (small pages counted as half), High Maintenance Machine guest strip (small counted as half), and Secrets & Lies (large page counted as double) = 14 pages.
  • 24 hour comics = 48 pages (not counting the second one, part of which I used in an issue of Square Dance & the rest of which remains unpublished. The first one had 8.5″ x 11″ pages, but I’m still counting it as just 24).
  • Minicomics not yet reprinted in Square Dance = 6 (all small pages counted as half or less).

If I counted comics I’ve published online but not on paper, it would add another 90 or so pages.

Those 290 pages are spread over the seven or so years(!) since I decided to “be a cartoonist”, averaging about 40 pages (or about two zines) a year. That’s less than my current goal of 100+ pages a year, and I know people’s who’ve drawn my seven-year total in much less time, but I still find it a comforting number. It’s not bad for someone who works a day job and devotes a lot of time to non-drawing comics activities (ie, co-organizing Trees & Hills),  and I hadn’t realized I’d drawn & published so many pages.

Here’s to many more!

2011-05-26

Continental breakfast while you wait

New comics are still a little ways off, as there are a couple anthologies I want to submit to with June 1 deadlines – hopefully I’ll make one of them (two seems very unlikely). In the meantime, I’ve brought in a band to entertain you:

MC Toasty Toast & DJ Cherry Muffin

Stand back when they bust out the jams!

2011-05-25

Back from making Water (ahem)

Sorry I haven’t been posting comics lately. I got caught up in last-minute anthology production rush and the touring season. The new Trees & Hills anthology Water is out and coming soon to an online shop near you!

For copies of the Trees and Hills comics anthology "Water"

2011-05-12

Broke – an affordable art fair Sat. 5/14

This coming Saturday, May 14 from 10am-4pm, I’ll be tabling at Broke – an affordable art fair, part of Peterborough, NH’s Thing In The Spring. Broke is a multidisciplinary arts event that has taken place in Peterborough, NH three times since its inception in 2008. The Broke philosophy is simple: art is for everybody. All Broke events are free to the public, and *broke vendors commit to presenting at least 75% of their wares for less than $50. It’ll be at the Fellowship Hall of the Union Congregational Church in Peterborough, NH. Come out & say hi!

2011-05-03

Surprises from Headville

The other night on a whim I Googled “Headville”. I guess I thought the only results would be mine (see Winter & Spring in Headville if you don’t know what I’m talking about), but it turns out there are other things with that name.

As far as I can tell it doesn’t exist anymore, but apparently there was a place called Headville in Vermont, as evidenced by the postmark on this postcard (I’d be tempted to buy it if the word “Headville” weren’t cut off the way it is). There’s also Headville Grain & Feed in Kansas (not Headville, KS, though). The business info site identifies itself as “a D&B Company”, which I guess stands for “Dun & Bradstreet,” but coincidentally is also a common abbreviation for “Drum & Bass,” a type of music I’ve enjoyed for years. Then there’s Headville, LLC in Colorado. That site gives no indication what they do so I was totally going to call them, but I Googled instead and found their Twitter, which tells me that it’s not only “a high quality smoke shop”, but also has “locally made tees, jewelry, ceramics, and fine art.”

The thing with the most results was Headville, which as far as I can tell from skimming their uninformative, script-requiring page and other search results, is some sort of video mystery puzzle. But the best result so far was a track by Isness called “In Headville” – I like it pretty well and It’s not a bad fit for the comic, so now there’s a soundtrack to listen to while reading Headville comics!